Now that the power of the Nasi has been transferred to the klal, it is up to us to finish the job the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach started — to bring the true and complete Redemption b’poel mamash. We in Crown Heights must bring this innermost desire of the Rebbe to fruition.

In this context, what is the purpose of the upcoming elections for Vaad HaKahal? Is it to make our community truly democratic, truly American? Is it so that each person can make his opinion known on how Crown Heights should be run? Or is it an opportunity to seek out and do the will of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach? An opportunity for hiskashrus?

Make no mistake, Crown Heights exists only because of the Rebbe’s bracha. It is no normal place. And as the Rebbe reminds us, each of our actions here affects the whole world. You’re worried about Eretz Yisroel and the so-called "peace process"? What we do here helps determine the outcome there.

Just as the Rebbe clearly delineated what our leaders in Eretz Yisroel should be doing to bring true peace to the land, so too the Rebbe told us clearly what actions we must take here to strengthen the neighborhood of the Nasi HaDor. By choosing to bring the Rebbe’s vision into reality in Crown Heights, we are choosing to make the Geula as real for the rest of the world as it is for the Rebbe himself.

In anticipation of the upcoming elections, the following sichos and essays setting forth the Rebbe’s vision of Crown Heights, articles that have previously appeared in Beis Moshiach, are being reprinted. Just a glance is sufficient to tell us the essence of the Rebbe’s vision: the Beis Din Tzedek of Crown Heights provides Torah-true, Chassidishe guidance for the community, while a dedicated Vaad HaKahal protects and supports the authority of the Badatz.

We republish these sichos here, in one place, in the hope that our readers will take the time to study these materials in detail. If the elections are an opportunity to strengthen our hiskashrus to the Rebbe, they also require preparation, avoda, as we seek to internalize the Rebbe’s teaching about how to be a holy community, how to truly represent the Rebbe, our Melech.

You may hear people say that these elections are "politics." If this has any truth, it is our responsibility to bring the elections back to the pure view of the Rebbe, the one who instituted these elections.

We can bring about a genuine healing to our shechuna with these elections if we simply vote with the intention of fulfilling the Rebbe’s ratzon (will).

The sichos below make it clear what that ratzon is: Whatever else the Vaad HaKahal does for the welfare of the community, it must make protecting its Rabbanim its top priority, or else it betrays the trust of the community and fails in the shlichus it was given. Recent events have unfortunately confirmed that the war against our Rabbanim which the Rebbe described in the following sichos over 10 year ago has not abated, but has become more desperate and more open. Painful as it may be to confront this schism in our ranks, it is nevertheless necessary to study the matter in detail, to feel the Rebbe’s directives as touching us to our very core.

This insert is not intended to endorse any particular candidates for the Council. Boruch Hashem, this year the Netzigim have allowed on the ballot only those candidates who have never spoken out or acted publicly against the Rabbanim. Nevertheless, discrimination is still called for. Thus we suggest four questions to ask in considering a candidate: 1) Does he believe, and has he stated publically, that protecting the honor and authority of the Rabbanim is the top priority of the Vaad HaKohol? 2) Does he have a good mashpia with whom he consults on all personal decisions, as well as on matters of tovas ha’shechuna? 3) Will he put tovas ha’shechuna above self-interest and ulterior motives? 4) Does he have personal integrity?

We urge everyone to ponder deeply into the significance of his vote, and consult with a mashpia to discuss his choices. May these good resolutions be the final step in bringing about the true and complete Redemption NOW!

The Effect Of What We Do Here, Is Felt Everywhere

In connection with the election and appointing of the Rabbanim, the Rabbanim of the neighborhood:

This is the neighborhood in which my father-in-law, the leader of the generation, lived and acted for his last ten years.

And since a leader of a generation essentially embodies and comprises the entire generation, every action performed in this neighborhood greatly affects the whole world as well, for it is the neighborhood of the leader of our generation, the generation of the Footsteps of Moshiach, in which Exile finishes and the Redemption begins. (And therefore, an action performed in the neighborhood of the leader of our generation affects and influences not only all the people of this generation, but even all people of previous generations.)