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Beis Moshiach (USPS 012-542) ISSN 1082-0272 is published weekly, except Jewish holidays (only once in April and October) for $160.00 in Crown Heights. USA $180.00. All other places for $195.00 per year (45 issues), by Beis Moshiach, 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY and additional offices. Postmaster: send address changes to Beis Moshiach 744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409. Copyright 2015 by Beis Moshiach, Inc.

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CONTENTS

744 Eastern ParkwayBrooklyn, NY 11213-3409

Tel: (718) 778-8000Fax: (718) [email protected]

www.beismoshiach.org

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:M.M. Hendel

HEBREW EDITOR:Rabbi S.Y. [email protected]

ENGLISH EDITOR:Boruch [email protected]

FEATURED ARTICLES

4 A STAR BURNS BRIGHT IN THE DESERT Zalman Tzorfati

10 A SOLDIER TILL THE ENDShneur Zalman Berger

18 THE SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL SUMMER AT CAMP AND AT HOMERabbi Nachman Yosef Twersky

24 NOTHING ELSE BESIDES REBBEChanoch Shachar

WEEKLY COLUMNS 3 Dvar Malchus22 Feature29 Parsha Thought32 Thought33 Tzivos Hashem

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THE TREASURY OF ALEXANDER BIN-NUN

I repeat the conversation not in Yiddish as I heard it, in order to be brief and my translation is loose and I hope I dont distort anything in the transmission. The sorrow and feeling of no-escape was heard and felt and who, if not we the bnei yeshiva, knew and felt and encountered these persecutions.

Then there was the deep, clear voice of R Meir Simcha Chein: In the sidra it says, And the children struggled within her and she [Rivka] said, if so, why me? And she went to seek G-d. There are two questions here. First, why did Rivka Imeinu go to seek G-d rather than the doctor or midwife? Second, Rivka knew that she was carrying twins for she suffered because they struggled within her. If so, how did it reassure her to be told, there are two nations in your belly?

Third, what Hashem said is surprising for who cares who will serve who, the oldest to the youngest or vice versa, when her complaint was and they struggled and why me?

I think R Meir Simcha raised his voice a bit when he said: Chassidim! Rivka Imeinu knew that they werent just any children in her stomach. She had left the house of Lavan not to

give birth to just any twins, but to be the wife of Yitzchok, an olah tmima (perfect offering), and to take the place of Sarah Imeinu. So Rivka knew even before this that her two children were two nations holiness and the other side, good and bad. Her question of G-d was, is it possible that both are equal and one wont overcome the other, that holiness will not overcome evil? For she felt them struggling within her without one clear victor; this was her fear. It wasnt the pain of a difficult pregnancy that made her seek G-d, but her wondering how G-dliness and evil can be equally strong.

To this, Hashem answers: Although there are two nations in your stomach, one nation will overcome the other, and the older one (Eisav) will serve the younger (Yaakov). This calmed her, for G-dliness and holiness would vanquish the sitra achra and Satan. And so it will be! Concluded R Simcha, with his deep bitachon, We must do and do more and the strength of the Rebbe strengthens us and they will continue to learn Torah and Chassidus.

I did not hear the rest of the conversation. I hurried to a shiur in the tractate Gittin which was given by R Yudel

Eber or Berel Kornitzer in the womens section of the kleinem minyan along with my friends: Lazer Lazarov, Notke Gurary, Hillel the son of R Itche der Masmid, Yosef Benshikovitzer, Shmuel and Dovid the sons of Chonye Morosov, Asher Batumer Sasonkin, Hilke Asimov and the oldest son of Shmuel Levitin and others.

HOW WAS THE GLAZIER BETTER THAN THE PHILANTHROPIST?

In Tishrei, when I stayed at the home of the Rebbe Rayatz in Leningrad, I once went to the mikva on Yekaterinislavski Canal Street with my relative R Chonye Morosov and he told me this story:

R Chonye was the Rebbe Rashabs aide. One time, R Shmuel Gurary (Rashag), the wealthy Chassid and philanthropist who was mekushar to the Rebbe Rashab with all his heart, soul, and might, asked R Chonye to tell the Rebbe that he had arrived.

The way it worked was, the

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SEE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEETranslated by Boruch Merkur

25. The Zohar comments on the verse, Your nation consists entirely of tzaddikim: one who is circumcised is called tzaddik. The Rebbe Maharash cites this Zohar and teaches that also when it says, (Cast your burden upon G-d, and He will bear you) He shall never allow a righteous man to falter [in making a living], this is said regarding all Jews, for Jews are called tzaddikim in virtue of being circumcised, etc. But we must understand how it is that there are so many Jews that are impoverished Why isnt each and every Jew granted an abundant livelihood? We may answer that the verse, He shall never allow a righteous man to falter, does indeed refer to all Jews, as above. Why then are there Jews who have such serious financial crises? It is because their bitachon, their faith and assurance in G-d, is not as it should be Lack of faith interrupts the flow of livelihood. (It is analogous to shutting off the current of hashpaa, the Divine energy that provides livelihood.) If one would put his faith in G-d he would make an ample living and he would experience the fulfillment of [the first part of] the verse, Cast your burden upon G-d, and He will bear you.

The same principle applies to drawing down influence though the Rebbe.

But first to mention what I once told an individual (a couple years

ago) that people see what they want to see. That is, they interpret the concept of histalkus in the literal sense [of passing away]. They wish to behold the great exaltedness of the Rebbe, for whom the Lower Gan Eden does not suffice, nor is the Supernal Gan Eden adequate. True, the Seventh Heaven is incredibly sublime, but the greatness of the Rebbe is loftier still Since the Alm-ghty is the very essence of goodness, and the nature of the good is to bestow benevolence upon others, G-d fulfills this persons wish and shows him the exalted heights of the Rebbe that the Rebbe transcends even the Seventh Heaven and this person remains below [i.e., distant from the Rebbe]

However, the concept of histalkus may also be understood on the basis of what the Rebbe explains in the maamer Basi LGani, which was published in honor of the day of the yahrtzait [of the Rebbes grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivka]. Namely, histalkus is the revelation of light at the lofty level of romemus, exaltedness. That is, although histalkus is romemus, something transcendent and lofty, it is drawn down below, as the statement of the Zohar is explained in Igeres HaKodesh: A tzaddik who passes on is present in all worlds more than when he was alive. When one adopts this understanding of histalkus with regard to the Rebbe, then he is shown from On High how

the Rebbe is present in the world below, and he sees with his mortal eyes the influence extended to him through the Rebbe.

This concept is reflected in the words of the Rebbe (Rashab), nishmaso Eden, to his son, my revered father in-law, the Rebbe that he called his name and said: We shall remain whole [after our histalkus] not only in terms of our essence but also in terms of our hispashtus.

That is, the influence the Rebbe imparts is not limited to when he is alive as a soul in a body, when he can be seen with mortal eyes, but even after his histalkus, when he is not visible in this world.

In fact, after his histalkus, the influence that extends from the Rebbe is even greater, since the limitations of the body are nullified.

And although there is the well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe (which is explained at length by my revered father in-law, the Rebbe) that the Giving of the Torah did not take place in the lower hemisphere the Rebbes influence extends not only to the upper hemisphere but to the lower hemisphere, as well.

And not only in a spiritual sense, but also materially.

(From the address of Shabbos Parshas Eikev, Chaf Menachem-Av 5713; Toras

Menachem 5713, pg. 124-125)

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DVAR MALCHUS

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A STAR BURNS BRIGHT IN THE DESERT

4 22 Menachem-Av 5775

PROFILE

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Tzachi was an outstanding drama student at Tel Aviv University when

he first met R Fishel Jacobs at the students club. Today, R Yitzchok Francis is a busy shliach, a sought after speaker who reaches hundreds, even thousands, a month, and a talented actor known to thousands of bar mitzva boys and their families through the Chabad House of Yam HaMelachs bar mitzva program. * In a conversation with Beis Moshiach, the two of them tell of their first encounter, their deep talks, Shabbos meals, struggles and the dramatic decision that changed the life of the student. * About the Igeres HaTshuva, which was read with tears on the university lawn, the secret to success in kiruv, and shlichus at the lowest point on the globe.

By Zalman Tzorfati

The captivating desert landscape which can be seen from the peak of Masada spreads forth as far as the eye can see. Within a not very large area, surrounded by a low stone wall, the remnant of a shul that served those who fled for this mountain during the second Temple era, sits a well to do family on white plastic chairs. They politely listen to the explanations of R Shimon Elharar, director of the Yam HaMelachMasada Chabad house, about the bar mitzva ceremony which is about to begin. The rabbi promises an interesting program and a special surprise.

