With 1700 volunteers a month, an annual cycle of activities with a budget of close to $20,000,000, and now with the dedication of a building that is 20,000 square feet, the Chabad House known as the Mada Community Center just doesn ’t stop. * Beis Moshiach spoke with R’ Chaim Shlomo Cohen, the shliach of the Rebbe who runs Mada, about the connection between his meteoric success and the publicizing of the Besuras Ha’Geula and connecting people to the Rebbe, about the importance in encouraging mekuravim to write to the Rebbe and the need for avoda p’nimis to prepare to greet Moshiach. * R’ Cohen tells about how he lost a donation of a building because of publicizing that the Rebbe is Moshiach and emphasizes that aside from that one incident, the message is accepted by everyone after the proper explanation.
The rumors began at the beginning of Elul and within a short time, the news was verified. One of the big chesed organizations in Montreal, that in recent years distributed food packages to about two thousand needy families before Rosh HaShana, was closing. For those thousands of families this was terrible news because much of their holiday meals depended on those food packages. For R’ Chaim Shlomo Cohen, shliach and director of Mada (Merkaz Dovrei Ivrit) in Montreal, it was a sign from heaven that he had to expand his operation.
“The Rebbe spoke often about helping families before Yom Tov, so it’s actually a mivtza of the Rebbe,” said R’ Cohen. “Until this year though, we did not do much in the way of distributing food for Yom Tov since there was a chesed organization already doing that, and we did not want to be viewed as competition. We focused on other things. But after I heard that they were closing down, I decided to get involved.
“Although there were only three weeks until Rosh HaShana, we saw siyata d’Shmaya (heavenly assistance) all the way, from getting donations and buying the food products to getting volunteers to pack it. During Elul we had 1700 volunteers so we were able to prepare and distribute 2000 food packages. We did this enormous job along with our usual activities in which we give out hundreds of meals for Shabbos and Yom Tov and prepare communal holiday meals in ten locations around the city.”
The previous chesed organization gave up their location in one of the malls, enabling Mada to move into a new, beautiful building. Until then, Mada had been in an area that was 12,000 square feet, while the new building has nearly 20,000 square feet.
“We are presently using only 17,000 square feet since another organization rented part of the building, but in a few months they are leaving and we will be able to add another 2500 square feet to our operation.” R’ Cohen said he plans on opening a dental clinic for needy families.
The move to a new building was accompanied by a media storm after the local media publicized a video about the new operation called Chesed Drive. Just like in fast-food restaurants, where you can order a meal and drive by an outside window counter to pick it up, now needy families can enjoy weekly packages and not have to stand on line. They just show up in their car and pick it up.
Some critics said that those who own a car are not needy and asked why they were receiving food packages. R’ Cohen took the opportunity to explain Judaism’s position on charity to the media. “We don’t regard the needy as second class but as family. We happily help a brother or sister even if they have a car!” he said.
CHESED PERMEATED
BY MOSHIACH
The Rebbe said that all aspects of shlichus need to be permeated by one point: kabbalas p’nei Moshiach. How is your big chesed project permeated by Moshiach?
Everyone involved with the project ends up coming to the Chabad House and being exposed to the idea that the Rebbe is Moshiach. The project itself expresses the fact that the Rebbe is Moshiach and cares about everyone. Aside from that, in every one of the boxes we give out, there is material about Moshiach and Geula. This is the best way to reach people. So yes, the official goal which everybody can relate to is not about getting someone to do teshuva but making sure they have food for Shabbos, but this is an excellent medium for bringing out the good and the G-dly within many people.
We always write that the goal in distributing food is to attain “a world without hunger and without suffering,” which is the world of Geula. The Montreal Jewish Federation recently began using the same message.
The Rebbe talks a lot about the material and spiritual going hand in hand. We see that happening. Thousands of people throughout the year come and volunteer in the various chesed projects and they are also exposed to the spiritual side of things at the Chabad House like the minyanim, Chassidishe farbrengens, and shiurim in Nigleh and Chassidus. And many of them are actually drawn to one spiritual activity or another.
A volunteer once said to me that he had not entered a shul in twenty years but after coming to the Chabad House in order to volunteer for the chesed project, his wall of opposition had been breached. He saw the beauty in Judaism and began taking an interest.
Aside from the chesed work itself, we arrange special activities and events for the volunteers and they get to see the spiritual side of our work. They understand that in Judaism we don’t talk about chesed; we do it.
CONNECTING JEWS TO THE REBBE, FOR THEIR BENEFIT
Mada is so big and so successful, both materially and spiritually, that I had to ask:
What is the secret of your success?
