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Tonight I have the special privilege to represent the Rebbe’s army of shluchim in France, where the Rebbe and Rebbetzin lived for several years. As quoted in the Dvar Malchus of Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev 5752, during a conversation between Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and Mrs. Azimov, Mrs. Azimov enthusiastically described the Jewish revolution taking place in Paris, a phenomenon that was then inconceivable. The Rebbetzin responded: “Mir hoben geakert un gezayt, un ir darft shnaydn” [“We plowed and sowed, and you need to harvest”].

Now, seventy years later, it’s our turn. Our turn to harvest what they planted, to gather the fruits and continue the revolution. Today, after all the tremendous work the Rebbe invested throughout the years, from 5710 to 5785 – we, the shluchim, receive the strength to transform the world.

The world is trembling today. It’s crying out for a voice of truth, a voice of light. And now, more than ever, it’s our time to be the Rebbe’s voice, to bring his powerful energy to every corner of the world.

The Journey To France: Beginning Of A Mission

With your permission, I’ll share a personal story. Thirteen years ago, I arrived in France, young and enthusiastic, without knowing a word of French. It was my first time there, a visit with my wife. Then my father-in-law raised the idea of staying as shluchim. We saw potential, but how does one make such a decision?

One morning, my father-in-law tells me: “There’s an event at city hall commemorating Victory Day over the Nazis. There’s a ceremony in the town square, you should come.” After davening, I started walking toward the park – Stalingrad Park.

When I arrived, the scene was impressive: a huge crowd of government officials, military generals, all the French elite in their finest tradition. A full French military band stood there. And me? I stood there, feeling a bit lost, and thought to myself: “Rebbe, give me a sign…”

And at that exact moment, as if in direct response to my prayer, the French band, with its trumpets and drums, began playing the French anthem which the Rebbe had adapted to the Chassidic niggun of “Ha’aderes V’ha’emuna L’chai Olamim.” That was my sign. Clear as day – the Rebbe is with me, we have work to do, and we can do it!

The Plan Is Good, The Order Isn’t…

When we understood this was our shlichus, I made a plan. Three things stood at the top of our priorities: First, learn French. Second, integrate into the local school – a prestigious girls’ education center run by the shluchim Rabbi Shalom Mendel Kalmanson and Rebbetzin Basya Kalmanson along with the Nissilevitch family and the dedicated army of shluchim. Third, make farbrengens with the youth. I told a good friend about the plan, and he said: “Great plan, just one thing needs to change – the order. Start with the farbrengens first, then integrate into the school, and if you still need to learn French – you’ll learn.”

The First Breakthrough

And so I began, with farbrengens with youth in Paris without knowing a word of French. France is the third largest Jewish population after Eretz Yisrael and the United States, and the thirst for Yiddishkeit was immense. We started singing “Nyet Nyet Nikavo” with the French boys, and the farbrengens were amazing. And boruch Hashem, today I can speak French fluently.

This is the Rebbe’s gift. And this is something I want to say to anyone going out on shlichus: be ready, and the Rebbe will give you everything you need. The Rebbe gives to each and every one of you, materially and spiritually. Just be ready to receive, and you will have it, b’ezras Hashem.

The Education Revolution

A year after we arrived on shlichus, my wife’s grandfather, R’ Shalom Mendel, passed away. And my father-in-law, R’ Leizer Nissilevitch, a Chassid who had been on shlichus for over 40 years, made a dramatic decision. He decided to continue the legacy of the school that originally started with just five children and grew to 400 students over the years.

But for R’ Leizer, this wasn’t enough. “There are so many Jews in public schools,” he would say, “they’re simply lost. We must save them.” He recruited me, my wife, and several other family members for one mission: to knock on doors and bring more Jewish children to Jewish education.

Let me tell you a story about one of our boys. One day he called me in a panic: “Shmuli, I almost went to jail, but something amazing happened.” It was Friday evening, he was riding his motorcycle when police stopped him for several violations. The situation didn’t look good, and he simply prayed in his heart: “Rebbe, help me.” At that very moment, just as the officer began searching, he received an urgent phone call. To everyone’s surprise, he simply returned all the boy’s belongings and said “Get out of here.”

