The World of Lubavitch A publication of Chabad-Lubavitch, Toronto Vol. 42 No. 2 (146) TISHREI 5777 SEPTEMBER 2016 We Used to Call it a Mitzvah By Baila Olidort - New York There is no remembrance of former things . And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Ecclesiastes 2:18 The other day I heard someone say Chabad was “a humanitari- an Jewish organization.” I cringed. She had just come from an event promoting a “groundswell of transformative social good.” One of the stage props was a larger-than-life photo of the Rebbe. The Rebbe was being honored on a platform of social goodness. Many know his emissaries as the rabbis who run “relief centers” around the world. Who hasn’t seen photos of them wading through floodwaters, throwing out lifelines and handing out water bottles when tornadoes and tsunamis strike. Why carp? It’s true that among everything else they do, the Rebbe’s shluchim do these things too. The preponderance of goodness and kindness that Chabad has generated around the world cannot be gainsaid. It’s made Chabad a household name, and its representa- tives the go-to people for anyone who needs help anywhere in the world. Maybe it rankles because those of us who experienced the Reb- be in his lifetime feel protective of his vision, and to think Chabad a humanitarian organization seems a misunderstanding of his legacy. It’s now 22 years since the Rebbe’s passing, and as Chabad evolves its model to meet Jewish life in the 21st century, we want to ensure its integrity and prevent misconceptions about our core identity. When I was growing up in the 1960s, most of the Chasidim were Russian immigrants. (Back then we all called it “Lubavitch” after the town in Russia where the movement had begun. We called ourselves “Lubavitchers,” and the first centers that opened—in Lon- don, Melbourne, and Minnesota—were named “Lubavitch Houses.” Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters was simply “770.”) The people in our neighborhood were mostly survivors. We could see that their suffering and loss were personal to the Rebbe. When he alluded to the world that had gone up in flames, his Cha- sidim felt his pained breath. We sensed pathos in his desire to revive from the smoldering ashes. Things would get better for the Jew- ish people, he promised. He would stop at nothing so that Jews no longer hide in fear. We will be proud. We will even sing. As the second generation adapted, it lost some and gained some. But the Rebbe taught us to hold fast to our Yiddishkeit—a word that had precious resonance. He made us proud to live as Jews. He even taught us to sing about it. As Elie Wiesel said in an interview (Lubavitch International June/July 2012), the Rebbe did Chabad Lubavitch to more than anyone else to make it better for the Jews. Today we speak of social good and humanitarian causes as if they are millennial values. We are uneasy talking about things that Honour Warren Kimel aren’t politically correct, like G-d, chosenness, intermarriage, or the rituals and practices that identify us as Jews. And now, with the possibility of reaching so many so quickly—a dream come true for Plans are in full swing standing affiliation with Abraham who personified Chabad—we have to be careful not to sanitize our mission state- for the upcoming an- Chabad Lubavitch.” Rabbi the attributes of “kindness, ment. nual dinner of Chabad Grossbaum further pointed humility, and modesty,” Because for all the Rebbe’s universal appeal, it needs to be said Lubavitch. The gala cel- out that Warren’s charac- as noted in the celebrated that his agenda was to strengthen Jewish observance among Jews ebration to be held Thurs- ter traits earn him a seat Mishna. Indeed, his casual and to refine the world for all humankind through the dissemination day, November 22, 2016, amongst the disciples of disposition and unassuming of the seven Noahide Laws. In his words, our objective is “To make will honour Warren Kimel. nature are truly commend- our world a dwelling place for the Divine.” For all its success adapting to modernity and the new communi- “This event is an opportuni- able. cations, Chabad is not a New Age invention. It grows out of a long ty for the entire community Warren Kimel is CEO tradition of Jewish piety that sought to deepen our spiritual experi- to pay tribute to a most de- of Fabricland, the largest ence and elevate our existence. It spans more than two hundred serving guardian of Jewish retail chain of fabric stores years, and thousands before that, going