Rabbi Zev Segal's eulogy for the Lubavitcher Rebbe presented on today's JM in the AM

This coming Shabbos we shall read in the Torah the summation of Moshe Rabbeinu. And among the things that Moshe Rabbeinu says is echo esol avadi to have him on my second the roof cam. Moshe Rabbeinu confesses that he doesn't know how he is able to carry the burden of leadership all by himself. And then he continues so he decided there should be a leadership assisting him. And he says the qualifications of leadership should be the following and this is what the Torah tells us. How will I look at my motion? Get yourselves men how come in? Wise men and evolving understanding men. Who are you doing the shift they have the cinnamon below shaker. Now you can't help but associate this statement of Moshe Rabbeinu where he designates the qualifications that there is a very strong relationship to Chabad. He says Chachamim, Chachma, Nevonim, Bina, Veyeduim, Daas, and this is Chabad. The leadership of Klal Yisrael was given to the Rebbe. And he fulfilled that mission to the maximum that can be fulfilled. He had Klal Yisrael, the entire people of Israel, was his concern. And a deep concern. Every corner in the world, no matter how forsaken it was, and no matter how few Jews were there, he had them on his mind, in his heart and his soul. If there was a man qualified to reconstruct Jewish life after the great Churban, after the tragic Holocaust that befell our people, he was one man who did it. He reconstructed Jewish life in a commendable way and at the same time he made Jews feel without any exception whoever they may have been that they are a part of this reconstruction. He worried about every Jew wherever he was. And he had a certain devotion and dedication to Klal Yisrael. I used to sit and I had the great privilege and I don't pretend that I understood the Rebbe. I don't pretend that I can evaluate his scholarship or his spiritual greatness. But at the same time in my own way I was privileged to spend a great deal of time. It is no secret. Many of you know it. I used to come in 12:00 midnight and walk out not earlier than 3:30 in the morning and sometimes even later. And after a while when we were sitting the bell used to ring and I tried to get up because I knew there were people waiting there people who were older than me. And as I was trying to get up, the rebbe said in a tone almost of chastising me. He says, "What do you We are talking about the cloud." And there was no disturbance when he was engaged in worrying about cloudiness world. And I can go on and on about his great concerns. Nothing else to point out except the Jewish community in the former Soviet Union. Where three generations of Jews were alienated from everything that had to do with Judaism. And the only underground movement that succeeded in existence during the Bolshevik regime was the Lubavitch movement. And I know for a fact I can stand here for hours and testify how this underground movement functioned with real devotion and dedication to everything that had to do with Jews and Judaism. And the rebbe was the leader. No matter how many thousands of miles he was away. They were waiting with a great deal of thirst to hear something from 770. I was in Riga and Professor Branover was there. And you probably heard of Professor Branover. Beside being a vote of the Chassid a great scientist universally recognized a real Jewish leader respect from all walks of life in the state of Israel under every government and Professor Branover told us the following. When Gorbachev came to power the Rebbe so people were very scared at the time. And the Rebbe sent a message to the Jewish community in Russia and he told them, "Don't worry, things will get better." And naturally they accepted the Rebbe's word. And it calmed them down a little bit. But then Branover says when Gorbachev was in Israel recently and he spent quite some time with him so he asked Gorbachev "Did you really even you came to power did you really think that you are going to change from your predecessors? And Gorbachev said, "No, not at all. In fact, my idea was to tighten a little stronger than my predecessors." Gorbachev didn't know where he's heading to, but the Rebbe had enough insight to predict that things will improve. And I can testify it from another angle. You remember when the El Al plane was hijacked to Algiers. And this rumor was that Ariel Sharon was to be on this plane. And he was told by the Rebbe that he should not travel with that plane. That was the rumor. When I met next with the Rebbe, so a little time passed, and I was curious. And I said to him, "I hear rumors that you stopped Sharon from traveling down that El Al plane that was hijacked to Algeria." And the Rebbe said the following. He made sure that he did not accept when I said he stopped the plane. And he said, "You know, Sharon came to say goodbye to me before he went to Israel. And I said to him, "Don't go." And Sharon didn't go. He says, "It's true." So naturally, obviously, I asked him the next question. "If you knew that the plane will be hijacked, why only save Sharon? You could have saved everyone else on the plane." And the Rebbe gave me a look like I interpreted that it was not the wisest question that I have asked him. And he says to me the following. He says and he said it in Yiddish, "Do you think that I saw a plane being hijacked?" "He came to say goodbye. And all I did was say, 'Don't go.'" For me, this was testimony of a certain insight that very rare human beings possess that insight. And this is what the Rebbe meant. And this insight was used to reconstruct Jewish life in the world again. A great deal was said about the Rebbe's involvement in Eretz Yisrael. I