כיצד המצוות מגינות על חיילים

00:00 Speaker 1 This is Igeris, and we are continuing in our new volume, volume twenty-nine, Chaf Tes, from the year תש"ל, exactly fifty years ago, with, uh, with some disappointment. There's some disappointment at how relevant some of these letters are now. The Rebbe spends a considerable amount of time addressing the Yom Kippur War in this volume, and unfortunately, we are reading it fifty years later and seeing just how clearly a lot of what is said here applies to the current war in Israel, which began on Simchat Torah. May everyone there be safe and be granted miraculous nitzachim. Amen. Yesterday, we talked about how our modern soldiers are engaged in a melachmas mitzvah, at the very least, a war that is a mitzvah, and therefore, regardless of religiosity, they do enjoy the benefits of this that are discussed in Rambam. We saw four major blessings that come to every single soldier fighting for a mitzvah and fighting in Eretz Yisrael right now to defend the Jewish people. That included, uh, protection from harm, guarantee of a legacy of children and grandchildren, a bayis ne'eman b'Yisrael, and olam haba. Incredible blessings come to our soldiers, whether they are religious or not, as the Rebbe defends at length in the letters that we saw yesterday. But this doesn't mean that soldiers aren't expected to adhere to Torah and mitzvahs however possible while they are at war. And in this letter, in the letters that we're going to look at today, the Rebbe sometimes quite harshly, uh, reminds soldiers that being on

01:08 Speaker 1 active duty does not exempt them from Yiddishkeit. And adaraba, uh, soldiers-- to the contrary, soldiers need to be more careful with Torah and mitzvahs than anybody else and are more capable of being careful about Torah and mitzvahs than anybody else, as the Rebbe proves at length in some of these letters. So without further ado, today's letter is from exactly fifty years ago, and the Rebbe says the following. Uh, Shalom Uvrachah, b'meinan umachtavi. The Rebbe writes, "Yihyu ratzon. Shebekarav ma mei shivas hateiv b'teva niraveh un nigleh b'chol nina shekesiv." It should be God's will that very soon we should hear good news in a revealed way for all of the things that you're writing about. "Uvinyan aykar sheimaleh shemisbarach bareh elok manhigah im meshales levavah leiv kolech vechach lateivah." Specifically, that God should fulfill, that is the creator of the world and the one who runs the world should fulfill all of the desires of your heart and the heart of all of those, of every single person for good. "Uvelashon hakadosh b'Toraseinu b'Torassei Toras Chayim." In the language of his Torah, the Torah of life, v'Toras Emes, also the Torah of truth. "Ve'nasati shalom ba'aretz." There should be peace in the land. "Uveshavtem ein macharid." And you'll rest, and there will be nobody there to, uh, to, uh, cause fear in you. I guess macharid is like to cause charadah. "V'cherav lo sa'avar be'artzem." And a sword will not pass in your land. "Ve'nasati mishkani vasech echam." I'll put my dwelling among you. "Vayisi lachem

02:19 Speaker 1 l'Elokim." I'll be your God. "Vatemti li le'am." And you'll be my nation. You'll be to me a nation. "V'elech eschem k'yamiyus." And you will walk, you will go upright. This is in Parshas Pinchas. These are berachahs of peace in the land. "L'kabel zechus kolech ameg amegen al arteinu hakdeshah v'amena kadesh hadar bah." Great is the merit of every single person who defends our land, our holy land, and our nation, our holy nation, and every single person-- w- I'm sorry, our holy nation which lives there, hadar bah. So that is, great is the merit of every single person who protects our holy land and all those who protect the holy nation who lives there. "L'ma'ar ki ambrachah zu b'eifen hachi tov." This part of the letter I have no explanation for. It's just wild. The Rebbe says, "This ful- this hurries, this hastens the fulfillment of the berachah in Pinchas, b'eifen hachi tov, but in the best way." In the best way. The best way to fulfill this berachah is through the people who are currently defending Eretz Yisrael, through the soldiers. That the soldiers are fulfilling are the main fulfillments of the berachah ve'nasati shalom ba'aretz. "K'mashne amar ki Hashem l'chacham yisalech b'ker machanecha." As it says in the pasuk, where do you find God? Walking in the camps of soldiers. "Ki Hashem l'chacham yisalech b'ker machanecha." God walks, God goes, k'viaycha, walks in the midst of your camp, your war camp. "La'atzilcha," to save you, "ulasei zeichecha lefanecha," and to give your enemies before

