One runs a successful Chabad House in one of the leading malls in Eretz Yisroel. Another teaches in a boys’ school. A third runs the Beis Moshiach shul in Kiryat Malachi. All three devote their lives to proudly spreading the Besuras HaGeula. * We spoke with Rabbi Ilan Chiyoun, Rabbi Yaron Bar Zohar, and Rabbi Sholom Fash about Inyanei Geula and Moshiach. * We heard about their challenges and asked them what keeps the fire on the high setting for so many years and what we can do to help.
By Zalman Tzorfati
Rabbi Ilan Chiyoun is a veteran shliach in Rishon L’Tziyon. He runs a Chabad Center in the Kinyan HaZahav and is involved in various national projects connected with spreading the Besuras HaGeula.
Rabbi Yaron Bar Zohar is a distinguished Chabad Chassid in Haifa, the son-in-law of the unforgettable mashpia Rabbi Reuven Dunin and a teacher in a boys’ school. In his free time he is busy spreading the Besuras HaGeula and making the message accessible to the typical Israeli. He has done many national projects together with other activists. Together with R’ Ilan Chiyoun, he is responsible for the huge billboard with the Rebbe’s picture on the Ayalon highway.
Just like Moshiach, who met Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi at the entrance to Rome, like “your judges and your advisers” who need to sit in the entrance of the city, the Rebbe stands there every morning, noon and evening, greeting with a smile the hundreds of thousands of drivers who pass by the large city, encouraging, consoling, blessing and giving hope to many who glance at the picture of the Nasi HaDor and receive a full dose of spirit and joy.
It’s not only on the Ayalon highway that the Rebbe’s holy face greets the Israeli citizen. Rabbi Ben Zohar ensures that the Rebbe will light up the day for Jews all over Eretz Yisroel. He does this primarily by campaigns on buses, billboards, and pamphlets that he gives out for free to those who ride the train.
Rabbi Sholom Fash runs Beis Moshiach in Kiryat Malachi which includes a shul, shiurim, and widespread activities with youth.
We asked the three of them to tell us about the significance of spreading the Besuras HaGeula, their challenges, the reactions from the public, and what we can do to fulfill the Rebbe’s exhortation to “do all that you can” to bring Moshiach.
OUR FOCUS IS ON THE BESURAS HAGEULA WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE REBBE AS MOSHIACH
The three of them are busy with many things in various places with the common denominator being the Geula and Moshiach.
“Of course, all of our activities are permeated with Inyanei Moshiach and Geula,” says R’ Ilan Chiyoun, “and not just Inyanei Geula in a general sense, but the identity of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach and Kabbalas HaMalchus. We are constantly working to connect more and more people to the Rebbe, and not just to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but to the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach.
“We constantly explain how everything the Rebbe prophesied is coming true, and try to convey to mekuravim and the public at large that everything we see happening in the world are portents of Geula. We have a daily shiur in Inyanei Moshiach and Geula and everything we do is imbued by it.”
We hear the same thing from R’ Sholom Fash. He opened Beis Moshiach in Kiryat Malachi as a Chabad House in every respect, providing outreach activities to people of every background, demographic and age. Over time, with letters and instructions from the Rebbe, his focus became the youth.
Today, Beis Moshiach is an enormous youth center. It contains an active club for young people, which is frequented by dozens of people every day, a shul, and a center for shiurim and activities.
“All our activities revolve around Moshiach. We say this to the kids without hiding anything. Every day, we go on mivtza t’fillin and reach hundreds of young people. We have a direct personal connection with most of the youth in Kiryat Malachi, and Beis Moshiach is a place for them to connect to Judaism, G-d, and the Rebbe, of course. After every shiur we sit together and write to the Rebbe. The boys do this very seriously and ask for brachos for things like doing well on school tests, matriculation exams, driving tests, and that’s how they connect to the Rebbe.
“We get a lot of feedback about our work years later from many shluchim abroad. The guys go to Chabad Houses all over the world after the army and they start singing all the songs and niggunim that they learned here. They whip out pearls and concepts from Tanya and Chassidus, to the amazement of the shliach. I’ve gotten calls from shluchim from all over the world who tell me they had someone from Beis Moshiach in Kiryat Malachi. Remember, this is usually several years after they were here. That means that what they got here affected them in a deep way.”
