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When Is Skepticism Healthy and When Does It Undermine You?

Why Did Chaim Potack Not Want to Meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe?

Class Summary:

This class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Pekudei, 28 Adar I, 5779, March 5, 2019 at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY 

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  • M

    Michael -5 years ago

    Personal reflection (from the file cabinet) :
     
    Whenever you discuss this, i.e. the need to be mevatel ourselves, to be open to truth and  to be willing to suspend our paradigms, I am reminded of the wonderful story you told of your time as a "chozer" for the Rebbe's Farbreng's/Sichos. You told us of the one occasion you were unable to reconstruct some of the Rebbe's thoughts in a shiur because you momentarily made a mental note of how beautiful the Rebbe's explanation was, thereby "inserting" yourself- however minimally- into that moment. It is a wonderful story, that I have told over to many people; (I hope I have always remained faithful to the story).
    I am also reminded of your relating Lord Jonathan Sacks's reflection on his private conversation with the Rebbe, when "the Rebbe was not present...but was a mirror...I was looking into my own soul" 
    (So, yes, some of us do have a file cabinet, but remain stubbornly proud of it).
     
    Comment/He'ara:
     
    We have seen that  the Talmid, who has to be be mitzamtzeim himself to be able to learn, cannot simultaneously be a Mashpia,, just as the Rebbe who in his role as  Mashpia, is being Mispashet almost by definition CANNOT be mevatel himself, (even though he S being metzamtzeim the material that  he is teaching). In both cases we say,that one cannot simultaneously be a Bolea and a Poleit.
    This forces us to perhaps rethink how we understand  "Mikol Milamdai....U'Mitalmidai Yoseir Mi'ikulam"   Apparently the teacher's learning form his Talmidim, even while he was NOT being mevatel himself, is a different form of learning. Requires some thought.
     
    Fun Fact:
     
    The nekuda of people (?most of us) being so anxious to speak, give our opinion etc, that we don't truly listen in a real way has been referred to as "conversational narcissism"; it's a very telling phrase:
     

     

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  • Anonymous -5 years ago

    Some questions

    And if you select a Rebbe, how do you know that he hasn't changed over the years? Unfortunately, being a Rebbe can change people - and not always for the better?

    Is it legitimate to revisit your selection?

    How does one decide how often to he has to ensure that his Rebbe is still a true עבד ה'?

    Two stories I know first hand:

    • Someone who started a yeshiva and became a 'Rebbe' of sorts. Until he was suspected of using his influence to get some of the Bochurim to agree to improper contact with him. Before I knew of any of these suspiciouns, I realized that this person had changed from how he had been 4 years earlier.
    • A Rebbe who started with barely a minyan and then watched the Chassidus grow to almost 150 famlies. He himself told me that his entire approach 'had' to change. In other words, his הנהגה was no longer what it was.

     

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  • Anonymous -5 years ago

    איידי דטריד

    Beautiful shiur as always. One question, I know where it says איידי דמפלט לא בלע, but where does it say איידי דבלע לא מפלט?

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    • Anonymous -5 years ago

      הלשון הוא מאדמו"ר הזקן בעל התניא והשולחן ערוך. אבל התוכן הוא במסכת חולין דף קח עמוד ב

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  • R

    Rachel -5 years ago

    I grew up close to the Litvish world.
     
    Unbelievable how people from all walks of life came to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I was watching intently his videos. He connected deeply with each one of them. He had the pulse not only on the Jewish people also on the secular world.
    It’s obvious that his focus was only on what needed to be said or spoken in order to heal and elevate every Jew and the world.
    Such a man didn’t care who liked him or not, etc. He was a man on a Godly mission, it’s so clear when I watch all those clips. Nothing else mattered. Everything else was a distraction from this task.
    Such a Rebbe, leader you can surrender your soul and body to, because there is no personal agenda ever.....

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Maamer Hanosen Sheleg Katzamer #2

Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • March 5, 2019
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  • 28 Adar I 5779
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  • 501 views

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