[Gluboka]
I am happy and grateful to G-d for the warm acceptance of my proposal that the
rabbanim and
shochtim and householders of this region combine their endeavors to fortify the practice of
Yiddishkeit and to iron out some minor cases of dissension. It is gratifying to learn with what earnestness and joy a delegation of dignitaries now visiting Gluboka called on the senior
rav of the local chassidic communities, the learned Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kupershtoch, and elected a provisional committee which will study the communal status reports made by the visiting personages and which will draft a plan of action.
Daily experience shows that words of arousal are blessed with success. A Jewish heart is open to the words of an arouser and indeed waits for him. This is also true of men and women, young or old, who may have strayed a trifle from the observance of the commandments. (May the Compassionate One guide them back to the proper path, not through suffering but through love!) They, too, find their way closer to Yiddishkeit in response to appropriate words of arousal.
Everything is in the hands of the arouser or guide. Accordingly, at today's pleasurable encounter I would like to express some thoughts about the activities which have been proposed.
A man's health depends on his head and his heart and on the structure of his body in general. When the body is properly proportioned, each organ with its appropriate weight and measure, and the head and heart function in unison, the individual is healthy and robust.
The Jewish people as a whole constitute a human frame. Moreover, each individual Jewish community in itself constitutes a human frame, comprising three elements -- head, heart, and the other organs. When each of these elements makes its own most appropriate contribution to the common good, the result is the vigorous frame of a man in the fullest sense -- adam. In the words of the Sages, "You are called man (adam)," the man for whom the world was created. The Creator says, "I made the earth, and I created man upon it." The earth was made for the sake of the adam, and he in turn was created so that he should be able to fulfill G-d's 613 commandments. Indeed, the numerical value of barasi ("I created") equals 613.
In every Jewish community, the head of this corporate stature is the local rav; the local shochtim together constitute its heart; and the householders constitute the whole structure of the Jewish frame. In the hands of the rav and the shochtim and the scholarly householders lies the destiny of the community, complete with its educational and charitable and welfare institutions.
Jewry today is in a difficult situation, both materially and spiritually. (May G-d have mercy on His people and His inheritance and bless them with an abundance of life and livelihood!) Now, all Jews are "believers and descendants of believers" in G-d and His Torah. There it is written, "If you walk in the ways of My statutes and observe My commandments and fulfill them, I shall grant your rains in their season, the earth will yield its harvest, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit."
Here G-d is stating in the Torah that material welfare depends on spiritual considerations: if people follow His ways and observe His commandments He will grant material blessings -- a livelihood, health and offspring. The head and heart of every community should thus regard it as their obligation to explain this fact to every man and woman of whatever age as well as to young boys and girls -- that material welfare depends on spiritual considerations.
Merely talking to one's townsfolk is insufficient: one must help them by making observance feasible. Existing Torah institutions must be strengthened; those that are lacking must be founded.
First and foremost, all energies should be focused on fostering the observance of the laws of family purity. Every young man and woman should be alerted to the perils resulting from marital life conducted without the woman's periodic purification in a mikveh. The children brought into the world are adversely affected spiritually, physically and mentally, bringing misfortune on their families and in some measure on their communities as well.
This subject should be explicitly discussed in public addresses at the biggest gatherings, and the transgression involved should be spoken of in all its severity. Young men and women should be clearly told of the dire fruits of such a life, the grim consequences which they call upon themselves and upon their impurely-conceived children.
In many publications, Jewish and gentile medical professionals have demonstrated that the laws of family purity are the best guardian of the health of parents and children alike. Not that the Torah needs the testimony and approbation of any experts or disciplines, because the Torah, being G-d's command, transcends all mortal disciplines; it is applicable in all places and at all times.
In every community a Taharas Bnos Yisrael should be founded, a women's society to promote the observance of the family purity laws. They should be given every support by the local rabbis, shochtim and communal leaders, who should also give their vigilant attention to the maintenance of the local mikveh, so that at all times it is perfectly tidy, clean, heated and inexpensive.
