THE REBBE BELIEVES IN US

How do we stay strong 22 years after Gimmel Tammuz? And what is the significance of this day? How do we handle the challenges of the times and how do we teach our children about hiskashrus to the Rebbe? * Rabbi Moshe Kornwitz, rosh mesivta and mashpia in the Chabad yeshiva in Natzrat Ilit, in a fascinating farbrengen for Gimmel Tammuz.

Rabbi Moshe Kornwitz is a tremendous talmid chacham, author of the encyclopedic Mistar Tzefunosayich, which contains a compilation of inyanei Moshiach and Geula from Hemshech 5672.

He grew up as the son of a fine, upstanding, religious-Zionist family in Alon Moreh. He went to learn in Yeshivas Mekor Chaim, headed by Rabbi Adin Even Yisroel-Steinsaltz and was one of the outstanding students there.

He discovered the rich Torah library of Chabad teachings and began spending his time there. At that time, he acquired a great understanding and proficiency in dozens of sifrei maamarim of the Rebbeim. He decided to devote all his energies to the teachings of Chassidus and he spent hours on the avoda of t’filla daily.

“When I learned Chassidus and the importance of avodas ha’t’filla, I realized that I cannot fool myself. When a person wants to serve Hashem and daven sincerely, without bittul to the Rebbe it’s all a game, he is actually serving himself. Every line in Chassidus screams out that you must have real bittul to the Rebbe; otherwise it’s baloney.

“The more sichos of the Rebbe you learn, the more you realize that this is the absolute truth and it is impossible without the Rebbe. The same is true for a Chassidishe farbrengen. I don’t want to be sharp but learning Chassidus without hiskashrus to the Rebbe means to turn all the G-dly concepts and deepest ideas in Chassidus into an entity unto itself, Heaven forefend.”

After seven years of learning the teachings of the Rebbeim, R’ Kornwitz realized that he wanted to be a Chassid and mekushar to the Rebbe. After a period of time studying for rabbanus and dayanus in the Ohr Zarua kollel in Rechovot, headed by Rabbi Meir Aharon, he decided to travel to 770 to learn there. Within a short time, he stood out among the top students.

In recent years he has become the personal mashpia of many students who attended the Chabad yeshivos in Natzrat Ilit and a rav for Chassidic young men who go to him with halachic queries.

For Gimmel Tammuz, we farbrenged with R’ Kornwitz about hiskashrus to the Rebbe. L’chaim, l’chaim v’livracha!

Gimmel Tammuz. Despite the differences among Chassidim about the significance of the day, and the Chassidic feelings about it, all agree that it is one of the most significant dates for Chassidim of the seventh generation.

Correct. In general, the Rebbe often asked that we utilize every opportunity and special date to farbreng.

The Rebbe Rayatz tells in one of his sichos that in his younger years he attended a farbrengen of Chassidim which included the elder Chassid, Rashbatz (R’ Shmuel Betzalel Sheftel a”h, a distinguished Chassid of the Tzemach Tzedek and one of the great Chassidim of the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbe Rashab). One of the Chassidim, who was very impressed by the Rashbatz, asked him, “You are possessed of a great intellect. Did you ever make a mistake?”

Rashbatz thought and then said, “I think that I made a mistake one time in my life. The mistake was that I did not appreciate my good qualities enough.” This response made a tremendous impression on the Rebbe Rayatz.

When he went to his father, the Rebbe Rashab, his father asked him what was spoken at the farbrengen. The Rebbe Rayatz repeated Rashbatz’s “error.” The Rebbe Rashab was pleased and said this was the way to conduct oneself, “We need to start with the healthy side.”

In avodas Hashem, we need to start from the healthy side. There are many who start the avoda from the wrong, not healthy, side – from sadness and low self-esteem, from the animal soul and all the negative things. The Rebbe Rashab said that the yetzer ha’ra is what causes a person to start from lowliness and despair, while telling him he is distant and not suited to anything true. But Chassidim understood well that the avoda needs to start with the healthy side, from the positive.

What do we learn from this, for our times?