The sun begins to heat up, the father reaches out and emotionally grasps the hand of his son, the bar mitzva boy. The mother wipes away tears. The grandmother in a wheelchair takes out a flowered fan from her bag and tries to cool herself off, and two cousins in the last row start to lose interest. Suddenly, in runs a figure from ancient times, wearing a white robe and leaving behind a trail of white dust. The

man breathes heavily and tells the family that he has escaped Jerusalem and the terrors of the Roman government and he seeks their help in finding his family who have been lost.

It takes the crowd a few minutes to figure out that this is the promised surprise. The escapee from the second Temple era takes the family on a fascinating journey from the Beis HaMikdash to the bar mitzva of the boy, in a performance full of humor and Jewish messages that turns the bar mitzva into an unforgettable experience.

The actor is R Yitzchok Francis, lecturer, actor, and shliach at the Chabad House of Yam HaMelach. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, R Francis is busy from morning till afternoon with bar mitzva ceremonies on the mountain. The rest of the time he is a shliach who lectures on positive thinking, relationships, and many other subjects.

R Francis may have been born an actor, but not a rabbi.

His first foray into Judaism was made with the help of R Fishel Jacobs who was a shliach at Tel Aviv University. R Francis was a drama student at the time and the spark that R Jacobs ignited turned into a flame that went up of its own accord, which in turn, ignites many others.

CULINARY TRADITIONR Francis, who was called

Tzachi back then, grew up in Haifa. His parents made aliya from the Balkans. He was the youngest child of a small, traditional family. They made kiddush now and then, marked holidays with special foods and sometimes religiously too, but not much more than that.

Tzachi was drawn to the stage every since he can remember.

From a young age, I dreamed of being an actor in the theater. In high school, I chose theater courses, and since then the stage has been a part of me.

After high school, Tzachi was drafted as a medic in a special

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naval unit. When he finished his service, he tried getting accepted into an exclusive acting school, the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio. He was unsuccessful and he decided to compensate himself with a long tour in the US.

In America, I began a sort of spiritual journey. I started asking myself questions about the future and the meaning of life. I suddenly began to feel strange stirrings when I did inappropriate things, as though G-d was watching me and was not pleased. Later on, when I returned home, my mother told me that at precisely that time she had decided to light Shabbos candles as a merit for me. With her motherly intuition, she sensed my confusion and every Erev Shabbos she prayed for me as she lit the candles and asked Hashem to illuminate my eyes and show

me the right way in life.

A MOTHERS PRAYERMrs. Francis prayers were

effective. Tzachi returned home and began a process of strengthening himself religiously. He took out his bar mitzva tfillin and started putting them on every day and on Shabbos he went to shul with his father.

Despite his failed attempt with the Nissan Nativ School, he did not give up on his dream. Immediately upon his return from New York, he registered for drama at Tel Aviv University. It was a four-year, very demanding program.

I will be the first religious actor, he told his mother, partly in jest and partly seriously. But he soon found himself torn between worlds.

At home I was connected to tfillin, shul, and Judaism, but all that disappeared when I went to university. I was drawn into the studying and the pressure and there was also the life on campus and the atmosphere of Tel Aviv which all had their effect. It seemed impossible to me to grow stronger in a Jewish sense at university.

For two years, Tzachi seesawed between Haifa and Tel Aviv. At university he studiously practiced his chosen craft and at home he clung to his tfillin and the old books.

For two years I was up and down spiritually, until one day, a good friend told me about a special Chabad rabbi by the name of Fishel Jacobs, who made Shabbos meals for students on campus. I went to see it and was hooked.

INEVITABLE CONFLAGRATION

It was for precisely situations such as these that the Rebbe sent R Fishel Jacobs of Kfar Chabad to Tel Aviv University, and sent hundreds of other shluchim to universities and campuses around the world. People say that success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Tzachis neshama was a spiritual powder keg and R Jacobs lit the match. When the two met, the resulting spiritual conflagration was inevitable.

Said R Jacobs, We started our work at the university in 5748. The university did not welcome us with a red carpet and nothing came easy. One day, we were told that the dean was from a Chabad family. We spoke to him and he allowed us to work out of a bomb shelter at the student dorms. The truth is, to say that he approved or allowed it

People say that success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Tzachis neshama was a spiritual powder keg and R Jacobs lit the match.

R Yitzchok Francis at a bar mitzva ceremony on Masada


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is somewhat of an exaggeration. It was more like he looked away from our work. The shelter turned into a shul which was the Chabad House on campus. We started regularly providing Shabbos meals for students there.

In 5748, the Jacobs family was young. He was a prison chaplain and his wife taught in Beis Rivka. They funded their work at the university out of their salaries. Every Erev Shabbos was a military operation for them.

We would cook the food at home for dozens of people and then load it all up and take the kids and drive to Tel Aviv.

SHABBOS TABLE ON CAMPUS

Friday night, we would go with the children and stop at all the dorms, knock at the door and invite the students to a Shabbos meal at the shelter. The meals were outstanding experiences. We could get 100 students on a good week. It was all very alive, with lots of mashke, a warm atmosphere, simcha, and very embracing. We would sing, dance, say divrei Torah and afterward, we would sit and talk into the night. We also spent the night at the shelter. After all the students left, we would put away the tables and spread out mattresses and go to sleep. That is how our children grew up. These are the memories of Shabbos from their childhoods.

This was the atmosphere that Tzachi found when he went with two friends, fellow drama students. The three of them today are Lubavitcher Chassidim.

I was already in my third year. Due to the load of tests and studying, I stayed most Shabbasos at the university. I

went to the Shabbos meal and immediately felt that I found what I had been looking for, said Tzachi.

R Jacobs is a special guy. The energy, the warmth, and the caring that radiated from him were something I had never before experienced. I sat there captivated by the joy and the singing, and the excellent food definitely played a role. After the meal we would sit for long talks. Always, at some point, R Jacobs would take out a small Tanya and start reading and explaining. It was like his secret weapon, or more correctly, like the cherry

on the frosting. I did not always understand everything, but I felt that this was something spiritual that spoke to me. It was like a relaxant pill for my neshama.

PILL FOR THE SOULI remember how one time,

we left at two in the morning after one of these farbrengens. I went to my room at the dorms. I was wound-up and couldnt sleep. I went back down to the shelter and it was empty. I took a Tanya and began reading it, like a Thillim. I felt it was healing me.

This was the year of the

R Fishel Jacobs with students at the University of Tel Aviv

One night, I couldnt sleep, I was so torn. I remembered R Jacobs and took a Tanya. I went downstairs and began walking on the campus of Tel Aviv University. It was late and the place was deserted. I sat on the huge lawn and began reading Igeres HaTshuva and burst into tears. I sat like that on the lawn for hours, reading Tanya in tears like Thillim, and pleading with Hashem to help me decide.

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drama department, recalls R Jacobs. A lot of students came from there. Three of them, Dori Yitzchok, Yigal Admon and Tzachi, became baalei tshuva. During those years I was deeply immersed in Tanya; it was part of the hashpaa I got at the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. At every free moment I would learn Tanya, in the text and by heart. The Tanya would come out at every encounter I had with students. It was very much emphasized in our conversations. Always, at some point, we would open the sfarim and the students would sit and listen and absorb a lot.

Week after week, encounter after encounter, the small black letters of the Tanya began to be engraved in the minds and hearts of the students. R Jacobs would read and explain. The insights they had to draw for themselves and the ramifications on their lives they were left to understand on their own.

I myself was niskarev as a student, says R Jacobs. The one who was mekarev me was the shliach at the University of Vermont, R Shmuel Hecht ah. He did not tell us what to do. He would just teach and explain and answer whatever we asked and let us come to our own conclusions. He died at the age of 31 after making a number of baalei tshuva, and he left us this method. Since then, I follow him with all my mekuravim. In prison, at the university, and at our home in Kfar Chabad, there is lots of Tanya, Chassidus, and simcha, and ultimately, it all clicks.

When asked whether he thought Tzachi would turn out as he did, R Jacobs said, Its funny, but yes. Tzachi has a refined neshama and I felt it immediately. I remember sitting with him in a long conversation and thinking,

with such a sensitive, refined neshama he could be a mashpia. I did not think of what type of mashpia, whether of Chassidus or on shlichus, but I thought he would surely be involved in having an influence on others.

NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU KNOW, UNTIL THEY KNOW THAT YOU CARE

When asked what is the secret in the kiruv of Jews of all backgrounds, to inspiring people to become baalei tshuva, R Jacobs said, I will tell you something I never told anyone. Always, whenever I am in a kiruv situation, I am very particular about reviewing as much Tanya by heart as possible that same day and if possible during the encounter itself. This is true whether its a lecture, shiur, or personal conversation. I review the words by heart until I feel that they are glowing within me.

When I was young, I heard a very wise statement and I try to implement it all the time. Nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care. You can be a genius in Chassidus, and have a talent in explaining things or convincing people, but if you dont really care about the message you are conveying or about the people you are dealing with, they might say wow at the end of the lecture but you wont really change anyone or anything.

