What the Rebbe Said About the Secret of Chabad’s Success

Welcome to our weekly program, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel Archives.

Today's program we are devoting in honor of Yud Beis Tammuz, the hilula of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and also Yud Beis Tammuz, the birthday of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Dr. Nissan Mindel [ben Yaakov?]. He passed away on Yud Alef Tammuz. He was born in [unclear — a shtetl on a river], and he passed away on Yud Alef Tammuz, which is also a hilula.

His whole life was devoted to Lubavitch. He worked with the Rebbeim from the beginning — of course, he was born into it — but it is Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence) that it came out this way. So I learned that he wrote down his speech, and this speech was from the early 1960s.

Now, why did he write the speech down? In those years, in the '60s, there were not many speakers — now we have many speakers. In those days there was Dr. Bloch [?], Rabbi Zalman Posner, and Rabbi Nissan Mindel — maybe a few more. So the Rebbe would send them to different places to speak, besides the shiurim he gave, and besides the writing, and besides the dictation — he was asked to speak at different places, dinners, colleges. He went to Yeshiva University; Rabbi Lamm, who just passed away, was very close with Rabbi Mindel from Yeshiva University, and asked him to speak many, many times. So he spoke a lot, and he represented many places to speak.

So when he went to take dictation, he went three times a week — Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday — he took dictation. He took dictation in Hebrew, English, Russian, and Yiddish. So after dictation, whenever he knew he was going to give a speech somewhere, he would tell the Rebbe, "Can you tell me what you're going to speak about?" So he would write it down. The Rebbe would look at it, and sometimes make notations. So the speeches that we have — we have a lot of speeches that he gave throughout the years, from the early years — have notations from the Rebbe. So this is a speech with a notation from the Rebbe, where the Rebbe made corrections.

So today I want to share with you a speech that he gave, and I'm going to read the speech that he wrote down and showed to the Rebbe.

Now, before I read the speech, I want to say a preface. We're talking about speeches now — there are many, many speakers, there are many lecturers, baruch Hashem, philosophers, people who give speeches, people who give advice — but there is a difference between a speaker and a speaker.

We once spoke about this: there is a bee and a spider. The difference between a bee and a spider is that a spider makes a web, and the web comes from inside the spider. What does the web do? Nothing — it just kills flies, it doesn't accomplish anything. Honey comes from a bee, but the honey does not come from inside the bee — because if the honey came from inside the bee, the honey would not be kosher [not fit for use]. How does the bee make honey? The bee goes around collecting nectar from flowers, and it becomes honey — it becomes sweet — but it's not from inside the bee.

The same thing applies: when a person speaks and he speaks his own ideas, his own philosophy, and gives his own thoughts as his own — that's like a spider, and it doesn't accomplish anything, because it's from his own svara (reasoning). But when a person goes around collecting — like a bee — he looks here and there for sources, he hears and quotes things from reliable people, and then he goes and speaks about it — then it's honey, and people will accept it.

So a person should be like a bee, not like a spider. Along these lines, the Rebbe once wrote a letter, and Rabbi Hodakov wrote something on it. He quotes: "Kol HaOmer Davar BeShem Omro Mevi Geula LaOlam" — whoever says something in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world. He says some speakers give good advice, but they don't say where it comes from; people think it's their own — that's not right. A person should always know that when he speaks, he should cite where it comes from — the Rebbe always had his sources, he always knew where he got it from.

Even when the Alter Rebbe wrote the Tanya, he writes that he gathered these teachings from the sefarim, from the sofrim (the books and the authors of earlier generations) — but not from himself. So we should always know, and always say, where it comes from — this is a very important point for a speaker.

I'm talking about speeches now. I want to read to you the speech that Rabbi Mindel gave — a very important speech — and the reason I'm reading this speech is because before Yud Beis Tammuz they asked him to speak. This was on the anniversary of the day that the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America.

So they asked him to speak about the Frierdiker Rebbe. We've already spoken about this — I'm not going to read the whole speech about the Frierdiker Rebbe's boat, Rabbi Mindel being on the boat, what happened when he came, and the Rebbe's hatzolah — we already had that program before; if you want, we can always look back and see it. And so, when the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived — whatever the yeshuos were that he accomplished, everything — I'm going to start in the middle of the speech that he gave:

"Many ask: what is the secret of Lubavitch's appeal? Why is it that Lubavitch has succeeded where many others have failed? How is it that Lubavitch could take root even in a country like America?"

And this is what he was supposed to speak about — Lubavitch. They asked him about Lubavitch — why is Lubavitch so successful, and how does it live on. Since the Rebbe was my teacher, I think we can all benefit from this answer — everybody can use this answer for why Lubavitch has lived, and why.

Rabbi Mindel says: "The answer is to be found in two directions: the personality of the Lubavitcher Rebbe" — meaning the Frierdiker Rebbe, he's speaking about the Frierdiker Rebbe, and of course the Rebbe — "and the philosophy of the Lubavitch movement — that's how they must live."

