678 Beis Moshiach · that resulted bear directly on our situation. For it is more than an...

Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewishholidays (only once in April and October) for$160.00 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and inall other places for $180.00 per year (45issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 EasternParkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409.Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY andadditional offices. Postmaster: send addresschanges to Beis Moshiach 744 EasternParkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409.Copyright 2009 by Beis Moshiach, Inc.Beis Moshiach is not responsible for thecontent of the advertisements.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel

ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch Merkur

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ASSISTANT EDITOR:Dr. Aryeh Gotfryd

HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi Sholom Yaakov [email protected]

contents

EDUCATION FOR WHAT PURPOSE? Chinuch | Sholom Ber Crombie27

PROVIDING SPIRITUAL ALIYA FORRUSSIAN OLIMProfile | Nosson Avrohom

32

NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT, ITCOMES UP ‘EXILE’Perspective | Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Mayzlesh

40

THE SUPERIORITY OF SELF-INSPIREDSELF-SACRIFICEMoshiach & Geula | Boruch Merkur

30

FROM RUSSIA WITH LIGHTProfile | Golda Kam24

FROM HOMIL TO NEW YORKMemoirs | Avrohom Reinitz16

THE SHLIACH AND THE ‘HUSBANDTRACKER’Feature | Nosson Avrohom

8

YAAKOV DID NOT DIE D’var Malchus5

THE BELATED PAYBACKStory | T. Yankelowitz14

678:Beis Moshiach 05/01/2009 8:07 AM Page 3

BE IS MOSHIACH Issue 678 5

In the last Torah reading of B’Reishis, VaYechi, whichmeans, “he lived,” the Torah describes the death ofYaakov. This seems to be a contradiction. If the Torahreading is named “he lived,” it should be about the life ofYaakov, not his death. Perhaps the Talmudic assertion that“Yaakov our father did not die” is addressing” thisdifficulty.

The last of the thirteen principles of faith, asenumerated by Maimonides, is the resurrection of thedead, which follows the coming of Moshiach. TheTalmudic statement that “Yaakov our father did not die”foreshadows the situation of every Jew after the coming ofMoshiach and the resurrection.

However, the statement raises several questions. First,why is Yaakov different than Avrohom or Yitzchok – orany of the other righteous tzaddikim, for that matter?Why doesn’t the Talmud make the same observationabout the other Patriarchs and other tzaddikim?

Also, the Torah describes at length that Yaakov wasembalmed, buried and mourned for thirty days. Thisseems a clear contradiction of the Talmudic statement. In

fact, this very objection is raised.The declaration that “Yaakov our

father did not die” occurs in a veryunusual context. While having a mealtogether, Rabbi Nachman askedRabbi Yitzchok to teach him someTorah. Rabbi Yitzchok replied withthe following admonition: “RabbiYochanan said one should not talkduring a meal because it may bedangerous.” After the meal, RabbiYitzchok quotes Rabbi Yochananagain, saying, “Rabbi Yochanan said,Yaakov our father did not die, butlived forever.” At this point, RabbiNachman protests, “Then for whatdid they mourn, embalm and buryhim?” Rabbi Yitzchok gives a lengthyanswer, “I am interpreting a verse,which says, ‘Do not be afraid, Myservant Yaakov, and do not fear,Israel, for I am your salvation fromafar and for your descendants fromthe land of their captivity.’ Israel iscompared to his descendants. Just asthey are alive, so he too is alive.”

The incident and conversationthat resulted bear directly on oursituation. For it is more than aninterpretive discussion. Rather, it tellsus something deeply important aboutthe Torah, the Jewish people and theirinteraction with the world.

Understanding this gives us an insight into the era ofRedemption and the Resurrection.

Let us look first at Rabbi Yitzchok’s admonition, thatone should not talk during a meal because it may bedangerous, meaning, of course, one may choke on thefood. Obviously, Rabbi Nachman also knew the law thatone should not talk during a meal because of the dangerinvolved. But he reasoned that this applied only to idleconversation. He thought that if one speaks words ofTorah during the meal, there’s no need to worry, forTorah itself is a shield and protection. In fact, it may evenbe an obligation to speak words of Torah during a meal.Therefore one might assume that when Israel is involvedin Torah, G-d protects them miraculously, even ifaccording to nature we would otherwise worry aboutsome danger.

Rabbi Nachman recognized that Torah transcendsnature. Thus, he realized that one absorbed in Torah alsotranscends nature. Being involved with Torah unifies onewith Torah. As Torah, being higher than nature, is

Why must mitzvos be performed in anatural manner, even though spirituallyboth mitzvos and the Jewish people arebeyond nature? We must “eat ourmeal,” work with the physical world,without relying on miracles. The truespiritual nature is not revealed beforethe times of Moshiach. Only afterwards,at the time of Redemption, will we seethat “Yaakov our father did not die.”

YAAKOV DIDNOT DIE Translated and adapted by Dovid Yisroel Ber Kaufmann

d’var ma lchus


13 Teives 5769 BBE IS MOSHIACH6

unaffected by it, so the individual immersed in Torah isprotected from hazards of nature.

So Rabbi Yitzchok answers at length, explaining thatalthough one involved in a mitzva is generally protected, asituation where the danger is commonplace – such aschoking during a meal – is different. There one cannotrely on Divine assistance. One must interact with theworld in a natural manner, not relying on the specialspiritual status of the Torah or of the Jewish people.

The conversation between Rabbi Yitzchok and RabbiNachman takes place during a series of statements aboutthe many occasions G-d performs miracles for the Jewishpeople. One might think that the Jewish people should beable to fulfill their purpose – making the world a dwellingplace for G-dliness through the performance of mitzvos –in a miraculous manner. Rabbi Yitzchok teaches us,therefore, that Torah and mitzvosmust be performed according to thenature of the world. Even thoughTorah provides protection, oneshould not rely on miracles in asituation that is normally dangerous.Paradoxically, the transformation ofthe world into a place of spiritualitymust take place in a completelynatural manner.

Still, there are two possiblereasons why performance of mitzvosmust be in accordance with nature.First, it may be that since the laws ofnature are also created by G-d, eventhe Torah and its mitzvos must be inaccordance with or subject to thelaws of nature. On the other hand, itmay be that Torah and mitzvos in andof themselves are beyond nature, butby definition a mitzva – to be a mitzva– must have an effect on the naturalworld. The mitzva must appearwithin nature and seem natural, even though its essence isbeyond its physical existence or manifestation.

We now have a deeper understanding of thedeclaration that “Yaakov our father did not die,” eventhough the Egyptians embalmed him and his familyburied him and mourned for thirty days. Created entities,things which are physical, must decompose and passaway. “Yaakov our father did not die” means that inessence he was not subject to the laws of nature; thelimitations of the physical world did not affect him.

Of all the Patriarchs, Yaakov is most closely identifiedwith Torah. As mentioned earlier, Torah is higher thannature, and one attached to Torah is also automaticallyhigher than nature. Thus, the association of Yaakov with

Torah leads immediately and inevitably to “Yaakov ourfather did not die.” This also explains why the emphasis ison Yaakov, as opposed to the other Patriarchs. Theeternality of Yaakov results most directly from hisconnection with Torah – G-d’s infinite Wisdom. And thisunbreakable link between and unification of G-d, Torahand Israel is inherent in all the children of Israel.

But if nature has no authority over Torah, why mustthe mitzvos be performed in a natural way in the physicalworld? Why is the coming of Moshiach – the culminationof existence – a physical phenomenon? As Maimonidessays, Moshiach will heal the breaches in the observance ofTorah, return the Jews to the land of Israel, rebuild theTemple, etc. Why is the ultimate result of Redemption aphysical one – the return of the soul to the body, theresurrection? It would seem that if the Torah is higher

than nature, the goal would be to gobeyond nature.

Hence Rabbi Nachman asksabout the mourning, embalming andburial of Yaakov. How can we say“Yaakov our father did not die” andnot be allowed to discuss Torahduring a meal because of a physicaldanger? If the inherent spirituality ofthe Jewish people overrides all, thenjust as “Yaakov our father did notdie” because of his association withTorah, so too we should be able todiscuss Torah while eating withoutfear of choking to death.

Thus, Rabbi Yochanan explainsthat although the Jewish people andTorah, in and of themselves, arebeyond the limitations of nature, G-dwanted the effect of the mitzvos to befelt in the natural world. From theperspective of the natural world – theEgyptians – it appeared that Yaakov

died. Therefore, according to nature, they mourned,embalmed and buried him. But, from Torah’s perspective,Yaakov – even his body – did not die.

This explains why Rabbi Yitzchok waited until afterthe meal to declare that “Yaakov our father did not die.”When the Jewish people are “sitting at a meal,” when theyare involved in matters of the world, then the effect oftheir Torah and mitzvos is defined by the limitations ofnature. But “after the meal,” when they are higher thanthe world after refining it, then their true situation isrevealed. Just as Yaakov’s body did not die, so every Jew,at the time of the resurrection, will have an eternal life ina physical body. As they are alive, so he is alive. ‘Yaakovour father did not die.’

(Based on Likkutei Sichos 35, pp. 223-228)

From theperspective of the

natural world –the Egyptians – it

appeared thatYaakov died... But,

from Torah’sperspective,

Yaakov – even hisbody – did not die.



feature

Rabbi Yehuda Gordon wasstunned by the terrible news ofthe murder of Rabbi GavrielHoltzberg and his wife, and hehas yet to recover. R’ Gordon is amember of the administration ofa rabbinic umbrella organizationwhose job it is to ascertain thebackground of immigrants fromthe CIS. He is also famous forreleasing agunos (women unableto remarry because theirhusbands have not given them ahalachic divorce). He travels allover the world for this purpose,even to dangerous areas, and he

was greatly assisted by R’Holtzberg whenever he went toBombay.

“I have been doing this foreighteen years. I was traveling toBombay long before R’ Holtzbergwent on shlichus there, but it wasvery difficult. In order to give aget, you need a beis din of threemen, and I had my work cut outfor me in making sure there wereanother two religious Jews,whether tourists or businessmen.

Those tourists andbusinessmen were unable todevote much time to R’ Gordon,

so he was always operating undertime pressure.

“There were situations ofhusbands who were sitting in jailor hospitalized, and even somethat we had to look for in thejungle. Then I had to work onconvincing them to give a get,which didn’t always go smoothly.I’m talking about dozens ofstories, not just one or two!

“The people who joined me toserve as a beis din couldn’t dropeverything to help me. After all,they had gone to Bombay forsomething specific and their timewas limited.”

This problem was eliminatedfive years ago when theHoltzbergs went on shlichus toBombay. R’ Gordon was able toconcentrate on persuadingobstinate husbands rather than onfinding religious Jews willing tojoin him.

“In my first meeting with R’Gabi, I knew I had met someoneI could work with, someone whounderstood the tremendousimportance of this work. He washappy to help out. There wasnearly always another Lubavitcherbachur with him at the Chabadhouse or a frum businessman, soI no longer needed to expend

Rabbi Yehuda Gordon tracks downrecalcitrant husbands for the purposesof gittin on behalf of the Beis DinHaRabbani in Yerushalayim. Until theHoltzbergs arrived on shlichus inBombay, whenever he went there, hehad a very difficult time. Rabbi Gordontells of his work, his adventures, andRabbi Holtzberg’s invaluableassistance.

THE SHLIACHAND THE �HUSBANDTRACKER�By Nosson Avrohom


energy on arranging assistancewith other frum Jews there.”

At this point in the interview,R’ Gordon sighed deeply. He hasyet to digest the tragedy and itsrepercussions.

“The situation right now isthat R’ Holtzberg had recentlybeen empowered by two husbandsto give gittin to two women inIndia. The fact that he is nolonger with us presents us with acomplicated situation. We willhave to locate the husbands againin order to rewrite the gittin, allaccording to the p’sak din of theBeis Din HaRabbani.

“In addition to the tragiclosses for their families andChabad, we lost someone whowas a yerei Shamayim, a benTorah, someone who understoodhalacha. Someone who is notlearned in gittin and kiddushincannot be involved with this; R’Gabi understood the halachos aswell as the practical end of thiscomplicated business.”

INVALUABLEASSISTANCE

R’ Gordon finds it painful tothink that he’s back to the daysbefore the Holtzbergs arrived inBombay. He received so muchhelp – from being able to easilyform a beis din, to havingminyanim and kosher meals. Thiswas all brutally taken away withina few hours.

“It’s unlikely that the shluchimwho will replace him will be ableto establish the connections thatR’ Gabi had, connections thatwere so helpful to me.”

Rabbi Gordon, described in aBBC documentary film called“The Husband Tracker” as a Jewwho will not hesitate to operateeven in dangerous locales inorder to help a woman end hermarriage, admits that without R’Holtzberg’s help he will find it

hard to start all over again.Last year, another

documentary was made about R’Gordon on Israel’s Channel 2.The show, called Harei AtMekudeshet, appeared after hepublished a bestselling bookcalled “Husband Tracker” with 45fascinating stories. Despite thepublicity and the dozens ofarticles that have been writtenabout him in all the media andIsraeli newspapers, R’ Gordontold me that much still remainsundisclosed. He can’t tell all.Many aspects of the help he

received from R’ Holtzbergremain a secret.

“R’ Holtzberg quickly becamemy unofficial representative inBombay. I would call to ask himsomething that pertained to mywork, and he was quick to helpme out. We became close friendsand whenever he was in Israel, wemet.”

The last time they met was afew weeks before the murderousattack, when R’ Gabi visitedIsrael.

“R’ Gabi always joined me inconvincing recalcitrant husbands


Rabbi Gordon with theGateway of India arch

in the background


10 13 Teives 5769 BBE IS MOSHIACH

to give their wives a get. Hehelped me find them, whichwasn’t always easy. There wereIsraelis who fled their countrywithout giving their wives a get,

and you had to find a host ofreasons in order to convincethem. To do so, you have to dolots of homework before youmeet. Sometimes R’ Holtzberg

who was the one who persuadedthe man to give a get.”

