The Rebbe- Part two
“A miracle occurred to them and they discovered more seeds, buried in the walls ..”
In preparing to mark the date of Nissan 11 what, the bithday of the Rebbe, I came across a passage that allowed me to express in some small way, what he meant for me.
Taanit 5;
During a slight break in a severe drought, after a first rainfall, the Talmud records the following exchange.
The prophet said to the Jews “go out and sow.” They replied to him- “one who has only one Kav of wheat or Barley left, should he eat them and live off them for a while, or sow them and die?” The Prophet answered them “Nonetheless, go out and sow.” A miracle occurred to them and they discovered more seeds, buried in the walls ..”
The Talmud finishes off the story of the subsequent miraculous growth of the crops and quotes the verse from Psalms (126:6) הזרעים בדמעה ברנה יקצרו “those who sow in tears, reap in joy.”
The uniqueness of the Rebbe, was in the way he assumed responsibility for every Jew.
Unlike many other leaders who opted for the sense of safety, to be found in the approach of insularity, the circling of the wagons around their heartbroken communities, the Rebbe was a lone leader in the aftermath of the holocaust, who chose to look outward- beyond his immediate flock, resisting the temptation to retreat into the comfort zone of isolationism.
What he saw there was a generation searching for meaning, a generation thirsty for Torah, in search of its soul.
In encouraging the performance of even one Mitzvah, through his bold and visionary worldwide 10 point Mitzvah Campaign, The Rebbe echoed the words of that same Prophet.
Don’t get hung up on all the mitzvot that you haven’t done up till now, becoming trapped by skepticism- doubting the possibility of growth from this tiny seed, planted in such infertile, parched, dry soil.
Focus instead on the holiness afforded to you in this moment- by the performance of this one mitzvah, and the ways in which the planting of this magical seed of sacredness into the depths of your soul, might lead you inward, past the hiddeness, to a discovery of the residual seeds that await you in the latent soulfulness lining the walls of your spirit.
The momentum of those mystically uplifting mitzvahs, inspired by the Rebbe, led thousands of Jews back home and sparked what might be the greatest renaissance of Jewish life in the history of our people, one that continues to this very day.
These musings are bittersweet.
Though I am uplifted by the way the Jewish world has so wholeheartedly embraced the Rebbes revolutionary approach, the way the “tears” of Rejection have given way to the “joy” of an almost universal acceptance and a widespread replication of these doctrines -
I’m suddenly—flooded with the memories of the nirvana type of joy of my youth, in the presence of the Rebbe, and the tears begin to flow…. for me, just for this moment I will reap in sadness, that which was planted in joy.
Rabbi Yossi Lipsker