Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim (Official)

30/10/2024

B”H
3 minute Moshiach-Noach video: https://youtu.be/et3M40ovST8
Parshat Noach
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This week we learn the strange story of how G-d destroyed the world; killed every living creature with a flood because they disappointed Him.
Although this may seem to be a bit severe, with a bit of thought we can see that it really is very understandable.
According to Judaism the world belongs to G-d. He creates it and it's all His… so He can do with it what He wants.
But what is not clear is what this story is doing in the Torah.
First of all, the Torah is a practical teaching of life and the flood is not very practical; it occurred thousands of years ago and G-d swore He would never do it again.
Secondly, the Torah is, primarily, a Jewish book and Noach was not a Jew. The first Jew was Abraham who lived after the flood.
But on the other hand, why wasn’t Noach the first Jew? The Torah calls him a Tzadik Tamim (completely righteous man) and says that he found favor in G-d's eyes (6:8) so why wasn’t he the first Jew?
To understand this here is a story I read recently in Bait Moshiach Magazine.
Rabbi Shabtai Slavtitzki is the Chabad Rebbe's representative (Shilach) in Antwerp Belgium.
He has a large congregation and is well respected by even non-religious Jews.
One Sunday he received a phone call from an older fellow, a successful diamond merchant, who said he had to talk to him urgently.
Rabbi Slavtitzki, himself a very busy man, told the man to come over immediately.
A half-hour later a man with a wild look on his sweating face as though he was about to burst out in tears entered the Rabbi’s office. He was a heavy-set fellow, perhaps in his sixties, dressed in an expensive suit with an open collar and a new, black yarmulke on his head.
He closed the door behind him, sat down, took out a handkerchief, wiped his forehead and began.
"Rabbi, about three months ago I decided to get more serious about Judaism and begin doing what it says in the Torah. Perhaps it was a bit too much to bite off at once but I took on myself Tefillin, eating kosher and keeping the Shabbat.
"Putting on Tefillin every morning wasn't that difficult; I had done it as a young man and it only took a few minutes each day. Not only that but I actually enjoy putting them on and talking with HaShem every morning.
"And keeping kosher also was also no major problem … I could afford it and I never really enjoyed not-kosher food anyway.
"But Shabbat was a problem. First of all, it was an entire day. Second, keeping the store closed Saturday is a big financial loss. But the worst thing is I love working and I don't enjoy resting.
"But I did it… and even started getting used to it. You know, there is a pride to being Jewish and ... well… it's just good to do the right thing. So, for three months I kept Shabbos.
"But then, yesterday, Friday evening when Shabbat began, something happened. I was walking back home from your Synagogue here and as I passed the street where my store is I see the street is full of people, long lines of important-looking people standing in front of all the stores…. except mine. Suddenly I remembered! It was International Gem Day and all the diamond dealers, the biggest and the richest from the entire world came here to Antwerp to buy. It happens every year and this year it was yesterday… Shabbat!!
"But I said to myself… 'Shabbat is Shabbat… I'm not opening the store and that's it!!' And I continued walking. That should have been the end of it but suddenly I heard someone yelling my name! I turned to see the owner of the store next to mine. What he was doing in the street I don't know but he was there and he came running up yelling like a madman.
'What happened?' he asks me, 'Are you feeling all right? Did something happen in your family? Where are you going?!!" he says "Its diamond day! Look at those lines!! Go open your store."
"I told him that, thank G-d, everything was fine and continued walking but he wouldn't let me go.
'Fine? Everything is fine!? Are you crazy or something! Today is International Gem Day! Look!! Look!! You can make more today than in a month! Where are you going??!"
I tried to explain to him that I'm a Jew and today is Shabbat; it’s G-d’s day. You know what he said? He said, 'Listen, give all the other Shabbats to G-d. This one is for YOU!!'
"I told him I had to go. Rushed home and tried to put the whole thing out of my mind. But I couldn't. I wanted to work! I wanted to sell gems! That's what I love doing, what I was brought up doing!! I took the Kiddush cup in my hand, filled it with w**e and made kiddush but I couldn't think straight. I wanted to run back and open my store!!
"So I told my wife and guests that I didn't feel good, that I had a headache. I went to my room, took a bottle of vodka, drank five big cups until I was so drunk I couldn't stand up and then flopped unconscious on my bed and slept for the entire Shabbat."
Rabbi Slavtitski listened patiently but didn't understand what the man wanted.
"I understand" he said, "But why are you telling me this? What would you like me to do?"
"Rabbi," he said almost crying "I want to know what sort of repentance I have to make for such a terrible Shabbat! Can I give charity? Or maybe I should fast? Or maybe something else? Rabbi, what does it say in the books?"
Rabbi Slavtitski saw the simple sincerity of this Jew and couldn't hold himself back, his eyes filled with tears.
But when the man saw this, he too began to weep. His eyes opened in horror and, shaking his head in disbelief said, "Rabbi, why are you crying? Is it so bad? Is there no forgiveness for my sin? Is there nothing I can do?"
"You don't understand" The Rabbi replied. "Exactly the opposite!
"You know what I did yesterday for Shabbat? I sat at my Shabbat table with my family and guests, sang Shabbat songs, said words of Torah talked to my children and really enjoyed myself. I did everything that G-d wants a Jew to do. No problems.
"But you made a sacrifice! You didn’t work! You sacrificed your money and your nature. Whose Shabbat do you think is more pleasing to G-d; yours or mine? Well, I’m sure it’s yours!!"
This answers our question.
Noach lived and acted exactly the way G-d wanted. He didn't sin, he built an ark, he invited all the animals just as G-d said. But like the Rabbi in our story, he didn't sacrifice anything. He was a righteous man. He saved himself and family but did nothing to save others.
That's why he wasn't the first Jew.
Judaism is based on self-sacrifice. Namely, being willing to lose everything, even heaven to do what G-d wants to perfect the world and the people in it.
This was begun by Abraham and will be completed by Moshiach.
Moshiach will bring all mankind to the awareness and service of the Creator through the Noahide Commandments and the Jews to the observance of all the Torah with total devotion to the truth alone. That is called ‘Geula’ i.e. redemption.
Then, unlike in our story, gems and riches will not be tempting. Indeed, the world will be filled with blessing, peace and plenty.
And not much is lacking to make it happen now.
We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish self-sacrifice and good deeds. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can bring ….
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
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20/10/2024

