CONQUERING THE WORLD THROUGH TORAH

Shmuli: Shavuos is coming and we have to do something in honor of the Yom Tov. Aside from the Rebbe’s instruction that all Jewish children should go to shul to hear the Ten Commandments, which is a big project in itself, we have to brainstorm about what to do in honor of Shavuos. 

Yitzi: What makes you bring that up all of a sudden? Last year we didn’t do anything …

Shmuli: Is that a reason not to do something now? On the contrary, because we didn’t do anything last year, let us add something now to give the Rebbe nachas.

Mendy: Aha, I see. Yitzi, listen, Shmuli is always thinking big. If you pay attention you’ll realize that before every Yom Tov he wants to do yet another big thing. Shmuli, what direction do you want us to think in?

Shmuli: I’m thinking that we ought to make a big campaign about learning Torah.

Yitzi: Meaning?

Shmuli: Our goal should be to get as many people as possible to join in Torah study.

Yitzi: That’s hard …

Shmuli: So what if it’s hard? We have to think until we come up with specific ideas about what we can do to give the Rebbe a gift of a lot of people who have joined in the Kabbalas Ha’Torah before Shavuos.

Mendy: First of all, start two shiurim, one for men and one for women, in addition to the usual ones.

Yitzi: How do you plan on getting people to attend them?

Mendy: Let’s brainstorm …

Shmuli: Maybe we can construct a course for the summer in which participants will study one topic thoroughly. We need to plan classes for about twenty weeks, until Rosh HaShana, and every week there will be a lesson.

Yitzi: What do you gain with that approach?

Shmuli: There is a difference when someone sees that every week there is a shiur on a different topic as opposed to a course on one topic which addresses it in all its details and provides a lot of information. People enjoy attending classes with well-organized material.

Yitzi: What topic do you suggest for a course?

Mendy: The best is something current, inyanei Moshiach and Geula.

Shmuli: Nice! How about learning Hilchos Melachim in the Rambam according to the Rebbe’s sichos? That would make a terrific course!

Yitzi: Why would people want to come and learn?

Shmuli: When the course is nicely introduced with ads and flyers that are well designed, it will give people the feeling that this is something serious and worth devoting time to once a week, even if they already attend a different shiur.

Mendy: And the shiur can be videotaped and can be sent to the dropbox of those who participated. We are talking about non-Lubavitchers and they use computers a lot.

Yitzi: But then people won’t attend the shiur. They’ll just watch the video …

Shmuli: A video of something you have already seen is useful. And since the shiurim will be formatted on a high level, many people will find the video an excellent supplement to the notes they took. It will enable them to fill in things they missed during the shiur. A video can only help people understand things better.

Mendy: You can also put highlights of the upcoming shiur at the end of the video which will also show that the course is serious and well-organized.

Yitzi: What about the women?

Mendy: You can take the same idea of a course and do it in a way that suits them.

Shmuli: (thinking) It’s a lot of work, but worth the effort. If people register before Shavuos and we start the shiurim during the “yemei ha’tashlumin,” that will be great and justify the effort. It will give us tremendous satisfaction to come to Shavuos, Z’man Mattan Toraseinu, with new shiurim.

Yitzi: What will we do after this summer course is over?

Shmuli: We’ll continue with another course … We need to put a lot of work now into this course so that it will be successful. If it’s successful, that will get people to join a winter course and the shiur will continue after the yomim tovim.

Mendy: We need to take advantage of the pool of participants in the shiur and start arranging individual chavrusos with them.

Shmuli: Right. There is nothing like Torah study in a personal way. The learning is deeper and has a greater effect on the soul of the person learning it.

Yitzi: Why would they want to come and learn with chavrusas? There is nothing attracting them to do that, especially when they don’t know what they are going to learn with the shliach.

Shmuli: In the classes that are part of the course, we can tell people that certain topics can be expanded upon, after all, there is a lot to learn in inyanei Moshiach and Geula, but it cannot all be covered in a course. Those who are interested are welcome to follow up with private learning with the shluchim at times convenient to them.

Yitzi: And if it’s not convenient for us?

Mendy: That is why we are the Rebbe’s shluchim. We will extend ourselves so that another Jew will learn Torah.

Shmuli: If we cannot sit and learn with them personally, we will bring someone who can. When it comes to the Rebbe’s mivtzaim, we don’t skimp on money and energy. This will bring about the Rebbe’s hisgalus!

Mendy: Amen.

Shmuli: What we need to remember is that these shiurim will lead to a demand for more shiurim in different styles and for different audiences. The Rebbe said that we need to conquer the world with Torah study, preparing it for the Geula. Now is our opportunity to fulfill his request which is actually his instruction to his shluchim and Chassidim.

Mendy: We need to stop with the questions and focus on action. As the Rebbe said, action is the main thing.

Yitzi: You’ve convinced me.