General Assembly 5739 in Kfar Chabad

06:16 Speaker 1 Huh? I don’t know what you’re saying. Come, come with them. Yeah. What’s that? That’s it, it’s already gone out. I can’t even talk to him. What you... What? Is that shilling already? I don’t understand the game. Is that table twenty already? Huh?

10:15 Speaker 2 I have five, counsel. Huh?

10:31 Speaker 4 They’re grabbing them.

10:34 Speaker 2 Nothing can be done. Oh. Well?

11:08 Speaker 4 I told you.

11:09 Speaker 2 A promise that doesn’t work on video...

11:13 Speaker 4 The return of pizza.

11:15 Speaker 2 Hmm?

11:16 Speaker 4 Looks, looks good. Good.

12:12 Speaker 2 I have plans. Who’s here with you? Who’s here with you? Open the—open the... What’s that? Come on, arrange it.

13:15 Speaker 5 That’s not a microphone.

13:17 Speaker 2 Why?

13:18 Speaker 5 Ah, it’s...

13:40 Speaker 2 Speak. Speak. Speak. Give me one thing—for the first time, I want to hug... What’s that? What’s that I hear through the microphone? What’s that?

13:59 Speaker 5 Yes, it’s nonsense.

14:02 Speaker 2 What’s the problem with that?

16:44 Speaker 6 Sir, the microphone. Ladies and gentlemen, we ask everyone to take a seat. We have one more request: those who are not, as the notice puts it, members of the association should leave. Yeshiva students have no reason to be here. We will not open the meeting until everyone who is not a member of the association has left, without exception. Every single one of you—you and you and you—all of you, please leave.

17:21 Speaker 7 Rabbi Golan.

17:21 Speaker 6 Huh?

17:22 Speaker 7 Microphone, microphone.

17:24 Speaker 6 There’s the microphone, by the microphone. [unclear], [unclear]. Rabbi Gruzman. Thank you. Ah, the rosh yeshiva should sit here at the head of the table, in honor of the yeshiva. Rabbi Gruzman. Not Rabbi—Rabbi Druckman’s turn will come too. Rabbi Gruzman. Rabbi Gruzman! [unclear]. Ah, as everyone knows, the Rebbe shlita instructed that every gathering for the sake of Heaven should open with a Torah teaching. We asked one of those who review the Rebbe’s teachings, Rabbi Michal Steinitz, to come and review a sicha of the Rebbe’s. Rabbi Michal Steinitz, please. Perhaps, until Rabbi Michal Steinitz begins speaking, in keeping with dina demalchusa dina and the bylaws, we need to choose a chairperson. I propose that a chairperson be elected for the meeting.

19:30 Speaker 8 I propose, I propose that our rabbi be the chairperson.

19:37 Speaker 6 That. So all these matters of character traits stem from the attribute of gevurah, to the point that... That was the substance and the main points of the maamar the Rebbe delivered on Motzaei Shabbos Chanukah. I want to finish with one more thing, a small point, which I heard from the Rebbe shlita in yechidus. They say everything follows the conclusion, the last word. I heard this from the Rebbe, and also when the Rebbe blessed us before we traveled. The last word was “good news,” and we heard this there at the farbrengens. One night Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner led a farbrengen there, and he related that in the early years, people went in for yechidus more often. There was a Jew from somewhere—he didn’t say where. In any case, this Jew would go in to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe would speak with him more openly. This Jew went in, and when he came out he was crying. Someone later asked him, “Why were you crying?” He told him that the Rebbe had said that if chassidim had looked after the previous Rebbe’s health, he would have lived longer. The Rebbe simply began to cry, and then the man came out. So I conclude with the wish that every person bring the Rebbe good news. Then the Rebbe will be healthy, the Rebbe will reveal himself more, and it will be as the Rebbe would say—as we heard him say several times, with special emphasis and in a loud voice—“in my days,” or “in our days, literally.”

21:30 Speaker 9 Thank you very much to Rabbi Michal Steinitz for the sicha of the Rebbe’s. This evening we are opening the biennial general meeting of the village committee. The concept of a general meeting is brought in the Shulchan Aruch. There are the seven trustees of a town, and there is the presence of the townspeople. Some matters the seven trustees have the authority to decide on their own. For other matters, the seven trustees specifically need the townspeople present. As is well known, the authority of the seven trustees in halachah is very great. This has been discussed several times already. Boruch Hashem, every child in Kfar Chabad knows the halachah that “what a beis din declares ownerless is ownerless”; it is discussed at length in the Shulchan Aruch. This is very great authority, very substantial authority under halachah. Of course, those who work on behalf of the community must do so for the sake of Heaven. When they do, they have Divine assistance in all these matters. This is a very serious matter. It is a matter of great halachic significance. There are things that require the presence of the townspeople. Their presence is sometimes mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch, in section 153 of Orach Chayim, concerning the sale of a shul, which—no, then? All right. There are things the seven trustees cannot decide on their own. They need the other side as well. For a matter involving something sacred, they specifically need the townspeople present. On the other hand, the townspeople also have a role in granting authority to the seven trustees, so that the seven trustees can then make decisions. I have thought about this a great deal. I have all sorts of inner conflicts. I read the notice on the—on the club noticeboard, the report on the work, on the committee. The committee will present its report later. For my own part, as a resident of Kfar Chabad, as someone who has some involvement in communal affairs, I want

24:02 Speaker 9 just to express a little of what I feel, what I think, and I think I have to say it. As you know, I imagine there are people sitting here in the hall thinking to themselves: There’s nothing to hear and nothing to talk about. But there is a halachah in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, in section 156 of Orach Chayim, about a beis din or a rabbi. There is a halachah that just as it is a mitzvah to say something that will be heard, so it is a mitzvah not to say something that will not be heard. But regarding a beis din or a rabbi, the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch says—and this is the Alter Rebbe’s novel ruling on this point; it does not appear in the earlier authorities—that a rabbi must speak even when what he says will not be heard. Why? If it will not help, why must he say it? At the very least, so that he removes himself from collective responsibility. After all, he bears responsibility for the whole community. Once he says what he has to say, he removes himself from that responsibility. That is the Alter Rebbe’s ruling. So, since it has fallen to me to open the meeting now, I want to say just a few words. I will not go into details right now. There are things here in the village that pain me. They truly break my heart. Sometimes I walk around the shul and hear things. There are matters I am involved in; I know them firsthand. I come into the shul and find an uproar, alarm, incitement—without any responsibility whatsoever. No investigation, no inquiry. Who did you hear it from? What did you hear? What did he say? Who said it? What did he say? How do you know? What do you know? Nothing. This morning I asked someone: Why? Where is the justice and where is the fairness? A rabbi must be deliberate. There are twenty-six sections at the beginning of Choshen Mishpat in the Shulchan Aruch on how a rabbi—

26:17 Speaker 9 before he reaches a ruling—must conduct himself. He has to investigate, he has to inquire, he has to ask questions, he has to weigh his judgment, he has to consult others, and only afterward can he issue a ruling. A private individual in Kfar Chabad is exempt from all that? All he needs is to hear something in the mikveh, and immediately [unclear], he goes and starts a fire, setting the whole village ablaze, without any responsibility whatsoever. I ask myself: Where is the justice and where is the fairness? Why am I bound by all this? Why is the other person exempt? The ans—the answer is not that I am bound and the other person is exempt. He is bound too. He simply does not hold himself accountable. I hope I hold myself accountable. There are all sorts of prohibitions against lashon hara, gossip, lies, [unclear], all these things. I’m not such a genius; I don’t come close to the dust of his feet. But I can count to eight or nine right now too. Where is it? A Jew hears something. There is a rabbi in the Jewish community; there is an authority. Go to him, ask, find out whether it is true or not. At least there have been a few people who came to us and said, “Gentlemen, listen, such-and-such happened here. You should know that I have done my part. This matter does not affect me personally; it affects the whole village. You are responsible for it; it is in your hands. I have merely brought you the correct information.” In my opinion, that person acted properly. He acted according to the Shulchan Aruch; he acted as halachah requires of him, and that is that. He fulfilled his obligation. Now, if someone else [unclear], but when a Jew himself, in that moment, does nothing—there is no rabbi, there is no...

