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A
Revolution in Shlichus
By
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Ginsberg
The
farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev 5736 was almost over, the
Alter Rebbe’s “Niggun in Four Parts” having already been
sung, when the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach shlita made a
surprising announcement.
In
the sicha that followed, the Rebbe explained that he was
sending a “holy assembly” of ten shluchim – bachurim
and young married couples – to Yerushalayim and Tz’fas. Their
mission would be to strengthen and build up Eretz Yisroel both
spiritually and materially.
In
the days to come, the Rebbe issued a number of additional
directives indicating the special importance of this shlichus.
The Rebbe also stated that these shluchim would be paving
the way for others to follow. On one occasion (Shabbos Parshas
Mikeitz 5736) the Rebbe even stated, “I am taking the
responsibility for this entire shlichus personally.”
Further
directives were issued after the shluchim arrived in the
Holy Land: they were to be welcomed with a “great commotion”;
with “immense joy”; their arrival should make an impression on
“all our brothers, the Children of Israel”; and “a
person’s emissary stands in his stead.”
Specifically,
the Rebbe instructed that a grand welcoming ceremony be held with
the students of the various Chabad yeshivos of Eretz
Yisroel, complete with musical accompaniment. Journalists from the
Israeli press were to be invited, and the Rebbe’s sicha
of Yud Sh’vat on the subject of shlichus was to be
distributed to the media.
Another
indication of the importance of this shlichus was that the
Rebbe himself saw the shluchim off from the steps of 770.
The late Rabbi Mordechai Mentlik, rosh yeshiva of the
central branch of Tomchei Tmimim, accompanied the shluchim
to Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe instructed him to give ten thousand
liras to then Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin for the material
development of the Land, and requested that he remind him of what
they had discussed during a yechidus in Nissan of 5732
concerning “the nation that dwells apart,” and explain to him
that it is more relevant than ever…
A
major revolution in the concept of shlichus in Eretz
Yisroel began with the arrival of these ten shluchim. In
order to understand what it was like in those days, a little
background information is necessary.
Until
that time, the connection between Lubavitchers in Eretz Yisroel
and the Rebbe and 770 was very limited, for a number of technical
reasons. Many of the things we take for granted today did not yet
exist. There were no Chabad weekly magazines, and very few mivtzaim
brochures. Most of the communication with the Rebbe took the form
of letters, aside from general directives that Rabbi Efraim Volf
would receive from Rabbi Hodakov by phone. Compared with today,
international phone calls were very expensive. It would never
occur to someone to pick up a phone just to find out “what was
doing in 770.” No one knew who had a yechidus or what the
Rebbe said to so and so. “Sunday dollars” wouldn’t begin for
many years, and there was no such thing as video. When the late
R’ Levi Yitzchak Freidin made his first movie about Tishrei in
770 it was a marvelous chiddush.
In
those days the Rebbe’s sichos kodesh usually came out a
long time after they were said, and then only in Yiddish, in poor
quality mimeographed sheets that only subscribers got in the mail.
The “Vaad Hanachos B’Lashon HaKodesh” had not yet
been established. Even the international phone hook-ups that had
started on the “Big Yud Sh’vat” of 5730 were problematic.
There were always difficulties with the phone lines, and numerous
interruptions and disconnections.
In
general, people didn’t know when the Rebbe would be farbrenging,
and most farbrengens weren’t broadcasted anyway.
Traveling to the Rebbe was also a great luxury, as a plane ticket
to New York cost about three months salary of the average Israeli.
Very few could afford the trip, and certainly not several times.
So for the most part, most Chabadnikim of Eretz Yisroel were
essentially cut off from the daily routine of 770.
Aside
from technical difficulties, there was also a philosophical lack
of awareness. In those days, being a Chabad Chassid expressed
itself primarily in personal avoda, learning Chassidus, davening,
etc. Lubavitchers of Eretz Yisroel went out on Mitzva Tefillin and
engaged in outreach with other Jews, but the focus was not so much
on the Rebbe and the concept that “the nasi is
everything.”
In
other words, the atmosphere was much less immediate than it is
today. People didn’t concern themselves with what the Rebbe was
saying now or was asking of them now, and they
certainly weren’t lining up to go out on shlichus. Back
then, some of the elder Chassidim were still grappling with the
whole idea of shlichus.
