Weekly Dvar Torah: Eighty-Five Years Strong — And Growing
This Shabbos, the 28th of Sivan, Chassidim around the world will celebrate eighty-five years since the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin arrived on American shores after escaping Nazi Europe.
If not for this day, where would I be today?
Where would Chassidim be today?
Where would world Jewry be today?
We all understand why Chof-Ches Sivan is precious to us. The Rebbe and Rebbetzin survived while much of their family did not. The Rebbe was almost the lone survivor of his immediate family from the devastating combination of Hitler and Stalin. His brother, relatives, uncles, aunts and grandparents perished in the Holocaust, and his holy father passed away in exile after being persecuted by Stalin.
Their survival alone is reason enough for celebration.
But to say that world Jewry depended on this day? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?
I don’t think so.
There is another question as well.
The Rebbe was an extraordinarily private person. Very little of his personal life was ever discussed publicly. Yet in 1986, forty-five years after arriving in America, the Rebbe himself established Chof-Ches Sivan as a day to be marked and celebrated. Not only that, the Rebbe repeatedly referred to the arrival of “me and my wife.”
Why?
Why share such a personal chapter of his life with us?
Five years later, on the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival, a group of young bochurim prepared a booklet describing the history and significance of Chof-Ches Sivan. The Rebbe not only approved it, but instructed that ten thousand copies be printed. Then he stood for hours distributing a copy personally to every man, woman, and child who passed before him.
The message seems clear.
The Rebbe did not view Chof-Ches Sivan as a private anniversary.
He viewed it as our anniversary.
A family celebrates together.
By inviting Chassidim into this deeply personal chapter of his life, the Rebbe was telling us that we are family.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches that everything happens by Divine Providence. Every person is sent exactly where he needs to be in order to fulfill the mission for which his soul descended into this world.
To understand why Chof-Ches Sivan matters so much, we need to go back a few years.
When the Previous Rebbe visited America in 1929, one of the reasons for his trip was to determine whether America could become a home for Torah Judaism after he had been expelled from Soviet Russia. His conclusion was clear: America was not yet ready.
Keeping Shabbos could cost a person his job. Kosher food was scarce. Jewish education was weak. Assimilation was rampant. It was famously said that the streets of America were treif.
Then came Hitler.
When Hitler uprooted European Jewry from its ancient centers, Heaven was sending a message. The time had come to transplant Torah and Yiddishkeit to the Western Hemisphere and eventually to every corner of the globe.
When the Previous Rebbe arrived in America a decade later, he made his famous declaration: “America is not different.” America was no different than Europe when it came to Torah and Yiddishkeit.
Fifteen months later, on Chof-Ches Sivan 5701, the Rebbe arrived in America, and the Previous Rebbe entrusted him with transforming that vision into reality.
Eighty-five years later, the results speak for themselves. Thousands of institutions, thousands of Shluchim and Shluchos, and Jewish life flourishing in places where nobody could have imagined it. Torah is being taught, Tefillin are being wrapped, and Shabbos candles are being lit in every corner of the globe.
But that only brings us back to the question.
How did this happen?
What was the secret?
What quality stood at the heart of everything the Rebbe accomplished?
Perhaps the answer lies in this week’s Parshah, which this year is read on Chof-Ches Sivan itself.
The Rebbe once explained a Rashi on the verse describing the punishment of the spies. Rashi says that the spies “organized the people against him” — against Moshe.
The Rebbe asked a simple question. The verse already tells us that the spies spoke against Hashem, against the Land of Israel, and against the entire mission of entering the Land. Why does Rashi feel the need to insert Moshe into the picture? What is bothering the five-year-old child learning Chumash?
The Rebbe explained that the child notices something very obvious. When Hashem wanted to destroy the Jewish people, Moshe prayed and saved six hundred thousand Jews. If Moshe’s prayers could save six hundred thousand Jews, why couldn’t they save another ten?
Rashi therefore emphasizes that the spies had turned the nation against Moshe himself. Since their sin was directed against him personally, Moshe could not become their defender. This is based on the well-known halachic principle of אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור — a prosecutor cannot become a defender. Since the spies had rebelled against Moshe, he could no longer serve as their advocate.
The Rebbe then added a practical lesson. Jewish leaders dedicate themselves to bringing blessings to all Jews. Except for those who oppose them.
Years later, Rabbi Leibel Schapiro prepared this sicha for publication. When the edited transcript came back from the Rebbe, something was strange. The paragraph ended in the middle of the lesson. The sicha stated that Jewish leaders bring blessings to all the Jews of their generation, but the concluding comparison to Moshe not being able to save those who oppose him was missing.
Where did it go?
When inquiries were made, it turned out that when the Rebbe reviewed the transcript, he drew a large X through the final paragraph.
The Rebbe was asked: wasn’t this exactly what the Rebbe had said?
His response was astonishing:
“This is completely contrary to Chassidic thinking. Burn this paper and never repeat it.”
Think about what happened here.
The Rebbe was not rejecting the explanation in Rashi. He was not disputing the halachic principle of ein kateigor naaseh saneigor. The logic remained sound.
Yet when those words were about to become a permanent lesson in print, the Rebbe could not allow them to stand.
Moshe Rabbeinu could not defend those whose sin was directed against him. But a Chassidic leader cannot become a prosecutor against another Jew.
Wow.
Perhaps this is the secret of Chof-Ches Sivan.
People often point to the Rebbe’s brilliance, scholarship, vision, and leadership. All of that is true. But none of those qualities alone explain eighty-five years of uninterrupted growth.
The Rebbe saw a Jew where others saw a problem. He saw a soul where others saw disagreement. He saw potential where others saw failure.
Most importantly, the Rebbe never gave up on a Jew.
Not because the Jew agreed with him.
Not because the Jew was observant.
Not because the Jew deserved it.
But because the Jew was a Jew.
Over the years, the Rebbe taught us repeatedly that Ahavas Yisroel is the preparation for Moshiach. When Moshe redeemed the Jews from Egypt, many never made it out. When Moshiach comes, no Jew will be left behind. Every Jew will matter. Every Jew will be gathered. Every Jew will come home.
Perhaps that is why Chassidus is the preparation for Geulah. It teaches us not merely how to think differently, but how to look at another Jew differently.
And perhaps that is the deepest message of Chof-Ches Sivan.
The Rebbe invited us into one of the most personal chapters of his life. He wanted us to celebrate it together with him. He wanted us to understand that his story was our story.
And perhaps the greatest gift he gave us was not only the thousands of institutions, the thousands of Shluchim, and the millions of Jews who have been touched by Torah.
Perhaps the greatest gift was teaching us how to look at another Jew.
With patience.
With hope.
With faith.
With love.
A love that refused to give up on a Jew.
A love that crossed oceans.
A love that reached every continent.
A love that continues to change the Jewish world eighty-five years later.
L’chaim, brothers and sisters.
It is our holiday.
Have a Shabbos of Love and Freedom,
Gut Shabbos and Gut Yom Tov,
Rabbi Yosef Katzman