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STEPPING OUT OF THE STATUS QUO OF EXILEWhen one is physically stuck in a place, somewhere he should not be, and not moving forward, then notwithstanding his great progress within that place, advancing within that space, that realm he is still in Mitzrayim! * If youre stuck in a rut, know that it is Mitzrayim, and it is necessary to leave Mitzrayim and journey onward, until you arrive at Yarden Yericho, an allusion to morach vadain he [Moshiach] smells and renders judgment.

Translated by Boruch Merkur

SO MANY JOURNEYS OUT OF A SINGLE MITZRAYIM

Likkutei Torah points out a difficulty in understanding the verse, These are the journeys of the Jewish people, who left the Land of Mitzrayim, etc. journeys in the plural. For it would seem that the Jewish peoples exodus from Mitzrayim was a single journey, the journey from Ramses to Sukkos, whereas the rest of the journeys no longer constitute leaving the Land of Mitzrayim. Why then does it say journeys in the plural?

The Alter Rebbe, author of Likkutei Torah, goes on to explain that all the journeys along the way were considered an exodus from Mitzrayim since they had not yet

arrived at their final destination; it wasnt until they arrived at Yarden Yericho, the entrance into the Holy Land, that their journey from Mitzrayim was complete.

To elaborate: The concept of Mitzrayim can be discussed at various levels. There is, for example, Mitzrayim that conveys evil, as well as a representation of Mitzrayim in the realm of holiness. [But in general] when one is physically stuck in a place, somewhere he should not be, and not moving forward, then notwithstanding his great progress within that place, advancing within that space, that realm he is still in Mitzrayim! [It is perhaps more clear how this concept applies to the realm of evil. For so long as one is

caught up in evil, even were he to move forward within that realm, he remains in a state of darkness. The innovation here is more pronounced with regard to the parallel concept of Mitzrayim, the concept of Mitzrayim as it appears in the realm of holiness. Progress there, prior to arriving at ones destination, fulfilling the mission with which one is charged, is still called Mitzrayim. It is still seen as an incomplete journey, still in the midst of the initial stage of leaving Mitzrayim, which means limitation, confinement.]

This point is expressed by the old adage about a clock: it goes on and on but never moves from its spot

It says in Thillim, days have been formed and not one of them is [in] his [power, the persons power, to add or diminish from the allotment of days]. G-d grants individuals a predetermined number of days and does not vary by adding a single day to that allotment or by negating a single day, and one must accomplish something every day he is granted.

Thus, it is vital to know that inasmuch as one does not achieve anything, or in the event that he merely holds on to the status quo that does not suffice; more must be done. If youre stuck in a rut, know that it is Mitzrayim, and it is

Continued on page 11

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DVAR MALCHUS

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THE INTREPID COLLECTOR OF SOULS

4 1 Menachem-Av 5775

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One of the stories in Jewish folklore is about a Jew who is labeled a miser until after his death when the town rabbi is suddenly flooded with requests for help from the poor. It turns out that until he died, the so-called miser provided weekly support for the poor and it was only after his passing that he was revealed as a tremendous philanthropist who gave tzdaka secretly.

Many of those who are involved in spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus in the New York area were reminded of this story after the passing of the well-known tzdaka collector, R Meir Roness. In this case, R Meir managed to conceal his manifold activities under the guise of a tzdaka collector. There is hardly a Chabad Chassid who did not meet him collecting in 770 or at simcha halls in Crown Heights. He always came up with a reason why today, of all days, you needed to give more tzdaka. But only a few knew that with the money he raised with his original pronouncements, he

started hundreds of shiurim in Chassidus and did many other hafatza activities.

In a conversation with family members I learned that even they were unaware of the extent of his activities. During the Shiva they learned of dozens of unique activities in the realm of hafatza which R Meir initiated and funded with the money he collected. Many Chassidim at the Shiva house said that R Meir funded their activities and now they are stuck and are looking for new donors so they could continue their work. The family thought they knew what he did, at least somewhat, but discovered posthumously that whatever they knew was just the tip of the iceberg.

Among the hundreds of people who visited during the Shiva you could also see the results of R Meirs work teachers, mashpiim and ordinary Chassidim who said how they came to Chabad thanks to the Tanya classes that R Meir started and funded for over fifty years.

MIRACLE FROM THE REBBE RAYATZ AND SHABBOS WITH

A LUBAVITCHER UNCLER Meir was born on 21 Teves

5701 in Montreal to his parents, Avrohom and Gittel Roness. His parents, who were from a Chassidishe family, descendants of the Bnei Yisachar of Dinov, sent their children to the Chabad schools that were founded at the time by a group of Tmimim from Europe.

The familys ties to Lubavitch grew stronger after R Meirs brother was stricken by severe asthma and was healed after his mother went with him by train to New York and received a bracha from the Rebbe Rayatz in yechidus. The Rebbe referred her to a certain doctor who was the natural means by which the bracha was fulfilled. His mothers sisters married Chabad Chassidim and the Chabad connection was further strengthened.

After his bar mitzva, under the influence of the Chabad chinuch he had received, R Meir wanted

Not many know that behind the image of a

tzdaka collector was a genuine Chassid

who was extremely active in spreading the

wellsprings of Chassidus and the Besuras

HaGeula. * With the help of acquaintances,

friends and family members, Beis Moshiach

tried to unlock the mystery of the Chassid,

R Meir Roness ah. He was an exceptional

individual whose devotion to the Rebbe was

boundless and who remained an unsolved

riddle to many. Who can replace him?

Dov Levanon and Avrohom Rainitz

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to learn near 770. He went to New York to the Lubavitch yeshiva on Bedford Avenue. He spent Shabbasos with his uncle, R Yosef Wineberg, and absorbed from the authentic Chassidishe atmosphere.

Even at a young age you could see that he was a bachur with a special yiras Shamayim and who was particular about the customs of Chassidim. His family tells, for example, about his daily immersion in a mikva before tfilla sometimes he would be hosted in communities that did not have a mikva and he was not fazed by walking for more than an hour, in rain or heat, to a mikva.

After he finished learning in yeshiva, his father wanted him to attend college, but R Meir refused. His father wrote a letter to the Rebbe in which he asked him to explain to his son that he had to go to college. R Meir did not know about his fathers correspondence with the Rebbe and it was only when he went home for Pesach that his brother told him that a letter from the Rebbe had arrived.

In the letter, the Rebbe MHM explained that Hashem is the One who provides parnasa and he also provides it to those who do not attend college. Regarding what his father wrote about college not harming R Meirs religiosity, the Rebbe wrote that he knows many who went to college and they were all harmed. The Rebbe negated the idea that R Meir would learn for half a day in yeshiva and would attend college for half a

day, explaining that this was like jumping from a warm room into cold water a few times a day; it is not possible that this would not be harmful.

R Meir used the Rebbes explanation when his sister finished high school and one of his brothers who had learned in Yeshiva University tried to convince her to go to college. R Meir spent hours talking to her until she joined some friends and went to learn in the Chabad seminary in Yerres in France.

THE INFLUENCE OF STORIES OF TZADDIKIMR Meir began his work in

spreading the wellsprings in Camp Gan Yisroel where he was a counselor from the end of the 1950s until the middle of the 1960s. During those years, most of the children in camp were not from Chabad homes and were not religious. This was an opportunity to instill basic concepts of Chassidus and to create a bond that would last for life.

While his friends wanted jobs as counselors of a bunk, R Meir preferred to be a substitute counselor. The way it worked was, every three weeks each counselor was given two days off. R Meirs job was to replace the counselors on their days off, so that every two days he was the counselor of a different bunk. There were times that he had five year olds and fifteen year olds during the same week. This way, he ended up being the counselor of most of the children in camp.

Although it was hard switching bunks, R Meir liked it for a reason he disclosed to his friend, R Shmuel Butman (director of Tzach in New York). The first reason was, he established a relationship with all the children in camp and could have an influence over many children. Another reason was, since the counselors took a day off during the week but on Shabbos nobody was off, he therefore did not have a bunk on Shabbos. Thus, he was able to travel to 770 every week to be with the Rebbe and to attend farbrengens on those Shabbasos when there were farbrengens.

One of the jobs of the counselors was to give shiurim. Since R Meir had to give a shiur every day to a different age group, he focused on topics that pertained to all ages. He would learn the laws of the Three Weeks with everyone and then would tell stories of tzaddikim. Since most of the children were not from Chabad or even religious homes, he did not tell stories only about tzaddikim from bygone ages but mainly about the Rebbe, so the children would know there is a living Rebbe and that tzaddikim are not merely history.