28:11 Speaker 9 There’s no judgment and no judge—nothing. I heard something, and that’s enough for me. I heard it, and immediately I go and fan the flames. A Jew like that, in my opinion, takes upon himself [unclear]. He doesn’t give himself an accounting; he doesn’t stop to think. But according to halachah, according to the Torah, [unclear]. There are prohibitions, and we [unclear] children, chassidic children, [unclear]. In any case, I know it pains me. It pains me. I walk into the shul and hear curses. It makes no difference whether it’s Sukkos, the eve of Yom Kippur, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, [unclear]. What does it mean to let a curse out of your mouth? Master of the Universe, what does it mean to let a curse out of your mouth? Anyone who has read Sefer Hazichronos knows the story of what happened in [unclear]: they had to bring in the Baal Shem [unclear] to undo, through the generations, everything that Jew had damaged with the curse he uttered. That Jew ought, for once, to give himself an accounting and think about what he’s doing. On the contrary. So I ask him, “Why are you cursing?” And he answers me, “Who appointed you?” I’ve never heard such a thing, that [unclear]. I heard it. [unclear] I don’t know. I have no intention here, G-d forbid, of justifying one side or the other. Gentlemen, I must tell you what it says in the Shulchan Aruch, especially for us chassidim. We know how much these things matter, how much guarding one’s speech matters, how much this matter is discussed in the sefarim.

29:49 Speaker 9 [unclear]. But I do know that, regarding blemishing the bris, one of the first ways to correct it is to refrain from lashon hara, gossip, curses—all these things. There is a sefer [unclear] mentioned in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. [unclear] Reishis Chochmah. May I mention it? [unclear] Reishis Chochmah. Eh? [unclear]. Reishis Chochmah was an introduction to Chassidus. At one time, in the Alter Rebbe’s day, there was a practice that before studying Tanya, one could study Reishis Chochmah. In chapter 19 of Shaar Hateshuvah, Reishis Chochmah says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created two organs in a person: the tongue and, corresponding to it, the other organ. The two depend on each other. If, G-d forbid, the tongue is not as it should be, the other cannot be as it should be either. And the way to set the other one right is to set the tongue right. That is what Reishis Chochmah says, citing earlier sefarim. That’s one thing. These things enter a certain domain of Hakadosh Boruch Hu [unclear]. But this utter lack of restraint is simply lawlessness! Lawlessness, sheer lawlessness, with no oversight, no limits, nothing. Where are we? Where are we? People don’t stop to think; they have no idea. Elderly Jews, chassidic Jews with white beards, thank G-d, fine children and fine grandchildren—and they use [unclear], G-d forbid. Gehinnom is open. Gehinnom is wide open. There is no other explanation. No other explanation. Even if—even if the allegation is true, I’m not saying; I’m not getting into the details. It may be true, it may not be true, but there is no justification. Even if one Jew murdered another, the other person is forbidden to curse him for it. There is

31:46 Speaker 9 a law, there is a court, there is halachah governing what must be done. But from today onward—from today onward—I must say this. It is my duty to say it, whether these words are pleasant or not. Perhaps it isn’t pleasant for me to say them either, but I must. And since this meeting is meant to give an accounting of the association’s condition, I think “the condition of the association” can mean various things: its land, its movable property, [unclear]. But it also means the condition of the association’s members. Its members, too. Once and for all, we must remember: there is a Shulchan Aruch. There are limits. I don’t know who is right, but the Shulchan Aruch imposed this “religious coercion.” What can we do? This is what we received. The entire Torah was given to us through “religious coercion”: “He held the mountain over them like a barrel.” [unclear] But that’s how it is. That’s how it is. [unclear] There are prohibitions upon prohibitions upon prohibitions, and no one will escape them. You have a grievance? Go to a rav. But simply to spread things around? If someone perpetuates a dispute, according to the Ramban he transgresses “And he shall not be like Korach and his assembly.” Even those who disagree with the Ramban don’t say it isn’t a prohibition; they count it among the other prohibitions. A world without restraint—sheer lawlessness, plain lawlessness, lawlessness, lawlessness. There is no—there is no reason to inflame this. No reason. Master of the Universe, [unclear] Jews, chassidic Jews. I’m not saying—I’m not going into the details, and I don’t want to. I don’t want to. It is not my role right now to go into

33:37 Speaker 9 the details, but there are limits. A religious Jew has limits. Of course, in the free world [unclear]. But this is the Kfar Chabad association. It is an association of Chabad chassidim, an association of chassidim. The Rebbe said—the Frierdiker Rebbe has a sicha in which he asks: What does he demand of chassidim? What does he demand of the students of Tomchei Temimim? Three things: Chassidus, diligence in Torah study, and a clean mouth. A clean mouth. There is a story in Sefer Hazichronos about how [unclear] once conquered all of Pinsk and the surrounding area. [unclear] argued against him. What did he tell them? “Gentlemen, I too would have argued as you do, but there is one thing: I always kept my mouth clean.” They had nothing to say to him. They didn’t know what to say to that. They didn’t know what to say. I think I have to say this, and I must say it, and I say it with a heavy heart. I say it with a heavy heart. Thank G-d, most of the village’s residents are here. Why? Why have we sunk so low? How did we reach this point? Why must it come to this? Why must we reach the point of having to speak about such things? Had the Satan not been dancing among us, G-d forbid, we would not have come to this, or to all sorts of other things. The second point I want to make—and must make—may be something some people want to hear and others do not. Some may think to themselves that I draw a salary. I do not draw a salary. I’ve already had [unclear] today; I’ve already drunk that wine. But gentlemen, for thirty years we held ourselves together. For thirty years we held ourselves together. Granted, I wasn’t here in the early years, and perhaps

35:28 Speaker 9 I only began taking part in some sort of framework in recent years. And boruch Hashem, thanks to the Rebbe shlita—only thanks to the Rebbe shlita—many, many frameworks in this country have fallen apart. Many movements, many different things have fallen apart. The framework of Kfar Chabad, boruch Hashem, has grown and flourished, and will grow much further, with a great future ahead of it. What is our merit? One thing is that we were all united. We worked everything out here within the village. About nine months ago, people sat with me, together with the rabbi. The heads of Brit Pikuach sat with us, together with the heads of the associations. I’ve forgotten what his name is. They were just visiting the village. They sat with the rabbis, [unclear], and told us: “Gentlemen, how fortunate you are. How we envy you. We know the troubles we have in other villages. Boruch Hashem, fortunate are you, and fortunate is your lot. Fortunate are you that you settle every matter among yourselves. You don’t bother us as though you think we can help. What can we do to help?” Someone came and told me about a time he was sitting with the head of the associations. There was a dispute in Tifrach—a religious village, a religious village! There are Hungarians and Moroccans there. They were fighting, with knives. They called the head of the associations there. So the head of the associations said to him: “Have things come to this—that I, who desecrate Shabbos, have to go make peace between the Moroccans and the Hungarians?” He laughed about it. That’s how he laughed about it. Imagine if things reached the point where he thought the same situation had arisen in Kfar Chabad: that he would come make peace here, that he would come set things in order here. Who is he?

