Old Battle, New Disguise | Letter #9 of Thirty Letters in Thirty Days 5786

And we are live. Okay, good evening. Welcome to 30 letters in 30 days. Another another edition. Another night. What is What is this? Are we on nine? I don't know what it is. And I'll just pull up the text for myself. And open up the PDF. If you want the PDF, um the link is in the description below. If you're watching live on YouTube right now, streaming, um remember we're learning 30 letters in 30 days as a Torah gift for the Rebbe's birthday. And the Rebbe asked for Torah gifts as well as tzedakah gifts. So, the learning that we're about to do is the Torah gift. And the tzedakah gift, I like to use the the Colel Chabad uh pushka app. Looks like a little Colel Chabad pushka. And here I go. And you can get your own Colel Chabad pushka app at your app store. And you can give tzedakah all day long. I'm going to have me some celery over here. Special treat. I'm going to make a brachah. Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihyeh bidvaro. Tonight's letter is longer than usual. Not that long of a letter, but compared to other letters that we've done in this series, it's a little a longer. Uh so, let's jump right in. Baruch Hashem Zion Kissuf Tushin Tzion, Brooklyn. Ad Avigdor V'Sech Chosid Yisroel H'Kaim Nachum Ben Noam Isaac Betzalel Chaim Ben Rebbe Nachman Aaron Eliyahu Melech Shlita. Shalom U'Vracha. We have a name here, uh a name with a bunch of honorific titles preceding it. We know who this is. This is a very well-known rabbinic figure. Reb Aaron Eliyahu Melech Schulson, or also known as Bar Shaul. And actually, as the Rebbe refers later in the letter to this fact, he is of Chabad lineage. From the Alter Rebbe's uh uh family. Although, I don't know how uh far back is uh in his line they were not uh strictly Chabad adherents, because and that's kind of the point or the context of this letter. Rabbi uh Schulson or Bar Shaul was not did not at all identify as a Chabad Chosid. He was born in Eretz Yisrael, I believe in Yerushalayim. And he was a Rav at the time when the Rebbe was writing to him, I believe he was a Rav in uh Rehovot. And he was, as far as his ideology, he was aligned very much with uh Rav Kook, as well as the Slabodka Mussar Yeshiva approach. And that figures into what the Rebbe is writing to him about. As you'll see, but I'll explain it as we go. It's been a while since I've heard about you. He was a known person. It was a pleasure to receive your letter following the letter from from from the Hasid Rabbi Yankev Weiss. And is a and in enclosed is a copy of my letter to him. So, I want to use this opportunity to encourage you, to rouse you. Okay, so this is basically a letter of I would almost call an appeal. Like the Rebbe is making an appeal to this Rabbi Shalson, who is a communal leader, a rabbinic leader, a scholar, a communal activist. And the Rebbe is making an appeal to him. And the Rebbe says, "First of all, you shouldn't think that I think poorly of you because I'm making this appeal to you. To the contrary, it's precisely because I think so highly of you." Nishon amaymar Hazal, I'm actually relying, says the Rebbe, on what our sages say, "Ein mazozin ela l'muzrazin." You only encourage someone who's already um scrupulous, careful. To me, muzraz means like to to urge somebody on. So, we urge on the people who are already eager. The Rebbe uses this my machazal very, very, very often um in letters, at fabrengens, that it's not an insult when the Rebbe is urging someone on and saying, "Hey, pay attention, do this." It's not cuz it's the implication isn't, "Oh, you're careless and if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't be you would you wouldn't know about it at all." To the contrary, it's a compliment. It means, "I know that you're a person who cares. I know that you are doing things uh very carefully, and because you're already doing it so carefully, so we encourage people who are already doing things in a careful way." Okay, so what what specifically it does the Rebbe want to rouse Rabbi Shalson about? In your schools, you have a number of youth. Uh and this is as far as what I know, as far as the information that has been reported to me, and also um I'm going based on uh the the preponderance of evidence, meaning what the what the average is law law of averages, basically. The youth need encouragement in uh uplifting their adherence to tradition. Okay, we're talking about Remember, this is 19 What is it? 56? Is it uh still 56? Yeah, it's like Taf Shin Tet Zayin, so No, actually it's still 1955 cuz it's Kislev. It's like 1955, so it's mid-50s, Eretz Yisrael. Um you know, the