Not A Time For Questions
By Rabbi Naftali Estulin, Shliach to Los Angeles, California

Despite the questions we have concerning Gimmel Tammuz, we have to know what is expected of us.
 

Rabbi Chadakov once told a shliach who had recently finished building a large mosad that another mosad was expected of him. The shliach, who hadn’t yet paid off all the debts on the first mosad, told Rabbi Chadakov that he just couldn’t take on anymore debts. Rabbi Chadakov said, "in that case, you’re fired."

When the shliach asked Rabbi Chadakov if he doesn’t believe him when he was says that he is utterly incapable of taking on another project, Rabbi Chadakov replied, "Even if you hadn’t told me, I would have known that this was way beyond your capabilities. The problem is that you thought the first mosad was something you could build, when the truth is that even the first mosad you could not build without the help of the Rebbe. So when you’re asked to build another mosad, you need to know that the same kochos the Rebbe gave you to build the first mosad will help you build the second mosad!"

Every Chabad Chassid is a shliach, each in his own sphere of influence. We all have to know that all our work is done with the Rebbe MH"M’s kochos. There is nothing we can do on our own. Therefore, when the Rebbe asks us to publicize the besuras ha’Geula throughout the world, we have to know that just as everything we did until now was

done with the Rebbe’s kochos, so too now, the Rebbe helps us spread the besuras ha’Geula, even in places and at times when it seems we don’t have the ko’ach to fully carry out the Rebbe’s directives.

This is the answer to those who claim that now, after Gimmel Tammuz, we can no longer publicize the besuras ha’Geula. They say that under the present circumstances, publicizing the besuras ha’Geula v`ha’goel are likely to interfere with Chabad activities. They don’t notice the absurdity of this assertion. All the activities done by Chabad until now, were done with special kochos from the Rebbe, so how can they think that fulfilling a directive of the Rebbe would interfere with the other activities which are made possible only by the Rebbe’s kochos?

On Shabbos Mevarchim Tammuz, from which all the days of the month – including 3 Tammuz – are blessed, we read about the spies. If you closely examine what the spies said you will see that everything they said was true.

They said that K’naan is a land that "consumes its inhabitants," and they weren’t lying. During those forty days an epidemic raged in the land! They said that the people they saw were men of stature, and indeed there were giants there. They said that they were like grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants, which was also true, for they heard the giants saying that there were grasshoppers resembling people in the vineyards.

Everything the spies said was true, yet they were punished. Why? Because they lacked the emuna in Moshe Rabbeinu and true hiskashrus to him. Had they believed in Moshe and had they been truly mekushar to him, they would have realized that if Moshe told them they could conquer the land, they could, in fact, conquer the land. Had they been truly mekushar to Moshe, they would have perceived how, notwithstanding the giants, the land could be conquered.

Nowadays as well, when someone says that the world is not ready to accept the news of Geula and Moshiach, you can’t say he’s lying. From his perspective, he truly sees opposition to the whole idea. Nevertheless, such an assertion indicates that he is not sufficiently connected to Moshe Rabbeinu, because once the Moshe of our generation told us that the world is ready to accept whatever they are told we can fully publicize the besuras ha’Geula.

I remember my melamed back in Russia asking us how we know that snow is white. He told us that we know it from the pasuk, "If your sins are like scarlet, they will be whitened like snow."

At a very young age, the melamed instilled in us the knowledge that it is Torah that establishes the metzius (reality). When I matured, my father taught me a deeper perspective – that the Nasi HaDor is the one who establishes the metzius, and even Hashem, as it were, reckons with the metzius established by the Nasi HaDor.

My father’s explanation is also connected to Parshas Shlach. On the words, "salachti ki’dvarecha" (I have forgiven, in accordance with your words), Rashi says, "because of what you said, i.e., that Egypt will say, ‘Hashem lacks power.’ In other words, Hashem’s forgiveness was granted on account of Moshe’s claim that if all the Jews die, it would be a tremendous chilul Hashem, for the gentiles would say that Hashem annihilated the Jewish people because he couldn’t bring them into Eretz Yisroel. Now how did Moshe know the gentiles would say that? Moreover, since Hashem is omnipotent, He could cause the gentiles not to think that way, and certainly not to say anything! How can it be that Hashem forgave the Jewish people only in order to prevent the gentiles from making the latter claim, when He could have prevented them form doing this even if He had carried out his decree against the Jewish people. (chas v’shalom)?

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev explains that if Moshe Rabbeinu hadn’t made the above-mentioned argument, it is quite possible that the gentiles would never have actually said it. However, the moment Moshe presented Hashem with his concerns about what the gentiles would say, his words affected the metziyus, so that if Hashem would have fulfilled His decree, the gentiles would have immediately said that Hashem killed the Jewish people in the desert because He couldn’t bring them into the land. Once Moshe expressed this concern, even Hashem, as it were, would not prevent the gentiles from making their claim. (See also the sicha of Parshas VaYikra, 5743).

From this we learn that the Nasi HaDor’s words affect the physical world and change its nature. When the Rebbe says that the time for Geula has arrived and that the world is ready for it, and that we must spread this message to the entire world, we have to know that as a result of the Rebbe’s words, the nature of the world has changed and therefore, even in places where it was previously impossible to disseminate this message, the message will, in fact, be accepted.

A woman passed by the Rebbe MH"M for "dollars" and began questioning the Rebbe about how Hashem could allow Nazi murderers to kill six millions Jews. The Rebbe responded: Instead of being busy with questions, you have to ask Hashem to immediately bring the true and complete Redemption.

When Gimmel Tammuz comes around we have many questions, especially in light of the fact that seven years have passed since 3 Tammuz 5754! Despite the questions, however, we must know that now is not a time for questions! Gimmel Tammuz is a time for demanding and doing – demanding that Hashem immediately remove the concealments, and doing all that we can to reveal the Rebbe MH"M shlita immediately!