First Anniversary of the Passing of Rabbi Efraim Wolf

00:01 Speaker 1 His Holiness the Rebbe shlita. Some of Anash say that—take note, this was in 5752—some of Anash say that the Rebbe’s affairs can be carried out fully only by younger people. In my opinion, I am no longer among the young, and I ask whether I should hand over this weighty responsibility to one of the younger people and serve as a sort of assistant to him, or perhaps do something else altogether. After fifty years of running the Tomchei Temimim yeshivos—building, expanding, establishing them—he was prepared to be an assistant to a younger person who would take over the yeshiva. I asked something similar a few years ago and received no answer. I am writing about it again because I see no justification for the institutions—the yeshivos, the vocational school, or even the school in Lod—to suffer because I am not up to the task, and so on and so forth. I ask forgiveness; these thoughts do trouble me at times. I ask that the Rebbe shlita clarify the whole situation, so that everything will be settled without doubt, everyone will know his role and be able to fulfill the Rebbe’s wishes completely, and all obstacles and concealments will be removed. In response to this passage—it was section four of the letter—the Rebbe drew an arrow from the words “the Rebbe’s affairs can be carried out fully only by younger people.” The Rebbe drew an arrow and wrote: “With the spirit and energy of young people—with spirit and energy. It has nothing at all to do with years. And, unfortunately, quite a few young people are fast asleep.” The Rebbe added in the margin: “It has already been written that young people should run the yeshiva and all the institutions. They are young in spirit and energy, while quite a few young people are fast asleep.” In the margin, the Rebbe wrote: “It has already been written that he should run the institutions and their affairs with joy and a glad heart”—underlined—“and the merit of the many, with abundant mercy aroused by our Nesi’im, assists him increasingly.” I think this letter and the response alone show us a Jew who, at well over seventy, had run the

03:00 Speaker 1 yeshivos, as I said, since 5702 or 5703, and after fifty years was prepared to be a soldier, to work under one of the younger people. And the Rebbe answered him as we heard. I want to proceed right away, without interruptions. Time is precious. I would like to invite the local rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi shlita, to the stage first, to speak at this memorial gathering.

03:44 Speaker 2 Esteemed heads of the yeshiva, family, children and grandchildren, students: We have gathered this evening, on the night of the first anniversary of the passing of the director of the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in the Holy Land. He was its director throughout the years, from the founding of Tomchei Temimim in the Holy Land until his final moments, accompanying the yeshiva from its foundations to its finishing touches. The response Reb Efraim received from the Rebbe in 5752 was mentioned earlier. I had the privilege of being with the Rebbe on 11 Nissan, the year he turned seventy. There was a special farbrengen, and during the sichos the Rebbe said, almost in passing, “There are those who say that when you reach such an age, perhaps it is time to rest.” The Rebbe then said these words, as I recall: “It isn’t the passport that matters; what matters is how you feel.” It is not the passport that decides, but how you feel. It was as though the Rebbe was speaking about himself. It is not age or the passport that decides, but how you feel. That is what the Rebbe instilled in, and demands of, all the chassidim and those connected to him. Ladies and gentlemen, I will not speak at length, because there is a long list of speakers here. But I want to share how I feel, as one of the yeshiva’s students who had the privilege of knowing Reb Efraim from childhood—perhaps even from when I was a baby—in Jerusalem, even before he came to run the yeshiva. On a day of remembrance, a yahrzeit, it is customary to go to the grave to make requests and pray. We wish the soul an ascent. We pray for the soul, and we pray that those close to him will also be helped, because this is a special day. But there is something else to an evening like this, especially when we are here in the sacred hall of Tomchei Temimim, and especially when we are speaking of someone like Reb Efraim. Our gathering today is also about gratitude: saying thank you. Not just thinking about what you yourself lack, but saying thank you. Gratitude to a Jew who, for nearly sixty

07:29 Speaker 2 years, set aside his life, his entire private life, and devoted himself to Tomchei Temimim, to the yeshiva. In fact, he had no private life. Day and night, for eighteen, perhaps twenty hours a day—I would even say twenty-four hours a day—his whole being was devoted to the yeshiva. Why do I say twenty-four hours? After all, a person sleeps sometimes. I did not see him when he slept, but many times I saw him while he was davening, driving, or eating. Suddenly he would take a piece of paper from his pocket and write down a few words so he would not forget. What he wrote concerned the running of the yeshiva. Presumably, it was on his mind even while he slept. The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen: What is a true Torah scholar? Someone who, at night, dreams of answers and resolutions to questions in Chassidus or nigleh that occupied him during the day. In other words, he is so completely immersed in Torah that Torah surrounds him: even in his sleep, a question gives him no rest, or he arrives at a sound answer. What does such a Torah scholar look like? It is hard to see one. But what does such a communal worker look like—a worker in holy matters? We had the privilege of seeing one. The Gemara says in Yoma that Hillel obligates the poor and Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom obligates the wealthy: there is no excuse not to study Torah. One could say that Reb Efraim obligates every one of us. He was an example of how deeply a person could be immersed in the yeshiva. That obligates every student in the yeshiva to devote his strength to what is asked of him—whether in study, in the work of davening, or in influencing others in all

09:56 Speaker 2 matters connected with the Temimim. That was the kind of person he was. What is a soldier of the Rebbe? Someone whose entire being, every one of his 248 limbs and 365 sinews, is devoted to holy work. That is the meaning of mesirus nefesh in the most literal sense—not a one-time act of mesirus nefesh, but mesirus nefesh day after day after day, eighteen, even twenty-four hours a day. If that is how the director lived, how much more is it a lesson for the Temimim. On this day we must gather, acknowledge the good he did, and thank a Jew who devoted himself, body and soul, to the yeshiva where we had the privilege of studying. And, thank Hashem, that continues into the next generations, with children and already grandchildren. Some may even have great-grandchildren. All this is thanks to that Jew’s mesirus nefesh, and so we owe him our thanks. But we do not stop there. We also offer our prayer and request before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Tanya does say, “All the labor in which he labored throughout the days of his life”; there it speaks of a tzaddik and a Nasi. But perhaps something of this applies to every Jew as well: on the day of his passing, the seeds come together—all that he labored over during his lifetime. In the case of a tzaddik, it concerns the continuation of his students and their connection with him. But perhaps this idea—that the work a person labored at all his life is revealed and elevated—applies to every Jew. How much more so to a Jew who was connected to the Rebbe with every limb, with his whole soul. Whenever an instruction from the Rebbe reached the Holy Land, he was the person to turn to. He carried it out, he did the work, and he reported back. How much more so on this day, when all the labor in which he labored throughout his life—and it was labor: he toiled and struggled and sweated, not for money—may the fruits of that labor, and all those efforts,

12:30 Speaker 2 bring blessing and success to the yeshiva’s continued work. Thank Hashem, it is growing and flourishing spiritually, but “if there is no flour, there is no Torah” as well; may all the channels of blessing open. And above all, may we already merit [unclear]. “Those who dwell in the dust will awaken and sing,” and he among them. May we merit to see our King—“Your eyes will behold the King in His beauty”—and he among them. L’chaim, l’chaim!

13:14 Speaker 13 Thank you, Rabbi Ashkenazi, for those warm words. I would like to invite a Jew who, for many, many years—nearly fifty years already, if I am not mistaken—has taught Torah and headed the yeshiva here, in the main hall of Tomchei Temimim. Let us invite “the kohen exalted above his brethren,” Rabbi Yaakov Katz shlita.

14:15 Speaker 19 So he says, “We will not be ashamed before him.”

14:17 Speaker 20 “We will not be ashamed before him”—isn’t that like what it says in that sentence?

