The Note the Rebbe Wrote to Shluchim

The Note the Rebbe Wrote to Shluchim

Welcome to our weekly program, the Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel archives. Last week we discussed the importance of dancing, Chassidic dancing, and this week we'll discuss, based on the Rebbe's writings and the Frierdiker Rebbe's, how Chassidim are supposed to be b'chitzoniyus — not only b'finimiyus, but also b'chitzoniyus.

It says that bizchus shalosh devarim — in the merit of three things — the Yidden were redeemed from Mitzrayim: she'lo shinu es shemom, es leshonam, es malbushom. They didn't change their names, they didn't change their language, they didn't change their clothes. They had Yiddish clothes, they spoke like a Yid, and in that merit the Yidden were redeemed from Mitzrayim.

Now, the Rebbe wrote to a couple of shluchim, and I have this copy — I have the original — and the Rebbe wrote on their papers, on what they wrote to him. I mean, you can't see it, but the Rebbe writes — this is the Rebbe's hagahos, the Rebbe's handwritten response to them. The Rebbe writes like this: we should know, and we must tell our children — by the way, this is from the early years — that even though we have to go out into the world and do hafotzas hamaayon chutzah, and love every single Yid, as long as the person has a Jewish mother, at the same time we have to know that we should not learn from these people how to dress and how the world behaves. At the same time as we love them, we have to know who we're dealing with.

And here I want to share with you something, a very important word, that Rabbi Avraham Sender Nemtzov said. He was one of the first talmidim in Lubavitch, in Tomchei Temimim [unclear], he's the father-in-law of my father-in-law. He was the one — on the first Yud Shvat after the histalkus of the Rebbe — he stood on the table and he called out that the Rebbe should accept the nesius. He wrote that sefer, and Rabbi Herzog, among others, gave the haskama on this sefer. Next to the sefer, I found a letter from him, and in it he said a very, very interesting vort, which I think every single person should remember.

The Torah says that Yitzchak loved Esav, and Rivka loved Yaakov. What did Yitzchak do? He called over Esav, his son, and said to him, "Before I die, go bring me food, and I will bench you, give you a bracha." So Rivka, the wife, heard this. She went to Yaakov, the other brother, and she said, "I heard what your father told Esav. I'm going to prepare food, and you're going to go in to your father dressed as Esav — put on the clothes of Esav, the clothes Esav used to wear when he hunted and murdered. I'm going to put them on you, and you'll go in before Esav comes, and get the bracha."

And the question is: why did she do it in such a way? Now, im yirtzeh Hashem, on Pesach, I'll explain this to you — not today.

There was a whole — maybe four or five pages — where a certain foreign rav years ago wrote to the Rebbe that, you know, "Jews trick," because we had a mother who tricked. And the Rebbe writes back, and my father-in-law answered — there's a whole discussion there, but not today.

Today I will just say: the question is, why did she do it in such a way? Couldn't she have gone over to her husband, to Yitzchak, and said, "Yitzchak, I mean" — there was shalom between Yitzchak and Rivka — "Yitzchak, you're blind. We have two children. I know who Esav is, I know who Yaakov is. Bless Yaakov." Why did she have to go about it in such a roundabout way, and specifically — b'davka — in such a way, to put on the clothes of Esav?

So he says there — and maybe it's written somewhere, I don't know, but I saw it, what he said, and it's very interesting, and I always tell this over to people — that she, as a Jewish mother, knew that the brachos of Yitzchak were not only to Yaakov Avinu, but to all Yidden, all Jews, until the end of days. She wanted that even if a Yid wears the clothes of Esav, he should also be blessed. And therefore she wanted the blessing to come down in such a way — that even if a Yid is [unclear], he's not Shomer Shabbos yet; even if a Yid eats treif, he doesn't eat kosher yet; even if a Yid transgresses an issur, he should also be blessed. So she was willing, davka, to put on him the clothes of Esav.

And it says there — and I think the Rebbe also once mentioned it — that "Yisroel" is an abbreviation: the yud is for Yitzchak and Yaakov, the sin is for Sarah, the reish is for Rochel and Rivka, the aleph is for Avraham, and the lamed is for Leah. Every Yid, she or he, who has a Jewish mother, has within them the middos of Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rochel, and Leah.

But at the same time, as we have to love everyone, and we always say, "af al pi she'chata, Yisrael hu" — even though he has sinned, he is still called Yisrael — one thing we shouldn't forget is that a Yisrael she'lo chata, a Jew who has not sinned, is also a Yisrael. A person who is already frum, a chossid, a person who is already observant, is also a Yisrael. We have to treat our own people no less than the people who are not frum yet. This is a lesson that we have to learn. Say a person has a shtreimel; say a person doesn't have a yarmulke — we should love them the same way, and we should treat them the same way.

And here — the reason I'm mentioning the shtreimel is because I want to tell you something. I remember — I believe it was around Yud Shvat, or possibly Yud-Tes Kislev [unclear which date] — it fell on a Friday, so the Rebbe farbrenged motzei Shabbos. Three Satmar Chassidim were in the back. They had come — one of them had to marry off his daughter, so he came to give a bottle of mashke to the Rebbe; he was close to Lubavitch. But he came to the farbrengen. In the middle of the farbrengen, the Rebbe saw them, and the Rebbe raised his hand like this toward them, and made a gesture like this on his hat. In other words, the Rebbe was asking them, "Why did you take off your shtreimel?" They were shocked.

Because they had taken off the shtreimel, thinking the Rebbe doesn't wear a shtreimel, so they took theirs off. But motzei Shabbos, you don't usually take off your shtreimel. The Rebbe was wondering why they had taken it off. Then, after the maamar, they came over to the Rebbe and gave him the bottle of mashke. So the Rebbe asked him, "It's motzei Shabbos — why did you take off the shtreimel?"

Here, I'm not sure of the full lesson — but the Rebbe asked, "Why did you take off the shtreimel?" So we see from here — and this is a lesson — that for the Rebbe, it doesn't matter who you are, as long as you're a Yid, you have to love each and every one and appreciate everyone.

I know that sometimes the bochurim who came from Eretz Yisrael, Chabad bochurim, here from Yerushalayim, wear a long beged. And I asked the Rebbe — the Rebbe said they shouldn't change, I believe. So anyway, we see here how a person should behave after learning from the Rebbe.

So, when can the bracha come? Now it is Elul, before Rosh Hashanah, when we should all love one another, when we are all united — all Yidden, it doesn't matter, all Yidden. And we should have a kesiva vachasima tova, l'shana tova u'mesuka.

Im yirtzeh Hashem, next Thursday we will continue our program.