Because
The Rebbe Says So
By
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Ginsberg
When
R’ Reuven Dunin was a student in Tomchei Tmimim-770, the Rebbe
paid him special attention. The Rebbe called him to his room many
times and sent him on numerous errands, always explaining the
reason for doing so. On one of these occasions, R’ Reuven burst
into tears and said, “Rebbe, I don’t want you to tell me why
to do something for you; I want to do it simply because the Rebbe
says so!”
At a farbrengen
that took place around that time, when the Rebbe spoke about the
need to take action in a certain matter, he said, “Like Reuven
Dunin says, you must do so without knowing why — only because
you are told.”
*
* *
Reb
Mendel Futerfas, a’h, emphasized emuna (faith) and
mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), which are characteristic
of serving Hashem beyond reason. He approached Torah study with
this outlook, particularly the study of Chassidus. He wanted his
students to understand what they learned, but at the same time he
wanted to ensure that their depth of study would not, ch’v, affect
their wholehearted, pure faith.
Reb
Mendel frequently repeated the story about the mashpia in
Lubavitch, Rabbi Chanoch Hendel Kugel, known affectionately as
Hendel, who was sent by the Rebbe Rashab to Zembin. The talmidim
there learned with mashpia R’ Shmuel Grunem Esterman and
Hendel was sent to evaluate the school’s progress. Upon his
return, when asked what he had seen, he said, “M’pilpelt
zich un m’pilpelt zich. They engage in intellectual debate
in Chassidus, but they are liable to forget, ch’v, the
One who gave the Torah.”
*
* *
In 5743,
in preparation for Beis Nissan, the anniversary of the day the
Rebbe Rayatz became nasi, the Rebbe MH”M shlita
told the directors of Otzar HaChassidim to publish the Rebbe
Rayatz’s first maamer, “Reishis Goyim Amalek,”
which was said on Parshas Tzav after Mincha, the final day
of Shiva for his father, the Rebbe Rashab. It is based on
the maamer of Purim 5680, the final maamer the Rebbe
Rashab said in public. As Chazal say, “This one began
where the other left off.”
When the maamer
was published, following the Rebbe MH”M’s directive, it was
studied everywhere by Anash, particularly by the Tmimim.
Reb Mendel once approached one of the talmidim and asked
him, “Tell me, what is the nekuda (point) of the maamer?”
The boy
had learned the maamer well, so he didn’t have to
hesitate before answering. The maamer discusses the
difference between kav ha’mida and k’nei ha’mida,
he said. Kav ha’mida is the limitation imposed upon the
light so that it can illuminate and be revealed, whereas k’nei
ha’mida is limitation for the sole purpose of concealing.
Reb
Mendel was utterly shaken by this response. Although it is true
that this topic is discussed throughout the maamer, is it
the nekuda? Is that what one is to be left with from the
entire maamer? Indeed, the maamer provides a
penetrating account of the wiles of the animal soul:
Each
individual knows from his own experience the great suffering and
pressure that comes from his yetzer ha’ra and
animal soul. They never rest; they challenge him every step of the
way and confuse him with many immoral thoughts, inciting him and
goading him with deception. Sometimes they raise him to lofty
heights and say to him that these hidurei mitzva are
not worth his while, and that it would be better for him to delve
into Torah or to do a mitzva. The intention in this is
evil, so that he does not do good. And sometimes they degrade him,
saying: “This service is far over your head. Why are you
mingling with the great and wondrous?” He is thus made to demand
the truth (demanding that everything be done with truth). The
intention in this is to prevent him from doing what he ought to
do.
A second
point of the maamer is contained in the amazing words about
the greatness of hiskashrus and the holiness of a tzaddik:
One
can say that this is the idea of “holiness does not depart from
its place”… The place of Torah and avoda of a tzaddik
maintains its holiness also after he rises up from physical life
to true life, and the illumination of the light of his avoda
remains in its place. The place where he learned and delved into
Torah, and all the things he used for the purpose of avoda,
all have holiness, as part of his refinement of the world.