R Meir told about the long-range effect of these stories in an interview he gave to HaTamim a decade ago. Years later, one of the boys called me. He had grown up, married and had a few children. He told me that one of his children was sick with a serious illness that the doctors had yet to diagnose (they eventually concluded that it was caused by a genetic problem). He asked me for the phone number of the secretariat. He remembered all the stories I had told him about the Rebbe and decided to ask for a bracha. That is when I realized how influential

Two days later, he came to one of the sheva brachos and told me in amazement that he did not know that there are such iluyim (geniuses) in Chabad.


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the stories of tzaddikim that I told to the little children had been, with effects for a lifetime.

GREAT IS HIS MERIT [AND EVEN MORE SO]

FORTUNATE IS HIS LOTOver the years, R Meir

developed relationships with many children who became bachurim and learned in non-Chabad yeshivos. Since these bachurim had a good connection with Chabad, and were open to learning Chassidus, R Meir spoke with R Dovid Raskin, menahel of Tzach, and began to arrange shiurim in Chassidus in all these yeshivos.

When I spoke with R Butman about R Meirs work, he said in amazement that R Meir worked with a dedication that transcended time. There was no time during his day that was not devoted to this sacred work. His success was commensurate completely above nature.

His son-in-law, R Yisroel Botnick, heard from R Leibel Abelsky of Cleveland about something unusual that the Rebbe said about R Meir. It was during the years when R Abelsky was a secretary at Tzach. One day, he received a letter from someone who drove a milk truck who wrote, in amazement, that one night when he was driving in the Catskills, he saw a yeshiva bachur try to hitch a ride to New York. He stopped for him and while talking to him he learned that the bachurs name was Meir Roness. He was going from camp to camp, arranging shiurim in Chassidus and now he was trying to get back to New York after a night of work.

R Abelsky wrote about this to the Rebbe in a report about Tzachs activities and the Rebbe

drew an arrow to these lines and wrote, Great is his merit (and even more so) and fortunate is his lot. R Abelsky, who worked for ten years as a secretary for Tzach, said that this was the most extraordinary response he got from the Rebbe in all those years.

R Meir did not suffice with the dozens of shiurim that he organized. Together with his friend Tzvi Hirsh Bronstein, he bought a small camper which apparently was the first mitzva tank and made it into a mobile library. They paid a driver, who drove from one school to the next throughout the week, bringing the light of Judaism to thousands of children. Aside from books that could be borrowed, there was a place on the tank to listen to tapes with a Jewish message. During the Lag BOmer parades that took place during those years, the tank passed by the Rebbe and gave him much nachas.

In connection with this, his son-in-law relates that once, R Meirs mother-in-law

complained to the Rebbe that because of the great expenses incurred in running the mobile library, R Meir was unable to support his family and his family was suffering. The Rebbe told the hanhala of Tzach to help with the expenses in running the mobile library.

THIS MERIT WILL STAND BY HIM IN HIS REQUEST

At a certain point, R Meir began collecting money himself while he continued running all the activities. He found magidei shiurim, bachurim and balabatim who could explain Chassidus well, and procured for them rides to various non-Chabad yeshivos. During the summer, the bachurim would go to camps and give shiurim there. For fifty years, R Meir continued his holy work and the shiurim took place throughout the year in yeshivos, and in camps in the summer.

As soon as R Meir heard about an opportunity to start a shiur in some yeshiva, he immediately got to work, without

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thinking twice about the expense. When the opportunity arose to give a shiur in Telz in Cleveland, but the maggid shiur was in New York, he paid for a weekly flight, the main thing being that the shiur start as soon as possible. Over the years, he paid for long trips from New York to other cities, to keep up the cycle of shiurim.

Many of the bachurim who were drawn close and came to Lubavitch, afterwards gave shiurim themselves, thus meriting to reach more and more neshamos who were chosen to learn in Tomchei Tmimim.

About ten years ago, when we spoke with R Meir about bachurim who were drawn close and began giving shiurim themselves, he was reminded of an interesting story which happened with one of these bachurim who ended up becoming one of the organizers of shiurim in his yeshiva:

The shiur in that yeshiva was given by R Shloma Majeski. He was sent by the Rebbe in the first group of bachurim-shluchim to Melbourne. When he returned, he began regularly traveling to one of the famous Litvishe yeshivos to give a Tanya shiur there.

At that shiur was a bachur who made nice progress and had already become one of the organizers of the shiur. Before Pesach, when he was supposed

to go home, he fell and broke his elbow, sustaining a very bad fracture. The doctor put his arm in a cast and told him he would have to wear the cast for at least eight to nine months even though a cast is usually worn for just two months. The bachur and his family were very concerned.

After Pesach, when he returned to yeshiva and came to R Majeskis shiur, the bachur asked him to ask the Rebbe for a bracha for him. When R Majeski returned to 770 it was about two in the morning on a Thursday night, a yechidus night. He wrote a note in which he mentioned

the name of the bachur and the bachurs mother and said he was one of the organizers of the Chassidus shiurim in his yeshiva. He submitted the note.

Yechidus ended at about four in the morning. R Majeski was still in 770, farbrenging or talking with someone. At five in the morning he heard that the secretary, R Binyamin Klein, was looking for him. R Klein told him that right after yechidus, the Rebbe read the note and there was a response. (This was unusual that the Rebbe would read a note and respond to it immediately after a long night in yechidus.)

The Rebbe took the note, circled the words in which he wrote that he was one of the organizers of the shiur, made an arrow and wrote: this merit

(and he should also increase) will stand by him in his request.

A few days went by and the bachur went for a routine X-ray. The nurse went to have it developed, and in the meantime the doctor began to examine his elbow. He immediately noticed that the elbow did not look the way it should after being in a cast for a month without being moved or used and he asked him whether he had used the arm. The bachur said that since they hadnt put the palm of his hand in a cast, he thought he could use it and he had played basketball with it.

When the shocked doctor digested this, he began berating the bachur for possibly doing irreversible damage. Basketball with a broken elbow could shake the broken bone out of place.

The nurse walked in with the developed X-ray and showed it to the doctor. The doctor examined it and then looked at the bachur with a severe look on his face. The bachur felt uncomfortable and asked why the doctor was looking at him like that. The doctor, who had seen the X-rays showing the fracture a month before, said he could not believe what he was seeing.

I am looking at the X-ray and dont see any fracture.

When the bachur explained that he had received a blessing from a big rabbi, the doctor was even more astounded. He told the bachur to continue wearing the cast for another month to ensure that no mistake had been made.

A month later, the X-ray showed no fracture whatsoever. The fracture was entirely healed. Instead of many months, the cast was on his arm for 8-9 weeks.

The Rebbe negated the idea that R Meir would learn for half a day in yeshiva and would attend college for half a day, explaining that this was like jumping from a warm room into cold water a few times a day; it is

not possible that this would not be harmful.


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DIFFICULTIES ON THE WAY TO LUBAVITCH

In Yeshivas Torah Vodaas, Tanya shiurim were started by R Yisroel Jacobson back in the 1930s before the Rebbe Rayatz came to America. It was from these shiurim that the lions of the group of Tmimim were born, with whom the Rebbe started Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in America, the likes of R Meir Greenberg and R Mendel Feldman. Over the years, responsibility for these shiurim passed on to R Meir who shared with us what he saw and heard in connection with arranging these shiurim:

One of the bachurim who learned Chassidus in Torah Vodaas wanted to have yechidus before he got married, but R Groner said this was only for Tmimim. He asked me to speak

up on his behalf and I was able to convince the secretary that he learned Chassidus and was a Lubavitcher in every respect. He reminds me of this every so often and says he is grateful to me for this till today.

You have to remember that it wasnt easy for these bachurim. It wasnt smooth sailing. There was pressure from home, parents who were not always thrilled with their childs new meshugas, and many of them felt that in Chabad too, they were not fully integrated.

I remember an interesting story when parents of a bachur who learned in Achei Tmimim in the Bronx and then in Tomchei Tmimim on Bedford, wanted him to go to college and the bachur refused. The shocked and angry parents wanted to see the Rebbe and tell him to convince

their son to go to college.When they had yechidus

and realized that they would not be able to convince the Rebbe to permit their son to attend college, they got ready to leave with depressed looks on their faces. The Rebbe said they could not leave the room like that and they had to smile.