4 minute Moshiach video: Happiness SAVES https://youtu.be/3A-reL74_g0
Parshat Beresh*t
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This Shabat we read that shortly after the creation of the first man; Adam G-d brought all the animals before him to give them names.
This, at first glance, was very nice of G-d to let Adam participate and make up names… something like a mayor allowing his citizens to name their streets of their town.
But if we look more deeply, we will see it wasn't so simple.
According to Kabala the name of a thing comes from the essence of its being. That is why calling a person's name can awaken them from unconsciousness because names connect the soul to the body.
And according to the Midrash (B'reshes Rabba chap. 17:4) when the angels complained to G-d about creating man, G-d answered "You will see that his wisdom is greater than yours" G-d brought out the animals, the Angels couldn't name them, Adam did, and they retracted their complaint.
So we see that names are very deep and spiritual things.
Now we can ask two questions: Why didn't the angels, who are certainly more spiritual than man, know the names of the animals? 2) What was so important about giving them names? If the name connects the soul to the body then the animals must have had names already before Adam gave them, if not how could they keep living?

To understand this here is a story.

The Maggid of Mezeritz (the successor of the Baal Shem Tov) was such an unusually gifted Talmudic scholar that there was no book in Judaism that he had not set to memory. But on Shabbat he would only speak and teach spiritual ideas of Chassidut and not Talmud.
One Shabbat, however, he unexpectedly gave a long and complicated Talmudic dissertation unifying several apparently contradicting legal passages. This was a great wonder to his pupils who nonetheless dutifully repeated and memorized every word.
The day after Shabbat the Maggid told one of his pupils, Rabbi Zusia of Annipoli, to set off on a journey without giving him any destination or even telling him in which direction to travel. Rab Zusia dutifully packed a small knapsack and set off, certain that his feet would take him on the right path.
A week later he stopped for the night at a small inn near the city of Hamburg only to find that "Well," said the owner of the inn wincing at Rab Zusia's dusty garments, "there is one bed available but you can't have it. The room is being occupied by the great (Talmudic genius) Rabbi Refoel and I can't put you together with him."
This Rabbi Refoel, a devoted follower of the foremost opposer (Mitnaged) of the Chassidic movement; the 'Gaon of Vilna' (a grandmaster of Talmud and the undisputed leader of Lithuanian Jewry), was on his way to Hamburg to vie for the position of chief Rabbi of the city which became vacant when the previous rabbi died some weeks ago.
The rules were that every candidate had to present a 'Pilpul' (Talmudic dissertation) before the elder scholars of the city and then answer all their questions satisfactorily; the one that most found favor in their eyes would be chosen as the next chief Rabbi.
Rabbi Refoel was a sure thing. His genius and erudition were almost unmatched as were his credentials, especially his closeness to the Vilna Gaon. Now he was sitting in this simple hotel room repeating the Pilpul to one last time before he went to sleep. It was very long and complex and he wanted to make sure it would go smoothly tomorrow in Hamburg.
Meanwhile, in the lobby, Rab Zusia was trying desperately to convince the owner to just let him have a peek at the great Rabbi Refoel; he felt that this certainly had something to do with his mysterious mission, and finally the owner agreed… but only for a moment.

Rav Zusia quietly opened the door, and was startled to hear that Rabbi Refoel was reciting was the same exact subject that the Maggid had unexplainably spoken about that previous Shabbat!
Then suddenly Rabbi Refoel stopped. He remembered a commentary in the Talmud; a Tosefot which he had overlooked that completely destroyed the entire line of reasoning of his presentation! Not only would his 'Pilpul' not succeed, even worse... it was wrong… he was wrong!! He let out a groan "OY! The Tosefot in Ksuvos!! It wrecks the entire thing!!" He was talking aloud to himself.
Rab Zusia immediately offered his help. Rabbi Refoel, turned around surprised to see this beggarly looking Jew and his first instinct was to refuse, but then again… he was desperate! He agreed.
"But only on one condition," said Rab Zusia. "The answer I'm giving you now I heard from my master, the Maggid of Mezeritz, I want you to promise that after you are chosen tomorrow, you will go to visit him."
Rabbi Refoel shuddered. The Maggid?! The head of the … heretics!!! But something made him hesitate. After all, there really was no evidence for these charges. Perhaps they were empty. Not only that, but this was his only chance … he agreed.
Rab Zusia repeated what he heard from the Magid solving all Rabbi Refoel's problems and the next day Rabbi Refoel appeared in Hamburg, made a perfect impression and was chosen as chief Rabbi!

But he was afraid to keep his part of the bargain.

So he traveled to Vilna to ask the Gaon what to do. "If you gave your word you must keep it." He answered. "You must go to this Maggid. But only on two conditions; first that you come back immediately and report to me everything you hear and see there and second that you swear right now before ten people that you will not tell anyone there who you are."
Early the next morning Rabbi Refoel put on the garments of a wanderer and set off for the Maggid and when he arrived he was very impressed with what he saw. The prayers of the Chassidim had fervor and depth he had never experienced and so it was their Torah learning. But then he saw the Maggid and had to admit that he had never seen anything like him in his life; the man was simply G-dly!
Nevertheless, he kept his head down, spoke to no one and, because Rab Zusia had not yet returned, he was certain beyond any doubt that no one there possibly knew him.

At one point a woman came to ask the Maggid a question. She had bought a chicken but had a doubt if it was Kosher or not. The Maggid called his pupils over to debate the law. The question was a difficult one that had already been dealt with by the Ramba'm, the Ri'f and the Raava'd but the Maggid's pupils concluded that the bird was permissible according to all opinions.
The Magid then explained the entire question according to the Kabalistic views of the Ar'i, the Rama'k and the Chayya't and also concluded that according to Kabala the bird is also kosher.
Then he added. "But standing right there in the corner is Rabbi Refoel, the chief Rabbi of Hamburg, let us hear what he has to say.
When the Magid called his name, Rab Refoel felt something in his soul open up, he looked up at the Maggid in awe and immediately ran out of the room.
But his life had been changed.

