What Will Your Next Move Be?

Ideas, resources, and inspiration for reaching out to scientists, bochurim, kids, laypeople, Bnei Torah, and more…

It’s Gonna Be the Little Kinderlach…

I was walking home at 7:00 pm on a Tuesday evening about two months ago and I received a phone call from the editor asking me if I was willing to make a small detour to Yeshiva Darchei Menachem on Rutland Avenue in Crown Heights. “There is a Moshiach expo taking place right now,” he said.

I was a bit skeptical. What could I already write? “Just publish a few photos, and that’s it,” I tell him. “That will be much better than me describing in writing what I saw…”

But nonetheless, not expecting too much, I decided to give a peek.

What can I say? I didn’t walk away disappointed…

As I enter the Yeshiva building, I no longer need to imagine the Geulah. It’s all real and vivid in front of your eyes.

I feel that I’m in an “Ir Miklat,” protected from galus by the walls of Darchei Menachem. The so-called “reality” of galus, the Chinuch challenges, and all the other scary things cease to exist. All I see are pure Jewish children whose faces show nothing but Moshiach, like in the Rebbe’s famous words from Simchas Torah 5752.

For 6 weeks, talmidim from grades 4-8 learned and researched their assigned theme of Inyanei Moshiach and Geulah, focusing especially on the aspects that come from the Rebbe’s Torah. Gathering all the information, each of the 12 groups brainstormed ways how to bring these messages to life in the most creative manner.

At their stands, the groups of children eagerly await their turn to get to present their exhibits to the many visitors of the expo. The exhibits are all original and creative, and it can be easily seen that great effort and much time was invested in building, drawing, and forming them.

What was even nicer than the exhibits themselves, was to get to hear the lively explanation from the enthusiastic Chayolim. That, unfortunately, I can’t transmit in writing, but don’t worry, the students were interviewed for a nice video presentation. Just search online for “Darchei Menachem Grand Expo 5779” to get a feeling.

A visitor was overheard saying, “I’m leaving here with the feeling that I am going out of galus, straight into the Geulah!”

The exhibits were rated and voted by parents and visitors with the top three winning groups winning awesome prizes.

Learning about Moshiach, the Rebbe tells us, helps us “live” with that spirit. The Chayolim at Darchei, not only learned about Moshiach; they also imagined it and transmitted it through speech and action.

In summary, this is a great idea for any school to emulate…

Yossi Liberow

Rigorous Spring Training For the Soldiers of Beis Dovid

Igud Talmidei Hayeshivos (“ATO”) is an organization that brings together Bachurim, “Chayolei Beis Dovid,” from Chabad Yeshivos around the world, in periodical extra-curricular activities aimed at strengthening Hiskashrus to the Rebbe focused on Moshiach study and awareness.

Before Yud-Alef Nissan this year, thousands of Bachurim around the world studied the sichos of the D’var Malchus the Rebbe handed out in 5751, with four fundamental sichos on the Rambam’s Laws of Moshiach. The English division produced a special booklet with the sichos, including English summaries and overviews, and select translations of words and terms on the side of the sichos.

Just a month later, the English-speaking division launched yet another unique study campaign of a landmark series of sichos the Rebbe delivered just weeks after the Rebbe gave over to us the responsibility to bring Moshiach on Chof Ches Nissan. “I have done all within my power to bring Moshiach, now it is up to you to do your part to bring Moshiach!”

Chassidim, greatly inspired yet at a loss on what exactly to do, were guided by the Rebbe over the next few weeks. One week later, on 6 Iyar The Rebbe said “the best way to bring Moshiach is to learn matters of Moshiach in Torah,” and in the coming two weeks dedicated the bulk of the Shabbos Farbrengen to discuss and analyze the question of “What is Geulah?” ATO produced a booklet, with the English speaking bachur in mind, containing the first sicha of this series with a side-by-side English translation that was first published in the pages of the Beis Moshiach.

In a nutshell, the sicha explains that he word Geulah (redemption) contains its diametrical opposite — the word Gola, exile, just with an added letter — Alef.  This “anomaly” highlights the fact that the Geulah will not be a “new world,” rather it will light up the existing world, with everything in it intact, with the light of Hashem.

This sicha is especially important for the Temimim, whose role is to be Neiros Le’hair, lamplighters, who stand at the forefront of the Rebbe’s outreach work and who make up the next generation of shluchim. It gives perspective on how the idea of Moshiach can be presented in an appealing, more inviting way.

