After Further Consideration

I'd like to start off by saying that the whole "Snag-Bash" topic is now over, with the consensus that it's morally wrong but quite enjoyable nonetheless, and that Shimshon was a holy man. A very holy man. Mistakes? Did the Rebbe make mistakes? Case closed. Any further resistance from the editor is futile.
I saw an interesting article on www.theyeshivaworld.com about Chabad of Kenosha's winning the legal right to put up a Menora. The article itself I read on the Lubavitch sites, what was fascinating was the comments. A certain person cursed out Chabad, the Rebbe, and everything sacred. It was nice to see that many people, quick to distance themselves from personal affiliation, defended Lubavitch with an eloquence reminiscent of my own. (And so humble to!).
Why is Chabad attacked so much? Why doesn't Google recognize the word as being spelled correctly? Is the whole world allied against us? Is there nothing we can do?
And as always, the answer is education. Lack thereof causes hatred. Am I advocating the invasion of Beth Medrash Gevoha and the mass conversion of the thousands of Snags contained therein to Judaism? Of course. There is an old joke that Chabad is the closest religion to Judaism. Last time someone told me that I belted him. It was totally worth the suspension from school.
LT told me that when he was a kid in boarding school the teacher was educating the class on bible, and he mentioned that the Jews were stuck in the desert for forty years. I'm sorry that I can't remember the wise-crack that some brat made, but that same brat has never forgotten the blow LT dealt him immediately after. Sure, he got caned, but it was worth it. This, my friends, is Jewish pride. You've got to show the goy who's boss.
And last and probably least, if you recall I mentioned a while ago that literally no one rates my posts on www.israelforum.com unless I first rate. I rated for a week, got great results, stopped, and it appears that no one reads my shtuff anymore. Oh well, their loss.

OK Then

To respond to the editor's comments, I'd just like to say that I don't enjoy bashing Snags, I just enjoy bashing Snaggiism, a dangerous disease peculiar to Jews who haven't internalized Chassidus.
I'd also like to say that after further discussion with LT, I have come to understand the importance of the whole Hey Teves saga. Basically, Barry's point was that when the Previous Rebbe gave his library over to the Chassidim it was merely a trick to bring it onto these blessed shores, and that in reality he maintained ownership. The point of the Rebbe is that his father-in-law would never resort to chicanery in order to accomplish something, and that whatever he did was truthful and honest. Saying otherwise impinges on the honor of the Previous Rebbe, and by extension the entire Chabad. The great joy caused by Chabad's victory in court was because of the affirmation thereby of the Previous Rebbe's integrity, of course of the return of the Sefarim, holy and important manuscripts.
This is my (and LT's) interpretation, and if anyone doesn't like it they can post a different one.

Oh baby! (2)

This is the second post of the day, make sure you read the previous one. We (The exalted Shluchim of YHSTC) had another Shiur with Rabbi Shagalow. He was very good, especially in the last 20 minutes, when he started Snag-bashing. A little note. R. Shagalow lives in S. Louis Park, which is the Snag Capital of the upper midwest. The man lives his life among these people, and he bashes them. How beautiful. Truth is, I guess this makes him uniquely qualified to bash. Anyway, he said, what's the basic difference between a Lubavitcher and a Misnaged? How they translate the Possuk, "Tamim Teheye Im Havaye Elokecha." A Snag says that it means "You shall walk prefectly with the L-rd your G-d." So, a Snag thinks, learn Torah and do Mitzvos in order to become perfect with G-d. A Lubavitcher, on the other hand, translates the verse as "You shall walk wholely with the L-rd your G-d." Or in a whole manner. Point is, we say that the Possuk means that a person should serve Hashem with all his faculties, his good and is bad. What's the practical difference? Perfection is not the goal. And when a person thinks he has perfection, it's one of two things. Either the guy's mind is blown, or he really is perfect. In which case he has no purpose left on earth. Why didn't G-d create man as angels? Because they're worthless! They don't struggle! Without struggle life is meaningless.
And now we come to a little later in the night, another brilliant Farbrengen from Rabbi Chayim Friedman. His brother Mordechai farbrenged earlier with the Bochurim, but I missed most of that, except for a little speech about the greatness of the Shluchim and how the Bochurim should start respecting us. So that was nice.
Rabbi Chayim spoke about a lot of topics, ending at around 4:45 AM. I was literally falling down because I was so tired. At 2:00 I decided to go once the current Sicha was over. That's why I left at 4:45. But it was totally worth it. The only quibble I have is that his Farbrengens are so flowy (new word for the OED) that it's difficult to take out specific points. The last thing was "why do bad things happen to god people?" The answer is that it's G-d's fault. Since he is everything, therefore all is him, and he is the one responsible. It also says that no bad comes from heaven. Meaning? There is no bad in this world! Just because you can't see the good doesn't mean it's not there. In fact, it's a higher level of good, because it's not revealed down here. And I'm not saying that suffering is a good thing, rather that it's not really suffering. OK, so it is, but only in our eyes.
All right, enough for today, more tomorrow, probably,
(the customary ellipsis)