When Gimmel Tammuz approaches, we encounter two basic approaches. The animal soul, of course, will want us to start from the lower end of things, looking at the terrible concealment and how twenty-two years went by already and it doesn’t look as though we accomplished anything, and we still haven’t heard and seen the Rebbe. It’s possible to go on and on about this.

But as Chassidim, we need to cling to everything in life that is healthy, starting from the highest and greatest perspectives, seeing things as the Rebbe wants us to look at them, with a healthy and functional perspective, as they really are.

For example, when we look at the last sichos of the D’var Malchus we see how the Rebbe places us on the highest of places. The Rebbe looks at us, the Chassidim of the seventh generation, as lofty people, people with whom you can speak and even demand incredible things.

Contrariwise, if we start from the unhealthy, lacking, lowly side or what is called in the vernacular the “whiny” side, it can be one of the greatest obstacles to hiskashrus to the Rebbe today.

This is actually a test of our loyalty as Chassidim, because to a Chassid, it should be a given that if the Rebbe gave us a mission to bring Moshiach, then he also endowed us with the ability to do so.

Don’t we see some dissatisfaction on the part of the Rebbe too, for example, in the sicha of Chaf-Ches Nissan and the sharp terminology he used afterward?

I think we need to look at that also from a healthy perspective. On Purim 5747, long before the sharp sicha of Chaf-Ches Nissan 5751, the Rebbe said a similar sicha. In this sicha, he referred to the story of the king, Hoshei’a ben Eila, who abolished the barricades that Yerovam ben Nevat had put up on the roads to prevent the Jews from going to Yerushalayim. Hoshei’a was punished for this. Why? Because even after the barricades were removed, the Jewish people still were not oleh regel, but until then, they had an excuse for not going. Once Hoshei’a removed the barricades and the roads to Yerushalayim were open, they no longer had an excuse for not being oleh regel. This put the Jewish people in a bad light and for this he was punished.

“However,” the Rebbe said about himself, “I still give the matter of bringing the Geula to the Chassidim.” In other words, the Rebbe believes and trusts that his Chassidim can bring Moshiach, because if he did not think we were capable, he would not have given us this assignment.

The same goes for the sicha said on Chaf-Ches Nissan. We see how after the sicha the Rebbe told a few people, “If I am a Rebbe, then I spoke clearly that this needs to be done by each one of you.” The Rebbe made the opening move. He broke down the barricades and then he empowered us, especially the post-Gimmel Tammuz 5754 generation – namely, that we are capable and it is possible to ask and demand from us very serious things.

That the Rebbe believes in us we can see throughout the years of his leadership, but it appears most openly in the sichos of 5751-5752. For example, in the D’var Malchus for B’Haalos’cha, the Rebbe explains an amazing path in the avodas Hashem of our generation, “until the flame goes up of its own accord,” the chinuch today needs to be in a way of doing it on your own, and the same is true for spreading Judaism, “spreading the wellsprings outward.”

When we examine the D’var Malchus, we see all the amazing things the Rebbe speaks about. The Rebbe believes in us and in the abilities we have today, to lift ourselves up.

What would you say to someone who agrees in theory, but doesn’t see how it can be done in reality. People know themselves and many of us don’t feel on such a high level.

In Pele Yoetz, which was written 200 years ago, it says you may not hit children. Then he asks, but we see that parents hit children? He says that although a parent sometimes hits, at least he should know the principle, the ideal concept.

The same applies to us; we don’t live in a bubble, in fantasy land. We certainly cannot ignore the reality in which most of us are likely to fall, but we need to maintain continuous focus on our direction, the correct and healthy path.

What does that mean in real world terms?

The correct and healthy way is that the Rebbe today is giving us kochos and keilim to connect to him on an “essence” level which we’ve never had before, and to bring about the complete hisgalus.

In recent years, they have been publishing letters of the Rebbe and handwritten notes that were never published before. Maamarim of the Rebbeim have been reprinted from manuscripts along with many other great revelations. The Rebbe is giving us all this so that we have the ability to contend with the tremendous concealment through the abundance of Chassidus we now have.