knew many, many leaders in Jewish life. Zionists and non-Zionists I had the privilege to be the youngest delegate. Believe it or not, I was young once. The youngest delegate to the last Zionist Congress before the establishment of the Jewish state in Basel. And I sat on very important committees. And I saw leaders as well in the Torah world as well. But every one of them had a certain area of knowledge and insight. One may have been politically diplomatic well-versed. Or one may have been involved in the economics. Or one may have been involved in science. Or in military affairs. But the Rebbe had them all. And I can again say it from personal experience. The hours that I listened and discussed of every conceivable phase in the life of Eretz Yisrael. Not only education. Not only the practice of Torah. But every conceivable phase of life in Eretz Yisrael. And I don't have to tell you his concern about the shleimus of Eretz Yisrael. That was on his agenda. And in the last few years, he had something to worry about as we see it now. He talked about outreach a great deal. There are many, many who are occupied with outreach and God forbid for me to minimize it. I know what it is. I was a little involved with it. But the outreach of Lubavitch is second to none. The devotion and dedication and the mesiras nefesh of the shlichim in all parts of the world. I was sitting a short 3 weeks ago a Friday night who is now acting as the chief rabbi of Latvia. And you know the days are very long now in that part of the world. And I heard the Friday night the devotion the discipline Nothing was difficult. And if there is Jewish life today in Riga, it is this chief rabbi who could have stayed in Far Habat with his family. Instead, he's suffering in Riga. Or a young man, many of you may know Glassman, a wife, a young wife with three infants, doing youth work in every possible way. He's running now a summer camp. And I don't have to tell you I want I had occasion to a couple of years ago when I spoke for a group who was involved with Lubavitch to tell you about someone who was very, very active here, Reb Leib Raskin, who is in Casablanca for many, many years. And I saw him there in '68, also with infants. And when I went down from his apartment about 1:00 at night on a Friday night, and I said to him, "Excuse me for keeping you so late." So, he says, "What do you mean, excuse me? First of all, you are the first one who is here who was there." There, in Morocco in those days, there meant Israel. That's number one. So, we heard what's doing. And secondly, he says let my children know that there is there is a Jew in the world who speaks Yiddish. I can tell you many stories, but my time is limited. I can tell you what the Rebbe did in South Africa. When I was there in the '70s when the Jewish community was in a turmoil and the Rebbe calmed them down. And the shliach in there did a job. If there is a shochet in Himalaya who does it? If a shochet was needed in Romania who supplied it? If a mohel was needed in any part of the world they were there and they are still there. Yes, indeed. Outreach to its maximum. All part of the reconstruction of Jewish life. Tremendous amount of creativity. You remember when the Rebbe started with the mivtza tefillin in the Six-Day War. And tefillin was not the most popular thing on the American scene. It was popular maybe on the day of bar mitzvah or a month before the bar mitzvah. But I have noticed what film did when you come to the Kotel, to the Western Wall, a religious Jew has no problem. Either he does mincha or maariv or shacharis. And if he comes in another part of the day, he says tehillim. He reads the Psalms. But what does a non-religious Jew do at the Kotel? What does he do? Another piece of paper in the wall. But feeling became synonymous with the Kotel of the non-committed Jew. He comes to the Kotel. He knows that this is the time to put on film and say Shema Yisrael. Or all the other projects, the lighting of candles, and other creative creativity. The Rebbe was the first one on the American Jewish scene who did not permit Jews to run away from Jewish neighborhood. But as it was said at the same time, the Rebbe never forgot the individual. And I want to share with you one of the experiences I had which I must confess to you marked the rest of my life, particularly in the last few years, it was a great help to me. On one of my travels, and until this day I don't know how the rabbi discovered that I'm going somewhere, I was called and the rabbi asked me to do something in that particular country. I came back, so I gave him a report, and again with lack of wisdom, I say to him, and I conversed in Yiddish, I said, "The rebbe soll wissen as is nit given in green gesach. She's on gekomen sehr schwer." I said the rabbi should know that this was not easy, an easy task for me. It was very difficult. And again the rabbi looks at me and makes me aware how unwise I am, to put it mildly. And he says to me, "I love Sega. Zint van hot dir gemacht a contract mit nur a reben should I loan for a green in Lebanon?" The rabbi says to me, "Since when did you make a contract with the almighty for an easy life? And as I said among many many things this has become a guide in my own life. Yes, indeed my friends there is a great deal to be said and a great deal will be said because in all this there is immortality. The Rebbe was not only the Manigault door he will be the Manigault doors. Many many generations will benefit from what the Rebbe was for the people of Israel. And I know I'm as assured as I can be that the right now as he stands before the kiss a cupboard he's doing everything he possibly can to bring about our Geulah Shleimah bimherah amen. >> Mhm.