Beis Chabad Givatayim dinner

00:14 Speaker 1 If I could ask everyone to please take their seats. We haven’t yet greeted our left wing—our strong side. We call them, in quotation marks, “the weaker sex,” but we know they’re the stronger sex: our women. Let’s give a round of applause to the Rebbetzins and the women who are here and are honoring us with their presence. I especially want to greet Bat Sheva Wolf, the Rebbetzin, wife of Berke Wolf, may he rest in peace, a good friend of mine. He was the man who brought me to my first meeting with the Rebbe. There’s another request here, a request for a complete recovery, and we’ll join in it. I’ve been asked to bless Rachel bas Esther and Chassi Alia bas Mirel Menucha with a complete recovery. Let’s all wish them well. All the performers you’ve seen and will see here are from Givatayim, just like the person about to perform. We’ll ask Motti Schwartz for two songs. He sings and also plays the drums. And by the way, I’m from Givatayim too; I grew up in Givatayim.

02:25 Speaker 2 On the hearth a little fire burns, and the room is warm. And the rebbe teaches the little children the alef-beis. And the rebbe teaches the little children the alef-beis. See, children, remember, dear ones, what you learn here. Now say it again, and yet again: kometz alef, “o.” Say it again, and yet again: kometz alef, “o.” See, children, remember, dear ones, what you learn here. Now say it again, and yet again: kometz alef, “o.” Say it again, and yet again: kometz alef, “o.” Thank you. Good evening, welcome. That song was dedicated to Rabbi Yosef Beckerman, a great man, a true tzaddik whom I had the... Yes, he deserves applause. I truly believe that, and I’m speaking from a personal perspective. I think he’s a precious man, a very precious man. I won’t go into many details that I know, but my connection with Chabad began long ago, many years ago, when Rabbi Yonah Fradkin invited me, more than twenty years ago, to perform before the president of the United States with the large orchestra I had in America. It was a tremendous experience, and I was given that extraordinary opportunity. I will always maintain my connection with Chabad. I think Chabad deserves that, yes, yes. The next piece is a Jewish piece too. It’s called “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen.”

05:22 Speaker 6 In a corner room of the Beis Hamikdash, the widow Daughter of Zion sits alone. She rocks her only little son, and sings him a beautiful lullaby. Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, little one. Beneath the little boy’s cradle stands a bright white goat. A little goat. Oh, that little goat has gone off to trade. That will be your livelihood: raisins and almonds. Oh, sleep now, little one, sleep. My sweet child, sleep now, little one, sleep. La la lai lai lai lai, la la la lai. Oh, la la lai lai lai lai, la la la lai. Raisins and almonds. That will be your livelihood.

07:37 Speaker 7 A little more volume in the monitor.

07:39 Speaker 6 Raisins and almonds. Sleep now, little one, sleep. My sweet child, sleep now, little one, sleep. Thank you very much. If I may, I’d like to do a piece some friends here requested. It’s a piece with original drumming, a rhythm I call a Jewish rhythm, played on a very special drum called the talking drum. I hope you’ll like it. I can’t hear it in the monitor, if you could adjust that. Thank you.

11:13 Speaker 8 Thank you very much for the privilege.

11:14 Speaker 9 Bravo, bravo! That was wonderful—from the tears of “Raisins and Almonds” to that drumming. Incredible.

11:29 Speaker 10 To a rhythm of eighty, and waiting. A hundred.

11:35 Speaker 9 Eighty and a hundred. Good—one hundred and eighty. Chai. I’d like the lights on in the hall. And I’m calling on—You know, if there’s no flour, there’s no Torah. So now it’s the flour’s turn for a few minutes, and the mayor will wait a little longer. I’d like to call on Rabbi Yisroel Brod, director of the branches division of Tzeirei Chabad, to attend to the flour that supports the Torah.

12:12 Speaker 11 Good evening. With the permission of the rabbis, the mayor, the people of action, of course Rabbi Beckerman, director of the Givatayim Chabad House, and this holy audience. There’s one part of the program, the one part where you set the pace, determine the success and decide how long it takes: the practical part. In less than two weeks, all of us will ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give us life: a healthy life, a life with a livelihood, a life filled with nachas, a life of good health. In short, all the good things we wish for ourselves and our families—we’ll all ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give them to us. It will be much more pleasant to ask Him for them after we, tonight, give life. We’ll give life to people in need; we’ll give life to the work of the Givatayim Chabad House; we’ll give life to the sweet children we saw in the video; and we’ll give life to the work of uniting the Jewish people that every Chabad House does in this country, particularly here in Givatayim. Well, we’ve already heard so much about the Chabad House’s work, and we’ve been warmed up, especially by the songs “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” and “Kometz Alef O,” which remind us a little of the past. All that remains is to get down to the practical part. We’ll now ask the volunteers to hand out the cards, giving you an opportunity to write down your donation to the Chabad House. And we’re asking for life—chai. Chai in the amount of 1,800 shekels, but you can multiply it: you could start with eighteen times eighteen; you could give just ten times 1,800, which is 18,000 shekels; or you could give five times 1,800, which is 9,000. Everyone can do the math for themselves, but the main thing is that now’s the time to take the pens out of your pockets. If you’ve already received a card, please fill it out in the next few minutes. The same volunteers who handed out the cards will collect them.

14:48 Speaker 11 We’ll also be happy to announce the donors to the audience. And we have a donor, Reb Itche Pikarsky, a shliach of the Rebbe to Israel who lives in Tel Aviv. He donated a gold chain with a pendant set with diamonds and a Tahitian pearl, worth more than $1,500, and we’re going to hold a raffle tonight. Anyone who gives the starting donation of chai, 1,800 shekels—which can, of course, be paid in installments—will also be entered in the raffle for a chance to win the gold chain and diamond-studded pendant. It’s a nice little bonus. We already thank Reb Itche Pikarsky for his donation. Now we’ll wait while everyone has a chance to take a pen out of their pocket and fill out the card. If anyone needs a pen, the volunteers will come around and hand them out. We’ll wait patiently for the most important part of the evening: the chai, giving vitality to the Chabad House, so that Rabbi Beckerman and his whole team can continue their activities next year, 5763. You can be full partners in everything the Chabad House does. So please fill out the cards; we’ll wait, and in a moment we’ll start collecting them. And by the way, everyone can take part in this too: rabbis, deputy mayors, mayors, any distinguished guests. Each and every person can take an active, personal part in the fundraising, in donating to the Chabad House, and thereby become part of everything it does... Even the emcee can take an active part in the... Even the current emcee. True, but I haven’t received a card yet—give me a moment. I’ll now ask the people who handed out the cards to start going from table to table and collecting the completed cards. Could I have one? What’s so nice about the cards you received is that you

18:16 Speaker 11 You can even choose the Gold Award, the Patron Award, the Kindness Award, the Benefactor Award, or the Friend Award. In short, give awards to the Chabad House. So please, anyone who hasn’t filled out a card yet, fill it out, and we’ll collect the cards shortly. We’ll now ask the volunteers to go from table to table and collect the cards that have already been filled out, so we can acknowledge those who have already donated and tell this wonderful crowd about the evening’s success. Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, three thousand six hundred. Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg has pledged three thousand six hundred—twice the Friend Award. Thank you very much, Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg. Start counting them. Ah, Mr. Moti Eden, I’ve received a... in English it’s called a challenge gift. A challenge means one against the other. You, the emcee, spoke about me, so with Hashem’s help, my family and I will also donate eighteen hundred shekels to the dinner, Herzl, for the Givatayim Chabad House. And now I’d like to hear about your donation too. I... I do this in other places as well, so add a donation from Aryeh to the Givatayim Chabad House too. All right. Yishai, Yishai. Victor Nachmani, the Friend Award, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Givatayim Diamonds, the Moldovsky family, the Benefactor Award, five thousand four hundred. Thank you very much. Everyone who’s already... Yes, take all the ones I’ve already mentioned and spread them out a little. Here, Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, three thousand six hundred. Rabbi Yosef Levin, the Friend Award, eighteen hundred. Thank you very much. Rabbi Uri Hochfeld, the Friend Award, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Mr. Mordechai Rotenstein, a friend and active supporter of the Chabad House, is also giving at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred. Thank you very much. Ze’ev Kaplan, who is the Chabad House director’s brother-in-law and has already donated, is adding the Friend Award as well, eighteen hundred shekels.

