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By Avraham Rainitz and Menachem Kahana, Beis Moshiach Magazine

Last summer, ahead of Gimmel Tammuz 5784, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Wilschansky, A”H, the Rebbe’s Shliach to Eretz Yisrael and Rosh Yeshiva of the Chabad Yeshiva in Tzfas, gave an awakening and inspiring interview to Beis Moshiach Magazine. “Gimmel Tammuz symbolizes a process of Geula, not regression,” Rabbi Wilschansky emphasized. “Like the Chassidim in Russia, our faith in the Rebbe intensifies especially during concealment.” He warned against the mistake of the meraglim who mixed their own logic with their mission and emphasized the importance of complete connection to the Rebbe. “Living with the Rebbe and living with Moshiach are one and the same.”

On the occasion of his untimely passing on 8 Adar this year, and ahead of the 33 years since Chof Zayin Adar 5752, we present this important discussion in his memory.

Rabbi Wilschansky, we are a few days away from Gimmel Tammuz, and this year we mark thirty years since Gimmel Tammuz 5754. What is required of us at this time?

In the days before Gimmel Tammuz, every Chassid understands that they must stop and contemplate the significance of this day. We need to think about the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, about the Geula, and awaken our longing for the Rebbe shlita. That is the healthy approach every year as we remain, unfortunately, immersed in the darkness of exile, and have not yet merited the Geula shleima. But when we have a “round” number – thirty years since Gimmel Tammuz – things need to be multiplied many times over. The awakening required is much more significant.

Rabbi Wilschansky and his wife תבלחט”א receive a Tanya and Siddur from the Rebbe ahead of their shlichus to Eretz Yisrael

During this period, naturally, many questions arise. Unlike those who don’t like questions about matters of faith, Chabad has a different approach, and questions certainly have a place. Is everything truly open to questioning, or are there things in Chabad that we don’t question?

It is told about one of the gedolei Yisrael who sat at a festive gathering where each person was asked to share a Torah thought. Great rabbanim were present and each spoke in turn. Finally, it was the turn of a simple Jew, and he said that his Torah thought was: “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” The gadol remarked that in all the Torah thoughts that everyone shared, one could find a fault, but in his, no fault could be found.

The town’s shochet jokingly responded that nowadays even such a Torah thought could be questioned… His joke was regarded with great severity, and he was immediately removed from his position. This teaches us that there are foundations that cannot be undermined, and even in jest one does not say that faults can be found. When it comes to fundamental principles of faith, there is no such thing as ‘just a joke.’

This week we read about Korach, who in one night spread several heretical questions throughout the Jewish camp, made some mockery about a ‘tallis that is entirely blue’ and a ‘house full of sefarim,’ causing severe damage to the faith of the Bnei Yisrael. What’s so bad? He just asked questions… The problem was that he wasn’t asking to understand, but to question Moshe’s words.

And that’s the point: In Chabad, we don’t avoid questions. But questions should be asked with the goal of understanding, not to cast doubt on the Rebbe’s words. One can ask anything, but one must know that there are foundations that we don’t move away from.

Who determines what is considered a ‘dvar Torah’ in which one can find fault and what is considered ‘Shema Yisrael’?

For Chassidim, every word of the Rebbe is holy of holies, a foundation and basis that one cannot move from even a hairsbreadth. What is explicitly written in a sicha is “Shema Yisrael.” In contrast, a Chassid’s feeling that is not explicit in a sicha, even if it is based on similar points mentioned in sichos – is like any Torah concept that should be respected, but can also be refuted.

It’s important to establish a clear and sharp line of demarcation between things the Rebbe said and things a Chassid feels. A Chassid cannot determine things without a clear source in the Rebbe’s sichos.

Today there are many topics and sub-topics with differences of opinion. Can we find clear statements on all these issues in the Rebbe’s teachings?