These communal figures should also devote themselves to the schooling available in their respective communities and seek out G-d-fearing schoolteachers. They should also establish Tiferes Bachurim societies [to organize part-time study programs for working youth].
Among the most vital needs is the establishment of Shomrei Shabbos or Mazhirei Shabbos societies. But Shabbos observance is not merely desisting from forbidden labors; that is only the prohibitive aspect of the Shabbos laws. This must be accompanied by their positive aspect: the Shabbos day should be utilized for study, and for arranging study sessions and talks for the youth.
This activity is closely connected with the establishment of the above-mentioned Tiferes Bachurim societies. Their success will certainly buttress the conscientious observance of Shabbos, which in turn will invigorate the weekday observance of mitzvos in general.
These matters and many others like them, such as the provision of kashrus facilities, will no doubt be upgraded and enlivened by the proposed union of rabbanim, shochtim and civic leaders.
All these matters are of equal concern to chassidim, who follow the Sephardi prayer rite, and to Jews of the [non-chassidic] world, who follow the Ashkenazi prayer rite. Accordingly, since many towns and townships in this region comprise two congregations, chassidic and Ashkenazi, one of the tasks of the newly-formed committee will be to nurture links of understanding and cooperation in these matters of common concern.
At this point I would like to make an outspoken appeal on a number of subjects to the rabbanim, shochtim and scholarly householders in the chassidic communities of this province:
Let them all unite in a society to propagate the public study of Chassidus. In every town and village there should be a group of people who meet to study Chassidus together in the chassidic houses of prayer and houses of study. I call on Anash, members of the chassidic brotherhood, and to those who are descended from chassidic stock, to attend such study sessions and bring along their older children with them.
On another subject: I am deeply pained by the disharmony and controversies which in some communities mar the relations between rabbanim and shochtim, and between rabbanim and lay leaders. I appeal to them all to set things right -- peacefully, lovingly, and in friendship. Moreover, I hereby empower the newly-formed provisional committee to use their good offices in the spirit of the Torah to bring estranged hearts together in perfect peace.
I appeal to all the householders of the chassidic communities in the Vilna region to do their utmost to secure a decent livelihood for their rabbanim and shochtim so that they will be able to fulfill their duty in the guidance of our people.
Lay leaders should expend every possible exertion to ensure that their local mikvaos are kept absolutely neat, clean, kosher and inexpensive, and in some cases free of charge.
In conclusion: The present gathering fills me with the optimistic hope that today's newborn ray of arousal will accompany each of you home, so that as each of you arrives in good health at his destination, you will tackle your holy tasks with renewed vigor. Let me offer you my blessing that G-d make your paths prosper. Moreover, I would like to appoint the rabbanim and shochtim here as my mitzvah-envoys, to convey my blessing to the chassidic congregations and to all the Jewish communities and to their leaders, as well as to the gabbaim who administer the various houses of prayer and houses of study: May G-d grant each one of them both material and spiritual success.
I am filled with hope that this new union of rabbanim and shochtim and lay leaders will substantially advance the public study of Chassidus. This in turn will call forth an abundance of success to all members of the chassidic brotherhood, together with all of our brethren of the entire House of Israel, with blessings for children, health, and an ample livelihood.
By the Grace of G-d
5 Tammuz 5694 [1934]
Gluboka
To our friends, members of the chassidic brotherhood,
the rabbanim and shochtim and lay leaders
of all the congregations of Chabad chassidim
in the Vilna region:
May G-d's blessings light upon you!
Greetings and blessings!
In the course of my visit to Gluboka I met with the rabbanim and shochtim and lay leaders of all the Chabad communities in this province of Vilna and proposed that they all join forces for the furtherance of Yiddishkeit in these parts.
Specific tasks:
- studying local needs and dealing with them;
- promoting family purity and
- Shabbos observance;
- founding Tiferes Bachurim study groups;
- establishing shiurim and circles for the study of Chassidus.