14:21 Speaker 19 Right, I don’t have anything. To fulfill “I did not go against the words of my colleagues.” All right, so if they say to go up—as Rabbi Yosi says, “I would go up”—they told me to come up to the platform, what today is called the speakers’ platform. In chapter 4 of Hilchos Avel, where the Rambam sets out the procedures following a death, he says, “One does not build a monument over his grave.” That is the Rambam’s wording. A “nefesh” means a headstone. Everyone studies Rambam, so you presumably remember. And the Rambam adds, seemingly, “Nor does one build a monument over the graves of the righteous. Their words are their memorial, and a person should not turn to visit their graves.” What does that mean? It seems difficult to understand. We don’t put up headstones for tzaddikim? And a person shouldn’t visit the graves of tzaddikim? What does it mean? The Maggid has already addressed this, and so has the Rebbe. The Kesef Mishneh brings the Rivash’s explanation. He explains it this way: when the Rambam says that a person should not turn to visit a monument over their graves so that they will be remembered, he means that for an ordinary person, we build a headstone and visit the grave so that he will be remembered and not, G-d forbid, forgotten. Tzaddikim, he says, do not need that, because their words and good deeds keep them in people’s memory. That is how the Kesef Mishneh explains the Rambam’s statement that no monument is built over the graves of tzaddikim. In other words, they don’t need a headstone to remind us that such a Jew lived. Their words and good deeds are a constant reminder. Reb Efraim was mentioned earlier. Their words and good deeds remind us of them. As the Gemara says, “The walls of the beis midrash will testify.” His entire life, literally his entire life, as was mentioned earlier, he devoted to building and developing the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva. More than fifty years ago—perhaps fifty-two—Reb Efraim was running the yeshiva in Lod, and he had a bed in the dormitory. His family was still in Jerusalem. When a new boy arrived at the yeshiva—I’m

19:29 Speaker 19 talking about the junior yeshiva, too—a new boy arrived before noon, and they hadn’t yet managed to arrange a place for him. The first thing Reb Efraim did was give the boy his own bed. He went down to the office, put three chairs next to one another, and slept on them during the few hours he had for sleep. That is what “their words and good deeds” means. And the walls of the beis midrash—not just the walls, with all the benches and all the students there—serve as a reminder, an everlasting memorial. As it says in the Zohar on “Avraham was old, advanced in days”: days that were full, complete days; each and every day, he did that day’s work. The Rebbe writes in one of his letters that when a soul descends below, it is given exactly the number of days it needs to fulfill its mission. Not one moment more. The question is how to fill those days. Every moment has its work; every day has its work. And I think it says in one of the Rebbe Maharash’s maamarim, on those same words, “Avraham was old, advanced in days”: “Old”—our Sages said, “An elder is one who has acquired wisdom.” “Advanced in days” refers to fulfilling the mitzvos, doing each day’s work. There is a Midrash that says a person can be old without being advanced in days. In other words, he is complete in wisdom, fully engaged in Torah study, but has not filled his days with the fulfillment of mitzvos. He has not made enough use of them. And a person can be advanced in days without being old—meaning that he has not studied enough Torah. “Avraham was old, advanced in days” means that he was complete and full in both respects: in Torah study and in good deeds and the fulfillment of mitzvos. And, in simple terms, that is what “their words” means. Their words and good deeds are their memorial.

23:39 Speaker 19 Anyone who knew Reb Froim even a little knows that, as was mentioned earlier, he was occupied with the yeshiva day and night. It was not easy, even materially, with all sorts of difficulties and hardships. But whenever he had a free moment, he would sit down and learn. And everyone knows that at midday—I’m talking about when he was already older—when an ordinary person would lie down to rest after a day’s work, what would he do? He had a chavrusa, a student from the yeshiva, whether from the first-year class, the second-year class, or the third-year class, and they would sit and learn. If I needed to meet with him, as I often did, I tried not to interrupt him, but to wait until he had finished learning with his chavrusa. In other words, he did not let a moment go by. If he came to a celebration or a gathering or something of the sort, and they would always invite him up, he would be sitting in some corner, never at the center or in a place of honor, with a sefer in his hand. We can say with confidence that “old, advanced in days” applies to him: “old,” wisdom, refers to Torah; “advanced in days” refers to mitzvos. And indeed, the proof is brought from the verse, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.” What is a wise man? As we said earlier, that refers to the wisdom of Torah. Even if he is complete in Torah, he still should not glory in that. Rather, “Let him who glories glory in this: understanding and knowing Me, for I am Hashem.” What is the wording? “Who practices charity and kindness”—that is how it says it there. “Who practices kindness, justice, and charity.” “Who practices kindness, justice, and charity.” In other words, he is complete in wisdom and also devotes every day of his life to kindness, charity, and good deeds. That is what Rabbi Froim did. Well. May Hashem grant that the work to which he devoted his entire life continue and flourish with ever greater strength and vigor. And may everyone—both his students,

27:13 Speaker 19 students of Tomchei Temimim, and those who did not necessarily study there—lend a hand, because that was all he wanted. And certainly, even now, he would not be pleased by people telling stories about him. He was the exact opposite of that. What would please him is for people to continue helping the enterprise he established, the network of Tomchei Temimim yeshivos. And through everyone lending a hand to this—charity is great, especially charity that supports Torah study, which is the greatest form of charity, as brought in the Shulchan Aruch—may we very soon merit the true and complete Geulah, when those who dwell in the dust will arise and awaken, speedily in our days.

28:42 Speaker 21 Thank you to the rosh yeshiva. We wish him long life and good years in good health, and above all, that he continue to raise Temimim who will spread the light of Chassidus in the Holy Land and throughout the world, until the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, very soon. A booklet has been published for the anniversary, the yahrzeit. The students here, the Temimim, will surely enjoy it. There are remarkable things in it. I assume they will distribute it. Yes. I assume they will distribute it at the end of the evening. There are a great many wonderful things in it. I think there may even be things there that should not be published outside the circle of Anash. But as is well known, for many, many years, the connection with the Rebbe in the Holy Land went through Reb Froim. Every day: phone calls, instructions. Not only about the yeshiva, but about communal affairs, the needs of the community, “Who is a Jew,” delegations, and so on. In every area, everything passed through Rabbi Froim’s office, through the secretariat. So the family made a special request. With us, as you can all see, is the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Yerachmiel Binyamin Klein shlita. They asked him to tell us something, as a remembrance, to share some memories of those days. Rabbi Klein, please.

31:11 Speaker 22 L’chaim, l’chaim. After those who spoke before me, I really have nothing to add. They covered everything, both materially and spiritually, and all those things. In any case, since the family asked me, I can’t bring myself not to say a few words. I knew Reb Froim for close to sixty years. Once, when I was traveling on Merkos shlichus in the summer, I met him in Uruguay. When we arrived in Uruguay, where there was no Lubavitch presence, someone told us there was a professor there who had studied with the Rebbe in France, in Paris. He belonged to the synagogue and considered himself Lubavitch. When we met him, we introduced ourselves: we were students of Tomchei Temimim traveling for the summer. His first question was, “Do you know the Rebbe?” There was another young man with me, and we asked, “What kind of question is that? Of course! We see the Rebbe every day at Minchah and Maariv.” At the time, the Rebbe only came out for Minchah and Maariv, so we told him, “Of course we see him.” He said, “You see him, but do you know him? You don’t know him.” When I say I knew Reb Froim, I think of that same distinction. But I’ll take it from a later point, after Jerusalem and everything else, when I joined the secretariat. Then I can say unequivocally that I don’t know if there was anyone else who carried out the Rebbe’s work to the extent he did. The Rebbe mentioned him—I myself heard the Rebbe say thousands of times, “Regarding Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, pass this on to Rabbi Ephraim Wolf.” This came up, that came up, this had to be done—all kinds of things. People would ask, “We want to give something to Lubavitch, and we’re in Israel. Where should we send it?” So the Rebbe

34:17 Speaker 22 would say, “Our representative is Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, P.O. Box 47 in Lod. Give it to him”—46, 46, and so on. That was how it was from beginning to end. And the greatest thing was that even Reb Ephraim himself did not make anything of it. Anyone else, I’m sure—you all know—who had that kind of connection with the Rebbe would have been soaring to the heavens. But Reb Ephraim was a soldier. You could see that in the way the Rebbe treated him, from beginning to end. As was said earlier, he was devoted from beginning to end. When he came to 770, he didn’t just wander around looking at everything, as people do when they come to 770. There was never a moment when you saw Reb Ephraim doing nothing. If he had nothing to do just then, he would go downstairs to the synagogue and sit and learn. That was part of his daily conduct. But I didn’t come here to eulogize him. Whatever we say only limits him, and there’s no need to say it—and he wouldn’t want it. But “the living should take it to heart.” That teaches us to follow his ways. He showed us how to be devoted to the Rebbe as Reb Ephraim was, without questions, without complaints, without any of those things. That is what “the living should take it to heart” means: we have to look at ourselves. If only I could be a man of truth, a man of kindness, and all those things. People can say what they can say. I’ll conclude: as we know, whatever the Rebbe said...

36:50 Speaker 22 Sometimes it came to pass that very day, sometimes a week later, and sometimes afterward. The Rebbe said that we are the last generation of exile and the first generation of the Geulah. There is no doubt that this will come to pass. May we merit not to stand in the way, but simply to do as the Rebbe said and as the Rebbe wanted. May it happen soon—sooner than we can imagine, as they say—and may we merit the complete Geulah and see the Rebbe here, together with everyone.