However when he returned to the Gaon his enthusiasm was not shared.
After the Gaon listened to Rab Refoel’s entire report he concluded that it was all done through sorcery.
"But how do you know that your refusal to even speak to the Maggid or listen to my report is not from evil?" Rab Refoel asked the Gaon, and received no answer.
Rabbi Refoel did not dare travel to the Magid again from respect to the Gaon but he left the camp of the Mitnagdim completely and became a clandestine Chassid..

This answers our question. Sometimes calling a thing by its name can change its entire being. That is what the Maggid did with Rabbi Refoel when he called his name and that is what Adam did with the animals.
G-d created man to 'Improve and protect' (2:15) the entire creation. In other words; although the creation was on a very high and pure level (it was called 'Gan Eden' which means 'heaven'; with the same purity as the afterlife does now!) nevertheless it was Adam's job to improve it.
Namely to reveal the truth; that creation is only a transparent facet of G-d's ONEness and there is, in reality, nothing other than G-d.
In short: to reveal G-d in the world.
This was begun by Adam when he called names to the animals and REVEALED the spiritual in the physical.
True, the animals were already alive and their individual names were already conduits for their life force. But all this is part of NATURE where the physical, the spiritual and G-d seem to be three separate 'things'.
Adam's job was to show they are really one; and this the angels couldn't do because they themselves are limited to the spiritual; only Adam had (and we still have) the ability to unite them.
At the giving of the Torah there was even a greater revelation; G-d, the creator of the physical AND spiritual was revealed on Mount Sinai (and afterward in the holy of holies).

But the final step is Moshiach.

The Moshiach will bring the complete and constant revelation of the Creator in the entire creation "On that day G-d will be ONE and His Name ONE".
That is why ADaM is the initials "Adam, Dovid, Moshiach; he began the process that will be completed when we do what the Lubavitcher Rebbe says And not much is lacking.
We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish self-sacrifice and good deeds. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can do the job.
This is the real message of Succot; to do everything possible in joy to bring
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
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14/10/2024

