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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel

ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch Merkur

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HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi Sholom Yaakov ChazaneditorH@beismoshiach.org

FAITH THAT THE REBBE SHLITA ISMOSHIACH (CONT.)Moshiach & Geula | Rabbi Sholom Dovber HaLevi Wolpo

‘REBBE, HOW DO YOU DO T’SHUVA?’Insight | Chanoch Shachar

A DAILY DOSE OF MOSHIACHMoshiach & Geula

CHOMESH FIRST!Shleimus HaAretz | Berele Crombie

THE REBBE DOES NOT REMAIN IN DEBTStory | Sholom Dovber Zaltzman

BAALEI T’SHUVA FROM THEKIBBUTZIM!Shlichus | Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz

IN SUPPORT OF OUR BROTHERS ANDSISTERS IN SDEROT Perspective | Nosson Avrohom

UNDER ABBA’S TALLIS Feature | Dafna Chaim

SOLIDARITY WITH EXPELLEES News | Shai Gefen

MISSION: CONQUER AUSTRALIA (CONT)Shlichus | Rabbi Sholom Yaakov Chazan

26 MENACHEM AV: MAYBE ASK THATMOSHIACH SHOULD COME ALREADY?

After someone requested abracha from the Rebbe shlita forhimself and his family, and thenproceeded to add more requests, theRebbe said: Maybe you should askthat Moshiach will come already?

“Im yirtzeh Hashem (if G-dwants),” came the reply.

The Rebbe shlita: Just as G-dalready wants, Jews should alsowant!

(Asara B’Teives 5750)

27 MENACHEM AV: THE SIGNS ANDTIMES OF THE REDEMPTION – THECHANGE IN RELATIONS BETWEENTHE NATIONS OF THE WORLD AS APREPARATION FOR THE REDEMPTION

We have seen how, in the pastyear, the good relations of thiscountry (America) towards theJewish People has spread to othercountries, to the point of reachingeven that country (Russia), whereuntil recently there were restrictionsregarding the freedom of the JewishPeople in their avoda in Torah andmitzvos, and also regarding theirleaving that country.

Now their attitude has changed, as they nowpermit Jews to fulfill Torah and mitzvos, and theyallow Jews to leave (without the restrictions that onceexisted).

In fact, they even assist Jews to travel to EretzHaKodesh, in a manner of preparation for theassistance of the nations of the world, when theJewish People will go out from the exile and come toEretz HaKodesh with the True and CompleteRedemption.

(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Acharei-K’doshim 5751)

28 MENACHEM AV: INFLUENCING THE NATIONS OF THEWORLD TO FULFILL THE SEVEN NOACHIDE LAWS

We must publicize and reveal “Alufo Shel Olam”(the Master of the World) throughout the entireworld, including through influencing the nations ofthe world regarding the fulfillment of the SevenNoachide Laws, and their preparation for “thekingship will be G-d’s.”

(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Acharei-K’doshim 5751)

A DAILY

DOSE OF

MOSHIACH

& GEULA:26 AV - 2 ELUL

Selected daily pearls of wisdom from theRebbe MH”M on Moshiach and Geula.Collected and arranged by Rabbi Pinchas Maman Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

29 MENACHEM AV: THE CHARITY OF G-D“So says Hashem, ‘Keep justice and practice

charity, for My salvation is soon to come, and Mybenevolence to be revealed.’” (Yeshayahu 56:1).

In the Future to Come, there will be revealed howthe exile was really a concept of charity. Now, thematter is on the level of faith, since our Sages, ofblessed memory, have said (P’sachim 87b), “G-dperformed charity with Israel by scattering themamong the nations.” We believe that this is so, but thematter is neither understood nor graspedintellectually.

This is what is said (Yeshayahu 12:1), “I will thankYou, Hashem, for You were wroth with me.” That is,in the Future to Come, there will be revealed the

hidden good within the afflictions of the exile, andhow they specifically caused the Jewish People tomerit the future revelation.

(Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 20, pg. 361, Vol. 4, pg. 1081)

30 MENACHEM AV – 1ST DAY OF ROSH CHODESH ELUL:BRINGING THE REDEMPTION THROUGH INCREASE

Every Jew – men, women, and children – has theresponsibility to increase in his avoda and to bringMoshiach Tzidkeinu in actual deed!

And how does this avoda take expression? This isalso quite simple: By increasing in Torah and mitzvos,in the study of Torah – the revealed Torah and theinner teachings of Torah – and the stringent

fulfillment of mitzvos.(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Tazria-Metzora 5751)

1 ELUL– 2ND DAY OF ROSH CHODESH ELUL: ON THE WAYTO REDEMPTION WITH THE NECESSITIES OF THE HOLIDAY

We must publicize in every location about the needto try and provide the necessities of the holiday to allthose in need thirty days before the holiday, in orderthat they can prepare for “the time of our rejoicing”in peace, joy, and gladness of heart.

Furthermore, even before this, there are the needsof Rosh HaShana, as in the language of the pasuk,“Go, eat fat foods and drink sweet drinks and sendportions to whoever has nothing prepared”(Nechemia 8:10).

(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Ki Teitzei 5751)

2 ELUL: THE STRENGTH ANDFORTITUDE OF MELECHHA’MOSHIACH

The title Melech HaMoshiachrefers to the strength and fortituderegarding the Redemption, withoutconsideration of delays andobstacles, in the language of ourSages, of blessed memory (BavaBasra 3:2): “The king said and the

mountain is uprooted.”Furthermore, according to the precise language –

“the mountain is uprooted,” i.e., even a mountain,demonstrating the opposing strength, is uprooted(from its place to another place – from one spiritualdomain to another, referring to the concept oftransforming darkness into light) by the king.

On a deeper level: Since the vitality and existenceof a country’s people and all matters pertaining to thecountry depend upon the king, it is understood thatin truth, the existence of forces opposing the kinghave no relevance, as the entire existence of the“opposing force” (as it appears externally) dependsupon the king.

(sicha, Shabbos Parshas Tazria-Metzora 5751)

In the Future to Come, there will berevealed the hidden good within theafflictions of the exile, and how theyspecifically caused the Jewish People tomerit the future revelation.

WHY NOT?In 5742, I asked R’ Reuven

whether it was true that Chabadsays the Rebbe is Moshiach. Iasked him as we walked towardshis car. He looked at me and said,“Give me one good reason whynot.”

WHO BOUGHTTHE TICKET?

At one of his first privatemeetings with the Rebbe, R’Reuven said, “My father, thatMisnaged!”

The Rebbe smiled and asked,“And who bought you the ticket tocome here?”

“My father,” said Reuven.“So how can you call him a

Misnaged?” asked the Rebbe with

a smile.

IS THAT HOW YOU AREMEKAREV SOMEONE?

On Rosh HaShana at the endof the 80’s, R’ Reuven was a guestat Beis Chana in Tzfas when itwas still located in the old hotel inthe Canaan Beit neighborhood.The place was desolate and fewpeople were familiar with it.

Shabbos morning whichfollowed the Yom Tov we sat andlearned Torah Ohr with R’ Reuvenin the entranceway to thebuilding. While learning, a cardrove up and stopped at adistance from us. A man got outand began to approach ushesitantly. Apparently he waslooking for another place for afterseeing we were chareidim he

stood at a distance and asked: Isthis Shleifstein’s house?

One of the people learningsaid: Yes, it’s here. Come!”

R’ Reuven looked at him andsaid, “Why are you saying that?”

The stranger approached andasked again, and the manrepeated, “Yes, it’s here. Come.”

R’ Reuven motioned to theman who had made a mistakewith the address and the manturned around and walked away.

“Why did you tell him to comewhen you knew this was not theplace he was looking for?” askedR’ Reuven in astonishment.

“What’s wrong?” said theman. “He’ll come and sit downwith us and maybe he’ll dot’shuva.”

R’ Reuven responded, “Youreally think that you can bemekarev someone like that?”

“Yes,” said the man. “I’m sureof it.”

R’ Reuven, who was a man oftruth through and through,responded sharply, “That is notChassidishkait and only someonewho never tasted of Chassiduscould think that way.”

IT’S YOM TOV FOR MEWhen I flew with R’ Reuven

and R’ Amir Kahana to the Rebbe,R’ Reuven said to us, “Remember,when we get to the Rebbe, I amnot Reuven. Don’t ask me

In the diary of Chanoch Shachar ofTzfas, there are hundreds of stories andChassidic thoughts he heard over theyears from the mashpia, R’ ReuvenDunin a”h. In honor of R’ Dunin’syahrtzait on 11 Av, we bring a selectionof aphorisms and stories that wererelated by R’ Reuven at his famousfarbrengens.

‘REBBE, HOW DO

YOU DO T’SHUVA?’Prepared for publication by Avrohom Reinitz

anything. I’m going in order to bewith the Rebbe and to ‘receive’from him.”

When we arrived, R’ Reuvenput on his sirtuk and did not takeit off until we went home. I askedhim why he did not say Tachanunwhen he was at the Rebbe and hesaid, “It’s a Yom Tov for me andon a Yom Tov you do not sayTachanun. If you also feel that it’sa Yom Tov, don’t say Tachanun.”

Before the flight R’ Reuvenwarned us, “When you fly to theRebbe, the Evil Inclination shrinksuntil it barely has any existence. Itgets shoved into the suitcase anddoesn’t take up any space. Butwhen we return to Eretz Yisroel,the land of infinite opportunities,where everything is large, theminute you open the suitcase itcomes out and you have no ideahow big it can expand there.”

EVEN THE TURKSR’ Reuven spoke in a down-to-

earth and blunt style. He oncepointed out something tosomeone who got offended andindicated that he wasn’t so bad –by virtue of the fact that he wore

a kippa.R’ Reuven’s response was the

Turks, l’havdil, wear a kippa andthey’re also circumcised. Sowhat?

WHY YOUR WIFEIS OPPOSED

Someone said that his wife didnot let him wear a beard. R’Reuven said:

The first one to blame his wifewas Adam, who said, “The womanthat You gave to be with me,” andregarding this, Rashi says, “here hewas ungrateful.” That means, whena man blames his wife, he is aningrate.

What’s the reason for this?Chazal taught us that a

“kosher” woman does herhusband’s will. Therefore, if yourwife does not allow you to grow abeard, that is a clear sign that youare the one who doesn’t want abeard and your righteous wife isdoing her husband’s will and is alsoexpressing her opposition. Whenyou start to want to grow a beard,your wife will naturally want thattoo.

WHAT – DO!“What to do?” [i.e., what could

or should be done?] someoneasked at a farbrengen.

“Very simple,” said R’ Reuven.“Stretch out the question mark andthen it will be an exclamationmark. And that is the answer: what– do! In other words, when you arein the category of “what,” as in“what are we,” then you will havebittul and all will be well.

A STATE OF T’SHUVAOnce we were sitting in R’

Reuven’s house on 3 BorochovStreet waiting for R’ Reuven tocome and farbreng with us. Oneof the bachurim began to sing the“Dalet Bavos” to himself.Another bachur yelled, “You can’tjust sing that any time youwant!”

Just then R’ Reuven came outof his room and he said to theone who had shouted, “What’sbothering you? Maybe he is in astate of t’shuva and the niggun isappropriate for him now? Whomade you the judge?”

FINDING A COMMONDENOMINATOR

I once asked R’ Reuven why heread a publication that did notpublicize the B’suras HaGeula andthe Goel, when he was involved ininyanei Moshiach, includingpublicizing the Rebbe as Moshiach,and this publication wrote againstthat.

R’ Reuven said, that as far as hewas concerned, nothing changedsince 3 Tamuz, and therefore, eventhough those who wrote for thatpublication are chitzonim, it stilldoesn’t negate their beingChassidic Jews, and every personcan and must do t’shuva.

In general, R’ Reuven went onto say, why create a split betweenviews? Find the common

denominator and move on fromthere. The fighting is the EvilInclination’s counsel so that peoplewill do less mivtzaim and lesshafatza.

Furthermore, who appointedyou the judge to decide who isokay and who isn’t? You alreadyfinished your avodas ha’birurim?Look at yourself first!

TO KNOW WHERETO LOOK

At one of R’ Reuven’s firstmeetings with the Rebbe, he said,“Rebbe, I am going now toPonovezh [the largest Litvisheyeshiva in Eretz Yisroel, led by avirulent anti-Chabad rosh yeshiva]to bring them all to t’shuva!”

The Rebbe said, “There are somany people who want to listen.Why do you always look forplaces where they don’t want tolisten?”

DUST ON THE REBBE’S SHOE

In 5743, I heard the followingstory from R’ Reuven:

“At one of the farbrengens Iattended when I was young, Iwanted to hear the Rebbe moreclearly, so I hid under his table.During the farbrengen I saw thatthe Rebbe’s shoelace was undone. Icrawled over and tied the shoelace.The Rebbe moved the tableclothand said, “Thank you,” andcontinued farbrenging.

At that moment I said, “Thankyou G-d. Now You can take me. Iask for no more than this.” And Ithought, “If only I was a little nailin the Rebbe’s shoe.”

Later on R’ Reuven said that hewas impudent for thinking of beinga nail in the Rebbe’s shoe, for thatwas actually part of the shoe. “Ifonly I merited being the dust on hisshoe,” he wished.

CHAIFA WITHOUT A SHLIACH?

One of R’ Reuven’s mekuravimlived in New York and sent him aninvitation to his son’s bar mitzva(including a ticket). R’ Reuven washappy, of course, for thisopportunity to see his friend, andwas even happier at theopportunity to see the Rebbe.