JEWISH PRIDER’ Gordon related some stories

about the help he received fromR’ Holtzberg:

“I had twice visited a man inIndia, a former Israeli whorefused to give a get. I pressuredhim, of course within halachicallypermissible parameters, but hecontinued to refuse. He was astubborn person and was amember of the underworld soworking with him was difficult.

“The third time I went toBombay, I heard that he had hada severe heart attack and wasrecuperating in a governmenthospital. Government hospitals inIndia (not the private ones, whichare of a higher standard) areawful. I went to see the man,together with R’ Holtzberg. Weasked where the man was andwere sent to the ICU.

“It was a horrifying scene. Itwas filthy. Dirty sheets were onthe floor and dozens of peoplewere lying there. At that moment,my heart went out to this Jew.The EKG machine looked like acereal box, and the doctorslooked like they wondered whyfate had placed them there.Despite all this, the manremained as stubborn as ever.When he saw us, he beganscreaming that we had come tokill him.

“People began to gather roundus, some raising their voices andothers approaching threateningly.I was sure we were in trouble, butR’ Holtzberg looked calm. He hada rare courage. I asked him whathe thought we ought to do, andhe looked at me in surprise asthough he didn’t understand thequestion. ‘Do what you have todo!’

“He had no intentions of

A DREAM CHANGED HIS MINDRabbi Gordon has had countless amazing stories over the

years in his work helping women obtain a halachic divorce. In hisbook, The Husband Tracker, he has documented forty-five ofthese tales, and we asked him to share one of them with us.

“There was an older woman who had been a doctor in GushKatif. One day she told me that she had come from the CIS,where her husband still lived. She had become religiouslyobservant and had met a widower whom she wanted to marry.She had one problem – that she had not been divorced from herhusband before she left the Ukraine. Before I got to work on hercase, she warned me that her husband was a wild and violentdrunkard who wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone.

“She gave me his address in Tchernovitz, in eastern Ukraine,and I called him up. As she had said, as soon as he heard what Iwanted, he uttered a string of threats that began with, ‘If youcome here I will throw you down the stairs, which your nose willcount on your way down.’ Two months later I had to be in thearea, and I decided to stop in and see him. I first prepared mydriver, whose relative serves in a senior position in UkrainianIntelligence, that his intervention might be needed and he shouldbe on standby. I went up to the apartment with a Rabbi Spector.

“We braced ourselves for threats and violence but instead,when the door was opened, a woman asked us whether we werethe rabbis from Jerusalem. When we said that we were, sheinvited us in. We saw overturned chairs, broken plates and glasseson the floor, and the man sitting on the couch looking the worsefor wear.

“He was quiet and calm amidst the chaos, and he asked uswhere he had to sign. It was a surrealistic scene, vastly differentthan what we had expected. When he had finished signing all thepapers, I dared to ask him what had caused him to suddenlysoften his position when he had recently threatened me.

“He told me that on Sunday he was supposed to accompanyhis gentile wife to a village to pick vegetables and the nightbefore, she had dreamt that the man she was living with wasmarried to two women. The dream was so vivid that in themorning they had fought about it – and not just verbally – untilhe admitted that he had another wife and she extracted a promisefrom him that he would divorce her.

“I was flabbergasted. Hashem had sent this gentile woman adream in order to help the doctor from Gush Katif who wanted toremarry. Some time later, I told this story to Knesset memberTzvi Hendel, who smiled and said that that woman had marriedhis father-in-law.”


11BE IS MOSHIACH Issue 678

running out of there. In the end,we left when the police came, butfor me it was a lesson in Jewishpride. He was fearless. Only sometime later did the man agree togive his wife a get. This is onlyone story out of so many.”

The biggest help R’ Gordonreceived from R’ Holtzberg, hesays, was through the manyconnections he had withgovernment figures who knewhim and respected him, whom hekept happy with ‘tokens ofappreciation.’

“The last time I was there, oneof the husbands submitted acomplaint against me with theoffice of the Minister of Police,accusing me of trying to forcehim to divorce his wife.Submitting a complaint to thisoffice is far more serious thansubmitting a complaint at aregular police station.Furthermore, in India it’s a bigcrime to convince a husband todivorce his wife. The Israeliembassy didn’t help me, and Iwas in a bind.

“Who was the one who helpedme? It was the LubavitcherRebbe’s shliach, R’ Gabi. When Itold him my problem, hesuggested that I leave the city fora while, promising that in theinterim he would work on gettingthe complaint dismissed, acomplaint that could have landedme in jail.

“A few days later he was happyto inform me that I could returnsince the complaint had beendismissed. How did heaccomplish that? He didn’t tellme. That was Gabi. He hadJewish pride. He wasn’t afraid ofanyone. He wasn’t afraid ofwalking through the streets ofBombay like a prince. Everybodyrespected him, and he helpedmany people in many differentways.”

THE STORIESI SAW FIRSTHAND

“In addition to the tremendoushelp he gave me in gittin, helpthat sometimes made all thedifference, there was somethingspecial about his Chabad house. Iwill always miss the Shabbosmeals at the Chabad house; theyhad an exceptional atmosphere.At every meal, after the firstcourse, everybody was given a

turn to get up and say something.Every week I looked forward tothis.”

R’ Gordon gave the followingtwo examples:

“One Shabbos, a typical Israeliguy got up and said that threeand a half years earlier, he wasarrested by the Indian police afterthey found drugs in his bag.According to him, unscrupulouspeople had hidden it there. ‘Whoraised the money for the lawyersto help me prove my innocence?’he asked everyone at the table.‘Rav Holtzberg! When my fathercame to India, who took care ofhim throughout all those yearsand provided him with food and aplace to sleep? Rav Holtzberg!Who was waiting for me withproper clothing when I left jail?Rav Holtzberg.’

“The man was teary-eyed ashe continued to relate that justtwo days earlier he was releasedfrom jail, and was staying at theChabad house, room and mealsfree of charge, until his flighthome. He also said that R’Holtzberg ‘influenced’ people at

“In addition tothe tragic lossesfor their familiesand Chabad, welost someone whowas a yereiShamayim, a benTorah, someonewho understoodhalacha.”

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg talking with oneof the mekuravim at the Chabad house



the jail to watch over him so thatnone of the inmates would dareto hurt him. Everybody presentwas moved to tears.

“Throughout the time that theguy told his story and his fathernodded in confirmation of it,Gabi himself was sitting there asthough he had no idea why hewas being praised. After all, hewas just a shliach of the Rebbewho was carrying out his shlichusin the best way he knew how.

“‘Why did you put so muchwork into him?’ I asked himprivately after the meal. Hisanswer was simple andcharacteristic: ‘Because he is aJew.’

“When R’ Holtzberg wouldmeet a Jew, he would look at onething only – the pintele Yidwithin him. It made no differenceto him how he looked or what hewas involved with. With this storyand many others, I saw how hewas willing to endanger himselfto help another Jew not only withspiritual assistance but also, andin most cases, with material

assistance.”Saying this, R’ Gordon was

reminded of tremendous spiritualassistance that the Holtzbergsprovided a certain guest:

“There was an Israeli girl whohad come to Bombay and gotteninvolved in one of the cults there.She became very attached to theguru. That Shabbos that I spentwith them, she came too, for somereason, and she described herexperiences. I saw how Rivky andGabi tried to convince her to stayaway from the ashram. They werefinally successful, and she agreedto return to Eretz Yisroel andstudy in Tzfas. I was very movedto witness this. I later heard thatshe began to keep mitzvos.”

ZEALOUSNESS ALONGWITH REFINEMENTAnother aspect of R’

Holtzberg’s personality that R’Gordon pointed out was hiszealousness in mitzva observance.

“Although R’ Holtzberg lived

in this out-of-the-way place andwas surrounded most of the timeby Jews who were not religious,he and his wife were punctiliouslyobservant. On one of my visits hesuggested that I join him on theboat to one of the islands nearBombay, where he shechtedchickens for the Chabad houseand for the Jewish community.

“From there I went somewhereelse, and when I returned I sawthat he had stopped the linebecause he discovered that inthree boxes that had been salted,the holes were not big enough. Isuggested that he put them asideand continue shechting, but hedid not agree.

“On that forsaken island, hedropped everything and lookedfor a phone so he could call aLubavitcher rav with whom hewas in close contact. Until heheard from him how to proceedwith those boxes, the sh’chita wasat a halt and the entire staff hadto wait. I didn’t think there wasany reason to wait idly, but herefused to continue. He was amodest and refined young man,but when it came to Torah and

It was filthy. Dirtysheets were on the

floor and dozensof people were

lying there. TheEKG machinelooked like a

cereal box, andthe doctors lookedlike they wondered

why fate hadplaced them there.

Below: Rabbi Gordon at an Indian jailwith a recalcitrant husband whofinally gave in. In the center is the jailcommander.



mitzvos, he had Lubavitcherstrength and was unwilling tomake compromises.”

Along with that strength ofmind and purpose he knew howto talk to Jews of differentbackgrounds and find a way totheir hearts.

“There was something forwhich I always admired him. InBombay there is a shul calledEliyahu HaNavi, one of the mostbeautiful in the world, though ithas hardly any worshippers. Manyof the regular worshippers movedto Eretz Yisroel. Gabi could havehad his own minyan with hisguests, but he chose to take hisguests to this shul to daven sothat the local people would beable to daven with a minyan.” Rabbi Gordon with a fellow worker traveling to out-of-the-way places in the world.

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I heard the following story fromR’ Gershon Avtzon, Rosh Yeshiva inCincinnati:

R’ Aryeh Kaltmann is a shliach inColumbus, Ohio. Like mostshluchim, a significant part of histime is devoted to fundraising.Anybody who has tried this knowsit’s not most shluchim’s favoriteactivity although it’s vital for theupkeep of the Chabad house and itsactivities.

R’ Kaltmann was fortunate inthat one of his balabatim covered asignificant part of the budget, 80%to be exact, with his very generouscontribution. After a period of timein which the shliach only had toraise 20% of his expenses, thewealthy man became sick. R’Kaltmann visited him and did whathe could to help him but the manpassed away. Before the man died hetold his children to continue to helpthe shliach as he had done.

The children did not exactlyfollow in their father’s footsteps.After he died they gave the shliach asum of money but with that, theirconnection ended. Poor R’ Kaltmannwas stuck; his main source ofincome had dried up and he had toraise 100% of his budget. Howwould he be able to do this?

Just when all seemed bleak, hissecretary drew his attention to anenvelope which had come in themail. In the envelope was a letterand a bank check. The letter waswritten by a woman in California,

unknown to the shliach. Theincredible thing was that the checkwas made out for $10,000!

The woman wrote that hergrandson was attending university inColumbus and the shliach had givenhim a Jewish calendar. When shewent to visit her daughter she sawthe calendar in her house and askedwhere it came from. She looked forthe address of the shliach and that ishow she came to send him thecheck.

The story was odd but the checkwas real. The Rebbe was helpinghim fill the gap. He cashed thecheck and dictated a warm thankyou letter.

Chanuka time, R’ Kaltmann gaveout menoros to the members of hiscommunity as well as to students.He decided to send a menora to hisnew donor in California. Heincluded a nice letter aboutChanuka.

A few days later he received anenvelope with a letter thanking himfor the menora and … a bank checkfor $10,000! R’ Kaltmann couldn’tbelieve his eyes. He thanked G-d forthe money and “reminded” Him thathe was still lacking a large portion ofthe amount he used to receive fromhis former patron.

Purim was coming up. R’Kaltmann packed somehamentashen and along with warmwishes he sent them to his donor inCalifornia. When he received thethird envelope it was with that same

large amount of money, completelyout of proportion to the item he hadsent her. He cashed the third$10,000 check but was still in needof additional funding.

You can guess what happenednext. He sent her shmura matza forPesach. After all, he had figured outthat whenever he sent her a holidaygift, she sent him $10,000 in return.Each time he received a check hededucted it from the 80% he wasmissing and the budget slowlyworked its way up.

Before Shavuos, he sent her aflower arrangement and was not atall surprised to receive a warm thankyou and another $10,000. Hiscuriosity had reached fever pitch.True he was in constant touch withher, and sent her Jewish gifts beforethe holidays, but the amount ofmoney she sent was out ofproportion to the gifts. Any shliachwould be thrilled – a gift worth afew dollars and in exchange, a checkof $10,000! The most peculiar thingabout it was that she did not explainwhy she in California had pickedhim, a shliach in Ohio, to receivethis magnanimous donation. All shedid was write that she had receivedthe gift and was grateful, and as asign of appreciation she appended acheck.

Shortly after receiving the latestcheck, R’ Kaltmann had to be inCalifornia. He arranged his scheduleso that he would have time to visitthe mystery donor and be able tofind out the reason for herdonations.

After he finished his business hearranged a meeting with the woman.He was graciously welcomed and thefirst part of the visit went well. Thenthe shliach broached the subject andsaid, “I understand that youappreciate the Chabad housecalendar as well as the other giftsthat I send you from time to time.However, the money you send inexchange is really out of proportion


story

THE BELATEDPAYBACKBy T. Yankelowitz



to the gifts.”At this point, he paused to gather

his thoughts. He didn’t want to ruinhis chances of future donations withone poorly worded sentence.

“Don’t think that your donationsare not important to us; theycertainly are! However, I find it sovery surprising. Why do you sendlarge sums in exchange for littlegifts? And especially when you don’tknow me at all and it’s just that yourgrandson participates in ouractivities on campus.”

This is what woman said:When I was a little girl my sister

was very sick and the doctors didnot see a way of curing her. My

parents went to the best doctors butnone of them could guarantee thatmy sister would recover. My parentsbegan going to rabbis. Back then,there was a young and new rabbiwho was beginning to becomefamous. He lived in Crown Heightsand my family went to see him.

I don’t know precisely whathappened but after they visited himin his office, my sister recovered. Hegave her life when others despaired.