4 Minute Antisemitism vs Moshiach video https://youtu.be/9QMOFIlnwc8
Succot
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The holiday of Succot is the only holiday in Judaism that doesn't celebrate a particular historical date.
Passover and Shavuot are the dates the Jews left Egypt and received the Torah. Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur commemorate the dates Adam was created and when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies.
While Succot reminds us of the forty years G-d protected us with 'clouds of glory' as we wandered in the desert. (And we must remember this each time we sit in the Succa).
But surprisingly, in our prayers make no mention of these clouds! Rather Succot is called 'Zman Simchatenu" The holiday of Joy.
So if it has no date then why do we make the holiday when we do after Yom Kippur? And why don’t we make mention of the clouds? And, finally, what have we got to be happy about on this holiday more than the others?
To explain, here is a story I heard from Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Hecht ob’m.
Yosel was a simple Jew but he was honest. That's why every year he was chosen to be the one to buy the communal Etrog for the community which entailed taking a large sum of money to Italy, buying the Etrog and returning to his town in Poland.
There were other Etrogim in town but the 'special' Etrog was the one that everyone contribute to the whole year until a large enough sum was gathered to buy something 'special' from the nearby city for Succot.
It was almost a three day journey each way but those few days of travel, buying the Etrog and bringing it back made him really glad that he was alive.
This year it seemed that even his horse was happy plodding along the dirt road through the forest in the cool afternoon shade, Yosel recited Psalms by heart then, in the distance, something caught his eye. It seemed to be a person jumping up and down. With a flick of the reigns, he sped his horse until he saw all the details.
It was a Jew, standing by the side of the rode next to his fully-laden wagon holding his head and weeping aloud like a baby.
"Hey, what's wrong?" shouted Yosel. "Why is a Jew crying?"
The poor fellow just pointed to the ground in front of his wagon and wept even louder. There lay his horse, still as a stone, tied to the carriage with one leg in the air; a truly pitiful sight.
Yosel immediately understood. This unfortunate Jew was also on his way to the market and now without a horse he was stuck, this was probably his income for the next few months.
"Come with me" offered Yosel. "My wagon isn't nearly as big as yours but you can put some of your things in."
But as the words came out of his mouth he knew it wouldn't work. His horse wasn't strong enough to pull a laden wagon and even so, everything left behind would certainly be stolen. The fellow would lose his wagon and the remainder of his goods as well.
"Look" Yosel said, "How much do you need for a new horse?"
Suddenly the man stopped crying, looked in amazement at Yosel as though he was some sort of apparition, took a handkerchief from his pocket, dried his eyes, held up five fingers and rasped, "Five hundred rubles".
Yosel took the 'special' money out of his pocket, held it up and said, "Here it is, jump in! We can make it to the market in a few hours; you can buy a horse there, ride it back here and make it back to the market again before tomorrow morning. You can repay the loan later."
They rode like the wind and in a few hours the Jew had just finished shaking Yosel's hand in the marketplace, jumped on his new fresh horse and was off like the wind to save his wagon.
But as he faded into the distance so did the smile of satisfaction on Yosel's face. Suddenly he realized he was alone and except for the 'Mitzva' he just did, all he had in his pocket was twenty rubles. What would he do now?
He couldn't return empty handed and face the crowd back home. Who knows if they would agree with his giving their money for such a charity? And they would be without a nice etrog. And who knows if he would really get the money back? He helped one person but disappointed a hundred. He was a simpleton! A fool! He began to become depressed.
But suddenly he thought to himself. "Hey! What possible good will come from being sad!? Exactly the opposite; The Baal Shem Tov says that 'Sadness is the doorstep to all sins' and even more; 'If you think 'good' things will be good.'
Yosel rubbed his hand over his eyes to 'wake up, and began singing a happy song to himself. A little dance; a few spins to change his mood. and it worked. He felt great! He said a prayer to G-d, kept humming and began walking in the marketplace till he got to the Jewish section.
It didn't take long to realize that twenty rubles would buy an Etrog that looked something like a potato. No no! That would never do. But he didn't lose hope.
Suddenly he saw a large group of people gathered around one man. He approached and was startled by what he saw. An Etrog as large as one can hold in one's hand, brilliantly yellow as the sun and spotlessly clean! It was magnificent. He had never seen anything like it in his life. In fact, it brought tears to his eyes!!
Selling price... One thousand rubles!!
He began to turn away but then. What! What was that he heard? A raffle? Yes!! It seems that because no one had such a large sum the owner decided to make a raffle: Fifty tickets for... twenty ruble's each!! That way at least someone would have this Etrog for Succot.
Yosel bought a ticket. His name was written on a piece of paper placed in a hat, a child was called from the crowd closed his eyes stuck his hand in and...
YOSEL WON!!!
Everyone in the crowd shook his hand! No matter who won everyone would have done the same thing. Yosel clapped his hands, thanked HaShem, spun around, did a few summersaults, kissed everyone within reach, brushed himself off and thanked HaShem again for his wonderful luck.
He spent the night in his wagon and, after his morning prayers he set off back home; even more joyous than when he came. But he was in for a surprise.
About half-way back he saw in the distance, standing by the same place as before, the same Jew jumping in the middle of the road waiving his hands like a madman.
Again he snapped the reins, his horse quickened his pace and in minutes he again reached him.
"Oy! Am I glad to see you!" the wide-eyed Jew yelled with open arms and a huge smile on his face.
"What is it this time?" Yosel asked.
"A miracle! An open miracle!! When I came back with the new horse that I bought with the money you gave me…. Well…. I found that the old one, the horse I thought was dead .. Wasn't dead!! He must have just been tired or something, but there he was standing there eating grass!
"So I hitched both horses up to the wagon and in no time I made it to the market and sold all my goods in just a few hours at a nice profit. Then I sold the new horse you bought me and raced out here last night so I could intercept you on your way back home and now here you are!! Here! Here's your money back!!!
So Yosel got a 'special' one thousand ruble Etrog for only twenty rubles, got all his money back and helped another Jew in need all because of his simple attitude and joy.
If he would have thought too much, he might not have even begun this miracle by loaning the money in the first place.
This answers our questions about the date of Succot, not mentioning the clouds and its being called the Holiday of Happiness.
The lesson of Succot is not only that G-d protects and provides but that we can repay him.
To realize that HaShem alone is the King of the Universe creating us, providing our needs and protecting us from all sides constantly is really the messages of Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur when we coronate G-d and He forgives us.
But on Succot we reveal and share these blessings with others. Like Yossel in our story.
Therefore Succot comes after Yom Kippur. And the first mitzvah we do on Succot is to sit in the Succa at night to remind us that G-d surrounds and embraces us with love which gives us the joy of being alive.
But there is a higher type of Joy; when we realize that we can repay Hashem. And this is the message of actually taking and shaking the Lulov and Etrog; a deeper more personal type of Joy of going out of ourselves and bringing blessing to the world!
And that is the joy of Succot. Not what G-d does for us, like the protective clouds in the desert, but what WE do for G-d.
But all this joy will be revealed totally only in the days of Moshiach (which the Lubavitch Rebbe says has already begun if we just open our eyes with positive thinking. That is why the Rebbe said it is so necessary to be informed about Moshiach and to all we can to reveal him.
And not much is lacking. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish self-sacrifice and good deeds. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can do the job. This is the real message of Succot; to do everything possible in joy to bring ...
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
Please Donate to us https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=VS68A3VT3VD7C&source=url

- Join our Daily classes!! Sun – Thurs– (Israeli time) 8:15 a.m. Chassidut, 9:00 am Dvar Malchut
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81716407325

See past classes:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs94DJEzXWPkMgYV-YtQe

08/10/2024

https://youtu.be/KIwMBzcq4VQ

3-minute Moshiach video

29/09/2024

https://youtu.be/an7TCmL-aRk

Three minute Moshiach Video

25/09/2024

3-minute Moshiach video; Why G-d Creates everything https://youtu.be/i0kb6QbIWzc
Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech
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Each word and idea in the Torah is eternal. But, could it be that the opening sentence of our section is an exception?
"You are standing TODAY, ALL OF YOU, before HaShem your G-d."
The word 'Today' here means the moment we are reading this. But today it doesn't seem that the Jews are all standing together.
One of the biggest problems of the Jewish people is their lack of unity. Because of it the Second Temple was destroyed and we have been in torturous exile for some 2,000 years! And it seems to get worse as time goes on.
If so, what is G-d trying to tell us with this sentence? It seems to be impossible that the Jews will ever be standing ALL TOGETHER.
To understand this here is a story that happened some eighty years ago.
Rabbi Chiam Chaikel Miltzki was crippled, and the doctors were considering amputating one or even both of his legs. But amazingly, despite his disability and constant pain he was the Dean of Yeshiva Chai Olom in Jerusalem and spent most of the day teaching, learning and silently suffering.
No one knew the cause of his illness; he never spoke about it, until one awful evening...at the wedding of his first son.
The wedding hall was filled with joyous music and laughter when suddenly someone pounded on the table and announced that everyone present would like him to say a few words.
It was impossible for him to stand and his voice was weak but he waited for complete silence and then began.
"Some fifty years earlier when I was about fifteen I learned in a small yeshiva of thirty boys in the city of Stotchin (Poland?).
"It so happened that there was this drunk called Itche that used our learning room as a sort of hotel. He would sleep for a while, then wake up, have another few drinks and go back to sleep again. We called him Itche der Shikker (Issac the Drunk) but he was a quiet fellow, and never disturbed us or made trouble so we paid him almost no attention.
"Then one cold rainy night someone pounded on the door a few times and before we could get up from our studies to answer the door burst open and in came a man totally drenched, covered with mud from head to toe, and wailing about how his wagon had just overturned and was killing his horse. He begged us to stop learning and help him overturn the carriage before the horse died.
"But after a lively discussion we decided that learning Torah was more important, who knows if it would help etc. and we announced that we weren't leaving. The wagon driver whimpered and moaned but finally realized he had no choice and he left to look elsewhere.
"No sooner had he closed the door behind him then Itche the drunk suddenly sat up on his bench, looked as us menacingly and said in a surprisingly sober voice, "You'd better go and help him or none of you will be able to walk again."
"Of course, besides making a few jokes at his expense, we paid no attention told him to go back to sleep.
"But a half hour later the wagon driver returned, almost insane with weeping and begging and this time we decided to go have a look. But when we got there it was too late, the horse had already died.
"The next day Itche the drunk came up to me privately with a crazy request. He told me he was going to die this evening. Now he was going his house and he wanted me to come and be there with him in his last moments.
"I told him I thought he was crazy but I decided to go. In any case I had a lot of material to go over in the Talmud and what difference did it make where I learned?
