THE MASHPIA WHO ASKED FOR MOSHIACH WITH A P’NIMIUS

“R’ Shlomo Chaim was a Yid who truly lived with Moshiach,” said many of his students. “He did not merely talk about Yemos HaMoshiach and describe how the world will be then; he believed with all his heart that Moshiach was about to come.”

By Rabbi Yisroel Elfenbein

“YEMOS HA’MOSHIACH” – WHAT IS IT?

“All the days of your life to bring to Yemos HaMoshiach.” There are two meanings: 1) literally, that Moshiach will come. In everything that exists in the world, you need to examine how it will be when Moshiach comes; 2) that during galus, during the six thousand years of this world, the intention in all the avodos is that they lead to the Yemos HaMoshiach. You can be in galus and not know that the true intent of galus is Geula. Some think that galus is an end onto itself … A Jew needs to know the purpose of galus and pray to Hashem to merit the coming of Moshiach. (Seifer HaSichos 5703, p. 78)

When the mashpia, R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman (1894-1971) would speak about Yemos HaMoshiach, he would be tremendously enthused. He would emphasize the advantage of Yemos HaMoshiach as days when all the spiritual darkness would vanish and the loftiest G-dly light would be revealed, as it says, “and the glory of Hashem will be revealed and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” In Yemos HaMoshiach, all of creation will recognize the G-dly energy that gives life and sustains it, every moment, ex nihilo.

IN YEMOS HA’MOSHIACH WE WILL LEARN THE SAME TANYA AND LIKKUTEI TORAH

R’ Shlomo Chaim would also emphasize that the revelation of p’nimius ha’Torah by the Baal Shem Tov and our Rebbeim is a taste of Yemos HaMoshiach. He said, “On the verse, ‘he will kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,’ Rashi says this refers to the revelation of the secrets of Torah. Nowadays, we learn the revealed part of Torah, but when Moshiach comes, the prophecy of ‘a new Torah will go forth from me’ will be fulfilled. Not an actual new Torah, for the Torah was already given at Sinai, but at that time only the revealed external part of Torah was revealed. When Moshiach comes, the inner part of Torah will be revealed.

“When Moshiach comes, everyone will learn Chassidus, p’nimius ha’Torah. Before the coming of Moshiach, in Ikvisa d’Meshicha, a glimmer of this was revealed to us by way of preparing us for the coming of Moshiach.

“Therefore, those who merit to learn Chassidus, get a taste now of the wonderful taste of Yemos HaMoshiach.”

He also said, “They say about the Mitteler Rebbe’s Chassidim that they did not feel that they were lacking Moshiach (in the spiritual sense, of course), since the inyan of Moshiach is to reveal p’nimius ha’Torah in the world and they already merited a bounteous revelation of Chassidus by the Mitteler Rebbe.”

On another occasion he said, “One who is holding by any level of avoda, does not need to ask that Moshiach come in order to rectify his neshama, but for the benefit of others, for those Jews who are suffering from material and physical troubles.” (From the reshimos of R’ Avrohom Alter Heber)

When R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke about Yemos HaMoshiach, he would quote the Tzemach Tzedek who said that when Moshiach comes, people will continue to learn the same chapters of Tanya and the same maamarim in Likkutei Torah. The difference will be that now the learning is only in a way of “yedias ha’metzius” (perceiving the fact of existence without grasping the substance), but in the future, the involvement in matters of G-dliness as they are explained in p’nimius ha’Torah will be in a way of “hasagas ha’mahus” (grasping the substance).

That being said, it is self-understood that even in the knowledge of p’nimius ha’Torah there are infinite levels. R’ Tzvi Elfenbein a”h repeated what R’ Shlomo Chaim said about this, “It says ‘and the earth will be full of the knowledge of Hashem like waters cover the sea.’ When you look at the sea, it seems as though it is equally deep everywhere, but when you enter the water you see there are varying levels of depth. At first it’s only a little deep, but the further you go in the more depth there is. The same is true for the revelation of Elokus in the future. With a superficial glance it seems everyone will have the identical knowledge of G-dliness, but the truth is that then too, there will be many levels of knowledge of Hashem. The more you progress in the learning of p’nimius ha’Torah, the more you discover that you can go deeper and deeper.”

