This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission

It was translated and prepared and prepared for publication by Avi Yishai.

The Torah writes that after Moshe's death, “The children of Israel cried over Moshe…thirty days, and the days of the mourning over Moshe ended.” Then the Torah continues, "And never again has there arisen a prophet like Moshe, whom Hashem had known face to face, as evidenced by all the signs and miracles that Hashem sent him to perform in Mitzrayim, against Pharaoh and all his land, and by all the mighty hand and awesome power that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Israel" (Devarim 34:10-12).

What is the connection between the greatness of Moshe and the fact that his days of mourning had come to an end?

Furthermore, why does the Torah say, "Bnei Yisroel mourned Moshe in Arvos Moav for thirty days, and the wailing period of Moshe's mourning came to an end" (Devarim 34:8). Obviously, if the mourning period lasted thirty days, it eventually came to an end. Why tell us this self-evident fact?

Also, why does the Torah tell us here that "Yehoshua bin Nun was filled with a spirit of wisdom, because Moshe had laid his hands on him. Bnei Yisroel therefore listened to him, doing as Hashem had commanded Moshe" (Devarim 34:9)? Don't we already know all this from previous pessukim in the Torah?

In addition, Chazal infer from the passuk "and Bnei Yisroel mourned him [Moshe]" that only a segment of the people mourned Moshe Rabbeinu, as opposed to Aharon Hacohen's death, in reference to which the Torah tells us that all of Klal Yisroel mourned his death. One would have thought that Moshe Rabbeinu was missed at least as much as Aharon his brother, if not more.

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The answer to the last question is that the spiritual leaders throughout the generations differ vastly from one another.

Some leaders are mild and loving. They spread love and understanding and promote peace between rival factions and movements. Such leaders are always beloved and praised by everyone, and when they pass away, their loss is felt intensely by everyone.

Other leaders are just as loving, but they have a more aggressive demeanor. Their task in life is to fight for the truth. In their unceasing effort to cleanse the world of impurity and falsehood they criticize, rebuke, admonish and chastise everyone and anyone responsible, showing no preference or special allegiance to anyone. As can be imagined, such leaders do not enjoy universal love and admiration.

Moshe Rabbeinu was a leader of the latter kind. His life was full of unpopular battles. He destroyed the Golden Calf and broke the yearned-for Luchos. He fought Dassan and Aviram, who had gained widespread popularity among certain sectors of the populace. He also faced up to the well-respected Korach and his 250 followers, all noble members of the Sanhedrin, who accused him of handing out patronage jobs to his family members, and who demanded "equal rights for the people."

Such a leader is missed only by those who realize the important role he played in promoting Torah and truth in this world. Only the Bnei Yisrael, the Jews of higher spiritual caliber, truly appreciated his deeds and, therefore, his loss.

The same can be said in reference to our rebbe zt"l.

We are gathered here today to eulogize the Admor zt"l and praise his middos and his life's work, yet no more than a handful of his talmidim have bothered to come. Most people are totally unaware of his deeds and greatness. This is precisely because he dedicated his life to the battle on behalf of Emes and Hashem's will.

He never knew what it meant to curry favor with anyone in order to become accepted by at least part of the community. His search for nothing but the unvarnished truth made him stand above and apart from even most of the Torah-observant members of his generation.

Our rebbe closely followed the path of Harav Yisroel Salanter zt"l who adjures us to examine our deeds so closely that even one's "righteous" deeds are discovered to be crippled and flawed. Our rebbe demanded that his disciples forgo short-lived pleasures, and instead search in every possible way to further limud HaTorah in order that it not be forgotten.

His life was a constant battle and a living embodiment of the verse “I have made you a fortified city and a brass wall against all the princes and kohanim and kings, and against all the people of the land.” He willingly fought any organization and any political party and in the end he persevered as it says, “They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you.”

Now we will explain the connection between the greatness of Moshe and the fact that his days of mourning came to an end, and why Yehoshua is mentioned on the occasion of Moshe's death.

After the righteous had finished their weeping, a period of mourning began. The people realized that there was no longer an address for their myriad questions, as Chazal said, "Many hundreds of halachos were forgotten in the days of Moshe's mourning."

But in time, those days of initial confusion passed. Yehoshua became the accepted and worthy new leader as it says, “He was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moshe had laid his hand on him, and all the bnei Yisrael were mistaken in thinking that nothing had changed – “Never again has there arisen a prophet like Moshe.” This same lesson applies to every generation. The gedolim who pass away can never be replaced, neither in their knowledge of Hashem “face to face,” nor in their “mighty hand,” nor in their “great fear” of Hashem.

