R’ Halperin speaks for the first time: About the secret to the success of his magnificent community, their annual group trip to the Rebbe, the way to be mekarev every Jew and convey the Besuras Ha’Geula without cutting corners. * R’ Yisroel Halperin, shliach and rav of the Chabad community in Hertzliya, in a candid interview. Part 2 of 2.
R’ Halperin holding the Tanya which was printed in the mayor’s office with Yechi on the cover [inset: Printing the Tanya in the mayor’s office] Photos by Ezriel Moshe
WAR AGAINST THE INTERNET: FROM A DEFENSIVE WAR TO AN OFFENSIVE WAR
Over the years, dozens of families became interested in religious observance and a large, dynamic Chabad community formed in Hertzliya.
Unlike other Chabad communities which are somewhat removed from irreligious surroundings, your k’hilla is located squarely within the secular milieu which is Hertzliya. How do you preserve yiras Shamayim and a Chassidishe atmosphere?
It’s definitely not easy. As you’ve noted, Hertzliya is a very open place and many groups find it hard to stand up to the destructive influences of the street. They try to wage a resistance war but from our perspective that’s not enough, because as shluchim the Rebbe demands of us that we transform the “masses of Rome,” to an atmosphere of Lubavitch-of-Lubavitch. Instead of a resistance war we need to wage an offensive war focused on progress.
The secret to success is sourced in an idea in the sicha of Parshas Chayei Sarah 5752 where the Rebbe says the only thing remaining now in the avodas ha’shlichus is kabbalas p’nei Moshiach Tzidkeinu. This is not flowery language but the essence of what shlichus is about. When you implant this point within every detail of avodas Hashem and hafatzas ha’maayanos, you see incredible success.
Herein lies the answer to your question. In our k’hilla we really “live” the belief that the Rebbe is about to be revealed now. When you know that momentarily you will have to face the Rebbe, your personal order of priorities changes.
Everyone understands that when that happy moment comes, we will want to look our best, inside and out. When speaking about Moshiach, the soul garments need to be beautiful: good thoughts, good speech and good action.
One of the practices that are integral to “living” with the Rebbe is writing reports regularly to the Rebbe. Every Motzaei Shabbos, R’ Halperin sits down to write reports to the Rebbe including good news. Not just he, but also the rest of the shluchim and Anash in Hertzliya who receive reminder texts to write good news to the Rebbe.
“This is the happiest time of the week for me,” says R’ Halperin. “I collect every bit of news, personal or general, in order to relate it to the Rebbe and give him nachas. Writing the weekly report gives me the feeling all week that there is someone to answer to, because throughout the week I think about what I will tell him. When important things happen and especially good news, I don’t wait for Motzaei Shabbos but write it immediately. Every report includes all the online posts, all the flyers and web pages of the Chabad House and the articles about us in the papers or the things we submitted. These reports are filed away along with a copy of the answer from the Rebbe, and the horaos that we get through the answers become the focus of our shlichus that week, among all our other activities.
And yet, the openness is not only in the street but inside the houses too, through technology and the Internet, which is the biggest nisayon (spiritual test) of our generation. You use the Internet in your shlichus to spread Judaism and Chassidus whether on your website or your active Facebook page. How can you use this technology without being exposed and being harmed by it?
First of all, only a few people work on these sites and they use filtered and very limited Internet. We bought protected phones for them and we pay for the best filters.
In accordance with the guidance of Chabad rabbanim, our approach is that those who don’t need the Internet for parnasa, are better off not being connected to it at all. When they are businessmen who need it for parnasa, we refer them to suitable filtering options.
It’s important to emphasize that the Chabad community in Hertzliya (like many other communities) is comprised of different levels – there are Chabad Chassidim through and through, mekuravim who are starting out, and many others who are in between. Among those in between there are some who are stuck at a certain stage for a long time, but generally speaking they feel like an integral part of the Chabad community. So I don’t issue sweeping directives but try to speak to each person and relate to where he is at.
