The Rebbe said repeatedly that spreading Torah and Judaism is not exclusive to Chabad but is the responsibility of everyone. * Beis Moshiach hosted the founders of large kiruv organizations in Eretz Yisroel who declare, “Our success is the Rebbe’s success!”
Interviewers: Oholiav Abutbul, Yisroel Lapidot, and Zalman Tzorfati
“WE DID NOT INNOVATE ANYTHING; IT’S ALL THE REBBE’S CREATION”
Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, who directs Ohr HaChayim, hosted us in his office attached to the yeshiva in the Beis Yisroel neighborhood of Yerushalayim. He shared his memories of the shluchim in Morocco, the Lubavitcher who inspired him to do the work that he does, escaping his Litvishe yeshiva for farbrengens in Kfar Chabad and the son of a shliach who moved him tremendously. * R’ Elbaz states proudly, “In spreading Judaism I am the Rebbe’s disciple.”
By Oholiav Abutbul
Managing Director of Beis Moshiach in Eretz Yisroel
A long line of buses packed with IDF soldiers made their way toward the Mea Sh’arim neighborhood. It was almost zero hour, noontime.
The buses stopped and the soldiers alighted and stood at order. Their commanders gave their final instructions before entering the neighborhood and hundreds of soldiers began walking in perfect formation. Surprisingly, the appearance of the soldiers did not arouse any opposition on the part of the residents. It looked as though they all knew where the soldiers were headed. After a few minutes they reached their destination, Yeshivas Ohr HaChayim.
The sight of the huge room filled to capacity impressed them and they were drawn into the electrifying atmosphere.
In the center of the room stood the rosh yeshiva, R’ Reuven Elbaz. In his inimitable manner he kept the crowd spellbound. He pointed out that we are already in the time of Geula and now is the time to do t’shuva out of joy. He concluded with a story of the Baal Shem Tov and the crowd began to recite Slichos.
The new floors that have been added to the already huge building are the greatest testimony to the spiritual growth taking place here, and especially at the top. The building which is in the heart of the Mea Sh’arim neighborhood in Yerushalayim now rises majestically to great heights. We sat in R’ Elbaz’s modest office and talked.
R’ Elbaz was born in 5704 in Morocco and made aliya alone at the age of ten. His parents and brothers joined him some years later. He began his Torah learning after his bar mitzva in the Litvishe yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel and after he married he joined Sephardic institutions in Yerushalayim.
We know that one of the first outreach activities of the Rebbe was in Morocco. What do you remember about Chabad in Morocco?
The shliach that the Rebbe sent, R’ Michoel Lipsker a”h, was someone we all admired. He did holy work and although not everyone met him face to face, he was known throughout Morocco. From the great tzaddikim to the simple people, they all admired him.
Unfortunately, I did not attend the Chabad schools there since I was too young, and was not sent to learn there since we lived far from the central city of Casablanca. But my brothers and sisters attended Chabad schools and boruch Hashem received a quality chinuch. It was quite remarkable, all the Torah they built there. You could see it on whoever learned in Chabad schools. They were different than the rest; they were full of Torah and mitzvos with holiness and purity.
How did a student of a Litvishe yeshiva get involved in hafatza decades ago when the opposition to this was much greater?
I will tell you a secret which I have not told others; only I and my friends know about this. Although I learned in Litvishe yeshivos, every year, for Yud-Tes Kislev, I would go with a friend or two to the celebration in Kfar Chabad. I’m talking about more than fifty years ago. We would blunder on the roads but would finally arrive. Their bonding, their love, friendship, and the special atmosphere is indescribable. I saw august Chassidim, rabbanim of stature along with regular Jews.
When I would return from Kfar Chabad after this magnificent experience, I would think that we too must bring and connect other Jews to Hashem. With this tremendous feeling of inspiration, I would go to my parents’ home in Teveria and resolve to use the gifts Hashem gave me to bring in more Jews. Hashem gave me the power of speech. I would give a speech in the shul on Shabbos and then at a bar mitzva, etc. I saw I was having an impact and it motivated me to continue.
One of the people who had a great influence on me and pushed me into doing this was a Lubavitcher, the tzaddik, R’ Moshe Weber a”h. When I learned in the Old City, I would see him standing at the Kosel for hours and putting t’fillin on people. Even when he was quite old, he continued doing this. One time, he came over to me and said that he had started a network called ‘Shiurei Torah,’ and he asked me to give shiurim in exchange for meager pay in the Musrara neighborhood of Yerushalayim. It was a neighborhood that was starting to go downhill.
