Unvarnished Straight Talk from Rabbi Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz) - English

There are people I know who do some things. There are people who do a bit more. Some people sleep for eight hours each day, some sleep for ten, and some sleep a little less. But there is not another person who should work so hard, without pause. It just doesn't exist. I'm not trying to praise the Rebbe for not sleeping; this is not about accolades. On the contrary, I want to say - and I want to begin with this: The fact that the Rebbe does not sleep is because the Chasidim are sleeping. The fact that the Rebbe works so hard is because the Chasidim are not working. The fact that the Rebbe cannot rest is because the Chassidim are not doing what they should. We're sitting. It's all very good, we sit together, and we sing about how fortunate we are. We pat ourselves; we say L'chaim and we feel uplifted, and we feel much better. I want to simply begin with a few simple points about which I am certain. I just want to speak, in general, about how the Rebbe feels regarding these matters. Look here. A large crowd, thank God, is standing here. When you see such a crowd... I remember that twenty years ago, when I was here for my first time, there was nothing of this size. Not to listen to me speak or even to the Rebbe; there just wasn't such a big crowd then. Thank God, it really does give you a feeling of pride. But still, we must know one thing: All the Jews present here - we are sitting together - are all more-or-less from within our own community, familiar faces, people whom we know. I just want to say one thing, and it seems to me that this is what bothers the Rebbe: Where are the rest of the five and a half million Jews who are not here? Where are the Jews, two million, three million - who knows how many - Russian Jews who are not present anywhere? Where are the three and a half million Jews who are not in Bnei Brak and are not Chasidim, who are becoming more and more assimilated and more and more lost. You must know that if there is something that bothers the Rebbe, it is the fact that there are, with every second that passes, one fewer, two fewer, ten fewer Jews. Those whom we do not even see. What we have here, as we all sit with our fancy hats, thank God, is very fine Jews with beards and side-locks. But where are all the Jews who are not here?! And that's what doesn't allow the Rebbe to rest. Just look, in forty years, the Rebbe accomplished such things - believe me, I have written about it and spoken about it: The Rebbe created something from almost nothing. In truth, what existed beforehand was small and impoverished, when the Rebbe began. And, now there is a large crowd. But that is not enough, and the Rebbe cannot sleep at night. Not because someone is disturbing his sleep, but because the reality doesn't allow him to sleep. What we know is that in the forty years that have already passed, there should have been a change - the world should have been transformed. Just look: In today's times you can observe that in just one year or two, the entire world can change completely. The entire USSR has transformed... And, here we sit; we do a little, and we talk and talk, and we're all wonderful Jews who study and pray; thank God, everything is done right, or maybe not... I never can give rebuke, because I can see myself. So, looking at myself, do I have the right to rebuke someone else? That would make no sense. I'm simply addressing the facts. Just look, this is the point. The point is that in forty days, Nineveh was transformed; It has been forty years, and the world has still not been transformed. So I want to say, in an intimate Chasidic way, as we speak at a Farbrengen: Instead of patting ourselves, this is what must disturb us. It must bother us that in forty years, the reality still has not changed. There has not been in our generation or in the past few generations - and I don't want to put anyone else down - but there has not been such a person, who is suitable, by dint of their personality and their very essence, to be the leader of all Jewry - in a way that is truly Divinely ordained - as the Rebbe. There has not been in recent generations, a person who should have all the characteristics and assets that one needs to be not just a leader of Chasidim, of a particular group or sect, but someone who keeps an eye on the entire world, who can understand everyone - from the lowest spiritual levels to the very highest. A person who can grasp the highest realms and the lowest lows. There just has not been such a person in recent generations - someone of such a scope and who has such capabilities. But how will he do it? What is he to work with? We are his tools, his fingers. And, if someone is missing a finger, a hand, a foot... How can the Rebbe do it all alone? So, in forty years, just like we take pride in seeing the growth, we must also feel the pain that forty years have passed by, and there still isn't an entirely new world. There should have been proportionate change; according to the greatness of such a leader, there should already be a whole new world. The fact that there isn't a new world is our own fault. We don't do, and we don't do enough. We sit... we're comfortable; we just don't work as we should. I don't want to say that a particular individual is to blame. I'm to blame, I know. I don't do enough, I sleep too much, I don't work as I should. Neither on my own projects nor on anyone else's. But I don't want to point to any single thing, I want to call attention to the fact that the world remains as it is, and it might yet remain so. We make parades. Wonderful, very nice; tomorrow there will probably be another parade. We'll drive around and feel all proud, the journalists will snap pictures and somebody will make a speech. Is that what it's all about? There must be... I'll use words which perhaps a few of the Russians might recognize: The Rebbe wanted us to bring about a revolution. And what we do instead