The road to personal redemption, for those Jews regarding whom the Rebbe charged us with to reach out to them, often takes interesting turns. Some are affected by the “straight path to bringing the Redemption,” which the Rebbe told is through the study of Torah on the topics of Moshiach and Redemption. Others are impacted in a more roundabout way, starting off as observers looking from the outside in. The following is a sampling of shlichus stories that illustrate both types of spiritual journey.
The Rebbe said, “In recent generations … Jews sense and feel that Moshiach ‘stands behind our walls.’” The Rebbe didn’t just tell us what is happening behind the scenes; he guided us in how to get more and more people to feel Moshiach, through learning Inyanei Moshiach in Torah.
There are shluchim who put a lot of effort into teaching Inyanei Moshiach to mekuravim. They give shiurim, and when their audiences “get it,” that Moshiach is already here, they happily accept his malchus and start doing what he says to do.
MOSHIACH ON KIBBUTZIM
I’ve already had the pleasure, in this column, of introducing you to the shliach to the kibbutzim of the Beit Shaan Valley, R’ Roi Tor. R’ Tor is from the irreligious kibbutz Reshafim in the Valley, but after learning for several years in the Chabad Yeshiva Daat, run by R’ Yitzchok Arad, he became a shliach.
R’ Tor’s approach is to instill Geula through learning Inyanei Geula. He spent a long time and much effort preparing a series of classes on Inyanei Moshiach with written sources. The series was made available to others and is used by hundreds of shluchim. Whenever he has an opportunity to give a shiur or even say a short D’var Torah in shul, at a memorial gathering etc. one immediately feels the footsteps of Moshiach behind our walls. He inspires people to look forward to Moshiach’s coming and want to do more in Torah and mitzvos.
R’ Tor told me a story about one of his students, a young man on a kibbutz. The young man understood from the sources that in every generation there has to be someone suitable to redeem the Jewish people and this person has clear identifying indicators. According to what he learned, he is certain that the Rebbe is Moshiach. He said that when he first realized this, he couldn’t sleep at night. He constantly thought about this remarkable idea and was so excited that we have Moshiach and know who he is.
He began to look into what was expected of him as a consequence of the Rebbe being Moshiach. R’ Tor told him that the Rebbe asks that he put on t’fillin and encourage others to do so, that he keep Shabbos and so on with other mitzvos. The young man made this commitment.
R’ Tor said that the man went to the hospital for a test and met a neurologist who is also a Lubavitcher Chassid, Dr. Amikam Reshef. To his surprise, he learned that the doctor was from the same kibbutz as he and they got to talking. Later, the doctor called R’ Tor and said in astonishment, “How do you do it – that a young man should be so convinced of the Rebbe’s malchus and accepting his directives?”
WHAT DOES THE REBBE SAY ABOUT THIS?
Another student of R’ Tor is a young man from Beit Shaan who attended his series of lectures. He still hasn’t changed his manner of dress, but he wants to know the Rebbe’s view on every issue. This is why, when he saw a letter from the Rebbe which said that the nusach “T’hillas Hashem” is the right nusach, he went and bought a Chabad siddur.
Then he began convincing people to put on t’fillin. When he saw the Rebbe’s sicha about “the world shaking,” he committed to saying “Al Tira” and “Ach Tzaddikim.”
He works in a computer firm and his computer is always playing Chabad niggunim. In his free time, he listens to shiurim on Chassidus.
READY WITH HIS KIPPA
R’ Yitzchok Lifsh, shliach in Tzfas, combines his shlichus work with Inyanei Moshiach. He has approached hundreds of rabbanim and Admurim to ask them to sign the p’sak din about Moshiach, and he has many stories about people who are excited and acting as they should in preparing for Moshiach’s coming.
R’ Lifsh spoke about the many conversations he has had with the manager of the Bank Leumi branch in Tzfas who “got” the message of “Hinei, Hinei Moshiach Bah.”
One day, while talking with R’ Lifsh, the manager opened his briefcase and took out a kippa. He said, “See this? Since you told me Moshiach is about to come, I take this kippa with me wherever I go. I need to be ready.”