37:33 Speaker 23 Thank you, Rabbi Klein. I’d like to ask the mashpi’im to come up. I saw them here—I’m not sure whether they’ve come up yet. Rabbi Gopin, Rabbi Zalmanov, the yeshiva’s mashpi’im. I see the shliach Rabbi Bukiet here, and Rabbi Levi Blumovsky, the director of Tomchei Temimim in Migdal HaEmek. Please, there’s room here. [unclear]. Where’s Zalmanov? Zalmanov? Rabbi Zalmanov, there he is. [unclear]. Rabbi Zilbershtrom from Kiryat Gat. Please, everyone I mentioned is invited to come up on stage. Rabbi Klein mentioned Reb Froim. If Reb Froim were looking at this gathering, he would surely say, “What a waste of time.” Reb Froim was a practical man. Many remember him on the eve of Yom Kippur: everyone is at the pre-fast meal, getting ready for Kol Nidrei; some people have already arrived early, wearing their kittels. And Reb Froim is still in the office, making calls. Maybe one more Jew will support Tomchei Temimim, contribute, take part, become a partner in Tomchei Temimim. That is certainly the purpose of this gathering. If we asked Reb Froim, he would say: if one more Jew contributes to the yeshiva, helps bring it out of debt and supports its expansion so that more students can learn Chassidus and become outstanding chassidim and Temimim—that is what matters. As our Sages say about the verse “The work of righteousness shall be peace”: What is meant by “the work of righteousness”? One who inspires others to give is greater than one who gives himself. I’d like to invite the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim, Achei Temimim in Lod, a teacher of Torah, Rabbi Kenig. Please, Rabbi Yitzchak Kenig.

40:45 Speaker 24 Honored rabbis, roshei yeshiva, esteemed congregation, and students of Tomchei Temimim, may you live long. It has already been said that if Reb Froim had been asked whether to hold this gathering in his honor, he would certainly have objected with all his might. Speaking of his virtues and honoring him was as far from his nature as east is from west. But first of all, as was already mentioned, this is for the benefit of the community. We truly have an obligation to honor him and thank him, but above all, it is for the benefit of the community: that “the living should take it to heart,” and that we should learn from his conduct and deeds. Though this goes against his nature, he was a man of self-sacrifice who thought not of himself, but only of the good of the community. So surely, in this matter too, he would set his own feelings aside and agree to our speaking of his virtues and honoring him, as long as it benefits others. And surely, when people learn from his deeds and conduct themselves accordingly, that will also bring an elevation to his soul. Much has already been said, and there really isn’t much to add. Anyone who knew Reb Froim even a little knows that he was exceptional in this respect: not a moment of his went to waste. Not just his days—he made use of every single moment. But I think what was especially remarkable about him was that whatever he was doing at any given moment—whether communal work, yeshiva matters, learning, or anything else—he was completely absorbed in it. When he was learning Torah, it was as though nothing else existed in the world but him and the Gemara he had to sit and study. He was there with all 248

44:03 Speaker 24 limbs and 365 sinews, completely involved in whatever he was doing at that moment. And if a moment later he was occupied with something else, he was again completely absorbed in that. It’s astonishing; you hardly ever see such a thing. We saw it with the Rebbe, yes, but here we’re speaking about a chossid, a Jew—not a Rebbe. To be so devoted to whatever he was doing is something remarkable, and it stems from—

44:49 Speaker 25 Let us welcome the distinguished Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, shlita.

44:57 Speaker 24 I’ll continue. Rabbi, go ahead. All right.

45:08 Speaker 25 I couldn’t make it this morning in Jerusalem. I promised on Sunday that I couldn’t make the change.

45:22 Speaker 24 This was something you could see in Reb Froimke. Perhaps fifteen years ago or more, I had the privilege of learning with him as a chavrusa during the lunch break at the yeshiva. For a certain period, we learned together, and I saw it firsthand. In the middle of the day, with so many... Anyone who has managed so many institutions, with so many problems, knows what that means. Even then, the situation was already quite difficult. His work was never easy. Nevertheless, when we sat down to learn, whether for half an hour or an hour, he did not answer the phone. Nothing. Nothing could interrupt that time when he was sitting and learning. I saw firsthand how completely he was connected to what he was learning, as though nothing else existed in the world at that moment. This is what chassidim call being a pnimi. Whatever he was doing, he was wholly immersed in it; a moment later he could be immersed in something else. That comes only from kabbolas ol. There is no other way. He had such kabbolas ol that what he himself did counted for nothing in his eyes. “Now I need to do this,” and he would do it with all his devotion and all his strength. That is kabbolas ol. Whether it is hard or not, whether I understand it or not, I must do it, and I do it. You could see this in Reb Froimke: kabbolas ol, the attitude of a servant. In this parsha we learn: “And these are

47:26 Speaker 24 the ordinances that you shall set before them: If you acquire a Hebrew servant.” As the Ohr Hachayim Hakadosh explains, along with many other commentators, the Hebrew servant is a servant of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what you could see in Reb Froimke. A servant does what his master tells him and wants of him, without calculating whether he understands it or not. This is what I have to do, and this is what I do. But there was another point you could see in Reb Froimke. Sometimes a person acts with kabbolas ol, but does it under compulsion: “I have to do it. I have no choice. I don’t want to, but I have no choice.” With Reb Froimke, you could see that he did it with joy, with pleasure. It was kabbolas ol, but he found pleasure in that kabbolas ol. As the Alter Rebbe says in Torah Or, this comes from the revelation of the innermost part of the soul. One Jew acts with kabbolas ol, but another does so with pleasure. That means the kabbolas ol reaches his entire being. It permeates even his intellect and his capacity for pleasure; he takes pleasure in kabbolas ol. That is what you could see in Reb Froimke. At every moment, he did what he needed to do at that moment with pleasure, to the point that it became his nature. You did not see him struggling with it; he did not seem to have to force himself. And the Alter Rebbe says this comes from... “And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them.” The Rebbe says that Moshe Rabbeinu’s role is to bring awareness into the innermost part of the soul. That is, he interprets “before them” as referring to the innermost part of the soul. Through the power of Moshe

49:27 Speaker 24 Rabbeinu, that innermost part of the soul becomes revealed within him. It brings him pleasure from the innermost part of the soul, which is above all the faculties and beyond all limitations. So he even practices kabbolas ol with pleasure. That is the point we saw in Reb Froimke. And as we said earlier, the main thing is that “the living shall take it to heart”: we should learn from his deeds. May Hashem grant that on this day, when, as was mentioned earlier, all the work he labored at in this world rises higher and higher, we may truly ask that he continue to pray for the institutions, since he devoted his whole life to them with mesiras nefesh. Everyone knows that the institutions are in a difficult situation. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us emerge from hardship into abundance materially, which will in turn greatly advance the yeshiva’s spiritual flourishing. May we merit that “those who dwell in the dust shall awaken and sing,” with our Rebbe among them, and may we merit the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, with the Rebbe at our head, speedily in our days, now.

50:42 Speaker 3 The rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Temimim in Lod is sitting here. Just a month and a half ago, a family from Düsseldorf came to us. The wife had drawn closer to Judaism and to Chabad in our home in Tel Aviv. She married a few years ago. Her husband lives in Düsseldorf and has responsibilities there on behalf of the community. They became very close to the shliach, Rabbi Barkan, who went on shlichus to Düsseldorf. He and his wife have helped them a great deal, to this day. He was also at this year’s Kinus Hashluchim, and came to Tel Aviv for Chanukah. We went from the house to Dizengoff Square for the public menorah lighting. Their son, I think he is four years old, knows Rabbi Chaim Barkan, but had never seen another observant, chassidic Jew. So he said to his parents, “I see so many Chaims here.” His mother understood that he meant he was seeing so many chassidim. I think that through his mesiras nefesh, giving hour after hour to Tomchei Temimim for more than half a century, Reb Froimke merited to raise many Chaims: students connected to the Rebbe, shluchim throughout the world, truly living people who bring life into the world. I would like to invite a friend of the family for many years. And speaking of family, one cannot fail to mention Reb Froimke’s son, alav hashalom. The distinguished Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land was his personal friend, a true friend of Chabad, of the Rebbe, and of the Chabad institutions. So without further ado, I would like to invite our esteemed friend, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau shlita, the Chief Rabbi. Please.

