From the well in Aram Naharayim to the B’nai Brith youth convention — just as Eliezer was answered before he finished speaking, so too Rabbi Feller witnessed miracles in his shlichus.
In honor of the International Kinus Hashluchim, I would like to share with you a very special story about shlichus.
One of the well-known and veteran Chabad shluchim is Rabbi Moshe Feller, may he live and be well. He was sent by the Rebbe to the state of Minnesota.
Shortly before the Six-Day War in 1967, the Rebbe launched a campaign encouraging Jews to put on tefillin, in order to help bring victory over Israel’s enemies. Responding to the Rebbe’s call, chassidim in Eretz Yisrael went out to help soldiers put on tefillin, and from there the campaign spread throughout the entire world. At that time, the Rebbe was the only leader who gave our people hope, through this campaign. When the war ended in a stunning Israeli victory, an enormous spiritual awakening swept through the Jewish people, and tefillin became a symbol of that victory. Ariel Sharon, one of the heroes of that war, was photographed putting on tefillin at the newly liberated Western Wall — and the photo was published in The New York Times. The Rebbe was very pleased by all of this.
About half a year later, around Chanukah of 1968, the Rebbe called to expand the campaign — to reach out to Jewish youth and encourage them to put on tefillin. It happened to be that at that exact time, a golden opportunity came Rabbi Feller’s way. During that period he worked extensively with B’nai Brith Youth Organization, and that Chanukah he was invited to deliver the keynote address at their regional convention, held near his home.
Three presenters — all vastly different from one another — were invited to speak at the event:
a “hippie” from San Francisco’s famous Haight-Ashbury district, the birthplace of the counterculture movement;
a member of the African-American protest group, the “Black Panthers”;
and Rabbi Feller.
He was scheduled to open the second day of the convention and speak before about two hundred Jewish boys and two hundred and fifty Jewish girls.
He immediately reported the details to the Rebbe, and told him that he had said to the organizers: “You are a Jewish organization — how is it that there are no prayers taking place at all?” Promoting mitzvah observance was not among the goals of the B’nai Brith Youth Organization, but nonetheless, he requested that prayers be held before his talk — that the boys should put on tefillin, and that the girls should have a separate tefillah of their own. They agreed and allotted half an hour for tefillin and prayer.
But where does one find 200 pairs of tefillin on such short notice?
The previous summer, two Chabad bochurim from New York had come to Minnesota to do Jewish outreach, so he contacted them and said, “We have an opportunity to upgrade the tefillin campaign in a serious way, but I need your help to get two hundred pairs of tefillin — or as close to that number as possible.” The two ran around to every Judaica store in New York and managed to purchase 137 pairs of tefillin at eighteen dollars a pair. Today, you couldn’t even buy the leather straps for that price.
Naturally, this created another problem: where would he get the money to pay for so many pairs of tefillin? When he reported the campaign’s progress to the Rebbe, the Rebbe instructed: “This is an exceptional tefillin campaign. The cost of the tefillin will be covered from here.” The two bochurim flew to Minnesota with the 137 pairs. They arrived at the convention and met all the boys in the music room. The boys were seated in chairs arranged around the room, and in the center, the director of B’nai Brith Youth demonstrated how to put on tefillin. Meanwhile, the bochurim ran around making sure everyone was putting them on properly. They all recited Shema together — and they did the same with the remaining sixty boys. At the same time, in a separate hall of the school, a special tefillah was held for the girls.
Later, during the keynote address, Rabbi Feller spoke on the theme of the convention: the right to be different.
“You have the right to be different,” he told them, “but only if in that difference you are right — and doing what is truly correct. And the only way to know what is really right is to look upward. G-d alone determines what is good and what is not; otherwise everything is merely relative.”
Afterwards, Rabbi Feller called the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Hodakov, to report that they had put tefillin on with two hundred boys. In the middle of the call, he realized that the Rebbe himself was on the line, listening from his room. Suddenly he heard the Rebbe’s voice in Yiddish: “And what about tomorrow?”
Feller replied, “I don’t want to overdo it!” The very fact that B’nai Brith had agreed to open their convention with tefillin was unprecedented.
“In this,” the Rebbe said, “there is no such thing as overdoing. Go back to them and tell them it must be done again tomorrow.”
The Rebbe then asked, “Was the media present? Television?” And added, “Did you light Chanukah candles?”
Usually, he would invite the media to cover Chabad events, but this was not a Chabad event — it was B’nai Brith’s. Nevertheless, the Rebbe wanted this to serve as a real public statement and receive broad exposure. The Rebbe then added: “Tell them we will cover half the cost for every boy who wants to purchase his own pair of tefillin.”
Rabbi Feller later described what it felt like when he returned to Ralph Birnberg, the director of B’nai Brith Youth, to tell him all this. He first said a chapter of Tehillim, and then approached him. “The Rebbe was so pleased that the convention opened with tefillin,” he said with difficulty, “that he suggested we do the same tomorrow.” “Excellent idea!” the director replied.
“The Rebbe also said he would cover half the cost for every boy who wants to buy tefillin,” Rabbi Feller added — and Ralph responded, “And B’nai Brith will cover another twenty-five percent.”