WHEN YOU GO WITH THE TRUTH, IT IS ACCEPTED
As people who are involved with spreading the Besuras HaGeula to the public, tell us how people react to it.
“We speak to young people and they accept it all as a matter of fact, wholeheartedly and naturally,” says R’ Fash. “When we started our work, many of them had questions. We sat with them and explained it all until they got it and then, when the next generation came, they already saw that the older guys were into it and they went along with the flow. It became a tradition, and today, the kids who come to Beis Moshiach just accept it.”
We heard about positive feedback from the public from R’ Ilan Chiyoun. “For the most part, the reactions are positive, because people today already know and are aware. It also depends on how you convey the message. If the message is real for you and you do not try to zigzag, so that people see someone who is really and truly on board with his entire being, then it is accepted. Words that come from the heart enter the heart.
“When I go into the mall, they all greet me with ‘Yechi HaMelech.’ That is their hello and good morning.
“True, sometimes, in order to not rest on our laurels, so we will have to put in more effort and bring out even better from ourselves, Hashem challenges us here and there with reactions that require deeper explanations. Often, people come over and ask and really want to know, but we have hardly any disdainful or insulting reactions. For the most part, the reactions are favorable, positive. People know and love the Rebbe and to them the Rebbe is Moshiach.
“Children often come in here, to the mall’s Chabad House, and I give them a picture of the Rebbe. But that doesn’t always say something to them. When I say, ‘Melech HaMoshiach,’ you suddenly see their faces light up with a smile. ‘Ah, yes, we know Moshiach,’ they say.
“Everyone in Eretz Yisroel to whom you will show a picture of the Rebbe will immediately say, ‘That’s Moshiach.’ This is clear proof that the publicity works and people accept it,” says R’ Yaron Ben Zohar. “It is possible for there to be those who do not understand, who don’t care, or who will say incorrect things about the Rebbe, but they identify the Rebbe’s face with the concept of Moshiach.
“24 years ago, when we first started with publicity, many people had complaints and questions, but today it has gotten through to the hearts and minds of every Jew. In Eretz Yisroel, everyone knows that the Rebbe is Moshiach.”
PUBLICITY ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH
How does that help?
Look, before anything else, the Rebbe told us to receive the “face” of Moshiach, so we try to create an atmosphere of Moshiach, by way of showing the face of Moshiach. That is the simplest meaning of “receiving the face of Moshiach.” That is the literal “panim,” as well as the “p’nimius.” The same goes for flags, which do not have a picture of the Rebbe, only the word Moshiach, as this symbolizes victory. When a country conquers a territory, the first thing they do is plant their flag. A flag is a symbol of sovereignty.
It is true that when people are exposed to publicity, they are not yet living with the subject and do not quite grasp the idea of the Rebbe and Moshiach. Therefore, along with the makif publicity, there is the need to invest in explaining and conveying the ideas in a p’nimius way.
However, what is certain, and I absolutely see this in my work of publicizing the prophecy over the years, is that the publicity itself brings joy and optimism to people. Everybody today is stressed, preoccupied and worried in the insane world of the endless rat race, and there is nothing more refreshing than encountering an advertisement that awakens hope and promises a better future. The flags, the billboards, and the posters of Melech HaMoshiach, which are spread all over the highways and cities of Eretz Yisroel, make everybody feel better.
LEARNING D’VAR MALCHUS LIGHTS THE INNER FIRE
It is already over twenty-seven years since the Rebbe told us to do all that you can. In the early days, and even in the years that followed, the fire of Geula was alight inside every Chassid. Chabad Chassidim would go out into the streets and there was an elevated feeling in the air. How do you keep the fire burning for so many years? And how can we stir up that fire inside ourselves?