It reminds me of a story that will illustrate the idea of the giluyim we have today in the teachings of Chassidus. There are letters and notes that the shliach in Argentina, R’ Berel Baumgarten, wrote. He relates that in the years 5714-5715 he began working on drawing Jews to the Rebbe and Chassidus.

R’ Berel would bring them to the Rebbe’s farbrengens and once got it over the head from the Rebbe for saying l’chaim more than necessary and saying things that did not need to be said. In response to this, he told the Rebbe that without drinking l’chaim he had nothing to sell them… “What Chassidus can I teach them?”

The Rebbe said, “You have the maamarim of the Rebbe Rayatz.”

R’ Berel replied, “It’s published in the smeared lettering of a stencil (the copying machine of the time) and so I don’t have what to teach them in Chassidus.” [The Rebbe responded to that argument as well.]

What an astonishing point. Sixty, seventy years ago there were hardly any sifrei Chassidus that could be learned from. A person involved in mivtzaim and drawing people close to the Rebbe says to the Rebbe: I have nothing to work with.

Today, sixty years later, not only are there sifrei Chassidus translated into other languages, but they are in a style that suits every level. Nowadays, a person who wants to learn Chassidus has nothing holding him back. This is a great abundance of very lofty light that we have here. A G-dly light descended to the world.

Are all the trials and hardships nothing?

Nobody said that the challenges stopped with Gimmel Tammuz. On the contrary, there are harder tests now. If you are involved with the challenges of today’s generation, you know and see that there are difficulties and tests that we did not have before.

On the one hand, we cannot ignore what is happening and only talk about inyanei Moshiach and Geula as though there are no problems at all. On the other hand, our approach needs to be that the Rebbe is with us, supporting and believing in us.

One of the things that the Rebbe emphasizes in a very emphatic way in the sicha of Shavuos 5751 (although the premise was already published years before in the Igros Kodesh) is that even in the Yemos HaMoshiach there will still be evil in the world. That means that the world will still not be completely cleansed of evil. A Jew will experience the change and will have no evil, but there will still be evil present in the world.

The Rebbe explains that the tikkun for this is the cities of refuge – the new Torah that Moshiach will teach; by learning the new Torah, it will be possible to overcome the evil in the world so that it does not lead to anything undesirable or untoward problems.

If we examine the formulation that the Rebbe establishes regarding the “new Torah” and its special ability to protect one from the evil in the world, we discover that this is also the way that the Rebbe guides us in our avoda today.

As we said at the beginning, the Rebbe greatly believes in us and lets us know that we are already in the Yemos HaMoshiach. Yet, completely opposite events are taking place in the world. What can we do? The remedy is the teachings of Moshiach, the Rebbe’s teachings. We see how this is the remedy for all negative things in the world.

So the right way to deal with the pervasive darkness is to learn the Rebbe’s teachings?

It’s not only a way to deal with evil; it’s also the way to connect to and “know” the Rebbe. Until now, we knew the Rebbe in external ways, with wondrous giluyim which anyone could see at dollars etc., but today we have an opportunity to connect to and “know the Rebbe” in a more internal way, through learning his teachings.

This is similar to what the Rebbe said about looking forward to the Geula and living with Moshiach, that in order for it to penetrate, a person needs to learn the sichos on the topic. The Rebbe explained that the way to eliminate all the questions that arise is by learning about the Geula, which is what will instill in us the understanding that we are in the Yemos HaMoshiach.

Obviously, this is not enough for us and we want to see the Rebbe, but for now, the Rebbe’s teachings are the strongest weapon we have until the complete hisgalus.

There is a parable that the Rebbe cites a number of times in the maamarim of Basi L’Gani, about a king who decides to squander his treasures in order to win the war. One analogue of this is the printing and disseminating the maamarim of the Rebbeim that until now were only in manuscript form and were not publicized.

Likewise, regarding the treasures the Rebbe reveals with greater intensity in the D’var Malchus sichos. Whoever learns them in depth knows that the deepest ideas in Chassidus are in there and the Rebbe directs this to the soldiers. Who are the soldiers? The Chassidim who work to bring the Geula. These are the genuine treasures that are revealed in the world. The revelation of Chassidus in general, and the teachings of the Rebbe in particular, are a phenomenon that everybody can plainly see.