culture there is predominantly secular. That's who the the ruling powers that be when, you know, the the state was established were predominantly secular. So, of course, there were religious enclaves and you know, this Rabbi Shalson and his community in Rehovot is a officially it's a religious community, but that doesn't mean that all the youth were were aligned with that. And so the Rebbe was saying that you have an issue, again, not as a put-down to the country. Like the Rebbe was saying, I I really I I'm impressed with you and that's why I'm relying on you to to tell you this. There are youth that really need a lot of spiritual uh help. They need a lot of encouragement. Um the uh if somebody would step up and encourage them properly, you thought my children alive with words that come from the heart, you know, sincerely. Mosh will yes, click cable she comes out of the bottom of the life and I know you're then the the hearts of the youth would accept that message. We have you a little pool of ice. It would bring to a change and it would bring to action. But I feel about how you you may show them even in their day-to-day life. Meaning not just fleeting inspiration as a abstract concept, but actual practical change. Meaning to say, bottom line, mitzvah observance. They would become more observant. So, the Rebbe was saying, this is what I'm this is my this is my understanding of the situation over there that there are youth who need some encouragement. I really believe that you are the person to do it. The Rebbe was giving him a job. The Rebbe always gives people jobs. The Rebbe was always giving people work to do, right? So, there is a need and I want you to step up and and and fill that need. Okay. Now, that outlines a little bit more the nature of this um I don't know if I should call it a crisis, but perhaps and you'll tell me if I'm justified describing it as a crisis. Maybe in some ways it's uh more of a it's uh in some ways it's a more insidious crisis than other situations be seem to be so do or die and therefore it could actually be even more dangerous. You'll you'll see. Let's read. Now, if in previous generations there was a notion that it was possible to inoculate, let's say, the young people against the foreign winds that are blowing out in the world to protect them basically against foreign influences just by learning Torah. What does it mean just by learning Torah? Meaning straightforward regular Torah, what we call nigleh. In Chabad we call it nigleh. You know, learning Gemara, learning Shulchan Aruch, just the regular regular regular limud, the regular things that normally you learn in yeshiva. So, in previous generations it was thought that that's enough. You give it you give the Jewish youth a basic yeshiva education and that's enough to keep them safe that they won't leave the fold. Okay. Now, it says that I have a if in previous generations there was such a notion that I was about to say that was that was disproven. That that that's not sufficient. That's not enough to keep them in the fold. And we've seen that in recent generations. We've seen in the past two generations that you really need to teach them Yiddish Sholom, that's fear of heaven, and Chavis of always doesn't mean the safer Chavis of always by the Rabbeinu Bachya means Chavis of always is a term, it means duties of the heart, the emotional side of of Yiddishkite, meaning Ahavas Hashem, Yiras Hashem, loving God, fearing God. Meaning to say, it used to be thought that you'll just give them a basic Torah education and that'll keep them in line. But we've seen in the past couple generations that's not enough. You actually have to teach them Yiddish Sholom. Maybe in the olden days, old and olden days, the Yiddish Sholom was intuitive, maybe it was something they picked up in the home. Maybe the foreign influences were not as predominant. What if for whatever reason, they could get away with not teaching Yiddish Sholom, but says that I have in the past couple generations you see, you must actually actively teach Yiddish Sholom. Otherwise, you're going to have problems with attrition. Yeah. K'li mud b'lav dei Rabbeinu Chalam he peel he peel. Because learning by itself we've lost many to it. We've lost many many have fallen by the wayside. Sh'mayis of >> And and and if only there wouldn't have been people opposing it, then hundreds or thousands of youth of that generation of that era would not have been lost from the straight path. But I don't want to elaborate on such a painful matter. In other words, the Rebbe is recapping the history that there were opponents within the Jewish religious leadership who didn't want to teach Yira