As soon as he landed at theairport, he took a taxi to 770 inorder to see the Rebbe. When hearrived there, the Rebbe had justcome from his home. The Rebbestopped and asked R’ Reuven,“How could you leave Chaifawithout a shliach?

That was enough for him, andwithin a few hours he was on aplane back to Chaifa.

OPENING THE DOORFOR THE REBBE

On Erev Lag B’Omer 5744 wewent to the Rebbe. As soon as welanded, we went to 770. We putour suitcases down and waited forthe Rebbe to come from his house.The door to 770 was held openwith a gartel. R’ Reuven, whowanted the privilege of opening thedoor for the Rebbe, untied thegartel and after the door closed heopened it and stood behind it whileholding it.

That is how we waited for along time until the Rebbe came.The Rebbe quickly passed throughthe path made for him and when hecame to the door he turned to R’Reuven and said, “thank you,” witha broad smile and went inside. Isaw the tears that came to R’Reuven’s eyes.

HOW DO YOUDO T’SHUVA?

The following story waspublicized already, but since thereare many versions, I will tell you

what I heard in his house two yearsafter it happened.

In 5720, R’ Reuven submitted anote to the Rebbe in which heasked, “How do you do t’shuva?”

In the yechidus, the Rebbereferred to this question and said,“First, go on the path of Torah andmitzvos with joy and goodness ofheart, and afterwards we will talkabout t’shuva.”

“Every year that I was there,”said R’ Reuven, “I mentioned thenote to the Rebbe, but did not get aresponse. In Tishrei 5742 I askedthe Rebbe again, ‘What aboutt’shuva?’ and the Rebbe said, ‘We’lldiscuss that at the farbrengen.’”

It was Erev 6 Tishrei, theyahrtzait of Rebbetzin Chana a”h.During the farbrengen the Rebbesaid a relatively long sicha (sichaBeis) about t’shuva. During thefarbrengen the Rebbe looked at R’Reuven several times. R’ Reuvenlater said he felt that the Rebbe wasanswering the question he hadasked 22 years earlier.

At the end of the sicha, the

Imagine that youare standing

before the kingand he is smiling

at you; you arestanding before

the Rebbe and heis smiling at you.Do you suddenly

feel like clapping?You are more

likely to cry thanto smile...

Rebbe looked at R’ Reuven andtold him to say l’chaim. R’ Reuventook a small cup and raised it tothe Rebbe. The Rebbe smiled andmotioned, “a big cup.”

“I looked all around,” said R’Reuven, “and didn’t know what todo. The Rebbe told me to take abig cup and there was no big cupto take. Then I saw that near theRebbe were two cups which metthe requirement. Since I wasstanding facing the Rebbe andthere was a long table between us, Iwent up on the table and went overto the Rebbe and took the cup nearthe Rebbe’s cup. I showed it to theRebbe and said, ‘The Rebbe said abig cup.’

“The Rebbe smiled and pouredfrom his cup into mine and backagain until the amounts were equaland told me to say l’chaim.”

One of the people farbrengingsaid, “So now you’re a baalt’shuva?”

R’ Reuven began to cry and saidin genuine pain, “A baal t’shuva?Me? Maybe I had a few moments

of t’shuva.” At this point, it becameimpossible to calm him down.

WHY WERE THE T’KIOSDIFFICULT?

One year, R’ Reuven said thatthe t’kios the Rebbe blew on RoshHaShana were difficult, but he wassure that if someone like himsettled inside the Rebbe’s shofar,then you would need to make agreat effort to blow it in order toget him out, because obviously theproblem was not with the Rebbebut with us.

NOT WITHIN YOURKOCHOS

I once asked R’ Reuven why hedidn’t help someone marry. Heanswered that he wanted to helpbut when he asked the Rebbe aboutit, the answer he got was: Let it be,it is not within your abilities.”

A SMILE THAT GRINDSAt a farbrengen that took place

in R’ Reuven’s house in Elul, R’Reuven said, “I once heard theRebbe say that in Elul the king is inthe field and shows a smiling face,and he pronounced the word forsmiling, shochakos with the letterShin (meaning, grinding) and not aSin. I also heard the Rebbe say itwith a Sin, so clearly it wasintentional.

“The meaning of this seems tobe as follows: Imagine that you arestanding before the king and he issmiling at you; you are standingbefore the Rebbe and he is smilingat you. Do you suddenly feel likeclapping? You are more likely tocry than to smile, but the smilegrinds us down and cleanses usinside.”

“WHEN HE FARBRENGS– I AM WITH HIM”

Upon a visit to Beis Chayeinu,R’ Reuven farbrenged in ChovaveiTorah and many T’mimim came tohis farbrengen, which lasted untillate at night. R’ Reuven left thefarbrengen feeling terrible since hewent to the Rebbe to receive andnot to be mashpia.

The next day he submitted anote to the Rebbe in which heasked whether it was all right tofarbreng with the bachurim. Thatevening, at another farbrengen withthe bachurim, he said that he hadgotten an answer which said thatthe Rebbe encouraged hisfarbrengens “when he farbrengs – Iam with him.”

R’ Reuven explained that heunderstood this to mean that sincehe wasn’t innovating anything, andwas only giving over what theRebbe said, the Rebbe found itimportant that the T’mimim hearthis and it made no difference fromwhom they heard it.

REAL HONORWe once sat in the Chabad

house on 70 Hertzel Street and the father of a bachur,a mekurav who lived with R’ Reuven, came in. Theman was a Leftist and he began to scream at R’Reuven and even threatened, “I’ll come back here witha gun and grenades!”

R’ Reuven said, “I believe you, you will surely killme like you Leftists eliminated all those who opposedyou in the past.”

At some point the father broke and said, “But wehave only one son and you’re taking him from us.”

“Who told you tohave only one son?”asked R’ Reuven.

“What aboutrespect for one’sfather?” asked theman, and R’ Reuvenexplained, “Realhonor is when yourson will go in the wayof Hashem.”

I TOOK CAREOF MYSELFOne Shabbos, R’

Reuven askedsomeone why he dida certain thing. Thebachur did notunderstand andasked, “What did Ido?”

R’ Reuven said,“You raised yourhand.”

The bachurjustified himself bysaying, “There was amosquito on my handand I wanted to shooit away.”

“That’s just whatI’m talking about,”said R’ Reuven. “What did you gain by chasing itaway? You took care of yourself and now it can goand bite another Jew?!”

YOUR PROBLEMAt a certain farbrengen the T’mimim asked R’

Reuven to continue to farbreng after one in themorning. R’ Reuven said he agreed only if he got theirguarantees in writing that they would all be learning

Chassidus on time the next morning.He said that when he was a Tamim in 770, he saw

that workers had come to change the linoleum in 770.They said they were working under a time pressurebecause the secretaries had said they had to finish byeight in the morning. R’ Reuven helped them out andworked all night and they finished the job by seven inthe morning.

He washed his hands, said brachos and got readyto go and rest. When he left 770 he met the Rebbe.

The Rebbe asked,“What?” [short for“What’s going on?Why are youleaving?]

R’ Reuven beganto explain how he hadworked all night andwas going to rest.

The Rebbe said,“What you did atnight is yourproblem. TheChassidus sessionbegins soon and aTamim needs to beon time and keep theschedule.”

HOW TO SLEEP EIGHT HOURS

On anotheroccasion, when hemet the Rebbe, theRebbe said, “Wediscussed how youneed to eat and sleeplike a mentch.”

The Rebbe added,“So that the bodyworks properly, theRambam says aperson needs between

6-8 hours of sleep. “The next day,” said R’ Reuven, “I got up at 8 in

the morning after a good night’s sleep and was late forlearning. The Rebbe saw me and made a motion withhis hand and asked, “What?”

I explained that the Rebbe had told me to sleep likea mentch, between 6-8 hours. The Rebbe smiled andsaid, “Right, but I didn’t say they have to besequential.”

YOU WON’T BELIEVEWHAT’S GOING ON IN

THE KIBBUTZIMThere’s a revolution going on

in the kibbutzim. Dozens, evenhundreds of baalei t’shuva areemerging, some of whom arealready serving as shluchim, in allrespects, and furthering therevolution which continues tosnowball.

It seems as though thephenomenon is most pronouncedat secular kibbutzim, those whohad previously championed thetrampling of everything holy,where shiurim, shuls, and baaleit’shuva are now sprouting. Theseare places where the revolution is

being perpetuated from within.Around us in Beit Shaan, there

are many kibbutzim. I lookaround me at each of thekibbutzim in the area and I cansay with certainty that there isn’ta single kibbutz from which therehasn’t emerged (or remained)two, three, or ten baalei t’shuva.Most came to Chabad, though notall.

We were recently visited hereat the Chabad house by a memberof Kibbutz Cheftziva. He is incharge of all the organicagriculture. He told me thatmembers of the Badatz inYerushalayim came to him to buytons of wheat for shmura matzafor the Shmita year.

The members of the Badatzwere tough and wanted to checkand wash even the graincompartment within the combine.They also brought a formerkibbutznik, who is now a religiousman, who knows how to operate acombine, so that he could cut thewheat lishma, for the sake of theshmura matza, as required.

A SOFER AT ASECULAR KIBBUTZ

Let us move on to KibbutzRegavim, near Chadera and GivatEda. An alternative doctor, whobecame frum through Chabadafter receiving amazing brachosfrom the Rebbe, lives there.

In his clinic in Tel Aviv, hecombines natural nutrition withIgros Kodesh, psychologicalrelaxation techniques with storiesabout the Rebbe, etc. He recentlydiscovered Simon Jacobson’sTowards a Meaningful Life. Hebought thirty copies and gavethem out to his friends andacquaintances, many of them

Tomer, of Kibbutz Navei Ohr in the BeitShaan Valley, became a baal t’shuvatwo years ago. Today, he lives inMechola and his home operates as asuccessful Chabad house.

BAALEI

T’SHUVA FROM

THE KIBBUTZIM!By Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, Chabad house – Beit Shaan

members of Kibbutz Regavim.Now, a serious revolution is

taking place at the kibbutz,regarding Judaism and Chabad.One family, who takes it allseriously, is already sending theirchildren to ganei Chabad in OhrAkiva, opened a shul at thekibbutz which is open for all thet’fillos on Shabbos, and also hasshiurim during the week formekuravim living in the area.

Rabbi Menachem Levitin,shliach in Givat Eda, gives aweekly shiur there. Rabbi Ben-Tzion Grossman of MigdalHaEmek, gives lectures beforeholidays, and the place hasbecome a spiritual lighthouse forthe entire region.

One member of the kibbutz,despite a serious physicaldisability, adopted the shul fromthe day it was founded and takescare of the lighting, minyanim,refreshments for the shiurim,generally ensuring that everythingis done happily and comfortably.

The family, where both parentsare intellectuals and experiencedlecturers, invites many guests and

members of kibbutzim forShabbos meals. They held a seiderthat would not put to shame anyChabad house in the center of thecountry. On Lag B’Omer thefamily organized a major eventwhich cost thousands of shekels,for the dozens of mekuravim andmembers of the kibbutz.

The father learned how towrite as a sofer and just finishedwriting a Torah which wasbrought to the shul with greatpomp on Yud-Beis Tammuz.

THEY RETURNED TOTHE KIBBUTZ ANDOPENED A CHABAD

HOUSELet us go back to the

kibbutzim in the Beit ShaanValley. Three years ago, theChabad house of Beit Shaan got aserious boost. Rabbi Ro’i Tor andhis wife came to live in Beit Shaanand joined the shluchim that areactive in the city and surroundingarea. R’ Ro’i also comes fromnearby Kibbutz Reshafim (his wifeis from Kibbutz Nir Am), lived for

a year in Tzfas, returned to live inReshafim for two months andthen came to Beit Shaan.

He is kept very busycirculating among the kibbutzimin the area, giving a shiur here,making a bar mitzva there, andvisiting preschools. He doesprograms with the elderly, puts upmezuzos – in short, he is aperipatetic Chabad house.

Every fifteenth of the month heholds a “full moon farbrengen”with mekuravim, near one of thesprings that are abundant aroundhere. Dozens of young peoplefrom kibbutzim listen to divreiTorah and Chassidic music untillate at night.

R’ Ro’i Tor in concert withTzach, opened an independentChabad house for kibbutzim. Theresults? Nearly every week we areinformed about a new baal t’shuvawho went to learn at one of theChabad yeshivos, or about acouple who will be setting up afrum, Chassidic household withthe rabbi and his wife preparingthe bride and groom for thewedding.

At Kibbutz Ein Charod there isa shul for t’fillos and shiurim. AtKibbutz Sdei Nachum (afterdiscussions with all thecommittees and the opposition) itwas decided to redo the largedining room, to turn it into ashul.

Some kibbutzim kashered theirdining room and host groups ofreligious people on vacation orseminars. A few kibbutzim stop allagricultural work on Shabbos.Even the Bikkurim ceremony wasmoved up to Erev Shavuos inorder to prevent the desecrationof the holiday.

THREE GENERATIONSWITHIN TWO YEARSYesterday, I attended a Sheva

brachos of Yotam in the home ofThe building where the shul is located at Kibbutz Sdei Nachum

Tomer at Moshav Machola. Ilistened a little to what the groomsaid to his close friends andsuddenly realized that I was awitness to a revolutionaryphenomenon on the kibbutzim.

Tomer, of Kibbutz Navei Ohrin the Beit Shaan Valley, became abaal t’shuva two years ago. NowTomer lives in Mechola and hishome operates as a successfulChabad house in every way. Overtime, he began being mekarev hisfriend from the kibbutz Yotam.

