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Avrohom Reinitz, Beis Moshiach

Rabbi Yossi Paltiel was born in Crown Heights but since, from the age of four until six, his family lived in Monsey, his memories of the Rebbe begin in 5732-3. From the age of seven, he remembers Tishrei with the Rebbe.

“I was at the Rebbe even before that, but the first Tishrei that I remember is Tishrei 5733. My father, R’ Abba Paltiel, took me with him. It was the last year of 770 before the major expansion on erev Rosh Hashana 5734. The pushing was terrible but boruch Hashem, I have a Chassidishe father with a Chassidishe hergesh who knew that despite the pushing you have to bring even little children to 770.

[My father told me that before my haircut, he took me to the Rebbe to get mashke for the simcha. The Rebbe poured a little mashke for my father and for me too. After I said the bracha, I tasted the mashke and immediately spit it out, near the Rebbe. My father said he was terribly embarrassed but the Rebbe laughed.]

In those days, 770 was about two-thirds the size it is now. Our spot was in the north and since it was all so small, you could see well. Later, in 5735, we got an excellent spot, three benches before the the Rebbe’s farbrengen bima. It was an excellent spot because you could see the entire davening as well as the tekios.

HEARTRENDING CRYING

From my childhood I remember the Rebbe’s crying one Rosh Hashana in particular (probably in 5734). Before the tekios, called “hachana l’tekios,” the Rebbe sobbed. I remember that in my child’s perspective I did not grasp that the Rebbe was trying to cancel kitrugim (heavenly accusations). I was just very surprised. I knew that boys don’t cry and I definitely hadn’t seen an adult male cry and suddenly, to hear the Rebbe crying heartrendingly …

I was at the special event of Neila 5737 when before “Avinu Malkeinu” at the end of Neila they announced in the name of the Rebbe that all children in the shul should go up on the Rebbe’s bima and stand near the Rebbe. My brother and I were standing nearby so we could get there easily, but other children were lifted by their parents over people’s heads to get to the Rebbe’s bima.

As children, we did not realize how unusual this was. Although even today I don’t understand why it happened that year that the Rebbe decided to have all the children near him, in hindsight I have a greater appreciation for the event that I was privileged to take part in.

The Rebbe himself was preoccupied with his davening and facing the wall but at a certain point, if I am not mistaken it was right after “Avinu Malkeinu” at the end of Neila, the Rebbe began to cry loudly.

We children stood right next to the Rebbe and heard it. It is engraved in my memory. You cannot forget this. At a certain point, the chazan, R’ Mordechai Teleshevsky, turned to Rabbi Leibel Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary, and asked (by motioning) what he should do. Should he start proclaiming “Shema Yisrael” or wait?

R’ Groner answered (also with a signal) that he did not know what to do. I don’t know how long the crying lasted but at a certain point, the chazan began proclaiming “Shema Yisrael,” and I think that the Rebbe still continued crying with sobs that made the heart shudder.

NAPOLEON’S MARCH – UNFORGETTABLE JOYFUL MOMENTS

In a sharp turn from the crying on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, R’ Paltiel went on to describe the special moments of joy during the singing of Napoleon’s March:

I saw the Rebbe encouraging the singing of “Napoleon’s March” over many years and was also there when the Rebbe got up on a chair to encourage the singing. I saw this rare sight at least six times but for some reason, the “image” of that memory is gone and I only remember the later years, when they put steps next to the Rebbe’s bima which the Rebbe would climb to encourage the March.

Usually, after the chazan would say half the Kaddish at the end of Neila, we would start singing “Napoleon’s March.” At first, the Rebbe encouraged it moderately with one hand; then he increased the tempo by using two hands and the entire time he was facing the wall and his face was completely covered by a tallis. At a certain point, the Rebbe turned to face the crowd and while still covered by a tallis, he got on a chair and began encouraging the singing with stronger hand motions.

The strong hand motions made the tallis move and while encouraging the singing the Rebbe adjusted the tallis, continuing to make sure that the tallis covered his face and only after a while did he allow the tallis to slide back to show his face. It was fascinating to watch how from moment to moment the Rebbe’s face appeared, another inch and another inch until, by the end of the March, we could see the Rebbe’s face entirely.

The Rebbe’s face was pale and totally at peace. It will sound cliched but he looked like an angel. My feeling was that although the Rebbe was in a body with us, he was really in another world altogether.

