PERSISTENT PRAYER

Dear Family,

Hope everyone is well.

Big Mazal Tov to Pesach and Chanie on the birth of Liora! You should bring her up to Torah, Chupah and Maasim Tovim and with much nachas. Wishing Talya Davidoff a safe trip. It was such a nice surprise to have you with us for Chanukah. And thanks for all your help. Hope everyone had an enjoyable and miraculous Chanukah.

A lot of things we hear in Torah we kind of listen to with half an ear. Like, is it really true? Or do MIRACLES really happen? Or does PRAYER really work? Well yesterday we have all witnessed a miracle happening in front of our eyes in the last few hours of Chanukah.

• Shlomo Mordechai Rubashkin, a Lubavitcher in the meat industry, was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for fraud. This was 8 years

ago.
Even if he was guilty, the sentence was, to put it mildly, very vicious and anti-semitic! 27 years?? At the same time that he was running his large successful business, he was also a shaliach in his local area, providing all kinds of Jewish services to the local community. Many appeals have been submitted since his sentencing, and people have been praying and saying Tehillim for him daily, and for sure his large Family have been doing this.

This week on the 8th day of Chanukah, the Prison Officer gave him permission to light the Menorah for himself and the other inmates in prison, for which he was very grateful. And this allowance was to be only for half an hour. Just before the lighting, the Officer called him in for a meeting. On hearing this, Rubashkin's heart dropped. What had he done wrong? IN THE MEETING THE OFFICER TOLD HIM TO PACK HIS BELONGINGS AND LEAVE PRISON. HE WAS FREE! Bear in mind this was 8 years into a 27 year sentence and with no pre warning or expectation. President Trump, encouraged by bipartisan leaders across the political spectrum and in the legal world, had commuted the prison sentence.

All across the Jewish world there were spontaneous celebrations, last night. And today this has continued. This has not only been in the Lubavitch world, but Chassidim from all denominations have been celebrating, and I am sure there has been an even broader recognition and joy amongst Klal Yisrael.

In prison Rubashkin lived with FAITH and HOPE and he TRUSTED that he would gain his freedom. He called it his aleph, beis, gimmel. Aleph for Emunah (Trust), Beis for Bitachon ( Faith), and Gimmel for Geulah (Release). I believe he purchased a pendant for his wife with these 3 letters, while he was in prison. And he and others PRAYED and said Tehillim for 8 years. As we all know aleph stand for 1, beis for 2, and gimmel for 3. He was released on the 2nd day of Teves just before the night going into the 3rd of Teves, on the 8th day of Chanukah. In his terms this meant 2, beis - bitachon, heading into 3, gimmel - geulah and freedom on Chanukah!!

• Funnily enough I was learning a maamer from the Alte Rebbe today, and we were learning about TEFILAH (PRAYER) The Alte Rebbe was saying that it is very difficult for man to reach up all the way to Hashem with his own efforts (it is possible though), and it is difficult for Hashem to come down and burst into our lowly world. Prayer is the position of peaceful meeting between man and Hashem, where man makes his effort to move towards Hashem, and Hashem makes a move towards man. And there is a kind of equality. Dayan Raskin mentioned to me that this why some people have a custom on Shabbos when we say hamotzi, to keep the 2 challos next to each other in an equal way.

• Our prayers are heard, and by a loving Father.
Sometimes we need to be PERSISTENT, and this is a test of our FAITH. And then we receive an answer, and this can even be through a MIRACLE, and even in our days.

Gut Shabbos to all, and we should continue to hear good news, especially the news of the Geulah for all Yisrael.