My family went back to living ahappy, normal life again. For somereason they did not remember thatthey owed a debt of gratitude to theRebbe who had saved theirdaughter. Perhaps they did not want

to think about that miserable time.In any case, the debt remainedalthough it wasn’t written downanywhere, perhaps not even in theirhearts.

Decades went by. We grew upand married and raised families andour children married. My grandsonwent away to university and he camehome on vacation with that calendar.His mother, my daughter, hung it upon the wall of the kitchen in aprominent place. I visited her inorder to see my grandson and whenI went into the kitchen I saw theRebbe’s face, the Rebbe who hadsaved my sister decades before! Helooked just as he did in the picturewith a black beard and those eyes.

I was reminded of that terribletime, of the tension and fear weexperienced every day, the despair atfinding a cure and the turnaboutafter the visit to the young Rebbe inCrown Heights. The memories wereso vivid. Then I tried to rememberwhether the family had ever thankedthe Rebbe. I did not think so. I feltashamed. Someone saved my sister’slife and we did not repay thekindness? We didn’t go back and tellhim of the miracle and did notexpress our gratitude in any way?

How could we thank the Rebbenow? I wracked my brains andcouldn’t come up with anything. Butwhen my grandson told me aboutthe Chabad rabbi’s activities oncampus, I realized this was theanswer. I couldn’t personally pay theRebbe back but I could repay thedebt to one of his emissaries. Theonly shliach I had any connection to– thanks to the calendar – was you,and that is how the old family debtcame to be repaid to the Rebbe.

***The Rebbe does not abandon his

shluchim. If it seems as though oneavenue is closed off, rest assured,the Rebbe will open another avenue,because after all, it’s not just yourwork… it’s his.


SECRET ORDER FROMTHE REBBE

In the 1960’s, a secret orderfrom the Rebbe managed to reachus in Russia: The thousands ofmanuscripts of maamarim thathad never been printed should betaken out of Russia. This wasdescribed as pidyon shvuyim –redeeming captives.

R’ Mordechai (Mottel)Kozliner a”h, who lived inTashkent at the time, devotedhimself fully to this task. Withgreat effort he managed to locatethe names and addresses ofdozens of elderly Chassidimthroughout the Soviet empire whowere likely to have Chassidicmanuscripts from previousgenerations. After he hadcompiled these lists, he raisedmoney for this huge mission andencouraged bachurim and youngmen to travel throughout Russiaand rescue these manuscripts.

Naturally, being involved with

Chassidic writings, and especiallythe final goal of taking them outof Russia, entailed danger to life,but when we heard that this iswhat the Rebbe wanted, wedevoted ourselves to the task.

How did we hear about this inRussia? How did R’ Mottelmanage to get the addresses ofthese elder Chassidim? We didnot know, nor did we ask. All weknew was that this was what theRebbe wanted. In Russia of thosedays, people kept their curiosityto themselves. Taking anexcessive interest in communalmatters beyond what we neededto know was not onlyunnecessary, but forbidden!

When we held meetings aboutthe underground work inSamarkand, I would always say,whatever does not affect medirectly, please don’t tell me. I,too, tried not to talk, even toclose friends, beyond what wasnecessary for them to know. Thereasoning was simple – Why put

myself into danger? If I would becaught and questioned, who knewwhether I’d be able to withstandmy interrogators?

MOVING ENCOUNTERSWITH THE PREVIOUS

GENERATIONI was enlisted, along with

other bachurim and young men,for this endeavor. Whenever Iwent on one of these missions, R’Mottel would give me the namesof Chassidim and their addresses.Since writing the informationdown on paper could incriminateme, I had to memorize it. Ireviewed the names and addressesso many times that it’s no wonderI still remember them until today.

The trips entailed challengesand adventures, but the climax ofeach trip was meeting an oldChassid of the previousgeneration who lived in some holesomewhere in Russia andcontinued to live his life as healways did. From those specialmeetings I derived spiritualwarmth and chayus, for it was arare treat to see Chassidim of theprevious generation. To sit beforea real Chassid, someone who sawand heard the Rebbe Rashab, wasan exceptional experience.

Hearing their descriptions ofthe lives of Chassidim in daysgone by, and about theabandonment of the future


memoirs

R’ Hillel Zaltzman relates hisfascinating adventures in fulfilling theRebbe’s secret directive to collectChassidic manuscripts from long ago,far and wide, bring them out of theSoviet Union, and have them published.

FROM HOMILTO NEW YORKBy Avrohom Reinitz



generation, my heart wouldoverflow. On the one hand, it wasinspiring to hear their memoriesfrom the golden days ofChassidus Chabad. On the otherhand, it was so pitiful to see howcut off they were from life in aLubavitcher community.

Although these Chassidimmanaged to remain as they hadbeen in Lubavitch, because theydid not live in a Jewishenvironment, they were unable totransmit it to the next generation.Their children assimilated. I don’tthink anyone today knows orremembers these Chassidim. Maythe little bit that I tell in thefollowing pages provide anelevation for their souls.

IS THE RUMOR TRUETHAT THE SON BECAME

REBBE?One of the first Chassidim I

was sent to by R’ Mottel was R’Itche Garelik, known byChassidim as Itche Stchedriner.He lived at 54 Tashklova Street inNikolayev and was 84 at the time.He was one of the first melamdimin yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim,but as close as he was to BeisRebbi in the golden years ofTomchei T’mimim - that is howfar he became after he left theChassidishe environment. Itreached the point that, when Imet him for the first time, heasked me whether it was true thatthe son (i.e. the Rebbe Rayatz)had become Rebbe (he hadbecome Rebbe in 1920!)

I was shocked by the question.Forty years had gone by since thepassing of the Rebbe Rashab andthe beginning of the RebbeRayatz’s nesius. Over ten yearshad passed since the passing ofthe Rebbe Rayatz in 1950 and theRebbe’s taking over the nesius,and this man was so cut off from

the world of Lubavitch that heneeded to verify whether theRebbe Rayatz had succeeded hisfather!

Of course I told himeverything I knew about theRebbe Rayatz’s reign and thelittle bit I had gleaned from R’Binyamin Katz (who came fromNew York to Tashkent) about theRebbe’s nesius in Beis Chayeinuin New York.

When he heard that I was theson-in-law of R’ Efraim FishelDemichovsky, the son of theRogatchover Gaon’s sister, he

told me that he remembered myfather-in-law from Lubavitch. Hesaid that one Simchas Torah, athakafos, the Rebbe Rashab stoodon the side and watched thecrowd. “I also stood on the sideand watched,” said R’ Garelik.“Suddenly, the Rebbe asked meto move a bit to the side, saying,‘Let me look at that bachur. Hereminds me of his uncle (theRogatchover Gaon).’”

(The Chassid R’ Lazer Nannes(“Subbota”) related that he went

to the Rogatchover Gaon oneSukkos with a group of bachurim.When they arrived, theRogatchover was lying on thecouch with his hands under hishead as he thought. Seeing them,he got up suddenly and theystepped back. When he saw thatthey were T’mimim, he called:“T’mimim, enter.”

They saw a cup of water nearthe couch, and discussed hisbeing able to drink water out ofthe sukka. He explained that if hewent down to the sukka behindthe house, it would entail bittulTorah, and since this wasn’t ameal he permitted himself todrink.

Then they asked him what hehad to say about the Rebbe. Hesaid: “If there is a Jew at the endof the world who is having a hardtime marrying off his daughter,the Lubavitcher Rebbe sees thisand prays for him until he issaved from his distress.

“If so,” they asked, “why don’tyou go to the Rebbe (Rashab)?”

He answered that he wasafraid of the bittul Torah involvedin such a lengthy trip. “But,” hesaid, “my sister’s son, who I havetaken responsibility to raise aftershe left him as an orphan, I havesent to Lubavitch.”)

R’ Garelik also told me whathe heard about the TzemachTzedek, who would say T’hillimout loud and with tears. Onetime, a bachur hid in theTzemach Tzedek’s house and sawhim get up after midnight(perhaps it was part of TikkunChatzos) to say all of T’hillim.When he got up to chapter 84,and said the words, “even a birdfound a home and a swallow itsnest,” he addressed Heaven andsaid, “And by You this isjustified?!”

R’ Garelik was heartbrokenwhen he told me about his

R’ Mottel Kozliner



children. He cried nonstop whenhe told me that though he hadsent his sons to a Chabad yeshiva,they were drafted and sent to thefront during World War II. Whenthey returned from the army afterthe war, they were no longerreligious.

LIFE AS IT WASIN LUBAVITCH

A few years after our firstmeeting, I met R’ Itche Garelikagain. I was on a similar missionto the Charson, Odessa, andYevpotori district, and took theopportunity to detour and visitwith him. He was nearly ninety.

I was moved to see thatdespite the many years that hadpassed and his being cut off fromthe Chabad community, hecontinued to live his life preciselyas he did when he was inLubavitch. He got up early in themorning, had something to eat,and then learned Chassidus fortwo hours (mainly LikkuteiTorah). His davening took twohours. He did this every day forscores of years.

He told me that he tried toorganize a minyan, but could notfind ten Jews who wanted todaven on a regular basis. Ingeneral, although I was decadesyounger than these elderlyChassidim, as soon as theyrealized that I was one of Anashthey shared all their deepestfeelings with me.

I sensed how greatly theyenjoyed opening their hearts to akindred spirit who couldunderstand them, after decades ofhiding their feelings, with no onewho would understand theirChassidic lifestyle.

R’ Itche told me that heoccasionally shechted a chickenfor himself. After I told him that Iknew sh’chita, he asked me tocheck his sh’chita knife. When I

did so, I was horrified to find ablemish. When I pointed it out tohim, he said that he knew aboutit. “What can I do?” he asked. “Ican’t sharpen the knife myself.My son sharpens it for me, andafterwards, I check the knife. Iwrap that blemish you found in ashmatte, and I do the sh’chitawith the other part of the knife.”

These meetings always shookme up. When I left the homes ofthese Chassidim and I met olderJews on the street, I felt anuncontrollable urge to encouragethem to preserve their Judaism. I

wasn’t afraid to talk to themabout Judaism, since I left soonafter.

Jews would constantly ask mein amazement how a youngperson like myself knew Yiddishand about Judaism. I wouldalways reply: “You don’t realize,but Judaism in Russia isflourishing; it’s just that it’s allunderground.” When they askedwhere I was from, I told themthat I came from the cityKustanai in Kazakhstan. Of

course, I had no connection withthat city and there were noLubavitchers there. For reasons ofsecurity, I kept my hometown asecret. Even the name I gavethem was fictitious – Breitbein(an expression in Yiddish whichmeans “broad-boned”).

HARDSHIPSON THE ROAD

One of the problems I hadwhen going on a mission was thelack of kosher food. Since wewere particular about not eatingoutside the home, I had to take asuitcase full of food to last methroughout my trip. On rareoccasions, when I had leftoverfood, I gave it to Jews so theywould have kosher food to eat.

Since I had food from homewhich spoiled after a few days, Ilimited these trips to two weeks.My brother-in-law, EliMishulovin a”h, joked, “Hilkeonce went on a trip. He wasthousands of kilometers fromSamarkand, but when he washungry he had no choice but toreturn to Samarkand for lunch.”

I tried to go on these missionsby plane. The advantage was two-fold. Firstly, the trip by trainfrom Samarkand to any otherpart of Russia took days, while aplane got me there within hours.Secondly, when you travel bytrain for days, it’s hard to davenwith tallis and t’fillin withoutdrawing unwanted attention.When I traveled by plane, I coulddaven before or after the flight.

One year, in the summer, Iwas unable to get a flight and hadto travel part of the way by train.I asked for a privatecompartment, but the train wascrowded and I had to share acompartment with another threepeople.

Since I knew I had to travelfor several days by train, and the

R’ Hillel Zaltzman as a young man



mission would last longer thanusual, I came up with a way topreserve the freshness of the foodI brought with me. I would storethe meat in preserving jars that Iprepared myself. I boiled oil, andwhile it boiled I poured it into aglass jar with some pieces ofmeat, then shut it quickly. Theheat created a vacuum in the jar,and I heard that meat could bepreserved this way for a longtime.

One night during the trip, Iawoke to the sound of breakingglass. The other people in thecompartment also woke up. Irealized that one of my jars hadexploded, and I was afraid thatthe others would explode, too.What would my travelingcompanions think? They mightcall the police to check the sourceof the explosions. To my goodfortune, the other jars did notburst and the people went back tosleep.

The next day, when I openedmy suitcase, I saw the broken jar,and the meat and liquid all overmy belongings. I realized that themeat had spoiled and the toxicfumes had caused the explosion. Iopted to throw away the rest ofthe jars, so as not to risk stomachtrouble during the trip. That’s allI needed, to go to a hospital farfrom home with an upsetstomach…

WHO IS THE EIGENER?One summer, I was sent by R’

Mottel Kozliner to a Chassidnamed R’ Yisachar Mariyash ofOdessa. I arrived in Odessa on aThursday, close to twilight. SinceI knew his address and intendedto sleep over at his home, I didnot leave my suitcases in lockersat the train station. I was afraidto leave them there because I hadmy tallis and t’fillin and other“suspicious” items in them.

I dragged the suitcases, tryingnot to be conspicuous, and mademy way to the address which wasetched in my mind. R’ Yisacharlived on a block of apartmenthouses, five stories high, in whichhundreds of families lived. Thebuildings were around a largeyard, which I had to cross to getto his home. I prayed that nobodywould ask me anything. I askedwhere Comrade Mariyash livedand was directed to hisapartment.

I went up to his apartment andknocked gently at the door, sothe neighbors wouldn’t hear.After a few seconds of silence Iheard a voice ask, “Who’sthere?” I answered, as always,“Ah eigener (one of us).” Heasked, “Who is the eigener?”What could I tell him when hedidn’t know me? I repeated, “Aheigener. Please open the door.”

I could hear him speaking tohis wife: Who can it be? Aftersome consultation he said, “Comeback tomorrow.”