Instead of a direct answer, R’ Cohen preferred to tell me how he started the big chesed project which has boosted all Mada activities to an unprecedented scale and led to his dizzying success:
It all began when one day, a young businessman walked into my office. His investment firm which handled millions of dollars was suddenly in trouble. I explained that the Rebbe is the Nasi ha’dor and the Rosh B’nei Yisroel, and everything goes through him, and suggested that he write to the Rebbe and ask for his bracha. He wrote and opened to an answer in the Igros Kodesh which said he should strengthen his bitachon. Since then, he has written a daily report to the Rebbe about his situation and feels that the Rebbe runs his business.
With success in his business, he offered to arrange Yom Tov meals in a few locations around town which he would pay for. At first I was nervous about getting involved, for aside from the cost, we would also need many volunteers to organize these meals. But he urged me to do it and when we advertised, we started getting dozens of volunteers, many of them not yet religious.
After a number of successful years, that businessman came to me and said, “We are doing a good thing and bringing the joy of the holiday to people. What about the joy of Shabbos?”
I thought he was joking. To arrange meals every Shabbos is a never-ending project. We tried brainstorming together about how this could be done and finally came up with an idea. We decided on “Shabbos in a Box,” giving out boxes of Shabbos food for the needy. When the project began we saw there was a big demand for it.
The project expanded and today, it is huge. In every box there are candles, coins for tz’daka before lighting, a page with divrei Torah for the seuda as well as stories from the parsha and inyanei Moshiach and Geula, and of course grape juice, challos, salads, fish, chicken, etc. so the box contains a number of the Rebbe’s mivtzaim.
And it all began by connecting this businessman to the Rebbe. In general, when you connect someone to the Rebbe and tell him he can write to the Rebbe and receive his blessings, you are also helping him materially. It makes his material life better and as a result we see a spiritual improvement too.
NOBODY CAN OPPOSE YOU WHEN YOU EXPLAIN THINGS WELL
At Mada, they publicize not only the Geula but who the Goel is, the Rebbe. This is done in their ads and in the shiurim and the rest of their activities.
How do you explain this to mekuravim?
Just as we explain the other mivtzaim, t’fillin, mezuzos, kashrus and family purity. You sit down and learn about it. When you learn the kuntres Inyana shel Toras Ha’chassidus, where it explains what the Geula is and what Moshiach’s role is, everyone understands that the Rebbe is Moshiach. It’s the natural outcome.
The gist of it is that the Rebbe is the Rosh B’nei Yisroel, the yechida klalis, who unites us with G-d, and he also reveals the G-dly light of the Geula. He is Moshiach.
After years of experience, I can tell you that with a good explanation there is no opposition. Even those who are vehemently opposed to the entire topic of Geula cannot stand up to clear logic and at most, they can say: I don’t want to argue with you because I am sure you are more knowledgeable than me.
I’m not going to tell you that whoever listens is convinced. There are those who find it hard to give up assumptions that they’ve had since childhood, but if they listen to explanations they can no longer say that we are not right; they admit there is a kernel of truth here although it is hard for them to accept.
I once sat with a Misnaged who began accusing Chabad of heresy. I opened the Rambam and we started learning Hilchos Melachim where it says that someone who does not believe in Moshiach or does not anticipate his coming, denies the Torah and Moshe Rabbeinu!
I asked him: If you were standing at the bus stop in the middle of the winter when the temperature here goes down to minus forty, and you saw lights in the distance, what would you think, that it’s a bus or a truck? Of course a bus, he said. What would you think about someone who thinks it’s a truck, I asked him. He said, he is obviously not waiting for a bus, for if he is waiting for a bus, he wouldn’t think it’s a truck!
The same is true for anticipating Moshiach. Someone who is waiting for Moshiach is constantly looking out for who it might be. If you’re not looking, that’s an indication that you are not waiting for Moshiach and you need to think about whether you are, G-d forbid, someone the Rambam describes as denying the Torah and Moshe Rabbeinu.
When speaking to simpler people, they don’t need to read the fine print to understand this. It’s enough for them to know that the Rebbe cares about every Jew and they can then readily accept that the Rebbe is the most suitable person to be Moshiach. I remember that when R’ Shlomo Yosef Zevin heard Chassidim once talking about the Rebbe being Moshiach, he said: I don’t know anyone else that is a suitable candidate!
SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO EXPLAIN ON THEIR TERMS
How do you continue to explain that the Rebbe is Moshiach after Gimmel Tammuz?
We continue in the same way, by explaining. Of course, the work is harder now since there is more that conceals the truth and you need even more explanations, but it is definitely possible.
