TONIGHT
8 pm in shul.
The Paradox of Existence.
Presented by Rabbi Zalman Friedman.
TONIGHT
8 pm in shul.
The Paradox of Existence.
Presented by Rabbi Zalman Friedman.
Shmuli & Chana Michla Pinson
Invite the community to a Sholom Zochor
at 102 S Mansfield Ave.
5:00 pm at the home of: Mrs. Sima Zeifman
421 N Poinsettia Pl.
Speaker: Rabbi Levi Kramer
Upcoming Birthdays
Upcoming Anniversaries
Upcoming Yahrtzeits
The Struggle of a Chosid is also Our Struggle
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
Last week’s article “The Struggle of a Chosid” was about the example my father set for many in what to strive for in serving Hashem. His struggle was all about making sure that nothing would stand in the way of his neshama fulfilling it’s purpose in this world.
Some people have a mental block when they hear stories about the Rebbe. When they hear a story they sometimes think; the Rebbe is very holy and I am not holy. They think to themselves; I don’t see how hearing the story relates to my life and who I am. As a matter of fact the Rebbe himself told Abba Pliskin to tell stories of Chassidim not the Rabbeim at his fabrengens.
Nowadays people have expanded this mental block to include Chassidim. I have heard responses like; that Chosid had high standards, what does that have to do with me? I know who I am and I’m not even close to him.
Rabbi Rosenbloom from Pittsburgh at a fabrengen in Shul spoke about how the Rebbe in the early 1950’s spoke in Sichos and pushed for removing all English curriculums from the yeshivos. The Rebbe was unambiguous about the need for the yeshivos to have limudei Kodesh for the entire day. Rabbi Rosenbloom went on to tell how one Chosid asked another; are you ready to have no English education for your children? He replied if that’s what the Rebbe said, then yes. The Chosid then berated him; who do you think you are, Reb Zalmen Zezmer, or Reb Binyomin Kletzker? How can you not give your children English? Are you on the level of the Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe? The other Chosid answered; I may not be on their level, I may not share their emotion or ever reach where they did in their avodah, but are you telling me that I shouldn’t even have it in mind? (Meaning: Shouldn’t we at least try to do our best on our level?)
I know that I’m not my father. I don’t have his strengths or struggles. But, at least I know and appreciate what a Chosid is and should be. Even in Los Angeles my father fought for limudei Kodesh. Because that chinuch that was focused on limudei Kodesh being a Chosid is real and it’s not foreign to what we learned and what we heard.
There is a pasuk in the Haftarah for parshas Tzav (Yirmiyahu 7:28) that says: “Avda emunah v’nichrisa m’pihem, Out of their mouth faithfulness has disappeared, yea rooted out!” By a Chassishe Fabrengen I heard as explanation of this pasuk: (paraphrased) “Do you know how we lost our emunah? It’s because we stopped talking about it.” Once we stopped talking about it, we lost it.
I recall once in the middle of a Sicha (15th of Shevat 5739-1979) the Rebbe made an analogy of our experience in galus to a game of hide and seek. The message was that as long as we continue to search, Hashem is relevant and real in our lives. When the search is given up and we accept the galus and settle in, then we don’t feel that Hashem is with us in our lives. The Rebbe was sobbing and saying how hard it is to search. When we look at the previous generation as a goner, and we don’t look toward them and their struggles for inspiration and guidance then we are lost. It creates a hole in our lives without realistic hope for further progress, inspiration and aspiration to go higher.
Therefore we all need stories of Chassidim to speak about, think about and act upon as a regular staple of our spiritual diet. When we dwell on their lives, what they knew and how they lived, we grow and progress.
This is also why we gain so much by the confluence of the many elements of our Chassidishe culture. Fabrengens, stories, nigunim, davening and hisbonenus all conspire as one in our lives and the lives of our communities to provide the ‘lachluchis’, the warmth, the inspiration and the glue that keeps it all together. When we go in the ways, not just the learning of Chassidim, when we are absorbed in it not just checking it off on a list, even we in our generation will aspire for something higher and achieve something better. Then we too stand a chance to achieve the purpose of our neshamos in this world, not the purpose of a different generation, our purpose, the revelation of Moshiach now!
A Good Shabbos
Farbrengen/Hakhel for men
Tonight, (Tuesday) 8:30 pm, in shul
in honor of Purim Koton
4:45 pm at the home of: Mrs. Etty Bastomski
418 N Fuller Ave.
Speaker: Rebbetzin Rochel Levine
Upcoming Birthdays
Upcoming Anniversaries
Upcoming Yahrtzeits
The Struggle of a Chosid
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
There is a known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov (Based on Sh'mot 23:5) that is found in the Sefer HaYom Yom for the day of the 28th of Shevat:
“"When you see a chamor, a donkey"- when you carefully examine your chomer ("materiality"), your body, you will see...