22:56 Speaker 11 Thank you very much. As we said at the start, the pace is in your hands, so we can finish this fairly quickly. Please hurry and fill out the cards. Peter Eli, the Benefactor Award, five thousand four hundred shekels. Thank you very much. That’s what you call someone who says it and does it—he’s already filling out a standing-order form. Hila Pichman is also giving at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. We’ll continue in a moment, because there are so many people. The Pinkovich family, Rabbi Pinkovich, and Moti and Yossi, all together at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. There’s nothing here. There’s nothing here. Yes, all of those, all of those, all of those. The raffle will take place later. We have plenty of time to enter the names of all the donors. Of course, you can donate any amount. Every amount is received with warmth, love, joy, appreciation, and thanks. Still, we ask everyone who hasn’t filled out a card yet: please fill it out. Here’s an anonymous donation. Thank you very much. May others see and do likewise. Instead of a pledge, we already have a check for seventeen hundred shekels from Oshri Shalom. Thank you very much. May others see and do likewise. Thank you very much. Judging by the crowd here, we’re still missing quite a lot of cards. So please, everyone, hurry and finish this part as quickly as you can—but the point is what matters. Action is what matters. So please, if you haven’t filled out a card yet, do so. If you don’t want us to announce it, we won’t, but please fill it out. We’ve received a donation specifically for the Menachem Daycare Center from Dalia and Avi Shaked, two thousand seven hundred shekels. Tzvi and Nechama Reich, Reichenshal [unclear], another seven hundred, and Nechama Kantsky [unclear], another five hundred. Thank you all. Chana Kolmitz—Golmitz, Goldmitz—the Friend Award, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Just a reminder: everyone who joins in and gives the Friend Award

27:07 Speaker 11 of eighteen hundred shekels is also entered in the raffle to win the... the beautiful piece of jewelry. Take this, please. How much is it? Here’s another anonymous donation of eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. The Chabad House director’s father-in-law, Rabbi Nachum Kaplan, a Chabad mashpia, is also joining at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. May you have much, much nachas, Rabbi Nachum. Sigalit Ben Zaken, the Friend Award, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Here’s an additional donation of five hundred shekels on top of the eighteen hundred already donated, for a complete recovery. A blessing for the birth—ah, a blessing for an easy delivery for Mor Hila bas Malka Pichman. May it go well and at an auspicious time. I’m sure you’ll agree that as long as cards are still coming in, we’ll take a few more minutes to read the names of people who are donating. I see a few more cards coming over here. Anyone who hasn’t donated yet can still join in. Here we have the Chabad House director’s uncle, and Moishe Teichman and Avremi Teichman. The Friend Award, eighteen hundred. Thank you very much. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and Rivka Kaplan are also giving at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Here’s another anonymous donor giving specifically for the Warm Home—the Friend Award, eighteen hundred shekels. Thank you very much. Rabbi David Kaplan is also giving at the Friend Award level, eighteen hundred shekels. The Kaplans are the stars here tonight. Bring that over. Bring that over. Please don’t announce the name. Another donation already in hand, an anonymous check for eighteen hundred shekels—don’t announce the name. Thank you very much. Well, later this evening, anyone who still hasn’t filled out a card will have more time to think about how much to add on top of the Friend Award—once, twice, or how many

30:56 Speaker 11 times. In any case, thank you all. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant each and every one of you a good inscription and sealing, a good and sweet year, and a life of health, livelihood, and nachas. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu bless each person with everything they need, and may all the Jewish people have a good year and every blessing. Thank you very much.

31:23 Speaker 12 Thank you very much, Rabbi Brod. Since every Jew learns a lesson, I learned several lessons from you, including in the art of conducting, and a few other things. We’ve already had an anonymous donation in hand. It is said that the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, made an ascent of the soul, and we know the well-known exchange about when Moshiach will come. “When will the Master come?” he asked. The answer was, “When your wellsprings spread outward.” And that is, in fact, the growth and triumph of Chassidus, as we see here and as we see in Chabad Houses wherever you go in the world. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I brought kosher food from New York because I thought there wouldn’t be any there. Then they took me and showed me a Chabad rabbi, food, everything. I thought there was nothing there, but there was—and in other places too, New Orleans and all sorts of places. Name a place in the world where you won’t find the Rebbe’s hands at work through his chassidim and shluchim, these wonderful people. The Baba Sali said a few decades ago, in connection with the Baal Shem Tov’s words, that anyone who opposes the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov is delaying Moshiach. It says, “You brought a vine out of Egypt.” A person, like a vine, has forty-two—forty-two journeys in his life. And just as the vine is weak and leans on tall, strong trees, so we lean on tzaddikim: the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and the tzaddikim who came after them. But the tzaddikim Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov are the three—the three branches of the vine. And the Alter Rebbe says that a Jew cannot, and does not want to, be separated from these three—Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov—or from Hashem’s Torah. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, chairman of the Tzeirei Agudas Chabad headquarters, oversees the conducting of the Chabad Houses, and I’m honored to invite him to the podium.

33:56 Speaker 3 With the permission of the Rebbe’s personal secretary, Rabbi Groner; the city’s rabbi; the mayor of Givatayim, Mr. Eli Stenzler; the chairman of the religious council; members of the city council; the esteemed congregation; honored guests; and last but not least, the director of the Chabad House, Rabbi Beckerman. In the past, we knew that a city in Israel needed a mayor, a rabbi, shuls, schools, and the other institutions necessary for it to function properly. But the Rebbe added an institution unlike any other to the life of Israel’s cities: the Chabad House. Boruch Hashem, more than 220 Chabad Houses are now operating throughout the country. A Chabad House is, first and foremost, a home—an address for every Jew. A Jew with a problem, a Jew facing any kind of difficulty, knows that here people will listen, welcome him with love without asking who he is or what group he belongs to, and try to help as much as possible—and even more than seems possible. Chabad Houses serve the people throughout the country, from kindergarten children to the elderly, from new immigrants to longtime residents. It is a home you can enter at any time, day or night, to ask questions and seek advice, to learn and daven, to receive help and encouragement. We can see what makes a Chabad House special in this distinguished gathering, which has come together in honor of the Chabad House in Givatayim. It includes people from every segment and circle of the city, who recognize how important and essential the Chabad House is here in Givatayim. Chabad’s activities in Givatayim received a special boost when Rabbi Beckerman—whom no one has ever accused of lacking energy—came here as the Rebbe’s shliach. I don’t need to tell you what has happened since. The whole city benefits from his energy and the Jewish and human warmth he radiates. He has made the Chabad House one of the city’s most important and active institutions, bringing a ray of light and hope, and even a hot meal, to a large and diverse public. Tzeirei Chabad is proud to have such an energetic and successful activist as Rabbi Beckerman in its ranks, and I believe we all feel the same way.