I agreed but R’ Moshe asked me whether I am really taking this on wholeheartedly. I said I was. Boruch Hashem, every week I give a shiur there and everything started with that.
I must tell you that when it comes to spreading Judaism, we are all disciples of the Rebbe. I am a disciple of the Rebbe. There is no one who can do what the Rebbe does. He fully devoted himself to this and took people, it made no difference whether they knew the language, knew the name of the country, and immediately after they married he sent them to spread Judaism. Who else could do something like this? Who implanted this within the Jewish people? The Rebbe’s power is something we cannot begin to describe.
Since the Rebbe began this revolution, there are dozens if not hundreds of other organizations that do outreach work. Can you point out the different approaches?
It’s all the Rebbe’s work. He raised up all of Am Yisroel. It is undeniable. We are all perpetuating what he started. We did not invent anything!
What did Avrohom Avinu do? He made souls in Charan. We make souls. The approach that I learned is to appeal to the Jewish feeling, to the neshama of a person. In the teachings of the holy Ohr HaChayim we see very deep matters of the mind, but it is all with a flame. We see how he fans the holy fire, the fire of k’dusha. Enthusiasm, simcha. He puts the emotional intensity into divrei Torah. There are people who think you need to take the scientific approach but what can I tell you … In the time it takes them to be mekarev one or two, I am able to bring several hundred. The Jewish people are described as bashful, compassionate and doers of kindness; it’s all emotion.
This is the motto of Chabad, this is what they do. They appeal to the Jewish heart, to the neshama. I am sure that if all the organizations that deal with spreading Judaism would take this approach into account, the entire Jewish people would have done t’shuva already.
How important do you think it is to learn Chassidus?
The rav chuckled. “Shall I tell you another secret? I have a chavrusa to learn Tanya. From this book we draw emuna, real emuna. If you walk around the beis midrash downstairs, you can see how nearly all the sifrei Chassidus are Chabad. In my yeshiva and in my drashos I draw upon Chassidus and Gemara along with musar and inyanei Geula. But by us the emphasis is more on the study of Gemara and daily Halacha.”
You are invited all over the world. Can you tell us about encounters with the Rebbe’s shluchim?
I recently had to fly to Las Vegas to cut the hair of the three year old grandson of a very wealthy supporter, Sheldon Adelson. It was a big simcha and when it was over I asked where we could daven Mincha. Adelson jumped up and said: We have a Chabad house here. Directly opposite the hall was the Chabad house and I went in. I couldn’t stop marveling.
A few years ago I was in South Africa, in Cape Town, where I also visited a Chabad house. It’s a beautiful place on the sea and I was very moved because I met the son of the rabbi. They live among gentiles, at the end of the world, and he’s a pure child, refined, holy. It’s the ko’ach of the Rebbe. Wherever I go, I try to visit a Chabad house.
You are known for speaking a lot about the times we are living in, the time of the Geula, even with those who are not yet religious. What do they think of this?
(Surprised by the very question and banging on the table:) They accept it! Of course they accept it. Do they have another choice? Who do they want? ISIS? It’s one of the things that Chazal say, Ben Dovid (Moshiach) won’t come except when our minds are diverted. Everything going on in the world today diverts our minds from the anticipation and belief in the coming of Moshiach. Everyone will be asked, did you anticipate the salvation?
We just had the Kinus HaShluchim. What would you like to tell them?
I wish all Chabad Chassidim, especially the Rebbe’s shluchim, the greatest success; in whatever you do – be successful. Bring Hashem’s blessing everywhere. The main thing is that you merit to complete the work in bringing the Righteous Redeemer speedily in our days, amen!
“TO ME, EVERY CHABADNIK IS A SHLIACH”
R’ Dov Begon, founded Machon Meir forty years ago. * In an exclusive interview with Beis Moshiach he praises the Rebbe’s shlichus empire and explains the connection of his life’s work to Chabad and reveals for the first time his Chabad connection at the start of his journey toward Judaism.
By Yisroel Lapidot
R’ Dov Begon was born in 5700/1940 in Cholon. He grew up secular and was even active in the HaShomer HaTzair (virulent anti-religious) movement. He served as an IDF combat officer and fought in the Six Day War.