ATO provided the study material to nearly 20 Yeshivos in the USA and abroad, while each Yeshiva configured their own system for incentives, best fitting for their student body.

“The booklets were well received by the students,” say the organizers, and they are offering these valuable resources for Moshiach-study in PDF format for anyone who may find it helpful. Please email AtoHaolami@gmail.com, or call (347) 770-2824 for more information.

New Moshiach Curriculum: PEACE TREATY

There is a Moshiach catch-22. Moshiach awareness carries great benefits in all areas of life, both physical and spiritual, but you need Moshiach awareness to discover that…

Call it “rebranding” or better marketing of Moshiach if you wish.

Rabbi Shaul Calmenson of LearnMoshiach.com tells us about one of their flagship projects:

“We have developed a professional, and most importantly, practical, study curriculum which focuses on living Moshiach now.”

It’s a four-part course originally prepared in Hebrew by Rabbi Mendy Elishevitz, co-founder of the Moshiach.com website and Rabbi Chaim Heber from Beer Sheva. LearnMoshiach sponsored the development of the course in the original Hebrew and then went on to translate and adapt the course for an English speaking audience.

The course is called PEACE TREATY, and its four parts (“bylaws,” as they are called in the course outline) explore four dimensions of peace that Moshiach will bring about:

1. Peace within oneself

2. Peace among one another

3. Peace among nations

4. Peace between the spiritual and material

The course (samples of the teacher’s guide are available online), complete with inspiring stories, jokes, PowerPoint presentations, source sheets and more, guides the student through the four “bylaws” of peace, showing the true nature of the Geulah as relates to this topic, accurate to the course’s subtitle, “…how to adopt aspects of this peace into our present lives.”

“The course piloted in Crown Heights earlier this year in conjunction with Nshei Chabad and was well-received,” Yitzchok Raskin says. “Many Shluchim and communities have purchased it, and we keep getting good feedback and new inquiries all the time.”

Both Anash and Mekuravim will greatly appreciate the relevance of Moshiach to their life after taking this revolutionary course.

The course preview and sample chapters are available at LearnMoshiach.com/PeaceTreaty.

“We have made the course very affordable,” Rabbi Calmenson says. “The important thing is that it be taught.” Many other free teaching resources, such as prepared syllabus sheets, are also available on the site alongside hundreds of Moshiach lessons on a variety of topics.

The 28th conference on Moshiach and the Sciences

The 28th conference on Moshiach and the Sciences was held on Pesach Sheni this year in Be’er Sheva, Israel. The conference aims to discuss innovative issues from various fields of science that relate to matters of Torah, Geulah, and Moshiach from the point of view of Chassidus.

The conference is organized by the RYAL Research Institute on Moshiach and the Sciences, directed by Prof. Shimon Silman who founded the Institute in 1993 with the blessing and encouragement of the Rebbe.

The theme of the conference was “The New Heaven and the New Earth” which is one of the most wondrous Messianic prophecies of the prophet Yeshayahu, referring to a miraculous world order that will be initiated.

The heavenly body which Judaism deals with the most is the moon. Mr. Ariel Gomez, an engineer on the SpaceIL team, the Israeli company that recently sent a spaceship to the moon, gave a presentation at the conference.

The interesting innovation of our moon mission, Mr. Gomez said, was the educational value that it had, namely, to demonstrate that “nothing stands in the way of the will.”

Even its crash landing was a source of inspiration since the planners immediately declared: “I fell, but I got up,” by planning to launch another spacecraft in a few years. Failure was a source of learning, and motivation to continue to succeed.

The whole story was a great Kiddush Hashem: from the name of the spacecraft, “Bereishit,” related to the story of the creation of the universe, and on to the Halachic guidance that was provided by Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, regarding how to maintain constant contact with the spacecraft while keeping Shabbos. This Shabbos observance gained a lot of worldwide publicity.

And from “the new heaven,” we move on to “the new earth.”

Is there a connection between agronomy, the commandments in the Torah related to land, and the true and complete redemption? Apparently, yes, very much, according to the agronomist Dr. Amir Musari, the next lecturer at the conference. An example of this can be seen in the chain of events concerning the dispute between Avraham and Lot, his nephew. Sheep grazing in fields designated for agriculture, if carried out without supervision, causes almost irreversible damage to the soil.

It seems that confrontations between shepherds and land workers have existed almost since the creation of the world—but not forever. Already, shepherding programs are being implemented, and it turns out that balanced shepherding is not only harmless but beneficial to the land, as the sheep fertilize the land. These plans, according to Dr. Museri, may just be the opening shot for the ideal situation that will take place in the future redemption: “The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys cloaked with grain. People shout for joy and break into song”

The last speaker was Mr. Avi Taub, head of Shefa Yamim, from whom the conference participants received a report on the progress of the search for precious stones and gems in the Kishon river channel. It was found that, as the Rebbe MH”M’s prophecy indicated, the types of stones in the channel are varied. This phenomenon is surprising to internationally renowned geologists, and scientific articles have been published in their journals about it. This phenomenon has also been covered by television news networks.

The lectures in their entirety can be viewed on the RYAL Institute website, www.RYAL.org 

Moshiach Playlists in “Ashreinu”

The Ashreinu App is an application which contains all the Rebbe’s recorded sichos and farbrengens, a true treasure by all means.

One beautiful feature on the Ashreinu App, besides for the high quality of the sound of the Rebbe’s farbrengens, are the “playlists” periodically posted with selected portions of sichos and ma’amarim on timely topics, with a short headline and synopsis that invites you to take a listen, even if you only have a few minutes available.

Starting before Gimmel Tammuz this year, Ashreinu rolled out a new pre-Gimmel Tammuz series about Moshiach. 

The series’ six parts include:

“Yearning for Moshiach” – about the need to call out “Ad Mosay?!” and “We Want Moshiach Now!”

“The Time is Near” – about the signs of Geulah in our time, including the unique language of the imminence of Moshiach in the most recent years

“What Awaits Us?” – the era of Geulah from the lense of Chassidus

“Futuristic Living” – the meaning of “living” with Moshiach practically.

Additional playlists are soon to come, stay put.

The compilers have done a superb job in choosing relevant and interesting topics, and while the Rebbe spoke about Moshiach throughout all the years of his Nesius, the compilers included a considerable share of sichos of the more recent years when the Rebbe spoke about Moshiach as a reality literally unfolding before our eyes.

This brings to mind the Rebbe’s instruction in the winter of 5752 that the Va’ad L’Hafotzas Sichos should add recent sichos to the Likkutei Sichos B’Inyonei Moshiach U’Geulah that they were publishing which was a pamphlet with talks from previous years.

There is nothing like hearing the Rebbe “speak for himself,” and if you don’t understand Yiddish yet, you should really try to learn the language, because there is no substitute to hearing the urgency and passion of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach when talking about his life’s mission…

New Book: Q&A on Moshiach

One particular challenging demographic to work with on Moshiach outreach is Yeshiva-educated Bnei Torah. They are much less influenced by fluffy stories and “inspiration” and demand to know the sources in Torah and Halacha.

As challenging as it is, it’s also tremendously rewarding, since discussing these subjects with them leaves oneself more educated.

A long-overdue book is one addressing these matters, namely the halachic process of Moshiach’s revelation, in a style that Bnei Torah can understand and appreciate.

It’s finally here.  Yaron Kimelman, a member of the Chabad Lubavitch community in Chicago has recently published Questions & Answers on Moshiach, based upon Rambam’s Laws of Kings.

The book, which includes 11 Q&As spanning many topics from the Rambam’s Hilchos Melachim, addresses many interesting questions, such as “Did Rabbi Akiva err in declaring Ben Koziva to be Moshiach?” or “Why does the Rambam speak about B’chezkas Moshiach. Wouldn’t it be safer to simply wait until he is Moshiach Vadai?” and many more intriguing topics.

The book is based on Rabbi Shalom DovBer Halevi Volpo’s sefarim on Moshiach which have received approbations from Torah luminaries including Harav Mordechai Eliyahu, Harav Ovadia Yosef, Harav Shalom Messas, Harav Pinchas Hirschprung, Harav Shmuel Alexander Unsdorfer, Harav Meir Mazouz, Harav Moshe Yaakov Weiss, and Harav Moshe Stern.

The book lays out respectfully in a non-controversial way, many ideas that may be novel to many members of the Torah community and will surely be a valuable asset to the efforts to raise Moshiach awareness and study in the frum community.

The book (paperback, approx. 50 pages) which also includes the Rambam’s Hilchos Melachim with an English translation can be purchased on Amazon, in Crown Heights stores and by contacting the author via email at ykimelman@gmail.com