This week, Yotam got marriedand established a Chassidic home.Tomer invited about ten youngfriends from the kibbutz to theSheva Brachos meal in his home.I was also invited (as well as therav of the yishuv, Rabbi Tzvi Levand Rabbi Ro’i Tor – the shliachto the kibbutzim) and we allfarbrenged. The kibbutznikimdescribed Chabad houses all overthe world, sang Chassidic songsand listened to divrei Torah.

I listened in to the groomtalking with his friends from thekibbutz, and the topic was, “Howcan we have more fear ofHeaven?” Later I heard him say,

“Aside from that, in my yard onthe kibbutz there is a mikva thatyou helped me build with somecement. Who will run it when Ileave the kibbutz in another twomonths?”

They finally divided up thejobs. Among other things, theywould look for a building on thekibbutz that would serve them asa shul! Three generations of baaleit’shuva within two years.

Decades ago there was asaying, “There will yet be a shulin Ein Charod.” At that time, itseemed utterly farfetched,something for YemosHaMoshiach. Now we see ithappening. Get ready for the

hisgalus!

WE ARE ALL SHLUCHIMAt that Sheva Brachos, the rav

of the yishuv started his speechlike this, “The parsha this week iscompletely Chabad’s. It’s theparsha of Shlach. Shluchim.”

It goes to show you how theworld looks at Chabad Chassidim,at the movement; as a Chassidusof shlichus and shluchim. Perhapswe will all adopt the Rebbe’s idea,that each of us is the shliach ofNasi Doreinu, and each of us willdo what he can, to be mekarevJews, to spread the prophecy ofGeula and to bring MoshiachTzidkeinu immediately, now!

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Decades ago there was a saying, “Therewill yet be a shul in Ein Charod.” Atthat time, it seemed utterly farfetched,something for Yemos HaMoshiach. Nowwe see it happening. Get ready for thehisgalus!

[Continued from last week]

2. THE REBBE’S ANNOUNCEMENT OFTHE REDEMPTION IS NOT ACOMPUTATION OF THE APPOINTEDTIME, BUT WORDS OF PROPHECY

Rabbi Mazuz writes further: “Asis known, the Rebbe in recent yearsspread and strengthened the faithin the imminent arrival ofMoshiach, and there was almost nosicha or farbrengen that did notconclude on the subject ofMoshiach’s coming. (And so theancient Sages have written that thesparks of Redemption begin in theyear 5709, which corresponds tothe fifth hour of the Sixth Day –

according to the calculation that aday for G-d is one thousand years– continuing until the year 5750,which is Friday afternoon.)”

It is important to note on thismatter that the Rebbe’s words onthe imminent Redemption are notjust due to the calculation that“Erev Shabbos afternoon” startsafter 5750 (as is understood fromthe words of the holy OhrHaChayim, Parshas Tzav, on thepasuk (6:2) “[it] burns on the altarall night until morning”). Rather, itis according to what the Rebbe saidhimself on Shabbos ParshasShoftim 5751, i.e., that what hesaid about the imminent coming of

Moshiach are words of prophecy(see Seifer HaSichos 5751, pgs.791-793):

“One must publicize to himselfand all those whom he reaches thatthey must accept upon themselves(in greater strength) the instructionsand advice of ‘your judges’ and‘your advisors’ of our generation. Ingeneral, ‘Who are the kings? Therabbanim,’ and particularly, theleader of the generation, who comesas a continuation of the Rebbeimwho preceded him – the judge ofour generation, the advisor of thegeneration, and the prophet ofour generation… And as thecommandment of the Torah, ‘To

In response to requests by our readers,we now present the second in a series ofexcerpts from “V’Torah YevakshuMiPihu,” Rabbi Sholom Dovber HaLeviWolpo’s seifer on the Rebbe’s teachingsregarding Chabad chassidus, itsapproach to emuna, and its variouscustoms.

FAITH THAT

THE REBBE SHLITA

IS MOSHIACHBy Rabbi Sholom Dovber HaLevi WolpoTranslated By Michoel Leib Dobry

him you shall listen,’ and accordingto the halachic ruling of theRambam, when a person possessesthe qualities that a prophet musthave in their fullest sense, and healso shows miracles and wonders,as we have seen from the leader ofthe generation, and which we alsosee now as a continuation of thefulfillment of his blessings…

“Furthermore, ‘a prophet whotestifies regarding another prophetthat he is a prophet’ – as thisapplies to the leader of thegeneration and continuing in thefollowing generation through hisstudents, etc. – “is presumed to be aprophet, and the second onerequires no investigation,” and wemust immediately obey him evenbefore he performs a miracle, and(in the language of the Rambam,)‘it is forbidden to consider or inferthat his prophecy might not be true,and it is forbidden to test him toomuch…rather, since it is knownthat he is a prophet, they mustbelieve and know that G-d isamong them, and they shouldneither doubt nor question him…’

“Thus, we believe in the wordsof the prophet, not because they arethe prophet’s words, but becausethese are the words of G-dthrough this prophet…

“We must publicize to the entiregeneration that we have meritedthat G-d has chosen and appointedsomeone with free choice, who isfar higher than the people of thegeneration, to be ‘your judges,’

‘your advisors,’ and “the prophetof the generation,” who willprovide instructions and give advicerelevant to the avoda of the entireJewish People and all the people ofthis generation in all matters ofTorah and mitzvos, and in relationto general dailyconduct…including the mainprophecy, the prophecy of‘Immediately to Redemption’ andinstantly ‘Here comes Moshiach.’Furthermore, he makes thisprophecy not only as a sage and ajudge, but as a prophet, which is acertainty… This is all the more truewhen matters have already beenexpressed in speech as well (“thespeech of the lips,” the concept ofprophecy), and it has beencustomary recently to reveal thewords in speech, includingparticularly that the Redemption iscoming.”

The Rebbe shlita said explicitlythat when he said on numerousoccasions “Here comes Moshiach,”this was not a calculation of theappointed time, but a prophecy

that G-d communicated to him.(See at length in the sicha, wherethe Rebbe proves that there isnothing to prevent the revelation ofprophecy today, and on thecontrary, this is one of the signs ofthe time of Moshiach’s coming,also according to the Rambam.Similarly, the Rebbe explains therethat the concept is connected withthe statement of the Rambam thatMoshiach himself is a “greatprophet.” This point will beelucidated further in the chapter onthe revelation of prophecy in thesetimes and in the Diaspora.)

It is important to note herewhat the holy rav, Rabbi Nachumof Chernobyl, of blessed memory,wrote in his seifer Me’or Einayimon Parshas Pinchas, about howprior to his revelation as theRedeemer of the Jewish People,Moshiach will be on the level ofEliyahu HaNavi, who will awakenthe longing and announce theRedemption, and afterwards, hewill be on the level of Moshiach.

The Rebbe shlita said explicitly thatwhen he said on numerous occasions“Here comes Moshiach,” this was not acalculation of the appointed time, but aprophecy that G-d communicated tohim.

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Two years have passed sincebulldozers destroyed the homes inChomesh, a yishuv in northernShomron. At that time, very fewdreamed of returning to thedestroyed settlements, but astubborn initiative on the part of afew people has brought manyhundreds of people to Chomesh in

recent weeks.Lately, Chomesh has been

hosting hundreds of young peopleas well as families who wereexpelled from the yishuv, who planon rebuilding the yishuv.

On Sunday afternoon (July29), I spoke by phone with YossiDagan, spokesman for the

organization Chomesh First. He’sthe one behind the initiative toreturn to northern Shomron, andhe himself was expelled from Sa-nur two years ago. He soundedexhausted after a few days ofminimal sleep and massive work tobring additional groups to thearea, but the hope in his voice wasapparent.

What’s behind the idea ofgoing up to Chomesh?

Two years ago, when theexpulsion plan was announced, itwas said that although the settlerswould have to sacrifice theirhomes, the plan would bolstersecurity and leave terror behind.Today, when the results of theexpulsion plan are clear to all, weneed to turn to those who set it inmotion and ask them to correcttheir mistakes.

On the eve of the first aliya toChomesh, last Chanuka, we sentan official letter to the PrimeMinister and the DefenseMinister, asking them to right thewrong that was caused by theexpulsion plan. Although the lawrequires a response to a citizenwithin 48 hours, we have notreceived one, and therefore wehave brought hundreds of peopleto Chomesh in order to protest theirresponsibility of those whodreamed up the plan.

About 1300 people, youngpeople and adults, participated inthat aliya with mesirus nefesh,despite the strong opposition fromthe police and army. It was thisaliya that actually broke the mental

In recent weeks, Chomesh has hostedhundreds of people, young and old,singles and families, all of whom wantto see the rebuilding of the yishuv thatwas destroyed two years ago. The police,the army, and the Shin-Bet are doingall they can to prevent this fromhappening, but they are facing offagainst very persistent people, who aredetermined to win, with the belief, “ifwe are stubborn, we can win and will beable to return to all those yishuvim theydestroyed.” * “Our fight is carried outwith full separation between men andwomen and no compromises on tznius.”* An interview with Yossi Dagan, one ofthe expellees from Yishuv Sa-nur, who isleading the fight to return to Chomesh.

CHOMESH FIRST!By Berele Crombie

block that existed until then, aboutthe impossibility of being able toreturn to demolished settlements.

The government was shockedthat all the efforts made to thwartan aliya, failed. Lighting theMenora in Chomesh symbolizedthe determination and strength ofthe Jewish people returning to itsland with self-sacrifice. It wasclear to us that we had brokenthrough and made other aliyotpossible.

Although we had clearlyannounced on our first aliya toChomesh that we had not given upon the idea of reestablishing thedestroyed yishuvim, we knew wehad to take action. So, beforePesach we announced that wewere going up again, not only tovisit, but to reestablish Chomesh.

Dozens of families andthousands of young peopleprepared for the aliya on Pesach,facing off against large numbers ofborder patrol police, who tried toprevent the olim from crossing theblockades. In the end, the securityforces gave in and decided toapprove our aliya.

When we got to the yishuv, webegan to organize and prepare theground to establish the yishuvonce again. After three days there,hundreds of policemen cleared outthe nucleus of families and youth.However, that aliya will beremembered as the first aliya inwhich we began to reestablish theyishuv of Chomesh.

The next aliya was in themiddle of Iyar and it wascomprised of 20,000 people. Thiswas a significant jump as far aspublic interest was concerned.Afterwards, we knew that the timewas ripe to speak up about

returning to the destroyedyishuvim. That’s when we starteda publicity campaign aboutreturning to northern Shomron,under the slogan, “ChomeshFirst.”

An organization called“Chomesh First” was started by anucleus of families expelled fromnorthern Shomron, together withvarious organizations, includingthe Committee to Save the Nationand the Land. The purpose was toarouse public opinion in favor ofreturning to the uprooted yishuvimand to correct the security breachand moral crime perpetrated bythe expulsion.

Why was Chomesh pickedover the other destroyedsettlements?

Unlike the other destroyedsettlements, Chomesh remainedunder the sovereignty of the Stateof Israel, like any other part ofIsrael. It’s an area under thearmy’s jurisdiction, so an illogicalsituation emerged. It is under thesovereignty of the State but thepoliticians refuse to allow Jews tolive there, just so that they don’tadmit the mistake of the expulsioncrime. It’s utterly ridiculous. EvenSaudi Arabia, a few years ago,allowed Jews to enter, while theonly place that Jews cannot live isin Eretz Yisroel!

Furthermore, the IDFconsiders the Chomesh areaextremely important from astrategic standpoint. During thelast two years, many of themilitary brass sought to reestablishthe military bases in the area ofChomesh and Sa-nur. The army issimply unable to manage without astrong security outpost in the areawhere there used to besettlements. The area is swarmingwith terrorists and the army has tokeep on preventing terroristattacks. The fact that the army hasno solid base in the area makes itdifficult to thwart the terrorists. Atfirst, the request that thearmy bases bereestablished was spokenabout only

in closed forums, but now manysecurity people are talking aboutthis openly in the media.

In addition, the entireinfrastructure of the yishuv is stillthere. The roads, sidewalks, andeven the gardens of the yishuv arestill there and waiting for us toreturn to reestablish the yishuv.On aliyot there, people saw thateven the saplings that wereplanted near where the uprootingwas done, as well as the flowers inthe gardens, are still there.Chomesh has a broadinfrastructure for water, pipes,and electricity so that we can soonrenew the settlement without undodifficulties.

What changed in the mostrecent aliya?

About a week before TishaB’Av, we announced another aliyato the yishuv, this time not only toprepare the ground to reestablishthe yishuv, but with plans to staythere until the yishuv isreestablished. We first fundraisedfor bricks, in order to build a newshul, and tens of thousands ofpeople responded.

On the eve of the aliya, wediscovered that a large number ofsecurity forces were preparing toblock us, so we announced on themorning of the aliya that wewould not go up to Chomesh asone organized group. Rather,small groups would continuouslygo up. This was the first timesince the expulsion that for twoweeks in a row, Jews haveremained in the area that wasdestroyed. There are about twentyfamilies that are living there intents. Some of them are familieswho were expelled from the areawho now want to rebuild theirhomes.

After three days, hundreds ofpolicemen showed up in order toclear people out with force andviolence. Apparently, the upper

echelons were getting hystericalover our presence there and theydecided to use force to ensure thatthe yishuv is not reestablished.

The police even confiscatedcameras of people who werephotographing the violence. Thepolice did not wear ID tags. Manyof the young people and womenwere mercilessly beaten by thepolice. But all this did not breaktheir spirit. On the contrary, itstrengthened all the participants intheir fight to regain the yishuv.