When I talk to someone, I first try, with all my heart, to internalize and identify with the message, and then to speak from the heart and to think about the person in front of me, to love him. I tell him what I really believe. Chazal say that words from the heart enter the heart. Afterward, when people become Chassidim, they usually want

to influence others as they were influenced.

IGERES HATSHUVA WITH TEARS

Tzachi became more involved. On those Shabbasos that R Jacobs did not come, he made sure to get a replacement. The community in Ramat Aviv supplied a convenient solution and complicated arrangements were no longer necessary as they were in the early years. R Jacobs was replaced by R Meir Tzvi Turkov, R Shneur Chaviv, and other young men.

I slowly got to know other people and I learned something from each of them. There were all my rabbis, he says with a smile.

Tzachi heard about the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv which wasnt far away. The concept of a yeshiva frightened him a bit and it took some months until one day he got up the courage to go.

The official excuse was to check the mezuza I had in my dorm room, but the moment I entered the yeshiva, I became a part of it. The chevra would even sing about me, He came to check a mezuza and became a talmid of the yeshiva.

Tzachi became friends with R Mendy Lerner, shliach to Binyamina who was one of the bachurim-shluchim.

I would go to yeshiva whenever I had a break from the university and I really connected with the guys. R Yossi Ginsburg, R Bentzion Schwartz and the shluchim in the yeshiva accompanied me on my journey and gave me a feeling of confidence. I had some really difficult internal struggles. I was about to finish my third year of studies with excellent grades and had one year left before earning


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my degree. It was a shame to abandon it. Yet, I was more and more attracted to the yeshiva and knew my place was there.

One night, I couldnt sleep, I was so torn. I remembered R Jacobs and took a Tanya. I went downstairs and began walking on the campus of Tel Aviv University. It was late and the place was deserted. I sat on the huge lawn and began reading Igeres HaTshuva and burst into tears. I sat like that on the lawn for hours, reading Tanya in tears like Thillim, and pleading with Hashem to help me decide.

A short while later I wrote to the Rebbe and opened to an answer in the Igros Kodesh written to a person who was unsure of what to do next. The Rebbe wrote he should do what would increase Torah and aggrandize it. I understood from this that I should go to yeshiva. I finished my third year at the university and went to the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv.

MY LIFES SHLICHUSAfter two years of learning in

Tomchei Tmimim in Ramat Aviv, Tzachi got married. The young

couple wanted a life of shlichus.After kollel and smicha in

Arad, R Francis was offered the position to be a Shliach Torah at the Chabad House at Yam HaMelach. Since then, he has used his talents to spread Judaism. Aside from the Dead Sea, the hotels in the area do not have a large selection of attractions in the area. They try to create entertainment for their guests in the form of performances and lectures by experts on an array of subjects. R Elharars Chabad House began to supply Jewish content for the guests at hotels through R Francis.

My wife and I hadnt thought of anything like this. We were going to go on shlichus somewhere else, to one of the yishuvim in the Sharon. We had even bought a home there, and then we got this offer from R Elharar. We wrote to the Rebbe and realized what we were supposed to do.

Today, I feel that this shlichus includes all aspects of increasing Torah and aggrandizing it as the Rebbe had written. Today, I reach audiences that nobody else reaches, intellectual people, most

of whom never attended a Torah shiur in their lives. I give 12-15 lectures a week which reaches on average hundreds and sometimes thousands of people a month.

At the end of the lecture, each of the participants is given a page with homework exercises to work on the topic of the lecture, and a list of books to buy so they can delve further. People give their email addresses and we keep in touch with them. After every lecture people buy books. Its incredible work.

We are always looking forward and want to continuously develop our outreach. There is enormous potential in this area. G-dliness is infinite and the same is true for the potential to disseminate it. I have an excellent teacher in this regard, R Shimon Elharar, who is constantly supporting me and pushing me to achieve more. R Elharar is a role model for me of constant striving to progress and expand.

Sometimes I am reminded of R Jacobs, of our conversations, and of the Shabbasos at the university and I think that this is my way of paying back, by continuing to pass the torch forward and igniting others.

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A SOLDIER TILL THE ENDA shocking tragedy: a shliach of the Rebbe, R Boaz Lerner ah, an expert

on mikvaos, founder of the Nachalat Menachem neighborhood, passed

away in the middle of a farbrengen in honor of laying the cornerstone of

the Chabad mikva in the Philippines. * Every move he made was for one

purpose, to give nachas to the Rebbe.

By Shneur Zalman Berger

Photos by Yisroel Navon and from the family archives

The residents of Nachalat Har Chabad in Kiryat Malachi were shocked to hear of the sudden passing of R Boaz Lerner. The terrible news quickly spread among Chassidim everywhere, including the many shluchim whom he helped with their mikvaos.

R Boaz Lerner, builder of Chabad neighborhoods and Chabad mikvaos around the world, was a model Chassid whose every moment was devoted to giving the Rebbe nachas. He did everything with fervor and dedication and without fanfare.

FROM THE AIR FORCE TO THE REBBES ARMY

R Boaz Lerner was born in 5712 in Tel Aviv to Russian parents. His mother was a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov,

but this had no impact on her daily life. His parents were not at all religiously observant and the atmosphere at home was one of Western culture and openness on every subject. Boaz and his brother saw the inside of shul only on Yom Kippur and even then, they went on their own, without their father.

When he was of draft age, his ambition was to be a pilot. It was his childhood dream and he was able to fulfill it. Within a few years, he was a Phantom fighter pilot. He put all his energy and abilities into becoming a better, smoother, more accomplished pilot. Flying provided him with incredible experiences. It was what his life was all about. At this stage of his life, religion was of no interest to him. Boaz, as well as his fellow pilots, experienced a unique sense of smugness as they controlled planes which ate up


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prodigious distances and gave them a dizzying sense of power.

This great sense of smugness imploded during the Yom Kippur War when the army sustained a mortal blow and dozens of pilots were downed by the anti-aircraft fire of enemy forces. After the war, Boaz and his friends were plagued with many questions: What were they fighting for? Where was this all leading to?

The pilots continued flying and the old smugness crept back into the heart of Boaz, the successful pilot.

The next thing that shook his world was when he occasionally encountered Lubavitchers who put tfillin on with people in Rishon LTziyon. He was not willing to put on tfillin, but the Chabadnikim looked like the real deal to him, as he put it many years later.

A turning point was when he got caught up in the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, founder of a method of movement to reduce pain or limitations in movement, to improve physical function, and to promote general well-being. Boaz took his course in S Francisco where he began to think about the meaning of life.

After some time, he returned to Eretz Yisroel with a different perspective on everything. His service in the air force suddenly seemed superfluous and he informed his commanders that he was finished as a pilot. Then he began a search for the meaning of life by reading mystical teachings associated with the Far East. He moved to a kibbutz where he decided to put up a mezuza in the apartment he was living in. After a short stay on the kibbutz, he moved to Tel Aviv.

He worked using the Feldenkrais method while simultaneously trying his luck at applying for an engineering position for a company that produced patents. About 35 engineers showed up for the selection process and he was the only one who came without some degree. The manager presented a problem to the engineers, which required an inventive solution in the area of piping. All the engineers took the pipe home in order to come up with a solution and only Boaz went to the work room where he fixed the problem on the spot. He was immediately hired and that is where he worked for the next few years. He registered for a number of patents in the field of piping and water systems. His talent for inventions was later used for holy purposes on many occasions, whether in building mikvaos or in making pushkas that matched the places they were affixed to, and more.

A FORTUITOUS BUT SIGNIFICANT MEETINGAt that time, he felt a

tremendous and urgent need to connect to religion. Someone directed him to the Chabad shul on Rav Kook Street in Bnei Brak and he was immediately swept up by the Chassidus shiur.

Some years later, he described what happened:

I went to Bnei Brak, bought a black kippa, and went to the shul on Rechov HaRav Kook. Maariv had ended and the minyan left. I remained standing there when suddenly one of the people took an interest in me and asked my name and profession. He immediately made me an offer which he said, I wouldnt find anywhere else, to learn Chassidus with him. I realized

This answer encouraged him but only later on did he fully appreciate its prescience. A few weeks went by and on Erev Lag BOmer the mayor signed the permit for construction. The very next morning, on Rashbis hilula, is when the construction began!

The new mikva in the Philippines, one of his last photos


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he was one of those Lubavitchers who brought people back in tshuva who I had expected would corner me when I went to the shul.

In fact, it was an entirely different story. This person, R Shneur Blizinsky, had been to the Rebbe who told him to find someone with whom to learn Chassidus regularly. He had looked for a while but hadnt found anyone suitable, so he started asking anybody who walked into the shul if he was

willing to learn with him. When he saw me, he was sure I was religious which is why he asked me his routine question.