37:42 Speaker 3 Rabbi Beckerman, I wish you abundant blessing and success in all you do. I wanted to wish you no more headaches from the bank, but I know—and I think we all know—that however much you have, you will always want to do more. As the Gemara says, “One who has a hundred wants two hundred.” So I will wish you what the Rebbe said about the Frierdiker Rebbe: he was always in debt, but in the end he always paid all his debts. May Hashem help you meet the great tasks and challenges you take upon yourself. Most importantly, may you very soon lead the residents of Givatayim to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu in the true and complete Geulah. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.

39:00 Speaker 4 Thank you very much, Rabbi Aharonov. The Baal Shem Tov says about “When you come into the land and settle in it,” from the weekly parsha, that “settle in it” means to do so in a settled way. “And you shall take and place it in a basket”—the Hebrew word for “basket” is an acronym for the letters of “cantillation marks, vowel points, and letters.” The physical and the spiritual go together. That is what happens in many places at Chabad centers around the world and in Israel, and in Givatayim too. Givatayim, Mr. Mayor, is a city with a tradition. Now it is also a city of tradition. It used to be a city of Hapoel; now, in the language of Chassidus, it is the “power of the worker”—the power of the worker. Efi Stenzler, the mayor.

39:51 Speaker 5 Good evening. The lights are on in the hall only when people are eating. Let’s turn them on for a moment so we can see the people too. There we go. Good evening to the chief rabbi of Givatayim, Rabbi Pinchas Adri; Rabbi Yosef Beckerman; the secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Groner; my colleagues on the city council, Netovitz [unclear], Golani; the chairman of the religious council, Yaakov Dalal; everyone here, men and women—all of this gathering... I have no doubt that... When Rabbi Beckerman came to me about eleven years ago, I wasn’t mayor then; I was secretary of the Workers’ Council. He came with Moshe Katz and said, “I want there to be Chabad in Givatayim. What do you think?” I told him that the more there is, the more people will understand and know what Judaism is. It makes no difference where, in which city in Israel or which city in the world—it will be better for the Jewish people. And I’m glad that today, eleven years later—Beckerman means “baker.” Beckerman means “baker.” You have managed to bake something very beautiful. Alongside Rabbi Beckerman is a team of volunteers and staff at Chabad Givatayim, and I have no doubt that all of us want to thank them too, those who help and volunteer at the Chabad House.

42:24 Speaker 5 Chabad is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, Daas—wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And I have no doubt that Chabad truly is a movement that has managed to reach the hearts of Jews who are more observant of tradition and Jews who are less observant of tradition—Jews wherever they are. I remember that when I served in the paratroopers, the Chabad tank came to the outposts. I know that Beckerman serves in the army and does reserve duty. He doesn’t evade army service, and you deserve a great deal of praise for that. And I think this is a good example for people who also want more and more immigrants to come to Israel. Because the State of Israel, in the situation we are in, needs a great many Jews. Because the Jewish world needs a great many Jews. And the more Jews there are—and we remember that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust—the stronger the State of Israel will be. Chabad has managed to bring under its wings, as I said, both those who are more observant of tradition and those who are less so, Jews of every community, new immigrants and longtime residents, wherever there are Jews. My wife Dalia is here. When she was seventeen, she was elected president of B’nai B’rith Youth in Israel, and after nearly a year she was elected world president. She led a group, a delegation of young volunteers from Israel, to the United States. Rabbi Groner, you were probably there then. She went and met the Rebbe and had a conversation with him. I remember—we were only dating then, not married—and I remember her coming back and saying what an experience it had been to meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I think it is very important that everyone—first of all, that the Jewish people take responsibility for one another, and that those who have help those who do not. Because giving and helping are part of the Jewish people. Without mutual help, even in the very, very, very hardest times, the Jewish people could not have survived. Earlier, I heard Moshe call out, “Ah, eighty years for Givatayim.” My uncle is here, Berkowitz, one of the longtime gabbaim in Givatayim. But

46:27 Speaker 5 Nearly eighty years ago, they established the first workers’ neighborhood in the country here in Givatayim, the Borochov neighborhood. Their manifesto was written by twenty-two young Zionists who had come from Eastern Europe. We’re talking about eighty years ago, 1922. Among other things, they wrote: “No shul will be built in the Borochov neighborhood.” Their parents were in Russia. They wrote them a letter saying they wanted to come visit in August...

00:06 Speaker 1 A state of confusion, of fear. We are certain, with a clear understanding of the Rebbe, that everything the Rebbe said was meant in the fullest sense of the word. So here too, we are certain that very soon Moshiach will come and redeem us. Yasher koach, thank you very much. Happy holiday.

00:43 Speaker 2 Thank you very much, Rabbi Bockerman. We’ll now watch a short film about Chabad in Givatayim.

01:47 Speaker 13 I spoke up for Chabad, to let them expand this place and provide for people in need. And as the gabbai of the shul, I stood up for it, of course.

02:02 Speaker 17 If it hadn’t been there, if it hadn’t been there, he couldn’t have built it.

02:04 Speaker 13 I started with a warm home, but it has grown into more than a warm home.

02:08 Speaker 18 Today the food goes directly to people in need, which is a shame, because at the warm home they would come and enjoy the atmosphere too, not just the food itself.

02:21 Speaker 2 The activity keeps growing, and... on the other hand, there are also a great many people in need, a great many people who turn to us. Especially lately, we’ve been getting at least two or three calls every day. You could say people are reaching a point of distress.

02:43 Speaker 19 This home is a place I enjoy very much.

02:48 Speaker 20 Outside. Spending time together. Happily and as friends.

02:55 Speaker 21 And then we play hide-and-seek with them again.

03:01 Speaker 22 We play here together. We really enjoy it.

03:05 Speaker 20 But it really is fun. All the time. It’s not “you’re this way and you’re that way”; everyone is together.

03:25 Speaker 23 They helped me a lot.

03:26 Speaker 13 With what?

03:30 Speaker 23 A sukkah and food. They invited me for Rosh Hashanah.

03:48 Speaker 18 It’s simply very hard to run a kindergarten out of the women’s section of a shul, when every Friday you have to take the kindergarten apart and every Sunday put it all back together.

03:58 Speaker 20 A shul. We don’t have, we don’t have a building of our own. Children should have flowers, a garden with swings, a building and so on, and they enjoy it so much.

04:13 Speaker 17 Because that’s what they learn in the kindergarten: how to appreciate their friends, how to appreciate their parents.

04:17 Speaker 20 And the teachers really put their hearts and souls into this place, truly. I leave my daughter here with complete peace of mind. I have a daughter who was here for more than two years, and to my mind that’s the strongest fact—it speaks for itself. I was very pleased, very happy that she was educated here in the kindergarten.

04:49 Speaker 3 Just by being here, they actually draw you closer to them.

04:53 Speaker 17 They know how to value everyone. It doesn’t matter whether someone is religious or secular.

04:58 Speaker 4 I think that’s what’s beautiful about them: they don’t judge us by our outward appearance, but by what’s inside.

05:02 Speaker 5 Gladly. We’re happy to cooperate.

05:05 Speaker 3 I’m happy to be part of it.

05:07 Speaker 20 I think what was beautiful about the Rebbe was his Ahavas Yisroel—finding what we have in common, and finding a way to connect and speak with everyone. Because a person who comes to a Chabad House generally knows they’ll find an immediate solution.

