B”H
By Yehuda Sugar
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Gutnick, Australian mining magnate and the Rebbe’s emissary to Eretz Hakodesh for Shleimus HaAretz, sounded off on what he termed disappointing and dangerous concessions Israel is making, while encouraging the audience gathered this week at Tsfat’s Yeshiva Temimei Darech to stay strong through simcha, Torah learning and having a positive influence on fellow Jews.
Gutnick made the remarks at a farbrengen for students and community members at the popular mostly baalei teshuva yeshiva where his son, Yochanan, is enrolled as a semicha student. The event was timed to coincide with the yartzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Wednesday night, Chof Beis Shevat.
Referring to concessions currently being made and proposals on the table that would compromise the integrity of Jewish land, Gutnick said: “The situation is tough and not good. It’s against what the Rebbe said.”
His visit to the yeshiva came just days after meeting with Israel’s Defense Minister Yisroel Katz in Jerusalem to bolster his resolve to act in concert with the Rebbe’s wisdom and edicts.
At the same time, Gutnick said, “There are a lot of miracles and we must thank G-d for all of them and also for the good that will happen in the future,” invoking the standby advice of the Rebbe and Chabad to the world: “Sit and learn and know the truth yourself. Try to get another Yid to put on Tefillin. Start [by working] on yourself. In the face of compromising political decisions, “it’s all we can do.”
Simcha [joy] must permeate every move, Gutnick intoned as a rallying theme of the evening.
Quoting from the writings of the Rambam, Gutnick said, “You have to do mitzvas with simcha if you want the reward. When you don’t get the reward, it’s because it wasn’t done with simcha.” On a personal note, he said: “The Rebbe would demand from me, whether in my business dealings or in my [formal] shlichus, the epitome of simcha.” Everyone has to maintain a level of simcha, “pure simcha,” whether “walking in the street or into a pizza shop…playing basketball or swimming.”
Constantly the concerned educator of his talmidim and the community at large, Rabbi Shalom Pasternak, Rosh Yeshiva and founder of the 15-plus year-old yeshiva, was thrilled with the balanced content of the evening: “It was especially refreshing to hear moral clarity from one of the key inside men of the Rebbe on these complex issues facing our nation at the moment.”
Gutnick was assigned by the Rebbe in 1990 to be his Special Emissary for the Integrity of the Land of Israel to steadfastly lobby for maintenance of Jewish ownership of every tract of the Holy Land and to fight against the oft-proposed and always calamitous action of trading land for [so-called] peace.
Encouraged in his work down through the years by the Rebbe through extensive written and in-person communication (yechidus), Gutnick stands as one of the premier worldwide contributors to Chabad projects and building programs while juggling his hands-on special shlichus.
The farbrengen took place in close range to the yeshiva’s own annual fundraiser, planned for Adar 6 and 7, with a consideration to make it a launch pad for its own capital expansion project, Pasternak said.
Fundraiser plans also call for a Hachnosas Sefer Torah, with the scroll already pledged by Tsfat community member and yeshiva admirer Mrs. Rena Goldstein, wife of deceased old-time Chassid of the Previous Rebbe, Dovid Goldstein, A”H, who was also an ardent fan of the yeshiva.
The campaign will culminate with the yeshiva’s annual Lag BaOmer concert, coinciding with Goldstein’s yartzeit on the 17th of Iyar. Link to donate here: www.lightuptheland.com.