Hundreds of kids fled to thesurrounding hills, as did a groupof families who returned to theyishuv as soon as the police left,

and then continued to preserve aJewish foothold there. A few hourslater, hundreds of people joinedthem in organized groups. Byevening, nearly 1000 people werethere!

The people there began torebuild from the ground up. Thewater tower in the center of theyishuv was colored orange and onit was written, “Returning toChomesh.” The streets in thecenter of the yishuv were cleanedup.

Our fight is carried out withfull separation between men and

women and no tzniuscompromises, because we believethat this is a battle for the holyTorah, and this is the only way wewill win.

During the last two weeks,there have been many shiurim inChomesh, and Rabbi Lior ofKiryat Arba visited us,strengthening the spirit of those inthe yishuv.

How do you feel now, twoyears after the expulsion?

The expellees feel horrible. Thegovernment abandoned us andnobody is willing to admit theirmistakes. However, this is not atime for crying but a time to get

up and do something to save ourpeople.

On the aliyot to Chomesh, forthe first time people are hearingideas which unfortunately have notbeen said in Israel since the firstOslo Accord. We are used tohaving a group of Leftists setpolicy in Israel with their plans forwithdrawal and futile concessions.The Right merely reactsdefensively. Now we’ve got agroup who has decided not toremain quiet but to suggest theirown alternative, with a politicalplan of revival, in the spirit of the

An illogical situation emerged. It isunder the sovereignty of the State butthe politicians refuse to allow Jews tolive there, just so that they don’t admitthe mistake of the expulsion crime. It’sutterly ridiculous. Even Saudi Arabia, afew years ago, allowed Jews to enter,while the only place that Jews cannotlive is in Eretz Yisroel!

holy Torah. This is what exertspressure on the higher-ups, andthis is why we see the insanemobilization to prevent aliyot tothe yishuv.

Three weeks ago, police forcessent up a drone to deter peoplefrom going up to the yishuv, anunprecedented move. Yet, they seethat our people are resolute andthat we are not backing down. Aspart of our organizational effortwe hired pollsters to gauge publicopinion, and these polls haveshown time and again that all thealiyot to Chomesh strengthen theidea that the destruction was acrime and that the destroyedyishuvim should be renewed.

We are sure that this is the onlyway to influence public opinion, aswell as the political process, andto bring security and peace.

I remember the day we wereexpelled from Sa-nur. As I movedfurther away from the houses inthe yishuv, I saw dozens of Arabsstanding on the hill, dancing withPLO flags. It was a terrible sightand I promised myself that wewould return. Now, I see that allthose who mocked thesesentiments admit that if wecontinue doing what we’re doing,we can realize those dreams andrebuild the settlements.

The last night before theexpulsion, I packed a stone that Iremoved from the house in whichI lived in Sa-nur, with the firmpromise that we would rebuild Sa-nur with these stones. I believethat just as we see the return to

Chomesh, we will also see thereturn to Sa-nur, with Hashem’shelp.

The Shin-Bet interrogated youfor seven hours. What did theywant?

Since the organization torebuild Chomesh, over the last fewweeks, I was interrogated twice bythe Shin-Bet. They tried tothreaten me so that I would stopspeaking with the media aboutreturning to northern Shomron.They even said that if I don’t stopmy activities, I would beprosecuted for the crime ofbreaking the “DisengagementLaw.”

They questioned me for sevenhours about our organization andour plans, and they used methodsthat are reminiscent of policestates. I refused to answer themand said it was a politicalinterrogation which I would haveno part in. They focused theirquestions on the media aspect ofthe battle, which only shows thatthey realize how close we are tovictory in the battle for thepublic’s awareness.

They took out of the drawertapes of interviews that I gave tothe media and wanted me toexplain what I meant in thoseinterviews. I didn’t answer them.

Other members of theorganization, like Boaz HaEtzni,were interrogated in the darkcellars of the Shin-Bet, all on thetopic of aliyot to Chomesh. Itseems the government is veryafraid of our initiative since they

realize that this time it’s a seriousfight and we will win. We mayhave to take the long road, but wesee that if we dig in our heels, wecan win and return to all thoseyishuvim which they destroyed.

What are your plans for thefuture?

Chomesh is not the only placethat needs to be revived. It’s thefirst, and with G-d’s help it will bethe turning point. We present ourown political plan to counter theLeftist government’s policy ofcapitulation, and to counter thenumerous ludicrous concessionsthat started with the Oslo Accordsand never stopped. The aliyot toChomesh are signals to the publicthat we must change direction andthey are bringing with them abreath of fresh air of constructionin place of destruction andsurrender.

The battle is divided into twoparts: an actual battle in the areaand a battle for the heart of thenation. We need to go with headsheld high and announce that thisis Eretz Yisroel which was given tous by G-d, and we have gone upto retake it with total self-sacrifice.

From a security standpoint, wehave all seen the failure of self-destruction, so the battle for thepublic’s awareness is already inour hands. Now we have to focuson the battle for the actualyishuvim and we are confidentthat we will immediately go fromdarkness to a great light and willmerit the Geula shleima!

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ROLE MODELS INKEEPING TO THE

SCHEDULERabbi Minkowitz: As the Rebbe

told us they would before we left,they regularly sent us his maamarimand sichos. We usually got them aweek later, and only rarely did weget the hanacha of Shabbos beforethe next Shabbos. When there werefarbrengens on weekdays, they sentus a tape of it.

Those were the big reel-to-reeltapes of yesteryear and we wouldborrow a big machine from aLubavitcher and listen to the entirefarbrengen. It mamash revived us.

Since the Rebbe had spoken tous so strongly about shmirasha’sedarim (keeping to the learningschedule), we decided that wewouldn’t even learn the Rebbe’ssichos during s’darim but in our freetime. When we got a tape of theRebbe’s farbrengen, which wasgenerally six hours long, we wouldsit from the end of our Chassidusclass at 9:30 PM until three-four inthe morning, listening to the Rebbe.

Forty years after they had the privilegeof being personally selected by theRebbe and sent as talmidim-shluchimto strengthen the yeshiva in Australia,three members of the group reminiscedabout their shlichus with BeisMoshiach. * They describe the momentthey found out they had been chosen,the special yechiduyos with the Rebbe,the trip to distant Australia and theiractivities in the yeshiva, as well as thedays following their shlichus, thespecial kiruvim, including being able tosit at the Rebbe’s table Pesach nightand receive a piece of the Rebbe’safikoman as “members of hishousehold.” * Part 2

MISSION:

CONQUER

AUSTRALIABy Rabbi Sholom Yaakov Chazan

The next day, or course, we showedup at seven o’clock for morningChassidus.

For two years we did not missthe morning Chassidus even once! Itwasn’t easy. We had to get up everymorning at six, quickly get ready,and at 6:15 we went with R’ ChaimSerebryanski to the mikva. He had acommercial vehicle with one seat inthe front. The lucky one who got tothe vehicle first got to sit in the seatwhile the rest of us sat on the floorbehind them.

Although Chassidus in mostyeshivos gedolos begins at 7:30 inthe morning, in our yeshiva it beganat 7:00. The reason was that inAustralia it was out of the questionto begin Nigleh at 11:00 because itimplied that our day began that latewhile other people were preparing toeat lunch. We had to move backNigleh to 10:30, but since we couldnot forego two hours for davening,and certainly could not forego anhour and a half for Chassidus in themorning, the idea was proposed thatwe start Chassidus at seven. Thisenabled us to begin Nigleh at 10:30.

We knew that the s’darim ofTomchei T’mimim are very seriousand could not be changed just likethat. We remembered that the Rebbetold us that when it came to spiritual

matters we should ask RabbiSimpson, who had come with us.We thought – this must be thereason why the Rebbe sent him. Hewas one of the founders of TomcheiT’mimim! We asked Rabbi Simpsonwho said we should begin Chassidusat seven.

Rabbi Majeski: R’ Abba Pliskin,who lived in Melbourne, had a shiurthat he gave to balabatim once aweek, at nine o’clock at night. Whenhe moved to New York, near 770,the participants in his shiursuggested that each night, one of usshould fill in for him. He wrote tothe Rebbe about this idea and theRebbe negated it, saying that thebachurim went for a special shlichusand they should not do anything thatwould affect the s’darim in yeshiva.

R’ Minkowitz: After that clearanswer, we knew that the s’darimhad to be devoted solely to thelearning of Nigleh and Chassidus.Even when we received letters fromthe Rebbe, if they came afterlearning began, we did not openthem until after we finished learning.Obviously, this was very hard,mamash mesirus nefesh, but weknew this was what the Rebbewanted. When the learning periodwas over, we opened the letter withawe and learned it, with the

footnotes.We usually received the Rebbe’s

letters in one envelope on which itsaid, “to the talmidim-shluchim,”but inside were personal letters foreach one of us. When we hadpersonal questions, the Rebbe addeda handwritten answer on the letterfor the bachur who asked thequestion.

SIX WHOLE MATZOSAND ONE BROKEN ONE

R’ Minkowitz: When we were inyechidus with the Rebbe, the Rebbetold us to write a report every twoweeks and said: either all of you signor one should sign on behalf of all.

We decided that one would signon behalf of all, each time anotherone of us signing. Since we arrivedshortly before Rosh Chodesh AdarII, after Purim we wrote a report tothe Rebbe to sum up the first twoweeks. We did not receive aresponse to this letter. Two weekslater, we sent another report.

A few days before Pesach wereceived a package of matzos fromthe Rebbe that seemed to be thematzos that were baked and sent onBeis Nissan. When we opened it, wesaw that the matza was broken.Before we had a chance to be

The participants in this discussion from right to left: Rabbi Shloma Majeski,

Rabbi Hirshel Morosov, Rabbi Yosef Minkowitz

disappointed, we saw thatunderneath the broken one were sixwhole ones!

It was amazing that, after thelong trip from the United States toAustralia, for over a week, that sixmatzos remained whole. Each of ushad a whole matza for the first nightof Pesach and a piece of the brokenmatza for the second night.

An unpleasant surprise awaitedus in this package. A letter from theRebbe’s secretaries said that theRebbe had sent the matzos to us andit was surprising that an entiremonth had passed since we had left,and no report had been received.Apparently, the report we had senttwo weeks after our arrival, had notarrived at its destination. We rushedto send the report again viatelegram.

A SPECIAL REGARDFOR THE PARENTS OF

THE SHLUCHIMR’ Majeski: That year, when my

father went by the Rebbe whenmatzos were distributed, he did notknow that we had already receivedmatzos from the Rebbe and he askedespecially for me. The Rebbeinformed him that matzos had beensent especially for us. Nevertheless,

the Rebbe gave him an extra piece.R’ Minkowitz: When my father

went for yechidus on his birthday,the Rebbe said: You have regardsfrom your son in Australia. I receiveletters from them. What they areaccomplishing has not beenaccomplished since the times ofMoshe Rabbeinu! Don’t write themthis, so they shouldn’t come toyeshus (haughtiness).

R’ Morosov: At one of thefarbrengens, after the Rebbementioned the inyan of shlichus andsaid, “a man’s emissary is likehimself,” the father of R’ HirschelLipsker approached the Rebbe andasked to say l’chaim for his sonHirschel. The Rebbe corrected himand said: R’ Hirschel, for “a man’semissary is like himself.”

Our former fellow students, whoreported to us via letter, added “R’”from then on, in their letters.

The Rebbe instructed us to takepictures of ourselves, a picture of thegroup and a picture of each shliachseparately, and to send a copy forthe Rebbe and another copy to ourparents.

We immediately paid for aphotographer and sent the picturesto the Rebbe and to our parents.Afterwards, we heard from RabbiChaim Gutnick that when he had

yechidus with the Rebbe, he saw thepictures on the Rebbe’s desk.

SPARKS, NESHAMOS,BIRURIM...

R’ Majeski: One of the maingoals in founding the yeshiva inMelbourne in general, and having uson our shlichus in particular, was tobreak the Australian klipa, the notionthat you had to attend university. Ina yechidus with a resident ofMelbourne, Aharon Schidler, theRebbe told him that the reason whyTorah and Judaism did not makesufficient progress in Australia wasdue to the lack of suitable yeshivos.The Rebbe said this was why he sentus, for we were good talmidim whocame from very good homes, and wewere to be role models to thecommunity so they too would sendtheir sons to the yeshiva inMelbourne.

In fact, when we arrived there, itmade a tremendous impression onthe boys who were in yeshiva ketana(high school). One of the shluchim,who was a young boy in yeshivaketana at the time, told me yearslater that he was so impressed whenwe came that he even rememberedthe color of our socks. TheAustralian boys kept a close watch

Before we went on Merkos Shlichus, wereceived a letter from the Rebbe with ahandwritten addition: [may you have]success on your trips.

--Rabbi Hirshel Morosov

on us and desired to be like us. When we heard from someone

that when he asked his son what hewanted to be when he grew up, theboy answered that he wanted to be ayeshiva bachur, we knew that wewere accomplishing what we hadbeen sent to do.

The young bachurim wholearned in the yeshiva ketana, lovedto come to the yeshiva gedola’s zaland talk to us in learning. Betweens’darim we sat with them andinstilled a chayus for learning. Fromour conversations with them, we sawhow out of the question it was forthem to forego university. We hadno choice but to speak aboutpostponing it for a year or two, andwe tried to persuade them to learn ina yeshiva first and only then todecide what to do next.

When Rabbi Gutnick went to theRebbe and asked whether he couldaccept a talmid into the yeshiva whocame only for a short time, theRebbe said: He thinks it’s for a shorttime…

The Rebbe also said that themain thing was for him to be inyeshiva and to see role models. Evenwatching the Maariv of a Tamimcould influence him, said the Rebbe.