53:30 Speaker 4 Honored local rabbi, the distinguished Rabbi Ashkenazi shlita; honored rosh yeshiva; honored rabbis seated here with us; Rabbi Reb Binyamin, who has come from the Rebbe’s court; honored family, headed by the mother of the family, Rebbetzin Wolf, may she live, her sons and all her household; my teachers and rabbis, dear students, holy congregation. In Tractate Sotah, page 13, the funeral of Yaakov Avinu, foremost of the Patriarchs, is described. There is a verse there—or several verses—that are very puzzling and call for explanation. I would like to bring one of them before you. The Gemara asks: Why is it that at first, when they set out from Egypt for the funeral at Me’aras Hamachpelah, it says, “Yosef went up to bury his father, and all Pharaoh’s servants went up with him”—Pharaoh’s servants first—and only afterward, “all Yosef’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household”? And why, at the end, when they return from the funeral, does it say, “Yosef returned to Egypt,” first “he and his brothers,” and afterward “all who had gone up with him to bury his father”? On the way there, Pharaoh’s servants came first; on the way back, the family came first, followed by all Pharaoh’s servants. What changed? Rabbi Yochanan said, “At first, before they saw the honor accorded to Israel, they did not accord them honor. At the end, when they saw the honor accorded to them, they accorded them honor.” What was that honor? As it is written of Yaakov Avinu’s funeral, “They came to Goren Ha’atad.” Do you hear those two words? Goren Ha’atad. What is atad? Thorns—as in Yosam’s parable of the thornbush. What does Goren Ha’atad mean? Do thorns have a threshing floor? Rashi asks: Is it customary to gather thorns and make a threshing floor out of them? A threshing floor is for wheat, barley, and other grains. They are gathered and stored; that is what goren means—a gathering place. Who gathers thorns? What does “They came to Goren Ha’atad” mean? Rabbi Abahu said: It teaches that they surrounded Yaakov’s coffin with crowns, like thorns surrounding a threshing floor. The descendants of Esav, Yishmael, and Keturah all came intending to wage war, but when

57:25 Speaker 4 When they saw Yosef’s crown hanging on Yaakov’s coffin, they all took off their crowns and hung them on Yaakov’s coffin. That was the honor they paid him. Around a threshing floor, they put up a fence of thorns so that robbers, thieves, or animals won’t come in. Those are the atad bushes. The threshing floor has atad bushes around it; it isn’t a threshing floor made of atad bushes. It’s a threshing floor for grain, surrounded by thorns. Just as the threshing floor is surrounded by atad bushes, so the coffin of Yaakov Avinu was surrounded by crowns. Whose crowns? The descendants of Esav—unbelievable. Rashi lists the chiefs of Esav, all twelve of them, together with the chiefs of Yishmael and the descendants of Keturah. They came to fight when they heard that Jews were coming from Egypt. They thought we were coming to conquer Mount Seir from them, or to conquer the Wilderness of Paran from the descendants of Esav and Yishmael. So they came to fight us, but it looked as though thousands of people—non-Jews, the nations of the world—had come to Yaakov Avinu’s funeral to pay their respects. Yosef, of whom it was said, “There is none as discerning and wise as you,” knew very well that they had come for battle, not for his father’s funeral. Listen: he was wise enough to understand that they had not come to honor his father. What did they know about the Torah his father had learned from Shem and Ever? They came because they needed Yosef: the viceroy of Egypt, the one who supplied grain to the whole world, who gave everyone food, who led Egypt, which the prophet calls the mistress of kingdoms. Because of the respect they had for him, because their interests depended on Yosef, suddenly they came to Yaakov Avinu’s funeral. Wow, what a chossid Yaakov Avinu was! He himself didn’t know he had so many admirers. But Yosef understood perfectly well that they had not come for his father’s Torah. They had come for the crown, the position, the office held by his son, Yosef. Do you know what he did?

1:00:10 Speaker 4 Listen, this is interesting. He took the crown off his head and placed it on his father’s coffin, saying, “[unclear] All this is for my father.” I am nothing; I am nobody. I am my father’s son. Everything I have—and I know you came because of me, not because of him—everything I have, everything you and I have, is his. He hangs up his crown, and then all the chiefs of Esav and Yishmael take the crowns off their heads and hang them around Yaakov Avinu’s coffin. They surrounded it with crowns, just as atad bushes surround a threshing floor. And then Pharaoh’s servants, too, saw the honor accorded to the Jewish people. Ladies and gentlemen! Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing—today marks a year since his soul ascended to the heavenly treasury. Do you know how many rabbis, how many heads of yeshivos, how many educators in Talmud Torah schools and girls’ seminaries, and how many shluchim ought to take off their crowns, hang them on Rabbi Ephraim’s coffin, and say, “What is ours is his”? That is how I see the figure of Rabbi Ephraim, precisely because of his modesty. Precisely because of what I said here a year ago, at the shloshim: although he studied Torah constantly, he never took credit for himself. He never thought he was owed anything. He never pushed his way to the front. He entered with his head bowed, humbly, fulfilling “walk modestly with your G-d.” Precisely for that reason, it would be fitting for all of us, if we had crowns, to take them off and say: “Rabbi Ephraim, we drink from the springs of what you established, what you built, what you created. We are the fruits of your work, and it is because of your efforts that we are here.” Look at these young men sitting here in the yeshiva. Every page of Gemara you learn, every maamar you learn, every prayer you daven, is a fruit of Rabbi Ephraim Wolf’s work. And I am not saying that as a figure of speech. It is no exaggeration.

1:03:22 Speaker 4 [unclear][?] He established it. He began almost from nothing. What was there when he came to establish a yeshiva? Who helped? Who supported him? What did he have? Where did the strength come from? He had the Rebbe’s blessing, the Rebbe’s backing, the Rebbe’s shlichus, and with that he said, “Here I am; send me.” He merited that we should all hang our crowns on Rabbi Ephraim’s bier. And I want to add a few words about him. Just a few. The pain of losing Rabbi Ephraim—though a year has passed, and we have endured many tragedies since then, many funerals, many victims, and the loss of many young people—the pain of his passing has not faded or weakened for a moment. Why? Perhaps it is because of the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos: “When a person departs this world, neither silver nor gold nor precious stones nor pearls accompany him, but only Torah and good deeds.” A person who devotes his whole life to amassing wealth—however much of his life he gives to it—when he leaves this world, the money doesn’t cry very much. Why? Why isn’t the money upset? Its dear friend is gone, someone who was bound up with it day and night. He thought about money, went to sleep thinking about money, woke up in the morning thinking about money. It occupied his every thought. He leaves this world, and the money doesn’t cry very much. For a simple reason: the money knows there will be others to look after it. It won’t be left alone or abandoned. That man has died, but other people will make sure the money isn’t neglected. But when a Jew like Rabbi Ephraim Wolf leaves this world, the Torah puts on sackcloth, because it says, “Who will take his place for me?” Are there many more like “Ephraim, my beloved son”? “For whenever I speak of him, I remember him still.” Rabbi Meir

1:06:28 Speaker 4 Shapiro zt”l of Lublin asked: What does “I remember him still” mean? I remember him—but what is “still”? When I think of what more he could have accomplished, what more he could have done beyond his eighty years—that is why “my heart yearns for him; I will surely have compassion on him, says Hashem.” I remember what more he could have done. For him, the Torah weeps and puts on sackcloth. Because, as I said, we could tie our crowns around his bier like the atad bushes around the threshing floor. Of course, when speaking of Rabbi Ephraim, one cannot fail to mention Reb Berke, may his memory be a blessing. Here at the shloshim, I described standing with Rabbi Ephraim on Motzaei Shabbos at Shamgar in Jerusalem, at Berke’s funeral. I saw in his father the “And Aharon was silent”—his self-restraint, his strength in accepting the Divine judgment. I saw “How beautiful are your steps in shoes,” as the Kotzker would say: how beautiful are the heart’s steps when a person knows how to keep them locked away under lock and key. He does not burst out, shout, cry out, or scream; he knows how to hold it within. “How beautiful are your steps in shoes”—his feelings, his heartbeats, locked away. He stood there on Motzaei Shabbos, and afterward at Har HaMenuchos, [unclear], without my hearing a sound from him. I’m not even speaking of a complaint. Such a tragedy, may we be spared! A father burying a son? Hashem protect us. Rabbi Ephraim zt”l merited the fulfillment of the verse. I spoke about Yaakov Avinu, from whom we learn—why do we learn it from Yaakov Avinu? Because he is compared to his descendants: just as his descendants are alive, so he is alive. Anyone who knows the family—and you all know the sons and daughter, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, may there be no evil eye—his descendants are alive, and so he, too, is alive. For with him we have what was said of Yaakov’s grandfather, who was Rabbi Ephraim’s grandfather. Ephraim is a descendant of Yaakov.

1:09:32 Speaker 4 our forefather, and Yaakov Avinu had a great-grandfather, Avraham Avinu. Of him it says, “For I have known him.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu says: I love him. It is an expression of affection, Rashi says. “So that he will instruct his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of Hashem.” What does “after him” mean? Some people are fortunate—and that is no small thing—that as long as their father is alive, the children still walk hand in hand with him to shul. They do it as a favor to their father. Honoring one’s father is a great thing, something remarkable. Not everyone is fortunate enough even for that. Father asks, so you do it. Father invites you for Shabbos, so you go. But “after him”—after the father’s passing—no more shul, no more Shabbos, no more this or that. With Avraham Avinu, true education showed itself in the fact that even after him, after his passing, “they will keep the way of Hashem.” That is genuine education. I know the family, and I can say that what was true of his great-grandfather Avraham Avinu was true of Reb Ephraim. “For I have known him”—we love him and cherish his memory—“so that he will instruct his children and his household after him.” Already, a year after his passing, you can see what “they will keep the way of Hashem” means. His grandchildren are sanctifying Hashem’s name; his family is bringing people to love Hashem’s name in the east, in the west, and at every end of the earth. On the Rebbe’s shlichus and with the strength the Rebbe gave them, they are bearing fruit and the fruits of that fruit. “They will keep the way of Hashem, doing righteousness and justice.” May his memory be a blessing, may his soul be bound in the bond of life, and may he be an advocate on behalf of his Rebbetzin, his sons and daughter, his son-in-law and daughters-in-law, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the yeshiva he built with his heart’s blood, which was the very essence of his life, and all of Anash and the entire House of Israel. For death will be swallowed up forever, and Hashem Elokim will wipe tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people. May He say to the destroying angel, “Enough,” and to the troubles of the Jewish people, “Enough.” And may we merit—this coming Shabbos, which approaches us for good, we will already bless the new month, a month in which we increase

1:12:21 Speaker 4 in joy, and in which we read, “The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor”—both in its plain meaning and as our Sages interpret it. So may it be for us, amen.

1:12:54 Speaker 5 We have heard profound, warm words, words that come from the heart and will surely have their effect. We wish the Chief Rabbi long life and good years, long life and good years. Rabbi Lau, may I share something personal? Rabbi, I remember that we were with the Rebbe fourteen years ago, and... Rabbi Lau told the Rebbe that the subject was Jerusalem, the Chief Rabbi. Then the Rebbe said: Yes, the Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek came from the north, and if I’m not mistaken, he studied in Chabad institutions, at a Chabad yeshiva in the Holy Land. His father was a rosh yeshiva here. We wish him a complete recovery and long life and good years. A man of great accomplishments in every sense. Without speaking at length, we will immediately invite the distinguished Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, shlita, rabbi of Migdal HaEmek and president of the Migdal Ohr institutions.

1:15:20 Speaker 6 With the permission of the heads of the yeshiva, the family, and the larger family—the yeshiva students, the Temimim. Nobody called me or asked me to come here this evening. I came on my own, even though I had a busy day and was also privileged to attend the bris of a grandson today. Still, I could not sit at ease without being here with you. My heart and soul drew me here, even if only for a few minutes. I did not prepare to speak, but I was asked to say a few words. It is hard to put a spiritual feeling into words. The feeling we have for Reb Froime is something that cannot be explained in words, because it is spiritual. Reb Froime was, for us, an example of a true chossid, utterly devoted to the Rebbe to a degree that is impossible to describe. I was privileged to receive many, many answers from the Rebbe through Reb Froime. He was the Rebbe’s conduit for conveying answers and matters concerning the Jewish people as a whole in Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe truly saw him as... Why do I say “conduit”? A conduit has nothing of its own; it is completely given over to what passes through it. Reb Froime was an example of a chossid that is hard to describe. Reb Froime was an example of self-sacrifice. Today the term “self-sacrifice” has become cheap, but actual self-sacrifice—and the Rebbe explains this in many places—means giving up your own will. In his very essence, Reb Froime’s will was that of a true chossid, like the exceptional Chabad chassidim we know of, or the great servants of Hashem throughout Chabad’s history. At his core, Reb Froime served Hashem. My father, shlita, told me that perhaps sixty-five years ago, when he would go to Karlin for seudah shlishis on Shabbos, as people were already heading to the meal, he would see Reb Froime coming back from davening. In other words,

1:19:20 Speaker 6 he finished davening late in the day. That was Reb Froime. Reb Froime decided to give everything—his spiritual life, the greatest achievements that were part of his very being, and certainly his material resources—for the yeshiva, for the Rebbe. Of him one can say: Our Sages ask, why did Moshe Rabbeinu merit to give the Torah to the Jewish people? Because it says, “He saw their suffering.” Rashi says: “He directed his eyes and heart toward them.” Moshe Rabbeinu gave his eyes and heart to the Jewish people as a whole. That is why he merited to be their leader. We see that Moshe Rabbeinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “Did I conceive this entire people, or did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a suckling child’?” Where does the Torah say that Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, “Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a suckling child”? Where is it written? Rather, Moshe Rabbeinu understood that this was his shlichus to the Jewish people. How does one fulfill a shlichus? “As a nurse carries a suckling child.” That is the point, and that was Reb Froime. “He saw their suffering”—he directed his eyes and heart toward them. My father, shlita, who was a rosh yeshiva here for twenty-five years, told me that in the early years of the state, when the great waves of immigration arrived from Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen, the Torah leaders gathered. What could they do? What could they do to save the young people? My father, shlita, was among those who went from village to village and city to city to persuade the new immigrants to agree to send their children to yeshivas. He assembled a large group of students. He went to yeshivas—and I won’t mention names—and told them, “Here, I have students.” What did they answer him? I do not want to speak ill of them, but what did they answer? “Are we going to make this a Sephardic yeshiva? A ‘Fränkish’ yeshiva?” Are we going to turn the yeshiva here into a Sephardic one? What could he do? He came to Rabbi Ephraim. I’m speaking of perhaps fifty-five years ago, something like that—fifty years. Rabbi Ephraim immediately, not

1:22:40 Speaker 6 only accepted the students, but went with my father, shlita—may he live a long and good life—from shul to shul and place to place to collect money for beds and mattresses, so they could bring the students in. Those who remember the first sign at the yeshiva will recall that it said “Immigrants from Yemen,” “Immigrants from...” “Immigrants from the Soviet...” I don’t remember—Morocco, Yemen, or however it was written there. That was Rabbi Ephraim. He directed his eyes and heart toward them. “He saw their suffering”: he understood that self-sacrifice was needed, and nothing would stop him. It says of Yehudah, “And he sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yosef, to prepare the way before him to Goshen.” Yaakov Avinu sent Yehudah to establish a yeshiva in Egypt, because one cannot go to Egypt without a yeshiva and without Torah. I once wondered—I don’t know, perhaps it is written somewhere—why specifically Yehudah? Why didn’t he send Reuven, the firstborn? Why didn’t he send Yissachar, who symbolizes Torah? Why specifically Yehudah? Because it says of Yehudah, “And Yehudah approached him.” Rashi says: with a gift, with prayer, and with war. Yehudah approached Yosef, who ruled over all of Egypt, ready for war. What does “for war” mean? How can one private individual go to fight him? Imagine someone today getting up and saying he is going to fight America. But Yehudah said, “For your servant guaranteed the boy.” I took responsibility for this boy, Binyamin. Perhaps the Rebbe says this? It could be. It could be that I saw it somewhere, but it all comes down to this point: “For your servant guaranteed the boy.” I took responsibility for getting this boy out of Egypt. “For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me?” So because Yehudah was the one who was prepared to give his life for Binyamin, he was ready to go to a war that seemed lost. That means such self-sacrifice that Binyamin would not

1:25:25 Speaker 6 would remain in Egypt, to bring him back to Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov Avinu said: What is Torah? We read in the weekly parsha that our Sages say Hashem did not give the Torah to the Jewish people until they said, “Our children will be our guarantors.” We received the entire Torah through that guarantee. Yaakov Avinu asked: Who is the reliable guarantor? Who is prepared to give his life to honor his guarantee? That is Yehudah, and therefore he will be the one to establish the yeshivah. The Rebbe’s choice of Reb Froimke came from that same point, because the Rebbe saw before him “For your servant guaranteed the lad.” He saw a true chossid, with a selflessness beyond description, wholly devoted to spreading Judaism. And if a yeshivah had to be established—a central undertaking of Chassidus—the Rebbe entrusted it to Reb Froimke. Reb Froimke did not look for excuses, and he did not look for someone else to do the work for him. My father-in-law, of blessed memory, the well-known chossid Rabbi Baruch Rosenberg, who was a mashpia for Chabad chassidim in Lod, would tell me: “When I’m walking to Kol Nidrei on the eve of Yom Kippur, carrying my machzor and wearing my kittel, Reb Froimke is still sitting in the office, trying to reach someone overseas by phone. Maybe he can get a few more pennies for the yeshivah.” That is what he said. Reb Froimke gave his whole self. The bochurim need to know this: his whole self, absolutely everything, to keep the yeshivah going. Our Sages speak of Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, who gave their lives to sanctify Hashem’s name. The Gemara asks: Where did they learn this? From the frogs. Do you hear that? They learned it through an a fortiori argument: If the frogs, who were not commanded to sanctify Hashem’s name, entered ovens that were hot, then we, who are commanded to sanctify Hashem’s name, will certainly do so, said Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah. I once heard a wonderful explanation. What does the Gemara mean by the argument Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah made? “If the frogs, who were not commanded to

