Thirty days since the passing of Rabbi Efraim Wolf

00:25 Speaker 1 With the permission of the rosh yeshiva, the rabbis, the guests, the dear Wolf family, our distinguished guests, and last but certainly not least, the yeshiva students—the crowning glory of the Chabad yeshivos in the Holy Land, the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lod and the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. Welcome, in Hashem’s name, to this memorial gathering and siyum of Mishnayos marking thirty days since the passing of Rabbi Reb Ephraim Binyamin Wolf a"h, who was the Rebbe’s trusted representative in the Holy Land and the director-general of Chabad institutions there. As is customary, we will begin by reciting a chapter of Tehillim, the Rebbe’s chapter. I am honored to invite Rabbi Baruch Boaz Yurkowitz, the rabbi of the Chabad neighborhood in Lod, where Rabbi Wolf lived for many years, to recite the Rebbe’s chapter of Tehillim with the audience. The audience is asked to stand. Rabbi Baruch, please.

02:17 Speaker 2 A psalm of David. I will sing of kindness and justice; to You, Hashem, I will sing praise. I will contemplate the way of the blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my home. I will not set anything wicked before my eyes. I hate the deeds of those who stray; they shall not cling to me. A crooked heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Whoever slanders his fellow in secret, I will cut him off; one with haughty eyes and an arrogant heart, I cannot endure. My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; one who walks in the way of the blameless shall serve me. One who practices deceit shall not dwell within my home; one who speaks lies shall not stand before my eyes. Each morning I will cut off all the wicked of the land, to uproot from Hashem’s city all who do evil.

04:00 Speaker 13 Thank you, Rabbi Yurkowitz. We ask those who have just joined us to take their seats in the hall. There are still seats available on the right. Rabbi Ephraim Binyamin Wolf was born on 9 Menachem Av 5683 in Nuremberg, Germany, in a home where Torah scholarship and worldly standing sat at the same table. Already in his youth, after the family moved to Holland because of the war, Rabbi Wolf fulfilled the teaching, “Exile yourself to a place of Torah.” As my grandfather, the gaon Rabbi David Moshe Lieberman, rabbi of Antwerp, told me, he too was a young boy in Antwerp in those days. Rabbi Wolf came to study at the yeshiva in Antwerp before his bar mitzvah. Later, they studied together at the renowned yeshiva in Heide, Belgium. My grandfather tells me that even then it was apparent that Rabbi Wolf was destined for great things. He tells me that, even then, he was struck by the way Rabbi Wolf davened as a young bochur after his bar mitzvah—with concentration and deliberation. Anyone who saw him later knows what that means. In 5699, through the influence of the mashpia Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, he traveled for the first time to the court of the previous Rebbe. It was in Tishrei, and on that occasion he also became acquainted with the Rebbe, who was then with his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe. From that Tishrei onward, [unclear]. We can only imagine the setting. From that Tishrei, when he was fifteen years old, Rabbi Wolf first bound himself with strong bonds of love and hiskashrus to the previous Rebbe, and later to his successor, the Rebbe of Lubavitch. After long wanderings across Europe, Rabbi Wolf arrived in the Holy Land. Later, a match was arranged between him and the daughter of the well-known chossid Reb Aharon Fried. His wedding took place on Rosh Chodesh Adar 5702. In 5719—others will surely speak about him and tell his story later; I am only giving the briefest outline, while the distinguished speakers who follow

07:41 Speaker 13 will surely tell us more about his conduct, so that we can take lessons from it for our daily lives. In 5719, after a large group of new immigrants from Russia arrived and settled in Kfar Chabad and Lod, Rabbi Wolf was asked to take charge of the yeshiva that the well-known chossid and partisan Rabbi Zusha Wilimovsky had founded in Lod. At the time, Rabbi Wolf lived in Jerusalem. For several years, he would leave home for Lod every Sunday morning. There he shared a room with some of the yeshiva students, returning home to his family in Jerusalem before Shabbos. Following the passing of the previous Rebbe and the Rebbe’s assumption of the leadership, Rabbi Wolf became the Rebbe’s representative and trusted man in the Holy Land in every sphere. He carried out many missions, some well known and some still unknown but yet to be made public. He also conveyed all the Rebbe’s instructions to the shluchim, instructions concerning the institutions and how they should be run, and the Rebbe’s funds to the Holy Land. Rabbi Wolf did all this and more as the Rebbe’s representative and shliach in the Holy Land. Rabbi Wolf, or Reb Ephraim, as he was better known, was on the one hand a commander in the Rebbe’s army, and on the other, he acted like a simple soldier. Alongside his work at the highest levels and his capable leadership of the institutions, Rabbi Wolf never missed a Friday at the Sdeh Rofeh pharmacy to put tefillin on people. He never let a day of Chol Hamoed pass without helping people fulfill the mitzvah of the Four Species. Whenever he could, he was also a simple soldier in the Rebbe’s army. Most remarkable of all, despite his many commitments and the countless demands of running the institutions, Rabbi Wolf found not only the time but also the strength to maintain a regular Torah study schedule with a consistency that was second to none, as we will hear later. Over the years, Rabbi Wolf served as a member of the worldwide Agudas Chassidei Chabad, chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in the Holy Land, and director

10:47 Speaker 13 of the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos, the vocational schools, the kollels in Kfar Chabad, [unclear], Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, and Machne Israel. [Unclear.] He also served on the leadership of the worldwide Colel Chabad and as chairman of Colel Chabad in the Holy Land. Speaking of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, the verse says: “Avraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him.” The verse goes on to explain why: “For I have known him, so that he will instruct his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice.” The main test by which we can see a person’s success—Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, who withstood every trial—where was his tremendous strength expressed? “For I have known him, so that he will instruct his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of Hashem.” Not simply “keep the way of Hashem,” but “keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice.” As is well known, the Alter Rebbe explains the words “charity and justice” to mean that giving charity must begin with judgment. When a person judges himself honestly—what does he deserve? What is he entitled to?—he gives charity in a different way. Rabbi Wolf did not work for himself. His judgment of himself was just, and even stricter than that; he was demanding of himself. By contrast, his whole concern was to give charity. But again, the strength and power of these things was expressed in [unclear]. And so, alongside the great enterprise he founded and led so capably, we cannot fail to mention the legacy he left in all his sons, who all continue in his path: “They will keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice.” I must mention them in order. His eldest son, who directs educational institutions, a Talmud Torah and a yeshiva in Nachlas Har Chabad, Rabbi Nosson

13:39 Speaker 13 shlita. His son, his right-hand man in spreading the Rebbe’s name and carrying out the Rebbe’s work from the Holy Land, the unforgettable shliach and dedicated Chassidic activist, Chabad’s spokesman in the Holy Land who did so much to raise Chabad’s standing there, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Wolf shlita. His son, the devoted activist responsible for spreading Torah and Chassidus in the Holy Land, director of Kehot Publication Society in the Holy Land, Rabbi Mordechai Mendel shlita. His son, his son-in-law, who served for thirty years as rosh yeshiva of the central yeshiva in New Jersey and has now taken responsibility for the overall leadership of the institutions in the Holy Land, succeeding his father, Rabbi Elyakim shlita. His son, who directs educational institutions, [unclear], and the Beth Rivkah educational institution in New York, Rabbi Binyamin shlita. His daughter, of the Dra[unclear] family, who works in education, and his son-in-law Rabbi Dra[unclear], who was a source of help and support in running the institutions and is a shliach directing Chabad activities in [unclear], Jerusalem. Here, alongside the institutions he established and the students being educated throughout the world, we can also see: “For I have known him, so that he will instruct his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice.” As we noted, this event opens with a siyum of Mishnayos. I am honored to invite Rabbi Ephraim Wolf’s eldest son, Rabbi Nosson shlita, to complete the Mishnayos. Rabbi Wolf, please.

15:44 Speaker 14 In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bequeath to each and every tzaddik 310 worlds, as it says, “To bequeath substance to those who love Me, and I will fill their treasuries.” Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta said: Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel that could hold blessing for the Jewish people other than peace, as it says, “Hashem will give strength to His people; Hashem will bless His people with peace.” We shall return to you, Mishnah, and you shall return to us; our thoughts are on you, Mishnah, and your thoughts are on us. [unclear] on the completion of the Mishnah. I ask again that all the students and members of the audience standing at the entrance come in. There are still seats on my right, your left, near the Aron Kodesh. The audience is again asked to come in and find your seats. As we have said many times, “Behold, a generation of the upright is blessed”: his sons and family continue his extensive work, and grandchildren are like children. I am honored to invite Rabbi Menachem Mendel Wolf, son of Rabbi Nosson, may he live, the Rebbe’s shliach in Ashkelon and a maggid shiur at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Kiryat Malachi, to deliver a hadran on the completion of the Mishnah. Rabbi Wolf, please. As is customary, we also begin with words of blessing. Following the completion of the Mishnah, Rabbi Wolf will present a sicha of the Rebbe as a hadran on the Mishnah.

19:23 Speaker 15 With the permission of my father, may he live, and the family; the distinguished rabbis Rabbi Landau, Rabbi Levin, Rabbi Lipsker, Rabbi Gerlitzky; all the heads of the yeshivos in Lod and Kfar Chabad; Rabbi Katz, Rabbi Koenig, and Rabbi Brzezinski. The last mishnayos of Shas, of the six orders of the Mishnah, in tractate Uktzin, deal with the following: one mishnah deals with a beehive, and another speaks about honeycombs—when honeycombs, when honey, are considered susceptible to impurity as liquids. There is a dispute between Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi [unclear]: whether someone tastes it, says he will eat it, or actually does something. After that, the Mishnah says, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bequeath to each and every tzaddik 310 worlds, “To bequeath substance to those who love Me,” and so on. Then, at the very end, the Mishnah brings what the early commentators refer to as: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel that could hold blessing for the Jewish people other than peace.” A simple question arises here, one that many commentators ask and dwell on. What, seemingly, is the connection between what we were discussing before—a beehive and honeycombs—and what the Mishnah goes on to say? In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will bequeath to each and every tzaddik 310 worlds; “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel that could hold blessing for the Jewish people other than peace.” What is the connection between them? The truth is that we could explain it simply, as many commentators do, especially the Rambam: there really is no connection between these mishnayos. There is no connection between the law of honeycombs and a beehive and “He found no vessel”—and “To bequeath substance to those who love Me,” and so on. It is simply that we are at the conclusion of the Mishnah, the conclusion of all six orders, so this is an appropriate place to speak about the reward for mitzvos. As the Rambam says, here he concludes the law, concludes the Mishnah, and concludes the discussion with reward. What the Rambam says is certainly true, without any doubt. But we know that if, in every single thing—

21:48 Speaker 15 in the world, there is Divine providence, how much more so in anything people can say when we are speaking about a matter of Torah. When we speak about a matter of Torah, there is no doubt that every detail is guided by Divine providence. So what is the connection between a beehive and bees and “To bequeath substance to those who love Me”? There is another question the Rebbe asks. We are speaking here, after all, about a Jew who has completed the Mishnah, all six orders of the Mishnah. Someone who has reached Uktzin has previously studied Avos. In Pirkei Avos it says: “Do not be like servants who serve their master in order to receive a reward; rather, be like servants who serve their master not in order to receive a reward.” Surely someone who has studied tractate Uktzin, who has studied the entire Mishnah, has not merely studied it; he has studied and put into practice everything he learns. So he has learned, seemingly, in Pirkei Avos that receiving a reward is not the point. Why, then, does Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, as he concludes the Mishnah, promise that Jew who observes it all, “You will receive a great reward—310 worlds”? Instead, he could seemingly have written that the reward of someone who observes the mitzvos, who studies Torah and observes the mitzvos, is that through each and every mitzvah he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The word mitzvah is related to the word for joining and connection; through every mitzvah, we connect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Instead, he promises him 310 worlds. Especially since we are speaking here of someone who loves Hashem: “To bequeath substance to those who love Me.” Someone who loves Hashem. The Rambam already says that “one who loves Hashem does what is true because it is true, not for any other reason.” Granted, the reward will ultimately come—the good will ultimately come as a result—but seemingly that is incidental. It is secondary.

