WHAT THE NEWCOMER HAD TO SAY

By Yael Schneersohn

The loud ringing of the bell got all the students to their classrooms. Duvy and his friends also rushed to their places. Their teacher was known to be punctual and nobody wanted to be late and risk getting punished.

However, unlike other days, this time, the teacher was late. Five minutes passed since the bell rang and he still wasn’t there.

“Maybe he won’t come today,” Benny suggested hopefully.

“Can’t be,” said Levi immediately. “I saw him this morning when he entered yeshiva. He was walking in front of me with his young son.”

“Then he must be in the office,” said Moishy.

Two minutes went by and the teacher appeared in the doorway with a boy walking hesitantly at his side. The questioning looks of the children in the class received an immediate response. The teacher explained, “Meet Shneur Zalman. He will be joining our class.”

“Who is he? Where is he from? Why is he suddenly showing up now?” wondered the children, though they didn’t say anything. Their teacher explained further.

“Shneur Zalman is here from the United States. His parents are shluchim there and there is no yeshiva. Until now, he learned in the Jewish school his parents started. Now that he is older, they sent him to his relatives who live here, in Eretz Yisroel, so he can learn in our yeshiva in a Chassidishe atmosphere.”

“Wow!” the boys murmured their amazement. All eyes were admiringly on Shneur Zalman.

“I am sure you will all help Shneur Zalman acclimate to our class and complete the work that we learn,” continued the teacher.

He showed Shneur Zalman where to sit, near Meir who was sitting alone until then, and began the lesson.

During recess, all the children gathered around Shneur Zalman. They peppered him with questions about where his family lived, life on shlichus, and living far from his parents. Shneur Zalman, who knew Hebrew well, to the delight of the class, tried to answer all their questions and satisfy their curiosity. 

The children listened open-mouthed to his fascinating descriptions of what his family did the previous Tishrei, about Jews who suddenly discovered their Judaism, and other events from life on shlichus. Shneur had plenty of stories and his new friends listened avidly. 

It wasn’t every day that a real shliach appeared in their classroom from a distant city somewhere in the U.S. Shneur’s accent not only did not bother the other children; it just added to the special atmosphere in the class.

“How lucky you are,” said Meir. “You get to be a shliach of the Rebbe. If only I could be a shliach too.”

Other boys nodded their agreement.

“You can also be shluchim,” said Shneur.

“Us?! Maybe many years from now, when we grow up and go on shlichus ourselves,” said Duvy. “Until then, as long as our parents aren’t shluchim, we cannot be in the army of shluchim.”

“That’s not so,” said Shneur, raising his voice a little, so everyone could hear him. “The Rebbe explains that the main and last job that remains to be done on shlichus is to welcome Moshiach. This is done by shluchim connecting every single thing, every mivtza and mitzva, to Geula.

“The Rebbe said that since the Geula pertains to everyone, everyone can be a shliach and fulfill this mission, to bring Moshiach!”

“How do we do that?” asked Duvy.

“There are many ways,” said Shneur with a smile. “By learning about Moshiach and Geula with friends, especially those who don’t know what the D’var Malchus is and are unfamiliar with inyanei Moshiach and Geula. 

“If we just make another effort and another effort, if we ‘go out of ourselves’ and start looking around us for Jews who are waiting for someone to teach them about Judaism, if you just open your eyes and look around, you will see how many shlichus possibilities there are, even if you don’t live, like me, in a place of shlichus.

“The main thing, as the Rebbe says in the D’var Malchus for Parshas Chayei Sarah, is for every person to do his shlichus with the intention of bringing the Geula, with a request and demand of Hashem that he take us out of this bitter galus and bring us right away to the third Beis HaMikdash.”

“Shneur, that’s great!” they applauded. “How did you manage to learn all that, without being in yeshiva?”

“I learned a lot with my father at home. Sichos of the Rebbe from all the years and the sichos of the D’var Malchus and more … Everything a shliach needs to know to fulfill the sole remaining shlichus and bring Moshiach.”

“Then we have a lot to do, even though we don’t live somewhere out there in the U.S.” concluded Levi.

“Right!” said Shneur. “And the better and quicker you do it, the faster Moshiach will come.”

He winked mischievously at his new friends and said, “And when we bring Moshiach, all Jews will move to Eretz Yisroel and then I won’t need to wait for school vacation to travel and see my family, because they will come here!”