Shamayim. They said, "That's That's not how we do it. That's we That's not a subject in Yeshiva. It's a It's not something we do in in the in the time of learning. The time of learning is for Gemara. It's for regular learning." And uh they opposed it and they they slowed it down. They they sort of uh uh impeded the uh the establishment of of teaching these subjects. And the cost that Rebbe says was that we lost a great number of youth who went off the straight path. But I don't want to says the Rebbe, "I don't want to elaborate on a painful subject." Okay, so the Rebbe is giving like the history of the past few generations. We're talking about basically the modern era, right? We're talking about from the time of uh industrialization, basically. Cuz the Rebbe is writing in the '50s and saying the past couple generations. So we're talking about you know, basically the mid 19th century. What what we call uh the industrial era or or it's not it doesn't really It's not really the enlightenment because in in history and the enlightenment is actually goes goes back even further, you know, like 1600s. But um 1700s. But what we might call in in in Jewish sociological terms, the the enlightenment era. Okay, the modern era, secularization, especially in Eastern Europe. So, that I was saying, there were there were a lot of uh a lot of youth who were lost from the straight path because of foreign influences, and they could have been retained if they were taught yiras Shamayim, if they were taught fear of heaven as as a subject in yeshiva. Okay. The Im Kalifnei De'ah Hayukah Salt Di'torah Shegam Musar Mashpik. Now, the Rebbe goes even further. If a generation ago, cuz the Rebbe was talk talking about two generations ago previously, now the Rebbe says, "A generation ago, they thought it was enough to teach Musar." Okay, now, this is very sensitive here. This is a sensitive subject. The Rebbe says, "It's been established already, we have to teach yiras Shamayim. You cannot We cannot afford not to teach yiras Shamayim. That's already been established two generations ago. Now, a generation ago, they found out something even more. They thought teaching Musar was enough." Remember, this Rabbi Shalson comes from a Slabodka Musar background, okay? He's not a Lubavitcher Chassid. And the Rebbe says to him, "Two generations ago, they realized you can't get away with not teaching yiras Shamayim. A generation ago, we learned even Musar alone is not enough, you know, uh ethics and self-refinement. Hinei Bo Nasainu Tofeach Al Pnei Ha'eimen Mazeih. Um experience has proven and has refuted those who claim this. U'k'ma She'reinu B'mochash, and we saw it for ourselves very clearly, U'v'einei Basar, with our physical eyes, B'rusia, in Russia, when B'meiyur Ha'difa'as Ha' Bolshevikim, and the the persecution of the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik persecution. Especially the challenges that the young men and young women had to stand up to. Especially the youth cuz they were more targeted, I suppose. The who was able to stand up to and be saved from this terrible wave? This like surge. Zat. It was It was It was those youth who had the passion and the self-sacrifice that they absorbed from Sidis, from the teachings of Sidis specifically. Uh through the through the proper education. We saw this This was tested This is battle tested in Russia. During the Bolshevik uh persecution. Now, this is a very different situation. Bolshevik persecution in Russia, you're talking about the you know the uh during the revolution, right after the revolution. So, the teens, the 20s. Um and now you're talking about Eretz Yisrael in the 50s. Very different places, very different times, very different cultural milieu. But, here's the point what the Rebbe was bringing out. It's not that different. It's not that different. Okay, so in Russia, you had a clear state-sponsored anti-religious um persecution. And the only ones who were really able to stand up to it were those who were educated with Chassidus. We saw that for ourselves. The Rebbe saying it's not all that different in 1950s Israel that there is just as much of a threat, maybe it's a different form, maybe the threat takes a different form, but the the risk of losing youth to assimilation is is just as as real. And the solution is the same solution that we saw worked in Soviet Russia. You So you understand what the Rebbe is appealing to Rebbe Shalson. I want you to to do what you need to do to keep the youth and and it's going to have to be teaching them Chassidus. Which is very interesting cuz this is not a Lubavitcher Chassid and yet the Rebbe is giving him a job of making sure