Levaya of HaRav Shneur Zalman Yudkin

 CROWN HEIGHTS: Levaya of HaRav Shneur Zalman Yudkin ZT”L May 10, 2024(https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/date/2024/05/10)  (https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/2282414/crown-heights-levaya-ofharav-shneur-zalman-yudkin-ztl.html#comments) YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of HaRav Schneur Zalman Yudkin Zt”l, a link to to pre-war Europe whose story and Mesirus Nefesh inspired countless people throughout his illustrious life. As a child, Shneur Zalman studied at Yeshiva Torah Im Derech Eretz, a school that operated in a gymnasium in Riga, Latvia, and leaned heavily on the teachings of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l. Over the course of his long life, Rav Shneur Zalman lived by the tenets of both Rav Shamshon Raphael and his Chasidic upbringing. He would often recount the tremendous mesiras nefesh demonstrated by his father to maintain a frum home in Russia – including one instance in which he was literally thrown into a sewer for the “crime” of making a bris mila on his son. His father once had no matzos for Pesach, so with incredible mesiras nefesh and kedusha, he used 3 sugar cubes instead of the matzos. With tears in his eyes he explained to his children, “The top one is Kohen, the middle is Levi, and the bottom is Yisroel”… He told his children this is what you need to do when you one day will have Matzos at a pesach Seder. He led the entire Pesach Seder using the 3 sugar cubes, to make sure his children will know how to conduct a pesach Seder one day. Seeing such mesiras nefesh from his father helped mold the Niftar into the Tzadik he was. Anyone who saw him, saw Kedusha radiating from his holy face. zid=22&cid=9153&mid=25678&pid=0&sid=27&uuid=a0c6834488e3e0725d50f36cb923ab01&ip=212.76.103.204&default=false&random=53963208×t heights-levaya-of-harav-shneur-zalman-yudkin-ztl.htm Rav Shneur Zalman and his family clung to their Yiddishkeit with tremendous Mesiras Nefesh, and eventually settled in Crown Heights, where he was able to live a life of Torah and Avodas Hashem without fear. He was well known figure in many Shuls, where he would go around fundraising for Kiryat Malachi, and his presence alone put smiles on the face of Mispalelim as he would come through the door. “He was a true Tzadik,” one individual who knew him told YWN. “He was a special person with an incredible heart and a deep love for those around him and who taught me and so many others what it means to live as a Yid.” The levaya and kevurah are scheduled to take place at 3 PM on Friday at the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York. Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Contribution of the Chassidim to the World of Halakha

 The Contribution of the Chassidim to the World of Halakha | Yeshivat Har Etzion

Rav Elyakim Krumbein

"According To The Advice Of Friends"

 Eternal Joy - Volume 3: Making a Living, Building a Life (sichos-in-english.org)

"According To The Advice Of Friends"

... Regarding matters of earning a living - [it should be] according to the advice of discerning friends. This is in keeping with the verse,[31] "Salvation lies in much counsel"; which is to say, that the individuals offering advice are to be wise and discerning so that they are capable of providing counsel. And "much counsel" means that there be at least two [individuals providing advice], as the minimum of "much" is at least two.

Moreover, they are to be "friends" - individuals who seek your welfare, for which reason they will give your situation proper consideration and offer you sound advice.

(Sefer HaSichos 5748, Vol. I, p. 240)

In reply to your question regarding the various job suggestions about which you write:

I have already told you in the past that you should act according to the advice of discerning friends.

(Mikdash Melech, Vol. II, p. 231)

Make G-D Your Partner

The Rebbe once told an individual who started a new business:

Maybe you'll take G-d in as your partner by promising Him ten percent of the profits, [i.e., distributing ten percent of the profits to tzedakah]. Take Him in as your partner, and G-d will bless you.

(Zorei'ah Tzedakos, p. 135)

      

The Ladder of Divine Consciousness

 The Ladder of Divine Consciousness

וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַה': (בראשית יג:יח)

He built an altar to G‑d. Genesis 13:18

The three altars that Abraham built express the three levels through which we can ascend in our relationship with G‑d. Abraham built his first altar to thank G‑d for the promise of sustenance, children, and a land in which they could live. This corresponds to observing G‑d’s commandments, which gives life to the soul and sustains its connection to the body.

Abraham built his second altar to acknowledge the Divine gift of repentance. This altar expresses how we deepen our relationship with G‑d in order to restore it after having sinned.