Moreover, in those towns which include non-chassidic congregations, there should be amicable cooperation in all the above areas of common concern for the good of all the local townspeople.
The rabbinic and lay leaders who were present here met and elected a provisional committee (based in Glukova) which I charged with the task of contacting all their Chabad colleagues throughout this province, so that together they will translate into real life the luminous ideal in the age-old spirit of our Patriarch Yaakov -- promoting the standing of the Torah in general and of Chassidus in particular.
Those who for whatever reason were unable to participate in the above meeting will no doubt find ways to join forces with the committee in its blessed endeavors.
I pray that G-d be gratified by the work of their hands, and that their effort to advance Yiddishkeit will become a veritable cupful of material and spiritual blessings for all our participating brethren. May G-d help them all materially and spiritually.
With blessings from one who
seeks your welfare,
Yosef Yitzchak
From the depths of my heart I call upon you, young men "between strength and understanding," that is, between the ages of thirty and forty.
Look upon your present state and put things in order. Think of what will become of yourselves and your families. How much longer will you make Matter overpower Form? You are investing all your brain and brawn in acquiring food for the body and accumulating wealth, while doing nothing to acquire food for the soul. As if you could discharge all your obligations by contributing a few copper coins for charity and by paying a visit to shul on Shabbos and Yom-Tov!
Stand up and face trial by conscience! How long can this chaos and vanity go on? It is running amok in your homes: your sons and daughters, unbridled, are growing up bereft of Torah and mitzvos.
Jewish fathers and mothers! G-d has given you these children as gifts to treasure, yet you treat these gifts with contempt. Before people entrust their gold and silver treasures in a bank they check its security, but you, thoughtlessly, throw your treasures overboard: you entrust them into the irresponsible hands of schools whose teachers have cast off the yoke of heaven.
Pause a moment and think: Why are you working so hard? For whose sake are you working so hard? The years are running by, and your sons and daughters are growing up in an alien spirit and without any sense of obligation. When the day of soul-searching comes -- and come it will! -- you will cry out aloud: Why did I work all those years? For whose sake did I work all those years?
In the words of an old saying, "A man worries about losing his money but doesn't worry about losing his days." In our era we might add, "
and doesn't worry about losing his children."
So have pity on yourselves and on your children and on your grandchildren! Muster the courage to save their lives! Let the menfolk here today join up in the local Machzikei Das and Tiferes Bachurim circles and let the womenfolk organize themselves to promote the observance of the laws of family purity. And all of you, entrust your sons and daughters to G-d-fearing schoolteachers! Save yourselves and your children while you still can!
In addition, do everything you can to maintain the chadarim and the yeshivos and all the other educational institutions. Your life depends on it!
May G-d cause His countenance to shine upon you and upon us all, together with all our brethren of the entire House of Israel, and may He favor us with an abundance of life and all manner of blessings both spiritual and material.
Every
shul and
beis midrash throughout the world is called a
mikdash me'at -- "a little
Beis HaMikdash."
After the Torah describes how Moshe Rabbeinu constructed the Mishkan with all its furnishings and anointed them with olive oil and how the leaders of the tribes offered their inaugural sacrifices, it is related that Moshe Rabbeinu entered to speak with G-d. There he heard the divine voice which told him: "Speak to Aharon and tell him, 'When you kindle the lamps, the seven lamps shall shed their light towards the central shaft of the candelabrum.' "
This passage teaches us two things:
- that the lamps must be lit, and
- that they must shed their light not outwards, but inwards.
The
Midrash states, "The lamps are the Jewish people." Jewish men and women are the lamps that light up the world, as it is written, "The soul of man is a lamp of G-d." Moreover it is written, "For a
mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah is light."
Even thousands of lamps ranged together will shed no light unless someone comes along and kindles them. A single match or candle can kindle thousands of lamps; without that match even the lamps themselves are left in darkness.
