Another
Possibility?!
I
saw in issue number 302 on page 21-23 an article written by A.Z. Kohn entitled,
"Within Reach." In the beginning it was very interesting, but in the
end I saw something I simply couldn’t believe. On page 22 towards the end the
author was asked about the situation after 3 Tammuz and he didn’t negate it
but provided an explanation from the Talmud that Moshiach could be one who is no
longer living.
Without
going into discussion with the author, I just wanted to know how your magazine
on one page can claim that the Rebbe is shlita and alive, and here you
implant in readers’ minds another possibility?
This
"game" looks like "poschim al shnei has’ifim" and
certainly not appropriate for the magazine providing truth about the Rebbe shlita.
Sholem
Lougov
First
off, take a look at the author’s follow up article in this issue, pg. 9.
Of
course, I appreciate that your concern is not with the author but with the
magazine, etc. To that end, it is well pointed out that in dealing with this
issue the truth of the matter must be stated and established. Naturally,
depending on the circumstances, this rule is sometimes challenging to follow,
especially with people who may have difficulty accepting it at first.
Boruch
Merkur, Editor
RE:
Former Guru, Dovid Har-Tzion
A
response from Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Lifschitz, director of Yad L’Achim, about
the articles recently published in religious newspapers about Dovid Har-Tzion:
Regarding
the article in Beis Moshiach concerning the former guru, Dovid Har-Tzion:
Dovid
Har-Tzion has begun learning about Yiddishkeit and Chassidus and has also
started living a life of Torah and mitzvos. It has been a long process.
We kept our eye on him to see whether his intentions were good, and the way we
measured this was by his actions. He and some of his students began putting on t’fillin,
keeping Shabbos, and eating kosher food. He had previously, as we instructed
him, thrown out all the avoda zara in his possession. His purpose in
getting involved in Yiddishkeit was connected to his awareness of the eternal
truth of Torah, which was given at Sinai.
However,
and this must be stressed, even if a tremendous change has taken place in his
personal life, he still has a lot of room to grow spiritually, to learn, and
also to progress in the realm of observance. Many of his students are still in
cults and quite distant from fulfilling Torah and mitzvos. Although he
has become involved in Yiddishkeit and has begun to save young people
from idol-worshipping cults in the Far East, there is no need for anyone who
is observant and who already follows the ways of Chassidus to go to him. He
is involved only with those who are very distant. This is in contradiction to
reports which have been spread about him lately, concerning which he has not
been able to give a reply.
It
pains me that certain people have mounted an attack on him and his actions. They
have joined those who fought the Rebbe, his emissaries, and his work for the
last fifty years. It also pains me that these people, who try to undermine the
work of Yad L’Achim in strengthening Torah and Yiddishkeit in Eretz
Yisroel according to the directives of the Rebbe, refused to present their
complaints before rabbanei Chabad in Eretz Yisroel. Dovid Har-Tzion said
he would follow whatever the rabbanim tell him. In contrast, they went to
non-Chabad newspapers and besmirched his name. Har-Tzion was in Eretz Yisroel
for three years, during which time no one thought about his activities or
presented any complaints (legitimate as they may be). They attacked him only
after he left the country and could not respond.
They
should know that if they push him away at this point, they are pushing a Jew
away from Hashem, from His Torah and mitzvos, along with dozens of other
people! On the other hand, if we continue to encourage him in a life of Torah
and mitzvos, then, with the help of his rich experience, it will be
possible to save hundreds more young people from entering cults, from which
there is no return. Those responsible for this will have to answer for it!
"Hashem
found no vessel to contain blessing other than peace."
Rabbi
Shalom Dov Ber Lifschitz
Director
of Yad L’Achim
Simple
Faith – Those Were the Days
A
decade ago, when Iraq was aiming its missiles at Eretz Yisroel, one could listen
to the news reports and get confused and worried. But those who listened to the
Rebbe were not disconcerted… Now we’re in a similar test, if not an even
greater one…
This
is a story about the Gulf War, the Rebbe MH"M and simple faith, and how we
can apply that lesson to the situation in Eretz Yisroel today.
When
the winds of war were blowing back in 1990, most of the girls at the Machon Alte
Seminary in Tzfas were too busy learning Chassidus to pay much attention. We
were too busy with our studies, too high with our newfound spirituality to let
mundane matters such as war cries and smoke signals from Iraq bother us.
Besides, the Rebbe told us that Eretz Yisroel was the safest place in the world.
Still
the phone calls came – from South America, North America, England, France,
Australia, and South Africa. And the response from the girls to the caller on
the telephone, who was most likely either a mother or a father, was the same:
"Don’t worry, Ma, the Rebbe said everything will be all right."
That
was it. Simple faith on our part. For us, there was no question.
But
as the telephone conversation continued, you could hear the Machon student
getting more exasperated. "But, Mom, please don’t worry."
While
I don’t know exactly what the other parents were telling their daughters, my
phone call from home was basically a one-way diatribe from my mother, who, in no
uncertain terms, demanded to know how I could be so insane.
In
the final days before the Gulf War began, the phone calls came like lightning,
one after another and the girls would smile to themselves and nod
sympathetically as they heard the conversation repeat itself, "But, Mom,
the Rebbe said…"
In
the end, all but three English speakers left the Machon by the outbreak of the
war. The few of us who remained were taken by surprise when the first air raid
siren sounded. Most of us had never experienced anything like it in our lives.
We ran to the sealed room, put on our gas masks and started saying Tehillim.
Didn’t
the Rebbe say Eretz Yisroel was the safest place to be? What then was this all
about?!
There
were many more sirens after that, but somehow, after that initial siren we never
went back to the shelter again. We never put on gas masks again. After all, the
Rebbe said Eretz Yisroel was the safest place to be. We continued our learning
and increased our Tehillim and prayers with a fervor. When the war ended
– on the day that the Rebbe had indicated it would – the aftermath was
reported in the newspapers accompanied by pictures showing house after house
that had been reduced to rubble and miracle after miracle in which not one
occupant was seriously harmed.
Now,
10 years later, many of us are married and raising families. Some of us stayed
in Eretz Yisroel, and again the winds of war are picking up, louder than ever.
But
away from the spiritually protective environment of Machon Alte, we aren’t
immersed in learning and praying day and night. We have more access to computers
and radios, and many of us spend more time listening to the news reports. In
turn, we are spending more time worrying and fretting. We call each other up and
instead of sharing Chassidus like we did at Machon Alte, we exchange stories
about what we heard on the news or heard from a friend whose car got shot at.
While
we have all been blessed with beautiful families and Chassidishe homes in the z’chus
of the Rebbe MH"M and Machon, we can’t go back and return to the
spiritual haven of our beloved yeshiva. But we can tune out the
radios and the newspapers and draw on the simple faith we had when we were at
the Machon, the faith that enabled us to stand up to our families and say,
"Don’t worry, Ma. Everything will be okay, because the Rebbe said
so."
That
faith enables us to carry on with joy and strength publicizing about shleimus
ha’Aretz and drawing light into our homes and environment – because the
Rebbe said so.
Chana
Katz
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