In the year 5751, the Rebbe and the Chassidim marked the 50th anniversary of the Rebbe’s arrival to the United States (together with the Rebbetzin).  That year, the Rebbe evidently received a letter from then-President of the United States, George Bush, in honor of the anniversary of the Rebbe’s arrival.  We have the Rebbe’s response to President Bush, dated the 3rd of Elul, 5751 (13 August, 1991)¹.  After the formal pleasantries, the Rebbe writes something that perhaps conceals more than it reveals.  The Rebbe writes:

“By Divine Providence your kind letter was dated on the morrow of the anniversary of the Nation’s birthday.  It is well to remember that the founders of this Nation considered Independence Day as ‘a day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to G-d Al-mighty.’  By Divine Providence also my arrival in the United States in 1941 coincided with the declaration by Congress that year, making July 4th a legal public holiday.”

“The Nation’s birthday” is considered July 4th, the day in 1776 that the original 13 British colonies in America declared independence from the British Crown.  Unlike the famous story of the Pilgrims who came to America for freedom of worship, the Declaration of Independence presents a list of grievances against the British rulership of the colonies, completely political and economic in nature.  It speaks of liberty and freedom and happiness, without mentioning the matter of religion at all.  Nonetheless, the Rebbe chooses a quote from one of the “founders of this Nation”² that does speak in religious terminology: “a day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to G-d Al-mighty”.³

Here it is interesting to note that this quote is not from any official declaration.  It was written by John Adams (later to serve as the 2nd President of the United States) in a personal letter to his wife.  The Rebbe seems to have chosen to quote it because of its open expression of devotion to G-d Al-mighty. 

FIRST THE FACTS

Let’s examine the next statement in the Rebbe’s letter: 

By Divine Providence also my arrival in the United States in 1941 coincided with the declaration by Congress that year, making July 4th a legal public holiday.

We need to understand what is meant by referring to 1941 as the year that July 4th became a legal public holiday.  Let’s look at the historical facts:

Public records show that in 1870 Congress already established the July 4th as a holiday for the District of Columbia.⁴  It became a paid holiday for Federal employees in 1938.⁵  All this occurred in earlier years – why does the Rebbe say it became a legal public holiday in 1941?  The answer might give us deeper insight into the way the Rebbe views things.

In early 1941 it was brought to the attention of the responsible authorities that the resolution of Congress in 1938 (which made July 4th a paid holiday for employees of the Federal government) did not mention municipal employees of the District of Columbia.  (Unlike every other city in the United States which is under state law, the District of Columbia (aka Washington, DC) is not part of any state and is thus subject directly to Federal law.)  Meaning that a postal worker in California or South Dakota (employees of the Federal government) would have a paid day off on July 4th, but a Washington, DC schoolteacher or clerk still had an unpaid holiday.  A corrective resolution (adding a few words to the 1938 resolution) was passed in May, 1941⁶ to include employees of the District of Columbia.  How many people were affected by these resolutions?

Public records indicate that in 1940 there were 1 million Federal employees nationwide⁷, who received July 4th as a paid holiday in 1938.  The number of municipal employees in the District of Columbia at that time was 9,785⁸.  Less than 1% of the total people affected by the resolution.  And when looking at the entire American workforce of the time – approximately 45 million⁹ (who were under state laws and not affected by these resolutions) – the resolution of 1941 affected merely 0.022% of the entire workforce.  That’s less than ⅕ of 1%!  And this the Rebbe refers to as a “declaration by Congress making July 4th a legal public holiday”!

INSIGHTS INTO THE REBBE’S WORDS

Most probably, the Rebbe did not intend for President George Bush to delve into the deeper meaning of the Rebbe’s words.  But from Chassidim it is expected that every expression of the Rebbe, even in a protocol letter to a gentile leader, should be “turned over and turned over”.  As our sages tell us, even mundane things mentioned by Talmidei Chachomim need to be learned¹⁰, so let us now examine what the Rebbe might be trying to teach us.

To review the events: 

1. In 1870 there was a resolution of Congress to make July 4th a holiday (without pay) in Washington, DC; 
2. In 1938 a resolution to make it a paid holiday for a million Federal employees;
3. In 1941 a resolution to include another 9,000 DC municipal employees in the paid holiday.

“PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS”

The resolution of 1870 doesn’t seem to interest the Rebbe at all.  The Rebbe considers July 4th to have been declared a legal public holiday by the fact that it became a paid holiday.  A case of “put your money where your mouth is”?  Or perhaps connected with the ruling of the Alter Rebbe regarding Birkas Cohanim¹¹: according to Ashkenazi custom the Cohanim do not bless the congregation on Shabbos because they are troubled from losing a day’s income.  If Cohanim are troubled because they are missing the profits in the marketplace, so certainly, lehavdil, a gentile employee could feel like it’s raining on his July 4th parade.

RESOLUTION OF DECLARATION?

This may be connected with the Rebbe’s choice of expression: a “declaration by Congress”.  In fact, this was a “resolution” and not a “declaration”.  But, if we follow the Rebbe’s emphasis that “the action is the main thing” and that a person must be a “living example”, then we understand that only concrete action serves as a meaningful declaration.  Words without action, especially in the political arena, are generally dvorim bateilim.  Practical action is the true declaration.  Thus, the Rebbe terms this resolution of Congress (backed by a day’s pay) to be a “declaration”.

IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER

The resolution of 1941, as pointed out, resulted in a minor correction of less than 1% of workers who were left out of the 1938 resolution.  Yet the Rebbe refers to it not as a correction but as the act itself.  Perhaps along the lines of “everything follows the sealing”¹² or “the end of the action was in the initial thought”¹³.

This also shows the Rebbe’s approach that even if 99% has been achieved – the task has not been accomplished.  There is no such thing as “almost finished”.  Such as a kli that is not subject to tuma’a until it is completed (gmar melacha).¹⁴

THE EDICT WAS GIVEN IN SHUSHAN THE CAPITAL¹⁵

The final element of interest is that the significance of the 1941 resolution is that it affected only Washington DC municipal employees.  The million Federal employees who received a paid holiday in 1938 didn’t qualify in the Rebbe’s eyes as declaring it a legal public holiday.  The fact that even after the resolution of 1941 there remained about 45 million workers nationwide most of whom did not yet receive this benefit from their state and local governments – not a concern.  But a few thousand municipal employees of the capital city of Washington, DC – this is what tilted the scale for the Rebbe.  From this we can perhaps see a hint to the significance of a nation’s capital in ruchniyus.  

For example: by a farbrengen in 5752¹⁶ the Rebbe made mention of “the state of Russia had a revolution and collapse, with the change of the capital city”.  A few months later¹⁷ the Rebbe refers to the significance of the name “Shushan Purim”  – that it indicates \the refinement of “the capital city of the le’umas zeh”.  A paid holiday for employees of the capital of the USA seems to tilt the scales against all the other millions of American workers.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN 1941

On a deeper, and more speculative note, it seems that the Rebbe is hinting at something even more substantive.  According to what we have seen, 150 years of July 4th celebrations (whether solemn or otherwise) did not qualify to make July 4th a legal public holiday in the Rebbe’s eyes.  Nor did the Congressional resolutions of 1870 and 1938.  If we will read the Rebbe’s words with a slightly different teitch, perhaps we can understand what the Rebbe is really saying here:

By Divine Providence also my arrival in the United States in 1941 coincided with the declaration by Congress that year, making July 4th a legal public holiday.

It was not the “declaration by Congress that year” that made July 4th (celebrating the establishment of the USA as a nation) into a legal public holiday.  Read it again.  It was the fact that it coincided with “…my arrival in the United States in 1941…” – this is what gave the celebration of July 4th legal status!  (And also halachic status, since dina d’malchusa dina in monetary matters.)  Meaning that celebrating the establishment of this particular nation is given its kiyum and tokef only when, in 1941, it fulfilled its tachlis by opening its doors to Melech HaMoshiach!¹⁸

To strengthen that concept, we will bring something told in the name of R’ Yehuda Leib Hoffman (a highly-esteemed Chosid of the Rebbe Maharash and Rebbe Rashab who was considered a master of Kabbalah) which relates to the statement of the Alter Rebbe that the Western Hemisphere (America – chatzi kadur hatachton) did not experience Matan Torah:

R’ Leib foresaw that the Rebbeim would one day end up in the Western Hemisphere. He explained that matan Torah did not occur there since that hemisphere is related to the highest of spiritual levels that cannot be ordinarily related to. However, since Moshiach will reveal these lofty levels, one of the Rebbeim would surely end up there.¹⁹

From this it would seem that in addition to a freilechen and shturemdik farbrengen on 28 Sivan, it might be appropriate also to say lechayim on July 4th²⁰.  Since we see that the founding of the United States was a preparatory step in enabling Melech Hamoshiach to come to fulfill his shlichus of making a dira b’tachtonim and bringing the true and complete Geuloh! 

Lechayim!

יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד!

1.  Attached as appendix I. ↩︎
2. See farbrengen of 19 Kislev, 5747 (1986) which came out on “Thanksgiving” – the Rebbe speaks in strongly positive terms about the Pilgrims (the Rebbe refers to them in English as “founding fathers”) who came to America to worship the Creator without government or church interference.  Generally, American history does not refer to the Pilgrims as the “founding fathers” but rather reserves that title for the political and ideological founders of the United States (such as John Adams, author of the words the Rebbe quotes), who were active 150 years after the Pilgrims came.  The Rebbe evidently does not want to distinguish between the religious goals of the Pilgrims and the national goals of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.
   ↩︎
3. Also interesting to note that the letter is dated July 3rd, 1776, the day after he and most of the colonial delegates signed the Declaration of Independence.  The next day, the 4th of July, it was officially ratified.  In his letter Adams refers to celebrating the 2nd of July, as that was the day of the signing.  The Rebbe refrains from mentioning the continuation of Adam’s letter: “It ought to be solemized [sic] with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other.“ ↩︎
4. Resolution of Congress (16 Stat 168 CH.167), approved June 28, 1870 (29th of Sivan, 5630).  Appendix 2. Click to view Statue 16
   ↩︎
5. Resolution of Congress (52 Stat. 1246), approved June 29, 1938 (30 Sivan, 5698). Appendix 3. Click to view Statute 52 ↩︎
6. Appendix 4. ↩︎
7. …wiki/United_States_federal_civil_service ↩︎
8. Click to view 1940 census detail ↩︎
9. Click to view 1940 labor detail ↩︎
10. Sukkah 21b:  אמר רב אחא בר אדא אמר רב המנונא אמר רב מנין שאפי’ שיחת תלמידי חכמים צריכה לימוד שנאמר (תהלים א, ג) ועלהו לא יבול.  רש”י שם (ד”ה משיחתו) לשון שיחת חולין
    ↩︎
11. Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Hilchos Birkas Cohanim 128:57: “The custom in all these lands is that the Priestly Blessing is conferred only on a Yom-Tov, because then people are in a joyful and festive mood — and “only one who is glad of heart shall bless.”  On other days, by contrast, even on Shabbos, [the kohanim] are preoccupied with their livelihood and their loss of working hours and they are not in a happy state of mind.”
    ↩︎
12. הכל הולך אחר החתום, Brochos 12a ↩︎
13. סוף מעשה במחשבה תחילה from piyut kabbolos Shabbos “Lecho Dodi”, R’ Shlomo Alkabetz.
    ↩︎
14. Hilchos Keilim, 8:1.  כָּל כְּלֵי מַתְּכוֹת – אֵינָן מְקַבְּלִין טֻמְאָה עַד שֶׁתִּגָּמֵר מְלַאכְתָּן כֻּלָּהּ, וְלֹא יִהְיֶה הַכְּלִי מְחֻסַּר מַעֲשֶׂה כְּלָל 
    ↩︎
15. Esther 3:15 וְהַדָּ֥ת נִתְּנָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה. ↩︎
16. Shabbos Vayigash, 7 Teives, 5752, footnote 85: “נעשית המהפכב והנפילה של מדינת רוסי’ת בשינוי עיר הבירה וכו’” 
    ↩︎
17. Ki Sisa, 5752, footnote 166. ↩︎
18. As the Midrash says that Hashem made a condition when He created the sea, that it would split for Moshe Rabbeinu (Shemos Rabba, 21:6).
    ↩︎
19. The Weekly Farbrengen #815, Merkaz Anash (from Reshimas Devorim (Chitrik)). In original (free translation): “HaRav HaTomim R’ Yisroel Levin heard from the Chosid R’ Leib Hoffman from Tsasnik: It’s known that the letters in the Torah are ‘ohr haKav’ which is drawn down after the tzimtzum, and the parchment is the unlimited Divine light which is before the tzimtzum. Being that the Torah was given in the upper half of the world, meaning that that the revelation that occurred in the upper half of the world is only a revelation of the “kav” which is after the tzimtzum. And in the lower half of the world [=western hemisphere], where the Torah was not given — this is like the parchment, which is the infinite Divine light from before the tzimtzum. Being that Moshiach will reveal the infinite Divine light from before the tzimtzum — it will be necessary for one of the Chabad Rebbeim to come to the United States, to America, because there the infinite Divine light from before the tzimtzum will be revealed.” ↩︎
20. Note that July 4th, 1776 fell on the day of the fast of 17 Tammuz!  But see the sicha of Shlach, 5749 (ois 10) where the Rebbe states that 28 Sivan gives power to transform the entire month of Tammuz to be a chodesh hageuloh. ↩︎

Understanding the “Derech Hayashara”

Remember the “old days”?  Not so many years ago a driver setting out on a journey needed to keep some good road maps in his car, in order to figure out the best way to get from “here” to “there”.  Today, we happily rely on GPS-guided applications that in a flash show us the quickest and easiest way to reach our destination, even if we have never been there and don’t even know exactly where it is.