R’ Meir Bar remembers R’ Shlomo Chaim at a farbrengen describing the world when Moshiach comes: Young boys who learned Chassidus in Tomchei T’mimim will be asked to give shiurim in Chassidus to the greatest scholars who did not learn Chassidus while in galus.

TZADDIKIM WILL DO T’SHUVA

Another angle that R’ Shlomo Chaim emphasized about Yemos HaMoshiach is the refinement of all the physicality of this world, as explained in Tanya chapters 36 and 37. This is what he said at a farbrengen about this:

“In Tanya it explains at length that when a person does mitzvos with material items he makes them into a vessel for G-dliness. By eating and drinking for the sake of heaven, when learning Torah and serving Hashem with the energy of that food and drink, the food rises from klipas noga and is incorporated into holiness. And this is how the entire world is elevated to Elokus. In this manner, evil is eradicated from the world.

“When Moshiach comes, this process will be completed and the prophecies of ‘and the spirit of impurity I will remove from the earth’ and ‘the glory of Hashem will be revealed’ will be fulfilled, and there will be the revelation of G-dliness down below. When Moshiach comes G-dliness will be apparent in the world. In order for this to be able to happen, we need to make a ‘vessel.’ This is done by doing mitzvos.

“Based on this, we can explain what the Zohar says, ‘Moshiach will come to bring back the tzaddikim in t’shuva.’ How can we say that tzaddikim need to do t’shuva? Rather, at that time, everyone will feel the revelation of G-dliness in such a lofty way that compared to these extraordinary revelations – what they accomplished during galus won’t be worth anything. As it’s explained in Chassidus on the words, ‘return Yisroel to Hashem your G-d,’ that when a Jew does t’shuva in a lofty manner (‘until Hashem your G-d’), he realizes that everything he did until now is not worth anything.

“In galus many Jews consider themselves tzaddikim because they learn Torah and do mitzvos, but when Moshiach comes, they will see that they still did not fully instill their permitted matters with holiness – such as eating and drinking for the sake of heaven, and the like – and they will become baalei t’shuva.”

In connection with this, R’ Shlomo Chaim mentioned the Chassidic explanation on the verse (Yeshaya 12:1) “And you will say ba’yom ha’hu – on that day, I will thank You, O Lord, for You were angry with me; may Your anger turn away and may You comfort me.” Yom/day symbolizes light and revelation and hu/that symbolizes concealment. When it’s both together, ba’yom ha’hu, i.e. when the G-dly light that until now was concealed (hu), will start to be revealed (yom), we will understand and feel the great good that was contained within the concealment. In Yemos HaMoshiach we will yearn for galus because in Yemos HaMoshiach will be revealed the loftiness of the essence of the G-dly light that was hidden within galus.

THE EMUNA AND ANTICIPATION FOR THE COMING OF MOSHIACH

LIVING WITH MOSHIACH FOR REAL

Even when crying out “ad masai” – it’s because of being commanded to do so. If they intended and asked and cried out for real, surely Moshiach would have already come!

What more can I do so that all the Jewish people make a commotion and cry out in truth and take action to actually bring Moshiach after everything that was already done until now did not help. The proof is, we are still in galus and more importantly, in an inner galus in matters of avodas Hashem. (Sicha 28 Nissan 5751)

“R’ Shlomo Chaim was a Jew who truly lived with Moshiach,” say his students. “He did not just talk about Yemos HaMoshiach and describe how the world will look in Yemos HaMoshiach, but he actually believed with all his heart that Moshiach is about to come very soon.”

According to R’ Yisachar Dovid Kozliner, R’ Shlomo Chaim’s emuna and anticipation of Moshiach were a powerful yearning. “This manifested in him in the form of very powerful expressions, not just a broad explanation about belief in the coming of Moshiach, and definitely not just superficial words, but simple faith that came from a deep place in his soul. When I think about what the Rebbe said about needing to cry out ‘ad masai’ in truth, I automatically think about R’ Shlomo Chaim. He cried out ‘ad masai’ in truth.”