1:28:17 Speaker 6 sanctify Hashem’s name”—but the Torah says explicitly, “They shall come into your house, into your bedroom, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls.” It explicitly says “your ovens.” The frogs were commanded to enter while the ovens were hot, so they were commanded! How can the Gemara say, “If the frogs, who were not commanded”? Look at this wonderful answer. He explained it this way: If Moshe Rabbeinu had, let’s say, made an army of the frogs—taken one group of frogs, dressed them in blue, and said, “You’re going to the kitchens”; taken a second group, dressed them in white, and said, “You’re going to the bedroom”; told others, “You’re going to the living room”; and dressed another group in red and said, “You’re going to the ovens”—then the question would be a good one. Those frogs in red were commanded to go. How could you say they were not commanded? But that is not what happened. Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to all the frogs: “They shall come into your house, into your room, into your bedroom, into your ovens.” So a frog that went into an oven could have said, “I’ll go to the Egyptian’s bed. I’ll say, ‘For the sake of the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He,’ and take upon myself the mitzvah of ‘into your bedroom.’ I’ll have fulfilled my obligation.” Ah, someone will ask him, “Who will go into the oven?” “Let the extra-pious ones go there. I know who will go there. Why must I go?” That frog did not say that. Instead, he said, “If Hashem said that we have to sanctify His name, we have to go into the oven to show that we carry out what Hashem said. I’ll do it.” Now the a fortiori argument works perfectly: If the frogs—that particular frog that went into the oven was not commanded personally to go into the fire, yet he went—then we, who were commanded, “You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul,” certainly must do it. That argument, that idea of not saying someone else should go—that was Rabbi Ephraim. On quite a few occasions, thank G-d, I had the privilege—I mentioned this—of the Rebbe conveying messages to me through him. I saw Rabbi Ephraim, the way he responded, with such awe and love and such readiness: “I’ll go with you right away, and we’ll do it, we’ll make it happen.” Night and day, in the middle of the night and in the middle of the day. There were many others who could have done it. He was a busy man, but he set himself aside. The Rebbe said it; this is my mission, this is my self-sacrifice. That was Rabbi Ephraim. So, gentlemen, dear students, what can you give Rabbi Ephraim in return for the self-sacrifice he gave for you? What you can give is to reflect on what I said and what you heard from the rabbis, and to know that he gave himself for this place. It is written: One who opens a door for his fellow—his fellow owes him his very life. His very life. What does Rabbi Ephraim want? That you daven at greater length? That you be chassidim on a deeper level? That you act with greater devotion in everything the Rebbe said? That you put effort into learning. Rabbi Ephraim was an extraordinarily diligent student, using every spare minute. Those who remember the Torah classes know that whenever there was an opportunity to learn—whether with a young bochur or an older person—Rabbi Ephraim spent every free moment with a Gemara. Take him as an example of how to daven, how to learn. His character traits, his ability to keep his mouth closed. You never heard lashon hara or gossip from Rabbi Ephraim; he was as far from it as east is from west. That is what we need. If each of the bochurim makes an effort to work harder on himself, to be more dedicated in his avodah, more of a chossid, more inwardly focused—that is an elevation for his soul. That is the greatest thing he can give Rabbi Ephraim. May it be Hashem’s will that we soon see the complete Geulah, in our days, in our days, amen.

1:30:52 Speaker 6 I received messages, and I saw how Rabbi Efraim responded—with such awe and love, and such readiness: “I’ll come with you right away, and we’ll do it, we’ll get it done.” Night and day, in the middle of the night and in the middle of the day. There were many others who could have done it. He was a busy man, but he put everything aside. The Rebbe said, “This is my mission; this is my mesirus nefesh.” That was Rabbi Efraim. So, dear students, what can you give Rabbi Efraim in return for the mesirus nefesh he gave you? You can reflect on what I’ve said and what you’ve heard from the rabbis, and recognize that this is what he devoted himself to with mesirus nefesh. It is written, “One who opens a door for his fellow owes him his very soul”—he owes him his very soul. What does Rabbi Efraim want? That you daven at greater length? That you be chassidim more deeply? That you act with greater dedication in everything the Rebbe said? That you invest your strength in learning? Rabbi Efraim was extraordinarily diligent in his learning, using every spare minute. Anyone who remembers the Torah classes knows that whenever there was a chance to learn, whether with a young bochur or an older person, Rabbi Efraim spent every spare moment with a Gemara. Take him as an example of how to daven and how to learn. His character traits, the way he kept his mouth closed—you never heard lashon hara or gossip from Rabbi Efraim. He was as far from that as east is from west. That is what we need. If each of the bochurim tries to work harder on himself, to be more devoted in avodah, more of a chossid, more inwardly focused—that is an elevation for his soul. It is the greatest thing he can give Rabbi Efraim. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant that we soon see the complete Geulah, in our days, in our days, amen.

1:33:19 Speaker 7 We have gathered this evening in the spirit of “the living shall take it to heart.” One point that has come up—almost all the speakers mentioned it—is something that stood out greatly about Reb Froim: time, and how he used every single moment. There is a sicha of the Rebbe about what Rashi mentions in his first commentary on the Chumash. Rabbi Yitzchak says that the first mitzvah the Jewish people were commanded was sanctifying the new month. The Rebbe asks: Why is this the first mitzvah? After all, it is a mitzvah dependent on location. In Eretz Yisroel, the new moon must be sighted. It also depends on a particular time and on the presence of a court of ordained judges. It is a mitzvah dependent on a number of conditions, and it cannot always be fulfilled. By contrast, there are mitzvos—as is known, there are six cities of refuge. There are six constant mitzvos: belief in Hashem, love of Hashem, fear of Hashem. Why does the Torah begin its mitzvos with sanctifying the new month? The Rebbe explains that sanctifying the new month means sanctifying time. After all, all the festivals and their dates are determined by the new moon. So sanctifying the new month means sanctifying time. What does it mean to sanctify time? First, the Rebbe says, as was mentioned, that when you are doing something, you should be fully immersed in it at that time. When you are learning or davening, be fully immersed in that activity—to sanctify the time. In other words, make the most of the time and be wholly engaged in what you are doing. As is known, the Rebbe related that he saw the Frierdiker Rebbe during the difficult years in Russia, when the Frierdiker Rebbe had a very important meeting concerning matters of saving lives. Before the meeting, the Frierdiker Rebbe learned as usual. There was no sign of excitement or agitation over the fact that he was about to attend such an important meeting. When it was time for the Frierdiker Rebbe to go down to the train, he put on his coat and left. The Rebbe says that he asked

1:33:57 Speaker 8 Tonight’s gathering is an occasion for “the living shall take it to heart.” One thing that has come up—almost all the speakers mentioned it—is something that stood out strongly about Reb Froyim: his use of time, how he made the most of every single moment. There is a sicha of the Rebbe about what Rashi mentions at the very beginning of Chumash. Rabbi Yitzchak says that the first mitzvah the Jewish people were commanded to observe was sanctifying the new moon. And the Rebbe asks: Why is this the first mitzvah? After all, it is a mitzvah that depends on where you are. In Eretz Yisroel, the new moon must be sighted. It also depends on the time, and on there being an ordained beis din. It is a mitzvah subject to a number of conditions, and it cannot always be fulfilled. By contrast, there are mitzvos—as we know, the six cities of refuge—there are six constant mitzvos: belief in Hashem, love of Hashem, fear of Hashem. Why does the Torah begin with the mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon? The Rebbe explains that sanctifying the new moon means sanctifying time. After all, all the festivals and their dates are determined by the new moon. So sanctifying the new moon means sanctifying time. What does it mean to sanctify time? First of all, as was mentioned, the Rebbe says that when you are doing something, you should be fully absorbed in it at that moment. When you are learning or davening, be absorbed in that very thing at that time. That is sanctifying time: making full use of it and being absorbed in what you are doing. The Rebbe related that he saw the Frierdiker Rebbe during the difficult years in Russia, when the Frierdiker Rebbe had a very important meeting concerning matters of saving lives. Before the meeting, the Frierdiker Rebbe learned as usual. You could see no sign of preparation or agitation about the momentous meeting ahead. When it was time for the Frierdiker Rebbe to leave for the train, he put on his coat and went. The Rebbe says that he asked

1:36:56 Speaker 8 The Frierdiker Rebbe—how he sat and learned before such an important meeting. Nothing unusual could be sensed. So the Frierdiker Rebbe answered him that one must know: when you are occupied with something, if you are fully immersed in it and your mind is not elsewhere, you succeed. The Rebbe also told a story about the Rashba, explaining that he succeeded in everything he undertook because he was fully immersed in whatever he was doing. And this is the first point, the first mitzvah. The Torah says that a Jew who wants to fulfill mitzvos must first sanctify time, make use of time. That is the first point. The Rebbe adds another point. Sanctifying time means not only making use of it, but bringing holiness into it. In other words, he uses his time and directs it toward the Supernal Will. Many people make use of their time, but not in accordance with the Supernal Will. So sanctifying time means that time itself contains holiness, the Supernal Will. Now, these seem to be two opposites: if one is immersed in the Supernal Will, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is infinite and without limit, while time is a matter of limitation. How can the two be brought together? This is the meaning of sanctifying the new moon. The new moon comes from bittul: the moon wanes and has no independent existence. Once a person is in a state of bittul, he can hold both opposites together—the sanctification, directing himself toward the Supernal Will, and also being fully engaged in each and every moment and using it properly. So we see here three things, a threefold thread. The root is bittul, and that leads to making use of time in a way that connects time to the Supernal Will. The Rebbe points out that just as we see these

