Bnei Brak Rosh Yeshiva and the Wrong ‘King in the Field’

A Bnei Brak Rosh Yeshiva thought he had found the perfect way to scare his students by explaining the "King in the Field." A story for Elul by Yossi Hayitzchaki.

By Yossi Hayitzchaki

Today, Rosh Chodesh Elul, I arrived in Bnei Brak to meet with one of the city’s prominent communal activists. The man called to apologize for being half an hour late, leaving me with some time to spare.

Suddenly, I noticed young yeshiva bochurim hurrying past me.

“What happened? Where are you all rushing?” I asked.

Several of them replied, “The great Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Chatzkele Fleishfarb, is about to open the Elul zman at Yeshivas Chachmei Slutzk. Every year, he opens the zman with an extraordinary mussar talk. His words are pearls,” some of the young men told me.

“Can I also come into the yeshiva to hear the Rosh Yeshiva’s talk?” I asked.

“Of course,” they replied. “Many local baalei batim come to enjoy Rabbi Chatzkele’s talks.”

Since I had half an hour to spare, I went in as well. The yeshiva hall was packed from wall to wall.

Here is a summary of the Rosh Yeshiva’s fascinating address:

“My dear friends,” the Rosh Yeshiva began, “every year I would open my talk to you, my dear students, with the familiar parable of a condemned man standing before the court, a rope around his neck and a small stool beneath his feet.

“They wait to see whether he will do teshuvah. If he does complete teshuvah, they will remove the rope from his neck, and he will enjoy a good and happy life. But if, G-d forbid, he does not do teshuvah, then they will pull the stool out from beneath his feet… and rachmana litzlan, his end will be bitter indeed.
“Imagine the terror of that condemned man. So too, during the month of Elul, we stand trembling, fearful of the worst.

“But, my dear friends, when the same parable is repeated many times, year after year, the feeling becomes dulled. Our senses no longer react with the same intensity as they did the first time.
“Therefore, this year I would like to present a new parable, one that will intensify the sense of fear that should prevail during Elul. I hope the awakening will be even greater this year than in previous years.

“Many years ago,” Rabbi Chatzkele continued, “a Chabad Chossid named Reb Pesach lived near me. Whenever I met him during Elul, he would throw this phrase my way: ‘Reb Chatzkel, s’iz Elul, der Melech iz basadeh. It is Elul, the King is in the field.’

“To tell you the truth, I never fully understood what he meant. What does it mean that ‘the King is in the field’? Reb Pesach never explained the parable to me.

“But this past summer, during bein hazmanim, I finally grasped the depth of the parable of ‘the King in the field.’

“I was visiting the zoo with my dear grandchildren. We went from animal to animal, and I explained to them the perfection of Hashem’s creation as reflected in each creature.

“When we stood before the lion enclosure, I suddenly remembered Reb Pesach’s parable: ‘The King is in the field.’

“After all, the lion is the king of the beasts. It is an extremely dangerous animal. If I were standing next to it outside the cage, it could tear me to pieces. Yet here I was, standing close to it without fear.

“Why? Because it was securely locked behind thick iron bars.

“Now imagine, my dear friends,” the Rosh Yeshiva thundered in his powerful voice, “what would happen if that lion were to escape its cage, rachmana litzlan, and roam freely through the field outside our yeshiva.

“What terror would descend upon all of us!

“We would shut the windows and lock the doors. We would stand guard to make sure that the king of the beasts did not, G-d forbid, break into our yeshiva and wreak havoc, destruction, and devastation.

“The fear would be overwhelming. The king of the beasts is in the field, spreading terror among everyone living nearby!”

Rabbi Chatzkele concluded: “This is how we must feel during the month of Elul: a pachad, a shrek, fear and terror! We should tremble and shudder as we stand before the approaching Day of Judgment. Teshuvah, my dear friends. Only teshuvah!”

That, in brief, was the content of the great Rosh Yeshiva’s address.

When I heard Rabbi Chatzkele’s interpretation of “the King is in the field,” I remembered a story involving the famed Chabad mashpia Rabbi Chaim Shaul Brook, OBM.

Reb Shaul was serving as Rosh Yeshiva of the yeshiva in Tel Aviv before 5710. Many of the students did not come from Chabad homes. One of them was the son of a well-known Rebbe.

The young man did not show much enthusiasm for the Chassidus studies taught in the yeshiva.
One day, Reb Shaul Brook turned to him and said:

“Dovid, you are the son of a Rebbe. In so many years, you yourself will become a Rebbe, and from time to time you will have to say a little Torah for your Chassidim. If you don’t learn some Likkutei Torah, where will you get something to tell them?”

I found myself thinking the same thing about our great Rosh Yeshiva.

It is a shame he had not learned a little Likkutei Torah. Had he done so, he would have discovered that the meaning of “the King is in the field” is the exact opposite of what he had just told his students.

Not only is “the King” entirely different, but the entire message of the parable is the precise opposite.
According to the Alter Rebbe, when the King is in the field, “he receives everyone graciously and shows a smiling countenance to them all,” and everyone is permitted to go out to greet Him and receive Him.

It could hardly be further from the image of a “king of the beasts” roaming the field and spreading terror among everyone around him.

As the Rebbe repeatedly emphasized: The avodah of the month of Elul is to be performed with tremendous joy. There can be no greater joy, for “the King is in the field” and “shows a smiling countenance to them all.”

The Jewish people should be inspired through pleasant ways and with humility, and one must certainly avoid speaking harshly about the Jewish people, the only child of Hashem.

This month should be filled with blessings, while anything that is the opposite of blessing should be rejected entirely.

And since during Elul the King receives everyone graciously and shows a smiling countenance to all, the King certainly fulfills the request of every Jew: That each should be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year, with goodness that is visible and revealed, both spiritually, in Torah study and the fulfillment of mitzvos, and materially, with children, life and abundant sustenance.

And, most importantly, that He fulfill our primary request: the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who will come and redeem us and lead us upright to our Land, very soon indeed.

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