“My mother’s roots were Chassidic. My grandfather was R’ Dov Ber Sofer a”h. He was a scribe and was a chavrusa (study partner) with the Ostrovtze Rebbe. My father came from a Misnagdic family.”
He was one of the first kibbutznikim who became a baal t’shuva. At age 23 he decided to deepen his knowledge of Torah and Judaism. Under the influence of R’ Aharon Keller, rav of Nahariya, he began learning in Yeshivas Kfar Chassidim and later in Yeshivas Merkaz HaRav in Yerushalayim He learned there for over ten years by R’ Tzvi Yehuda Kook and became his devoted disciple and received rabbinic ordination from him.
After the Yom Kippur War, he decided to found Machon Meir, named for the paratrooper Meir Lifshitz, H’yd, whom he knew as a talmid chacham, who fell at the Suez Canal a few months earlier.
***
In the course of your personal journey toward Judaism, did Chabad play a role?
Yes. The one who was mekarev me at the beginning was a Lubavitcher, R’ Moshe Segal. He was one of the first to settle in Kfar Chabad and after the Six Day War he was the first Jew to settle in the Old City of Yerushalayim.
R’ Segal was a very courageous man. He simply did not know what fear was. He had a very principled worldview and this made a powerful impression on me. He would put on t’fillin at the Kosel, he would blow the shofar there under the British … and I had the privilege of being niskarev through him.
Our paths crossed when I was a guide for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) and he was the secretary of the yishuv Kfar Chabad. One day, I led a group of secretaries of yishuvim and he was one of them but he stood out because of his long white beard. He saw that I was a little interested in Judaism and he invited me to his home for Shabbos.
What do you remember of Kfar Chabad of those days?
I only vaguely remember that visit. It was many years ago. I was a kibbutznik and had no prior awareness of Chabad.
During the visit they tried to fill in the gaps for me … They showed me pictures of Chabad Admurim and told me who each one was. This is the first Rebbe, the second …
But what I remember is that I saw all kinds of symbols of the various Jewish Undergrounds of which he had been a member and I was surprised. What was this doing by an older Chassid like him? I asked him and he told me his history, about how he was one of the founders of the Brit HaChashmonaim and an active member in Etzel and Lechi. That was an experience, to meet a Jew like this, a Chassid, in Kfar Chabad.
What motivated you to start an organization to spread Judaism to the general public?
Having been a product of the kibbutzim and having learned in yeshiva for a number of years, people approached me to teach Torah, especially after the Yom Kippur War. That is when we founded Machon Meir, in order to help those who were searching.
Until today, we see that there is a great interest. Hundreds of people come to our yeshiva to talk, learn Torah, and strengthen their Torah study. This is in addition to a website that has become a place for tens of thousands to learn Torah.
Do you have any interaction with shluchim of the Rebbe?
I don’t know what that means, “shluchim of the Rebbe.” To me, every Chabadnik is a shliach of the Rebbe, and I’ve met many Chabad Chassidim over the years.
The truth is, every Jew is a shliach of Hashem. What is the shlichus? Being a personal example that makes a kiddush Hashem! It’s like the Gemara in tractate Yoma says about someone who merits and the name of heaven becomes beloved through him, as opposed to someone who desecrates … Rashi there explains that you sanctify Hashem’s name by personal example.
So every Jew needs to be a role model and to make Hashem’s name beloved to others. That is called shlichus, Hashem’s shlichus.
I’ve been saying this to myself for years now. I was taught Torah not for myself but to pass it forward.
This is how the Rebbe educated his Chassidim, that everyone is a shliach. That is what I teach my students, to live with this mission of being a personal example, to sanctify G-d’s name and to be mekarev Jews to Hashem. And if not now, then when?
Many people see your important work as having a connection with the Rebbe’s global outreach efforts. Do you see it that way?
The Rebbe’s shluchim are doing holy work. I am a talmid of Merkaz HaRav and from there I have taken strength and direction in the spirit of the saying, “Be of the students of Aharon, love peace, pursue peace, love creatures and draw them close to Torah.” This is the path that I try to take.