The order of events in the above-quoted passage about the Mishkan teaches us that the function of a shul and of a beis midrash is to kindle lamps -- "the lamps [being] the Jewish people" -- so that they will shine with mitzvah- lamps. And these lamps must shine inwards, into every Jewish home. This means that men must observe their distinctive mitzvos, such as tefillin and tzitzis; women must observe their distinctive mitzvos, such as family purity and kashrus; and parents must make every effort that their children should be educated by devout and pious schoolteachers.
Every Jewish son and daughter is a lamp -- "The soul of man is a lamp of G-d" -- but this lamp in every Jewish heart must be connected with mitzvah-lamps, with the observance of tefillin, Shabbos, kashrus, taharas hamishpachah, and so on.
The houses of prayer and the houses of study in every community are its wellsprings of light and life. If so, they should all conduct study circles in Mishnayos, Gemara, Shulchan Aruch, Ein Yaakov, Midrash and Pirkei Avos. The gabbaim who administer these institutions should ensure that their study circles are provided with suitable teachers and texts, and the shammashim should endeavor to attract new participants.
Fellow Jews and Jewesses: Rouse your hearts to the mitzvah-lamps! Mothers: Keep in mind that your children's future lies in your hands; observe the laws of family purity by using a kosher mikveh and G-d will bless you with healthy children. Menfolk: Observe the commandments of tefillin and Shabbos, and G-d will grant you a livelihood. Gabbaim: Honor your obligation to kindle the lamps of learning in your houses of prayer and houses of study, and thereby you will be privileged to bring merit upon the public.
Brother Jews! Step into your local shul or beis midrash, listen in to a study session, and take home with you "a mitzvah [which] is a lamp, and the Torah [which] is light." Enroll your children with G-d-fearing teachers, and G-d will grant you blessings of health and a livelihood, so that you will see the fulfillment of the verse, "And for all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings."
Whenever G-d grants one the opportunity to meet a large number of fellow Jews, the first words spoken are prayerful words of praise and gratitude. And, in response to the openhearted
Shalom Aleichem that Gluboka and its environs has extended to me so hospitably, let me express a heartfelt
Aleichem Shalom and
Beruchim tihyu -- "May you too be blessed!" To meet so many young people during my visit here has been most gratifying: Jewry's heart is healthy and its innermost spark is alive.
The traumatic events of the Revolutionary period no doubt left their imprint on your schooling. Your years of study in chadarim and Talmud Torah schools were no doubt shorter than those of children educated before the upheaval of the [First] World War.
Today, every young man and woman among you is being drawn into a particular party. Each individual, in keeping with his understanding and his leanings, is devoting himself to the party of his choice with all the artless innocence of his Jewish heart and with all the energy of youth.
Yet I am not going to discuss party issues, nor am I going to explain how harmful some of these parties are. Jews have only one party. Its platform is the Torah and its commandments and the Shulchan Aruch, which is the guide for our family and social life.
Keep in mind the foundation upon which the entire edifice of Jewry stands. In the words of the prophet, "Look upon the rock from which you were hewn!" We must always remember that we are Jews. G-d calls us His children (as in the verse, "You are children to the L-rd your G-d") and His servants (as in the verse, "For the Children of Israel are servants unto Me; they are My servants").
All Jews -- men and women, old and young, great and small -- are proud to be called Jewish, and even sacrifice their lives for that name. But it is a serious mistake to think that one is a Jew merely by having a Jewish heart and observing a number of customs and festivals.
The Gemara teaches that "G-d wants the heart." As everyone knows, this means that every mitzvah should be fulfilled with all the lively feeling of one's heart. One day, however, an irresponsible ignoramus came up with an innovation, an unfounded interpretation, as if to say that all one needs to be a Jew is to have a nice Jewish heart and to celebrate the festivals and keep some customs.
