The Holiness of the Kinus Hashluchim

Welcome to our weekly Mivtza Yiddishkeit Shabbos program. This program is a continuation of last week.

Last week we spoke that every Yid is a shliach, learned from Avraham Avinu. Every Yid has a shlichus in this world. And even though we have a Shulchan Aruch that tells us what our shlichus is, nevertheless some people are called shluchim and some people are not called shluchim. Even though all chassidim are ein mishpacha achas, one mishpacha, and all Yidden are shluchim of Hashem, there is a difference between people that go to Kinus Hashluchim and people that don't. And what do people at Kinus Hashluchim know — what should they know?

As Rabbi Hodakov mentioned — and I'm going to share with you a vort of Rabbi Hodakov and also of the head shliach, I have it written down — but first, before that, I want to mention that I found a letter. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, that I was looking for it, and I found it.

A younger man wrote to the Rebbe — a chossid — that he's a teacher. He's a melamed of tinokos shel beis rabban, he teaches younger grades. He also teaches older grades, and he's very much matzliach. But since the Rebbe — now this was the late 70s, early 80s — was speaking about Chabad Houses, so he wants to become a shliach. Till now he's a teacher, and now he wants to become a shliach and open a Chabad House. This is what he writes to the Rebbe.

Now, first of all, the Rebbe was not happy with that letter. Like the Rebbe gave — he gave a line over there, he wrote. The Rebbe wrote like this: "Who says that a teacher is not a shliach?" And at the bottom of the material the Rebbe wrote a few little things of his own: "If a teacher teaches, and the base of this you have to build, you cannot stop. What can be greater shlichus than a teacher? So why do you say that you want to become a shliach? What do you do now?" And then the Rebbe says, "I am a shliach of the Frierdiker Rebbe" — oh, he swore — "and I am a teacher, Chumash and Rashi, pshuto shel mikra," the Rebbe taught. The Rebbe taught this, like a teacher.

So from here we learn the concept that the idea that you have to go open a Chabad House to be a shliach is not correct. No, I'm not saying it — this is from the Rebbe, you could see here. Anybody who does holy work is a shliach of the Rebbe; he's a shliach of the Meshaleiach. What could be higher than teaching children Torah?

Even though Kinus Hashluchim is very important — the Rebbe has spoken about Kinus Hashluchim, that [unclear] will bring Moshiach. They will look at what they do, look at the holy work that they do. But we have to know that it has to stay holy, that they shouldn't waste time on things that do not belong to them, as Rabbi Hodakov writes, and I'll share with you soon.

A lot of time — Kinus Hashluchim is holy. People come together, shluchim, everyone helps each other. But people should come together for the right idea, not to waste time. Some people come for the pictures — it's very important to take pictures, I'll show you what he said soon — but that's not the main thing. The banquet is important, it's not the main thing. PR is important, but it's not the main thing.

And sometimes shluchim spend so many years building the house with the money, and they go into debts, and all the while time is being taken away from making people — from bringing people closer to [unclear]. These are words from the Rebbe.

So people have to know what is the main thing and what is the secondary — the ikar and the tofel. And what is the ikar of the shluchim? PR is important, but that's not the main thing, and some people spend too much time on PR.

When somebody — somebody said somebody's looking for a shidduch, he wants a good husband. So he says to the shadchan, "Give me a good husband." He says, "Oh, I have a husband, my mission — I have the best husband in the world, he's marvelous." So the father says to him, "Marvelous, I know — but tell me, does he have da'as?" So the shadchan says, "He has no da'as." "He has no da'as? I don't want him." It's impossible.

Everything has a mildness and a harshness. There is a mildness of shluchim, there is a mildness of a Kinus, but there's harshness too, and we have to mention the mildness and the harshness. Not only mildness — you know, they do a lot of interviews, which is good, and they make a beautiful PR, beautiful. But a person has to mention also what is missing — Moshiach is not here. Because if the shluchim would do 100%, Moshiach would be here already. So we're spending too much time — everything is good, but it's also not all good.

You know, he'arah al he'avar — these are holy words from Rabbi Hodakov — he'arah al he'avar, kabbalah tovah al haba. You have to be mekabel al haba, but there has to be he'arah al he'avar — what didn't we do? Not everything is good. Everything that we did that is good, that the Rebbe wanted — but we have to know also what should have been done and wasn't done, to make a cheshbon hanefesh. So the Kinus is basically a cheshbon hanefesh, just like Elul. We have to sit down and think: what didn't we do, and what should we do better? And this is what should be spoken — not everything is 100%. And Rabbi Hodakov mentioned this is an important point.