R’ Minkowitz: One of the boyswho came to us, was an only child

of a Holocaust survivor. The fatherplanned on having his son attenduniversity, and when his son finishedtwelfth grade with honors and theEducation Ministry awarded him ascholarship to learn free of charge atuniversity, he was thrilled. You canimagine how disappointed he waswhen his son tried to share hisdreams with him, and told him thathe was growing a beard andplanning to learn in yeshiva.

The father was furious and madehis son’s life miserable. Finally, theson couldn’t take it anymore and heleft the house, leaving a note, saying:Since you do not allow me to livemy way and with my beliefs, I hadno choice but to leave home. If youwant me to return home, you haveto let me know that you accept meas I am, and will not try to force adifferent way of life on me. Whenyou make this decision, put an ad inthe daily paper which says: DearSam, return home. I will returnhome only after seeing that ad.

The father was livid. He was surehis son was hiding in the yeshivaand he conducted searches in thebuildings belonging to the yeshiva.After not finding his son (he wasreally not hiding in the yeshiva), andafter some days passed and he sawthat his son was serious in his

intentions, he broke and put the adin the paper. Today, his son is ashliach and some of his childrenhave gone on shlichus!

R’ Morosov: Chanuka time,which is summer in Australia, we gotinstructions to go on MerkosShlichus. We went to all sorts offorsaken places in Australia and evenNew Zealand. Before we went onMerkos Shlichus, we received aletter from the Rebbe with ahandwritten addition: [may youhave] success on your trips.

Also here we saw the Rebbe’sfocus on our main function, whichwas diligently learning in theyeshiva, and as per the Rebbe’sinstructions, every two weeksanother pair of T’mimim went. Theother four T’mimim remained inyeshiva and continued learning asusual. The only two weeks of theyear when none of us were inyeshiva were when all the talmidimwent to camp and we went along inorder to learn with them there.

R’ Minkowitz: On CholHaMoed Sukkos I went withHirschel Lipsker on mivtzaim toSydney. We were told that in theschools there, they had an hour ofJewish instruction and we couldarrange to address the pupils aboutthe holiday. The hour of Jewish

When we got a tape of the Rebbe’sfarbrengen, which was generally sixhours long, we would sit from the end ofour Chassidus class at 9:30 PM untilthree-four in the morning, listening tothe Rebbe. The next day, or course, weshowed up at seven o’clock for morningChassidus.

--Rabbi Yosef Minkowitz

instruction in Sydney is not chosenarbitrarily; each school picks anhour that is convenient for them.

The differences in the times thevarious schools picked for this hourof instruction enabled us to appearat several schools. As soon as wearrived, I called the person in chargeof religious instruction and askedpermission to speak to the pupilsduring that hour. He said he wouldgive me an answer that night.

That night, we held a farbrengenin R’ Pinchas Feldman’s sukka. Thephone rang indoors and they toldme that I had a phone call. I jumpedup without noticing the glass door atthe entrance to the house, andcrashed right into it. I answered thephone with my hand dripping blood.The person in charge of religiousinstruction gave me a list of schoolsthat we could visit the next day, andafter we hung up, I examined myhand. I had to go to the hospital for

stitches.The next day, we quickly went

from one school to the next in R’Yaakov Greenbaum’s car. At eachschool we spoke to hundreds ofchildren. We brought a lulav andesrog and explained the importanceof the mitzvos of the holiday.

Many years later, as I walkeddown Kingston Avenue, anunfamiliar man greeted me andasked whether I had once been inSydney on Sukkos. When I told himthat I had, he said that he andanother two boys were amazed bywhat we had said in their school andthey had begun to keep mitzvos.Today, the three of them areLubavitcher Chassidim and shluchimof the Rebbe!

That was the result of one day ofoutreach, and what did we doalready? We merely spoke. When Iasked him what made such a greatimpression, he said the fact that

young men stood up there talking tohundreds of strangers with suchstrength, about matters of faith,Torah and mitzvos, was extremelypowerful.

Another story about a spark thatwas aroused: every Shabbos after themeal I had a shiur in SeiferHaChinuch with some bachurim.There was a bachur who came everyShabbos and sat on the side. Inorder to include the talmidim, I hadeach of them read a few lines, but healways wanted to be skipped. He justsat on the side and listened. Today,that bachur is a shliach in California.

These stories, and dozens morethat we don’t know about, bring tolife what the Rebbe said on theShabbos after we were chosen forshlichus, “and they will bring fromthere sparks, neshamos, birurim,and inyanim, etc.”

The reception the shluchim received upon their arrival in Australia

PESACH WITH THE REBBE

R’ Majeski: After two years onshlichus, it came time to return to770. The Rebbe gave instructionsfor a new group who wouldreplace us, and after they arrivedand we showed them the ropes, weflew back to New York.

Upon our arrival in New York,we received a general letter. OnErev Pesach we stood, likeeveryone else, on line to receivematzos from the Rebbe. Each of usstood somewhere else on the line.When it was the turn of the first ofour group of shluchim, the Rebbeasked him: Where are the rest ofthe shluchim?

They understood that the Rebbewanted us to pass by as a groupand immediately called, “Australia,Australia.” Within seconds all of ushad gathered before the Rebbe.The Rebbe gave each of us a wholematza plus another piece. With aspecial heartfelt gaze, the Rebbeblessed us.

R’ Minkowitz: Pesach night,we hurried to finish the seider inour parents’ house and rushedover to the Rebbe’s seider, whichwas held in the Rebbe Rayatz’sapartment on the second floor of770. When we arrived there, the

Rebbe asked us whether we hadalready eaten the afikoman. Wesaid we had, but immediatelyunderstood that the Rebbe wantedus to eat the afikoman with him.

The next night, we rushed overbefore eating the afikoman, butfound out that since the nightbefore, the table had broken a littledue to the number of peoplepresent, it was decided not toallow the bachurim in. Onlysingular bachurim, members of theK’vutza who were going to travelto Eretz Yisroel after Pesach,received permission from Rashagto enter.

We stood on the steps, waitingfor an opportunity to enter.Finally, we asked the bachur whostood in the doorway to askRashag to ask the Rebbe whetherwe could come in. The Rebbeimmediately answered, “Of course,what’s the question?”

After we entered, the Rebbeasked us again whether we hadeaten the afikoman, and when wesaid we had not, the Rebbe took apiece of his matza, along withanother matza, and gave each ofus two pieces of matza coveredwith a napkin.

The Rebbe told us to sit nearthe table. Six additional chairs

were placed near the table. At first,we did not want to sit in theRebbe’s presence, and we halfstood and half sat perched on ourchairs. However, the Rebbe lookedover at us and waited until weactually sat down. Having nochoice, we sat down.

When one of the elderChassidim sat together with one ofthe shluchim in the same chair, theRebbe asked him whether he hadalso been in Australia. ThisChassid had been to Australia andhe answered Yes. The Rebbe said:Their “table” is greater than yours!And the Rebbe said: You don’t sitwith a shliach on the same chair.

The next day, we heard thatduring the meal, Rashag asked theRebbe what the source was for hisconduct the night before in givingfrom his afikoman to others whowere not relatives. The Rebbe said:It says, “He should take theafikoman and distribute it to hisfamily…although all the T’mimimare my children, the shluchim aresomething special!

At the Moshiach Seuda, in themiddle of the farbrengen, theRebbe instructed us to drink a fifthcup, in addition to the custom offour cups.

[To be continued be”H]

When Rabbi Gutnick went to the Rebbeand asked whether he could accept atalmid into the yeshiva who came onlyfor a short time, the Rebbe said: Hethinks it’s for a short time…

--Rabbi Shloma Majeski

A few weeks ago, I spentShabbos at the Crombie home inTzfas. During that Shabbos, I

heard the following amazing storyfrom Rabbi Zeev Crombie:

“On Purim 5762,” Rabbi

Crombie recalled, “in connectionwith my work for Collel Chabad, Iwas asked to run a hostel inMigdal HaEmek for the seriouslydisabled. The hostel was in verypoor condition, and I was facedwith a rather difficult assignment.Among other things, we werelooking for a donor to purchasethe two apartments where thehostel was in operation.

“Around this time, our friend,Mr. David Grabski, who haddonated the health clinic we hadestablished in Tzfas, arrived inEretz Yisroel. I invited him toMigdal HaEmek, and showed himthe existing hostel facility. Mr.Grabski was most impressed withthe activities we were doing.However, when I spoke with himabout contributing tens ofthousands of dollars for thepurchase of the apartments, hedidn’t respond. As a result, Isuggested that G-d willing, Iwould come to meet with him inBelgium during the summer.

“That summer, when thetremendous burden connectedwith the hostel began to subside alittle, I traveled to Belgium tomeet with Mr. Grabski. After wechatted about a variety of matters,we finally got to the main issue,and I asked him about thecontribution. ‘When I visited youin Migdal HaEmek,’ Mr. Grabskitold me, ‘I saw that the neighborswere hanging their laundry on thewindow bars. It didn’t seem to methat such a place is appropriatefor a medical center.’

“Mr. Grabski’s words stunnedme. If he wasn’t interested in thishostel project, then why didn’t hetell me this in Migdal HaEmek,thus saving me the trouble offlying all the way to Belgium? Itried to tell him that I wouldspeak to the neighbors abouthanging their laundry elsewhere,but he was not impressed by myproposed solution. Mr. Grabski

A few days after Rosh HaShana, ananonymous woman called my wife, andsaid that her former husband, his sister,and his daughter had been involved in aserious automobile accident nearRishikesh, India. The Indian driver hadfallen asleep at the wheel, and the carslammed into a tree, killing the driverat the scene. The sister had beenseverely injured (she died shortlythereafter), and her former husbandand her daughter were hospitalized inan Indian hospital. Could we ask ourson Mendy to take care of them?

THE REBBE

DOES NOT

REMAIN IN

DEBTBy Sholom Dovber ZaltzmanTranslated By Michoel Leib Dobry

thought for a moment, and thensuggested a solution of his own tothe problem (the creative type thatonly millionaires are prepared toconsider): Why don’t we just buythe whole building?

“I was stunned a second time.Such an idea had never crossedmy mind. Instead of acontribution to buy twoapartments, I returned to EretzYisroel with a donor’scommitment to purchase an entirebuilding with all its eighteenapartments.

“The next few months were themost hectic. I worked feverishly toobtain the agreement of all thebuilding’s residents to sell theirapartments. If even one of the

residents refused to sell, the wholeproject would be cancelled. Icouldn’t sign with a singleresident until I was certain that Ihad an agreement with all ofthem, as this was the onecondition that Mr. Grabski hadset: All or nothing! This was amost complicated drive (and therewere many nights that I didn’tsleep), however, we finallysucceeded in purchasing alleighteen apartments in thebuilding.

“There were two apartments inthe building that had beenpurchased by the Israel Ministryof Housing, and were already inuse as the previous hostel facility.Despite the fact that we werealready using these apartments,purchasing them from the IsraelMinistry of Housing proved to bea long and complicated process.Any effort to combat thegovernment bureaucracy was nextto impossible. At a certain point,it didn’t appear to me that Iwould be able to find a solutionthat would enable us to receiveownership of these apartments.

“After persistent efforts, Iturned to the ministry’s deputydirector general, Mr. YisroelSchwartz, with an appeal for hisassistance. When I finallysucceeded in getting through toMr. Schwartz, he went out of hisway to guide me through theentangling governmentbureaucracy. It wasn’t all thatsimple to get a hold of him (afterall, he was the deputy directorgeneral of the Israel Ministry ofHousing), however, when I didreach him, I always found him tobe most attentive and extremelyhelpful.

“As Tishrei 5763 approached,our son, Mendy, traveled toRishikesh, India, to participate inoutreach activities. Just before hewas due to leave, the doctordecided that his wife, Talia,couldn’t travel with him. WhileMendy was most upset with thisdevelopment, he neverthelessdecided to go out on his journeyand fulfill the Rebbe’s shlichus.

“A few days after RoshHaShana, an anonymous womancalled my wife, and said that herformer husband, his sister, andhis daughter had been involved ina serious automobile accidentnear Rishikesh. The Indian driverhad fallen asleep at the wheel, andthe car slammed into a tree,killing the driver at the scene. Thesister had been severely injured(she died shortly thereafter), andher former husband and herdaughter were hospitalized in anIndian hospital. Could we ask ourson Mendy to take care of them?

“My wife called Mendy(making a telephone call toRishikesh was rather complex)and passed on the request. Thiswas not an easy task for Mendyeither, but he managed to locatethree young men at the ChabadHouse who agreed to go withhim. The first was an Israeli who

knew how to speak Indian, thesecond was a medical student,and the third was just someonewho loved to help. The televisioncrew that had come from EretzYisroel to make a ten-part seriesabout his shlichus in Rishikeshjoined in as well.

“Mendy and the crew traveledabout eighty kilometers to thehospital, and over a hard andarduous period of three days andnights, they helped the injured asbest they could. Finally, theyorganized a plane to transport theinjured back to Eretz Yisroel. (Inthe film that was shownafterwards, we see how much theChabad House team helped theinjured, and how grateful theinjured were. One of them said tothe interviewer: ‘It’s quite naturalfor me that Chabad would cometo my aid.’) After those gruelingthree days, Mendy went back to

continue his shlichus.“One night, Mendy invited me

to his home to see the film thathad been prepared on his shlichusin India. After watching thepositively thrilling film, I askedhim if he had any connection withthe man whom he had helped somuch. ‘Of course,’ Mendy replied.‘I speak with him all the time’.

“‘What’s his name?’ Iinquired.

