WHAT KIND OF AIR ARE YOUR CHILDREN BREATHING

Dear Reader sh’yichyeh,

In the HaYom Yom for 12 Tammuz, the birthday and Chag HaGeula of the Frierdike Rebbe, the Rebbe quotes a letter of the Frierdike Rebbe. The letter was originally written for 12 Tammuz 5692, for the fifth annual celebration of the Geula. This letter (Igros Kodesh, Vol. 2, p. 420), dated Sivan 5692 (1932), was written in Poland. The Rebbe Rayatz had left Russia for Riga, Latvia three months after his release in 1927. Almost all of the underground community of Chassidim who remained in Russia never saw him again.

The Frierdike Rebbe writes: “I am enclosing a maamer… In this way I am participating with our friends, the men of the chassidic brotherhood (may you all prosper, wherever you live!), and I am together with you at the farbrengens at which you strive to strengthen the spiritual lifestyle of Chassidus — by setting aside and observing fixed times for the study of the teachings of Chassidus, with the aim of being aroused to actualize the ideals discussed there… May our G‑d and the G‑d of our fathers bless the entire chassidic brotherhood — themselves, their wives, their children and their grandchildren — together with all our brothers of the House of Israel. May G‑d be with you all, and bestow upon you all manner of blessings both spiritual and material.”

Reading this HaYom Yom, where the Frierdike Rebbe gives Brachos to the families of Chassidim, reminded me of the HaYom Yom of Rosh Chodesh Sivan. In 5699/1939, the Frierdike Rebbe was in Otvosk, Poland. He received a letter from a Yid, in which he expresses his desire and yearning to learn and understand Chassidus. He also bemoans the fact that in his city (we do not know who the Chassid was or in which city he lived) there were no B’nei Torah or Yeshivos.

The Frierdike Rebbe wrote him a letter (Igros Volume 4 pg. 510), dated 11 Iyar, in which he responds that the way to deal with the desire is by learning Chassidus. The Frierdike Rebbe encourages him to open a Yeshiva in his city, as there apparently were refugees of the war that had come there.

The Frierdike Rebbe writes in that letter the following powerful statement: “[There is a maxim of the Sages:] ‘If you toss a stick into the air, it will land on its base.’ Our forefathers, our holy Rebbeim, bequeathed ‘an unbounded inheritance’ to the early Chassidim — that their descendants throughout the generations, regardless of country or environment, would always have that fundamental home base — the heart’s innermost desire to be drawn to the Divine Rock from which it was hewn. This home base may be layered and hidden under several coverings. It is thus the life-task of whoever ‘desires life’ to remove those coverings: to fix regular times for the study of Chassidus, and to observe the customs of the Chassidic community.”

The HaYom Yom was printed in 5703. Forty-five years later, on 3 Sivan 5748, the Rebbe addressed this HaYom Yom and made a revolutionary statement. Even though it says in the HaYom Yom that the bracha of “it will land on its base” applies only to Chassidim, in our generation it applies to all the Jewish people. After all the avoda, since the HaYom Yom was printed, every Jew of this generation has been “thrown into the air” by the Rebbe, and therefore they can and will “land on the root,” i.e., their essential connection to Hashem will be revealed.

Dear Chassidim!

There are many who ask the question, or some have already given up asking the question, regarding inspiring the youth and ourselves today. It seems that the world and the hashkafos of the pervasive culture are so available, and it conceals the eidelkait and chassidishkait that we are trying to instill in our children and students.

From this HaYom Yom we can learn a tremendous lesson: “If you toss a stick into the air, it will land on its base.” If we want our children to land on their base, we need to “toss them into the air.”

What am I referring to?

The Rebbe revealed to us that we have the “air of Moshiach.” Here are the words of the Rebbe (Besuras HaGeula, Chapter 49): “The concept of ‘All the days of your life to bring about the days of Moshiach’ expresses that immediately when the essence of the soul awakens (thus revealing the essence, and only the essence, of its existence), it feels in the very air it breathes the concept of Moshiach, the air of Moshiach, or in the words of our Sages of blessed memory, ‘the spirit of King Moshiach.’ It can be suggested that the ‘air (spirit) of Moshiach’ is even higher than ‘the light of Moshiach,’ because the light of Moshiach indicates the revelation of Moshiach through his actions (such as ‘he will fight the wars of G-d’ until ‘he is victorious,’ etc.). However, the air of Moshiach indicates the essence (the very life) of Moshiach. That is, [this refers to] the revelation of his existence (from his earlier status as a leader) as the King Moshiach. Then, after the revelation of his existence (air that is incomparable to the light of Moshiach), the revelation that all can see his activity (light of Moshiach) will begin.”

Since we already have the “air of Moshiach”, we need to throw our children into this special air. We need to speak about and involve our children and students in the topic of Moshiach. Learning about and living with Moshiach is the way we help ourselves and our children enter this special atmosphere. Once they are living with Moshiach, “they will fall on the root” and all the concealments of the world and galus will fall away.

This concept, that through being involved in Moshiach we are automatically distanced from negative hashkafos, is brought out clearly in a sicha of the Rebbe (VaEschanan 5751). In that sicha the Rebbe addresses the Mishna in Pirkei Avos (Perek Gimmel) on the words, “Look into these three things and you will not come to do an Aveira.”

The Rebbe explains: “The term ‘three things’ on its own can be a suggestion of the third Redemption and the third Holy Temple, a threefold Redemption and a threefold Holy Temple, because they comprise the virtues of the first Redemption and the second, the first Temple and the second. Furthermore, the twosome features will be combined as one.

“The imperative, ‘Look,’ implies gazing intently, by deeply reflecting and contemplating matters concerning the third Redemption and the third Beis HaMikdash (‘three things’), imbued with feelings of anticipation and exceptional yearning, ‘I anticipate his coming every day’ implying that he will come every day, this day, literally. How much more so, now that we stand on the threshold of Redemption, that the gazing at these three matters is increased and done with more vigor.

“In a similar vein, with regard to ‘keeping from evil,’ one is precluded from evil as a matter of course, without a need to actively engage in negating evil, as the Mishneh continues: ‘And you will not come to the hands of sin.’ The expression ‘and you will not come implies that it will not take effort. The usage of the term ‘hands of sin’ implies further that even matters that are not inherently sinful but could lead to sin (such as satisfying permissible desires), are automatically dismissed because of one’s reflection on matters of Redemption. This is analogous to the way things will be in the Messianic Era. This is as the Rambam rules (in the end and seal of his work, Mishneh Torah) that ‘in that time … all delights will be as abundant as the dust of the earth.’ His choice of the word ‘dust’ implies that it will have no significance to us, inasmuch as ‘all of the preoccupation of the world will be exclusively to know G-d.’”

This idea, that our success in chinuch depends on which atmosphere we put our children in, is clearly stated in the HaYom Yom of 11 Teves: “A person’s life depends upon the air around him: without air one cannot live. Moreover, the kind of air in which one lives determines the quality of one’s life. When a person lives in an atmosphere of Torah and mitzvos, his life is healthy. When he lives in an atmosphere that denies G‑d, his life is sickly and he is under constant risk of contagion.

“The first, comprehensive remedy is to purify the air, and this is the responsibility of those who are educated in Torah studies. It is the letters of Torah that purify the air. When a person verbalizes words of the Torah while standing in the store, walking down the street, or riding the subway, he purifies the air. Whoever is familiar with Torah learning must have something on call that he has learned by heart, be it Chumash, T’hillim, Mishnayos, or Tanya. This will enable him to review the holy words of the Torah — mentally and verbally — at any time and in every place.”

Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com