IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ELDERS

As Gimmel Tammuz approaches, twenty years in which we haven’t seen the Rebbe, we wanted to know how the “lions of the group” reacted after Gimmel Tammuz 5754, those senior Chassidim who raised a generation of thousands who were influenced by their behavior, teachings, and guidance. * The reaction of R’ Mendel to the idea of changing the proclamation of Yechi, the request of R’ Michoel before reciting the bedtime Shma, the interview with R’ Itzke by Beis Moshiach in Tishrei 5755, the p’nimius’dike cry of R’ Reuven, R’ Heishke’s farbrengens, and the response of R’ Mottel to those who asked him, after Gimmel Tammuz, what do we do now? * Beis Moshiach follows in the footsteps of six of the ziknei ha’chassidim of the seventh generation.

In numerous places in his letters and sichos, the Rebbe Rayatz extols the importance and special privilege of basking in the presence of elder Chassidim whose job it is to bestow upon the bachurim and young men what they received from the elders of their generation. 

For Gimmel Tammuz, the twentieth since 5754, we looked to see what was the approach of the ziknei ha’chassidim right after Gimmel Tammuz. We will follow those Chassidim and mashpiim who raised a generation of bachurim, shluchim and Chassidim. This is how we will know how to conduct ourselves in the final moments of galus.

“Men of truth,” “the lions of the group,” some of whom we knew personally and some of whom we knew from farbrengens: R’ Mendel, R’ Michoel, R’ Mottel, R’ Itzke, R’ Reuven, and R’ Heishke. Chassidim who, from the position of their advanced years demonstrated utter bittul and hiskashrus to the Rebbe. They were baalei tzura (men of form) surviving remnants of a generation of giants who offered up their bodies on the altar of total self-sacrifice as they withstood the terrible decrees with mesirus nefesh in order to spread Judaism in communist Russia. These senior Chassidim demonstrated loyalty to all the Rebbe’s instructions and mivtzaim with the same enthusiasm as the most youthful members of the “seventh generation.”

The Rebbe Rayatz, in the 12 Tammuz farbrengen of 5708 said that the ziknei ha’chassidim throughout the generations would strongly admonish their students and the young Chassidim in general, and according to the circumstances of the times they remind them how Chassidim act in those situations.

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When we heard the news Gimmel Tammuz twenty years ago, nobody was ready for it. The confused feelings and reactions welled up spontaneously; the emuna, bitachon, the shock, the pain, the hope, the anticipation, the longing, the cheshbon ha’nefesh … and those who were plagued with despair and paralysis.

Since then, each one in his way tries to give expression to the Chassidishe hergesh that burns within and to fulfill the Rebbe’s wishes. Some study the D’var Malchus, some find consolation in a shiur Chassidus, some raise the torch of the Besuras Ha’Geula and the Goel; others work on the ten mivtzaim, some put a Moshiach sign in their window or over their door.

Gimmel Tammuz unites every last Chassid around the fierce desire and cry: We want to see our king!

Going back to 5754, 5755, 5756 … many Chassidim sought the wisdom of the ziknei ha’chassidim, wanting to hear from them how to respond. Their mushpaim yearned for guidance about how to relate to the new situation. 

With Chassidic strength, each of them in his way inspired his mushpaim and Anash to continue with the holy proclamation of Yechi and that we have a Rebbe and his life is eternal, and we need to strengthen ourselves with devotion to the Nasi Ha’dor.

R’ MENDEL: IT IS CLEAR TO US, WE MUST CONTINUE WITH YECHI!

Since the start of Mivtza Moshiach, it was the famous mashpia, R’ Mendel Futerfas, who led the way in publicizing the Besuras Ha’Geula and the Goel. R’ Mendel, who was a model of a Chassid and loyal soldier who carried out every order he was given, would repeatedly convey, in his farbrengens and talks with his mushpaim, the need to deepen one’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe, emphasizing the necessity of saying Yechi specifically at this time.

