Conference for Shluchim Regarding Awakening to Matters of Geulah and Moshiach

00:00 Speaker 1 All right, do you want to open? Yes, yes. We can go inside to begin. What’s going to happen?

01:14 Speaker 2 No, I don’t. No, but I’m used to starting this way from yeshiva. Until when? What? Thursday. I always do it when there’s some other date involved. Pick me an ordinary date.

01:52 Speaker 1 In a sharp transition from the practical matters that are the body of shlichus to matters of the soul—the soul of shlichus—which is really what today’s date is about, and the main reason this gathering was set for today, 28 Nissan. We want to connect matters of practical action—the Rebbe’s instructions, Lag BaOmer parades, with all the Rebbe’s instructions they involve—with the central concern of shlichus, as the Rebbe defined it at the last Kinus Hashluchim in 5752. The main task of shlichus is to prepare oneself and the entire city to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That does not mean the Rebbe turned 28 Nissan into an international Moshiach Day, when once a year we remember Moshiach’s coming and think about what to do. Nor did the Rebbe instruct us to sit down on 28 Nissan and offer advice. He did not ask us to call ourselves “the ones who insist,” either, because the Rebbe was not speaking in slogans in the sicha of 28 Nissan. The Rebbe expressed his pain that we were not taking these things seriously enough, and that the time had come to take them more seriously, internalize them, and begin to act. So we must not, G-d forbid, turn this into an annual “ceremony of the ones who insist” or a ceremony for offering advice. The Rebbe said: Find among yourselves one, two, or three people who will offer advice on what to do and how to do it. But we are not going to hold a ceremony of insistence and giving advice, because we are not “the ones who insist” or the ones who give advice. This is something each of us needs to think about every day, all year long: for the past twenty-three years and until Moshiach comes in actual fact, what can each person do? We need to seek out ways and try to insist more and more. We are gathering here today as a continuation of, and within the framework of, the good resolution made at the last Kinus Hashluchim: to hold study days on Geulah and Moshiach roughly every two months. On the 28th we did this in—

04:45 Speaker 1 Two months ago, on 28 Adar I; now on 28 Nissan; then toward 28 Sivan, and so on, with Hashem’s help. Still, today is a day when each of us remembers and feels a special awakening to consider the meaning of this day and of the call the Rebbe made to us, the charge he placed upon us on this day. The Rebbe’s advance guard in the seventh generation, the generation in which we live—the advance guard bringing Moshiach and preparing the entire people to greet Moshiach—is the shluchim. Many people try to claim for themselves the crown of bringing Moshiach and caring about his coming, and that may be true in terms of ideas, theories, words, and publicity. But there is also the day-to-day, painstaking work that the Rebbe spoke of in his very first maamar, Basi Legani 5711: this generation is the generation that will draw the Shechinah down into the physical world. That means the coming of Moshiach in the literal sense. All the work of this generation, as the Rebbe laid it out and continued to give instruction after instruction over the years, is to draw the Shechinah down through the shlichus on which the Rebbe sent the shluchim; through the various mivtzoim the Rebbe gave us, the order in which they were introduced, and additional ones added over time, such as a letter in a Sefer Torah, and so on. This is the daily work of standing on the front line—the real front line—face to face with Jews around the world, and with Jews here in Israel, as the shluchim sitting here do. This is the daily work of actually preparing the people to greet Moshiach. What should Chabad’s position be on publicity—how to publicize, what we say, and what we declare to the public? That is not really a question for us sitting here. I doubt anyone could even decide those questions, but that is not our subject. Our subject is the daily work that has gone on since the beginning of the Rebbe’s leadership. Each person, from the time he went out on shlichus, has stood before the public to prepare

