Shluchim
Doing All They Can To Bring Moshiach
Part
2
By Shlomo Evven-Rokeach
Beis
Moshiach interviewed shluchim in order to hear how they implement
“do all that you can [to bring Moshiach]” * At the same time
we learn about life on shlichus, the difficulties encountered and
the tremendous success
We
decided to conclude this article with a shaliach familiar
to most of us for the Moshiach-related products he produces, Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Friedman of Ohr Yehuda.
Rabbi
Friedman does one-on-one work with the people in his area.
Throughout the day he circulates among stores and businesses and
puts tefillin on with people, talks to them, and prepares
them one by one for Moshiach. In the evening he runs from class to
class!
The
highlight of his week is Shabbos. With the first light of day, he
begins walking from shul to shul. He enters quickly,
gives a talk about the connection between the weekly sidra
and Moshiach, and is barely finished before he runs off to the
next shul.
After
finishing his rounds of all thirteen shuls, he hurries home
for a quick meal and he’s on his way to the mesibos Shabbos
groups. In this way, he manages to prepare 1,000 people each
Shabbos for the revelation of Melech HaMoshiach.
In
publicizing Moshiach in his city, Rabbi Friedman uses the same
full-scale approach. He has produced thousands of Moshiach-related
products, such as clocks and flags, which he personally
distributes.
How
do people respond to your approach?
It’s
hard to describe the enthusiasm and the glow in their eyes when
they talk about Moshiach. They say, “Nu, let him come
already. He should just come.”
I
remember an incident that happened to me once when I was backing
my car out of a parking space when I suddenly heard a loud noise
and felt a big bang. I looked behind me and saw that I had
accidentally hit a car.
I
slowly got out of my car, prepared to get it over the head from
the other driver. We stood there for a few moments, face to face,
when he suddenly noticed the Baruch Ha’ba sign on
the roof of my car. He smiled and said, “Nu, it’s no
big deal. The main thing is that Moshiach should come already.”
People
ask what the purpose is in putting so much effort into things that
are only chitzoniyus (superficial), when Chabad mont
pnimiyus (demands substance).
The
very question demonstrates shocking ignorance when it comes to the
Rebbe’s approach. After all, this is the idea of the public menora
lightings and the mobile menoros, the tanks, the Lag
B’Omer parades, and countless other things. These displays are
noisy and “external,” and their purpose is to arouse and
demonstrate Jewish pride.
Who
can forget the long Hei Teives sicha of 5748, when the
Rebbe spoke at length about a sign with the words Didan Natzach
hanging on the wall of 770, and many other such examples, signs
and other “external” items towards which the Rebbe attributed
great importance.
We
all remember the Rebbe’s reaction when Rabbi Butman presented to
him one of the 2,000 shirts that said “Moshiach is on the
Way.” The Rebbe took the shirt, saying Rabbi Butman still had
another 1,999 left to distribute.
An
even more blatant example is the directive to print the Seifer
HaShluchim and the menora lighting album in which
you see photos of menora lightings around the world. These
things are chitzoniyus sh’b’chitzoniyus, but since they
lead to further action, the Rebbe instructed us to do them.
In
more simple terms, even if in earlier generations the emphasis was
on pnimiyus, in our generation the Rebbe has consistently
emphasized the need to reach out to the world on its own terms. In
other words, since advertising and slogans are the means by which
people are reached in our day and age, we must use these same
methods! We have to grab them with chitzoniyus and draw
them towards pnimiyus.
Obviously,
this doesn’t mean to lessen the avoda ha’pnimis by one
iota. It’s just that since the world operates in a manner of chitzoniyus,
we have to take advantage of this and bring people to the utmost pnimiyus.
The facts speak for themselves. Wherever you find centers of Anash
and Chabad yeshivos, with men and Tmimim working
energetically on all the Rebbe’s mivtzaim, as well as
working on themselves in a pnimiyusdike way – these are
the people who “live with Moshiach,” and who aren’t
embarrassed by what the Rebbe has to say.
I recently visited 770 and saw Tmimim “living with
Moshiach,” and disseminating this enthusiasm in all possible
ways, keeping their sedarim in yeshiva, having farbrengens,
etc.
Unfortunately,
I hear these questions regarding proclamations and slogans. In the
sichos of 5751 and 5752, there are quite a few lines in
which the Rebbe says, “Practically speaking...announce and
publicize all over...that today we can literally see with our own
eyes the blessing of the true and complete Redemption.”
Don’t
forget who implanted the slogans of “We Want Moshiach Now,”
“Hinei, hinei Moshiach bah,” and
“L’Alter L’Geula.” I find it difficult to
understand how anyone could have a problem with saying “Yechi”
when there is an explicit sicha of the Rebbe regarding the
life that it gives to the king.