that that the youth learn Tzivos Hashem. Let's continue. Okay? Now flipping the page to the present day. Unfortunately, the challenges facing today's youth have not diminished. Even though like I said the Rebbe was talking about Soviet Russia 30 years prior and now the Rebbe is talking about Israel in the present day, meaning in that time's present, the mid-50s. But the challenges facing the youth have not decreased. The form has changed. Just changed form. It's only a change of form, it's not a change in substance. It's a very powerful statement. Very powerful. Like the threat is substantially the same threat. It just expresses itself differently. >> In a way it's even more insidious, more dangerous because the form that it takes now in 1950s Israel is that sometimes this this threat expresses itself sometimes in a form of mitzvahs like in a religious Jewish religious form where it's yonic it's siphoning off of of Kadusha. Like the saying or in the same vein as the saying of of our sages called Shaka Shane any any falsehood that doesn't have a little truth at the beginning and that ever says etc. But the rest is it won't stand. When the maraglan when the spies came back and they wanted to discourage everybody. So instead of jumping straight to the lotion harder and discouraging everyone first they they conceded that it's that it's a land flowing with milk and honey, right? And then they threw in all the discouraging words. So our sages say that if you you want to do damage with your words by spreading falsehood propaganda, you got to put a little truth in the beginning otherwise it won't last. So that's how you make the the disinformation more devastating is you sprinkle a little truth in there. Wow. And so that's that's the threat cuz in Soviet Russia it was pretty pretty like open that this was anti Yiddish kite. But Israel in the 50s the form that it was taking sometimes looks like it's it's not a threat. Sometimes it looks like it's it's pro you this cut. So, how do I So, to the contrary, the challenge for the for the youth has gotten even uh greater. Primarily [snorts] qualitatively. Qualitatively, it's uh it's it's it's much worth worse because the subtlety of it makes it more insidious, makes it more risky, makes it harder to identify and resist. Um certainly there's no need to elaborate on a situation which even in Eretz Yisrael, in the holy land, is frightening and alarming. Especially when you consider that the land of Israel is the land which the eyes of Hashem are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. The Rebbe uses that term very often. Eretz Yisrael is the land Hashem is on it The Rebbe uses that term a lot that that that that pasuk to mean a lot of different things. Here it means something very specific. As will become clear if I read the next few words. You can't compare something that happens in the king's palace to something that happens out of the king's palace. You follow? Okay, what does it mean? The land where Hashem's eyes are on it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. It means Hashem is paying attention to Israel in a way much more closely than anywhere else in the world. Obviously, we believe in practice everywhere all the time, but there's a certain focus that Hashem has on Israel even more so. And you can even call it scrutiny. That Hashem is really looking meticulously at what's going on in the Holy Land. And that's what what it means. You can't compare something that happens in the King's Palace to something that happens outside of the King's Palace. If there's an affront to the King that happens, you know, somewhere in the countryside, okay, it's not good, but that's nothing like a palace coup when you have people who are disrespecting the King right there in the palace itself. Well, Israel's called the King's Palace. So, the Rebbe says it's actually in some ways because precisely because you are in the Holy Land, you have to even be more careful, more scrupulous than than anywhere else where Jews have lived. At any rate, what do we have now? The upshot of all of this. Obviously, I'm not coming to to give a speech. As the Rebbe I'm not I'm not here to This is not a pep talk. That's not the point. The bottom line is like this. You have the merit and you have the responsibility to do everything in your power, everything that's possible, to permeate the youth with the light of the Torah. You might be familiar with that expression. This is being referred to as the luminary of the Torah. The Rebbe uses that expression in the the bracha to the chosson kallah that we read in the Rebbe's letter under chuppah, the light of the Torah. This is the