1:39:10 Speaker 8 three things in the first mitzvah, so too Rabbeinu Hakadosh opened with the Mishnah, “From when do we recite Shema in the evening?” Here, too, we see these three things. First of all, “From when”—the matter of time. But time must be permeated with the Supernal Will: “From when do we recite Shema?”—the declaration that “Hashem is One,” the Supernal Will. And how is this accomplished? Through “from when.” There is the well-known explanation of Reb Avraham the Malach, who told the Alter Rebbe that “from when” can be read as “from awe”—awe and reverence. When there is that awe, that yirah, that bittul, then “we recite Shema in the evening”: we can bring “Hashem is One” into time. It is the same threefold thread. We are talking about this here, but Reb Froim was a living example of it. I remember, from the time I was in yeshiva, seeing how he used every moment. His responses, his davening—everything we saw was a living example of these three things. The whole point about Reb Froim was that he was a soldier of the Rebbe, with bittul. He had no independent existence, and so his entire concern was to bring the Rebbe’s concerns, holiness, into time, into things here in this world, within its limitations. Matters of physical space, building buildings. This was not a matter of his personal traits; it was simply his very being. There was a grandmother, a"h, in Ramat Gan. Forty years ago she was active in communal affairs. She would collect funds, and once she secured an apartment from a woman as a donation to a yeshiva. But when people heard that she had obtained an apartment, many of them came forward, and various heads of institutions came to persuade her to give the apartment to their institution.

1:41:28 Speaker 8 Well, Ramat Gan was then something of a center for chassidim, you could say, and they told her about a director, Reb Ephraim—he was young at the time—who wanted to come and speak with her. She agreed. She had a system of interviewing many directors. Reb Ephraim came in and spoke with her. Immediately afterward, she said she was giving him the apartment. She told her family why she was giving it to him. She said she had seen many people from institutions, but those people and their institutions were two separate things. With Reb Ephraim, from the way he spoke, from his very presence, she saw that the institution itself had come to her. It was not a person who had come to her; the institution, the yeshiva, had come into her home. And if the institution itself, the yeshiva, had come into her home, she gave him the apartment without a second thought. Well, this idea of “the living shall take it to heart”—those same three things. Sanctifying time is the first thing and the last thing. The main thing is the Temimim. After all, Reb Ephraim’s whole concern was the Temimim. We must know that this is the main point of sanctifying time, and it is the first mitzvah. And if we act on this, then certainly the entire matter of the 613 mitzvos—and through this, the entire matter of the 613 mitzvos—surely the redeemer will come soon, quickly, quickly, quickly. Amen.

1:42:57 Speaker 9 Thank you to the rosh yeshiva of Achei Temimim. Gentlemen, a few announcements. First, at the end of the evening, after the program concludes, the special booklet published for the yahrzeit will be distributed downstairs at the exit. I would also like to ask the rabbis, Rabbi Pinkowitz and Rabbi Kaplan, please. Rabbi Pinkowitz, quickly, and Rabbi Kaplan, please. We welcome his personal physician, Dr. Strolovitch, who will soon tell us a few interesting things. But before we hear from the doctor, I would like to invite the distinguished chossid and Torah scholar, the rabbi of the Chabad community in Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem. Perhaps not many people remember, but there was a time when the Rebbe’s letters were published in the newspapers, translated from Yiddish into Hebrew, into Lashon Hakodesh, in a free translation. There were no faxes, and certainly no email. I remember the Rebbe’s secretary sitting in the office at two or three in the morning, sometimes for two and a half hours, and they would convey it word for word: “a pintel,” a comma, every word, every dash, exactly. They would spend hours transmitting the letter in Yiddish so that Rabbi Bloy could translate it into Lashon Hakodesh, and the letter would be published throughout the press. I would like to invite Rabbi Bloy to say a few words at this memorial gathering.

1:45:18 Speaker 10 Two fundamental qualities that are completely unfashionable characterized Rabbi Reb Ephraim Wolf as a communal activist. When I say “unfashionable,” I mean they are not in fashion even in Lubavitch. In fact, perhaps they run against the fashion here in Lubavitch. The first quality—and this follows, of course, from the fact that the foundation of Chassidus, or more precisely, the foundation of Judaism according to Chassidus, is belief in the oneness of Hashem—is that “I fill the heavens and the earth”: there is no distinction. All of existence is G-dliness. This, as is well known, is a foundation of Chassidus, explained at length in Tanya, in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah and elsewhere. One consequence of that belief is that there are no boundaries. For example, take the weekly parsha. A simple example: “And these are the laws that you shall set before them.” Just as the preceding commandments were given at Sinai, so were these given at Sinai. There is no distinction between mundane or material matters and spirituality, G-dliness. It is all pure G-dliness. And so Reb Ephraim Wolf, as a communal activist, one might say—perhaps one may say—broke down the barriers between Yissachar and Zevulun. There is a commonly accepted norm that someone engaged in Torah study, in nigleh, in Chassidus and in the avodah of davening should not be a communal activist; it would not be fitting for him. Conversely, someone occupied with communal needs, as is well known, is supposedly not to open a Gemara or a book of Chassidus or daven, because he is faithfully occupied with communal needs. That norm, supposedly rooted in the distinction between Yissachar and Zevulun, is wrong according to the belief in Hashem’s oneness, as the Rebbe taught us. And Reb Ephraim Wolf was a living example of how those two things could exist together. He studied—it has already been mentioned—he studied nigleh as though he were not a communal activist. He studied Chassidus, the depths of Chassidus, extended series of maamarim, as though he were not a communal activist. He davened at length as though he were not a communal activist, and he attended to communal needs as though he were not a Torah scholar, not a maskil, not an oved.

1:48:14 Speaker 10 This is something that, as I said, is not in fashion. Everyone zealously guards his own area of work and is careful, G-d forbid, not to lift a finger in someone else’s area. Reb Efraim Wolf was the exemplary model of the path the Rebbe wants, the path on which Chassidus is actually based. The second quality, which is also not in fashion, was that he was connected to the Rebbe. Oh, everyone is connected. Is there anyone who isn’t connected to the Rebbe? Isn’t that our banner? That’s our life, and so on and so forth. But he was connected to the Rebbe—meaning that he was completely devoted to the Rebbe, and what the Rebbe said, he did. What the Rebbe did not say, he did not do. That is a great novelty. He did not interpret the Rebbe or presume to understand the Rebbe. He did not try to add to or reinforce what the Rebbe said, to give it extra force or enthusiasm beyond what the Rebbe had given it. He did not add things of his own based on his understanding of what the Rebbe wanted. He did not try to divine the higher intention and act on what he thought it meant. He simply did what the Rebbe said, without cleverness, excuses, or variations. What the Rebbe said was what the Rebbe said. Even regarding what Hakadosh Boruch Hu says directly, it is written, “You shall not add and you shall not subtract.” No additions of any kind. There is another aspect of this that also relates to being connected to the Rebbe: that connection is direct self-nullification to the Rebbe, not something put on display. By “put on display,” I mean publicly declared. Anyone connected to the Rebbe nowadays, with or without quotation marks, makes sure everyone around him knows it; the whole world knows. Everyone knows he is connected to the Rebbe, and his whole being is a declaration and display of that connection. Rabbi Wolf was not

1:50:26 Speaker 10 connected to the Rebbe that way, with declarations and displays. He did more than that. He did things the Rebbe told him to do and took the stones and arrows that came his way, without saying that the Rebbe had told him to do them. That is the complete opposite of what is customary today, in our experience, in Lubavitch. Today it is the other way around: people do things and attribute them to the Rebbe. He did hundreds and thousands of things. That is what it means to be “faithful throughout My house”: doing what the Rebbe said, including taking the arrows and blows after carrying it out, without anyone patting him on the back or announcing, “Here is the Rebbe’s great, openly declared devoted chossid.” So those are the two things, and what a pity for those who are gone and cannot be found again. Someone mentioned here, “The living should take it to heart.” Since there are bochurim here, perhaps—just perhaps—one or two of them will take this path. Thank you.

1:51:33 Speaker 11 Last but not least, before we conclude, we will ask Dr. Trolovitch, his personal physician, to tell us a few interesting things about Rabbi Reb Froima.

1:51:55 Speaker 12 Good evening. I treated Rabbi Wolf during the last twelve years of his life. He was a truly exceptional man. I have never known anyone like him, and there will never be another. I feel obliged to say a few words, in my limited Hebrew, about the rabbi’s work. I met a rabbi who was a great Torah scholar, an upright man, a tzaddik, a caring chossid, and a man of many accomplishments. He was a great scholar of Torah, with wisdom and understanding in every subject. He was upright in all his character traits, following only the path of Torah, the straight path, with fear of Heaven. He was a tzaddik wholly attached to holiness. He was devoted to ensuring that no one lacked anything, giving himself entirely for everyone and for the Jewish people. He loved peace and pursued peace, and judged everyone favorably. May his memory be a blessing, and may his soul be bound in the bond of life. Thank you very much.

