By Rabbi Akiva Wagner
R’ Getzel Rubashkin was a chassidishe Yid, who displayed mesirus nefesh in Russia to uphold the torch of Yiddishkeit. When he came to America he continued to be a symbol of amazing bittul and hiskashrus. Over the years, the Rebbe expressed great kiruv towards him, and he also experienced a number of miraculous brochos from the Rebbe. Following are two of them:
When R’ Getzel came to America with his family, he was a very thin man. During a checkup, the doctor discovered a problem in his stomach, on which he wanted to operate. Before operating they wanted to ask the Rebbe for a Brocha. So Getzel went to Yechidus, along with his son R’ Avrohom Aharon (tzu lange yohren). Getzel told the Rebbe the whole story and said that they “found” a problem in his stomach which they want to operate on.
The Rebbe had a big smile on his face and replied: “Azoi Vi Zei Hoben Dos Gefunen, Velen Zei Dos Farliren! -Just like they found it they will lose it!”
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On another occasion, before R’ Getzel was scheduled to have an operation, he went to ask for the Rebbe’s permission. The Rebbe, responded “Daloy doctors” (enough (of) doctors). For years afterwards R’ Getzel never went to a doctor! Once his wife Bubbe Roza nudged him to go see a doctor because he was ill. Getzel was at a loss, he didn’t know what to do. The Rebbe had told him “enough doctors”, but he was having a difficult time refusing his wife. Finally he decided to go to the Rebbe, and seek his advice.
Getzel told the Rebbe his situation. The Rebbe told him to go to Doctor Zeligson, but that he should not talk with him about his health issues. Doctor Zeligson would give him vitamins that he can take, but he should only speak with him about Torah.
Being in need of an occasional check-up by a doctor is a basic requirement of human nature; moreover, – it is sanctioned by the Torah, as we learned in last week’s Parsha: “ורפא ירפא, – מכאן שניתנה רשות לרופא לרפאות”. To be able to survive without ever needing these services is above the laws of nature:
The gemoro relates (at the siyum of Horiyus) that there was once a need to appoint a new Rosh Yeshiva, and there were two candidates, – Rabo and Rav Yosef. Each had his own unique quality; – Rav Yosef was a “Sinai”, he possessed encyclopedic knowledge of every area of Torah, while Rabo was “Oker Horim”, he possessed deeper analytical abilities. The community was unsure which quality took precedence in this case, so they sent off the question to Eretz Yisroel.
The response received was that “Sinai” is more important, and that Rav Yosef, therefore, should be appointed Rosh Yeshiva. Rav Yosef, however, on account of his extreme humility, deferred to Rabo, and for 22 years, until the demise of Rabo, he allowed Rabo to serve as Rosh Yeshiva in his stead.
The gemoro relates further that for the duration of those 22 years, as a result of Rav Yosef’s extraordinary humility, there was never a need to call a medical professional to his household!
Now, we know that the Amora’im were all capable of performing the greatest miracles (in the words of the gemoro (Avoda Zara 10B regarding Tano’im) “זוטר שבהו מחי’ מתים”), and yet when Rav Yosef was able to manage for years without any need of medical treatment, this is recorded in gemoro as something wondrous and miraculous (c.f. Likutei Sichos chelek 5 pg. 137).
And – in the above story – the Rebbe elevated this chassidisher Yid, R’ Getzel Rubashkin, to this same supernatural state. With a simple statement of “Daloy doctors” – with the combination, of course, of R’ Getzel’s pure faith and Emunas Tzaddikim – the Rebbe removed his dependency on medical treatment!
But it doesn’t end there. The Rebbe subsequently sent him back to the doctors. Obviously this individual, who has already been freed from this aspect of natural limitation, is not being told to regress ch”v. Rather, as the Rebbe told him clearly, his returning to a doctor was not out of a renewed dependency on this important profession, but – apparently – in order to share words of Torah with the doctor, or in order to elevate the doctor as well. His resumed association with natural laws was not a return to their limitations, but, instead, reflected an even greater development of his own level, through which he could impact “nature” as well.
This story seems to be the story of the Parshyos that we’re learning these weeks as well.
In Parshas Yisro we received the Torah. About that experience the Torah later describes “אתה הראת לדעת כי ה’ הוא האלקים אין עוד מלבדו”! We were elevated to a state that transcended the limitations of nature, to the point that “על כל דבור פרחה נשמתן”, – we reached a state in which our souls were literally above being contained by a physical body. We experienced the extraordinary miracle of רואים את הנשמע, which means that our reality and mindset became one in which “אלקות בפשיטות”! Of course, in such a state we could not be distracted or confused by human intellect or reasoning, because what made real “sense” to us at that state was exclusively G-dliness.
