DEALING WITH CRITICISM FROM WITHIN

From the life of R ’ Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski a”h.

Along with having to contend with forces from the “outside” and money matters, R’ Zalman had to deal with criticism from within, from Anash who thought he was rushing to open new mosdos before getting the previous mosdos on solid footing

R’ Zalman presented the complaints of these askanim to the Rebbe in a letter he wrote on Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5717, along with a description of the difficult financial situation:

“I wrote in my letter of 17 Cheshvan about the money situation and I have nothing to add except that it is a most serious matter for the reasons I wrote previously. The few Lubavitchers who regularly help the yeshiva like R’ Asher [Abramson], R’ Shmuel Betzalel [Altheus], and R’ Nachum Zalman [Gurewicz] are in despair and full of misgivings lest we took on too much, especially with the additional work and expense of Beis Rivka.

“They sometimes express themselves in ways of grievance against me as though to say I am at fault for writing to the Rebbe with ideas about additional things when the situation is so difficult. Therefore, they demand that before I send the Rebbe a letter I show it to them first so I don’t make additional suggestions.

“As for me, knowing the material state of Anash whose burdens are great, and especially the concerns of Rashbatz who still owes so much money and still has no parnasa, may Hashem have mercy on him and help him very soon, and he really wants to help the yeshiva and he does whatever he can, and R’ Isser [Kluvgant] and R’ Nachum Zalman help as much as they can and so I duly admire their good side. On the other hand, after all their help, the entire burden of the mosad is on me and if a difficult and weighty matter comes up and I present it to them they help, but only with a groan, and the burden remains on me.

“And when I start to write to the Rebbe, the writing takes a long time until I can finish the letter; so after the writing, if I need to wait to show it to Anash and then there can be various comments from them about changing the content and the writing will take even longer. Therefore, in addition to the already mentioned fact that ultimately the burden and responsibilities are mine, I think their demand is unjustified.

“I told them that if they want, they can always see a copy of the letter that remains with me but I cannot accept the limitation that obligates me to show them a letter before sending it. And if it happens that I err in any detail, the matter was not given to ministering angels and I myself know well that I am not suited to this work, but what can I do being that as of now there is nobody to replace me, and therefore I need to hope to G-d that until the qualified person comes along, for the remaining period of time I will need to deal with running the mosad which has the kochos of the Rebbe in it, that Hashem will help me not stumble, G-d forbid.”

IF YOU WERE AWARE
OF THE KOCHOS THAT WERE GIVEN…

The Rebbe responded in a letter of 8 Kislev:

“You wrote about the difficulties and the concealment and obscurities – surely you heard about the allusion on the verse (BaMidbar 13:33), ‘and we were like grasshoppers in our eyes’ (because of this, therefore) ‘so too were we in their eyes.’ If only the G-d fearing in general and Chassidim in particular recognized the strengths given to them, they would approach everything courageously in a manner incomparable to the way they do currently, and as a natural result some of the obscurities and difficulties would be negated, similar to and like the matter discussed in Tanya at the end of chapter 29, and therefore, as soon as G-d was angry with them, etc. and every person can learn from this, etc. (that he does not really have any doubts of faith, but G-d allows the Evil Inclination to create the illusion of doubt – Ed.). And the matter is not to be taken out of its literal meaning that every person actually means each and every one of us.”

HOW TO PRESENT
THE QUESTION

The day before, on 7 Kislev, the Rebbe sent a long letter to R’ Shmuel Betzalel Altheus regarding Anash being fearful of not being able to maintain the pace of the opening of mosdos, especially regarding Beis Rivka:

After a long intermission a letter was finally received from you from 29 Cheshvan. Based on your practice until now, in this letter too you do not write how Tishrei was, especially regarding strengthening and expanding the Chabad mosdos in Melbourne, may Hashem grant them success.

You write about Beis Rivka and the fear that it not fall as a burden upon the yeshiva. It is apparent from this that you, and unfortunately, many of Anash, did not yet contemplate what the Rebbe, my father-in-law said many times, some of which was copied and printed, about the vital need for education for girls, a Jewish education in general and a Chassidic education in particular. Just as Chassidim and Anash were moser nefesh for the education of their sons, that it should not be a general Jewish education but a Chassidic education, and the distinction between ordinary chinuch and Chassidic chinuch is something that to you and all those who come from our former country there is no need to explain, for you all saw it yourselves to what extent it pertains even to fundamentals of religion. So too with the difference in the education of girls and perhaps even more so when you take into account that when a girl grows up she will be the mainstay of the home and eventually a mother to children whose chinuch will be dependent to a great extent on her.

When you examine the entire question from this perspective, then the question is posed differently and no room remains for doubt about whether there needs to be a Beis Rivka or not, G-d forbid. Just as there can be no doubt whether there needs to be a Chassidic school for boys or not, G-d forbid, the doubt is only a question about how to set up the financial income so that it becomes self-sustaining. And actually in this the situation is better than with Oholei Yosef Yitzchok, which was founded at a time when there were many Jewish schools for boys. As for Beis Rivka, based on information I heard here from the Feiglin family, the competition is very weak and the temporary deficit about which you write is most likely based not on the weakness of the idea of Beis Rivka, but on the difference of attitude on the part of Anash about the question as compared to the question of Oholei Yosef Yitzchok Therefore there is a lack of contemplation and deep thinking into the matter, and in the effort to strengthen and expand.

It is obvious that there is no basis for annoyance, G-d forbid, that you mention at the end of your letter. On the contrary, the more you write in detail about the situation there and from more people with various viewpoints, the clearer the picture of the situation I get here and drawing of a conclusion. But as to the core issue, the existence of Beis Rivka is essential and it is important to just establish things in the best way possible.

By the way, I would like to bring up something else, that specifically through Beis Rivka will Anash have an opportunity to attract women from various other groups into the environment of Anash, even those that are seemingly very far from it and through Oholei Yosef Yitzchok it is not possible to achieve this, but it depends on the finding of suitable ways to attract them. I also want to point out that based on experience here, when you take into account that the expenses for girls’ education is lower, Beis Rivka can become self-sustaining before Oholei Yosef Yitzchok.

Surely you are making suitable preparations of how to make use of the days of the upcoming month of Kislev, especially 19 Kislev and Chanuka regarding Chabad matters and Chabad mosdos and may it be with outstanding success.

With blessings for good news in general matters and your personal matters.