Personal example, as always, is very important. So I zealously keep my distance from all forms of media. I don’t use a Smartphone even with good protection so as not to give the impression that it’s permissible. For the same reason, I don’t look at Internet sites, not even our own. When those who run the site want me to look over content, they print it out for me.
I try to stay away from all of it, to the nth degree. In our community people know that the only magazine I look at is Beis Moshiach. The dedicated team of shluchim know that I don’t even want the local paper in which we printed big ads about our work. When there is news about Chabad in the paper, they cut it out and give it to me.
Boruch Hashem, it works. Before Shabbos, those who run the site print out the new content for the community. I can tell you honestly that if they did not hang the online content on the wall, most of the people in the community would not know what is on the Chabad House Facebook page.
But as I said, all this is only part of the defensive war, and it’s not enough. If you want to succeed, you need to focus on an offensive war and then the rule of the Sages, “since he is busy expelling, he does not absorb,” will prevail. When you are busy with outreach and hafatza and your mind is constantly thinking about how to prepare the world to greet Moshiach, there is no time to be influenced by the big world out there.
This is one of the reasons that we are very particular about including the members of the community in our outreach work. It is the secret to the success of the community and the secret to success for each person individually.
NOT A COMMANDER,
AN ADVISOR
I’ve heard about how you include everyone in the community in your work. They say that you’ve incorporated methods that the army uses.
R’ Halperin smiled and said that their big success is not a result of military toughness. On the contrary, it’s about a personal relationship with everyone in the community.
“I operate with the method of ‘advisor’ (as the Rebbe says in the sicha of Shoftim 5751) and get people to partner with us and do the things the Rebbe said. They understand that this is important for them.”
Please tell us how your community is involved in your activities.
First, they are involved in the mivtzaim that we do, both the regular ones and the seasonal ones. People go out on mivtza mezuza, mivtza t’fillin, and the other mivtzaim on a regular basis. There is a rotation system and each one does what he can.
I’ll give you an example from a new project that we started this year. After I saw how the Shabbos meals that shluchim hold around the world are so successful, especially at the Chabad Houses geared to tourists where guests are exposed for the first time to an authentic Shabbos, we decided to do it here too. We say, “Come and taste Chabad in the East – in Hertzliya.”
The one in charge of this project is in touch with all the shluchim who host people from Hertzliya visiting the Far East. We ask for their email addresses and when they return to Hertzliya we keep up with them following the same format of providing Shabbos meals. Those who are inspired there, continue here. We also asked some of the shluchim in those countries to come and attend the Shabbos meals we host. We have advertised it on Facebook and have reached 25,000 people and get a lot of responses.
So every Shabbos we have fun Shabbos meals. They are open to all and are very successful. Every Friday night, Anash families bring mekuravim to these meals and families from our community run the meals.
Another project we started last summer is a mobile trailer Chabad House, in the form of 770, 10 meters big. We did massive advertising for this and every day, the mobile Chabad House is parked in a different neighborhood and enables people to get all their Jewish needs taken care of close to home – Chabad comes to you.
Another project that the entire community participates in and which is very successful is the Pesach campaign. The Rebbe asked that we distribute handmade shmura matza to as many Jews as possible. Two years ago we decided that in order to hasten the Geula we need to give out as much “food of faith” as we can so it would become part of the flesh and blood of the residents of Hertzliya. It was a huge operation in which we literally went from door to door, including the university. We prepared a package which contained matza and explanatory materials. Women and girls from the community packed tens of thousands of these packages while Anash and the bachurim in the community gave them out around the clock to 35,000 homes and businesses!
Anash are active participants in the huge array of shiurim we offer. There are so many shiurim that when we submitted a request for funding from the municipal funding committee the clerk was amazed and asked, “One non-profit organization gives so many Torah classes?!” Apparently, the number of shiurim given by the Chabad House equals the number of shiurim given by all the other organizations in the city together!