Definitely. In the Rebbe’s teachings there are decisive references to most of the topics being discussed and debated. When we look around and see what arguments are around, we wonder greatly: why aren’t people opening the sichos? There is no doubt that at least ninety-five percent of the topics are discussed in the Rebbe’s teachings, and he takes a clear and explicit position on them. The Rebbe’s sichos, especially from the later years, are our ‘Shulchan Aruch’ for the current period. And just as a person cannot express opinions on laws of Kashrus without first studying them in the Shulchan Aruch, it should be considered absurd for someone to express opinions on the topic of Moshiach before studying the teachings of Geula. For some reason, the topic of Geula is perceived by people as open for discussion, where anyone can establish an opinion and say this is how it should be, because this is how it seems to me, because this is what I think. This is an absurd situation, which unfortunately has accompanied us since the Mivtza Moshiach began.

A Day of Strengthening Faith

We are a few days before Gimmel Tammuz. 29 years have passed, and we hope and pray that we will not, G-d forbid, reach thirty years in this terrible exile. What feelings arise in the heart of a Chassid during these days?

Even ‘feelings of a Chassid’ are determined first and foremost according to the Rebbe’s sichos, especially when it comes to a date that is extensively discussed in the Rebbe’s teachings. Therefore, before we talk about Gimmel Tammuz 5754 – it’s important to note: it’s not coincidental that the event happened specifically on Gimmel Tammuz, because when we look at the significance of Gimmel Tammuz in light of the Rebbe’s sichos – we see clearly that this day symbolizes a process of Geula.

Gimmel Tammuz has been a special date in Chabad since 1927, and it is first and foremost the day of Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz from his imprisonment. On this day, the Rebbe went from the opposite of life to life, and the completion of his Geula was on the 12th-13th of Tammuz. In the Dvar Malchus sicha of Parshas Balak 5751, the Rebbe heightens the significance of the yemei ha’Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz, and their influence on the entire month.

The Rebbe emphasizes that in the past, the month of Tammuz reminded Jews of exile and destruction, and since the Geula of the Rebbe Rayatz – the entire month has become a month of Geula. This was accomplished through the Chag HaGeula of the Rebbe Rayatz, and certainly also thanks to the fact that we are standing on the threshold of the Geula.

And in his holy words: “Throughout all the generations before this (since the undesirable events of the 17th of Tammuz, which led to the events of the 9th of Av), the month of Tammuz was associated with matters of the opposite of joy, destruction and exile, while in our generation, in the month of Tammuz, an aspect of (joy and) redemption has been revealed – the redemption of the Rebbe [Rayatz], Nasi Doreinu, on the 12th and 13th of Tammuz.”

What do we see here? A month that symbolizes exile and destruction, now in our generation, the Rebbe tells us, has revealed in it an aspect of “simcha and Geula.” And when did all this begin? Gimmel Tammuz – as the Rebbe explains at length in the Dvar Malchus sicha of this week, that this is the day that symbolizes the beginning of the Geula. Such a Geula that opens the channel to the complete Geula, as the Rebbe Rayatz says in his famous letter: “Not only me did the Holy One, blessed be He, redeem on the 12th of Tammuz, but also all who cherish our holy Torah, observe the mitzvos, and even those who are called by the name of Yisrael.” On this day it all began.

Rabbi Wilschansky receiving a dollar from the Rebbe on 2 Cheshvan, 5752, with his son and heir, Rabbi Meir Wilschanksy

And then came Gimmel Tammuz 5754, bringing with it a difficult event, the significance of which we need to define to the extent that we are capable.

If I could define the meaning of Gimmel Tammuz in a few words, I would say: The day of the Rebbe with the Chassidim.

There is no doubt that Gimmel Tammuz is a day when one must strengthen one’s connection to the Rebbe, to strengthen hiskashrus with the Rebbe, so that, G-d forbid, we do not reach a state of discouragement. We must do everything so as not to weaken in the avoda that the Rebbe has placed upon us.

We must know that with the Rebbe there are only ascents. There could not have been a retreat on Gimmel Tammuz. In light of what has been said, we can understand that on this day we came one step closer to Geula. Nevertheless, so that the events of this day do not cause a weakening in faith – therefore, specifically on this day, more than any other day, we must strengthen our faith in the Rebbe’s words, and not give place to any weakening.