03:30 Speaker 1 you. "Vayam machanecha kadesh," and you should make your camp holy, as in Parshas Ki Seitzei. "Uv'frat hayi legadol bitchanan be'vayam mikveh Yisrael meshiah." Specifically through great trust in Hashem, who is the Mikveh Yisrael, and is also the one who saves them. "V'lo yira v'lo yifchad." Nobody should be afraid. No one should be scared. "Sh'ma al yira chlivavechem." The Rebbe is now speaking like the Kohen HaMashiah l'Milchamah. He's talking to soldiers and telling them, just like the Kohen used to before they would go out to war, "Al yira chlivavechem," don't be afraid. "Al tiru v'al tach bizot al ta'aritz mikne'em." Don't be afraid in all the different ways they will make you afraid. See Rambam in Hilchot Melachim. The Rebbe puts the source there. "V'harichus" that soldiers are not allowed to be afraid because they trust in Hashem, and Hashem will help them. And now the Rebbe gives them some practical advice. Although actually, all of that was practical advice. Some practical advice and practical mitzvahs. "L'kodem kam apam," as we spoke about many times, "s'gulam yichudes hu zeh l'mitzvas tefillin." The great segulah for protection during times of war is mitzvas tefillin. Tefillin shel yad k'neged ha'lev, tefillin shel rosh. Uh, "Shebitchech shebitchech nam haruchani lashabed liba hargah sh'lai v'sich li sheb'rosh l'Hashem hametzavah mitzvas b'chalav mitzvas tefillin b'frat." The point of a mitzvah is that it takes your heart, it's meshobed it, it g- makes it sub- it makes it subdued relative to the mind, so the mind should be able to control the

04:37 Speaker 1 heart, and that the head should then focus the heart toward the metzavah mitzvas, the one who commands the mitzvas, uh, and, and specifically the mitzvas of tefillin. "Lizeh omam sh'yechich Hashem im eis ha'yadav." This will bring down a berachah of Hashem and all the things that they do with their hands. "Uv'sich le," and also what they do with their minds, "v'rosh," and their heads. "Udegelam she'milchamah m'yuchad." Specifically when it comes to those involved in war, "Nitzachon hamilchamah" will give them victory at war. "K'mevor b'zeh v'hilchot K'dan sefer tefillin l'ha'rash." And you will find this in the Rash. I didn't know that, but apparently you will find this in the Rash, going all the way back there, that war victory comes from wearing tefillin. "Berachah la'atzlacham s'dutas zeh b'chol mamon teich priyas usimcha." V'nikavis meberachah for success and good news and all of the things we mentioned, within health and within joy, and the Rebbe's signature. There's obviously a million things we can pull out of this letter, and I'm not promising that I won't come back to the letter again tomorrow, but I do wanna talk about a prat here, which is, "Ki havay l'chacham yisalech b'ker machanecha la'atzilcha lasei zeichecha lefanecha vayam machanecha kadesh." The Rebbe does not include part of the pasuk in here. Part of the pasuk is that if they don't keep mitzvas, "Yeshav me'acharecha," chas v'shalom. That if the Yidden when they're at war are not keeping mitzvahs carefully enough, that there's going to be a defeat, God forbid. So,

05:44 Speaker 1 uh, in the pasuk, the pasuk is very clear that when they keep mitzvahs at war, they will have victory, and if not, chas v'shalom, not. What I wanna point out that's really interesting, and I looked very carefully, please, if you find an exception to this rule, let me know. I searched and searched and searched. I don't find anything after the Yom Kippur War Where the Rebbe ever mentions the second half of that . It's not in sichas, it's not in letters. The idea that if people don't keep mitzvahs, they'll get hurt does, God forbid, does not get mentioned again in letters. But it's mentioned a lot in letters before the Yom Kippur War. In most of the Rebbe's letters to soldiers, he specifically holds that over their heads and says, "Do mitzvahs or else bad things might happen," and he never does that again after the Yom Kippur War as far as I can tell. I wanna show you some of those letters where the Rebbe both encourages soldiers to keep mitzvahs and also tells them that if they don't, it could be a problem. And I wanna point out that I, I don't think this ha-- I, I think this-- the Rebbe doesn't, doesn't mention this again after the chufs really. So this is, these are early letters. So we have some things of value in here anyway, but that particular prop that you're gonna see in some of these letters, this negative side, the Rebbe does not say it after the, uh, after