I asked the boy: “What mitzva did you do to merit such a miracle?” At first he didn’t know, but then remembered. “Remember that farbrengen when you had a raffle for a subscription to Dvar Malchus in French? I won, but the subscription was delayed because there wasn’t a donor. Instead of waiting, I went and bought the booklet myself. I’ve been studying it for two weeks.” I smiled and said: “There’s your answer.”

And the story doesn’t end here. That boy is today a full-fledged Chabad Chassid, married, and his children study in chareidi schools.

Generation To Generation

But there’s more to the story: The boy had a seven-year-old brother who studied in public school. At one of the farbrengens, he joined his older brother.

“How old are you?” I asked him.

“Seven.”

“Are you in a Jewish school?”

“No.”

“Would you like to be?”

“Maybe… talk to my mother.”

I called the mother, set up a meeting, and the child enrolled in the Jewish school. He didn’t just learn to read and write – he did it all including learning Tanya by heart. A few weeks ago he called me.

“Shmuli, I’m in Israel!”

I thought he had joined the army – I knew he still had long hair; he didn’t look like a typical yeshiva bachur. “Are you in the army?” I asked.

“No,” he answered, “I’m the Rebbe’s shliach in the Nachal Brigade…”

The Power Of A Mezuza

Every year during the month of Elul, we conduct a special campaign, “Mivtza Mezuza.” Hundreds of students bring their mezuzos for checking, whether one or ten, and everyone enters a prize raffle. But sometimes, behind a simple mezuza check, lies a remarkable story.

We had one student, from a non-religious background, who was very excited about the campaign. She wanted to bring the mezuzos from her grandmother’s house. But the grandmother, who suffered from severe vision problems, adamantly refused. “Don’t touch the mezuzos,” she insisted.

The granddaughter felt she had to act. She waited until her grandmother fell asleep, quietly removed the mezuzos, left the cases on the doorposts, and secretly brought them for checking. When we checked, we discovered that in one mezuza the word “einecha” (your eyes) was pasul. We fixed the mezuza, she returned it to its place – and suddenly the grandmother started seeing better.

At this point, the granddaughter decided to tell the truth: “Grandma, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, but I checked the mezuzos, and the word ‘einecha’ wasn’t kosher.”

The grandmother, who was stunned, became an enthusiastic supporter of mezuza checking. This girl is another one of those who came to us from public school, thanks to R’ Leizer Nissilevitch’s initiative.

Distance Is No Deterrent

Listen to the amazing story of the girl who lived near Disneyland. Yes, there’s a Disneyland in France too, about 45 minutes from Paris. She lived in a remote area, without a shul, without Chabad, without anything Jewish. When we discovered her family and called, the parents were skeptical: “She’s almost finishing her school, she’s a good student, leave her where she is.”

But R’ Leizer Nissilevitch wasn’t willing to take ‘no’ for an answer. He arranged for a driver to pick her up every morning and bring her to school. Initially, she came to visit the school wearing pants, went to school on Shabbos – she was very far from a life of Torah and mitzvos.

But she enrolled, and these weren’t just another two years of studies. She continued to seminary near Brunoy, then another year of studies at a seminary in Israel. In the end? She married a Chabad bachur, and today they are shluchim in Netanya, serving the French community.

And the story doesn’t end here. After the Simchas Torah war began, like many in Israel they encountered financial difficulties. She started considering returning to France – where it’s easier financially, she knows the language, there are more opportunities. “I did something good,” she thought, “I was a shlucha for a while, maybe it’s time to move on.”

The Dream That Changed Everything

Then, one night, she has a dream. Three figures come to visit her: R’ Leizer Nissilevitch with a radiant face, beside him his wife Morah Chaya Nissilevitch, and the Kalmanson grandmother, Mrs. Batya Kalmanson, who should merit a refuah sheleima until the coming of Moshiach.