It was late and I had nowhereto go. I wasn’t thrilled at the ideaof dragging my suitcases throughthe yard again. I pleaded, “I haveno place to sleep. Please let mein.” But he was very afraid andsaid, “Go to the shul. You’ll findsomeone there.” He explainedhow to find the shul.

Tired and hungry, I went tolook for the shul, dragging mysuitcases with me. As Iapproached the shul, I saw a Jewwith a trimmed beard coming out.I greeted him, and he introducedhimself as the rav of the shul. Iasked him for a place to sleep,and he tried to put me off. It wasonly after I offered payment thathe took me to his home.

Despite my exhaustion, I triednot to sleep deeply. I just dozedand a few times, in the middle ofthe night, I checked my suitcases.

In those years, the rav of a shulwas a government appointee, andwho knew how devoted he was tothe government? In my suitcasesI had a lot of “treife”merchandise, like sifrei Tanya andSiddurim which I had bought onmy stay at the central shul inMoscow.

FRIDAY NIGHTEXCITEMENT

I got up early in the morningand went quickly to the shul todaven. It was Erev Shabbos, and Idavened to Hashem that R’Yisachar would let me into hishome. Otherwise, where I wouldspend Shabbos? When I went tohis home after davening, herefused to open the door and toldme to come at three in theafternoon.

To my great joy, when Iarrived at three he opened thedoor and invited me in. His homewas comprised of two rooms. The

Naturally, beinginvolved withChassidic writings,and especially thefinal goal oftaking them out ofRussia, entaileddanger to life, butwhen we heardthat this is whatthe Rebbe wanted,we devotedourselves to thetask.



first room was a kitchen and aplace where they stored bedpansthat were used at night (by daythey used the public bathrooms inthe yard). The second room was adining room and bedroom.

R’ Yisachar didn’t talk much.He said he was busy getting readyfor Shabbos. I asked for aChumash and reviewed the sidra.By the time Shabbos had arrived,I had looked at his s’farim tocheck whether he had any oldmanuscripts.

Friday night he said he wasnot going to shul (many of Anashdid not go to the main shulbecause it swarmed withinformers and governmentappointees). He told me that onShabbos morning there were twosecret minyanim, one in whicholder men davened and one,further away, where a younger,more modern crowd davened.These young people had beeninspired by the victory in the SixDay War. The next day I decidedto go to the young people’sminyan.

In the meantime, we began totalk. When he was convinced thatI was really “one of ours,” he was

bowled over. For decades hehadn’t seen a bachur or youngman speaking fluent Yiddish withLubavitcher expressions, and withknowledge of Chabad.

In great excitement, he begantelling me his memories of theRebbe Rashab and the RebbeRayatz. He spoke a lot aboutRashbatz (the Chassid R’ ShmuelBetzalel Sheftel) and otherChassidim of those days. We stillhad yet to daven KabbalasShabbos and make Kiddush. Hiswife tried to remind him that itwas late and the guest surelywanted to eat (which was true),but he continued talking.

When she asked him again topause, he said emotionally, “Ithas been decades since I met oneof ours. Do you understand?He’s one of ours!” and he burstinto tears, repeating over andover, “Oy, oy, he is one of ours.Let me revive my neshama.”

I, however, was practicallycollapsing from exhaustion. Hiswife noticed this, but when shetried to say that the guest wastired and hungry, he yelled, “Fordecades I haven’t seen one of us,one of Anash. Can youunderstand the excitement?”

It was only towards midnightthat we finally davened KabbalasShabbos and had the Shabbosmeal. At 1:30 we finished eatingand they arranged a bed for me inthe first room. It wasn’t thefreshest room, obviously, but Islept like the dead.

The next morning R’ Yisacharexplained where I would find theminyan of young people. Imanaged to find it easily anddiscovered about fifty people,most of them in their thirties andforties. They did not all knowhow to daven, but they went toshul as an expression of theirJudaism.

Being young as well as a new

face, they all took an interest inme, wanting to know who I wasand where I came from since theysaw I was knowledgeable andcould daven. As always, I gavethem a fictitious name andaddress and used the opportunityto encourage them and to tellthem about Judaism blossomingin secret throughout Russia.

A PROMISE KEPTAmong the young people I

spoke to was a 19 year olduniversity student. He told methat after the Six Day War hebegan taking an interest inJudaism, but he didn’t know whatactions he needed to take. Afterthe davening we walked back tohis house together, and the longwalk gave us time to schmoozeand become friends. He said thathis father was the communityshochet and they had submitted arequest to leave Russia. They hadbeen waiting for months for areply.

Looking back, I don’t knowwhy I trusted him, but after heexpressed an interest in learningTorah I told him the truth, that Icame from Samarkand. Isuggested that he come with me.

Although I knew that R’Yisachar was waiting for me toreturn from Shacharis, I decidedthat since this entailed saving aJewish soul, it took precedence.We agreed that I would eat theShabbos meal in his house andtalk to his parents.

When I got there, I found atable set for Shabbos. The fathersat at the head of the table andthe family was eating the Shabbosmeal. I quickly becameacquainted with them, and baruchHashem, they took a liking to meand agreed to send their son withme to learn in Moscow. On theway to his house I had warnedhim not to tell his parents that his

Aside from a fewtimes when, after

he plantedpotatoes or

tomatoes, anti-Semites had comeand destroyed his

field, he usuallyhad food to eat

that he had grownhimself.



true destination was Samarkand.They would believe he was goingto Moscow, and the real planwould remain top secret. Nobodywould know where he was reallygoing.

Since I had to leave Odessa onSunday and this boy did not havea ticket yet, we decided that hewould order a ticket in themeantime and leave a day later.

Nine days later he arrived inSamarkand. Friday night, afterthe meal, some of us gathered inthe home of R’ Berke Shiff for afarbrengen. All attention focusedon the new guest. The farbrengenwarmed his heart, and he mixedwith the talmidim of theunderground yeshiva. On Sundayhe was already sitting andlearning with great diligence.

His chavrusa was a bachurfrom Moscow, a very talentedmathematician, who had beenniskarev to Chabad by R’ MosheKatzenelbogen. When his parentssaw him take it seriously, theywere very upset and took him to atop psychologist, who obviouslyfound no problems with him.

After two months, the bachurfrom Odessa got word that hisfamily had been granted exitvisas. He immediately went home,though not before he promised toremain a Chabadnik. His parentssettled in B’nei Brak, and helearned in Kfar Chabad. Heinfluenced his sister to learn inChabad schools. After he finishedyeshiva, he married a girl from adistinguished Lubavitcher familyand they built a Chassidishehome.

SINCE MY FATHERSENT YOU…

Krimskaya Oblast, JankayeskiRayan, Stantziya Azavskaya,Kolkhoz Rassiya, Vigon Yosef.You read that correctly. That wasthe exact address of R’ Yosef

Vigon (the brother of ShammaiVigon who is mentioned in thesichos and letters of the RebbeRayatz) who was sent by theRebbe Rashab to live in thatvillage. He possessed somemanuscripts of Chassidus.

I went to him by train fromthe city of Simferopol, the capitolof the Crimea. I got off at theAzavskaya station and looked forthe village in which he lived.There were no streets andnumbers, rather each villager hada piece of land which he farmedand from which he lived.

When I arrived at his house,after the initial excitement dieddown, he told me about thedifficult shlichus he got from theRebbe Rashab, the Rebbe havingsent him to this village wherethere were hardly any Jews.Lately, he hardly ever had aminyan. Before the war he wentto the Rebbe Rayatz and told himabout life in his village, statingthat since there were hardly anyJews, he had nothing to do there.

The Rebbe Rayatz told him:“Since my father sent you there, Ican’t permit you to leave. You aresupported by working the land,and each time you ask forHashem’s blessing, you get it andlive from Hashem’s blessing. Forthis you ought to be happy.”

He told me he only ate dairyfoods except for once a year,before Pesach, when he traveledto Simferopol where R’ ChaimRappaport, a Lubavitchershochet, shechted a chicken forhim. He also went to Simferopolfor the Yomim Nora’im so hecould daven with a minyan.

Like all the old Chassidim Imet in out-of-the-way places, R’Yosef’s children had gone off thederech. He was 78, but he lookeda lot younger than his age. Hisbeard was still almost black, andhis general appearance was thatof a farmer. Aside from a fewtimes when, after he plantedpotatoes or tomatoes, anti-Semites had come and destroyedhis field, he usually had food toeat that he had grown himself.

As in all the places I visited, Iwas broken by the pitiful situationI encountered. It was the utterdestruction of Russian Jewry.Talking to R’ Yosef, I promised totry to find him an apartment inSamarkand so he could liveamong Chassidim. He said he hadto consult with his son, who,nebach, ran his home like agentile so he could not eat oreven live with him. His son was ateacher in Simferopol, and whenR’ Yosef went there for theYomim Nora’im, he just slept inhis house.

When I returned toSamarkand I related myencounters. The older Chassidimknew some of the people I met. Ispoke to the men in Samarkandabout R’ Yosef Vigon, saying thatwe had the obligation of bringing

R’ Efraim Demichovsky withhis oldest granddaughter



him to our camp. I correspondedwith R’ Yosef and told him hecould come to Samarkand, but hedid not rush to come. His sonwas concerned that he would notbe cared for. Even when I wrotethat I was willing to make aspecial trip in order to help himtravel to Samarkand, he wasn’tquick to take me up on this offer.In the end, we found out that hehad passed away.

IF MY GRANDSONLEARNS IN

SAMARKAND, I’LL BEHAPPY

I met R’ Shmuel GershonSorkin in Homil during thesummer. As I neared his house Isaw him in the distance andimmediately identified him as aLubavitcher Chassid. It was amechaye to see the image of areal Chabad Chassid, just as Ipictured one to myself. After allthe traveling by plane and train, itwas all worthwhile just to see aperson like him.

He was a man in his sixtieswith a long beard, a long outergarment (which I had not seen inRussia since my trip to my uncle,R’ Boruch Duchman), and akasket (cap). When he noticedme, he immediately invited meinto his house so the neighborswouldn’t see me. He sat on achair, opened the buttons of hisouter garment and remainedsitting there wearing woolentzitzis over a shirt under his suit.It was so marvelous to me to seethis Chassid from the previousgeneration who had made nochanges.

Hearing my Yiddish spicedwith Lubavitcher expressions, andnoting that I was knowledgeableabout Admurei and ChassideiChabad, he realized I was really aLubavitcher and relaxed. Once Ihad gained his trust, I told himthe purpose of my visit, that Iwanted manuscripts to send tothe Rebbe.

He told me that he was theshochet and occasionally went toother towns for purposes ofsh’chita, but he was afraid tospeak with people he didn’tknow. He didn’t even dare tospeak about Chassidus orChassidim to his acquaintances,because he knew that the word“Chassidim” in Russia was acrime.

Putting me in context, he saidthat he had heard that theshochet, R’ Efraim FishelDemichovsky of Minsk, hadmarried off his daughter to aLubavitcher bachur and now hewas happy to see me personally;nonetheless he was afraid to talkto me.

When I spoke to him about hischildren, he said he had twodaughters. Both were married toJews and he had two grandsons,one of whom was of the age tolearn in yeshiva. If I could get his

grandson to learn in Samarkand,he would be extremely happy. Itried my best, but his daughterwouldn’t hear of it.

He had a book of manuscripts,for which I gave him in exchangethe maamer, “B’Reishis Bara,”which I had copied when it cameto Russia. I left himbrokenhearted.

R’ REUVEN THESCRIBE’S TORAH

SCROLLA year later, before Pesach, my

brother-in-law Aryeh Leib cameto Samarkand. He told me he hadrecently visited Homil, and R’Shmuel Gershon had begged thatI go to him. He disclosed to mybrother-in-law that he had aTorah scroll which was said tohave been written by R’ Reuven,the Alter Rebbe’s scribe. Hewanted this Torah to be taken outof Russia and given, in his name,to the Rebbe.

I decided to go right afterPesach. To my sorrow, when I gotto Homil and went to his house, Ifound his daughters sitting Shivafor him. I didn’t know what todo. There was a minyan in hishouse, and it was the first time Isaw a man daven at the amudwith the daughter of the departedsaying Kaddish. They offeredsome sort of rationale for this.

When the davening was over Iexplained to his daughters thepurpose of my visit. They saidthat indeed, he had very muchwanted to see me, but they didnot know why. I told them what Iknew about the Torah scroll andabout his desire to have it sent tothe Rebbe.

They did not know where theTorah was, but they rememberedthat he had a Torah that wasalways with him, with which hehad gone through the war. He

The Rebbe spokeabout the

importance ofpidyon shvuyim,

and picked up thisbook saying that

this was realpidyon shvuyim

and in this merit,the redeemers

would also meritpidyon shvuyim.



watched over it carefully, but inlater years he left it in a shul inone of the towns where he wouldgo to shecht.

They could not rememberwhich town the Torah was in, butthey said that since the thirteenyear old grandson wouldaccompany his grandfather on histravels, I could go with him andsee whether we could find it.

It was evening, and wedecided that this was the besttime to go to look for it, since atthis hour people were in shul forMincha and Maariv. Togetherwith the grandson and one of thedaughters, I took a taxi in thedirection of the towns that hewould go to.

The towns were near oneanother, and in less than an hourwe had gone to them all. In thethird town they found the Torahin an Aron Kodesh. It was veryold and “thin,” with ancientwooden rods.

The Jews there did not want togive up the Torah, saying that onSimchas Torah they danced withthis Torah since it was easy tocarry. I insisted that I had to takeit and would not leave without it.The daughter told them that theTorah belonged to her father andshe needed it now. We spokeabout it as something temporary,and in the end they had no choicebut to let us leave with the Torahscroll.

I gave the daughter 300rubles, which was worth aboutthree months worth of wages, andleft before they could changetheir mind. When I finally leftHomil, I was ecstatic that I hadbeen able to save R’ Reuven thescribe’s Torah. I hoped that itwould end up in the right place,with the Rebbe in New York.Shortly afterwards, my fatherreceived permission to leave

Russia, and he took the Torahwith him to the Rebbe.