07:16 Speaker 1 the public in practice for those moments, for that moment of greeting Moshiach. In the Rebbe’s hadran on the Rambam in 5747, the Rebbe asks: What is the purpose of all the matters of Torah and mitzvos? It is to bring a Jew into the form that the Supernal Will wants him to have. In other words, the Supernal Will—Hakadosh Boruch Hu—wants a Jew to take a certain form, and that is why there are the mitzvah of tefillin, the mitzvah of tzitzis, the mitzvah of mezuzah, kashrus, family purity, education, a home filled with books, and so on. The purpose of all the mitzvos is for the Jew to be shaped in accordance with the Supernal Will. The Rebbe says there: When will a Jew take his true form according to the Supernal Will? When the world reaches its perfection with the coming of Moshiach. The work of Torah and mitzvos prepares the Jew to attain the complete form that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants. In simple terms, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, and He wants the Jew to be a certain way and the world to be a certain way. That is how things will be in the days of Moshiach. When a Jew begins to live a life of Torah and mitzvos as the Rebbe teaches us to guide him—with the right initial priorities, approach, and method—we are shaping that Jew so that he will be ready to greet Moshiach. And the Rebbe says explicitly later in the sicha that this is why the Rambam discusses the Laws of Kings and Their Wars. At the end of the Mishneh Torah, he speaks about Moshiach and says that someone who does not believe in him, and so on, has a problem with his faith in the entire Torah and in Moshe Rabbeinu. Why is that? Because the entire Torah—Moshe Rabbeinu, the Torah, and all its commandments—was given to shape the Jewish people, the children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, into the form that Hakadosh

09:19 Speaker 1 Boruch Hu wants. What is that form? The days of Moshiach. This is the spirit in which the Rebbe worked throughout the years, and it is the foundation of the seventh generation. The Rebbe spread his chassidim out and sent them to every place in the world to work on shaping the Jewish people, each Jew wherever he or she may be, so that they would take on their true form for the days of Moshiach, ready to greet Moshiach. That means he will put on tefillin, she will light Shabbos candles, and someone else will grow stronger in keeping Shabbos or send his children for a Jewish education. This is long, painstaking work with many details. It is not work that can be finished with a publicity campaign, or with some announcement or declaration that this or that is going to happen and now everyone knows the truth—only for people to go back to their own business and concerns. We need to send the soldiers to the front, among the people, to work with them one by one: “And you, children of Israel, will be gathered one by one,” so that they will be ready to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu. This work is not glamorous or loud, and it does not create a great publicity splash, because it means caring for people one by one. I can establish a school, a cheder, or a yeshiva and declare that it is going to be the best place in the world. But then, in the day-to-day work, I have a hard job, day after day and hour after hour, to make sure the education is imparted, absorbed, and deeply rooted, until students emerge who are worthy of the name. The Rebbe did not merely ask us to proclaim the coming of Moshiach or announce that Moshiach is coming. He wants us to prepare the people to greet Moshiach. That means the Rebbe’s ten mivtzoim, bringing Jews closer to Judaism and to Torah and mitzvos, especially spreading the inner dimension of Torah and spreading Chassidus, and teaching the Jews, the Jewish people, every single person we come into contact with: What are the days of Moshiach? What is the coming of Moshiach? What is Moshiach? And teaching that person to prepare to greet Moshiach. And the part

11:09 Speaker 1 This last point, which was made at the most recent Kinus Hashluchim, is in some ways the hardest of all. As long as we are doing the practical work of preparing the people through all kinds of activities, some of us put tefillin on people, others run mezuzah campaigns, others distribute matzos, and others do... All these details are small pieces of one big puzzle: preparing the people. A Jew who ate matzah on Pesach is, in a certain sense, ready for Moshiach. A Jew who put on tefillin is even more ready; a Jew who put up a mezuzah is even more ready; and when a woman lights Shabbos candles, they are more ready still. This is not a job you can finish in one stroke. And on that front, the Rebbe’s advance guard is the shluchim, who don’t just talk about how to bring Moshiach, but work day by day, hour by hour, to prepare Jews to greet Moshiach. Some find the way and the language to speak more explicitly about Moshiach’s coming. They’ve found the approach, found the people, found a receptive ear. Others wrestle with how to convey it. But one thing is clear, and anyone can check this at their own Chabad House or any other Chabad House: people who come in once, twice, three times—whether you’re someone who puts up one kind of sign or another—know that Moshiach is about to come. They know we are preparing for Moshiach’s coming. They know this is the next thing that is going to happen. A great many of them know what Moshiach is and who Moshiach is. Whether or not you explain it, it comes out of you naturally, on its own. So why are we gathering? If the Rebbe’s shlichus is being carried out and growing stronger, with more Chabad Houses, more appeals to people’s hearts, and more people, why are we gathering? We are gathering to strengthen ourselves, to bring some vitality into ourselves, to rekindle

12:58 Speaker 1 that old love, so that we ourselves live with the awareness that Moshiach could come at any moment, and prepare ourselves personally and spiritually for the great moment of greeting Moshiach. So that we can stand before the Rebbe; so that we can enter the Beis Hamikdash, as we learn in Chassidus. What does it mean to enter the Beis Hamikdash? So that we can live in the days of Moshiach in that way. Then this will be so deeply part of us that when we turn to people and tell them Moshiach is coming, it won’t be information coming from outside us; it will pour out of us. There are things you can’t sell like a salesperson. I can tell someone to put on tefillin, and he’ll put on tefillin. But when I want to explain to someone an era that seems very, very distant and far-fetched to people—someone who learns Chassidus regularly, every day, and lives with it and sees things in the light of Chassidus feels that the days of Moshiach are close. But people who don’t live in that atmosphere, certainly people who live in a secular atmosphere, or, in a different way, religious people who live with the idea that the days of Moshiach are frightening and dangerous, G-d forbid, with Gog and Magog and so on—they don’t have the real information. It is very hard to bring them to a point where they not only believe Moshiach could come at any moment, but also feel it and prepare for it. If it enters our very bones, becomes part of our personalities, until we are excited about it and preparing for it, then words of truth are recognizable, and words that come from the heart enter the heart. That is the purpose of our gathering here. We certainly need to discuss ways of acting, what to do, and how to create the right tools for reaching the world. It is very difficult that we don’t have enough material. Boruch Hashem, Tzeirei Chabad recently finally put out a brochure that has sold tens of thousands of copies, but it isn’t enough. The fact is, I myself saw only one solitary brochure circulating throughout Rishon. But it is a brochure that can be

14:48 Speaker 1 distributed and reproduced in the millions, so that it reaches every Jewish home. Granted, it isn’t a brochure that gives you the full feeling, answers every question, and draws you all the way in. But it is a very, very clear brochure about Moshiach’s coming and the days of Moshiach—the very things each of us wants to give a Jew and explain to him. We need to buy that brochure, get hold of it, and make sure it reaches every single Jew. I don’t even know what it’s called. I saw it once, but it has sold tens of thousands of copies, and it’s available at Tzach; I was told you can go to the warehouse and pick it up. I asked them to bring it here. In any case, there is the book Yemos HaMoshiach, which is a suitable text for a thoughtful, analytical audience that understands the subject. Of course, there are many more tools to develop, but tools are not what we are dealing with today. That is something to work on throughout the year: to meet and sit down together, or share ideas by phone, by email, in a forum, in all kinds of ways, and help—and above all, find the money to do these things, which is far from simple. We are here to recharge and replenish ourselves. And as the Rebbe said, when a Jew studies matters of Geulah and Moshiach, delves into them, reflects on them, and engages with them intellectually—just as he studies a topic with his son who has come home from yeshivah, just as he studies one of the Rebbe’s sichos with its notes and delves into it—that study we do for ourselves will affect us. A good friend of mine, a shliach in California, told me that in most of the Rebbe’s directives, the Rebbe always spoke about reaching out to Jews to do this or that. But in this directive to prepare the world to greet Moshiach, the Rebbe said to prepare oneself, one’s household, and the entire world. Apparently, this is something that has to start with us. I