The approach we use is not to love briyos in order to draw them close to Torah, but to simply love briyos. Drawing them close to Torah is a separate matter. If you do everything for the sake of heaven, to be mekarev Jews to our Father in heaven, then you have the siyata d’Shmaya (heavenly assistance) to be successful in kiruv.
Is Chassidus learned in your yeshiva?
In our yeshiva there is a bookcase packed with many sifrei Chassidus. The teachings of Chassidus are sweet, really sweet! And Chassidus is a large tree with many branches.
Our approach is to allow every student to learn according to the root of his soul. Some are inclined toward Chassidus and some toward Halacha. Just as their faces are different, their outlooks are different.
What about you?
I read and learn sifrei Chassidus, although not as much as I would like. I have learned Tanya a bit which deals with the foundations of Jewish faith, similar to kabbala, if I can say so.
What message do you have for the shluchim?
I wish you strength, that you sanctify Hashem’s name wherever you are, and know that you are literally involved with saving lives, as the Rebbe says. It’s a big mitzva; there is no greater mitzva than drawing people close to our Father in heaven, as the Chovos HaLevavos says. No other mitzva compares to this.
G-D FORBID TO PUSH ASIDE THE TOPIC OF GEULA
R’ Zamir Cohen, who runs the Hidabroot organization, which spreads Judaism through a variety of means, particularly the Hidabroot cable station, spoke with Beis Moshiach about the revolution the Rebbe wrought in Jewish awareness. * He says people are ready to hear about Moshiach and Geula, but you have to know how to present it. His most watched lecture on Hidabroot is a talk about prophecies of the Geula.
By Zalman Tzorfati
He is familiar to many people from the television screen. He is a popular lecturer who has vast numbers of people tuning in to his lectures in Eretz Yisroel and the world over. R’ Zamir Cohen, who runs Hidabroot, sees spreading Jewish knowledge to every Jew as his life’s task, just like the shluchim. He says the Rebbe gave the push to whoever is involved in kiruv today.
What do you think of the Rebbe’s shlichus empire?
The Rebbe is the one who started and promoted the importance of kiruv. It’s not just awareness about it, but the belief that it will succeed. When the Rebbe started sending shluchim to distant places, there was no precedent and nobody could guarantee that it would succeed. But the Rebbe instilled the imperative to take action within the public as well as the belief that this would be successful.
Today, Jews come from every corner of the world and report about being in the most distant places where someone displayed love and kiruv toward them. The turning point in their lives took place there, in that faraway place. This is something that previously one would have been skeptical about its success. This gave the push to all those today who are involved in kiruv.
Do you think that Chassidus is an added dimension in kiruv? If so, what does it offer?
Chassidus is based on the teachings of kabbala and it makes the deep concepts of kabbala accessible to the masses. Without learning p’nimius ha’Torah, mitzvos are done because this is what we do or because this is what is written. Torah consists of ‘PaRDeS,’ four dimensions. The more we delve, the more a person comes to recognize his greatness in the world and his capabilities. He learns that every little action that a person does, positive or negative, has a great spiritual repercussion. This inner understanding moves people away from doing mitzvos by rote to doing mitzvos with enthusiasm. It is basic and necessary for every Jew.
Do you use ideas from Chassidus?
Now and then. In our lectures we try to incorporate any and all information that will contribute toward strengthening people, from a wide range of fundamental works especially the principles from kabbala. There are also entire lectures that deal with these topics.
One of the primary things the Rebbe spoke about was the Geula. Some people push aside talk on this subject. How much is this part of your lectures?
Heaven forbid to cast it aside. According to information given to me by the managers of the Hidabroot website, the most watched lecture on the site is one called: Prophecies of the End of Days. I talk about the signs that were said about this time. Anyone who thinks about it, even if he is not religious, sees that there was no generation in which these signs were fulfilled, one by one, like our generation. We cannot deal with dates, Chazal already said negative things about those who do, but the signs that were said about the period of Yemos HaMoshiach are coming true. I am talking about explicit signs, not those things which were said as riddles but clear things said in the verses and in Chazal.
The last part of the lecture is about Yemos HaMoshiach. Recently, there has been a tremendous interest in knowing about this, perhaps as a result of the rise of Islam in the world, with world terrorism and the world shocked by the cruel acts perpetrated by Moslems. I am about to go on a lecture tour to the US and South America and the main topic will be a lecture about prophecies of the Geula.
People are ready to hear it?