23:44 Speaker 15 It seems very, very out of place to speak about the reward for mitzvos at the conclusion of the Mishnah. The Rebbe notes one more small detail. Seemingly, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi should have said: “In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give each and every tzaddik 310 worlds.” What does it mean to bequeath? He should say “give each and every tzaddik.” And this is not just some minor detail. What difference does it make whether he says “give” or “bequeath”? There is a major difference between giving and bequeathing. Bequeathing means an inheritance. Here we are speaking of a tzaddik who has exerted himself, in soul and body, who has worked so hard in serving Hashem and fulfilled all six orders of the Mishnah. An inheritance is something that comes to a person as a matter of course. Here he is not receiving his reward as something that comes automatically, as though he were receiving it without effort. We are speaking of a tzaddik who worked extremely hard in serving Hashem. Why does the Tanna say “bequeath”? Especially since tractate Sanhedrin cites a very similar teaching in the name of [unclear] bar Chama[?], and there the Gemara actually says: “In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give each and every tzaddik.” Why, here, when we reach the final conclusion, does it say “bequeath”? The Rebbe explains that these passages, here and in tractate Sanhedrin, are actually speaking about two different people. Outwardly they look very, very similar, but inwardly there is a difference between them. Outwardly, both observe Torah and mitzvos, observe mitzvos with hiddur, and serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Again, they look almost the same. But here is the difference: One Jew has simply come to understand how good it is to observe the mitzvos, because they are good. How good it is to do what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants. How much the soul refines the body through each and every mitzvah. He has simply reached the conclusion that it is good.

25:57 Speaker 15 It is good to observe the holy mitzvos. He does observe the mitzvos with hiddur, but his focus is personal. He thinks about his own spiritual ascent, his own refinement. Of course he thinks about his own refinement, but there is no doubt that he deserves an enormous reward. After all, he serves Hashem. About him, the Gemara in tractate Sanhedrin says: “In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give each and every tzaddik.” He will certainly receive an endless reward from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Here, at the conclusion of the six orders of the Mishnah, after we have already studied tractate Sanhedrin, the Mishnah speaks about something entirely different. It speaks about a different kind of tzaddik. The preceding mishnayos allude to this tzaddik’s way of serving Hashem. They speak about a beehive and honeycombs. Midrash Rabbah says of bees, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu says [unclear], that the Jewish people are compared to bees. Just as a bee gathers everything it gathers for its owner, so too the Jewish people gather all the Torah, mitzvos, and good deeds they gather for their Father in Heaven. Here we are speaking about a completely different Jew. He understands the virtue of the mitzvos. He understands how worthwhile and good it is to observe each and every mitzvah, but his focus is entirely different: “It gathers for its owner.” [unclear]—it gathers for its owner. Of such a tzaddik the Mishnah says: “To bequeath substance to those who love Me.” This “substance” is the true, absolute existence—Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this seems to raise a question: How can a created being here in this world, a finite being, connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself? They are, after all, two utterly different things: a finite created being, whose whole nature is limitation, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is infinite. To this the Mishnah, the Tanna, says: “To bequeath substance to those who love Me.” To bequeath, not to give. As we know, the difference between giving and bequeathing is that giving means something previously belonged to the giver.

28:19 Speaker 15 And after that it passes to the recipient—or first it belongs to the seller, and then to the buyer. Inheritance is different: “Your children shall take the place of your fathers.” The heir stands in the place of the one from whom he inherits. It is not that he receives something from him; rather, he stands in his place. He is, as it were, considered one with him. A Jew whose service is like that of the bee—“Do not read ‘your children’ but ‘your builders’”—does not merely receive from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Through such service, it is revealed that his true reality is the true Being, the absolute Being. And this is how the Mishnah concludes. Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta says: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel capable of holding blessing for Israel other than peace.” For Israel—again, “Do not read ‘your children’ but ‘your builders’”—for Jews whose service is to build, to work for the Creator. Such a Jew is characterized by peace. As we know, peace brings together two opposites. Likewise, through serving Hashem in the manner described at the conclusion of Maseches Uktzin, we unite two opposites: the created being, who is entirely limited, becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who is, of course, infinitely beyond limitation. I think that as we gather today for my grandfather’s shloshim, may he rest in peace, there must be an element of “the living shall take it to heart.” Without a doubt, there is so much to learn from him. There is so much to reflect on—so many lessons in serving Hashem that we can learn from the way he served Hashem. That is why we have gathered. We did not gather simply to tell stories about a dear Jew. We gathered to try to learn something from him. We can learn so much from his tremendous ability to manage things, from his service of Hashem, his davening, his use of time—his almost astonishing use of every moment for Torah study. But I think, as one example, what you could say most distinguished

30:49 Speaker 15 him was [unclear] Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the world. He had nothing else but to do the work. His entire concern was to do the work. I’m sorry—I recently heard a story about a time when one of the people involved in housing people with special needs in Israel took something away from his area of responsibility. Something that had been under his public authority was taken from him. Another Jew came to him and said, “Pay attention—they’re taking away your authority.” He replied, “Leave it. It’s fine.” To him, it did not matter who did the work. What mattered was that the work be done properly. He did not even feel that he had given anything up. It really did not matter. The point was that the work had to get done. Who did it? What difference did it make? Do the work. Another point the Rebbe mentioned in this sicha is peace—uniting two opposites. The Rebbe would always demand this. The Rebbe says that a Jew is called upon to unite two opposites. The Rebbe would always demand that, on the one hand, a Jew be in a state of ratzo, and on the other, in a state of shov; on the one hand, that he exert his intellect in Torah study, and on the other, that he have complete bittul; on the one hand, “May my soul be like dust to all,” and on the other, “His heart was lifted up in the ways of Hashem.” The Rebbe explains in many, many places: how, seemingly, can a Jew live this way? How can a Jew conduct himself with two approaches that are truly opposite to each other? The Rebbe explains that it really depends on what motivates the Jew. Take a Jew who studies Torah with pleasure and vitality. If he studies because he wants to, then when he studies with pleasure, it will be hard for him to study with bittul. When he conducts himself in the spirit of “His heart was lifted up in the ways of Hashem,” he will not be able to conduct himself with the humility of “May my soul be like dust to all.” But when, at every moment, a Jew is not thinking about

33:03 Speaker 15 his own pleasure or what he wants, and he has one goal—to make a dwelling for Him, to make a dwelling for Hakadosh Boruch Hu here in this world—that is his one and only goal. If that is what he thinks about, if that is his approach and his way of conducting himself, then when ratzo is needed, there is ratzo; when shov is needed, there is shov; when bittul is needed, there is bittul, and when firmness is needed, there is firmness. None of it is a contradiction, because each is another part of serving Hashem. There is no contradiction between them. And again, I think that when we speak about my grandfather, this union of opposites was so striking in him. It began with the famous instruction the Frierdiker Rebbe gave him: “Daven out loud, but so that no one hears.” There was so much kindness in him, yet when it was needed, so much strength. He had—everyone can attest, all of Israel can attest—to how much bittul he had. Yet at times, when it was needed, he showed such firmness. This comes from serving Hashem in order to make a dwelling for Him. The bittul was not his own bittul, and the firmness was not his own firmness. His Torah study, his use of time—none of it was about himself. Everything, everything was to make a dwelling for Him. To daven so loudly and yet not be heard—that is possible only through serving Hashem to make a dwelling for Him. Especially as we stand today on the eve of 27 Adar, certainly every one of us in general, and we in particular in our activities—without a doubt, if we each adopt just a little of this in our own sphere... Not everyone has to be such a great manager, such a great manager. But each of us, in our own small matters, if our service of Hashem is directed toward making a dwelling for Him, then without a doubt

35:06 Speaker 15 very soon indeed we will merit the Geulah and see the Rebbe in the true and complete Geulah. Thank you very much.

35:18 Speaker 16 Thank you very much, and yasher koach. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gold. Rabbi Wolf spoke about “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel capable of holding blessing other than peace,” and one cannot overlook today’s Tanya lesson. In chapter 32—the heart of Tanya—it says of this mitzvah: “This is what Hillel the Elder meant when he said that fulfilling this mitzvah is the whole Torah, and the rest is its explanation.” And the conclusion of today’s Tanya lesson is: “Bless us, our Father, all of us as one.” Rabbi Wolf spoke, in connection with the conclusion of the Mishnayos, about how the Rebbe Rashab brought opposites together. The Rebbe wrote in a letter about the conclusion of the Mishnayos that it is no coincidence that they end with the Order of Taharos, in Maseches Uktzin, with the law concerning honeycombs. The Rambam explains that the Mishnayos conclude with the Order of Taharos to allude to and remind us that Torah study must ultimately lead to purity. That is the conclusion, the aim and the purpose of Torah study. And how does that happen? The Rambam says that we take the stalks, take the sting, and turn it into honey, into something sweet. But the Rambam immediately says that, on the other hand, one must be careful, because honey alone is also a problem: “For no leaven or honey shall you offer as a fire-offering to Hashem.” If it is too sweet, something is lacking. There has to be a sting that is transformed into honey. Speaking about the study of the Rambam, I asked his grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Wolf, whether he had a personal story, an episode, or an interesting saying he had heard from his grandfather. After a brief thought, he said, “You know what? The one thing I have from him was connected with learning. Whenever we met, whatever the occasion, he would immediately ask, ‘What are you learning? Where are you up to? Which masechta?’ He did not just ask; he would go and open the Gemara. Sometimes he would take the initiative, open the Gemara to the passage he was up to, and ask his grandson what he thought. Every moment was”