..."your enemy" - meaning, that your chomer hates your Divine soul that longs for G‑dliness and the spiritual, and furthermore, you will see that it is...
..."lying under its burden" placed upon it - (the body) by G‑d, namely, that it should become refined through Torah and mitzvot; but the body is lazy to fulfill them. It may then occur to you that...
..."you will refrain from helping it" - to enable it to fulfill its mission, and instead you will follow the path of mortification of the flesh to break down the body's crass materiality. However, not in this approach will the light of Torah reside. Rather...
..."you must aid it" - purify the body, refine it, but do not break it by mortification.”
There was indeed a method of subordinating the body through afflicting it with ascetic practices, but the Baal Shem Tov rejected this path. He saw the body not as an obstacle to the spirit, something intrinsically evil and un-G-dly, but as a potential vehicle for the spiritual, a means for the soul to attain heights otherwise inaccessible. The "enemy" is to be transformed into an ally, an instrument. In great measure the Mitzvot employ gross physical matter to fulfill G‑d's will, e.g. leather for Tefillin and wool for Tzitzit, etc.
Although in general one is not supposed to afflict the body because the body has been placed with us in safekeeping by Hashem. Therefore, just as the laws of a pikadon, a deposit in the Torah requires us to take the best possible care for any object placed in our care so too the body which has been placed in our care would normally prohibited from fasting because fasting an affliction to the body. Nevertheless fasting is allowed according to Halacha because fasting helps with the process of teshuva and refinement of the neshama. The Alter Rebbe also explains this at length by in Igeres HaTeshuva where the Rebbe describes the benefit of fasting in completing the process of teshuva and refining the neshama to the point that it’s as if he never sinned.
The novelty of this teaching of the Baal Shem Tov in our times is that we are not really missing out on fasting due to our weaknesses, since fasting is no longer the proper path of teshuva and refinement anyway. Instead we redeem our fasts with tzedakah, as the Alter Rebbe says in the third chapter of Igeres HaTeshuva. We do not feel guilty because this weakness is the situation that Hashem placed upon us in these generations and therefore shows us that fasting is not our way.
This all sounds so lofty. Where do we find people in this day and age who want to fast and thanks to this HaYom Yom are helped and hold back from afflicting their bodies? And this year it hit me. I knew just such a person right here in LA and it was none other than my Father O.B.M. Those who knew him knew that he barely ate because his daily schedule didn’t include much time for food. After going to the mikveh, learning chassidus, davening, having a shiur and listening and helping the people that would speak with him about their personal needs and problems he would usually never get back home until well into the afternoon. People that grew up here in Los Angeles remember as children seeing my father davening by himself late in the day in shul. It was only when he got back home that he first had his first taste of food.
In letters the Rebbe would encourage my father to eat. The Rebbe quoted the Alter Rebbe from Igeres HaTeshuva (mentioned above) about the benefits of fasting in completing the process of teshuva but later says that due to our weaknesses we are unable to fast and instead we redeem our fasts with tzedakah. Therefore he must act this way and not fast.
Another time when my father and mother were in New York he told my mother that when was walking in 770 the Rebbe was there. The Rebbe began speaking to him in public. The Rebbe once saw my father and told him that he didn’t look well and asked him why he was fasting. The Rebbe told him that it’s important for him to eat. He then said that my mother had to come in for yechidus. She called Rabbi Hadakov who confirmed that the Rebbe was expecting her. When she went in the Rebbe asked her to see to it that her husband eats, and that he should eat before davening.
My mother prepared mezonos rolls which he would take to shul. After mikva he would sit down with tea and the mezonos with kabbolas ohl. It was obvious from the way he ate that he had no interest in the food itself. His only interest was to dutifully fulfill the Rebbe’s directive.
After my father’s passing I found a pidyon that he wrote asking for the Rebbe to daven for him if he ever did anything wrong. He went further to ask for help so that the body should not disturb or block, or in any way control his neshama. This was his struggle. No one is perfect; everyone has struggles. He was bothered that the body could disturb the neshama and get in the way of what it is here to accomplish.
He lived in Los Angeles not the Lubavitch of 100 years ago. He had his feet on the ground and was practical. He understood people and how businesses are run. He would help Shluchim fill out applications and forms to apply for bank loans. He would then tell them what to say to the banks in very practical terms.
He lived in Los Angeles but he never waivered in his service of Hashem. His example gives us strength and inspiration.
This year is a year of Hakel a year of unity and community gatherings. Hakel also represents the unity within each person. Through our service of Hashem we bring together and unify our spiritual and physical world, our hearts and our minds, our thoughts speech and actions. We unify them though our singular focus on serving Hashem with our body and soul working together in harmony to bring Moshiach Now!
Mrs. Mira Labkowsky
will be sitting shiva in LA on Monday and Tuesday
after the passing of her mother.
Address: 151 S Detroit St.
