Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Sholom Mordechai Halevi Rubashkin and to the entire Rubashkin family on the beautiful news of his release from prison!
I usually begin with a story, and Boruch Hashem, I have the perfect story for this week. A story that’s been over 8 years in the making. A story that we’ve been watching and following with faith and anticipation, with hope and prayers, with Emunah and bitachon seasoned with some growing impatience, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. A story that finally, with tremendous gratitude to Hashem Yisborach, we were able to get to the happy ending of (although not the final conclusion yet, we still await even better news!)
It is a simcha that we all shared in and we all felt a part of. It was amazing, inspiring and awesome to see so many Yidden, from so many different groups and “denominations”, in so many different cities and countries, all join together with tremendous achdus and celebrate the simcha of a brother as their own simcha. It is to the credit of R’ Sholom Mordechai sheyichye, that he is the force that had this remarkable ability to bring together so many diverse Yidden and unite them (in fact, this was very much his agenda back in Postville, before this whole ordeal began).
But, now that the initial shock and euphoria calmed down somewhat, I think it’s fitting for us to discuss a bit about what message we should take from the celebration, and what we can each apply to our own avodas Hashem in a way of pnimiyus.
Surely, each of us felt a special emotion and feeling when we recited the brocho of “matir assurim” this morning. And we all surely had an increased awareness of what we were saying during the second brocho of Shmoneh Esreh today, when we praised Hashem for being “Rofeh cholim and matir Assurim”.
So, let’s talk about what this means. In Chassidus there is an explanation for the brocho in Shmoneh Esreh as follows: There are two kinds of spiritual difficulties that people may face. One is a choleh, a spiritual illness.
The Rambam defines an ill person as one who confuses good with bad. What is sweet seems bitter to him, and what is harmful is appealing to him. In a spiritual sense, this represents someone who has his priorities all distorted. He is convinced that the bitter taste of physical, worldly pleasures (about which the Pesukim tell us that their end is bitter (as wormwood)) is what he wants, and he focusses all of his energies on acquiring them. The beauty and sweetness of Torah and mitzvos, in contrast, are unappealing to him.
About this person we say Rofeh Cholim. He requires the assistance from Above to be cured of this spiritual ill, to be able to appreciate and strive for the things that are truly good, and good for him. And at the same time to be indifferent – or less – to those pursuits that are really harmful to his spiritual wellbeing.
But then there is the person who is in prison. An individual who is – lo aleinu – incarcerated in jail, does not have any confusion about what he yearns for and what his priorities are. He knows with the utmost clarity that he wants more than anything else to be anywhere but in this Place called Prison. He knows with absolute certainty that getting out of these walls is more important and valuable than anything else in the world (as the Yidden said regarding leaving Mitzrayim: “Halevai sheneitzei be’atzmeinu”; - who cares about the rechush godol, about the immense wealth and all of the treasures that we could acquire? All that is important to us is to get out of this place one moment earlier!)
But he is imprisoned. Despite knowing where he wants to go, he is powerless to get there. In a spiritual sense, this is one who knows what is important. He truly desires more than anything to be a genuine chosid, to put serving Hashem with all of his heart and soul above and before anything else.
But he feels imprisoned. The shackles of his guf and nefesh habehamis, of his natural desires and inhibitions, form a (seeming) impenetrable wall, that prevent him from becoming the person that wants to be and strives to be.
About this person we say Matir Assurim. He requires the assistance from Above to be liberated from his internal prison, to be able to scale his own barriers and rise above the constraints of his nature and instincts.
I have to point out, as anyone who has been following R’ Sholom Mordechai’s weekly emails can attest to, Sholom Mordechai was not spiritually imprisoned while in Otisville. The Emunah, bitachon and conviction that are so visible in each line of each email show very clearly how he rose above his physical circumstances, and didn’t allow them to have any spiritual impact on him.
Today, as we all feel the joy of him finally being liberated from the physical prison walls, it is a time, perhaps, for each of us to focus on our own liberation. Let us take the time to identify our own spiritual prisons, - the forces that are holding us back from achieving what we want and need to achieve. Just as we are all participants in the simcha and the celebration of Sholom Mordechai’s liberation, let us also be active participants by working hard to achieve our own spiritual liberation.
