Everything in the life of the Rebbe’s chassidim is guided by the Rebbe’s teachings. But when something occurs for which we don’t have explicit instructions — such as Gimmel Tammuz — we must look in the Rebbe’s Torah for guidance.

Many will say that the Rebbe in fact does give explicit instructions for Gimmel Tammuz. For example the most recent sicha of 5751 where the Rebbe informs us that in 5687, despite the confusion as to what was going on, the transfer of the Rebbe Rayatz to exile in Kostrama was “the beginning of the Geuloh” (as would be determined later with his ultimate release on 12-13 Tammuz, 5687). Nonetheless, not every chosid can accept that what the Rebbe said regarding the “beginning of the Geuloh” of the Rebbe Rayatz can so easily be applied to the far more confusing event of Gimmel Tammuz, 5754. Yet, even this split as to how to respond to the situation after Gimmel Tammuz 5754 is explained in the Rebbe’s teachings, as we hope to show.

In Likkutei Sichos volume 19 is printed a famous sicha explaining an aggadeta at the end of Mesechta Makos. The aggadeta describes two incidents involving Rebbi Akiva while he was travelling with three other sages (Rabban Gamliel, Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah, and Rebbi Yehoshua). What concerns us here is the second incident:

The four were going up to Yerushalayim (after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash). When they reached the point where they could see the Temple Mount they tore their garments (including Rebbi Akiva) as a sign of mourning. As they proceeded and approached the site of the Temple, they saw a fox run out of the Holy of Holies, upon which the three sages began crying, and Rebbi Akiva laughed. “Why are you laughing?!” they asked him. He responded: “Why are you crying?” They answered: “The place about which the verse states ‘a non-Kohen who approaches will die’ and now foxes are are going there and we shouldn’t cry?!” Rebbi Akiva responded: that is why I am laughing. The verse states (Yeshayahu 8:2) “two faithful witnesses will give testimony: Uriah haKohen and Zecharia [the prophet].” The prophecy of one is dependent on the other. Uriah prophesied (about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash) that “Zion will be plowed like a field”. Zecharia prophesied (about the Geuloh) that “elderly men and women will yet sit in the streets of Yerushalayim.” “Now that I see that Uriah’s prophecy was fulfilled, I’m certain that Zecharia’s will be fulfilled.” They said to him: “Akiva, you have comforted us. Akiva, you have comforted us.”

The Rebbe explains Rebbi Akiva’s view as follows: first of all, he could see the good that will come in the end (the Geuloh), and his opinion was that the future good triumphs over any “not pleasant” present. Thus, knowing that the destruction leads to Geuloh demands relating to the future Geuloh and not the present destruction. And more than that: the destruction itself is likened to a “plowed field”, which is not a negative step which one must endure in order to get to better things, but rather the plowing itself is part and parcel of the sowing and reaping. In other words, not only the future good triumphs over the unpleasant present, but the present itself is part of the future good! In the Rebbe’s words: Rebbi Akiva only saw the future good. And this is why the other sages were comforted by his words: because he showed them how the future good was actually already present in the “here and now” (despite how unpleasant it might appear).

Let us translate this as it might apply to Gimmel Tammuz:

All of our four sages agree that on the face of it Gimmel Tammuz is not a happy event. The Rebbe is not seen, the Rebbe is not heard, we don’t see the Rebbe by farbrengens or dollars or kos shel brocha. At the same time, it is appreciated by all that we are proceeding towards Moshiach, and whatever is lacking now is only temporary. The future is good, but the present is “not-so-pleasant”. Why do the sages cry? Because of what is lacking in the present, even if they know that the future will be good. Along comes Rebbi Akiva and not only does he not cry — he laughs! He makes a leibedik farbrengen on Gimmel Tammuz, without even mentioning the word “yohrzeit“!

What is Rebbi Akiva’s “secret”? He sees the future good that will come from this, and that is all he sees! Not only that, but he understands (based on learning the Rebbe’s sichos, especially Dvar Malchus) that “this one is dependent on the other” — that the revelations of the true and complete Geuloh, the revelation of Hashem’s essence, atzmus umahus, are in fact dependent on us doing the work under our own power without relying on the Rebbe visible presence to inspire us. This is the “plowing” that brings to the “sowing” and the “harvesting” — the future good is already here with us, hidden in the “not-so-pleasant present”. From Rebbi Akiva we learn that this knowledge is enough to transform crying to laughter, even while the future good is still hidden.

One more point:

The Rebbe in the sicha asks: why do we need be told the names of all three sages? The Rebbe answers that from their identities we learn that they were all of distinguished lineage: Rabban Gamliel was the Nosi Hador, a scion of the tribe of Yehuda; Rebbi Elazar ben Azarya (himself a future Nosi) was a Kohen, the tenth generation from Ezra Hasofer; Rebbi Yehoshua was a Levi, of those who sang and made music in the Beis Hamikdosh. Due to their outstanding yichus they were overwhelmed to see how low things had fallen after the churban. Rebbi Akiva, however, was the son of converts (“ben geirim“), and he himself was an ignoramus until the age of 40 when he first began learning the basics of Torah. Rebbi Akiva’s very existence was proof of the tremendous good that comes out of “the other side”, and he was thus able to see clearly the future good that will come out of a not-so-pleasant situation in the present. This is unlike the the other sages in our aggadeta, each of whom came from a superlative background, yet they could not see the future good hidden in the not-so-pleasant present until Rebbi Akiva explained it to them.

If we translate that to our present situation, we see that the Rebbe is apprising us of what to expect: those with the most illustrious “gezha” yichusin, those who held the visibly important positions in the Rebbe’s staff, may find it difficult to get past the “not-so-pleasant” change in the state of affairs. To the contrary, the baal tshuvahs, the “newcomers”, and their children may find it easier to grasp the Rebbe Akiva perspective: to see that Gimmal Tammuz is — as the Rebbe states in the sicha — the actual beginning of the Geuloh.

If there are those who, after over 30 years, still haven’t adopted Rebbi Akiva’s perspective, we are forced to say that those who do see Gimmel Tammuz as the beginning of the Geuloh must shoulder a lion’s share of the blame. How many years of wasted efforts were spent arguing with and ridiculing each other?  If we, the Rebbi Akivas, will properly explain these concepts (as a result of we ourselves following the “derech hayashara” of properly learning Inyonei Moshiach and Geuloh), then we are assured by this aggadeta that the others will come around to see things as Rebbi Akiva sees them. Not only that, but they themselves will tell us “Nichamtanu! Nichamtanu!” — you have consoled us!

This alone will surely bring the Geuloh faster!

View the sicha in Likkutei Sichos volume 19 (in Yiddish) here.