The[102] date Beis Nissan comprises two elements: (a) the anniversary of the passing[103] of the Rebbe Rashab (May the memory of a tzaddik be a blessing!), and, as a corollary,[104] (b) the day on which his only son -- my late revered father-in-law the Rebbe [Rayatz], (May the memory of a tzaddik be a blessing, and may I serve as an atonement for his resting-place!) -- became the Nasi and leader of our generation.

Year by year, the modes of spiritual energy evoked by these events are reawakened in their respective seasons.[105] It may be thus readily understood that in the course of the thirty years that have passed until now -- thirty times Beis Nissan, 5680-5709 [1920-1949] -- [the Rebbe Rashab] has continually ascended, step beyond step, by thirty levels of elevation.[106] This becomes clear in the light of the words of our Sages[107] that tzaddikim, even after their passing,[108] "proceed from strength to strength," and likewise, in the light of the teaching that[109] "when a tzaddik departs he is to be found in all the worlds more than during his lifetime...; even in this world of action... he is to be found more [than during his lifetime]." For this reason, the benefactions[110] which he relays to all those who have a bond with him, come from ever higher sources. And in order that those benefactions should be received and intimately integrated into the souls of those recipients, their "vessels" (i.e., their spiritual receptive capabilities) need to be ever more finely attuned.

Especially as this time of year comes around, on the approaching second of Nissan, every one of those who have a bond with my late revered father-in-law the Rebbe [Rayatz] (May I serve as an atonement for his resting-place!) should strengthen his connection with him, with increasing intensity, by means of the paths which he taught us in his letters, talks and teachings. Likewise, every individual should meditate and fix it firmly in his mind and heart, that the shepherd -- viz., my late revered father-in-law the Rebbe [Rayatz] (May I serve as an atonement for his resting-place!) -- has not (G-d forbid) forsaken the flock whose shepherd he has been. Now, too, he continues to stand at his holy tasks, in order to protect his sheep and to direct toward them whatever material and spiritual benefactions they need.

Menachem Schneerson

   

Notes:

102. (Back to text) From a letter dated 25 Adar, 5710 [1950], six weeks after the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz. It appears in Sefer HaMaamarim 5710 [1950], p. 150, and in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XII, p. 146.

103. (Back to text) In the original, yom hahillula, a Heb./Aram. term that reflects the positive aspect of the passing of a tzaddik, since every year, on the anniversary of his passing, his soul is granted ever more sublime perceptions of Divinity.

104. (Back to text) See Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Melachim 1:7: "Kingship is inherited..., and not only kingship but also all other positions of authority..., [provided that the son 'fills the place' of his forebears in wisdom and in the fear of G-d]." The corresponding passage in the Sifri (on Devarim 17:20) speaks of "all the parnassim (major leaders) of Israel." [-- Note by the Rebbe.]

105. (Back to text) This is true not only on a spiritual level (beruchniyus), but also on the natural and physical level, as is seen from the discussion in Chassidus [Sefer HaMaamarim 5704, p. 13] of the last mishnah in ch. 3 of Gittin, regarding the seasons at which wine set aside for terumah or maaser needs to be checked. [-- Note by the Rebbe.]

106. (Back to text) See Kitzurim VeHe'aros LaTanya by the Tzemach Tzedek, p. 76, which relates the mishnah in Avos 6:6, "Kingship is acquired [together] with thirty distinctions," to the verse in Yechezkel 1:1, "And it came to pass in the thirtieth year...." Note also: Zohar III, 246b; Avodas HaKodesh, Part IV, ch. 19. [-- Note by the Rebbe.]

107. (Back to text) Berachos 64a.

108. (Back to text) Tehillim 84:8.

109. (Back to text) Zohar III, 71b.

110. (Back to text) In the original, hashpa'os.