The Rebbe’s Glasses are Now Available

Give a man an insight and you teach him for a day. Give a man perspective and you teach him for a lifetime. One of the major gifts from the Rebbe to the world is not only his own vision but the ability for us to have Rebbe-vision

By Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier – The Beis Medrash

During the early years of his leadership, the Alter Rebbe traveled to various Jewish communities to introduce the teachings of Chassidus. One of his most influential trips was to the city of Vitebsk where some of the greatest Torah giants became his chassidim. One of these chassidim was once asked: What did the Alter Rebbe accomplish in Vitebsk? “He gave us eyeglasses so that we may see the Truth of Hashem in the world.”^[1]

In a similar vein, an unassuming chossid once came to visit the third Chabad Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe gave him unusually high respect and showered him with brachos. When asked how he was able to see the greatness that no one else saw in this man, the Tzemach Tzedek responded: “I inherited the eyeglasses of the Baal Shem Tov.”^[2]

Give a man an insight and you teach him for a day. Give a man perspective and you teach him for a lifetime. We can share countless lessons, but it won’t compare to giving the student a lens through which to see everything and enable him to learn for himself.

Towards the end of Parshas Be’haaloscho, Hashem praises Moshe Rabbeinu’s power of nevuah. “I will speak to him face to face, lucidly and not in riddles, and he perceives the Eternal’s Image.”

The Imrei Emes of Ger explains^[3] that the words utemunas Hashem yabit (and he perceives the Eternal’s Image) cannot be understood according to pshat because Hashem has no image.Rather, these words should be interpreted: “And it’s with Hashem’s Vision that he sees.” Moshe Rabbeinu saw everything through the G-dly lens and thus saw the same picture that Hashem sees.

Hashem didn’t just give a wealth of knowledge to Moshe, He gave him a lens.

This vision wasn’t reserved for Moshe alone as is evident from the future tense: “I will speak.” Every Yid has a spark of Moshe inside of them, and it’s through this spark that we are all capable of seeing the world through Hashem’s lens. 

It’s 30 years since Gimmel Tammuz. People talk about the Rebbe’s vision and how it changed the world for the better. But one of the major gifts from the Rebbe to the world is not only his own vision but the ability for us to have Rebbe-vision, a clear temunas Hashem.

There are thousands of pages of the Rebbe’s Torah available to learn, ranging from complex Torah topics to matters concerning chinuch and shleimus ha’aretz. In thousands of igros kodesh, the Rebbe addresses issues that we encounter on a daily basis. Studying these Torahsand igros kodesh allows us to see through the Rebbe’s lens.

There’s a minhag to say pesukim that begin and end with the letters of our name after Shemoneh Esrei. The passuk for the Rebbe’s name is “מאור עינים ישמח לב שמועה טובה תדשן עצם. The light of the eyes makes the heart happy; good news fattens the bone.” (Mishlei 15:30). The Metzudos Dovid explains this passuk to mean that when someone’s eyes are illuminated on a matter in which they had doubt, they become filled with joy. For there is no greater joy than the removal of doubt.

Is it by chance that this passuk represents the Rebbe’s name?

The world is filled with uncertainty and pain. And the Rebbe’s eyeglasses are there for the taking to exchange uncertainty for clarity and replace pain with joy. It’s worthwhile to make the effort to personally study the Rebbe’s Torah from the original, and not rely on someone’s adaptation or summary. This is the way to truly begin seeing things the way the Rebbe does.

With Rebbe-vision we can gain a temunas Hashem on ourselves, our fellow Yid, and the world. And we can begin to see a world of Moshiach, which the Rebbe so passionately campaigned for. May we witness the reality of Moshiach speedily in our days.

[1] Sefer HaSichos 5700 pg. 105

[2] Sefer HaSichos 5705 pg. 7

[3] Imrei Emes Parshas Beha’aloscha 5688, 5693

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