37:23 Speaker 9 What is he, that he should come to the Rebbe shlita’s village and tell the rabbi what to do? Could there be one Jew here who thinks he can bring Kfar Chabad to that point? Heaven and earth would shake! If, G-d forbid, a child in Kfar Chabad thinks one can influence the rabbi through someone who publicly desecrates Shabbos—heaven forbid! Otherwise, the rabbi would have to resign. What would the rabbi do? He would tell him: “Get out of here. Leave. You have no place in Kfar Chabad.” Heaven forbid that people should speak this way in Kfar Chabad. Who are they? At least if Jews came and said, “We won’t go along with this. We don’t want to listen to the rabbis. We want to listen to the Council of Torah Sages”—Misnagdim, chassidim? But that people in Kfar Chabad should come and say, “If not, you’re not [unclear], Brit Pikuach. I’ll go here, I’ll go there”—there is no greater chillul Hashem. But what do we do? We keep quiet, we keep quiet. What can we do—go around arguing with each person, telling each one? But Heaven knows what I think to myself, what the rabbi thinks to himself, what everyone else in Kfar Chabad thinks about this Jew, about so-and-so. Maybe there are no such people. I hope there won’t be. But imagine what is going on here. What is going on here? What is going on here? What is going on here? We have a Shulchan Aruch, we have Choshen Mishpat—there are laws governing everything, laws governing everything. So people will come and exert pressure so that Kfar Chabad conducts itself only, only, only, only, only, only, only according to [unclear]? Then tomorrow we might as well close the Talmud Torah, close the cheder, close everything. A Jew will come and say that Kfar Chabad has to conduct itself according to that institution. If so, where—where will we

39:25 Speaker 9 end up? Where will we end up, Master of the Universe? Where will we end up? How could anyone even think such a thing! It is a blemish in the soul! A Jew who can think this way does not have a whole soul. I am one hundred percent certain. I have no doubt about it. This is heresy! I say that with full responsibility. And gentlemen, this is no joke. I’ve heard it once, twice, three times, and I know—I investigated and made inquiries. I investigated and made inquiries. I’m not telling you this without cause. People went and told tales. They went and said things. Whom did they tell? Whom did they tell? Why did they tell them? Here, I have a letter. I have a letter. I’ll show you a letter that arrived—I spoke about this last night. It’s from a family in Ramat Hasharon whose child is staying here in Kfar Chabad. The family wrote to me. “I know,” the mother writes, “I’ve always known that religious people are hypocrites, that they’re dirty, that they’re thieves and robbers. I only thought Kfar Chabad was different. But apparently, there you have it.” And she ends with the saying that Yannai told his wife: “Do not fear the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but the hypocrites, whose deeds are like Zimri’s and who seek a reward like Pinchas’s.” On Thursday morning, on Thursday morning, I went to Tel Aviv. I rode with the driver of [unclear], because we were going to the bank. I simply went along with him because I wanted to get closer to where I needed to go. I went into the bank, and the bank manager came up to me. He said, “Are you the rabbi of Kfar Chabad?” I told him, “Yes.” So he said, “Do you know that someone phoned me and said your association no longer exists? [unclear] leave here immediately, immediately.” They tell me: “Do you know your signing authority has been canceled?” Why? “On December thirty-first. On December thirty-first, your signing authority expired.” Master of the Universe, who phoned you? “We got a call from Kfar Chabad. Someone phoned

41:31 Speaker 9 us from Kfar Chabad.” What are they trying to achieve? What do they want? What? Master of the Universe. This is evidence. I’m saying it plainly. I can really imagine how I would think if I were sitting on the other side of the table, with someone else speaking in my place: that my intention here was somehow to impose some particular opinion on this holy congregation, to impose something on it. G-d forbid, that is not my intention right now. I’m not saying I have no such intentions, but that is not my intention right now. My intention is very simple. It concerns each and every person. We know everything. We have information about each and every person. G-d forbid, we don’t want to cause disputes or quarrels here. We have authority at our disposal. One of the [unclear] told us explicitly: “Put a stop to it, and we’ll help you.” We don’t want that. Boruch Hashem, Hashem has helped me until today. I still have not written to the Rebbe about any Jew; I have not mentioned anyone in my letters, either favorably or unfavorably. I haven’t mentioned anyone. I haven’t had to come to that, and I don’t want to come to that either. I don’t want to come to that either. Why should it come to that? Why write something bad about a Jew? Can’t we work things out? We can work everything out without preconceived notions or anything else. There are a few things I want to mention—perhaps this will be included in the association’s full report. Two years ago, at that same table, some Jews approached us. There was a dispute then concerning the orchard, and several Jews came up to me and the rabbi shlita and asked us, “When will there finally be an end to this matter of the orchard?” For as long as I can remember being here in the village, the orchard always came up at general meetings.

43:22 Speaker 9 On the table. Together with the Rabbi, we appointed an orchard committee. I’m not saying it was easy; it was a heavy, difficult task. We got involved, and boruch Hashem, from what we’ve been told by both the accountants and the people dealing with it, the matter has more or less been settled. All the debts have been paid off. There’s nothing outstanding. Chas veshalom, we as rabbis—at least I certainly don’t intend to stop. I’m still young, and I’m still getting ready. Boruch Hashem, I have plenty of energy and good health, and we have no intention of going to sleep altogether. There are many things here in the village that, in our view, we’ve resolved, and I think that, if Hashem wills, we’ll get involved in more. The rabbis’ door is always open. There has never been a Jew who came to the Rabbi and was told, “That’s not my concern. Go figure it out yourself; go break his bones.” There are matters the Rabbi has ruled on, and matters he hasn’t. But gentlemen, know one thing: when you come to a rabbi, you’re not coming to some gangster. You come to a rabbi, and sometimes the two sides have equally strong cases. You might win, and you might lose. If the Rabbi understands that you’re wrong, then you’re wrong. If he understands that you’re right, then you’re right. The Rabbi isn’t a means of coercion here. There are matters the Rabbi hasn’t ruled on, and he will decide whether a ruling is called for. Even Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t rule on everything. He, too, left many matters unresolved. But things have reached the point where people say they can’t get anywhere, and a Jew comes and says, “I went to the Rabbi.” Only sometimes the Rabbi told him, “You’re wrong. Why did you do this and that? That’s why you’re not allowed to do this and that.” Then he has to accept it. There’s no other way. If