I thought it was a great offer. We met every week in his house and learned Tanya. We learned and progressed and I was amazed by it. These shiurim ignited my soul in a remarkable fashion. The world revealed to me through this book, opened up vistas of new thought to me. I began seeing everything in a different light. In this book, I found the answers to

my Jewish identity. The meaning of my tireless searches for that certain something began to become clear.

After spending a Shabbos with R Shneur Blizinsky, he went to work on Sunday wearing a kippa. He made progress in his learning and in the fulfillment of mitzvos. Now and then he visited Kfar Chabad and received guidance and encouragement from R Moshe Slonim ah. He sometimes was his guest for Shabbos too. Every one of those Shabbasos had a tremendous effect on him. Soon he had become fully religious. As a result of the influence of the Chassidim he became close with, he started doing mivtzaim, putting tfillin on with his friends, and even conveying teachings from Tanya.

This young former pilots tshuva process was astonishingly

quick. He went to the Rebbe and was

t r e m e n d o u s l y i m p r e s s e d . The visit also highlighted for him the feeling of unity among the Chassidim

when he saw the thousands

of Chassidim sitting together facing

the Rebbe and singing niggunim and listening to the Rebbes teachings.

The next stage of his journey was made with the active help of R Slonim and R Yisroel Halperin, shliach in Hertzliya. Together, they helped him with his various challenges and taught him how to behave as a Chassid. Boaz became a Chassid, devoted heart and soul to the Rebbe.

He moved to Nachalat Har Chabad and was close with the mashpia R Mordechai (Mottel)

Yom Kippur War 5734, the air force base in Chatzor. R Lerner (right) at a briefing before the attack on Egypt

R Lerner receiving a dollar from the Rebbe

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Kozliner who often hosted him, and from whom Boaz received authentic Chassidic guidance. At a later point, he was even appointed as a member of the hanhala of Tomchei Tmimim in Nachalat Har Chabad which was run by R Mordechai.

In the following year, he married his wife Orly who stood by his side in all the activities he thought up and carried out.

EZRAS CHAYA MUSHKAR Boaz started various

organizations and directed a broad range of activities.

He started Ezras Chaya Mushka in 5750 and implementing horaos from the Rebbe in many areas such as manufacturing tzdaka pushkas for the home, kitchen and car, as well as giving out a kzayis of shmura matza. He also published sichos of the Rebbe on the topic of shleimus haaretz and was

involved in other important projects disseminating the wellsprings and the Besuras HaGeula.

His son Mendy tells about his fathers tzdaka project:

My father used his inventive talents and his connections at the Transportation Ministry to get pushkas onto busses and planes. During the Gulf War, many of his pushkas were distributed. One of the missiles from Iraq that pierced a multistory building in Tel Aviv stopped at a pushka.

JUMPING INTO MIKVA BUILDING

During the past two decades, R Boaz developed a reputation as an expert on mikvaos. On behalf of the Beis Din Rabbanei Chabad in Eretz Yisroel, he would travel to cities in Eretz Yisroel and around the world to help and advise with the construction of

mikvaos in the Chabad method of bor al gabei bor. He was involved in everything having to do with mikvaos, from obtaining permits from the government and local rabbanim to construction and filling the reservoir and mikva, advising on which types of ceramic tiles to use and advice for maintenance.

It all began when a bracha from the Rebbe did much to complete the beautiful mikva in Nachalat Har Chabad, which required him to put a lot of time and effort into understanding mikva construction. This included both the halachic and technical angles as well as inside and outside design. After finishing the building of the mikva in Nachalat Har Chabad and its opening, having amassed much knowledge and understanding on the subject, he looked to continue his work in mikvaos. He asked the Rebbe whether to continue

With a tourist at the Chabad house in Dharamsala on a visit to build the mikva


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being involved in this and the answer that he opened to in the Igros Kodesh (volume 7, p. 112-113) left no room for doubts:

They asked me from the Taharas Hamishpacha center in Yerushalayim through their representative and shliach here R Barzel, and also in writing from Yerushalayim to help build and complete mikvaos in Eretz Yisroel and I promised them my help and additionally the mikva needs to be made in accordance with the instruction of the Rebbe Rashab since he is our posek. As is known also in Halacha that in the territory of Rav you need to behave as rav, even though in the territory of Shmuel etc. And this is not a matter of you shall not divide into camps for a number of reasons.

In that letter, the Rebbe continues to describe in detail how the work with the mikvaos needs to be and goes on to say,

Obviously, you are not supposed to go to war but to explain that this is the opposite of the din to compel someone not to fulfill his ravs psak, especially in these matters wherein both kinds of mikvaos are kosher according to all opinions.

Since then, for over twenty years, R Lerner accomplished a tremendous amount in the field of mikva construction. In an interview he gave Beis Moshiach a decade ago, he told us a little about what goes on behind the scenes of his complicated work. He first explained his work:

There are places where its about building a new mikva and other places that want to add a pit, in accordance with Chabads shita, to the existing pits. There are some instances in which there are problems that necessitate supervision during the construction. There are also places where the existing mikva

has to be destroyed and rebuilt. I was recently somewhere

where the mikva had to be destroyed and rebuilt. There are many details involved in the construction of a mikva, which need close supervision. In many places, rabbanim give precise instructions, but workers and contractors dont always do what they are told, and thats when problems arise.

In many places the local rav or the head of the religious council needs to be convinced of the importance of a Chabad mikva. In other places, you have to get people to sign a petition over this issue.

I can tell you that, Baruch Hashem, when it comes to agreeing to and understanding the importance of a Chabad mikva, we have come a long way. Rabbanim who, in the past, knew nothing about this, and when they heard the word Chabad

His son Yaakov relates:I was involved in arranging the activities of the bachurim from the

Chabad Yeshiva in Tzfas for Lag BOmer at the gravesite of Rashbi in Miron. It was the night before my father was flying to the Philippines. I went home to raise money from the Chabad communities in the area. I knew that my father had two dollars that the Rebbe gave on Lag BOmer that he somehow got hold of. I asked him to give me one of them so I could find a donor who would agree to take on a significant part of the expenses of our outreach in exchange for the dollar. My father agreed. The next day we found someone who bought the dollar for 20,000 shekels!

My father was already in the Philippines. I called to tell him the good news about the big donation that we got for the dollar. My father was happy to hear it. I took the opportunity, and had the nerve to ask him for the other dollar. Another dollar like that and our activities are practically covered, I said to him. He was quiet for a moment and then he said, Okay. Ill give you the other dollar too.

When I got home, after hearing the terrible news, I opened the drawer where my father had told me he would leave the first dollar. To my astonishment, I found both dollars there.

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automatically opposed us, have become educated. Now they understand the stringencies and hiddurim of the Rebbe Rashab, and they take them on.

In Gan Yavneh, Rabbi Kurant, who is the shliach there, invited me to come. All the experts said they couldnt make a Chabad pit, since the main pipe of the Mekorot company runs under the building, and everything was ready for them to pour the cement.

At the last minute, past zero hour, we brought a note to the architect from the religious council which said: Please help Chabad. The religious council wrote this to be polite, but the architect took it seriously. How do you solve a problem with a pipe, which interferes with the building of a Chabad mikva? You simply raise the building!

Another case:Two years ago we discovered

that the Ministry for Religious Matters had a project to build mikvaos. We got involved, and after bitter fights, we managed to get another twenty or so Chabad mikvaos approved. In the meantime, some of the mikvaos have yet to be completed because of the budget cuts. We hope theyll be finished soon. But the big change is that today the engineers at the Ministry of Religion have a special model from which to build Chabad mikvaos. Its just as the Rebbe said, a document that was

disputed and later certified.And a story about

constructing a mikva abroad:I am regularly contacted by

shluchim around the world. This past Sivan, we finished the first Chabad mikva in India for shliach Rabbi Dror Shaul in Dharamsala. The mikva is part of his Chabad House. Since the trip there is arduous, we planned on finishing everything in one trip.

We built a reservoir on the roof and hoped that during the monsoon season, which would take place after my trip, the pit would fill up. It turns out that the day after we finished building the reservoir, the monsoon began and the mikva filled right up. The mikva in India is built with the greatest hiddurim.

Over the years, under his guidance, dozens more mikvaos were constructed around the world. He published a booklet called Mikva al Gabei HaOtzar about bor al gabei bor, in order to clarify Chabads position on mikvaos. He outlines the order of events that led to this important enactment and provides the Rebbes explanations, over the years, about this enactment. Chapters are devoted to practical applications as to how to kosherize piped in municipal water in a mikva built on top of the rainwater pit based on instructions from the Rebbeim.

He worked on mikvaos until his final moment, making a special trip to the Philippines to

participate in a groundbreaking for the mikva there and to oversee the engineering plans. After the festive celebration there was a Chassidishe farbrengen in the course of which he passed away.

