Points to Ponder

With the approach of Gimmel Tammuz we present our readers with a few points to ponder.The Rogatchover Gaon ("genius"), Rabbi Yosef Rosen, was one of the most prominent Talmudic scholars of the previous generation.

He was constantly studying Torah, but on Shabbat he often invited the young Talmudic Lubavitcher yeshiva students to be guests in his home and engaged them in conversation.

Once, he asked them if they could define what a "Rebbe" is. They answered that they had learned that "Rebbe" is the initials "Rosh Bnei Yisrael" (Head of the Jewish People.)

The Rogachover fell silent and then gave his own answer; "The truth is that no one can know what a Rebbe is... it is incomprehensible. But one thing for sure: If a Jew, any Jew in the world, is in distress...the Rebbe feels it." (Ohrtmimim.com)

Before the Lubavitcher Rebbe accepted the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch, he once told another Jew regarding his father-in-law, the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe:
You cannot imagine what a Rebbe really is. Your letter does not have to reach him in order for him to know the question, and you do not actually have to get a letter from him to receive an answer. (shmais.com)
Extending a request to G-d via an intermediary is only problematic if he is indeed a separate entity from the person who submits the request. However, the Tzadik (righteous person) is a Neshama klalit, a general soul that contains the souls of other Jews, just as the head contains the life of the body. Thus, the Tzadik is not a separate entity, but an extension of oneself. Put differently, one's own spiritual self is in fact an extension of the Tzadik. Thus, just as my head can pray for my foot, so can I ask the Tzadik to pray for me.

Therefore, not only does the Tzadik feel my pain, but my pain is the Tzadik's own pain, which he feels even more acutely than I do myself. Conversely, the Tzadik's pain is in fact my pain, even if I do not feel it tangibly.

Thus, the Tzadik is my head regardless of whether I recognize it. However, if I fail to recognize it, or I recognize it on some level but do not devote myself sufficiently to him, and I treat him as a separate entity, then asking him to pray for me is indeed problematic. However, since the person believes in the Tzadik and, at least deep down, wishes that he could be devoted to him, it may be derived from Jewish law that a verbal declaration of his intent is sufficient to reveal his true desire, even if he is yet to bring this true desire to conform with his daily life. His request for a blessing is then not problematic, G-d forbid, but on the contrary, it is desirable. (tzaddikim.blogspot.com based on Torat Menachem-Hitva'aduyot, Vol.2)

One year, on the eve of Simchat Torah when people were passing by the Rebbe to receive his blessings, a young boy said to the Rebbe, "We want Moshiach now!" The Rebbe emphatically exclaimed, "Amen, amen." The boy then asked, "Why hasn't Moshiach come yet?" The Rebbe answered, "Because only you ask this to happen. Your father wants to ask me for a blessing for success in his business. All these people are asking for their livelihood, health and other good things. No one is thinking like you are to ask for a blessing that Moshiach should come. If you try to get everyone to want and ask for Moshiach, just like you, Moshiach will come right now!"