Our Future's Past | Rabbi Moshe Taub

Most of you probably know that the first Rebbe in the United States of America was R’ Rabinowitz, in Buffalo, New York, of all places. I discovered this when I became a Rav in Buffalo, New York, and Chasidim would flock from all over the world to spend some time davening in his newly-renovated Ohel. The president of my Shul, Richard Berger, went on a little bit of a mission to find some historical documentation, and he discovered and then photocopied and laminated from what was then called The American Hebrew. It was the Jewish newspaper of the time, and there used to be a Buffalo section. And if you go to the Young Israel of Buffalo today, you could find this laminate. And on this page, it discusses this Rebbe. It was written and published in 1911. It talks about how he arrived in Buffalo, the Shul, the Minyan, the Shiurim that he gave, and the legacy that he left behind. And if you look closely at that page, you'll notice advertisements for suits for 35¢, and you’ll also see other entries of news items in and around Buffalo, New York, in 1910, 1911. And there was one story that caught my eye. November 20th, 1911, Fred Allman, living on Delaware Avenue, gave a class, remember, in 1911, whose title was The History of the Early Jews of Buffalo, New York. And whenever I share this with anyone, they always laugh, as if he should have known that he was from the early Jews of Buffalo, New York. Everybody believes they live in modern times, when in reality, we are always bequeathing what we do to some distant future, and we will be some distant future's past. You look around the world today how fast and quickly it's developing. Technology, on the one hand, but also culture, on the other hand. What are we bequeathing to the next generation? Pirkei Avos famously begins with a listing of the Mesorah of Torah. The Sefarim wonder, Why not Bava Metzia? Why not Mesechtas Brachos? Why is it that Pirkei Avos, that discusses Middos Tovos, how to perceive the world, Hashkafa, has to give you the breakdown of the Mesorah of Torah? Because many of us think: Eh, Rabbonim are making it up as they go. Not true, say the Achronim. That Masechta בפרט, specifically, is telling you that there is a Mesorah we must follow. We must ask ourselves, What will they say about us, the early Jews in America, in the days right before Moshiach Tzidkeinu, may he come speedily in our days.