16:44 Speaker 1 can’t sell something I don’t believe in. I tell a Jew, “Come put on tefillin,” and he asks, “Did you put on tefillin today? Have you put them on yet?” Usually the answer will be yes. But if I explain to a Jew that something great and different is going to happen, that there will be great miracles from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, that the world is about to change for the better, and so on, and he can’t see in me that this comes from something I truly live with and am excited about, it is hard to sell that message. So first and foremost, we need to bring it to life within ourselves. That is what Y. Kadonin[?] told me on Friday. We spoke on the phone. Why is it so important to inspire the shluchim to live with this ourselves? The shluchim are the mirror of Anash—or rather, the people Anash look to. If we truly live with this... Again, everyone carries out activities connected with Moshiach. The children who march in Lag BaOmer parades are ready to greet Moshiach. Jews who came to hear the Ten Commandments are ready to greet Moshiach. This is the hard, painstaking work we do all year long, year after year. But when the meaning, the goal, and the purpose also pour out of us, when we are moved by it and prepare for it ourselves, our impact will be immeasurably greater. A Jew who senses that something great is going to happen, and sees that the shliach is excited about it, will be inspired too. He will do more, and his faith and his readiness to greet Moshiach will grow stronger. So we have no choice—even if we have done all the right things—but to come together among ourselves, sit and study these matters, internalize them, and live with them. Because in actual practice, we are the advance guard bringing Moshiach, day after day throughout the year, without expressing opinions or announcing it to the whole world. It is daily work. What does a Chabad House do? The Rebbe’s directives.

18:34 Speaker 1 All the Rebbe’s directives are meant to prepare the world for the Geulah. But we need to live with the soul of these things, and that is why we need to gather from time to time, sit down, really study them in depth, and enter into their meaning. For today’s program we invited the mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Ashkenazi. Lately, in the Kfar Chabad newspaper, at Torah gatherings, and for anyone who comes to Kfar Chabad, one sees the Rabbi’s work on the Alter Rebbe’s siddur and its distinctive wording. It occurred to me that the Shemoneh Esrei contains so many blessings about the coming of Moshiach. The truth is, they are not grouped together. We might have thought that a Jew stands for Shemoneh Esrei, asks for health and livelihood, and then, at the end, asks for Moshiach to come. But the requests are woven throughout the entire Shemoneh Esrei—one request after another, before the requests for health and livelihood and after them. Most of the blessings speak about the era of the Geulah. The Mitteler Rebbe says in Derech Chaim that, in fact, throughout Shemoneh Esrei a Jew is asking for the Geulah. He explains it this way: “You graciously grant knowledge to man.” If there is knowledge, there can be repentance. So we say, “Bring us back, our Father.” If there is repentance, there is forgiveness; if there is forgiveness, there is redemption; and if there is redemption, there is healing—we will be healed of all our spiritual blemishes. Then comes “Bless this year for us,” and “Strangers will stand and tend your flocks.” Then comes “Sound the great shofar,” the ingathering of the exiles; “Restore our judges” refers to King Moshiach. Then all the forces of evil will be destroyed—“Let there be no hope for the slanderers”—and we will all receive reward: “For the righteous,” “for the pious,” the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That, he says, is what the entire Shemoneh Esrei is about. Since this is the central theme of Shemoneh Esrei, and we are looking for where and how to cry out, “How long?”—first of all, we need to concentrate on the meaning of the words in Shemoneh Esrei. We will hear an in-depth presentation by Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel

20:32 Speaker 1 Ashkenazi shlita on the blessings of Shemoneh Esrei and the requests for the Geulah in Shemoneh Esrei. There are source sheets, and they can be handed out.

21:10 Speaker 3 There’s one sheet there, one of the ones they printed. Good. Welcome to the gathering, to strengthen ourselves ahead of [unclear] today, [unclear], and also because matters of Moshiach and Geulah are the need of the hour right now. In case you don’t remember... What? It’s the symbol of the country. The country’s flag. Blue and white.

22:13 Speaker 1 Huh?

