Reb Yoel Kahn Ob"m

Sunday is Tisha B’ Av, marking the day the first and second Jerusalem temples were destroyed. Yesterday, Reb Yoel Kahn passed away and there is one more reason to mourn.

Most of what I know is directly or indirectly thanks to this giant. I’ve spent at least hundreds of hours listening to recordings of his classes and thousands of hours studying the Rebbe’s books, which were primarily written by him. Even as recently as two weeks ago, I was listened to a recorded class of his on my morning walk around the block.

Reb Yoel was the Rebbe’s chief scribe, a position that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. He was responsible for writing down the Rebbe’s teachings (the Rebbe taught almost exclusively verbally, at farbrengens). His name is not in the books, though.

He could have become a decorated rabbi with a following of his own, but instead dedicated his entire life to understanding and disseminating teachings of the Rebbe.

This is what it means to be a chossid. With all of his unbelievable talents, he recognized the difference between human qualities, which he was blessed with, and G-dly qualities, which is a Rebbe. In the words of Pirkei Avos, “Better to be the tail of a lion, than the head of a fox.”

He was the tail of a lion.

I had the privilege to study under him in yeshiva. He was already in his mid seventies, and being surrounded by hundreds of students, most of whom were more aggressive than me, I wasn’t able to hear him too well, but I still sat there and tried as hard as I could.

He is irreplaceable and his passing marks a new era.

The Rebbe wanted us to bring Moshiach a long time ago, but he made it clear that we have to do it on our own. The Rebbe passed away, proving that we can bring Moshiach without him in a physical body. We still had giants to grab onto for support. Reb Yoel’s passing marks this new era in which us little guys will have to bring moshiach “on our own”.

We can do it though.

For details on how to observe Tisha B’ Av, please visit chabad.org/3weeks