SEE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE

From Chapter Eight of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the compiler’s emphasis.)

Translated by Boruch Merkur

25. The Zohar comments on the verse, “Your nation consists entirely of tzaddikim”: “one who is circumcised is called ‘tzaddik.’” The Rebbe Maharash cites this Zohar and teaches that also “when it says, ‘(Cast your burden upon G-d, and He will bear you) He shall never allow a righteous man to falter [in making a living],’ this is said regarding all Jews, for Jews are called ‘tzaddikim’ in virtue of being circumcised, etc. But we must understand how it is that there are so many Jews that are impoverished … Why isn’t each and every Jew granted an abundant livelihood? We may answer that the verse, ‘He shall never allow a righteous man to falter,’ does indeed refer to all Jews, as above. Why then are there Jews who have such serious financial crises? It is because their bitachon, their faith and assurance in G-d, is not as it should be … Lack of faith … interrupts the flow of livelihood. (It is analogous to shutting off the current of hashpaa, the Divine energy that provides livelihood.) If one would put his faith in G-d … he would make an ample living and he would experience the fulfillment of [the first part of] the verse, ‘Cast your burden upon G-d, and He will bear you.’”

The same principle applies to drawing down influence though the Rebbe.

But first to mention what I once told an individual (a couple years ago) – that people see what they want to see. That is, they interpret the concept of histalkus in the literal sense [of passing away]. They wish to behold the great exaltedness of the Rebbe, for whom the Lower Gan Eden does not suffice, nor is the Supernal Gan Eden adequate. True, the Seventh Heaven is incredibly sublime, but the greatness of the Rebbe is loftier still… Since the Alm-ghty is the very essence of goodness, and the nature of the good is to bestow benevolence upon others, G-d fulfills this person’s wish and shows him the exalted heights of the Rebbe – that the Rebbe transcends even the Seventh Heaven – and this person remains below [i.e., distant from the Rebbe]…

However, the concept of histalkus may also be understood on the basis of what the Rebbe explains in the maamer Basi L’Gani, which was published in honor of the day of the yahrtzait [of the Rebbe’s grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivka]. Namely, histalkus is the revelation of light at the lofty level of romemus, exaltedness. That is, although histalkus is romemus, something transcendent and lofty, it is drawn down below, as the statement of the Zohar is explained in Igeres HaKodesh: “A tzaddik who passes on is present in all worlds more than when he was alive.” When one adopts this understanding of histalkus with regard to the Rebbe, then he is shown from On High how the Rebbe is “present” in the world below, and he sees with his mortal eyes the influence extended to him through the Rebbe.

This concept is reflected in the words of the Rebbe (Rashab), nishmaso Eden, to his son, my revered father in-law, the Rebbe – that he called his name and said: “We shall remain whole [after our histalkus] not only in terms of our essence but also in terms of our hispashtus.”

That is, the influence the Rebbe imparts is not limited to when he is alive as a soul in a body, when he can be seen with mortal eyes, but even after his histalkus, when he is not visible in this world.

In fact, after his histalkus, the influence that extends from the Rebbe is even greater, since the limitations of the body are nullified.

And although there is the well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe (which is explained at length by my revered father in-law, the Rebbe) – that the Giving of the Torah did not take place in the lower hemisphere – the Rebbe’s influence extends not only to the upper hemisphere but to the lower hemisphere, as well.

And not only in a spiritual sense, but also materially.

(From the address of Shabbos Parshas Eikev, Chaf Menachem-Av 5713; Toras Menachem 5713, pg. 124-125)