‘Hide and Seek’ With the Rebbetzin

By Sara Gutnick – Young Yeshiva Magazine

There is a story told about how the young son of the Maggid of Mezritch came to his father crying. He sadly told the Maggid about how he had been playing Hide and Seek with his friends.

All the boys had gone to hide and the boy who was supposed to look for them gave up and went home. After a long time, the boys came out of their hiding places and were very disappointed to find that no one had been searching for them after all.

Upon hearing his son’s sad tale, the Maggid, too, began to cry. He said, “This is how the Aibishter feels. He hides from us and wants us to look for Him, but we don’t.”

During Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (ten days of repentance), a similar scenario plays out. Yeshayahu Hanavi implores us; “Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo, Kar-uhu Behiyoso Korov – Search for Hashem where He is found; Call out to Him when He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

Our sages teach that this directive is referring specifically to the ten days from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur. During this time, Hashem is found literally ‘in the books’; in the tefillos, in the atmosphere and customs, and in the shofar blowing, and it is incumbent on us to ‘search’ for and reach out to Him by engaging in this time period. But how do we go about ‘searching’?

In Elul, Hashem comes out to be with us (in the ‘field’), He is readily available spiritually. He gives us direct access to Him. Whereas, during the year He may seem distant and ‘hidden’, in Elul Hashem joins the ranks with us and it is a time for us to engage with Him through increased Torah study, Tzedaka, and personal reflection. Once Tishrei arrives, Hashem retreats to His palace, so to speak.

He wants us to make an effort to reach out to Him, and to reignite our relationship with Him. He wants us to re-evaluate where we stand in our Yiddishkeit and find ways to deepen our commitment to our spirituality.

This is referred to in Chassidus as “Esarusa Dil’tata” – an awakening from below, expressed in Yeshayahyu’s directive “Dirshu” (Search) and “Kar-uhu” (Call out). Once we initiate, once we show Hashem that we are invested in developing our relationship with Him, Hashem responds in kind, with an “Esarusa Dil’eila” – inspiration and enlightenment from above, blessings, help and encouragement in the form of a great flow of the thirteen attributes of Hashem’s mercy.

This phenomena of first recognising Hashem and then He responds in kind, informs the way we should relate to all our challenges throughout the year.

Chassidus teaches that the trials and tribulations of golus are a manifestation of Hashem “hiding from us”. Part of the purpose of our challenges is to awaken within us a feeling of, “Where is Hashem in all of this?” It is meant to propel us into seeking Him out, deepening our faith, and recognising that all that transpires in our lives is part of Hashem’s master plan for the world and individual plan for us.

In realising this, and trusting that the Aibishter does not give us any circumstance that we cannot handle, we dig deep and find inner resources that we never knew we had.

Sometimes, as Tanya teaches, these challenges arise in our lives to cause us to seek new and novel ways of approaching our lives. These new skills help us to cope with our new reality as well as equip us to broaden our abilities going forward.

There is still yet another layer to this approach of seeking out the Aibishter; a cause and effect phenomena. Not only does the search for Hashem in our lives cause us to find inner wells of strength,
but when Hashem sees that we have not ‘given up and gone home’ like in the Maggid’s story, when He sees that we have strong faith in Him, He ‘steps out’ from his ‘hiddenness’ and He blesses us with open and revealed brochos in all the things that we need.

This can be illustrated by the well-known adage from Pirkei Avos, “Dah Mah Lemaalah Mimach – Know what is above you” (Avos 2:1). The Maggid of Mezritch taught that these words can be read as, “Dah Mah Lemaalah – Mimach; Know, that what is above – is from you”. What we do down here has a direct correlating effect on the spiritual ‘upper’ worlds. The world ‘above’ mirrors the physical world ‘below’.

The Maggid’s teaching of this reciprocal effect applies to the way we approach challenges and how Hashem relates to us in consequence. When we acknowledge the Master of the world’s hand in our lives,
through strengthening our faith, through learning Torah and through re-committing to our Yiddishkeit, Hashem responds in kind and He stops ‘hiding’. He shows us His full countenance with revealed blessing in our lives and guides us through our challenges.

Furthermore, our Rebbeim repeatedly taught that when we cultivate our faith specifically through joy, the channels of boundless blessing pour forth unhindered because “joy breaks all boundaries”. This
pure joy is a direct outcome of pure faith and it engenders clear, open blessing from above. Therefore, it behooves us to cultivate our Emunah and Bitachon, which will consequently increase our sense of inner joy and happiness. This increased positivity generates the Aibishter to remove the challenges we face and openly show us revealed good in our lives. This is what is meant by “Tracht gut veht zein gut – Think good and it will be good”.

Upon reflecting on this theme of ‘Hide and Seek’, I was reminded of a personal experience that left a strong impression on me.

As a little girl I had the privilege of spending a lot of personal time with Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, being as my father (Rabbi Chesed Halberstam) was her caretaker. One Friday evening, while the Rebbe was still at shul davening Maariv, my brother Ari HY”D and I stayed with the Rebbetzin in the library adjacent to 770 to keep her company.

(One floor of the library had been converted into a Shabbos apartment for the Rebbe and Rebbetzin and my father would drive the Rebbetzin to the library just before licht bentching, often bringing us children along. Then we’d come back again after candlelighting to keep the Rebbetzin company while my father went to daven Maariv.)

At one point, the Rebbetzin realised that we were bored so she suggested we play Hide and Seek. She told us to hide and she would come looking for us (mind you, the Rebbetzin was in her 80s!).

We ‘cleverly’ decided to hide behind a frosted glass partition, assuming that if we flatten ourselves really well up against the glass, we wouldn’t be seen.

Now, we all know that frosted glass is still somewhat see-through but when the Rebbetzin came looking for us, all she said was, “Where aaare you? Where aaare you?”

She allowed us to stay hidden so that we felt triumphant in procuring our excellent hiding spot.

Looking back, I realise how well the Rebbetzin understood the mind of a child. The child just wants to feel that he outsmarted the adult. Surely, the Rebbetzin saw us when she walked by. She certainly heard my older brother shushing me to be perfectly still, but she let us believe that we were in control.

When I reflect on these two ‘Hide and Seek’ stories – the story with the Mezritcher Maggid’s son and my personal experience with the Rebbetzin – I am reminded of the important lessons for our self-work/avoda during Elul and Tishrei and indeed, throughout the year.

During the month of Elul, Hashem already came looking for us, so to speak. He came out to the field. He knows exactly where we are, but the Aibishter still wants us to play our part. Therefore, the work of Aseres Yemei Teshuva is Dirshu – Search. It’s a command: Reach out to G-d. It behooves us to search our inner world and the world around us for Hashem’s guiding hand; for the gifts He has given us to manage our lives and for the recognition that nothing in our lives is by default, every aspect of our lives is tailored perfectly for our growth and soul’s mission.

We are indeed gifted that in these current times, technology has enabled teachers the world over to generously share and inspire us with Torah’s timeless words of wisdom and strength. Many good, kind souls have stepped up and shared their resources and support with their communities. These are
gifts from the Aibishter, the refuah (cure) that came before the makah (affliction). The lesson of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah is that we need to seek these resources out, we need to take initiative and search for them and make time for them and take steps to ‘find’ Him at any time of need.

Once we commit to deepening our faith in the Aibishter we will begin to see and feel His reciprocal support, and we are assured that He will respond in kind with blessings abound for health and goodness in the year ahead.

Reprinted with permission from Young Yeshivah Rosh Hashana 5781 magazine Issue 25, published in Melbourne, Australia