Another worried parent I remember was someone with a few sons who became interested in Lubavitch and he was worried they would not find good shidduchim. He told this to a friend who himself had come to Lubavitch through Tanya shiurim. The Chassid asked his friend if he knew R Nissan Nemanov.

R Nissan? Of course I know him.

The man knew R Nissan from the period after the war

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and remembered that he was no simple Jew. Said his friend, After I came from Kamenetz to Lubavitch, I married his granddaughter.

A SHIUR BY WAY OF THE CEMETERY

R Meir told about truly underground shiurim:

In a yeshiva in Monsey there was a nice-sized shiur with about eighteen talmidim. It was given by R Avrohom Stone. At first the shiur took place in a shul near the yeshiva, but apparently someone tattled to the hanhala of the yeshiva because one time, the mashgiach showed up and threw them out of there and ordered him not to come back. He also warned the bachurim not to dare attend the Tanya shiur again.

This was a bit too late since the bachurim had already gotten a taste of Chassidus and wanted the shiur to continue. To their astonishment, they discovered that the rosh yeshiva and the mashgiach patrolled the area around the yeshiva in a car in order to catch those who committed the terrible crime of learning Chassidus. The talmidim were scared.

There were some bachurim who decided that they would continue the shiur, no matter what; they wanted to learn Chassidus. What did they do? A Lubavitcher by the name of Dr. Hayes, a psychologist, let them use his office for the cause. But how could they go out and evade the patrols?

Near the yeshiva was a cemetery. The bachurim would go out the back door at night toward the cemetery where the maggid shiur waited for them. From there they took a circuitous route to the office. They returned

the same way with a big detour to the cemetery and from the cemetery to the yeshiva. Three out of those bachurim who attended the shiur ended up in Lubavitch.

One of these bachurim met me years later and hugged and kissed me and gave me $50 as a donation toward shiurim. He said, If not for your shiur, I would have remained a misnaged.

Not all roshei yeshiva opposed the shiurim. R Zushe Feldman, for example, would give a shiur in Beis Midrash Elyon in Monsey, a yeshiva run by R Gedalia Schorr. R Schorr knew about the shiurim and since he lived in Crown Heights at the time, he would take a ride with the bachur who gave the shiur on his way back to 770 and they would talk in learning.

When R Boruch Lesches, rav of the Chabad community in Monsey, once went to give the shiur in Lakewood, R Shneur Kotler, the rosh yeshiva, was standing at the entrance to the yeshiva. When he saw the car turn into the yeshivas premises, he asked the bachur what brought him, and when the bachur told him, he nodded and said, Gut, gut.

SHOWING THAT THEY KNOW HOW TO LEARNLike in the Alter Rebbes

time, when Chassidim were sent to Shklov and Vilna to promote Chassidus, R Meir also sent bachurim from Tomchei Tmimim to yeshivos in the New York area in order to talk to the talmidim there in learning and to show them that Lubavitcher bachurim did not neglect the learning of Nigleh; on the contrary, they learned with great depth.

R Meir related:It wasnt only shiurim in

Chassidus that brought bachurim to Lubavitch. Many bachurim who considered themselves bnei Torah, who met with Tmimim who knew how to learn Nigleh, were amazed to discover that in Lubavitch they excel at Nigleh too.

For many of them, this is what made them respect Lubavitch and Chassidus; for others it was the first step on their way to Tomchei Tmimim.

I remember how one of the Tmimim, who would give Tanya classes in one of the Litvishe camps, once got into a deep discussion with some yeshiva bachurim. They saw he was more knowledgeable than them on every subject discussed and so they sent one of the lamdanim of the yeshiva to talk to him in learning. Within a few minutes, the lamdan saw that he was no match for the Tamim.

Chassidic cleverness was also an important tool in discussions like these. One time, R Sholom Dovber Lipskar (today a shliach in Miami Beach) was in a Litvishe camp and they wanted to test him in learning. He said they could test him on any tractate they wanted. He knew that in our yeshivos and their yeshivos they learned the same Masechtos and what could they ask him already? The test ended with the Litvishe bachurim going crazy in amazement with this bachur who knew all of Shas!

I have a relative who is a Litvishe rosh yeshiva. Before I got married, I arranged with three bachurim who knew how to learn well (R Leibel Kaplan, R Shneur Zalman Labkowski and R Sholom Lipskar) that I would point him out to them at the wedding and they should go


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over and talk with him. During the dancing, I showed them who he was and they went over to him afterward very respectfully and asked him to say a vort. They spoke to him for a while. Two days later, he came to one of the sheva brachos and told me in amazement that he did not know that there are such iluyim (geniuses) in Chabad.

WORK IN SPREADING THE BESURAS HAGEULA

R Meir was permeated with the belief of Chassidim that the Rebbe is Moshiach and he worked to publicize this in every possible way. Along with the

shiurim he arranged, he also passed along booklets about the Geula to be distributed among bnei hayeshivos. In later years he bought many sets of the series Shemen Sasson Meichaveirecha and sent them to roshei yeshiva and magidei shiur in Litvishe yeshivos with whom he was in touch.

He always had pictures of the Rebbe in his pocket with Yechi written on them, and the Rebbes chapter of Thillim on the back, which he would distribute to little children and say, The Rebbe loves you. He gave the pictures out not only in Crown Heights but in Boro Park and

Williamsburg too. Nobody could resist his warm smile.

When a weekly brochure in English on the Besuras HaGeula began to be published, R Meir bought many of them and would send them to dozens of locations in the US. Each shipment cost nearly $800 and he would increase the amounts from time to time.

R Meir, who always knew how to explain why today is a day to give more tzdaka, certainly was able to explain in the heavenly yeshiva why today the Geula must happen with the hisgalus of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach immediately.

necessary to leave Mitzrayim and journey onward, until you arrive at Yarden Yericho, [here the word Yericho Jericho serves as] an allusion to morach vadain he [Moshiach] smells and renders judgment [for with the wisdom of the Alm-ghty, which is within him, he shall know and understand who is innocent and who is guilty Rashi on Yeshayahu 11:3] with the imminent coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.

WHEN YOU KNOW WHERE YOURE GOING,

WHY DELAY?We shall indeed arrive at

our destination, eventually. That being the case, when you

know you are certainly going to get somewhere, why bother dawdling on the way? The nature of a person is that when he knows he is going somewhere in particular, he does not want to go off on a tangent of wandering, further subjecting himself to the exertions of travel. He doesnt want to spend so much time on the way to where hes going; he wants to get to his destination as quickly as possible.

This is particularly the case when one makes an assessment how this applies not just to himself personally but to all the Jewish people, insofar as Jews are guarantors one for the other. Certainly on this basis, he would not want to delay the journey of all the Jewish people the slightest bit; he would be concerned to

speed it up as much as possible.Especially knowing the ruling

of Rambam that the world is in a state of equilibrium, and a single action can tilt the scales of the worlds judgment to the side of favor. Then this personal assessment is not only in order to speed up the redemption but it is possible that by a single action he brings the redemption immediately. Therefore, certainly a Jew should act without delay. He should leave Mitzrayim and arrive at the destination, Yarden Yericho [approaching the entranceway to the Holy Land with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu].

(From the address of Shabbos Parshas Mattos, Mevarchim HaChodesh

Menachem Av 5714, bilti muga)

Continued from page 3

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TRUE EXISTENCE IS ETERNALAnything manifest with G-ds will has kiyum atzmi ... This concept is synonymous with the notion that sanctity does not depart from its place, and holy artifacts maintain their sanctity, etc. The place of Torah and avoda of a tzaddik maintains its holiness even after he ascends from his physical life to true life in Gan Eden. * From Chapter 8 of Rabbi Shloma Majeskis Likkutei Mekoros. (Underlined text is the compilers emphasis.)

Translated by Boruch Merkur

Anything that is manifest with G-ds will has kiyum atzmi (literally, essential or inherent existence). This concept is elucidated with regard to keilim, the vessels that contain G-dly light that in virtue of their dveikus, their cleaving to G-d, and their unity with the Divine light, they too are at the level of kiyum atzmi.

The same is true with regard to all Mitzvos that involve physical objects, such as [the] parchment [of a Torah scroll or tfillin], the wool of tzitzis, and the like. All that is in accordance with G-ds will, vessels fit for the Supernal Light to shine upon them, are sustained at the level of kiyum atzmi.

