The Rebbe’s Parable Regarding Death

Welcome to our weekly Motzei Shabbos program. We are now in the middle of the Three Weeks.

As we explained last week, the first will be [unclear]... the second in the middle is... by the way, we spoke, it's called *bein hametzarim* [?]... The Rebbe once went to somebody, and the Rebbe said to them, "Don't be *machmir* [?] in *aveilus*." A person doesn't have to be... of course you have to do... there's *aveilus*, I mean, there is *aveilus*, but don't be *machmir*. You know, we mourn, but don't be *machmir*. "Are not *machmir* in *aveilus*," because when you're *machmir* in *aveilus*, [they are *machmir*] with him in the other world. So it depends on us. If we're not *machmir*, they're not *machmir* with him in the other world.

Now once, I saw a [unclear]. He was getting married that week, and I saw him. I said, "You look very sad. You look very..." So he tells me, "I am... that's why... I am *bes* [?]," which is used for someone who passed away. No, he means *bes* [?], the seven days before the wedding. So he's *bes* [?], he was then mourning [unclear]... are happy. Years ago, before, they used to call the [unclear]... So even though we're in *aveilus*, we have to be [unclear], and that's the...

So, talking about *aveilus* [?]: in the early [years] [?], before the Rebbe was the [Rebbe] [?], many times he used to write letters to people for [unclear]. And sometimes he was the person that was supposed to go. He had to go, and he excused himself. They didn't go. So he wrote a letter instead.

I have the letter here that the Rebbe wrote to him. There are many letters. We have in the letter [unclear], we're going to have in the future, but there are many letters. But this is a letter that I want to share with you, about [what] the [Rebbe] wrote, a *mashal*. And maybe it says the *mashal* somewhere.

There was a person that was standing in front of a river, in front of water, and he was meditating. That's a place to think. Then he picks up his head and he looks on the right side. He looks all the way. He sees hundreds of people dancing, and dancing and drinking, saying [unclear]. And what's the [occasion] today? A ship was built, and it's the first time the ship is going out for a long, long journey overseas.

Then he turns his head to the left side, and he sees an old ship coming back with merchandise to its final destination. Who is there to meet the ship? Who's there? Ten people.

So the person says to himself, as the [Rebbe] writes, "Look, here is a ship. It's going out for the first time. Hundreds of people are happy, which is good. But who knows if the ship is going to sink or not? Who knows if the ship will overcome all the [unclear], all the wars [?]? Who knows what's going to happen? Nevertheless, hundreds of people are happy. And here on the left side is a ship that already went through all the [unclear], went through all the tornadoes, all the wars [?], all the weathers, and it's coming back to its final destination with good merchandise. Who cares? Who is there to [unclear]? A handful of people."

So the Rebbe speaks to him about the *nimshal*. I think that person needed to have said something about his [unclear].

So the Rebbe says: a person comes down to the world. A person doesn't want to be born, but a person makes... so we make a *bris*, we make a [unclear], we're happy because we hope... we give that... to be in this world is a big test, a big test to overcome. But what if a person is already older and he went through all the tests, all [unclear], and he's coming back to his final destination? He's coming at his old age, older age. Who cares about him? Just a handful of people. So the Rebbe was giving him a [unclear] over there, that his behavior should have been, I mean should be, I guess, a behavior [unclear]. And this is a [unclear].

Now, once somebody wrote to the Rebbe a letter. I think I mentioned it to you a few years ago, but maybe I'll do it again. A man writes to the Rebbe, "You always say that everything in this world is for a purpose. My mother is a vegetable. The doctor said she was a vegetable. She's in the hospital. What's the purpose of her living?" He asks the Rebbe, what's the purpose? And then he writes, "His children and his grandchildren are always with her, for months and months, and they never take their eyes off her. Not a minute. They take turns. They're always there. But what's the purpose?"

So the Rebbe answered him: the purpose of her living is... you're saying that she is in a hospital. People there, visitors that come to visit other people, they see what your children are doing, how much *kibbud* [?] they have for your mother. This is her purpose of living. Everything has a purpose. The *kibbud em* is [unclear]. And the Rebbe was very impressed that the children and grand[children] never take [their eyes off] another [unclear], which I think people understand.

So this... and the Rebbe told him also, here it says, that he should learn *Pirkei* [?] with the children.

Another letter. You know, now it's the Three Weeks. Now it's a time to give, to give charity. It's a time to give, um... So there's a verse from the [unclear]. [He] writes that *gelt*, money: the numerical value of *gelt* is 112, *gimmel* and [unclear], is 112. *Gelt* has the same numerical value, equal to *blote*. *Blote* means mud, manure. That's 112, and that's 112. So the [unclear] says, people give *gelt*. So why is it *blote*? [unclear] is very important.

So the Rebbe says, *gelt* is *blote*. When you hold the *blote* in one place, it's waste, it starts smelling, it's not good. But when you take this *blote*, manure, and you spread it out on the field, it's fertilizer, it becomes a good field, only when you spread it out. So *gelt* is *blote* when you hold it. But when you give out *gelt*, when you give, then it's good, and it's fertilizer, and then it becomes fresh, and everything is good. So this is the idea of now giving in the Three Weeks, giving. And the last thing that the [Rebbe] [?] left us is [*ahavas*] *Yisroel* [?], which is the time of the Three Weeks, because we have to [*ahavas*] *Yisroel* [?] and to give.

So, I just want to end off now with one story of a [Yid] [?], about how we can learn from [him]. Interesting: my wife's [zeide] [?], the [unclear], Rabbi Mindel's father-in-law. [He] lived in Long Beach. Long Beach, Long Island. Now, Long Beach is a city. It's a place.

It says that when people are *mekabel Shabbos* early, [if] every shul davens early, then every person who lives in that city has to be *mekabel Shabbos* early. Unless there's one shul that davens later, then that's fine. But if every shul davens early, then everyone in the city becomes Shabbos by them.

Um, he lived in Long Beach, and every shul there... there were hotels, there were shuls there, maybe six, seven. Every shul was *mekabel Shabbos* early. He was *moser nefesh* to be *mekabel Shabbos* [unclear] late. He was an older man, and nobody wanted to [daven] with him, because everybody wanted to go home early. So people did him favors. Sometimes from Sunday till Shabbos he used to call people. [Some] didn't want [to]. This one did him a favor, that one. So he did have a minyan [unclear]. He had a minyan, but nobody wanted to go with him.

So somebody asked him. He says, "It says in [halacha] that you're allowed to bring Shabbos early. It'll be easy for you to daven [unclear]. Why are you so serious that you have to get a minyan? It's very hard."

So he tells them, he says, "Because it says if every shul is *mekabel Shabbos* early, everyone [in the city] is Shabbos an hour [earlier]; that hour everyone is considered Shabbos." He wanted to prevent at least these people that are [*mechallel*] Shabbos [?], that drive a car on Shabbos: they should be an hour less [*mechallel*] Shabbos. So he was willing to be *moser nefesh* to go and make sure that we should have [unclear]. This is called [unclear].

So this is [what] I want to bring: the [unclear] is the love of every [Yid] [?]. And this is what we can learn, what a real [unclear] is, that we should have. And we should give; [the giving] should be like fertilizer, spread out. And this will bring the [unclear].

Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.