I
once saw my father, the Rebbe, enter the room of his father, my
grandfather, the Rebbe, which had been left exactly as it was in
his lifetime. (This was about 5645 or 5646). He entered it wearing
a gartel, and stood near the desk facing the chair. His
lips moved as though he spoke, and he cried profusely.
The bachur
could have gotten so much out of the maamer in terms of his
attitude towards how to respond to a directive of the Rebbe, how
to respond to the schemes of the yetzer ha’ra, and
how to have true hiskashrus. But he chose to ignore these
very important lessons. That’s why Reb Mendel was irate: What
did you find in the maamer? Only the haskala
(intellectual aspect) about kav ha’mida and k’nei
ha’mida! Chassidus is much more than just intellectual
concepts.
*
* *
Reb
Mendel treated the Rebbe’s takana (enactment) of the
daily study of Rambam quite seriously. It wasn’t only because of
his reverence for the wondrous explanations the Rambam offers, and
the organization and arrangement of the entire Torah so that it
can be practically applied, but because of the fiery emuna
that characterizes the Rambam’s work. Indeed, the Rambam
mentions the name of Hashem wherever possible, far more than other
halachic works. The Rambam constantly uses phrases like,
“tziva ha’Keil baruch hu,” brich rachmana
d’syaan,” and “ha’Keil ha’nechbad
v’hanora ha’zeh,” and the like. Moreover, the Rambam
establishes that “it is a principle of faith that Alm-ghty G-d
speaks to men,” and he stresses that one must believe in a
prophet in order to connect to Hashem. This emphasizes how
important and essential it is to connect to the Rebbe, in order to
be connected to Hashem.
Reb
Mendel would say that despite all the advantages of studying the
Rambam, the most important thing is being able to learn what emuna
is. With all the wisdom inherent in the Rambam’s works, the
Rambam retains his simple faith, without embellishment.
Reb
Mendel would constantly tell what he had heard about the Rambam.
For instance, when the Rambam put on tefillin he needed two
men to hold him lest he fall in dread before the Alm-ghty.
“See,”
said Reb Mendel, “that’s the Rambam’s true greatness.
Despite all his intellectual achievements, his wholehearted faith
and fear of Hashem were the true foundation of all his Divine
service.”
Reb
Mendel was extremely particular about his daily study of Rambam.
There were no exceptions. Even when it became too difficult for
him to look inside the text on his own, his chavrusos (study
partners), bachurim who learned with him regularly, would
read it to him and explain it. He never missed the daily shiur.
Even when his health was most precarious, he always tried, along
with his chavrusa, to understand the simple meaning and the
lesson to be derived in avodas Hashem.
At a
certain point, Reb Mendel regularly participated in a Rambam shiur
that took place in the Beis Menachem Shul. He couldn’t linger
much over his studies as he did with his chavrusa, and he
would jest that one of the advantages of the shiur was that
even if somebody didn’t understand it, the others were motzi him,
releasing him of his obligation.
Reb
Mendel really didn’t like it when people said that they learned
only one chapter of Rambam a day in order to be able to study it
in depth. Reb Mendel would declare that the Rebbe fervently
encouraged the study of three chapters a day. All the Rebbe’s
explanations of Rambam had to do with the three-chapters-a-day
cycle. If the Tmimim wouldn’t learn it properly, then who
would? Then he would add that, generally speaking, those who said
this didn’t even study the one chapter properly. In fact,
sometimes they didn’t even learn it at all! He wanted everyone
to be sincere in their approach to carrying out the Rebbe’s
directives.
In the sicha
of Parshas Mattos-Massei 5736, the Rebbe said (unedited):
I once
heard a Jew say that he was certain he would live a long life. I
asked him, “What makes you so sure?” He said that he had a
promise from the Rebbe, my father-in-law, that he would be
G-d-fearing. Since he knew that he was still far from fear of
Heaven, and that in order to become a yerei Shamayim he
would need plenty of time, he was sure that he would live a long
life!
