R’ Friedman: I want to bring up an important topic: that
of drashos. When the average Lubavitcher appears at some event, he is
asked to say a few words. After hearing from the Rebbe that shlichus (as
we knew it up until then) is over, and the sole remaining shlichus is
preparing the world to greet Moshiach, we have the obligation to use every
opportunity of public speaking to talk about preparing for Moshiach.
I remember how as bachurim in yeshiva before
going on mivtzaim on Friday afternoon, we would prepare an interesting
dvar Torah. Today, when the only shlichus left to do is that of
preparing the world to greet Moshiach, every Chassid has to sit down on Sunday
and prepare an interesting drasha on the weekly sidra connected to
the besuras ha’Geula, so that if the opportunity arises he will be able
to fulfill this shlichus.
Today there are many books with ready-made drashos
that include stories and meshalim people enjoy hearing. We must remember
that we have a job, and even if it’s difficult to extract a simple message from
the most recent sichos, the sichos of 5751-2, we must make the
effort.
Another thing: what sort of gifts do we give our mekuravim?
When one of their children becomes bar mitzva, or whatever the occasion,
we bring a gift. We were always particular about bringing a gift with a Jewish
message like a Jewish book. Today, nine years after the Rebbe’s sicha
about the sole remaining shlichus, we must give gifts with a Geula
message. So many products have been produced in recent years that are connected
in some way to Geula, and we should use them! I am sure that if all
shluchim would buy these products, this would spur the producers to make
even more products related to Moshiach and Geula.
R’ Lepkivker: Another aspect of preparing the world for
Geula is chinuch. The Rebbe stresses that the education of a baby
begins even before it is born. During the pregnancy, the fetus listens to what
is going on and is influenced by what it hears! In one sicha, the Rebbe
stressed that in recent years research was done in this field, and even gentile
scientists have come to this conclusion.
So every word heard in the house makes an impact. Everything
we talk about at home should be connected to Geula, so that even an
unborn baby will "live" with inyanei Moshiach and Geula.
We have to live with the besuras ha’Geula all the
time. It’s like oxygen for the soul. The Rebbe meant it when he said that when a
Jew gets up in the morning he has to breathe the air of Moshiach. Adults should
make sure that children also live with Geula 24 hours a day.
Speaking of children, I don’t mean only little kids, but I am
also referring to those adults who are neophytes when it comes to Jewish
concepts. You know how the Rebbe said that the passport is not what establishes
who is young and old.
R’ Kenig: If we want children to live with Moshiach, the
house has to shout it from all sides. This is especially true for those
shluchim who don’t live in Lubavitcher neighborhoods. When the front door is
adorned with Moshiach stickers and every corner of the house has something
associated with Geula, anybody who enters the house is influenced before
you even say one word!
To illustrate this, I’ll tell you what happened at my house
recently. One Shabbos as I made Kiddush, I heard the neighbors upstairs
celebrating a birthday party with lots of friends. They finished as we were in
the middle of our meal, and when I heard them coming down the steps, I opened
the door and invited them in.
I showed them a special chair designated for Melech
HaMoshiach in a corner of the living room, and I explained that we wait for
Moshiach and are sure he will come visit every Jewish home.
They understood the stickers, and I explained a bit about the
tambourines. In short, after ten minutes in my house they were informed of the
imminence of Moshiach, and understood that they had to prepare for Moshiach’s
coming with additional mitzvos. Presumably they began looking forward to
his arrival. When they left the building and saw the illuminated "Baruch HaBa
Melech HaMoshiach" sign, they began dancing and singing, "Moshiach,
Moshiach..."
About the sign, I often see people stop near the house and
read the sign. Some neighbors regularly stop near the door and kiss the
mezuza and the Rebbe’s picture. There’s no question that when you’re
surrounded by objects that broadcast the besuras ha’Geula every minute,
even when not talking or doing anything about it, you are anticipating the
Geula.
People who come to us to write a letter to the Rebbe and
receive an answer through the Igros Kodesh say that in the ten minutes
they spent in our house they felt the Yemos HaMoshiach. It’s not
surprising because there is hardly anything in the house which is not connected
to Moshiach. Wherever you look you see Moshiach and Geula.
From my experience, this hashpaa, which is in a way of
makif, is sometimes more powerful than anything you can say, because when
a person sees that you really live with the besuras ha’Geula, he begins
to think that this must really be serious and something worth preparing for.
R’ Bukiet: If we want to know what "living with Moshiach"
means, we have to learn the sicha (Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 28) about
the Rambam’s Hilchos Para Aduma, which says that the tenth para aduma
will be made by Moshiach. The Rambam writes, "May he be speedily revealed,
amen kein yehi ratzon."
The Rebbe explains that the Rambam wrote this wish
specifically in the halachos regarding the para aduma, and not in
Hilchos Melachim, which discusses Moshiach at length, in order to stress
that ideas of Geula and Moshiach have to penetrate everything and
everywhere.