44:57 Speaker 9 things are conducted that way, how fortunate we are. I’m telling you again—I’m speaking for myself, and I hope Rabbi Trebnik thinks the same way. I know him; boruch Hashem, I meet with him twice a day. I have no prejudice against anyone, and neither do we. None at all. That isn’t true. It isn’t true, it isn’t true. Nothing of the sort. But on the matter itself, know just one thing: when you go to a rabbi, either you’re right or you’re wrong. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong. There were some matters we ourselves didn’t want to decide alone, so we involved other rabbis; we sent them to other rabbis. There were matters we felt shouldn’t be sent to other rabbis, and that was our decision. No one will change it. No one will change it—not Brit Pikuach, not [unclear], and not any of those things. Who’s going to change it? If that’s how we see it, then that’s how it will be, and that’s how it will be until the days of Moshiach. Does anyone think he can influence us with threats? With threats? The Rabbi spent several years under arrest in Russia. Did anything sway him? Will threats sway him? What will? What sort of way is that for chassidim to try to influence one another—shouting, “If not, know that I’ll go here and I’ll go there, and I’ll burn the Torah scrolls”? Imagine a Jew coming to the Rabbi now and saying, “Listen, either you give me the address, or I’m going to tear up all the Torah scrolls here in the hall.” That is exactly how he’s speaking. And what will the Rabbi tell him? What will the Rabbi tell him? What he’s doing is like

46:25 Speaker 9 burning a Torah scroll; there’s no difference. Chillul Hashem is the gravest thing! [unclear] Desecrating the Name of Heaven. There is absolutely no permission for it. Desecrating the Name of Heaven is one of the gravest transgressions. And chas veshalom, [unclear], as is well known. Chas veshalom, I don’t want to suggest the opposite. But gentlemen, once and for all: if someone had come and told you, “Gentlemen, listen, that’s it. That’s how it is. Figure it out yourselves. It’s not our concern. That’s what the Rebbe wants, and that’s that”—then it would still have to be that way. If that’s what the Rebbe wants, it makes no difference. But for our part, we’re telling you this: we’re ready to cooperate as much as you want, as much as you want, and to help, as we have done. There are issues here. I’m telling you, as a resident of Kfar Chabad, there are several other things here that pain me deeply. They pain me deeply. They pain me deeply. I walk down the street and see that the street is dark. The roads are hardly roads. This isn’t right, that isn’t good, this isn’t in order, and that isn’t in order. It really is disgraceful. Disgraceful. I was in Baqa al-Gharbiyye—should it be nicer there than in Kfar Chabad? To make a thousand distinctions. But we care, and we’ll fix it, if Hashem wills. We’ll establish a committee, a committee for internal affairs. Perhaps we’ll add some young men, if Hashem wills, even ones who aren’t members of the committee, to cooperate, help, and lend a hand. And if Hashem wills, I hope that many things have been fixed, and more will be fixed, more will be fixed. But one thing, gentlemen, one thing. And if the Rabbi is mistaken, and if the Rabbi

48:16 Speaker 9 isn’t right, the Torah still says to obey everything he tells you, “to the right and to the left.” Even if the Rabbi says that left is right, you still have to listen to him. But when the person in charge, the boss, makes a mistake, he can ruin the whole world. Well, I’ve said my piece, and I hope everyone understands and takes something from it and learns from it. There’s no need to disqualify one another. Boruch Hashem, everyone is beloved, everyone is [unclear], everyone is strong; it’s just that when everyone [unclear]—but that will pass too. I’d like to ask Reb Sholom Madanchik[?] to give some sort of report. And I ask again: please don’t interrupt one another. We have a long evening ahead of us. There’s no need to curse or incite people against one another. You can ask questions about the matter itself, and perhaps there will be more questions during the evening, but without any—

49:24 Speaker 10 Do you want—

49:31 Speaker 9 Yiddish, Hebrew? Didn’t we want Hebrew?

49:43 Speaker 10 …

49:43 Speaker 9 Hebrew.

49:43 Speaker 10 Look, gentlemen, I’m not planning to give you an annual—or a yearly—report on the orchards and the land, because there’s an orchard and land committee, and there’s also a financial statement completed through 5737. That statement is now with Brit Pikuach, where an accountant is reviewing it. When they return it to us, we’ll publish it for all the members, so that isn’t a problem. What I wanted to tell you is that, after all, we live here in the village and share many concerns. I wanted to mention a few things that perhaps you, the village residents, haven’t noticed—things that have already been done and things planned for the coming years. Simply municipal matters. You see that the village has electricity. The electrical network, I mean, is outdated. There have already been instances at the entrance to the housing development where it was so weak that the refrigerators didn’t work. We’re in contact with the Jewish Agency and the electric company, because this involves a great deal of money. Strengthening the electrical supply is a million-lira investment. They’ve already made some repairs; whatever could be fixed without major expenditure has been fixed. As those of you living at the entrance to the new housing development know, there are no power outages on that whole street today. But strengthening the supply throughout the village is being planned—concretely planned. I hope, with Hashem’s help, that they’ll strengthen it this very year. It’s more complicated for us than for other villages because we have generators, and any strengthening of our electrical supply calls for new generators—new transformers, that is. And every transformer here needs a generator alongside it, so that we’ll have electricity and light on Shabbos and Yom Tov as well. That makes it somewhat complicated. But in any case, with Hashem’s help, we hope to overcome it. By “overcome it,” I mean both strengthening the electrical supply and not burdening us with unnecessary expenses for new generators.

52:23 Speaker 10 That’s the upgrade to the electricity supply. The same applies to upgrading the water network. The water network is old; there are many leaks and burst pipes, and that means unnecessary expenses. Besides, there are places the water doesn’t reach. The water planners at the Agency are already finishing the plans, and we’ve also been promised part of the funding. Many pipes in the village need replacing, while others may only need various repairs. But it’s quite a large project and a substantial investment, and we hope that, as promised, they’ll do this for us too. The same goes for the sewer system. We’ve already discussed the sewer system at several general meetings, and, with Hashem’s help, it’s moving forward, as you can see for yourselves. If we hadn’t put in a central sewer system in the village by now, you can imagine how much each person would have had to spend digging a pit beside his house. You know very well that it fills up quickly, and then you have to dig another pit, and another. Those would have been very large expenses. By putting in the central sewer system, each person’s contribution to the investment has been small, for those who have contributed so far. There’s only one neighborhood, the one by the railway, where it hasn’t been completed yet. Putting in the sewer system there is now in the plans too, and then the whole village will be covered by a central sewer network. The same goes for roads. In the housing development, in the neighborhood by the railway, there are still several gravel roads that we haven’t been able to pave with asphalt until now, simply because there was no money. Engineers from the Ministry of Housing came here and approved covering those roads with asphalt, as well as widening several other roads. One of them is the road

54:45 Speaker 10 beside this shul. For us, it’s a main road in the village. As you’ve seen, there’s a strip about two meters wide between the road and the sidewalk that hasn’t been covered with asphalt yet, and they’ll do that too. That’s regarding the roads. There were many requests from the women in the new housing development for a grocery store, because it’s hard for them to carry groceries from this one. It was difficult for us to help, because we do have plans to build a grocery store, but that also requires funding. And boruch Hashem, we hope that half the funding has now been approved. It’s quite a large budget—over a million liras for the grocery-store building in the new development. The building will be beside the kindergarten they’re building there. In the meantime, until the grocery store is built, we’ve opened a branch for a few hours a day, and we’ve already had quite positive responses from women who live there. It’s only a partial solution, but it’s already helping them. It will certainly take at least a year or two to build a grocery-store building in that development, which has 150 families. Then it won’t just be a few hours of help, but a grocery-store branch like the two existing branches. Now, as you can see, they’re building a building there beside the shtiebel in the housing development. It will be another kindergarten, a purpose-built one. Its budget is a million, a million and a half liras. With that kindergarten, for now—and with Hashem’s help, the number of children will surely grow—we’ll have enough kindergartens for our children. The same goes for development in the village. You know that the housing development over there is right beside an orchard. There have been several thefts and other unpleasant incidents, and we’re going to put up a fence there. Not just any fence—a good one. The fence has been planned and approved by the Ministry of Housing.