I
asked him, “What are you doing in order to fulfill what the
Rebbe said?” He told me that he wasn’t that particular about
“Ashrei” and “U’va L’Tziyon,” but
he was very careful about the shiurim of Chitas.
There
are a variety of different customs concerning the saying of “Ashrei”
and “U’va L’Tziyon,” and he wasn’t
interested in that. Chitas, however, was something he had
heard about from the Rebbe, and the body follows the head. If he
had heard it from his head, how could he possibly forget it?!
At that
time the Rebbe said:
Never
mind about Rashi or Rambam, etc., which he forgot, but something
that he heard himself, how m’kocht zich in it at farbrengens,
how could he forget that?!
*
* *
At this
point, we have just completed the 17th cycle (the gematria of
“tov”), and have begun the eighteenth cycle (the gematria
of “chai”). The Rebbe’s words echo in our ears
about the obligation to make a shturm about the siyum
ha’Rambam, which inspires others to join in the daily study
of Rambam.
I once
wrote a letter to the Rebbe in which I reported, among other
things, about the siyum ha’Rambam I made at the shiur which
I gave at that time. The Rebbe answered me by underlining the
words siyum ha’Rambam with two lines!
We all
remember how the Rebbe repeatedly emphasized the great z’chus
of personally participating in the siyum, and said that he
was there, too. The Rebbe sent a dollar for tzedaka to all
those who participated.
The main
thing is that more and more people should join the daily shiur.
Not a day should go by without learning Rambam. It should be a kvius
b’nefesh. Nothing should interfere, even if it’s left for
late at night, and the yetzer says: there’s no point in
just “reading the words” and falling asleep over it – even
if he feels it would be better to wait until tomorrow.
The
tactics of the yetzer ha’ra ensure that we relinquish
more ground so that he can demand even more. The intent is that
when tomorrow comes it should be pushed off again. That’s why
it’s important not to give in at all, but to learn the daily shiur
no matter what, whether you understand it or not. This affects chayei
nafsho (the life of one’s soul), which is why there can be
no compromising!
The Rebbe
said (sicha Shabbos Parshas Mattos-Massei 5746, printed in Likkutei
Sichos, Vol. 28, p. 286):
…including
the shiurei Chitas (Chumash, Tehillim,
Tanya), which the Rebbe, my father-in-law, established as shiurim
that are suited for everyone, for every Jew of our generation
(for the leader of our generation is the leader of all the people
of the generation): Chumash – divided for each day of the week
(according to the aliyos); Tehillim – divided over the month; Tanya
– divided over the year.
It is
a mistake to think that these shiurim are (only) part of
one’s obligation of Torah study. In that case, one could say
that the shiur in Tanya (which is part of the oral
Torah) cannot be fulfilled unless one understands it (which is a
requirement for oral Torah study). The shiurim of Chitas
primarily affect chayei nafsho (and the shiur in Tanya,
pnimiyus ha’Torah, is the life of the pnimiyus of
his soul. Indeed, it is known that the hidden part of Yisroel
is connected with the hidden part of Torah.) Just as the shiurim
in Chumash and Tehillim (the written Torah) are fulfilled even
when you do not understand what you read, you can say that the
same applies to Tanya.
So too
— since it has recently become accepted and widespread — a shiur
in Rambam, in one of three ways: either three chapters a day, Seifer
HaMitzvos, or one chapter a day.
It
wasn’t for naught that the Rambam concludes his work with the
topic of Moshiach and Geula. By doing so, he stresses, as
does the Rebbe, that the ultimate purpose of one’s Divine
service is the coming of Moshiach and the Geula.
Like a
soldier who fights, runs, sleeps, and awakens, all for the purpose
of achieving the objective set by the commander, every Jew’s
actions, Torah, and avoda are all directed towards the
purpose of seeing our Rebbe MH”M shlita bring the Geula
for us all. |