Someone else from Tzfas showed R’ Lifsh a special carpet he made for Moshiach. The man told R’ Lifsh that before he started making the carpet, he went to the mikva. In fact, every day that he worked on it he went to the mikva so that the carpet would be pure and fitting for Moshiach’s coming.
Everybody in his home knows that the carpet is off-limits. It is ready and waiting for Moshiach’s coming.
MAKING A CHUPPA BEFORE MOSHIACH COMES
R’ Lev Weissman is known as a mainstay of the Chabad community in Kfar Saba and as a Chabad “shliach” at the Kodak company in Kfar Saba. He got to this point thanks to one sentence he heard from a Chabad Chassid in London.
Lev was a young married Israeli computer whiz, who received a job offer in London. He signed a contract for several years. After three years, he came down with a medical condition that necessitated his being hospitalized for a long time in a local hospital. He began to think – who am I, what is a Jew, how am I different than non-Jews? Then he remembered that before leaving Eretz Yisroel his father had given him the phone number of a Chabad rabbi in London. He hadn’t had a reason to call him in three years, but now he had many questions.
He called R’ Tzvi Hirsh Telsner, a shliach and Dayan in London (today a Dayan in the Chabad community in Australia), and introduced himself as an Israeli who had many questions about Jewish philosophy. R’ Telsner told him he was very busy that evening, needing to urgently arrange a chuppa before Moshiach comes.
Lev was startled to realize that Moshiach is about to come. This only intensified his wanting to get answers to his questions, because if Moshiach was coming and he wasn’t ready, it wouldn’t be pleasant. He insisted that R’ Telsner see him. R’ Telsner referred him to another shliach, one who spoke Ivrit. R’ Gabi Spritzer met with Lev and everything changed from that point on.
At first, Lev got tapes with Chabad niggunim. He nostalgically recalls the day he first heard the Rebbe’s voice in the song “Tzama Lecha Nafshi.”
“For some reason, the moment the niggun began, I began sobbing. My neshama woke up. For several days I listened to the niggun over and over, hundreds of times, and I felt how my soul thirsted for Hashem and how I was beginning to see ‘Your strength and Your glory.’ I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
THE POWER OF SPEECH
Lev kept in touch with R’ Spritzer. He also eventually flew to the Rebbe and went for dollars in Iyar 5751. Lev already felt like a Chassid, in every respect, but there was one hitch. His wife, who had remained in London, lagged far behind him when it came to Judaism. She identified with the Left in her political as well as her religious views. As Lev passed by the Rebbe, he had one main request, that his wife join him. Lev told the Rebbe, “I came to ask for a bracha that our family not break up because of my involvement in Judaism.”
The Rebbe gave him a dollar for himself and another one for his wife and said, “Bracha v’hatzlacha.”
When Lev returned to London, he couldn’t understand what had happened to his wife. At first, she didn’t say a word for two weeks, as though she had gone mute. Then she started speaking but it was altogether different. She was no longer opposed to Judaism and Chassidus; on the contrary, she galloped forward and got her entire family to do the same. Today, she works as a preschool teacher in a Chabad school in Kfar Saba and spreads the light of Chassidus to the entire k’hilla.
Lev works in the computer department of Kodak, and during breaks he puts t’fillin on with those who did not do so yet. He gets employees together for a shiur in Tanya that has been going on for sixteen years. He arranged a printing of the Tanya at Kodak and on Purim everyone gathered to hear the Megilla.
And it all began with one line, said offhandedly by R’ Telsner, that he was in a rush because Moshiach is coming.
A CHASSIDIC TUNE IN A NON-KOSHER RESTAURANT
I heard the following story from Ofer, a young baal t’shuva, from the Chabad House in Rosh Pina. Ofer, who is long past 30, always talks about how young he is since he counts the day he came to Chabad as his birthday. “I am seven years old today,” he said. “I’ll never forget Purim at the Chabad House when I was half a year old,” and so on.