(This concept is synonymous with the notion that sanctity does not depart from its place, and holy artifacts maintain their sanctity, etc. The place of Torah and avoda of a tzaddik maintains its holiness even after he ascends from his physical life to true life [in Gan Eden]. Also, a ray of the light of his service remains in its place, the place where he studied and delved into Torah. The same is true of all the items that he used for the sake of his avoda sanctity resides upon them in virtue of having been

used for birurim, used by the tzaddik for spiritual purposes.

([To illustrate how sanctity remains in its place, the Rebbe relates the following.] Once (circa 5645-5646) I saw my revered father [the Rebbe Rashab], the Rebbe, hareini kaparas mishkavo (let me stand in atonement of his soul), enter the room of his father, my revered grandfather of blessed memory [the Rebbe Maharash], and the room was arranged as it had been when he was alive. My

father entered wearing a gartel and stood by the table facing the chair where his father would sit [when he was alive]. His lips moved as if he were speaking, and he wept copiously.)

Sitra Achara, by contrast, is devoid of the Divine will, for which reason it separates itself from G-ds unity, and it does not possess any sustaining existential forces except that the Makif (the transcendent aspect of G-dliness) sustains it. The Makif is its life-force, and when its shadow [this life-force] departs, it is then cut off and utterly obliterated, totally eradicated and eviscerated.

(Seifer HaMaamarim 5690, pg. 10)


MOSHIACH & GEULA

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981_bm_eng.indd 13 2015-07-14 8:22:57 AM

TRAINING KOHANIM IN MITZPEH YERICHOMany men in Litvishe kollelim study the Talmudic order of

Kodshim, as the Chafetz Chaim said to do, in preparation

for the Geula. Kohanim and Leviim of all sectors become

familiar with the practical laws they will need to know for

the avoda in the Mikdash. * R Yehuda Kroizer, rav of Yishuv

Mitzpeh Yericho and who directs the Merkaz LLimudei

HaMikdash, tells Beis Moshiach about the arousal among the

people, about preparations for building the Beis HaMikdash

and about his dream to set up a training facility, at the

center of which will stand a scale model Mizbeiach (altar),

which will also serve as a place for Kohanim to train even

after Moshiach comes. * Presented for the Three Weeks

when we learn Hilchos Beis HaBechira, as per the directive

of the Rebbe MHM.

By Zalman Tzorfati

THEYRE GETTING READY FOR GEULA AT LITVISHE

KOLLELIMIt started with individuals

who were obsessed with the idea and in recent years it became a phenomenon that traverses all sectors among religious Jews. You can meet them in kollelim, yeshivos, yeshiva high schools, and even talmidim in elementary schools, all of them involved in the halachos of the Beis HaMikdash on a practical level.

Halachos like bringing korbanos, menachos, and the avoda in the Mikdash, have left the rarefied world of Talmudic scholarship in recent years. Thousands of people are shaking off the dust from these laws and are delving into them on a daily basis, with the faith and anticipation of the building of the third Beis HaMikdash.

We said it crosses all sector lines. The biggest surprise is from the Litvishe sector. A number of organizations are involved

in promoting the learning of these halachos in kollelim and yeshivos. There was a recent announcement that thousands of men in the Yeshivas Mir network of kollelim and about 2500 men in the Ateres Shlomo network of kollelim, of R Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, started learning Kodshim.

One of these organizations is called Omar Abaye and it arranges shiurim and visual presentations of the practical laws of service in the Mikdash such


FEATURE

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as melika, the korban mincha, minchas nesachim, minchas marcheshes, minchas chavitei Kohen gadol, minchas machavas, minchas chinuch, and more, to men and groups of Kohanim who want to learn the practical halachos they need to know.

Another organization that is involved in promoting learning the avoda of the Beis HaMikdash in kollelim and yeshivos is Toras HaKorbanos. In a conversation with Beis Moshiach, R Bentzion

Shiff, one of the rabbis of the organization, told about the awakening among kollel men to learn the laws of the Mikdash.

Every week we provide learning material to the kollelim on the practical laws about bringing korbanos. There is a great demand for it. Every month we also publish a beautiful pamphlet for the public called Toras HaKorbanos, which clarifies topics in an interesting way that inspires people to learn

these laws.R Yonatan Stenzel, one

of the people who runs Omar Abaye, recently shared similar sentiments in an interview with religious newspapers. We see a tremendous, unprecedented interest. In the past, they only learned Kodshim in Brisk, but today we see thousands of men who have started learning Kodshim. Maybe this shows that we are on the verge of Moshiachs coming and it is important that as

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many Kohanim as possible know what the avoda entails.

THEY SHOULD KNOW WHAT TO DO

R Yehuda Kroizer is a rav in Yishuv Mitzpeh Yericho and head of the yeshiva HaRaayon HaYehudi in Yerushalayim. R Kroizer has been involved in teaching about the Mikdash for many years and he runs the Merkaz LLimudei HaMikdash.

The idea behind this center for the study of the Mikdash is that the Kohanim, and not just Kohanim, but also Leviim

and Yisroelim, can prepare themselves in a practical way for learning about the Mikdash so that when the day arrives and the avoda begins, they will know what to do and what not to do.

R Kroizers dream is to build a huge training facility for Kohanim with a Mishkan that almost exactly replicates the original. According to his vision, by the way, the centers main purpose will be realized after the Beis HaMikdash is built.

Boruch Hashem, after many years, we procured a big lot in Mitzpeh Yericho for the training center and altar. We have all the building plans and

permits from the city council, the municipalities and all the relevant government departments, to build an altar that is nearly to scale, and we are at the stage where we are only waiting for a pioneer to invest so we can start building, says R Kroizer.

R Kroizer thinks a place where Kohanim can train is very important.

Its not simple serving in the Beis HaMikdash; its complicated work which requires a lot of training. Its not something you can learn solely on an academic level; you also need to learn the practical details. The idea is that

even when Moshiach comes and the avoda in the Beis HaMikdash starts up again, the center will continue operating and will be a place where Kohanim will train in the avoda of korbanos and bringing menachos. Then they will go to Yerushalayim to perform the real avoda.

LOOKING FOR A DONOR FOR AN ALTAR

The cornerstone for the altar was already laid at an impressive ceremony at Mitzpeh Yericho. Journalists from all over the world came to cover the reconstruction of the ancient Jewish altar.

Till today, tourists come every so often and look for the altar, says R Kroizer, but we are waiting for a donor to make it happen. Maybe something will happen through your publication, he said with a smile.

Along with the vision, the Merkaz LLimudei HaMikdash is involved in large-scale activities to advance academic and practical learning about the Mikdash and implanting awareness of the imminent Geula with shiurim, lectures, and training workshops for Kohanim. There are also workshops for the general public.

We prepared a workshop on the topic of bringing menachos. We originally made it for Kohanim, but it has long expanded beyond that demographic and we take it to schools, yeshivos and kollelim.

Aside from the shiurim and workshops, we have a lot of material which can be found on two websites. There is a huge amount of material there, classes that were shot on video, summary sheets, and Torah articles for reading and studying. The two websites attract thousands who want to delve into these topics. The number of people who are interested is astounding.

The first site is the site for the Merkaz LLimudei HaMikdash, which offers more in-depth material for those who learn. The other site, which is called Shai LShai, is a more experiential site which includes a terrific section for children that teaches them about the Mikdash.

There is a tragic story behind the Shai LShai site. One rainy day in November of 2007, four members of the yishuv set out in an off-road vehicle. At one of the twisting turns of the Jordan Valley, it collided with a bus and the four young people perished.

It would be like someone who learns about Pesach, learning about the spiritual and esoteric meaning of chametz and matza, or learning abstract ideas about the seder night, but doesnt know what chametz

and matza actually are, and what bdikas chametz is and

how you conduct a seder. This person is not ready for

Pesach. Being ready means to be ready on the practical

level, to know the practical ins and outs of what to do

and how to do it.


FEATURE

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Among them were two of R Kroizers sons, Yishai, who was a commander in the Nachal brigade and Shlomo, who was twelve. The Kroizer family decided to start a website in their memories to spread Judaism and knowledge of the Beis HaMikdash in a unique, experiential way.

Another project is one in which shiurim and high level study material is sent every month to hundreds of rabbanim, rabbis of cities, yishuvim, and communities, on the subject of the Beis HaMikdash.