I
just cannot understand how people can say things that are
absolutely the opposite of the Rebbe’s own approach! This
approach was simple and clear throughout the Rebbe’s nesius.
The Lag B’Omer parades with signs, reciting the 12 Pesukim,
Moshiach slogans, colorful tanks, billboards, and all other
external trappings. All of a sudden people are questioning where
all this came from?
I
once heard a story about a woman who lived on a kibbutz, and at a
certain point in her, life as a result of something that happened
to her, she decided to take on a mitzva. She figured that
the most appropriate mitzva for her would be lighting
Shabbos candles, but she didn’t know if she was allowed to do so
since she wasn’t observant.
As
she mulled this over, she caught sight of a sign on a passing car
which said, “Kol isha u’bat, madlika neirot Shabbat”
(All Jewish women and girls light Shabbos candles). She was
relieved and began observing this mitzva. One thing led to
another until she became fully observant. This all came about
because of a sign.
I
know of a teacher who works in a Chabad Talmud Torah in
Yerushalayim who came to Chabad and Yiddishkeit through a
Moshiach sign hanging on a yeshiva there.
This
is not just for shluchim, but for everyone who calls
himself a Lubavitcher. Just about everybody who wears a “Yechi”
yarmulka can tell you about incidents when people stopped them
and discussed what was written on the yarmulka. The result
is that there are people who know a few more sichos of the
Rebbe on the topic of Moshiach, not to mention those instances in
which these discussions led to radical life changes!
I
think it is all quite clear, and I find it most shocking that we
have to spend time talking about the obvious.
What
about publicizing the fact that the Rebbe is Moshiach?
It’s
surprising that we have to elaborate on that too, since we all saw
how the Rebbe encouraged this for over a year, and any activist
can tell you that this is the only way to truly prepare
your city for Moshiach!
Just
imagine if somebody came over to you and told you to prepare for
someone’s coming, and not just any kind of preparation, but a
complete makeover! Could you possibly do this without his
explaining to you exactly who you are preparing for? Do you think
you could possibly approach someone on the street and successfully
convince him to prepare to receive the authority of some abstract
Messianic being without clarifying who and what Moshiach is?
In
the sicha of VaYeira 5752, the Rebbe said: “Since it is
the case that we have (not only the existence of Moshiach, but
also) the revelation of Moshiach, now we need only greet
Moshiach in actuality.” In other words, since we have the
revelation of Moshiach, we can greet him. Logic says: How
can you arrange a proper welcoming for a stranger? How can we
prepare? Who is it that I am preparing for?
The
Rebbe stresses: “We have (not only the existence of Moshiach,
but also) the revelation of Moshiach,” and this is why “greeting
Moshiach” is possible! Otherwise, who are we preparing for?
Then
when we get to kabbalas ha’malchus and the declaration of
“Yechi HaMelech,” the question becomes even more
ridiculous. How can you coronate someone whose identity you
don’t know? Whose kingdom must we accept? What is the
significance of Mivtza Moshiach? Is it a mivtza of
obscurity?
The
fact is, though, that the Rebbe never said we should publicize the
fact that he is Moshiach.
I
just learned a sicha regarding Mattan Torah in which
the Rebbe discusses an obvious question. The main point of Mattan
Torah is Torah study, yet the Aseres HaDibros
(Ten Commandments) don’t even mention Torah study. How is it
that at the giving of the Torah, Hashem didn’t even mention
Torah study?
The
answer, says the Rebbe, is that Mattan Torah is synonymous
with Torah study. That is all they did there, so there was no need
for a special directive. The same applies to us, for why should
the Rebbe give us a special directive about publicizing
Moshiach’s identity, when all the Rebbe did when he made
appearances in 5753 and 5754 was to publicize Moshiach’s
identity?
Some
people say that this publicity causes harm to Lubavitch.
Many
of us recall how what the Rebbe said twenty years ago about the
future of Chevron and Yerushalayim were received. Quite a few
Chassidim were embarrassed to publicize what the Rebbe had said,
for they feared a chillul k’vod Lubavitch. What the Rebbe
said seemed farfetched to them, and the Chassidim simply had
“compassion for the Rebbe’s honor.”
Former
Knesset member Geula Cohen told me that after a private audience
with the Rebbe in which the Rebbe told her the government’s
plans and how things would develop if they didn’t cease the
talks entirely, she was embarrassed to repeat what the Rebbe had
told her! It just seemed unrealistic. Despite the fact that time
after time the Rebbe demanded that this be publicized, and people
didn’t doubt the truth of what they heard since the Rebbe said
it explicitly, in order to preserve the dignity of Lubavitch,
people kept quiet.
