Parshas Toldos

 

Hey there Junior Shluchim!
It was so nice seeing so many of you kinderlach by the Kinus Hashluchim. Of course none of you managed to see me. Well you did, but you didn’t know who I was, so I guess that counts like not seeing me.
Well, I promised you a report on the Kinus, and a chosid always tells the truth, so here I am, sitting in another airport lounge writing up the report for this week’s Connections, rushing to make sure that I finish in time to send it off before my flight leaves.
Actually it is a very good thing that I have to write my column right now, because normally, on my way back from the Kinus, with no Mrs Getzel to drop me off at the airport, anything could happen. In the years before I used to have to write a weekly column for the Connections, I missed planes, left my luggage in the airport, and even forgot that I was flying. But now I can’t afford to do that, I need to be extra organized, and get to the airport extra early, so that I will have time to write up my column and send it off before I leave New York to make sure it is in this week’s Connections.
Anyway, the Kinus was great! Amazing! Exciting! Inspiring! Fantastic! Extraordinary! And a lot of fun too! It was like Tishrei in Crown Heights and a week long farbrengen rolled into one! So many of my old friends to see and so many new friends to make! Farbrengens, workshops and more farbrengens! The Vaad Hakinus had actually wanted me to speak at one of the workshops about the work I do in Iowa, but I told them that without Mrs Getzel to remind me, I’d probably forget all about it. And it is a good thing they agreed because I was so busy that I think that some nights I actually forgot to sleep. I’m not sure though.... I can’t remember.
It seems to me that the Kinus is getting bigger and better every year. Of course one of the reasons for that is because there are so many more Shluchim this year than last year. I heard someone saying the actual number of Shluchim that came this year, and how many Shluchim there are in the whole world, but it was such a big number that my mind wouldn’t remember it! The Rebbe is for sure getting so much nachas!
And then there were you, the Tzeirei Hashluchim. Any time I saw you it seemed to me that you were having a great time. And why not – you were with all your friends, enjoying an amazing program, specially made for you. It gave me so much chayus just seeing you, so young, but already out there on shlichus helping your Mommies and Tatties.
But the highlight of it all was the banquet. So many Shluchim packed into one room. So much simcha, so much chayus. I was sure Moshiach was going to come and join us all in our dancing and take us all to Yerushalayim, but I guess we still have a little more work to do on our shlichus until that happens. But with such a huge amount of work being done by so many Shluchim, I’m sure it won’t be long.

See you there,
Dr. Getzel

 

ט' כסלו

Not long before he passed away, the מעזריטשער מגיד called the אלטער רבי and told him about the מנהגים of a שלום זכור . He also said: “A son will be born to you to whom you will give my name. During the night before the ברית מילה , you will remember all that I told you... and you will speak about it.”

ט‘ כסלו is both the birthday and יאהרצייט of ר‘ דובער of Lubavitch, the מיטעלער רבי , the son of the אלטער רבי .

The מיטעלער רבי was born in Liozna, White Russia, in תקל“ד (1773). He was named after the מעזריטשער מגיד , who had passed away on י“ט כסלו of the previous year. The מיטעלער רבי became Rebbe after his father, the אלטער רבי passed away. The year after he became Rebbe, he moved to the town of Lubavitch, which was where חב“ד חסידות was based for the next 102 years.

The מיטעלער רבי passed away on his 54th birthday in תקפ“ח (1827).

 

When עשו came back to his father with the food he had prepared in order to get the ברכות , יצחק told him “Your brother came with wisdom and took away your ברכה .” The word used in the תורה for ‘wisdom’ is ‘במרמה ’.

What was יעקב ’s ‘wisdom’?

This story happened on פסח , at the time of the פסח סדר . רבקה prepared the goats for the שולחן עורך and the מלאך מיכאל sent along wine for the ארבע כוסות . After שולחן עורך , we eat the אפיקומן and after that we aren’t allowed to eat any more food.

The word ‘במרמה ’ has the גמטריא of 287, which is also the גמטריא of the word ‘אפיקומן ’.

יצחק told עשו : “ Your brother is very wise. Before you came, he gave me the אפיקומן and now I can’t eat any more food tonight.
(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)

 

In פרשת תולדות we are told that יצחק dug three wells. After he dug each of the first two, אבימלך ’s shepherds came and argued with him over them. When he dug the third, there was no argument over it, so he called it ‘רחבות ’ and he said:                               “כי עתה הרחיב ה‘ לנו ופרינו בארץ ” - “For now ה‘ has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
What do these three wells signify?

The three wells represent the three בתי מקדש . They are the wells of תורה , called מים חיים - living waters, which brought and will bring, רוחניות life to the אידן .

The first ‘well’ was destroyed by נבוכדנצר and the Babylonians. The second בית המקדש was destroyed by the Romans.

After the fighting over the second well that יצחק built, he moved away. Later, he dug a third well. This time there was peace and calm.

We find the same thing in the history of the אידן . Since the destruction of the second בית המקדש , we were sent into גלות from our Holy Land - ארץ ישראל - and a long time has passed since then.