PASSING IT ALONGI understand Kohanim and

Leviim, but why do rabbanim also need to train for the Mikdash?

Sending this material to rabbanim is mainly an educational initiative. One of the problems we have with this subject is that its not concrete enough. Everyone believes that Moshiach is coming and the Mikdash will be built, but it seems abstract and something quite distant. People still treat it like a fantasy. They dont consider that it is something imminent and that instantly it will be halachically relevant.

Since this is a Torah subject, the way to reach people is through rabbanim. We send it to hundreds of rabbanim, roshei yeshivos, teachers, principals, and lecturers. As soon as they get the material, it connects them to the practical side of the topic. It helps them internalize the point that these are not abstract concepts but actual things that pertain to practical halacha. I personally know of many rabbanim who use our material, including it in their shiurim and lectures. When rabbanim are alert to the issue, they convey that further and draw in their

students and congregants, and that is how the broader public is reached.

You talk about a place that will train Kohanim even after the building of the Beis HaMikdash. Did such a place exist previously? Was there a place where Kohanim could practice the avoda?

Its a very interesting question. I dont have a clear answer, but the Gemara in Taanis says there were twenty-four shifts of Kohanim and of each shift that went up to serve, half went down to Yericho and half went up to the Temple Mount. Those who went to Yericho seem to have been more involved in the material side of things. So maybe we can sayI did not see this, its more conjecturalthat in

Yericho there was some kind of place where Kohanim trained for the avoda of the korbanos, where they did some kind of refresher course to prepare for going up to the Beis HaMikdash. Otherwise, what did they do all week in Yericho?

PRIESTLY ORDINATIONR Kroizer is both a visionary

and a practical person. He dreams and tries to make those dreams reality. A project still in its gestational stage is to coordinate students from around the world into an organized learning community that learns about the Mikdash.

Websites have an enormous advantage in that the information is available and its easy to

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access at any time and from any location, which is why thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of people, women and children, visit the site and learn about the avoda, each on his level. Yet, it lacks the human dimension of contact and interaction with the visitors.

Our plan is for people to be able to register and create online communities. Weve spent some years preparing material and now we need to disseminate it to the broader public. The idea is that visitors to the site will receive a curriculum that matches their level of learning. Those who learn can get to know one another and us, and organize groups of Kohanim who are learning, are involved, and training for the Geula.

There are groups like this already at the Machon HaMikdash and at other organizations. The dream is for them to be able to gain expertise and be tested by a central body, like the chief rabbinate, which will give ordination to Kohanim for the avoda in the Beis HaMikdash.

ITS NOT ENOUGH TO PRAYHow did a busy rosh yeshiva

and rav of a yishuv, who is involved in paskening the halachos of issur and heter, the laws of Shabbos and eiruv, come to dedicate so much time and resources to the subject?

The truth is that Ive always had a great love for everything associated with the Beis HaMikdash. What really got me motivated was what the Chafetz Chaim says in his introduction to Likkutei Halachos. We know that the Chafetz Chaim was very involved in Kodshim. He writes in the introduction to his seifer that we must be involved in this

subject since the very involvement hastens the Geula. If we ask for something, we need to be ready for it, to know what to do there. The Chafetz Chaim says that the way to express our sincere desire for the building of the Mikdash is to learn about it.

The subject is very broad, its korbanos, its an entire service. Its not simple. If we really want to be ready for this era, we need to know all these halachos. That is what makes us ready.

To pray in Shmoneh Esrei, and may our eyes behold is good and fine but not enough. It would be like someone who learns about Pesach, learning about the spiritual and esoteric meaning of chametz and matza, or learning abstract ideas about the seder night, but doesnt know what chametz and matza actually are, and what bdikas chametz is and how you conduct a seder. This person is not ready for Pesach. Being ready means to be ready on the practical level, to know the practical ins and outs of what to do and how to do it.

This is precisely what the Chafetz Chaim says. There is even a letter in which he writes to young men to close the Masechtos they are learning and

learn Kodshim. Boruch Hashem, lately

there has been a great interest in learning the laws of Kodshim on a practical level, in so many places. It is slowly penetrating the Torah world. We sense that something is happening here. When you approach the subject in a hands-on way, you discover that there are halachos here too, and disputes, legal questions and decisions, and then it becomes tangible and practical.

Lots of people think that we will stand with folded arms around the Temple Mount and watch the Beis HaMikdash descend in flames, complete from heaven, but one of the Rebbes well-known possible resolutions (of the seemingly conflicting sources) is that the parts of the Mikdash explained in the tractate of Middos will be built by people and only those details which are not explicit and explained will descend from heaven. The building of the Beis HaMikdash is a mitzva, and there is no such thing as a positive mitzva being taken from us. Whoever thinks we wont have a share in building the Bayis is leaving us with only 612 mitzvos chv. Its important to be ready!


FEATURE

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A MANUAL TO LIVING IN THE TWILIGHT ZONEBy Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

THE LICENSE FOR ANNULMENT HOVERS

IN THE AIR The opening of this weeks

parsha discusses the institution of the neder-vow. When one makes a vow to either engage in or desist from a certain behavior, one is duty-bound to keep his or her word. There is, however, a method through which one can have a vow annulled. The person who made the vow comes before a tribunal of three rabbis (or even one professional rabbinic judge) and makes it known to them that if he or she had known the consequences of the vow, he or she would never have made it. The three judges then declare the vow to be null and void.

Where in the Torah does it provide for annulment of a vow?

If we examine the Biblical text, we cannot find any explicit statement to this effect. It is primarily based on an oral tradition going back to Sinai. However, the Talmud (Chagiga 10a) does find several hints in the Torah for the power for annulment. One of them is the following: The Torah states, He shall not profane his word. The Talmud observes: He (the

person who made the vow) may not profane his word, but others can profane it for him. In other words, while a person cannot personally get out of his commitment, others (a tribunal of three rabbis), are indeed empowered to do it for him.

The fact that the license for vow annulment is merely a hint, prompted our Talmudic Sages to state: The license for annulment hovers in the air. This means that there is no solid textual basis for this power. (This was not to suggest that the Rabbis pulled it out of thin air; it just means that it is not textually based, rather it derives from an oral tradition, with a mere allusion to it in the Biblical text.)

A MYSTIFYING MIDRASHThere is a body of Midrash

that is enigmatic and sometimes even appears to be incoherent. The objective was to get us to extract a message from it by thinking out of the box.

There is such a Midrashic statement revolving around the above-mentioned license of vow annulment:

The license for annulment of vows floats in the air. From this

our Sages in the Mishnah (Avos 5) derived that tongs were made by tongs.

On the surface there is absolutely no connection between these two statements. The statement concerning tongs is that in order to manufacture tongs one must use a set of tongs. Who then made the first set? The answer the Mishnah gives, is that G-d created it at the twilight of the seventh day of creation. How does this relate to the law of a rabbinic court annulling vows lacking a solid textual basis to the extent that they appear to just be floating in the air?

TWO MODES OF EXISTENCE AND ENDEAVOR

To find the connection between these apparently unrelated themes we must first delve more deeply into the significance of G-d creating a pair of tongs at twilight of the seventh day of creation.

The following is an adaptation of the Rebbes discourse (Likkutei Sichos Volume 17) in which he explains that the tongs created at twilight signify a higher dimension of human endeavor than that which was created in the earlier six days of creation:

When G-d created the world He gave us everything we needed to make the world perfect. Only

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PARSHA THOUGHT

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then did He create Adam and Eve on the sixth day of creation so that everything they needed would be there for them to utilize in making a perfect world. Humanity was created last, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 38a) states, so that he may enter immediately into the banquet. The banquet includes all of our efforts at getting the world ready for its final achievement, the Messianic Age, at which time we will no longer suffer from hunger and war, strife and hatred.

However, the Messianic Age is not a time for retirement. On the contrary, we will then embark

on a major effort within the realm of goodness and holiness. Since G-d is infinite, so are the degrees to which we can connect to Him. Whereas today the primary focus is on combating evil, removing the ills of society by teaching the ignorant, feeding the hungry, assisting the poor etc., in the Messianic Age we will be transforming everything, including the positive, to an even higher level of closeness to an infinite G-d. Whereas today the world is divided into good, evil and neutral, in the Messianic Age, everything will be good and the challenge will be to climb even higher.