22:14 Speaker 3 Of the Geulah. Sorry, so why blue and white? Oh, there’s something else here. Moshiach and Geulah are not only the need of the hour, and not only what the Rebbe gave us to live with. They are also a pressing demand of this moment. We are now approaching Gimmel Tammuz, twenty years since that difficult day of Gimmel Tammuz. After all, a generation is generally considered a period of twenty years. If not now, when will we cry out for Moshiach? So this is the time to strengthen ourselves more and more in studying matters of Moshiach and Geulah. As the Rebbe said several times, this study is not only Torah study in its own right; it also brings the Geulah closer and hastens it. The study itself gives expression to the cry of “How long?” When a Jew studies, it awakens in him the longing, the desire, and the request of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to see it happen already in actual fact. And we have no doubt whatsoever that what the Rebbe promised us will be fulfilled immediately. But as the Rebbe also said on 28 Nissan, “Do everything in your power.” “Everything in your power” means the demand of us is to do all we can—both to study and to engage in matters of Moshiach and Geulah. Especially now, in this recent period when, thank G-d, matters of Moshiach and Geulah... As they say in Yiddish, [unclear]; you don’t see so many wild things in the streets. But to get to the point: this is the time, and each and every one of us has an obligation to engage more and more in matters of Moshiach and Geulah. I was asked to speak about several topics in the siddur connected with Moshiach and Geulah. Before that, though, I just want to share one thought that is not so directly connected

25:07 Speaker 3 with Moshiach and Geulah, but has a great deal to do with shluchim. I have spoken about it a few times. Shluchim are very involved in the mezuzah campaign, and I hear so many questions from them about it, especially since they work not only within Chabad but with the wider public. There is a very puzzling practice, particularly in Chabad: the mezuzah is always placed according to heker tzir, the direction in which the door opens. Not the location of the hinges. And again, as an aside before I get to what I want to discuss later, I want to point out that heker tzir does not mean, as many mistakenly think, which side the door’s hinges are on—right or left. No. Heker tzir means the direction in which the door opens. If the door opens into the room, that is considered the entrance. If it opens out of the room, the entrance is considered to be out of the room. So the mezuzah is placed on the right side of the entrance going out of the room. And everyone is puzzled by this. How can that be? What is the reasoning? After all, a mezuzah marks the entrance to a home. If the door opens inward, then entering means going inward—fine. But if the door opens outward, then that makes the entrance lead outward. An entrance is into the home, not outside. What is the meaning of this custom? Quite a few people have written at length on this subject. There is a disagreement between the Rambam and the Rosh over whether an opening that has no mezuzah—no door—is obligated to have a mezuzah. The Rambam holds that it is exempt, and therefore the door determines the matter. But that, too, raises a very puzzling question. This is how everyone practices; there are hundreds of disagreements between the Rambam and the Rosh. Why, when it comes to affixing a mezuzah, do the Tzemach Tzedek and Lubavitch suddenly go against everyone else and put the mezuzah specifically the

27:08 Speaker 3 other way around? A Jew from outside Chabad comes to a Chabad home and looks for the mezuzah, and there is no mezuzah at the door. What do you mean, there’s no mezuzah? You have to show him that the mezuzah is on the other side, on the left, if the door opens outward. I thought of an explanation. Perhaps it answers why, once you begin to think about the subject, it is so puzzling that everyone else practices differently. I have had occasion to speak with quite a few people outside Chabad, and they shrug and say, “It seems you’re right, but... why is it done this way? I don’t know.” There is a disagreement between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam over how a mezuzah should be positioned. The Gemara says it should be positioned like a bolt. What does “like a bolt” mean? There are two kinds of bolts. One locks the door into the ground, and the other locks it toward the doorframe. There is a major disagreement among the early authorities about this. How should the mezuzah be positioned? Should it be like a bolt that locks downward, so that the mezuzah stands upright? Or should the mezuzah lie horizontally, like a bolt that locks the door into the frame—like the locks we have today, in the middle of the door, which lock into the doorframe rather than the ground? In those days, though, and even today on various gates, bolts lock into the upper frame and into the floor as well. So how should the mezuzah be positioned? It is a major disagreement. And the disagreement is not only about mezuzahs. It also concerns tefillin: how should the parchment passages be placed inside the tefillin? Should they stand upright or lie horizontally?

