|
B"H |
 |
|
|
 contact
us
 donate
 feedback |
||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
The Tiferes Turning Point Volume 1, Issue 1 Kislev, 5762 (December, 2001)
Fixed Bearings, a word from the Director Catching the Wind, a student profile Navigating the Currents, lessons for change High Tide at Tiferes, observations
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
-a word from the Director, Rabbi Avrohom Lipskier
We find ourselves now in the period of V’Yaakov holach l’darko. This is following the month of Tishrei, a month full of Festivals, which is saturated with an abundance of goodness, blessing, and spiritual strength for the entire year. Surely, each one of us has arrived home with his luggage packed full of all the positive influences he received from above. Especially, the strength and blessings that he received from the Rebbe MH”M in 770, Beis Moshiach.
Now is the time when we unpack our bags and utilize all that we have received for our every day service.
In general, we can apply the above to the life of a Tamim. His “month of Tishrei” is the time that he spends in the Yeshiva. It is a time brimming with many festivals, farbrengens, etc., which bestow an abundance of spiritual strength & inspiration. It is a time of added blessing and strength given by the Rebbe MH”M for one’s whole lifetime. Everyone packs his bags to the fullest with friendships, learning, davening, etc. to take with him for when he leaves.
Then comes V’Yaakov holach l’darko. One leaves the Yeshiva and goes on with his life, unpacking his baggage and putting his belongings to use. From time to time he may reflect on his experiences at the Yeshiva and draw increased strength for his day to day affairs. He may even return at times for a farbrengen at the Yeshiva in order to reconnect and re-energize himself. However, he doesn’t stop at strengthening himself alone, but considers the situation of his family, friends and community. He tries to help others with a good heart in whatever way possible and brings “his month of Tishrei” to life in the place where he is (this is emphasized even more so in this year, which is a Hakhel year and in this month, which is a month of geulah).
This month of Kislev, the month of Geulah, relates to each one of us in a very personal way, especially Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Rosh Chodesh Kislev was the day on which the Rebbe MH”M went home for the first time after his heart attack on Shmini Atzeres. We must reflect, as children to a father, on the great kindness of Hashem for giving us the Rebbe, MH”M. If we will truly appreciate our good fortune to be connected to the Rebbe, then we will surely strengthen our resolve and dedication to the Rebbe’s directives. Especially, our one remaining directive, which is to prepare ourselves and those around us to accept and greet Moshiach now mamash, by learning ourselves and with others about Moshiach and the Redemption.
May Hashem grant us all the blessings that the Rebbe MH”M has given us and continues to give us until his imminent revelation, which should happen immediately and he will redeem us as we all proclaim Yechi Adoneinu… |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
A student profile, by Yehoshua Levine
Three years ago, Yehuda Chakoff found himself in deep water–literally. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a Navy Scholarship, he served as an officer on a US Navy submarine. Even at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, he insisted on keeping Jewish observance. He made special arrangements with the commanding officers to keep kosher, wear a yarmulke, and daven. The captain ordered him special meals, and a rabbi trained the cooks. “I think what you see [from the Navy’s special arrangements] is a refinement of the world going on. The world assists Jews [in Torah and Mitzvos],” Yehuda said.
One time when the submarine was docked, Yehuda did not have enough time to leave the submarine before Shabbos. It was impossible to exit without performing an act prohibited on Shabbos. So he surprised the other sailors by abandoning his plans for his precious day-off on land and spending the entire Shabbos stuck on the submarine (of course, without doing anything prohibited on Shabbos.) “That blew their minds,” Yehuda recounted.
Then, Yehuda decided things had to change. “I was feeling very positive about involvement with the Navy–thinking I could have it both ways, [keeping Judaism and serving in the military]. And the Aibershter gave me a kick and reminded me who I am,” Yehuda said.
In the fall of 1998, his submarine was off the coast of Japan, performing training exercises with the Japanese and Korean navies. The operation was very successful, winning medals for the ship. The sailors did a swarm of extra paperwork for reviewing the details of the operation afterward. Rosh Hashanah occurred during the exercise, and the military forced him to work. He did blow the shofar, but he could not keep any other part of Rosh Hashanah, even the davening. “A Jew has no business except being in Shul [on Rosh Hashanah],” Yehuda said. “[If] I chose to stay in this environment, at the core I would still be saying it’s okay to work on Rosh Hashanah–no matter how many Mitzvos [I do].”
