The children (Part VIII): Foundation of Tzivos Hashem

00:00 Behemsach in reference to the earlier installments regarding Tzivas HaShem, we continue now with installment number eight. In this final installment, we will cite from an exceptional letter in which the Rebbe explains his choice in establishing this campaign using title of army and wars, et cetera. The letter is dated the twenty-sixth of Teves of Shin Men Beis, January twenty-first, nineteen eighty-two. Rebbe begins the letter, "Greeting and blessing. This is my first opportunity to acknowledge receipt of your letter, uh, of December fifteenth, nineteen eighty-one. In it, after kindly paying tribute to the work of the Lubavitch movement, you express your reservations about the quote-unquote Tzivas HaShem campaign on the ground that it is based, quote, 'On the glorification of the military and an aggrandizement of arms, wars, and battlefields,' unquote. A letter is hardly the proper medium to explain fully the reasons that impelled us to introduce the establishment of the Tzivas HaShem organization. The purpose which is to bring young Jewish children closer to Torah mitzvahs as I am glad to note you fully recognize. Needless to say, it was done after due deliberation, which I can only briefly outline in this letter. To begin with, Tzivas HaShem, as you surely know, is not a foreign idea. It is first mentioned in the Torah in reference to HaShem's hosts who were liberated from Egyptian bondage. The term is clearly not used in the military sense, rather it indicates that the hosts who had been enslaved to Paroh to serve him were now HaShem's hosts, free to

02:22 serve HaShem and HaShem al-alone. Of course, the Torah does not glorify militarism, war, and the like. On the contrary, as quoted, 'Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace,' unquote. And as our sages declare, uh, quote, 'The Torah was given to bring peace in the wo-- into the world,' unquote. And quoting another verse, 'There is no greater divine blessing than peace,' and much more in this vein. Parenthetically, with all the emphasis on pacifism, the Torah from the root of the word teaching also provides guidance in situations where military action is necessary and prescribes the laws of warfare, as you are, of course, aware. To be sure, Rabbi Akiva's fame rests on his spiritual contribution, but there was a time when he found it necessary to be Bar Kokhba's arms bearer, as the Rambam notes in his code, Hilchot Melachim 11:2. When the Tzivas HaShem was instituted recently, careful consideration was given to using a minimum of military trappings and only such as would be consistent with the spirit of the Torah. For example, spying missions, quote-unquote, which you mention in your letter as one of your objections, was categorically excluded. Furthermore, the whole campaign is limited to children of pre-bar mitzvah and pre-bat mitzvah age. The idea is that reaching that age, they become full-fledged Yidden, and by then they will have had the benefit of the experience and will realize that it had served its purpose for them. The question is, since the term Tzivas HaShem would seem to some

04:51 people to smack of militarism, what were the o-overriding reasons that outweighed such reservations as you expressed in your letter? Could not the same results be achieved through other means or other methods? This brings us to the core of the problem. As an educator, you know that children need motivation, but that is only one aspect of the problem. The most important aspect, in my opinion, in this day and age, is the lack of kabbalah seil, acceptance of the yoke. Not only of ka-- malchus Shamayim, the yoke of the sovereignty of a heaven, but also general in submission to authority, including the authority of parents at home and of teachers in school, and the authority of law and order in the street. There remains only the fear of punishment as a deterrent, but that fear has been reduced to a minimum because There has in recent years been what amounts to a breakdown of law enforcement for reasons which need not to be discussed here. On the other hand, American children have been brought up on the spirit of independence and freedom and on the glorification of personal prowess and smartness. It has cultivated a sense of self-assurance to the extent that one who is bent on mischief or anti-social activity feels that one can outsmart a cop on the beat and even a judge on the bench. And in any event, there is little to fear in the way of punishment. As with every health problem, physical, mental, or spiritual, the cure lies not in treating

06:56 the symptoms, but in attacking the cause. Although the former may sometimes be necessary for relief in acute cases. Since, as mentioned, the root of the problem is the lack of Kabbalah sale, I thought long and hard about finding a way of inducing an American child to get used to the idea of subordination to a higher authority. Despite all the influence to the contrary in the school, in the street, and even at home, where parents not wishing to be bothered by their children have all too often abdicated their authority and left it to others to deal with truancy, juvenile delinquency, etc. I came to the conclusion that there was no other way than trying to affect a basic change in the nature. Through a system of discipline and obedience to rules which she, he can be induced to get accustomed to. Moreover, for this method to be effective, it would be necessary that it should be freely and readily accepted without coercion. The idea itself is, of course, not a novel one. It has already been emphasized by the Rambam in the introduction to his commentary on Mishnayos, where he points out that although ideally good things should be done for their own sake, it is necessary to use inducements with young children until they are old enough to know better. Thus, a quote-unquote pilot Tzivas Hashem was instituted. It immediately proved a great success in getting the children to do good things in keeping the motto of V'hafta l'reyacha kamecha, thou shall love thy neighbor

09:00 as thyselves. Coupled with love and obedience to the commander-in-chief of Tzivas Hashem, namely Hashem Elokei Hatzovos, God of hosts. The Tzivas Hashem campaign has a further reward, though not widely applicable to children attending Hebrew schools. This, too, has already been alluded to by our sages in their customary succinct way by saying that a person born with a violent nature should become a bloodletting physician or a sheikhet or a male in order to give a positive outlet into his strong natural propensity, as the Talmud discusses in the tractate of Shabbos. Thus, children that might be inclined to aggressiveness and hence easy candidates for street gangs and the like would have a positive outlet by diverting their energy in the right direction. This brings us to the point that although the ideal of peace is so prominent in the Torah as mentioned, the fact is that Hashem designed and created the world in a way that leaves man subject to an almost constant inner strife, having to wage relentless battle with the Yetzirah, evil inclination. Indeed, the Zayyar points out that the Hebrew term for bread, lechem, is derived from the same root that denotes war, symbolizing the concept of the continuous struggle between the base and sublime natures in man. Whether he eats his bread as a glutton in a way an animal eats its food or on a higher level to keep the body healthy in order to be able to do what is good and right in accordance with the will of the Creator.

11:12 This is the only kind of battle the Tzivas Hashem are called upon to wage. By the same token, the only quote-unquote secret weapon they are encouraged to use is strict Shabbos observance and other mitzvahs which have been the secret of the strength of Am Yisrael throughout the ages. Our experience with Tzivas Hashem, wherever the idea has been implemented in the United States and Canada, Eretz Yisrael, and in many parts of the world, has completely convinced us of its most successful positive results with no negative side effects whatever. I can only hope that it will be adopted in other sectors outside of Lubavitch in growing numbers. And the Rebbe begins concluding the letter, I trust that the above lines will not only put to rest all your apprehensions concerning Tzivas Hashem, but will also place you in the company of the many prominent educators and spiritual leaders who have enthusiastically acclaimed the Tzivas Hashem operation as uniquely successful in attaining its desirable goal. With esteem and blessing, the Rebbe assigns his signature.