Now he's going to go into that. "Regarding the personality of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, I will say only this: that he combined two apparently opposite qualities. One quality: he was extraordinarily gentle" — the Frierdiker Rebbe was very gentle, very kind and sensitive, insofar as his relationship to a fellow Jew was concerned, be it a stranger whom he met for the first time — that's one. "On the other hand, he was as immovable as a mountain when it came to a matter of mesirus nefesh.

"Perhaps two episodes will illustrate this. A day or two after our arrival in New York, there were civic receptions, important conferences, receptions and delegates from all parts of the country, and so on, for the Rebbe threw himself into his work immediately — he set foot on the New York pier in the midst of the hustle and bustle of activity. The Rebbe sent for me — he called Rabbi Mindel — and I braced myself for a serious talk. I thought that the Rebbe wished to give me a spiritual injection, something that might immunize me perhaps against the influences of the big metropolis of the United States of America.

"The first thing he asked me was whether I was comfortable and satisfied with my accommodations." My accommodations, he said, was a fairly large room in the Greystone Hotel on Broadway and 91st Street — this is where the Frierdiker Rebbe went after he came to America, which served as an office during the day, a conference room in the evening, and his bedroom after midnight. "I replied it was luxurious — fresh linen every day." This was the one question the Frierdiker Rebbe wanted to know.

"The second question was: did I need any cash?" And as you know, the Frierdiker Rebbe didn't have much cash — we already had a very important program about how much money the Frierdiker Rebbe had when he came here. "I replied, thank G-d, I'm making a living — $75 a month and free rent." His wife was in England, because she left Riga — in 1938 she went, because she saw there was going to be a war; she didn't want to stay for the war. So she left — later on, when he came to America, he picked her up from England. But the Frierdiker Rebbe didn't want him to go to England — the Frierdiker Rebbe wanted him to come with him to America instead.

"And the $64,000 question was: did I have a hot meal today? I replied truthfully that I had not found a kosher restaurant in the neighborhood as yet. The Rebbe admonished me to obtain this information and be sure to have at least one hot meal every single day." I should have a hot meal every day. "The interview was concluded; no further commentary is necessary."

This was one episode of how the Frierdiker Rebbe cared about each and every one coming to America.

"The other episode I wish to mention by way of illustration has to do with the martyrdom — the mesirus nefesh — for that is what it was, under the Communists, in the Stalin era. In 1927, ten years after the Bolshevik Revolution, he was the only religious leader of any denomination that still defied the regime. The Lubavitcher movement was the only underground movement in Soviet Russia engaged not in any political activity, but in preserving traditional Judaism — but this was considered counter-revolutionary activity. Many Lubavitcher followers were caught red-handed teaching children, conducting Talmud Torahs and cheders, arranging circumcisions, establishing secret mikvahs and synagogues in place of those that were closed down. They filled the prisons, and many were sent to Siberia for extensive terms."

On that occasion there were three types of Lubavitchers in those days — one who had served a prison sentence, one who was serving, and one who would serve. The authorities finally realized that the only way to suppress the movement was to do away with its leader, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. So he was arrested by the secret police, the GPU, and they applied their usual methods to break down their victim, which had never failed in the past — but they could not break down the spirit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They could not make him promise that he would give up his activity — they couldn't do that.

"The Rebbe said: since the Jews went into exile and dispersion nearly 2,000 years ago, only their bodies went into exile, but not their souls, not their neshamos. He said: my physical body is in your hands, but my spirit is free.

"One day, when the head of the GPU pointed his revolver at him and said, 'This little toy has silenced many brave men,' the Rebbe replied: 'This little toy can intimidate a person who has but one world and more than one G-d. I have more than one world, but only one G-d — your toy does not frighten me in the least.'"

And in those days, to speak like that — this was unbelievable. So this is one episode.

"The key to Lubavitch's appeal — the philosophy of Lubavitch, the secret of its success — is the Lubavitcher approach to a fellow Jew, regardless of his background and walk of life, and this can best be illustrated by another episode."

And this story, of course, many of you have heard, but this is what Rabbi Mindel was saying in that speech. Back then, Lubavitch wasn't that famous — in the early '60s, as it is now — so some people never even heard of Lubavitch. By the way, from this speech — and I happen to know — there were many, many people who started to come to 770 and tried to find out what Lubavitch is, and they became frum, and traced it back to their grandfathers, from this speech that he gave.

"The Lubavitcher Rebbe has his emissaries who visit various communities from time to time, not for fundraising purposes, but for spiritual stimulation to those communities — in other words, these gentlemen come not to take, but to give.

"One such emissary once was visiting Chicago. The Rebbe had told him that while in Chicago he should visit a certain Jew, a prominent businessman, who came from a long line of Lubavitcher Chassidim and who required some inspiration. After some difficulty, an appointment was eventually arranged, and the Rebbe's emissary, another rabbi, called at the office of the businessman. They talked a little bit, they exchanged some talk, and the emissary told the businessman that he had known his father and grandfather, and the businessman immediately began to talk with nostalgia about his parents and grandparents, as is so characteristic of every Jew — which only goes to show where a Jew's heart really is, when you touch upon its really sensitive spots.