Many young people have been brought up and fed on the notions of godless writers and teachers who desecrated the sanctity of the Torah and the prophets. These young people have been misled along false trails, so that in their youthful innocence they believe that one can be a Jew merely by observing a few festivals and customs.
A thousand times No!
A Jew is he who observes the Torah and its commandments -- tefillin, tzitzis, kashrus, taharas hamishpachah, and so on and so forth. A Jew is he who observes the mitzvos. If someone does not observe the mitzvos one may not (G-d forbid!) call him a non-Jew -- but a Jew is he who observes the mitzvos.
As I stand here in a holy edifice, near the Aron Kodesh with its Torah scrolls, among many hundreds of young people, I thank G-d for the great gift which He has given me -- that here, too, as your guest in Gluboka, as in other towns and countries that I have visited, I observe among young people an eager willingness to listen.
For me every Jew is precious. My over thirty years' participation in public endeavors in the religious and social realm permit me to say: Fellow Jews, I love you. The many life-threatening experiences entailed by this work -- during and after the World War, in times of famine, illness, poverty and persecution -- permit me to say: Fellow Jews, to me every one of you is precious.
For this reason my heart is pained when I consider the young people who do not know how great a wrong they are committing by not observing the commandments of tefillin and Shabbos. My heart aches with compassion for the young couples who conduct their family life without the purifying use of a mikveh. It is painful to utter the whole truth about the misfortunes that they bring upon themselves and upon their unborn children and upon their communities.
This place is holy for me, and to me all those present are precious. I would dearly like to address you with words of blessing, to wish you and all Jews all kinds of good things, and to hope that our merciful Father, Who hears the prayer of every mouth, will certainly fulfill those blessings.
However, the deepseated love that I feel for my fellow Jews dictates that I say: Young people! Guard yourselves from the conflagration caused by casting off the yoke of heaven! Spare yourselves from the dire misfortunes which an impure family life brings about!
Jews everywhere who have lost their parents come to shul on Yom-Tov for the reading of Yizkor, the prayer for the souls of the departed.
That Yizkor resounds through all the heavens. The souls of the departed fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, entreat the Master of the Universe to be compassionate to their children and grandchildren, and to grant them healthy years, an ample livelihood, and healthy children.
But what shame overwhelms those chastened souls of the departed when they are confronted by the thunderous protest of angels reverberating throughout all the heavens: "For whom are you asking compassion? For your children and grandchildren who do not observe the commandments of tefillin or Shabbos, and who bring impurely-conceived children into the world?! For whom are you asking compassion? For your offspring who are besmirching your names by calling their impurely-conceived children by your names?!"
Shamefaced indeed are the souls of the departed when they hear such words.
Young men and young women! Remember your obligations as Jews: tefillin, Shabbos, family purity. Remember your obligations to your parents and grandparents: don't let your way of life burden them with disgrace. Let your marital life be pure, and G-d will grant you healthy children and successful and happy families.
The Visit to Gluboka: From the moment the Rebbe Rayatz moved from Riga and settled in Warsaw, in Elul 5693 (1933), the chassidic communities in the Vilna region asked him to visit one of their towns. In due course, the Rebbe Rayatz spent two intensive weeks in a town called Gluboka (Glubokoye).
The train that brought the Rebbe Rayatz there filled up as it progressed, as fresh delegations of lively chassidim and communal leaders joined it at each station, and sang and danced all the way to Gluboka. There, when he alighted at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, 21 Sivan, a vast crowd greeted him with a welcoming chorus of Baruch haba! To this he responded with Beruchim tihyu ("May you too be blessed!"). The throng was so dense that the waiting car could not move, but neither could he leave it. Ultimately, following the tradition of those parts, the crowd decided to push it to its destination.