In the “HaYom Yom” for Gimmel Tammuz, the following saying is brought: “My grandfather [the Maharash] said: A Jewish sigh as a result of bad material circumstances, ch’v – is also a great teshuva, especially a sigh following bad spiritual circumstances – certainly this is an elevated teshuva. The sigh uproots from the depths of evil, and places one in a good state.”

When the Rebbe said that Yisrael had already done teshuva, many did not understand what this meant, as we don’t see millions of baalei teshuva. The Rebbe addressed this in one of his sichos, mentioned the aforementioned saying, and said that since there is no Jew who doesn’t sigh, everyone has done teshuva, and furthermore, an elevated teshuva!

What does this apply to? On Gimmel Tammuz 5754, however we explain what happened, there was a great sigh throughout all of Am Yisrael. Even one for whom the concept of “chai v’kayam” is plain as day – he too, sighed on that day. And this sigh, which by hashgacha pratis was written about in the “HaYom Yom” for Gimmel Tammuz, certainly brought us closer to “immediately they are redeemed.”

We see, boruch Hashem, how after Gimmel Tammuz, Lubavitch grows daily. Hundreds of new shluchim have begun to work; hundreds of new institutions have opened, and thousands of baalei teshuva have joined Lubavitch. We see a special awakening among Anash, both in the study of inyanei Geula and Moshiach, and in special yemei iyun or Shabbosos dedicated to strengthening inyanei Geula and Moshiach. The Chabad yeshiva world has doubled and tripled itself, hundreds of kovtzei Torah have been printed during recent years, study campaigns in yeshivas sweep up thousands of bachurim who sit and delve into the Rebbe’s teachings on Geula.

The message of Gimmel Tammuz is that we must stand firm in the test. The famous mashal is well-known about the father who hides from his son to test his love for him. What is the purpose of the test? That the son not stop waiting and expecting the father to come again. That he not, r’l, resign himself to the ‘reality,’ and only engage in reminiscing about bygone days. Rather, that he continue to yearn and look forward to the father’s imminent return.

And so it is in our inyan: The event of Gimmel Tammuz is a test. There is no other explanation for such a phenomenon of concealment. When we stand at the ‘peak time,’ as the Rebbe calls it, and inyanei Geula have already been drawn into the world – precisely then there is such a concealment. This is apparently a test, the whole purpose of which is that we should withstand it, believe and yearn, and act with all our might – “all that is in our ability” until the complete hisgalus.

No To Discouragement. Yes To Self-Accounting!

If, G-d forbid, the redemption is delayed, we will mark thirty years since Gimmel Tammuz 5754! Who would have believed that we would reach the year 5784, while we are still in exile?! What is the significance of such a milestone?

First of all, as the years pass, the thirst becomes tremendous and greater. As time passes, the anticipation and longing to see and behold the holy face of the Rebbe MH”M shlita intensifies and grows. We all want to see already “melech b’yafyo” in the third Beis HaMikdash. We remember well the mashpia, Reb Zushe Posner who would always count how many days had passed since Gimmel Tammuz… And yet, there is special significance when marking a certain landmark date. And not in the sense of discouragement ch’v, but exactly the opposite – of awakening and a call to action!

As mentioned, we find these things in the Rebbe’s teachings – and so it is regarding our discussion: On 12 Tammuz 5717, the Rebbe spoke at length about ‘and it was in the thirtieth year’ of Gimmel Tammuz 5687, and said that on such a day “one needs to make an accounting of what has been done and accomplished during the thirty years that have passed in order to know how to best utilize in the future the ongoing activity in a more effective manner.”

The Rebbe emphasizes that in conducting this self-accounting, one should not fall in spirit and remain only in the kav of bitterness, but “that it should come to expression in the manner of avoda after these thirty years, in all the matters that the redemption has drawn down, that the avoda should be with additional chayus and additional powers, similar to the advantage of the avoda of one who comes from ‘a dry and weary land without water,’ where his thirst is incomparably more intense. And this inyan draws down extraordinary success so that one can make larger vessels in quality and larger vessels in quantity, and through them sublime lights will be drawn down.”

