Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,
This Shabbos Parshas Korach is Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, the Shabbos before Gimmel Tammuz. The words “Gimmel Tammuz” bring out different emotions in many people, yet I feel that there is something that we all should be asking ourselves: how can we bring about the Hisgalus of the Rebbe?
I would like to share with you some thoughts that I had, based on the HaYom Yom of 28 Sivan, the day that the Rebbe and Rebbetzin miraculously came safely to America from war-torn Europe in the year 5701.
By way of introduction, it is interesting to point out something fascinating. The HaYom Yom of 14 Tammuz explains “why the people in America, who are ‘under Russia,’ are not falling off the earth.” While looking up the historical background of that HaYom Yom, I discovered the quote which is the basis for its message. It is from a letter that the Frierdike Rebbe wrote to our Rebbe (Igros Kodesh, Volume 2 page 491). Our Rebbe had asked the Frierdike Rebbe to explain to him a saying that he heard in the name of the Alter Rebbe, that “In America, there was no Mattan Torah.” In that letter, the Frierdike Rebbe explains that obviously the whole world received the Torah; rather the meaning is that the revealed effect of the giving of the Torah was not felt there as strongly as in the places near Eretz Yisroel.
In the middle of the letter the Frierdike Rebbe writes: “The Tzemach Tzedek notes in one of his discourses: ‘On Tuesday of Parshas Balak 5562 (1802) our master, of blessed memory, said to his sons as follows: To understand the problem posed by the astronomers, that since the earth is round and spherical like an apple, why do not those people fall who live on the side of the globe opposite to ours, ‘down below,’ in America… Their answer is not the true one… Our master, of blessed memory, said that the answer lies in explanation of the Eitz Chayim, that the Nine Spheres are nurtured by that state termed igulim, ‘circles,’ and in a circle there is no above or below. For this reason those who live opposite us, ‘down below,’ have their heavens high above them arching in one continuity with the heaven above us, and the earth there is below, relative to the heavens over it.
“The Tzemach Tzedek once told his son, my grandfather, an incident he experienced, and concluded: For helping someone in his livelihood, even to earn just 70 kopeks (a small, low-value Russian coin) on a calf, all the gates to the Heavenly Chambers are open for him.
“Years later my grandfather told this to my father and added: One should really know the route to the Heavenly Chambers, but actually it is not crucial. You only need the main thing – to help another wholeheartedly, with sensitivity, to take pleasure in doing a kindness to another.”
What was the “incident he experienced” from which this lesson was learned? The Frierdike Rebbe told the following story (Igros Kodesh Volume 4 page 523):
The Tzemach Tzedek had returned to Lubavitch from a journey, during which he had experienced several visions of the Alter Rebbe. He was expecting a similar vision upon his return, and had prepared a number of questions to ask the Alter Rebbe when the latter appeared.
Several days passed, and the vision did not come. Heavy-hearted, the Tzemach Tzedek examined his conduct to discern in which areas he needed to repent. One day, as he was going to shul for the morning prayers, R. Mordechai Eliyahu, one of the simple local villagers, approached him and requested a loan of three rubbles in order to buy some merchandise to sell and cover his Shabbos expenses.
The Tzemach Tzedek of course agreed to grant the loan and asked R. Pinchas to meet him at home after his prayers. But as he put his tallis on his shoulder in the midst of his preparations for prayer, he thought of R. Mordechai Eliyahu and realized: “Today is market day, and the transactions are conducted early. The sooner he has the money in hand, the better.” (See HaYom Yom 6 Tammuz: “The spiritual influence evoked by the mitzvos is drawn down by means of the transcendent light generated by the mitzvos themselves. For example, the mitzvah of tz’daka is a comprehensive mitzvah, as is evidenced by the fact that all the mitzvos are called ‘tz’daka.’ For this reason, it is most appropriate to contribute a coin for charity before performing any mitzvah, for it draws the transcendent light (makif) into the light that can be internalized (p’nimi). Still, this transcendent light is close, whereas the Torah is a distant transcendent light, whose effects are more elevated.”)
