TRANSFORMATIVE TORAH CLASSES

The Rebbe MH”M asks of us to bring about a revolution of consciousness, transforming us from galus people to Geula people, but it’s not easy. The Rebbe said it’s difficult to instill the awareness that we are on the verge of Yemos HaMoshiach so that we start living Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. * The Rebbe’s solution is to start learning about it. * Shluchim, lecturers and ordinary Chassidim, who arrange and give shiurim on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, tell about the tremendous impact of Toras HaGeula and the shift in thinking that these teachings effect.

It happened during the summer, ten years ago. A dear friend of mine, Rabbi Dudu Lieder, a shliach in Melbourne, called and asked whether we could host a distinguished professor for Shabbos. At that time, he served as the department head of Jewish Studies at Bar Ilan University. My wife and I were happy to oblige. On Erev Shabbos Parshas Shoftim, a pleasant man showed up who, immediately after the initial “Shalom Aleichem,” let us know that he hadn’t come for the material accommodations but primarily for spiritual reasons. In short, he wanted to use every free minute to learn the Rebbe’s teachings.

I was very happy to have such a special guest and since it was Parshas Shoftim, we devoted several hours to in-depth learning of the Rebbe’s sicha on Shoftim from the year 5751. To us, Chabad Chassidim, this sicha expresses more than any other the Rebbe’s prophecy about Geula, for in this sicha the Rebbe says we should publicize that we merited that Hashem appointed a prophet in our generation, and his main prophecy is that the time for the Geula has arrived. But actually, more than half the sicha is an analysis of the difference between judges and advisers and explains where the policemen disappeared to in the promises of Geula. It’s a fascinating sicha.

When we started the sicha, I was curious to see how the professor would react to the Rebbe’s saying that the Nasi HaDor is the Navi of our generation, etc. I expected that when we reached Ois Yud and on, the questions and challenges would begin, but it didn’t happen. The professor was fascinated by the Torah construct and the analytic exposition that the Rebbe develops in the beginning of the sicha, and after he got into the flow of ideas, the practical conclusion which the Rebbe reaches, determining that the Nasi of the generation is the prophet of the generation, and that we need to publicize to the entire generation the prophecy of Geula, spoke to the intellect and understanding of the professor.

Not only that, when we were davening in 770 towards the end of Shabbos and the professor saw copies of the weekly D’var Malchus on the tables, he asked if it was okay for him to take two copies. The reason he gave is that “I must learn with my children the Rebbe’s amazing explanation for the need to integrate the roles of judge and adviser.”

Of course, we did not just suffice with learning the sicha of Shoftim. He wanted to know what the Rebbe had to say regarding his identity as Moshiach, and over Shabbos we looked into a number of sichos in which the Rebbe asserts that the Nasi of the generation who lives in New York is the Moshiach of the generation (Mishpatim 5752), and 770 is the gematria of Beis Moshiach (Beis Rabbeinu Sh’B’Bavel), and that Chassidim should point to their Rebbe as Moshiach (Tazria-Metzora 5751), and others.

I tried, to the best of my ability, to explain and clarify each quote, and mainly to present it in the context of the entire sicha, which lends even broader and deeper meaning to each quote. As a professor involved in Jewish Studies, it was important to him to clarify regarding each sicha how it was written based on what the Rebbe said, and whether the Rebbe personally edited what was written. Simply put, this man was a serious Jew.

On Motzaei Shabbos, as we were walking from 770 to my home, the professor wanted to know exactly what the divergent views in Chabad were about. I told him that as he saw firsthand over Shabbos, the Rebbe testified about himself in an extremely clear fashion that he is Melech HaMoshiach, and therefore all Chabad Chassidim believe with complete faith that the Rebbe is Moshiach. The differences of opinion, I explained, deal primarily with the issue of explaining these things to people outside of Lubavitch. We believe that all of the sichos of the Rebbe were meant to be publicized, and therefore it is necessary to promote the Rebbe’s views without concealing anything, but there are those of the opinion that certain sichos on the subject of Moshiach are difficult to explain, and they therefore prefer to focus on other teachings of the Rebbe that can be understood by all.

The professor asked me, “What do you mean with the categorization ‘other teachings of the Rebbe that can be understood by all?’” Does the sicha that we learned today in depth not fall into that category?”

When I told him, with some embarrassment, that those Chassidim who prefer to downplay the subject of Moshiach would not be quick to learn the sicha of Shoftim 5751 with him, he responded with loud surprise: “The ideas are presented in such a clear and structured manner. Why do they think that someone who is not a Chabad Chassid would not understand it?”