is mark time. We're dawdling. We waste our time on petty things, everyone with their own silliness. One person studies, another prays. one is a Rosh-Yeshiva and the next is a Rosh-Kollel; this one is a Torah scholar. The next fellow simply sits around in the bathhouse. Can you build a life this way? We're talking about a revolution. We're talking about a transformation; creating a new reality. Forty years have passed, and in those forty years, the world has changed so much that we don't even notice the changes anymore. People don't even realize; it's a whole new world. But the Jewish community has remained exactly the same. We still fight over the same old stupidities. People dig up this old silliness or a different silliness, it's all... It might just be that all this is because we are guilty. I'm not saying this so we can all recite the confession prayers; today is not the time for that. I'm simply saying what must be said at a Farbrengen. A Farbrengen is not about these declarations which get written on the bulletin board: "We resolve that we hold that the Rebbe is a great man and we are supporters of the Rebbe." And then we go off to sleep. I mean that we must know what is truly expected of us. What is demanded is not trivialities; we're talking about making a big impact. The Rebbe wants us to behave in a way that the world is changed... And we're playing with trivialities. A little game here, a game there. A L'chaim here and a L'chaim there. That's not the problem; L'chaim isn't harming anyone. On the contrary, let everyone go ahead and say L'chaim. But there needs to be a change. So long as we go on without change so long as this synagogue can fit all observant Jews; as long as we go on without seeing the unaffiliated Jews, the half-Jews - they are our very own! So long as we don't see them here - it's our fault. The fact that everyone here didn't bring along two, three, four, five, ten people with them, is a sign that we are lacking in our own right; it's a sign that we must be transformed. There has got to be a change in the world. The forty years that the Rebbe worked must have some effect. The Rebbe just spoke about creating a new reality, transforming the reality. So, perhaps each individual cannot transform the entire world, but let every person transform a small country - begin with just one state, one city, with one home. But transform it. There needs to be a change. We must be aware that we need something else to happen. It states in this week's Torah portion - I'm not an expositor of the weekly Torah portions... What is "God's army"? I once told someone, "What a great soldier you are..." He wakes up at ten o'clock like a true soldier, and he behaves like a true soldier; he loafs around for half the day doing nothing. No prayer, no study, and when something actually has to get done, everyone has their own excuses, and we are "soldiers..." So just imagine a general with such an army. What kind of general has an army like this? Trotzky had an army. They had torn shoes, torn boots, and they succeeded in destroying their enemy. And, here you have people with proper boots, fine shoes and untorn pants, and thank God, nothing moves us. We stand around and sit in the same spot. Thank God, everyone has a fancy fedora. Thank God. So I want to repeat what I've said. Presumably, after my speech, someone will get up and talk about how we're all such wonderful Jews. I'm sure that you are all nice, sweet, heartfelt Jews; all of you deserve to be kissed on both cheeks. In truth, every one of you is a pearl, and we can say of you as my spiritual mentor once said to me: He looked at me and said, "You could have been a lot worse." So I can say to everyone here, you could have been a lot worse. But is that true praise? Is that what we're talking about? Is that what we're trying to do? Rather, we need to ensure that there is real change. Then we can congratulate you and say that you are wonderful Jews. So let's say once and for all that this isn't enough, it's not halfway or even a quarter. We must actually begin to work. Forty years have passed. What have we accomplished in forty years? We shouldn't be comparing to when nothing existed, we must look at it relative to how much we still must do. And relative to what we need to achieve, we have done nothing in the last forty years. We have done nothing, we've accomplished nothing. I want to tell you one thing, and I know a bit about this: There is, with all those who have rediscovered their Judaism and with all the inspiration, there is - to this very day - for every Jew who re-embraces their Judaism, another two who leave the fold. We don't even know about them. That is the real picture of the world today. And we must do something about this. We must do something to make a difference in the world. We need to rise above the trivialities. Let's begin to think big, about the entire world, about the entire Jewish people. What does Moshiach really mean? It means a new world, a new reality, a transformation. And this is what the Rebbe wants. This is what the Rebbe talks about; what the Rebbe implores. And, presumably, the Rebbe, being a Rebbe, cannot truly speak his mind. He cannot call someone a no-goodnik. Because he can't... He cannot tell someone that they are lazy, because he is, at the end of the day, a Rebbe. But I am but a simple Jew, so I can say: Loafers, you're all a bunch of lazy ne'er-do-wells. People who sit around and do nothing. That's what you call studying, praying, achieving things? This is all games. Let someone say it as it is, and then someone can come and patronize you and say that you are fine Jews and we're celebrating a wonderful, joyous holiday. But meanwhile, let it be a thing at least, that you should go out to the street and feel "Forty years have passed, and what have we accomplished?" And this should keep every one of us up at night. There is a world that needs to be conquered. Whatever we have achieved is nothing. We must now begin something new.