And the Rebbe adds that “likewise, this draws siyata d’shmaya during the actual time of avoda and extraordinary success in the fruits of the avoda, that it should be an avoda that bears fruit and the fruit of its fruits until the end of the world [ad sof ha’olam] – as per the interpretation that they make an end to the concealment and cover-up of the world and to the predicates of the world,” and make the world “a dwelling for Him, blessed be He, in the lower realms, mamosh.”

If so, his words clearly speak about how to act when reaching “and it was in the thirtieth year.” One can add: In Pirkei Avos it says that “at thirty, one reaches strength [koach],” that when a person reaches the age of thirty, there is a great addition to the powers given from above to carry out the tasks placed upon him. As an allusion, one could say that the intention is that when we reach ‘thirty years’ – we should be awakened by the sicha of Chof-Ches [koach] Nissan, in which the Rebbe entrusts the matter of Moshiach to us: “Do all you can –- matters that are in the manner of the lights of Tohu, but in vessels of Tikun –- to bring Moshiach Tzidkeinu immediately and actually!”

If we want to speak in practical terms, the way to ensure that we all see the Rebbe with physical eyes is to direct ourselves towards action (“Do all you can”). This is what he Rebbe taught us thirty years after the Rebbe Rayatz’s Chag HaGeula of Gimmel Tammuz – to take the self-accounting towards chayus and quality in practical activity in all inyanim of the Rebbe. And this is what we need to take from this day. Of course, the action will focus on bringing the Geula – “to bring the days of Moshiach.”

From France To Tzfas

In his childhood and youth, R’ Wilschansky was educated in the Anash community and Chabad mosdos in Paris. Primarily at Tomchei Tmimim in Brunoy, where he drew his Chassidic education as a talmid in yeshiva, from the rabbanei ha’yeshiva of the time, Roshei Yeshiva Rabbi Yosef Goldberg, and Rabbi Hillel Pevzner. And likewise, from the famous mashpia, Rabbi Nissan Nemanov as well as the famous Chassid Reb Yisroel Noach Blinitzky. Under their guidance, R’ Wilschansky received strong foundations in the study of Nigleh and Chassidus, etc.

At the age of eighteen, he went to study in Tomchei Tmimim at 770. There he excelled in his studies.

About a year and a half later, in the month of Iyar 5731, he was among a group of six talmidim sent by the Rebbe to Australia. There, for a whole year, he spent much time in the company of his grandfather, Rabbi Betzalel Wilschansky, and received much from him. Also, in the yeshiva, he gave shiurim to talmidim. “We had a role there of learning and teaching. That is, to study in the yeshiva in order to strengthen it, but also to give shiurim to talmidim.”

At the same time, he joined the ‘Vaad L’Hafatzas Sichos’ and took part in editing the Likkutei Sichos booklets which were published weekly with the Rebbe’s edits.

In Elul 5734, after his return to 770, he married Malka Perel, daughter of Rabbi Moshe Ashkenazi, granddaughter of Rabbi Eliezer Karasik, rabbi of the Chabad community in Tel Aviv, and began studying in the Rebbe’s Kollel, while continuing his work at the ‘Vaad L’Hafatzas Sichos.’

In his office at the Tzfas Yeshiva

About a year and a half after his marriage, while studying in the Kollel, he was privileged to be counted among the first group of shluchim the Rebbe sent to Tzfas in 5736. About a year later, the Chabad Yeshiva in Tzfas was opened under his leadership.

As a Chassidishe Rosh Yeshiva who has educated thousands of talmidim, he understands well the soul of the generation, and how to address “the spirit of each person,” especially regarding the burning issue – hiskashrus to the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. “The central point is hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and the shlichus that is a product of it. This is the place that serves as a factory for shlichus, and the yeshiva focuses on the points of shlichus and hiskashrus to the Rebbe in the strongest manner.”

How do you define hiskashrus to the Rebbe at a time when “we do not see…”?

First, the Rebbe in his kabbolas ha’nesius said that our generation is the one that needs to bring the Geula b’poel. We are the last generation of exile and the first of Geula. The Rebbe stated categorically that in this generation our task is to work to build a dira b’tachtonim which is the hisgalus of Moshiach. And therefore this topic – Moshiach, is the axis around which everything revolves.

