Chabad at La Costa

The Baal Shem Tov and the Baal HaTanya

Gimmel Tamuz: The Hilula of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt’l -> By Jacob Benesch

Twelve years ago on “Gimmel Tamuz”, 3 Tammuz 5754 (June12, 1994), the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l was laid to rest next to his father-in-law-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson z”tl.

Rabbi Schneerson would go to his father-in-law’s grave to pray for the thousands of people who sent him notes several times each week. He would meticulously read each one of the thousands of notes he would receive from every individual in need of prayers. After reading the note, he would tear it in half and leave it as a memento.

Not much has changed since. The small red house near his tomb looks like any other -- from the outside. Walking in the front door, however, leads one into a whole different world: the Rebbe’s world.

A video monitor hangs in the corner near the ceiling, playing a tape of one of the Rebbe’s farbrengens. It is a way of sharing the experience with those who remember it, and those who never had the privilege.

When the Rebbe would lead a Farbrengen, literally “spending time together” in Yiddish, it was an emotional Torah learning gathering that was punctuated by singing and dancing. This memory often bring tears to his followers.

A couple of small tables and a few chairs are placed in the center of the room, each with blank paper and pencils available. This allows the visitor to write a pidyon nefesh, called a "pon" -- a note to the Rebbe. After reading it the visitor tears up the note and tosses it into a pile of previous requests, invitations and simple updates on one’s life.

The visitor is in awe. Chassidic men and women shuckle (rock or sway), as they pray with the intensity of an Olympic athlete. Some weep quietly and others stand in silence, communicating without words as do we all at the beginning of life.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe was born on the 11th of Nissan 5662 in the small Ukranian town Nikolaev. The year was 1905. Frightened families hid from a raging pogrom in their neighborhood. They tried to hide their frightened and screaming children. The last thing in the world that they wanted was for their children to be discovered. It was young Mendel who came to the rescue. He offered soothing words and the smooth touch of a child’s hand to comfort his peers.

The Rebbe loved all people: men, women, and children. As an adult, he saw a child’s unique perspective to life as something advantageous to all. In essence, the Rebbe taught that an adult enhances his learning experience by learning from a child as well. He also taught that the purpose of an education was not only prepare a child for adulthood, but also as a to help him or her preserve childhood gifts in the most positive way available.

It was in this light that that the Rebbe established a major Lubavitch organization, Tzivos Hashem in1980, calling it the “children’s army” that would bring the ultimate redemption to the world through the mitzvot of each individual child. He considered every little boy and girl to be a crown jewel.

In 1935 he founded the Lubavitch Women’s Organization, which helped change the way women study Torah today. Essentially the Rebbe broke down the barriers that limited Torah study to men and boys. When he sent men out to the streets to put on Tefillin with their Jewish brethren on the streets, he would also send women out to the shopping malls and the markets to distribute Shabbat candles.

The Rebbe also knew how to speak many languages, all fluently. This was most obvious when he would distribute dollars every Sunday at “770”, Lubavitch World Headquarters, named for the address of the building on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

The Rebbe would give a dollar to each person who came to receive his blessing so that he or she could perform the mitzvah of giving tzedakah- either with the dollar he gave, or more often with a dollar the recipient exchanged for it.

Sometimes the Rebbe would give two or even three—and he would tell his visitor what each was for. “This is for your daughter, this is for you, and this is for a refuah shelamah for…”

These are only some of the memories of the Rebbe. For more information, click on www.chabad.org .

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Monday, the 18th day of Elul, 5766 marked the birthday of two of the greatest Hassidic thinkers and leaders:

The Baal Shem Tov and the Baal HaTanya

The day was marked particularly by Chabad-Lubavitcher Hassidim with Hassidic gatherings, featuring short Torah discourses and singing. In the past, the day was marked in private by Hassidic leaders, but the second-to-last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, turned it into a more public anniversary.

Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hassidism in the world, was born on the 18th of Elul in 5458 (1698). After many years as a member of the society of "hidden tzaddikim" (righteous men), living under the guise of an ignorant clay-digger, he was instructed by his masters to reveal himself and begin to publicly disseminate his teachings. This he did on his 36th birthday, the 18th of Elul 5494 (1734).

Known as the Besht, he mainly emphasized the three loves in Judaism - Love of G-d, Lover of Torah and Love of Israel - and taught that everything should be done with love and happiness.

Listen here to IsraelNationalRadio's Temple Talk show in honor of the anniversary - a special teaching about the righteous, humility, and learning to serve G-d with joy.

The teachings of the Besht spread throughout the Jewish centers in Russia, Poland and elsewhere - despite the objections of a strong traditionalist Jewish camp that opposed what they saw as antics that distracted from traditional Torah study.

Hassidut teaches that the principle aspect of serving G-d and fulfillment of the Torah's commandments is by sincerity of intention and heart-felt devotion. The Besht emphasized the importance and exalted level of the "simple people's" worship of Hashem. He saw the good in each Jew, admired and loved each individual, and emphasized the importance of prayer.

Probably the most important disciple, the Maggid Rabbi Dov of Mezritch, had an important disciple himself - Rabbi Shneuer Zalman of Ladi. He, too, was born on the 18th of Elul, in the year 5505 (1745). The leader of the Hassidim in Russia, he composed the famous work Tanya - the seminal work of Chabad Hassidut, studied by Jews all over the world.

Known as the Baal HaTanya, his release from prison on the 19th day of Kislev in 1798 has become an annual Chabad holiday. His son set up a center in the Byelorussian town of Lubavitch; decades later, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950), sixth in the Schneur Zalman dynasty, was expelled from Russia in 1927 and led the Lubavitchers to their present-day headquarters in Brooklyn.

Rabbi Yosef's son-in-law, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, known throughout the world for his piety, knowledge, leadership, total self-dedication and counsel, was the seventh Rebbe; the position has remained vacant since his death in 1994.

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