Gimmel Tammuz: How to end a love affair with nature

By Rabbi Daniel Green

Crown Heights, NY

On this day 26 years since we saw the Rebbe last, we focus on one thing - Rebbe. In our corporeal lives that are conducted, for the most part, as per the edicts of nature, the one thing that defies this natural conduct is, again, Rebbe.

When it came to carrying out a shlichus, whether we found it within our natural abilities or not, a Lubavitcher always rose to the occasion. Why? Rebbe.

When it came to going on tahalucha amidst a torrential downpour, or dancing the entire night on the street during Simchas Beis Hashoeva till the wee hours of the morning, trying to keep our eyes open due to sleep deprivation, we did it - and without batting an eyelid. Why? Rebbe.

I say this now to every Lubavitcher, and we all know it to be true, from the very core of our being. And as the Rebbe enunciated, on the 24th of Teves, 5712 (1952), that every Chassid engraves, deep into his heart, the following:

אז מער ווי דער אויבערשטער און ליובאוויטש, מער ווי דער אויבערשטער און תורת החסידות, מער ווי דער איבערשטער און תורה, איז מער גארנישט ניטא!

“Other than Hashem and Lubavitch, other than Hashem and Chassidus, other than Hashem and Torah - there’s nothing else!” All other considerations, even conforming with the guidelines of nature and normalcy, then, were included in - “nothing else.”

And this, my friends, is what defines a Chassid as opposed to a non-Chassid. A non-Chassid, albeit a properly observant and pious Jew, conforms to normalcy and nature more readily than a Chassid, who prefers to go the supernatural route.

Here are a few examples, among many, of the Chassidic tendency to somewhat shun normalcy and to treat nature condescendingly.

1. Studying Torah exclusively. Whereas most religious parents the world over balance their elementary-aged sons’ Torah study with a proper secular education, to enable, when the time comes, the young men to generate more substantial incomes - Chassidim choose chadarim that offer no secular studies at all, so that their children be immersed in strictly holy educational pursuits until marriage or until they need to become breadwinners. So while nature says, be wise and invest in your child’s financial future - Torah says, give your child Torah, and only Torah. Chassidim choose Torah over nature.

2. Metzitzah bipeh. At a ritual circumcision, after removing the foreskin, a mohel must suction out the blood in order to prevent infection. The proper way to do this, Halacha mandates, is by mouth, which provides the best suction (after which the mohel spits out the blood, of course). However, in 2012, the city of New York passed a ban on metzitzah by mouth, citing evidence that this ritual led to infants contracting herpes. A majority of doctors, privy to the modern-day sensitivity to microorganisms of which the Talmud “might not have been aware” (or so they thought) inspired the government’s ban. Furthermore, many Orthodox (non-Chassidic) rabbis too approved of the ban, citing that pikuach nefesh, saving a life, comes first, and that mohalim should comply with the medical knowledge and use a straw. Throughout the city, Chassidic mohalim continued to do the ritual by mouth, albeit illegally, and went on to combat the decree in court, refusing to abandon a Jewish practice for generations, and moreover, one prescribed by Shulchan Aruch as the correct and safe way to perform the ritual. Chassidim were not phased by doctors’ testimonies and empirical evidence provided by the government’s legal counsel (arguing vehemently therewith, claiming it faulty and inaccurate) and were ultimately successful in stopping the city from meddling in religion. Again - Chassidim went with mind over matter, with Torah over (what the majority of doctors assumed to be) nature. 

3. Having large families. While many non-Chassidic couples show prudence in unrestrained procreation, whereas the cost of raising each child, from birth till marriage, is simply astronomical - from newborn diapers through yeshiva tuitions - which naturally, is beyond the means of most parents, Chassidic couples take the Torah’s words “Be fruitful and multiply” literally. Instead of taking precautions in order to live within their natural financial ability, they choose to elicit supernatural powers to somehow manage, in order to bring as many Jewish souls into the world as possible. 

(This list can go on and on, but I need to get to the point of my article).

At the epicenter of this disobedience to the laws of nature is… That’s right. Rebbe.

So did Gimmel Tammuz affect this? No. Not the slightest. Well, not until recently. Very recently.

How did it happen? How did Lubavitch, the epitome of Chassidic disrespect for nature in modern times, suddenly fall in love with nature, with doctors, and with state and city governments?

Why was 770 only opened a few days ago, while every shul in Williamsburg has been open since before Shavuos? Why is Oholei Torah still closed, while schools in Williamsburg were open since before Pesach? Why is Oholei Torah zal not planning to open for the school year of 2020-2021, in compliance with the state’s restrictions on congregating in a study-hall of its proportions? Why are large Chabad summer camps in New York not planning to open, leaving many kids without a Chassidic summer experience. (These children have suffered enough - spiritually, socially and mentally - by being deprived of a school environment for months, and now, they will be deprived of overnight camp as well. While the Rebbe shturemed about the summertime necessity and golden opportunity for every child to be immersed in chinuch al taharas hadosh, a.k.a. Gan Yisroel, 24-7, even those who did not have this privilege throughout the year - this summer, many such children will be without!)

Why are Chabad Houses throughout the nation still closed, while state governments have opened up almost everything else, yet Chabad chooses to be more prudent?