On his trips around the world to build mikvaos, he was also very involved in being mekarev Jews to Torah and mitzvos, as his son Mendy relates:

Every mikva that he built in a Chabad House around the world brought along with it dozens of stories of good resolutions made by tourists and Jews who were present at the Chabad House during his stay. At every Chabad House he visited, he would farbreng with the Jews there and importune them to make good resolutions. He would often give a dollar from the Rebbe in exchange.

THE REBBES NACHALAAside from his involvement

in mikvaos, R Lerner is famous for building the neighborhoods Nachalat Menachem Alef and Beit, named for the Rebbe, and which are an expansion of the Nachalat Har Chabad neighborhood of Kiryat Malachi. He built spacious apartments, suitable for large families, and did so without any compensation.

It all began when private contractors advertised construction in areas next to Nachalat Har Chabad at very high prices. R Boaz could not let that pass, for he knew that Chabad families could not afford those prices. As always, he wasnt only a visionary but a man of action, and with the encouragement he received from the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh, he decided to initiate the building of a neighborhood next to Nachalat Har Chabad, which

We built a reservoir on the roof and hoped that during the monsoon season, which would take place after my trip, the pit would fill up. It turns out that the day after we finished building the reservoir, the monsoon began and the mikva filled right up. The mikva in India is built with the greatest hiddurim.


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was founded by the Rebbe, and thus enable additional families to live in large apartments suitable for frum people. The project successfully got underway.

The night of Yud-Tes Kislev 5758, at the central farbrengen in Nachalat Har Chabad, the new neighborhood, Nachalat Menachem, was announced. The next day, the cornerstone was laid, but like every such project, many obstacles cropped up. During Pesach, he opened to a bracha in the Igros Kodesh as follows: In response to your letter announcing good news that you and your friends are meritorious, and I have already written that you are meritorious and will be meritorious the allusion in the Targum on the words and the Jewish people went out with uplifted hand, that mainly this needs to be in pnimius haTorah, i.e. Chassidus, going out breish glei with breish being an acronym for Rashbi.

This answer encouraged him but only later on did he fully appreciate the answer. A few weeks went by and on Erev Lag BOmer the mayor signed the permit for construction. The very next morning, on Rashbis hilula, is when the construction began!

The building was completed with maximum speed and the buildings in the new neighborhood were occupied exclusively by Lubavitcher families, who benefited tremendously from the project. A few years later, there was once again a demand for apartments for Lubavitcher families and R Lerner got to work. Next to Nachalat Menachem Alef he built Nachalat Menachem Beit. Dozens of Chabad families live in these neighborhoods adjacent to Nachalat Har Chabad.

THE NACHALAT MENACHEM KHILLA

R Boaz Lerner was indefatigable. He went from project to project, and whatever he undertook he did in the best possible way.

He built a shul and mikva in Nachalat Menachem and another Chabad community flourished there with minyanim, farbrengens, etc. all under his guidance and influence.

He was particularly involved in the Rebbes birthday campaign. He had connections with people who dont generally go to shul, but on their birthday he would invite them to shul, put tfillin on with them, give them aliyos, etc.

Much more can be written about R Boaz but there are space constraints.

One of the topics about which he was most passionate was Moshiach. He truly lived with publicizing the Besuras HaGeula and the identity of the goel. He did this for years, devotedly and joyfully.

On 14 Iyar, Pesach Sheini, he was in the Philippines, taking part in a cornerstone laying for a mikva being built by the shliach, R Yosef Levy. R Lerner was called in to oversee the halachic and technical aspects of the mikva. The stone was laid and you can see R Lerner in the pictures, smiling as usual. Afterward, he danced at a festive farbrengen at the Chabad house. Some dancers mounted chairs and they sang R Levi Yitzchok Schneersohns hakafos niggun. And then

R Boaz collapsed and shortly thereafter passed away at the age of 63.

He is survived by his wife Orly, his daughter Rochel and her husband R Sholom Ber Shmuelevitz, and his sons and daughters Mendy, Berele, Zalman, Yaakov, Devorah Leah, Yosef, Rivka, Geula and Moishy.

In preparing this article, I was assisted by interviews that R Lerner gave over the years to Beis Moshiach and Kfar Chabad and interviews with family members.

R Boaz Lerner at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the mikva in the Philippines

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THE SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL SUMMER AT CAMP AND AT HOME

Chazal teach us, A person should always

learn where his heart desires, as it says, for

his desire is in the Torah of Hashem. Since

the talmid loves camp, where he is inspired

in a positive way to learn and behave

properly, and he is provided with Chassidic

warmth, it changes him from one extreme

to another, because this is what his heart

desires.

By Rabbi Nachman Yosef Twersky


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THERE IS NO VACATION FROM TORAH STUDY!The summer vacation is just

two months long, but as a teacher in yeshiva I have learned that the summer lasts much longer than two months. Four months before the summer, and for half a year after the summer, you can hear the boys talking about what happened and what will happen.

In light of the fact that the summer is so important to the boys throughout the year, it is vital to use the summer for positive activities which will be a good influence on them. This sums up the Rebbes approach.

The Rebbe explains that every Jew in any situation has to be continuously growing, especially children who are in their growth period. We cannot say that they need to leave on vacation, because every day is vital for them and their future. The statement of Chazal, I wasnt created except to serve my Maker, does not become irrelevant during the summer.

Whenever the Rebbe speaks about the summer, he negates the concept of the long vacation. The holy Torah is the source of life, so how can we give children a vacation from Torah? There are letters that the Rebbe wrote in the early years in which he said, If I had the power, I would abolish it. The only correct thing to do is to go on vacation from the Yetzer Hara. A little rest from him wouldnt hurt

The truth is, although the boys like the idea of vacation, there are some serious ones who want to continue the routine of learning and would happily forgo the vacation. Then there are those boys who consider vacation as a time-off from the year-round routine of learning and who want a break.

Although the Rebbe encouraged the existence of summer camps, he emphasized that this is not to say that these are days of vacation from Torah and mitzvos, and it is absolutely necessary that there be set times of the day for Torah study. On the other hand, the Rebbe did speak of the summer as a time to strengthen the body, and a break so that the talmidim will be able to prepare for the coming school year.

The Rebbe compared the summer break to an athlete who takes a step back in order to sprint forward. So too, in order to strengthen the learning of the coming year, we provide a time to refresh and renew our strength. But the emphasis is on preparing for a renewal in Torah study and mitzvos fulfillment with more enthusiasm and simcha.

QUALITY TIME THAT DOES WONDERS

Throughout the year there are stressful times while being occupied with work in the house, parnasa etc. and the routine of life wears us down, leaving us little time to devote to our family except on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

The summertime, which is less pressured, provides parents with an opportunity to provide quality time to their children. We need to make the most of these days to instill Yiddishkait and Chassidishkait in their hearts through stories of tzaddikim and by providing a better spiritual example than usual.

We can see this in those camps which see to it that the children have suitable counselors with solid Chassidishe values, who also know how to convey Chassidic messages in an experiential way. We see how

powerful this can be, with chayus lasting them until the next summer.

I had a student who had a lot of problems and his teachers were asked to take his situation into consideration and to help him since they knew he was struggling with certain things. Since I was aware of his situation, I tried hard to be mekarev him so he would feel good and wed have an open relationship. Every day he would come over to talk to me. He was very sincere and everything he did, he did wholeheartedly.

Toward the end of the year, I

had nothing positive to write in his report card but I noted that he had great potential. He was going to go to camp and I spoke to him at length and said I was sure he would be very successful there. Being away from home, the new environment, the new staff, all this would enable him to turn over a new leaf. He asked me, how can you be sure I will succeed when I havent been able to learn since third grade? I answered him with this interesting story:

There were two boys who lived near each other and were good friends. From childhood they learned in the same schools. There was one big difference between them. One excelled in school and always won the biggest prizes, while the other one was a weak student. This went on year after year and the gap between them continued to grow.

When they became bar mitzva, the father of the weak boy was very upset about his sons situation. He met his neighbor, the father of the boy who excelled and asked him, What is your secret for having such an outstanding son?

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The man said, Every time there is a Torah learning contest in school, I tell my son, whatever the school gives you, Ill give you. So he knows that whatever he earns at school is doubled, and it works! Try it.

So the father tried it. But he was most disappointed to hear his sons reaction. His son said, I dont need prizes. I am not interested in prizes from school or from you. I am not interested in learning, just leave me alone.

The father went to the rav of the city to consult with him. The rav said, Your son will surpass

the boy who excels and will become an outstanding scholar! Ill tell you why. The other boy is a good boy and has good character and when he is given a prize it motivates him to study more. But one day the prizes will stop. Up until a certain age the prizes work, but at a certain point the boy himself will decide whether he wants to learn or not and the prizes wont help.

But your son is a very real person and the minute he realizes the truth he will throw himself into learning and nothing will stop him. He wont need prizes. He will just take himself in hand and then youll see what your son is about.

Sure enough, a few years later, this is exactly what happened.

I told my student, The same is true for you. You know the

truth and when the time comes, with Hashems help, thats how it will be.

