When we are Connected, Nothing Can Stand in Our Way!
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week’s parsha is titled “Vayachi Yaakov- And Yaakov lived”. This refers to the best years of Yaakov life, the 17 years he lived in Mitzrayim. The whole parsha is titled Vayechi yet its content is basically the opposite. The parsha discusses the end of Yaakov’s life when he gives the brachos to his children, his passing and then his internment in Maaras HaMachpela. What connection does this have to the parsha’s name, Vayachi, which denotes life?
To answer this the Rebbe quotes the Gemara Taanis that states; Yaakov lo meis- Yaakov did not die. The Gemara asks how is it possible that he did not die; he was embalmed, he was eulogized and he was buried? The Gemara answers; “Ma zaro b’chaim, af hu b’chaim- Since his children are alive, so too he is alive”. This means that when we, Yaakov’s children, live in the ways of Yaakov, he is alive, “Vayachi” here in this world.
This answer is very important to us today. This week was Hei Teves, the day that commemorates Didon Notzach, the victory of the sefarim being returned to the Rebbe’s library in 770. During the time that the court case ensued everyone was aware of the great pain it was causing both the Rebbe and the Rebbitzin, so much so that it even took a physical toll upon them. In a sicha, the Rebbe put the entire episode with the sefarim into perspective. He explained that some think that Yud Shevat 5710 brought an end to an era. They say that the sefarim were the personal property of the Previous Rebbe, and since there was a levaya and Kaddish was said etc., the property now belonged to his heirs. The Rebbe explained that a Rebbe is not a private individual or even an overseer of a large organization. The entire existence of a Nasi is for Klal Yisroel, not himself. Therefore Yud Shevat did not bring the end of an era, rather the era continues on through those that follow in his ways; his children and his chassidim. On the contrary, the Rebbe’s work expanded exponentially both after Yud Shevat, (and then again after Gimmel Tammuz). The more that his children live in his ways the more he is alive in an ever-expanding measure, more and more from year to year.
Therefore when some one hears a story about the Rebbe, it is not for the purpose of reminiscence or nostalgia for the past. It is a lesson for us today. When we live with his Sichos, Maamarim, horaos and stories the Rebbe lives, Vayachi, through us in an ever greater measure.
Some may ask; what about the distance in time from Gimmel Tammuz that grows with every passing day? Other’s say; “You were there, I was not”, etc. What we must always keep in mind is that just like the relationship between a parent and their child is not just a physical connection so too the relation between a Rebbe and chosid. It is not nor has ever been based upon the physical; its soul to soul, which is beyond time. The Rebbe, a neshama klalis, is unified with each and every individual neshama at its essence as explained in the Tanya. To feel this we need to take action and not just wait to be inspired, to get on a high. The way to feel this connection is though avoda, the service of following in his ways, nothing less. We sit down with a maamar or a sicha and we learn it, and then relearn it. And then we think about it and take to heart that he is my Rebbe and I am his student and this maamar or sicha is speaking directly to me not only to others.
Once the chosid R Zalman Zlatapolsky, a chosid of the Rebbe Maharash, and later a chosid of the Rebbe Rashab, came to visit the Rebbe Rashab in Monton after the passing of the Rebbe Maharash. He arrived early in the morning, sat down on a bench and began singing a nigun. Soon enough he became deeply involved and then engrossed in the nigun to the point that he became oblivious of his surroundings. At one point the Rebbe Rashab passed the chosid unnoticed. Later, in yechidus the Rebbe Rashab asked him which maamar he was thinking of when he was singing the nigun. The chosid began to cry, told the Rebbe the name of the maamar and began to repeat the maamar, a maamar that he had heard many years before by the Rebbe Maharash. Some time later when the Rebbe Rashab was in Monton with the Previous Rebbe, he stopped by a bench and told the Previous Rebbe that this is the spot that R Zalmen sat and sang the nigun. The connection of a Rebbe and a chosid is beyond time and space.
We learn like this until we become one with it and then there is a connection, and then it impacts this life that we are living here today. Then it’s zaro b’chaim, its felt. When we are zaro b’chaim then Yaakov lo meis and the Rebbe lives through us. With this we have the power to bring the revelation of Moshiach.