Parshas Tzav

 

Hey there Junior Shluchim,
Well, like I promised you last week – and Mrs Getzel too – I’ve been getting down to some serious Pesach cleaning in my office this week. Not that I’ve finished Pesach cleaning all the chometz inside myself yet, but Pesach isn’t going to hang around while I do that, so it’s been gloves and mask on, vacuum cleaner and commercial size spray bottles of VIM spray out, and on with the work.
To be honest, I actually enjoy Pesach cleaning. Mrs Getzel appreciates that my main avodah in life is not scrubbing floors or refrigerators and only asks me to clean my office. Actually she used to help me do my office too, but that is a whole different story for a whole different time. And cleaning my office is really fun! I’m never short of volunteers who want to come help me clean. The little Getzel’niks and Getzel’ites are calling me for weeks to try to convince me to let them come and help. But cleaning my office is not only fun, it is dangerous too. You can never be sure what will jump out at you next. After all, my office only gets cleaned once a year, and so there are some really scary things in it.
One year, as I was bending down to clean under my desk, I felt something on my neck, and then on my back, and them further down my back…. Boy I jumped so high that I banged my head on the ceiling fan - and that is after I banged it on my desk and sent the whole thing flying! I never found what it was that landed on my back, it must have gotten scared off by all the noise, but I’m sure it was something really dangerous like a huge ball of dust or something like that.
Well, as sometimes happens when I get down to Pesach cleaning, or to any type of job, I got distracted. You see I just cleared a huge mountain of papers off my desk, when I saw it. Yup, it was my long lost album of Rebbe pictures! Boy was I excited! I’d not seen my album for years! We’d been such good friends, but then the Rebbe Album disappeared without trace. I missed it so much. Gone were the special moments that I used to spend every morning and every night looking at different pictures of the Rebbe. I used to have different favorite pictures for different time of the year. In Tishrei my ‘Rebbe bentching the Temimim’ picture was my favorite, and in Nissan it was my ‘Rebbe taking the Mayim Shelonu’ picture. I had so many favorites!
Without wasting any more time, I quickly sat down on the floor, which turned out to be the huge pile of papers that I had just cleared off my desk, which even more quickly slid out from underneath me and deposited me on the floor with a big bump! Then I opened the album and started to look through it. Such hashgocho protis I thought, that I should find this album right before Yud Alef Nissan! How I wish we could have another Yud Alef Nissan Farbrengen with the Rebbe again.
Well kinderlach, it’s up to us. We have a few more days left – let’s use them out in the best way possible to make sure that this year we celebrate Yud Alef Nissan with the Rebbe in Yerushalayim!!!

See you there,
Dr Getz

 

י“ג ניסן

The צמח צדק was born on ערב ראש השנה תקמ“ט (1789). His mother was רביצין דבורה לאה - the daughter of the אלטער רבי . She gave up her life for חסידות and passed away a few days after young מנחם מענדל ’s 3rd birthday. From then on, the צמח צדק was raised by his זיידע , the אלטער רבי .

The צמח צדק married רביצין חיה מושקא , his cousin, the daughter of the מיטעלער רבי and after the מיטעלער רבי was נסתלק , the חסידים asked him to take on the נשיאות .

The צמח צדק was נסתלק on י“ג ניסן תרכ“ו and is buried in the town of Lubavitch.

ספירת העומר

On ט“ו ניסן , the second day of פסח , the קרבן עומר was brought in the בית המקדש . This included מצות baked from the new crop of barley that had been harvested that day. No grain from the new harvest was allowed to be eaten before the קרבן עומר was brought.

On this day we also begin counting the עומר , ספירת העומר . We count for 49 days, remembering the בני ישראל ’s journey from מצרים to הר סיני , where they received the תורה . Every evening, we say a special תפילה and count the days and weeks that have passed since the second day of פסח , when the קרבן עומר was brought. The 50th day is שבועות , the יום טוב celebrating מתן תורה at הר סיני .