[Both during the tekios and during the March, the Rebbe’s face was relaxed and calm which amazed me every year. However, you could see the tension in the many times the Rebbe adjusted his tallis when you could sense that he was working to remove various kitrugim. It was quite apparent that these were not usual movements, the Rebbe’s hand motions were as though he was lifting something heavy and not the light movements needed to fix a tallis. But throughout the tekios and during “Napoleon’s March” there was an extraordinary calm on his holy face (at least that is my hergesh) which was difficult to comprehend, along with the sense that he was in another world entirely.]

After many minutes of this, the Rebbe turned to face east and thus ended the great gilui of the March.

When maariv was finished, after the last Kaddish, when the Rebbe turned to the crowd and proclaimed “gut yom tov,” his face shone like on Simchas Torah.

The most astonishing thing in the aftermath of the March was the extreme difference between the Rebbe’s face during the March, when the Rebbe looked serious, Yom Kippur’dik, to how his face appeared after maariv when he faced the crowd to answer to the final Kaddish and hear Havdala, when his face shone like on Simchas Torah. When the Rebbe turned to the crowd and said “gut yom tov” three times, his face was reminiscent of the glowing face of Simchas Torah. Those who want to see what the Rebbe looked like on Simchas Torah can look at pictures or videos of motzoei Yom Kippur after Havdala although, in general, a picture cannot really do it justice.

In 5751, after Havdala, the Rebbe said a few words about building a succa and then loudly said “gut yom tov” three times and immediately began singing “V’somachta” (in later years, the Rebbe began singing his father’s hakafos niggun) … That was it, from that moment on, we were completely in the atmosphere of Simchas Torah …

I remember learning as a boy that when we see the Rebbe’s joy at the end of the fast, that is the victory of the Jewish people expressed in his joy. I thought how amazing it is that every year we are able to vanquish the kitrugim, like an actual “didon notzach.” Even in 5734, at the peak of the Yom Kippur War, the feeling was that we had vanquished all the kitrugim.

LAUNCHING SIMCHAS BEIS HA’SHOEIVA

Succos in Lubavitch in the seventh generation can be divided into three eras:

The first, from 5711 until 5731, when the Rebbe farbrenged in the succa, both on the second day of Yom Tov and on Shabbos Chol HaMoed (and until 5724 there was also a farbrengen for the talmidim of yeshivos on Chol HaMoed). In those years, Succos was packed with events but I wasn’t there in those years.

The second, between 5731 and 5740, Succos was a relatively calm time, without farbrengens and still without Simchas Beis HaShoeiva.

Then came 5741, when a new era began with Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. The first night of Succos, after the Rebbe wished “gut yom tov” three times, he suddenly began a sicha in which he said to immediately start Simchas Beis HaShoeiva and in a way of “hakhel,” men, women and children. After the sicha, the Rebbe began singing “Ata Vechartanu” and walked out while encouraging the singing with hand motions.

That night there was a group of bachurim and men who started dancing in the streets and the next day, the Rebbe spoke with pleasure about the dancing in the streets and encouraged it. Many others joined the dancing and during the following nights, the circle of dancers grew.

After that first night, the Rebbe began a new system of saying sichos every night. In the first years, the Rebbe focused on explaining the advantage of the water libation over the wine libation as it is explained in Likutei Torah. He also spoke each night throughout the years about the Ushpizin from the Zohar and the Chassidishe Ushpizin and the connection between them. The language and style were unique, not even similar to the farbrengens of Shabbos. To me, it was a very festive style. The Rebbe was clearly in an exalted state and this captivated everybody.

THE REBBE WAITED TEN MINUTES

In the early years of the nesius, the Rebbe would sit in the succa as the Chassidim would pass before him and say a bracha on his dalet minim. He looked at each one and said “boruch Hu u’voruch shemo” and “amen” to the brachos. In later years, the Rebbe would give the dalet minim to R’ Meir Harlig who stood with them in the public succa and enabled the Chassidim to say a bracha on them. On the first day of Succos 5752, the Rebbe came out himself with the dalet minim and spent hours watching the thousands of Chassidim who passed by.

The line ended at 2:30 and they began davening shacharis at 3:05. In general, throughout the years, the Rebbe did not go to daven with the dalet minim since there would still be a line of people waiting to say a bracha on them in the succa at the time that davening began.