Within half an hour the Rebbe Rayatz appeared in the local Lubavitcher shul and delivered a maamar. (All four maamarim delivered in Gluboka appear in Sefer HaMaamarim -- Kuntreisim, Vol. II.) Then, into the wee hours of the night, the local and visiting chassidim sat in groups for chazarah, together reconstructing the discourse from memory. By morning an approved written version was circulated, and this was eagerly taught and studied.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 11:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., the Rebbe Rayatz received individuals at yechidus. This was primarily for those who had already heard the maamar, for a chassid traditionally approaches his Rebbe at yechidus only after having heard him expound Chassidus.
(The information in these footnotes is mainly drawn from the vivid description of the visit written by the secretary of the Rebbe Rayatz, Rabbi Yechezkel ("Chatshe") Feigin, who accompanied him to Gluboka together with another secretary, Rabbi Moshe Leib Rodstein. The report appears in full (in Yiddish) in the original Heb./Yid. edition of the present work, Vol. II, p. 715ff.)
24 Sivan [Thursday]: These remarks were addressed to a visiting delegation -- the provisional committee of rabbis and communal leaders formed that week in response to an initiative of the Rebbe Rayatz.
You are called man: In the original, atem kruim adam; Tractate Yevamos 61a.
I made the earth
man upon it: Isa. 45:12.
Believers and descendants of believers: In the original, maaminim bnei maaminim; Tractate Shabbos 97a, Bamidbar Rabbah 7:5.
If you walk in the ways: Lev. 26:3-4.
Family purity: In the original, taharas hamishpachah.
Taharas Bnos Yisrael: Lit., "the purity of Jewish daughters."
Prayer rite: In the original, nussach.
Jews of the [non-chassidic] world: In the original Heb./Yid., olam'she Yidden.
Ample livelihood: On the eve of the Shabbos (Parshas Shlach) following this meeting the Rebbe Rayatz delivered a maamar at the Starashelye shul, and another maamar the next day in the courtyard of his lodgings, outdoors. The whole of the ensuing week was devoted to receiving chassidim at yechidus and to meeting delegation after delegation of visiting communal leaders who reported to him on the state of affairs in their respective towns.
To our friends: This letter, following up the above gathering of 24 Sivan, was written the day before the Rebbe Rayatz left for home.
Before the Maamar: The Rebbe Rayatz davened at the Lubavitcher shul in the morning, and delivered the above sichah at his lodgings before Minchah. Interestingly, the stern anguish of this sichah was immediately followed by a maamar beginning with the assurance, Ki Lo Yitosh -- "For G-d will not forsake His people...."
Between strength and understanding: Tractate Avos 5:22.
His money
his days
his children: In the original Heb., these three words rhyme.
In the Liadi Shul: The above words were delivered after Minchah.
Earlier that day, when the Rebbe Rayatz visited the venerable chassidic Rabbi Kupershtoch, the gabbaim and leading householders of the chassidic shuls were invited to be present. They informed the Rebbe that as a lasting expression of their gratitude for the honor which he had paid to their town by his visit, they had decided to found a yeshivah in Gluboka in the spirit of the original Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch. (See HaTamim, p. [reish"yud].)
A little Beis HaMikdash: Ezek. 11:16.
Speak to Aharon: Num. 8:2.
The lamps are the Jewish people: Cf. Vayikra Rabbah 31:4; Devarim Rabbah 84:4.
The soul of man is a lamp of G-d: Prov. 20:27.
For a mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah is light: Op. cit. 6:23.
And for all the Children of Israel: Ex. 10:23.
In the Blue Minyan: Hundreds of young people had assembled there to daven Maariv with the Rebbe on his last evening in Gluboka.
The Revolutionary period: This was only 17 years earlier.
Look upon the rock: Isa. 51:1.
You are children to the L-rd your G-d: Deut. 14:1.
For the Children of Israel are servants unto Me: Lev. 25:55.
G-d wants the heart: In the original Aram., rachmana liba ba'ei; Tractate Sanhedrin 106b.
Yizkor: Siddur, p. 255.
The Visit to Riga, 12-20 Adar 5694 (1934) At a Women's Gathering