It can be said that there is a similarity between the state of the Chassidim in Russia behind the Iron Curtain, and the state in which we find ourselves in today, after Gimmel Tammuz 5754. Then too, the Chassidim did not see the Rebbe, but they knew that he was present, and that he was thinking about them and caring for them at all times.

So too today, we know and believe with complete faith that he is alive literally, and even if there is a claim in the world that “the eulogizers eulogized” etc., we have only the Rebbe’s explicit words (“Mikra ani doresh – he is alive”) about the perpetual nitzchiyus of the Nasi HaDor. Even when things don’t completely make sense to us, we know that this is the truth, and nothing else.

B’hashgacha pratis, Gimmel Tammuz falls around the parshiyos in which we see the extent of Moshe’s dedication to the Bnei Yisrael, that even when they complain about him, he ensures that G-d forgives His people. In a sicha for Parshas Shelach (Likkutei Sichos vol. 13), the Rebbe adds that even the spies, those who rebelled against Moshe Rabeinu himself, against the Nasi HaDor – even for them he davens.

However, because they complained against him, they separated themselves from him, and therefore his prayer for them was not effective. And at the end of the sicha after the lengthy explanation of Moshe’s concern for the Jewish people, the Rebbe says that “similarly it is regarding Moshe in every generation who is the one who cares for each and every one, and he is the one who prays and effectuates through his prayer the drawing down of all good in gashmiyus and ruchniyus.”

Therefore, the conclusion required from all this is that even today, the Rebbe MH”M cares for us and gives us the strength to actually bring Moshiach. We need to devote ourselves and carry out the task placed upon us, and the Rebbe finds the way to answer us and give us his bracha. As we see everywhere that the things the Rebbe established grow, expand, and break through above the surface on a scale that did not exist before. The institutions of the Rebbe, the shluchim of the Rebbe, the Chassidim of the Rebbe – everything flourishes and blossoms and thus progresses together with the entire world towards the Geula that we yearn and look forward to and will see him in his hisgalus – “our eyes shall behold the king in his beauty.”

Do Not Mix In Intellect

What is the pure way to proper hiskashrus?

In the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Shelach 5710, the Rebbe explains the story of the spies and why Calev silenced them immediately after they completed their report. Seemingly, the spies were only responding to Moshe’s questions about the people and the land. The Rebbe explains that the sin of the spies was in mixing in their intellect and changing the order of things that Moshe commanded.

Moshe instructed them to first check the people (“whether they are strong or weak”) and only afterward the quality of the land. But the spies changed the order, reporting first about the good land and only then about the strength of the people.

The Rebbe explains that Moshe focused first on the war and conquest, and only then on the profit and reward, because for him the main thing was the mission itself. In contrast, the spies emphasized the reward first, which led to incorrect calculations regarding the difficulty of the mission and to the conclusion “we cannot go up.”

Therefore, the Rebbe explains, when Calev saw that the spies were mixing in their intellect and changing from Moshe’s shlichus, even just regarding the order of things – he immediately silenced them.

How does this error of the spies relate to our spiritual avoda today, and what can we learn from it about hiskashrus to the Rebbe?

The instruction is not to mix in intellect and change from the Rebbe’s words, even in the order of things, because this could lead to serious errors.

The question arises how to prevent intellect from interfering with fulfilling the will of the meshaleiach – the Rebbe MH”M. This is not an easy thing… And all the more so: if the spies, about whom it was said “all men, roshei Bnei Yisrael they were,” when they changed from Moshe’s words, came to such an error as to say “we cannot go up, etc.” – people like us how much more so…

The Rebbe says, when you remember whose shliach you are, and that your entire existence is only the existence of the sender – the Rebbe shlita Melech HaMoshiach, then we remain connected to Moshe – to the attribute of truth, and do not deviate from it. We constantly remember that we are going on the shlichus of the Moshe of the generation and don’t think about our own existence. Then the intellect will not be able to interfere at all.