Why has our movement become so overly cautious and legally obedient, and in fact going way beyond, in many cases, even the restrictive policies of governments? Why has every Lubavitcher child become a Zoom zombie, while other Chassidic circle’s kids defied governmental crackdown on classical Judaic education, and studied in person with a real rebbie and with their peers for the past few months?

To sum it up, Lubavitch seems to be espousing the consideration of nature, reacting to the fear of statistical possibilities of medical danger, rather than considering the profundity of the supernatural - opening yeshivas, shuls, Chabad Houses, and its flagship overnight camps.

It’s just so uncanny, so uncharacteristic of us!

Can it be because we haven’t seen the Rebbe or heard his holy and entirely supernatural directives for 26 years?

Is it because we have become controlled by doctors, even if they call themselves “Chabad” doctors, who put nature first?

(Some have erroneously announced that Jews are obligated to listen to the majority of doctors’ opinions in every situation, but this notion is simply incorrect. Halacha only obligates a Jew to follow the advice of a doctor when the doctor attempts to heal or diagnose an unwell patient, but not necessarily for merely preventative medicine for a healthy individual, or for a community as a whole. The law that involves adhering to a majority of doctors’ opinions is when an ailing person is unsure if he is able to fast on Yom Kippur, in which case he must subscribe to the opinion of the majority of doctors, or rather, to even one doctor with more expertise than the majority. But if most doctors, even the biggest experts feel, for example, that a certain essential Jewish activity like Torah learning or davening can indirectly lead to the possibility of sakanas nifashois, there is no precedent in Halacha that obliges us to follow their orders and abandon the practice. Even a non-essential, completely secular activity like smoking cigarettes, for example, which a large majority of doctors caution against in the strongest of terms - poskim, including Rabbi Moshe Feinshtein, refused to ban Halachically on grounds of these doctors’ professional consensus, since the danger is merely a statistical possibility, a future causation, and the doctors’ orders are strictly preventative. Sure, it is unwise, and even reprehensible, to smoke. My point is, nonetheless, that if the greatest of poskim couldn’t see the majority of doctors’ preventative orders as grounds to restrict a completely optional recreational activity like smoking, then how can we, in good Halachic conscience, keep shuls and yeshivas closed, based on the so-called Gedalia Society’s recommendation of prudence and preventative safety?)

Am Yisroel Chai!

Chassidus tells us that nature comes from the name Elokim. In fact, this name of Hashem has the numerical value of the word “hateva” - “the nature.” Alternatively, the miraculous is an expression of a higher name of G-d - sheim Havayeh. This is why Pharaoh said to Moshe - “I don’t know Havayeh, and I shall not send away the (Jewish) people.” If Pharaoh didn’t recognize G-d, then how did his magicians report to him that a plague was etzba Elokim - “the finger of G-d”?! Rather, Pharoah and the Egyptians could only recognize the Creator as the source of nature, the name “Elokim.” Moshe Rabeinu, however, was claiming that Hashem is completely beyond nature, sheim Havayeh - and to this quintessential name of the Alm-ghty, Pharoah was oblivious. The ten miraculous plagues helped him and the rest of the world perceive the truth, for miracles are a revelation of this transcendent name of Hashem, His true, unconcealed identity. 

And so, to all my fellow Chassidim, in Crown Heights and throughout the world:

Today is Gimmmel Tammuz. It’s been 26 years. 26 is the gematria of sheim Havayeh. Let’s go beyond nature - let’s stop being afraid; afraid of doctors, afraid of Cuomo, afraid of Di Blasio, afraid of golus.

We are Lubavitch. We are beyond all this.

As we recite daily, during Kadish, yehei shmei raba mivarach… “May His great name be blessed, forever and for all eternity,” referring to the transcendent name of G-d, that is entirely beyond nature. And as our sages assert, “Whoever says ‘yehei shmei rabba…’ with all his might, a g’zar din of 70 years is ripped up!” Chassidus explains that seventy is seven, the natural traits of the animal soul, times ten, including all the detailed counterparts of these traits, indicating the human condition of being plagued with a life-long addiction to nature and natural impulses. This condition can be ripped up, however, by summoning and revealing the transcendent energy of Hashem’s presence, shmei raba, throughout the universe. Just as the first redeemer introduced this reality in Egypt, the first exile - so too, the Rebbe, the final redeemer, introduces it in the final golus.

And especially now, in our present situation:

It’s seventy years since the Rebbe assumed leadership, yet we’re facing a g’zar din of shivim shana - a temporary aversion from our former selves, a numbing addiction to nature, to doctors’ ordering us to limit Jewish observances, R”l, to compliance with government’s religion-monitoring restrictions, etc.

It’s time to rip up the g’zar din. Today is Gimmel Tammuz, 26 years, bigimatria sheim Havayeh! Let’s reveal our connection to the Rebbe, our recognition of the supernatural, and our unwavering commitment to Torah and mitzvos, to all the Rebbe’s horo’ois, including being a “Hakhel Yid”, constantly looking for the opportunity to gather Yidden together, to congregate our people in unity and in large numbers (not just on “Zoom”), without any distancing (as the Rebbe instructed in 5748, and indicating that this instruction was to continue every year, even after the year of Hakhel had concluded), to serve Hashem beyond reason, and mainly, to bring Moshiach now!!!  יחי אדוננו מורנו ורבינו מלך המשיח לעולם ועד!