This story brought home for me the great power of Torah study on the topics of Geula and Moshiach. Here was a professor who was not a Lubavitcher Chassid, about whom it is reasonable to assume that we differ on many issues, and yet, when he heard the prophecy of Geula in an in-depth class (we studied the sicha for nearly three hours!), the ideas penetrated his consciousness in such a clear way that he could not understand why there are Chassidim who are apprehensive about publicizing the sicha in which the Rebbe says to publicize that the Nasi HaDor is the Navi HaDor and about his main prophecy that “Hinei Zeh Moshiach Ba.”

In the sicha of Parshas Balak, the Rebbe spoke sadly about how despite all the great giluyim of the year 5751, Ar’enu Niflaos – I Will Show Them Wonders, and despite the Rebbe’s making a commotion, still “we see that it’s difficult to instill an awareness and feeling that we are standing on the threshold of Yemos HaMoshiach literally, to the point of starting to live with Inyanei Moshiach and Geula.”

In that sicha, the Rebbe revealed that “the advice for this is to learn Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, because the Torah has the power (G-d’s wisdom which transcends the world) to change man’s nature, so that even if on the level of his feelings he is still, G-d forbid, on the outside of the matter of Geula (since he did not yet leave his inner galus), through learning the teachings of Inyanei Geula he rises to a level and state of Geula and starts to live Inyanei Geula with the knowledge and awareness and feeling that ‘Hinei Zeh Ba.’”

This sicha follows the Rebbe’s sicha of Shabbos Parshas Tazria-Metzora 5751 (a week and a half after giving us the responsibility to bring Moshiach), in which the Rebbe reveals that “the direct way” to bring the Geula is by learning Inyanei Geula and Moshiach.

In Tazria-Metzora, the Rebbe talks about preparing the world for Moshiach, while in Balak he talks about the Rebbe being ready, as he says, “After seeing the wonders that testify that this is the year in which Melech HaMoshiach is revealed,” the problem now is with us, that we do not sufficiently live the Geula. Learning about Geula will make the change in us and will transform us from galus-people to Geula-people.

As the Rebbe put it, “It is not only as a segula to hasten and bring the coming of Moshiach and Geula closer, but also and mainly to start living Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, living with the time of Yemos HaMoshiach by the intellect becoming filled with and permeated by understanding and a grasp of Inyanei Moshiach and Geula in the Torah. Then from the intellect it spreads and permeates also to the emotions of the heart, to the point of actual conduct in thought, speech, and action, in a way that is suited to this special time, as we stand on the threshold of Geula and point with a finger, ‘Behold this (Melech HaMoshiach) comes.’”

I spoke with shluchim, speakers and ordinary Chassidim who arrange and give shiurim on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. They shared stories with me about the enormous impact and influence of the Toras HaGeula and the transformation in thinking that it causes.

MOSHIACH IN THE PARSHA – EVERYONE CAN!

“Moshiach B’Parasha” is the biggest project today to spread shiurim on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, and it is one of the projects of the “International Chabad Center to Greet Moshiach” in Crown Heights.

Machon “Moshiach B’Parasha” picked up the gauntlet about five years ago and began to develop a series of special classes that include the parsha and topics in Geula and Moshiach. Thanks to these ready-made classes, hundreds of new classes have started in recent years in Inyanei Geula, using the tools and resources such as source sheets for participants and other aides for the one giving the shiur.

Five full cycles that encompass all the weekly sidras, holidays and Chassidic special dates, have already been published.

Rabbi Chanoch Chaskind, director of this project, and Rabbi Daniel Moster who recently joined, told us about the project:

The uniqueness of these classes, “Moshiach B’Parasha,” is that they are directed at the already familiar, captive audience, that wants to hear shiurim on the weekly parsha. The first class in nearly every Chabad House will be on the parsha. As Chassidim, we know that the Rebbe told us to learn Inyanei Moshiach and Geula since this is the “direct way” to bring Moshiach. When the classes on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula are based on sources in the parsha, we can accomplish two goals at the same time and reach a larger audience.

These shiurim make it possible for a shliach who wants to interest his community in the teachings of the Rebbe and Inyanei Moshiach and Geula to accomplish this by offering accessibility and adaptation even for someone who can’t yet open a Likkutei Sichos and learn directly from the wellspring. In the course of the shiurim there are interesting stories and Midrashim connected to the topic that add flavor to each shiur.

Today, there are hundreds of people who give shiurim through “Moshiach B’Parasha” in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries, including shluchos who give these classes to women. Every week, they receive an email that includes the shiur, a source sheet, and a flow chart of the content, which enables the speaker to easily remember the flow of the shiur.

Shluchim and others who give classes are invited to subscribe and receive the class materials via email, at no charge, at the website: MoshiachBP.com

Archives of previous classes from the last five cycles, which includes a detailed catalog of the classes, can also be accessed at the site.

