We often think that Shlichus is as simple as a.b.c.

 

A. meet the Jew

 

B. befriend the Jew

 

C. convince the Jew

 

I have come to realize that it is far different

 

It is as simple as a.b.c.

 

But God runs the a.b.c.

 

The Baal Shem Tov teaches of another a.b.c. and I realize that we are part of the Baal Shem Tov’s, namely God’s a.b.c., as I will explain.

 

The Baal Shem Tov teaches, there are three steps when God wishes to draw Jews closer.

 

Step number one is a high.

 

As one Baal Teshuvah attests “after searching for the meaning of life for a long time and by Divine providence seeing a cable television program of the Rebbe which led me to Chabad in Wisconsin I was on a high for two years, namely as Tanya was being taught I was able to sit and the words simply permeated my very essence” – many many people attest to this initial honeymoon stage.

 

The next stage is when we need to work hard for the honeymoon is over and only through incredible effort, tenacity, kaballas oil, doing it because it is the right thing to do, does the rider learn to ride on his own without training wheels.

 

And lastly we then have the pleasure that it is our own effort that propels you, stimulating your own joy, derived from our own achievements which is the ultimate reward God can give us, namely to see the face of your beloved rejoicing not automatically but from the input you have contributed (I am realizing this applies quite strongly in marriage as well but that’s another subject.)

 

The Rebbe once said about the previous Rebbe but it must apply to his leadership as well “sometimes the Rebbe would send people somewhere to teach someone alef beis but the true (divine) intent was that they would teach them Chassidus which would inspire them.”

 

In other words, we are part of an infinite picture.

 

This picture did not begin with the Rebbe nor the previous Rebbe but in the primordial thought of God, as the Rebbe says, everything is hashgachah pratis, how much more so everything that occurs to a Rebbe and his disciples.

 

So in the primordial thought of God there was designed our generation, a generation brought up knowing that they were Jewish but not knowing Judaism, and in it God would send the Rebbe who would send you to illuminate the lives of our fellow Jews.

 

Make no mistake about it, our interaction is not the catalyst for change, rather it is the fact, that after decades sometimes, of searching for meaning, a Jew just happens to find you and you being a faithful messenger of the Rebbe say a single line which resonates so deeply, so resolutely, so powerfully, that it opens up a wellspring of desire, for this sweet tasting water to quench their parched desert strewn soul.

 

The timing, the vort (saying) you used was all in the primordial thought of God.

 

We are but the Rebbes matches, miraculously timed to light up Jewish souls; to inspire them to return to truth, only after so many years and often various investigations into other cultures and religions – to come back home.

 

The most we do is light the candle, but the hard work then ensues for them.