Right after Gimmel Tammuz 5754, despite his physical infirmity, he was one of those who loudly proclaimed Yechi. He also continued to encourage traveling and hiskashrus to the Rebbe.

When someone tried to say that perhaps after Gimmel Tammuz it would be fitting to add a few words to the Yechi sign, such as “may we immediately merit Yechi Adoneinu,” in order not to anger so-and-so, R’ Mendel nearly screamed: No, no, absolutely not! Don’t add a word, don’t delete a word, don’t change a word!

R’ Mendel said: Those who do not feel and do not want to cry out, there is no point in forcing them; let them be. As for me, it is clear: Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed.

His talmid, R’ Chaim Levi Yitzchok Ginsberg relates: When I asked him whether it could be publicized in his name that people should go to the Rebbe for Tishrei 5755, he exclaimed: M’darf foren? M’muz foren! (Do we need to go? We must go!). When discussion about the K’vutza came up and some suggested that the length of time be shortened, R’ Mendel exclaimed: An entire year! Not one minute less!

R’ MICHOEL: STRENGTHEN THE TALMIDIM WITH THE BELIEF THAT THE REBBE IS MOSHIACH

We saw that same devotion to the Rebbe by the Chassid, R’ Michoel Teitelbaum, a model of mesirus nefesh. He was the “Nachshon” who jumped to carry out the Rebbe’s wishes and founded the first yeshiva al taharas ha’kodesh, with no secular studies. 

R’ Michoel’s approach to inyanei Moshiach and Geula, especially after the Rebbe encouraged the kabbalas ha’malchus, and for over a year encouraged the singing of Yechi, was to enthusiastically publicize the Besuras Ha’Geula and kabbalas ha’malchus. This was despite those who had a hard time accepting and joining the tremendous revolution the Rebbe created.

R’ Michoel was firm in his beliefs and fought to strengthen the pure belief in the Rebbe and his identity as Moshiach among the 1000+ talmidim in his yeshiva. In his guidance to his staff he sought to instill this within the hearts of all the employees and talmidim. He instructed them to increase the inyanei Moshiach and he himself took drastic steps against someone who tried to fight this. He encouraged all Moshiach activities done in his school.

He himself farbrenged with the talmidim now and then and strengthened them in the belief that what the Rebbe said is true. He asked every bachur to devote a moment every night, before saying the bedtime Shma, to thinking about what he did to bring about the Rebbe’s hisgalus.

After Gimmel Tammuz, when certain people opined we should take things down a notch, R’ Michoel insisted that the talmidim be strengthened in the belief that the Rebbe is Moshiach and insisted that within the walls of the yeshiva Yechi be proclaimed and that it appear on materials printed by the yeshiva.

R’ MOTTEL: FROM THE REBBE’S PERSPECTIVE, NOTHING HAS CHANGED

The esteemed mashpia, R’ Mottel Kozliner, who set himself aside completely in order to carry out the Rebbe’s mivtzaim and wars, showed that same determination and commitment within the confusion created after Gimmel Tammuz. Many of Anash in Nachalat Har Chabad asked him, “What now?” R’ Mottel’s immediate response was, “What do we do? Now we need to sit and farbreng.” For over a year there was a farbrengen every night in which they spoke about strengthening hiskashrus to the Rebbe and how, from the Rebbe’s perspective nothing changed and we need to internalize that.

R’ Mottel, who as a boy and young married man was interrogated by the KGB dozens of times for his work on strengthening Judaism in Soviet Russia, consistently stoked the fire of emuna and hiskashrus to the Rebbe in his farbrengens and his conduct. He personally attended all the kinusim (gatherings) that took place after Gimmel Tammuz and even spoke once, which was unusual for him.

At his farbrengens, he used stories and parables, of which he had an enormous repertoire and wove them into thoughts he heard from Chassidim of previous generations. In the yeshiva in Nachalat Har Chabad, which he ran following a horaa he received from the Rebbe, he consistently instilled in his talmidim and mushpaim the principles of the darkei ha’chassidus as they were from the days of the Alter Rebbe until our generation, in his unique and authentic manner.