He put down the tallis, went home, took the money, and headed for the marketplace to find R. Mordechai Eliyahu and give him the loan. That done, he returned to shul and went to wash his hands in preparation for prayer. At that moment, the Alter Rebbe appeared to him with a glowing countenance and resolved all the questions that the Tzemach Tzedek had prepared.
It is very clear from this HaYom Yom and the story behind it that if we want to merit the Hisgalus of the Rebbe, we must add in our Ahavas Yisroel.
Ahavas Yisroel brings brachos to the individual, as evident from the HaYom Yom of 27 Cheshvan: “R. Aizik Homelier related: When I came to Liozna I met elder Chassidim who had been Chassidim of the Maggid and of R. Menachem Mendel of Horodok. They used to say: Have affection for a fellow-Jew and G‑d will have affection for you. Do a kindness for a fellow-Jew and G‑d will do a kindness for you. Befriend a fellow-Jew and G‑d will befriend you.”
Ahavas Yisroel is also the gate to our individual avoda, as the Alter Rebbe writes in his Siddur: “It is proper to say before prayer: I hereby take upon myself to fulfill the mitzva of ‘Love your fellow man as yourself.’ This means that the precept of Ahavas Yisroel is the entry-gate through which man can pass to stand before G‑d to daven. In the merit of that love the worshipper’s prayer is accepted.” ( HaYom Yom 2 Tammuz)
But most importantly, true Ahavas Yisroel is needed to bring about the Hisgalus of the Rebbe and Bias HaMoshiach.
The following are a few quotes from Seifer HaYom Yom about Ahavas Yisroel:
1) “My revered grandfather, the Rebbe [Maharash], once said: ‘Of what good is the study of Chassidus and the fear of Heaven if the main thing — a love of one’s fellow Jew — is lacking? And all the more so, if one person pains another!’” (8 av)
2) “The Mitteler Rebbe quoted the Alter Rebbe: ‘Ahavas Yisroel must consume a person entirely.’” (18 av)
3) “The Alter Rebbe received the following teaching from the saintly R. Mordechai, who heard it from the Baal Shem Tov: A soul can descend into This World and live its seventy or eighty years — just in order to do a favor for a fellow Jew in material matters, and how much more so, in spiritual matters.” (5 Iyar)
4) “The Alter Rebbe taught that the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, loving a fellow Jew, applies to every member of the Jewish people, even if one has never seen him. How much more does it apply to a member of the Jewish neighborhood in which one lives, to every man or woman who is a member of one’s own community.” (3 Adar 1)
5) “My revered father, the Rebbe [Rashab], once said: “It is a wondrous trait, when G‑d grants a person a warm sensitivity and a pleasurable satisfaction in doing a fellow Jew a favor — to the point that he cherishes him more than he cherishes himself. A person can find many reasons to explain why he himself deserves [to be challenged by] difficulties, whereas such assumptions about someone else are unthinkable.” (6 Adar 1)
Ahavas Yisroel is the key to the Geula and this must become our priority.
We will conclude with the words of the Rebbe (Matos-Massei 5751): “The connection between Ahavas Yisroel and the future Redemption can be emphasized yet again, not only because the negation of exile comes through the negation of the cause of exile (which comes through the opposite of Ahavas Yisroel). For in our situation, after the completion of our actions and Divine service throughout the time of exile, and after the completion of all forty two journey in the ‘wilderness of the nations,’ [when] we find ourselves already ‘by the Yarden near Yericho’ (the stage of Moshiach who ‘smells and judges’), on the threshold of Redemption, certainly the reason for exile has already been corrected. Therefore, the emphasis on Ahavas Yisroel anticipates the beginning of the true and complete Redemption, which is connected with the point of unity above any division. This emphasis on the unity of the Jewish people is a result of the aspect of yechida (the fifth level of the soul) that is in all Jews equally. For this is a spark of the soul of Moshiach, the general yechida.”
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