“‘His name is YisroelSchwartz, and he’s the deputydirector general of the Ministry ofHousing…’

“Have you ever heard about

people ‘leaping out of theirchairs’? Well, that’s literally whatI did. Yisroel Schwartz, who wasalways so ready to help us, hadreceived his just reward fromHeaven through Mendy’s help.

“We immediately called YisroelSchwartz (this time directly to hiscell phone without the need forsecretaries and clerks). In a voicefilled with emotion and chokingback tears, I told him: ‘You seehow the Rebbe remains in debt tono one? You gave so much help tothe Rebbe’s institution, and nowthe Rebbe’s shluchim helpedyou!’”

“Have you ever heard about people‘leaping out of their chairs’? Well,that’s literally what I did...

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Sderot is no longer in theheadlines. The pitiful anddeteriorating financial state of its

residents has stopped being the topicof Israeli newspaper articles. Thefact that missiles still continue to

raze homes and public buildings,sowing havoc and fear, is no longernews. The media is more interestedin various peace initiatives and therelease of terrorists from jail.

However, the greatest difficultyfor the people of Sderot is not howmuch media coverage they get. Thebiggest problem is that with the samespeed that the media and politiciansleft the city, so too did the dozens ofchesed groups and organizationswhich flooded the city in order tohelp the residents and enjoyed theirfew minutes of media coverage.

Sderot’s economy is racingdownhill. Avi Carmi, of theManufacturers Union of Israel,estimates that the Kassam attackshave cost the city 60 million shekels,destroying the local economy.Employees have left their places ofwork, and places of business andfactories are seeking to move tomore secure areas. 40% of thepopulation has abandoned the cityand the economic state continues todeteriorate daily, without substantialgovernmental aid.

Although nearly all the chesedorganizations have left Sderot, thereis one organization which does notleave, no matter what. They stand bythe people of Sderot, some of whomwere previously well-to-do and nowneed assistance to put food on theirtable.

That organization, in case youdidn’t guess, is the Chabad houserun by Rabbi Moshe Zev and hisbrother Chananel Pizem.

“I’m not the one who decideswhere to be. Since we were sent tothis city by the Rebbe MH”M, wedon’t have the prerogative thatperhaps others have, to decide whento leave and when to stay,” saysRabbi Pizem in his characteristicmodest fashion.

When I asked him whether thefact that Sderot is no longermentioned in the headlines isbecause one of the promises ofGeula, that swords will be beaten

Sderot is not in the headlines althoughKassam missiles continue to land. Thechesed organizations that filled the cityat the beginning of the recent escalationof rocket attacks have left, leaving thecity bleeding and crying out forassistance. The Pizem brothers, who areshluchim in Sderot, are standing strong,and are supported by their fellowshluchim around the world. Howbeautiful it is to see the brotherly loveamong shluchim.

IN SUPPORT

OF OUR

BROTHERS

AND SISTERS

IN SDEROTBy Nosson Avrohom

into plowshares, was fulfilled and theterrorists in Gaza decided to usemissiles for humanitarian purposes,he smiles and sighs.

“Five rockets landed thismorning, and miraculously, no onewas hurt. The miracles continue tohappen. A rocket that landed a fewdays ago in a firehouse, ‘only’caused heavy damage, as all thefiremen in the building wereunharmed.

“A week ago, I saw two rocketsfly a few meters above a row ofhouses and land in a yard. At the

beginning of the week another tworockets landed in the home of anelderly couple in a nearby kibbutz. Itruined the entire house except forthe room where the couple wassitting.

“However, as time goes by, theproblems get worse. More than thephysical destruction causes by therockets, it’s the psychological andfinancial destruction of the citizensthat are unbearable. Many people,who were established, living middle-class lives, lost their jobs or stoppedworking for various reasons. The

economy here is getting worse fromday to day.

“The government isn’t helping orit’s immersed in bureaucratic redtape, and some people are goinghungry. We have never received somany requests for aid as we do now.

“I won’t be exaggerating when Itell you that we are facing acatastrophe. The effectiveness of anyChabad house is measured by thedegree to which it serves as a homefor every Jewish issue. This ideal isbeing put to the test in these difficulttimes. Of the many people who areasking for help, many of them arepeople who used to donate moneytowards our activities in the past. Wetry to help whoever asks us, andeven those who don’t ask, but inorder to respond to the huge need,which is only getting bigger, we needhelp!

“In recent months we’ve seenshluchim and Anash, around thecountry and the world, get involvedin helping. The organization forterror victims, run by RabbiMenachem Kutner of Tzach, does alot for families affected by terroristattacks. Kollel Chabad preparesboxes of food that are sent to needyfamilies.

“Although we are getting somehelp, it’s a drop in the bucketconsidering our needs, and we mustprovide a more effective response tothe plight of the residents, spiritually,materially, and morally.”

* * *Before describing the tremendous

chesed work that is being done byChabad in Sderot, let us first take alook at the Mezuza Campaign,whose goal it is to check everymezuza in Sderot, fix those thatneed fixing and replace those thatare invalid. The ultimate goal is thereshould not be a single home withoutkosher mezuzos.

“After receiving a clear answerfrom the Rebbe in the Igros Kodesh,we decided to promote Mivtza

Mezuza, since a mezuza protects aJew even when he is not at home.We have done massive advertising inthe local papers, while we continueto fundraise for this importantproject. Hundreds of mezuzos ormoney for mezuzos have alreadybeen donated. The problem is thatmost residents cannot pay for newmezuzos themselves and wesubsidize them.”

There were many interruptionwhen I interviewed Rabbi Pizem;every few minutes the phone rang orsomeone came in to see him.

“Last Friday we did massiveadvertising for Mivtza Mezuza andthat day we got dozens of phonecalls from people asking us to comeand check their mezuzos. In our adwe wrote that the governmentpromises to protect their houses withan armored shield which will protectpeople only when they’re home, butwe promise protection even for thoseoutside, as it says, ‘Hashem willprotect your goings and comings.’”

Rabbi Pizem thanks BeisMoshiach for publishing his journalnot long ago, asking for help in hismivtza.

“Some Lubavitcher sofrim whoread it, volunteered to come toSderot a few hours a week andcheck mezuzos for free. Othersofrim who want to do mivtzaim orgive some of their time in lieu ofmaaser money, are invited to jointhem.”

Nobody knows Hashem’s ways,but when Rabbi Pizem checked themezuzos in the home of Mrs. Shirael

Friedman a”h (may Hashem avengeher blood), who was killed by adirect hit from a rocket, he wasshocked to discover that all of themwere pasul.

“People know that every murdervictim is by Divine decree. Dozens ofpeople were standing near thiswoman, but nobody else was killed.A similar thing happened with thecomputer technician who was killed.He thought he would be safebecause he was going to an area thatwas never struck. That day, he waskilled by a direct hit.”

When he makes house calls in thecourse of Mivtza Mezuza, RabbiPizem discovers how people aremanaging, or not managing. Whenhe tells me about it, there are tears inhis eyes.

“I visited a family that coulddefinitely be described as affluent inthe past. We were asked to checktheir mezuzos. Their home is largeand nicely furnished with sparklingchandeliers. The head of thehousehold made a nice living and thefamily lived well. That all ended afew months ago after he wasdesignated a trauma victim andbegan taking medication whichaffected his pancreas. Since then, hestopped working.

“His morale plummeted. And ifthat wasn’t enough, the fact that heis unemployed caused huge financiallosses to the family after using up alltheir savings. They are ready to selltheir house, but who wants to buy ahouse in Sderot when thegovernment is doing nothing to stop

the missiles from landing? “I was shocked to hear their

story. While everything lookedwonderful from the outside, inside,they are looking for food to eat.There are others like them, peoplewho are not used to poverty.

“We are getting more and morenames of people who have had toclose their businesses but areashamed to ask for help. We try toget involved and help with food. InSderot these days, spirituality andphysical aid are merged. Once again,I ask people to donate food or themoney to buy it, to join us in ourwork.”

* * *Another campaign that is going

on is the distribution of Sifrei Chitasto the residents of Sderot. Theses’farim are donations fromLubavitcher women, who sentdozens of them to the Chabad housein order to strengthen the residentsthere.

“Many hundreds of these s’farimwere distributed already,” says RabbiPizem. Among the donors: talmidosof Beis Rivka elementary school inKfar Chabad, who donated dozensof them, with some of the girlsbuying the s’farim with their ownmoney. The high school also sentdozens of s’farim.

Those residents that have alreadyreceived their Chitas, tell theshluchim that they feel a sense ofcalm and security despite theconstant barrage of rockets.

“It’s so important to distributethese s’farim. Aside from their beinga spiritual segula, it provides actualencouragement to people; it liftstheir spirits and strengthens theirdetermination. It’s important to findevery possible way to boost themorale here, in these difficult times.”

Many of these sifrei Chitas aregiven to the city’s youth with thegoal being that the Chitas doesn’tjust sit on the shelf or in a briefcase,but is used for the recitation of

The fact that missiles still continue toraze homes and public buildings,sowing havoc and fear, is no longernews. The media is more interested invarious peace initiatives and therelease of terrorists from jail.

T’hillim, the learning of Chumash orTanya, or davening.

When Rabbi Pizem mentions theyouth he adds, “It is summervacation now. We decided at theChabad house to try and help theneedy people here with getting readyfor the upcoming school year. 1500families have asked for help and wewere able to provide it.”

The Chabad house, withincredible efficiency, distributedthousands of items of clothing, pairsof shoes and briefcases for needystudents, who also appreciatesomething new. The funding for thisproject came from the Ohr Gil TaibFund, which deserves the gratitudeof thousands of Sderot residents.

* * *

Less than a month ago, whennonstop missiles landed on Sderot,the city became a ghost town. Mostof the people remained hiddenindoors, afraid of sudden attacks,which turned the somewhat sleepycity into the frontline political arenaof the country. Now, during times ofrelative quiet, there are signs of life,at least a little bit. Here and there,stores are open, busses are running,and people are on the streets,although somewhat more quiet andreserved.

Shluchim around the world,especially in the United States, havesought to help out the Chabad houseof Sderot, which testifies to thebrotherly love among shluchim whorise to the occasion in difficult times.

Yosef Eliezrie, the son of shliachDovid Eliezrie, who is recoveringfrom a complicated surgery,launched a special internet site forthe purpose of fundraising forChabad of Sderot. He built the sitewhile recuperating in the hospital.Thousands have already visited thesite and he got lots of publicity. Nowhe has to wait for the results.

It was touching to see a group ofchildren from Sderot being hosted bya Chabad house in Boston in a campjust for them. The Chabad house inSderot chose the children who eitherlost a close one or who otherwisewere suffering greatly from thesituation there. A group of 20children landed at JFK airport inNew York. Some T’mimim from770, along with shliach Dan Rodkinof Boston, welcomed them.

After a four-hour drive, thechildren arrived at a spaciousbuilding, where they were dividedinto two groups. One of the groupsremained in the special camporganized by Rabbi Rodkin and theother group joined a summer campwhich is run by a Russian school inthe city. Now, far from sirens andmissile attacks, the children cansmile and laugh.

Rabbi Chananel Pizem farbrenging with mekuravim

Rabbi Moshe Zev Pizem with boxes of food from Kollel Chabad

The idea for this camp arose ayear ago. Russian-born MashaRifkin, who grew up in Newton, MA,went to Israel to study at Tel AvivUniversity. During the year, as theKassams began to land in Sderot,one after the other, she joined agroup of volunteers in Sderot andhelped children there.

In a moving letter to her parentsin Boston a few months ago, shedescribed the traumatic lives thechildren are living. “I really want tofind a way to help them, even if justa few of the children,” she said.

The letter touched her parentsand they decided to host ten childrenat a camp they own in NewHampshire. The parents spoke toRabbi Rodkin, director of ShalohHouse, a building in Massachusettsthat contains a shul, school, andChabad center for Russian speakingJews. He also agreed to take tenchildren. Masha’s email wasforwarded to 300 Jews, mostlyRussia-born. Within months, morethan $55,000 had been raised fromalmost 400 Russian Jews.

Rabbi Rodkin got some donorsinvolved and the plan got underway.“We had to arrange passports, visas,tickets and all the otherarrangements that have to be madeto come here without any problems,”he said.

Among the children is a 13-year-old, Chanan Yaakobov, the son ofYaakov Yaakobov, who was killedhalf a year ago by a missile as heworked as a lift-truck driver for OfKor in Sderot.

The arrival of the group ofchildren was deemed newsworthyand many reporters showed up to

talk to the children. The BostonGlobe sent a reporter who spokewith Chanan for a long time. Theboy told him about the difficultsituation, and the determination andthe spirit of the people in Sderot.

“The children’s arrival told thepeople of Boston and beyond, abouta reality they were unfamiliar with, areality that the people of Sderot areliving with daily, for years now,” saidRabbi Rodkin.

“Our goal is to give the childrena good time so they can forget theatmosphere they live in year round.”

Rabbi Rodkin says the program ispacked with activities. The campcoordinator is Yisrael Koll who isassisted by Mendy Eisenberg.“During the day I got to meet thekids and found out that one of themturned 13 that very day. We putt’fillin on with him and celebrated hisbar mitzva with a party.”

* * *Rabbi Pizem describes the work

of Tzach’s organization for terrorvictims, directed by R’ MenachemKutner:

“There’s a family that wasattacked a few years ago. Till thisday, when they run into moneyproblems, they call R’ Kutner and hehelps them out. There’s a boy whowas badly hurt by a rocket who isundergoing a series of treatment inTel HaShomer. He is bored and wewanted to bring his friends over tohelp him pass the time, but thetraveling there cost a fortune.