His son, R’ Sholom Ber, said that from when he and his brother were young, R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke to them a lot about the coming of Moshiach and instilled in them a deep longing for Moshiach. His brother, R’ Zev Wolf, said, “When we were children, eight-nine years old, I once saw my brother Sholom Ber standing next to the window and crying. When I asked him why he was crying, he innocently said, “Abba said we have a promise that in the month of Nissan they were redeemed and in the month of Nissan they will be redeemed in the future, and we are almost at the end of the month of Nissan and Moshiach still hasn’t come.”

“R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke so much about Moshiach that he was able to instill the bachurim with complete faith in Moshiach’s coming,” said R’ Meir Tzvi Gruzman. “I remember that when I learned in the yeshiva in Tel Aviv, R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke incessantly about Moshiach coming soon and our having to prepare to welcome him. This affected me so much that when I went home for bein ha’z’manim and heard someone telling my father how he was saving up his money so that he would be able to open a business in half a year, I was flabbergasted. I could not understand how a believing Jew could talk that way. I looked at him as if he was a Martian and said: What are you talking about? Moshiach will certainly come long before that. What’s the point in making plans like that for Yemos HaMoshiach? R’ Shlomo Chaim instilled the belief in Moshiach’s coming in our neshama.”

R’ Yosef Yitzchok Offen relates, “R’ Shlomo Chaim once called me over and said in a tone of frustration, ‘I don’t know what to answer him, I don’t know what to answer him …’ I did not know what he was referring to. Then he explained. ‘You know that I tell the bachurim not to go to the Rebbe without being ready. Today, a young bachur came over to me and said that he wants to go to the Rebbe. When I told him that I did not think he was ready to go, he said: What does that mean? Moshiach is about to come and how could I not see the Rebbe before that?’

“R’ Shlomo Chaim had no answer to that. He was a man of truth and he truly believed that Moshiach is about to come and so he threw up his hands and had to allow the bachur to go to the Rebbe.”

YOU COULD TOUCH THE EXPECTANCY IN THE AIR

In truth, if all the Jewish people united, without differences between great and small, and they cried out: Father, have mercy on us, enough already, save us, send us Moshiach already, as the Baal Shem Tov said about the blowing of the shofar, like a son who cries out – father, father – it is clear that Moshiach would already have come. (Seifer HaSichos 5696-5700 p. 312)

R’ Shlomo Chaim lived the entire year in anticipation and longing for the coming of Moshiach, but when Nissan approached, he would start talking about belief in and anticipation of the coming of Moshiach at farbrengens in a much more passionate way.

His son, R’ Zev Wolf relates, “In Nissan, my father’s longing for Moshiach intensified. I remember the year 5700, which marked eighty years since the birth of the Rebbe Rashab. Since the Rebbe Rashab said, “It will be in my day,” it was obvious to my father that Moshiach had to come in that year. Nissan of that year marked twenty years since the passing of the Rebbe Rashab. That year, in the month of Nissan, you could feel the atmosphere of the anticipation of Moshiach in my house. There was a palpable feeling of ‘hinei zeh ba.’”

R’ Yisroel Friedman relates, “The Chassid, R’ Avrohom Maiyor, once said that during the time when they were both in Russia, when R’ Shlomo Chaim was already married with several children, he once asked R’ Shlomo Chaim in Nissan where he was up to in his Pesach preparations. R’ Shlomo Chaim answered, “It says that in Nissan they were redeemed and in Nissan they will be redeemed in the future, so who can worry about Pesach?”

This was the case in later years as well, as R’ Moshe Levitin related. “R’ Shlomo Chaim had emuna p’shuta. The statement of Chazal that in Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will be redeemed in the future lived in his heart with emuna p’shuta. Throughout the month of Nissan, you could see that he was anticipating Moshiach’s coming very strongly.”

R’ Avrohom Alter Heber remembers that several times at the Shabbos Mevarchim Nissan farbrengen, the mashpia got up and danced with joy over the imminent Geula. “He felt very strongly about the imminent coming of the Geula. The Rebbe said about himself, ‘I am crazy about Moshiach,’ and we constantly saw something similar in R’ Shlomo Chaim, especially in Nissan. He would farbreng on Shabbos Mevarchim Nissan, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, and Beis Nissan (the yom hilula of the Rebbe Rashab) and he would repeat the maamer Chazal over and over, ‘in Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will be redeemed.’ He would talk about the greatness of the Rebbe Rashab and speak powerfully about the anticipation of Moshiach’s coming.”