R’ Leizer looks at her with penetrating eyes and says, in his special Russian accented French: “C’est notre fierté, c’est notre fierté la fierté de Schneor” – “This is our pride, this is Schneor’s pride.” She woke up disturbed: “Rabbi Leizer says I’m his pride, and I’m thinking of leaving shlichus?” At that moment she decided to stay, and even opened a new initiative – ‘Café Torah’ for French mothers.

A Moment Of Trial

A decade ago, we experienced a difficult time in Paris. Terrorists attacked a Jewish grocery store, took hostages. This was right before Shabbos. In an emergency meeting of security and government officials, they were about to sign an order closing all shuls for Shabbos. Then the security chief for the Paris area stood up and asked a simple question: “What about the Lubavitchers, Chabad? They don’t have television, their phones are off on Shabbos, how will you notify them?”

This question changed everything. They realized that if everyone stayed away from shul except Chabad people, they would be the ones in danger. And so, instead of closing the shuls, a dramatic decision was made – every Jewish institution would receive full protection from the French army. From that day, every mosque, every shul, every Chabad house, every Jewish school received protection from French soldiers.

And here something wonderful happened. Bachurim from Brunoy would walk to the Lag B’Omer parade – a six-hour walk to Paris. Many didn’t know the exact way, but thanks to the French government’s decision, wherever they saw soldiers, they knew – here’s a shul. They would go in, give a dvar Torah, bring warmth and chayus.

The Vision Of Redemption

The Rebbe said that the complete refinement of the entire world in the Geula – “And saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Eisav, and the kingdom will be to Hashem” – depends on and is expressed through the birur by way of the galus of France. We see this day by day. France has exploded in a good way – many baalei teshuva, good deeds; amazing things are happening.

True, there are also riots, anti-Israel demonstrations, disturbing things happening in the country. There are Jews who feel threatened. But a Jew knows, a Chassid knows, and especially a shliach knows – wherever we are, the Rebbe gives us complete protection and the energy to bring the message to the world. We won’t be deterred, we won’t be afraid, we won’t hide. We’ll continue to convey the Rebbe’s message until we bring Moshiach, right now.

We must make a decision tonight, as the family of shluchim gathered here under one roof, and thousands of shluchim and Jews – because every Jew is a shliach – who are watching online. Each of us must understand our responsibility today, more than ever. The responsibility to be the Rebbe’s voice.

How do we do this? First of all, it starts with us. We must live with the Rebbe’s inyanim, especially through studying the ‘Dvar Malchus,’ the sichos of 5751-5752. This was my beginning in Paris, without knowing French, and boruch Hashem, it gave me tremendous chayus, not just for the listeners, but mainly for me, to live with the ‘Dvar Malchus’ each week.

Just yesterday I spoke with a shliach who told me about a hachlata he made – to sit for twenty minutes every Shabbos morning with his family and learn a small section from the weekly ‘Dvar Malchus.’ The impact this has on the family, on the shliach himself, is indescribable.

Our Mission

We cannot go a week without learning the ‘Dvar Malchus,’ the sichos of 5751-52. A shliach must know – the foundation is the sicha of Chayei Sarah 5752, where the Rebbe clearly explains our shlichus. When we know the shlichus, we have a clear vision, and we’re not confused by the media, the demonstrations, or the dangers blowing outside.

We know what we need to do and live according to the Rebbe’s goals – to bring Moshiach and prepare the entire world to welcome Moshiach. Let’s make a decision – to strengthen the study of inyanei Moshiach and Geula, and especially to learn each week the ‘Dvar Malchus’ sicha of 5751-52, by ourselves, with the community, with the family.

This will give us the chayus needed to live Moshiach, to put on the right glasses and see the world as the Rebbe sees it – a world of Moshiach, a world of Geula, a beautiful world, a happy world.

L’Chaim! Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu v’Rabeinu, Melech HaMoshiach L’Olam Va’ed!

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