37:52 Speaker 16 Devoted to Torah study. As we noted, this evening, after the completion of the Mishnayos, is a memorial gathering. In Chabad, it is not customary to deliver eulogies. King Shlomo says in Koheles: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for that is the end of every person, and the living will take it to heart.” The Midrash offers several interpretations of the words “the living will take it to heart.” Gentlemen, those standing at the entrance can come inside; there is still room. We ask everyone standing at the back entrance to take a seat up front, near the Aron Kodesh. We welcome the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau shlita. Again, the Midrash offers several interpretations of “the living will take it to heart.” The first interpretation asks: What do the words “the living will take it to heart” teach us? Do kindness, and kindness will be done for you; lend, and others will lend to you; eulogize, and others will eulogize you; bury, and others will bury you; perform acts of kindness, and others will perform acts of kindness for you. “The living will take it to heart”: when a person passes away, one should take part in the events surrounding that passing for a simple reason. If he wants others to do this for him, if he wants them to come and pay him respect, he should take part in paying respect to someone else. The Rebbe gives another interpretation: “The living will take it to heart” refers to the righteous, who keep their own mortality before their hearts. Every day, “Repent one day before your death”; every day they keep their mortality before their hearts. “The living will take it to heart.” The Midrash brings a third interpretation: “Another interpretation: ‘The living will take it to heart’ refers to the Life of the Worlds, Who rewards a person for each and every step taken to perform an act of kindness.” “The Living” is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who takes it to heart and rewards every good thing a person does. The Rebbe repeatedly said that Torah comes from the word hora’ah, instruction—guidance for life, guidance in life. He interprets this verse on a higher plane, on an entirely different level: “The living will take it to heart”—to learn from the deeds of

41:33 Speaker 16 the departed and draw guidance for one’s own life, for daily life, from his conduct. When we gather for a meeting meant to inspire us, as we said, these are not eulogies. We do not deliver eulogies in Chabad. We share stories from which we can learn guidance and direction for our daily lives. As the Rabbi always says: “The main thing is not study, but action”—and that, too, can be understood a little differently. Not the exposition, merely standing up and delivering a sermon, but the deed: a story from which we can learn how to conduct ourselves. “Study is great because it leads to action.” Action is the main thing, and action in general... Who can argue with Reb Ephraim? But also in the sense of maaseh rav—learning from a great person’s deeds—the deeds and the stories, the little stories that together formed a remarkable tapestry of a life of holiness, can guide us in our own lives. My role is not to speak at length. With us here today is someone whose moving, heartfelt words we all still remember—words from the heart, in the spirit of “the living will take it to heart”—spoken by the Chief Rabbi of Israel at the funeral of Reb Ephraim’s son, Berke[?], of blessed memory. Those words are engraved upon our hearts. The Chief Rabbi is known as a friend of the family—and by “the family” I mean the Chabad family as a whole, the family of Chabad institutions, and the Wolf family in particular. It is my honor to invite the esteemed Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau shlita, to offer words of inspiration. Rabbi Lau, please.

43:35 Speaker 17 Esteemed rabbis and scholars, distinguished rabbis, heads of the yeshivos and leaders of the community. And last but dear to us, the yeshivah students, dear Torah students, my teachers and rabbis, holy congregation. We have read a great deal this past month about a man it was difficult to read about before then. Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, may the memory of this righteous man be a blessing, always came and went quietly and never claimed credit for himself. Never. Quiet, reserved, unassuming, “walking humbly with your G-d.” He also had the restraint and the strength to keep things inside, and I think he excelled in that. Someone just mentioned that difficult night in Jerusalem when we laid Berke Wolf z”l to rest. Anyone who saw his father during those terrible hours saw his restraint: “And Aharon was silent,” in the fullest sense of the words. What did that father look like? I did not take my eyes off him in the darkness there, at the funeral home and at Har Hamenuchos. What did Reb Ephraim look like? It seemed to me that he felt he needed to support his widowed daughter-in-law and his orphaned grandchildren. He held himself back, overcame his own feelings and mastered himself, and did not give voice even once to the pain of a father burying, may we never know of it, his beloved son. In Kotzk they had a saying about this. Reb Ephraim is, for me, an example of what the Rebbe of Kotzk meant. The Gemara in Sukkah says that Hillel the Elder had eighty students. The least of them was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. They said of him: What did Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai not know? Scripture, Mishnah, halachah, Sifrei, aggados, the parables of launderers, the parables of foxes, the speech of palm trees. Great matters and small matters. A great matter is the account of the Divine Chariot. A small matter is the discussions of Abaye and Rava. That is the whole Shas, the entire Babylonian Talmud—everything discussed by Abaye and Rava, from Berachos through Niddah, inclusive. Even before Abaye and Rava were born, before the entire Babylonian Talmud came into being, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai already held

47:10 Speaker 17 in his mind everything that would later be on the table, on the agenda of Abaye and Rava—three hundred years of the Babylonian Talmud. He already had it before then, and for him that was called a small matter. When the Gemara finishes praising Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, whom it describes there on page 28 as the least of Hillel the Elder’s students, it asks: If the least of them was like this, what was the greatest of them like? They said of Yonasan ben Uziel, the greatest of Hillel the Elder’s students, that when he sat and studied Torah, any bird that flew above him was burned. The holy fire blazed within the four cubits of Yonasan ben Uziel, who translated the Torah and the Prophets with ruach hakodesh. When he sought to translate the Writings, the world trembled: Who was revealing the secrets of human beings? For had he translated the Writings as well, he would have revealed to us the time of the Geulah. Yonasan ben Uziel. That was the greatest of the students. The Rebbe of Kotzk asked: If this was the greatest student of Hillel the Elder, what can we say about Hillel the Elder himself, their Rebbe? The least of his students was Rabbi Yochanan—Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. The greatest of his students was Yonasan ben Uziel. So what was the Rebbe himself like? In Kotzk they said that the Rebbe was on such a high level that when he sat and studied Torah, any bird that flew above him was not burned. He was on such a high level that he knew how to hold the fire inside and contain all the fervor of holiness within himself. And this is what they alluded to in Kotzk with the verse, “How beautiful are your footsteps in shoes.” When are the heartbeats of yiras Shamayim beautiful? When they are in shoes, held behind lock and bolt. Anyone who passed Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, who spoke with him, who saw him at work—and I had that privilege for, well, thirty-two years, thirty-two years. Before that I had heard his name, but for thirty-two years I knew

50:10 Speaker 17 him, and each time he would remind me of that teaching about “How beautiful are your footsteps in shoes.” [unclear] He brought blessing. Everything the Rebbe did, at least in Eretz Yisroel, he was the central pillar of every initiative, every campaign, every idea, and the realization of every vision. It seems to me there was nothing in which he was not involved, centrally involved—but always quietly, always walking humbly, with his feet in shoes. Moshe Rabbeinu stands before the burning bush. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decides to entrust him with the mission of bringing the Jewish people out of Egypt. I once spoke about this at a shluchim gathering in Tel Aviv, many years ago. Hakadosh Boruch Hu addresses him with two verbs, and, seemingly, why are both necessary? Moshe Rabbeinu answers with one of them, and Hashem replies with the other. What do I mean? “I am the G-d of your father, the G-d of Avraham,” and so on. “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and now”—what is the conclusion? Go—“Come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and bring My people, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt.” “Come, and I will send you.” Why do we need both? “Go to Pharaoh,” or “I will send you to Pharaoh.” But “Come, and I will send you”? And what does Moshe Rabbeinu say first? “And Moshe said: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt?” And what is Hashem’s answer? “For I will be with you, and this will be your sign that I have sent you.” The Torah places every word precisely. The opening charge is “Come, and I will send you.” He says, “Who am I that I should go?” Hashem points to the burning bush and tells him, “And this will be your sign that I have sent you.” So is it going? Is it being sent? In Yeshayahu, you remember, at his revelation in chapter 6, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death,” in the haftarah of Yisro, there is something very similar. He hears the voice. What does the voice say? “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

53:11 Speaker 17 “Whom shall I send, and who will go?” And what does the prophet Yeshayahu say? “Here I am; send me.” The question was, “Whom shall I send, and who will go?” He does not say, “I will go.” He says, “Send me.” “I have sent you.” With Yirmiyahu, in the first chapter, it says: “For wherever I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” “Do not say, ‘I am a child,’ for wherever I send you, you shall go.” So what does it mean to send, and what does it mean to go? We see this throughout. I mentioned only three sources: Moshe Rabbeinu, the prophet Yeshayahu, and the prophet Yirmiyahu. There are more. What is this? Ohel Yaakov, of course. A person with a personality of his own can go. He goes; he moves forward. Avraham Avinu, a giant among giants: the first parsha says, “Lech lecha—go forth.” And at the final test, the Akeidah, once again: “Go to the land of Moriah.” “Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house.” “And Avraham went.” “He went.” “Traveling onward.” “He went,” “he went.” This is a great man, a giant, who moves forward through the strength of his own personality. Hence the verse in Tehillim: “They go from strength to strength; each appears before G-d in Zion.” To go. He moves forward. He does not stand still or rest on his laurels. “Do not stand in the place of great men.” Or as Rabbi Tzvi Rab Borka[?] said, “A land that devours those who sit in it.” Those who sit on their laurels and say, “There’s no need for another mitzvah campaign, no need for another activity, no need to study another tractate. There’s no need. I’ve already done enough. I’m doing enough. I’m fine. All is well with me.” “A land that devours those who sit in it.” Eretz Yisroel does not tolerate people who sit quietly on their laurels. “In the place of great men”—where the great figures of the world have passed—“do not stand still.” You have to keep moving, always aspiring to go forward. Avraham Avinu goes. Of Moshe Rabbeinu it says, “And Moshe went.” It does not say where he went or where he came from. “And Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel.” Parshas Vayeilech. This teaches us that throughout his life, Moshe Rabbeinu kept moving forward. A shliach can

55:53 Speaker 17 be someone who does not even appreciate his own qualities or see the strengths within him. With a shliach, what matters is who sent him. If I receive a letter or a telegram, does the personality of the person carrying it matter, or does it matter who wrote the letter? What does he want? Whose signature is on it? What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu say to Moshe Rabbeinu at the burning bush? “And now, go.” Go. As it says, “Go in this strength of yours,” and save Israel. That is a person who can go on the strength of his own abilities. Go. If you do not feel worthy enough to go, then at least, “I will send you to Pharaoh.” Be My shliach. If you do not think you are suited to go on the strength of your own personality, I will send you. Moshe says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” What abilities do I have? What knowledge do I have? I am a shepherd for the priest of Midian. I did not study in yeshiva, and I did not spend time with a rabbi. I was not “planted in the house of Hashem.” I grew up in Pharaoh’s house, and I live in the house of the priest of Midian. “Who am I that I should go?” Do I have the stature to go? Do I have the abilities, the qualifications? What do I have? I am not suited to it. I am not worthy. Hashem says, “And this will be your sign that I have sent you: I will be with you.” Once I am with you, you can certainly go as a shliach, at least. A bush burns with fire and is not consumed. Does that make sense? It goes against nature. If I am with you, as I am here in the flame of fire within the bush, you have nothing to fear. And then Yeshayahu hears, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Who volunteers for the mission, and who thinks he is worthy of going on his own strength? In humility, Yeshayahu answers, “Here I am; send me.” I cannot go on my own, but you can send me. Give me the letter, and I will deliver it. To Yirmiyahu, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “For wherever

58:43 Speaker 17 I send you, you shall go.” Do not say, “I am a child.” It begins with being a shliach. This is what I want to tell you. Dear yeshiva students, listen carefully: “Wherever I send you, you shall go.” “I make you an iron pillar, a bronze pillar.” Where does it begin? A person says, “How can I begin? I don’t know how to speak. I don’t know how to speak. I’m not well versed in it. I have no talent. I don’t know how to lead. I can’t influence anyone. I won’t be able to persuade them. They won’t listen to me. Who would listen to me? They won’t listen.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu says: You will begin as a shliach. You will do what I tell you to do. “For wherever I send you”—if you fulfill the mission, then you will be able to go forward through the strength of your own personality. I will help you; you will have help from Heaven. Why have I said all this? I could speak about it for hours. Rabbi Ephraim, may the memory of a tzaddik be a blessing, saw himself throughout his life as, at most, a shliach. He was someone who could go forward, and he did. He had the abilities, the knowledge, and the personality. Not to mention pure fear of Heaven, refined character, and the qualities of a person who truly feared G-d. One could say of him, “Have you taken note of him? A blameless and upright man, who fears G-d and shuns evil.” Yet all his life, he felt himself to be no more than a shliach of the Rebbe. I saw a fine headline about him: “The Rebbe’s man in the Land of Israel.” He did not even see himself as the Rebbe’s man—perhaps not “the man” with a capital M, but a man of the Rebbe. He was a true shliach. “A shliach can be relied upon to carry out his mission”—that can be said of Reb Ephraim. A shliach can be relied upon to carry out his mission. That is why he left his fingerprints on so many areas of work throughout the world of Chabad. I do not know exactly what part he played in the construction of this yeshiva building opposite us, or Beis Menachem,

1:01:13 Speaker 17 or anything else. Do you know how much can be said of him? “Let the walls of the beis midrash bear witness,” as it says in Bava Metzia in the account of the oven of Achnai—the walls of the beis midrash. How many walls of how many batei midrash could testify to Reb Ephraim’s work? But beyond the walls of the beis midrash, how many young people and [unclear] who arose in Israel were shaped by his education, his activities, and everything that made up Reb Ephraim’s personality? How many could testify to who he was and how great this man was? A truly great man, a tzaddik and a humble man, someone over whom one can weep. “Woe to beauty that decays in the dust; woe to this beauty that decays in the dust.” Of him one can say, “Woe for those who are gone and cannot be found.” He was an example and a model through his own conduct, his faithfulness, and his devotion. Everything he did came from a fervent, burning conviction that he was acting as the shliach of the leader of the generation, the leader of Israel, and that he was no more than a messenger carrying out the Rebbe’s sichos, instructions, and guidance that he had received. If you understand someone who sees himself as a shliach like Moshe, someone who sees himself as a shliach like Yeshayahu—“Here I am; send me”—and someone who sees himself as a shliach like Yirmiyahu, you can understand this great man. It is true that the passing of Reb Eliezer zt”l was a devastating blow to his great father. But anyone who saw him grit his teeth, overcome his personal pain, and continue his work—even at the funeral, attending to matters concerning the continuation of that work, the building of Torah and Chassidus, and the unity of Chabad—could see how deeply it burned within him. To continue the Rebbe’s work, to sanctify Hashem’s name in the world, and to make Hashem’s name beloved to people. The Rebbe once told me: We do not say “bringing back those who are distant”; we should speak of “bringing Jews closer.” That is what he told me in 5744. Throughout his life, Reb Ephraim, may the memory of a tzaddik be a blessing, brought Jews closer, brought hearts closer, and brought brothers together toward our Father in Heaven. And therefore we ask him to be an advocate for the precious, exceptional family he left behind, for blessing; to be an advocate for all of Anash in the Land of Israel and throughout the world; and to be an advocate for all of Israel, who need great advocates. May he fulfill the verse spoken by Moshe Rabbeinu: “When I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to Hashem.” Reb Ephraim has left the city. He has left Lod, left Kfar Chabad, left Kiryat Malachi. He has left the city. “When I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to Hashem.” He must pray for the coming of the righteous redeemer and the redemption of Israel, speedily in our days. Amen.

1:04:35 Speaker 17 of hearts, bringing brothers together with our Father in Heaven. And so we ask him to be an advocate on high for the dear, extraordinary family he leaves behind, to be an advocate for all Anash in Israel and throughout the world, and for all the Jewish people, who need great advocates on high. May he fulfill the verse spoken by Moshe Rabbeinu: “When I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to Hashem.” Reb Ephraim has left the city—he has left Lod, left Kfar Chabad, left Kiryat Malachi. He has left the city. “When I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to Hashem.” He must pray for the coming of the righteous redeemer and the redemption of the Jewish people, speedily in our days, amen.

1:05:54 Speaker 18 Thank you very much, and yasher koach to the honorable Rabbi Lau shlita, the Chief Rabbi of Israel. The Chief Rabbi asks to be excused, as he has to leave for other events. We thank him for joining us and for the opportunity. Rabbi, the verse says, as we noted earlier, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting.” We wish Rabbi Lau many more opportunities to come and take part in joyous occasions. To the immediate family, the Wolf family, the family of the institutions, and the Chabad family as a whole: I’d like to take this opportunity—are there still people at the entrance? We have places near the front for the unmarried men at the entrance; they can sit at the ends of the tables. Rabbi Lau said that the walls of the study halls will testify. And indeed, the walls of the study halls in Eretz Yisroel—whether in the Chabad neighborhood in Lod or Nachlas Har Chabad in Kiryat Malachi; whether in the Talmud Torah in Lod, the junior yeshiva in Lod, then in Kfar Chabad, the senior yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, our host institution, the yeshiva in Nachlas Har Chabad, or the vocational schools in Kfar Chabad and Kiryat Malachi—those are the walls that will testify to his work and his devoted service in holy matters. There is another side to the phrase “the walls of the study hall will testify.” Rabbi Wolf, Reb Froime, Reb Ephraim, used every spare moment. We all remember him, whether at a family wedding, at a large meal, or at any public event, sitting at a side table with an open sefer in his hands. Wherever Reb Froime sat became a study hall whose walls will testify to his learning and his engagement in Torah. And the remarkable thing is that someone who runs institutions faces pressure, responsibilities, and worries—not personal worries, but worries about the institutions. Those worries were many and severe, and there were hard days. Yet he never missed a day, an hour, or an opportunity to open a sefer. My father-in-law, Rabbi Elyakim, may he live, told me how astonishing it was on one occasion, during truly difficult days, days of

1:09:15 Speaker 18 intense pressure. He was sitting in the office trying to secure a loan for a period of time, a certain sum of money, and it really was a day of tremendous pressure. But when the time came for him to sit and learn, it was as though he became a different person. He had two minds: one wholly devoted to communal work, but when the time came, that mind closed and another opened—a mind for learning with breadth, understanding, and clear, straightforward reasoning. Rabbi Elyakim also told me that even when he was unwell, when he was ill in his final hours, as soon as he opened a sefer and began to learn, he grasped the sugya as though he had been studying it twenty years earlier. His clear mind for learning never ceased for a moment. The Rebbe told him in yechidus, at the Purim 5722 farbrengen, the first farbrengen he attended with the Rebbe: “You are not only the yeshiva’s administrator in material matters, but its spiritual administrator as well.” The Rebbe also wrote about this in a letter from Rosh Chodesh Iyar 5712: “As I also told him at the farbrengen here, the administrators of the institutions of my revered teacher and Rebbe are also spiritual administrators, for it was my revered teacher and Rebbe’s wish that the material side of his institutions, too, should be spiritual.” A man whose material affairs were spiritual too—his whole being was spirituality, his whole being devoted to the service of Hashem. We speak of his strength in Torah study. How many students—tens, hundreds, and thousands—studied in his institutions, the Rebbe’s institutions. How many roshei yeshiva, shluchim, rabbis, and scholars throughout the world came out of those institutions. Among them are roshei yeshiva. With us here is someone who formerly served as one of the roshei yeshiva here in the study hall, who remains a friend of the institutions to this day and is highly esteemed in the rabbinic world. With your permission, we invite the Chief Rabbi and head of the rabbinical court of Bnei Brak, a former rosh yeshiva,

1:12:10 Speaker 18 the gaon Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau, to share some thoughts and words of Torah and blessing with us. Rabbi Landau, please.

1:12:40 Speaker 19 Reb Ephraim, “What are you doing here, and whom have you here?” The answer is: “That you have hewn yourself a grave here.” The grave is where the body lies, where the luz bone lies, from which resurrection will come at the time of the resurrection of the dead. And there is no doubt that when Reb Ephraim rises at the resurrection of the dead, he will once again rise as an administrator of students. That is the meaning of “that you have hewn yourself a grave here.” Reb Ephraim devoted his entire essence, his entire being, to students. It is not our custom to deliver eulogies, but it is our custom to learn from the ways of chassidim, from their work and their self-sacrifice for matters of holiness and service. Reb Ephraim was a true chossid, bound to the Rebbe with every fiber of his being. Reb Ephraim’s bond was genuine and faithful. I do not know whether there is another like him in his loyalty to the Rebbe. He took even difficult things and difficult situations upon himself. He did not even seek to correct what others had done. When things were hard, when things upset others, he accepted them with love. Very many people today work as the Rebbe’s shluchim, but for a large number of them, their shlichus serves as a cover for their shortcomings. Even if they are lacking in other areas, because their main work, their main occupation, is shlichus, they feel that it covers everything. That was not how Reb Ephraim was. Reb Ephraim z”l, in addition to all his communal work, used every spare moment to learn. He regularly sat and learned even in the office. Once he came to my home to clarify some texts. I asked him to sit down and said, “I’ll be right in.” I went out and came back, and in the meantime Reb Ephraim had taken a kuntres from his pocket and was learning. He did not waste a single moment. He knew what he had to do. Though he was a communal activist engaged in communal work, that did not cover for neglect in other areas. He worked on himself in every respect and was careful about every detail. “Man is born to toil.” The Gemara says: “I still do not know whether he is born to toil in speech or to toil in Torah.” When it says,

1:16:27 Speaker 19 “This book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth,” that tells us it means toil in Torah. Man is born to toil in Torah. The Rebbe asks: How is such a possibility even conceivable in the Gemara—that man was born to toil in speech? Is that why a person comes into the world, why the soul descends into a body: to toil in speech? The Mishnah says, “I have found nothing better for the body than silence.” And yet man is born to toil in speech? The Rebbe explains that “speech” refers to the ten utterances with which Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. Toiling in speech is a Jew’s work of refining the world, which sustains the speech—the words of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the ten utterances with which He created the world. When a person ensures that all his deeds are for the sake of Heaven, when he fulfills “Know Him in all your ways,” he thereby sustains the ten utterances. He sustains the world created through those ten utterances, and that is called toil in speech. That was the Gemara’s question: Is the purpose of the soul’s descent into the body that man is born to toil in speech, in the work of refining the world, or is man born to toil in Torah? The Gemara says that the proof comes from the verse “For this book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth”: man is born to toil in Torah. For toil in speech, the work of refining the world, relates to the world within the order of spiritual descent, whereas toil in Torah does not. Torah is above the order of spiritual descent; Torah is above the world. Therefore, man is born to toil in Torah. True, to reach toil in Torah, there must first be the work of toil in speech, but the ultimate purpose is toil in Torah. We find that it is written of Mordechai the Jew that he was “favored by most of his brethren.” The Gemara says: “By most of his brethren,” but not all of them, because some members of the Sanhedrin separated themselves from him. The Gemara says they separated themselves from him, and Rashi explains that this was because he became second to the king. Previously, his primary occupation had been Torah study. When Mordechai became second to the king and began to be

