Or Le'Erev Yom Kippur 5776
September 21 2015
There is a custom to write a Pidyon Nefesh, a "Pan" to the Rebbe before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as well as other times throughout the year (Yud Shevat, birthdays etc.). Before traveling I recall my father A'H calling the Rebbe's office to ask the secretaries to write in for hatzlacha and a safe trip. Once before we left New York I remember my father kissing the mezuzah on the Rebbe's door when we were standing in Gan Eden Hatachton. Why do we do this? Doesn't everyone already have a direct connection with Hashem?
There is a Gemara that says that a sick person should go to the Chacham of his town and request that he be meorer rachamim, arouse compassion on high on his behalf. Why do we ask the Chacham and not just ask your own family? The answer is that Klal Yisroel is like one big body. Although you need to daven yourself, when you need someone to speak on your behalf, it's best to choose the head, the Rebbe (an acronym for Rosh Bnei Yisroel, the Head of the Jewish People). This is the reason we write a Pan before Rosh Hashana to ask the Rebbe for help with our davening.
While I was by the Ohel before Rosh Hashana I saw young bachurim (who never saw the Rebbe) preparing their Pan with seriousness and devotion. They have a living connection to the Rebbe that is beyond time and space. The way they prepared was similar to me to the way we saw by chassidim of the past. People of all ages, both young and old wait for hours to spend a few minutes at the Ohel. They feel a connection, they aren't doing it from wrote because if it were just from wrote it wouldn't perpetuate they way it does.
When we realize our connection to the Rebbe, when it's time to write we don't use electronics. It's personal, we do it ourselves. We get into the right frame of mind by first going to the mikveh, learning and saying some Tehillim. Once we're in the right state of mind we approach writing the Rebbe personally, telling the Rebbe our true thoughts, feelings, aspirations and requests. It's not the same to text the Ohel etc.
The Rebbe Rashab once said that it's hard for him to read a letter when the first draft of the letter was written by a person who didn't go to the mikveh. Even though the final draft was written after going to the mikveh, the first draft which was the true expression was not written in a way a Chosid addresses a Rebbe. The Rebbe felt this, so it made it hard to read even the final draft written later. To connect this way with the Rebbe is not possible through electronics. A handwriting expert cannot interpret an email.
Rav Yehosua Isaac Baruch lived Kovno. Later on he became the Mashpia in Vilna for the bachurim who escaped Poland. Once there the Previous Rebbe appointed him as a Mashpia of the Yeshiva in Vilna. When he would write a letter to the Rebbe he would first write his thoughts, cross out some of them and then rewrite them. In the end however he sent the entire letter with all the cross outs and rewrites into the Rebbe. Some people noticed this and told him that it's not nice to send the Rebbe a messy paper. He answered that the Rebbe needs to see what I thought and then my rethink because that way I show myself to the Rebbe and then the Rebbe can give me guidance. So too today; we need to express ourselves to the Rebbe not by just by writing down our names but by sharing our worries and our concerns, our physical and spiritual needs and how our children are doing. We share what we have accomplished with mivtzoyim, the tekanos of the Rebbeim and what we are accomplishing in learning.
Rabbi Klein once told a story about a child who sent a picture too the Rebbe. Later he saw how the Rebbe was analyzing the picture to see what the child was trying to say. My brother in law Rav Avraham Shlomo Ganzburg was once in Yechidus Klalis with his wife and a young child. To keep his child calm while each one wrote their Panhe he gave him a paper to write on as well on which he drew a picture. On their way out the parents handed the Rebbe their Pans. The Rebbe stopped them and asked for the child's picture too.
May we all have a Chasima v'Gmar Chasima Tovah.
May we all be zoche to Hakhel together with the Rebbe
in the 3rd beis hamikdosh. NOW!!!
Rabbi Shimon Raichik