Since there are a number of sensitive topics, it’s a good idea to tailor the explanation to the person you’re talking to. There are people whose emuna is apparent and you can explain to them that based on the Rebbe’s sichos about the eternal life of the nasi of the seventh generation, and based on what is explained in Chassidus that every generation must have a living nasi, and based on the Rebbe saying dozens if not hundreds of times that our generation is the last of galus – the Rebbe, who is the nasi of the last generation, continues to live despite what happened on Gimmel Tammuz, and therefore, there is no change in the belief that the Rebbe is Moshiach.
Other people will find it hard to accept this belief that goes against what the eyes can see. They need to be spoken to in terms of their own point of view. In the Gemara we find many instances in which the Sages explain things this way (i.e. that Moshiach is from the deceased). Although we ourselves believe that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam, there is no problem explaining to a person who finds it hard to believe that the Rebbe is chai v’kayam that the Rebbe is Moshiach even according to his belief that Gimmel Tammuz marks a histalkus.
And what happens when even after all the explanations people don’t accept it?
You try to explain it better. And if that doesn’t work either, you need to say T’hillim and daven to Hashem that words that come from the heart will enter their heart. That is what the Rebbe Rayatz said: If you asked someone to put on t’fillin and he refused, you need to say T’hillim with tears!
BEING INVOLVED IN MOSHIACH AROUSES P’NIMIUS
There are those who claim that being involved in the topic of Moshiach encourages superficiality and does away with the inner spiritual work that Chabad Chassidus was founded on.
Those who are involved in inyanei Moshiach and Geula according to the Rebbe’s sichos, know that there is nothing more foolish than this. First of all, the entire Moshiach campaign needs to permeate all details of shlichus, including, of course, the inner Chabad work. Someone who wants to follow the Rebbe’s instructions must continue the avoda p’nimis and make sure it is infused with Moshiach.
But it goes beyond that. When someone is involved in inyanei Moshiach, the avoda becomes more p’nimius’dik than before. There used to be two types of avoda, p’nimis and chitzonius. Today, since the Rebbe told us to instill Geula within all details of the avoda of shlichus and in all details of avodas Hashem, even that which was considered avoda chitzonius until then, became avoda p’nimis, for Moshiach is something p’nimi. And everything permeated by Moshiach is p’nimi!
In the famous sicha of 28 Nissan, the Rebbe cried out mainly about the inner galus we are in, an inner galus of avodas Hashem. So when we want to fulfill the Rebbe’s instructions and do all we can to get out of galus, that includes going out of our inner galus. For this, we must have avoda p’nimis!
It is clear that a chayus in inyanei Moshiach and Geula only augments avoda p’nimis. P’nimius’dike concepts that were previously hard to talk about are accomplished more easily when presented as part of the preparing for Geula process. I see young men today with a chayus in inyanei Moshiach and Geula who are to be envied for their avoda p’nimis.
Take for example, the concept of iskafia. Previously, a Chassid would do iskafia in order to break his evil inclination. Today, I know people who do iskafia in order to live a Geula reality!
This is based on what the Rebbe said in the sicha of Parshas VaYeira 5752: “Every single Jew must yearn greatly for the revelation of ‘and Hashem appeared to him,’ in the true and complete Geula and do everything that depends on him to be worthy of it, by having every one of his actions done in accordance with the state of the true and complete Geula.”
Therefore, not only does the involvement in Geula not encourage superficiality, the opposite is true. The Rebbe took the innermost point of Chabad and brought it “out.” There was once a huge difference between a farbrengen for Anash and a lecture for the public. Today, the Rebbe tells us to reach every Jew and show him how this world is G-dliness, so that he sees the Geula in everything.
I WILL NOT DENY MY BELIEF FOR MONEY
You once told Beis Moshiach in an interview that you lost a big building because of your involvement in the Besuras Ha’Geula.
Yes, there was a big donor who came to Mada and began helping out. At a certain point, he wanted to donate a large building for our work but before doing so, someone spoke to him against Chabad’s promulgating the Besuras Ha’Geula. He asked me about it and expected me to deny it or try to avoid answering, but I told him straight out that this is the belief of every Chabad Chassid and if he is interested I could sit down with him and explain it all.
Well, apparently they had so poisoned him that he said he had no doubt that I am more knowledgeable in this than he, but he did not want to help someone who believes the Rebbe is Moshiach.
What did you do?
What could I do? I believe that the Rebbe is Moshiach. Would I deny my belief for money or a donation, as large as it might be?!
Do you still experience obstacles as a result of publicizing the Besuras Ha’Geula and the Goel?
Aside from that incident, it never happened that someone stopped supporting the Chabad House because of this. Throughout the years, this was a one-time occurrence.