Now every boy could purchase a pair of tefillin for just four and a half dollars.
The next day they did it again. In the meantime they were able to obtain more pairs of tefillin, and everything worked out in the best possible way. The story was covered by Jewish newspapers in English around the world. Some time later, when a certain rabbi from Baltimore visited the Rebbe and saw photographs of the boys putting on tefillin sitting on the Rebbe’s desk, the Rebbe remarked to him: “Generally, I am not given to being impressed — but this impresses me.”
(My Story, issue no. 542)
“Before He Finished Speaking”
In our parsha, Chayei Sarah, we read about the very first shliach. Avraham Avinu sends his loyal servant, Eliezer, to find a wife for his son Yitzchak, directing him to a specific place from which the intended bride must come: Aram Naharayim, Avraham’s homeland.
As Eliezer sets out on his journey, he is blessed with a series of miracles. The road miraculously shortens, and he arrives at the outskirts of the city at midday on the very same day he set out. Upon arriving, he encounters young women drawing water from the well. Eliezer offers a prayer to G-d to find the right wife for Yitzchak and sets a sign for himself: soon the daughters of the city will come to draw water. The girl from whom he asks a little water to drink — and who responds by offering water both to him and to his camels — she will be the one destined for Yitzchak.
“And it was, before he finished speaking, that Rivkah came out.” Before Eliezer even finished his words, Rivkah, the daughter of Besuel, came out to draw water. She approached the well and filled her jug. When Eliezer saw this, he ran toward her and asked for a little water from her jug. Rivkah gave him to drink and also drew water for all his camels, enough for their full needs.
Eliezer then asked her who her family was and whether there was room in her home for lodging. Rivkah answered that her father was Besuel the son of Milcah — Avraham’s sister-in-law — and that they had room for guests. Eliezer thanked G-d for the kindness He had shown him in leading him to Rivkah.
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 60:4) comments: “Three were answered as they were still speaking: Eliezer, Moshe, and Shlomo.” Regarding Moshe Rabbeinu during the rebellion of Korach, the Torah says: “And it was, when he finished speaking… the earth split open.” And regarding King Solomon at the dedication of the Beis Hamikdash it says, “And it was, when Shlomo finished praying to G-d, that fire descended from Heaven.”
Similar to Eliezer’s prayer, the Midrash points us to a parallel moment in the life of Moshe Rabbeinu. This occurred during Korach’s rebellion against Moshe. Korach, jealous of the positions of Moshe and Aharon, led a revolt in the desert. He claimed that Moshe and Aharon were elevating themselves above the rest of the nation, who were all holy in G-d’s eyes. The next day, when everyone assembled, Moshe warned the people to step away from the tents of Korach, Dasan, and Aviram. Immediately — “when he finished speaking” these words — the ground split beneath them and swallowed them, their families, and all their possessions alive.
The Midrash cites another similar example from Tanach: “And when Shlomo finished praying,” describing the dedication of the First Temple. After King Solomon concluded a long prayer requesting that G-d listen to the prayers of the people who would come to the newly built Temple, G-d responded instantly and miraculously: fire descended from Heaven, consumed the offerings on the altar, and the glory of G-d filled the Temple. This signaled G-d’s acceptance of the Temple and of Shlomo’s prayer.
But when we compare the prayers of Moshe and Shlomo to Eliezer’s, we discover that Eliezer had an advantage even over them. Their prayers were answered only after they finished speaking — whereas Eliezer’s request was granted “before he finished speaking”!
This raises a question: why was Eliezer granted something that neither Moshe Rabbeinu nor King Solomon were granted?
The answer may be as follows: Eliezer is the very first shliach mentioned in the Torah (Toras Menachem 5749, vol. 1, p. 344). Eliezer did not go in his own power, but in the power of the one who sent him — Avraham Avinu. Eliezer paved the way for every shliach who would follow in the mission of Avraham Avinu, that G-d would fulfill his request in the manner of “before he finished speaking.” When a shliach sets out to fulfill the mission of Avraham Avinu — “And he called there in the name of G-d, the Eternal”; “Don’t read ‘and he called’ but ‘and he caused others to call’” — he must know that G-d will answer his prayer even before he finishes articulating it.
And then, even an organization like B’nai Brith — not only will it not oppose him, it will happily assist him.
The Rebbe says in the sichah of 20 Cheshvan, 5742:
“And similarly we can understand regarding the avodah of every Jew during the time of exile: not only does he have nothing to fear from the difficulties of exile, knowing that when he prays to G-d he is answered immediately — ‘swiftly will His word run’ — but even more: as a spiritual heir of Avraham… he is answered in the manner of ‘before he finished speaking.’
“This means that even before he concludes his prayer, the request of ‘cause it to happen before me today’ is already fulfilled. And as Targum explains, ‘cause it to happen’ means ‘provide’ — that G-d provides everything one needs, readily available, and He provides it ‘today,’ and on that very day he need not wait at all, for he is answered before he finishes speaking.”
Therefore, regardless of the depth of exile and regardless of a person’s own self-assessment, he serves G-d with joy and a good heart, knowing that he is answered by G-d before he finishes speaking.
(Toras Menachem 5742, vol. 1, p. 404)
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