He said the words — and this I wrote down — he spoke to Rabbi Mendel about it in the early years of Kinus Hashluchim. He says, it says in the Torah, "Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenosecha Yisrael" — how good are your tents, Yaakov, mishkan, the dwelling place of Israel. Yaakov Avinu was called Yaakov and Yisrael. So by "ohalecha," tent, he says the word Yaakov. By "mishkenosecha" he says the word Yisrael. Yaakov is eikev, that's the lower part of a Yid; Yisrael is rosh, that's the higher part. Ohalecha, tent, is temporary; mishkenosecha is permanent.

A shliach should know — Rabbi Hodakov said — what is ikar and what is tofel. Don't make the tofel the ikar, and the ikar the tofel. He has to know that ohalecha, the tent, is temporary. A shliach, he says, must have a desk, of course should have a car, he should have a Chabad House, he should have a typewriter, should have a telephone for sure — but that's ohalecha, that is temporary, that is the lower level of a Yid, of a shliach. Mishkenosecha, the ikar, is what's in the Chabad House.

How many people — he writes here — does a person make a cheshbon hanefesh: how many people became shomer Shabbos this year? How many people could I have made shomer Shabbos if I wouldn't spend money on PR, time on PR, or other gashmiyus'dike things? The ikar is mishkenosecha, Yisrael, the dwelling place — that's the ikar of a Yid.

And the same thing also — people come to Kinus Hashluchim, some come with a good cover, of course, and some are important, the pictures are important — they're important, but that's not the ikar of the Kinus. The Kinus has to be more ruchniyus, and people should know what we should have done and we didn't do. Not everything, all the interviews, are 100% — they're not 100%, not everything is 100%. And when people know the [unclear] of hisorerus then they'll accomplish what they have to. This is from Rabbi Hodakov. You have to make the ikar an ikar and the tofel a tofel, not a tofel ikar and an ikar tofel.

This is one thing I want to tell you. Another thing I want to tell you, and this is from Rabbi Korf [unclear — "of Oholei Torah Sholom"], like I said. I had a couple of years before he passed away, I spoke to him for a while, a long time, and he explained to me — he told me — why aren't some teachers in Kinus Hashluchim. What's the difference between being a shliach or a person that's not called a shliach? He does good work, but he's not a shliach.

This person, he says, a teacher teaches 7 hours a day, 6 hours a day. He goes home, he does a good job, but he's home. During the day he teaches, he has a job, and he does a good job, but he's not 24 hours. A shliach means, he says, has to be 24 hours in shlichus. That person belongs in Kinus Hashluchim. That's what he told me. And he says — I mean he was the head of Florida — he says he has to work on some shluchim that he doesn't know whether they belong in Kinus Hashluchim, he told me. He has to work at it. That's beside the point.

So in other words, the shluchim have to be 24 hours. And he tells me, from the Rebbe — I saw it also in a letter — Zevulun has to be Zevulun, Yissachar is Yissachar. Yissachar should not take the job of Zevulun; Zevulun should not take the job of Yissachar. And he tells me, if a shliach has another job, or he's involved in real estate or even hashgacha, and that's his job 5-6 hours a day, he says, why is he a shliach? Why does he belong in Kinus Hashluchim? He told me this. A shliach means 24 hours. He says there are many shluchim that have other things — so, so they — it's the same thing also: a teacher teaches, so he should also be in Kinus Hashluchim.

This is what I heard from Rabbi Korf, and I feel he was — he was an emissary, he was an elder shliach, and he was right — he actually did a lot, and I wanted to repeat what he said. We shouldn't forget about these inyanim — what is the ikar and what is not the ikar. So Kinus Hashluchim means that there has to be the ruchniyus, that everybody who is 24 hours in shlichus — people have other jobs, then they do good things, and maybe they need other jobs, nobody says no — but to be quoted, what the Rebbe wanted, this whole thing of Kinus Hashluchim — he doesn't know what — that's part of it. Anyway, so I thought I would mention this to you.

Now, this Shabbos — next week is the week before Kinus Hashluchim — so there's more things that I wanted to say about Kinus Hashluchim, what Rabbi Hodakov mentioned. All written — Rabbi Hodakov has spoken to Rabbi Mentlik, these are from the early years. So this Shabbos, next week, we will continue more inyanim about why they are so important, the inyan of Kinus Hashluchim. But one thing we have to know: by the Rebbe, shluchim was tops. They will stand in front of Moshiach and they will bring Moshiach. But we have to do the right thing for the right reason.

This Shabbos, next week, we'll continue a week of the program. Thank you.