When I left Russia and went tothe Rebbe, I inquired about theTorah I had sent. I was told thatan ancient Torah had arrived at770, but nobody knew where ithad come from or what wasspecial about it. When theyopened the Aron Kodesh in thesmall zal, I immediatelyrecognized the Torah among allthe other scrolls.

***On my travels I found a

number of volumes ofmanuscripts. One of them wasbigger than a Likkutei Torah, andit was thicker than a LikkuteiTorah, too.

At that time there wereprofessional writers who wrotesifrei Chassidus for pay. Theywould write on paper withoutlines, which was more expensive.The paper in that volume was

beautiful and white, and it hadapparently been written by anexpert. The lines were long andwere a half circle because of howquickly they were written. In thatvolume, there were discourses ofChassidus Chabad and from otherChassiduyos, too.

When we got these s’farim, wegave them to R’ Mottel Kozliner,who took care of them and sentthem to the West until theyreached the Rebbe.

I inquired as to whether thisparticular book had reached theRebbe. I heard that at one of thefarbrengens, the Rebbe brought avery thick book and put it on thetable. Based on the description, itis very likely that it was the bookI had obtained. The Rebbe spokeabout the importance of pidyonshvuyim, and picked up this booksaying that this was real pidyonshvuyim and in this merit, theredeemers would also meritpidyon shvuyim.

R’ Hillel Zaltzman receiving kos shel bracha from the Rebbe



ZHIDOVKAWITHOUT HORNS

Until I was thirteen I knewvirtually nothing about Judaism. Iremember only that towardsspringtime my grandmotherwould bring flour and bake thinmatzos. When we sat down to eatthem, my father said that hisgrandfather would say that “manyyears ago, his ancestors had beenslaves and in the end they werefreed.” He would always add,“Nu, if only we too were able toget out and be free of this IronCurtain.”

When I turned thirteen myfather said in a serious tone,“Svetlana, you should know thatyou, your mother, yourgrandmother, and I are Jews.”

“What?!” I denied it. Nobodyhad ever screamed “Zhidovka” atme in the street and I didn’t havehorns.

My father, who was alwaystough, patted my head and said,“My dear girl, one day perhapswe will go to Israel and then youwill understand everything.”

The “one day” became areality three years later when myfather arranged for us to make

aliya at the end of the winter5750. A half year earlier he sentme to the Jewish Agency “so youwill become religious,” he said.The Agency offered “KabbalatShabbat” which meant that Jewishkids from Odessa gathered, sang“Sholom Aleichem” with theaccompaniment of a piano, weregiven raisins, almonds and cakeand watched a movie about Israelwhich I don’t think they had on aShabbos clock.

As much as I try to remember,I cannot recall Shabbos candlesor Kiddush but to their credit,these gatherings enabled Jews tomeet and led to Jewish marriages.And … I had a good meal thatday.

LEAVING FORTHE LAND I HADLEARNED ABOUT

One freezing Friday I went tothe Agency. The place wasdeserted and a snow-covered signannounced “due to the choleraoutbreak there will not be aShabbat gathering.” I made myway to the shul.

The shliach, Rabbi Shia

Gisser, wondered for a momentwhy a “shiksa” from the streethad come into the shul. I toldhim I was Jewish and mumbled,“I didn’t eat all day. I went to theAgency and it said that because ofcholera there wouldn’t beShabbat.” I burst into tears andthe other people laughed.

After a pause he reassured methat I could eat with them and heexplained that Shabbat takesplace even if the whole world hascholera! This is simply becauseit’s one of the days of the week.

I was famished. I glanced atthe table and saw potatoes,onions, carrots, beets, a loaf ofGeorgian bread, a bit of chickenand some canned vegetables. Theshliach seated me in the women’ssection.

Until that time I had neverbeen to a shul. “Why should Igo?” I would ask my friends.“When I feel clinically depressedI’ll consider it.” At that time Ithought there was joy in my life.“Here’s another potato, anotherpiano lesson, what’s wrong withthat?”

I started going to shul afterthat Shabbos. All week long, mystomach longed for the Shabbosmeal. In our house we had onesack of potatoes and a bottle ofoil. From a culinary standpoint itwas obvious that a meal at theshul was worth far more than themeal at the Agency.

Just at this time, my schooldecided to have classes for fivelong days rather than six shorterones. We were free everySaturday and Sunday so I wasable to keep Shabbos. School wasover at four o’clock on Fridayand at 4:30 I lit candles. I keptShabbos at the shul and theshluchim’s house and on MotzaeiShabbos I went home.

The heart follows the stomach… Fortunately, R’ Shia knew how

rosh chodesh k i s lev

Sterna-Svetlana describes her journeyfrom the Russian frost and hunger tothe warmth and light of Lubavitch.

FROM RUSSIAWITH LIGHTBy Golda Kam

prof i le


to talk my language. I told himthat I considered religion anopiate for the masses whichleaders sell to people in order forthem to live upright, peacefullives.

He wrinkled his brow andsaid, “You don’t have to believe ina god who sits on clouds whocauses it to rain when he washeshis socks.” Then he confidentlyexplained that just as an item ofclothing says something about thetailor and a house says somethingabout the one who built it, so toothe world announces its Creator.True, we don’t see Him, but dowe see a teacher’s logic?

I remember telling my biologyteacher in his name that someonewho thinks that his great-great-grandfather was a monkeyapparently doesn’t get along withhis old relatives. She was angry atme for saying this but in the endshe excused me from the

evolution section of the test.R’ Shia would tell us

fascinating stories from Tanach,not as legends but as somethingwhich was noble, practical andobligated us. I began showing upin a skirt (the same old skirtwhich I found in the attic) everyShabbos. I learned the Alef-Beisand began to pray. Of course itwas at the rate of a pre-1A childbut surely these are the prayersthat are beloved to Hashem(when else do we say Mo-deh A-ni and Sh-e-ma so slowly andclearly)?

After six months, I beganpreparing for aliya. R’ Shiaarranged for me to go with agroup going to Beis Rifka in KfarChabad and he promised theywould take care of me there.

The flight was very exciting. Ilooked at a map of Israel on thetrip planner and remembered thestories from Tanach that I had

just learned – about Avrohom andthe covenant in which he waspromised the Land, about Kalevand Yehoshua who did not goalong with the spies, about Moshewho yearned to enter the Land,and I was going there!

At the airport a van waswaiting for us that took us to BeisRifka. On the way we sang,“Dovid Melech Yisroel” and“Nyet, Nyet Nikavo.” Somelaughed too much, some cried toomuch, and everybody was veryexcited.

HISKASHRUSGetting acclimated wasn’t

easy. I was a sixteen year old girlwithout parents or relatives, in anew country with a new languageand a different mentality, andthere was so much to learn!

In Russia I had felt like aRebbetzin just for wearing a skirt.In Israel they taught me that the

25BE IS MOSHIACH Issue 678

Lighting candles in a Chabad housein India (for illustration purposes)



skirt had to be modest, and thesleeves too …

In class I understood maybe atenth of what was said, andcertainly not the jokes oranything complicated. At night Iwould toss and turn. “Go back toRussia,” said a voice within me.“It’s hard being religious. Tellthem you’re not managing … thatyou miss them … you’ll find areason.

“But what about everything Ilearned? For half a year in RussiaI did not touch milk and meatbecause it was treif. What was Ibeing so careful about? So that Icould throw it all away?”

I stayed.Baruch Hashem there were

lots of terrific people along theway like Mrs. Bravman who gaveout cookies every night alongwith a smile and hot tea, or Mrs.Nessia Shneur who knew Russian

and helped me study for hardtests. There were wonderfulwomen in the Kfar who loved melike a daughter. I would work forthem so I would have somepocket money and they patientlytaught me what every girl knows,how to fold laundry, wash dishes… I remember Mrs. ChanaLebenhartz standing next to melovingly and helping me iron.

On Shabbos and Yom Tov wewould go to Nachala (NachalatHar Chabad – Kiryat Malachi).The families welcomed us withopen arms. They included:Zaklos, Kanelsky, Kubalkin,Friedland (till this day I am intouch with the mother), andmany other wonderful people whodonated gifts for the holidays etc.

One year on Sukkos I had asurprise. R’ Shia Gisser arrived inEretz Yisroel. He stayed in KfarChabad and during the hakafos Iwent to say hello. He was veryhappy to see that I was becomingmore religious and he said it wasall in the Rebbe’s z’chus.

I went to the women’s sectionto watch the hakafos. I’ll neverforget what I saw two hours later.It was a lesson in the shluchim’sesteem of the Rebbe. R’ Gisserdrank a lot and he pointed at apicture of the Rebbe and shoutedin a trembling voice, “When Ilook at the Rebbe’s eyes I feel likea little dog in the garbage, so low,who will never understand

anything about a holy tzaddik, anangel of G-d! I can’t even thinkwhat I am compared to him, ai,ai, ai.” And he fell over, drunkand slept.

Until then, R’ Gisser was theRebbe to me but when I heardhim talk about the Rebbe, I beganto realize what was what.

BRINGING LIGHTTO OTHERS

I eventually changed my namefrom Svetlana to Sterna (since itsounded similar) and changedfrom a mekabel to a mashpia.When one of the Chernobyl girlswould get angry and rebellious Iwould hug her and calm herdown. On mivtzaim I was the onewho approached immigrants whowere thrilled that I addressedthem in Russian, their language.

I got married at age twentyand today, I am a mother of sixchildren, four girls and two boys.I encourage Russian women andtake part in Mivtza Neshek.Sometimes one of my daughtersgoes along with me. For them it’sa given that our job is to preparethe world for Geula; baruchHashem, they were born into it.

When my children are oneyear old and they know only threewords: Abba, Ima, and Rebbe, Ikiss them and say, “You are right!It is thanks to the Rebbe and hisshluchim that your Ima is heretoday!”

Until then, R’Gisser was the

Rebbe to me butwhen I heard him

talk about theRebbe, I began torealize what was

what.



When the late Mr. RechavamZe’evi, may G-d avenge his blood,met with the Rebbe in 5750, hearrived ready and willing to hearwhat he should do in his role as amember of the Knesset to protectEretz Yisroel. He stood before theRebbe as a chassid asking forinstructions. In his reply, the Rebbesaid that he must disseminateJudaism. Surprisingly, what theIsraeli government hadn’t done yetwas to make the residents of EretzYisroel into b’nei Eretz Yisroel. TheRebbe continued to explain to Mr.Ze’evi what he meant: “Not just aphysical settling there, but also aspiritual settling, to the point thateverybody who sees them willrecognize that they are born andraised in a land which is called“Eretz Yisroel” – because it is thenachalas olam l’am olam (theeternal inheritance for the eternalnation).”

Mr. Ze’evi hy”d didn’tunderstand. He asked the Rebbewhat he should do to protect EretzYisroel, yet the Rebbe spoke withhim about education. The Rebbe

continued to speak with him aboutthe need to reveal what is alreadythere within every Jewish man,woman and child, adding that inchildren this is to be found in aneven purer way, without politics andother things mixing in.

This is similar to what formerKnesset Member Geula Cohen heardfrom the Rebbe in yechidus. TheRebbe asked her to be involved ineducation as an effective response tothe planned withdrawals anduprooting of settlements. The Rebbeexplained to her that the youngpeople need a commander, as in thearmy, who will ensure theireducation and give them direction,which is of utmost importance.

It is well known that the Rebbeconsistently and inextricablyconnects the integrity of EretzYisroel with Jewish education.Together with settling the hilltops,we must also provide essentialJewish education to all the youth ofEretz Yisroel. Establishingsettlements is very important, andthe Rebbe called on more than oneoccasion for the settlement of the

hilltops in the liberated territories –but this is not enough. Along withphysical settlement, there must bespiritual settlement.

At the time, not everyoneunderstood this. They thought thatphysical settlement would besufficient. When the right-wingparties joined Israel’s governments,the most coveted portfolio was theMinistry of Construction andHousing. The rightist politicians andother public officials developed thebelief that as long as settlementcontinued vigorously, nogovernment decision could stop it.In simple terms, “it wouldn’thappen.”

But in the end, their confidencequickly evaporated when a networkof communities built over a periodof thirty years was destroyed by afew bulldozers in just a week and ahalf. Suddenly, the reality of theGush Katif situation had proven thatthis direction simply did not work.

CHANGE CHANNELSIn the twenty years since that

yechidus with Mr. Rechavam Ze’evihy”d, we have gone through Oslo,Wye, two intifadas, and thedevastating experience of theexpulsion from Gush Katif andNorthern Shomron. The right-winghas finally begun to understandwhere the root problem ofwithdrawals and concessions is

ch inuch

If we want to stand on the frontline inthe battle for Eretz Yisroel, we mustconcern ourselves with the matter ofeducation.

EDUCATION FORWHAT PURPOSE? By Sholom Ber CrombieTranslated By Michoel Leib Dobry



hidden. They must discard their oldapproach to taking action, andconsider not only how to stop theproblem from spreading, but how tosolve it altogether. In short, theyhave to change channels regardingtheir activities, whether in spreadinginformation or in politics.

When the current electioncampaign got underway, the right-of-center parties understood thatthings can’t continue this way. Thestruggle for Eretz Yisroel has fallento the lot of the knitted kippacommunity, while the power base ofthe religious right has continued toerode.

Even according to the currentbalance of power, it doesn’t seempossible to save anything. Given theway things are, the only option is tomake a complete re-appraisal of thesituation: Why has the left been ableto carry out such wide-rangingdiplomatic initiatives from theopposition benches, to the point thateveryone today speaks in thelanguage of “Peace Now,” while theright-wing scrambles defensively toprotect against anotherdisengagement and anotherwithdrawal – while facing thepossibility of no power of influencewhatsoever in the near future, G-dforbid?