00:00 Speaker 1 The Rema says the mezuzah should be placed at an angle. Once the mezuzah is angled, this is what it means: If the mezuzah is upright, then its head and feet—that is, the “Shema” and the “al ha’aretz”—are aligned, straight up and down. But if the mezuzah is angled, its head is farther in and its feet are farther out. It has a direction. How do you tell which way the mezuzah faces? By where its head points. How do you measure a person? By where his head is. So the mezuzah has a head and it has feet. Now, the opinion that says the mezuzah should lie horizontally, like a bolt, says that its head, the “Shema,” should point toward the room, because that is the head of the mezuzah and it should face the room. Fine. So when we place it at an angle, we know that the head of the mezuzah should point toward the room. That is how we always do it: the head points toward the room, and the feet, the “al ha’aretz,” point outward. On the mezuzah is the name Shaddai, which is always in the upper third, opposite the words “Shema.” Shaddai is in the upper third, and that is what the Rambam writes—and the Rebbe discusses this in Likkutei Sichos. The Rebbe cites his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, in Likkutei Levi Yitzchak. It may be that the mezuzah’s protection comes not only from “Shema Yisroel”; Shaddai, too, is the mezuzah’s protection. The Rebbe then brings several opinions from the Zohar on this subject. A custom arose—the Rambam calls it a custom of the early generations—to put the name Shaddai at the beginning of the mezuzah. Why did they choose this particular name, Shaddai? The Rebbe brings two explanations: one from the Arizal and one from the Rema. The Rema says that Shaddai means Shomer Diras Yisroel, “Guardian of the dwelling of Israel.” Citing the Kol Bo, the Rema says that the letters of Shaddai stand for Shomer Diras Yisroel. The Arizal explains in the Siddur HaArizal

02:26 Speaker 1 that Shaddai means Shomer Dalsos Yisroel, “Guardian of the doors of Israel”—not guardian of the dwelling, but guardian of the doors. In other words, according to the Rema, Shaddai means that it guards the dwelling. According to the Arizal, it guards the door. Now let’s think about this. We follow the Rema, and we follow the Arizal. How can we do both? If the mezuzah is angled—look, if the mezuzah is angled, and the name Shaddai is here and the door is here—then when you say Shomer Dalsos Yisroel, it guards the door. But if the door is here and the mezuzah is angled this way, and you say Shaddai, how does it guard the door? Its feet point toward the door, not its head. So the two seem contradictory. How can both be true? The answer given was that if you are a chossid who wants to follow the Rema and also the Arizal, and both are correct, what do you do? Shaddai must always face the door. That is what “Guardian of the doors of Israel” means: it guards the door. How did the Arizal understand the mezuzah to guard the door rather than the room? I don’t know. But we trust that elder’s authority: he knew how to interpret a name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So Chabad came along and said that we do not follow only the Arizal in every respect. We follow both. That is always the way of Chabad customs: we examine these things carefully. There is a great deal more to say about how the aim was not to rule according to one opinion, but always to reconcile them and satisfy all opinions. Chabad custom came along and said: this is how we follow both opinions. What does it mean to follow both opinions?

