When life comes full circle and the mystery of reincarnation.
This week the International Conference of Shluchos took place in New York. One of the stories told at the banquet begins in Modiin, a city in the Land of Israel that was built at the end of the 1990s. This was the period after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and there was a deep division between the religious and secular Israelis. The city was built as a modern city with a clearly non religious character.
Rabbi Baruch Slonim and his wife Nava arrived in this city as emissaries of the Rebbe. They were looking for a place to go on Shlichus and decided specifically to go there, to a city that was still under construction. They started in a trailer allocated to them by the municipality, where they held prayers, classes, and community activities. Over the years the place became too small to contain everyone and they approached the City and requested an allocation of permanent land to build a synagogue. In Israel, there is no separation of church and state. When a community forms and has religious needs, the City allocates land and the community raises the funds for construction. After a long process of committees and bureaucracy, it seemed that a property would be approved.
At that stage a new council member was elected, an activist associated with Peace Now, named Anat Harari, who was chair of the allocations committee. In the committee she noticed they were leaning toward approving the allocation. She stood up and forcefully argued that cultural and sports institutions should be preferred before synagogues and she acted to block the allocation. She said at the time that when hair grows on my hand there will be a Chabad House here. The process was halted but Shluchim did not despair. They continued their work and years later the municipality allocated another plot, more central, and in the year 5776 a magnificent Chabad House was inaugurated.
Years later the Shlucha, Mrs. Nava Slonim participated in the International Conference of Shluchos in New York. On Shabbat a special meal was held for emissaries from Israel. Because of the large number of participants, sometimes each language group sits in a separate hall, speaks in its language, and shares experiences from their work.
Mrs. Slonim was invited to introduce herself. She said, “Nava Slonim, from Modiin.” Suddenly a woman approached her. “Hello, I am Anat Harari… also from Modiin.” Mrs. Slonim turned pale and froze in place.
She had never met Anat face to face but had heard much about her. This was the same council member who had opposed with all her strength the allocation of land for the Chabad House. And here stood before her a woman wearing a wig, dressed like a Chabad chassid. Was this real or a dream?
And here is the story. After finishing her work on the council, Anat Harari met her partner Yechiel. They married. They moved to a moshav in the south of the country. At that time Yechiel studied for a master’s degree in political philosophy at Tel Aviv University and graduated with distinction. The subject of his thesis was The Individual and the State in Jewish Thought. His doctoral dissertation was written in the communications department at Tel Aviv University on the teachings and activities of Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh. During the writing of the doctorate he was deeply exposed to the book of Tanya and began studying it systematically.
At first he published booklets and later books. Anat was the one who read every draft, gave comments, and helped him formulate the ideas in language that would be understandable even to the non religious public. Until one day he came home wearing a kippah. For Anat this was an earthquake. She, the activist who believed in world peace and equality, saw her husband becoming a chassid.
At first it was a kippah. Then tzitzit. Then they made a courageous decision: they would not break up the home. They would live together. Respect one another. It began with a kosher corner in the kitchen. It did not work. The entire kitchen was made kosher. It continued with family purity “for him,” as she told herself. Another mitzvah and another step, always “for him,” “for the children.” Not for her.
Their middle son wanted to study in a religious school. They moved him to a mixed school with religious and non religious students but that was not enough for him. They moved to a state religious school, also not enough. One day he said, “I want to study in Chabad.” Anat firmly refused. But he was miserable.
One night she could not sleep. She understood she was preventing his happiness just because of fear of what people would say. In the morning, after many tears, she announced she agreed to let him go to whichever school he wanted. The father and son almost ran out of the house before she would change her mind. The child began to flourish. Then she said to herself: if my child is there, I am with him.
Soon after, she had the opportunity to travel to participate in the Conference of Shluchos in New York. She was shocked. She saw thousands of women from around the world who were strong and capable and well dressed, each managing an empire, and her entire outlook on Chabad women changed during that visit.
During the Shabbat meal attended by emissaries from Israel, she heard a woman introduce herself: “Nava Slonim from Modiin.” Suddenly everything came back to her. She remembered her past when she lived in Modiin and she had been the one who opposed Chabad. Anat approached her and introduced herself. It was a very emotional meeting.
After returning to Israel, Anat and Yechiel decided to explore the possibility of going out on Shlichus themselves. Today they serve as emissaries of the Rebbe in a moshav in the south of the country and manage a Chabad House there.
Gilgulim
This week we read Parshas Mishpatim. The Zohar is structured as a commentary on the portions of the Torah. In Parshas Mishpatim the Zohar opens its commentary with these words: Rabbi Shimon opened and said “And these are the ordinances… these are the arrangements of reincarnation.” And he adds and says “Friends, now is the time here to reveal and uncover several hidden secrets of reincarnation,”
What is reincarnation? Judaism believes that when a person passes away his soul ascends to the heavenly court, and then he discovers he has not yet completed his task in this world and there are matters he has not finished. For example, a person lent money to his friend and did not manage to repay it before he died. That person wants to return the money, but in heaven it is impossible to return money. Souls have no dealings with money. Therefore, to correct this he is given another opportunity; to descend again into this world and fix everything he did not manage in the previous life. Essentially this is the kindness of G-d to the soul, that it will have another chance to complete what it lacked in its previous life. (see Igrot Kodesh volume 1 page 148 and onward.)
The Rebbe quotes a story from the Baal Shem Tov about a rich man who deposited money with a poor friend without witnesses. After some time the poor friend passed away. When the rich man came to the heirs to request the return of the deposit, the heirs claimed their father had told them nothing about it. The court ruled that since there was no evidence, the orphans must swear that their father had told them nothing, and they did not need to return the money. In the community they knew the rich man as an honest man and his poor friend was not assumed to hold such sums.
The people of the community came to the Baal Shem Tov and said: we understand the judges ruled according to law, and since there were no witnesses or proof, the orphans do not need to return the money. But we all know the justice is with the rich man. How can it be that Torah law leads to a judgment against truth. The Baal Shem Tov explained that G-d always helps judges rule truthfully. In this case, in the previous reincarnation the depositor owed money to the guardian and never returned it. In this reincarnation he had the opportunity to return the money and correct his soul. Torah law leads to a just judgment, even if we do not always see the full picture. (Torat Menachem Vol 25 page 69)
Sometimes one must return in reincarnation to correct what he damaged in previous lives. But before the coming of Moshiach there is no time to wait for another incarnation, so G-d causes that same Jew who opposed matters of Judaism to repent and manage to correct it already in this lifetime.
Since that story in Modiin, every time someone arises who begins to fight against matters of the Rebbe, Rabbi Slonim tells him to be careful, the previous time someone opposed matters of Judaism, it ended with him becoming a Chabadnik!
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