35 YEARS LATER HE’S CLOSER TO US THAN EVER

Thirty-five years have already passed since the histalkus of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe. G-d forbid to say that for thirty-five years he has not been among us. G-d have mercy upon us for such a mindset! * Source materials compiled by Rabbi Shloma Majeski. Underlining is the emphasis of the compiler.

Translated by Boruch Merkur

The foregoing were all examples of the Rebbe MH”M’s approach in the wake of the Rebbe Rayatz’s histalkus. However, the Rebbe clearly maintained these views even decades later, as we see, for example, in the following sicha of 5745. In fact, the Rebbe himself draws attention to the long passage of time since the histalkus, thirty-five years, saying that that only causes his influence to be more active and more efficacious in the world:

(After Moshiach Tzidkeinu arrives, when the promise of “awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust” will be fulfilled [i.e., when those who have passed away will be resurrected], certainly the [Rebbe Rayatz’s] teachings on Chassidus will still be studied, and his Chassidim will continue to go “upon the straight path he has instructed of his ways, and we shall walk upon his path forevermore” (Tanya Igeres HaKodesh Ch. 27, pg. 146a). Indeed, together with the fact that Jews will learn Torah from the mouth of Moshiach Tzidkeinu – “A new Torah shall issue forth from Me” – each Chassid will go with his Rebbe. All of us – each of us – will go with our Rebbe, the leader of our generation, who continues to live even now – “hu ba’chayim – he is alive.”)

“Hu ba’chayim,” of course, means “chayim – life” in the literal sense, being alive in the physical world, “below ten handbreadths.” This is apparent from the context in which the phrase (“hu ba’chayim”) appears in the Gemara. Namely, in answer to the question, “Was it in vain then that they eulogized and embalmed [Yaakov Avinu], etc.?” That is, the Gemara anticipates that there will be those who argue that since there was a histalkus, a funeral procession, the saying of Kaddish, etc., they deduce that he is not [alive] in this physical world. In response to this perspective, the Gemara declares the ruling that notwithstanding the performance of these burial rites, etc., they all knew that the truth is that “he did not die,” rather, “hu ba’chayim – he is alive”!

In fact, not only does he remain alive after the histalkus, but more than that. After the histalkus he is present, alive, in this world more than he was before the histalkus, as stated in the Zohar: “The righteous who pass on are present in all worlds more than when they were alive.” Indeed, the Alter Rebbe elaborates in Igeres HaKodesh that “even in this world of action [the physical world] (not just the supernal worlds)…he is more present,” “more than when he was alive.”

The underlying reason, as explained there in Tanya:

“The life of a tzaddik is not physical life but spiritual life, which is faith, and [the] fear and love [of G-d].” Thus, “when the tzaddik was alive upon the earth, these three qualities were contained within their ‘vessel’ and ‘garment’ in the realm of physical space, which is the dimension of the soul as it is bound to its body.” This passage of Tanya teaches that during the physical life of the tzaddik he was subject to the limitations of a physical body – albeit a holy body, even holy of holies, but ultimately he was still limited by a physical body. For example, when the body becomes fatigued from Torah study, from giving tz’daka, and the like, it must rest.

However, after the histalkus, it is understood that the Rebbe is not constrained by bodily limitations. Thus, his efforts and influence are constant.

This is so with regard to the Rebbe’s service in the World of Truth [in Heaven]. There, he is constantly involved with the study of Torah and the fulfillment of Mitzvos (in the manner by which Mitzvos can be performed in the World of Truth).

Likewise this is true with regard to the Rebbe’s service “in this world of action [the physical world],” for “his progeny is alive.” That is, his students/emissaries study Torah and fulfill Mitzvos with his energy and on his shlichus – “the emissary of a man is like himself” – “[going] upon the straight path he has instructed of his ways, and we shall walk upon his path forevermore.” All those who add in the study of Torah and the fulfillment of Mitzvos overtly add in “he is alive,” including with regard to evoking blessings and bringing about salvation and success to the Chassidic community and to all the Jewish people. After his histalkus, all of this beneficence is bestowed “more than when he was alive.”

It comes out that although thirty-five years have already passed since the histalkus of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, G-d forbid to say that for thirty-five years now he has not been among us. G-d have mercy upon us for such a mindset!

The opposite is true. For thirty-five years now the Rebbe has been present among us and within us “more than when he was alive,” and from year to year his vitality and activity in the physical world progressively gains force. That is, he is becoming more active and his activities are being performed with more vitality, in a manner of “maalin ba’kodesh – advancing in matters of holiness.”

This goes well with what the Rebbe discusses in the hemshech distributed on the day of his hilula [Yud Shvat 5710, the day of his histalkus]. There the Rebbe states that the term “istalek” signifies bringing about a more profound manifestation and revelation of G-dliness. Thus, [the related term] “histalkus” is to be understood in the sense that he is manifest and revealed in a greater way, “more than when he was alive”!

(From the address of 12 Tammuz 5745)