57:23 Speaker 10 And I hope, with Hashem’s help, that the fence will do its job. As you may have seen, there are already streetlight poles from the main road to the village. I don’t need to tell you how necessary that is. In the evening, especially in winter, when it gets dark early, it’s not very pleasant to walk from the road in the dark. A small part of the lighting was already there, and once they saw how important it was, we completed the work. It just needs to be connected, and there will be lighting from the main road right into the village. That’s one thing. The work is already done; they just need to finish the connection, and there will be light. Similarly, we’ve planned lighting within the village. As you can see when you walk around, the lighting is old. There are many lamps but very little light, because the network is old too. It isn’t just a matter of bulbs. In some places you can’t simply replace the bulbs; the whole fixture has to be replaced, and longer arms are needed in general. So the committee commissioned, at its own expense, a plan for renewed lighting throughout the village. We brought it to the Ministry of Housing, and they approved it and are providing funding for it. In other words, we hope that within the coming year we’ll change the appearance of the whole village in the evenings too. I also wanted to tell you that 24 apartments for young couples have been approved. We’re having some difficulty with their construction and fencing, but we’ll overcome it, because requests keep coming in. Who will move in there? There are constant requests from residents for housing for young couples, and they don’t readily provide that in villages. They really don’t. I don’t know if I can find another village at all where they make room for young couples. And with Hashem’s help, up to

59:51 Speaker 10 today we’ve built many homes, as you can see. We have another 24 approved for the coming year. It will certainly take at least two years to build them, but we have received approval. That’s about... Yes, I have this written down too. As you surely know, we have a plan and a budget—or, more accurately, first a budget and then a plan. We’ve been approved to build a Talmud Torah opposite Chezkel Springer’s house. It will be quite a large, substantial building. It will cost many millions of liras. People from Mifal HaPais, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Housing were here. They approved it, and the planning is already complete. With Hashem’s help, provided there are no nationwide delays with things like building permits, we hope to put up the Talmud Torah within two years. Then the buildings where the children are now, where they study, will be given to the institution for the Bukharan children. They too will be able to take in more children and expand. Naturally, those are their buildings. That’s what I remembered and noted down. Wait, I can tell you about the telephone service. I had a meeting with the minister and the director-general. The minister was Meir Amit—he was still a minister then—and the director-general was Gidron. After all, we are a village, and there are many telephones here, while even today there are villages that have just one telephone, in the office. Many villages like that. So when we come and ask for more telephones, it can’t be arranged unless the people at the top get involved. In any case, he sent the district engineer here with people from the regional office. There’s a regional office, and above that a district office. They looked into it and promised that within a year and a half they would

1:02:12 Speaker 10 replace the telephone exchange. That’s the main issue: the exchange. Without a new exchange, they promised us maybe three telephones in the meantime, because there simply aren’t any numbers available on this exchange. Once they replace it, anyone in Kfar Chabad—by the way, there’s already a cable in the village. When they laid a cable to the airport, they took the future into account and laid a cable here too. So once they replace the exchange in Beit Dagan, as they promised to do within a year and a half—and I think three or four months have already passed since then; I’ve been following up and it really is being planned—we hope they’ll meet the deadline. Then any of us who needs a telephone will simply be able to have one installed. In our yard.

1:03:18 Speaker 11 It’s not just replacing

1:03:21 Speaker 10 I’ll answer that. If, for example, we didn’t have a central sewer network, there wouldn’t be any blockages either. Since we do have one, we deal with them. There have been some quite serious blockages, and they brought in experts. I’ll tell you, on one occasion it cost us twenty—twenty thousand liras to... Yes. I mean, yes, but that’s a natural thing. All right, all right, but it’s natural for a sewer network to get blocked, not only here but everywhere. Even in Tel Aviv, you often see sewer problems in different areas. What can we do to manage it better? The better the sewer system is maintained, the fewer blockages there will be—that’s clear. And we have someone specifically responsible for it, as you know very well.

1:04:17 Speaker 11 How many pipes were connected to that network?

1:04:21 Speaker 10 Huh?

1:04:21 Speaker 11 How many, how many households were connected to the network?

1:04:24 Speaker 10 Most of them.

1:04:24 Speaker 11 Most of them.

1:04:25 Speaker 10 Most of them, most of them. Yes, yes.

1:04:28 Speaker 11 Public ones.

1:04:29 Speaker 10 Please.

1:04:30 Speaker 11 If someone needs a telephone in the middle of the night, he has to go to the dayanim, or no one will pay attention.

1:04:34 Speaker 10 Well, I’ll tell you. Look, the matter of a public telephone is—look, I’m not an engineer, but from what he explained to me, even I understood it. There’s an exchange with, say, a thousand numbers. Those thousand numbers are taken up in that exchange, and we’re in it too—we and Beit Dagan and this whole area. Now, a public telephone is also a number. We have a public telephone at the grocery store, and I think there are public telephones in a few other places. There’s one in our storeroom; I think there’s one at the school. Yes, they promised us three telephones, new numbers, apart from—that is, until they replace the exchange. They’ll do that, and there’ll be one more public telephone. They even promised us a public telephone in that new neighborhood, because it has no telephone at all. If there’s a telephone there, it’s not legal; they don’t know about it. So to put a public telephone there, they have to run a cable, and they’re doing that. A cable for a hundred telephones, not just one, because they can’t keep doing it over and over—and they’re doing it to put one public telephone in the neighborhood. They promised it; they’ll do it. Look, I saw a very positive attitude on their part. He received—this wasn’t just [unclear], just for show. He received explicit written instructions from the minister and from the director-general, and he wanted to do it, but technical matters limit what he can do. That’s it.

1:06:01 Speaker 11 Maybe I’ll just add one more word here. There was a public telephone in the moshav of Tocheles, near David Singol’s[?] house. There was an existing public telephone.

1:06:09 Speaker 10 Tocheles.

1:06:09 Speaker 11 Near David Singol’s[?] house.

1:06:11 Speaker 10 Yes.

1:06:11 Speaker 11 So perhaps the one that was already there.

1:06:13 Speaker 10 That was in Tocheles, right?

1:06:14 Speaker 11 Yes.

1:06:14 Speaker 10 Oh. Then I’ll explain that too. When I asked for new telephone numbers, I went to them and said, “You’re telling me there are no telephones.” I saw that Tocheles was also with us on that exchange. There were surely ten or fifteen telephones in Tocheles. People moved away. So he answered me that Chabad has no monopoly over the telephone numbers in Tocheles. They already had people there waiting for a number to become available, and they gave it to them. I argued that it was as though we were one village, and it’s true that some ten or fifteen numbers had become available. They answered me, “I have no logical reason to tie them together, though I would like to give them to you.”