Is it enough to learn the Rebbe’s teachings? What about shlichus?

Learning is a tool; of course it is not a substitute for carrying out the Rebbe’s horaos, to connect to the Rebbe, to write to the Rebbe, to travel to the Rebbe, to attend Chassidic farbrengens that arouse our connection to the Rebbe, to live with what the Rebbe lives, and most importantly – spreading Judaism and the Besuras HaGeula and the Goel.

But it’s important to emphasize that today we need to use genuine weapons in order to attain genuine hiskashrus, and these weapons are in the teachings of the Rebbe and Chassidus. This serves as a vital component in shlichus and it is the most reliable way of succeeding to influence people on a personal level, so that they view everything from a positive perspective.

Sad to say, it appears like many of those who learn Chassidus have yet to see the healthy side.

One of the principles of the teachings of Chassidus is that everything is G-d, and as such, the Divine is expressed even in the material reality. When we only study the intellectual ideas we lose this feeling. It’s only when we learn Chassidus properly and know how to look in a deeper way, so that it’s not the external face of the world that dictates to us but the p’nimius, that we will realize that this is the very essence of the challenge we face after Gimmel Tammuz.

What do we do to rise to the challenge? Does it mean capitulating to the reality, to nature, to this world, to the concealment which G-d created with the “original tzimtzum,” or that we do not give in to nature and the concealment and know that G-dliness is everything and consequently, we are not fazed if the world says this or that.

We can say that what Chassidus teaches us is to look at the entire world as it is connected to G-d and not be fazed by the concealment of the world. Then it’s a lot simpler to connect to the Rebbe even when he hides his face from us.

Perhaps it is better to emphasize the intellectual aspect and the wisdom in the teachings of Chabad; otherwise, there will be many who won’t even bother with that?

Obviously, in order for people not to be theoreticians of Chassidus we need to place the true reality like a mirror in front of their faces. In the yeshiva I learned in, by R’ Adin Even Yisroel-Steinsaltz, there is a huge library with all the sifrei Chassidus Chabad. The library was donated by Professor Zev Kitzes who is a direct descendent of R’ Volf Kitzes. But although he is an important person and a descendant of Chassidim, he himself is not a Chassid.

The night of Simchas Torah 5711, the Rebbe said that when going to the shuls [on Tahalucha], Anash should say it straight out – Moshe [i.e. the Rebbe Rayatz] did not die and there is no change. But if questions are posed, tell them the way you answer a little child – when you get older you will understand. That is the reality, even if you don’t understand!

If I would not have met good people who helped me to properly recognize the Rebbe’s teachings and the truth, as it is, I would not know about it until today. I would have continued learning Chassidus without bringing it down to real life, and who knows where I would be…

They say that when they invented the steam engine in Russia, the czar invited all his ministers and members of the royal staff to inaugurate the first train. Before the train began moving, they turned on the engine and it made a lot of noise, but when it came time for the steam engine to move, it would not budge.

The engineers came and checked it out and said, all the energy was wasted on the whistle blowing and now it cannot move. Of course, if we waste all our energy on the beautiful sound and light show in Chabad Chassidus, the train won’t go and we will never get to our destination.

In your opinion, is the Rebbe’s influence felt today within the religious sector?

There are many people who know the truth but don’t outwardly display it. In Alon Moreh where I grew up, many people write to the Rebbe even though they don’t outwardly belong to Chabad, because to take an actual leap is very hard.

There is no question that with the abundance of Chassidus we have today, everyone has the ability to discover the truth that everything is G-dliness, and that he is connected to the Rebbe no matter what his individual circumstance.

We see this in particular with writing to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. When you tell people that you can write to the Rebbe you see miracles.

When a person writes to the Rebbe today and opens to an answer in the Igros Kodesh, he understands that the Rebbe’s instructions obligate him. It’s not some ancient legacy of the Rebbe about Ahavas Yisroel and learning Rambam, but actual instructions that he received now by writing a pidyon nefesh or report to the Rebbe.