05:44 Speaker 5 And I have tremendous respect for the Chabad chassidim.

05:47 Speaker 20 This year, enrollment is very, very high.

05:50 Speaker 5 Everything they do is a blessing.

05:52 Speaker 4 I’m able to bring all the people sitting here, the whole city, everyone, into this effort to help those who truly need it.

06:00 Speaker 3 They’re persistent in a good way.

06:10 Speaker 6 Above all, yasher koach, and thank you to the many people who help us.

06:14 Speaker 4 How important this event is for, uh, for those people.

06:19 Speaker 6 When we came here, we never imagined we could reach the point where we are today. I think the only reason is the time we’re living in. The Rebbe says we’re in the period immediately before the Geulah, and that also, uh, obligates us to act accordingly. It also explains the success we’ve seen here in working together with people from every part of the community. Today, when people take action, it doesn’t matter who does it—uh, if they do it seriously, it succeeds.

07:10 Speaker 7 Yes, that’s what good people are for, Rabbi Beckerman. The light is a little blinding; could you lower it a bit? Thank you. The Alter Rebbe says something wonderful about inheriting the Land and about this people and their G-d. “Because of the covenant, I cannot exchange them,” the Jewish people, “for another nation. The reason is that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu made a covenant with the Jewish people, He united with them and became one with them through the Torah.” So this is apparently an eternal marriage, like the bond between chassidim and the Rebbeim. We are pleased to welcome the generous man, a man of Torah and action, Rabbi Lev Leviev, with our thanks for agreeing, uh, to be with us this evening. Chabad of Givatayim has dedicated this entire evening to the elevation of the soul of his mother, Chana a”h, whose yahrzeit was yesterday. Lev Leviev carries out great work through the Or Avner institutions in Russia. I saw it myself two months ago in Moscow, in several places. I was very close by on the day the president of the United States came to visit Putin, and I saw your entourage stretching half a kilometer behind you, as well as the many other wonderful things being done there. I’d like to invite Mr. Lev Leviev to the stage to offer his greetings. Please.

09:27 Speaker 8 Honorable rabbi of Givatayim, honorable secretary of the Rebbe, Rabbi Groner, mayor of Givatayim, rabbis, guests, friends, Rabbi Beckerman, and everyone involved in this holy work. The occasion and the date are certainly very special. Chai Elul, the birthday of the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya. You surely know the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, how he taught—and in fact brought about a transformation in the approach to and study of Torah. One of the new principles, or practices, he introduced was to show by personal example that helping another person is no less important than davening and studying Torah day and night: helping and assisting people in need, solving problems for fellow Jews. You surely also know about the author of the Tanya, the founder of the Chabad movement. There are many stories. In one, in the middle of Yom Kippur, the Alter Rebbe suddenly disappeared from the shul. They searched and waited, but couldn’t find him. After some time, they found him in the home of a widow. He had gone there in the middle of the Yom Kippur service to care for her children, because she was having such a hard time with them—a widow with many children. In other words, we see that through action, through helping another person, we can contribute much, much more than through Torah study alone. You know, when we all speak about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we speak about Chabad. And it’s true that there are many good Jews, many Jews who do good things, many Jews who help others do mitzvos. But unlike many other important rabbis, the Lubavitcher Rebbe did, in practice, exactly the opposite of what everyone else did. Usually, a person wants his children and students to live around him, in his neighborhood—the Vizhnitz neighborhood, for example, or the Ger neighborhood or the Sadigura neighborhood. Instead of keeping his best students around him, the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent them out on missions. The better the student, the farther away he sent him. We encounter this every day.

12:25 Speaker 8 You know, in our work in the Commonwealth of Independent States, we have hundreds of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s shluchim who answer the call, practically line up, sign up and ask to go. The more remote the place, the more difficult the place, the more people we have asking to go there. And when each of them leaves for his destination, he doesn’t set out... he doesn’t have several thousand dollars in his bag, barely even a plane ticket. A Jew arrives in a remote place and starts everything from scratch. More or less the way Rabbi Beckerman surely did in Givatayim. They arrive and begin working with the community. I once asked the Rebbe—I sent him a letter saying that for new immigrants, we had decided to build a town and sell them, give them apartments here in Israel almost, almost free, during the great wave of immigration in ’92. One of my friends told me, “Write to the Rebbe that we’ll make it a closed town, only for religious Jews.” I thought, what a wonderful idea—we’ll make it only for religious Jews. I wrote the Rebbe a letter and waited to hear back, to get an answer saying, “Well done, you’re a tzaddik, you’re an important Jew, you’re making a closed town. You say they simply won’t drive on Shabbos.” I received a very, very stern letter. The answer was very stern indeed. The Rebbe wrote: “Isn’t Jerusalem called the Holy City? And don’t people drive there on Shabbos? Will closing off the town make us holier?” On the contrary, we need to live among our fellow Jews. We are all a part of G-d above; we all belong to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; we are all fellow Jews. We need to live among all Jews, to work, to help and to explain—with love, through action, with a warm smile and by helping others. Then we’ll be able to bring about good and salvation for the entire Jewish people. My mother, of blessed memory, was mentioned here. Today is indeed the anniversary of her passing, her yahrzeit. We are just seven before...

14:46 Speaker 8 Years ago, I took my mother, and we decided to establish a school for girls in Ukraine, in Dnepropetrovsk. My mother arrived a few days before me. I arrived on the very day it opened. When we got there, everyone was amazed to see my mother sitting with the girls and explaining things to them just as a mother would to her daughters. We did indeed name the school after her—after my mother. The school still exists today, and we already have several schools like it. I look at every girl and think of something I mentioned earlier, elsewhere. One of the prominent rabbis who runs a girls’ seminary in Israel told me: “I had a problem at the seminary. A very, very talented girl came to me from Russia. She was knowledgeable, had already been in Israel for two or three years, and wanted to study at a religious seminary. I interviewed her, but I noticed something about her nose. It didn’t look like a Jewish nose.” That rabbi has a very sharp eye. He sensed something, so he began asking questions. He said, “I discovered that her father isn’t Jewish.” I asked him, “What did you do then?” He told me, “How could I accept her into an important Bais Yaakov school? How can you take a girl whose…” I answered him: “You know what? How fortunate we are that today, in the former Soviet Union, at least seven thousand of the tens of thousands of students studying in our schools have a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother. The whole point is to save those Jewish brothers and sisters of ours who already have one foot in assimilation and want to return. We need to do everything we can—quite the opposite—to help those Jews be Jews again, as they want to be.” And we feel this in the success of those shluchim, too. I always compare every shliach, whether in Israel or anywhere else in the world, to the managers in my businesses. I tell them: Understand, when I have a manager who knows

17:10 Speaker 8 that he isn’t working for me just for the money, because it matters to him that the owner succeeds, the business looks different. When you have an employee who spends all day thinking only about how early he can go home and how to increase his salary, the business looks accordingly. With the Lubavitcher Rebbe, every single shliach feels that he is working for the Jewish people, that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is looking him in the eye twenty-four hours a day. With every small mistake he makes, he feels that the Rebbe hears and sees it, and he always takes care to correct it. With qualities like that, you can certainly go far. We see this today everywhere in the world. We go to Thailand, we go to Mexico, we go to Siberia, we go to Azerbaijan, to Novosibirsk, we go to South Africa, we go to Congo. Wherever there are Jews in the world, even a small number, we meet the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s students there, engaged in their shlichus, engaged in holy work. About six years ago, we decided to set something up within our local communities in the former Soviet Union. We decided to bring together community members—businesspeople—so that they, too, would start taking responsibility and organizing activities. We came to Dnepropetrovsk, and I met many Jews there who had become well-to-do and made money. They spoke to me, and everyone wanted to meet, everyone wanted to talk, everyone had a lot to say. Each of them asked me, “I want to do business with you in this field,” or “I want to do business with you in that field.” I said, “Fine, I’ll answer you later about how we can do business together.” When we sat down, I told them this: “I can recommend the best business deal you could make, and the guarantee won’t be coming from me. The guarantee has already been given by Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

