Based on the Maymer להבין עניו טענת המרגלים ה״תשכה —

Trying to get a handle on this Mystic teaching of the Rebbe that I have been studying to honor his upcoming yahrtzeit. I think the Rebbe might be doing what we should come to expect by now; highlighting the unexpected. While there are many teachings that prefer the “Kabbalah of success” — positioning the “win” as the critical metric to gauge progress of any sort, the Rebbe seemed determined, even eager, to pursue an understanding of the anatomy of failure.

Now don’t get me wrong. We all know how well aware the Rebbe of all people was, of just how much the 100 blessings a day culture of Judaism leaves us with a “I’m so grateful for all the goodness in my life — heavy” Judaism. In a good way! The Rebbe was obviously the last one to be advocating a world view that encourages us to remain oblivious to all the good in our life. But do we even need a Rebbe for this? All we have to do is look at any of our children and it’s all we can do is to NOT cry tears of pure joy at our good fortune to have had THESE children entrusted to us.

So what are we talking about here?

Was he sounding a cautionary note, warning us not to fall into the trap that self soothes us into disguising a loss of guts as “acceptance.” Was he simply pointing out, that when we have surrendered to whatever forces stand between us and what we know we must do, taking on everyone’s narrative of our lives, except our own, then we have simply begun rehearsing for own death. Perhaps a reminder that the furthest thing from thankfulness, is to throw away the gifts we’ve been given. The truth is however, that we all know ourselves, well enough to know whether we are being thankful or fearful.

So what are we talking about over here?

Was this a leader playing the gratuitous “I’m the one who will always argue the opposite role, the contrarian?No. Not this Rebbe. He didn’t crave attention. If anything he craved a solitude that he never indulged in. But that is another conversation for another time. For our purposes it’s enough to remember that those who interacted with the Rebbe knew him to be an arduous truth seeker.

So why play this card, NOT being a card player? Despite the unmistakable power of the message of avoiding complacency, the Rebbe wasn’t one to rummage through the darkness, in order to provide us with the equivalent of an ideological cheap thrill. Not because this message isn’t important. It’s despite the fact that this is one of the most important ones. Still, from his vantage point this was a given.

So what ARE we talking about here?

I think the Rebbe was reaching for an underlying conceptual imperative on That Shabbat in 1965 — not an obvious ethical one.

So what IS the Kabbalah of failure? And why WAS it so central to the Rebbes revolutionary thinking; furthermore, the Rebbe was the quintessential “up your game״ Rebbe” — how does leading us towards the dark bring us to a higher light? In what way might this thought process come to define his style of extraordinary leadership, and what in the world does it have to do with the story of Caleb, Joshua, and the spies?

I will sign off here but I will leave you with this. The Rebbe was nothing short of being arguably, the most extraordinary visionary leader of our times. While there were many powerful and holy people who led us towards our light, the Rebbe was the only one courageous enough to facilitate a retracing of our steps to the sites of our ruins, pointing us in the “wrong” direction to where we got lost, a courageous leaning backwards when every instinct encourages us to move forward. There was no shortage of spiritual guides who were eminently qualified to lead us in our day, but there was only one who who was universally trusted to lead us through our night. A Rebbe who was not afraid of the dark. What insight did this Rebbe embrace to become recognized not only as the preeminent guide, but the de facto compass of an entire generation as well?

There were plenty of Tikkun Rebbes. There was only one intent on confronting the demons lurking in the shadows of Tohu as well. A Rebbe of Tohu.

These are still just words. What does this mean conceptually though?

Stay tuned! Shabbat Shalom

Much Love Rabbi Yossi