Yehuda submitted his resignation soon after.
Following his retirement from the Navy, Yehuda came to Yeshiva Tiferes Menachem, planning to stay a few months. After year of attending Chabad Houses, he realized he needed to improve his davening and study Jewish law. Yehuda planned to concentrate on these areas. However, he discovered that yeshiva offered him much, much more. “No matter how short a stay you have here–it’s not wasted time,” Yehuda said. “Don’t deprive yourself of [coming just] for a weekend.”
Yeshiva Tiferes Menachem introduced Yehuda to a facet of Judaism even richer than he saw in Chabad Houses. So he decided to stay longer. He saw Yeshiva as training for Jewish life, and he discovered the value of being a Chasid. “[Yeshiva Tiferes Menachem] teaches Yiddishkeit not as a group of discrete practices, but as an encompassing way of life!”
Yehuda made strives forward during his stay at Yeshiva Tiferes Menachem. The yeshiva gave him the perspective to maintain his motivation to continue learning Torah outside yeshiva, and it gave him the skills to continue learning. He did not only gain the ability to approach books like Talmud, its commentaries, and the Shulchan Aruch (Jewish law); he learned to approach Chasidic works like Maamarim and Sichos.
Yehuda explained the advantage of studying these Chassic works with the analogy of a mikveh and a spring. Both a mikveh and a spring perform ritual purification. A mikveh needs a minimum size to be able to purify; a spring, by contrast, has no minimum size since it is connected to the water’s source. Likewise, when Jews are connected to their source–the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his Chasidic teachings–they can never loose their strength. “It allows you to go out into the world and stay Chassidishe.”
Besides all these strides, he got married as a yeshiva student. On 28 Sh’vat 5761 (February 21, 2001), Yehuda stood under the Chupa (marriage canopy) in front of the Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. “Coming [to yeshiva] here resulted in finding my bashert [soul-mate],” Yehuda said.
The yeshiva helped him clarify what he wants in marriage and the kind of commitment he needs to say Chassidishe even after yeshiva. Furthermore he was thankful for being in yeshiva while finding his wife because it allowed him to approach his search in an orderly way. He appreciated the structure that Chassidus and frumkeit brought him.
Yehuda explained that his enrollment in yeshiva was an important factor to his wife since religious girls are looking for commitment to being frum in the “practical details”.
Yehuda lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York with his wife Channa. He continues to attend the yeshiva, practicing the Chasidic custom that men spend the first year of marriage as full-time Torah students. His wife works for Tzivos Hashem Jewish youth organization. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
- lessons for change, by Rabbi Y.Y. Greenberg
The Rebbe MH”M says (in the name of his father, Reb Levi Yitzchok, o.b.m) about the month of Kislev (כסלו) that it is actually composed of 2 words: לו - כס. כס signifies what is concealed and undercover, as well as that which is sublime and esoteric. לו relates to the word אלה (these), which is numerically equivalent to 36. It, by contrast, denotes that which is revealed, readily accessible, and visible enough to the eyes where one can point and say “these” (this is it).
The equivalence of לו to 36, also, alludes to the 36-piece puzzle set of our personality or emotional traits. These 36 traits are derived from our 6 principle attributes of feeling & emotion: chesed, gevura, tiferes, netzach, hod, and yesod. They stand in contrast to our other faculties, like intellect, which often remain abstract and do not translate into action. What we understand to be correct and moral may not always be reflected in our daily conduct. This is demonstrated by the well-known example of the thief who prays to G-d to grant him success in the midst of his endeavor to steal. Emotions, in contrast, always take on immediate relevance. They portray one’s true personality. What one feels is very real and has a profound impact on one’s daily life.
The month of Kislev is known as “the month of geulah” (even in non-Chassidic circles). This month helps us to tap into our most hidden and subconscious powers, even to the very core and quintessential part of our soul. This quintessential part of us is often referred to as our “pintele Yid.” Self-sacrifice and absolute boundless faith are the expressions of our pintele Yid. However, due to its sublime nature and our corporeality, the pintele Yid is often covered over, obscured and not easily expressed. Kislev helps us to uncover our pintele Yid and allow it to affect the 36-piece puzzle set of our personality. So even as we go about our daily chores and routines we are in sync with the most quintessential & esoteric part of ourselves.