19:32 Speaker 8 “When you start helping the poor and the needy, and start supporting your community, you’ll see for yourselves. Hakadosh Boruch Hu promised: Give maaser, give at least ten percent, and I will return it to you a hundredfold. Start doing it.” I said, “I won’t be stingy; I’ll reveal the recipe. I’ll tell you the recipe and the secret of success. Start donating at least ten percent, and you’ll see that you profit.” I’ll tell you, the more widely known this recipe is, the better it seems to work. Today, that community and many other communities in the former Soviet Union raise twenty to twenty-five percent of what they need themselves. And whenever one of them meets me, he comes over and says, “Thank you very much. The more I give, the more I have when I count it up each year.” So I can reveal that same recipe to you, too—in fact, I already have. The more you want to prosper, the more you need to give, to contribute to the community. Above all, it’s a wonderful feeling when you do it and see it for yourselves, when you visit and look at those children, at those people in need. In our activities, we don’t just give donations or hand out help. Take student scholarships, for example: when students receive them, they are required to do acts of kindness. At first they say, “Why do you want to give us a scholarship? Why are you making us work?” But after a while, they meet you and say, “You know what? Thank you so much. Thank you for asking me to do acts of kindness and giving me the opportunity to do them. When I do this, I feel how important it is to do things for others.” It feels good, it gets things done, and it is also a blessing. I’ll tell you, we can be the smartest people in the world. I know many educated people who graduated from not just one university, or even two—universities so

21:49 Speaker 8 famous that I can barely pronounce their names. They work for us and earn a very, very small salary. For all their intelligence, many people think they’re clever and can barely support their families. On the other hand, we meet many people who barely finished school and have a great deal of money. As it says, everything depends on mazal. A Jew has to work very hard to attain good fortune, but, G-d forbid, it’s also very easy to lose it. So to preserve our good fortune, we can be brilliant at arithmetic. There are plenty of mathematicians who know how to do all kinds of accounting and calculations, yet they barely have enough to eat. They spend all day tapping away at the numbers, but it doesn’t bring in money. That’s why I say this from a businessman’s perspective. There were many deals I thought would be good that didn’t go through, and I was disappointed. In the end, they turned out not to have been good deals. And many deals I wasn’t so keen on but went ahead with turned out well. So no one has all the answers. Someone who says he’s a genius at business—there aren’t many such people. There aren’t many. It’s a combination of many, many factors, but without a blessing, without that insurance of tzedakah and doing things for others, it’s very hard to keep a business stable. And anyone who thinks he’s making money without giving tzedakah—that’s a sign he could be making much, much more if he did give tzedakah. I won’t take much more of your time. There are many, many people here, distinguished rabbis, and I’m sure you’ll hear many more interesting things. There’s a program. I’m sorry that I have to fly soon; I really have to get going. I want to wish the Chabad House in Givatayim success. I want to thank the mayor. I heard that land for construction has been approved, if I’m not mistaken. I think that when you help a Chabad House, you’re helping yourself: everyone helps himself when he helps another Jew. Hakadosh Boruch

24:09 Speaker 8 Hu does not withhold anyone’s due, and especially when it’s a Chabad House, there is the Rebbe’s blessing, which will certainly be fulfilled. So thank you all very much. May you have success, may we hear good news, and happy holiday.

24:27 Speaker 9 We’ll ask Mr. Leviev to stay on the stage. Please come back to the stage for a moment, and I’ll call Mrs. Sarah Kushnir and Mrs. Ruth Ben Axes[unclear]; they want to present you with a little something. And meanwhile, I’ll tell you a short chassidic story. Since Mr. Leviev spoke about the Rebbe, what the Rebbe told me in ’80 and in ’92 held true then and will continue to hold true. They tell a chassidic story about a Rebbe walking down a street in a European city with his students. Suddenly the Rebbe stopped. The chassidim looked to see what the Rebbe was doing, and he was looking up. They looked and saw a man walking on a tightrope, an acrobat like in a circus. They said, “The Rebbe stops for something like that? To watch a circus acrobat?” They reached the beis midrash, and the chassidim couldn’t hold back. They asked the Rebbe why he had stopped. He said, “If you do what he does with the dedication he puts into it, I’ve done my part.”

25:35 Speaker 10 They come to your beis midrash. Thank you very much, and happy holiday.

25:47 Speaker 8 Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

25:52 Speaker 9 I’d like to invite the golden violinist, Mirel Reznik, to play some golden melodies for us. You should always come hear him at the klezmer performances in— in Tzfas late at night. That’s where he pours his soul into it. Maybe we’ll get something like that from him now too, something powerful.

31:01 Speaker 11 Thank you very much, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m very happy to be here tonight at Gan Oranim for this important evening. To me, this truly is an evening honoring the Chabad House. You know, I don’t want to tell you the whole story now, but I had a personal encounter with the Rebbe some years ago. I also had the privilege of speaking with him for fifteen minutes—which is really a very long time—back when he was still in full health. He gave me the privilege of sitting with him and receiving words of blessing from him. I’m very sorry Leviev had to leave, because I wanted to remind him that some years ago I had the honor of attending his son’s bris, and the Bukharian Jews certainly know how to celebrate! But he had to go; what can you do? The plane is waiting. Let’s welcome with applause our esteemed mayor, Mr. Effi Stenzler, my dear friend; Mr. Groner, the secretary, from the United States; and, of course, my friend and brother. After the amazing film I saw here, and what Leviev said—that all of us, secular and religious, need to support one another, and in this case support the Chabad House and all its work—I truly feel we need to show respect and, if we believe in it and can do so, support it as well. I’m one of those people. I’m not religious, and I’ve supported Chabad all my life, because I think its work is very, very important, here in Israel too, and in Jerusalem, by the way. I attended the dedication of a Torah scroll with one of Chabad’s major donors from Miami in the United States, Mr. Chaim Wiener, who is helping build the 770 in Jerusalem. All this work really is important, very important. Now I’d like to dedicate something, from the bottom of my heart, to Mr. Bekerman and our esteemed mayor. It’s a little different from the first piece, written by Menachem Listovsky, a composer and pianist from Bnei Brak. I’d like to play you a medley of Russian tunes.

40:24 Speaker 12 Many thanks to the pianist, my sister Miriam Reznik Wolf. A huge thank-you to Mirel and Miri Reznik for their big hearts and that magnificent violin. Leviev mentioned our distinguished guests earlier. Our guest of honor is here—the man who also brought me in to see the Rebbe twenty-two years ago, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner. Let’s honor him with applause. I think that if Rabbi Groner ever sits down and writes a book—maybe he’s already writing one and just hasn’t told us—it will be an extraordinary book full of inside stories. Who met whom? Who said what? How did they say it? Why did they say it? Maybe with a little more encouragement, he’ll sit down and write it. Later, he’ll tell us a little about his experiences. Rabbi Groner came especially for this event from the United States. We also have guests from Chabad in Europe and elsewhere abroad who came for this occasion. Let’s applaud them too. And I’d like to invite the rabbi of Givatayim, Rabbi Pinchas Edri, to the stage to offer a blessing. Please.