This explains the difference

between the things G-d created before and after Adam and Eve. The things that were created prior to Adam and Eves arrival are the raw material which humanity was charged with the responsibility to correct and perfect. They also serve as the tools needed to achieve that correction. Conversely, those things created after Adam and Eve (including the first set of tongs created at twilight of the seventh day) have a higher function. These unique creations serve as a bridge between the imperfect world of nature and the world that transcends nature and

its need for repair and correction. These are the tools which enable us to grow within the already perfected world of the Messianic Age.

We get a taste of this higher mode of perfecting the world every Shabbos, when even the most mundane activities, such as eating, are holy and suffused with Divine delight, and we divorce ourselves from all the negativity of the outside environment.

During this twilight period, which bridges the gap between the weekdays and Shabbos, G-d empowers us to make the transition from the repair the world mode into an uplift the

world mode, equipping us then with the tools to raise an already perfected world to an even more sublime level.

NO MORE HIERARCHY We can now understand the

meaning of G-d creating tongs for the purpose of making tongs at twilight of Shabbos. In the pre-Messianic mode of healing and repairing an imperfect world, there is a hierarchy of actions in terms of their proximity to the goal. We must distinguish between the actions that deal directly with the goal and those that are tangential or mere accessories.

To illustrate: When we devote most of our day to earn a living, it is only an accessory to the Mitzvah of giving charity from 10 or 20 percent of ones income. By contrast, the act of giving tzdaka itself is an intrinsically holy act. Indeed, most of our lives are spent in the world of accessories to meeting our goal. Only a small percentage of our time is directly and intrinsically holy.

This is what is meant, metaphorically speaking, of tongs. They are instruments and accessories with which one constructs the edifice, but they are by no means as significant as the resultant structure.

However, in a perfected world, even the tongs (read: mundane activities that were heretofore only remotely connected to the goal) become an inseparable and intimate part of the goal. They are not just a means to an end; they are part of the end.

Thus, the Rebbe explains, the tongs that were created by G-d at twilight for the purpose of making other sets of tongs alludes to a futuristic mode in

They no longer need the additional support from the vow and are able to engage in the process of connecting to G-d directly in all that they do. They are now connected to the air of Moshiach. They have

traveled outside the stifling, polluted atmosphere and gravitational pull of the earth. They can now soar above

the stratosphere and travel at record speeds in the

weightless and infinite expanse of outer space.


PARSHA THOUGHT

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www.MoshiachForKids.comCheck it out!! Educational and Fun!!

which every aspect of our lives ceases to be a mere accessary to holiness. They all become intrinsically sublime and G-dly.

THE CONNECTIONWe can now understand the

connection between the creation of the tongs in the twilight zone and the idea that the power of annulment of vows hovers in the air.

The two modes discussed above concerning the macro world (repairing an imperfect world and elevating a perfected world) parallel the two modes of a vow and vow annulment within the micro world.

A vow is a support for our inability to cope with the challenges posed by living in an imperfect world. When a person is tempted to engage in a forbidden activity, they will make a vow to restrict himself. The vow draws upon the Divine energy vested within creation that can lend support to a person who is vulnerable and in need of repair.

But annulment of a vow derives from an even higher and more sublime Divine force; a force that hovers in the air. This is intended for those who are no longer in the clutches of negativity (particularly the negativity of the time of exile which is a time of Divine concealment) and who have crossed into the pre-Messianic twilight zone. They no longer need the additional support from the vow and are able to engage in the process of connecting to G-d directly in all that they do. They are now connected to the air of Moshiach. They have traveled outside the stifling, polluted atmosphere and gravitational pull of the earth. They can now soar above the stratosphere and travel at record speeds in the weightless and infinite expanse of outer space.

Hence, the idea that annulment of vows hovers in the air implies that one rises above the constraints of the earth and its imperfections and plugs into a Messianic dynamic. Likewise, the

creation of the tongs at twilight of Shabbos implies the creation of an instrument that is no longer needed for repair but for higher and higher elevations.

LIVING WITH MOSHIACHWe are presently living in the

twilight of creation; standing on the threshold between the six millennia of existence and the seventh millennium, the Shabbos of existence. Moshiach is in the air! And while we still have much in the world that needs repair, the Rebbe informed us that when we view the cumulative good of millennia, the world has already achieved its quota of refinement necessary for Moshiach to come. So while we must not neglect to correct the negatives, our focus should be on rising to higher and higher levels of spirituality, by making all of our activities, even the so-called accessories-tongs, into G-dly activities. This is likely what the Rebbe had in mind when he said that we should now live with Moshiach.

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24 HOURS A DAYBy Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpo

Director, HaMatteh LHatzolas HaAm VHaAretz

R Yekusiel Rapp once told me an amazing story that he had with the Gerrer Rebbe, the Pnei Menachem (1926-1996), as follows:

After one of the Admurs visits to the Rebbe, when he returned to Eretz Yisroel I met him at the airport while I was there as director of Beit Chabad at Kennedy Airport. I went over to him, together with other young men who were doing mivtzaim with me, and R Elimelech Neiman introduced me as the rabbi of the airport.

I said to the Admur, Perhaps we can hear some vort you heard

from the Rebbe. He said to me, The Rebbe is very concerned about the situation in Eretz Yisroel. All the critics who claim the Rebbe cannot mix into affairs in Eretz Yisroel since he is in America should know that the Rebbe lives 24 hours a day with Eretz Yisroel.

With R Kuti ah we saw how he lived and breathed the Rebbes war of shleimus haaretz with his entire being. It is hard to describe and understand the mesirus nefesh he had in his role as one of the leaders of HaMatteh LHatzolas HaAm VHaAretz. He never looked out for his own honor. If it was necessary to

contact a certain public figure and protest the situation, R Kuti would do it. He utilized all his influence and ties in order to promote the words of the Rebbe and to influence whoever needed to be reached.

He would trudge from place to place and collect penny by penny so that what the Rebbe said could be heard loudly in Eretz Yisroel. We are now marking ten years since the Expulsion from Gush Katif. At that time, not a day passed without R Kuti calling Eretz Yisroel and making sure that everything was being done so that the catastrophic expulsion would not take place.


OBITUARY

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When there was a referendum vote among the party members of Likud in Iyar 5764 when they were going to decide the fate of Gush Katif, R Kuti raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the great battle that was waged at the time in Eretz Yisroel on all fronts. He set up a well-oiled telemarketing system in New York which contacted tens of thousands of Likud voters and asked them not to blindly follow Sharon and participate in the destruction of settlements and the establishment of a terror state in the heart of Eretz Yisroel. It reached the point that in the prime ministers office they were furious about the intervention from New York that was designed to torpedo the wishes of the party leaders. Indeed, in that referendum, there was a decisive majority against the expulsion.

Although the referendum did not help and the expulsion was undertaken about a year later, R Kuti would always say that the fact that tens of thousands of members of Likud voted against it, prevented a tremendous chilul Hashem.

Along with his tremendous work for shleimus haaretz, he worked with great Ahavas Yisroel to bring public figures he met to the Rebbe. He never gave up and always kept his eyes on the goal: what would give nachas to the Nasi Hador.

R Kuti was so alive and so active. It is inconceivable that we need to put into writing brief sketches of the character of someone who lived with the Rebbe 24/7 with tremendous love and a ready smile and Ahavas Yisroel for all. But as the Rebbe said after the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and the living shall take it to heart, we all need to learn a lot from R

Kuti in so many areas, in Ahavas Yisroel, eternal hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and being mekarev people with a smile and ways of pleasantness.

His passing on 12 Tammuz, the Chag HaGeula, symbolizes his very being mesirus nefesh and as the Rebbe explains that mesirus nefesh is not only under communist rule but in every situation, even in free countries, he is moser nefesh and his ratzon to sanctify G-ds name. That was R Kuti and that is how we forever remember him.

We cannot be consoled

over this enormous tragedy to a wonderful family and to the family of Chassidim, but we do need to perpetuate his legacy. There is no doubt that up above he will demand the Geula and the hisgalus of the Rebbe. May we merit to see him with kindness and mercy with the true and complete Geula and everlasting joy upon their heads.

He set up a well-oiled telemarketing system in New York which contacted tens of thousands of Likud voters and asked them not to blindly follow Sharon and participate in the destruction of settlements and

the establishment of a terror state in the heart of Eretz

Yisroel.