During the Moshiach seudos in later years in Kfar Chabad he explained the saying of Chazal that Moshiach comes to bring the tzaddikim back in t’shuva in a humorous vein as follows: Why do the tzaddikim need to be brought back in t’shuva? Because nearly all the baalei t’shuva proclaim and sing Yechi, while when it comes to the “tzaddikim,” not all of them are on board yet. Apparently, this is Moshiach’s job, to get the “tzaddikim” to behave like the baalei t’shuva and proclaim along with them …

After he said this the crowd got up and began enthusiastically singing Yechi, but a few, who didn’t like it, tried shushing them. R’ Mottel was very bothered by this and he stood on the steps near the Aron Kodesh and began shouting: It’s one thing if you are not holding by Yechi, let be unto you what is yours, but how is it that you try and prevent and disturb others who are singing it!? If, over the four cups that we drink at Moshiach’s seuda, the Rebbe Rashab said, “this is the seudas Moshiach,” it certainly could be said about Yechi Adoneinu that “this is Moshiach’s seuda,” for it is what the Moshiach’s seuda is all about!

Then he continued farbrenging and said: It is known how everybody used to push to eat the kasha of Yud-Tes Kislev, because it was known that whoever eats the kasha of Yud-Tes Kislev, the kasha of the Alter Rebbe, would not die without doing t’shuva. A person knows himself that with his revealed powers he can’t be certain that he will be found worthy and so he tries, with all his might, at least to hold on to the klamka (doorknob) of Chassidus – the doorknob of the Rebbe now is Yechi Adoneinu! We need to hold on to it tightly and push and do everything in our power to grab it and cling to it.

R’ ITZKE: DON’T BE AMALEK WHICH COOLS OFF EMUNA

He was born on the day the Rebbe Rayatz was freed and the Rebbe Rayatz said his name should be Yitzchok. In his youth he was educated among the great Chassidim who often visited his parents’ home in Moscow, which was located near Red Square, the communists’ stronghold. That was R’ Itzke Gansbourg, the Rebbe’s soldier.

As someone whose every step of his busy life in askanus demonstrated his being a Chassid and mekushar, he displayed a special koch in spreading the Besuras Ha’Geula. He also received encouragement from the Rebbe for this. He was most creative and came up with original ideas of how to publicize the Rebbe’s prophecies to the world while using all that modernity has to offer, and it cost him a fortune. For example, in his later years, he produced a high quality video about the Rebbe’s message to all of humanity about the Geula.

R’ Itzke, who was drafted to serve on the first vaad of Tzach in 5711, displayed the same level of obedience in 5755 too. In an interview he gave Beis Moshiach in Tishrei 5755 he revealed to what extent publicizing Moshiach’s identity burned in his bones. Here are some excerpts:

There was a religious pharmacist who knew the Rebbe from France, whose son went off the derech. A few years later the son did t’shuva and began growing a beard. His father, who was unaccustomed to this, wrote to the Rebbe and asked him to convince his son to stop because, as he put it, “you can be religious without a beard.” The Rebbe responded that for every person who chooses a certain path, in this case, one of religious observance, there are things which, if they are tampered with, can ruin everything, and in this case, could weaken his son completely.

So too with belief in Moshiach. Not everybody is so intellectual as to be able to understand all the points for and against, but someone who weakens, disparages, or cools off the proclaiming of Yechi, takes responsibility for being Amalek who tries to cool off all matters of Torah and mitzvos.

