1.
Many superlatives can be attached to Rabbi Eli Lipsker. A pioneer, a revolutionary, one of the fathers of Hasidic music in our generation, one of the famous copyists of the Chabad niggun, and more. There is no doubt that this man has an incalculable right to everything related to the revival of the niggun and the Hasidic prayer text in the post-war generation.
But I am not interested in the fascinating character of Rabbi Eli, as this will certainly receive the respect and place it deserves, but rather in perhaps the most famous story of Rabbi Eli, which was naturally also the first to be published immediately after the painful news of his passing became known.
Eli arrived in New York as a young boy with his brother Rabbi Shneur Zalman. Since childhood, he had been drawn to music, but pursuing a career in music was a clearly unrealistic dream at the time. Both in terms of his parents' financial possibilities as new immigrants in the 1950s, and mainly because the idea that a Hasidic boy would pursue music, let alone study music in a systematic way, was absurd and fundamentally flawed.
But young Eli didn't give up on his musical dream, and the moment he stepped off the ship in the land of unlimited possibilities, he looked for the first opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream.
It wasn't long before he signed up for music lessons, which he would sneak into between yeshiva classes.
But the bird of the sky carried the word, the incriminating information about the music studies reached the ears of the yeshiva administration, and it was horrified by the actions of the Israeli young man who was 'breaking the yoke' in the big city.
The yeshiva administration met and sat on the podium, and after much discussion, it was decided and agreed that studying music was something he should not do. So they decided, and ended up expelling him from the yeshiva.
When the yeshiva administration came to the Lubavitcher Rebbe to deliver the report on the state of the yeshiva and tell them about their decision, the Rebbe asked them in astonishment: Should they throw him out of the yeshiva?
On the contrary, the Rebbe told them, he is lonely here in New York, did you ask him if he perhaps needs help with financing his music studies?
Many know the end of the story: Eli studied music, and became a musician who contributed greatly to the preservation and recording of Hasidic melodies. He wrote scores for the melody book, founded and directed children's choirs, and was involved in every musical production related to Chabad in those years. There is no doubt that these musical studies led to a great contribution to Hasidic poetry and melodies in general, and to Chabad melodies in particular.
2.
There is so much to learn from this simple story. Or rather, this not-so-simple one at all.
About the Rebbe's concern for a young boy who had been separated from his parents and was alone in New York (on another occasion, Rabbi Eli said that in the first Yehudit, the Rebbe told him that he had heard him coughing outside and asked if he had visited a doctor); about the Rebbe's attitude towards the issue of being removed from yeshivot, and more.
But two points caught my attention in this story:
The first - this is the way in which the Rebbe turns the disadvantage into an advantage. Or rather, does not turn it into an advantage, but sees an advantage in what everyone sees as a disadvantage. This approach of the Rebbe is expressed in many other subjects. In relation to technology, science, the world and more.
While various sects saw all of these as problems that needed to be destroyed or challenges that needed to be faced, the Rebbe saw them as incredible opportunities to bring about revolutions in the spread of Torah, Hasidism, and good deeds - and to make the world a much better place.
This approach of the Rebbe is one of the most important rules in education: to see the opportunity in everything.
It's just a matter of perspective, problems and things that happen or develop that don't exactly match our expectations are there all the time, this world is not a made-to-order product. But we always have the free choice of whether to see it as a problem that needs to be solved, or to see it as a golden opportunity and find a way to leverage it and grow from it.
3.
The second point - I don't know if this statement was true or not, whether the situation is different today or not. But - talents, especially in children, need to be nurtured.
Talent is a gift from heaven. And disrespecting it is a betrayal of a good deed. It's as if we're saying to the Creator: Thank you, but you shouldn't have... There's nothing we can do about it.
It doesn't have to be a talent for learning or understanding. Any talent - in music, singing, acting, art, and even sports - increases a child's self-confidence, which will later contribute to their learning and understanding of Torah study.
So look for the gift your children received from the Creator, nurture it and nurture them.
• The column was written with Shneur Habib
• Miri Shneorson – presenter, lecturer, and media representative. To book a lecture, leave your details: lp.770marketing.com/miri_shneorson
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