Oh Baby!

Here's a comment that I got from the editor on my last post that for some reason blogger is refusing to post.

You just mentioned something that kind of pisses me off. I hope you'll find this genius of mine worthy of putting near yours.

People like to take out all the juice of everything and blame it all on the Rebbe. Case in point: "Who the hell understands what was so important about the seforim? Not me! The only reason I'm celebrating is because the Rebbe found it important!" Or, "Who the hell would think it's important to get kids to hear the Ten Commandment? Not me! I'm only shlepping kids off the street because the Rebbe said to do it!" Or, "Why the hell would someone want to learn chassidus? Not me! Just the Rebbe said to do it, so I'm doing it!" This kind of attitude can really make you feel bottul and mekushar and mesiras nefeshdik (Side note: a mashpia once said: the only mesiras nefesh we do is when we're moser our nefesh elokis.) but you're drying out Judaism. Didan notzach becomes a meaningless victory which we celebrate b'kabolas ol because the inscrutable Rebbe felt like it. Mivtzoim isn't necessarily accomplishing anything; it's just doing something that the inscrutable Rebbe wants. Learning Chassidus (Learning Chassidus!) also doesn't accomplish anything, it's also just doing what the inscrutable Rebbe wants. Is this what Judaism is about? An emphatic no! Chassidus does have an effect. Movtzoim do have an effect. If the Rebbe (who certainly is inscrutable) wants something, it's because that thing is worth wanting! If we don't understand why, then we're missing a very important part of the point!
The real mekusharim don't care if Judaism is dry. All that matters is oysfirin di kavanah. Well, if you don't attempt to scrutinize the Rebbe (just a wee bit) than you can't think straight.
For example, people might say, "It's important to build buildings because "der Rebbe vil binyanim!" (It always sounds better in Yiddish, even if the key word in the sentence is Hebrew.) Well, buddy, why, pray tell, does the Rebbe want buildings? Because buildings help you do shlichus. So, if you're on shlichus with limited resources, considerations such as "Der Rebbe vil binyanim" are only going to befuddle your decision—unless you think why the Rebbe wants binyanim!

If you think this is kefirah, then write back, and we'll settle things out.

Did you like his genius? Impassioned no doubt. Kefirah? Doubtful. My point was that sometimes we don't know what to do, and then the answer is to rely on the Rebbe, not on our own intellect. Sure, work as hard as you can to understand, but sometimes you just don't. Is this an excuse to not do what you have to do? Of course not. Is this an excuse to not try to figure it out? It's like the Bracha Shekahol. Shulchan Oruch says that this Bracha is said whenever you don't know the proper Bracha for something. But not because of your ignorance, that you haven't learned which Bracha to make, it's because you did learn and still don't know.

And now, presenting...