1:06:57 Speaker 11 A public one doesn’t have to be.

1:06:58 Speaker 10 Public. No, no, no, it’s the same thing. It’s a number on the same exchange; it doesn’t matter whether it’s public or not public—it’s a number. But look, I’m telling you again: he told me a year and a half. Three or four months have already passed. I can see how much time has passed since then, and I’ve spoken to him twice since to ask whether things are moving forward, and they’ll meet the date. That means that in another year or a year and two months there’ll be a lot of telephones here. Until then, he promised another three telephones. We’ll see how he follows through on that.

1:07:39 Speaker 3 You’re raising your hand. Do you want to say something? Reb Sholom Feldman, I see you’re raising your hand to say something. Eliran Cohen[?], do you want to say a few words? Come on, say it. He’s raising his hand because he wants to speak. What? What? In Hebrew, Hebrew. Mm.

1:08:16 Speaker 10 The name and the concept of Kfar Chabad contain a number of things. Among them are individual matters and collective matters of the kind where the whole is no more than its parts; and then there is a real, essential whole that contains far more than what its individual parts contribute. I don’t want to go on at length, so I’ll explain what I mean briefly. There is, of course, a group of people who have joined together, live together, and have shared interests. And beyond each individual living his own life, there are things he receives and draws from the group, things that concern and interest him because the individuals have come together as a whole. You find that in every moshav, every kibbutz, throughout the country. If we look at Kfar Chabad solely as that sort of association and partnership, that’s one thing. But there’s something special about Kfar Chabad that the other moshavim don’t have. It’s very simple: its name says it all. It is Kfar Chabad. Someone founded Chabad itself; it has a father. Everyone says, “Kfar Chabad, Kfar Chabad, Kfar Chabad.” What is Kfar Chabad? What is Chabad in the first place? Kfar Chabad is a village in Eretz Yisroel where Chabad people live, and that’s why it’s called Kfar Chabad. But what is Chabad? What is Chabad? Chabad has a father. Everyone knows that the father of Kfar Chabad was the Alter Rebbe. He was the Jew who founded this whole undertaking, this whole concept called Chabad. He was the student of a student of the Baal Shem Tov, and he received the inner substance, depth, and innermost dimension of the Baal Shem Tov. He founded this whole undertaking and concept called Chabad. After him came his successors, who

1:11:26 Speaker 10 as the word suggests, truly stand in his place. And in our generation, that is the Rebbe shlita, who is the Alter Rebbe, the Chabad of our generation. I remember once, in the summer, at a farbrengen of the Rebbe shlita, the Rebbe said something. It came in the middle, without much connection to what had been said before or what was said afterward. He paused for a moment and said, “All the Rebbeim are one point. It’s just that this emerges in each generation according to the nature and standing of that generation.” I remember it as if it were today: “All the Rebbeim are one point. It’s just that this emerges in each generation according to the nature and standing of that generation.” In other words, all the Rebbeim from the Alter Rebbe onward are essentially one single point. It’s the same essence, the same thing. Only that essence appears in each generation according to the character and condition of that generation, in a way suited to it. That point—the same essence, the same purpose, the same intent—enters each generation according to its condition. We must, to some extent, stop and think about what this concept of Kfar Chabad looks like when we view it as it truly is, in light of the person who founded it. What is its role? What is its purpose? What is wanted of it? What is hoped for from it? What are people waiting for it to do? Otherwise—otherwise we’ll lose sight of it, and this is for our own good. We must do it. After all, in Chassidus you sometimes find the phrase “to understand the root of the matter.” What does it mean to understand the root of the matter? We’ve already studied the subject, understood it, and explained at length what we want to discuss, and suddenly we begin to understand its root. Does that just mean adding something else? Wait, let’s think for a moment. Suppose I’m eating a fruit from a tree. Does it matter to me to know that it grows through the power of growth in the earth? It has branches

1:13:42 Speaker 10 and a trunk and a root, and the root lies deep, deep in the earth and draws nourishment from there. Why should that matter to me? What interests me, seemingly, is the fruit I’m eating. What does it mean to understand the root of the matter? No, with spiritual matters it’s different. Actually, in the end, if we reflect on it, even with a physical thing, once we consider where it draws its nourishment from, we conclude that its true reality is its actual root, the source from which it draws. But let’s not dwell on that now. In spiritual matters, though, when we speak of understanding the root of a thing, we mean understanding the thing itself. As long as I haven’t reached its root, I haven’t understood it. Likewise, when we say Kfar Chabad, we need to pause and think for a moment: What is the root of Kfar Chabad? What is Kfar Chabad? Now, if we want to know what Kfar Chabad is, we must first stop and think about what Chabad is. Then we’ll naturally understand what Kfar Chabad is within the broader matter of Chabad. We all know, essentially, what Chabad is. The Baal Shem Tov said that when he was on high, he was told there, “When will the Master come? When your wellsprings spread outward.” That means the intention, the goal, is for the Baal Shem Tov’s wellsprings to reach all of the Jewish people. The Alter Rebbe once said—and the Rebbe shlita often repeats this saying—that he wanted Chassidus not to remain, G-d forbid, within the narrow confines of some particular group. He wanted it to be the heritage of all the Jewish people. And this is the true preparation for the coming of Moshiach: that Chabad reach all the Jewish people. Anyone can easily understand that this matter of Kfar Chabad in Eretz Yisroel

1:15:52 Speaker 10 Israel is a very important instrument. In our generation, in our present situation, Kfar Chabad is a serious and important instrument through which we can achieve the goal of spreading the wellsprings in every sense, throughout the land. And “from Zion shall go forth Torah”—it should have an influence on the entire world as well. As I said at the outset, I do not want to speak at length, but it is self-evident how precious a point like this is to the Rebbe. Now I must say something. I have heard people say, here and there, as though the Rebbe has some interest in Kfar Chabad—in how it is run, who heads it, who does the work, and how things turn out. Hearing that grated on my ears. I do not want to put it crudely, but what does that mean? That the Rebbe intervenes in matters that are our choice, and that he has an interest here? I want to say: yes, the Rebbe has an interest. The Rebbe has things he cares about; the Rebbe wants what he wants. What does that mean? It is very simple. People have wants—everyone wants something, and the Rebbe wants something too. But usually, a person wants things for himself. The Rebbe’s entire being is G-dliness. His life, his time, his strength, his very being, his will and his wisdom are all devoted to one thing alone. He has a mission in life. What is it? To carry forward what the Alter Rebbe established, to bring it into people’s lives and reveal it throughout the world. That is what he works at, and he says explicitly that he wants it, that it matters to him, and that he asks for help with it. He wants each person to give it thought and consider how, in what way, he can be a cog in this, in this