This is also the empowerment from the Rebbe from the last maamar that we were privileged to receive from his holy hand, “V’Atah Tetzaveh” 5741 on Purim Katan 5752. The entire maamar revolves around the faithful shepherd who sustains and nourishes Israel with faith. In retrospect, the Rebbe made it clear to us what he wants us to engage in at all times – hiskashrus to the Nasi HaDor, the faithful shepherd, and all this from Achdus and Ahavas Yisrael.

Another point regarding “V’Atah Tetzaveh,” the Rebbe speaks in sichos about this parsha, which is the only parsha in the Torah since the birth of Moshe, in which he is not mentioned by name, but nevertheless, precisely there is the “V’Atah” – the essence of Moshe. And this is the Kuntres that the Rebbe distributed before 27 Adar… The hint is clear: Even when Moshe is not seen in a revealed way, nevertheless “V’Atah Tetzaveh” – he connects the Bnei Yisrael to their Father in Heaven with his entire essence.

At one of the farbrengens, the Rebbe said that when Moshiach comes, every Chassid will go to his Rebbe and with him he will be mekabel pnei Moshiach. And the Rebbe said that so too we, when Moshiach comes, will go to our Rebbe.

And seemingly, if the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach – why should we go to the Rebbe to be mekable pnei Moshiach? Rather, it seems to say, that all of Israel will go to be mekabel pnei Moshiach together with their rebbes as a separate matter, as it were, from Moshiach, but we the Chassidim, will go to the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach as Chassidim…

If You Want – It’s Possible!

What are the practical steps that can be taken in anticipation of Gimmel Tammuz?

First of all, to study inyanei Geula and Moshiach. The Rebbe says that through this we not only prepare for Geula, but we actually live Yemos HaMoshiach already now. To live with the Rebbe through learning his Torah and fulfilling his instructions is identical to living with Moshiach. The two cannot be separated – they must come together.

‘Moshiach’ is not just a detail in hiskashrus, but the essence. Since the Chassid is connected to the Rebbe and loves him, he wants to do what the Rebbe wants – and that is Moshiach. This is what is at the center of the Rebbe’s aspirations and demands, and therefore this is what should be at the center of the Chassid’s life.

So that together with the pain, sorrow, and longing while we are still in the darkness of exile – double and redoubled – we must rise up and rejoice in the fact that we have the Rebbe, and exert ourselves in constantly adding to fulfill his holy will, to exert ourselves in the tremendous and wonderful abundance of the Rebbe’s Torah through which, and by means of which, we connect to him in an inner and deep connection; another maamar, another sicha, and with emphasis on studying the latest sichos from the last year – the ‘Dvar Malchus’ sichos of 5751-5752, until from the abundance of “yogata” [you have toiled] we will finally merit “u’matzasa” [and you have found] until “I have found Dovid My servant.”

Everything depends on ratzon – if you want to be connected to the Rebbe shlita, it is possible even today. You need to want, and for the ratzon to be genuine. And when it is a desire of truth “nothing stands in the way of will.”

When we live around the Rebbe, learn his Torah, inyanei Geula and Moshiach, ‘Dvar Malchus’ sichos, farbrengens, maamarim, stories about the Rebbe, and more and more – life becomes completely different, it becomes like life in Yemos HaMoshiach “in which we are currently present, and in the most simple sense” (sicha of the night of 19 Kislev 5752) – since in the days of Moshiach we will live completely with the Rebbe himself.

When this is the atmosphere at home – the entire home becomes illuminated “the entire house becomes light,” so that even the children will be partners in life around the Rebbe; they see the parents doing this, and it will cause them to want to grow like this too.

The more we live this, out of a genuine demand and cry that we want to see the Rebbe already with physical eyes in the hisgalus – “our desire is to see our king,” we will hasten even more that moment, until with Hashem’s help we merit “to see the Rebbe” with physical eyes immediately.

And this is expressed in the holy declaration “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Vaed” in which we accept upon ourselves the malchus of the Rebbe MH”M (as explained at length in the sicha of Beis Nissan 5748), may he come and redeem us and lead us upright to our land.

***

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