He went to camp and learned 17 pages of Gemara, something even the outstanding boys did not do. Camp changed him.

The next year, I suggested to his father that his son have a change (I didnt want to say straight out that he needed to leave the house for a dormitory). I hinted to him that it would be good if he went to a place with a dorm and he went. I heard later from the staff that even if there was a farbrengen until

late at night, the boy was sitting at the Chassidus class at 7:30 and learning, because he was a bachur who was for real. He took himself seriously and changed from one extreme to another. Thats the power of the summer.

A YEARS WORTH IN TWO MONTHS

I had another student who struggled with another kind of problem. At the end of the year with me the hanhala debated whether to expel him. Before the summer he came over to me and said he wanted to go to a good camp where good boys went, but the camp did not want to take him because they were afraid he would make trouble. I told him I would try and help him get accepted.

I called the director (who was a former talmid of mine)

and begged him to accept the boy, Just like you take talmidim from all kinds of places in order to save them. I promise you that he wont make trouble and will behave himself.

They ended up accepting him and everything went well all the way until the end of camp when there was a trip for the eight best students and he was one of them.

By divine providence, two weeks before school began, I had to get something from the office and the menahel happened to be there. As I walked in, the phone rang and it was the father of this boy. The menahel asked the father to call back in five minutes and in the meantime he asked me, what should he say to the father, that his son doesnt fit in this yeshiva?

I told the menahel how during the summer this boy had become one of the best in the entire camp and said I think he should remain in yeshiva. The father could be told he had to be particular about certain things but the yeshiva should not throw the boy out, chv! The principal did as I advised and let the talmid remain in yeshiva. Today, this talmid has a Chassidic home.

Many wonder what is the secret to the camps success. Chazal tell us, A person should always learn where his heart desires, as it says, for his desire is in the Torah of Hashem. Since the talmid loves camp, when he is inspired in a positive way to learn and behave properly, and he is provided with Chassidic warmth, it changes him from one extreme to another, because this is what his heart desires.

The Midrash says about those who built the Tower of Bavel, And they settled there, R Yitzchok said, wherever you see yeshiva (settling,) the Satan jumps in. In a humorous vein

The saying goes, if you want children who are yerei Shamayim, it depends on the mother because the mother has the ability to instill this in her children. If you want children who are talmidei chachomim, that depends on the father because when he sits and learns, he is a role model for the children.


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we can say that in whatever yeshiva a bachur learns, the Satan will jump in and make trouble. Wherever he sits and learns, he will think its better somewhere else, that the other yeshiva is better. But in camp, everything is good. This is the advantage of camp and we need to take advantage of it in the most positive way.

There was once a group of fifteen bachurim who did not go to camp and stayed home during the summer. Some of the staff discussed this and said they could not be allowed to hang around idly and something had to be done with them.

At that time, I was supposed to learn Chassidus in the morning with R Yosef Goldstein ah and I figured this was an opportunity. I invited the bachurim to join us and it became an ongoing Chassidus class every morning after which we davened together. We did not need to worry about their showing up on time. Every day, at eight oclock, the bachurim came to learn Chassidus. Since they did this of their own free choice, they enjoyed it and were happy to come.

One of the bachurim told me at the end of the summer, You should know that this summer I learned more than I learned the entire year. He came with a chayus and willingness to learn and this had a good influence on his later life.

HOLDING THE CHILDS INTEREST

The saying goes, if you want children who are yerei Shamayim, it depends on the mother because the mother has the ability to instill this in her children. If you want children who are talmidei chachomim, that depends on the father because when he sits and

learns, he is a role model for the children.

Throughout the year, when the father asks his son who has come home from yeshiva to review what he learned, he is not always enamored of the idea. But during vacation, when there is no school, and the father takes his son to learn something interesting, this will make a deep

impression on the child and hell remember it all his life.

I got a phone call from a young man who lives in Lakewood who is mekushar to the Rebbe and Chassidus. He told me about a problem he has with a boy he tutors. He said the boy has no yiras Shamayim and is not at all interested in learning and he wanted to know how to handle

TZNIUS IN THE SUMMERA very interesting response from the Rebbe was recently publicized. There was a

bachur in 770 who wrote a certain question to the Rebbe. The Rebbe referred him to his mashpia. He wrote back to the Rebbe that he cant ask the mashpia because the mashpia was disconnected from the world and was clueless. He wanted the Rebbe to answer him but the Rebbe wrote: When the Dor Deia did not want the kabbalas ol of the mashpia they explained it etc. regarding Moshe Rabbeinu ah. No wonder that this also pertains to our generation. You should force yourself to accept the yoke of the mashpia of Tomchei Tmimim and carry out his instructions and report good news.

In this response, we can see how the Rebbe compares the generation of the desert who refused to accept Moshes authority, to those, now, who do not want to accept the authority of the mashpia. In life we need a hierarchy and structure. We need to be obedient to a rav and mashpia; this is the system and when we disdain or ignore it, all the troubles begin.

The summer demands of us a strengthening of self-discipline and kabbalas ol. At this time of the year it becomes especially hard to be particular about tznius, but when a woman is particular to do as she ought in this regard, it affects her entire household and even her entire surroundings. The Rebbe compared the lack of tznius to a contagious disease, so that when a woman dresses properly it also affects others who will dress modestly.

Not long ago there was something publicized about a certain Chabad community that wrote to the Rebbe that its members were experiencing parnasa problems and they wanted a bracha and advice for ample parnasa. In response, the Rebbe wrote that the problem came from a lack of tznius in hair covering wigs, and when they fixed this, it would also have a beneficial impact on parnasa.

The permissiveness and drastic deterioration in morality we see today is not only with Jews. There is a tremendous decline among gentiles, which causes the loss of even the most minimal standards of human values, and unfortunately we see its effects in our own camp. The Rebbe once said we need to influence the goy in Paris who designs the latest fashions so he does so modestly.

Sometimes its difficult, its hard to find suitable clothing, and in some cases people even have to sew things, but Hashem pays us back for this as we see in a recently shared story about the mother of Rabbi Shmuel Wosner zl. She had a beautiful voice and had an extraordinary offer to sing in one of the most prominent opera houses in Europe, but it would not have been under modest circumstances. She declined upon receiving a bracha that she would merit a great son. Indeed, R Shmuel Wosner was a world renowned posek, who passed away a few months ago at the age of 101.

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him. How could he instill in him a love for Torah and mitzvos and yiras Shamayim?

I asked what he learned with him and he said the mother asked him to learn a tractate of Gemara with the boy so he could make a siyum on it at his bar mitzva seuda. The boy wasnt interested in making this siyum but the mother was pressuring him.

I said, do with him as Chazal say, a person should always learn what his heart desires. Learn with him something that he wants to learn, interesting things from Chassidus or halacha. The main thing is that he should learn something he is interested in.

Two weeks later he told me that the boy changed. He loves to learn halacha, it really interests him. The change was so swift during the week between the end of school and the start of camp that when he went to a sfarim store and saw a book on Hilchos Shabbos with pictures and explanations, he bought it to learn with his father.

When you learn interesting things with children, things outside of the normal routine, it grabs their interest and turns the learning into something

fascinating that makes an indelible impression on the child.

For a while, once a week I would teach Ohr HaChayim to those who were interested and served some refreshments. I saw that when the learning is not compulsory it makes the learning more significant and interesting to them.

In this way we can distill the wisdom in the proper use of summer and holiday vacations. Parents should give thought to what interesting things they can learn with their children that they would not ordinarily learn.

There is a seifer called Kessef Nivchar that the Rebbe once said a bachur should learn and take to bed with him. Its a short seifer with many concepts, from alef to tav, short ideas covering the major topics in Shas and its very interesting. Similarly, you can learn Responsa from previous generations, look up interesting questions, etc. It grabs the childs interest when you learn material like this.

THE SUMMER IS AN EASIER TIME FOR AVODAS HASHEM

The Rebbe says that

everything in the world comes from the Torah. Just as this is true in ruchnius, it is true in gashmius. When you need to move, you do it in the summer because the roads are more passable this time of the year and this comes from the fact that spiritually too, it is easier to make progress now in our avodas Hashem.

And yet, we see that its harder in the summer! Why is it harder? Because this is a propitious time for advancement in avodas Hashem, the Satan invests greater energy in thwarting us.

But in reality it is easier.If we utilize the summer

months in the right way, we will bring out in ourselves and our children the love and yiras Shamayim which are revealed through Torah and mitzvos that we do during this empty time, as it were, through family learning and davening, and we will keep after them in a pleasant way. This will make the summer pass by pleasantly and with nachas, joy, and health of body and soul.