MOSHIACH IN GROUPS OF TEN – WHAT ABOUT YOUR SHUL?

Last year in Crown Heights, a weekly brochure began to be distributed with a list of weekly classes on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. At first, there were only a few classes on the list, but within a short time the list grew. Today, it lists 46 weekly classes, some in Crown Heights and some in other cities and countries. Along with the list appears a fascinating weekly column on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula in down-to-earth language.

Rabbi Yitzchok Raskin of Crown Heights, who is behind this initiative, told me how it all began:

“Last year, on Shabbos Parshas Tazria-Metzora, I learned the last sicha we heard from the Rebbe, as of now, on this Parsha. It’s the sicha where the Rebbe states that the direct way to bring the Geula is through learning Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. At the end of the sicha, the Rebbe says there is a special quality to learning in groups of ten, beyond the advantage of ‘ten who sit and delve into Torah, the Sh’china rests among them.’ Because when you learn Inyanei Moshiach and Geula in a group, it’s more exciting and joy-inducing and this leads to greater yearning for the coming of Moshiach.

“After learning the sicha, I decided to start attending a weekly shiur on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. But when I looked for one, I saw there weren’t many to choose from, and in many of the existing shiurim, the sicha is merely read but it’s not learned in depth, as the Rebbe instructed. However, this is so important because in order to live Moshiach, it needs to penetrate the mind and emotions.

“That week, I met with R’ Sholom Gansbourg, a young married man, and we decided to do something about this. We spoke with maggidei shiurim and the gabbai of a shul and started organizing shiurim on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. Our requirements for shiurim were that the maggid shiur prepare a well-constructed shiur on a certain topic in Inyanei Moshiach and Geula and present it concisely in half an hour. There are people who can’t concentrate for longer than half an hour, and if it’s longer, you lose the effect of the shiur.

“It wasn’t easy, and as R’ Sholom Charitonov told me, if the Rebbe himself said it’s difficult, it won’t be easy to generate interest in the subject, but it must be done! We started with one shiur and today there are 46. We started a website devoted to the topic at www.learnmoshiach.com and many shiurim are put up on the site weekly.

“In addition to the regular shiurim, I spoke with Rabbi Reuven Wolf who has recently become known as an impassioned speaker on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. Together, we produced a series of videos about the Geula process taking place in the world over the past year. R’ Wolf analyzes current events and presents sichos of the Rebbe and Midrashim that illuminate the latest news in the light of the Geula. These shiurim are on the website and are also available via WhatsApp and social media. We’ve gotten very positive feedback about them.

“Now, we are working on an Inyanei Moshiach and Geula curriculum, so that every Chassid with a reasonably sound Torah background can give an interesting shiur on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. It will be a series of shiurim based on the excellent HaT’kufa V’HaGeula, edited by the shliach R’ Yosef Yitzchok Meizlich, who covers the topic of Geula and Moshiach from the beginning of Creation until the chiddush of ‘the seventh generation.’”

R’ Raskin’s day job is running Machon Stam that sells and checks Sifrei Torah, tefillin and mezuzos. At first, he only devoted a few hours a week to these activities, but within a short time it exploded to such an extent that he had to bring in another person. He enlisted the help of R’ Shaul Kalmanson who uploads the shiurim to the website as well as social media, Facebook and Instagram.

Although the wide range of activism in Inyanei Moshiach is at the expense of work hours, R’ Raskin says that in this past year, he has had great success in his business affairs. “I put fewer hours into work but earned more … I felt that the Rebbe was sending me a special blessing because of my involvement in Inyanei Moshiach and Geula.”

R’ Raskin surprised us with a video presentation that explains the connection between the coming of Moshiach and world peace, and how the world is advancing toward this goal. The presentation cites various studies that show that in contrast to the general perception in the world that the world is becoming worse and crueler, facts show how the world is becoming better with fewer wars, fewer murder victims, and more acts of assistance and kindness among the nations.

“This presentation is meant for a broad audience and even non-Jews, because the Rebbe wants to bring Moshiach to the entire world including the gentiles. It’s important that they too be ready.”

GEULA AND MOSHIACH – THE GATEWAY TO ALL BLESSINGS

In R’ Raskin’s weekly brochure, there is a weekly column by R’ Aryeh Gurewitz.

“People love his column,” says R’ Raskin, “because he is able to convey the deepest ideas of Moshiach and Geula in everyday language so that people can picture what it will be like when Moshiach comes. It is written in a very down to earth style.”

R’ Gurewitz is a baal teshuva for ten years. After learning in Chabad yeshivos, he acquired a broad knowledge of Chassidus. Still, he felt dissatisfied.

