Vayikra: 5783 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a wonderful story from Reb Sholom Poizner, a chossid of the Rebbe Rashab, and the message for our times. On the occasion of 2 Nissan, the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Rashab. At the conclusion…

00:00 Speaker 1 Rabbi Sonnenfeld, please.

00:02 Speaker 2 Today, 2 Nissan, is the yahrzeit of the Rebbe Rashab.

00:07 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:11 Speaker 2 I heard an interesting story. My wife’s grandfather was named Rabbi Sholom Posner. He studied in Lubavitch under the Rebbe Rashab. Pesach was approaching. By then, the Rebbe Rashab had already left Lubavitch. There was a revolution, there was a war, and he had to leave Lubavitch. He came to Rostov. He came to Rostov. My wife’s grandfather was a young man studying in Lubavitch at the time, studying Tanya with the others, and he decided that for Pesach he would travel to the Rebbe. He wanted to be with the Rebbe for Pesach. That meant traveling to Rostov, a very great distance. And those were the years of revolution and war. Traveling by train then was a matter of life and death. They could seize a Jew—if they saw a Jew on the train, they could grab him and throw him out the window. But several of the young men decided they were going for Pesach, traveling to Rostov to the Rebbe Rashab. And the Rebbe kept asking whether they had arrived yet. He was very, very worried about them. In any case, my wife’s grandfather recounted something he himself saw and heard from the Rebbe Rashab. This was during the Communist Revolution, when they had taken control of everything. The Rebbe Rashab was standing at the window, and a procession of Communist youths passed down the street, marching with flags and singing songs. The Rebbe stood at the window and watched. He said, “They think that now they’ve finished off Judaism once and for all. As long as one Jew remains in the world, they haven’t even begun. Avraham was one man.” And he was called Avraham the Hebrew. Why? Because he stood on one side, and the entire world stood on the other. Avraham was one man, and from Avraham came all the Jewish people. So as long as one Jew remains in the world, they haven’t even begun. And especially when there are so many Jews. This applies to our own times: sometimes, when we see what’s happening today and wonder, “What’s going to happen here?”—we have nothing to worry about.

02:21 Speaker 1 We can relax.

02:22 Speaker 2 As long as there is one Jew in the world, they haven’t even begun.

02:25 Speaker 1 They haven’t even begun. Excellent.