However,
everything began to change in the summer of 5733, when Reb Mendel
Futerfas arrived in Eretz Yisroel. Reb Mendel was the number one
advocate for hiskashrus to the Rebbe and the need to give
oneself over to him entirely. At his farbrengens, Reb
Mendel would stress the importance of traveling to the Rebbe and
being in constant contact with him. Reb Mendel’s words had a
great effect, but as a lone voice in the wilderness it was very
difficult to change a mindset that had existed for decades. (In
truth, Reb Mendel’s wasn’t the only voice. A few
others, most notably Reb Avrohom Pariz, Bentzion Shemtov, and
Moshe Slonim, echoed the same sentiments.)
But
it was the shluchim of 5736 who ultimately succeeded in
changing the atmosphere of Chabad in Eretz Yisroel. From that
point on it was more focused on the Rebbe, hiskashrus, shlichus,
mivtzaim, etc.
I
can still remember how we would gather around the weekly summary
of the Rebbe’s farbrengen after it was posted on the wall
of the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad on Sundays. These summaries
would be painstakingly typed by R’ Shmuel Greisman as he took
dictation on the telephone. Unfortunately, the typos and
“x’s” were often more numerous than the words themselves,
and we would spend hours trying to decipher exactly what was
meant. The whole life of the yeshiva revolved around those
pages. The mashgiach would have to pry us away from the
bulletin board to get us to learn a little nigleh or
Chassidus. But sometimes he would forget his official duties and
stand right next to us studying the page…
Despite
the fact that the connection between these pages and what the
Rebbe had actually said was often tenuous, to say the least, it
was clearly a major
innovation. Imagine, knowing what the Rebbe had spoken about on
Shabbos within 24 hours! We talked it about it constantly, we
thought about it constantly, we davened with the Rebbe’s
words on our minds.
These
shluchim were also responsible for a general increase in
momentum. Mivtzaim with the “man on the street” and Tanya
shiurim in other yeshivos began to flourish. The
Americans did everything with a greater breitkeit than the
Israelis. They traveled the length and breadth of the country and
with their youthful enthusiasm, spread the notion of “the Rebbe
is everything” wherever they went.
Of
course, there was still a certain degree of resistance from the
“old guard,” who resented the young Americans who had been
“raised in the lap of luxury” telling them what to do. There
was one farbrengen in particular at which voices were
raised, but the shluchim made the point that the elder
Chassidim were resorting to the very same argument as the Twelve
Spies. True, their mesirus nefesh behind the Iron Curtain
had been more than amply demonstrated, but the future lies with
the younger generation. Hadn’t Moshe Rabbeinu said, “But your
little ones, of whom you said would be prey, them will I bring in,
and they shall know the land that you have despised”? The main
point was to do what the Rebbe wants from us now, in order
to enter the Promised Land of the Final Redemption. Reb Mendel
Futerfas, they continued, was like Kalev and Yehoshua in their
time, remnants of the older generation who followed Moshe Rabbeinu
and ultimately entered Eretz Yisroel…
Another
“revolution” started by the shluchim was to reserve “duchening,”
in all the Chabad yeshivos and shuls of Eretz
Yisroel, only for Yom Tov, as is done in almost every Ashkenazic
synagogue outside of Eretz Yisroel. (In most shuls in Eretz
Yisroel it is customary for the Kohanim to “duchen”
every day.) Their reasoning was simple: that’s the way it’s
done in 770. The innovation, of course, precipitated a storm. At a
farbrengen in Tz’fas, one of the elder Chassidim berated
the shluchim for “not being ashamed to come to the place
of the Rashbi and Arizal and start changing things around.”
“On the contrary,” one of the shluchim replied, most
probably after his tongue had been loosened by a little mashkeh,
“the Rashbi and Arizal are no doubt delighted that the shluchim
of the Rebbe shlita have arrived.”
Some
time later, one of the elder Chassidim that had been present at
that farbrengen had a yechidus with the Rebbe, and
complained about the young shluchim who were instituting
all sorts of changes. The Rebbe asked him, “But why are they
doing that? They must have some sort of justification for their
actions.” The Chassid replied, “They are claiming that
that’s the way things are done by the Rebbe.” The Rebbe
responded with a broad smile…
*
* *
The
main thing is to do what the Rebbe wants from us now. We
cannot content ourselves with “amol” (once upon a
time). For as Chassidim have often pointed out, “amol”
is related to “Amalek.” Amalek wants us to concentrate on the
past, but we must steadfastly hold on to the Rebbe’s “klamke”
(“doorknob”) and look to the future. And the Rebbe’s klamke
is clearly Moshiach…
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