As I mentioned, we had a Farbrengen last night. It was the sort where a serious suggestion was made that we boil some potatoes, and I don't mean for Mashke. As usual, Rabbi Chayim Friedman was excellent. Soon I'm going to run out of words to describe him. But hey, he deserves every accolade he can get. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your religion and/or liver) I was a bit inebriated, so my memories are clouded a bit by the happy Stratocumulus Perlucidus of lukewarm Smirnoff.
What is the whole Simcha of 25 Cheshvan about anyway? We're happy because the Rebbe was happy. The whole court case was a strange thing. The Rebbe was so involved, and thought it was so important. Some people suggested that it was perhaps not so very important-after all, it was just a bunch of old books. To these people the Rebbe was very sharp.
To reiterate, we're happy because the Rebbe is happy. Rabbi Perlstein of Chicago (AY's daddy) told of how he learned a Nigleh Sicha with a Misnaged, and it blew his mind. An hour later a Bochur in his Yeshiva told the Sicha over for the benefit of his fellow students, and they were like, "Oh, that's nice (yawn)". We just don't appreciate the genius of the Rebbe, and even more, don't care to find out. Even on a day like today, the only reason we can figure out to be happy is, "Oh, the Rebbe's happy? Me too!"
You've got to care. To care you've got to feel. To feel you've got to know. To know you've got to learn. And that's exactly where I'm headed.
Oh, and a quick Mazel Tov to Rabbi Mordechai Friedman, fearless leader of the Yeshiva High School of the Twin Cities, and all round good guy. Should there be an apostrophe there? Have I used that joke too many times in this blog already? Does anyone care either way?
Anyway, Shillibear told me today that I should Chap Arein, take advantage now, because when I'm 34 I'll be wishing I was 19. I pointed out to him that I was 20, and I already wish I was still 19. That's the problem with us, when we're 19 we wish to be 34, and when 34 to be 19. Which is worse? Or better?

Fifty is eternal

Today I finished up L'maan Daas (Kuntreisim 1), and once again came upon the dichotomy that makes our lives so meaningful. The Friedriker Rebbe discusses faith in Hashem, that he is the only one who makes anything. In fact, he is the only one that is anything. We all have this knowledge subconsciously, but but all it is. We believe, sure, but does it affect us? I know that sustenance comes only from Him, but do I practice it?
As a Bochur it's very easy to live life in this manner. After all, I have no problems with money. The whole world is black and white. Once I grow older, and have eight children sitting at the able waiting for supper, it'll be a little tougher to simply put my faith, and fate, in Hashem.
All right, enough soul-searching. Tonight is the 25th of Cheshvan, the day that the US court ruled to return the Sefarim to Chabad, and therefore we Farbreng. Should be fun. These things usually are. Oh, and for an update on the saga of the "Dubov", I spoke to him today, and he said I should call him tonight. Isn't that brave of me? They should make an award or something (check the comments section for a sarcastic remark by the editor). Until next time then...(ellipsis again)

P.S. And just in, I'd like to wish a hearty Mazel Tov to my dear friend Yehuda Leib Heber on his engagement to some girl (Dassie Butman, if it really matters to you). He was a Shliach in LA when I was there for two years. Incidentally, I notified both shmais.com and crownheights.info. See, I'm getting good at this phone call thing. Did you like the editor's comments?