It was only when the time came to say Hallel that they would tell R’ Harlig, who would bring the dalet minim and place them on the Rebbe’s shtender. The dalet minim remained by the Rebbe until after the davening and the Rebbe left, holding them in his hand. In 5752, since the Rebbe stood there until everyone passed by, we saw the Rebbe coming in with the dalet minim.

That year, there was something very interesting. At 3:50 they finished chazaras ha’shatz and were ready to start Hallel but the Rebbe suddenly began “fixing” the ties of the lulav and only at 4:00 did they begin saying Hallel. There were those who said that at precisely 4:00 there was a vote in the U.N. about Israel and maybe that is why the Rebbe delayed for ten minutes.

THE REBBE’S HAKAFOS

The culmination of Tishrei were the hakafos of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. The Rebbe entered 770 holding his siddur and the crowd would launch into tremendous song which the Rebbe enthusiastically encouraged. Right after the Rebbe ascended the platform where he davened, he turned in the direction of the crowd and encouraged the singing with both hands. On Simchas Torah there were circular motions that were unique to that day.

The night of Shemini Atzeres they honored the Rebbe with the saying of the first and last pasuk each of the three times that Ata Horeisa was said. The night and day of Simchas Torah, the Rebbe said all seventeen verses of the first Ata Horeisa and the first and last verse of the second and third repetitions. The rest of the verses were given to Chassidim, and it seemed to me that there were often more kibudim (honors) than pesukim and they repeated the same verse twice. It also happened that the Rebbe said to honor someone with a certain pasuk that was already said and that person repeated the pasuk.

The Rebbe started the niggunim following Ata Horeisa and the Chassidim started the niggunim between hakafos. The Rebbe usually sang the same niggunim each year: “Hoshia es Amecha,” “Al Ha’sela Hach,” “Uforatzta,” and another niggun or two. There were years that the Rebbe began the niggun “Uforatzta” after one of the three Ata Horeisas even though at the end of the third Ata Horeisa we say the pasuk “Uforatzta” and the Rebbe began the niggun again.

In general, all the hakafos were run in an orderly system with the Rebbe himself conducting it all. When the Rebbe began a niggun, everyone joined in and the moment the Rebbe turned to the east, the singing stopped instantly.

Until 5738, they sold the pesukim before they said Ata Horeisa three times but since 5738, a new system began in which they sold nearly everything beforehand. Only the last pasuk “Ki Mi’Tziyon” was sold on the spot.

Throughout the years that I remember, the Rebbe added the pasuk “v’haya zaracha k’afar ha’aretz uforatzta” after the verses of Ata Horeisa. In a Hakhel year, he added the verse, “hineni meivi osam mei’eretz tzafon …” It is not written in the siddur and was unfamiliar to us.

THE HAKAFA WITH THE CHILDREN OF TZIVOS HASHEM

In Tishrei 5741, there was another special event, the hakafos of the Rebbe with the children of Tzivos Hashem.

I was after bar mitzva age. I was able to buy a letter in the Sefer Torah of Moshiach before Yud Shevat 5730. There are few children who got both a letter in the Sefer Torah of Moshiach and a letter in the Sefer Torah of Yaldei Yisrael in 5741.

At the end of the fourth hakafa, the Rebbe announced that for the fifth hakafa the children of Tzivos Hashem should go together with their melamdim. A few moments later we found out that the Rebbe is also a “melamed” and he would be joining them in the hakafa, dancing with the children! The Rebbe told all the adults to leave the circle of hakafos and only the children and their melamdim who held the Sifrei Torah remained. You can just imagine what was happening in 770 at that time. The children were sent from all over the shul over people’s heads like sacks of potatoes so they could be at the hakafos with the Rebbe.

This scene happened twice, once the night of Shemini Atzeres and once the next night, Simchas Torah. Of course, the night of Simchas Torah nearly all the children of the community went to 770. Whoever heard about the Rebbe’s hakafa with the children the night before, brought their children to 770 and there were hundreds of children. When the Rebbe said again that the fifth hakafa was for the children, it was chaotic and the Rebbe himself began to instill order.

The Rebbe told all the melamdim to go out of the area of the hakafos. Those who held a Sefer Torah were allowed to stand near the Torah reading platform so that only children remained in the area of the hakafos. There wasn’t enough room for all the children and the Rebbe told people standing on the southern side to move. Then the Rebbe said to clear the western and northern side and hundreds of children were placed around the tables. It took some time until the Rebbe began the hakafa.