“I called R’ Kutner and within afew days he came with a check for2000 shekels for the purpose ofenabling his friends to visit him.

“After the murder of Shirael

Friedman, when the mediadisappeared along with the chesedorganizations, we went to her house,filled it with food, and put up koshermezuzos. Her father decided hewants to start davening. I called R’Kutner and told him we need to gethold of a pair of t’fillin. Just twodays later, a pair of t’fillin and a tallisarrived and the father uses themevery morning at the minyan at theChabad house.”

On Sunday of three weeks ago,R’ Kutner arranged a chesedexcursion to families from Sderotthat are terror victims. Thedelegation, led by the shliach toMilwaukee, Rabbi Samuels, gave thefamilies financial aid and cheeredthem up. They visited a young manwho was seriously wounded by aKassam rocket and has beenhospitalized for months, whileundergoing a series of operations.

In a meeting with families whoare terror victims, the members ofthe delegation heard about life underrocket attack for seven years andabout the work of Rabbi Moshe ZevPizem. One of the participants saidthat as a teacher she feels that thelives of the children have becomeunbearable. As soon as they hear thealarm, they run to protected areas tofind shelter from the missiles, withonly fifteen seconds designated forthis exercise. The children don’t dareto play in the schoolyard, alwaysstaying near the protected area.

R’ Samuels blessed theparticipants and praised the work ofhis fellow shluchim in Sderot forbringing hope to affected familieswith Ahavas Yisroel.

At the beginning of the week, theChabad community in South Africasent dozens of gift packages withtoys for the children of Sderot. TheChabad house distributed them tothe children who participated in theactivity program run by the ChabadHouse.

Among the children who were

We try to help whoever asks us, andeven those who don’t ask, but in order torespond to the huge need, which is onlygetting bigger, we need help!

thrilled to receive the gifts was a 3-year-old whose home wasdemolished by a Kassam. Glassshards sprayed his body though hemiraculously survived with mildinjuries. His parents were happy tosee their child smile and enjoying hisnew toys, and warmly thanked theChabad house.

“People know that all the chesedthat we do is natural to us,”concluded R’ Pizem. “There areorganizations that, when electiontime comes around, like to remindthe needy of their aid and ask fortheir vote. Chabad does its workwith no political aim and withoutexpectation of a payback.

“We help Jews because they areJews. People sense that the aid youextend to them is coming from agenuine place. We are also particularabout not turning it into a wholesalewelfare project. We visit people’shomes quietly, with food packages,or visit them at the hospital or intheir office.

“Our whole orientation changedcompletely. Chabad’s work here hasbecome complicated. Parents areafraid to send their children to theChabad house; they are afraid toallow them to walk in the streetalone because of unexpected Kassamattacks. We take the Chabad housecar and go to them, each day to adifferent block and work with themand give out prizes.

“I’m upset that I wasn’t able toorganize a day camp this summer.The local youth sports centerorganized a camp with lots ofattractions for a nominal fee. Ourexpenses are very high and we couldnot compete with them.

“In previous years the Chabadcamp had a good reputation andhundreds of kids attended it. I’d loveto have a camp the second half ofthe summer vacation, if onlysomeone with money reading thisarticle will decide to fund it.

“Another problem that we need tosolve because of the situation, whichdoesn’t look like it will changeanytime soon, is how to buy a bigvan to bring the children to and fromthe Chabad house, or adults toshiurim. Things get harder every dayand the government is ignoring us.Many people in Sderot, whopreviously supported us, can barelyhelp themselves today.”

If you know R’ Pizem, you knowhe’s not just the kind of person youadmire, but is the kind you love. Ifyou meet him, you can’t help butlove him and the heartfelt warmththat he radiates. He puts his heartand soul into the help that heextends to the people of Sderot,whether materially or spiritually.Lubavitcher sofrim visiting Sderot to help with Mivtza Mezuza

A dance of simcha and bitachon at the Chabad house

When Levi was 11, he wrote astory called “Under Abba’s Tallis.”The story was a product of hisimagination and is about a familythat manages to prevail after thehorrors of the Holocaust and makealiya to Eretz Yisroel. He ends thestory with a touching description ofthe survivors’ arrival in EretzYisroel.

“At the port in Eretz Yisroelwaited the British who sent themback out to sea, to the unknown.Shimon cleverly rowed the boataround them and they arrived at theport where there were no Britishpresent. They all emotionally kissedthe ground of Eretz Yisroel. Theyhired a horse and wagon andtraveled to a Jewish settlement andlived there.

“A week before Yom Kippur,Shimon began to search through thedocuments for his identity. Hesuddenly came across a letter thathad been written to his grandfather,

which said, ‘to Rabbi Yosef BenChaim HaKohen,’ and then Shimonknew he was a Kohen. On YomKippur he went up with the otherKohanim to bless the congregation.Near him stood Yaakov, all excited,‘under Abba’s tallis,’ happy that hehad merited to reach Eretz Yisroel.”

“Before the funeral set out,” saidRebbetzin Hendel, “they laid him onthe table that was covered with myhusband’s tallis. When they began togo, my husband’s tallis remained onthe table, spread out like atablecloth. When I asked where thetallis was, one of the people presentwent to get it and spread it overLevi. At this terrible moment, myyoungest son whispered to myhusband, ‘Under Abba’s tallis…’”

When I heard this story Ishuddered. Throughout theinterview with Rebbetzin Hendel Ithought, wow, what a great lady. Iwas amazed by the strength of spiritof a mother who had experienced

the worst, and despite the pain,asked those accompanying him onhis final journey to preserve totalseparation between the genders. Justas his coming into the world waswith sanctity and purity, so too, hisleaving the world was with sanctityand purity.

Levi’s mother, who is possessedof a fiery faith, stands firm as a rockand is holding her family together,protecting her children fiercely fromthe stormy waters that threaten todrown them in sadness. Even in thismost difficult time, she guides themand educates them.

Where does your strength comefrom?

Every event in life can be used asa teaching moment. When you wantto teach a child a bracha, you don’tjust tell him to say the bracha; yousay it with him and that’s how helearns. When he goes to sleep, yousay the Shma with him and onShabbos you follow the laws ofShabbos. That is how he learns

A few days after the Shiva for the threeT’mimim who were killed in a roadaccident on Chanuka while onmivtzaim, I spoke to Rebbetzin TobyHendel of Migdal HaEmek, the motherof Levi a”h, and asked her to tell usabout Levi, about how she is dealingwith the tragedy, and what hasstrengthened her in these trying times.

UNDER ABBA’S TALLISInterview by Dafna Chaim

Levi Hendel a”h

them. Genuine chinuch takes placein real life.

Mourning did not come upbefore in chinuch. The children didnot have past experiences oranything to learn from. I knew thiswas a time to teach them, even if itwas very hard and painful. I knewthat what they would see in theirparents would be conveyed to them.This is what would be engraved intheir soul, and therefore, I had totake the responsibility and be strongmyself.

One of the days of Shiva, awoman came and asked whyHashem did this. I wasn’t there atthat moment, but they told me thatmy daughter answered her, “Here inmy house we don’t ask why.” That’swhen I knew they got the message.

The same daughter, who is onshlichus in a school in the Ukraine,went back there. Before her trip, shewanted to farbreng with her friendsin Tzfas and she asked me what tosay. She ended up using many of theideas and stories that came up hereat home during the Shiva.

Tell us a little bit about Levi.What kind of boy was he?

Levi was a sweet boy, full ofchein, charm, and joie de vivre. Hehad a marvelous smile that won overeverybody he met. He was aChassidishe boy with a big heart andhe always looked to see how hecould do a favor for others.

A Chassidishe chinuch has anacademic aspect and a behavioralaspect, which is about relating toothers, good middos, and AhavasYisroel. In our family we greatlyvalue learning, but if a child has agood head, we don’t make a big dealout of it; that’s not how yourgreatness is measured. You have agood head? Baruch Hashem, yougot a gift from Hashem and youhave to use it to its fullest.

What makes someone special istheir Chassidishe behavior, goodmiddos, and Ahavas Yisroel. These

are things that Levi, in his short life,excelled in. Levi was very particularabout going to the mikva. He got upmuch earlier than he had to in orderto go to the mikva before anyoneelse.

He told me it was because hewanted to toivel in peace, withoutthe morning rush, but during theShiva we got adifferent picturefrom his friends. Hegot up early,immersed, returnedto his room, put on atape of niggunim andwoke up his friendswith a Chassidisheniggun.

It wasimportant to himthat everybodytoivel, andsometimes he wouldgo from room to roomand remind themabout the importanceof t’villa. The yeshivain Lud sent us signsthat he hung up allover and in thedormitory that said,“What about mikva?”and “T’mimim, get upfor mikva, Moshiachnow,” “Yossi goes tomikva, what aboutyou?”

In the shower hehung up a sign that said,“Here is where youshower, not where youimmerse.” Some of thesigns were humorouslysigned, “Chairman of theMikva Department.”

While his friends went totoivel, he heated up water inthe electric urn. He hadgotten permission from thehanhala to have one in hisroom and used it to preparehot drinks for his friends. He

also had plenty of cookies availablefor them.

On a recent vacation fromyeshiva, Levi asked his sister toteach him how to bake cookies andhe made a lot of them. I asked him,“Why do you need so manycookies?” He said, “So there will beenough for everyone, so thebachurim don’t have to waste moneyat the store.”

He had a big heart and he alwayslooked for ways to help people.When he heard bachurim talkingabout the food in yeshiva, he said,“What’s the problem? Whoever ishungry should come to me.” Hekept crackers, canned goods, freshfood – all for the boys, and now theyask, who will give us that goodfeeling now?

During the Shiva, parents of boysfrom yeshiva and camp also came toconsole us. Many parents said howhard it was for their son because hewas Levi’s best friend. I said to myhusband, “It’s interesting how manybest friends Levi had!” And truly, hewas the best friend…

Last year, his good friend MosheHecht of Eilat decided to learn inMigdal HaEmek. When Levi heardabout this, he immediately said hewanted Moshe to come and live withus, and that’s what happened.Throughout the year, Levi didwhatever he could to make Moshefeel at home.

Last summer, during the war, wehad our grandchildren with us.

Since Levi’s room was the saferoom, he insisted that everybodyshould sleep in his room so that ifthere was a siren, they shouldn’thave to bother getting up in themiddle of the night. He spread outmattresses from wall to wall and alleight of them slept in his room andhe took care of everything.

He had outstanding sensitivityfor a child his age. When he camehome from yeshiva on Thursdaynights, after a long day of learningand a test, and after a long bus ride,I would certainly understand if hewanted to rest, read a book, or meeta friend. But he would come in, puthis bag down and ask me, “How areyou Mommy? How can I help you?”If he saw that I was busy, he wouldsweetly say, “Mommy, don’t worry,

I’ll help you. I’ll do whatever needsto be done, you can count on me.”

When he wasn’t at home, hewould send me messages, “Mommy,Shabbat shalom,” “Mommy, shavuatov,” “Have an easy fast,” and othersimilar messages.

When he went to learn in Lud,my husband bought a hardcovernotebook for him to use to jot downnotes on his shiurim. Before writingin it, he would review the material afew times. When the maggid shiurwould give a shiur, he would write itdown, word for word, in a regularnotebook. After the shiur, he wouldsit and write it over again in anorderly way and would give it to hismaggid shiur to check. Only then

would he write it in his specialnotebook.

His rebbi recently told myhusband, “Tell Levi that he doesn’thave to write the shiur word forword.” When my husband repeatedthis to Levi, he said, “I have to.What will my friend do if he didn’tlisten or if he missed the shiur. Howwill he make it up?” Many children,in fact, relied on his notes.

He was a shliach from the day hewas born and he used everyopportunity to help the shluchim intheir work. Near Migdal HaEmekthere is an exclusive yishuv calledTameret. Since Levi was a Kohen,they asked him to complete theirminyan and he never refused. OnShabbasos, he got up early andwalked for about an hour each way,not a straight and easy walk, andsometimes he went for Mincha too.

My son Menachem Mendel is ashliach in Athens. Last Sukkos, Leviwent to help him out. He said thatevery time he needed Levi’s help hewould ask, “Levi, what are youdoing now?” and Levi would jumpup and ask him back, “What do youwant me to do now?”

I got a letter from one of thewomen in Athens who was veryimpressed by him. She said that Levihad a halachic “debate” with hisolder brother and he decided to callhis father to ask him who was right.After he clarified the issue, hecontinued talking to his father for along time. “If I didn’t know he wastalking to his father,” she wrote, “Iwould think he was talking to hisgood friend. He spoke so openly andit was obvious that they had a closerelationship.”

In his final moments he was busyhelping the shliach in Eilat. RavMendy Klein told us that every timea soldier refused to put on t’fillin,they sent Levi over because theyknew that Levi, with his charmingsmile, would not be refused. Andindeed, they did not refuse him.

You have an opinion? You believe in acertain approach? Strengthen yourselfin your way and strengthen others too.Work hard for all you believe in, butdon’t put don’t down those who don’tthink like you.

A kibbutznik asked me, it says,“shluchei mitzva einan nizakin”(those sent to do a mitzva are notharmed), so how do I explain thatLevi was killed while on his way todo mitzvos? I answered her that histime had come, and baruch Hashem,he merited to die while on his way todo a mitzva and not on the soccerfield or at the computer.

How do you go back to yourdaily routine?

You simply carry on. I have otherchildren at home and a family thatneeds to be supported. I know thatit’s important that the children getback into their routines as soon as

possible. We need to continue toeducate them to Ahavas Yisroel, to afull Chassidishe life with fear ofHeaven and permeated with theanticipation of the coming ofMoshiach. I can build that up or, G-dforbid, destroy it. There is also thecommunity here and the work ofshlichus that needs to be continued.