May we all have a healthy, happy summer.

pleasant fragrance impart astuteness, and prior to eating beef my mind was not clear. The result of eating and drinking for the sake of being able to study Torah and daven, etc., is that the person is cautious [even] with regard to things or activities that are permissible but solely for the sake of fulfilling his desires. Since he only wants G-dliness meaning using things for the sake of Heaven, as above he finds that what is necessary is sufficient, etc. The same applies to business dealings: The proper intent in business is that the profit frees his mind and heart to be devoted to Torah and avoda, as well as fulfilling Mitzvos, such as the Mitzva of Tzdaka,

and acts of benevolence, etc. In this manner, his involvement with business will not present a challenge for him or disturb him from Torah and avoda, etc.All this is done through meditation, deeply contemplating and taking to heart how the main thing is G-dliness, and physicality of its own is literally nothingness and naught. In this manner, one is aroused to love G-d, as described above. And thus, also the Evil Inclination and ones natural character traits are nullified [in deference to G-ds will], qualities that are [typically] directed towards desiring and lusting physical things as they are unto themselves.

(Seifer HaMaamarim 5659, pg. 22)

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CHINUCH

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REVEALING HOW EVERYTHING IS NULLIFIED TO G-DFrom Chapter 8 of Rabbi Shloma Majeskis Likkutei Mekoros. (Underlined text is the compilers emphasis.)

Translated by Boruch Merkur

There is G-dly light and Divine energy in everything. In fact, [irrespective of the seeming prominence of the material presence of physical things] their primary aspect is the G-dly light that resides within them. This G-dliness is their existential root and source that brings them into being, etc. The creations are, therefore, truly nullified to their Divine source.When one contemplates these concepts, aroused within him is desire and yearning, a great love for G-dliness. He recognizes that G-dliness alone should be all he desires, his only aspiration. The importance he ascribes to the superficiality and physicality of the world melts away, affirming the notion that, of itself, the coarse materiality of the world is tantamount to death they [i.e., material things] exist [momentarily] and [then] they waste away, etc. Indeed, one should only desire the G-dly vitality, the inner essence of everything, etc. How much more so is it imperative that one must not actually separate the physical thing [from its G-dly source]. That is, as explained above, the physicality of a thing is truly nullified to the G-dly light and vitality within it. [The physical thing is, therefore, unified with G-d, in this sense.] However, as a result of man considering the physicality as a thing unto itself meaning that he wishes to benefit from the physical thing itself he rebels [against the Divine will] and separates it [from G-dliness], for G-d has even placed the world in the heart of man, etc. According to this dynamic, the sin of the Tree of Knowledge caused a separation in the

general state of the world [causing it to become removed from G-dliness, as it were]. Similarly on an individual basis, if one seeks to derive pleasure from a physical thing unto itself, he separates it [from G-dliness]. Conversely, when he desires the G-dliness of the physical thing, he elevates it, allowing it to openly reveal how it is nullified [to G-dliness], etc.This is expressed in the teaching, And you shall love G-d, your L-rd because He is your source of life: A person [naturally] loves the vitality of his soul. Feeling within him that the primary aspect of his being is the life his soul imparts, he therefore loves his soul. Loving oneself is not the love of his flesh and blood, etc., but the love of his soul, and wanting the life of his soul to be revealed and broadly manifest within him, etc. In the same manner, one love[s] G-d, your L-rd because He is your source of life. When one considers how G-dliness is the life-force of all forms of life, for all the vitality in the world and in created beings comes from G-dliness it is the primary reality of everything when one contemplates all this, he will desire G-d and love Him. In all his mundane activity such as eating and drinking, and business dealings, and the like he does not want the thing unto itself but the G-dliness within it, etc. His intent is to merely harness strength, energy to be used in the study of Torah and in avoda, as in the saying, wine and

Continued on page 22

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MOSHIACH & GEULA

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NOTHING ELSE BESIDES REBBEIt has been thirteen years since the passing of the esteemed mashpia, R Reuven Dunin ah, who was a model of a Chassid and mekushar

to the Rebbe MHM. Thirteen year, and still hundreds of his mekuravim miss him and think

of him every day. * Stories and sayings of R Reuven about hiskashrus to the Rebbe, Geula and Moshiach.

Compiled and prepared for publication by his student, Chanoch Shachar

FLYING FOR TISHREIR Gil Benisti relates:One morning, at eight oclock,

the telephone in my house rang; it was R Reuven on the line. I heard his deep voice say, Kid, Im going to the Rebbe. Please be here at one oclock.

I was surprised since I knew his health did not permit him to travel. But if R Reuven said something, you listened. I went to his house, took down the huge suitcase, loaded it into my car and we headed for the airport.

On the way, R Reuven suddenly said to me, First lets go to Ramat Aviv, referring to the yeshiva where he was a mashpia.

When we got to the yeshiva, R Reuven said to me, Take down

the suitcase, weve arrived. And R Reuven remained in the yeshiva for a month, and throughout Elul the bachurim enjoyed many farbrengens and personal guidance from him.

YOUVE REVIVED MER Reuven Dunin spent a

number of years by the Rebbe and was drawn close by the Rebbe who treated him in a special, fatherly way.

At one of the farbrengens, R Reuven said that one morning he got up not in good form. He went from the dormitory to 770 feeling really down. He suddenly saw the Rebbe approaching the spot where he was standing, also on his way to 770. R Reuven was frightened and he hid in shame behind a parked car. He hoped

the Rebbe had not seen him, but when the Rebbe walked on the pavement opposite his hiding place, he suddenly turned his head, smiled at him, and made an encouraging motion with his hand (as reported by R Moshe Abad).

R Moshe Zev Pizem adds:At one of his private

audiences, the Rebbe told him, report good news. That was something the Rebbe would say routinely and most people took it as a wish, while R Reuven took it with the utmost seriousness as an order. After that, each time he wrote to the Rebbe, he tried to include at least one piece of good news.

One time, he wrote a letter to the Rebbe and thought of what good news he could write about.


STORIES

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He couldnt come up with any. He wrote to the Rebbe about all the shiurim and Evenings with Chabad etc., but to him, this wasnt in the category of good news. He ended up apologizing that when it came to ruchnius (spirituality) he still had no good news, but otherwise, they added a few liras to his salary and this was his good news.

He received an immediate response from the Rebbe, You have revived me, like cold water on a tired soul.

I WANT TO BE THE REBBESThe entire topic of Rebbe

was top priority to R Reuven. Rebbe was the essence of his life, always, morning, noon and night. He was once asked, Why do you speak about the Rebbe so

that every second word is Rebbe and everything revolves around him such as This is what I saw by the Rebbe, This is what I heard from the Rebbe?

R Yisroel Halperin of Hertzliya related that when R Reuven went to the Rebbe for the first time, as a 25 year old bachur, he had yechidus. The Rebbe asked him what he knows how to do. R Reuven said he was an expert in cars. The Rebbe suggested that he work at a garage, but R Reuven said, I came to be by the Rebbe. The Rebbe said, If you came to be by me, then you need to be part of the sidrei hayeshiva (the yeshiva study sessions).

For a while, R Reuven attended the sdarim, but it was hard for him. He went to the

secretaries and asked for an appointment with the Rebbe. They told him that it wasnt so simple, and it wasnt like every time you had a problem you could just go and see the Rebbe.

R Reuven simply went and knocked on the Rebbes door. When he heard the Rebbes voice, he went in and told the Rebbe he was not satisfied.

Why arent you satisfied? asked the Rebbe.

I feel that I will become a chacham (wise person).

Whats wrong with that? asked the Rebbe.

Said R Reuven, I dont want to be a chacham. I want to belong to the Rebbe.

Not surprisingly, whatever the Rebbe spoke about over the years, R Reuven, as a loyal soldier, got

R Reuven simply said, Because there really isnt anything aside from the Rebbe.

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up and did it unhesitatingly.R Uriel Kalev related that his

father has a friend, a kibbutznik, who went to an astrologist with his wife. The astrologist said that she sees in the stars that they need to do tshuva. Indeed, some time later, he started the tshuva process and today he is a Chabad Chassid living in the north.

In 5747, my father went to the Rebbe and stayed in Crown Heights with a family where the lady of the house was a principal in a local school. During one of the meals, when someone spoke in praise of R Reuven Dunin, the hostess exclaimed, I will tell you who Reuven Dunin is. She said that she used to be an astrologist (the one who got my fathers

friend to do tshuva) and at one point, she had lived with the Dunins for three years!

Back then, they transmitted the Rebbes farbrengens via a live telephone hookup to Eretz Yisroel. One time, the Rebbe spoke about the need to provide education for seniors, Tiferes Zkeinim, and the Rebbe suggested naming it for his father.

The broadcast ended at 4:55 in the morning (Israeli time) and five minutes later, at five oclock in the morning, R Reuven was already busy working on starting a Tiferes Zkeinim in his city of Haifa.

That was R Reuven Dunin, she concluded emotionally.