"So he gave me directions and later I found my way to his house. It was no more than a one room hovel, and when I entered I saw he was already sleeping on some boards in the middle of the room. So I sat for an hour or two learning Talmud by the light of a candle until I decided I had enough and got up to leave.
"But suddenly he opened his eyes, looked at me and said that at exactly four A.M. he would die and afterward he wanted me to ask the burial society to bury him in the plot next to the Holiest Zadik in the graveyard and he gave a name... (the full name was not given in the story).
I replied incredulously, "Itche, you don't even put on Tefillin! How will they ever agree to bury you in such an important place?"
"He just pointed to a box in the corner and said that in that box are his Tefillin and some of his writings and that he was sure that when the members of the burial society saw them, they would agree to bury him there.
"So I waited and sure enough, it was just as he said; at exactly four A.M. he returned his soul to its creator and when the burial society saw his things they were very impressed. The writings were the Torah ideas of a genius and the Tefillin were of the highest quality.
"And they were even more surprised to find that there was an empty burial plot in the exact place he had mentioned, although they had passed that area a hundred times and were certain that it was not available. It seems that Itche was a hidden Tzadik!"
Anyway, a few weeks later suddenly Rabbi Militzki wasn't able to walk. And so it remained.
At this point Rabbi Militzki broke down crying, apologized to the crowd, saying he didn't know why he told the story, and didn’t intend to mar the joy of the wedding.
But, he was lucky he did tell the story because in the crowd was a Chabad Chassid, Rabbi Leib Friedman who was very touched by what he heard and after the wedding he wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe asking for advice.
The Rebbe replied that if Rabbi Militzki accepts on himself to learn ChiTaT (Chumash, Thilim and Tanya) daily and encourage others to do as well then in the merit of those books and of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe who suggested learning them, he will stand on his feet.
Rabbi Miltzki took the Rebbe’s advice. He began learning Chitat and encouraging others as well and a few months later he miraculously stood up and a year later he was walking again.
This answers our question about how is Jewish unity relevant today.
True, today Jews seem to be dispersed and divided.
But that is only external; sort of like different limbs in a body each is different. But when they are all working together there is life and unity.
So all we are missing is harmony; to realize that all humanity is like a huge body and the Jews, with the Torah (Chitat) are the head that directs all the limbs to function together.
That is what the Torah is telling us; the only way there can be harmony and unity is if we are "Standing BEFORE HaShem your G-d"
Namely, if we concentrate on what is BEFORE this apparent disunity we will see that HaShem alone really creates us, enlivens us, and chose us ... together as one.
But as the Rabbi in our story discovered, to do this we need 'Chitat' and the authors of Chitat!
Moses gave us the Chumash, Dovid wrote T'hillim and the Baal Shem Tov the ideas in Tanya. And these three Tzadikim will bring Moshiach.
Moses is called the 'First Redeemer' Dovid is called ‘Moshiach’ and the Baal Shem Tov began Chassidut: the 'Teachings of Moshiach'.
Now, in the merit of Chitat …. just one more good deed, word or even thought from even ONE Jew can tip the scales and change the ENTIRE world for good. And we will all be 'standing' and even 'walking' upright to the Holy Temple in the Holy Land… with Moshiach NOW!
Wishing all our readers a Good, Sweet, healthy, happy NEW year with...
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

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