The Nechoma Greisman Anthology

Section 1: SHLICHUS We are ready to go…

At the President's Residence

When the first group of Shluchim arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 5736 [1976], they brought regards from the Rebbe to the then Prime Minister, Mr. Yitzchak Rabin, together with a message concerning the upbuilding of the Land, which centered on the verse, "This is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Bamidbar 23:9). Following their meeting at the Knesset, the Shluchim proceeded to the official residence of the then President, Mr. Ephraim Katzir, together with their wives and children. Among the speakers at this meeting was Nechama Greisman, a transcript of whose talk appears below.

I would like to convey regards to the President, and to say a few words in English on behalf of the women emissaries who are here today.

I don't know how things are in the Holy Land, but in America women are very confused as to their real status. On all sides, but especially in Jewish circles, they ask about their role as women, and people try hard to find satisfying answers. The women who have arrived here as emissaries of the Rebbe have been very active among New York women. They have tried to tell them that these questions too have answers, just as all the questions that a Jew asks have their answers in the Torah. In this case, the answer may be found in the various names that the Torah uses for women, for all the names that the Torah uses for people or things have precise meanings.

When G-d created Chavah (Eve), He said that she would be ezer kenegdo -- "a compatible helper" for him. A woman was not brought into the world to show that she can do anything as well as a man can; rather, her role is to build her home together with her husband. The second phrase used to describe a woman in the Torah, as the Rebbe Shlita has often mentioned, is akeres habayis: she is not the second fiddle, but the ikar, the mainstay, of her home.

We here are very much aware of these two roles -- as the mainstay of our homes and helpmates to our husbands.

It is our earnest hope that together with our husbands we will work in fulfilling our Shlichus, this mission with which we have been entrusted, especially among the women and girls of Eretz Yisrael. As the Rebbe has often mentioned, a woman is more readily influenced by a woman than by a man. In fact, even in the course of this first week of ours in Eretz Yisrael the local women have given us an enthusiastic welcome. In this spirit, we hope that through our activities here with women and girls we will see the fulfillment of the Rebbe's blessings.