During the last parliamentaryterm, the Knesset members from theNational Union and the NationalReligious Party sat by idly and theirvoice was scarcely heard. No onesaw them in action, nor was anyoneparticularly waiting for them tocome forward. Since the battle atAmona, they have retreated fromtaking any stand whatsoever. TheNational Union and the NationalReligious Party Knesset membershave tried somewhat to heat up thebattle for Eretz Yisroel on the issueof the outposts and Yerushalayim,and even Likud sounds far morenationalistic than they have everbeen in the recent past.

Thus, after a delay of severaldecades, politicians have finallybegun to internalize the closeconnection between education andthe security of Eretz Yisroel. Slowlybut surely, they’ve gotten themessage that there must be a changein awareness, one that deals with theroot of the problem andencompasses all sectors within thegeneral public. With the passage oftime, they have started speakingbefore right-wing organizations witha voice that is, perhaps, quitedifferent than before. Instead ofinvesting their energies in “face-to-face” campaigns against the next

expulsion, it’s possible to get aheadof the game and thus prevent theIsraeli left from infusing its ideasinto the national fiber – and perhapseven present a true alternative.

This change had led to a mode ofconduct that puts an emphasis onthe subject of education, giving it thetitle “the need of the hour”. In fact,several weeks ago, we received theblaring announcement of theemergence of a new right-wingparty, “HaBayit HaYehudi” (theJewish Home), which will place thematter of education at the top of itspriorities. Its birth was difficult,

coming after exhausting electioncampaigns, flinging the right-wingbetween tumultuous and vacillatingpolitical agendas, with partiesmerging, splintering, and reuniting.At each turn, a new proclamationwas issued, with the goal ofcaptivating the masses, but nothingever happened.

Then finally, this new initiativewas accepted as a breath of fresh air.In a holiday atmosphere, everyonegave their blessing and even madean historic unification of all theright-wing parties, transformingthem into one political entity. Eventhe party’s new name, “HaBayitHaYehudi”, was chosen with thefeeling that the flag of Eretz Yisroelalone is not enough; it must indicatea vast change for the Israeli public.

EDUCATION WITHOUTERETZ YISROEL

However, just as we thought thatwe were taking a new direction thatwould connect Jewish education toEretz Yisroel in one leap, somethingsuddenly went wrong along the way.A great and auspicious opportunityhas been lost. Instead of establishingeducation as an essential matter tobe properly internalized, the newparty’s leaders have preferred to usethe issue merely as a means of self-adornment in their election material.Their public council beganzigzagging, and with a sudden andunexpected step, it decided thatinstead of the two flags – Jewisheducation and Eretz Yisroel –proudly waving side by side, it wouldbe preferable to fold up the flag onthe struggle for Eretz Yisroel andremove it from the national agenda.

The distress signals had begun toflash when the party appointedYehoshua Mor-Yosef to its advisorycommittee. Mor-Yosef hadpreviously served as spokesman forthe Yesha Council, but during themore crucial days of the struggle forEretz Yisroel, he crossed the line and

The Rebbe askedKnesset Member

Geula Cohen to beinvolved in

education as aneffective response

to the plannedwithdrawals and

uprooting ofsettlements.



became the spokesman for then-Foreign Minister SilvanShalom, who supported the Gush Katif expulsion.Known for his moderate approach, Mor-Yosef receivedthe senior position of party spokesman, and his valuesbecame compromise and the integrity of his policies,distorted.

The next stage was the appointment of ProfessorDaniel Hershkowitz from the Technion in Haifa as partychairman. At his first press conference after acceptingthe new party’s leadership, the professor declared thatthe party is not right-wing, and its members will begiven freedom of action on diplomatic initiatives. Hethen surprised everyone by explaining that we live in acountry of laws and that the High Court of Justice is ‘alamp unto our feet,’ even if it makes occasionalmistakes. “We must respect the decisions of the HighCourt of Justice,” Professor Hershkowitz explained, aswould any leftist, mentioning the declarations from thedays of battle against the orange-shirted protesters whofought the disengagement.

A great hour of opportunity had been wasted. Theinsight regarding the need for genuine change in thenational perception in Eretz Yisroel had suddenly been

exchanged for typical NRP sugary statements intendedto charm the voters, but offer them nothing ofsubstance. Instead of trying to present a viablealternative emphasizing that there’s also another way,the new party preferred to utter pale leftist slogans anduse the subject of education as a means of doing awaywith the battle for Greater Israel. Disgusting.

THE BETTER ONES FOR EDUCATIONThis farce of the “new-fangled” right-wing party is a

warning signal for all Chabad chassidim. The holy wordsof the Rebbe live and exist forever, and it’s not fornaught that the Rebbe asked and pleaded on numerousoccasions that the matter of educating Jewish childrenmust be placed at the forefront. This is not meant as anelection campaign slogan or as a proverbial fig leaf ch”v,but is the first and most essential subject on the level ofits influence upon the Jewish People.

Today, everyone is wearing the hat of education.Barak, Livni, and Netanyahu, each one in turn, climbsthe podium and sends flying a collection of pontificationon the difficult situation in Israel’s education. In general,such declarations go in one ear and out the other. Yet,this time, we should stop and relate to them moreseriously. If the state of Israel’s education is soproblematic, then we possess the strength to change andrepair it. And with whom did the Rebbe place the matterof educating the children of the Jewish People, if notwith his chassidim and his shluchim?

The election campaign is a time for publicity andcampaigning, and it is forbidden for us to waste theopportunity. If we want to stand on the frontline in thebattle for Eretz Yisroel, we must concern ourselves withthe matter of education. We must invest all our energiesand vitality to present a viable Jewish alternative to thewithering leftists who have forgotten the eternal valuesof the Jewish People, and instill true values within thechildren of Israel.

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[Continued from Issue #671]

In the address the Rebbe delivered on Purim of5748,83 the emphasis is on self-motivated self-sacrifice for G-d as well as the unity that resultswhen that goal is attained. The unity of the Jewishpeople, in turn, is the vehicle for utter unificationwith G-d, a manifestation of the very essence of G-din the physical world, the goal of the Final Era.

SELF-SACRIFICE AT SINAIThe Rebbe identifies two modes of self-sacrifice:

one that is a result of G-d’s initiative and the otherthat is a result of the person’s initiative. In the first

mode, one is brought to a level ofdevotion to G-d to the point ofself-sacrifice on account of arelationship initiated by G-dHimself. G-d overwhelms theJew’s perception of the world withDivine revelations – miracles,wonders, and mysticalexperiences – and the naturalorder, the illusion of a G-dless,natural world, fades into thebackground, replaced with theappreciation and experience ofthe reality of G-dliness. In such aheightened state of consciousness,every thought, speech, or actionengaged is totally in line with G-d’swill. Should that even entail givingup one’s life for that end – that isof no consequence. The person is

only concerned with G-d’s will, not his own. WhenG-d is revealed, when it is obvious that G-d is thetrue reality and we consciously perceive this reality,the natural result is love and total devotion to G-d, tothe point of self-sacrifice.

The quintessential experience of this relationshipwith G-d, when G-d initiates and establishes therelationship, is the powerful G-dly revelation atMount Sinai: “At the Giving of the Torah, [the self-sacrifice] was a result of the inspiration andrevelation of love, etc, that came from above (“Heovershadowed them with a mountain, [suspending it

Confronted with darkness and theconcealment of G-dliness, especiallybeing under the threat of viciouspersecution, Jews are given theopportunity to transform thisdarkness to light by standing up tothe challenge and being resolute indevotion to G-d’s will. * Tracing theRebbe MH”M’s instructions on how toperfect our Divine service in theFinal Era.

THE SUPERIORITYOF SELF-INSPIREDSELF-SACRIFICEBy Boruch Merkur

mosh iach & geu la ~ The Final Era ~



over them] like a barrel”84), arousing the love andwill of the Jews.”

SELF-INSPIRED SELF-SACRIFICEBut many centuries later, in the time of the Purim

story, Jews reached an even higher mode of self-sacrifice, self-sacrifice that is summoned from theperson’s own volition, which reaches even higher, tothe very essence of G-d:

“It is specifically the self-sacrifice of Purim (which theJews achieved on their own [i.e.,without inspiration fromabove]), self-sacrifice thatsurpasses reason and intellect,that precipitates a manifestationfrom above that is at a level thattranscends all boundaries anddivision (of reason andintellect), stemming from G-d’sbeing and essence (where actualself-sacrifice reaches).85

Indeed, this mode of self-sacrifice reaches higher than theheight attained by means of theservice of G-d (even self-sacrifice) that comes about afteran arousal from below (like theself-sacrifice at the Giving of theTorah86). In comparison to thismanifestation (that is drawnthrough the self-sacrifice ofPurim), the revelation at theGiving of the Torah (which wasa result of an arousal fromabove) is only called, ‘heicheilu,’a beginning, ‘with respect to themanifestation of light drawn tothem during Purim, which iscalled, “V’Kibel (received),”’which is the conclusion.”87

This superior mode of self-sacrifice that is connectedwith the very essence of G-d is achieved specificallythrough one’s own effort, as exemplified by the storyof Purim:

“In the days of Purim, there was no arousal from above.In fact, there was a state of concealment (insofar as themiracle of Purim was invested in nature88), as it iswritten,89 ‘I will surely hide my face on that day.’ The

self-sacrifice of the Jews was of their own accord; theywere perfectly willing to have self-sacrifice.Notwithstanding Haman’s decree to kill all Jews, ‘fromyouth to the elderly, children and women,’90 they allstood firm with actual self-sacrifice for the duration ofthe entire year91 with a strong resolve not tocompromise their religion in any manner, even on painof death to them all, to the extent that ‘It did not occurto a single individual to entertain a foreign thought,92

G-d forbid.’”

Confronted with darkness andthe concealment of G-dliness,especially being under the threatof vicious persecution, Jews aregiven the opportunity totransform this darkness to lightby standing up to the challengeand being resolute in devotionto G-d’s will. This self-inspiredself-sacrifice connects us to G-din such a perfect and completemanner that it makes the greatmanifestation of G-dlinessassociated with the Giving of theTorah appear as a merebeginning in comparison. [To be continued, b’ezras Hashem]

NOTES:

83 Seifer HaSichos 5748 pg. 292-305

84 Shabbos 88a.

85 Shaarei Ora, maamer beginningwith “V’Kibel,” Ch. 8.

86 Ibid Ch. 30.

87 Torah Ohr 99b, end ff.

88 Torah Ohr 91a, 93a, Hosafos116c.

89 VaYeilech 31:18. See Chulin 139b.

90 Ester 3:13.

91 See Footnote 25 in the original.

92 That is, not only a forbidden or vain thought, but evena positive thought that is considered a foreign thoughtwhen compared to the level of the Yechida Sh’B’Nefesh.

~ The Final Era ~

Painting by Zvi Malnovitzer


You may not know R’ ShaulBurstein, there are thousands whodo. He has to his credit dozens ofbrissin, bar mitzvos and weddingsfor Russian Jews, hundreds ofpeople who began putting ont’fillin and who put up mezuzos,shiurim for men and women,youth programs, and the TzivosHashem club. It all adds up tothousands of people who begandiscovering their Jewish heritagethanks to R’ Burstein’s ChabadCenter for Olim, which openedfour years ago in Chaifa.

“People tend to think thatRussian Jews are estranged fromtheir Judaism, but this is a falsestereotype. Although they are

usually intellectual, they are alsofilled with a strong sense offaith,” says R’ Shaul.

One of his fellow shluchimsaid, “He is a dynamic shliach.You see him all over the place. Heoperates in l’chat’chilla aribbermode, with lots of Chassidishepride and belief in the Rebbe.” R’Burstein has always beenambitious, and strives forseemingly unrealistic goals.

R’ Burstein exhibits extremedevotion to all ages; adults, teens,children – everybody is includedin his activities. He arrangest’fillos and shiurim for the adults,and organizes outings for theyouth who attend shiurim and

activities. They visit holy sites inTzfas and Yerushalayim, tostrengthen their Jewish identity.

“I am working on getting agrant from one of the foundationsfor work with youth, so that I candouble and triple the number ofkids we work with.” In themeantime, some boys have alreadyswitched to the Naaleh project inKfar Citrin.

R’ Burstein is identifiable inChaifa thanks to the colorfulMitzva Tank that he drives fromneighborhood to neighborhood.

SEARCHINGR’ Burstein was born and

raised in the former Soviet Union.His early childhood years werespent moving fromCzechoslovakia to Azerbaijan, andthen Armenia. On account of hismother’s high position in theDepartment of Commerce andIndustry office, they had to moveevery few years. In 1976, thefamily moved to Belarus.

“When I was in eighth grade, Idiscovered marksmanship, a sportwhich was highly developed inRussia in those days. I tried it outand was highly successful at it,taking third place in this


prof i le

Shaul Burstein’s mother, a high rankingofficial in Russia’s Department ofCommerce, never revealed to her sonthat they were Jewish. It was only byaccident that he discovered it. Hissearch ultimately spurred him to createthe Chabad Center for Immigrants inChaifa.

PROVIDINGSPIRITUAL ALIYAFOR RUSSIAN OLIMBy Nosson Avrohom



prestigious sport.” In fact, one ofthe mekuravim at his center toldme that R’ Burstein was one ofthe best marksmen in Russia andwon many competitions.

In 1991, his parents sent himto a military dormitory, in whichthe future generation is trained asofficers for the Russian army. Hespent three years there, and thenhe studied another few years inthe legal department of themilitary.

“Throughout this time I keptup with marksmanship. I hadspecial permission to leave thebase whenever there was acompetition. Years later, when Ientered the world of Chassidus,my experience in marksmanshiptaught me a lesson in avodas

Hashem. Just as the marksmanhas to fully concentrate on thetarget, we have to be completelyfocused on our shlichus to bemekarev Jews and hasten theGeula.”

His mother hid her Jewishidentity for fear of losing hergovernment job. The home inwhich he grew up had absolutelynothing Jewish about it, and hehad absolutely no inkling of sucha possibility. He heard for thefirst time about his Jewish originsfrom visiting relatives who hademigrated to the United Statesbefore he was born.