Diagnosing the illness is the first step towards curing it, as Chazal teach us. The first step is Rofeh Cholim; - to get our perspective and outlook straightened out. Let us become clear about what are truly our priorities, what things are really important to us and, by extension, what are the things that are in fact unimportant, or even undesirable.
Once we are clear about what our true goals and objectives are, then we can determine what spiritual faults we have that stand in the way of us reaching these goals. Those are our prisons, which we need to be freed from. We need Hashem’s help for this, but we have to also do our part, in turning to Him and requesting His help, and in making the effort, on our part, to break free.
And, a big part of His help is contained in the very celebration that we’re all experiencing now. For the biggest barrier to opening our hearts and souls to properly serve Hashem is the very nature of the world we live in. The darkness and concealment that are the very makeup and nature of the world (olam milashon helem vehester) make it very challenging for us to truly be aware and conscious of the truth of Ein Od milvado. But the Ebishter created an antidote for this:
Chazal say, Hashem thought to create the world with midas hadin, but He saw that such a world will not be sustainable, and therefore שתף עמו מדת הרחמים. The Alter Rebbe explains that the “midas hadin” is the state of concealment that defines the very nature of the world, that makes the recognition of G-dliness such a challenge. And the “midas horachamim” that the Eibishter put into the world is “hisgalus Elokus al yedei Tzaddikim ve’osos umofsim shbaTorah.
In other words, the result – even the very purpose – of a miracle is to counteract the effects of the Tzimtzum, to allow us to recognize and realize that despite the tzimtzum that impacted the whole existence of the world, we can still look beyond the surface and know and acknowledge that it is all, in truth, Hashem.
So the very miracle, the event that we are all celebrating is not only our source of joy and thanksgiving, it is also our most powerful and potent tool for us to be liberated from our own spiritual jails. Because the common denominator of most imprisonments is the state of being confined in our materialistic needs and pursuits and mindsets; - being able to rise above them is, therefore, the ultimate yetzias Mitzrayim!
This then, I think, is the theme of our celebrations. It is a time for us to refocus on what we really want and need to achieve in our life. And as difficult and insurmountable the obstacles to getting there appear the be, we have to remember that Hashem is matir assurim. He empowers us to rise above our limitations and connect with Him. And every miracle, every yoma depagra and every event of thanksgiving is a tool and an opportunity to elevate ourselves further, to become ever closer to reaching our goal.
Today we all listened with great excitement as R’ Sholom Mordechai recited the brocho of hagoimel. The thundering Omein reflected the fact that everyone felt as if it was their own geulah and their own hagoimel.
Chassidus explains the idea of the ארבעה שצריכים להודות. It explains that “hoda’ah” is the idea of bittul, and that experiencing a ness, a miracle exposes us to the level of Elokus, of G-dliness, that is above the world, that results in our going out of our inhibitions and our boundaries because they become annulled.
Once again, it is the experience of the ness itself that does the most to liberating all involved from the prison chains of their own human nature. But it is up to each of us to utilize this opportunity, to focus on the miracle in the right way, and enable it to elevate us as it is meant to.
This Shabbos we will celebrate the very special Yom Tov of Hei Teves, Didan Notzach. We will, once again, dance and sing and farbreng and thank Hashem for His miracles; - להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול על ניסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך! Once again we have to remember that the focus of the celebration is the impact that it has on each of us, the way the realization of Hashem’s yeshuos and contemplating them, empowers us to break free of our own internal bondage, and to experience “didan notzach” in our own lives through our nefesh hoElokis defeating our nefesh habehamis.
This was the theme of the historic sicha that the Rebbe said on the 7th day of the celebration: The Rebbe emphasized that the didan notzach is about the victory of holiness over impurity, it is about the nitzachon, the victory, of the seforim. It needs, if so, to be recognizable in every person by an increase in his own holiness’ victory over his own internal impurity.
As we join together to celebrate and to thank Hashem for His tremendous miracles, let us be sure to channel all of the celebrations into a force that brings each of us a step closer to our own liberation. Then we can truly proclaim Didan Notzach, and that is the sure means of bringing about the complete and ultimate Didan Notzach with the hisgalus of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!
L’chaim! May we each use out the special days appropriately, and ensure that they are reflected by a Didan Notzach within our own lives, and may the Eibishter in turn bring about immediately the complete and final Didan Notzach, the complete and ultimate matir assurim, by liberating each and every Jew and all Jews from the golus prison through the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
Rabbi Akiva Wagner