Times: 11am to 2pm and 6-9pm
(Please respect the times posted)
Hamakom Yenachem Eschem B'soch Sheor Avalei Tzion V'yerushalayim. Vehukeetzu Veranenu Shochnay Ufur vehe besochom!
4:30 pm at the home of: Mrs. Sima Zeifman
421 N Poinsettia Pl.
Speaker: Rabbi Levi Kramer
Upcoming Anniversaries
Upcoming Yahrtzeits
The New issue of the "Chabad Chodesh"
is now available online by clicking here
With great shock, sadness and pain
we inform you of the very untimely passing of
Rabbi Yehoshua Binyomin (Josh) Gordon OBM,
Shliach of the Rebbe to San Fernando Valley, California.
The Levaya will take place today, Monday, Shvat 29,
1:30pm at Chabad of Encino, 4915 Hayvenhurst Ave, Encino, CA 91436.
The Kevurah will follow at Mt. Olive Cemetery,
7231 E Slauson Ave, Commerce, CA 90040.
Baruch Dayan Haemes.
5:00 at the home of: Mrs. Chana Weiss
411 N Martel Ave.
Speaker: Rabbi Yisroel Hecht
Upcoming Birthdays
Upcoming Anniversaries
Upcoming Yahrtzeits
A story about a yid named ‘Jeff’.
I know him and was involved with his journey coming back to his roots through my son Yosef Yitzchok. Thanks to Rabbi Shais Taub for writing it up and allowing me to publish it.
Good Shabbos – Rabbi Shimon Raichik
Our setting is now the present day—well, actually a few months ago—in the town of West Boynton, FL.
A local Jew became more observant when he met the shliach, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Raichik, a year and a half earlier. There’s a whole story behind that which was that when the man's father passed away and the only rabbi the family knew couldn't make it, they found Rabbi Raichik who officiated instead. But that’s not the story I’m telling you now.
The story I’m telling you now started a few months ago when this fellow—Jeff is his name—started sending Rabbi Raichik links he found on ebay for auctions of dollars that were given out by the Rebbe. Jeff wanted to know if there’s a way to verify that the dollars were really given out by the Rebbe during “Sunday dollars.” Rabbi Raichik told Jeff that he wouldn't know how to verify such a thing and told Jeff he couldn't really help him, but Jeff kept sending more links and asking more questions. Jeff told Rabbi Raichik that although he had only just met Chabad and become observant a year and a half earlier, he had a deep yearning in his soul to receive a dollar from the Rebbe. Finally, Rabbi Raichik told him, “If you really have such a deep yearning, stop looking on ebay. Somehow we will find you a real dollar from the Rebbe. But be patient.”
About a month later, there was a farbrengen on the first night of Slichos. The farbrengen took place nearby at the Chabad House of R’ Yoelish Gancz. There, Jeff made Rabbi Raichik an offer. If he could find someone locally that would give him a dollar, he would make a nice donation to the shul. Rabbi Raichik told him that he didn't know of anyone but that he would keep his eyes and ears open. In attendance at this same farbrengen was R' Aharon Eliezer Ceitlin a”h who was in the area for medical treatment. (Rabbi Ceitlin, unfortunately, passed away a few weeks later.) Those in attendance at the farbrengen took up a collection for Rabbi Ceitlin’s medical expenses and Rabbi Raichik and Jeff both made significant donations which, in hindsight, Rabbi Raichik thinks was instrumental in what happened next.
On Rosh Hashana day, after services, a woman came over to Rabbi Raichik. He recognized her as someone who only comes to shul once a year. She appeared very serious and said, “Rabbi, I don’t have a lot of money right now but I want to do something to help the shul. I have several dollars that I personally received from the Lubavitcher Rebbe and I would be willing to donate them so that you could use them to raise funds for the shul.”
At first, Rabbi Raichik didn’t even know what to make of it. He wasn’t even sure it was legitimate. But the woman explained that she used to live in Crown Heights and that somehow for a couple of years she was one of the people who helped manage the dollar line for the women. In this capacity she was able to regularly procure extra dollars. Rabbi Raichik hollered across the shul, “Jeff, come here!” When he asked the woman to repeat what she had just said, Jeff nearly fainted. Rabbi Raichik asked the woman to come back after yom tov, they would make havdallah and then she could bring the dollars.
Later, they looked through some of the JEM photos of Sunday dollars and, sure enough, they saw this same woman standing there assisting with the line. There was no longer any question. The dollars were legitimate. Jeff made a major donation to the shul and picked his dollar to keep.
When they were going through the dollars and Jeff was trying to figure out which one was “his,” they actually found one with Jeff’s Hebrew birthday written on it! (It had been given out by the Rebbe on that day and someone wrote the date on the bill, as is customary.) Now, you should know that this year was the first year that Jeff even knew about, let alone celebrated, his Hebrew birthday. The date? Pesach Sheini, the holiday of second chances—the day that teaches us that if you really want something and your soul yearns intensely for it, then it’s never too late to get it.