THE “REBBE MH”M SHLITA” WITHOUT CUTTING CORNERS
In 5770, R’ Yisroel Halperin was awarded the title “Yakir Ha’ir” for the year 5770. R’ Halperin was chosen by a committee with a majority vote of 17 out of 18 members. He is the youngest resident to be awarded this prize which is usually given to those with a proven track record in their 70’s. In the statement explaining the award they wrote that R’ Halperin received it for his work in founding community Jewish centers for the public, a chesed center for the needy, educational institutions and subsidies for children of needy families, and for establishing a branch of Yad Sarah in Hertzliya.
At the award giving ceremony, in front of 600 distinguished city leaders, R’ Halperin emphasized that his big success is thanks to the people of the community who work as a team. He is only the representative of all those who think the congratulations is not due them but recognize that their success is thanks to the Rebbe MH”M shlita, and that they work for him. R’ Halperin always conveys this message, that all the success is attributed to the Rebbe. “We only try not to ruin things and to be the conduit to transmit the abundance that the Rebbe supplies,” he says.
When R’ Halperin mentions the Rebbe, it makes no difference when or where, he says the full title, “Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach shlita.” He did so in front of 600 local dignitaries, just like he says it in the shul where he is the rav and in this interview.
I wanted to discuss this point with him. There are people who are afraid that talking this way after Gimmel Tammuz will raise eyebrows and turn people off to Judaism and Chassidus. R’ Halperin is certainly qualified to address this, being in the field himself, and he knows that this perspective is simply not borne out. He believes that when you go with the truth, people relate to it, whether it’s Moshiach or in general, issues in Halacha and Judaism.
When he arranges a Chassidishe farbrengen for a special date, numerous local residents attend. Unlike other places that need to bring in artists and stars to draw a crowd, R’ Halperin does events “al taharas ha’kodesh” with chassidishe mashpiim. The seating is completely separate with a mechitza and there are only Chabad niggunim. Despite all these restrictions, if you want to call them that, the hall is full, while other groups in the city, who organize events and bring in special guests, have a hard time filling half a hall.
At the Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen last year, the mayor, Moshe Fadlon, came and told of the brachos he received through the Igros Kodesh. He told everyone that he was elected to his job thanks to the “Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach.”
Many shluchim have a hard time explaining that the Rebbe is Moshiach. They find it even harder to explain that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam. What is the secret to your success?
There are no secrets. First of all, you need consistent, non-compromising activities, both in a way of makif and a way of p’nimi. Starting in 5752, every week we hang posters on every notice board in the city with a picture of the Rebbe under which it says, “Melech HaMoshiach.” Our “makif” is very strong.
The first time I met the previous mayor of Hertzliya, Mrs. German, when she became mayor, I made sure to tell her that when I say “Rebbe,” I mean the Rebbe MH”M shlita. She was offended and said, “Rabbi, I am well aware of basic things in Judaism.”
After the general makif, there is the closer makif and aside from the standard Chabad activities, R’ Halperin gives an example unique to Hertzliya:
We have a shliach to the stores. Here too, the routine outreach work of putting on t’fillin and encouraging conversations about Judaism are permeated with the idea of kabbalas p’nei Moshiach. The shliach suggested to storeowners a way of getting a special bracha for their business: a certificate with their picture, showing them holding the Rebbe’s picture which says “Melech HaMoshiach” on it. The cost for the certificate is mitzvos, which are recorded in a special “written pledge of allegiance” to hasten the Geula.
A business owner signs that he joyfully anticipates the Geula and that he is preparing himself and his household to welcome Moshiach along with good hachlatos. We place this in a golden book for kabbalas p’nei Moshiach Tzidkeinu bound with a beautiful leather binding.
