100% EMUNA

  When the Rebbe said to learn Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, he said this is the direct way to bring the Geula. A few months later, the Rebbe said that by learning, we can open our eyes and see how the world is ready for the Geula. At the same time, the Rebbe said that if we want the learning to open our eyes, we need to learn in a very unique way.

By Rabbi Yisroel Halperin, Shliach and Rav of the Chabad community in Hertzliya

In the sicha of Chaf-Ches – 28 Nissan 5751, the Rebbe announced, “I did my part and from here-on-in, do all that you can, and yehi ratzon that there be found one, two, three among you who will come up with an idea of what to do and how to do it. Furthermore, and most importantly, they must take action so we have the true and complete Geula immediately.”

When we sit and brainstorm, we need to open the Rebbe’s sichos in the weeks and months following 28 Nissan and see what the Rebbe said to do to hasten the Geula. As with everything else, when it comes to preparing to greet Moshiach, there is the general concept and the details that are derived from it.

Throughout those months after 28 Nissan, the Rebbe referred to dozens of practical things which hasten the Geula. Just as a soldier does not go to battle without orders, so too, a Chassid needs to know all the instructions the Rebbe gave which hasten the Geula. The general point of all those instructions is that every single detail in the avoda of shlichus needs to be permeated with one intention: how does this lead to welcoming Moshiach.

A Chassid might think that it’s enough if he does ten or twenty of those horaos and let other people do the rest. We need to get it into our heads that if we could bring Moshiach by doing twenty horaos, the Rebbe would not have asked us to do to twenty-one! If the Rebbe went on to ask that we carry out additional horaos, about fifty in all, obviously we need to do all fifty to hasten the hisgalus of the Rebbe even more.

It’s hard, perhaps very hard, to the point that at the Kinus HaShluchim of 5752, in the sicha in which the Rebbe said that all aspects of shlichus need to be permeated with Geula, he used the wording “yehi ratzon,” if only all the shluchim accepted this and worked in unison. Back then, when we stood before the Rebbe, we did not understand why we needed to hope that everyone accepts it and why it might interfere with unity.

Today, unfortunately, we can understand what the Rebbe meant. But along with the difficulty, we need to know, “I demand only based on their strength.” When the Rebbe demands this of us, along with it comes special abilities conferred by the Rebbe to enable us to carry out the task.

In order to succeed at this task, we need to seek out the inner point, which provides chayus to every activity and enables us to live Inyanei Moshiach and Geula with everything, everywhere, and always.

HOW DO WE
OPEN OUR EYES?

In the winter of 5752, the Rebbe revealed to us that we are at a very advanced stage of the Geula process. As the Rebbe put it (Shabbos VaYeitzei): “We are holding at a point where the physical body and even the physicality of the world have already been completely refined and are a ready vessel for all the lights and spiritual matters, including and most importantly the light of Moshiach, the light of the true and complete Geula … The only thing that is missing is the time that when a Jew open his eyes properly, he will see how everything is already ready for the Geula. There is the set table, there is already the Leviasan and Shor HaBar and Yayin HaMeshumar, and Jews are already sitting at the table, ‘their Father’s table,’ along with Moshiach Tzidkeinu (as it says in s’farim, that in every generation there is someone descended from the seed of Yehuda who is fit to be Moshiach) … Now we just need for them to open the ‘heart to know,’ and open the ‘eyes to see,’ and open the ‘ears to hear.’”

The Rebbe actually revealed to us the true reality, the physical reality that we do not see, and he tells us that we can see it too if we just opened our eyes. How can we open our eyes? The Rebbe tells us “to utilize all physical 248 limbs and 365 sinews – and in addition to learning Torah and fulfilling mitzvos in general, to learn p’nimius ha’Torah as it is revealed in the teachings of Chassidus, and fulfill the instructions of our Rebbeim, our leaders, including learning Inyanei Geula and in a way that it opens the heart and eyes and ears.”

That means that there is a specific way of learning that when one learns this way, it opens the heart, eyes, and ears. What is this amazing way of learning?

The Rebbe goes on to say that it must be in a way “that they understand, see and hear, quite literally, in the physicality of the world – the actual true and complete Geula, and learn the teachings of Moshiach (p’nimius ha’Torah) in a way of seeing.” The Rebbe concludes with a promise, “All this is already available and you just need to open your eyes and see.”