Tacks

I've had some complaints about this blog from a certain editor. Firstly, my previous post was, to him at least, heretical. So I'd just like to clarify. I did not mean that the Alter Rebbe's Maamar made no sense. I did not get it. I am at fault. I carry a cross for the world's sins. Oh, sorry, I'm getting a little carried away. Anyway, happy editor?
Not yet, because I have yet to address his second concern, that this blog has gotten way too serious for his liking. Too much Judaism, not enough stupidity. Is this really such a problem?
Shillibear had the brilliant idea that we bring down Rabbi Dovid Dubov of Princeton, NJ, to come Farbreng for Yud Tes Kislev. I think it's a great idea. Only problem is that I'm the one who's supposed to make the phone calls. Know this, my friends, that I hate (a strong word, yes?) with a passion bordering on the pathological the concept of cold-calling. If you can believe it, that was the most difficult part of Merkos Shlichus. But I did it, because I'm a big boy. So I called Rabbi Dubov. Some girl picked up, and I left a message. He called me back, but unfortunately I wasn't around to answer. Did I immediately call back? Of course not, that would make way too much sense. What do you think I am, some sort of normal person? Horrors. Now I can spend the rest of tonight and half of tomorrow agonising. There's nothing like Jewish guilt to put other nation's pain and suffering into perspective. We suffer the most because, well, we're Jews. Eat that, Armenians.
Lest you think I didn't learn today, I did. Quite a lot, in fact. But nothing mind-blowing. The editor should know that when I put Chassidus up here it's because I'm really excited about it, and there's almost no other place you can find this stuff in English. For example, I just read a great article in this month's National Geographic about memory. Really fascinating. But since anyone can walk to their nearest news-stand and read all about it, why should I bother?
I hope there's been enough stupidity to keep even the notoriously picky editor happy. Tomorrow hopefully we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Moving right along

A quick response to the latest comment, regarding the second story on my previous post "bears". Essentially he was just filling in some background info, and all I'd like to add to the comment is that I faithfully transmitted the story as I heard it.
Anyway, I had a nice Shabbos. Have you ever learned a Maamar and had no idea what is said? Sometimes it's because the Maamar is so profound, one's head is swimming. Sometimes the Maamar is simply unintelligible, in which case, well, I guess, you simply don't get it. The second to last Maamar is this week's Torah Ohr (Alter Rebbe) was a clear example of the latter type. Normally I'm happy to get seventy percent of a Maamar in this Sefer, and even fifty percent is acceptable. But this one? First a little background on this particular bit. The Alter Rebbe said many Maamarim, and a certain amount of them were compiled, with annotations, by his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Lubavitch. This Maamar that I'm referring to is the same as the previous one in the Sefer, it's just transcribed as the Alter Rebbe said it, without notes or explanations. And man, is it impossible. I truly don't get how the Chassidim understood it. All right, so they were about four billion times smarter than me.
What else? Um...
That would appear to be all that's on my mind now, so I'll say sonora 'till next time. Or I'll type it. Whatever.