With that in mind, we can apply the Rebbe’s assertion that the development of technology in the physical realm mirrors similar developments in the spiritual realm¹.  Meaning: if we have GPS guidance in the physical, there must also be a “spiritual GPS” to show us the direct way to reach our spiritual destination.  Of course, we are referring to the “direct path” (דרך הישרה)² that the Rebbe stated explicitly: learning the subjects of Moshiach and Geuloh.  This, explains the Rebbe in a number of sichos, is the “direct path” to bring the Geuloh in actuality.  This is our GPS guidance to reach the destination of the true and complete Geuloh.

It may seem counter-intuitive to Dor Hashvi’i – the generation raised on Mivtzoyim, Tahalucha, Lag B’Omer parades, etc. – to hear from the Rebbe that the direct path to fulfill the goal of bringing Moshiach is through learning seforim!  Are we going back to the first generations of Chabad? With the Rebbe we know there is no “going back” only “going forward” (also like GPS!).   The challenge in digesting this particular route to the Geuloh arises from our own lack of understanding.

Maybe you and I once chuckled at hearing how alter-Chassidim, ba’alei avoidah, had trouble grasping that when the Rebbe said to do Mitvtzoyim he meant actually going out to the street and putting tefillin on another Yid!  Despite being truly chosheveh alter-Chassidim, they were nonetheless “stuck” in the avoidah of previous times (avoidah which, by the way, was never nullified, and which the Rebbe expected them to keep doing and to influence their students to progress in that avoidah in our times as well).  Fact is, the Rebbe has confronted us with the same challenge: not to be “stuck” with the previous forms of avoidah to which we became accustomed (which also were never nullified, and of course we must keep doing them).  Bottom line: the Rebbe declared that there is a new thrust in avoidah – learning Moshiach and Geuloh – and it is the main thrust which will bring success to all the other avoidahs (including the avoidah of kabbolos pnei Moshiach).

With the help of the following interesting series of events regarding Rebbi Akiva, maybe we can “unstuck” ourselves from our difficulties:

The famous martyrdom of the “asara harugei Malchus” (the deaths of the Ten martyrs, read on Yom Kippur³) was a rectification of the sin of the brothers who sold Yosef.  It was one of the most essential, powerful and necessary rectifications in the span of all existence – giving power for elevating the sparks “until Moshiach”⁴.  We can ask: if this was really such an important development, why did the rectification of this sin remain in limbo for almost 1700 years (from the sale of Yosef until the martyrdom at the hands of the Romans)?  “What took so long?!”  

The explanation:

Many seforim⁵ point out that there were only 9 brothers involved in the sale: Reuvain wasn’t present, nor was Benyamin, and Yosef himself was the one sold.  This raises the question: why were there 10 martyrs?  There seemingly should have been only 9?  And why should Rebbi Akiva be a part of this atonement – he was a ben geirim and thus did not belong to any of the shevatim!?

The seforim answer by referencing the gemara which tells of Shimon HaAmsoni⁶, the sage who would interpret each occurrence of the word “es” את in the Torah as giving an additional meaning to the posuk.  This was true until he reached “You shall be in awe of [es] Hashem your G-d” – he had no way to expound this “es”, because according to his understanding the awe one should have for Hashem must stand alone.  “Until Rebbi Akiva came and expounded” that this instance of the word “es” comes to add having awe of Talmidei Chachomim.  “Until Rebbi Akiva came” implies that until Rebbi Akiva this concept was not grasped intellectually and thus not expound.

What happened as a result shows us vividly how bringing new Torah concepts into human understanding brings about cosmic developments:

As explained in many sources, the 9 brothers swore secrecy not to tell their father Yaakov about the sale of Yosef.  But they needed a 10th.  Binyamin and Reuvain weren’t available, so they included the Eybershter in their vow.  This meant that in order to atone and rectify this inyan, it wouldn’t be enough for 9 tzaddikim to die as martyrs in place of the 9 brothers – there would need to be a 10th who would be in place of the Holy One (so to speak).  But as long as there was no basis according to human understanding of Torah to equate a flesh and blood Talmid Chochom with the Eybershter, it was impossible to stand someone in the place of the Holy One.