R’ Zalman Gopin describes R’ Shlomo Chaim’s Shabbos Mevarchim Nissan farbrengens: “The farbrengen began on Shabbos afternoon, at about four, and continued until midnight. He spoke very strongly about the belief in Moshiach.”

R’ Chaim Sholom Deitsch added, “During happy times and Yomim Tovim, he was particularly inspired. When Nissan approached, he would be on edge, in anticipation of Moshiach’s coming. In the middle of a farbrengen, while talking about belief and longing for Moshiach, he could get up and dance joyously with one of the bachurim. After all, we were promised that in Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will be redeemed!”

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR MOSHIACH’S COMING?

“TO COME INTO THE CLEFTS OF THE ROCKS AND THE HOLLOWS OF THE CLIFFS”

From my father’s sichos: When Moshiach will come, speedily in our time, amen, then we shall really long for the days of the exile. Then we will truly feel distress at our having neglected working at avoda; then will we indeed feel the deep pain caused by our lack of avoda. These days of exile are the days of avoda, to prepare ourselves for the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our time, amen. (HaYom Yom 3 Menachem Av)

The mashpia said that R’ Isaac of Homil once said, “When Moshiach comes, he’ll put Izel on his palm and show him to the Tanaim and Amoraim and say: Do you see? This is a Chassid. He learned, he davened … However, when the Rebbe found out what he said, he told him that he should not denigrate himself in public, in front of his mushpaim, for when the High Priest immersed, he spread out a curtain between him and the people (from the reshimos of R’ Yehoshua Mondshine).

When R’ Shlomo Chaim would say that our daily conduct in all areas of life, during galus, affects what will happen when Moshiach comes, he always mentioned the verse, (Yeshaya 2:21) “To come into the clefts of the rocks and the hollows of the cliffs because of the fear of the Lord and because of the splendor of His pride, etc.” He would say that when Moshiach comes, one who did not learn Chassidus, one who did not meditate on Chassidus, and one who did not prepare sufficiently for his coming, will have to run and hide in great shame and fear of the glory of Hashem which will be revealed in the world.

“It says that Moshiach will judge according to smell,” said the mashpia, “and when Moshiach will sniff our spiritual state, we will be very ashamed and we will have to run and hide in shame.”

R’ Yehoshua Mondshine remembers that when the mashpia explained that we must prepare for Moshiach’s coming now, because in Yemos HaMoshiach we won’t have the opportunity to fix what we ruined during galus, he would say jokingly everyone will hide in the bomb shelters because of the shame. He suggested clearing out the public bomb shelter that they had in Kfar Chabad in those days (near R’ Boruch Pariz’s home).

R’ Tzvi Elfenbein repeated what the mashpia said to his students during the Six Day War when the bachurim had to dig trenches to use as a defense from the bombing: You think you are digging these trenches because of the war, but the truth is that this is a preparation for fulfillment of the verse, “To come into the clefts of the rocks and the hollows of the cliffs because of the fear of the Lord …”

R’ Moshe Havlin remembers that when the mashpia farbrenged in 770 on 15 Shvat 5730 with the American bachurim, he spoke passionately about the need to spiritually prepare for Moshiach’s coming. He turned to R’ Yitzchok Noach Rivkin who was the attendant in the Skverer mikva and said to him, “You have nothing to worry about. In a little while, Moshiach will come and you will make a lot of money. Who can show their face to Moshiach as he looks now? When Moshiach comes, everyone will run to the mikva.”

MOSHIACH WILL ASK: YOU ARE CHASSIDIM? IN WHAT WAY?

“R’ Shlomo Chaim did not speak of the belief and anticipation of Moshiach in the abstract,” says R’ Yisachar Dov Kloizner. “He looked forward to Moshiach because then there will be a much higher revelation of G-dliness in the world.”

R’ Dovid Drukman added, “R’ Shlomo Chaim would say: Moshiach is about to come. When he comes and asks us: In what way are you Chassidim? – what will we answer him? Is our learning of Chassidus the way it should be? Is our avodas ha’t’filla the way it should be? We will be embarrassed!”

