Story the Rebbe Shared Outside the 770 Elevator

Welcome to our weekly Victoria Shabbos program. Tonight is Victoria Shabbos, Parshas Nitzavim and Vayeilech. And Nitzavim always falls out before Rosh Hashanah.

And today we bentsch Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, but we didn't bentsch it — the Ribono shel Olam bentsched it. It's the only month of the year that the Ribono shel Olam bentsches.

And as the Baal Shem Tov says, Atem Nitzavim Hayom — "today." "Hayom" connects to the Hayom of [unclear: "din o din rabo"]. All Yidden are standing together on Rosh Hashanah, and they are acquitted in judgment — zocheh ba'din. And when the Ribono shel Olam sees that Nitzavim Kulchem — when everybody's together, when Yidden are together — then "Borcheinu Avinu Kulanu K'Echad," the Ribono shel Olam gives us a brocha when we're united.

So today, since it's Parshas Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah, and the Ribono shel Olam sees that Nitzavim — we're together — Rosheichem, Shivteichem, Zikneichem, mi'chotev eitzecha ad sho'ev meimecha, everybody — that's when the Ribono shel Olam gives you a brocha.

And the Ribono shel Olam gives all the Yidden Kesiva v'Chasima Tovah. And we could go tonight to Selichos b'simcha gedolah.

As we see in the Torah: from Rosh Hashanah, the highest, until the water carrier. There is Rosh Hashanah; there are yeshivos; there are rabbanim; there are melamdim — they are teachers. There is [unclear] until [unclear] — one has no skills, another has skills, he chops wood, he has an axe, he does what he can do. Another is just a water carrier. So everybody is together, from Rosh Hashanah, the highest, until the water carrier.

And Moshe Rabbeinu brought the Yidden together, and he commanded them to be areivim — guarantors — for one another [unclear]. So just like in the body of every person there is an advantage of the feet over the head — the head cannot be complete without the feet. If the head wants to go to shul, and there's no feet, G-d forbid, then the person cannot go. So it needs to be together. The same thing also — Klal Yisrael, all Yidden, are ready to accept — guarantors, all together. The head has an advantage over the feet, and the feet have an advantage over the head. They have to be together.

As we see with the sukkah — you take an esrog, a lulav, a hadas, and an aravah. And the esrog, as the madrich explains — we've spoken about it many times — an esrog has a smell and a taste. These are Yidden that learn Torah and do mitzvos. A lulav is only Torah. A hadas is mitzvos — not that they don't have Torah, but more mitzvos. Aravos are plain people — they don't have a smell and they don't have a taste. And if you want to bentsch with the daled minim, you cannot bentsch with just the esrog until you also have the aravos. It has to be all four. If you don't have the aravos, you can't bentsch with an esrog alone. It has to be everybody.

So this is the ma'alah — the greatness — of Klal Yisrael, that all Yidden are needed in ahavah. And that's one of the reasons — the fact is that Hoshana Rabbah can never fall on Shabbos. Can't. Why? Because the aravah is muktzah. The aravah represents those who have no smell and no taste — that's our people who have no smell and no taste. So Hoshana Rabbah, which is almost like Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days, can never fall on Shabbos, because you cannot use an aravah on Shabbos. That's how important it is that anashim peshutim — everybody — be together.

And as we once spoke, and the Rebbe spoke about it — the tefillin shel yad and the tefillin shel rosh. Everybody puts on tefillin shel yad and shel rosh. The Aibershter also puts on tefillin shel rosh. What is the tefillin shel yad [about]? These are not [scholars] — people who [struggle] to learn; not that they don't learn, but they push through it; it's only [done] like "as I eat." That's the tefillin shel yad. What's the tefillin shel rosh? These are really the wise ones — these are teachers, these are heads, rabbanim. So what do you put on first? First you put on shel yad. Then shel rosh — yad comes first. When you take off the tefillin, what do we take off first? First we take off shel rosh, but shel yad always remains. We begin with shel yad and we end with shel yad.

So there's a lesson in both. [unclear] This is why, when the ones who are "shel yad" realize that they also need the "shel rosh," and they are equal — this is when the brocha comes down.

As we say: Pnei Moshe k'pnei chamah — that's the head. [unclear: "she knows to be the name"] Pnei Yehoshua k'pnei levana — that's the moon, that's the feet. You need the feet to do what the head wants, but the only way that the Chochmah can be accomplished is definitely through the moon — that's the feet. So everything, everybody, has to be together.

And when a Yid goes to shul tonight with this in mind — that we're all equal — then [unclear: Hashem will give him a good new year].

And this reminds me — I heard it from, I forgot from whom, I forgot his name. He was once standing in 770, and the Rebbe — transcribed here as "Rebbe Nachman" [?], the Rebbe before the Rebbe was a Rebbe — when the Rebbe [Nachman?] was here, so he came now with an elevator. And he said to this person — I think to the Rebbe [Nachman?] — and he told him [something], and he was very excited. The Rebbe said, "I just heard something from the Rebbe, exciting — do you want to hear?" So they said, "Of course." So the Rebbe said, "I just heard from the Rebbe" — meaning from the Frierdiker Rebbe — "that he was once in a place" — I don't know whether it was a show or a hall, I don't remember — "but there was a mixed crowd. There were people sitting, different kinds of people, there were [unclear], and there were people that are not religious, all together. But the frum people didn't want to mix with the non-religious people. They stayed away because they thought that maybe [something would rub off on them that] they didn't want." And the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "I did — I was mekarev them."

