The Test Of Faith in Life
So why is it that a tragically substantial amount of the Jewish world scoffs at this neis and scorns the saving acts of HHM the Rebbe shlita? Why do so many Jews wallow in the quagmire of golus, and why does Israel remain under dire threat from her enemies? Why is halacha and yiddishkeit cast aside by so many Jews, especially in Israel and America, in the final hour of redemption?
They will say, from their moshav leitzim, that HHM the Rebbe shlita has (c”v) died, been mourned, and been buried. They say that nothing has changed since Gimmel Tamuz, and that after 23 years it is clear that (c”v) HHM the Rebbe shlita is a so-called failed messiah, lehavdil, like Yoshke or Shabtai Tzvi, yemach shemam.
Codswallop. But to look at things from a purely external lens, the leitzim do have a point. Outwardly, it would seem that the world has carried on as usual despite what we know through faith has taken place. When we say “The Rebbe is alive!”, they can simply point to Francis Lewis Blvd in retort. What are we to say in response?
Allow me to turn your attention to the midrashim concerning the akeidah. While Rashi may say that Yitzchak went straight to Yeshivas Shem V’Ever following the akeidah, there is an opinion that holds that, in fact, Yitzchak was killed by Avraham during the akeidah. Surprising as this sounds, it seems to fit with the story well.
Yitzchak’s later appearance is explained by him being taken to Gan Eden for two years, following his death, and then returned. Which is why Rashi’s count of Yitzchak’s life is missing two years. The order from God not to kill him was not, in fact, delivered by God but by a malach. Now, why should Avraham listen to some malach when God himself already gave him a clear order? Clearly this malach was actually Satan, and ignoring him was the final part of this test. Thus, it would seem that from all outward appearances Yitzchak was dead, and (c”v) Hashem had failed to keep his promise to Avraham, until suddenly Yitzchak returned alive and Hashem’s faithfulness was revealed.
I posit to you that the same scenario is playing out with the histalkus of HHM the Rebbe shlita. While the generation who witnessed these events were surely as brokenhearted as Avraham must have felt watching his only son burn before him, all of us shall, im yirtzeh hashem, be zoche to see HHM the Rebbe shlita be nisgale to the whole world speedily in our days! Yechi HaMelech HaMoshiach!
Article By: iChabad