This is a formula for opening our eyes – learning in a way of seeing. When learning a sicha of the Rebbe in which he tells us the true reality of the physical world, and tells us that we are already sitting at a table set with the Shor HaBar, Leviasan and Yayin HaMeshumar, this learning ought to be with the absolute certainty and absolute faith in what the Rebbe said, in such a way that it is readily assumed by him that when he looks up from the sicha, he will see the table, the Shor HaBar, the Leviasan, and the yayin HaMeshumar, just as the Rebbe describes it in a sicha!

If we reach that level, the Rebbe promises us that our eyes will open and we will see how the wondrous reality the Rebbe speaks about exists in this physical world.

THE INNER POINT: ABSOLUTE FAITH

This is the innermost point of the self-preparation for greeting Moshiach Tzidkeinu, and this is the key to getting us out of the terrible state we are in. If we want to be real Chassidim of the Rebbe, it is not enough to proclaim “Yechi.” Obviously, we need to proclaim “Yechi,” since the Rebbe himself said that this proclamation reveals the existence of Moshiach, and through this his activities in the world are revealed, but this is not the point. We can proclaim “Yechi” a hundred times a day and remain “galus Meshichistin” since our belief in what the Rebbe said is incomplete and indecisive.

The core message is that we cannot remain “galus Meshichistin.” Each of us needs to examine himself: Am I a 100% Meshichist? Do I believe 100% or just 99%? If there is one percentage point in which the emuna is weak, you cannot call yourself a believer, certainly not a Meshichist. You need to know you are very far from perfection.

And to believe simply is not at all simple. The proof is that if I myself believed 100%, I would not need to explain things to others since my entire being would express and cry out absolute belief!

The question is: how can we attain absolute belief?

YES AND NO ON THE WAY TO “UNTAINTED” FAITH

As on every path in the journey of life, emuna also has requirements, do’s and don’ts. As we explained earlier, absolute emuna is the essential point of it all, and therefore, in order to attain it, you need to go by way of the essential source: learning the teachings of our Rebbeim and doing all their horaos. When we are surrounded, from head to toe, with the Rebbeim’s inyanim, and are immersed in the waters of pure knowledge of the Torah of Geula, we can attain absolute faith in what the Rebbe says.

Along with the “asei” there is a “lo saaseh.” The greatest enemy of faith is Amalek, and we need to keep as far away as possible from it. We cannot look in its direction. We must remember that Amalek can disguise himself and come dressed as a Chassid, with deep Chassidic concepts, so the moment you sense a coldness in faith, immediately identify this as Amalek and disengage!

To illustrate how careful we need to be, we know how the Rebbe warned us to be careful about not exposing children to impure animals. We follow this horaa and are careful not to have these animals on sheets, clothing, books and toys. Amalek can come and say, look! There are dozens of non-Chabad yeshiva students who were raised with teddy bears and zebras and they learn Torah and they are G-d fearing …

The answer to this Amalek is: when it comes to emuna, to the purity of G-dly faith, we don’t take chances. If those animals will lessen emuna by just one percentage point, then the remaining 99% are trapped in galus and will continue to see the world from a galus perspective.

Another example, in the laws of Pesach, the Alter Rebbe said that matza made with fruit juice does not become chametz. I remember that R’ Fole Kahn told us that in the Rebbe Rashab’s house they would make matza brei with fruit juice and were not concerned about shruya (gebrochts). It wasn’t a practice that was made public, but we see from here that there is no halachic concern that fruit juice will cause leavening. But if there is one drop of water in the fruit juice and it makes no difference what the ratio of fruit juice to water is, it can become chametz in an instant!

Matza is faith, and with faith, the smallest percentage of heresy destroys it and turns it into galus faith.

In order to believe 100% in what the Rebbe says, we need to have untainted emuna. We are not allowed to read articles by those who think otherwise, which cools our faith, and we cannot look at anything that broadcasts the opposite of what the Rebbe clearly said about the Besuras Ha’Geula and the eternal life of the Nasi Ha’dor. Nobody has immunity from heresy. Even one who thinks that he does not accept the approach of what he is reading is drawn to it without realizing it. We need to be as innocent as babies, not to see, not to hear, and certainly not to say things that express a lack of emuna in what the Rebbe says.

The point is not whether we believe, but whether we believe all the way.

When we finally believe with an emuna shleima, our eyes will immediately open and we will see the Rebbe sitting at the head of the set table and on the table is the Shor HaBar, the Leviasan, and the Yayin HaMeshumar and the world saying: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed!

From a farbrengen