A turbulent year ends, but the tension remains. How do we conduct ourselves in public? With fear of open hostility? Or with pessimism over the future? Neither! Rather, with deeper faith and commitment to Torah and mitzvoth. The Avner Institute presents a private audience and dialogue with a scientist, Yaacov Hanoka featuring the Rebbe’s powerful message on our special mission to the world: to walk tall, inspire others, and accept without doubt the yoke of Divine Service.
In loving memory of Hadassah Lebovic A”h
“The basis of everything is Emunah”
Solar energy pioneer Yaacov (Jack) Hanoka, who passed away in 2011 at age 75, was known for his passionate search for alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. In addition, Dr. Hanoka, who held 56 patents and a Ph.D. in solid-state physics, was the first among modern scientists to delve into the interplay between science and Torah. Author of more than 70 publications in the field of solar energy, he was first and foremost a Chasidic Jew who devoted much of his time to Torah study and writing papers addressing contradictions between Judaism and science. He helped found the Chabad-Lubavitch weekend study programs that became popular among Jewish college students and professors in the early 1960s.
Sixty-three years ago, Parshas Pikudei, Dr. Hanoka was invited to Penn State University for a Shabbaton with his friends there. A week and a half earlier, he had written to the Rebbe for advice and blessing on the trip but had not received any answer.
However, the evening before his departure, Dr. Hanoka received word from the Rebbe’s secretary Rabbi Mordechai Chodakov: the Rebbe would answer the scientist’s letter in person. The Rebbe also asked that Dr. Hanoka have a yechidus, a private audience, with the Rebbe that very night.
Following the audience, Dr. Hanoka sat down with his friend Shmuel Lew, who jotted down points from the audience in a mixture of Hebrew and English. Rabbi Lew then sent a letter to his friend Asher Zeilingold with parts of this private audience transcribed in English.
Thursday Night, 3 Adar II 5722/March 9,1962
The Rebbe: Good evening, Mr. “Chanukah.”
The Rebbe asked how Dr. Hanoka was progressing, if he understood Yiddish, and if he listened to any Yiddish lectures in the yeshiva. Dr. Hanoka answered that he generally understood what was being said in the lectures.
The Rebbe: Do you learn with a partner in English or Yiddish?
YH: English.
The Rebbe: How do you like the yeshiva? You needn’t answer if you don’t want to on this.
YH: I don’t mind answering, but I don’t want to waste the Rebbe’s time. I am convinced that coming to yeshiva was the right thing, and I have no regrets about the move I made.
The Rebbe: How are you doing financially? You needn’t answer on this either. I don’t believe in asceticism; it’s not Chassidus.
YH: So far, I still have some money. I can tutor college boys when I am out of money. I am not worried about money.
The Rebbe (with a smile): You must feel like a pioneer. [Perhaps the Rebbe said: You are a pioneer.]
YH: I don’t like to be an example. I don’t yet feel fit to represent what they expect of me, and I don’t want to disappoint anyone that I’m not living up to their expectations.
The Rebbe: When you go to Penn State tomorrow for Shabbos, behave normally. And bear in mind that you are constantly in the presence of Hashem. Act yourself, and don’t be afraid to convey your impressions and true feelings to the students. You shouldn’t worry that it might discourage them from Yiddishkeit.
Don’t lead them to believe that you lack anything as a result of coming to yeshiva. If anything, that will discourage them from Yiddishkeit.
And as for being an example, it’s not your choice! Every Jew, whether he likes it or not, is an example, for he is constantly reminded – by others, also – that he is a Jew, and the Jewish people have been chosen to be an example for the entire world. This is one of the reasons for anti-Semitism, inasmuch as they resent this fact. So don’t worry about it, because whether you like it or not, you are an example.
Development means that you should not be the same Jew on Monday as you were on Sunday, but better. However, this Shabbos, you must not act like what’s expected from you for next Sunday. Don’t try to pretend to be something that you are not.
Yaakov had been having trouble with his feet. The Rebbe told him: Give tzedakah before putting on tefillin. The main thing is not the amount; when the time comes, you will give larger amounts. Rather, it should be every weekday.
[The Rebbe also explained the connection of tefillin and feet, but Yaakov couldn’t remember the details.]
The Rebbe: When you are at Penn State, you should convey the Purim message [on Mishloach Manos and Matonos L’Evyonim] and emphasize its importance. These mitzvoth can easily be fulfilled, and therefore might seem small, yet they are nonetheless important.
To understand this: Moshe Rabbeinu put on tefillin the same way as a thirteen-year-old in America, who knows nothing [about Yiddishkeit]. Yet, they both have the same importance. For the basis of everything is Emunah, faith: everyone must have a basic Emunah, and in this aspect Moshe Rabbeinu and the thirteen-year-old are equal. So too, these mitzvoth are important, as are all the other mitzvoth.
Mishloach Manos and Matonos L’Evyonim: the nuances of the term “evyon” (needy) imply that he craves to have anything. Just as there can be an evyon physically, so too there can be an evyon spiritually. And one is obligated to give “Matonos l’Evyonim” – gifts to the needy – all the more so when the evyon is “re’eihu” (one’s friend).
These two mitzvoth also represent two levels of Divine Service: “re’eihu” – one who is close – and “evyon” – one who is distant. So too a person has two approaches: 1) religion based on understanding, yet he remains with nothing (evyon); 2) Kabbalos Ol (accepting the yoke of Heaven) and he is close to Hashem (re’eihu).
Emunah transcends understanding, for understanding can only be up to a certain extent, and beyond that one must have Emunah. Every Jew has, or can attain, such Emunah.
I try to apply this to myself, and I find that this helps me very much in my life. I am therefore giving you this advice in the hope that it will also help you in your life.
May the Al-mighty bless you in your undertaking this weekend, and may you return with success.
Rabbi Lew later recounted:
The following night, Thursday, Rabbi Chodakov asked me to tell him what I heard from Yaakov about his yechidus. When we were already at Penn State, on Friday afternoon, I received a long-distance call from Rabbi Chodakov. He said that he asked the Rebbe Shlita and had confirmed the two points about tzedakah before tefillin, and about Moshe Rabbeinu and the thirteen-year-old.
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