06:41 Speaker 1 the chufs. Not that I could find. Okay, here the Rebbe's writing to a soldier who told him that he doesn't think he can keep Torah and mitzvahs because he's at war. He goes, "I, I'm, I'm a soldier, I'm busy, I have things I have to do. I can't be keeping Torah and mitzvahs." The Rebbe says, "Impossible." So this letter is Igris volume sixteen, page three twenty-seven, where the Rebbe encourages soldiers to keep mitzvahs even when it's difficult. The Rebbe writes, . That is, "It is my great hope that you will-- it is my hope," says the Rebbe, "that you will not only be mahader in mitzvahs," that is you'll do hiddur, you'll go, you'll go above and beyond in your mitzvahs while, uh, while a soldier. You'll also affect your friends and help them do mitzvahs. It's not like those who make the astounding error that because they're found in the military, they're un-- they're not able to keep Torah and mitzvahs. "That's an astounding error," says the Rebbe. Excuse me. "This is one of the strategies of the Yetzer Hara. It tries to trap people into its rashus." "The Torah is full of the fact that it is in fact the opposite." "The people need to be keeping Torah and mitzvahs the very most are soldiers who find themselves at war." "This doesn't just protect the individual doing the mitzvah. When one soldier in a battalion does a mitzvah, it protects the entire battalion, it protects the entire military, it protects the entire country.

08:06 Speaker 1 It's not just about the individual. This guy puts on tefillin, he'll be saved. This guy puts on tefillin, the whole military gets saved." That's the passage we quoted earlier. God walks in the camp of battle, and he protects us. There shouldn't be any averas in the camp, and that would cause God to leave from, leave from you. Uh, God forbid. This shows that there can only be success when God is walking in the midst of the camp. So you see a lot of, uh, this is a negativity. It's not negativity, it's from the Rebbe, it's always positive. But this is a sort of a, a, a stick instead of a carrot that you just don't see in later letters. "This could cause the opposite outcome, God forbid," says the Rebbe. If somebody is-- if, if there is a chalishus in mitzvahs in these camps. "If you do find that it's difficult as a soldier to keep Torah and mitzvahs," "it's my s-sincere hope that when you turn to the Rav of the army," this is of course talking in Israel where they have a Rav of the entire army, "they'll be able to arrange things" This of course applies to the entire army. Nothing can stand in front of Ratzen. What the Rebbe is saying here is that it is especially important for soldiers to keep Torah and mitzvahs. The idea that soldiers can't because they're at war seems to contradict the Torah. The Torah says that people at war are able to keep Torah

09:28 Speaker 1 and mitzvahs. Obviously, I guess we do have to say this very clearly, although it shouldn't be necessary to say. This doesn't apply when it is a mitzvah not to keep mitzvahs, right? There are situations like over Yom Tov or over Shabbos where soldiers need to go fight, uh, and we're not talking about that at all. We're talking about the idea that a soldier will be, will be unable to put on tefillin, will be unable to keep mitzvahs because they are soldiers, is something that seems to contradict the Torah itself. The Torah tells us that God will walk in your camp and that the, the God's right there right now. Holiness is accessible to them and protects them. I think there's something in here for those of us who are not soldiers too, which is that we need to be encouraging mitzvahs among the soldiers. Of course, those in Eretz Yisrael need to do this, and we need to do it remotely however possible. I'm not sure exactly how Americans right now can be encouraging Torah and mitzvahs among soldiers, but it seems that this is a top priority of the Rebbe for protecting them, and I'm certain that it's more valuable than refreshing my feed repeatedly. So, uh, definitely something to keep in mind. Let's look at a couple other letters that have a similar idea. This is a letter from Teshrin Yo-ches. The letter is above kuf nun daled. So this person writes to the Rebbe, and he says in this first line that