 

זאת תורת העלה היא העלה על מוקדה על המזבח כל הלילה עד הבקר ואש המזבח תוקד בו

In the time of the בית המקדש , a איד was able to actually bring a live animal as a קרבן to be offered on the מזבח . We are also taught that whoever studies the דינים from the תורה about the קרבן עולה is considered to actually have brought a קרבן עולה . We see this from the words         "תורת העלה ."

The darkest time in Jewish history is גלות — being in גלות without the בית המקדש . This time is compared to "לילה " — night. When the אידן have a בית המקדש , their lives are lit up, and such a time is referred to as "בקר " — morning. The תורה is teaching us that "זאת תורת העלה " — "this is the דין of the קרבן עולה ." When one studies these דינים —           "היא העלה " — it is as though one is actually making a קרבן on the מזבח .

It is important, however, to remember that this is only enough "כל הלילה עד הבקר " — the entire time of גלות until the break of dawn. When dawn breaks and the light of the בית המקדש begins to shine for the אידן , it will not be enough to simply study about קרבנות but "ואש המזבח תוקד בו " — one must actually bring קרבנות to be burnt on the מזבח .

(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)

 

 

In honor of the Rebbe’s birthday on י“א ניסן , we have two stories that show the Rebbe’s care and concern for every single person.

This story took place about 50 years ago, about 10 years after the Rebbe accepted the נשיאות . Mrs. Bassie Garelik, שלוחה of the Rebbe in Milan, Italy had a יחידות with the Rebbe. During the יחידות , she mentioned the name of a man from Milan who supported them in their שליחות , ר‘ אברהם Tzippel.

The Rebbe interrupted and said: "He is a very straightforward man."

When Mrs. Garelik returned home, she told over her יחידות to her husband, הרב גרשון מענדל Garelik. He thought there was something unusual in the Rebbe's mention of ר‘ אברהם , and decided to look into it.

He went to visit ר‘ אברהם and asked him about his health and that of his family. How was his business going?

ר‘ אברהם was puzzled by Rabbi Garelik's questions, and asked the reason for them. Rabbi Garelik told him of his wife's יחידות .

"When did the יחידות take place?" ר‘ אברהם wanted to know.

When Rabbi Garelik told him the date, ר‘ אברהם explained the meaning of the Rebbe's words.

ר‘ אברהם was a furrier. He dealt with all kinds of fur and had wide spread business dealings in Russia while it was still ruled by the Communists. He would use his trips there to bring in סידורים , תפילין and other תשמישי קדושה , and bring out old ספרים for the Rebbe. These activities were carried out in absolute secrecy.

Generally, ר‘ אברהם 's trips had progressed without interference from the authorities. During his most recent visit, however, the authorities had placed him under house arrest for several hours. And then they had freed him, without any explanation for either his arrest or his release.

His release had come shortly after Mrs. Garelik's יחידות .

This second story happened about 40 years ago. During the '60s, the Rebbe sent several חסידים to Russia as tourists. In some cities, they would have secret meetings with members of the חסידישע underground. In other places, however, such meetings were too dangerous. Nevertheless, the Rebbe instructed his שלוחים to still pass through these cities and stop at the Shuls and places of Jewish interest.

Years later, after being able to leave Russia, one of the members of the Lubavitch community explained how important those visits were.

"In our city," he explained, "none of us had a chance to speak to the Rebbe's שלוחים . Nevertheless, their visits had a tremendous effect on us.

"The Russian government had begun a campaign to discourage us. They would call in members of the חסידישע community and show them headlines from American Jewish newspapers and magazines which spoke of assimilation and intermarriage. 'אידישקייט is fading away,' they told us. 'In Europe, your brethren have been wiped out and in America, they have forgotten their heritage. Soon there will be no frum Jews left. Why must you be so stubborn about keeping מצוות ?'

"Their words had an effect, even though we didn’t totally believe them. But still, when you read an American Yiddish newspaper that speaks of 'the vanishing American Jew,' you become sad.

"And suddenly we saw evidence that it was not all that bad in America at all. These were young Americans wearing yarmulkas, ציצית and full beards. It strengthened our faith that we will get out and in the future we will אי“ה be free to learn תורה and keep מצוות ."

(Adapted from ‘To Know and To Care’)

 

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