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Y2K:
2000 Years of the Galus Virus!
By
Rabbi Naftali Estulin, shaliach of the Rebbe MH”M
in Los Angeles, California
Lubavitchers
always look at events with the willingness to learn lessons in the
service of Hashem from these events. What can we learn from all
the commotion that surrounded the ushering in of the new
millennium? The whole world set off fireworks and went out of
their keilim, like the mighty Roman Empire with its wild
celebrations in its time. But as Rabbi Akiva noted, “If the
transgressors of His will can celebrate like that, how much more
so will those who obey His will have cause for celebration!”
As
everyone knows, the so-called New Year’s Eve was even crazier
this year than usual with the arrival of the secular year 2000.
Millions if not billions of people congregated in public places
and partied as if it were going out of style. The whole phenomenon
brings to mind the Talmudic story of Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Eliezer
ben Azaria, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva. They traveled to Rome
to ask for help in abolishing the terrible decrees from which the
Jewish people were suffering. Long before they reached Rome, the
Sages could hear the noise of the exultant crowds, which was so
loud that it carried for 120 miles.
The
Tannaim began to weep, but for some reason Rabbi Akiva seemed to
be happy.
“How
can you be happy at a time like this?” the Sages asked him.
Rabbi
Akiva, like any good Jew, answered with another question. “And
you, why are you crying?”
“These
Kushites bow down to idols and burn incense to the stars,” they
replied, “yet they still enjoy peace and tranquility and dwell
securely. As for us, our Beis HaMikdash has gone up in
flames; how can we not weep?”
Said
Rabbi Akiva, “Indeed, that is why I am laughing. If the
transgressors of His will can celebrate like that, how much more
so will those who obey His will have cause for celebration!”
When
a Jew sees the gentile world uncorking its champagne bottles over
the year 2000, he cannot help but contrast it to our own almost
2000-year-old exile. Two thousand years of the concealment of G-dliness;
2000 years without the Beis HaMikdash. For almost two
millennia, we’ve endured a terrible, painful, and horrifying
exile.
Our
minds are almost overwhelmed with images of the millions of Jews
who have died because of the exile. The bloodthirsty Crusaders
wiping out any Jewish community in their path; the Inquisition and
the expulsion from Spain; the pogroms of the years “tat
v’tach.” Not to mention the victims of the Holocaust.
Then
there is the spiritual exile we’ve endured, which in many ways
is even worse. The darkness has increased seven-fold in the last
few years, with our inability to see the holy visage of the Rebbe
Melech HaMoshiach shlita with our physical eyes. Every day
that goes by is torture. Every moment until we finally behold him
ushering in the Messianic era is torment.
These
images must wake us up out of our indifference, must elicit from
us a tremendous and overpowering longing for the Geula. For
that has always been our Sages’ way of interpreting events.
When
a Jew sees the goyim celebrating the new millennium, it
should remind him of what G-d promised will happen to the holy
city of Jerusalem with the Final Redemption (Yechezkel 41:7):
“And it will become wider and wider, as one circles higher and
higher.” Not only will the noise of its joyous crowds be heard
for miles, but the Holy City itself will spread out and expand.
A
further lesson is that just as “the transgressors of His will”
are not rewarded by G-d stingily or without generosity, we too
must have confidence that our reward will be “above all measure
and calculation,” in an infinite manner.
The
Rebbe once told a story about the famous Chassid Reb Hillel of
Paritch, who always avoided saying the mournful Psalm “Al
Naharos Bavel” before bentching. Reb Hillel always
had a different excuse. Either there was a guest in his house, or
some kind of simcha was being celebrated (somewhere in the
world). In short, every day was Purim.
But
one day Reb Hillel had a problem. There were no guests at his
table, and for some reason all the simchos seemed to have
disappeared. It looked as if he would have to actually say it. But
Reb Hillel came up with a novel twist. “Nu,” he said,
“today we have a very important guest with us
“Al Naharos Bavel”! It’s only fitting that we
say “Shir HaMaalos” to mark the occasion!”
Reb
Hillel understood all too well that we are in exile. But at the
same time, he did not concentrate on its darkness; he focused on
the good that will eventually emerge from its service of
“plowing” (as it says in that Psalm, “raze it to its
foundation”).
That,
in essence, was also the outlook of Rabbi Akiva.
*
* *
From
the non-Jewish point of view, the so-called millennium really is
cause for celebration. After hundreds of years of conflicts
between kingdoms and nations, and two World Wars, the world has
reached a stage where the Communist menace has disappeared, and
most countries at least recognize the need for peace.
Of
course, the goyim, for the most part, do not yet recognize
who is responsible for this revolution. But, boruch Hashem,
we know that it is none other than the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach
himself, whose 50 years of nesiyus we are now celebrating.
The change in the world is all part of the Rebbe’s function as
Melech HaMoshiach, whose role is to bring about the fulfillment of
the prophecy: “And they will beat their swords into
plowshares.”
A
Midrash explains that Queen Esther merited to rule over 127 lands
because of the merit of Sara Imeinu, who lived 127 years. For 127
years, Sara devoted her life to transforming the spiritual nature
of the world, spreading the belief in one G-d, together with her
husband, Avrohom Avinu.
We,
the Chassidim of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, have been fanning
out throughout the world for 50 years, spreading the Rebbe’s
message of Redemption. His message, uttered on the day he assumed
the nesiyus, is simple: we are the seventh generation, the
last generation of exile and the first generation of Redemption.
Thus,
as the world turns the page of the secular calendar, we should
bear in mind the testimonial of Rabbi Akiva, who said it first and
best: “If the transgressors of His will can celebrate like that,
how much more so will those who obey His will have cause for
celebration!”
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