When learning Hilchos Melachim you mention Moshiach.
The chochma is to find a connection to Geula when discussing
something else entirely, like hilchos para aduma.
Every shliach has special classes on Moshiach. The
chochma is in how to bring Geula and Moshiach into the Chumash,
Gemara, and Shulchan Aruch class! It’s not always easy, but you have
to find the right way to do it.
Lecturers used to conclude with the words "u’va l’Tziyon
go’eil." Some people would jokingly say that if the long lecture could come
to an end the exile could certainly end... Today every lecture has to be about
Geula, not just the ending.
The Rebbe brings an example of how to instill the yearning
for Moshiach in something which seemingly has no connection to Geula. In
the past, when Jews gathered in shul and wanted to know if there was a
minyan, they wouldn’t count with numbers but they would use any verse of ten
words associated with t’filla.
More recently, says the Rebbe, the yearning for Moshiach has
intensified, and Bnei Yisroel began counting with the pasuk "Hoshia es
amecha," which has ten words and also expresses the yearning for Geula.
Based on this sicha, and considering that the Rebbe
strongly encouraged the singing of "Yechi," a proclamation expressing
emuna and bitachon along with anticipation for Geula, you can
count for a minyan using "Yechi" and then add, "Yechi HaMelech"
or "chai v’kayam." In this way, you can take a simple everyday experience
that doesn’t have any connection to Geula and turn it into an act that
expresses faith and anticipation for the revelation of the Rebbe MH"M.
In another sicha, the Rebbe spoke about the importance
of educating children from the youngest ages. They used to sing "Torah iz di
beste s’chora" (Torah is the best merchandise) to babies in the cradle.
Today we can sing "Yechi." In this way we can educate children to be like
the Rebbe, who from the day he went to school (and even before that) began
imagining what the future Geula would be like.
R’ Shmerling: When you invest in children, you reap the
harvest from the adults too, because the children are terrific ambassadors. In
our house we wake the children up with Geula songs from the radio. In
this way, they live with Moshiach from the moment they wake up. They convey this
chayus in the most amazing ways.
When I didn’t take the children to shul in Kfar Yona
one Shabbos, some people came over to me and said, "We come here to hear your
children! Why didn’t you bring them?"
Sometimes I’m amazed by the tmimus with which the
children accept things. About a year ago I took my children to Crown Heights for
a family simcha. I was very nervous about the moment we would arrive at
770 and the children would ask me why they don’t see the Rebbe.
We went there at 3:15 and the Rebbe’s chair and shtender were
set up for Mincha, and as I expected, my son asked, "Vu iz der Rebbe?" (Where is
the Rebbe?).
We went there at 3:15 and the Rebbe’s chair and shtender
were set up for Mincha, and as I expected, my son asked, "Vu iz der
Rebbe?" (Where is the Rebbe?).
I told him that apparently the Rebbe had not yet come down
from his room. He thought a moment and then asked, "Er iz farnumen?" (Is
he busy?) I said he was, and he stopped asking questions.
When we returned to Eretz Yisroel and told everybody about
his trip to 770, when people asked him if he saw the Rebbe he answered: "The
Rebbe is busy." When a three-year-old says that, you can’t remain apathetic.
Many hearts opened up upon hearing this answer.
If we want to fulfill the Rebbe’s directive to live with
Moshiach, you simply have to bring Moshiach into your daily lives. I got into
the habit of answering with something connected with Moshiach on all occasions.
When the cashier in the grocery asks me, "Anything else?" I answer, "Moshiach."
If I am asked, "Can I help you with something?" I answer, "Yes, to bring
Moshiach."
Sometimes people respond by saying, "Oh, if I could...," and
then I tell them about the tremendous powers within every Jew, who with a small
act can hasten Moshiach’s arrival.
After the withdrawal from Lebanon last summer (2000), I was
called up on emergency to the Artillery Corps. It turned out that because of the
withdrawal, the artillery could not reach the necessary range, and it was
decided that they would go back to an older long-range version. Since I had been
familiar with the older version, they called on me to try and make the old
weaponry work.
I got there, the only religious guy among dozens of
kibbutznikim, and suddenly I heard them shouting: "Moshiach ba’derech!"
(Moshiach’s on his way!) I asked them what made them suddenly reach this
conclusion, and they said that if the old artillery would begin to work that
would be t’chiyas ha’meisim and a sign that Moshiach was on his way...
I went on to the next group and they also said: "If these
artillery weapons begin to shoot, Moshiach’s coming..."
At the farbrengen I made at the Chabad House after I
got back from the army, I said: "Five or six years ago, who would imagine that a
kibbutznik would know what t’chiyas ha’meisim is, and that he
would connect it to Moshiach? There’s no question that this comes from
taamula sh’eina chozeres reikam (effort is not wasted)!"
R’ Lepkivker: Let us conclude this discussion with the
hope and anticipation and resolution that we want to see the hisgalus of
the Rebbe MH"M b’gashmius right away!