1:18:03 Speaker 10 work. Especially in this, our generation, when every single person has been given a real opportunity to lend a hand and take part in this great campaign to spread the wellsprings outward. So it is very simple. Besides the fact that the Rebbe cares for us and loves us, he also cares who runs this association in every respect. He cares that it be run well. He cares that, G-d forbid, there be no negative matters—that hardly needs saying. He cares that, quite simply, the members of the association be helped as much as possible. But I say that beyond all this, there is a broader and more fundamental issue here, a very serious point. The Rebbe wants Kfar Chabad as an instrument through which he tells the world that there is a G-d. Which of us could say, “I don’t care about that; it doesn’t interest me. What do I care about? Only orchards, only land, only chickens, only those things. But the possibility of using Kfar Chabad to tell the world what Avraham Avinu used to tell people—that there is a G-d in the world—why should that interest me?” Would any of us say that? I do not believe it. Absolutely not. And in fact, this is a great privilege for us. There once were chassidim. What are chassidim? Do we have any idea at all what a chossid is? A chossid is something very refined, very deep, very inward. There once were chassidim. We are so far removed that we do not even know... We do not even know that we do not know what a chossid is. Once there were chassidim; once there were Jews who knew what a chossid was. Once there was a Jew who knew that he did not even know what a chossid was. We do not even know that. We are so far removed. I am speaking from what I

1:20:15 Speaker 10 know of myself, and I do not... and I am not obliged to assume that someone else is necessarily better. We do not need much explanation, not much explanation. What is a true chossid? Someone who studies Chassidus and feels the Rebbe within Chassidus. What idea do we have of what a chossid is? We have no idea. But Hashem has helped us: today the Rebbe gives us an opportunity. Come, you know what? In practice, put tefillin on with a Jew; put up a mezuzah for a Jew. The truth is that what is said—“More than the wealthy person does for the poor person, the poor person does for the wealthy person”—applies even more to these campaigns. Let us try. When a Jew has to go out and speak with another Jew, he remembers that he himself is a Jew too. When he talks about tefillin, he remembers: “Did I put on tefillin?” He begins to think: “Wait, I really did put on tefillin. What was I thinking when I put them on? I put on tefillin—I, with my own hands, put on tefillin.” And the same applies to every matter. But even this takes some effort. You have to do something. You leave your house and go outside. It is uncomfortable; it is a little difficult. It takes some physical exertion and some inner effort. You have to put something into it. It is not as difficult as it was for chassidim of old, who studied Chassidus and immersed themselves in the avodah of Chassidus in order to feel the Rebbe, but you still have to do something. Yet here is something we can take part in even while asleep in our beds: through us, through us together as Kfar Chabad, the Rebbe brings about the revelation of G-dliness in the world. What greater privilege could we have than that? I think there is no need to elaborate. It is simple, clear, evident, and utterly true. But this matter

1:22:10 Speaker 10 of Kfar Chabad—like everything else—the card Kfar Chabad holds comes into the hands of the Kfar Chabad committee. It is very simple. Who represents Kfar Chabad? The Kfar Chabad committee represents Kfar Chabad. Let us think for a moment: the Rebbe wants to act through this instrument called Kfar Chabad. Surely it matters to him who is there. Does it or doesn’t it? And it is his right to know who is there and to have his wishes taken into account regarding who will or will not be there. But woe to us—does the Rebbe have to say this? When we ourselves choose a body to represent Kfar Chabad, our first consideration must be whether that body will serve Kfar Chabad’s primary purpose. After that come the orchards and the land and all kinds of other things. Truly, G-d forbid, no one is saying they do not matter. But what is primary, and what is secondary? What significance do those things have, especially in our generation and especially given the state of good and evil throughout the world, and in Eretz Yisroel in particular? By the way, anyone who looks at all the campaigns and the broadcasts—I do not want to go on at length here—but if you think about it for a moment, this is a Baal Shem Tov kind of thing. Is it something ordinary? The Rebbe once wrote—and people used to say, “The sooner, the better”; today he already says, “The sooner by a moment, even one moment, the better.” The matters of completing things during the Ten Days need explaining. Then suddenly the Rebbe comes with a campaign for candle-lighting. Who could be foolish enough not to understand that these things go far beyond their plain meaning? Is the only thing the Jewish people are lacking the lighting of candles, which is a rabbinic mitzvah—and with the emphasis on children, and such a strong emphasis that specifically a little girl should light? Of course, as is his way, the Rebbe—as it says in the sicha, the Alter

1:24:22 Speaker 10 Rebbe had matters just like the Baal Shem Tov, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing. But what? Since he

00:04 Speaker 1 This is true of all the mivtzoim. Start listing them one by one. These are simple things, but they are wonderful things. They are things that come from Heaven. The Rebbe shlita once said at a Lag BaOmer farbrengen—he was speaking about the yeshiva students, about how their learning and the mivtzoim should not interfere with each other. He explained that they must devote their full strength to both. Then he said something very clear: Hakadosh Boruch Hu revealed His word through His servants the prophets. That is what he said. He repeated it five times. And in our generation, that is the Rebbe. Not that the Rebbe shlita calls himself that; he is a human being. That is the Rebbe. That is the Rebbe. So all the more—and this is why I am saying it—all the more, this whole matter concerns not only us; it concerns all of the Jewish people. That is why we must treat it as something extremely serious. So if someone comes along and thinks [unclear]—and I say, perhaps rightly, perhaps he deserves [unclear]. In healthy times, under ordinary circumstances, you can play around, or not play around. But there are matters today—the situation is such that everyone knows they do not want changes from there. That is clear; everyone knows it. Quite apart from the fact that they do not want them. And I think—quite apart from that, personally, if they were to set aside this entire issue, which is the main thing, as I said earlier, and think only about whom to elect to the committee, I would still vote for the previous committee. I am saying that as my personal opinion. I am making a simple point. I ask a simple question: All the committees—

01:55 Speaker 1 How long did they last? Why has this committee lasted so many years? Do you know why? Because it has a purpose: [unclear]. I do not mean to say that the Rebbe created it. No, no, that is not what I mean. It tries to understand what the Rebbe wants and to do it. That is its first concern. That is its first concern. So because it came with a sound intention, a good intention, and goodwill, that is to its credit. That is why it has lasted.

02:30 Speaker 2 But that is between you. That was the Rebbe’s intention, and he did not press the matter in the letter. For the Rebbe, that was his intention. That was what he wanted.

02:37 Speaker 1 You are right, you are right. He made a mistake. So what? He made a mistake. He made a mistake. You are right. You are right. You are right. So—wait, wait, wait. Let me, let me, let me, let me finish what I am saying. I am going to ask the yeshiva students to leave here. Do you understand or not? Please.

03:11 Speaker 2 They did not let me speak. He does not represent this house. What are you doing here? Just stand by that, that is all.

03:17 Speaker 1 Now I want to add one more thing, one short point. I once heard from Reb Shmuel Levitin, one of the elder chassidim, that when the Rebbe Rashab wrote Kuntres Hatefillah, and it came out in writing and [unclear]—perhaps that did not yet exist then—for the yeshiva students, it became known. There was a great, well-known chossid, the Rashbatz, who dated back to the days of the Tzemach Tzedek. The Rashbatz went in to the Rebbe Rashab and asked him: In the first section of Kuntres Hatefillah, you describe a level that is really the level of tzaddikim, “love of delights”—a Jew whose soul longs for Hashem with wonderful delight. That is not the level of an ordinary person, not even a beinoni as described in Tanya. It is truly the level of tzaddikim. So he asked him—and Reb Shmuel would tell how the Rashbatz, being one of the elder chassidim, a chossid from the days of the Tzemach Tzedek, asked the Rebbe Rashab—“For whom did you write this?” Reb Shmuel would always add that when a kuntres like this came out from the Rebbe in those days, people did not say, “This was written for Reb Hillel of Paritch.” It was written for the people to whom it was given. If it reached the students in the Lubavitch yeshiva, that meant the Rebbe was teaching and guiding them how to daven. So he asked him, “For whom did you write this?” He related that [unclear]; the Rebbe Rashab thought for a moment and said, “There was a chossid named Avraham David Klibitzer[?]. I wrote it for him.” Rafael Motchki[?] related this, and said: This Avraham David had an only daughter. He was an extraordinary Jew, entirely beyond our frame of reference. He had an only daughter, and she went off with someone [unclear]. And I remember as though it were now how he explained it.