Yes, but you have to know how to present it. If you talk about Geula as something abstract, people feel that it’s remote.
As someone who is involved in kiruv, where do you encounter the work of the shluchim? Are there areas of overlap?
Of course! We sometimes hold lectures in Chabad houses like in Bangkok and in China, and everywhere where there is collaboration between the local shluchim and Hidabroot. There are also the people who get a smattering of Judaism through the Internet and continue their learning with their local shluchim.
We have seen that using satellite and cable in Eretz Yisroel and the Internet all over the world has proven to be extremely effective. I must say that the Rebbe is the first one to announce that we must use the various forms of communication to spread Judaism and reach every Jew. At the time he said this, it all seemed far-fetched, but today we see it coming to fruition. When Jews report from their area that they were niskarev through the Internet, and you cannot become a fully religious Jew over the Internet, they go out and look to see how to practically live Judaism and find Chabad shluchim.
I’ll tell you about something that I heard from a young man who came to a lecture in Atlanta. He grew up without any connection to Judaism and came to the lecture with a friend. During the lecture something was ignited in him and he watched other lectures on the Internet. Then he heard about a Chabad house in his area. On Simchas Torah he went for hakafos and when he danced there with everyone, he asked the shliach where he could buy tzitzis. He was dumbfounded when the shliach took off his own tzitzis and gave them to him. This act of Ahavas Yisroel so impressed him that he committed to observing Shabbos. When you see Ahavas Yisroel and mesirus nefesh, you cannot remain indifferent; you have to connect.
On a more personal note, what got you involved in kiruv?
First, when you love a Jew, you cannot bear to see him suffering. In the past, you were mekarev someone because you were concerned about his Olam Haba, while now you need to be mekarev Jews so that they have Olam HaZeh too. Because today, without Torah, there is no Olam HaZeh and no Olam Haba. During the period when I served as a rosh kollel for rabbinic ordination, I saw what ignorance and even hostility there was to Torah, to mitzvos, to mitzva observant people, just due to lack of knowledge. From there, they deteriorate until even in this world they suffer in all aspects of life whether with shalom bayis, with their children, with their character and handling various situations.
Today, the yetzer ha’ra makes it seem that if a person goes with Torah then he won’t have Olam HaZeh. It’s the other way round; with Torah he has more of Olam HaZeh, and this can be demonstrated.
By the way, this is the last lecture in every seminar. I always dedicate the last one, before everyone goes home, after all the lectures on proofs of Torah from heaven and other topics, to showing that someone who goes with Torah enjoys this world.
When you love a person and see how things are not going well for him, it obligates you, even if it requires a certain sacrifice of your time, to say things which seem obvious to you and which you need to prove. I saw something interesting in the Chasam Sofer. He writes that Hashem referred to Avrohom as my beloved although seemingly there were people no less great like Chanoch and others. Why was Avrohom singled out? The Chasam Sofer says it’s because if Avrohom had removed himself from the world and had stayed at home, he would have ascended to a higher level than he achieved. After all, when he had to go and talk to idol worshipers and prove the truth to them, to him it was a waste of his time. He had to sit with Arabs who worshiped the dust of their feet and prove to them that this is not rational; for him, this was a total waste of time.
It looks as though he lost out but it was a man like this who was beloved to Hashem. This ought to be a lesson to us. Whoever does this work anywhere in the world needs to know this. Sometimes, a person can feel that he is losing out and that he could have done more with himself, but he needs to know that someone who is beloved to Hashem is one who cares about his brethren and goes and takes action on their behalf. Hashem then gives him a blessing in his Torah and his learning.
So you’re saying it helps in his Torah study?
That’s what it says, that the early Chassidim would spend an hour before they davened and an hour after they davened. The Gemara says they achieved in a short time what it took other people more hours.
Do you think other groups should go on shlichus?
There is a call from g’dolei Yisroel of all groups for b’nei Torah to devote a tenth of their time for others just as they give a tenth of their money to tz’daka. This is certainly something that ought to be done, but first, a person needs to fill himself up with Torah. Then the quality and quantity of his giving will be altogether different.
To conclude?
I wish all those who are involved in this holy work, may blessing rest upon what you do and may you continue to sanctify Hashem’s name wherever you are, with lots of siyata d’Shmaya, and may we soon merit to see all the Jewish people united with the Geula shleima, amen.