The Private Comment Made After Hei Teves

Welcome to our weekly program, "Inside Story of Chabad in America," through the Mindel archives.

I want to say today is a big — it's really a personal Yom Tov for me. Yesterday was Hei Teves, and it was very painful for the Rebbe. The truth is, I didn't want to come to this, but the lawsuit had to be that way. I don't have to repeat the whole story of Hei Teves, because we already did that once, but I want to share with you something that maybe people don't know. I shared this with Rabbi Groner — Rabbi Groner knew this.

I remember the first Hei Teves. I was there. It was a big — it was, I would say, similar to what they say about Simchas Beis HaShoeivah: whoever didn't see the simcha of Hei Teves in front of the Rebbe, in 770, in the Rebbe's shul, did not see a simcha in their days. Thousands and thousands of people came for Hei Teves.

At that moment, everybody was dancing and singing and happy. The Rebbe was on the telephone with Rabbi Hodakov and Rabbi Mendel [?]. I heard from Rabbi Mendel [?] that in the middle of the dancing there was a conversation — I don't know exactly who said what — but it was said: "When your enemy falls, don't be happy." People were dancing, and this was said during that conversation. It came time for Mincha — it was about 3:15.

They all went downstairs. [unclear — "the niggun that was being sung"] I remember, and everybody was singing. Then the Rebbe came down for Mincha. The Rebbe came down very, very serious. The Rebbe didn't motion with his hand — usually the Rebbe motions with his hand, [encouraging the singing], when there's a farbrengen; everybody thinks the Rebbe always motions to encourage the singing, but here it was very strange — the Rebbe did not motion with his hand. The Rebbe went up to his place, and they started the Mincha.

Then, when it came time, after Shemoneh Esrei, to say Tachanun, the Rebbe turned around — I remember — and motioned with his hand like this, in other words: "Why aren't you saying Tachanun?" I remember we were all surprised. Rabbi Groner was looking around, not knowing exactly [why], so he told the Rebbe that there was a chattan there — that's why they weren't saying Tachanun. The Rebbe said, "Okay." So they didn't say Tachanun — not because of Hei Teves, but because there was a chattan.

But after that, after this — only this one time — Hei Teves became a big Yom Tov. I spoke to a big chossid and told him what happened, and I told him what was said in the Rebbe's room, on the telephone.

Now, there is another place that says, "Ba'avod resha'im rinah" — when the wicked are lost, you should be happy. So it's a contradiction: here it says, when your enemy falls, don't be happy; but here it says to rejoice. So he told me like this: it depends why the person is happy. If he's happy because it's his personal enemy — if it's selfish, if he's happy simply because he personally doesn't like him — that's personal, and you shouldn't be happy. That's like at Krias Yam Suf, [where the angels wanted to sing and Hashem stopped them, saying His creations were drowning]. But if you're happy because he is a rasha, that's "birshoyim rinah" — so it depends why, why the happiness.

I remember my father once told me — I think I mentioned it once — he said it says somewhere that when we're happy, sometimes Hashem is not happy [with that happiness]. Why? Because you're happy that you have a nice house, that you have a nice car, that you have cashmeres — is that real happiness? If that's your happiness, that's not the real simcha. So, in other words, it matters why the person is happy. Because of Hashem, Hei Teves became a Yom Tov fully.

And it's called — I would just like you to know — I don't know if the world would be the way it is today [without it]. I would say it is holier than, you know, Yom Kippur; it's holier than Sukkos — I would say — but it's because, if we hadn't seen this in this world, then we wouldn't be the way we are today.

I would say that Hei Teves is because of this — it made [an impression on] the Rebbe. And now, this — [referring to the sefarim] — should come back from Russia. That should be number one. And when this comes back, then it will be a real geulah, the ultimate redemption for all of us.

Thank you.