I am a Chabad member and proud of my identity. Yes. I have heard the phrase more than once: "You didn't suffer like us, because your Rebbe valued and promoted women. But we sit in the dark." I have heard it. I have also heard women who claim that a Chabad member is not Haredi, perhaps barely religious. I have heard that too.
In the last days of last year, I hosted an event held by the 'Sulam' organization. The Mayor of Jerusalem and Deputy Minister of Education MK Meir Porush and a number of dignitaries were present. The Sulam association is headed by Rebbetzin Ernster and her daughter-in-law, who provide daycare for approximately 1,100 children, half of whom are special children, and in practice create the "integration" between the different populations.
Moreover, the association recently managed to take Yiddish-speaking girls and train them to be assistants and support workers in daycare centers, even for children in special education. Ms. Ernster, who heads this empire, employs and supports hundreds of families. I can tell you that this amounts to about 620 salaries every month.
The Deputy Minister of Education, whose four grandchildren are educated at the same daycare, listened to me when I presented the Hasidic interpretation of the sage's statement "For me the world was created," and when he heard my name, he responded: "Well, if a woman says Hasidism, she's probably a Chabad member.".
My name is Schneerson and I'm glad I won. Being a Chabad member is not an easy job at all. Both physically and mentally.
It's making sure there's always enough candles in the trunk to light candles. It's getting stressed when honey spills from the little honeycombs onto the flyers that print the times for Shabbat, and thinking seven times an hour about what I can do to fulfill my mission in this world and bring the light of Torah to more Jews.
Being a Chabad member means blushing, being afraid, and hesitating, but not giving up and approaching a high-profile gossip columnist in a popular newspaper in the country, to offer to check the mezuzahs in her house.
Then drive to her house. Collect the mezuzahs, send them to the proofreader, collect them from the proofreader, and return to her with the results (which are not good in this case).
To be a Chabad member is to give up. To put one's personal desires aside and mobilize for the higher goal, the goal of all of us.
It's not always pleasant to be "dark" and not progressive and enlightened and to speak the words of the Rebbe with force. Yes. What can be done, there is a mission. There is a role that needs to be fulfilled. So no, I am not sitting in the dark. I bring light.
What is the audience?
This week, at the launch of a grand and well-invested program by the Osam company that will distribute 60,000 snack packs in the Haredi sector that will be used as "faqalach" to silence the children while the mothers seek to pray in peace.
There is no doubt that this is quite an educational program and the dear children will even learn about the Sabbatical year that just ended. I am also convinced that this program will contribute to the children's joy during our joyous time, but when we were given the opportunity to ask something, I asked the organizers what they planned to do for the Sabbatical year...
I wasn't surprised when their reaction was surprised. They hadn't heard of it... They promised to study the issue and come back with plans and activities for this special year.
But ask any Chabad kid what their plans are for the congregation and you'll be surprised by the answers you get.
Because the congregation as it is, in its inner sense, is not just a mere gathering. The congregation is an opportunity to crown the King over us, not a flesh-and-blood king. The congregation is an opportunity to engage in matters of modesty and purity. The congregation means accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and the fear of Heaven. Well, Ossem can distribute the salty and Alith (Strauss) the sweet. But we – the women – will gather to study Torah, to strengthen ourselves in the fear of Heaven, and to sanctify His name, the Blessed One, through our actions.
Photographed on a weekday
It is true that there are things about which there are different opinions. Such as the length of the skirt, the neckline, the head covering, and so on. But there are things about which there is complete consensus. Shabbat is one of them.
This is why I stood in astonishment when I came across a video broadcast on Channel 10 about the "revolution in the status of Haredi women" - a video broadcast on Shabbat in which Haredi women appeared under the equally jarring caption "Photographed on a weekday.".
I wasn't bothered by the subtitle that asked "Where are the days when it was easy to identify the Haredi woman on the street"... I really wasn't put off by the need for some of the Haredi participants to show the committee that super brands like 'Prada' and 'Gucci' are an integral part of their wardrobe.
Each woman has her own standards and her own matters of modesty, which she confides in her husband or in the Torah authority she trusts.
But, the caption "Photographed on a weekday" was more jarring than all the superficiality and shallowness expressed by the "revolution in the status of ultra-Orthodox women." The disparagement of the Sabbath contradicts even the lowest common denominator that exists in our society.
One of the women who was invited to be photographed for the program realized that the researcher was lying with a determined face in her quest to reach the Haredi "fashionistas" at all costs. When that woman realized that the program would air on Shabbat despite the promises, she chose to go out and fight the program together with another woman (a Chabad member, by the way).
They tried to stop the filming and tried in every way to move the broadcast to another day. When they were unsuccessful in their struggle and learned that the program was broadcast on Shabbat, the two told me that they thanked God for preventing their evil spirit from participating in the program, which ultimately turned out to be a disgrace to the ultra-Orthodox woman, whose "revolution" in her status was expressed in the worship of external fashion symbols.
Not looking for permits
Speaking of keeping Shabbat, here's a story I didn't know until last Shabbat, which marked the 51st anniversary of the passing of the righteous Rebbetzin Hannah Schneerson, mother of the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l.
The Rebbetzin arrived in Paris broken and shattered after World War II and after leaving the communist Soviet Union under the false identity of a Polish citizen. The Rebbe came to meet her in Paris, in order to take her with him to New York.
The two met again after 18 years of forced separation.
The Rebbe and his mother spent Passover in Paris and only arrived in New York at the end of Sivan of that year. I only discovered the reason for the long time the Rebbe spent in Paris this week.
The previous Rebbe, the Rebbetzin's mother-in-law and the Rebbe's father-in-law, had ordered them to travel by ship and not by plane. During that entire period, the Rebbe had been looking for a ship that was not even partially owned by Jews, since a trip from France to New York takes over a week, and the Rebbe and his mother did not want to be complicit in a Jew's desecration of Shabbat, even if it meant a longer stay in smoky Europe.
Ostensibly, they could rely on the permit, according to which in joint ownership with a Gentile, the Sabbath profits could be said to belong to the Gentile. But they did not seek the permit and chose to remain in Paris until a ship was found that the Jews had no ownership of.
This column is dedicated to the repose of the soul of the righteous Rebbetzin Mart Hanna, may God bless her and to the merit of all those Jewish women who are kosher and distinguished for a good and long life who are preparing themselves for the Holy Day, Yom Kippur 5776, the year of the congregation. May God fulfill all your wishes for goodness and blessing and may you have a good and sweet year. End of a good signature.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The author is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer and radio broadcaster: [email protected]
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