1:54:13 Speaker 14 A few brief words of blessing from the rabbi of the Shikun Chabad neighborhood in Lod, Rabbi Baruch—Rabbi Baruch Boaz Yurkowitz shlita. Please, Baruch. And immediately afterward, the conclusion of the tractate.

1:54:43 Speaker 15 Two points I wanted to make briefly. There is a special maamar on Parshas Mishpatim that epitomizes Reb Froima. There are two maamarim. In the first, the Rebbe says: “And these are the judgments that you shall set before them: When you acquire a Hebrew servant.” The Rebbe cites a maamar brought by the Alter Rebbe, which the Tzemach Tzedek said was a very significant maamar. What is the first thing Hakadosh Boruch Hu says after the Giving of the Torah? What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu ask of us? The first thing is “And these are the judgments,” and then it continues, “When you acquire a Hebrew servant.” He explains that there is a Canaanite servant and a Hebrew servant. I’ll come to the point of the maamar. The meaning is that the servant has kabbolas ol—a Jew with such profound kabbolas ol that he also takes pleasure in it. That is one thing we saw in Reb Froima: his kabbolas ol, his self-nullification to the Rebbe, was on another level, but he also took pleasure in it. That is one point. The second point is in the maamar—uh, the maamar [unclear]—which explains the importance of time, that every single moment matters. One more point I wanted to make: I’m not a speaker, and I did not want to speak, but for Reb Froima’s sake—Reb Froima was a self-effacing man, a Jew who was completely self-effacing. He never wanted a seat at the head table. He would say, “Whoever wants it can take it.” It simply was not for him. He was a Jew who had nothing to do with politics or with things of that kind, and that is something we need to learn from today. Today, [unclear], even prominent rabbis run from country to country to get a picture, to get a picture and put it in the newspaper, to fill the paper. Reb Froima had nothing to do with that. Reb Froima was a genuine chossid. That is something we need to learn from him. His fear of Heaven and his connection to the Rebbe were very strong. Anyone

1:57:20 Speaker 15 who has time should study that maamar, [unclear], and the Rebbe’s edited maamar “And These Are the Judgments That You Shall Set Before Them.” You will see what it means. There is a Canaanite servant who serves with kabbolas ol, and there is a Hebrew servant whose entire being is that of a servant, but who takes pleasure in it. Nu, [unclear], Baruch, go wash your hands.

1:57:44 Speaker 16 Thank you, Rabbi Yurkowitz. What I took from all the speeches by the rabbis and mashpi’im is that Reb Froima was a chassidisher Yid. And now we will hear the conclusion of Tractate Uktzin from his son. We wish him great success in his practical efforts on behalf of the yeshiva—success beyond all measure and limitation, success in the spirit of lechatchila ariber: not merely covering the deficit, but expanding. There are more students who surely need to learn in Tomchei Temimim. There are more bochurim in Israel who still do not know about Chassidus, and so on. We need to bring them closer. So he will surely succeed beyond all measure and limitation in adding more benches to the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, and more. Please, Rabbi Elyakim.

1:58:51 Speaker 17 First of all, before we speak, we will conclude Tractate Uktzin. Then Kaddish, immediately afterward. So let us continue: “All Israel have a share in the World to Come.” There is also “Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says.” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: “In the future, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will grant every single righteous person three hundred and ten worlds, as it says, ‘To bequeath substance to those who love Me, and I will fill their treasuries.’” Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta says: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel capable of holding blessing for Israel other than peace, as it says, ‘Hashem will give strength to His people; Hashem will bless His people with peace.’” Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to confer merit upon Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance, as it says, ‘Hashem desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify the Torah and make it glorious.’” May His great name be magnified and sanctified in the world He created according to His will. May He establish His kingship, bring forth His salvation, and bring near His Moshiach, in your lifetimes and in your days and in the lifetimes of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen. Amen. May His great name be blessed forever and for all eternity. Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, uplifted, honored, elevated, and extolled be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings, songs, praises, and consolations spoken in the world; and say, Amen. Upon Israel, upon the rabbis, upon their students and their students’ students, and upon all who engage in Torah, here and in every place, may there be grace, kindness, and mercy for them and for you. I’ll briefly explain, in simple terms, a few words from the Rebbe on “Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to confer merit upon Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” One of the questions the Rebbe asks is this: It says, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to confer merit upon Israel; therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance.” But Hakadosh Boruch Hu could have given ten mitzvos and had people work on them constantly, day and night, and the Jewish people would thereby have gained merit. So the Rebbe brings the Rambam’s explanation in his Commentary on the Mishnah. The Rambam explains why Hakadosh Boruch Hu actually gave 613 mitzvos: because each person’s mitzvos,

2:01:27 Speaker 17 That they ascend specifically, as it says in Tanya, chapters 40 and 41: the Torah and mitzvos need to ascend above. But if a person fulfills a mitzvah imperfectly, not for its own sake, then the Torah and mitzvos cannot ascend above. How can the Torah and mitzvos ascend above? Specifically when he fulfills the mitzvah for its own sake. But the Rambam explains that even if he does not fulfill all the mitzvos for their own sake, if he fulfills just one mitzvah that way, then through his fulfillment of that mitzvah, the other mitzvos also ascend above. Now, there are different kinds of people. One person can study Torah for its own sake; another can give tzedakah for its own sake but cannot study Torah for its own sake. He fulfills that particular mitzvah for its own sake. And because Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to grant merit to the Jewish people, He gave them an abundance of Torah and mitzvos, so that every Jew, each and every Jew, has at least one mitzvah that he fulfills for its own sake. And by fulfilling it for its own sake, all the... all the mitzvos ascend. But the Rebbe explains this idea based on Sefer Chareidim. Chareidim explains why, in fact, 613 mitzvos were given: 248 positive mitzvos corresponding to the 248 limbs, and 365 prohibitions corresponding to the 365 sinews. That is the number of mitzvos. So the Rebbe explains that this is the meaning of “Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to grant merit to the Jewish people”: “to grant merit” also has the sense of refinement. In order that the Jewish people fulfill the mitzvos and their bodies be refined, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave 613 mitzvos—an abundance of mitzvos—so that every limb and every sinew of the body would be refined through fulfilling Torah and mitzvos.

2:03:31 Speaker 17 The Rebbe explains that since the purpose is to make a dwelling in the lower realms, for the lower realm itself to be refined, it does not even need to ascend from its own place in order to fulfill Torah and mitzvos, which bring about a revelation of G-dliness. That is why He gave an abundance of mitzvos: so that the entire body, all 248 limbs and 365 sinews, would be refined. I’ll give just one example to make this clearer. In another talk of the Rebbe, the Rebbe asks about Parshas Beshalach. Bereishis Rabbah says—and the Rebbe brings that this also appears in the Zohar and in Shemos Rabbah—that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, He made a condition with the works of Creation. Bereishis Rabbah gives many examples. For instance, the example in Parshas Beshalach, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds: when Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the sea, He made a condition that it would split for the Jewish people. Likewise, on the sixth day, Hakadosh Boruch Hu made a condition with the works of Creation concerning the acceptance of the Torah and mitzvos. So, the Rebbe says, that depends on the Jewish people. In any case, here it says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu made a condition with the sea that it would split. So the Rebbe asks: Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu need to make conditions with the sea? Would the sea agree or not agree? When the time came for the Jewish people to cross the Sea of Reeds, Hakadosh Boruch Hu could simply split it. Why was the sea’s agreement needed? The Rebbe also brings the same point from “Ginai River, divide your waters for me,” in the Gemara in Chullin, concerning Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. There too, the Rebbe explains the point: since Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world and wants a dwelling in the lower realms, there are two ways a revelation of G-dliness can occur in this world. There can be a revelation of G-dliness in the world when the Jewish

2:05:26 Speaker 17 people need to cross and Hakadosh Boruch Hu splits the Sea of Reeds. That is indeed a revelation of G-dliness, but it does not come from the lower realm itself. The purpose of making Him a dwelling in the lower realms is for the lower realm itself to be refined, by carrying out Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s command on its own. That is why they say that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the Sea of Reeds, He made a condition with it that it would split; otherwise, He would nullify it as though it had never been created. That is one of the points the Rebbe explains. May the Rebbe help, may we indeed merit this, and may we merit the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu very soon.

2:06:23 Speaker 18 The family asked us to announce that the writing of a Sefer Torah in memory of Reb Froimke is being completed in these days. Anyone who wishes to take part can contribute financially. And now, Maariv. They will distribute the booklet downstairs after Maariv.

2:06:58 Speaker 17 A minyan downstairs in a side room. Bring a minyan downstairs. I want to daven something here. Arrange for a minyan to go downstairs to the room at the back.