I remember that before I came to Chabad, in the two years following Gimmel Tammuz they spoke about Meshichistim who believe the Rebbe is Moshiach as a passing fad. Today, those people and their children are learning Chassidus and becoming Lubavitchers. That means that today everyone sees that believing in what the Rebbe said is something else entirely, and it is something that is only getting stronger.

It gives us a lot of encouragement when we see how the Rebbe is victorious, no less than before Gimmel Tammuz. Chassidus is permeating everywhere among the religious-Zionists and the ultra-Orthodox, so much so that today it has become commonplace when it used to be completely out of the question.

We spoke about learning Chassidus and the teachings of the Rebbe, especially the sichos of the D’var Malchus. What about inyanei Moshiach and Geula?

It is specifically the subject of inyanei Moshiach and Geula that needs to be learned in the most internalized way, as the Rebbe himself said, “This is the direct, easy and quick way.” One can give many examples that highlight the flaw and error in just learning in a general way as opposed to learning it in a comprehensive manner from the Rebbe’s teachings on the subject.

I will give you one example, from the War of Gog and Magog. If you do research about this war you will find incorrect or imprecise information, but if you learn it in depth, starting with the Prophets and in the Rishonim down to the Rebbe’s sichos, you will discover amazing things about this war that it pays to look forward to. Of course, as the Rebbe emphasized, we need to look forward to the positive aspects of the revenge on the nations of the world, without the negative repercussions for the Jewish people.

When speaking about this war “out in the world,” it’s a very sensitive topic and it is brought as an example of the cataclysmic aspect of the Geula, but if we learn it as we should, we would discover a completely different understanding of it. Not only would we not be flustered by someone who is nervous about the War of Gog and Magog, we would know how to explain it according to Torah.

Interestingly, there is a Midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabba which says that one of the tragedies of Gog and Magog is that Moshiach will be hidden before the final Geula.

In conclusion, as an educator and mashpia, how do you give the “essential” hiskashrus of our times over to your talmidim?

Chinuch for hiskashrus needs to be with an emphasis that the Rebbe is present tense, chai v’kayam. Not as a tradition and not out of habit or routine, but a bond that comes from a place of feeling and caring for the Rebbe; a bond that obligates you.

There are bachurim today who find themselves struggling between the lowest descents and the highest elevations, so you can’t talk to bachurim with proclamations and slogans. That approach is not relevant to today’s generation.

I once farbrenged with a bachur who was one of the outstanding talmidim who went through the best yeshivos, went to the Rebbe on K’vutza, but returned very spiritually down. In a candid moment he said to me: You know why I am this way? Because after being on K’vutza I cracked. I asked why, and he said, “On K’vutza I saw there is no Rebbe; he’s not there.”

We spoke about this and I said, “You are saying this only because all you had were camp slogans. You did not make these things yours, a part of you.”

It says numerous times in Chassidus that we need to meditate on the small things. It’s not enough to remain with general ideas. This is truer today than ever before. In my experience with bachurim, true success is when you are able to connect a bachur to the G-dly perspective of the Rebbe on the world, to learn about the Rebbe in great detail. That is how true hiskashrus is constructed.

If we don’t learn how to bring the Rebbe into our lives through the means that the Rebbe gives us, all the slogans won’t help. As we have spoken at length, it can also come through learning the Rebbe’s sichos, because it is specifically through learning the sichos that one truly absorbs the Rebbe’s G-dly understanding, so the bachur learns to look at the present reality in a way that connects him to the Rebbe.

Another thing that we see that really helps is simply to learn about the Rebbe. It’s a little hard to say this, but we need to urge the bachurim to learn about and take an interest in the Rebbe. In books like Yemei Melech, in stories about the Rebbe, in practices and facts about the Rebbe, in what’s called shpitzkait. You can say this is chitzonius, but we see that for bachurim it is these details that really grab them.

Learning the Rebbe’s teachings and studying his conduct creates a specific focus for a bachur to contemplate, and this is what gives him the strength to deal with the challenges of the times and makes tangible for him the belief that the Rebbe is alive and is with us. It increases his anticipation of the Rebbe’s full hisgalus as Melech HaMoshiach.

Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu, Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed.