Room two hundred and six in the hall of Hayom Yom.
Monday, 18 Sivan 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Shlach, Sheni, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim: For the 18th of the month, we say two chapters - chapter 88 and chapter 89.
Tanya: Today we continue chapter 6 in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. The daily shiur begins with the words "bnei hitkallelut," on page 160, and concludes with the word "bashemesh" on page 81.
The daily teaching is short. Its source is a letter written by the Rebbe Rayatz on this same date, 18 Sivan, two years earlier, in 5701, at the height of the World War. The letter is addressed to a Jew who asked that the Rebbe Rayatz send him the monthly journal published at that time called "HaKeriah VeHaKedushah." In this journal, the Rebbe Rayatz issued a proclamation urging Jews to awaken during the war in their avodah of Hashem, in the avodah of teshuvah, Shabbat observance, tefillin, taharat hamishpachah, kashrus, chinuch, etc. The Rebbe Rayatz strongly emphasized there that all this is so they will merit the Geulah - so that the entire Jewish people will merit to be redeemed. The quote before us is one excerpt from that letter.
Let us read the text. The Rebbe Rayatz writes to him: "At this time, literally in the ikveta dimshicha" - we are at a time that is already truly at the very end of the time of exile, and we hope for Moshiach - "it is the obligation of every Jew to seek the welfare of his fellow," that everyone must seek out, meaning to search, engage, take an interest in, and help for the benefit of another, "whether old or young" - whether the other person is old or young - "to awaken him to teshuvah," to arouse everyone to return in teshuvah and take upon themselves mitzvot. And the goal is "so that Heaven forbid he does not exclude himself from the community of Israel, so that they will merit, with the help of Hashem, may He be blessed, the complete Geulah" - that the entire Jewish people needs to be redeemed, and there should not be a situation where, Heaven forbid, someone remains outside the community.
In the letter itself, the Rebbe Rayatz concludes that certainly no one wishes to be like those Jews who died in Egypt during the three days of darkness, who did not merit to leave Egypt but remained during the plague of darkness and died there. He says that certainly every Jew believes in the coming of Moshiach, if only they are awakened to teshuvah; and then the Holy One, blessed be He, will grant us the merit to be saved from the birth pangs of Moshiach and to merit greeting Moshiach. This is the conclusion of the letter, and this is the content of the teaching - everything that the Rebbe awakens regarding the avodah of shlichus throughout the world, to work on bringing Jews closer.
Here there is a point that seemingly requires understanding. The emphasis in the Rebbe's sichos is well known, that there is a great difference between the future Geulah and the redemption from Egypt: in the redemption from Egypt, there was a situation where many were truly not redeemed - eighty percent did not leave, and only twenty percent left - whereas in the future Geulah, everyone will be redeemed. The Rebbe's famous precise analysis is known regarding the passage in the Pesach Haggadah where we say about the wicked son, that "had he been there, he would not have been redeemed" - why? Because in Egypt there was indeed a situation where many who did not want to leave did not leave, but in the future Geulah, there is no situation where someone will not be redeemed; rather, everyone will be redeemed. Yet here, from the teaching and the continuation of the letter, it explicitly implies that if someone does not return in teshuvah, they will not merit the Geulah. How can this be reconciled?
I saw someone who explains this, that certainly in actuality everyone will be redeemed, but there are apparently stages to this. He brings an example: a person who ends his life at these very moments, in these days or in recent periods, and did not merit the coming of Moshiach - what will be with him in the Geulah? He will arise in techiyas hameisim and join the Geulah during the stage of the resurrection of the dead. It turns out, that even with the fact that everyone will merit the Geulah, there are different situations for each and every individual.
He adds, that it is also possible that among the living there are those who prepared themselves and returned in teshuvah, and they are worthy to receive the Geulah and will be completely involved from the very first second; and there will be those who, as a result of not doing what was required of them, when the Geulah comes they will have tremendous shame from the situation, and this shame will cause them to quickly jump "on the bandwagon," to awaken and return in teshuvah. In other words, it is possible that even in the future Geulah, although the bottom line is that everyone will be redeemed, there are certain stages to this - at what stage you will be caught up in the Geulah: whether you will be completely ready and fully involved, or whether you will need to undergo a process to be ready.
In any case, it is understood from the teaching that we must help a Jew to be truly ready to merit the complete Geulah from the very first moment, without waiting for a "second station," for a "local train" that will bring you to the destination under new conditions. Ultimately everyone will board, but it is preferable to board at the first station, and not, Heaven forbid, in the later stages.