It is hard to describe the special joy and the rare kiruv that the children merited with this hakafa. The Rebbe danced with the children, with some of them actually holding on to the Rebbe’s sirtuk or gartel as children do with their father. The Rebbe showered them with love so that many felt comfortable enough to give the Rebbe “shalom,” which is not our custom at all, and the Rebbe gave his hand and said, “gut yom tov.”

THE REBBE’S HAKAFOS

The Rebbe along with his brother-in-law Rashag were honored at the first and seventh hakafa. The Rebbe held a small Sefer Torah in one hand. R’ Yaakov Katz walked before him, holding the Sefer Torah of Moshiach. During the years that I am telling you about, he was an old man and it was hard for him to hold the Sefer Torah of Moshiach which is heavy.

Behind the Rebbe was Rashag and now and then the Rebbe looked behind him to see how he was doing. During these moments, many used this auspicious time to ask for brachos. Even bachurim who usually did not dare open their mouths near the Rebbe, would say, “May we merit for next year,” and the Rebbe would answer, “amen.”

When the actual hakafa began, the Rebbe placed his right hand on his brother-in-law’s shoulder and Rashag did the same. The Rebbe held the Sefer Torah with his left hand and the two began to dance.

Interestingly, the Rebbe did not lean the Torah against himself but held it in the air, away from his body, using the atzei chayim. When Chassidim wanted to kiss the Sefer Torah, the Rebbe would hold it out to them so they could do so.

When the Rebbe held the Sefer Torah he was very serious. My father told me that in the early years on Simchas Torah day, when they finished the hakafos, the Rebbe waited until they placed the Sefer Torah in the aron kodesh, gazing upon it with a serious demeanor, and only after all the Sifrei Torah were returned to the aron kodesh did the great simcha of singing “Sisu v’Simchu B’Simchas Torah” begin. But in later years, the years I am describing, it wasn’t like that.

Of all the years, I particularly remember the hakafos of 5748. All the years, Rashag found it hard to dance quickly and therefore, these hakafos were the shortest. However, in 5741 and 5748 and on, Rashag did not feel well and did not attend the hakafos so the Rebbe danced alone. The shortest hakafos became the longest hakafos. In 5748, the Rebbe’s hakafa lasted over half an hour! What memories …

For over half an hour, the Rebbe went around the hakafos area and held out the Sefer Torah to thousands of Chassidim. The Rebbe looked each one in the eye and seemed to extend the Sefer Torah to each of the Chassidim, as he looked with a luminous and joyous gaze at each one. At first, it was for those standing near the hakafos area, then the Rebbe moved to those standing in the second row, and so on. There were numerous women who said the Rebbe looked toward them in the women’s section.

At the end of the seventh hakafa the Rebbe went back to his place in the east and continued holding out the Sefer Torah to those whom he could not see from the middle of the shul. It was a very special gilui.

Between the first and seventh hakafa, the Rebbe stood on the bima and encouraged the singing. Sometimes, the Rebbe would just look at the crowd without encouraging the singing. The moment the Rebbe turned eastward, that was a signal that the hakafa was over. The length of all the hakafos were unknown in advance. Sometimes, the Rebbe encouraged it for a long time and sometimes within three to four minutes he turned around to end the hakafa.

Sometimes, when they sang, “Oivav Albish Boshes” the Rebbe strongly encouraged it and as I said earlier, there were special movements to encourage the singing on Simchas Torah. At first, the Rebbe used both hands, from side to side or above to below. From moment to moment the pace increased and suddenly the Rebbe began circling his arms together in a powerful motion.

THE ALIYA TO THE TORAH WITH THE REBBE RAYATZ

Within the atmosphere of joy of Simchas Torah there was also a very serious moment. This was when they called up the Rebbe for Chassan Bereishis. For this aliya, they called up the Rebbe with his full name and they also called up the Rebbe Rayatz. As the Rebbe walked in the direction of the bima the entire atmosphere in 770 changed to a very somber mood, like on Yom Kippur.

Every year, the Rebbe would hold on to the atzei chayim while saying the brachos but on Simchas Torah, when he had an aliya together with the Rebbe Rayatz, he did as the Rebbe Rayatz was accustomed to doing and did not touch the atzei chayim directly but through a tallis. This was something that everyone knew would be different than the rest of the year.

HOW TO “TAKE” TISHREI WITH THE REBBE

Rabbi Paltiel, first of all, thank you on behalf of our readers for sharing your memories of Tishrei with the Rebbe. Now, I would like to ask you the following. As long as we do not have the true and complete Geula, we cannot see all the giluyim that Chassidim got to experience. Can we somehow draw upon these giluyim now too?

The story is told about the Alter Rebbe who decided to be a “meshareis” to his Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, in a manner similar to what is written about Yehoshua bin Nun, “he did not budge from within the tent.” On Hoshana Raba, when they were in the succa alone, the Maggid told the Alter Rebbe to close the door and said [in Yiddish], “Be in a pnimiyus state not in a makif state, in a settled state not in an excited state, the Rebbe is coming.” That was the first time that the Alter Rebbe saw the Baal Shem Tov while awake, after the the Baal Shem Tov had already passed on from this world.

If you want to seriously discuss “Tishrei with the Rebbe,” the main thing is not what you feel but what you take. In other words, how does the connection with the Rebbe change our image and our existence.

Giluyim are makif and therefore, they do not necessarily affect one internally. I think about how we behaved when we saw all those giluyim and it wasn’t necessarily good. Chassidim could stand facing the Rebbe and push or even hit someone. A Chassid who is affected internally by seeing the Rebbe would not behave like that.

Then and now, if we want there to be inner significance to “Tishrei with the Rebbe” we need avoda, avoda pnimis. We need to prepare well before each holiday and ascertain that we are taking the inner content of the holiday. That means that on Rosh Hashana we work on our kabbolas ol, on Yom Kippur on teshuva, on Succos on unity and simcha. These are four pillars in man’s life that need to change because of being with the Rebbe during Tishrei.

You spoke about giluyim and I want to tell you that every guest who comes to 770 is a tangible manifestation to us, the residents of Crown Heights, of the gilui of the Rebbe. The Rebbe “lives” whether the guests come or not but the coming of the guests is the revelation of that reality. The guests are the gilui of Tishrei with the Rebbe.

The Rebbe says that everything must be permeated by one point which is how does this lead to kabbolas pnei Moshiach Tzidkeinu. How do we take “Tishrei with the Rebbe” as part of the preparations for kabbolas pnei Moshiach?

First of all, the yearning for the Rebbe is yearning for Moshiach. When you learn the sichos of the Rebbe about Moshiach, the main point seems to me to be to really want Moshiach to come. As long as we are still in galus, it bothers us, we are lacking, in a state of “believing in him” and “waiting for his arrival” as the Rambam paskens l’halacha!

As Chassidim, whenever the Rebbe announced a certain campaign, it was immediately clear what it was about and they produced flyers and billboards, etc. For some reason, it seems that since the Rebbe began talking about Moshiach, at the beginning of the 80s and until Chof-Nissan 5751, people did not “get” that there was a “mivtza Moshiach.” The Rebbe spoke for nearly ten years on this subject, again and again, and we stood there and listened and thought we were simply meriting to hear the Rebbe’s conversation with G-d as though it was the Rebbe’s inyan and we were just listening in.

But the Rebbe wasn’t just talking to Hashem! The Rebbe was mainly speaking to us! And what was the Rebbe saying? That in order for Moshiach to come, we need to want him! When the Rebbe said the sicha of Chof-Ches Nissan, we suddenly realized that the Rebbe means us!

In Cheshvan 5746, the Rebbe told about a letter he received from a frightened woman who had been sent a chain letter with instructions to send copies to ten people and there were threats if she did not do so. The Rebbe said he told her to tear up the letter and forget about it. The Rebbe then said, he thought about why this episode with the letter came to his attention.

The Rebbe came to the conclusion that it was a hint that we need to use the idea of chain letters for holy things. The Rebbe suggested that everyone write a letter with quotes from the Chida and Radak about the obligation of anticipation and demand for Moshiach and send it to ten people and ask them to send copies to another ten people, and so on.

The following is what the Chida says which the Rebbe asked us to convey:

“It says in Yalkut Tehillim remez 5736: Even if Yisrael has nothing in hand except the hoping, they are worthy of being redeemed as a reward for hoping …This is how the great Rav Yosef Dovid… explained the blessing, ‘Speedily cause the scion of Dovid Your servant to flourish, and increase his power by Your salvation, for we hope for Your salvation all day.’ That it says ‘for we hope for Your salvation’ is not understood. What sort of reason is that? If it is deserved then we will merit it without hoping and if not, how does hoping help? But based on the aforementioned it fits nicely and this is what it means: Even if we were to say that we have no merit, still, it will flourish, ‘for we hope for Your salvation,’ we have hope and we will be redeemed in reward for the hope.”