05:55 Speaker 1 He said, why? In that generation, the Rebbe Rashab worked with and cared for the chassidim who were already there. That was how it was. That was how Heaven ordained it; that was how things were. That was how it had to be. That time had not yet come. And who could be greater than a Jew like him? How much holiness was there in his home? How much light, how much truth, how much fear of Heaven? And he was not the only one. There were many great, fine people whose children went in a completely different direction. Do you remember Geva Kook[?]? Do you remember? Look at what is happening today. The children are far better than the older generation, than their parents and fathers. Why do I say that? The Rebbe is raising them—that is the truth. The Rebbe is raising them. Are we raising them? The Rebbe is raising them. The children are [unclear]. They [unclear], and they act, and they [unclear], and they live—they are the Rebbe’s children. What am I trying to say? That each person should take stock of himself. It may be that someone—friends, this is no secret. Everyone knows. There is nothing to hide; we can speak openly. I can say that I have not heard, and the Rebbe wrote explicitly that people should not hear about it, that they do not want to, do not know, and have not heard. But I will say this: The young people, the youth, know, and they will remember it forever. Do people here in Kfar Chabad value the Rebbe’s wishes? Do people here in Kfar Chabad take the Rebbe into account? Is the Rebbe the one in charge here? Or is this a place where, when there is a letter from Avraham Fried, they take it down on Shabbos—take it down on Shabbos? As the Rebbe says, no one opens his mouth to protest. Whom did that letter hurt? What was written there? What was written there? Let us say someone thinks he is clever and modern and knowledgeable, and that Avraham Fried is old-fashioned. So what? Are there children today who desecrate Shabbos but honor their elderly grandfather? What—

07:51 Speaker 1 What does that mean? What does he write? He writes that we are children and the Rebbe is our father, and that what we do is ask the Rebbe. What does he write there? What does he write about it all? And [unclear], who pays no attention to anyone and says what is in his heart. He says what he thinks. Yes, clever or not clever. You are even entitled to say that he overlooks things. [Unclear] Chassidus [unclear] overlooks things too. Fine, have your criticism. But a Jew says words that are true, and someone puts them up on the wall. They take it down on Shabbos. Why does he deserve that? Why do we deserve that? When a letter like that is taken down in Kfar Chabad—what is being taken down here? What is being taken down here? What is the problem? What does it say there? What does it say there? So I say, just a second. I say this. I say that whoever—

08:37 Speaker 3 That Jew’s letter is not a letter that [unclear] accusations against the Jew.

08:42 Speaker 1 I do not want to go on at length. I think I have already spoken for too long. I only want to say what is in my heart. It seems to me that here, today, this is not about one person or another. Each person should do a little soul-searching and understand that this concerns him personally. It concerns his children. It is for our own good that we should see that here in Kfar Chabad, the Rebbe makes the decisions, and no one else.

09:14 Speaker 3 I want to ask you one question. Soleles, Soleles, a question, Soleles. You speak sincerely, and you care so much. Have you looked into the fact that children of bar mitzvah age in Kfar Chabad have been studying only until midday for six months now? Did you know that? I want to know whether anyone is thinking about it.

09:32 Speaker 1 The head of the principal.

09:32 Speaker 3 Let him give me that.

09:33 Speaker 1 If I find out, I will know. I will know. I will know. Remind me. Remind me what that is. What does that have to do with this? What does that have to do with this? What is it? You are right. You are right.

09:46 Speaker 3 You spoke Yiddish here. What did you say? You do not come. You spoke Yiddish here—matters of the heart. This is a Chabad village. Did you look into this? You went to sleep afterward, and you will go to sleep today too.

09:57 Speaker 1 You are not young at all.

09:59 Speaker 3 I am asking whether you think about it too.

10:00 Speaker 1 Shlomo? Shlomo, you are right.

10:03 Speaker 3 Very good. Now go to sleep.

10:08 Speaker 1 No, no, not today. Ah, forgive me, gentlemen, this business with the Talmud Torah is a sorry state of affairs. I know only one thing: on Friday night, someone who identified himself as the director approached me and said that, starting tomorrow morning, the children would study all day. I hope that’s true; I wish it were true. And I’ll ask the general director to say a few words.

11:44 Speaker 4 Reb Shai, I want to say once again, once again, dear friends, [unclear]. No one can say otherwise, because the Rebbe made me. And you should know that. [unclear] This was made very clear; you were involved in it. But [unclear]. I don’t want any [unclear]. You should know that the Rebbe is the baal habayis—the one in charge—the nasi of Kfar Chabad. We thank the Rebbe for standing with us as our nasi. You might think that he stands above it all, as people say, so how does this reach down here at all? But that isn’t so. He comes down here; he takes an interest in what goes on in Kfar Chabad. I want every single person to be satisfied with [unclear]. You should ask the Rebbe [unclear] about going to the committee. When he comes, [unclear], everyone should listen and take it seriously, because this comes from the Rebbe. When he comes, he understands perfectly well that he cannot [unclear] everyone, because he is not

13:03 Speaker 4 the baal habayis. But [unclear] the baal habayis [unclear]. Every single person here [unclear]. It falls to the rabbanim to improve the situation. But as for making changes, [unclear] this was the Rebbe’s opinion—not your concern, and not [unclear] my opinion. The Rebbe gave me the strength to say this. I haven’t spoken about this until now, but now I must say it. [unclear] The Rebbe made me. I don’t want to explain any more here. [unclear] The committee must already be in place. We cannot make changes to the committee. We need to keep working to improve matters, and that responsibility rests with the rabbanim. Recently, the rabbanim have also taken this up; they are working on it and making improvements. We hope—and we know—that as things improve, these matters will become clear. [unclear] First we will improve the place and put all these matters in order—improve everything connected with the committee.

14:19 Speaker 4 And when the time comes [unclear], the committee must be what it is supposed to be. [unclear] Everyone wants the rabbi to be well. At a time when you hear that, in the committee [unclear], you cannot simply make changes. No one can bring an outsider into the committee just because [unclear]; he wants to undermine the matter. So, for now, no changes can be made. The committee must remain the same committee. That is how it has to be. Then the committee itself, together with the rabbanim, will take responsibility for seeing to everything. After all the considerations, every one of us must bear in mind that this is the Rebbe’s word, [unclear], and this is Torah. So the committee must remain as it was formed and not be replaced. [unclear] Kamene, Kamenetsky, Boruchovin, Perman, Beckerman, Gelbstein, Rozer [unclear]. There was a dispute. There was a dispute even [unclear]. So they brought in Meir Friedman. [unclear] When can one

15:35 Speaker 4 get to work? But it remains—Meir Friedman and [unclear] must remain—and that is the committee. That is how it has to be. And everyone must agree to that, because these are the Rebbe’s [unclear].