The following story happened about a year before his (re)birth. Ofer relates:
It was the first time that the Chabad House in Rosh Pina, directed by R’ Shlomo Berkowitz, organized a Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. I was sitting with a friend in a non-kosher restaurant, drinking beer and chatting, when I suddenly saw some activity going on outside. They were setting up loudspeakers, lighting, and a place for dancing. The Lubavitchers had chosen the most central location in Rosh Pina in order to bring simcha to as many Jews as possible.
As we drank our beer, they began playing Chassidic music. I began hearing, again and again, the words, “V’Ten Banu Yetzer Tov, L’Ovdecha B’emes U’B’Yira, U’B’Ahava” (Give us a Good Inclination in order to serve You in truth, in fear and in love). Despite the cynicism in our lives, I suddenly began to think about where they, the Lubavitchers, were and where I was. Look at what they wanted and what we were involved in. We were just wasting time on nonsense. The books we read and the songs we heard were all full of the nonsense of this world and lacked inner meaning, while over there, they yearned for the Yetzer Tov and true service of G-d.
Then and there, I knew that I would no longer be the way I was that day. I felt that I related more to their yearning than what was going on around me in my life. At that moment, although the change in me wasn’t yet apparent externally, a huge change took place. Thanks to that song, I felt disgusted by the meaninglessness that was my entire world and began looking for the truth of Judaism.
THANKS TO A HUG
I heard the following story from an old-time shliach in the center of the country who would like his name and other details to be remain private.
A number of years ago, this shliach started a Chabad minyan in his city in the neighborhood bomb shelter. The minyan grew over the years, and with the help of donors they built a beautiful Chabad House for t’fillos and other activities.
One of the worshipers owns a large factory in the construction business. He donated all the aluminum that they needed, a donation that was worth over 100,000 shekels. The shliach told me how he met this donor:
A few years ago, this man’s father passed away. The son looked for a place where he could daven each day and say Kaddish for his father. He visited several shuls, but nobody paid him any attention. One day he tried the Chabad House. The shliach went over to him, as he did to every Jew who came in, shook his hand, showed him a place to sit, and even gave him a hug. The man remained at the Chabad House even after the year of mourning was over. Since then, he attends every t’filla, joins the shiurim, and when he heard they were building a new building he announced that he would be supplying the aluminum. He always says that his relationship with the Chabad House began on his first visit when the shliach warmly welcomed him.
The shliach’s daughter married and went on shlichus herself. When the donor heard about this new shlichus, he told her father that he owned a factory in that city and the young couple was invited to visit and get all the help they needed.
The new shluchim did not yet have a building, a phone etc. when they went to the factory. They were given a furnished office (with a computer, phone, fax machine, printer etc.).
Thanks to a hug.
UNIQUE POINT OF VIEW ON MIVTZAIM
A woman who is a mekureves to the Chabad House in Ashdod and is friendly with Rebbetzin Kramer (the daughter of the shliach in Ashdod, R’ Shneur Goodman), told the next story. She works as a stewardess for El-Al. When she attended the farbrengen for women on Yud Shevat, she shared with the crowd her impressions from seeing a young bachur doing mivtzaim on the plane.
“Two years ago, I was on a flight from Eretz Yisroel to New York. I noticed a thirteen year old boy walking in the aisle and looking for something. I asked him if I could be of help, and what was he looking for? He said he was looking for someone who wanted to put on t’fillin.
“I could see that this was very important to him and I said I would try and help him. He sat down and waited. After half an hour, I found one of the stewards who agreed to put on t’fillin. I went over to the boy and told him that I had convinced a steward to put on t’fillin. I introduced them and the steward put on t’fillin. The boy was thrilled; the steward saw the look of joy on his face and thanked him.
“About half a year later, I was on the same Eretz Yisroel to New York route when I met the same steward. I remembered how he had put on t’fillin and I asked him if perhaps he wanted to put on t’fillin that day too. If he did, I would look for some Chabadnik on the flight to do it with him.
“The steward said that when he saw how happy that boy had been, he had decided to put on t’fillin every day. He had bought a pair of t’fillin and managed on his own.”
Thank you to R’ Menachem Wolf, director of Kehos in Kfar Chabad, for this story.