It is in this month of Kislev (לו-כס) that we celebrate the festival of Chanukah. We light a total of 36 candles for 8 days. These 36 candles correspond to the 36 hours of special light that was present during the first Friday afternoon and Shabbos of Creation. Subsequent to Adam’s sin and following that first Shabbos, that great light was hidden and stored away. We regain and catch a glimpse of this light when we kindle the Chanukah lights.
It is also no wonder that we celebrate in this month the liberation and redemption of Chassidus. For in the month of Kislev the leaders and luminaries of Chassidus, the Alter Rebbe and the Mittler Rebbe, were freed from Russian prison after successfully defending the teachings and ways of Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, was freed on the 19th of Kislev, 5559 (1798), and the Mittler Rebbe, Rabbi Dov Ber, was freed on the 10th of Kislev, 5887 (1826).
Chassidus is an incredible G-dly power that unites the esoteric & exoteric parts of Torah. Lofty Kabalistic ideas are made understandable to the human intellect and are allowed to permeate the totality of the 36-piece puzzle set of human personality. Consequently, through Chassidus, heaven is brought down to earth by creating a fusion between the aloof aspects of G-dliness and the mundane world.
This is, also, why Chassidus is metaphorically compared to oil (also connected with the miracle oil of Chanukah). Oil combines two opposite qualities. It rises above all liquids when mixed with them, yet saturates through all solids. Chassidus, similarly, brings these two opposite qualities together. It unites the aloof aspects of G-dliness with the tangible aspects of the world.
Everything is by Divine Providence. The events that take place with the leader of the generation are a signpost for the generation itself. On Rosh Chodesh Kislev (כסלו), 24 years ago, we celebrated the Rebbe’s recovery from a heart attack suffered at Hakofos on Shmini Atzeres. This was the day that the public saw the Rebbe after being privately hospitalized in his room for 36 days. The Rebbe, who is the head or “Rosh” of the generation, was rejuvenated with a new (“chodesh”) life after “36 days of concealment (לו-כס).” This obviously gives all Chassidim and Klal Yisroel the world over the strength to live up to the latent potential of this auspicious month of Kislev.
Moshiach (as stated in Shaar Hagilgulim of the great kabalist, the Ramaz) is the great Jewish leader who merits the “Yechidah”. The “Yechidah” (the one & only) is one of the five names of the Jewish soul. It describes the quintessence of the soul (the pintele Yid), unlike the other four names that represent the various faculties of the soul. His meriting the “Yechidah” indicates that this quintessential point is fully charged, ignited and revealed at all times. Moshiach is thus referred to as the “Yechidah of Klal Yisroel” or the essence of all the Jews.
Every Jew has a spark of Moshiach within him, albeit in miniature form. This month of Kislev offers the most auspicious time for this spark to ignite and to truly “live Moshiachdik.”
May this bring about the complete revelation of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach Now Mamosh! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
by Mr. Yisroel Croman
Although I have been a supporter of Tiferes Menachem since before it opened, my first visit to the Yeshiva was on a recent Sunday evening in early August. What I saw surprised me, particularly in two respects.
First, the physical plant itself. I had not expected such an impressive building. From the street it is a formidable looking, solid brick structure of much larger proportions than I’d imagined. It is located just three doors from the ocean, in a small town with a relaxed atmosphere. It provides an environment conducive to the Chabad learning experience.
Second, I was impressed with the bochurim. I didn’t realize the student body had already grown to more than 30. And I never expected so many students of such high caliber. They were not just going through the motions. They looked alive, vibrant, and truly interested in their studies. At the same time, each and every one with whom I spoke was extremely polite and friendly.
Rabbi Lipskier and his staff have achieved quite a bit in a short time, and most of it by sheer faith and determination. They started with nothing and were continually faced with all kinds of difficulties. Yet their faith gave them the strength to persevere, so that in three short years they have built a strong institution. It is already mortgage free and they’re now talking about expansion! Quite a surprise and quite a success story. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