People take our Besuras HaGeula in stride, and even those who find it annoying don’t express their opposition. Two years ago we had a story with someone who made generous donations and after seeing that we publicized that the Rebbe is Moshiach, he told me candidly: I don’t agree with this message, but I won’t stop supporting your work. Not only didn’t he stop his support, he increased it!
Getting back to what I said before, most of the complaints come from ignorance. People come with complaints but after learning with them and giving them the appropriate explanations, they understand that we are carrying out the Torah’s approach on the matter.
This is why we need to put a lot more into explaining. The Rebbe himself said that he sees it is hard to instill inyanei Geula, and the solution is to learn inyanei Moshiach and Geula.
Naturally, you have to adjust the shiur to the level of the audience and as the Rebbe said at the Kinus HaShluchim 5752, preparing a city to welcome Moshiach is “by explaining what Moshiach is about as it is explained in the Written and Oral Torah, in such a way that it will be accepted by everyone according to his intellect and understanding.” How do you explain it? The Rebbe goes on to say, “Including and especially by learning inyanei Moshiach and Geula, especially in a way of chochma, bina, and daas.”
We have an explicit instruction to explain and to teach and how to do it. When you learn with a new mekurav, you can’t start by explaining the deep explanations brought in Chassidus about Moshiach. You have to tailor the approach to the person “according to his intellect and understanding.” The level of the material as well as the explanation has to fit your intended audience.
Inyanei Geula suit everyone. The Rebbe said so in a sicha on Shabbos, Parshas Shoftim 5751. Our avoda is to tailor inyanei Geula to everyone; not check to see whether it suits him, but how to tailor it to him.
THE SECRET TO UNITY
If you visit the Chabad community in Montreal and the dozens of Chabad Houses there, you can’t help but be impressed by the unity among the shluchim. Although there are differences of opinion between the shluchim, they do joint activities and help one another. We asked R’ Cohen:
What is the secret to your unity?
The question is not what is the secret of the shluchim in Montreal. The question needs to be asked in places where there isn’t achdus! Actually, the lack of achdus comes from one thing only, bad middos. When there are good middos, especially when we’re talking about shluchim of the Rebbe whose job it is to help every Jew, of course they need to help another shliach and be happy for each other’s success. There should not be machlokes because of differences of opinion!
Especially when the reality is that there is more that unites us than divides us. Just yesterday morning I spoke with one of the shluchim about a plan to organize a big Hakhel event together. Since one of the goals of Hakhel is to unite Jews, we got to talking about unity among shluchim. That shliach does not think as I do about the Besuras HaGeula but even he said: We agree on most things and even on those small details where we have differences of opinion, they are not in the category of “be killed and don’t transgress.” So there is no logical reason for machlokes.
I’ll give you a somewhat extreme example. To a Lubavitcher Chassid, Zionism is heresy. In the previous generation, there were great Chabad Chassidim who were known as Zionists. Did anyone regard them as heretics? G-d forbid! We considered them to be mistaken in this matter but at the same time, they were Chassidim who were loyal to the Rebbe and there were instances in which they subjugated their views to the Rebbe with total Chassidic bittul.
Today too, we all believe that the Rebbe is Moshiach and we all want the Rebbe to be revealed immediately and redeem us. Even if there are differences of opinion about what to publicize and in what dosages, ultimately, at the source, we are united.
HAKHEL AND KABBALAS HA’MALCHUS
The theme of the Kinus HaShluchim this year was “Gather the People.” What message do you think the shluchim need to take to the people?
Shluchim need to take every opportunity to fulfill the charge of Hakhel. And not just special Hakhel gatherings, but even the regular Shabbos farbrengen can be a Hakhel, and when you emphasize that it is a Hakhel farbrengen you see that it generates greater interest on the part of the participants.
Of course, aside from the regular farbrengens, we need special gatherings this year. At Mada we have a communal Shabbos every month for the community. All the families eat the Shabbos meal together and we’ve already seen the great inspiration this generates. The first Hakhel seudos we made were the big seudos we hosted on Rosh HaShana. In the speeches we emphasized that this is a Hakhel meal and thousands of people were exposed to the concept of Hakhel on the first day of the year.
Once every two weeks we have a meeting of all the shluchim and activists to brainstorm about interesting and original initiatives for this Hakhel year, while emphasizing that Hakhel is about uniting everyone around the king and inspiring them to love and fear of G-d.
This is the same point as kabbalas ha’malchus of Melech HaMoshiach and there’s no question that upping the Hakhel events will naturally increase the work in kabbalas ha’malchus until we accomplish the complete hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.