Rescuing a Jew from the Dumps

The Rebbe of Lubavitch ruffled the composure of many rabbis years ago when he dispatched his troops to reach out to Jews in places they regarded as spiritual pig sties. The criticism faded away and today the Rebbe's approach has become routine among even non-Lubavitch sectors.

The Rebbe plied his campaign with no less of a model to emulate than God Himself. When God "went down" (Ex.11:4) to kill the Egyptians during the tenth plague, God tells the Jews, "And among you there will be no affliction" (Ex.12:13). This means, explains Rashi, when an Egyptian sought refuge by visiting the house of a Jew, he was not spared; ie, "Among you there will be no affliction [but among them - there will be]."; Or, when the Jew visited an Egyptian's house, you might think the Jew too would be vulnerable, so God says, "Among you there will be no affliction [no matter where you will be]."

This event occurred the night of Passover, 2448, the very first time they celebrated this holiday, the same night God struck all of Egypt's firstborns. Moses had warned the Jews that night, "Nobody should leave their home until morning". (Ex.12:22)

Despite Moses' warning, despite the humiliation of Egyptians with 9 preceding plagues, and despite the many years Jews suffered enslavement at the hands of these Egyptians, some Jews, that night, still found no moral compunction paying a visit to an Egyptian neighbor.

Nevertheless, as base and as depraved the state of this Jew was, who visited his Egyptian neighbor on this of all nights, God Himself "went down" to spare this Jew's life, no matter what his ignoble state and sordid environment.

The Rebbe's critics, at the time, did not let up. How could he sends boys out to places where the "dirt" of their surroundings may well rub off on them, they complained.

Here the Rebbe drew support from Jewish law, from the laws of kosherizing (paradoxically). Meat processors that salt meat as part of the process, may have multiple layers of meat piled one on top of another, as long as salt separates them. Salt draws the blood from the meat, and the concern that blood oozing from a higher layer can be absorbed by meat in a lower layer was discounted because of this ruling: "While in emission mode, the meat cannot be in absorption mode."

Similarly with the Rebbe's emissaries, boys reaching out to fellow Jews; As long as they engage in the effort of exerting positive influence, they protect themselves from absorbing any negative influence.