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One sunlit morning at the start of the Second Lebanon Wars third difficult week, the citizens of Eretz Yisroel were jamming the highways on their way to work. Suddenly, they received the terrible news that eight Jews had been killed from a direct hit by a Katyusha rocket fired by Hezbollah terrorists on the Israel Railways depot garage in Haifas Chof Shemen industrial zone. The emergency paramedics called to the scene treated dozens of people for injuries and shock. They were quickly transported to the Rambam and Bnei Tziyon Hospitals in Haifa. Others, unfortunately, were not quite as lucky. This marked the first time since the start of the conflict that the terrorist organization had managed to strike such a devastating blow against innocent citizens. The entire country was plunged into mourning.

The media reports stated: Katyushas rained down on Haifa in one of the worst missile attacks in Israels history. The police reported this morning (Sunday) eight people killed from a direct hit by a Katyusha rocket on the Israel Railways garage at Chof Shemen, Haifa. Magen David Adom crews treated dozens of injured and transported them to city hospitals.

It began with the blaring of an air-raid siren at around nine a.m. due to a barrage of more than ten RAAD anti-tank missiles. Local residents were instructed to enter bomb shelters. Security forces reported at least seven Katyusha hits in the Haifa area. The worst damage came at the coach repair section in the railway garage. One room inside the building sustained a direct missile hit, resulting in eight railway workers dead and twenty-three people injured, six seriously.

One of the railway employees wounded in the rocket attack was Yossi Amargi. While he was sent to the hospital with shrapnel injuries, his life was miraculously spared. The next day, I realized that my incredible rescue was due to the bracha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that I had received more than twenty years earlier, he recalled.

We met with Yossi in one of the Israel Railways offices. While the garage has been fully renovated and reinforced, he doesnt want to go back. The trauma caused by the loss of eight colleagues with whom he had worked very closely for many years has clearly taken its toll. Im not even willing to pass by there, he explained.

THE REBBE TOOK SEVERAL COINS OUT OF HIS POCKET

When I finished my IDF

Yossi Amargi was an employee with the Israel Railways garage in Haifa on that fateful morning when a Katyusha rocket struck the depot. While the direct hit killed several of his fellow co-workers, he was miraculously saved in the merit of the coins he had received from the Rebbe decades before. To mark nine years since the Second Lebanon War, Yossi sat recently with Beis Moshiach to tell the story of his amazing personal salvation.

By Nosson Avraham

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry


MIRACLE STORY

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THE KATYUSHA

AND THE

COINS

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service in the navy at the end of the seventies, I joined the merchant marine as an employee of Israel Chemicals Ltd. The sea was my whole life. Even before my naval service, I learned in a school for sea cadets, and it

was quite clear to me that my future employment would be of a maritime nature. To my great pleasure, I was hired as a machinist with one of the companys ships. I would be on the vessel for months at a time,

making nautical journeys that spanned the globe. Periodically, we would carry freight to the various ports of New York City.

Whenever we would come into port, while the crew was busy unloading the cargo, we would take leave for a few days in the port city to regain our strength for the next journey. So it was in New York, where we came on numerous occasions.

By this time, the Lubavitcher Rebbe had become known far and wide as a prominent Jewish leader. Countless people came to seek his advice and receive his blessing. The daily newspapers in Israel would regularly print reports on his public statements and activities. People who would meet with him spoke about the thrilling experience of visiting his holy court. There wasnt a Jew anywhere who hadnt heard about the Rebbe and Chabad.

I heard the miraculous stories about the Rebbe whenever we came to New York and met with Jews from the local communities. What really fascinated and impressed me was hearing these accounts even from those who were far from being Torah-observant Jews.

At one point, I decided that on our next journey to New York City, I would make my way to the Rebbes court and ask for his blessing. When we docked in New York, I planned to head straight for Crown Heights. Unfortunately, some mechanical problems were discovered in the engine room and I had to wait on board the ship until the repairs were made. It soon became clear that the repairs would take much longer than anticipated. As a result, the ship would have to put out to sea for the return trip to Eretz Yisroel without delay. Since I had no way of knowing whether


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I would be back any time soon, I asked one of my co-workers to go to the Rebbe for me and ask for a bracha on my behalf.

This young man was then becoming a baal tshuva, and I thought that he would make a good spokesman for me. For his part, he was delighted by the opportunity, and he prepared to go as my representative before the Rebbe. I gave him my full name and my mothers name, and then I went back to the ship to resume work on the repairs. He went to 770 and came back only on the following day. He gave me some coins in a bag, explaining that he met the Rebbe at the entrance to the beis midrash. When he mentioned my name and asked for a bracha, the Rebbe put his hand into his pocket and took out several coins to give to me. I was overcome. As someone educated according to the principle of emunas tzaddikim, I was very happy to receive this bracha.

I wrapped the coins and placed them in my wallet, and they have remained there ever since. They are the most important thing I keep there, far more than anything else. When I bought a new wallet, the first thing I transferred to it was the bag of coins. For me, it serves like an amulet; I consider the coins to be a segula that protect me wherever I go. However, I never imagined that they would actually save my life.

I eventually left the merchant marine the long sea journeys and absences from home were not particularly suitable for a married family man. Looking for a similar position that would keep me primarily on dry land, I found a job in my chosen profession repair and maintenance with Israel Railways. Thus, I began work with the train garage in

Haifa near the seashore, the place I like more than any other.

BENT OUT OF SHAPEIt was during the Second

Lebanon War at the start of a routine day, as all the employees were working at their respective posts in the train garage depot. Suddenly, without warning, I heard a powerful explosion. Shrapnel flew everywhere, as the entire area was gripped by paralyzing fear.

The first reaction was shock, immediately followed by panic. As I looked around me, I soon realized that we had suffered some serious casualties.

The rescue units arrived quickly and they transported all of us to Rambam Hospital. Upon my arrival, the emergency staff put me straight into the intensive care unit. Alongside the deep sadness over the tragic loss of my fellow co-workers, there was also a sense of joy for the lives that had been miraculously spared. My injuries were relatively minor wounds from shrapnel to my face, leg, and chest. Following an initial examination, the doctors informed me that I had been saved by a miracle. During the treatment in the emergency room, the medical staff had taken all my clothes and I had dressed in a hospital gown. They eventually gave my clothes and personal effects to my wife, who had rushed to the hospital upon hearing about the missile attack.

The following morning, my wife took the wallet and went to the supermarket to buy some groceries. When she opened the wallet, she noticed that there was a hole in it. All the bills were torn and they had signs of powder burns. When she opened the change purse, she found several coins that had been bent due to

the impact of the explosion. After buying some bread

and milk, she quickly went to the hospital with the wallet.

I looked at the bent coins and began to absorb the tremendous miracle that had been done for me. The coins in my wallet were the same coins that I had received from the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 5744. For all intents and purposes, they had stopped the shrapnel from causing any serious injuries to vital organs that undoubtedly would have endangered my life, as happened with several of my co-workers who succumbed to the massive loss of blood. When I realized the extent of the miracle I had experienced, chills started going up my spine.

I felt that I had been given my life back as a gift, and it was all thanks to the Rebbe, who had given me those coins for tzdaka as a bracha thirty years ago. This is why Im still here today.

My wife, my children, and my family members all know that I owe the Rebbe my life.

PUBLICIZING THE MIRACLEYossi concluded his amazing

story with deep emotion. The events of those difficult days are etched into his memory. When we ask him where the coins are, he gave a deadpan facial expression as if he didnt understand the question. He then pulled out his wallet and produced the bag containing the coins. Here are the coins that saved my life, he said in a quavering voice. I dont just tell this story to you: At every available opportunity, I reveal the great miracle that I personally experienced and anyone who wants proof can see the bent coins for themselves.

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FORGING A DEEP CONNECTION WITH YOUR CHILDRENIf you do not enter the childs world, you dont

get to know him. And then you dont know

what edifices he is building with his power of imagination He can develop a theory that his

parents hate him and do not seek his welfare. *

Another chapter in Educate a child according to

his way in the teachings of Chabad Chassidus,

by R Nachman Twersky.

THE QUARTER HOUR RULE

In earlier chapters we discussed at length about instilling in children a sweetness for Jewish things by utilizing opportunities like Shabbos meals, etc. For just as a happy atmosphere at home implants a joi de vivre in children, so too, the only meal which the family has together, Friday night, when done with investment and thought into the seemingly minor details, impacts the children deeply and remains etched in

their hearts forever.The Rebbe spoke in praise of

the family Shabbos meal, saying that even if divrei Torah are not spoken, but the family just sits and talks about this and that, is also something that does wonders for a child.

