"These are B”H / Issue 38 / Adar 5780 MyAs perGenerals" the Rebbe's words to a parent about a child with special needs. לעילוי נשמת ,Dear Shluchim הבחור ברוך שניאור זלמן בן יבלחט"א הרה"ת אברהם אליהו שיחי' פלאטקין !Shalom U'vracha נלב"ע ל' ניסן ה'תשע"ח ,”החודש אשר נהפך“ ,As we find ourselves in Adar משלוחי כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו במרקהאם, אונטריו, קנדה not only is it Purim day that the situation turned ,”!ונהפוך הוא“ ,around from the negative to the positive A Beam of Light but as the Megillah says – the entire month had transformed to good. May the Aibishter grant that with the koiach of this month, all the negative things will be transformed and that each and every ,בטוב הנראה והנגלה ,into good one will be gebentcht with everything they need, אורה ושמחה וששון“ both physically and spiritually, till .”ויקר From the Rebbe's Teachings Adar is also the month in which we are all preparing for Pesach, and I wish to inform you that this year ... And in this month of Adar, on which Chazal say give each בעז"ה too, as in previous years, we will in the Midrash that its“mazal” is “dagim”, fish. This family a gift card to the toy carrying store of your is something pertinent to Yidden and especially for Chassidim, about whom the posuk says “may they choice. multiply abundantly like fish, in the midst of the land”, that even in mundane and corporeal affairs As we get closer to the month of Nissan, we will I"YH – they behave as fish, who will never leave their reach out to you regarding these gift cards. source of life within the water (Berachos 61b), and so, they will not stray away from the path of Torah A freilichin Purim, and mitzvos, and – additionally – his “mazal” will bring him a speedy recovery and proper health... Sholly Weiser (From a letter dated 6 Adar 5712) Director “Ad D’lo Yada”: Until the Unknowing Rabbi Eli Wolff very Shabbos we relive it anew. Dovi’s Shabbos “Torah Ohr”; “Siddur Shai L’Mora”, this Siddur... and that Edavening lasts for several hours. He davens and siddur... (A mazal that my father runs the Eretz Yisroel keeps on davening. Even when the davening in Shul branch of Kehos...) is long over, Dovi will take the siddur (see further on Every morning, we get ready to go down to his ride, to that) to our home, and continue davening there until get dressed, to eat, get organized – and then always, I return home from the farbrengen in shul, and if he just before leaving home, Dovi has to choose the siddur has not finished the tefillos by then, he will – after the he’ll be taking for that day. To put a different siddur into seudah’s first course – take up his his backpack. siddur again. And he’ll continue to Just as it is with the davening, so is daven, and often it happens that Where does he it with the siddur, and so it is with his davening ended only after we his tefillin – they engage him and finished the entire Shabbos meal, get this powerful fill his thoughts, and actually, his somewhere in the late afternoon heart. hours. connection to His tefillin stay in Elad every On the short winter Shabbosim, he day, and if they’ll be having a day sometimes davens Shacharis and davening, to tefillin, off – then, already a few days in Musaf till it’s Mincha time—quite to the siddur? advance, Dovi says and reminds literally "a Beinoni who davens all himself and those around him, that day." on day such-and-such he needs to Not only does the Shabbos take his tefillin home at the end of davening in itself occupy a place of honor, but so does the school day, so that on the morrow, the vacation day, what we daven with, the Siddur, take an important the tefillin will be with him. place. I often think about it: Where does he get this powerful I don't know what happens with you, but Dovi connection to davening, to tefillin, to the siddur, to "diversifies" and refreshes his tefillah every day, with fasting, amongst a slew of other mitzvos? a different siddur. You can't daven today like you did He did not learn Chassidus, he did not learn the yesterday, or like tomorrow. Every day is a new and meaning of things, he does not understand their different day – and, as such, it also requires a different content, their meaning – and his connection, his siddur. emotion, they are just so strong… He has a variety of siddurim in the bookshelf: • The “Siddur Tehillas Hashem” which everyone is Our Chachomim say: “A person is obligated l’vesumi עד) familiar with; “Siddur Tehillas Hashem” with German b’Purya until he does not know how to distinguish between “Arur (cursed be) Haman” and “Baruch (דלא ידע