The Importance of Collecting Mitzvos

The Importance of Collecting Mitzvos

Welcome to our weekly program — Shabbos, "The Inside Story of Chabad in America." Because we changed our program to Shabbos — today is the second time that we're doing it on Shabbos — some of the listeners, probably new listeners, didn't hear the Thursday night program, they're not familiar with this program. So I want to begin by saying a story which I already mentioned once — I'll mention it again for the people that didn't hear it, and this story has a lesson.

A few weeks ago I mentioned, on Shabbos, that to tell a story of the Baal Shem Tov is a segula — this is a saying that a lot of people say. There is a saying that it's good — not only on Shabbos but every night — not only a story from the Baal Shem Tov but from every tzaddik, and not a segula just for one thing — it's a segula for all good things. A story of tzaddikim gives [unclear], gives faith.

And by the way, I want to mention — Rabbi Mindel wrote this down. The Rebbe mentioned to him many times that when a mother or a father puts the children to sleep at night, they should tell them a story — that would be a good idea. Read the memo — they have it, also wrote it in English. The Rebbe mentioned the reason, so that the children will [have faith]. That's what he mentioned — that's what a story can do.

Before I say the story, I want to share with you a letter first — what a rabbi from Chicago wrote to the Rebbe. I don't think I ever mentioned it. He says to the Rebbe: "I'm a rabbi in a big Orthodox shul. I give [a class] almost every night — I give a class Monday night for ladies, and I do more things, but on Shabbos I give a speech. So I want to ask you," he says to the Rebbe, "what should be my theme? Should I speak about stories of tzaddikim? Should I speak about mussar? About Chabad?" And he says a few things to the Rebbe — he wants to know the Rebbe's idea.

So the Rebbe answered him: "You should collect — be a collector. Speak something — a little bit story, a little bit [Chassidus] at the same time — but the most important thing is that the parents and the children who listen to your speech come home Shabbos, to the Shabbos table, and they repeat what you said, and they live with what you said a whole week. That's all. It doesn't matter — just go say what you read, say what you collected, and it should be [good]." This is the answer from the Rebbe to this rabbi.

Now I want to tell you a story. Rabbi Mindel, sitting by dictation many times, as I mentioned — the Rebbe told him a few things, you know, stories, or by reading a letter the Rebbe mentioned something we never heard. One time the Rebbe opens a letter, looks at it, and shows it to Rabbi Mindel to read. Someone asks the Rebbe — he is a meshulach, that's his parnasa, he came to America to collect money for yeshivos, maybe for a few months, he has to go back soon, and he has no [parnasa] — he needs them to make money. So the Rebbe says to [Rabbi Mindel], "Write him this story."

I'm not sure whether it was the Rebbe himself, or the Rebbe said it was in the time of — maybe it was [unclear] or another tzaddik, I'm not sure — but he mentioned — I think it was at the time of a certain tzaddik, I don't know which one it was, whatever it is. But it was at that time, years ago, when people used to travel to do business, used to leave for months and months, and then come back before Purim or before Pesach, or maybe earlier.

One wagon driver wanted to eat — he had no [parnasa], he wasn't successful in his business — so he went to, let's say, the maggid, I don't know [exactly who], and asked for [a blessing]. So the Rebbe told him he should become a maggid, he should give speeches — maggid means a person who speaks. He says, "Rebbe, I never spoke in public, I'm not a maggid." So the Rebbe told him, "You should be like a bee and not like a spider."

He says, "Rebbe, I don't know what that means." So the Rebbe told him — maybe it was [unclear], I'm not sure — he says: anything that comes from a kosher animal is kosher. Milk from a cow is kosher — why? Because a cow is kosher. Milk from a pig is treif, because a pig is treif. Why is it, then, that honey that comes from a bee [is kosher, even though a bee is not kosher]? "You should be like a bee, not like a spider." He doesn't understand.