1:19:39 Speaker 19 A communal activist, involved in communal affairs—some members of the Sanhedrin distanced themselves from him, even though his communal work was a matter of saving lives. The Gemara says: Torah study is greater than saving lives. Mordechai the Jew’s communal work was to save Jews, but Torah study is greater than saving lives. The proof, the Gemara says, is that before Mordechai became second to the king, he is listed fifth in a verse in Nechemiah, whereas after he became second to the king, he is listed sixth in another verse. In other words, Mordechai’s move into communal work brought about a decline in his standing. Nevertheless, most of his brethren—most of the Sanhedrin—agreed with Mordechai the Jew’s communal work. He was accepted by most of his brethren, and the halachah follows the majority. Most of the Sanhedrin supported it. So why did his standing change? Why did he become sixth instead of fifth? Some of the elders did, indeed, distance themselves from him. Their argument was that he had gone down a level: previously he had studied Torah, and afterward he became a communal activist as well. But the halachah follows the majority, and he was accepted by most of his brethren. They held that it was right for him to be second to the king. They certainly held that he needed to engage in communal work and save lives. But that is a separate matter. There was still a loss of completeness. It was no longer solely the toil of Torah study; communal work is on a lower level than the toil of Torah study. Reb Ephraim knew that communal work was not the full measure of completeness. It can involve mesirus nefesh—a person can give up his own level and his own completeness—but it does not make up for what is lacking in his own service. And it certainly does not cover up shortcomings. Therefore, despite his communal work, Reb Ephraim devoted himself to serving Hashem and to learning. He guarded every moment. Whenever he could free himself from his communal work, he sat down to learn and fulfilled

1:22:45 Speaker 19 the toil of Torah study. In fact, Reb Ephraim Wolf’s toil in communal work was not [unclear]. It, too, was toil for Torah: he labored so that others would learn, so that others would be able to learn, so that the young people, the next generation, would sit and learn. As Tanna Devei Eliyahu says: “The Great Sanhedrin should have gone out, tied iron ropes around their waists, raised their garments above their heels, and gone around to every town in Israel to teach the Jewish people.” The Great Sanhedrin sat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. If its members left, they went down from their level. When they were not in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, sitting as the Sanhedrin, they were not the Sanhedrin. Nevertheless, they should have—they were obligated to—leave the Chamber of Hewn Stone, leave their standing as the Sanhedrin, and go see to it that Torah was taught in every Jewish town. Reb Ephraim Wolf fulfilled this obligation to care for the young generation: for the boys, the younger yeshivah, the older yeshivah, and the institutions. Whether it was boys or girls’ institutions, he saw to it that they learned Torah. He fulfilled that obligation, but he knew it did not fulfill his entire role or bring him to complete perfection. At every moment he could, he himself also sat and learned Torah. We have explained that communal work caused a deficiency: it meant less time for the toil of Torah study. But the Alter Rebbe says in Torah Or, in the name of the Maggid of Mezritch, that when a person does all he can, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will complete what is lacking for him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will make up for what is lacking for someone who uses every bit of time left over from communal work to study Torah and does not waste his time. Every moment he had free, he sat and learned. The Alter Rebbe says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes up what was lacking in the completeness of his toil in Torah study. Indeed, the Gemara in Sanhedrin says explicitly, on the verse “The soul of one who toils toils for him”: He toils in one place, and his Torah stands by him in another. Rashi explains: Because he toiled in Torah, the Torah speaks on his behalf, follows after him, and asks its Owner

1:26:09 Speaker 19 to reveal to him the reasons and secrets of Torah. The Torah he learned in the time he had—when he did not waste time that could have been spent learning—that Torah speaks on his behalf, follows after him, and asks its Owner to reveal to him the reasons and secrets of Torah. So the Gemara says: the Torah he learned in every free moment follows after him and asks its Owner, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to make up for the time he spent on communal work, so that he can attain completeness in that time as well. The Yerushalmi in Berachos says: “Rabbi Chanina said: Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosi, drew me into an inn and said to me, ‘Here my father recited the Shabbos prayer on Friday.’” The question is: He wanted to tell him that his father had already recited the Shabbos prayer during the day on Friday. Did he need to draw him into an inn for that? He could simply have said, “My father prayed.” If it happened only once, he could have said that once, on a Friday, his father recited the Shabbos prayer at an inn. Why did he have to take him specifically to that inn? “He drew me into an inn,” and only when they arrived did he say, “Here my father recited the Shabbos prayer on Friday.” The answer is that it is received entirely differently. The impact is different when we tell people, “This is what he did, this is how he conducted himself, this is how he served Hashem,” and when we bring them to the very place. We have been brought here today, to this place, to be told: Here Reb Ephraim Wolf dedicated his life to his students. Here is the place to learn from his deeds, from his care for the chassidim, and from all his work and conduct. When we learn from his deeds, it will be to his merit and for the elevation of his soul. May Hashem grant that we soon merit the complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, and may those who dwell in the dust awaken and sing.

1:28:55 Speaker 20 Amen and amen. Thank you very much, and yasher koach to Rabbi Landau. Rabbi Landau spoke about this place, the yeshivah in Kfar Chabad. Kfar Chabad is where the great majority of the students and buildings that were under the direction of Rabbi Reb Ephraim Wolf, a"h, are located. With us is the rabbi of Kfar Chabad and a member of the Chabad Rabbinical Court, the esteemed Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi shlita. We would like to hear words of Torah and wisdom from him as well. Rabbi Ashkenazi, please.

1:29:54 Speaker 3 Esteemed members of the presidium, esteemed rabbis of the yeshivos, esteemed Rabbi Landau. When I enter this yeshivah, where I had the privilege of studying for four years and teaching for two—I was very young then—it is hard to come to terms with seeing the yeshivah without Rabbi Ephraim. There are administrators and communal activists; one generation goes and another comes, and they change. Generations change, administrators change. It is a shame. I remember Rabbi Ephraim almost as far back as I can remember myself, even from the years before he came to the yeshivah in Jerusalem. Boruch Hashem, I have had the privilege of knowing many Chabad communal activists. But I always saw him as a remarkable person in two respects—indeed, in many respects. The first thing, which I told the yeshivah students, is something I remember from when I was a child in the shul in Tel Aviv. A wealthy Jew from America came. One of the Chabad communal activists at the time was Reb Rosenthal, and the visitor stayed with him. They were talking in shul, and he tried to persuade the man to give money to the yeshivah. They had just begun building the first building here. I heard them talking in a small shul, [unclear]. This Jew was very close to the Frierdiker Rebbe. His name was Shloime Fauner[?], and he was... very good. I know what I heard. So Shloime Fauner[?] asked Beni Altoi[?], who was called Gerri[?]—Reizhe Gerri[?]—who had a shul: “Who is this [unclear]? What sort of person is he?” One of them said to him: “You can give him a million dollars”—and he was capable of giving a million dollars—“without counting it. He’ll put it in his pocket, and you can trust him to return it to you exactly as you gave it to him.” I heard that as a child. It made such a deep impression on me. Here is a Jew you can trust. Not that you would lend him a million dollars and he would pay it back. Give him a sack of money and trust that he

1:33:24 Speaker 3 He would count it and tell you how much there was, and he would not leave out even a single penny. Perhaps this example shows something about the Baal Shem Tov, the Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe, in connection with the accounts they kept—an accounting for every penny. We are now learning the weekly parsha, Vayakhel-Pekudei. There is the Rebbe’s well-known sicha about Moshe Rabbeinu, who was also in charge of the charitable funds and could account for every penny. There was so much livestock, so much gold and so much silver for the making of the Mishkan. Their honesty and integrity were extraordinary, even in the previous generation. I think this is a lesson for every one of us. The kohanim who entered and dealt with the charitable funds of the Beis Hamikdash—we learned that their clothes had no pockets, so that no one would suspect them. But Rabbi Ephraim could have entered the Beis Hamikdash with pockets and come out, and no one would have suspected him, G-d forbid, even in their thoughts. Throughout the forty or fifty years he served as director of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, he was capable of accounting for every penny. That is extraordinary. It is extraordinary and astonishing. It is a lesson for every one of us. And the second thing I can say, from when I was a child, a bochur learning in yeshiva: when we were learning in Lod, we would go from the zal to the kitchen, from the kitchen to the zal, from the zal to the station, and from the station back to the zal. We always passed the office. There was never a time—whether it was Motzaei Shabbos or Erev Shabbos, twilight on Shabbos, late at night, late in the morning or in the afternoon—when Reb Ephraim was not in the office. He was always sitting there working. A letter, a phone call, all sorts of matters connected with the yeshiva. And the bochurim would talk among themselves at a farbrengen. Sometimes you have to take stock of yourself. Sometimes people are busy collecting money

1:36:49 Speaker 3 for institutions, for a yeshiva. They approach a Jew and say to him, “Give me ten thousand dollars for the yeshiva. Twenty thousand dollars.” Perhaps that Jew has a hundred times twenty thousand dollars, but it is hard for him to part with it. So the director says to him, “Give it to me for the yeshiva. What does it matter to you?” Yet when a yeshiva bochur goes out collecting money, I often hear people finding fault with that Jew: Why won’t he give? Why won’t he give? I once heard one of the donors say, “Have these bochurim ever understood, ever felt, what it means? How do you come up with ten thousand dollars? How much effort does it take? They think to themselves, you just ask.” So too, when the bochurim passed the office and thought about it, they would make a reckoning with themselves, a personal accounting. This Jew comes to the office for five or six hours, then gets into his car and goes to attend to his family, and he runs the yeshiva. This Jew devotes his entire life, eighteen hours a day, to the yeshiva, so that the bochurim can sit and learn. [unclear] in the sefarim. Eighteen hours a day this Jew works for the yeshiva. And you, a bochur—do you devote eighteen hours, or nine hours a day, to learning? Do you give him nine hours in return, or eight hours, or sixteen hours? I can say, boruch Hashem, that among my teachers were exemplary figures—rabbis, roshei yeshiva, people of great stature. But from whom else did the bochurim draw inspiration? And that is natural. Yet this figure, Rabbi Wolf, was no less a symbol and example of devotion to the yeshiva and to the Rebbe’s work than those great figures. He was not only the father of the yeshiva. He was a person who had a private life

1:39:31 Speaker 3 of his own, and he dedicated his life to what? To one thing: that the yeshiva should be built and grow. What does the Gemara in Berachos tell us? There is the work of Torah, and there is the work of teshuvah. He merited to establish a world of Torah, the Torah of Lubavitch here in the Land of Israel. Of course, now, boruch Hashem, there are yeshivas and more yeshivas and more yeshivas, but the merit of being first, of creating it, was his. And it is written in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch that when a person learns and forgets, in the future, a beis din summons him and reminds him of all the Torah he learned in this world. All the more so, the Torah he learned and did not forget. These deeds and these things accompany him wherever he is. But what is even more important? This is the time to ask not only that he be remembered, but that his life’s work continue—continue to expand, flourish and grow ever stronger. In his time, too, there were difficult times, extremely difficult periods. And I remember that people often spoke in our home about who could possibly shoulder such a burden. Debts on every side. Liens. But his faith and devotion overcame it all, and they speak to us. Therefore... [unclear]. But we need to think about where we stand on this day. We need to make sure that the yeshiva, the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, succeeds in every way and emerges from constriction into broad open space. [unclear]. With Hashem’s help, may we merit the month of Geulah, may we merit Geulah and redemption, the revelation of King Moshiach immediately, right now. May we hear the shofar [unclear] and see salvation.