In general, a widespread claim is that “it does not sound realistic and people are likely to think you are crazy.” We say “Shalom aleichem malachai ha’shoreis” every Friday night. Does it sound normal? Who are we welcoming? And yet, we have never heard that anyone tried to hide the fact that we are talking to angels with the claim that it doesn’t sound normal. Everyone can understand that there are things that are supernatural and ultimately, Moshiach too, despite all the investment within nature, is still an above-nature kind of thing, “And he shall be animated by the fear of Hashem and he won’t judge by what he sees …”

The Rebbe said hundreds of times that Moshiach is about to come. When the Rebbe tells us things it is not just a prophecy of what will happen in the future; the Rebbe sees it. It is like Reuven who lives on the top floor who warns Shimon, his downstairs neighbor, that water will be entering his apartment any minute. It’s not that Reuven is a prophet; it’s just that he sees that his pipe burst. The same is true for us. The Rebbe is way higher than us and he sees what is going on up above and he informs us that within a short time the Geula will reach this world too.

Suddenly, we pick which words of the Rebbe we want to accept and which not. When the Rebbe said miyad (immediately) is an acronym for Moshe, Yehoshua, doram (their generation) or even the name of the Baal Shem Tov and even the names of the Rebbe Rashab, the Rebbe Rayatz, that’s fine, but when there’s the addition of “Menachem shmo,” that already is not rational and we can’t publicize it? That is an example of being selective when it comes to the Rebbe’s teachings and horaos.

R’ REUVEN: ALL THE PROBLEMS COME FROM THE FAULTY FOUNDATION 

R’ Reuven Dunin was a mashpia of a different sort. Something unique. He first became acquainted with the world of Chabad when he showed up at the zal of Tomchei T’mimim in Lud in khaki shorts. He got a taste of Chassidus and went to the Rebbe and became utterly mekushar to him. The Rebbe reciprocated his great love and had a special relationship with him that few Chassidim had. 

In his work of being mekarev people in Eretz Yisroel, he attracted hundreds and even thousands and started a new generation of Lubavitchers and sabras, to whom emuna in the Rebbe was completely “normal.”

R’ Reuven shied away from interpretations whose source was in one’s own personal intellect. That was the case when Mivtza Moshiach began, and then with greater vigor after the Rebbe encouraged the singing of Yechi. As a Chassid and mekushar he knew this was the Rebbe’s desire and he would publicize it everywhere.

After Gimmel Tammuz too, he spread the identity of Moshiach when he spoke at farbrengens and other times. He wore a Moshiach flag on his lapel and hat. He also carried around a bag of these little flags and gave them to whoever said he would wear them.

He instilled the belief that the Rebbe MH”M is chai v’kayam at his farbrengens and in conversations with hundreds of his mushpaim. At one of his farbrengens he expressed the foundation of emuna that even after the “obscuring” nothing has changed. He did so in his unique style:

“We simply must, please excuse me, start learning Tanya. I hope I am mistaken but sometimes I get the impression that people are embarrassed to sit with a Tanya, especially a little one, and the first pages … When this foundation is faulty, all kinds of problems crop up: He says that ‘after Gimmel Tammuz’ it doesn’t sit well with him. Help me understand what happened to you? What ‘sat well’ with you before Gimmel Tammuz? And what ‘happened’ after Gimmel Tammuz? Explain it in simple terms: what happened to you that you suddenly can’t say? What’s all the stammering about?

“What can I say … Sometimes, when I hear the way they proclaim Yechi, rachmana litzlan, you could think you were in some lair or underground cellar in Russia … They have to clear their throats before … And this can happen even in the Rebbe’s ‘four cubits’ (770). If it’s Yechi Adoneinu, then it’s Yechi Adoneinu!”

R’ HEISHKE: ANTICIPATORY LONGINGS 

R’ Heishke Dubrawski did not farbreng much with his mouth but his written farbrengens were famous. The Chassidic fervor that flowed in his veins, his fascinating memories of the lives of Chassidim in Samarkand, the Chassidic perspective he portrayed, his strong hiskashrus to the Rebbe – he bequeathed this to thousands of people who were exposed to his captivating farbrengens that he conveyed in his rich, colorful and lively language, by way of his special writing abilities.

