THE MYSTERIOUS EVENT

On Friday, I noticed that Shmuely was going around the classroom and giving out a note to each boy. “Here, this is for you,” he said when he came to me and he stuck a paper into my hand. I opened the folded note curiously and read what it said in Shmuely’s curly handwriting:

“This Motzaei Shabbos, at the ‘Hoshia es Amecha’ shul, 14 Rechov Ha’Geula, please come dressed nicely.”

How interesting. What did he plan on doing there? I wondered. How odd that he did not include me. Is it a surprise party for someone? I tried to guess. No, nobody has a birthday coming up. I came to the conclusion that the best way to find out what Shmuely had prepared for us was … to ask him.

As you surely remember, he is my best friend and we always solved mysteries together. As far as I knew, there was no reason for us not to work together this time too. I went over to Shmuely at the end of class and asked him, “What event is taking place at the shul?”

“If I wanted people to know, I would have written it on the note,” he replied.

The truth is, his answer bothered me a bit. So what if he wanted to keep the event a secret – he could tell his best friend, couldn’t he? I decided I would do just what he did. I would also arrange something on my own. For a while now, I had wanted to ask the mashpia, R’ Zalman, what we kids could do to hasten the hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M. Now was my opportunity!

I had planned on approaching R’ Zalman with Shmuely but if he didn’t want to, well, it wasn’t necessary. I got Tzvi, who lives near me, to join me and together, we walked to the mashpia’s house after arranging a visit with him. R’ Zalman is the mashpia of the community we live in. He is a very special Chassid. The adults love to listen to him at the farbrengens that take place in the community and guests always come from nearby cities.

R’ Zalman does not forget the younger folk. He always remembers to interact with us kids and he even farbrengs with us now and then. So we felt confident to go and talk to him. We knocked on the door of his house which has a “Beis Chabad” sign on it and R’ Zalman opened the door. He welcomed us with a smile, caressed his graying beard gently, and invited us to sit down on the couch in the living room. Refreshments were already available on the small table and all we had to do was recite a bracha.

“So you want to hasten the hisgalus of the Rebbe …” he mumbled to himself. “You are true soldiers in Tzivos Hashem!” We remained shyly quiet and he asked us, “You recently told me that you are learning inyanei Moshiach and Geula, right?”

“We have a shiur in class every day during one of the breaks,” I said. 

“You know what,” R’ Zalman said, interrupting the silence after a few minutes of thought. “I think I have an idea for you.

“Have you noticed a mysterious thing that happens every month?” he asked somewhat dramatically. This sounded interesting. R’ Zalman paused for a moment and then continued in the same tone. “At the end of every month, the moon gets smaller and smaller until it is covered over and it disappears from view. A short while later it suddenly reappears. Do you know what that alludes to? The change from a small moon which then disappears and then becomes a new moon reflects the change from galus to the wondrous period of Geula.

“The moon also alludes to the Jewish people about whom it is said, ‘in the future they will be renewed,’ like the moon, and about Moshiach whose kingdom will soon be renewed. The disappearance of the moon for a while and its rebirth are reminiscent of the period in which we do not see the Rebbe, but who we will see again very soon.”

We enjoyed hearing the mashpia’s explanation about the connection between the moon and the Jewish people and the Geula but still wondered what this had to do with the purpose of our visit. Just as this thought went through our minds, R’ Zalman said, “After that introduction, let us move on to the idea I have for you. Since the renewal of the moon is associated with Moshiach, the Rebbe says we should be mehader (beautify) the Kiddush Levana ceremony with nice clothing and do it in the street with lots of people. This is all for the purpose of hastening the coming of Moshiach as we say in the Kiddush Levana prayer, ‘And they will seek Hashem their G-d and Dovid their king.’

“I think that you, as soldiers in Tzivos Hashem, are the right ones to organize a Kiddush Levana event for all the children in the neighborhood. I am sure that after seeing it, the adults will be inspired to have their own event and this way, we will hasten the hisgalus of the Rebbe MH”M.”

“What a great idea!” enthused Tzvi. “I think it pays to hurry up and arrange something for the very next Kiddush Levana. We can raffle off prizes to those who come and give out nosh to each child. We can recite the 12 P’sukim and it will be a major event that will definitely hasten the hisgalus.”

I listened to Tzvi and suddenly a voice in my brain said, “You want to hasten the hisgalus? What about Ahavas Yisroel? Why not include your friend Shmuely?” It wasn’t easy to do, but it was obvious to me that this voice was right.

The mashpia got up and we wanted to thank him and leave but then he suddenly added a few words which changed everything. “I just remembered that one of the boys recently spoke to me about this and it is very possible that he is already arranging something … So be in touch with him. I think his name is Shmuely.”

It took me a second and then I realized what Shmuely was planning for Motzaei Shabbos at the shul near the Chabad house. Now it no longer bothered me that Shmuely did not include me and I did not need his justification for what he did which he gave me later on. I just looked forward to the special event when we would hasten the hisgalus with the verse, “and they will seek Hashem their G-d and Dovid their king” and dancing “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu, Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed.”