back to Sinai. Trends will life,” said Rabbi Zalman across Canada. He has come and trends will go, but this, we believe, will remain forever. Grossbaum, Regional Di- been on the Board and Ex- On the third of Tammuz (June 12) 1994, many thought rector of Chabad Lubavitch. ecutive of UJA Federation, Chabad’s best days were behind it. But today, a different story “The honouree has taken a served as President of the unfolds. It’s a story about the Rebbe’s inventive project that hit leading role in numerous Boards of Baycrest Foun- its stride in the last two decades. It’s a story about the Rebbe’s community agencies and dation, B’nai Brith Toronto shluchim, the carriers of his vision, and the mitzvahs they do to the upcoming event will Freedom Lodge, and Beth make the world better. More holy. More G-dly. Baila Olidort is Director of Communications at Chabad- give us the opportunity to Sholom Synagogue. War- Lubavitch recognize Warren’s long Continued on page 3 Page 2 • World of Lubavitch • SEPTEMBER 2016 The 4 Mysteries of King Solomon Three things are wondrous identified as willow branches to me, and four I do not know because of the willow’s Proverbs 30:18 tendency to grow near water Despite all the wisdom and the elongated shape of its granted to [King] Solomon... leaves (like a river). Another he was mystified by the Four A Reflection on the identifying mark of the aravah is Kinds. As it is written: “Three that willow bushes tend to grow things are wondrous to me”-- Four Species of Sukkot in close-knit groups (aravah is these are the Passover offering, related to the word achavah, matzah and maror [eaten at the “brotherhood”). Passover seder]; “and four I do So what was it about the not know”--these are the Four identity of the Four Kinds that Kinds [taken on Sukkot] so mystified King Solomon? Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra Surely “the wisest of men” was 30:14 as proficient in the ways of Torah On Sukkot, the Torah exegesis as the Talmudic sages commands us to take the “Four whose analysis is summarized Kinds”--the etrog (citron), lulav above. In any case, there are (an unopened frond of a date many cryptic passages in the palm), hadas (myrtle twig) and tradition of Torah interpretation, indeed writes, “fronds of dates,” and “rope-like.” Hence the Torah where laws are derived aravah (willow twig). identifies the Four Kinds through but the word kapot (“fronds “branch of the thick-leafed tree” from double meanings and As is often the case with a series of homiletic exegeses of”) is spelled without the letter (anaf eitz avot) is identified as the variant spellings of its words. the Torah’s commandments, the of the Hebrew words employed vav, meaning that it can also myrtle twig, whose overlapping Solomon’s dramatic declaration “Written Torah” (the Pentateuch by the verse. The clue to the be read kapat, “the frond of,” leaves grow in knots of three, regarding the etrog, lulav, or “Five Books of Moses”) identity of “the splendid fruit in the singular. In addition, the giving it the appearance of a myrtle and willow--“[Three are conveys this mitzvah in a few of a tree” lies in the word hadar word kapot also means “bound,” plaited rope. There is another wondrous to me] and four I do cryptic words, leaving it to the (“splendid”), which can also implying that we are to take a plant that meets this description- not know”--must bode a deeper “Oral Torah” (the traditional be read as ha-dar--“that which closed frond (“the heart of the -the hirduf (nerium oleander)- meaning--a meaning that relates interpretation of the Written dwells.” The etrog is unique in palm”). By these means, the -but the Talmud rejects that to the inner significance of the Torah taught by Moses and that while other fruits each have Oral Torah identifies the second possibility as inconsistent with Four Kinds taken on Sukkot. handed down through the a particular season in which they of the Four Kinds as the lulav. the rule the “[the Torah’s] ways Four Species of Man generations) to decipher their grow, the etrog “dwells in its There are many “thick- are ways of pleasantness, and The Four Kinds, says the meaning. In the Written Torah, tree all year round,” continuing leafed trees” in whose branches all its pathways are peace” (the Midrash, represent four types of the verse regarding the Four to grow and develop under a “the leaves completely cover the hirduf is a thorny and poisonous people. Kinds reads: variety of climatic conditions. stem”; but the Hebrew word avot plant).