People take this very seriously. They wash their hands, make a good hachlata, and then have their picture taken with the Rebbe’s picture. Then they receive a certificate with this picture which they hang in a prominent place in their store. When residents of Hertzliya go into store after store, including fancy establishments, and see that the storeowners identify with the message, they view the subject differently. The storeowners also say that they consider themselves representatives of the Besuras Ha’Geula.
Here’s another thing – last year, many storeowners (that have no kashrus or tznius problems) have set up video screens in the front of their stores which show videos of the Rebbe all day. That’s besides all the Chabad Houses around the city that show Rebbe videos all day. Above the video screen is a golden sign which says, “Seeing the face of the Rebbe MH”M shlita.” These are all over, including high-tech places, and people stop and watch and are very impressed.
We convey these messages both openly and indirectly and insert it at every opportunity. When, for example, on the soup kitchen sign it says “Yechi,” or when we write the word “appeal” next to a picture of an old man and it says, “We don’t allow anyone to go hungry in this city,” and next to it says “Yechi,” that sends a message that people who are committed to the welfare of others say Yechi.
I don’t try to convince people that the Rebbe is Moshiach; I present it as a fact, as the reality. I’ll give you an example. The first day the current mayor went to his office, the first thing he did was operate the printing machine that printed a Tanya that was waiting for him in his office. That was what he did before he sat down. First he said Yechi and then he pressed the “copy” button in the presence of the rav of the city who is Litvish. In this edition of Tanya there were dedications that began with Yechi. The mayor looked it over and then gave out copies of the volume with the logo, “From the Office of the Mayor of Hertzliya.” On the binding is the logo of the mayor along with Yechi. Aside from that, at the top of the dedications it says “In the merit of the Rebbe MH” M shlita.”
I think that this expresses the desire of the Rebbe who first speaks about the need to be “stubborn” and only then to “come up with ideas.” First, you need to know that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam. Otherwise, the main thing is missing from the book, just like you can’t ask a question in the laws of Shabbos if your belief in G-d is unstable.
So what is the method exactly, establishing facts on the ground?
Our method is that there is no method. You just need to sit down and learn the sichos, the D’var Malchus, and do what the Rebbe says. That is the best method, like the simple servant who does his tasks with complete faith.
THE “K’VUTZA” OF HERTZLIYA
“The group from Hertzliya came,” people say to one another in 770. Every year during Tishrei this repeats itself and has become part of the Tishrei scene.
R’ Yisroel Halperin comes every year with a group from his community and mekuravim who want to be with the Rebbe for the latter part of Tishrei, Z’man Simchaseinu.
When did this begin? How do you do it successfully?
It started in the Hakhel year of 5748 when we came with a group of thirty people. Unfortunately, the following Hakhel, 5755, the first Tishrei after Gimmel Tammuz, it was just me and my family who came from Hertzliya. From all of Eretz Yisroel, only four entire families came. I saw that this needs chizuk.
The following Tishrei, 5756, I came with a group again and stood near the Rebbe’s bima. People around me did not understand why we were pushing when there was plenty of room. The guys from Hertzliya said to me, “Rabbi, isn’t this a bit much?”
I said to them, “Hold on tight, soon there won’t be any room.” Indeed, today, you need to forcefully push your way through to get to stand near the Rebbe’s bima. Boruch Hashem.
The group comes every year, like soldiers. They don’t just go to Beis Moshiach, but to Moshiach himself. The Rebbe is in 770 and they want to see him himself. The fact that we don’t see him yet and that “for a brief moment I have left you,” is the Rebbe’s choice. We do our part and we are certain that this will immediately “work out.”
When the members of our group go on Tahalucha to shuls in Boro Park, many people join us. We march through Boro Park and sing “V’Samachta” and “Yechi,” and windows open and people watch. There are people in charge so we sing and walk in unison which makes a wonderful impression on those who see us. One shul did not want to let us in so we stayed outside and made a circle and danced. Last year, the gabbaim came out and invited us in.
