R’ Bentzion Milecki, a senior Chabad rabbi in Australia, received dozens of answers from the Rebbe regarding Hafatzas HaYahadus. He was one of the founders of the first hafatza organization in Sydney and has served as the rav of the second largest shul there for three decades. * In this interview, he discusses the chiddush of the Rebbe, the fact that every Jew is a shliach, and shares an extraordinary miracle he experienced with an answer he received from the Rebbe four years ago.
When he walks the streets of Sydney, Australia, he’s hard to miss. R’ Bentzion Milecki is about sixty years old, tall, with a gray beard, and has a Chassidishe chein that transmits calm and tranquility. At the end of a four hour interview with him, I can say that R’ Milecki is not someone you readily forget. Don’t let his smile mislead you. He is a man with a goal. In the past three decades since he arrived on shlichus in Sydney, he has fought staunch battles for the principles of our faith, remaining firm yet pleasant. It seems to me that his personal conscience and his spirit are still as sharp as a young man in his twenties.
Despite the upheavals and the difficulties he faces, R’ Milecki is unafraid to present the Torah’s view on sensitive topics such as Mihu Yehudi, Shleimus HaAretz and the Besuras HaGeula. With his unique skill and talent he remains unfazed by the winds of modernity that seek to undermine traditional Judaism. With awe-inspiring leadership firmly based in undiluted tradition, he stands at the helm of the second largest synagogue in Sydney, which numbers 1800 congregants and community members.
He recently had the second mikva for men and women built in Sydney. Until then, for many years, 45,000 people had to manage with one women’s mikva that made it hard for many families who did not live in the area.
R’ Milecki was born in Melbourne to a traditional family. When he was five, he went to a Jewish school and by a relatively young age became involved with Chabad. When he was eleven years old, the first group of shluchim arrived in Australia. The shluchim settled in and began befriending young Jews. Young Bentzion was very taken by them. The one who made the greatest impression on him in Chassidishe conduct and the learning of Chassidus was R’ Shloma Majeski, now the dean of Machon Chana in Crown Heights.
As a result of their acquaintanceship, young Bentzion focused on his learning within the Torah institutions of Melbourne until he concluded his learning in the Yeshiva G’dola as a Lubavitcher bachur in every respect. In Elul 5735 he went to the Rebbe for the first time and began learning in 770. He remained for three and a half years. He married the daughter of the mashpia R’ Menachem Mendel Morosov.
R’ Milecki was one of the founders of the first institution in Sydney that reached out to the broader public and was identified as a Chabad organization. Under the name “Chabad Outreach,” he opened an organization whose goal was to create a spiritual revolution among young people and students. Workers for this organization visited elementary schools, high schools, universities and wherever youth congregated. They brought with them a refreshing, spirited Yiddishkait. This greatly impacted many people, motivating them to live a Jewish life. R’ Milecki wrote reports and letters to the Rebbe about his involvement in mivtzaim and received numerous responses.
In addition to serving as rav of the second largest shul in Sydney, he is one of the senior Lubavitcher rabbanim in Australia. He is especially admired for his knowledge and command of Halachic issues and for his excellent shiurim in English. He explains difficult subjects in Torah and Halacha with exceptional clarity and can be understood even by those with minimal knowledge.
THE REBBE GAVE EVERYONE THE ABILITY TO BE A LEADER
To mark Yud Shvat, we sat with R’ Milecki and asked him: what does it mean to be a Chassid in the seventh generation?
His response was that in order to properly understand our role, we first need to define the chiddush of the Rebbe in the seventh generation as compared to previous generations.
The Rebbe said that there are differences between the generations, and those differences define the unique role of each generation. In his sichos, the Rebbe points out that generally speaking there are three stages and periods in the dissemination of G-dliness in the world: the era of the Avos, before the Giving of the Torah; the Giving of the Torah; and Yemos HaMoshiach. In the time of the Avos, the revelation of G-dliness began. Then Mattan Torah took place, in which the name Yud Kei Vav Kei was revealed and there was a joining of the upper and lower worlds. Then the period of Yemos HaMoshiach commenced, in which we will see how G-dliness and the word of Hashem is vested in the reality and physicality of the world.