translation; Siddur Im Dach of the Alter Rebbe; the Siddur with the parallel spoken-Hebrew teitch; Siddur Mordechai”. The simplistic explanation is that one should "l’vesumi", On Purim, a Yid requires something much deeper, the become drunk with wine, until he reaches the point truth needs to shine in him, to cry out from within where he will have no comprehension between “Arur him – from the essence of his soul. From a place far Haman” and "Baruch Mordechai" – that, chalilah, he be more internal and higher than understanding, not but from a place of ",(ידע) confused between a brocha for Mordechai to a curse from a place of "knowledge from the very ,(לא ידע) ”for Haman. “unknowing In several sichos, the Rebbe asks: nefesh itself. a Jew :"חייב אינש לבסומי בפוריא" Is it so?! Is it possible for a Jew On Purim, a Yid to indeed be confused between should fulfill the substance of "Baruch Mordechai" and “Arur requires something the Purim holiday, so that it will עד דלא" – Haman", even after he becomes penetrate all his essence until he :"ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי intoxicated – can such a reality much deeper, the truth indeed exist? needs to shine in him. comes to a state of “unknowing”, In a maamar, the Rebbe hones this from a place that is higher than point further, citing an example of understanding, then it will be clear the halachos of biur chometz by to him that there is “Arur Haman” Pesach, where Chazal said that they are not concerned and there is "Baruch Mordechai". His soul will connect, that when a person is doing biur chometz, he will through its essence, with what is good, and will reject perhaps take the chometz and eat it, because when a what is evil. person deals with the eradication of chometz, with its • absolute negation, it cannot be that he will, then and We, the "meivinim", the intellectuals, we daven and we there, want to benefit from it. perform the mitzvos, of most of the year, in a sense of .”ידע“ The same is true of Chag HaPurim: It is not possible for a person to celebrate "Purya", the Purim holiday Since these things are generally based on in a manner of "l’vesumi b’Purya", while fulfilling the comprehension and knowledge, then our connection holiday commandments in its entirety including “Arur with things is in accordance with the level of our Haman” and "Baruch Mordechai" – and that at the knowledge and understanding. When one understands same time, be confused between the two. Such is not more – he/she connects more, when someone possible in reality. understands less, then the connection is less powerful So rather, the explanation of Chazal's “ad delo yada”, and intense. is thus: Throughout the year, a person distinguishes Now, as for our children: Those who did not learn, between negation and affirmation, between kedusha and not necessarily can they learn, those whose is the least dominant side of – ”ידע“ – "and its opposite, between “Arur Haman” and "Baruch "knowledge of understanding. them – they in fact are illuminated all year with "not ,”ידע“ Mordechai" – on the basis of They are connected from a place of .לא ידע ,"He learns, he knows, he understands that this is heilig knowing .עצם הנפש and the other is kelipa; this is gebentched and that is the accursed. Purim teaches us to learn something from our children understanding – to connect with the Aibishter from a state – and with ,”עצם הנפש“ Understanding is not from the From a much deeper and inner .”לא ידע“ – is one of the koichois haNefesh, admittedly a great the impact of force, but only one of those koichos. place. A Mother with a Special Shlichus Behind the Mask Mrs. Esther Wilhelm - Zhitomir, Ukraine own syndrome is not the first in the grand palace, surrounded by invested. I don't have to compare Dsyndrome to appear in our life. wealth, dignity and comfort. myself to others. I have my life behind the mask. Whatever I am able to do, it Already from the early years of our However, through the duration of the has to suffice. Shlichus, we have become aware of the shiur, the mask which had been placed virus that at the time was called "Kfar on Esther in the childish version – had At Matan Torah, the Yidden were Chabad [magazine..] Syndrome", which been removed, and suddenly a story of truly perfect, mushlamim. They were – after having undergone mutations a tormented Jewish woman who was in a state of being able to see what is – became "Whatsapp- and-Social- forced to marry the gentile king, while usually heard, and every blemish and Networks Syndrome." The syndrome hiding her true identity – was exposed.