"From experience, Lubavitchers know that when you want a Jew to open his heart, you have but to mention his father and grandfather, and no matter how far the son and grandson have traveled, the distance suddenly disappears, and the Jew's pintele Yid comes to life with such animation and vitality and yearning and nostalgia. It invariably evokes some introspection, a reawakening, and the road to teshuvah, to return, appears to be open.

"The businessman was thrilled that the Lubavitcher Rebbe should have remembered him. When the emissary got up to leave, the businessman took out his checkbook, whereupon the emissary told him to put it away, as he had not come for a contribution, but just to bring him the Rebbe's kind regards. 'But surely you did not come all this way merely for a glass of soda and a cookie,' the businessman said — to which the emissary replied:

"'You know, a sefer Torah has to be written by a scribe, in sanctity, with special black ink and parchment. Sometimes, due to external circumstances, some letters get rubbed off, and then the sefer Torah is possul [unfit]. So there is a Ba'al Magiah, an editor, who from time to time checks the sefer Torah, and finding a faded letter, goes over it with his quill, so the sefer Torah becomes kosher again. Now, every Jew is a living sefer Torah, and all the mitzvos and customs and prayers make up its letters. Sometimes, due to external circumstances, one or another of these letters fades. So the Lubavitcher Rebbe sends out a Ba'al Magiah to freshen up these faded letters. This was the purpose of my visit.'" This is what he told the businessman.

"And there is a sequel to this story. When the emissary reported back to the Rebbe on his visit, the Rebbe said to him: 'You have made a fine point with your illustration, but it is not an accurate example. There are two ways of inscription: one is writing with ink, another is engraving. In the first instance, the ink is an added thing, added to the parchment; in the second instance, the inscription is one with the material upon which it is engraved. Ink, being an added thing, can fade and rub off, but an engraving cannot — it can only gather dust, in which case all that is necessary is to sweep away the dust.

"'The relationship of a Jew to the Torah and mitzvos is not that of ink and parchment, but of engraving upon a tablet. A Jew, the Torah, and G-d are all one, and always remain so. It may happen that something may overshadow or obscure this inner relationship — a little dusting will take care of that.'

"A Lubavitcher has three loves: love of G-d, love of Torah, and love of a fellow Jew. These loves are combined in equal proportion and are perfectly blended together. If any one of them has the edge over the other, it is Ahavas Yisroel, love of a fellow Jew, which, in Chabad terminology, is the vessel containing the other two, or the instrument through which the other two loves find expression — moved by such love, genuine and sincere, a love which seeks to give and gratify rather than receive and be gratified, and with perfect confidence in the responsiveness of the Jewish heart and its natural affinity with godliness, the Lubavitcher never falters in this approach. This approach in itself generates the response, for — to quote the wisest man of all — 'As water reflects an image, so does the heart respond to another.'"

This was part of the speech that Rabbi Mindel gave, and as I said, many people became baalei teshuva from this speech. So now we know the secret of Lubavitch's success.

Now I want to finish up before Yud Beis Tammuz, and mention something I once heard, when I was by the mashpia — Rabbi Yaakov [?], olov hasholom, he was a mashpia in 770 — and he said, at a farbrengen before Yud Beis Tammuz: there were [earlier in history], before the first Yom Tov, before it came to Chanukah — they wanted to kill the Jewish bodies, so Hashem made a nes, a miracle, and we got rid of them — this is the nes of [an earlier yom tov]. They saw that they couldn't get rid of the bodies, so they said, "Let's go and get rid of the neshamos, the Jewish souls" — this is the miracle of Chanukah, as it says, they wanted to make the Jews forget the Torah — "no problem," they said, "let's take away the neshamah of Torah" — this is what they wanted, and on Chanukah there was a nes, a miracle.

So they saw: they couldn't get rid of the bodies, and they couldn't get rid of the neshamah, so they said, "Let's go and get rid of the pnimiyus haneshamah, the essence of the soul" — and that is the Yom Tov of Yud-Tes Kislev. If not for Yud-Tes Kislev, I don't know if we would be here today.

He said: they couldn't get rid of the bodies, they couldn't get rid of the neshamah, they couldn't get rid of the pnimiyus haneshamah, so they said, "Let's go and kill the Rebbe himself" — and this is the Yom Tov of Yud Beis Tammuz, as Rabbi Mindel said: they wanted to get rid of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and had this happened — chas v'shalom — all the people who are listening over here, not only because of Yud Beis Tammuz — nobody would be here in this world. He described clearly that this episode of Yud Beis Tammuz is the greatest, and this is the nes of Yud Beis Tammuz.

And since we're getting closer, in a week we'll come into the Three Weeks. And so we say, yehi ratzon, that these days should turn into days of sustainable simcha, and we should build the Beis HaMikdash — it should be built speedily, in our days, Amen.