And this is what Radak says:

“‘And Hashem accepted the prayers of the land and the plague stopped from Israel.’ The Medrash says: All those thousands who fell in the days of Dovid, did not fall except by not demanding the Beis HaMikdash. [In other words, thousands fell in a plague because Dovid wanted the Beis HaMikdash and they did not demand it of Hashem.] Kal v’chomer (from a weaker case to the stronger case): If those for whom it did not exist in their day and it was not destroyed in their day, fell for not demanding it, we for whom it existed and was destroyed in our time all the more so. Therefore, the Sages and Prophets enacted it to plant in the mouths of Yisrael to pray three times a day, ‘return Your Shechina and kingdom to Tziyon and the order of your service to Yerushalayim.’” And he concludes, “amen, kein yehi ratzon sela.”

Simply put, we need to read their words slowly and in depth to understand what the Rebbe wants from us.

Therefore, if we want to depart from Tishrei more ready for kabbolas pnei Moshiach, we literally need to wait in anticipation for Moshiach because we feel that this is something that we are lacking!

Another important point; one of the main instructions from the Rebbe about kabbolas pnei Moshiach is to learn inyanei Moshiach and Geula. In the summer of 5751, the Rebbe explained the need to learn inyanei Geula in that learning makes the subject of Moshiach something that the learner can relate to on an internal level. It’s very interesting, because usually the Rebbe puts the emphasis on “action is the main thing” more than on avoda pnimis but when it comes to kabbolas pnei Moshiach, the Rebbe urges learning about the Geula, with the purpose being to internalize the matter of Moshiach.

The Rebbe did emphasize that we should not wait until it penetrates into a pnimiyus and we must spread the message, since your wife and children and the entire environment are not at fault because of your spiritual limitations and constraints, but the bottom line is that the Rebbe wants us to learn inyanei Geula until they become settled within us in a pnimiyus.

Perhaps we can say that in order to truly want Moshiach, we simply have to know what Moshiach is, what he is about, etc., so that when we speak about kabbolas pnei Moshiach we will know what we are saying.

When talking about the coming of Moshiach, before learning inyanei Moshiach and Geula, what do you picture? Assuming we are not little children who immediately think about candies (gluskaos as the Gemara refers to them) growing on trees, we imagine grandparents who passed away coming to life, the Beis HaMikdash descending from heaven, and the entire world living in peace without war and actually, this too is a candy growing on a tree.

After learning inyanei Moshiach and Geula, we understand that although those details will come to pass, they are not what Yemos HaMoshiach are about. The main chiddush of Yemos HaMoshiach is that we will have perfection in Torah and mitzvos, shleimus ha’am and shleimus ha’aretz. From the Rebbe’s sichos it turns out that what the days of Yemos HaMoshiach are about is the shleimus there will be in fulfilling Torah and mitzvos and their perfect integration within this physical world.

The innermost point, the main chiddush of Yemos HaMoshiach, is that all that spiritual perfection will be united with this physical world of ours. It won’t be a utopian existence that will materialize on another planet but a reality here, in this world. That will be the greatest miracle of Yemos HaMoshiach: a world aligned with Torah; a world that thinks as the Torah thinks. As the Rebbe himself put it (Likutei Sichos, volume 35, p. 290) the fact that, according to the Rambam, there won’t be any difference between life as we know it and Yemos HaMoshiach except for subservience to the nations, and still, the world will be conducted according to Torah, that is the biggest miracle!

We see this point in all the Rebbe’s activities, all of which are focused on one goal: conquering the world.

Moshiach has a number of aspects as they are detailed in the sicha of parshas Balak (Likutei Sichos volume 18): 1) his personal exalted level; 2) his active effect on the Jewish people in fulfilling Torah and mitzvos; 3) his active effect on Bnei Noach and if necessary, even through compulsion; 4) his influence on Bnei Noach as teacher and guide who does not coerce the world to keep the Torah but guides them to understand that not only are the instructions of Torah correct, they are good.

The Rebbe here is defining the main point of what Moshiach is about, bringing the Torah at its most perfected level of fulfillment into the world, namely that the world itself understands that doing mitzvos is the best thing for it.

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