42:14 Speaker 14 Adjust it a little so— it’s pointing down a bit. All right, welcome. Honored rabbis here with us, our esteemed mayor, the head of the religious council, members of the city administration, Moshe Golani, Netovitz[?], and perhaps others I haven’t seen; the synagogue gabbaim; and our host and organizer, Rabbi Bekerman. The Gerrer Rebbe used to tell a story. There was a man in Prague—in Vienna—named Reb Isaac. He once dreamed that if he went to Prague, near the bridge, he would find a treasure and become very wealthy. But Reb Isaac was a poor man. He had nothing, so how could he travel? He saved up penny by penny and reached Vienna. He saw the bridge, but it was full of policemen. Where was the treasure? He came the first day, the second, the third, the fourth. Then the police noticed this Jew wandering around all day. They were afraid he might be planning something, so they seized him. The police chief asked him, “What are you doing here?” Being an innocent Jew, he told the truth. “I had a dream that I should come to Prague, and near the bridge I’d find a treasure.” The chief said, “My dear Jew, let me tell you about a dream I’ve been having all week. In Vienna there’s a house belonging to a man named Reb Isaac. I don’t know who he is. He has an oven, and if he breaks it down, he’ll find a great treasure underneath. So tell me, should I travel to Vienna now, look for Reb Isaac, and break down his oven?” The man hears his own name, takes it all in, and makes a quick exit. “Ah, that’s what I needed to learn,” he says. He gets home, breaks down the oven, and really does find a treasure. They say he built a synagogue that is still named after him today. What do we learn from this story? Sometimes a person looks for a treasure in someone else’s home. The treasure

45:11 Speaker 14 is right there with him. Every Jew can do great things today, remarkable things. Today is 18 Elul, twelve days before Rosh Hashanah. Each remaining day corresponds to a month; today corresponds to Tishrei. It’s a time to put things right. Every Jew can teach and educate his children and do as much as he can. In that merit, may Hakadosh Boruch Hu inscribe all of us for a good life and for peace. Be blessed.

46:00 Speaker 15 I’d ask the rabbi of Givatayim to stay with us.

46:03 Speaker 14 I’m staying with you.

46:03 Speaker 15 You’re staying with me?

46:05 Speaker 14 Of course.

46:05 Speaker 15 All right, come along. And you’ll present the Crown of Torah to— wonderful. I’d like to invite Mr. Rafi Hassan to receive this certificate, this Crown of Torah.

46:20 Speaker 16 First of all, Rabbi Bekerman, may you be sealed for a good year.

46:25 Speaker 15 I’d like Rabbi Bekerman to join us too. Okay. Thank you very much. Now we’ll turn on the lights and have an intermediate course.

00:00 Speaker 1 Torah teachings, both the revealed and the hidden, and Chassidus—the Rebbe of Lubavitch wrote, explained and interpreted them. I had the great personal privilege of being with him three times. Once in a long yechidus, once on Simchas Torah, right in the midst of the celebration, and once for dollars in ’92 with my family. Each time he said things to me, and everything he said touched me and came to pass. The Rebbe spoke a great deal about “Love your fellow as yourself,” and was a pioneer in putting it into practice. That is really the whole... that is the real story. When you practice “Love your fellow as yourself,” you don’t do harm to others; you do good. You don’t do anything bad. That is how you reach out to and approach Jews. And that, I think, is the approach of Chabad Chassidus: to touch the true heart of a person, of a Jew, with joy. That is really the whole of Judaism on one foot. How many meetings did the Rebbe have with world leaders, with other leaders, with ordinary Jews, with shluchim? How many people wrote to him? How many people did he write to and advise? We know only a little of it. The person who truly knows a great deal about it saw it, experienced it and heard it. And I say again: perhaps one day he’ll write it down. I hope he’s writing it in secret. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary, please.

01:23 Speaker 2 Good evening, everyone. Among chassidim, it’s customary to begin by saying l’chaim, but unfortunately I didn’t have the privilege of receiving a l’chaim today. So I’ll say a dry l’chaim. That can be fixed. L’chaim! L’chaim! You see, when you ask for something, you get it right away. Among chassidim, it’s customary to tell a story about the Rebbe. And as the Rebbe taught us, there is something to learn from every story. Each and every one of us, after hearing a story, should ask ourselves: How does this relate to me? What can I take from it? So it’s worth beginning with a brief story from which there is much to learn. One day, in the middle of the day, the Rebbe called the secretariat from his room and asked us to contact one of the shluchim in Europe and tell him to travel immediately, without delay, to a certain town, find a Jew there and speak with him. The Rebbe didn’t give him the Jew’s name; he only told him which town it was. Of course, when the chossid, the shliach, received the message in the Rebbe’s name, he immediately traveled there. When he arrived, he saw that there was no shul, no sign of Jewish life. He began asking people whether they knew if there was a Jew there. “A Jew? What’s a Jew?” They didn’t know what a Jew was. He went from place to place and didn’t find a single Jew. But how could the Rebbe send him there if there wasn’t a Jew? After several hours, though, night was approaching, and he had a four-hour drive back to his city. He decided, what could he do? He would go back and tell the secretariat that he hadn’t managed to find a Jew. Before leaving the town, he drove to a gas station. The man who owned it asked him, “What brings a Jew with a beard to a place like this, where there are no Jews?” He said, “Tell me honestly,

04:27 Speaker 2 isn’t there even one Jew here?” The man said, “I’ll tell you: there’s a store that sells meat, and I think the owner is Jewish. Maybe you should go there and check.” It was already five in the evening. It would take about forty-five minutes to get there. He drove over and found the store. As soon as he walked in, before he had even said a word, the owner looked at him and fainted. He was frightened. What had he done to make the man faint? After they revived him, the owner said, “Sit down. I want to tell you something. My parents were Holocaust survivors, and for some reason they didn’t want to live among Jews. That’s why they came to this town, where there are no Jews. They didn’t even tell me I was Jewish. My father died when I was young. A few days before my mother passed away, she told me, ‘Now I want to tell you something you need to know: we are Jews, and you are a Jew too. I ask one thing of you: marry only a Jewish woman.’ I said, ‘Where am I going to find a Jewish woman in this town?’ She said, ‘If you travel to the big cities, there are many Jews there, and that’s where you’ll find your wife. But before I leave this world, I want you to promise me that you’ll marry only a Jewish woman.’ And I said, ‘I promise.’ And that’s what I did. I came back to this town with my wife. From time to time, the priest would come and say to me, ‘Since you’re the only one here, why do you want to remain apart from us? Why not join us? Accept our religion, and we’ll all be one family.’ And I told him, ‘What are you talking about? I’m a Jew. How could I change that?’ Well, he heard what I said.” The man continued, “A week ago, he came to me and