Abraham built his third altar purely for the sake of glorifying G‑d. This altar expresses our ability to abandon our sense of independent selfhood and fuse with Him. All reality will fully attain this level of Divine consciousness only in the Messianic Era, but our awareness of this fact fuels our yearning for the Messianic Era, and G‑d will hasten its arrival commensurate with our yearning for it.1

Likutei Sichot, vol. 30, pp. 40–43.

"Why is so and so no longer a student in Bais Rivkah?"

   Reb Binyomin Silberstrom of Yerushalayim attended a bar mitzva of a Lubavitch family and the Bar Mitzvah boy related the following story.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe instructed Rabbi Chefer of Bais Rivkah in Kfar Chabad, to build another building to accommodate the growing student body, noting that the new building be built in Kfar Chabad Sheini. After obtaining a parcel of land, architects began drawing up the plans for the building. When the plans were finalized Rabbi Chefer decided that before he submits it to the authorities, he flew to New York in order to present it to the Rebbe. Only after the Rebbe approves or makes some suggestions and they will be incorporated, would he submit them to be approved.

When he entered the Rebbe's room for the Yechidus, he handed the Rebbe the folder that had all the plans. To his shock, the Rebbe moved the folder to a side, as if to say, "This doesn't interest me."

Looking at Rabbi Chefer, the Rebbe asked, "Why is so and so no longer a student in Bais Rivkah?"

Rabbi Chefer replied, "She left on her own accord, [as if to say that the administration didn't ask her to leave]."

"Do you know why she left," the Rebbe inquired. The Rebbe then added, "What is the need of a building, if a student is unhappy and leaves?"

Realizing that the Rebbe was unhappy, Rabbi Chefer said, "As soon as I return to Eretz Yisroel, together with other members of the administration, I will go to her house and ask her to return to Beis Rivkah."

Only then did the Rebbe retrieve the folder and examined it and then told Rabbi Chefer whatever he said.

The following day, Rabbi Chefer went to the airport and took a flight back to Eretz yisroel. When he landed,  he called the other members and they decided a time to meet and go to her house in Tel Aviv.

When they knocked on the door, it was opened by the girl who had left. She was startled to see them, but quickly composed herself and asked, “Why are you here now?”

I was by the Rebbe in New York, two days ago, and he asked me why you are no longer a student in Bais Rivkah, and I promised him that I and other members of the administration will visit you and see if we can resolve the problems or complaints that you have with the school.

The girl replied, since the Rebbe wants me to go back, I will give it a second try.  She then told them why she had left and they answered, we will make it a priority to take care of it.

The Bar Mitzvah boy concluded, how do I know this story? Because I am the youngest son of the girl. Because of the Rebbe's interest in one girl, all of her children are chassidim of the Rebbe!

mitzvos

 

​        The Chumash says to keep mitzvos. The Shema says to keep mitzvos. The Navi says to keep mitzvos. The Gemara talks all about mitzvos. As we learn in Tehillim, mitzvos are emunah. They bring us to emunah.

 

Thus, the Satan tries to trick us ​i​nto drop​ping them. First there was idol worship, a radical departure from Judaism. Some Jews fell for this while holding on to the other mitzvos, but many succumbed entirely. Then came Xianity which resembled Judaism in some ways. That tricked some more, but for many it was too much of a betrayal of their faith. Then came the haskalah. It didn’t appear to be a strange religion, but of course it was. That took many more. Then came Communism. You could still be an idealist. That took some more. Then came Zionism. You can still be with your people, just exchange those mitzvos for the land and the medinah. That took many more. At one point, all of Borough Park was Mizrachi.

 

So what is to be done with the rest, with those who are staying strong? Ah, dress it up even more. Give them one mitzvah to obsess over and tell them that it represents all the others. It is so much better than the others that you can forget about them. That we call contemporary Yeshivism. They call themselves Litvacks, but they are not Litvacks. The Vilna Gaon was a Litvack. He said, “Just as the prime purpose of a tree is its fruit, so is the study of Torah secondary to its fulfillment. Only the fulfillment of mitzvos qualifies a man as one of the righteous upon whom the world depends.” (Vilna Gaon, Even Sheleimah 5:6) That’s a Litvack. Today we have Yeshivists. So many are stumbling in the final days before Moshiach.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Theory of Education

 The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Theory of Education - The Lehrhaus