1:42:30 Speaker 4 Amen. Thank you very much to the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi. Rabbi Ashkenazi spoke about Rabbi Wolf’s purity and his remarkable, extraordinary integrity in financial matters. I can share just one thing. I did not have much opportunity to know my grandfather, Rabbi Wolf, but here is a short story from my own experience. As is known—perhaps not widely enough, but known to many—the kollel in Tzfas was founded by the Rebbe as a kollel under the auspices and administration of the Rebbe’s secretariat. The Rebbe made up the amount needed to pay the stipends to the kollel members each month. How was this done? There was an arrangement that had continued for many years, ever since my father, Rabbi Mashon [?], came to Tzfas on the Rebbe’s shlichus: Rabbi Wolf would transfer the amount needed to make up the stipends for the kollel members, as the person managing the Rebbe’s funds in the Land of Israel. He took care of this as well. After the sudden passing of my father, Rabbi Mashon [?], when the burden of taking his place in Tzfas fell on me, we did not know where to begin. It was not that we received no phone calls; we received a great many calls and a great many requests, but they were all from creditors to whom money was owed. There was one call, and only one, from someone who said he needed to give money. I do not think there was money to spare. I do not think that money was just sitting in his pocket, fresh from the bank. Those were difficult days. I do not think the money from the Joint was coming in as it had in better times. But he called and said—he told me, “I don’t know if you know this, but I am supposed to transfer the money for the kollel. Tell me where to send it.” There was not yet a bank account or anyone authorized to sign, but it mattered to him that the kollel members receive their monthly stipends. He asked me to do something, and I did it: I sent

1:44:56 Speaker 4 him the names of the members studying in the kollel. Since no one was yet authorized to sign and we could not issue a check ourselves, he made sure to send checks directly to the kollel members. That is concern, that is devotion—not only to an institution, but to each individual. Rabbi Wolf was a partner and a member of the leadership of the worldwide Colel Chabad. So when some of Colel Chabad’s institutions in the Land of Israel faced difficulties, he took on the task of saving this holy institution and served as chairman of Colel Chabad in the Holy Land. With us here is the director of Colel Chabad, Rabbi Sholom Moshe Halevi Duchman shlita. I would like to hear a few brief words from him as well. Rabbi Duchman, please.

1:46:14 Speaker 5 Hi, hello, [unclear]. Thirty years ago this week, something happened that the Rebbe went on to discuss at several farbrengens. One of the Rebbe’s shluchim in Miami, Florida, Sholom Lipskar, had a connection with a prominent Jew named Mel Mendel. This man was a major donor to the yeshiva there in Miami, but in his personal life he was not observant. He had a strong connection with the Rebbe. There had been several letters concerning Mendel. Sholom Lipskar received a call from the Rebbe through [unclear]: the Rebbe very much wanted Mel Mendel to put on tefillin, but he had refused, saying, “I will not put on tefillin.” The Rebbe sent Sholom Lipskar a message that he was delaying his trip to the Ohel until this Jew put on tefillin. He asked Sholom Lipskar to go to him and explain how important it was, that the Rebbe was holding off on going to the Ohel and would go only after he put on tefillin. Lipskar went to him and spoke with him once, then a second time, until finally he said, “Listen, it’s so important to you and to the Rebbe that I’ll do it. But it means nothing to me. I don’t understand it. I’m opposed to it. It isn’t in my nature, but I’ll do it.” And he did it, and the Rebbe went to the Ohel. That Shabbos there was a farbrengen. It is now thirty-eight years later. The Rebbe delivered several sichos then, continuing the subject. Some of it has already been printed in Likkutei Sichos. I’ll give just the gist of the sicha. The Rebbe asks about Rashi’s words, “This shall they give.” What does “this shall they give” mean? Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed Moshe a coin of fire. He brought forth something like a coin of fire from beneath the Throne of Glory and showed him the half-shekel. So the Rebbe asks a simple question: What was the difficulty? It was a physical coin.

1:48:36 Speaker 5 Why did he need to be shown a coin of fire? We find several examples: with “This month shall be for you,” Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed him the moon. But that, the Rebbe says, is understandable. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu need to show it to Moshe Rabbeinu? It is extremely difficult to determine the precise moment for sanctifying the new month, so he had to be shown. The menorah was difficult too: it had to be made from one talent of gold, and at the same time, “It shall be made of hammered work.” So he had to be shown how that was possible. But a coin—why did he need to be shown a coin of fire? Why did he need to be shown a coin at all? The Rebbe asks: Why not show him a physical coin, as with the moon? He wasn’t shown a moon of fire; he was shown the physical moon. With the menorah, it is understandable why he had to be shown the menorah itself, and why it had to be a menorah of fire: there was no menorah yet. But a half-shekel, like the moon, already existed. Why a coin of fire? The Rebbe explains that the half-shekel is about atonement. The Rebbe explains two approaches: there is a disagreement as to whether giving the half-shekel itself brings atonement, or whether the atonement comes through the offerings bought with the half-shekel. In any case, Scripture calls the half-shekel an atonement and connects it with sin. So the Rebbe says that Moshe Rabbeinu asked—even Moshe Rabbeinu asked—“How can it be that a Jew gives a half-shekel, not even a whole shekel, and this brings him atonement, atonement for his sins?” What is more, even if the Jew did not want to give the half-shekel, the law, as the Rambam states, is that beis din seizes his property and takes

1:50:39 Speaker 5 it from him by force. He objects with all his might to beis din taking the half-shekel from him, yet we say that he receives atonement because, in the end, they took the half-shekel from him. How can that be? The Rebbe answers: That is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu revealed to Moshe a coin of fire from beneath the Throne of Glory. This Jew may not feel that he gives the half-shekel willingly, but deep within his soul he has a coin of fire. He has a connection. Every Jew has, deep within, a soul hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory. And the point here is specifically that it is a half-shekel. It is not enough that there is a coin of fire, that there is an inner dimension of the soul; it must also find expression in the part of the soul within the body. That part, too, is affected by the part of the soul above—the coin of fire. How is this revealed? Through Moshe Rabbeinu. “Moshe found it difficult, and He showed him.” The Rebbe gave both points. First, a Jew who feels that he cannot sense his coin of fire—he does not feel his soul, his inner self—must reveal the aspect of Moshe within his own soul. “Moshe found it difficult, and He showed him.” By revealing the aspect of Moshe within his soul, and through his connection to the Rebbe, he comes to feel [unclear] the half-shekel. The Rebbe reveals in him the inner dimension of the soul so that it becomes apparent outwardly. On the other hand, the Rebbe says that even someone who does not yet feel the part of his soul hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory still has it within him, and therefore he must do the work and perform the mitzvos. I think... Many things have been said here. It is hard for Rabbi Avraham to speak, for several reasons,

1:52:55 Speaker 5 but when I think about everything we were privileged to experience with him, to work with him and to see his intellectual gifts over nearly twenty-five years, I think this was the point. Many things have been said here, but that was the central point. There was a deep feeling for [unclear] the half-shekel. These were not two separate things. They were one thing: the teaching, and the connection to the Rebbe. Boruch Hashem, we have rabbonim and roshei yeshivos. We have people who are needed. When one becomes involved in difficult matters, that does not necessarily mean they must be treated as something separate. On the one hand, he built institutions at different levels—even institutions that, had he had the necessary resources to build, expand and maintain them, would have required extraordinary scholarship and meticulous care. It does not happen by itself. Especially since he did not even have the resources to build and maintain those institutions; he had to seek them out. That was one side. On the other, in everything he showed that it was a Jew, a Jewish personality, who guided the whole undertaking. A Jew doing [unclear], buying ordinary clothing—a Jew serving Hashem. A Jew working all day even during vacation and relating to [unclear]. And how was that really possible? It was because of the Rebbe. We began with Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Shimon, who were evidently bound up with the Rebbe’s life [unclear]. Those of us who were here remember very well the first shluchim who went out from here [unclear]. We started with Rabbi Bendit[?]. I don’t remember; I think he received an instruction that whenever he was in doubt, he should follow the ruling of the local rabbi—that is how I recall it. But what we do remember is that something came up here. I don’t remember exactly what the problem was, but there was a question about what to do, and Rabbi Bendit[?] stood up

1:55:17 Speaker 5 and said, “What do you think? Whatever Rabbi [unclear] says—that is what we must do.” To him, that was obvious. Anyone who knew Rabbi Bendit[?] and his shlichus, this Jew who was with us on that shlichus, knows that he practically never slept because of his... because of his devotion. But I want to add just one thing, and then I’ll finish. Besides his devotion to the yeshiva and to communal work, what we saw was his devotion to everything of the Rebbe’s. We remember it well: the Rambam siyum, Rabbi Kahn, Rabbi Tzvi, Rabbi Kessel, Rabbi Kessel. With every sicha of the Rebbe’s, he would work with all the leading communal activists, and he would be at the forefront, figuring out how to carry out the Rebbe’s words. Not only matters concerning the yeshiva. With anything connected to the Rebbe, he would think about how to put it into practice. And if he saw that someone else had taken it on and was doing it, he would step aside. Once he saw it was in good hands, he was no longer needed and could turn to something else. It was not because [unclear], or because it had to be done his way. And then there were the... most difficult things. Hashem gives a Jew all kinds of work and responsibilities. But there were certain individuals, even people who in our generation were foremost in their views and their chassidic outlook. When Reb Naftali and others had difficulties and needed help, he would be the first to help them. I remember one particular case, when someone fell into financial difficulty. Reb Naftali wrote to us and said, “I am giving such-and-such an amount. How much can you say you’ll lend?” And this was precisely for someone whose chassidic outlook did not accord with Reb Naftali’s. Nevertheless, he acted, and did it, and did the

1:57:32 Speaker 5 That. And again, I think the point here was something personal. I’ll say it plainly: the Rebbe’s shlichus and communal work are not separate from the purpose behind them. There is no distinction between those who sit and study Torah and those who deal with money. They can be combined, and they need to be combined and connected. So we hope, after [unclear], for one thing: I sit here and take away something, some message from the holidays, and I’ll carry it into our own holidays. That will be a merit. We are certain it will be a merit for his soul, because that is what he wanted: that he merit to awaken and sing with those who dwell in the dust. And particularly through his merit of coming close, it was as though we had seen the face of the holy Rashbi.

