Descendants Just Like Them

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

Who is a Maven? 

As a loyal chassid he would never have dreamed of questioning the Rebbe’s words. But when he saw the phenomenon repeat itself again and again, he couldn’t stop himself and for the first time – and it was really out of turn – he said to the Rebbe: “It’s very difficult for me to accept the Rebbe’s words. I don’t see what the Rebbe is talking about…” 

The Rebbe was the fifth Rebbe of Chabad, otherwise known as the Rashab, Rabbi Shalom Ber. Like his holy forefathers, Rabbi Shalom Ber would conduct chassidic gatherings (hitva’aduyot). In his hitva’aduyot he would often speak of the greatness of simple Jews and would praise them highly.  

The Rebbe had a wealthy chassid, a diamond merchant, named R. Munya Monson. R. Munya found it hard to listen to the Rebbe’s praises of the simple Jews and his beckoning to them to come closer to Hashem, but he said nothing.  

He said nothing for a long time, until finally he couldn’t stand it anymore. He then said to the Rebbe: “Why does the Rebbe praise simple people so much?” 

“Because they have very special qualities,” answered the Rebbe patiently. And, though it was against all the rules, R. Munya, who was always truthful, responded: “I don’t see any special qualities in them…” 

The Rebbe heard him, but didn’t reply. 

Later, the Rashab turned to R. Munya and asked him if he had brought with him his diamonds. The diamond merchant said that indeed, he had brought the diamonds with him. The Rebbe then asked him to show him some of them.  

Munya took the expensive case out of his satchel and poured the diamonds onto the table in front of the Rebbe. While the Rebbe was examining the diamonds, the diamond merchant picked up one of them and told the Rebbe with much excitement: “Rebbe, this diamond is superb!”

The Rebbe peered at the diamond and said disparagingly: “I don’t see anything special about it,” he said. The chassid was offended and said to the Rebbe: “You have to be a maven in diamonds.” 

That was just what the Rebbe was waiting for, and he replied in the same vein: “With Jews, too, you must be a maven. Every Jew is amazing, but one has to be a maven in order to see it. You are a maven in diamonds; I am a maven in Jews…” 

A Specialist in Souls  

This story answers an important question. We write and sing, “Hashem yitbarach always loves me.” True, there are many wonderful sources for this. But the question remains: Why? Why should Hashem love me? What in me causes Him to do so? It says, “Hashem loves the tzaddikim”; why should He love me if I am not a tzaddik? 

The answer is that Hashem yitbarach loves you because Hashem appreciates you!! What do we mean by ‘appreciate’? He knows your true value, your wonderful special qualities, the good desires that nestle in your pnimiyut (inner self)!! 

You can be looking at two diamonds. To you – a simple person – they look exactly the same. But an expert diamond merchant can tell you that one of them is a fake, and worth very little; the other is real, and is priceless. 

That is true not only for two diamonds – you can see one sparkling diamond, and another that is dirty and looks worthless, but when you go to someone who really understands, he will tell you that that dirty stone is really a valuable diamond that needs to be polished, whereas what looks like a sparkling diamond is just a worthless piece of glass… 

The tzaddikim know about Jews and reveal to us how much Hashem loves us, because the Creator of the World certainly knows what a Jew is; the Creator of the World knows who you really are! And that is why He appreciates the Jew and loves him, no mater what he looks like and no matter what he does! 

When you believe that Hashem loves you – you are really believing in your absolute, inner, limitless and independent value. 

Every person must believe in himself. And the belief that Hashem loves you is the height of believing in yourself! Even if you look upon yourself, and to your unschooled eye you seem to consist of only evil and dirt – your view is meaningless. You are not a diamond specialist. Hashem yitbarach knows and is a maven in precious stones, and therefore He sees your good points, and sees the inner core of your wants and desires, whereas everything that looks bad to you is only external dirt coating the diamond, which makes no difference as to its true value. 

Listen to the Professionals 

And so, even the smallest Jew, the Jew who is furthest away, is the beloved one of Hashem yitbarach just like the greatest tzaddik! There is no difference at all! 

The late Rabbi Yoram Abergel wrote some amazing things in his book, Betzur Yarum; there is no doubt that he was a great maven in neshamas (souls): Why do we say, “Our G-d and the G-d of our fathers”? You would think the order should be “the G-d of our fathers and our G-d” because the Creator of the World first revealed his G-dliness to our forefathers, and only afterwards to us. 

Rabbi Yoram Abergel gives amazing answers. Here is what he says so sweetly:  

“Our tradition as Am Yisrael (the Jewish People) starts with our holy forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, so Hashem is our G-d just like He is the G-d of our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. That is why we say in our prayers Elokeinu (our G-d) and after that Elokei avoteinu (G-d of our forefathers) – to emphasize that Hashem being our G-d is on the same level as His being the G-d of our forefathers. 

 

“And that is what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, promised Avraham – ‘to be a G-d for you and for your descendants after you’. And so, who told you that Hashem loves you less than He loved Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov?! And also: Who told you that Hashem doesn’t love a desecrator of Shabbat like he loved Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai?! For the halacha goes according to Rabbi Meir – that a Jew who sins is still called a son of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. 

 

“Since the Patriarchs are the Merkava (the ‘chariot’) and you are descended from them, you too have the ability to serve as a Merkava to Hashem, because when a person has children, they are like him.”  

How wonderful! 

The end of the quote from Rabbi Yoram Abergel connects to Parashat Toldot: children resemble their parents. As the Gemara says: “Avot (fathers) means that there are toladot (children born from them) – and their toladot resemble them.” In other words, if I call the parents ‘parents’, that means that they have descendants who are just like them. 

About the passuk, “This is the story of Yitzchak, son of Avraham: Avraham was Yitzchak’s father.” Rashi says that the passuk is saying that Yitzchak’s panim (countenance) resembled his father’s. Panim hints to pnimiyut, for Yitzchak was as beloved to Hashem as Avraham was. 

Rabbi Yoram and other tzaddikim tell us that it is the same in all generations. All the descendants of our holy forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov – all of them resemble those Patriarchs. Which means that all of us are as beloved to Hashem as they were, because we carry within us the special and holy qualities of the Avot. 

And so, dear Jews, believe in yourselves, believe in the good you have in you, and know well that Hashem yitbarach knows that you are good and knows that you want only good, and better and even better – and that you always want the best!