The
same thing happened with the topic of “Who is a Jew,” and
other topics, when today, all of a sudden, people are beginning to
concede how right the Rebbe was, but at the time, for the sake of
preserving the honor of Lubavitch... Boruch Hashem,
we weren’t afraid for the honor of Lubavitch when it came to
“We Want Moshiach Now.”
As
far as using the term “shlita” after the Rebbe’s
name, how else would you expect us to publicize it? Would somebody
write all sorts of false expressions simply because it is more
convenient, and for the sake of preserving the honor of Lubavitch?
This is especially absurd in light of the fact that the Rebbe
established quite clearly in a number of sichos that there
is no such as thing as the nasi ha’dor experiencing the
opposite of life!
An
example of this is the well-known sicha of Parshas Bo 5752
in which the Rebbe says, “The chiddush [novelty] of our
generation, the ninth generation, relative to all the preceding
generations, also relative to the generation immediately preceding
it (the eighth) is that the Geula did not actually come in
the previous generations...there was a histalkus of the neshama
from the guf...which is unlike our generation, the final
generation of Galus and the first generation of Geula.”
Another
example is in the well-known sicha (Likkutei Sichos,
Vol. 26, Sh’mos) in which the Rebbe explains that every
generation must have a living nasi ha’dor!
When
we have such clear statements edited by the Rebbe himself, how can
one even consider using terminology regarding the Rebbe that is
the opposite of fact, the opposite of truth, and the opposite of
what the Rebbe said — with a veneer of “protecting the honor
of Lubavitch,” no less!
This
was always the difference between a Chassid and a Misnaged, for if
a Chassid had a problem understanding the Gemara he saw it as his
problem, whereas the Misnaged would see it as a problem with the
Gemara. If the reality seems to contradict what the Rebbe said,
then as Chassidim we immediately acknowledge that the problem lies
with us and our understanding and not, ch’v, with the
Rebbe!
Regarding
the essence of the complaint, on a daily basis we see that when
you speak strongly and confidently, it is accepted. Any shaliach
can attest to this. Just as people are ready to accept many things
from the shaliach which contradict reality as they knew it
up until then, the same applies to Moshiach. The question is only
on the shaliach...
*
* *
“The
significance of ‘do all that you can,’” says Rabbi Friedman,
“is just what it says! When you print an invitation to a bar
mitzva, wedding, or any other event, it is an opportunity that
obligates us to publicize Moshiach. If we produce something like
this without publicizing Moshiach, then it is an opportunity
wasted.
“That
is the simple meaning of ‘do all that you can.’ Whenever we
have the opportunity to publicize and thereby bring Moshiach, we
must take advantage of it – in print, in speech, in any form at
all. With a little thought you can connect every conversation,
every telephone call and encounter, to Moshiach.
“That
was the idea behind the clock that says ‘Today at __o’clock we
will greet Moshiach.’ Every glance at the clock reminds us of
Moshiach. The same goes for the plate that says, ‘I am still
hungry for the seudas ha’Geula,’ and for all the other
products.
“Every
speech can be connected to Moshiach, and not just by concluding
with it. A speech at a wedding can be connected to the true joy we
will have only after Moshiach comes, and mention can also be made
about the marriage between Hashem and the Jewish people. At a bar
mitzva you can talk about the greatest bar mitzva
celebration of all, which will take place when Moshiach comes,
when all the Jewish people will take on all the mitzvos
which weren’t observed up until now.
“With
a little effort, you can do this with any conversation. For
example, a few days ago I visited a hospital. I saw a religious
Jew looking around for a minyan for Maariv, who
looked upset when he didn’t find one. I went over to him and
said that the whole point of tefilla is as a replacement
for korbanos, so if you’re upset about not finding a minyan
you would be better off being upset about the real thing we lack
– the Beis HaMikdash!”
How
would you like to conclude?
In
our work of hafatza we often encounter people with
complaints. “Nu,” they ask us, “when is the Moshiach
you promised us coming already?” Even if at first it may seem
insulting, after briefly thinking about what they said, it turns
out they are 100% right! “What did happen to the Moshiach
the Rebbe promised us?”
When
we have this question we must raise our eyes to Heaven and direct
our question to Hashem: What happened to the Moshiach you promised
us? Ad masai?!
With
this approach we are assured that, “The only thing being waited
for is to hear a Jew crying out yet another cry, with another
request and demand – ad mosai ! By doing so he brings
Moshiach Tzidkeinu to this very shul right now, and he will
take all the Jews here along with all the Jewish people to our
Holy Land, to Yerushalayim the holy city, to the holy mountain,
and to the third Beis HaMikdash.”
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