GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,

One of the great Chassidim of the Frierdike Rebbe was Rabbi Refoel Kahan. Reb Refoel learned in Tomchei T’mimim in Lubavitch and later received his Smicha from the famous Chassid Rabbi Mendel Chein. He was a Rav in a number of cities and finally became the Rav of the Chassidim in Riga, Latvia.

This holy Chassid was killed al kiddush Hashem, together with many famous Chassidim, including the Rabbanim Itche der Masmid, Chatche Feigen, Eliyahu Chaim Althaus and Mordechai Chafetz. They were murdered by the Nazis yimach shmom on 10 Kislev 5742. The Nazis forced all the Yidden to enter the local Shul and then they set the shul on fire. Reb Itche der Masmid took out the Sifrei Torah and gave them to the great Chassidim. He then made an announcement: “We all have the privilege of dying al kiddush Hashem, so let’s all be B’simcha!” He then started dancing with Reb Chatche Feigen, and thus their holy souls ascended to Hashem.

In the summer of 5697, the Frierdike Rebbe wanted to awaken the Yidden in Latvia to Yiddishkait and Chassidus. He wrote a lengthy letter (Igros Vol. 4 pg. 95) to Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Althaus, in Riga, encouraging him to travel around Latvia. The Frierdike Rebbe wanted the chassidim to make a special trip to Courland to spread Chassidus. Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions in western Latvia.

A few weeks later, the Rebbe received a letter from the Rav of Riga, Reb Refoel Kahan. The letter confirms that Chassidim are going to go around Latvia to spread Chassidus. The Frierdike Rebbe (Ibid, page 126) responds in a letter dated 8 Elul. Since it was Elul, and the recipient of the letter was a great Rav, the focus of the letter is about how to make a Cheshbon Nefesh in general and as a Rav in particular. The Frierdike Rebbe writes to him what the Rebbe Rashab once told a Rav in the year 5669:

“Every type of person has his particular Kriyas Shema that he needs to think about and say at night. You cannot compare the Kriyas Shema of a businessman to the Kriyas Shema of someone in a holy profession. In the holy professions there are differences. You cannot compare the Kriyas Shema of the shammas (beadle) in shul to the Kriyas Shema of the city shochet. And you cannot compare the Kriyas Shema of the local melamed to the Kriyas Shema of the city’s rav.”

The Rebbe Rashab continued (HaYom Yom 6 Kislev): “The recitation of the Shema before retiring at night is a miniature version of the confession a person makes before his soul departs from his body. At that time, however, one leaves the fair forever; that puts an end to the transactions that can be undertaken ‘today, [which is the time] to perform them.’ When we recite the Shema before retiring every night, we are still in the midst of the fair — we can still achieve something.

“By you,” the Rebbe Rashab told the Rav, “they will demand everything. You are responsible for everything, and you will be held accountable. You need to make sure that the Mikvah is kept kosher and clean. You need to work your utmost to ensure that every person who can should use the Mikveh. Any case that you could have had an influence and you did not, the sin falls on you. The same applies to the local butchers and the chadarim in your city.

“You must realize that anything wrong in your city, anything that is being done not according to Torah, will be a stain on your Neshama. Think about this and have mercy on your Neshama and begin to fix the issues. Hashem will forgive you and help you…. The true Teshuva, which is regretting the past, is recognizable by the actions in the future. Do what is demanded of you and Hashem will help you in all matters, material and spiritual.”

This is not the only strong letter that the Frierdike Rebbe wrote to Rabbi Refoel Kahan. In another letter (dated 7 Adar 5696, printed in Igros Vol. 3 pg. 520) the Rebbe writes (HaYom Yom 23 Adar 2): “My revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], once told a certain rabbi who took his Divine service seriously and was a diligent scholar: At all times and at every moment, a rabbi must remember that he is standing on the threshold between those who bring merit to the people and those who lead them to sin, Heaven forbid — the threshold between the loftiest peaks and the lowest depths. All their concerns must touch the innermost point of his soul, for his very soul is at stake.”

The Frierdike Rebbe adds: “I am sure that you remember the sweet and soft voice of my father, and his calm and holy countenance, yet as my father said these words, the Rav began to cry very strongly and every second the weeping got more intense. When my father said the words that ‘he is standing on the threshold between those who bring merit to the people and those who lead them to sin, Heaven forbid,’ the Rav’s tears were free-flowing and reaching the floor.”

Dear Fellow Chassidim!

We are coming now from our Chassidishe Rosh Hashana, 19 Kislev 5779. It is appropriate for all of us to make a Cheshbon Nefesh (which is possibly why this letter about Cheshbon Nefesh, which was written in Elul, was published by the Rebbe in a HaYom Yom of Kislev) of how we all are doing in our own Avoda.

Many of us are not rabbanim or official community leaders. Thus, when we read the above-mentioned letters of the Frierdike Rebbe, we may convince ourselves that this message does not pertain to us.

But this thought process is wrong. We must all internalize the message (HaYom Yom 30 Adar 1): “My revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], once said: A chassid creates an environment. If not, he must carefully check through his own knapsack; he must examine his own spiritual state. The very fact that he is not creating an environment should crush him like a mere splinter. He should ask himself: ‘What am I doing in this world?’”

This is especially true when it comes to our Avoda of bringing Moshiach. The Rebbe stated clearly (Chayei Sara 5752): “And since this is the Divine service of the time, it’s understood that this applies to every Jew without any exception whatsoever.”

The letter of the Frierdike Rebbe must continuously ring in our ears and burn in our hearts, and we must constantly remember the message that our Rebbe put as a general introduction to the HaYom Yom: “At the present time, when the world trembles, when all the world shudders with the birth-pangs of Moshiach , for G‑d has set fire to the walls of the Exile… it is the duty of every Jew, man and woman, old and young, to ask themselves: What have I done and what am I doing to alleviate the birth-pangs of Moshiach , and to merit the total redemption which will come through our righteous Moshiach?”

We must internalize the words that the Rebbe told to each and every one of us in the famous sicha of 28 Nissan 5751: “What more can I do so that all the children of Israel should create an uproar and cry sincerely and cause Moshiach to come in reality, since all that was done until now has had no effect, and the proof is that we find ourselves still in exile, and most essentially – in an inner exile in Divine service. The only thing I am able to do is to turn the matter [over] to you: do everything in your ability – things that are in the nature of lights of Tohu, but, in vessels of Tikkun – to actually bring our righteous Moshiach immediately, instantly, in reality.”

We need to take the Rebbe’s words seriously. Forget the “leadership.” We must wake up and realize that Moshiach’s arrival is up to us as individuals. That is the most motivating factor of our Avoda. We really need to feel that the whole purpose of the creation of the world, and all the Avoda of all the Yidden, is dependent on each of us as an individual. If we all feel this way and act this way, there is no question that we will see the hisgalus immediately!

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought-after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com.