Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s lecture
Jun. 22nd, 2004 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magicmirrorin honor of the tenth Yartzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; Thursday, June 17th.
I hesitantly post it here as I fear I am not clear and presise; this is only what and how I remember. Those who have heard, please feel free to correct and add.
Right before the lecture, a movie about the Rebbe was shown. There were many episodes of the Rebbe meeting with various people and wishing (or advising) them to do more, to ask more of themselves and of the others.
Rabbi Steinsaltz started by saying that he would like his listeners not to enjoy his lecture, but to feel “if not an urge than at least an itch.”
Dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hilel: what is better for a person – to be born or not to be born? Beit Shammai won by saying that it is better for a person not to be born. Then Hilel says: even if it is better for a person not to be born, if one IS already born, please, let’s shift from the great global theoretical question to smaller and more practical ones to understand HOW to live.
The Rebbe was a great man. To understand what “a great man” means: If the tail is taken away from a peacock, it becomes just an unattractive hen. Same with some people who are great in something: outside of the area of their greatness they are ordinary human beings. Not so the Rebbe: he was a great scholar, a great leader, a great … (I forgot who), but if all these features were taken away from him, he would have remained the Rebbe.
What does it mean – to be a Rebbe? As a private person, the only his wish was – not to be a Rebbe. But, same as in the Shammai-Hilel dispute, if he had to be the Rebbe, he was it 24 hours a day – and more.
To be a rebbe is not an honor, a power, or even saintliness – it’s obligation. Duty is beyond the will.
He did something with himself, being more than an ordinary person – and he demanded the same from other people. To illustrate: unlike in a joke, where a poor Jew comes to his rabbi and complains about his overcrowded small house, and then is suggested to bring in a goat – and then to take it outside, and this causes a relieve – the Rebbe suggested to bring in a goat, then, if it did not help, a cow, and then, if this also did not help – a few camels.
An analogy from physics (“”when I was an honest young man I was a bit in this field”): When a larger and larger pressure is applied to an object it finally can’t resist any more, but when a much larger pressure is applied, the matter collapses and the nature of the object changes.
This is what the Rebbe wanted from us: to have our nature changed. In the Shammai-Hilel dispute, in the “yes or no” situation about the worthiness of the humanity (which is not fulfilling its duty), the Rebbe suggested a different answer: to change the nature of human beings, so that they become worthy of creation; to recreate a man. That’s why he wanted us to demand of ourselves more than we can do. And he was the first person under this experiment.
What does it mean to bring Moshiah? It is truly achieving the end of history. The history is achievements and then regress, and then achievements, and so on; coming Moshiah is an irreversible event. Being an irreversible event, it is also impossible. To achieve it, human being must become more than human beings; not only 10,000 shlihim, but everyone.
(Something about if you cannot run, then run twice as fast (I expected – “then fly”), or at least walk, or, move on all four.)
I hesitantly post it here as I fear I am not clear and presise; this is only what and how I remember. Those who have heard, please feel free to correct and add.
Right before the lecture, a movie about the Rebbe was shown. There were many episodes of the Rebbe meeting with various people and wishing (or advising) them to do more, to ask more of themselves and of the others.
Rabbi Steinsaltz started by saying that he would like his listeners not to enjoy his lecture, but to feel “if not an urge than at least an itch.”
Dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hilel: what is better for a person – to be born or not to be born? Beit Shammai won by saying that it is better for a person not to be born. Then Hilel says: even if it is better for a person not to be born, if one IS already born, please, let’s shift from the great global theoretical question to smaller and more practical ones to understand HOW to live.
The Rebbe was a great man. To understand what “a great man” means: If the tail is taken away from a peacock, it becomes just an unattractive hen. Same with some people who are great in something: outside of the area of their greatness they are ordinary human beings. Not so the Rebbe: he was a great scholar, a great leader, a great … (I forgot who), but if all these features were taken away from him, he would have remained the Rebbe.
What does it mean – to be a Rebbe? As a private person, the only his wish was – not to be a Rebbe. But, same as in the Shammai-Hilel dispute, if he had to be the Rebbe, he was it 24 hours a day – and more.
To be a rebbe is not an honor, a power, or even saintliness – it’s obligation. Duty is beyond the will.
He did something with himself, being more than an ordinary person – and he demanded the same from other people. To illustrate: unlike in a joke, where a poor Jew comes to his rabbi and complains about his overcrowded small house, and then is suggested to bring in a goat – and then to take it outside, and this causes a relieve – the Rebbe suggested to bring in a goat, then, if it did not help, a cow, and then, if this also did not help – a few camels.
An analogy from physics (“”when I was an honest young man I was a bit in this field”): When a larger and larger pressure is applied to an object it finally can’t resist any more, but when a much larger pressure is applied, the matter collapses and the nature of the object changes.
This is what the Rebbe wanted from us: to have our nature changed. In the Shammai-Hilel dispute, in the “yes or no” situation about the worthiness of the humanity (which is not fulfilling its duty), the Rebbe suggested a different answer: to change the nature of human beings, so that they become worthy of creation; to recreate a man. That’s why he wanted us to demand of ourselves more than we can do. And he was the first person under this experiment.
What does it mean to bring Moshiah? It is truly achieving the end of history. The history is achievements and then regress, and then achievements, and so on; coming Moshiah is an irreversible event. Being an irreversible event, it is also impossible. To achieve it, human being must become more than human beings; not only 10,000 shlihim, but everyone.
(Something about if you cannot run, then run twice as fast (I expected – “then fly”), or at least walk, or, move on all four.)
