What is life, or more accurately, what does the life of modern man look like?
The sages say about the verse "And the pit is empty, there is no water in it" - meaning that there is no water in it, but snakes and scorpions actually do. What can we do when our lives, in an era of accessible and immediate communication, are full of pits and waterless sinkholes.
When our personal cistern is empty, we can already guess what's in it.
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The snakes and scorpions are the two evil sides of the instinct. One is hot and burning with the strange fire of lust, and the other is cold and all coldness and turning one's shoulder to everything holy.
Neither of them had children.
Next week, we will be blessed with the passing of Sarah Schnerer (not the Rebbetzin, but just Sarah), who founded and established the entire huge and immense enterprise called 'Beit Yaakov.' She did this at the beginning of the last century, long before social media. She did this because she recognized the need of young girls for answers, and wanted to give them them in a purely Jewish framework.
Who even knows that girls didn't want to marry Torah scholars and even hated them?
Sarah Schnirer saw the future and, in order to spare an entire generation the search for Gentile universities, she sacrificed her life for the sake of the girls who later became the standard-bearers of the next generation.
Yes. She established "Torah studies" for girls, to ensure that their wells would not be empty and kept them away from snakes and scorpions. Along the way, she also rescued them from the well, but that's not the topic we're here for.
Sarah Schnirer had no children of her own. But she had many daughters who bore her grandchildren, generations of righteous people who are blessed to this very day.
This week we also marked the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya-Moshka Schneerson (wife of the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l). She also had no children. But it is needless to mention how many daughters are named after her and follow in her path, a path of modesty, humility, and admiration for all things holy.
It's no wonder she became a source of inspiration for many women during her lifetime and after her passing.
When the deaf agents of the Hivsetzky - the Jewish wing of the Communist Party - came to arrest her father, the Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch, father-in-law of the Lubavitch Rebbe, one of them asked her: "Which faction are you from?" That is, which party do you belong to.
In other words, if you are not a member of the Communist Party, you are effectively a traitor to the state.
This is what the 26-year-old young woman replied: "We are in Dad's party. We love the ways of Israel, Grandpa. We are fed up with the new ambitions." Exactly the motto of another young woman of the same generation. And the interesting thing is that this did not contradict her being very knowledgeable in all areas of life. A Jew does not have to become a gentile to acquire education and knowledge. A Jew has a Torah that contains everything.
By the way, in a sidebar, her modesty was a given.
Here's a short story: In the 1960s, the public telephone in the hallway on the entrance floor of Building 770 – the world center of Chabad Hasidim – rang. A young man passing by picked up the receiver. On the other end of the line was someone who introduced herself as "Mrs. Schneerson from President Street.".
The young man asked: "Which rabbi? The younger one or the older one?", intending to ask whether the speaker was the Rebbe's mother or his wife, and the voice on the other end of the phone immediately replied: "I am not a rabbi, but my husband is the Rebbe...""
I fell into a pit too.
In a week of political turmoil and the issue of women who are not elected but choose to appear in prime time on a television show that is not known for its sympathy with the Torah-observant public, and after being offered to speak for a certain party, I turned to one of the rabbis who are members of the Chabad Rabbinical Court to ask him how I should proceed.
The rabbi was firm and clear in his words: "Chabad does not belong to politics of any kind." He clarified: "This is the Rebbe's teaching and it has not changed.".
He also said that during every election campaign, tempting appeals from various parties reach the rabbis and the Beit Din - temptations that would guarantee Chabad communities financial peace that could help them expand their spring distribution activities, but the rabbis are not willing to intervene, except to republish the Rebbe's instruction that the most ultra-Orthodox party should be chosen for the word of God.
Never (except in 1989) have Chabad rabbis issued a directive to vote for a particular party.
It is clear, then, that I did not continue to try to convince the rabbi that I would lose a lot of money if I refused the offer that was made to me. It did not even occur to me to tell him that this might contribute to my personal and professional advancement.
The rabbi explained that we, Chabad Hasidim, are supposed to be engaged in spreading Torah and Judaism, and that political affiliation would harm our role and mission, and in general, a party stems from partisanship, the exact opposite of the central motto of Chabad Hasidim – love of Israel and unity of the people.
And hence the things I wrote in this column last week.
There is a Hasidic saying – when a person wants to rise, he should take a chair and ascend, and not do so on the body of another.
The things I wrote here last week against a certain party stemmed from the desire to inspire the women of the Haredi public to go vote for a Haredi party, no matter which one, but it was a failure, because in my words I rejected another party.
The right and correct way is to speak of the virtues and qualities of the right party, and not to condemn the other party. With good, but mistaken, intentions, I wrote negative things about Jews, exactly the opposite of my goal and mission in this world – to add light to Torah and see the positive in every Jew.
The conclusion? Add light! Whether by studying the weekly Torah portion, or by giving another Torah lesson, by instilling another idea that illuminates hearts, out of love for Israel.
And yet, I still call on every Haredi woman to listen to the voice of the rabbis and go vote.
No, I will not speak a word in condemnation of any party. Because that is what the Rabbi instructed me to do. That is what the Rebbe taught us. "We are workers of blood" - we are workers of the day - the day is light. Our job is to bring light to the world.
I'll leave the handling of the darkness to others.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe | The writer is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer, and radio broadcaster. | For comments: [email protected]