But then comes Parshas Mishpotim. It seems to be anti-climactic. Suddenly we seem to be regressing back to the reality of wordliness, we seem to have slipped back to a state in which we are governed by human intellect, where our own reason seems to reign supreme. We are back in the world where the Torah says ורפא ירפא and endorses – and sends us – to doctors for healing. We are back in a world that appears far removed from G-dliness, a world in which people steal from one another, they deny their debts, they lie and they damage each other. It is a world in which humans seem capable of the lowest sins, and even the oxen throw shtenders at each other, oops, I mean gore each other and their human counterparts.
What happened to the sublime and heavenly state we were in just one week earlier? What brought about this – seeming – crash-landing?!
The solution, it seems, is in the third Parsha, the Parsha of this week, Parsha Terumah. Here the Torah gives us perspective, defining the objective of our (renewed) association with the physical and material world. Our need for gold, silver and all of the (13) 15 materials listed is not a reflection of our renewed dependency in them, but it is for the sole purpose of”ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם”. It is not a regression ch”v. On the contrary, we ascended even higher, acquiring the ability to impact and elevate the world around us along with us.
“My grandfather (the Rebbe related on more than one occassion) was a “zitzer” – a “sitter” – by the Rebbe Maharash”
[The Rebbe, parenthetically, explained the term “zitzer”: a yungerman, immediately following his chasunah, would bade his family farewell, and travel to the Rebbe, where he would proceed to spend an extended period of time devoted exclusively to sitting and learning].
When the time came for him to return home, the local people gathered around him to welcome him, and to take advantage of the opportunity to hear first-hand about the practices he witnessed by the Rebbe. He described in length the conduct of the Rebbe Maharash, including his displays of wealth. The Rebbe Maharash displayed great wealth, travelling in a carriage drawn by four white horses (the equivalent of a Bentley!), and wearing two gold watches on golden chains, hanging on his waist etc.
One of the listener (apparently not blessed with excessive wisdom) questioned these displays, saying ‘Why does he have to spend money on such things, wouldn’t it be better off to give the money to tzedaka?’
My grandfather answered him sharply (the Rebbe related): ‘Petach petach [fool fool], for whom do you think that the money was created, for me, or perhaps for you, it was for tzaddikim like the Rebbe that the money was created!”
The Rebbe concluded that, in fact, this concept is the content of a maamar Chazal, that states that gold was only created for the sake of building the bais hamikdash!
Just as it was clear that R’ Getzel didn’t visit Dr. Zelikson out of a renewed dependency on doctors (since there were no discussions of health issues, although he was permitted to take vitamins from him), but to share Torah words with him, so too, our return to this world after mattan Torah is with the sole purpose of permeating the world with the ideas of Torah, and with the realization that the physical contents of the world exist merely in order to be made into a mishkan and dira to the Eibishter.
This is not merely theoretical. When we recognize and acknowledge that our association with the world is not a dependency on it but in order to elevate it, then that association will never be allowed to distract us or confuse us from our path. We are in business in order that nature (our doctor or our business partner or our secretary etc.) should hear our divrei Torah, should share our mindset that “ein od milvado”. It is therefore obvious that this involvement in business can never stand in the way of our experiencing mattan Torah; – it can never be the cause of skipping a minyan, missing a shiur in learning or being less focused on our studying.
When we understand that our cell phones (be they smart or dumb) are merely in our possession (not because we have any type of dependency on them, perish the thought, but) because they were created in order that they should also play some part in the construction of the mishkan, then we will only “talk words of Torah with them” (as Getzel did with his doctor), i.e., we will only use them in such a manner that clearly leads towards that goal. And of course, needless to say, once we are already davening or learning, there is no chance in the world at that point for our phones or any other gadgets to take us away from that mindset for even a moment.
We need to recognize that the Torah lifted us way above the limitations of nature. We are at the state when we can declare “Daloy Teva”! Any association with nature (each of us in the way we deal with it, including our involvement with our own “nature”) is merely to impact it, elevate it and utilize it to construct a mishkan and a dira lo yisborach batachtonim!
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In the meantime, the grandson of R’ Getzel, R’ Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka, is physically constrained by the barriers of “a place called prison”. However, we know that a child – and especially a son – inherits the possessions of his father. Therefore it is without a doubt that the tremendous power that the Rebbe gave to Getzel Rubashkin, with which he elevated him above the limitations of nature, has passed over to his son and grandson.
Let us, therefore, beg and implore the Eibishter that this should immediately be in an open and revealed way, that “DALOY PRISONS” and “DALOY NATURE” and “DALOY TZAROS” and most importantly “DALOY GALUS”!
L’chaim! May we all do our part to use all of the materials that we deal with as tools to complete the construction of the mishkan, and may the Eibishter do His part to reveal in the entire world that “ein od milvado” with the immediate revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu TUMYM!!!
