Lately, lots of people have been asking me how I’m doing here in Russia...
And Baruch HaShem, my answer is that I still feel SO grateful to be on Shlichus specifically here - because the beautiful Jews of Russia have not changed at all! So until Moshiach comes, there’s nowhere else I would rather be!
Yesterday was one of those days when I felt it so strongly, as we celebrated the Bris Milahs of Shaina’s 2 little boys.
It was the most emotional and joyous bris Milas that I’ve ever been to in my life, maybe even more than the Brissim of my own 2 sons!
But let me start from the beginning...
Margarita showed up at Shul for the first time because she saw an enticing advertisement for our trip to NY. The date the trip was set to begin was exactly the same as the date that her 8 month old baby was scheduled to be baptised, but she decided to push off the latter so as not to miss out on this exciting opportunity.
She had no idea that there was anything wrong with the necklace that she showed up to the first pre-trip meeting with… But by the second meeting she already sensed that she should at least tuck it under her shirt.
She soaked everything in so quickly, started lighting Shabbos candles right away….
And she had a really transformational experience at the Rebbe’s Ohel! She emotionally shared with the girls that although she had prayed so much in the past, in non-Jewish places of worship, this was the first time in her life that she could feel and clearly SEE that Someone was actually listening! She had asked for a bracha for health since she was experiencing terrible back pain, and as soon as she left the Rebbe’s Ohel, the pain had disappeared!
By the time she returned to Moscow a week later, her name was Shaina instead of Margarita, and her baby was already scheduled to have a Bris Milah instead of a baptism!
A lot happened over the next few years. She ended up divorcing her first husband and getting remarried, unfortunately, to a non-Jew. She got pregnant twice, and both times her husband, mother, grandmother, and close friends, all thought it was a big mistake and that she should have an abortion. Both times she BH called to talk about her struggle before doing anything, because she needed at least one person to support her in being strong and making the right decision…
They were both boys, and she so much wanted to give them both a Bris, but her husband was categorically against it! He couldn’t understand it, and most importantly, he didn’t want his children to be different than him! He was okay with a lot of other Jewish things and mitzvos, but this was the one thing that he completely resisted.
Although it pained Shaina so much, she felt there was nothing she could do about it, and kind of gave up on trying…
This past Purim, as they were about to leave our Purim party, I told her husband that they just had to finally give their sons a bris, and with the Purim energy in the air, I promised him that he would see great blessings from it! He didn’t say a word and I had no idea what he was thinking, but Shaina told me after that he asked, “What was she talking about?” He understood that it was about cutting something but wasn’t sure if I meant an upshernish or a bris? (It happens sometimes that my Russian vocabulary is on such a high level that even natives have a hard time understanding me.)
About a week later, Shaina asked if they could come over to talk because they were having serious financial problems and it looked like they would need to sell their house. Of course I had no way to help them with what they needed, but I was still happy for them to come over to have another chance to talk about the bris idea.
When they arrived, I told them that parnassa is something that comes only from Hashem. It’s obvious that no matter how smart we are or how hard we work, we can’t control the outcome…. And that the way to bring Hashem’s bracha is by fulfilling His will. Again, we spoke about doing a bris, and that because this is something that goes above their nature, it would bezH create a miracle above nature from Hashem as well.
I was shocked when her husband said that he was ready to go ahead with it! We just couldn’t believe our ears, as Shaina tried to hide her overwhelming emotion! Hashem had arranged for this huge brick wall to disappear in one instant! And so on the spot, we called the mohel to schedule their Bris Milahs at the first opportunity.
(The next day the father had an extremely successful business deal, better than he ever had before, and he told his wife that he felt sure that it was because of their good decision!)
As my husband and the Sandek came out of the medical room singing “Siman Tov and Mazel Tov” my eyes were welling up with tears of happiness!
Inspired by this week’s Moshiach class with Sara Rosenfeld, I realised that THIS is really what Moshiach is all about! THIS is a taste of the joy of Geulah! We had just learned that our obligation to anticipate Moshiach needs to be *specifically* out of the desire for the return of Malchus Beis Dovid and the opportunity to fulfill all of the 613 Mitzvos. (To the point that if someone looks forward to all the secondary prophecies of Geulah like peace, health, wealth, etc. but doesn’t look forward to this MAIN thing, then he is considered a Kofer chas v’shalom!)
I realised that if the essence of Geulah is about all Jews fulfilling all of Torah and Mitzvos, without any of the previous limitations or resistance, then THIS is what Geulah is all about!
As I watched Shaina’s non-Jewish husband helping their 4 year old son through the entire difficult process of before and after anaesthesia, I thought that this is what Moshiach’s times will look like - goyim helping yidden fulfill the will of Hashem!
And I got the chills when the Sandek pointed out the hayom yom of yesterday -
_“We do recite the Harachaman of brit Mila.
(From a sicha at a brit mila repast): At a brit mila we say, "Just as he has entered into the Covenant so may he enter into Torah, into marriage and into good deeds" (p. 141). It is our custom to make an advance payment on tuition fees for the boy's studies. (Here the Rebbe gave a sum of money and said): This is for the Yeshiva.”_
And that’s in addition to the Brissim falling out exactly in the Parsha of the mitzvah of bris milah!
Again I thought that this is Geulah - when we can see Hashgacha Protis so clearly before our eyes!
My husband told over something beautiful he heard from Rabbi Levi Heber, that one of the meanings of,
״כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות,״
Is that just like then, the yidden all had bris milah at older ages, and we were redeemed in the zechus of the blood of their bris milahs, so too before Moshiach comes, older children and adults will once again have bris milahs, and in this zechus Moshiach will come!”
And this is definitely something that we have seen in our times like never before, and that we have seen in the FSU more than anywhere else in the world!
May the brissim of little Shimshon and Daniel be the final ones to usher in the true and final Geulah now!
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