Attaining Sagacity

By Sichos In English

Reflections on Reaching the Age of Sixty, based on the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sichos In English
• Release date: Sep 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465887382

Book preview

Attaining Sagacity

Reflections on Reaching the Age of Sixty Based on the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson

Published by

Sichos In English

Attaining Sagacity

Published by Sichos In English at Smashwords

Copyright 1998 Sichos In English

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788 Eastern Parkway • Brooklyn, N.Y. 11213

Adapted by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger

5758 • 1998

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ISBN 978-1-4658-8738-2

Chapter 1: Publisher’s Foreword

The Rebbe teaches us to regard a birthday as more than a pleasant opportunity to look back on past events. It is a time for introspection,¹ an occasion to step back and think about one’s purpose in life and to make resolutions to advance those goals.

When a chassid thinks in such terms, his spontaneous reaction is to look to the Rebbe for guidance. Not that he is shirking the burden of making his own decisions, but by drawing on the power of the Rebbe’s insights, he is able to make wiser and more productive choices for his own future.

The above takes on more significance when a person embarks on a new decade. Again, looking to the Rebbe, we see the Yud-Alef Nissan farbrengens of 5712, 5722, 5732, and 5742, as landmark occasions when the Rebbe spoke about multi-dimensional goals and issues.

In particular, with regard to the attainment of 60, the age which the Mishnah² describes as the age of sagacity, on Yud-Alef Nissan, 5722, the Rebbe devoted much of the farbrengen to describing the significance of that age.

In an effort to communicate the insights of that farbrengen, we chose three formats:

a) an essay which telescopes several points of the sichos, adapting their form of presentation to one more readily understandable by an American audience. To augment the development of the concepts, we have also added points from the sichos of Yud-Alef Nissan, 5732, and Chof Av, 5740.

b) a Talmudic dissertation. The Rebbe noted that the Talmud mentions Rav Yosef making a feast for scholars on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. Nevertheless, we do not find other Sages marking that occasion in such a fashion, nor is the custom recorded in the Shulchan Aruch or other codes of law. The Rebbe explains why Rav Yosef held such a celebration, and why the other Sages refrained from doing so.

c) a maamar. The Rebbe had the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar Acharei Mos, 5649, published for Yud-Alef Nissan, 5722. That maamar, long a Chassidic classic, had been available previously only in mimeograph, and on the occasion of his birthday, the Rebbe had it formally printed as part of the treasury of Chassidic texts.

At the farbrengen that night, he reviewed that maamar in his own words, adding insights from all the other Rebbeim and appending explanations of the significance of the age of sixty in particular, and of advanced age in general.

The Rebbe explained that our Divine service must be a flux between ratzu, a yearning to come close to G-d, and shuv, a focus on creating a dwelling for G-d within the context of our mortal environment. The ratzu should be all-consuming, for the idea that one can come close to G-d should inspire a person to seek a complete bond.

The shuv which follows should come as a result of a commitment to G-d’s intent. It should not be that the person’s ratzu is lacking, and therefore he is able to follow it with the grounded approach of shuv. Instead, there should be no limits to the ratzu, and yet, because the person is dedicated to fulfilling G-d’s will, he is motivated to shuv, and endeavors to fashion a dwelling for Him in this world.