R Yitzchok Axelrod remembers that at one of R Reuvens farbrengens he spoke sarcastically about the help the Chassidim gave to the Rebbe:

The Rebbe asked the Chassidim to work on Mihu Yehudi and we know the result. The Rebbe asked that the Chassidim work on shleimus haaretz and we know the result. When it came to the sfarim, the Rebbe himself took care of the legal matters and after that we sang Didan Notzach. Didan we won? Do you see how impudent we are?

WHETHER LIKE CHILDREN OR LIKE SLAVES

R Yair Maman recounted:R Reuven once told me that

when the Rebbe returned from the Ohel, he noticed that the edge of the Rebbes pants leg was folded so his sock was visible. R Reuven did not think it was proper for a king to walk about that way and he decided to unfold it without disturbing the Rebbe. He crawled between the people

that stood asking the Rebbe for brachos. He felt himself being stepped on but did not care. He finally reached the Rebbe while hiding behind peoples feet and gently undid the fold. The Rebbe noticed, looked down, and smiled at R Reuven, turned around and entered 770.

R Kuti Rapp ah told a similar story:

One time, before the Rebbe came down from his room for Kabbalas Shabbos, I saw R Reuven standing near the steps leading from Gan Eden HaTachton to the beis midrash. I noticed that R Reuven looked agitated and realized something was about to happen. I hid among the lockers and waited.

When the Rebbe came downstairs and reached the bottom, R Reuven bent over and began doing something with the Rebbes shoelaces. Whats this? asked the Rebbe.

R Reuven asked, Is it comfortable like this?

Its that way on purpose! replied the Rebbe in Ivrit with a Sephardic pronunciation and immediately continued walking toward the beis midrash with nobody having noticed anything.

A REAL GENTLEMANR Eliezer Reichman related:R Reuven once told me that

at the beginning of Kingston Avenue there was a hat store that belonged to a Jew who externally had no connection with G-d. This man was well-built and every free moment he had without customers he used to work out. He kept weights at the back of the store and that is where he exercised.

One day, he said to me, You know, your rabbi is a real gentleman.

R Chanoch Shachar


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I asked him why he thought so and the man said, Every day, your rabbi passes the store [on his way to his mother] and he says hello. One time, I decided I would say hello first but I was never able to. He always says hello first.

LIVING MOSHIACH NO MATTER WHAT

R Reuven, to whom everything about the Rebbe was infinitely precious, worked diligently to publicize the Besuras HaGeula and the Goel. The topic of Moshiach burned in him and at every opportunity he would urge those who attended his farbrengens to strengthen their emuna.

R Tom Rettig related that once, when he farbrenged at Tiferes Bachurim in Kfar Chabad, one of the participants dared to ask him, What if Moshiach comes and he doesnt look like the Rebbe? How will we know its the Rebbe? R Reuven answered simply, You will hear that hes the Rebbe.

At an interview he once gave (which turned into a farbrengen), R Reuven explained a deep topic and then was asked about proclaiming Yechi. R Chaim Eliezer Wilschansky said that R Reuven replied thus:

To me, saying Yechi is like standing before the king, before the Rebbe. You dont suddenly appear before the Rebbe. R Reuven then related memories he had from the time he spent in 770:

When I wanted to see the Rebbe, I would wait after davening, and if I discerned the Rebbes consent, I would head for his office. If I saw that the door was slightly ajar, that was a sign that I could enter.

It once happened that I went in after Mincha and spoke to the Rebbe. A few hours later I decided I felt I had to speak to the Rebbe again. After Maariv, based on the agreed-upon signs I had with the Rebbe, I felt I had permission to go in. The Rebbe then looked at me with some surprise, We just spoke. Then I understood that I couldnt just walk in unless I had made some preparations beforehand.

The same is true for Yechi. Something has to be done in honor of the Yechi before going to the king and proclaiming Yechi.

***As was his way all the

years, R Reuven shied away from pshetlach and personal interpretations that come from the persons own mind. He was like this from the start of Mivtza Moshiach and even more so afterward, when the Rebbe encouraged the singing of Yechi. R Reuven, as a Chassid and mekushar with all his heart and soul, knew that this is what the Rebbe wants and so he publicized it everywhere. He wore a Moshiach pin in his lapel and hat. If that wasnt enough, he carried around a bag of these pins and gave them out to whoever said he would wear them. He explained by saying that the word Moshiach on the pin represented pure emuna; Moshiach, without pshetlach and additional wording.

At one of his farbrengens, he spoke about everyone being a walking bulletin board when it came to publicizing the Besuras HaGeula. He said (from a transcript of a recording, thanks to R Mendel Schechter):

Publicizing this is the least we can do so as not to forget this subject of Moshiach. I think

the person who invented these Moshiach pins will be blessed and Ive already heard about some successes in this regard. All the stories and clever arguments and excuses dont interest me I think simply: You know the Rebbe wants Moshiach? Shout it out. You dont think you can be a rooster that calls out in a loud

YEARNING IN ACTIONR Gil Benisti relates:I once heard a Chassidic story

from a friend about one of the Polish Admurim who had a sick son. The Chassidim told him that his son went every morning on a long walk to a spring to immerse. Hearing this and knowing that his son was not allowed to do this, he immediately ordered him not to immerse anymore. The son accepted this.

A few weeks later, the Admurs brother-in-law told him that he had seen his son a few times near the spring. He had noticed that when the son approached the spring, he undressed but did not immerse and then got dressed again. He cried and said, Mikva, mikva, how much I want to immerse, only you and G-d know, but my father forbade me to immerse, and he turned around and left.

One Friday night, I told R Reuven this story and it moved him to tears. The next day, Shabbos, I went to pick him up from the house he was staying in, in Raanana. He asked that we go together to the mikva. I knew that he could not immerse and I asked him about this. If you cant immerse anyway, why should you go so far?

He said, You hit me very powerfully with that story you told me last night. So at least one time I am going to try to do what the son did.

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voice? Then become a bulletin board. Wear a Moshiach pin. If you say you are not a bulletin board, there are dolls that you insert a battery into them and they start walking. Whats the

problem?The minimum is to do

something as it says, and you will see it [the tzitzis] and remember and do. We learn from this that seeing leads to remembering and

remembering leads to action. So too with Moshiach, when you see the word Moshiach, obviously this will remind you of Moshiach ...

Rebbe would see R Shmuel Gurary in yechidus before other people, because in those terrible times of war, especially the war of the Reds and the Whites with the bands of Cossacks, may their names be erased, who wreaked havoc and destruction in Jewish dwellings, and much suffering was heaped upon the Jewish people and the Lubavitch yeshiva wandered from the sword of war until it went to Rostov on the River Don Rashag was one of the closest people to Beis Rebbi and supported the yeshiva and the Rebbes household with counsel, money, and efforts in wide ranging communal work.

Therefore, when Rashag came, the wealthy, handsome Chassid who charmed and astonished all who saw him with his hadras panim of a genuine Chassid, one who feared G-d, whose wisdom illuminated his face it was obvious that he would enter right away for yechidus, especially when there were tragedies and communal matters to discuss.

R Chonye Morosov went to the door of the Rebbes room to announce that Shmuel had come. How astonished he was when he had just opened the door of the room slowly and carefully and the Rebbe asked him, Chonye, who else is waiting to come in?

This question was astonishing

to R Chonye because, so he told me, he had not heard a question like this ever before.

R Chonye enthusiastically said, Shmuel came! and in a softer voice he said that Shlomo Chaim the glazier had also come. To his great surprise, the Rebbe said that first Shlomo Chaim the glazier should come in.

R Chonyes tongue clove to the roof of his mouth and he was stricken dumb as though the Rebbes words were stuck in his throat like a bone and remained stuck. He said in a hoarse voice, or more correctly, he mumbled: R Shlomo Chaim, go in for yechidus.

Rashag turned pale and then red and went to the room that was used as a shul and all those who saw and heard were stunned into silence by this announcement.

This Shlomo Chaim was poverty stricken and a man who suffered with sick children, a wife confined to bed with an incurable illness, unmarried daughters and a deaf son. He himself was a Thillim Yid. Who was he that the Rebbe had him precede Rashag?

After a few minutes, R Chonye continued to tell me, Shlomo Chaim came out and Rashag went in like a wounded lion. He spent a long time in yechidus and everyone waited impatiently for when he would exit the Rebbes room.

R Chonye stood there on the street in Leningrad and excitedly described what happened next. When Rashag came out he was white like snow and plaster. You hear, R Chonye touched my shabby, old coat, he was white like lime.

They all surrounded him with respect and astonishment. Rashag sat down, wiped the sweat off his forehead and with a little sigh he said:

I had just walked in and stood before the Rebbe and he gently said to me: Shmuel, you learn Chassidus. Do you ever have a personal interest, an ulterior motive? You daven, are there times that you have a selfish interest? You are wealthy and generous with the yeshiva and the Chassidim, maybe here too you have some self-serving motive? You have good children, you are pedigreed, you are Shmuel Gurary maybe in all these things there is a selfish interest or an ulterior motive?

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