Now we are waiting eagerly for the third בית המקדש and אי“ה , any day now, we will be able to say: “כי עתה הרחיב ה‘ לנו ופרינו בארץ ” - “For now ה‘ has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land,” with the coming of Moshiach, NOW!

(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)

 

After the אלטער רבי passed away, the מתנגדים thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to destroyחסידות  chas vesholom . They thought that his son, the מיטעלער רבי , was not as powerful as his father had been.

Secret messengers were sent to many towns and villagers, where most of the אידן were חסידים , to try to convince them not to be חסידים of the מיטעלער רבי anymore, and not to associate with other חסידים . When this didn’t work, they tried to convince the מיטעלער רבי himself not accept the נשיאות .

This also didn’t work and by the time the מיטעלער רבי returned to Lubavitch, everyone knew that the Russian government had publicly recognised the help that the מיטעלער רבי and his father, the אלטער רבי had given them during their war against the French. The highest officers realised that their victory was largely because of the efforts of the אלטער רבי and the Russian officials acted kindly towards the מיטעלער רבי and his חסידים .

Another thing that showed the מתנגדים that they were wrong about the מיטעלער רבי , was that as soon as the מיטעלער רבי arrived in Lubavitch, he put into place a number of rules which made sure that the מתנגדים wouldn’t have any influence over the חסידים .  This proved that the מיטעלער רבי wasn’t weak as they had thought.

One of these was that the מיטעלער רבי instructed his חסידים to build their own shuls, so that they wouldn't have to daven in the מתנג‘דישע shuls. If there was less than a מנין of חסידים in a town, he allowed them to listen to קריאת התורה through the windows of the מתנג‘דישע shul but they should daven on their own.

Another instruction of the מיטעלער רבי was that he forbade his חסידים from arguing with the מתנגדים and gave strict warnings to those who were likely to do so. He wanted his חסידים to stay far away from the מתנגדים and this way, the מתנגדים wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble for them.

Besides these, rules, the מיטעלער רבי also made other rules. Any guest, no matter how old or important he was, was only allowed to stay in Lubavitch for two months and if he wanted to stay for another month, he had to get permission from the Rebbe. Also, anyone travelling from Lubavitch, had to stop off in all the towns and villages on his way and repeat in public the חסידות that he had heard while by the Rebbe, especially the מאמרים .

When the חסידים heard about these rules, they decided together that all guests, travelling to or from Lubavitch, either alone or in a group, would be given food and a place to rest. This made the bond between the חסידים grow tremendously and תורת החסידות was growing even more than before.

ר‘ משה יצחק , a חסיד of the מיטעלער רבי once travelled home from Lubavitch and stopped in the town of Apte. He knew about the מיטעלער רבי ’s rules and he was excited to follow them. He hurried to one of the shuls in the city to review a מאמר that he had heard in Lubavitch and began saying it enthusiastically, each word loud and clear.

Now in that town, at that time, lived the famous Apter צדיק who was very much against spreading חסידות to everyone, especially those that didn’t know the basics of תורה . ר‘ משה יצחק didn’t know that he had chosen the very shul which the Apter צדיק used to attend.

When the Apter צדיק came in and heard a total stranger repeating חסידות loudly in his shul, he was furious. “Even here they dare go against me?” He then turned angrily to ר‘ משה יצחק , cursed him that he wouldn’t live out the year and stormed out.

ר‘ משה יצחק was horrified. He quickly left, got his horse and wagon ready and hurried back to Lubavitch. When he got there, he arranged for a יחידות with the מיטעלער רבי as soon as was possible.

When his turn came, ר‘ משה יצחק entered the Rebbe’s room and sadly told him everything that had happened - how he arrived in Apte, got up in Shul to review חסידות the way the Rebbe had instructed and finally the curse from the Apte צדיק . A curse isn’t something to be ignored, especially from a צדיק . “Did you offend the Apter in any way?” the Rebbe asked.

“No, not at all!” ר‘ משה יצחק answered. “I had no idea that this was the shul that he went to. When I came in and saw people sitting around not doing much, I used the opportunity to fulfil the Rebbe’s instructions. I stood in the middle of the Shul and reviewed חסידות for everyone to hear.”

“Don’t worry. You will live longer than a year,” the מיטעלער רבי guaranteed. But ר‘ משה יצחק wasn’t happy with that, what use was just one year. The מיטעלער רבי rested his face in his holy hands, and, after some time continued: “You will live longer than the Apter.”

ר‘ משה יצחק wasn’t happy with that either. After all, the Apter was already quite old, while he was still pretty young. Is this what he deserved for spreading חסידות ? For a second time, the מיטעלער רבי lowered his head into his hands and then assured his חסיד , “You will live longer than his children too.”

And so it was. ר‘ משה יצחק had the זכות to live for many years, living longer than all of the Apter’s children.

(Adapted from ‘Chassidic Portraits’)

 

We'd love to hear your feedback! Send us your comments, ideas and suggestions to: connections@shluchim.org
 

Click here for a printable version of Connections in PDF format