The group is very unified. The guys sleep together, eat together, learn together, and proclaim Yechi together. It gives everyone lots of strength for the entire year. When we return to Hertzliya, we make a farbrengen and people share their impressions.
Of course, before we leave, we make sure that the shlichus in Hertzliya is not adversely affected.
What can you tell us about how these trips to the Rebbe affect the members of the group?
It makes an enormous impression. Here is one example out of many. Two years ago, one of the local big time lawyers joined me for Simchas Torah. He stood next to me during the hakafos. You had to see what kind of letter he wrote afterward to the city newspaper…
One of the mekuravim joined our trip after a few years. Afterward he decided to grow a beard and to publicize wherever possible that the Rebbe MH”M is chai v’kayam. He appears at all kinds of respected forums. At first he thought, should I tell them that the Rebbe MH”M is alive? Well, if I am sure it is true then it will be accepted just fine. And that’s what happened. After a while he said, “It’s amazing! Whenever I conveyed the message with full confidence, it was accepted.”
THE REBBE PROVIDES THE STRENGTH OF A KING
Can you tell us what chiddush the Rebbe introduced regarding Hakhel?
I’ll summarize what the Rebbe said. Hakhel is the only mitzva where the spiritual intent is the main thing, while other aspects of the mitzva are merely details and not the essence of the mitzva. This is the reason why we don’t have a formal commemorative practice “zecher l’Mikdash” for Hakhel, because the whole idea of Hakhel is that the king is supposed to strengthen the true religion and re-inspire people like at Mattan Torah. The mitzva is done once in seven years – Hashem, through the king who is His emissary, strengthens and renews the revelation of Mattan Torah in people’s hearts. The goal is to provide kochos and awaken great desire to strengthen yiras Shamayim and the performance of mitzvos.
The Rebbe, as king of our times, provides each one of us with the kochos of the king to accomplish this very goal. How? By introducing the topic of Hakhel to any existing gathering or by organizing Hakhel gatherings, thus infusing spiritual energy and an arousal of a desire for yiras Shamayim and mitzva performance and accepting the Rebbe as Moshiach.
Every gathering has to be connected to the main point, that this year we have the ability to renew the spiritual charge of Mattan Torah. Each of us has renewed abilities for mitzva observance and to welcome Moshiach. Just mentioning “Hakhel” accomplishes something. The Rebbe supplies us with a mighty tool that can revive so many people, with the concept of Hakhel.
This is even more impactful when you connect people to the Rebbe. At every gathering, without shame, you need to declare that the Rebbe MH”M says this is a Hakhel year; the king gives kochos to every person and is doing so here and now. That sums up Hakhel. The Rebbe notes that in this matter every person is like a king in that he can inspire the people around him.
LEADING NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS
R’ Halperin, along with his work as rav and shliach, undertook to lead more than ten national campaigns over the years, and received instructions from the Rebbe about how to go about them. R’ Halperin, with his military knowledge, knows how to organize large scale and smooth running operations.
Back in 5740, he received a Chassidic “Tzav 8” (an emergency call for military service) regarding Lag B’Omer parades. That year, the Rebbe asked that at least sixty parades be organized in Eretz Yisroel. R’ Halperin is an exceptional organizer and implementer and despite the small number of shluchim at that time, the headquarters was able to make 167 parades around the country!
Then he led the project of getting Jewish children to shuls on Shavuos, as the Rebbe said to do.
In the years that followed, he ran the national siyumim for the first and second Siyum HaRambam. He also was in charge of the central command structure for Chabad’s national campaign on behalf of Agudas Yisroel – Gimmel in the elections of 5749. In his view, the most important large scale project was leading the largest protest ever in Israeli history against the Oslo Accords in 5753.
Final remarks.
There is a saying that there are three things that people take to the extreme but in order to bring the Geula we need to forgo one of them. The three are: infinite emuna/faith, infinite achdus/unity, and infinite yeshus/egotism. As mentioned, we need to give up one of them…