07:08 Speaker 2 pressured me to do what he said, telling me it would be best for me, my wife and my children. I said, ‘You know what? Give me a week to think about it.’ When the priest left the house, I said to Hashem, ‘Master of the Universe, give me a sign that You don’t want me, G-d forbid, to abandon my Jewish faith.’” The man told the chossid, “The first day went by, then the second. Today is the seventh day. I look at the clock: this man is due at six in the evening, and I have to give him an answer. It was already noon, and I still had no sign. I said, ‘Master of the Universe, what do You want from me? Please help me.’ Five o’clock came, and still nothing. You walked in at a quarter to six. Ah, I saw that Hashem had answered me and sent me the sign.” The chossid said to him, “In that case, since it’s before Pesach, you, your wife and your children should come with me now to my city. We’ll celebrate Pesach together, and we’ll talk.” And that’s what they did. A few years later, the chossid was here in the Holy Land, in Jerusalem, at the Kosel. As he stood there, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and the man asked, “Do you recognize me?” He said, “No.” The man said, “Look into my eyes.” Oh my! He said, “You’re the store owner from that town.” He said, “Yes. After the Rebbe of Lubavitch sent you to me, you took my family and me to your home for Pesach and spoke with us. We decided to leave that place and move to the Holy Land.” Now he had a beard, a yarmulke and everything a Jew should have. Let’s think for a moment about what happened here. The Rebbe was sitting in Brooklyn. He didn’t know this man; it was through the Rebbe’s ruach hakodesh. The Rebbe

09:40 Speaker 2 was concerned that, G-d forbid, a Jew and his family might abandon their faith. So the Rebbe cared about a Jew he didn’t know, in a place far away from him, and did everything he could to save that man. What does this mean for us? It shows how deeply we need to care about every Jew, so that they know who they are, who they truly are. And this was one of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, whose birthday is today, and of the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad Chassidus: they worked to restore Ahavas Yisroel in each and every one of us. What does Ahavas Yisroel mean? Caring about another person. How can we care about someone else? By recognizing who that person is. The Rebbe tells us: Don’t look at a person’s outward appearance. It doesn’t matter how he behaves. You have to look at his essence, at what is inside him. And inside, every Jew, regardless of his spiritual state, is a complete Jew. He is a Jew who wants to do the will of his Creator, the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but sometimes things conceal that from him. He has a yetzer hara, and there are other things that keep him from recognizing who he himself is. The Rebbe says that we must see every Jew as he truly is. This is what the Rebbe brought to all of us, each and every one of us, and especially to his shluchim. The Rebbe tells the shluchim: You’ll meet people from many different circles. Whatever a person’s situation is right now, don’t say to yourself, “Since he behaves this way and that way, and it isn’t quite what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, why should I get involved with him?” You’re mistaken, the Rebbe says. That Jew is no less Jewish than you are. In his essence, he is a complete Jew. That is why Chassidus says that from Above, Jews are told: We must love the

12:14 Speaker 2 The utterly wicked person is like the perfectly righteous person. The Alter Rebbe asks: How is that possible? The Alter Rebbe answers: Even someone whom, outwardly, we might describe in a certain way—if we look more deeply, we will see who he is inside. We will see that he is truly a person connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As the Alter Rebbe said, a Jew does not want to and cannot be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is the work of the Rebbe’s shluchim. People ask me: Why is Chabad so much more successful than other groups at bringing every Jew closer, even someone who has been distant for a long time? I tell them: The secret is that we believe in every Jew. We have faith in each and every Jew. What he is like right now doesn’t matter to me. I see him as Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants him to be; he just doesn’t know it yet. There are things preventing him from understanding and recognizing it. That is what the Chabad House is there for. A Chabad House is a lighthouse. What does light do? First of all, it illuminates. The light of Chabad opens a person’s eyes to recognize who he really is. He comes to understand who he is, what Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks of him, and what abilities he truly has—abilities that are merely hidden and need to be revealed.

14:07 Speaker 3 That are within me.

00:00 Every Jew should awaken, know and understand—and above all, feel who he is. The light of Chabad illuminates not only individuals. It brings light to an entire city, to every place where they are. A Chabad House is not a home for one particular group. A Chabad House is the home of the whole city. It is a home that every Jew belongs to and can come to. A Chabad House is open twenty-four hours a day to anyone who wants to come. And if someone does not yet want to come, the shliach meets with him and awakens in him the desire to come. Because when you help a Chabad House, you are not helping one particular group. You are helping the entire city. Fortunate is the city that merits having a Chabad House within it—and that includes the city of Givatayim. Despite everything that happened in the past, Boruch Hashem, Hakadosh Boruch Hu helped the esteemed shliach, Rabbi Reb Yosef Yitzchak Yechiya Wagerman[?], overcome all the difficulties, and Boruch Hashem, he succeeded. We are certain that the people of the city—and we thank the mayor, his entire team, and everyone who came here tonight—should know what a great merit they have. Fortunate are all those who help and take part in the success of the Chabad House. As I told the mayor, the Rebbe would always say: We must not be satisfied with what has been accomplished until now. A person must know that someone who has a hundred wants two hundred, and someone who has two hundred wants four hundred. The Rebbe says that when there are Jews whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu has blessed with an understanding of the importance of a Chabad House, they should realize that when they help the Chabad House, they are not helping the Chabad House—they are helping themselves. They are helping ensure that this city has a beacon that brings light and warmth. They must know that they cannot be satisfied with what has been accomplished until now. The Rebbe always says: If Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives a person one more day

02:55 to live, He is telling him that he cannot remain where he is. Rather, for a Jew, it must be “they go from strength to strength.” A Jew must always rise from one place, from one level, to the next, and not be satisfied with what has been accomplished so far. The Rebbe once told a Jew: “Every night, before I go to rest”—and when was that? I will tell you the truth: I do not know when the Rebbe had time to rest, because the Rebbe worked about twenty hours a day, without exaggeration. And I can tell you that throughout the forty-two or forty-three years that the Rebbe was the leader of the generation, he did not take even one day of vacation or time off. There was not a day when the Rebbe was not in his office. Not only on weekdays—even on Shabbos, even on Yom Tov, even on Rosh Hashanah, and even on Yom Kippur. And you may ask: How can an observant Jew be in his office on Shabbos? On Yom Tov, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur? My dear friends, the Rebbe’s office was an entirely different kind of office. The Rebbe’s office was the source of blessings, the source of strength, the source of everything a Jew needs. That is where he received it. The Rebbe said that even on Yom Kippur, if an urgent matter arose and a Jew needed an answer that could not wait until after Yom Kippur, “You, the secretaries, have permission to come in and tell me the problem, and with Hashem’s help, I will give the answer and the blessing.” The Rebbe gave himself to the entire people, to every Jew. As his Rebbetzin said, “My husband did not leave even this much for himself.” So when I say “before the Rebbe went to sleep, to rest,” I know when that was. And this is what he said. The Rebbe told that Jew: “I take stock of what I did during the day.” Can you imagine? A person who works twenty hours without a break,

05:24 who prays, studies, writes letters, answers letters, receives people, sits from eight in the evening until six in the morning—and when necessary, sits from eight in the evening until ten-thirty in the morning, without any break at all—and the next day receives people again. He starts at eight and finishes at eleven: fifteen straight hours without any break. And he says that he takes stock: “What did I do today?” What does he mean? “Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give me another day tomorrow, I tell myself tonight, before I go to rest, that tomorrow must be better. I must do more than I did today.” How can we even understand that? I will tell you: I do not understand it, though I was there the whole time. But the Rebbe did not let even a single moment go to waste. For the Rebbe, there was no such thing as a moment, let alone an hour, that he did not use for something necessary. What does the Rebbe ask of us? When the Rebbe asks something of us, he gives us the strength to do it. We must know that every single Jew has the mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself.” What the shluchim try to instill in every Jew they meet is this: It is not only I who must care about and reach another Jew. You must do it too, just as I do. You are a Jew, just like me. You too have the mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself.” I am only here to awaken you, to help you understand and see. You will be warmed by the light of Chabad, and then you will feel that you too have the privilege of awakening a second Jew, and a third, and so on. That is the Rebbe’s goal and aspiration: that not a single Jew remain who does not feel who he is, who does not understand who he truly is. And when a Jew