It is at moments like these thatyou can understand what it means tohave the mind rule the heart. Thatdoesn’t mean that the heart does notfeel. The heart feels and bleeds fromthe enormity of the pain, but youneed to overcome that and carry on,despite the tremendous difficulty.

Two of my sons who are onshlichus abroad did not make it tothe funeral and came only the nextnight. One of them came at eleveno’clock at night and came right tomy room. When I saw him, I burstinto tears and said, “Zalman,Hashem took my Levi.” Until then Ihad tried to be strong, especiallyaround the children.

Suddenly, Eliyahu, who is a yearyounger than Levi and very close tohim, came into the room. Icomposed myself and said to him,“Eliyahu, why are you still awake?It’s late.” He said, “Mommy, I heardyou crying. If Levi was here now, hewould not want to see you sad,

cheer up.”In these difficult moments we

understand the concept of bittul. Wegrasp that we are actually nothing.Hashem runs the world. It makes nodifference what a person’s financialor spiritual state is; in one moment itcan end. None of us knows whenthat moment will come. This allleads a person to think: What am Idoing here in this world? Am I usingevery moment in my life in order tocarry out my mission?

What message would you like toconvey following this terribletragedy?

Levi once heard someone speaknegatively about someone else and itbothered him a lot. He really took itto heart. Later, I happened to meetthe person who did not speak nicelyand I said to him, “It’s not right tospeak that way, even if what yousaid is true and all the more so if it’snot true. Not everything needs to besaid.”

That is the message I want toconvey to everyone who asks whatcan be done in such a difficult time.I think that every one of us needs toresolve to be careful about how wespeak about others and with others.To think a bit before talking aboutsomeone else or against someoneelse, and if certain words can offendor hurt, then not to say them even ifthey are true and important.

Let us strengthen the AhavasYisroel among us and in the merit ofAhavas Yisroel we will bring theGeula. The Beis HaMikdash wasdestroyed because of unwarrantedhatred and it will be rebuilt thanks tounwarranted love.

It is a seemingly little thing; it’snot a major hachlata (resolution),but it contains a deep idea that suitseveryone, of every age, in everylocation. If each of us tries, in ourimmediate surroundings, to bringabout greater achdus, greater love,especially with those that don’t thinklike us, it will spread and affect evenLevi reviewing a maamer at his bar mitzva.

To his right and left are his uncle and his father

Levi and his father

wider circles of people. A little bit oflight can push away a lot ofdarkness.

You have an opinion? You believein a certain approach? Strengthenyourself in your way and strengthenothers too. Work hard for all youbelieve in, but don’t put don’t downthose who don’t think like you.Don’t insult those who thinkdifferently, don’t disparage others.It’s not Chassidishe behavior anddefinitely does not give the Rebbenachas.

The Rebbe asks how it is that thedisciples of Rabbi Akiva, who taught“love your fellow Jew like yourself isa great principle of the Torah,” didnot honor each other. The answer isthat there mistake actually stemmedfrom what was a good intent; out ofAhavas Yisroel each one wanted theothers to act according to what hehimself believed was the correctapproach. They were Torah scholars,great Chassidim, devoted heart andsoul to the Rebbe, and each one wassure that he understood histeachings the best, that he was right,and that the other one did notunderstand.

It was all, of course, for the sakeof Heaven, and with the ardent beliefin the correctness of their path. Butthey did not act respectfully towardsone another and therefore, they died.This is harsh. Rabbi Akiva had24,000 students, who learneddiligently, they were meticulously

observant, they did acts of kindness– and they all died. And the reasonis because they did not actrespectfully towards one another.

We have much in common withone another and much that separatesus. Let us grab on to that whichunites us. We have an important taskto do, a mission assigned to us bythe Rebbe: to bring Moshiach. It’s apity to waste our energy on internalwars that only cause harm and don’thave any purpose.

Let everybody work on bringingMoshiach in his own way. Whatdifference does it make how you doit? The main thing is to finally bringthe Geula, each one with hishiskashrus to the Rebbe.

The belief in the imminent Geulastrengthens us. The belief that wewill see our Levi again, along withMoshiach, gives us hope and is asource of encouragement.

Levi was very organized. He hadmany s’farim and he prepared a listof all those s’farim that belonged tohim. I told the children that whoeverwants to borrow Levi’s s’farim cando so, but he has to mark down onLevi’s list that he’s borrowing it,because when Moshiach comes, theywill have to return all Levi’s s’farimto him.

We didn’t know what to do withLevi’s t’fillin and someone suggestedthat we give it to someone whodidn’t have any. Then Eliyahu said:Ima, soon Moshiach will come and

Levi will come back and need them.What will you tell him, that you gaveaway his t’fillin to someone else?

Our home in Migdal HaEmek isnear the cemetery. I told thechildren that at least Levi is near us.“When Moshiach comes,” saysEliyahu, “run and call Levi.”

One of the children said,“Mommy, Levi is so fast that he willbe the one to tell Eliyahu thatMoshiach came already.”

On the day we got up fromShiva, we all ate breakfast togetherafter Shacharis. I told the children,some of whom returned the sameday to their place of shlichus,“Children, we merited to beshluchim of the Rebbe in EretzYisroel and all our lives we raisedyou on shlichus. Baruch Hashem,today you yourselves are on shlichusto many parts of the world, inArgentina, Greece, Florida, Toronto,Charkov, and Dnepropetrovsk.

“The goal of shlichus is to bringMoshiach. This week weaccompanied our Levi on his way toa special shlichus, up in heaven.Levi, who in his short life waspermeated with Moshiach, went upto cry and demand and ask: Whydidn’t Moshiach come already?Nobody could refuse him downhere, so too up above. Just as Levialways told me, ‘Ima, don’t worry,you can rely on me,’ I am notworried because I know I can relyon Levi.”

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It was an impressive event thatwon’t soon be forgotten, thatbrought some joy to the expelleesof Gush Katif and northernShomron, two years after thetragic expulsion and destruction.

Thousands of people came toexpress their solidarity with theexpellees at the caravilla site inNitzan. This event was thebrainchild of the Committee toSave the Nation and the Land,together with the former GushKatif shliach, Rabbi YigalKirshnzaft.

After a program for thechildren, Rabbi Kirshnzaftopened the main event byspeaking of the plight of theexpellees and the goal to cheerthem up and do all they can sothat additional land is not handedover to our enemies.

Singer Aharon Razael sangsongs of Geula and then RabbiYigal Kamenetzky, former rav ofNeve Dekalim and presently therav of Nitzan, spoke about theimportance of the event and thestate of the expellees two yearsafter the crime perpetratedagainst them. The main addresswas given by Nobel Prize winner,Prof. Aumann (see box) whospoke movingly and sharply aboutthe expulsion crime.

All participants received acopy of the video, “There isJudgment and there is a Judge.”They watched a short video about

Thousands flocked to Nitzan, wheremany Gush Katif expellees now live, tomark two years since the destruction ofGush Katif and settlements in northernShomron. The goal: to salute andsupport the expellees. * Speeches byNobel Prize winner, Professor Aumannand Rabbi Wolpo. * Shai Gefen coveredthe moving event.

SOLIDARITY WITH

EXPELLEESPictures by Yisroel Bardugo

PROFESSOR YISRAEL AUMANN’S SPEECHMy brothers and sisters, I would be pleased if I

could say I am happy to be here this evening.Unfortunately, I am not happy. I am sad to be herethis evening. They asked me to come and cheer up thisgreat, holy, and glorious crowd of expellees from GushKatif, but I feel that I don’t have encouraging words. Ishouldn’t have come here since I cannot carry out theassignment to bring you joy. What I can do and what Iplan on doing is fulfill the mitzva of remembering,“remember what he did to you” – not Amalek, butyour nation, your brothers.

What have we done toourselves? I will quote the prophetof the churban, Yirmiyahu, fromthe second of the three Haftoros ofretribution that we recently read.“My nation has done two evilthings; they abandoned a source ofliving waters to dig pits, brokencisterns that cannot containwater.” Two different evil things,one - that they left the source ofliving waters. The prophet speaksof Hashem’s Torah. We abandonedthe fundamentals, we abandonedour ideals, we abandonedbrotherhood, and we abandonedour humanity.

What happened two years agowas unprecedented in the historyof mankind. There were definitelyexpulsions in the past, but for anentire nation to attack a peacefulpopulation of its own citizens? Acreative, idealistic population, apopulation that is no different thanthe rest of the nation in anysignificant way, and to expel thesecitizens from their homes? Todestroy and burn them in anger, the gardens andclinics, the schools and yeshivos, the shuls, thefactories, the hothouses, and turn an Eden into adesert and a garden of G-d into a wilderness – this isunprecedented in the history of mankind.

Nations expelled other nations, communitiesexpelled other communities, of strangers, but that anation should turn on itself and expel itself, for thiswe, the Jewish nation, are the first. It never happenedprior to two years ago, until 5765. For 5765 years itdid not happen. We are the first.

What caused this? Some place the blame onunwarranted hatred for which the Beis HaMikdashwas destroyed. There is truth to this. There is a deephatred within a small segment of the nation,supposedly the enlightened segment. They hate thesettlers, the idealists.

There was a joint collaboration here on the part ofa majority of the nation, and a sizable segment wasenthusiastic about it. Most of the nation cooperatedwith the expulsion. Therefore, it is not one leader andnot unwarranted hatred. The entire nation abandoned

the source of living water. Eachperson looks out for his personalgood. Rabbosai, we cannot prevailthis way.

The second evil is to dig brokencisterns that cannot contain water.They thought they were sacrificingthe settlers on the altars of peaceand that it would bring peace.These cisterns do not containwater. The destruction of thesettlements in Gush Katif did notbring peace but war. It encouragedour cousins to attack us, topressure us, because it sent a clearsign that we fold under pressure. Itled directly to the war of lastsummer. It led to Hamas’ rule overGaza. It led to Kassams on Sderotand Ashkelon and Ashdod. “Peace,peace, and there is no peace.”

The Midrash says that on theday the Beis HaMikdash wasdestroyed, Moshiach was born.Maybe I don’t understand andmaybe I don’t know, but on theday Gush Katif was destroyed,somehow the Geula was born. I

don’t know from where it will come. I hope and praythat we can turn around the suffering borne of turninga paradise into a desert and garden of Hashem into awasteland.

I hope and pray we can reverse the process like inthe second Haftora of the seven weeks of consolation,“For the Lord shall console Zion, He shall console allits ruins, and He shall make its desert like a paradiseand its wasteland like the garden of the Lord; joy andhappiness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and avoice of song.”

The Midrash saysthat on the daythe BeisHaMikdash wasdestroyed,Moshiach wasborn. Maybe Idon’t understandand maybe I don’tknow, but on theday Gush Katifwas destroyed,somehow theGeula was born...

the current state of the expelleeswhich ends with the new song bypopular singer Ariel Zilber,“There is Judgment and a Judge.”

Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolpospoke scathingly about the Stateof Israel in his address (see box)to the approval of the crowd whoapplauded.

Nitzan finally experiencedsome joy after two years ofnonstop suffering. As RabbiKirshnzaft put it, “joy sweetensjudgment and will, G-d willing,nullify the terrible decreeshovering over the Holy Land.”

RABBI WOLPO’S SPEECHDear brothers. See what you have merited. Look at

how you transformed the darkness into light and negainto oneg. Not only did you transform the mourninginto joy, but you brought manyJewish people here and instilled joywithin them right after Tisha B’Av.

Fortunate are you Yisroel. Inthe merit of the simcha youdisseminate from Nitzan, thesorrow and sighing shall be takenaway and you will once againilluminate all of the Jewish peoplewith the faith and self-sacrificewhich you excel in, and will soonlead us all towards MelechHaMoshiach.

Dear brothers, with all thesuffering you’ve been through,remember that you merited a verygreat thing. Up until two yearsago, everybody related to the Stateof Israel as to something very lofty.Thanks to you, it has beendiscovered that the State is a“State of Yishmoel,” and theKnesset is an Arab stronghold.

The Knesset decided, with amajority vote, to destroy shuls, toexhume the dead from theirgraves, to abandon 8000 Jews without a livelihood andwithout a home, and to destroy the lives of thousandsof families.

It is a big zechut for you that you merited to open

everybody’s eyes. Let us resolve together, not to forgetand not forgive! We will not allow this to happenagain!

Hashem gave us Eretz Yisroel.It is an inheritance from ourfathers, Avrohom, Yitzchok, andYaakov. We will not allow them toturn another Jew out of his home.22 countries are enough for theArabs.

Two years went by and we allgrew up a little. What happened inAmona is just the beginning. IfJewish soldiers or Jewishpolicemen come to evict a Jewfrom his home, we will not allowit. We promise that the story ofGush Katif and northern Shomronwill not happen again.

We stopped believing in the“Malchut Yisroel.” A Jewishkingdom does not send its army togive Jewish land and homes toArabs. We are in the midst of theseven weeks of consolation. We arein double and redoubled darkness.After we saw the churban broughtupon us by the State, the Statethat people thought would bring

the Geula, the time has come to believe only inMoshiach, who will come and build the Mikdash andgather the Jewish people. Yechi Adoneinu MoreinuV’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed!

Up until two yearsago, everybodyrelated to theState of Israel asto something verylofty. Thanks toyou, it has beendiscovered thatthe State is a“State ofYishmoel,” andthe Knesset is anArab stronghold.

From right to left: Rabbi Kamenetzky, Prof. Aumann, Rabbi Wolpo