Bears

The Yeshiva had a Farbrengen tonight with Rabbi Chayim Friedman in honor of 20 Cheshvan. It was very good, as all of his Farbies have been. While he was telling one story I was reminded on another. You want to hear both? Read? Whatever? No problem. Here's the one he said. Oh, and in response to the almighty editor's comment on the previous post, that is hardly the case. There's a thick dollop, thank you. Anyway, the story.
Reb Mendel Futerfas was once Farbrenging when a bunch of Bochurim from a snag Yeshiva piled in. Their leader was being very cynical, making jokes, etc, and eventually Reb Mendel stopped and asked him his name. "Ber", the Bochur answered. Reb Mendel said that he'd like to tell a story. Once there was a dog that got lost in a forest, and got found by a bear. The bear felt bad, and said, "don't worry, you can come live with us bears." There was only one problem. Dogs don't look like bears! But no worries, the bear found the dog a bear costume, and everyone was happy. The bear taught the dog one very important lesson. Dogs say "hello" be sniffing each other's tails, whereas bears greet one another with a nuzzle on the nose. So, wonderful, many years pass, and eventually the dog, who's a good politician, becomes leader of all the bears. They hold a grand inauguration ceremony, and the dogbear greets all the bears with a nuzzle. Eventually the old bear who had rescued the dogbear came up, and the dogbear moved to his nose. But the bear said, "Oh no my friend, I know who you really are, you can Kushen Tuchus." Which means "kiss my rear". So, Mendel said, all your friends here are so impressed with your jokes and comments, Ber, but I know who you really are. Kushen Tuchus.
Nice story, no? It reminded me of another one that I heard from Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein who came to Farbreng when I was in Mesifta, many years ago. In Russia people like to go bear-hunting in the winter. Why? After all, normal people prefer to stay at home in the winter in their cozy homes, sipping hot apple cider and playing rummicube, or at the worst risk. But I digress. Anyway, there's only one slight problem: in the winter, not only are normal people inside, so are the bears. This, my student, is called hibernation. So the hunters, being Russian came up with a brilliant system. They trained small dogs to go into the caves where the bears sleep and to bite them on their reproductive facilities (this is a family blog after all). The bears come running out, enraged, and perhaps kill a couple of the dogs. But the hunter is waiting, and manages to shoot the bear. Only a Russian could think this up, no? Anyway, so too are the Rebbe's Shluchim. We go out to the caves, to places where Frum Jews are not found, in the winter, in a time of Galus, and we bite the bear's balls. What the parallel exactly is for the Shluchim I know not. Every one of them has his own method. But anyway, people get annoyed, even outraged, and maybe even a couple Shluchim will lose big time. But the bear comes out, the Jew wakes up, and boom, the hunter, the Rebbe, gets the guy. But instead of hanging a head on a mantelpiece we hang Tefillin on a head.
SO these are two nice stories, and I hope you've enjoyed them. Oh, you're waiting for your humor for the day? Sorry, no luck. Once again I find myself at quarter to one, and the humor wells have run dry. All that's left is serious, committed, respectable Real Shliach.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the 148th birthday of the Rebbe Rashab. Last night the Shluchim here ate YHSTC had a Farbrengen with Rabbi Moshe Feller at his son Mendel's house. So I was planning on writing a couple of the ideas expounded upon at the Farby. For two reason though I have decided not to. The first is that he mostly told stories, which is great, but doesn't give me much to write (yes, I could write the stories. I'm not that dumb not to think of that). The second reason is that I decided to learn a Maamar of the Rebbe Rashab this morning, in honor of his birthday. The one I chose, totally at random, was "And Israel said to Joseph", said in Weisbaden in 1911. This Maamar was (is) so cool that I figured I had to share it with you, so I will.
What is the difference between Shabbos and the rest of the week? On Shabbos we rest, while during the week we work. Or at least some of us do. Anyway, the spiritual difference is in how the G-dly soul is enclothed in the animal soul. See, there are two ways. The first is when the G-dly soul totally dominates, and the animal in all of us is totally nullified. So that's pretty cool, and it's what happens on Shabbos, and for Tzaddikim, all the time. Have you ever noticed how everything looks better on Shabbos, the food tastes better, people are nicer, your favorite sports teams win (unless of course someone else's favorite teams win), even the grass is greener (on your side)? This is all because the G-dly soul is dominating.
And on the weekday? Sure, the G-dly soul is enclothed in the animal one, but now it's not dominating at all. In fact, it's in exile. But it still retains some power, and let's say it causes the animal soul to learn a little, or to do a Mitzva. Then the animal soul becomes nullified on its own, because it understands how great G-d is, and it wants to participate. Isn't that beautiful? Ah, but like everything in life there's a caveat: two people can hear the same exact thing, but one of them gets it, and feels the L-rd, and the other doesn't, so he just feels his own gross temporal existence. And this means that even the guy who gets it doesn't really get it, because he still feels himself, because He is nullified.
So what's the point of all this? Why not just have Shabbos all the time? In fact, when Moshaich comes, every day will be like Shabbos, in the sense that the G-dly soul will transform the animal soul, making it a partner in the fight for good and justice. Or something like that. But again, why not now? Why the long wait? Firstly, I have no idea. And secondly, man's whole purpose in this vale of tears is to transform this valley in the shadow of death into a place where you'll be happy to bring your kids up. That is of course if you have kids.
And how do we transform this world into a great place? By working hard. Through our struggle we can change the world.
Now, wasn't all the above inspiring? But it taught me at least one thing; that unless you get it you'll get nowhere, and the only way to get it is to try and get it. Deep, eh?