Mazel Tov Sheina on your Bat Mitzvah! We are all so happy for you and excited for this new milestone in your life.
Anyone who knows Sheina’s family knows that they are Lubavitch. Like, very Lubavitch. So, you may be wondering what a Lubavitch girl is doing at Ner Tamid. Let me explain:
You may not know this, but Ner Tamid is actually a crypto-Lubavitch shul. It may look a little different than your typical Chabad house but dig a little deeper and you’ll see what I mean.
According to ChatGPT, in Lubavitch shuls there is a strong emphasis on children’s programming, a wide range of observance levels, and exceptional warmth. Is that not a good description of Ner Tamid?
There’s more.
In Lubavitch shuls the men farbreng. At Ner Tamid, the men go to Kiddush Club.
In Lubavitch shuls, davening on Shabbos morning starts at 10:30 AM. At Ner Tamid, most people believe that davening starts at 10:30 AM.
The Rebbe of Lubavitch lived on President’s street. The rabbi of Ner Tamid lives on Lincoln Ave.
In Lubavitch shuls they have a big picture of their former rabbi in the lobby. At Ner Tamid, we also have a big picture of our former rabbi in the lobby.
In Chabad, we all know the women run the show. And at Ner Tamid, yeah, that’s probably the case as well. Although the sheitels here, for those who wear them, do not reach the women’s ankles.
In Lubavitch shuls, the men look like they just rolled out of bed. Ner Tamid is the only shul where people will literally show up in pajamas.
So basically, this is a Chabad house.
There is actually real history connecting our shul to Chabad.
The very first Lubavitch minyan in Baltimore was established in 1896. They bought a building on 132 South Caroline street and called themselves Agudas Achim Anshe Lubawitz Nusach Ari Congregation. Until 1922, when Tzemach Tzedek opened, this was the only Chabad shul in town. In the 1969, with the changing demographics of downtown Baltimore, the shul merged with a newer shul in Pikesville known as Ner Tamid Greenspring Valley Synagogue. That’s right. Our shul is truly a Lubavitch shul.
For the vast majority of the time that Agudas Achim Anshe Lubawitz Nusach Ari Congregation was in existence the rebbe was the sixth rebbe of Lubavitch, Rav Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. His son-in-law, Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is the man we all know so much about. I’d like to spend a few minutes this morning talking about the sixth rebbe, Rav Yosef Yitzchak, otherwise known as the Rebbe RaYatz.
Rav Yosef Yitzchak was probably the most arrested Jew in history. He was sent to jail seven times in his life for his promotion of Judaism and support of the Jewish People. The first time was at the age of ten. A Jewish butcher was being beaten by a police officer and Rav Yosef Yitzchak stepped in to defend him, causing him to be thrown into a dark cell for the day. Future arrests would be far more serious.
Shortly after the Bolsheviks took over, they created a police force dedicated to eradicating Jewish life from the USSR. The saddest feature of this group was that it was organized and led by Jews. At the helm was a man Shimon Diamenstein. At one point he had studied in the great Eastern European Yeshivas and got ordained by Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinksi, the leading Torah scholar of the time, but eventually he left his faith and became an enemy of the Jewish People.
Though the laws against the practice and study of Judaism were initially mild under Communist rule, Rav Yosef Yitzchak saw the writing on the wall, and decided to do something about it. The first thing he did was create very small networks of melamdim, teachers who would study with young children and adults in secret. By decentralizing the system, he ensured that if one person got caught, the damage would be limited. He would use trade schools or farms as a cover for these mini-yeshivas. He sent his followers to build underground mikvahs, baked matzah in secret that was widely distributed, and ensured that there would be shochtim, people able to slaughter meat so Jews could keep kosher.
If anyone was caught engaging in any of these activities, they would be sent to Siberia at best, very often, they would be executed. But Rav Yosef Yitzchak was not only a great manager, he inspired his followers, impressing upon them the importance of their mission, letting them know that the future of Jewry rested on their shoulders.
Most famously, in 1927, he was arrested and accused of espionage. At one point in the interrogations, a Soviet officer pointed a gun at him and threatened: “This toy has made many people talk.”
The Rebbe replied: “That toy can intimidate only a man who has many gods and one world. I have one G-d and two worlds.”
He was sentenced to death and only due to international pressure was he ultimately released and sent out of Russia, eventually immigrating to the United States. Though he was no longer living there, his network remained. Rav Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson’s passion, strength, and vision ensured the flame of Judaism would survive in the cold environs of communism.
Sheina, you were supposed to have your Bat Mitzvah last week, parshas Yisro. That is an exciting parsha – literally lightning and thunder and the greatest spiritual spectacle in history as the Jewish people gathered at the foot of Har Sinai. This week’s parsha is probably the most boring of all. Laws. A whole lot of laws. But that’s precisely the point. A people transformed by a single overwhelming experience can be inspired. A people shaped by daily law can endure. Parshas Yisro is the kumzits, the spiritual high, the euphoria. Parshas Mishpatim is where Judaism transforms from inspiration to implementation and becomes culture. Too many of us get burned out of Judaism because we don’t feel constant excitement. But constant excitement is not real. Har Sinai took place once in history; Mishpatim, the intricate laws of Judaism, is the vessel in which that fire can be contained.
Your Rebbe, the sixth Rebbe of Lubavitch, understood this. When we think of Chabad, we think of the Shlichim who are willing to go to the farthest places on earth to inspire Jews and we give credit to the seventh Rebbe. I would argue that the culture of self-sacrifice really began with Rav Yosef Yitzchak. He understood that communism would last for decades, but that didn’t dissuade him. Because he also understood there needed to be a process, a difficult and long road, but eventually, there will be light. When one of the men he sent to start a small yeshiva complained to him that it was futile, he replied: “You dig a hole and plant seeds, and I will water it with my tears.”
Sheina, you have boundless talents, qualities, and skills. You are a musician, you excel at math, your siblings adore you. You have dreams of using those skills to help children in the future and I am sure you will. Those are all great. But you also have a legacy. You were brought up on a steady diet of perseverance, of overcoming obstacles, of the steady commitment to Judaism. Just last week, I saw your mother as she came into shul. The weather was freezing, your mother looked like she was travelling through the North Pole. But she was here; to daven, to connect, to grow. That was the Chabad legacy coursing through her.
Although we have a lot in common with Lubavitch, one area in which I hope we can grow as a community is the Lubavitch joy and passion. Walk into any Chabad school, shul, yeshiva, it’s in the air. It didn’t start with farbrengins. It started with the cold Russian soil. It continued with individual seeds. It was watered with an endless stream of tears. And today we see how those seeds have blossomed.
The seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe in his talks on Tu B’shvat would often quote the verse from Devarim, “כי האדם עץ השדה.” Man is like a tree. He would remind his followers that most of the tree’s development takes place underground, indiscernible to the naked eye. Sheina, you were born on Tu B’shvat. I hope you and all of us take this legacy, your legacy, our legacy, to heart.