And then the Frierdiker Rebbe told them, "Just like a father loves every single child, b'li gvul — unlimited. He has one child, then he has another child — the same thing. The love is an inner love. A father loves every child; there's no way to explain it — it's an unlimited love. What if a father, G-d forbid, has a child which is a special-needs child? So the love to that child is even more than to a regular child, because he's a special-needs child."

The same thing also the Rebbe said with the Aibershter: "The Aibershter loves every single Yid, every Yid. What if a Yid is a special-needs [Yid]? It's a rachmanus on him — he's a tinok she'nishba. He's not religious — or he's not religious yet, or he's not the way he's supposed to be. He's a special-needs [Yid]. So the love to that Yid is even more than to any other Yid, because that's a special-needs [case]." That's something like what the Frierdiker Rebbe said. So the Rebbe said that from then on, his whole outlook about Yidden was much stronger because of what he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe.

So, when everybody's together — Rosheichem, Shivteichem, Zikneichem — and everyone is recognized as important, then the brochos come down and people will have lots [of nachas].

Now, going back to the water carrier: Yitzchak was looking for a wife, and he saw Rivka. He didn't look at her intellect — it doesn't say anywhere that she was supposed to be smart. Of course Rivka was, I'm sure, very smart, but that wasn't his inyan. His inyan was that he saw she was carrying water. She was a water carrier, and it was a chesed — she gave to drink the gemalim, the camels, and gave him to drink — he saw the chesed. He chose her to be the mother of Klal Yisrael. This is how important it is — ad sho'ev meimecha.

Now, talking about Yitzchak and Rivka — before Rosh Hashanah, when you open up a machzor, you see by Shaarei Tziyon: "B'fi yesharim titromam, u'visfat tzaddikim tisborach, u'vilshon chassidim tiskadash, u'vkerev kedoshim tis-halal." Now, the yud of "b'fi" is bold. The tzadi — you'll see there — is bold. The ches and the kuf — Yitzchak — and also Rivka, the reish, kuf, hey. Open a machzor, you'll see. Why? I was wondering why. Why, all of a sudden, at the beginning of davening of Shacharis on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, do "Rivka" and "Yitzchak" appear? So the answer is: these are Yidden who never go to shul. The only time they go to shul is on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The davening begins by including all Yidden — even people like Yitzchak and Rivka — because Rivka said to Yitzchak, when Yitzchak wanted to bentsch Eisav, Rivka came over and said, "Yaakov, go take the blessing. Go put on the clothes of Eisav."

Why did she have to do it — put on the clothes of Eisav? She could have just said, "Maybe your father might touch you — go get the blessing." Couldn't she go over to Yitzchak and tell him, "Yitzchak, you're my husband, you're blind. I'm the mother, I know who Eisav is, I know who Yaakov is — bless Yaakov"? Why did she have to do such a thing — put on the clothes of Eisav? Because — here's the answer — she is a mother. She's a mother for everybody. Whether she has a son like Eisav or a son like Yaakov, she loves everybody. And she wanted that the brochos of Yitzchak should go to all Jews — even a Jew who has the ways of Eisav should also be blessed. So she wanted the brocha specifically for all Jews, doesn't matter who — as long as his mother is Jewish, he should also be blessed. That's why Rivka and Yitzchak['s names are highlighted] — to show that they are the ones who cared about all Yidden. And that's why she wanted the brocha to go to all of Klal Yisrael — all Yidden, everybody, all Yidden together.

And I once heard [a teaching] — it says, Talmud Torah k'neged kulam, which we say every day. Kibbud av v'eim comes to mind — [unclear]. So there's a letter from the Rebbe — I think I put the letter in "Letter and Spirit." Somebody asked the Rebbe — I don't have the exact question — "Why do you make such a point of all the mitzvos? Talmud Torah you should stress — Talmud Torah should be the main thing, more than the other mitzvos — because it says Talmud Torah k'neged kulam. So why do you stress [everything equally]? Isn't Talmud Torah k'neged kulam?" The Rebbe said, "Yes, Talmud Torah is k'neged kulam. But when is Talmud Torah k'neged kulam? When all the things before that are done properly — when you have kibbud av v'eim properly, when you do gemilus chassadim, when you get up every morning and go to shul, and all these things — hachnosas kallah, all these inyanim — then the Torah that you learn is k'neged kulam. But when you just have Talmud Torah, and that's the main thing, and the other things don't count as much — then it's not. Kol ha'omer ein li ela Torah, afilu Torah — it has to be together. That's when the Torah is [truly] Torah."

So now, before we go to Selichos, if we keep this all in mind — and as we spoke last week, that the ikar is not [just] the chinuch, to be mechanech the children in that way — the Rebbe said it will help that everybody will have a brocha, nachas from the kids: banai, chayei, u'mzonai revicha. Why banai first? Shouldn't chayei be first? Because if you have good children, then chayei — your life, your living, will be a true living, and parnassa the Rebbe should give. But when can you have nachas from your children? When you are going to be a dugma chaya — a living example — when the father and the mother and the teachers are going to be a living example that the children can learn from — that's when you'll have a lot of nachas.

When the Rebbe says it will help them — that we should be zoche to a shana tova, a good year, a healthy year, we should all have arichas yomim v'shonim tovim. Im yirtzeh Hashem, next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.