“I loved learning the maamarim of the Rebbe Rashab, but although I progressed nicely on an intellectual level, I found it hard to see the applications in daily life of the lessons that Chassidus expects us to draw. At a certain point, I understood that since I was born in the seventh generation, I also had to delve into the sichos and maamarim of the Rebbe and look for the connection to daily life. After all, they are instructions directed at us.

“It was with this line of thinking that I understood that out of all the Rebbe’s sichos, I should start by learning the latter ones, for they were said closest to our time. Surely that is where the most important and appropriate instructions for us are found.

“I started learning the sichos of the summer of 5751 and the winter of 5752, which are full of Inyanei Moshiach and Geula, and especially explain how close we are to the Geula and how we need to integrate Inyanei Geula into our daily lives. I noticed that in many sichos, the Rebbe urges the study of inyanei Moshiach and Geula, on one’s own and by teaching others, in order to prepare the world for Moshiach. These instructions impacted me in a very practical way, and I really connected with them. I started implementing them and suddenly felt developing within myself a deep soul connection with the Rebbe, that connection which I had yearned for, for years.

“When I learned the sicha of the Kinus HaShluchim 5752, which the Rebbe begins with the exhortation that preparing the world for Moshiach is the gateway for all other aspects of shlichus, I saw the footnote refers to the sicha of Shushan Purim 5700. There, the Rebbe Rayatz explains that there are mitzvos which are gateways to all other mitzvos, and a gateway is for going in and going out, and so are mitzvos. On the one hand, all the mitzvos we do are channeled through this gateway; on the other hand, all the blessings from above, both material and spiritual, come down and reach a person below through this gateway.

“I saw this in my personal life. Spiritually, as I said, it was only after I started delving into Inyanei Moshiach and Geula that I began feeling the bond between Chassid and Rebbe; and materially, since a short while later I became engaged to my wife. I saw, in several events along the road to the shidduch, the open connection to learning Inyanei Moshiach and Geula.”

LECTURERS RELATE

Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, shliach in Williamsville, New York and author of s’farim on Shas and poskim, gives many shiurim on Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. According to him, the deeper the shiur and the more source-based it is, the more well-received it is. He describes a shiur in which the audience heard that the Rebbe is Moshiach:

“At the beginning of the shiur, I only spoke about the Rebbe, what a Rebbe is about, according to Chassidus. I started with the simple understanding of Rebbe and tzaddik until the comprehensive soul and yechida. After I explained how lofty the Rebbe is, I said, now you can understand why Chassidim believe that the Rebbe is Moshiach.

“I said it and looked around. It was the first time they were hearing that the Rebbe is Moshiach and I thought they would react with astonishment, ask questions and give me a hard time, but it didn’t happen. They accepted it. Some people took notes and I noticed they continued writing and didn’t even look up as if to ask, what did he just say?!

“I learned from this that when you explain something new to people, that they are completely unfamiliar with, they are more likely to grasp it as something extreme, and human nature is such that it opposes the extreme. People build a wall and aren’t ready to listen to ideas that they think are crazy. But when you explain it, step by step, starting with the familiar concepts, which they would certainly accept, you can proceed accordingly, and it will also be readily accepted.

“Another time, I lectured to Reform and Conservative rabbis. I told the organizers they could not have other speakers at the event, so there wouldn’t be debates, but it would be possible to ask questions afterward. I taught them the Halachos in the Rambam about the criteria for Moshiach. When I finished, one of them said, ‘If we accept the Rambam, he is saying that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is Moshiach.’ That Reform rabbi had a problem accepting the Rambam, but he understood that according to the Rambam, the Rebbe is Moshiach.”

Rabbi Motti Anati tells of a Jew by the name of Rafael “Bonanza” Mizrachi who recently passed away after having embraced his Judaism over the past year, thanks to a shiur in Inyanei Moshiach and Geula.

“A year ago, Rafael started attending the D’var Malchus class given by Rabbi Shai Meira every Thursday. He got excited over this class, in which we learn how the world is advancing toward Geula and about our obligation to prepare for it. Because of the shiur, he began putting on tefillin, and with one mitzva leading to another, within a few months he looked like a Chabad Chassid. At the last shiur he attended, Erev Shabbos Parshas Shlach, he was very emotional, as though he sensed it would be his last shiur. After the shiur, we continued farbrenging with him until five in the morning. It was as though he was saying: I’m going to a special place, to do a shlichus there …”

Rabbi Chaim Shalom Cohen, shliach and director of the center for Hebrew speakers in Montreal, says that a year ago he was invited to a different Chabad House in his city to talk about Inyanei Moshiach and Geula. Two people who were at that shiur were not at all observant, but after the shiurim, they started attending Torah classes and became involved with Chabad. They said that the change began following the shiur in Inyanei Moshiach, after they realized that Geula is real and they understood that in order to be ready for Geula, they needed to live Geula now.