R’ Chiyoun – (Emphatically): Learning the weekly D’var Malchus every Thursday. Even if you learn just by yourself, or with your wife or family, learn the D’var Malchus every Thursday. That is the only way to start the engines, light the fire, and to add gas and fuel to the fire. The acrostic of D’var Malchus is dam (blood). The D’var Malchus is our life blood. Chassidus discusses extensively the revi’is measure of blood upon which life depends. Just as the blood that flows through the body is the source of life energy, is warm and delivers oxygen to all of the limbs and organs, the same is true of the D’var Malchus. The sichos of 5751-52 are the oxygen that maintains our inner Chassidic warmth on a high flame.
Truly, those who are involved in publishing and distributing the D’var Malchus deserve our thanks, because this is how we preserve and actually fulfill the Rebbe’s instructions and hasten the Geula.
R’ Fash (concurring with all of the above): We ourselves are constantly learning the material. We are a number of shluchim here in the Chabad House, and we are always learning together and focused on stirring the fire within ourselves. When we are on fire, we spread it further along.
I see the influence that learning Inyanei Geula and Moshiach has on a daily and even hourly basis, with every person with whom I come into contact. This causes changes in people that defy description, by individuals and entire families. People literally change from serious study of the sichos of 5751-52. This is “the foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom.”
Beyond that, miracle stories of the Rebbe and especially through the Igros Kodesh very much strengthen the emuna and the inner fire that you mentioned; both for us and for the people we reach out to. Every such miracle that becomes public we immediately publicize to all of our contacts, and they pass it onward and it keeps spreading.
One of our young fellows, from a traditional (mesorati) home, was involved in a dispute with the shul where he davened and wanted to switch to another shul. We suggested that he write to the Rebbe. The answer from the Rebbe in the Igros Kodesh was that in his view he should not leave the place, but to stay in that place and establish a Torah class there. As a result, we started a Tanya class in that shul. That class is a huge success today. The fruits can be seen throughout the entire city, and everybody knows that it started from an answer of the Rebbe via the Igros Kodesh.
R’ Bar Zohar: I ask myself the same question every single day. In my mind, there is no explanation according to the natural order of things. Truly, in the natural order it is impossible for so many to remain with such an intense fire for so many years, and still be involved with the same enthusiasm. I think that is why Hashem sent certain special souls down to the world, whose mission is to be the “tip of the spear,” to be involved in Inyanei Geula and Moshiach on a national scale and through major undertakings. This not something that everybody can do.
EVERYBODY CAN INFLUENCE HIS IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS
What can simple folks sitting at home and reading this article, who really want to do something, actually do?
R’ Bar Zohar: “Every single person can operate on a small scale. This means to firstly influence himself, his family, his immediate environment, and prepare them for the coming of Moshiach. You can send a donation to those who produce Moshiach brochures and weekly newsletters, and ask them to send you copies, which you can distribute on the way to work, put in shuls, give to neighbors, or hand out on the bus.
“The bachurim produced Moshiach cards to be handed out to people, and it is unbelievable what an effect it has; it is amazing. Of course, you can also talk to people with whom you come into contact, be it in the workplace or other places, and explain to them about Moshiach and his imminent arrival.
“I know that many Lubavitchers are blessed with large families and can barely keep up with their obligations. So asking them to participate or initiate a project is unrealistic. But everyone can be influential at home and in his environment, as the Rebbe says.”
“I think that in general, Lubavitcher Chassidim are doers, and we must continue doing by being Moser Nefesh to publicize to all members of the generation that there is a Rebbe and he is a king and leader,” says R’ Ilan Chiyoun. “We need to be focused on publicity. We got this from the Rebbe. We all heard and saw. The Rebbe gave his consent to all these things and encouraged spreading the Besuras HaGeula, and we need to go forth like soldiers.
“Several years ago, we ran a campaign on the buses with R’ Yaron Bar Zohar about writing to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. We had legal problems with those who opposed us and tried to thwart us by requesting an injunction for publicizing a picture of the Rebbe with the writing ‘Melech HaMoshiach.’ The judge dismissed them and said, ‘I do not understand your opposition. I myself drive on the highway and see the picture of Melech HaMoshiach. Why not? He should just come and redeem us.’”