R’ Zalman Gopin says that the mashpia promised his talmidim that whoever was involved in davening at length would stand in the front row of Chassidim and T’mimim going out to greet Moshiach. “He instilled in us the idea which he believed with all his heart, that only he who was involved in internal avoda in general and the avoda of davening in particular, was preparing a ‘vessel’ with which to greet Moshiach and would merit to go and greet Moshiach with song and dance. One who did not daven at length, would have to hide in shame.”

When bachurim from non-Chabad yeshivos went to visit the yeshiva, he spoke to them in this way too. R’ Avrohom Eisenbach relates, “A bachur from a yeshiva-high school who did not have a beard, once came to the yeshiva for Shabbos. He went over to talk to the mashpia and one of the mashpia’s demands was that he start growing a beard. During the farbrengen on Shabbos, he said to this bachur: Picture someone in his house on Erev Shabbos who is getting dressed for Shabbos. Suddenly, there is an earthquake and the walls of the house collapse and he finds himself standing in the middle of the street, in public, not dressed. What will he do? He will immediately grab any garment, a towel or sheet, and cover himself. But what will you do when Moshiach comes? Moshiach is about to come and then everyone will know you have to grow a beard, and you will be without a beard!? It takes time for a beard to grow and in the meantime, you will be ashamed to walk around without a beard! Having no choice, you will grab some goat and cut off its beard and stick it to your face so that Moshiach won’t catch you without a beard. And if you don’t find a goat, you will have to cut off your chup (long hair in front) and stick it to your chin instead of a beard. Who needs that? Isn’t it better to start growing a beard now?”

When he wanted to illustrate to his students how far we are from being ready for Moshiach from a personal-spiritual standpoint, he would quote the Chassid, R’ Itche Masmid. When R’ Itche would speak at farbrengens about the imminent coming of Moshiach, he would say: If only I had another fifteen years to prepare for his coming. Then I would be able to further refine my soul and my part of the world.

THE PREPARATIONS OF THE “SOLDIERS OF THE HOUSE OF DOVID”

In connection with this, R’ Shlomo Chaim would emphasize that our avoda in galus is not separate from the revelations we will have in Yemos HaMoshiach. Rather, in galus we prepare ourselves and the world for Yemos HaMoshiach. This is what he said at a farbrengen (from a reshima of R’ Avrohom Alter Heber):

“On the verse, ‘I will transform their mourning into rejoicing,’ Chassidus explains that it doesn’t mean merely that the mourning will be replaced by joy. Rather, that in the future it will be revealed how the mourning itself is joyous. In Chassidus an analogy is given: A master has his slave drag a sack of stones and the slave silently curses the master who has no compassion and makes him do such difficult work. But upon arriving home, the master shows him that the stones are precious stones and pearls and he gives it to the slave as a gift. The slave feels terrible that he did not take more stones.

“Our hard work in galus is actually wonderful; it’s just that it doesn’t look good to us now. In the future though, its goodness will be apparent. As it says, ‘I thank you Hashem for being angry with me. May Your anger turn away and may You comfort me.’ In Yemos HaMoshiach we will yearn for galus because we will understand what was good about it.”

R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke passionately about the role of the talmidim in Tomchei T’mimim, the “Soldiers of the House of Dovid,” in preparing the world for Geula as explained by the Rebbeim.

R’ B. B. remembers that when R’ Shlomo Chaim spoke about the need for iskafia, he said that it was particularly important when Moshiach’s coming is imminent. The Rebbe Rayatz said that when Moshiach comes, he will present himself at the head of the talmidim of Tomchei T’mimim, and he will tell Moshiach: See what I have raised!

So every one of the talmidim ought to see to it that he is worthy of going to greet Moshiach, to stand before him and tell him how Tomchei T’mimim influenced him. A bachur who was not involved with avoda will be very ashamed when Moshiach comes, for he learned in Tomchei T’mimim and knew precisely how to prepare, and yet he did not do enough to be ready for Geula.

This subject was ramped up significantly in the days leading up to Yud Shvat 5730 when the Rebbe urged the completion of the “Torah to Greet Moshiach,” and the Chassidim feverishly worked to complete this Torah scroll and to greet Moshiach. At that time, R’ Shlomo Chaim would ask his talmidim and mushpaim again and again: How can we greet Moshiach if we don’t do avoda properly?

(A chapter from the book, HaMashpia R’ Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, with thanks to the family)