“During their visit, they spokeabout their being Jewish. Sincemy mother couldn’t hide itanymore, she shared the secret

which she had kept for so long. Ididn’t know a thing about

“You see him allover the place. Heoperates inl’chat’chillaaribber mode,with lots ofChassidishe prideand belief in theRebbe.”



Judaism and mitzvos, butinnocently telling my friends inthe military dormitory wasapparently reason enough to startsuffering from discrimination.They had always been jealous ofme for my excellence inmarksmanship, and it was asthough they had found ajustification for their feelings.”

Along with the shock at therevelation, he realized what it wasthat had attracted him all along topray to G-d every night. “Despitemy ignorance of my Jewishidentity and heritage, I wouldpray to Hashem every nightbefore going to sleep, even when Ididn’t know Him. While still achild and then later, when Iserved in the army, with anatheistic atmosphere all aroundme, I would pray that G-d forgiveme for my sins and grant mehappiness and satisfaction in life.”

His sister moved to Israel, tokibbutz Malkiya in the north, and

he followed. His acclimatizationto the kibbutz was far from ideal,and he decided to return toBelarus. He was greatly botheredby the lack of satisfactory answersto his many questions aboutJudaism. He saw that the shul onthe kibbutz, where he hoped tohear answers, was under lock andkey.

“I had an enormous andunexplainable thirst to hear aboutJudaism. Without knowinganything, I felt a soul connectionwhich cannot be rationallyexplained. I felt that my neshamawas longing for this.”

The second time he went toIsrael, he did so with the rest ofhis family. They all arrived at theabsorption center in Teveria. Thistime, he had to contend with themissionaries who swarmed allover the city and preyed on theimmigrants’ ignorance.

“Opposite the absorptioncenter there was a shul, and Iobserved festively dressed Jewscoming out of there every Fridaynight. I realized that Friday hassome significance, and withoutunderstanding why, I decided todress up, too. One time, I saw allof them exiting the shul withbooks and looking skyward. Ifound that strange. Now I knowthat observing people sanctifyingthe new moon. There were manytimes I wanted to go in and makeinquiries, but the language barrierstopped me. I simply had no wayof communicating with them.

“Conversely, there were manypeople we thought were nice.They seemed to want to satisfyour desire to know about Judaismafter years of being cut off, andthey would visit every day andspeak to us in our language.These were the connivingmissionaries. From one of them Igot a book and when I read it, itmoved me. It explained how to

leave sin and love G-d. Iinnocently thought that this wasjust what I was looking for andthat this was Jewish belief.

“Thank G-d, I had a feelingthat I needed to talk to Jews withbeards and kippos who seemedmore authentic and reliable whenit came to things Jewish. When Ishowed them the book andmotioned to them that I wanted toknow whether this is what theylearned and represented, I wasgiven an earful about how terriblethis was. I wanted to be anauthentic Jew, like I had heardabout from my mother about mygrandmothers.”

After a long time in Teveria,Shaul and his mother moved toChaifa, where he began studyinglaw in the University of Chaifa. Atthe same time, he continued hissearch for authentic Judaism.

“I wasn’t circumcised yet, andwhen I read in a book about theimportance of bris mila, I didn’thesitate. After doing my research,I went to the offices of Bris YosefYitzchok in Yerushalayim andasked for a bris. That day I alsoput on t’fillin for the first time inmy life. I felt that I had takenanother step in the direction ofmy fathers.”

Shaul began wearing a kippaevery day and bravely startedgoing to the Sefard shul in NeveShaanan. His mother wassurprised by his quick entry intoJewish life. The members of theSefardic shul respected him. Itwasn’t every day that a RussianJew would join in their singing ofpiyutim with great enthusiasm.One day, he decided to stopworking on Shabbos, and heinformed his boss at the securityfirm he worked for at the time.The boss threatened to fire him,but then let him be. He startedattending more shiurim, and hetook it all in eagerly.

“While still achild and then

later, when Iserved in the

army, with anatheistic

atmosphere allaround me, I

would pray thatG-d forgive me formy sins and grantme happiness and

satisfaction inlife.”



MY MOTHER WASTAKEN ABACK BY IT ALL

Shaul came to the Rebbe andChabad serendipitously. One fineday he stood looking at the libraryin the shul and discovered, to hisastonishment, a book in Russian.It was a Tanya. He had no ideawhat the book was about, but as itwas in a language he couldunderstand, he asked permissionto borrow it. He was glued to itfor months, until he had read itfrom beginning to end.

“I did not understand much ofwhat I read,” he admits, “but Ifelt that this book has a speciallight. I felt a need to seek out themovement that disseminated thesebooks. At the university I hadseen a picture of the Rebbe whichsaid on it, ‘The only solution –Moshiach ben Dovid.’ TheRebbe’s face greatly impressedme, and this also spurred me tocheck out what Lubavitch is allabout.

“One Tishrei, in the shoppingarea on Rechov Hertzl, I met R’Yehoshua Aloni, who was in theprocess of becoming Chabad. Wegot into a discussion and he said,

‘You have to get to know Chabad.’‘That’s just what I want to know,’I replied, and I followed him intoa Chabad shul. There I met RabbiMenachem Mendel Wilschansky,the Chabad rosh yeshiva inChaifa.

“He invited me to visit theyeshiva at the beginning of thesemester, when the bachurimreturned from 770. In themeantime, he invited me to afarbrengen in the sukka of RabbiLeibel Schildkraut. On the onehand, I was surprised at the useof alcohol. On the other hand, Iloved the openness and honesty ofthe main person who farbrenged,Rabbi Avrohom Lisson, who spokein such a down-to-earth way.

“The rest is history. I dove intoChassidus and all my questionsdisappeared. At first I went to theyeshiva occasionally and learnedwith chavrusas, but I soon startedgoing on a daily basis. I became astudent there and dropped myuniversity studies.

“My mother was in a state ofshock. She found it hard to digestthat I was dropping everything inorder to learn Torah. She was

worried that I wouldn’t be able tosupport myself. I told her what R’Naftali Dagan (a Lubavitcher whohelped me a lot when I was firstbecoming frum) had told me:‘How does a cat who goes aboutin the streets manage? Who feedsit? Hashem! He will take care ofyou, too!’

“While in yeshiva, I beganworking with immigrants at thet’fillin stand I set up. I convincedmany of them to undergo a brismila or a bar mitzva. I was veryhappy during this period of mylife. I felt that I had finally foundwhat I had been looking for.Chassidus was the answer.”

DOINGSOMETHING BIG

Shaul got married five yearsago. He and his wife (neeMarantz) decided to use theleadership abilities he acquired inthe Russian army, his seriousnessand his interest in activism forshlichus among the Russian Jewsof Chaifa.

“Shortly after I got married, Iwrote to the Rebbe and asked himto show me what my shlichus inlife is. I opened to an amazinganswer, in which the Rebbe wrotethat every person has to work inhis field of expertise and in the

“The missionaryin charge cameover to me andangrily said wehad destroyed anentire day’s work.He didn’t knowhow happy I wasto hear that…”

The mekuravim involved in a chesed project


place where he is. Since I lived inChaifa, I began working with thelarge community of Russianimmigrants in Chaifa. It’s sad tosee how shluchim go to the CIS,even to places with smallcommunities, and they invest somuch, building buildings, whilehere in Eretz Yisroel there areover a million Jews from the CISwho are largely ignored. Theresult is that they are more likelyto be approached by missionariesthan by Chabad.

“With the Rebbe’s bracha I

decided to do something big, notjust another project but somethingl’chat’chilla aribber. I took themoney that we got on the birth ofour first child, emptied out all oursavings, and bought a place facingthe Chabad yeshiva. I named itthe ‘Chabad Center for RussianImmigrants.’ The first groupconsisted of students fromPetersburg, who were connectedwith Chabad over there and werehappy to help a new center.

“Our circle of influence

widened and the number ofmembers grew. At our firstminyan I discovered that most ofthe men were uncircumcised.Today they are all circumcised anddozens more have joined them.We see a tremendous interest toconnect to our tradition.

“Many of my congregants toldme that they had hoped a centerlike this for immigrants would bebuilt. They felt they couldn’t enterjust any shul and become part of ak’hilla whose mentality wasdifferent. They were thrilled that acenter where Russian speakingJews could feel at home had beenstarted, and they intended to dowhatever they could to make itsuccessful.

“People began growing beardsand regularly wearing kippos. Westarted holding large gatherings inorder to raise awareness of ourwork. We were surprised to seehundreds of people attending eachgathering! We also startedrunning an annual camp, and hadregular programming every day ofthe week for youth. Many of theparents want their children toconnect to their Jewish roots butdon’t know how to go about it.We became their surrogates.

“I recently opened to a brachafrom the Rebbe to put up abuilding, and I decided the timehas come. From the very start Ihave thought that we must openschools for the children ofmekuravim. We have to walk afine line – to provide them with aJewish education without losingthe individual attention.

“The center I started oppositethe Chabad yeshiva was alreadytoo small for all the people whocame to daven and for shiurim. Ifound a spacious place in thecenter of town and we are now inthe process of renting it. This isonly a transitional building. Soonwe’re going to move into a bigger

building which I am in the midstof negotiating. There I plan toopen a school for immigrants, apreschool, a shul and acommunity center for all ouractivities.”

One of the strong points of R’Burstein’s work is his personalconnection with his people. In hisk’hilla, they all feel like onefamily. When they recently movedfrom one building to the other,they all pitched in. Each personused his skills and profession tohelp with renovating the building.

“It was a moving scene. Itemphasized to me how they allfeel connected. After all is saidand done, that is our uniquenessas a people. The Jewish peoplewere able to prevail in strangelands because of our sense ofmutual responsibility, and there isno reason why it shouldn’t be thesame in Eretz Yisroel. Many ofthe recent immigrants come fromcommunities that were wellestablished, mainly by theshluchim. When they come here,there is no one to continueworking with them.”

MEDICAL MIRACLE“There is a man in our k’hilla

by the name of MordechaiMorzanov (Nikolai). He was thelawyer of the shliach in Kiev, R’Asman, and he even learned in theyeshiva that was started there. Hewas very proud of being Jewish.

“One night, while in Kiev, hewent for a walk with a friendUnlike many other Jews, who areafraid of anti-Semitism, he left hiskippa on. When they walkedthrough an underground walkway,a group of drunken goyimattacked them with clubs andbottles. His friend managed to getaway, but Mordechai was badlyhurt and taken to the hospitalmore dead than alive.

“The Ukrainian doctors threw


A group ofdrunken goyimattacked themwith clubs and

bottles. His friendmanaged to get

away, butMordechai wasbadly hurt and

taken to thehospital more

dead than alive...



up their hands, but with R’Asman’s involvement they begantreating him and fighting for hislife. He was in a coma, and thedoctors did not think he wouldlive. It was clear that the man hadto be transferred to a Westernhospital with more proficientdoctors. Two wealthy mekuravimgave their private plane and hewas flown to Israel, straight to theBeit Levenstein Hospital, with R’Asman at his side.

“Medically he was a lost causeand there was talk about a funeralbut with open miracles, two yearslater he was still alive, althoughparalyzed. He could only getaround in a wheelchair. Hissituation was not good at all.

“From the Levenstein hospitalhe was transferred to the GrafHospital in Chaifa for terminallyill patients, most of them quiteelderly. When I heard this storyfrom R’ Asman, we decided wehad to help him. I began to visithim, to put on t’fillin and talkwith him. One day, when I wentto his mother’s house, I wassurprised to see that there was no

mezuza there. I put up mezuzosand continued to visit himfrequently and help with all themedical exams and bureaucracy.

“Shortly after I put up amezuza in his room, his memory,which had vanished, began toreturn. In the meantime, heunderwent some operations tostabilize his condition. He hadone more operation on his head toundergo. A few weeks ago hejoined our k’hilla on the trip thatwe made to Tzfas, and evenimmersed in the Ari’s mikva. Allthe doctors who see his fileconsider him a medical miracle.”

THE MISSIONARIES AND OLIM

“During the Second LebanonWar, practically the only ones whoremained in Chaifa were theimmigrants. The old-timeresidents fled to their families inthe center of the country. Wedecided to visit the bomb shelters,where we found many frightenedimmigrants. I noticed that themissionaries had been there aheadof us and had flooded all the

shelters with their material. Theimmigrants, bored from sitting forhours in the shelters, beganreading it, which was preciselytheir intention.

“We gave out Shabbos candles,food and Jewish material inRussian. I’ll never forget how, inone shelter, I met a family whowere all wearing crosses. When Ibegan talking to them, I realizedthat in their innocence they hadfallen into the trap of themissionaries. I could see that theydid not actually believe inChristianity, and they did notunderstand the significance ofwhat they were wearing.

“I sat with them for hours andexplained the basic fundamentalsof Judaism, that there is one G-d.They were so interested that theydid not want me to leave. I feltthat I had accomplishedsomething, especially with themother, who began telling meabout how her ancestors hadpreserved Jewish practices insecret. The next time I went tosee them, they all wore MagenDovid necklaces.

“Not long ago, I got a callfrom one the mekuravim lettingme know that an entire bus ofmissionaries had come to themarket and they were giving outtheir material to passersby. Weimmediately went over there witha Mitzva Tank, which has apowerful loudspeaker on the roof.We denounced them in severallanguages. When they saw thatthey were unsuccessful, theyboarded the bus and drove to thecenter of the city. There they triedagain, but we followed them andruined their plans once again. Themissionary in charge came over tome and angrily said we haddestroyed an entire day’s work.He didn’t know how happy I wasto hear that.”

Trips to strengthen Jewish identity



NOT JUSTINTELLECTUALS

R’ Burstein considers workingwith the youth, the nextgeneration, of supremeimportance. Nearly every weekthey celebrate another boy’s barmitzva. These events areparticularly moving for him andthe entire community, after yearsunder communist rule whichforbade such things.

