A point from the weekly D’var Malchus with a relevant message. * How are we supposed to look at what might seem to us as a random confluence of events in time and find the connection to the weekly sidra?
Last week, Shabbos Parshas Ki Savo, I attended a family sheva brachos. One of the speakers, when given the honor to speak, offered up his blessings to the chassan with the following vort: You just left yeshiva (Ki Seitzei) and entered this world (Ki Savo) and now everything depends only on you (how you establish yourself – Nitzavim) and if it is as it ought to be then (VaYeilech), and also do not forget the opinion of the shlucha who also has what to say about matters of the house and shlichus (Haazinu), then surely V’Zos HaBracha … The speaker concluded with mazal tov wishes, and blessings for a good and happy life and may the redeemer come to Tziyon.
Shabbos Parshas Netzavim-VaYeilech (or Erev Shabbos for the diligent ones among us who take a peek at the magazine) is the time to contemplate something most amazing.
Over the years, the Rebbe introduced many new things, some of which had existed but were neglected, and some which never existed before in or out of Lubavitch. Without much effort we notice that most of the chiddushim of the seventh generation come gradually. Whether it’s an idea that becomes progressively clearer to the Chassidim as far as the direction the Rebbe wants us to take or whether it’s a demand to carry it out and publicize it to the world.
One of the chiddushim has to do with the way of learning. Much has been written about this already and this is definitely not the purpose of this little column, for even if I wanted to, I could not express the magnitude of the phenomenon.
We will examine just one point which we see in the sichos and maamarim and most especially in the sichos of the D’var Malchus and which stands out in the D’var Malchus of this week. The dates and the timely contexts (to be more precise – the hashgacha pratis): “Being as we are on Shabbos Parshas …,” “Standing on …,” “In conjunction with …,” “Following …,” “Before …,” “Within three days of …,” “In the year …,” and many more such expressions that mark the date and significance of the day.
This chiddush came gradually. In the early years there was also reference to the date and time but it wasn’t emphasized often and you can readily find a sicha without any mention at all of a date and holiday.
“As opposed to in our generation,” it is rare for a sicha not to be connected with a date, time and place. Usually they are all intertwined.
It became so much a part of the culture that it became an integral part of Chassidic speech. Every speaker, whether one of the famous ones whose name precedes them or the kind who actually writes better than he speaks, all try to mention something in connection with the time of the year.
As far as we know, there is no written source with a clear explanation for this, and we do not pride ourselves on knowing the Rebbe’s intentions. But it seems obvious that this pertains to the generation of Geula and the closer we get to the Geula the more it is emphasized.
When we examine what the Rebbe “wants” when he speaks about the date and connects them to the parsha, as well as to the events that occurred that week and the day of the week and the date in the month … The common denominator is the focus on hashgacha pratis. Everything is precise and nothing is by accident.
That is how we live the Geula! We see in every detail how it is connected to G-dliness. Even something seemingly trivial like how something falls out, is not insignificant. It means accustoming ourselves to living and enlivening every moment with its G-dly light. It means, learning to say about everything, “Wow, what hashgacha pratis!” As someone in Kfar Chabad related, every time his son falls he gets up and says, “Wow, what a miracle!”
In the D’var Malchus we sometimes find an entire section or two or three which focus on this point alone, the dates and how things fell out. This week, in the sicha of Netzavim-VaYeilech, the entire focus is on the allusions brought in earlier sources relating to the day that Rosh Hashana fell out that year, and for an entire sicha the Rebbe goes on and on to show how everything ties together and is precise, and how it is all hashgacha pratis.
In short, the time has come for us to be connected strongly to the Rebbe MH”M and to connect with him on every date, with every event, and everything no matter how small which occurs, because everything is really connected!