10:30 Speaker 1 he's worried. The Rebbe says, "You wrote to me that you're worried you're surrounded by people who are not Frum because you're in the military, in the military there aren't a lot of Frum people. You're afraid that it's gonna affect you negatively," and the Rebbe does not buy it. The Rebbe says, "Don't be afraid of your, don't be afraid of your non-religious, uh, comrades in arms." "It's the opposite. Since you're in the army," "increasing mitzvahs, increasing carefulness with mitzvahs is required of those who are in the military who find themselves in a situation of war. They need to keep mitzvahs even more than those who do not." "This is not just going to help you, it's going to help the entire tzvah." There's another yusaid we're seeing in several letters from the Rebbe now that when a soldier does a mitzvah, it protects the entire military, not just that soldier. As it says there, once again, you have that you just don't see in later letters. "Since God is demanding this of them, certainly it's something that can be fulfilled." "It would be appropriate." "Connect to Chabad and try to increase in Torah and mitzvahs," the Rebbe says. He's giving him advice. He's telling him that he needs to learn-- say tefillin every day, that he should daven every morning. He should daven every morning and afterwards say tefillin. The Rebbe gives him some advice on how to keep more Torah and mitzvahs while he's in the military. We see here, and this you do see

11:55 Speaker 1 in future letters, although we don't see that negative piece at the end where the Rebbe says, "What might happen if they don't keep mitzvahs, ?" We do see all the way through Igris the theme that the Rebbe's telling soldiers that not only can they keep Torah and mitzvahs while they are soldiers, they should be keeping it more carefully than everybody else because it protects everybody This is from, this is in volume Yud Ches, and the letter is Vav Tav Kuf Ayin, and the year is Tav Shin Yud Tes. The Rebbe writes here, "I've already said a bunch of times, I've already told many people who are in your situation, that is a situation of war, a situation of military, a situation of being in the army, every single Jew, of course, needs to accept the yoke of heaven and the yoke of mitzvahs. But this applies even more to those who are in the military. They have a specific commandment about this, they have an additional mitzvah that nobody else has. I'm not at war right now, so I don't have the mitzvah of they have that mitzvah uniquely. So a soldier has one mitzvah that nobody else has. That is to keep their camp holy. And how they act has an effect on the security of the entire military, as the psukim say, He goes on and says the psukim we've read already. Since you learned, uh, since based on your letter, you did previously learn you used to learn in yeshivas, since you

13:23 Speaker 1 are a yeshiva student," he says to yeshiva students who find themselves in the military, "it is therefore their job to explain this to everybody else in the military and help them understand that it is specifically their responsibility to increase in Torah and mitzvahs for their own safety, for the safety of everybody else, more than they did before they were in a situation of war, a situation of military." Okay, that's it for now.

13:44 Speaker 2 I just, I just wanna know if you have any, any interpretation into the change in the Rebbe's lashon from, from before you went to war to after, like-

13:52 Speaker 1 It's such, it's such an obvious shift because in the letters afterwards, um, he still quotes the pasuk and he cuts off the end. And that's something that up until then, he was-- And you see in these prior letters, a lot of them, he's being pretty harsh. He puts in things like he's very explicit. The Rebbe wanted them to know in early years that if they didn't keep Torah and mitzvahs, they were gonna get hurt. And that's what it says in these letters.

14:12 Speaker 2 Yeah, the first, the first one was even, the first one was like, like, like very strong as well. The first letter-

14:16 Speaker 1 Yeah

14:16 Speaker 2 ... that you showed, it was very, it was very strong. The Rebbe said very strongly that, uh... Not this one, the other one, the, the-

14:22 Speaker 1 Right

14:22 Speaker 2 ... the first one of this part where, you know, very-- The Rebbe basically says, "If you don't, if you're not, uh, if you're not gonna follow, who knows what could happen to you?"

14:30 Speaker 1 I don't know. Uh, one possibility is that the Rebbe always knows who he's talking to, you know? Uh, it could be that as generations change, the Rebbe realizes that's not an effective message. Uh, it could be that something actually changed, changed, and that I don't understand the spirituality and that, that was no longer the masov, that they were, that they were at risk if they didn't. I, I, I don't know. I don't know. The important thing I think for us is that, uh, that we have to be careful. You know, one of the major pitfalls of letters is that if you pull out a letter, you might think you have the Rebbe's whole shita, but in fact, he's writing to a place and a time. Uh, noticing that after a certain year, the Rebbe never used this lashon again, I think is a, a sort of a red flag for us that this is not a piece of the Rebbe's lashon to use right now because I didn't find it after, uh, I didn't find it at all in the past fifty years. So, uh, while that is something the Rebbe once said, it's not something the Rebbe continued to say. This is something the Rebbe continued to say, that soldiers need to be extra careful with mitzvahs, they need to strengthen their mitzvahs, that when they, that when they do that, they're protected. That the Rebbe says all the way down, but that when they don't, they're not, I don't think it belongs in

15:25 Speaker 1 our lexicon because the Rebbe stopped saying it.