07:52 knows that he is truly connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu and recognizes what Hakadosh Boruch Hu does for him, he asks himself: How do I repay Hakadosh Boruch Hu for what He gives me? How do I acknowledge Him? How do I thank Him for what He gives me? Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me life. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me a livelihood. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me a family. Everything I need comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He comes to a Jew and says: “Dear Jew, give Me back a few moments to do a mitzvah.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives every Jew twenty-four hours, and He asks: “Give Me five minutes to put on tefillin.” On Friday evening, He asks a woman: “Give Me two minutes and light the candles together with your young daughters.” How can it be that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me twenty-four hours and asks for only a few moments in return? How can we say no to Him? If I gave someone a thousand dollars and then asked him to give me back a hundred dollars, would he give it to me? Of course. He would still have seven hundred dollars as a gift. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me not just dollars—He gives me my life. He gives me everything I need, and He asks you: “Please give Me back a few moments.” How can we say to Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s face, “Thank You for what You give me, but I’m sorry, I’m not prepared to give back a few moments”? What kind of person could do that? This is what the Rebbe wants us to feel. We should feel what Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us. We should feel who we are. And then, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks you, “Please give Me something,” how can we have the nerve not to listen to Him?

09:57 And when we speak about the Rebbe’s concern, it was not only for Jews. Once a senator came to me. What do you call it—a member of the Knesset, in your terms? He was not Jewish. He called and said he needed to see the Rebbe about a personal problem. I arranged a yechidus for him, so he could meet privately with the Rebbe. After he came out, I saw that he was very bewildered. I asked, “Senator, if I may ask, what happened?” “What can I tell you? Two things. First, I had a family problem. My Jewish colleagues in Congress told me, ‘The only person who can help you is Rabbi Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.’ ‘But I’m not Jewish.’ ‘That makes no difference to the Rebbe. The Rebbe receives everyone. Come on a Sunday when the Rebbe distributes dollars, and you’ll see how many non-Jews, Black and white, come to the Rebbe, and how warmly he receives them all. Call the office and see.’ You arranged the appointment, and I want to thank my colleagues. The Rebbe gave me the best advice in the world. I was already about to leave when the Rebbe said to me, ‘Please, Mr. Senator, sit down for another moment.’ The Rebbe said, ‘You know that in Manhattan, New York, there is a neighborhood called Chinatown, where Chinese people live.’ So I asked the Rebbe, ‘And?’ The Rebbe said, ‘I recently heard that there are certain funds they could receive from Washington, from New York State in Albany, and from New York City, but they are not receiving them. Since they are very quiet people and are not making a fuss about it, I think they should be helped. And since you are their representative in Congress, I ask that your staff look into which funds

12:12 they are entitled to, and that you make sure they receive them.’” The senator said to me, “I can hardly believe it. Leibel[unclear], I want to ask you: How many institutions does the Rebbe have to look after?” “Hundreds of institutions.” “Yes. And how many Jews turn to the Rebbe? Tens upon tens of thousands? Doesn’t he have enough to worry about without concerning himself with non-Jews he doesn’t know?” He said to me, “I don’t believe there is a single Chinese person in Chinatown who knows the Rebbe, and I’m sure the Rebbe doesn’t know a single Chinese person in Chinatown. Yet at the first opportunity the Rebbe has to help people who are not Jewish, who don’t know him or who he is, and whom he doesn’t know—that is a Rebbe. That is what I call a true Rebbe. He cares not only for his own people; he cares for the whole world.” That is why, some years ago, the Rebbe launched the campaign for the Seven Noahide Laws: we must make non-Jews aware of them, so they know what the Seven Noahide Laws are. What does that mean for us? The Rebbe’s whole aim was to make the world better, so that there would be more peace, without conflict, hatred or turmoil; so that everyone, Jews and non-Jews, could live in peace and tranquility, each as they should. That is the mission of the shluchim, and that is the great privilege of everyone in this city. And speaking here in Givatayim, you should thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu every day for sending you a shliach of someone like the Rebbe. He brings the Rebbe’s message here. He brings the Rebbe’s light here. He brings the Rebbe’s warmth here. Why does he do it? It would be easier for him to be in New York, or

14:27 somewhere else where he would not have to do this. He makes personal sacrifices. He and his wife and children make sacrifices to be in places like this, even when they face opposition. Why should there be opposition to Judaism? Why should there be opposition to bringing light to a city? What possible reason or sense is there in that? And despite it all, he is there. I say to you again: on behalf of Chabad headquarters in New York, we thank you for taking part in this celebration today, and as I said, especially the mayor and his entire staff. But you must know that the work is not finished; the work has only begun. Now it depends on you. If you understand and feel—not just understand, but feel in your hearts—what a privilege it is to have a Chabad House, to have a shliach of the Rebbe, the shliach of such a person, bringing you the Rebbe’s message and everything the Rebbe asks of each of us, you must ask yourselves: What can I do to help? As the verse says, the first campaign was when they built the Mishkan in the desert. Did Hakadosh Boruch Hu need to build the Mishkan? Was He lacking silver and gold? “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine.” Why did He need to ask the Jewish people, “They shall take for Me an offering”—gold, silver, copper and all the other things? Rather, Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to give the Jewish people the merit of taking part. But the Torah’s wording is interesting: “They shall take for Me an offering.” It should have said, “They shall give Me an offering.” They are not taking; Hakadosh Boruch Hu is taking the offering. Rather, the Rebbe says, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is telling us here: when you give an offering, you receive from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You are not giving anything away. You entrust it to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and He

16:47 gives it back to you, so that you receive many times more than you gave. That should be tonight’s message. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us all to see the fruits of the work of every Chabad House, and may the city of Givatayim be blessed with all the blessings He bestows. As was customary with the Rebbe, when he was informed that an event like this would take place, the Rebbe would send a letter in advance especially to bless all those attending. He would bless them with everything a Jew needs—children, life and sustenance, and every other good thing—and encourage them to do even more than they had planned. I am certain that, since the words of tzaddikim live and endure forever, the Rebbe sends his blessing to this celebration as well. I have no doubt that he blesses everyone here who has come to take part. And in that blessing, as we are just a few days before Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe would write that we should all be inscribed and sealed for a good year, a good and sweet year materially and spiritually. Through this, may we all work together, shoulder to shoulder, in true unity, and reveal the love within ourselves in its truest form. That will nullify the baseless hatred that brought about the exile. In that merit, may we see the revelation of Moshiach, may Moshiach come even before the new year begins. In particular, chassidim have said that the initials of the coming year, 5763, stand for “May it be the year of the end of our exile.” And we ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu: since our Rebbeim said that the coming year begins already today, 18 Elul, that means those initials apply from today. May we merit, even before Rosh Hashanah, the end of our exile, and may we merit to see the Rebbe here below, within ten handbreadths, all of us together. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu

19:23 have mercy on us all, both those abroad and those in the Holy Land. As we will say on Rosh Hashanah, even those in Jerusalem’s Old City, near the Kosel, will say, “Because of our sins we were exiled from our land and distanced from our soil.” And we ask that, immediately, may it be Your will that Hakadosh Boruch Hu rebuild the Beis Hamikdash. We all need the complete Geulah. We all need the coming of Moshiach, through the good deeds we do here tonight. And as we said, we must not be content with that, but add to them. This will further hasten and speed the complete Geulah through the revelation of Moshiach. May we all have a good and blessed year.