Day 18/30 - The Rebbe Needs our Tefillah and Brocha!

 B”H Day 18/30 - The Rebbe Needs our Tefillah and Brocha! 

In honor of Beis Nissan - the Yartzeit of the Rebbe Rashab and the start of the Nesius of the Frierdiker Rebbe.

I don’t have a lot of clear memories from before gimmel tammuz, but I do remember how everyone was always saying tehillim for the Rebbe after chof zayin adar, and how every day my family would be asking and talking and worrying about the Rebbe’s health…

In the summer of tof shin nun daled, there was a frum girl from Boro Park who got lost in the woods during a class field trip. Although I was just six years old at the time, I remember feeling so worried for the Rebbe especially then, because it seemed to me like the whole world was so busy worrying about and saying tehillim for Suri, the lost girl, that for a moment, they were forgetting about the Rebbe! And I thought, there are already enough other people davening for the girl, so I'm gonna say tehillim just for the Rebbe.

Looking back, of course it wasn’t true. I’m sure nobody forgot about the Rebbe! (It just felt that way especially since we lived in Boro Park and went to school there, and the concern in the air was so intense!) 

But that feeling that the Rebbe needs us, and really needs our prayers and blessings, was not naive at all… That part was, and still is, 100 percent true!

There was once a time when the Frierdiker Rebbe was feeling so unwell that he told his secretary that he had to take a break in accepting chassidim for yechidus. One chassid, who heard about this, nevertheless came rushing to the secretary, saying that he desperately needed to see the Frierdiker Rebbe right away. The secretary tried to refuse him, but he kept insisting that it was a question of pikuach nefesh that couldn’t wait at all! 

When an exception was finally made and he was allowed in, he started to give the Rebbe a heartfelt bracha for complete health and long life! 

It turned out that he didn’t come to ask for anything for anyone else; his urgent question of pikuach nefesh was only for the sake of the Frierdiker Rebbe himself! 

And his sincere bracha had the desired effect! Immediately after receiving this chossid’s brocha, the Frierdiker Rebbe told his secretary that he already feels much better, and is able to continue accepting people for Yechidus!

But how is it that we, who are so small, have the power to bless and give life to the Rebbe, if he is so much higher and greater than us?

In the sicha of Beis Nissan 5748, the Rebbe explains that it’s because the Nasi and King is the HEART of the Jewish people. And just as the heart does not only GIVE life to the body, but also RECEIVES life from the body in return, so too the Jewish king does not only give life to the nation, but also depends on the nation for his own life and kingship!

And it’s clear that this truth did not change at all after gimmel tammuz - because at the time that the Rebbe said this sicha, it was already 38 years AFTER Yud Shvat, and the Rebbe still said that with every passing year, the F”R gives us even more life than ever before, and that WE need to add even more life to the Rebbe, than ever before! 

The Rebbe explained that the way to add “chayim” to the Nasi, who is also the King, is through the nation proclaiming “Yechi Hamelech”. And that the meaning of this affirmation is that the time for “those who lie in the dust to rise and sing” has already come - referring to the הקיצו ורננו שוכני עפר of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and of Melech HaMoshiach! 

The words Yechi Hamelech are a tefillah and a Bracha. It’s one of the powerful ways that we, the body, are able to pump blood back to our heart - giving our heart the ability to once again pump even more blood, which is life, back to us. 

The Rebbe points out that even though the people are so distant from the level of the king, there is still no closer and more interdependent relationship than the one between the king and the nation - between the heart and the rest of the body! Just as there is no nation without a king, there is no king without a nation!

And this is especially true in regards to Moshiach, because his soul connection with every single Jew is even stronger and more revealed than with any other Jewish king. For this reason, each and every one of us has the power and ability to give life to Moshiach, and so through saying the words Yechi Hamelech, we coronate the king, and affect the coming of Moshiach! 

After learning this sicha inside, I was trying to understand, 

Why am I having such a hard time with this? 

And why does it seem that we are all, collectively, having such a hard time with this? 

We all want to see the הקיצו ורננו שוכני עפר of our Rebbe so desperately!! 

We all know that the Rebbe is our Nasi and our King, and that he is the one who Hashem has chosen to be Melech HaMoshiach - that he fits all the halachic criteria for this role!

We all love the Rebbe so deeply, and are more than ready for him to return to us, and lead the whole world to Geulah! 

So why can’t we just do it? 

Why can’t we all unite together in this powerful tefillah and Brocha of “Yechi Hamelech”?

Why does it feel so controversial and uncomfortable if there is nothing that is objectively controversial or uncomfortable about it? 

The only explanation that I can think of is that “easy” and “hard” are not objective logical truths! It’s just the way Hashem set up the golus - that the more important something is, the more the yetzer hara puts up a fight against it…

And so the fact that something is so challenging, is just a sign and a proof of how important it is! 

And so as we are approaching 120 years of our Rebbe’s nesius, there is no better time to bless our Rebbe with chayim nitzchiyim, eternal life, - so that we can be reunited with our Rebbe once again! 

And not just as before gimmel Tammuz, but in an infinitely greater way than before! 

For there is no doubt that - 

‎ירידה זו לצורך עליה עד שכל זה הוא כדאי! 

And as scary as it feels, in honor of beis Nissan and yud aleph Nissan, I would like to say this heartfelt tefillah and brocha out loud, for the first time,

יחי המלך!!! 

Please Hashem, bless our dear Rebbe, Melech Moshiach, with eternal life, so that he can finally lead us all in joyous song to the 3rd Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim!