The Mysterious Note of Advice

By Rabbi Motty Lipskier

The Alter Rebbe, whose 200th yartzeit we’re commemorating this Sunday, travelled through Europe discussing and debating Torah and Chassidus for the first few years of his leadership. His goal was to share the joy and holiness of Chassidus with more Jews.

His opponents had two main concerns. For one, they felt the chassidic leaders gave too much respect and attention to the simple laypeople. This was considered an insult to the Torah giants of the time. And second, they didn’t understand the chassidic dictum that every single Jew-even a complete tzaddik-can and must do teshuva.

One of these debates took place in Minsk where the Alter Rebbe answered every question he was asked, except these Big Two.

To address those, the Alter Rebbe explained, he would share a teaching passed on to him by the Maggid, who learned it from the Baal Shem Tov.

Thorn-Bush Jews

And this is what he said: In this week’s parsha we read about Moshe tending his sheep and coming across the burning bush. “An angel of G-d appeared to him in a flame of fire from within the thorn bush, and behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed.”

An intense G-dly revelation emanated from the “labas eish,” the heart of the fire, which was in the thorn bush.

We are compared to trees. Some Jews are considered trees which bear fruit, which refers to Torah study in this context, while others are likened to thorn bushes-seemingly hostile environments, empty of Torah study and devoid of all G-dliness.

But here, Moshe faced the thorn bush, which symbolized the simple Jew, and he saw the heart of fire. In that moment he understood that there are simple, wholehearted Jews who burn with the desire to serve Hashem and study His Torah, even though they don’t always know how to go about it.

And he noticed that the fire didn’t consume the bush, and burn out. It kept burning. Torah scholars tend to derive pleasure and a sense of accomplishment from their study. As such, the fire in their souls isn’t always burning. Sometimes it is content. But the simple Jew never really experiences that feeling of contentment; he always feels he’s not doing enough. And the fire burns on…

When Moshe saw this bush, and understood its deeper meaning, he said, “Let me turn away from here to draw near to there”[1]. Moshe, a complete tzaddik, was inspired to change his level of spiritual standing and move closer to Hashem.

Jewish Heartburn

This, the Alter Rebbe concluded, was Hashem’s revelation to the first leader of the Jewish people. A lesson which continues to apply to all subsequent leaders-it is their job to find and reveal the fire in every “thorn bush,” every simple Jew.

The crowd of scholars understood the message and 400 of them joined the community of chassidim.[2]

Rabbi Leible Groner relates: The Rebbe once encouraged a young man to put on tefillin. The man explained to the Rebbe, “I’m a Jew at heart, I don’t really need to perform these mitzvos.”

Smiling, the Rebbe answered, “I’m afraid that if you keep too much cooped up in your heart you’ll suffer from heartburn!”

So while it’s true that the G-dly fire can be found inside each and every Jew, the Rebbeim stressed that the most important thing is to turn the fire into action-Torah study and performing mitzvos.

The Alter Rebbe made this clear right before his passing. A short while beforehand, his grandson, the Tzemach Tzeddek, found a piece of paper which had a short chassidic discourse written on it.

He asked the Alter Rebbe about it and the Rebbe replied, “Hold on to it, it will be useful for you.” Several days later the Alter Rebbe passed away.

What was written on that mysterious note?

Briefly[3]: Although today we don’t have the same mental capacity for Torah study as previous generations, and although our actions are not all performed with complete truth and dedication, nevertheless the most important thing for our generation is the doing. Take care of your family’s physical needs even if they seem trivial in comparison to the mysticism of the Torah. Give tzedakah generously and attentively, even if you’re not the most honest person in all areas of your life.

At farbrengens arranged for the 150th yartzeit of the Alter Rebbe, the Rebbe encouraged people to make mitzvah commitments in increments of 150. Tzeddakah donations of $150, or 150 hours of Torah study, and so forth.[4]

Perhaps, in honor of the Alter Rebbe’s 200th yartzeit, we can do the same. Imagine the global impact we could have.

[1] Rashi on the possuk.
[2] ספר השיחות תש”ב ע’ 46
[3] נפש השפלה, נדפס בספר מאה שערים ע’ ה ועוד
[4] ראה שיחות ש”פ שמות עד ש”פ וארא תשכ”ג

–Rabbi Lipskier and his wife Chanel are the directors of The Beis Medrash and The Beis Medrash Women’s Circle in Crown Heights, respectively. To subscribe to his Torah thoughts, email [email protected].