1:58:24 Speaker 6 Thank you very much. Yasher koach! What comes from the heart enters the heart. Your heart will give it to him. I would like to take this opportunity, again, in honor of the occasion, to ask everyone standing—all the guests and students—to come in. I also ask all the distinguished rabbis seated in the audience to come up to the stage. Rabbi Shmuel Chefer, Rabbi Shlomo Rosenberg, Rabbi Reinblatt [?], Rabbi Berkovsky, please come up to the stage. Rabbi Gardovitch [?], please, and Rabbi Daniel Mizrachi. In honor of the occasion. The Frierdiker Rebbe said, “I planted a cedar in the Holy Land.” In today’s Chumash portion, the verse says: “And he made the middle bar within the boards”; “And he made the middle bar within the boards, passing through from end to end.” The Midrash says that the middle bar, which passed from end to end through the boards of the Mishkan, came from the tree Avraham Avinu planted and which Yaakov took with him to Egypt. Chassidus explains that the middle bar, passing from end to end, represents the inner dimension. Yet it is also essential: the boards stand primarily because of that middle bar running through them. The middle bar is hidden from everyone’s sight. It is not visible and not known. It is concealed, but it is what chiefly holds the boards upright. The middle bar passes from end to end, and it reflects the quality of Yaakov Avinu, the quality of truth. There is no doubt that the middle bar of the Chabad institutions in the Holy Land, of the Rebbe’s inner work in the Holy Land—the middle bar within the boards—was Rabbi Ephraim Wolf. In every area of communal work, in everything concerning the Rebbe’s honor. Among his responsibilities was disseminating the Rebbe’s teachings, the Rebbe’s letters and the Rebbe’s maamarim. One of the people close to him, with whom I put him in touch regarding the report, was to translate the Rebbe’s words and letters for the Holy Land. Rabbi Tuvia Blau is with us, one of Jerusalem’s distinguished rabbis and director of

2:01:16 Speaker 6 the Beis Chana institutions in Jerusalem. I ask him to share words of inspiration, memories, words of Torah and a blessing concerning Rabbi Ephraim. Please.

2:01:50 Speaker 7 The whole basis for holding this gathering—even though everyone says we do not deliver eulogies, but then we do—was given by the Rebbe when the rabbis joined in, with the expression “I weep for him.” As you know, in quite a few matters the Rebbe did things that were not exactly customary, for the greater purpose of spreading Yiddishkeit, Torah and Chassidus, and so on. “And the living shall take it to heart.” We have all sat here and listened for a long time to very distinguished people. We have heard about Rabbi Ephraim’s qualities, his way of doing things, and so on. Much has also been written about him. All of this is so that “the living shall take it to heart.” So perhaps the essence, if I may say so, is this: people have spoken of all his qualities, especially his dedication, his shlichus, his devotion to the Rebbe’s shlichus, and so on. They have also spoken about how, alongside his communal work, he engaged in Torah, halachah and Chassidus. I want to emphasize a particular point that, in fact, completes—or really is the substance of—everything we have been discussing. Chabad Chassidus was founded by the Alter Rebbe. There were major disagreements between him and his fellow students of the Maggid, some of them the Rebbe of Kalisk and others. The correspondence, all the letters and arguments, still exists. The fundamental disagreement concerned the additional element the Alter Rebbe introduced beyond what had existed before, in the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid. As the Rebbe described it, theirs was the inner dimension of the intellect. The Rebbe explained that the Alter Rebbe introduced the matter of Gemara, which every Jew knows: studying in depth, exerting oneself and investing effort. As the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, one who studies Torah attains a union unlike any other. That is his union with Hakadosh Boruch Hu when he studies. This refers, of course, to revealed Torah, and even more so to Chassidus. The point, then, is that this is Chabad Chassidus. We speak of spreading the wellsprings, which Moshiach himself told the Baal Shem Tov

2:04:27 Speaker 7 was the way for him to come. So what did he mean by spreading the wellsprings? The wellsprings are Chassidus, the teachings of Torah, the teachings of the Alter Rebbe—his two lights, as they came to expression in Gemara. I say this: it comes from the Baal Shem Tov himself. What can I say? But everything is set out at length and explained: the two lights, the light of revealed Torah and the light of Chassidus, as is explained. All of this was the goal and the path to bringing Moshiach. There is no other way to bring Moshiach but to spread these wellsprings, to spread them outward. In other words, being immersed all day in the wellsprings is also connected to the point made by the author of Tanya. How does this relate to what was said earlier? The point is not that he was a communal activist who made room and time for Torah, studying whenever he had time, and so on. His entire being, in fact, long before that, even when he was a young man in a Chabad yeshiva, was devoted to studying Chassidus in depth and davening at length, as he continued to do until his final years. That was who he was, as a contributor to [unclear], to the central yeshiva and [unclear], and as a chossid. That was his reality. In other words, this is the point of Chabad. Of course, we must not, G-d forbid, overlook his identification with the Rebbe and his devotion to him with mesirus nefesh. But the point is: what was the object? In the sichos on the previous parsha, the Rebbe distinguished between the object and the vessel. The object is Chabad—chochmah, binah and daas. That is the true reality, the reality of Torah. The inner [unclear] of Torah—that was the true reality of our forefathers. And of course, when one goes out on shlichus to refine the world, one goes with humility, as a shliach, in everything one does. The Torah goes with him, because

2:06:30 Speaker 7 he is united with the Torah, as the Rebbe also explains regarding Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Yaakov brought the two together. Yitzchak was associated with the mountain, and Avraham with “Surely Hashem is in this place, and I did not know.” So how do you bring the two together? It goes with you. First of all, the whole object goes with you, because the fear of Hashem’s name is there. The beis midrash goes with you; everything goes with you. The communal work of our forefathers was not merely communal work. Even the part that seemingly took them away from study or from the order of davening was entirely an act of refinement. In other words, [unclear] was present even when Yitzchak went out. It was the same thing in the most literal sense, as is made clear in the story of the rabbi. This is the point we must not lose, even for a moment. We must not—our obligation in this matter is that when we go out, each one of us, as we have always been taught in the Rebbe’s sichos, and go on shlichus, of course, thank G-d, with mesirus nefesh, to refine the matters of this world, all the work of refinement and all the work of the yeshiva must go together without being separated for a moment. It is not that I go to a sewing studio or a shul and do something there. No. I carry this whole matter in my mind, because it is [unclear]. We do not need that. We face challenges everywhere. No, no, we must not let this be taken from us. Perhaps others do not experience it in quite the same way we do. But thank G-d, there are good people, charitable people, and so on, people who do much good with faith and mesirus nefesh. That is not rare among the Jewish people. But our particular point must be that not only do we go in the strength of our Rebbe—which is, of course, the main thing—but we take our heads with us wherever we go, our very being

2:08:25 Speaker 7 Ours—our whole soul is bound up with the truth, with bringing Moshiach. That is our truest point. That point demands truth; that is its true reality. No cleverness, no games or jokes about how much time you’ve passed. No. You have a real, genuine desire to have an impact, to speak, to add something, to bring Jews closer, to talk, and so on. That is the true reality of a chossid’s life. That is what characterizes it, and I was privileged to see it in Reb Ephraim Wolf. Baruch Hashem, I spent some time with him up close, and we worked together on many things. That is what I saw in him. It wasn’t simply that he studied Torah and Chassidus, or that he davened on Shabbos. His entire being was Chassidus made real, expressed through a person’s thinking and understanding. That is the quality of Torah. That is the meaning of spreading it. And when that happens—what is clear to me is that this needs to be said, and perhaps said again. After all, the only remedy for all the troubles and disasters, for personal tragedies and the pain of families and the like, G-d forbid, is this. There is no other remedy. All the authorities, all the ingenious solutions—nothing works; nothing helps. There is one thing we need to do: bring Moshiach. And how do we bring Moshiach? Moshiach himself established how. Not someone else. He says: Here, I’m ready to show you what needs to be done. Spread the wellsprings. The wellsprings! Chassidus. Spread it outward. Study Chassidus, of course. Study it, reach others, and spread it. That will bring Moshiach. And that is what

2:10:16 Speaker 7 Reb Ephraim did. That is what we need to do to prepare people’s hearts.

2:10:26 Speaker 8 Thank you very much, yasher koach. A partner, a senior partner in publicizing the words of the holy Rebbe of Lubavitch, Rabbi Tuvia Freund. When we speak about Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, we speak about the extremes he brought together within himself. There is an interesting letter the Rebbe wrote to him about a personal matter, concerning the building of his home in Lod. He had asked how to proceed. The Rebbe writes to him: “[unclear].” I have the honor of inviting the chassidic philanthropist, chairman of the Or Avner organization in the former Soviet Union and in the Holy Land, Reb Levi Leviev. The letter the Rebbe wrote to Reb Ephraim in response to his personal question about building his home in Lod says: “As you know, I have long held the view that one must live broadly; accordingly, it is worthwhile to rebuild it, with that same breadth. May Hashem help you.” Reb Ephraim took that instruction literally and fulfilled it completely. He acted with breadth and expansiveness. Everything he did, he did in the fullest, grandest, most splendid way. He did not compromise on a single detail—except in his own personal affairs. A friend told me about someone who came to visit you during the shiva in Arnona. He left astonished by the simplicity of the home and its furnishings, and by the modest life Reb Ephraim led. He did not conduct himself that way toward the community. For others, he made sure there was every possible comfort, expansiveness, room—the very best. For himself, he made do with the bare minimum. We know many directors of institutions. Most yeshiva students know and are aware of the person carrying the burden of running their yeshiva. Hundreds of students studied and continue to study under Rabbi Wolf every day, over the course of decades, while the vast majority hardly know that the yeshiva where they study is run by Rabbi Wolf. Such modesty, such simplicity. A message for all of us. The Rebbe always quotes the Rambam, who says: “Not

2:14:03 Speaker 8 only the tribe of Levi, but any person whose spirit moves him and whose understanding leads him to stand and serve is holy of holies.” I remember once reading an article, an interview with our friend Reb Levi, may he live and be well. He was asked what lay behind his business success. The writer says: Reb Levi turned around, pointed to a picture of the Rebbe, and said, “That is what lies behind it.” Reb Levi, may he live and be well, absorbed the education of Tomchei Temimim from his father, the well-known chossid Reb Avraham [unclear]. He continues the work of [unclear]. Reb Levi Leviev is a partner in making Chabad institutions in the Holy Land magnificent and expansive. He chairs the Or Avner organization in the former Soviet Union, rekindling the sparks and turning the embers into a blazing fire of Torah and holiness. He is an example to people of kindness and charity throughout the world, bringing honor to Hashem’s name throughout the world. I have the honor of inviting the distinguished philanthropist Reb Levi Leviev to share a few words of blessing with us.

2:15:39 Speaker 9 Good evening, chairman. I hadn’t intended to speak; I hadn’t thought I would. But if you’ve been waiting for a few words from me, I’ll certainly say something. You know, baruch Hashem, we were still privileged to study in Samarkand with teachers and rabbis who were all genuine chassidim. We studied in the yeshiva in Samarkand. The first yeshiva we attended when we came to Israel was the yeshiva in Lod. When I arrived there as a new immigrant, there was a large group of new immigrants who had come to Israel. We were [unclear], and we were in Kfar Chabad. So we asked, “Where is the Chabad yeshiva? That’s where we’ll study.” And indeed, we came here. It was a large yeshiva, yet a modest, quiet one, near Hagefen Street in Lod. The image of Rabbi Wolf, of blessed memory, has always stayed with me: the quiet and calm, his gentle way of speaking, the way he would come over and take an interest. But for some reason, from the time I was young—thirty, thirty-two years ago—I always remember him carrying a very heavy burden on his shoulders. He was always occupied with other people. We look at someone in business: he works hard so his business will do well. He works and works because he wants a better livelihood. A person works in business and strives to make a lot of money for his needs and other things. But when you look at a Jew who took such a heavy burden upon himself for decades and succeeded in establishing educational institutions—I think there are others like them now, but I don’t think there is a place in the world without a graduate of the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad or one of Rabbi Wolf’s institutions. Students, shluchim, Torah scholars who studied and continue to study precisely in the Rebbe’s way, without adding their own interpretations—something that, sadly, we keep hearing about lately. There are all kinds of commentators speaking, inventing new things and starting all sorts of things that everyone is afraid to discuss because, as they say, that isn’t how we do things.