teachings of Chassidus. It's it's guidance and it's customs. It's your responsibility, the Rebbe says, to it's it's it's your merit and it's your uh your responsibility to teach the light of the Torah. The luminary of Torah, which is teachings of Chassidus. Remember, this is not someone who I don't know how much information the Rebbe has about him and from his friend Rabbi Weiss who the Rebbe mentions, and maybe he does himself learn Chassidus Chabad to some extent, I don't know. But this is pretty bold. It's a pretty bold ask because this is not someone who identifies self-identifies as a as as a Chabad Chassid. And the Rebbe says, "Look, you want to save the youth, we already know you can't just teach them Torah, you have to teach them fear of heaven. That we learned two generations ago. And you can't just learn learn mussar with them as a way of teaching them fear of heaven cuz that we learned one generation ago. What we saw in Soviet Russia is that you have to teach them Chassidus. And this is the same thing. Don't and don't say, 'Well, that was Soviet Russia cuz it was really, really bad and you had you needed Chassidus over there.' Well, your situation is is is no less of a potential crisis, God forbid. And needs no less of a a serious um answer. And that is teaching the youth Chassidus. We have no choice. Especially teaching the youth who are going to be the future builders of of Jewish homes very soon. They're going to get married. They're going to start their own families. This is a very interesting point that the Rebbe you see this very often how the Rebbe invests in amplifying his influence. So the Rebbe says what when you're going to influence the youth, they're going to very soon get married and have their own families. So any positive change that you're able to influence in them will be doubled many double doesn't literally mean two times. It means you know 10x 100x however many like really exponentially. There's no there's no limit. In accordance with the house that they're going to have so every young person you influence is going to have kids. So he's going to let's say he has five kids 5x. Let's say he has 10 kids 10x. But it's not just his kids you know cuz he's going to have mush boy him people he influences. Maybe he's going to be a community community leader. Maybe he's going to be a rabbi. Maybe he's going to be an an educator. Maybe he'll just be a good example in the community. But the point is if he has 100 people who he influences so now it's 100x. Everything you do with these youth is going to get magnified exponentially. All right. And now here's the little reference to Rabbi Shalson's uh Yichus. And since you descended from the Alter Rebbe who is the author of the well-known teaching >> [snorts] >> that you have to love your fellow as yourself and have to love the Lord your God are really one thing. Which is also hinted to in the famous saying of Rabbi Akiva that love your fellow as yourself is the general law, general rule of the Torah. You will in this path. The only thing that matters is it's all dependent on your rotten and your will and your goodwill. It's already known the ruling of the heavenly court that because of the Alter Rebbe's great self-sacrifice for what? Alter Chassidus for the teachings of Chassidus they paskened, they ruled in the heavenly court that in any matter of Torah and fear of heaven and good character traits the hand of those who are connected to him, the Alter Rebbe, and going his ways will prevail. The expression often you hear is Yad Chassidim al yona. I'm not sure if the Rebbe purposely didn't want to use that language because maybe it would have alienated the person that the Rebbe was writing to. Maybe he didn't consider himself to be under that title. But at the very least that I was saying, you are a descendant of the Alter Rebbe and you are connected to him and you are following his ways at least to some extent. And guess what? Tag, you're it. You've been deputized. You've got a job. You're the new Mashpia. >> [laughter] >> You're the one who's going to teach the Ma'amar Sheb's Torah. Amazing. I'm a hot killer sort of stay this for some of the Harvard. over a car. I await good news, meaning I want to hear about it. I want to hear about you doing all this stuff that I described. And I conclude, sign off with blessing, with respect and blessing. Baruch Hashem. Wow. Powerful lot of letter. Yeah. Yeah, importance of see this. The Rebbe's belief in a in a community leader. The Rebbe's revealing the the tried and true formula that we need in order to save the youth. Yeah, powerful stuff. Okay, I'm going to say shalom. We will see you tomorrow night.