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By Rabbi Gershon Avtzon

As a young man visiting with the Rebbe Rayatz, Chassidim enjoyed engaging him in discussions in Nigleh and Chassidus, and challenging him with difficult questions. He was in Berlin with the Rebbe in the pre-war years, and later moved to Eretz Yisroel, where he married. Later on he moved to Liverpool, England, where he passed away on the 13th of Iyar, 5712. The Rebbe arranged his burial in Tzfas, and was extremely vigilant that his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, should not learn of his passing.

In 5751, the Rebbe explained the lessons to be learned from the name Yisroel Aryeh Leib:

“The above can be connected with the name of the person whose yahrtzait is commemorated today, Rav Yisroel Aryeh Leib (the Rebbe shlita’s brother). Although he is a private individual, nevertheless, each Jew is interconnected with the entire Jewish people for the entire Jewish people are allegorically described as a single body. Indeed, in regard to the individual mentioned above, this interconnection is further emphasized by the fact that his first name is Yisroel, the name of the Jewish people as a whole.

The name Yisroel conveys two seemingly opposite concepts: On one hand, the name Yisroel is an acronym for the Hebrew phrase meaning “There are 600,000 letters in the Torah.” This highlights the connection between the Torah and the 600,000 general souls which make up the Jewish people; every Jewish soul has a letter of the Torah and that letter is the source for his life-force.

Also, the Torah associates the name Yisroel with the service of “striving with man and angels and prevailing.” This implies involvement with the world at large and even war with the opposing forces. Thus, this appears to convey an opposite thrust than the previous interpretation which emphasized a Jew’s connection with the Torah, a level above worldly involvement.

This difficulty can be resolved as follows: First and foremost, a Jew must realize that his life-force is derived from his letter in the Torah and therefore, all aspects of his conduct must be governed by the Torah’s directives. Simultaneously, he must also be aware that the ultimate goal of his service is not to separate himself from the world at large, but as mentioned previously, to “reflect on three things,” and carry out his service in creating a dwelling for G-d in this lowly world.

This requires contending with “angels,” i.e., the spiritual forces which are the source for the entities in this material world, as our Sages say, “every blade of grass in this world has a source in the heavens which compels it to grow” – and with “men” with Eisav and Lavan, who represent the gentile nations of this world. Despite having to deal with such an environment, a Jew is able to prevail and transform his surroundings into a dwelling for G-d.

This implies that he does not negate the worldly environment in which he lives, but rather, that he employs it for the service of G-d. Similarly, in his relations with gentile nations, he also influences them to recognize and serve G-d. And through carrying out this service, the Jews themselves are given a greater potential to expand their own activities.

The service of Yisroel should be carried out in a manner of Aryeh Leib. Aryeh means “lion,” implying that a Jew must “be as fierce as a lion to carry out the will of your Father in Heaven.” This energy must be employed in regard to holy matters, and also, as implied by the name Leib which is the Yiddish derivative of the name Aryeh, utilized in regard to matters that are of a worldly nature.

Leib also contains the letters of the word Lev, meaning “heart.” However, in addition it contains a Yud which stands for our ten powers of the soul, or in an alternate spelling, two Yuddim which stand for the two names of the Jewish people at large, Yaakov and Yisroel.

The date of the yahrtzait, the thirteenth of Iyar is also significant. Thirteen is numerically equivalent to echad, meaning “one.” Thus it points to the service of revealing the Oneness of G-d in the world, a service which will culminate in the Era of the Redemption when “G-d will be King over the entire earth and on that day He will be One and His Name, One.”

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