This critical rectification waited and waited…“until Rebbi Akiva came”.  Rebbi Akiva came⁷ and expounded that having awe of Hashem includes having awe of Talmidei Chachomim.  Now that Rebbi Akiva brought this concept into human understanding of Torah – to equate awe towards a Talmid Chochom with the awe of Hashem Himself – it became possible to bring a Talmid Chochom in place of Hashem⁸.  Now it was possible to bring about the rectification of the Eybershter (so to speak) together with the 9 brothers.  And Rebbi Akiva himself, as the one who made this possible, merited to be the 10th!

(And if it seems like he received a punishment rather than a reward, let us note the sources⁹ saying that a wicked Roman was miraculously switched for each sage and killed in his place.  As the Mitteler Rebbe writes: “the 10 harugei Malchus didn’t feel suffering.”¹⁰  All this in addition to the lofty level they reached of “no creature can stand in their portion” in the World to Come.¹¹)

Let’s try to understand how it works:

First, the Rebbe teaches a principle: “it is known that all revelation is via Torah (Torah is light).”¹²  Since we are trying to bring about the revelation of Moshiach and the true and complete Geuloh, it should not be surprising that it comes about through Torah.  As the Rebbe explains: by learning Torah in a way of “understanding and grasping, until the intellect of the person who is learning becomes one with the inyan he is learning…we merit the revelation of Pnimiyus Hatorah that will be in the Time to Come.”¹³  When we truly learn to understand and grasp the subject, this brings about the inyan of Geuloh.

Similarly, in the beloved hiskashrus maamor “B’Yom Ashtei Asar”, the Rebbe explains the midrash about those who choose various ministers and governors and, in contrast, the “clever one” who chooses the King himself.  The emphasis in the maamor seems to be on the atzmus of a Yid choosing the Eybershter.  Yet, the Rebbe points out that the one who chooses the King is called the “clever one”.  Why clever?  His choosing of the King comes from etzem haneshoma and not intellectual considerations?  Yet he’s called clever because he internalizes his choice of the King into his intellect.  He achieves intellectual understanding of the choice made by his etzem haneshoma.  As the Rebbe states in the maamor: “As long as there is no internalized influence [hashpa’ah pnimis]…the main thing is missing…the drawing down into pnimiyus…is the learning of Torah…”¹⁴  It is true that Emunah and Kabbolos ‘Ol are the fundamental basis of everything in avoidas Hashem, but until they are brought into intellect and internalized – the main thing is missing.   Same thing regarding the Geuloh – it must be internalized intellectually.

The Rebbe explains it also in the kuntres “Torah Chadasha” for Shavuos 5751.  There the Rebbe explains that Beis Shamai were indeed sharper than Beis Hillel, and so too their Torah.  However, since the majority of sages were not close to Beis Shamai’s level, they ruled like Beis Hillel.

“But in Yemos HaMoshiach the halacha will be like Beis Shamai – because the conclusions (שיקול דעת) in the nature of the intellect of the sages of Israel will undergo change together with the change in the state of the world in Yemos HaMoshiach (in accordance with the rule that “a judge can only decide based on what his eyes see).”¹⁵

All changes in the world (and in the “small world – this is the person himself”) come about through learning Torah, and particularly pnimiyus Hatorah.¹⁶  (Obviously, we are not talking about the ego-based learning that Chassidim ridicule, but rather learning with Chassidishe bittul.)

As the Rebbe explains in Kuntres “Torah Chadasha” mentioned above, the task of Moshiach is not accomplished by the lofty levels he reaches, but specifically by his efforts to draw these lofty levels (which are above human understanding and even above Torah understanding) into Torah understanding and further into human understanding.  The Geuloh is brought about through learning and understanding what Moshiach is teaching.  Without that – we remain outside, r”l.

From this we see how even the most important cosmic matters – the rectification of the sale of Yosef, and in our time the true and complete Geuloh – are drawn into the world when human understanding of Torah becomes a vessel for the required concepts.  And from this we can gain insight into why the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach in his task of bringing the Geuloh demands from us to learn and internalize the “sampling” of the new Torah of Moshiach we have been given – because only by understanding and grasping the Torah concepts of Moshiach and Geuloh in our human intellect do we draw the makif into pnimiyus (via the power of atzmus) and bring the Geuloh into the world.

יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד!

Dark Stock photo by Vecteezy