Similarly, the Rebbe delineates the differences in the three eras of the last three Chabad leaders. The era of the Avos is likened to the avoda of the Rebbe Rashab. Then, during the Rebbe Rayatz’s nesius, the Nasi began spreading Judaism to one and all. The third stage is lead by the Rebbe, Moshiach!
Perhaps we can add, based on what is mentioned a lot in Chassidus, that the uniqueness of the Rebbe is expressed the way he revealed how every Jew, no matter who he is, can contribute to actualizing the ultimate purpose. The Rebbe, with the perspective of Chassidus, discerned the G-dly point that lies within every Jew. He also found the proper mode of healing for the soul of every Jew when he revealed to him the inner strength that lies within him and which he needs to arouse.
The former Chief Rabbi of England, R’ Jonathan Sacks, repeated an idea that he arrived at after much thought. R’ Sacks said that people think the Rebbe’s success lies in his vast following of thousands of Chassidim. But they’ve missed a more important point, that a good leader creates disciples, but a great leader creates leaders. The Rebbe did not just create disciples; he created leaders. The Rebbe gave the ability to every person to be a leader; every person can illuminate his surroundings.
Since every one of us can be a leader, we need to ensure that we reach out to others effectively, so that they too can be leaders. Therefore, all the “Lights of Tohu” of the Besuras HaGeula and Inyanei Moshiach need to be placed in “Vessels of Tikkun.” As the Rebbe said, “To be mekabel p’nei Moshiach,” that the recipients receive it in a p’nimius’dike way.
The Rebbe once told the following story. The wife of the Alter Rebbe remarked, “Mine says,” referring to her husband. The Alter Rebbe, hearing this, said: if with one mitzva [kiddushin] I become hers, with all Your Mitzvos (Hashem) I surely become Yours. Then he explained the great quality of a woman according to Chassidus, that she is a mekabel (recipient). This is the central theme in our avoda, to be mekablim. We need to be mekabel the matter within ourselves so that we can be mekabel Moshiach with our ten soul powers.
***
I asked him, does that mean that even a Chassid who is not a shliach but works for a living is also on the Rebbe’s shlichus? He said:
Of course! Every person has a role as a shliach. I say this to my children who did not go on shlichus. Every person needs to see himself as a shliach in whatever he does; it should be his primary self-identification. When I am asked to describe myself, I say: I am a shliach of the Rebbe, who also serves as a rav. The point is that I am a shliach and everyone is a shliach.
There is a problem today in that people think that only those who are “official shluchim” are shluchim. An official shliach is not the only shliach! Every Jew is a shliach. The word “shliach” with an additional letter “Yud” is numerically equal to Moshiach. This pertains to every single Jew.
Every person must invest his particular work with the innermost point of the Jewish soul. They tell of a tailor who had yechidus; the Rebbe explained how in every detail of his work he can see G-dliness and share this with people. When this tailor left the Rebbe’s room, he said he is certain that the Rebbe’s father or grandfather was a tailor because the Rebbe displayed such great knowledge in the details of his work that only professionals are privy to. This is the idea that the Rebbe is teaching us – to know how to insert Yiddishkait and shlichus within every detail of life.
THE REBBE DEMANDS AND PROVIDES THE KOCHOS
Chassidic passion is felt in every word that R’ Milecki says. That feeling only intensifies when he tells of his first yechidus with the Rebbe:
I had my first yechidus in 5737, as a bachur in 770. I asked the secretary, R’ Leibel Groner, to give me an appointment but he pushed me off. Finally, after asking him many times, he gave me an appointment on condition that I write my name and my mother’s name and not say a word, that I just go in and come right out.
I was extremely excited. I wrote some personal matters on a piece of paper, including my confession that sometimes I felt that I had no self-confidence and I was concerned about this.
I fasted, and when it was my turn I went into the Rebbe’s room with my note and a note from the hanhala, like every bachur who learned in 770. As I stood there, I said the SheHechiyanu blessing as one says the first time upon going in to see the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered amen. My note had four items and the Rebbe answered each one in order. The Rebbe did not look at me, as was the practice of the Rebbe toward bachurim, and I was silent. The Rebbe just asked me whether I spoke Yiddish and I answered yes.