For many years, with a powerful and impassioned style and with writing that exuded great love for the Rebbe and suffused with unique Chabad flavor, R’ Heishke stood strong and fought to defend the honor of Lubavitch. Just as he couldn’t stand the Misnagdim’s attacks on Lubavitch, even more so, he could not stand the internal Lubavitch attacks on the pure faith of Chassidim in the Rebbe MH”M and his eternal life even after Gimmel Tammuz.

Without any qualms and without hesitation, with the same passionate inner-Chassidic-truth in which he expressed his admiration for the elder Chassidim of the previous generation, R’ Heishke was full of admiration for the young bachurim who “remembered” the Rebbe not because they saw him or heard him but only from what is written and what they saw on video. And still, they were full of longing to hear every detail, every movement and glance of the Rebbe.

“The most amazing thing,” wrote R’ Heishke about the bachurim of the seventh generation, “is that these are not, G-d forbid, the yearnings of orphanhood that fill the eyes with a glint of nostalgia. These are longings of energized and alert anticipation, like children who know their father is almost there, ‘standing behind the wall.’”

In another article, exuding love for the bachurim who come to Beis Chayeinu despite the “concealment” he wrote:

One day in Tishrei, and then a second and third day, when I walked into the big zal of 770, I blurted out unthinkingly, “Dear father, what is going on here!” I had never seen anything like it, even though, over the years, I had become used to this “Mikdash me’at” being filled with surprises and innovations of all sorts.

We older Jews had to remain standing in the doorway. All the benches and places to sit in the beis midrash, which contain thousands of people, were taken over by the bachurim with refined faces, full of chein, who came from all over the world! Over 1000 talmidim “took over” the “Beis Rabbeinu in Bavel” and the sound of Torah was thunderous!

Why do they leave their yeshivos and their warm homes and come to 770 for Tishrei? From where do these b’nei Torah take the money for the many travel expenses? From where do they get the strength, as soon as they arrive, after nights without sleep from traveling, to sit with such vitality and give themselves over to a complicated Tosafos or a deep topic in Chassidus – from where? Questions …

However, when you get to know these guests it all becomes clear and is in line with an even bigger chiddush:

They’ve actually been traveling to Beis Chayeinu for months. I’m talking about the best of the talmidim from the Chabad yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel and elsewhere. For the material expenses and the spiritual acquisitions of the trip, they prepared for a long time in learning hours upon hours after night seder, learning pages of Gemara, Mishnayos, maamarei Chassidus; many of these young talmidim earned monetary prizes for this, which they hoarded (not to buy a computer or the like) so they would have the wherewithal to pay for a ticket to America!

And who knows? I heard that their spiritual preparations in learning and Chassidishe davening full of heartfelt chayus and neshama, were even more than their efforts in acquiring the material means. But once again the same story: even those who saw it with their own eyes did not make a big deal about it.

I think that more than their yiras Shamayim, their Chassidishkait and their diligence, what ought to arouse our wonder is that burning sincerity, the pure faith which is seen in every glance of theirs, and that feeling of certainty that they have, 770 is still full of light and warmth; in this place “where Torah is made great,” the learning and davening look altogether different; in this “Mikdash me’at” of Beis Rabbeinu in Bavel, the “western light” did not, G-d forbid, go out and from it so many other candles, souls, are lit.

They are not involved in philosophizing or in asking questions. They don’t even wallow in nostalgia about the “good old days.” But the shining light in their eyes testifies, like a thousand witnesses, that they are encountering, sensing and delighting in the main thing, the reason that brought them here after such lengthy preparations.

The Rebbe, Nasi Doreinu, Melech HaMoshiach looked at all Jews and at every Jew, with a special fatherly-Rebbe look; but for the yeshiva bachurim (as well as the girls in his schools) he had a completely different look, a kind of warm gaze that transcends words. So too, by these talmidim and talmidos you can discern a different way of looking at the Rebbe, one that is filled with longing and anticipation.