five methods continued

Rabbi Yochonan Ben Zakkai wasn’t coming from the background of having smitten the Romans by G-d’s order. On the contrary, the Romans were seen by him as G-d’s tool in reprimanding our people. In that context he did what was prudent to save what he could.
In this case ,at the red sea ,the people had seen the power of G-d. To give up now was a sign of weakness of character .
It is the method of the coward or the person lacking convictions. Unless one has absolute certainty in the question or problem one faces one should not immediately give in to difficulty.
The second method of fighting the Egyptians stood no chance as well. It is the method of trying to dismiss the problem by trying to kill it. This is the method of bans and excommunications. It is not the method of constructive discussion. It assumes that every problem can be handled by attacking its’ veracity. Whereby, in many cases
It is the shallowness of the person that brings forth this reaction. Killing the problem works only when you are right and strong. Even then the problem must be such as to justify killing it. Here , they stood no chance. Fighting was suicidal and ill advised.
The method is one of confrontation to destroy. It is never the method of choice unless you are dealing with an enemy or a malignancy.
The third method was to go around the problem. The concern was never to return to the humiliation of slavery . By jumping in the sea they would die but never be enslaved again either.
The method is the method of avoidance and finding safer position.
Here ,this approach would be disastrous. At other times it is a prudent approach allowing you to have your space and your opposition his area.
The fourth method is to rise above the problem either intellectually or in this case spiritually by praying to G-d. The prayer in essence would be “we have done what you said to do -we are asking you to do what You said You would do if we obeyed”! this is a good method in many instances. It lacks personal commitment. It also assumes that problems can’t be solved except by outside intervention. This method is the way of dealing with the problem and rising above it. You deal with it and become strengthened by it. However, the problem remains-it’s just that you have learned to rise above it, so it should not affect you. The problem may still remain.
The fifth method required G-d’s command. However ,in doing so we made the problem , i.e. the sea, a solution. This is the method of integration, where the problem child becomes the monitor .
This is the Chassidic method. That is to find the good in the problem and make it work for you.
A Chosid by the name of Reb Avrohom Batzumer came to the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1924. His desire was to spend the rest of his life in the religious environment of Jerusalem. His children had become communists and his beloved city of Gomel was being transformed into a place of atheism. There had been 100 shuls there. Now only 5 were left and the informers made it impossible to do anything of substance for Torah education there.
To his shock, the Rebbe told him to go back and make Gomel into Eretz Yisroel ! Reb Avrohom listened and for many years helped keep the flame of Torah alive in Gomel and through his fundraising across Russia. The Rebbe had shown him the way of the red sea . Make the problem into a solution! In Torah analysis it means to find an answer out of the question.
This is the ultimate method. Not always does this method work . In most cases, however, it is the most effective method. That is because the problem becomes transformed. Using the avoidance or information mode as I call it, the problem or question remains. It’s only that you have found ways to avoid it. The method of facing the question or the problem and growing from it or rising above it, only means that you have grown stronger. The problem or the question remains.
In the Chassidic method, the problem is the solution. Gomel became a mini Jerusalem and today there is a rebirth in Gomel because it hadn’t been forsaken in the 20’s.
This brings me to comment on the lament of professor David Berger who is a virulent anti-Lubavitcher. He is frustrated that the vast majority of Rabbonim in the former Soviet Union are Lubavitchers.
The reason is that only Lubavitch never gave up on the Jews or the cities of the former Soviet Union. They made it into Eretz Yisroel . Whereas , your gedolim took the avoidance or the elevation method. They never tried to make the problem part of the solution. Only where a Rav was determined to stay and transform the environment did Yiddishkeit flourish. The unofficial Rav of the Russian community in Eretz Yisroel today has wide influence because his father Z.T.L. was the Rav of Kazan and refused to forsake his flock. It was that same resoluteness that Lubavitch, under the directives of our Holy Rebbe ,
Stayed and made Russia Eretz Yisrael. Today , the fruits of those seeds are being harvested .
Not the method of avoidance or of elevation will transform the Jewish street. It is the determined effort of transforming the darkness in to light that makes lasting results!