We, too, must realize that although the time of weeping and mourning for our rebbe has passed, we are far, far below his spiritual level – his loss will never be replaced. Just as there were once varying levels of prophecy, some prophets seeing through an asplakariah hameirah and others not, and just as some prophets were always ready to prophesy while others needed prior preparation, and just as there were varying levels of Divine inspiration, so in our day, there are varying degrees of devotion to Hashem.

Few and far between is the rare individual who is imbued with the true fear and love of Hashem and who serves him with all his heart. Few are those like our rebbe who was truly a faithful servant to his Creator. He was constantly ready to serve Hashem because he realized that spiritual ills are worse than physical disease, and that they, too, require emergency care. Because of this, his thoughts never wavered from spiritual concerns for even a moment.

Our rebbe was imbued with many of the virtues mentioned in the last words of the Torah. Moshe both held and broke the luchos with a “mighty hand.” So heavy were the luchos and so enfeebled was Moshe after his forty days of fasting, that only his burning enthusiasm to give them to the Jewish people gave him the strength to hold them up. But when upon seeing the golden calf which was built to legitimize public immorality, he cast down the luchos with a “mighty hand” and smashed them. The entire rationale of the Torah is to "change man's life" – now that the Jews had proved themselves unworthy of receiving it, the luchos would be better destroyed and gone.

Moshe was like R. Shimon Ha'amsoni who calmly said, "Kesheim shekibalti sechar al haprisha, kach akabel sechar al hadrisha – just as I received reward for my elucidation of Torah, so I will receive reward for desisting." In the days of our rebbe, hostile gentiles sought to uproot Torah from every town in Lithuania, and heretics of our own nation were glad to help them. Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky zt"l, his soul burning with the love of Torah, sent emissaries far and wide throughout Russia to rebuild yeshivos and chadarim and our rebbe, too, was involved in this holy task.

How different was our rebbe from other talmidei chachamim who did not do as much to fight the war of Torah. After Eliyahu worked his miracle on Har HaCarmel and slaughtered the false prophets, Izevel threatened to kill him and he fled to the desert. When Hashem asked him what he was doing there, starving and thirsty, he replied, “I was most jealous for the L-rd of Hosts, and I alone remained a prophet at that time.”

But how could Eliyahu claim that he was the only prophet? What about the two hundred and fifty prophets who were hidden in a cave and fed by the prophet Ovadiah?

The answer is that Eliyahu was the only person who truly behaved like a prophet. Only he fearlessly told Achav, “Have you murdered and also inherited,” and only he dared to antagonize Izevel and rebuke the people at every opportunity. While he was risking his life, other prophets were cowering in a cave.

Similarly, in those terrible days when any Jew traveling by train was in danger of being hurled from the windows, our sick and elderly rebbe traveled extensively through the freezing Russian winter, disseminating the Torah to far-flung towns. Upon his return from these journeys he inevitably became sick. In those desperate, uncertain times, while most people were worrying about how to put bread on the table, he was worrying about Hashem’s Torah.

Thus he raised up the Torah with a “mighty hand.” He even went to establish a yeshiva in Berditchev when the rebel forces of Petlivra were threatening to make a pogrom there. Furthermore, like Moshe, he was also willing to break the luchos with a mighty arm. When he heard that the administration of the yeshiva in Sadatov intended to introduce secular studies into the curriculum, he spent three days traveling there, and upon his arrival, disbanded the entire yeshiva. He would always say, "Someone who doesn't know how to close a beis midrash has no right to open one." The remaining talmidim were redistributed to the towns of Tzeritzin and Nizbna-Navagdad. Like Moshe, our rebbe could both build and destroy with a mighty arm.

Chazal say that "the service of Torah sages is greater than its study." This means that even more essential than the endless search for truth is the search for the living emblems of that truth. When one finds such men, all one's questions, both spiritual and physical, will be answered. Seekers of truth are drawn after such paragons like magnets. Thus we find that when Eliyahu cast his cloak over Elisha, Elisha immediately kissed his parents good bye for the last time and followed him for the rest of his life. When Eliyahu rose up in a storm to heaven, Elisha cried after him, “My father, my father,” for Eliyahu had become his true parent. Yet these great men, in their humility, protest as Eliyahu said to Elisha, “What have I done to you,” that you wish to leave everything and follow me?

We find the same phenomena when King Shaul was pursuing David to kill him. He came in his royal garb to ask Shmuel where David was hiding. But, as soon as he entered Shmuel’s presence he forgot everything. The spirit of prophecy fell on him and everyone said, “Is Shaul also among the prophets?”

Kings live in luxury, and prophets live in persecution and humiliation, (even though in truth Chazal say that each prophet outlived four kings). Nevertheless, Shaul suddenly realized the truth. That those who live for this world's pleasures suffer constant fear and torment lest they lose them, while the prophet, on the other hand, only lacks these things because he has no need for them in the first place. Recognizing this truth, Shaul threw aside all thoughts of royalty and forgot the whole purpose of his journey. This is the power possessed by men of the spirit!

Our rebbe too, sought the truth his entire life. In his younger years he was heavily involved in business and trading. One day he met Harav Yisrael Salanter for the first time at a railway station and realized that here before him stood a man of emes. He asked Rav Yisrael, "Should I sell all my business stock and travel with you?"

Rav Yisrael deferred him on that occasion. But after meeting Rav Yisrael again, our rebbe renounced his business life and spent the rest of his life completely devoted to spreading of Torah and the fear of Hashem. He himself became imbued with the same spirit of truth – we saw with our own eyes how bnei Torah who had left Torah study for the world of business and secular studies became so impressed by him that they left everything and blindly followed his advice in every matter.

Chazal trembled at the thought of the smallest bias and said, "May the spirit of those who accept bribery rot." A certain sage once refused to judge a person who had covered his expectorate for him. They fiercely rebuked anyone who failed to deeply plumb the depths of his soul and root out all his ulterior motives. Indeed, people who think that they are pure are often the most biased of all.

Similarly, our rebbe fiercely demanded that we abandon our bias and serve Hashem with a pure heart. He expressed this yearning with outpoured wrath. We were expected to abandon everything that detracts from the spiritual life. We were expected to emulate the famous Rav Chiya, who ensured that the Torah would not be forgotten from Yisrael. In fact, when I heard that our rebbe had passed away (I was not present at that time because the forces of Haftelora were surrounding our town Berditshev and no one could get in or out) the first thought that flew through my mind was, "We have lost a person who was moved to anger over imperfection. Who will cry out against us if we neglect the path of perfection?"

Out rebbe strongly concurred with the opinion of Harav Yisrael Salanter zt"l that one must use vivid imagery from everyday life to "lighten the spiritual trials" of life. Thus he always said that if someone realized that he was carrying a valuable coin on Shabbos in the street, he would have a sore temptation to not throw it away as he should. But if someone told him that the coin was forged he would have no trouble at all. Similarly, we must realize that all the pleasures and trials of this world are nothing but a forged banknote.

However, when it came to belief in Hashem, he was a fierce critic of seeking any kind of proof to make it "easier". He always quoted Rav Yochanan, who told a doubting disciple, "If you had not seen this you would not have believed? He looked at him and he became a pile of bones." Our rebbe pointed out that, on the contrary, so firmly true is the Torah, that Chazal often prove natural phenomena from verses. For example, they said, "Akiva, don't you know that it says, ‘water wore away stones.’"

His faith was steadfast and firm. He would constantly repeat, "He who guards mitzvos shall know no evil"; "It is not the ardor that kills, but sin that kills." It is told that someone once promised his friend that thirty days after his death he would tell him what happens in the world of truth. He arrived when his friend was putting on Tefillin, and begged him to forgo the promise, because he had no permission to divulge the secrets of the world above. The friend motioned with his hand that he had forgiven the promise. Our rebbe laughed when he heard this story and said, “Why have someone to come from above and tell us about the world of eternity? Haven't the sages already told us about it?” This attitude supported him in his toil to build the Torah world because he would always say, "He who guards mitzvos shall know no evil."

I have finished speaking of the life work of our rebbe, but I have hardly begun. Those present in his last days could relate how he divested himself of all corporeality in preparation for his eternal life. He never ceased repeating the verse, “All that you can do with your strength do, for there is no deed…” He who failed to see this has suffered an irreplaceable loss. Eliyahu said to Elisha shortly before he died – “If you see your master taken from above your head, then you will have a double portion of my spirit.” Similarly, whoever saw the last days of our rebbe, was truly inspired to emulate this burning testimony of ratzon Hashem.

May our rebbe's memory be an eternal inspiration to carry on his perfect service of Hashem.