The Rebbe marked each question in my note and responded. Regarding what I had asked, why I did not believe in myself, the Rebbe said I should study chapter 41 of Tanya where it says that Hashem stands near every person, like a person who stands next to you. When the Rebbe said this, he looked up at me. That was the only time the Rebbe looked at me during the yechidus. Then the Rebbe lowered his gaze and repeated that I should learn chapter 41.
When I left the room, R’ Groner yelled at me for taking too long. After that yechidus, I no longer felt as I did before. I remembered what the Rebbe told me that Hashem is standing near me, which infused me with an exceptional spiritual inspiration.
The point which remained for me from that yechidus, and which I live with till this day, is this: learn chapter 41 of Tanya and then you won’t have problems. You will feel that Hashem is standing by you and this will give you a feeling of specialness. The Alter Rebbe writes that the world was created for every Jew. Hashem sets aside all His worlds and uniquely bestows His Kingship upon him. When we meditate on the fact that Hashem is looking at us and anticipating that we do all the right things, that boosts our self-confidence enormously. Hashem Himself has confidence in my abilities. What more do I need? If Hashem expects us to perform, surely we have the ability to do so.
Since then, I haven’t had problems with self-confidence. What the Rebbe said gave me the ability to believe that I can do everything demanded of me because Hashem is standing by my side.
This is precisely how every Chassid ought to feel. When the Rebbe demands of us to bring Moshiach, we need to think about the Rebbe standing and gazing at us and expecting us to do his shlichus. If we contemplate this as we should, we will have no doubt that we have all the necessary qualities that it takes to reach the goal. We were given endless kochos to light up the world in spreading Judaism and Chassidus until we merit the revelation of the light of Moshiach with the hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.
THE REBBE’S ANSWER THAT CAME JUST IN TIME
R’ Milecki shared with us an answer that he received from the Rebbe four years ago:
Four years ago, after facing numerous difficulties, I began to consider leaving the rabbinate. Since I had never received an explicit horaa to be in this position as a shlichus, and it was only after I was chosen that I received the Rebbe’s bracha, I did not find it problematic to leave.
I was thinking along these lines one Friday. That Shabbos, my wife was in Montreal for her niece’s marriage to R’ Leibel Groner’s grandson. I remained in Australia.
Sunday morning, I received an excited phone call from my wife. It was right after Shabbos was over in the US, and she said she had an answer from the Rebbe for me. I told her that I had not written to the Rebbe so I wasn’t expecting to receive any response.
She said she was not referring to an answer in the Igros Kodesh but an actual letter from the Rebbe in his handwriting! Needless to say, I was shocked and I asked how this came to be.
What happened was, at the wedding that took place in Montreal, a t’shura was given out with handwritten responses of the Rebbe and in one of them it said: Do everything possible so that Rabbi Milecki definitely continues in the rabbinate and that the shul continues to be Orthodox.
When my wife read me the answer over the phone, I was speechless. I just stood there and cried. It was a letter that had come just in time. I had not known of the existence of this letter and till today, I do not know to whom the Rebbe wrote this note. But what is clear is that I received it on time!
Of course I immediately dropped the idea of leaving the shul. Although I was still afraid that I’d have problems, with a letter like this from the Rebbe I knew that I had the kochos to deal with them!
By the way, until the revelation of this letter, I would sign my last name in Hebrew with an “ayin,” but when I saw that the Rebbe left it out, I started writing it as the Rebbe did.
MOSHIACH ON THE AGENDA
In Shvat 5752, after not being able to go to the Rebbe for a number of years due to the enormous debt I had, the members of my community wanted to give me a ticket so I could go. I wrote to the Rebbe about it and added that if I went to the Rebbe, I would be unable to participate in the Kinus for Agudas Rabbanei Australia and New Zealand. This was a very important gathering in which I wanted to take part and speak about the coming of Moshiach so that everyone would pasken and agree that Moshiach needs to come.
On the one hand, I yearned to see the Rebbe; on the other hand, I understood the importance of my attending this meeting. That is why I wrote to the Rebbe and the Rebbe’s answer was that I should stay.
I was appointed deputy chairman of the meeting, and with the help of another rav I was able to get everyone to agree to call out to every Jew on the continent that we are in the time suited for the coming of Moshiach and we need to get ready.
To conclude, it bears repeating: every person needs to use all his abilities and all opportunities that arise to inform others of the imminent Geula and to urge them to welcome Moshiach, may he come now!