“A few months ago, I noticedsomeone peeking in the door afew times and disappearing. Iwent out after her and saw awoman and her son. I asked herwhat she wanted. At first she wasembarrassed to say, but when Ipressed her, she told me shewanted to honor her grandfather’swishes and celebrate her son’s barmitzva, but she had never been ina shul and didn’t know what todo. Today, that boy is an member

of our youth club.“There was another story that

moved the entire community. AGeorgian woman came wanting tocelebrate her son’s bar mitzva, butshe didn’t even want to pay thetoken fee that pays forrefreshments for the crowd. Thatseemed rather tightfisted, but Idecided to forgo payment anyway.

“One day, when she came withher son so he could prepare forhis big day, I asked her about herhusband. She was frightened bythe question and said that if hecalled, we shouldn’t tell him theywere with us.

“The day of the bar mitzvaarrived, and she didn’t stop cryingthroughout the event. When it wasall over, she told me that herhusband wasn’t Jewish and hadadamantly refused to celebrate hisson’s bar mitzva. When sheinsisted, he said that he would notgive her a cent towards it. I criedtoo.

“In addition to bar mitzvacelebrations and the TzivosHashem club which many childrenparticipate in, the center hasweekly activities for dozens ofteenagers who go on trips with aspiritual dimension in the northand to Yerushalayim.

“They are more open on theoutings, and it’s an opportunity toinstill some Judaism. They usuallyhave a bit of a hard time adjustingto anything, and they don’tnecessarily get the lovingattention that they need from theirparents, because their parents arebusy working and trying tomanage. In order to attract asmany boys as possible, wecombine it with the study ofmartial arts.”

“Many immigrants from theCIS aren’t Jewish. The gentilemen and women do not enter ourshul to daven or attend classes.They understand on their own

CIRCUMCIZING THE PROBLEMR’ Shaul Burstein is a familiar face at Bris Yosef Yitzchok because

he has sent them dozens ‘customers.’ He has great powers ofpersuasion with people of all ages, convincing them to undergo a bris.

“I don’t convince them,” says R’ Shaul surprisingly. “Convincingdoesn’t help here. I talk to a Jew with Jewish feeling and explain theimportance of a bris, make an appointment, and tell him that I’m goingwith him. In my experience, when you start explaining it intellectually,it doesn’t work. He ends up vacillating and it drags on. Since this is notsomething rational, you have to establish it as a fact and that’s that!”

R’ Burstein has many stories about bris mila.“We had someone named Ariel in our k’hilla. He went back to

Moscow and became part of the Marina Roscha community. He was avery famous artist in Russia and had a gallery on Arbat Street, a touristattraction known for its exclusive artistic boutiques. Many art loversfrom all over the world visit that street. His business thrived.

“After he had visited and been involved in our k’hilla for some time,I asked him straight out whether he had a bris. He said he did not. Ibegan urging him to have one done, but he kept pushing me off, finallytelling me that he could not be circumcised because of a medicalproblem he suffered from a robbery incident in Moscow some timeback.

“Hoodlums had pounced on him in the doorway of his home,robbed him and then beat him until he lost consciousness. I told Dr.Tchechaskes, who worked at that time in Bris Yosef Yitzchok, about hismedical problem. He confirmed that it was a real problem, but said heshould come for an examination anyway. We went and the doctortreated him. It was only when he finished that he told the man that hewas now circumcised!

“He was very nervous, since doctors had warned him against this,but amazingly, when he went for an exam at the Elisha hospital inChaifa, the doctor asked him how it was that the problem he hadsuffered from had disappeared!

“Apparently, because of the complexity of the operation, the doctorspreferred leaving the problem as it was and giving him medication. Thatis, until Dr. Tchechaskes helped him! The problem from which he hadsuffered for years was cured thanks to bris mila.”



that it’s not for them. Theproblem is mainly with thechildren. We do not want toexclude the non-Jews, for theyoften help bring the Jewishchildren. Four Jewish girls cameto our programming thanks to agentile boy, and there are manysuch instances. I asked RabbiMoshe Landau what to do. I toldhim that they all come to a classon self defense and then we sitdown to learn. I teach the JewsTorah and the goyim, the SevenNoachide Laws. I bought all thebooks on the topic and I get intoit with them. Rabbi Landau saidthere was no problem with this.”

“Though Russian Jews aretypically intellectuals, they arepeople of strong emotion. Whenthe Rebbe Rayatz had to leaveRussia, he wrote that he found itpainful because there were Jewsthere with feeling and simplefaith. Even for those who perceivethemselves as rationalists, it’s nothard to grasp the Rebbe’sgreatness and to understand thatevery word the Rebbe says isprecise. The shiurim that I give afew times a week enable them tounderstand Geula.

“The k’hilla is growingpractically from one day to thenext. We already have twominyanim, one made up entirelyof baalei t’shuva. People areinterested and this itself is a signof Geula.”

IN EVERY CITY – ASHLIACH TO WORKWITH IMMIGRANTSR’ Burstein would like this

article to end with a call toChassidim who came from theformer Soviet Union to getinvolved and work with Russianimmigrants.

“In the Ukraine and Russia theshluchim have built an empire. InEretz Yisroel, though, we areasleep. There are manyimmigrants who would love tolearn, but there aren’t enoughshluchim to work with them.There ought to be shluchim in

every city in Israel whose job it isto work with immigrants. We arelosing an entire aliya toassimilation.

“Just yesterday, an older mancame into the center. He seemedfar from religious observance. Hecame in with his son andgrandson, and surprised me byasking to say Kaddish Yasom forhis dear ones. A few times hebroke down during the Kaddish.People are ashamed to admit thatthey are ignorant. Let’s light onespark after another until theybecome one large torch with thehisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.”

Rabbi Burstein, a sandek at a bris of a mekurav

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The horrific tragedy that tookplace on the 28th of MarCheshvanin the Chabad House of Bombay,India, was an event filled withcontradictions. The greatest heightsand the lowest depths converged,ripping away at us without mercy.They tore out our very souls withafflictions that know no boundaries,stemming from a strange andfrightening arousal of misfortunewithin the spiritual realms.

The events of the 28th ofMarCheshvan sent shock wavesthroughout the Jewish People andthe entire world. It led to an overall

awakening of incredible dimensionson various levels of both a generaland a specific nature. It succeededin reaching the innermost point ofthe heart within us all, leading as anatural result to what is one of thehighest levels of Jewish unity ourgeneration has ever known.

No sectors, no groups, noparties, no cultures – but all Jews asone man with one heart. Amazing!

This event also led to asanctification of G-d’s Name and asanctification of the great name ofChabad chassidus for the holy workand self-sacrifice of the shluchim.

Indeed, the possibility andopportunity for publicity, spiritualawakening, and unity was positivelytremendous. Amazing!

But, on the other hand…The terrible pain stands out with

greater emphasis and force at all thewell-known levels of “world, year,and soul”.

World – the event took placeright in the Chabad House. A housewith the Rebbe’s holy name upon itwas destroyed and demolished bythe savagery of man in a mostfrightful manner, covered withblood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

Soul – the Rebbe’s shliachtogether with his wife, the shlucha,who dedicated their whole lives tothe Jewish People – and “a person’sshliach is considered as the personhimself” – were murdered in an actof unspeakable cruelty, togetherwith their four holy and purefriends!

Year – the incident happenedimmediately after the conclusion ofthe International ShluchimConference! The bitter news cameto us on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, inthe midst of the day marking thebeginning of the month ofRedemption! And all this happenedduring the period regarding which

perspect ive

Even with all the tremendously positivepublicity on the holy work of Chabad,etc., demonstrating amazing unity,none of this provides us with any senseof satisfaction whatsoever. We aresimply unwilling to accept any respite orcalm. We are shocked and broken by thevery fact that despite all this, we arestill in exile!

NO MATTER HOWYOU SLICE IT, ITCOMES UP �EXILE�By Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Mayzlesh, Shliach, Mexico City, MexicoTranslated By Michoel Leib Dobry



the Rebbe proclaimed, “The time ofyour Redemption has arrived,” theperiod of “they will beat theirswords into plowshares,” etc.

How could this have happened?What is going on?

The house that is the source ofassistance, encouragement, andsafety from all physical and spiritualharm; the safest person, “shluchimin the fulfillment of a mitzva arenever harmed”; the days filled withthe very essence of theannouncement of the Redemption –have seemingly been desecrated andcovered with the blood and tears ofgrief and sorrow.

Could the aforementionedpositive aspects (the resulting unity,publicity, etc.) constitute even amodicum of consolation over theagonizing loss, anguish, shame andhumiliation that cries out from thisepisode?

We are torn asunder with deepinner afflictions of the soul. Butwhile we are simply not ready todiminish anything from our intensefeelings of pain over thistremendous chillul Hashem, neitherare we prepared to ignore the factthat there was also an equaldimension of Kiddush Hashem inconnection with the holy work ofChabad.

Granted, we are not able toconcentrate with any sense of joy orpleasure on the amazingly positiveaspects to this event, as would bethe case if this were the result of atruly positive occurrence, forexample, if all the publicity andKiddush Hashem were to havestemmed from the miraculous andunnatural rescue of the shluchimand the others inside the ChabadHouse!

The fulfillment and inspirationfrom this positive awakening istempered by intensive spiritualsuffering. The pain and anguish isonly slightly concealed by thecovering of publicity and

admiration. And we remain utterlybewildered…

In the kuntres of Purim Katan5752, the maamer of “V’AtaT’tzavei,” the last discourse that theRebbe distributed individually toeach of us, the Rebbe explains thequality and necessity in connectingto the leader of the generation. Hebrings in great detail how theconcept of the nasi in eachgeneration and thereby thehiskashrus to him is expressed in amatter unique to that generation, asexpressed by the leader of the

generation and for which hebestows strength.

As is further explained in themaamer, our hiskashrus to the nasiof the generation derives from theconcept that each and every one ofus must be shocked by the very factthat we are still in exile.

Furthermore, as the Rebbeemphasizes in a most innovativematter (ibid., from sec. 9), evenwhen we are in a state of materialabundance, and even when there isalso plenty in the spiritual sense,

nevertheless, inasmuch as we arestill in exile despite all thisprosperity, we are unable to enjoyany of this material and spiritualwealth. On the contrary, as iswritten there, we are “tzetreislt” –shocked, “kasis” – crushed, fromthe very fact that we are still inexile! This matter gives us no rest(and surely no enjoyment).

We must understand and instillwithin ourselves that the exile inwhatever form (even when itseems to be wrapped in holiness)is something unnatural andrepulsive!

Thus, it is possible that fromthese seemingly confusing andfrustrating spiritual problems, wecan derive at least one point:

Even with all the tremendouslypositive publicity on the holy workof Chabad, etc., demonstratingamazing unity, none of this providesus with any sense of satisfactionwhatsoever. We are simply unwillingto accept any respite or calm. Weare shocked and broken by the veryfact that despite all this, we are stillin exile!

Yes, even after all thetremendous spiritual elevations, theexile is still something unnaturaland repulsive! Exile in any form,even in the most lofty, is the mostsearing desecration of G-d’s Nameimaginable!

By its very essence, exile is adesecration of the Chabad House!It constitutes disgrace andaffliction for the shliach! It causesshame and humiliation to themonth of Redemption (Kislev)! It’sa tremendous feeling of lostopportunity from the ShluchimConference! Can it be that with allour avoda, we have still failed tobring the actual revelation ofMelech HaMoshiach and theRedemption? Short of achievingthis objective, all of our avoda hasgone “in vain and for nothing”and represents a desecration of the

We mustunderstand andinstill withinourselves that theexile in whateverform (even whenit seems to bewrapped inholiness) issomethingunnatural andrepulsive!


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entire Torah (just as there actuallywas r”l in the case of thedesecration of the Torah scroll).

Furthermore, and mostimportant, every day that theRedemption delays in comingrepresents a desecration andhumiliation of the holy words ofthe leader of the generation, whoproclaimed that “The time of theRedemption has already come andHineh Zeh Melech MoshiachBa!,” as he asked to be publicizedto the entire generation!

During the farbrengen of YudKislev 5740, the Rebbe madereference to the concept of thelength of the exile, saying with greatanguish:

“If we had been so privileged,the Redemption would have comeimmediately during the time ofYaakov Avinu, when Yaakov Avinuwas already prepared for theRedemption. But in fact, the“angels” got involved… andannounced that Eisav is not readyfor the Redemption, and therefore,Yaakov and his sons still have toremain stuck in exile... somethingthat simply cannot be understood!”

That’s not the way it was withthe Yaakov (the nasi) of ourgeneration!

When Yaakov, the leader of thegeneration, proclaims the world isready, “the avoda of shlichus hasbeen completed and there remainsonly to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu inactual deed,” “the time of theRedemption has [already] come” –the “angels” of our generation, who

are specifically the “shluchim,” willsurely not look to blame the delayon the failings of “Eisav,” nor willthey look for advantages incontinuing the exile, rather we willall proclaim clearly: The world isready, everything is ready!

Nothing is lacking in the avodaof shlichus with the further diffusionof Chabad Houses and their holywork among the Jewish People, norin the publicity of their holy work,and surely not in the publicity of theaforementioned proclamation thatthe entire Jewish People are readyfor the Redemption!

We don’t need any externaldifficulties or afflictions to remind

us that we need the Redemption, foreven with all the material abundanceand spiritual blessings that havebeen bestowed upon us and whichwill surely continue, we areunwilling to satisfy our thirst for theRedemption, and in the language ofthe saying of our Sages, of blessedmemory, all of us are “tzetreislt” –shocked, “kasis” – crushed, fromthe very fact that the Redemptionhas not yet come in actual deed,and this feeling and recognitionpenetrates the heart of our friendsand supporters, as we all waitimpatiently and with completeconfidence for “Hineh Zeh MelechMoshiach Ba!” – NOW!


678 Beis Moshiach · that resulted bear directly on our situation. For it is more than an...

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Transcript of 678 Beis Moshiach · that resulted bear directly on our situation. For it is more than an...