However, first and foremost, in order to be successful in chinuch there needs to be a positive relationship between the parents themselves and between the parents and the children. If you want your child to grow up in a calm, happy atmosphere,

then the home has to be the most secure place for him.

The importance of a good relationship between the parents comes to the fore in one of the familiar shalom bayis problems:

After a busy day, the husband comes home exhausted and he doesnt think about how his wife was also busy all day. Something annoys him and he decides to tell her everything on his mind. At this point, when the husband starts in with his criticism, without taking the time to think about what is going on at home and what his wifes day was like, he destroys his entire world. Flames of fire threaten to destroy the house.

Why doesnt the husband see things properly? Because the husband, by nature, is the foreign minister and the wife is the interior minister, or minister of home affairs. The wife, even if she works out of the house and sends her child to a daycare center or babysitter, is constantly thinking


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about the running of the home. The husband is always thinking outward, even when he is home. So when he comes home, it takes at least a quarter of an hour for him to take cognizance of what is going on around him.

What is the solution? Someone once gave a good idea the quarter hour rule. This rule states that the husband needs to be quiet for fifteen minutes from the time he walks in the door, because he is still not home and can cause damage. Only after fifteen minutes, when he has relaxed and digested what is going on at home, can he open his mouth.

Someone once came over to me to tell me he is unhappy because he does not get the proper respect at home and there are harsh words spoken between him and his wife. I suggested he try the quarter hour rule. When you walk in the door, dont say anything unless you want to compliment someone. After fifteen minutes you can start asking how the day was.

Wonder of wonders, peace returned to their home.

DONT INTERROGATE YOUR CHILD

This takes on even greater importance with parent-child relationships. When a child comes home, even though that day the principal may have called about the commotion he made at school, or for any other reason, we parents have to welcome him, both with what we say and how we think about him. A child can sense what his parents think of him and knows whether they think well or poorly of him.

So the first thing is, we need to ask the child how he is and how school was. Sometimes you need to ask detailed questions like, who did you play with, was it interesting. You need to ask the things that interest him, not what interests you. Remember, your child is not under a police interrogation.

Someone once told me that his father is from the previous

generation and as a child he was very scared of Shabbos. Shabbos was the day his father tested him on what he learned and even before he would start reviewing the Gemara, his father would slap him. I know already that you wont know it, so this is a slap on account. Shabbos became the childs biggest nightmare.

We are not police interrogators and G-d forbid that we should turn a childs life into a nightmare. In general, dont constantly give your children orders: take out the garbage, clear off the table, etc. Thats not called talking; its ordering. Speak to the child in his language, and to do that you need to enter his world. Its not easy. Just like you need to invest time and energy to understand a complicated sugya in learning, so too, you must invest thought and energy into understanding a childs heart and way of thinking.

If you dont enter the childs world, you wont know him. Then you wont know what edifices he is constructing with his power of imagination. He can develop a theory that his parents hate him and dont seek his welfare.

UNDERSTANDING A CHILD AND SPEAKING HIS

LANGUAGEThere was a boy who excelled

in learning, conduct and tfilla. One day, he stopped learning, behaving, and davening properly. The parents tried to find out what happened, but he remained silent. Everythings fine, he would say. His parents were shaken up and spoke to his teacher who also did not know why things had changed so drastically.

The father spoke with a well-known educator who asked him, Do you speak to your son?

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The father said, Of course! I ask him whats doing, etc.

The educator said, It is possible that your son needs deeper conversations. Get on a bus together and go on some nature walks, to a place hell enjoy, and tell him about yourself, about hard times you went through as a child and how you overcame them. Not in a way of criticism and rebuke but as a story.

The father listened to the educators advice and went on a trip with his son. He shared with his son the difficulties he had as a child, in academics and

socially. The child felt his father was telling him the truth and was speaking openly with him. Identifying with his father, the child began to cry.

The child told his father there were some boys in his class who were teasing him for being short and really making his life miserable. He was so broken by this that he felt things could never be better. His inner pain caused him to stop all the good things he had been doing.

By the father sharing events in his life with his son, the feelings and troubles he had gone through himself in his childhood, the child saw that his own father too had dealt with challenges and this caused him to open up.

In the end, the father took his son to a child psychologist who

completely allayed the childs worries and said that at his age he could definitely still grow. After this reassuring talk, the boy went back to being an outstanding student.

Sometimes a child thinks his father never has to deal with any challenges and is strong as iron. When a father opens up to a child and shows him that he, like everyone else, deals with hardships, the child sees he is not alone and that his father is someone he can talk to. This helps the child deal with his own challenges.

From this we learn how

much we need to invest in understanding a child and mainly, in speaking his language.

THE ENORMOUS INFLUENCE PARENTS HAVE

ON CHILDRENThere was a girl who took an

interest in Judaism and went to Beis Chana in Minnesota. A while later she became addicted to drugs. The schools staff was able to rescue her, but before long she relapsed and became even more entrenched. Her condition deteriorated to the point that she was hospitalized. The hanhala wrote to the Rebbe asking for a bracha for her.

The Rebbes response surprised and puzzled them. The Rebbe did not give a bracha or

advice but wrote: this pertains to her parents. So the hanhala contacted her parents who lived in California and told them to come see their daughter who was in critical condition.

The parents came and sat down to talk with their daughter next to her bed. They found out that her deterioration had to do with something that happened when she was fifteen. As a young girl in a secular milieu, she once went out for the evening with her friends. One of these so-called friends brought along drugs and that was the first time she tried it. When the party was over, at two in the morning, she went home.

Aware of the severity of what she had done, she wanted her parents to know she needed help, so she turned the first floor of their home topsy-turvy to get their attention. She wanted her parents to come downstairs and ask, What happened to you? But her parents, who heard the noise, thought a thief had broken in. They went downstairs and found their daughter lying on the floor with all the furniture in disarray. Since it was only their daughter and not a burglar, they went back upstairs to get some sleep.

She translated this reaction on their part as their not caring about her. This is what propelled her to descend further into drug use. Although Lubavitchers were mekarev her, since what drove her was her feeling that her parents did not care about her, she wasnt able to extricate herself.

Now, they all understood the Rebbes astonishing answer. It was only because her parents came especially to see her and sat with her, proving they cared about her, that she was appeased and told them her history. In the

A child needs to feel he is not alone, his parents are with him, emotionally connected, and then he is strong and self-confident. Even if he trips up here and there, he wont fall completely. For when a child

has a healthy, open relationship with his parents, he is

connected on high and he cannot fall.


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end, this was the only thing that enabled her to get out of drug use, that she saw that her parents felt her pain.

If you show genuine care, then the child wont fall to begin with

As the holy R Meir of Premishlan said, If you are connected up above, then you dont fall down below. When a person feels uplifted from his positive connection to Hashem, and his heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem, then he does not fall. So too, a child needs to feel he is not alone, his parents are with him, emotionally connected, and then he is strong and self-confident.

In many cases, a child has friends who have a negative influence on his delicate soul, but if he comes from home with a storehouse of strength and security, then ultimately he will not be able to go against the spirit of his home. Even if he trips up here and there, he wont fall completely. For when a child has a healthy, open relationship with his parents, he is connected on high and he cannot fall.

GENUINE CARING IS SOMETHING ONLY A

PARENT HASThere is a sicha from the

Rebbe about Chana, mother of Shmuel HaNavi, from whom the Rebbe learns many principles of chinuch. After she finally gave birth to Shmuel, her husband Elkana made aliya lregel without her. Why didnt Chana go?

The Rebbe learns from this how a mother ought to protect that which is most precious to her, her child. After all, she could have taken a babysitter and gone, but Chana did not want to do that, because nobody can watch a

child like a mother can, with all her heart. Says the Rebbe, only a mother who gives life to her child can give him the best of care.

This is like someone who has to go somewhere and he has a million dollars in cash. With whom will he leave this huge amount of money? With a babysitter? No way! He will put the money in the bank or someplace equally safe. Arent our children worth infinitely more than a million? In the event that something, G-d forbid, happens to a child, dont parents go all out for him? So why abandon the child?

A child needs to be watched over with superior care, both physically and spiritually. We see how the Rebbe told pregnant women to be exceedingly careful about not seeing and hearing that which isnt holy and pure, and the Rebbe wants all these efforts to be invested even before a child is born.

WHAT IS THE AGE FOR CHINUCH TO HISKASHRUS

I was once at a certain Chassidic court and the

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