2:18:26 Speaker 9 But sadly, as one distinguished Jew put it, people are spilling their own blood every day with all kinds of foolish acts. And I think no rabbi, no leader, left behind so many sichos, so many written teachings and recordings as the Rebbe did. From them, we can learn exactly what proper conduct is. We don’t have to be great scholars. You sit and study here, and when I come here, I feel as though I’ve come home. I’m certain this institution brings the Rebbe much nachas. And all of that is thanks to the fact that the person who ran these institutions and looked after them was a Jew like Reb Ephraim Wolf. He did not build a name for himself. Every day, he knew it wasn’t his. But the worries were his, the problems were his, and the effort was his. Going from one person to another, asking and searching for money, for support and more support to keep the yeshiva going—that is no simple thing. Anyone else would have said, “I’m collapsing. I can’t do this anymore. Why should I care? Do I get a percentage? Do I make more money from it?” That is what a true chossid is. Until his last day, he was absorbed in thinking about how to keep the yeshiva going. I don’t know whether many people could do that, but the results speak for themselves. Generations of genuine students and genuine shluchim have come from here. And when we sit together and talk about yeshivas, about where every shliach would want his children to study, everyone says, “Yes, Kfar Chabad or Lod”—the yeshivas under the Rebbe’s guidance. No question. And I’m not saying that because I studied here in Chabad myself—though not for very long, since I went to work. My father came to the conclusion: “He won’t become a scholar, but perhaps he’ll become a businessman.”

2:20:19 Speaker 9 And perhaps I could help Chabad more while working outside. And boruch Hashem, you can see what has come of that education, the education we are providing here in Chabad in the former Soviet Union. Boruch Hashem, today we look around and see eighty-five schools, each one an undertaking in its own right. Yeshivos—I’m sure I’ve told you about them; I don’t know where. We were just in Moscow, and it’s hard to describe the children when they first arrive. They’re Russian children, with all the mannerisms they’ve grown up with. You come back a year later and the child looks completely different. It’s exactly like that in their speech and in their learning. Their ability to absorb things is extraordinary. They grow close very quickly, learn very quickly, and take it all with the utmost seriousness, because it is new to them and they want it very much. All this is already thanks to the fact that most of the shluchim in the former Soviet Union today are graduates of Chabad yeshivos—the great [unclear] of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I have no doubt that this yeshiva, founded with the Rebbe’s blessing, will continue to flourish and produce many, many fine students who will become shluchim, faithful shluchim on the path of Chassidus. The path of Rabbi Yaakov [unclear] taught us, and most important, not to stray from the Rebbe’s path. Not to stray to the right or to the left; it is all written down. There are distinguished rabbis; we must not learn from others, and everyone understands what I mean. I’m simply trying to be careful. You have to hold back a little, but I think that as we are here today for the shloshim, I am certain that Reb Ephraim Wolf, of blessed memory, who contributed and did so much for the yeshiva—and today there are people here carrying on his work, mashpi’im and roshei yeshiva—we too will do our best to help and contribute so that this yeshiva continues and endures. It is truly a credit to all of Chabad. And when I look back, I remember so much. There was so much one could

2:22:53 Speaker 9 learn from his modesty and simplicity. He would arrive, and every two or three minutes he would be sitting with a sefer. And if you came at a time—excuse me, took up his time—he was always the picture of humility and simplicity, with a door open to everyone. True, he went through many obstacles and troubles, but boruch Hashem, the growth of the yeshiva and the fine, capable students it has produced are, in fact, the lasting testament to his life. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words. I’m sure everyone will pass it on.

2:23:48 Speaker 10 Thank you, and blessings to the chassidic speaker Reb Levi, may he live and be well. As we know, the yeshiva is the crucible in which students are shaped before becoming shluchim, and Reb Levi takes on the next stage of the yeshiva’s mission: reviving Jewish life in remote places through the shluchim. Let us wish Reb Levi well. In the weekly parsha, it says of Moshe Rabbeinu: “The people are bringing more than enough for the work of the labor.” So much so that Moshe Rabbeinu proclaimed: “Let no man or woman do any more work for the holy contribution.” “And the people were restrained from bringing.” The Torah concludes: “The materials were sufficient for all the work to be done, and there was extra.” Let us wish Rabbi Levi continued success, so that he can continue to sustain the Torah and charitable institutions in the Holy Land and wherever he is, in a way that there is truly enough for the work, and more than enough. Before we conclude, one more remarkable and interesting thing about Rabbi Wolf, of blessed memory. In the weekly parsha it says: “And Betzalel and Oholiav and every wise-hearted man shall do the work.” Rashi says that Hashem places Oholiav, who came from the tribe of Dan, one of the least prominent tribes, alongside Betzalel, who came from the tribe of Yehudah, the most prominent of the tribes, to fulfill what is said: “He does not favor the noble over the poor.” There is a very interesting letter. In Tishrei 5742, Rabbi Wolf wrote to the Rebbe that some members of Anash were telling him that the Rebbe’s affairs could only be fully managed by younger people. He wrote: “In their opinion, I am no longer among the young. I ask whether I should try to hand over the weight of responsibility to someone else and serve as a kind of assistant to him.” Amazing! Amazing! The words are astonishing. “Or whether I should do something else altogether.” Rabbi Wolf, who had devoted fifty, sixty years with mesirus nefesh, writes: They say I’m old, that I’m getting on in years and younger people are needed, so I’m willing to be an assistant to a young person who will take on the work. But even more remarkable is what the Rebbe writes to him about

2:26:09 Speaker 10 the word “young.” The Rebbe notes: “Young in spirit and energy; this has nothing at all to do with years.” Rabbi Wolf was young in spirit and energy. The Rebbe then adds: “Due to our many sins, quite a few young people are fast asleep.” The Rebbe concludes that letter: “I have already answered that he should manage the institutions and their affairs with joy and a glad heart, and the merit of the many, the arousal of abundant mercies, and our Rebbeim assist him.” [unclear] “He does not favor the noble over the poor.” He counted himself among the young and kept a regular study schedule. I remember when I studied in Lod, his chavrusa in the afternoon would go out and sit with Rabbi Wolf in his office, studying Gemara like one of the students. Throughout all those years, there was always a student studying with him; he set aside hours for learning. We will ask one of the students who studied with him for three years while at the yeshiva in Lod, the student Eitan Eliyahu Kramer, who served as a rabbi in Tiberias on Rosh Hashanah, to share a little of what he learned from Rabbi Wolf. Please. On behalf of the yeshiva administration, I would like to thank Rabbi Elisha Betzer for taking the time to come and share a few brief words of farewell with us.

2:28:04 Speaker 11 We hear a great deal about the stature of Rabbi Wolf, the director or executive director of the institutions, whatever his title was. As a former student of the younger yeshiva in Lod, and his last chavrusa in the Shabbos parsha study program, I want to say a few words about Rabbi Wolf as I knew him in those years. Rabbi Wolf the scholar, Rabbi Wolf the devoted man, Rabbi Wolf who cared, Rabbi Wolf the mensch. I had the great privilege of studying with him every Shabbos: the parsha, Torah Or, and Likkutei Torah on the weekly parsha. I came to know Rabbi Wolf through his concern for me and his patience. We would never begin learning before Rabbi Wolf asked me, “Hostu shoin gegessen? Have you eaten yet this morning?” Only when he received an answer he considered satisfactory would we begin learning. Rabbi Wolf always showed me his connection to me. I remember that he once told me about studying with my father, Rabbi Tzvi Avraham Shalom [unclear], and that he had maintained a friendly relationship with his father as well. That is what he told me. At that moment, I suddenly felt closer to him. I came to know Reb Avrom through his fluent, clear explanations. Once, when I was a first-year student at the yeshiva, we were studying the subject of two letters forming four divisions, and he continued with the lesson. But suddenly he turned to me and asked, “Did you understand that concept?” I told him, “No.” He asked, “Why didn’t you ask?” I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to answer. He immediately began explaining it fluently, the way he explained everything to me. When I studied with Rabbi Wolf, he was entirely immersed in the learning. You could forget that he ran an institution—an extensive network of institutions where many

2:30:59 Speaker 11 students studied. But during those lovely moments on Shabbos morning, he was entirely there for me. Rabbi Wolf never missed our learning, and I came to study with him every Shabbos. Except for one Shabbos. It was one of the last Shabbosim we studied together, a short time after the untimely passing of his dear son, Reb Berke, of blessed memory. I thought perhaps there was no point in coming that Shabbos, but Rabbi Wolf insisted. We opened the seforim, and Rabbi Wolf began reading the maamar as usual. After a few minutes, he stopped. It was clear that learning was difficult for him, but he nevertheless continued explaining. After we had studied for some time, there was suddenly silence. I looked up from the sefer and turned toward Rabbi Wolf. His head was bowed and tears were streaming from his eyes. I felt awkward. I was not used to seeing Rabbi Wolf like that. Then he put his hands to his face and said to me, “Well, perhaps we’ll continue later.” The image of Rabbi Wolf, of blessed memory, and his devotion to me, as to every student, is etched deep in my heart. I also remember how he would visit the yeshiva. He could always be found at the back, near the classroom of Rabbi [unclear], sitting and talking with the students, asking them questions and inquiring how they were. That devotion is etched deep in my heart and will stay with me forever.

2:33:12 Speaker 12 Thank you very much, Yitzchak, for those warm words—words that truly come from the heart and enter the heart. As we all know, Rabbi Wolf disliked publicity. If he saw his name displayed on a sign, he would be shaken. He kept out of sight, never pushed to get onto the stage, and would not agree to sit on a stage. But there is no doubt that if something comes out of this gathering, this day of remembrance and inspiration—some lesson we take with us into our daily lives and the way we conduct ourselves—he would be willing to set that aside. [unclear] so that we can learn some lesson and adopt some good practice. Let us pray and ask that Rabbi Wolf and Rabbi Chaim Yaniv[?] speak on behalf of his immediate family—his wife, sons, and grandchildren, myself among them—and the whole family. Let us ask that they speak on behalf of the extended family here: the family of Chabad institutions throughout the Holy Land, the administration, the staff, and the students. May each of them succeed in their work to develop, expand, establish, and strengthen this tremendous enterprise that Rabbi Wolf built and raised up over many years. This evening has come to an end, but the message and lesson we heard here must continue to accompany us in the years ahead. On behalf of the yeshiva administration, Rabbi Eliyahu Gold, and the other members of the administration, I want to thank everyone who helped organize this evening, all the distinguished guests who came from near and far, and the students who came from near and far. May we all merit, with Hashem’s help, to hear only good and joyful news of the institution’s growth, development, and strengthening. Good evening, and all the best.