So he says: honey comes from a bee, so what's the difference between a bee and a spider? A bee — honey doesn't come from the bee itself. A bee only collects from existing nectar — it goes and collects from flowers, and the juice becomes honey. But honey is not from the bee — if honey would be from the bee, honey would be treif. A spider makes a web — the web comes from inside the spider. What does it do? It kills flies, it does nothing good — anything that comes from inside the spider [is not good].

He told him: "You should be like a bee, not like a spider. You should go around collecting — when you speak to people, even in business or anything, talk to people about what you saw, what you learned — a mussar teaching, a story of a tzaddik — then you'll do good business, you'll tell people, but not your own ideas — the ideas that you learned. This is — you be a collector, then you'll be a maggid."

This is what the Rebbe told him to answer this person, and wrote to this person that — from a wagon driver he became a maggid, he said, he became wealthy, and he started to collect, he started to learn a little bit. So this is the answer to this person.

The Rebbe said further: even the Alter Rebbe was also a collector — he wrote the Tanya not [only] from himself, because it says that he collected from all different [sources], and then collected and made a [compilation], but he didn't [originate] it all himself, because there [is a reason] — [unclear]. And by the way, some people think that it was written by the Frierdiker Rebbe, [but] it was written by the Rebbe — the Rebbe was a collector, the Rebbe collected and put every saying of the Frierdiker Rebbe on certain dates, but he was also [unclear]. So it's important to be [a collector] — it's very important — but not with your own ideas.

What is the lesson from this story? The Frierdiker Rebbe writes — when we came to America, he wrote this about speakers, lecturers: whenever you speak, don't say your own ideas, your own philosophy — say first of all the source, where it comes from, always go to the source. And he mentioned in a [place]: whoever [speaks], ninety-five percent he says his own ideas, and only five percent he brings the sources. Bring sources for what you speak, bring where it comes from — don't say your own ideas, and say the right thing for the right reason. This is the lesson that people should have — this is the lesson that we learn out from here.

I'll tell you — even Rabbi Mindel, you know, he took dictation — let's [say], I have [letters] from the early years, and the Rebbe relied on him, he composed the letters. On one letter the Rebbe crossed out everything — the Rebbe spoke, he took dictation, but apparently he didn't understand — even he, sometimes you can speak and say, but you have to — don't say your own ideas. Sometimes he thought this is what the Rebbe meant, and that's not what the Rebbe meant — he had to do the letter over again. So anyway, this is a lesson that we can learn out from this story that I told you.

Now I'll end off with a letter — a short letter that the Rebbe wrote to somebody about a collector. Greeting and blessing: "This is a reply to your letter, in which you write that you are an avid collector of stamps" — he collects stamps — "and would like to have the enclosed first-day envelope returned with the Rebbe's autograph." I have here — he said — I have the envelope that he sent to the Rebbe with a stamp, and he wants the Rebbe should sign his name on that — this is what a collector [wants].

So the Rebbe answered like this: "I regret I cannot comply with your request. On the other hand, since everything is by Divine Providence, and you have taken the trouble to write to me, I take it as an indication that I should use this opportunity of calling your attention to a matter which is related to your hobby. This is, that every Jew is to be an avid collector of mitzvos and good deeds in everyday life, and these are indeed the most valuable and precious things that a Jew can collect — so much so, that our sages declared that one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the world to come" — and he brings down the possuk.

"Moreover," the Rebbe says, "this is the kind of collection which a Jew can constantly enrich day after day, without recourse to special postal issues and autographs — it is only a matter of one's own personal will and determination. I trust, therefore, that you too are an avid collector of mitzvos and good deeds, and that in compliance with the great principle of 'love your fellow Jew as yourself,' you are using your good influence to inspire others in this direction, by example and precept."

And this is a collector — so this is the hero, that every person should collect mitzvos. And again — when a person says something, don't say your own ideas, always bring a source — bring a source from the Rebbe, bring a source from the [sefer] — stick to that source and don't give your own ideas.

Next week we have our weekly program. Thank you.