With what are you my Chosid?!
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
31 years ago the Rebbe announced in a fabrengen that everyone should prepare thirty days in advance for Yud Shvat (according to the custom brought in Shulchan Aruch to prepare thirty days in advance of Yom Tov). The Rebbe wanted three reports, one every ten days in the thirty days leading up to Yud Shvat. Yud Shvat is the Yom Tov of hiskashrus, the day we became connected to the Rebbe.
At the Hey Teves fabrengen we spoke about the sefarim and a few stories were told. Once, a son of a chosid of the Tzemach Tzedek was picked in a lottery to be drafted to the Russian Army. When the father found out, he ran to the Tzemach Tzedek for a bracha. The Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek replied, “What do you want? Am I the minister of the lotto?” The chossid replied; “But I am bound to you like all the chassidim and you help everyone.” The Tzemach Tzedek asked, “In what way are you my chosid?” The chosid replied, “I come to you and I learn your chassidus. I was here last year.” The Rebbe asked the chosid to repeat what he had heard from the maamorim. The chosid was able to give a full explanation. The Rebbe asked him when was the time he had visited him before last year and to repeat those maamorim. The chosid again gave a clear review of those maamorim as well. After the test the Rebbe told the chosid to go to the town of Lipaly and visit a certain person who would help him. The chosid relied; “But I don’t know this person at all.” The Rebbe answered; “What are you afraid of?” “He will recognize you and he will help you.” When the chosid arrived at the home of the person, it was the middle of the night. He waited for daybreak and to hear that people were awake before he knocked on the door. Someone answered the door and let him inside. No one responded even though he was able to hear that there were people inside. He saw a man pacing back and forth seeming quite upset speaking out loud; “Ribono Shel Olam, what is this?” When the man pacing back and forth realized someone was there, he asked; “Who are you, and where do you come from?” The chosid said his name and that he was from Tsasnik. The man said; “You are from Tsasnik?!” and the he started to clap his hands. The chosid thought to himself that the man is meshugeneh. The owner of the house said to the chosid that he is probably wondering what all his excitement is about. He explained that he had not seen the Rebbe for five years and last night the Tzemach Tzedek appeared to him in a dream and told him that a Yid from Tsasnik is going to visit, and that he should help him. I woke up and decided it was just a dream and went back asleep but then had the same dream again. This repeated itself a number of times. When I woke up in the morning I was beside myself. When is asked you where you from and you said Tsasnik. I realized that this was not a dream and that the Rebbe is demanding something of me. The chassid then told the man the story of his son and this man who had connections with the government got the chassid’s son out of the draft.
The lesson we need to take from this story, standing within thirty days before Yud Shvat is; in what way are we the Rebbe’s chassidim? Is it because we wear a kapata and a hat? The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek wanted the chosid to reveal and explain how he was a chosid. What will we tell the Rebbe about how we are his chassidim?
On Hey Teves we buy sefarim and we learn from them. When I was in Brunoy, France, Reb Nissan was looking for a certain sefer which I had. He requested to borrow it and explained that whenever a new sefer in Chassidus comes into print he needs to learn it. He borrowed it for a few weeks, learned through the sefer and then returned it. Once after Shavuos, after returning to Yeshiva from 770, Reb Nissan sat me down and asked me to repeat what I heard from the Rebbe. He demanded that I explain the sichos from the period of Shavuos as much as possible in great detail. A chosid learns the Rebbe’s Torah and is able to share it. Each one of us needs to learn, to know and to share the Chassidus that we learn.
The Hayom Yom for the twenty fourth of Sivan says the following, “You ask how you can be mekushar to me when I do not know you personally…” “…The true bond is created by studying Torah, when you study my maamorim, reach my sichos, and associate with those dear to me – the Chassidic community and the Tmimim – in their studies and farbrengens, and you fulfill my request regarding saying Tehillim and observing Torah study times – in this is the bond.”