04:21 Speaker 1 At the front door, we follow the Rema: Shomer Diras Yisroel, “Guardian of the dwelling of Israel,” because the first mezuzah guards the entire dwelling. So there it guards the whole dwelling. Even if the door opens outward, Shaddai faces the house; the head faces the house. But with the other rooms, where the meaning is that Shaddai is Shomer Dalsos Yisroel, “Guardian of the doors of Israel,” the mezuzah must always face the door. So this is not about the dispute involving the Rosh and the Rema. It is simply about Chabad custom: if we follow the Rema and also follow Kabbalah, how do the two fit together? To reconcile them, we can always say that the mezuzah now faces the door. I wanted to point this out because recently quite a few people have asked me about it, and I saw that there is a general lack of clarity about the meaning of [unclear]. Since I am here with the shluchim, I just wanted to mention it. But that is not the topic I was given—I went off topic. I thought this was an opportunity to speak about it. If anyone has questions, I’m ready to hear them. But that’s what—does anyone have anything they didn’t understand? Hm? Now, moving on. I wanted to discuss two matters concerning Moshiach and Geulah: how they are expressed in the siddur and how they are expressed in the Rebbe’s sichos. That includes Geulah and the ingathering of the exiles, the kingship of Moshiach and the House of David, and also Jerusalem. When you study the Rebbe’s sichos well and then begin, little by little, to study the prayers, you see that it is all written in the siddur. It is all there. Every word in the siddur was established by the Men of the Great Assembly, and every single word has many interpretations that encompass the different opinions from every angle. We

06:22 Speaker 1 say in the blessing after the haftarah—let’s speak a little about Moshiach and the kingship of the House of David—we say: “Gladden us, Hashem our G-d, with Eliyahu the Prophet, Your servant, and with the kingdom of the House of David, Your anointed one. May he come speedily and make our hearts rejoice.” All right? That is one passage. The second passage: “No stranger shall sit upon his throne, nor shall others inherit his glory any longer. No stranger shall sit upon his throne, nor shall others inherit his glory any longer. For You swore to him by Your holy name that his lamp would never be extinguished. Blessed are You, Hashem, Shield of David.” When you begin to consider the content of this blessing—and I’m telling you, I searched and searched and searched, and I could not find anyone who would lay it out and explain it to me—I said, there seem to be two things here. There are several requests, but let’s focus on this one: “No stranger shall sit upon his throne.” A stranger will not sit on David’s throne, “nor shall others inherit his glory any longer.” What, seemingly, does “nor shall others inherit his glory any longer” mean? Others will no longer inherit his glory. That implies that, until now, others have inherited his glory. Now we ask that others no longer inherit his glory, that it not happen again. So that means that, until now, it may have been possible for others to sit on David’s throne. Then what does the preceding phrase mean, “No stranger shall sit upon his throne”? We should have said, “No stranger shall sit upon his throne any longer.” But that is not what we say. We say, “No stranger shall sit upon his throne.” In other words, this is guaranteed: a stranger cannot sit on King David’s throne. As for David’s glory, there may indeed have been a time when someone took it, but for that to no longer

08:22 Speaker 1 It won’t happen. In other words, we have two requests here. One request concerns David’s throne: that no one else— that “no stranger shall sit on his throne.” Since no stranger shall sit on his throne, we ask for the Geulah of David, and we need to see David’s throne. So David himself must be revealed. But there is also David’s honor: “nor shall others inherit his honor anymore.” Until now it was that way, but from now on, others must no longer inherit his honor. So what, seemingly, is the point? There is more to say about the questions here, but I want to focus on one aspect. There is Psalm 88 there. Psalm 80... [unclear], Psalm 89 in Tehillim. It speaks at length about the oaths to David, and there is something very interesting there as well. At the beginning of the psalm we see: “I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David My servant: I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations, selah.” David Hamelech tells us that Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore to David, “I will establish your descendants forever.” Your descendants, your children and their descendants, will endure forever. And the throne: “I will build your throne for all generations, selah.” Your throne, too, will endure for all generations. That is one thing. Then, on the next page, again: “Forever I will keep My kindness for him, and My covenant shall remain faithful to him.” “If his sons forsake My Torah and do not walk in My laws.” “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not be false to David. His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne shall be like the sun before Me.” There seem to be two oaths to David Hamelech here. In the first oath He tells David, “I will build your throne for all generations, selah.” Then He repeats it: “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not be false to David. His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne shall be like the sun before Me.” Why repeat it? Why repeat the oaths? We already mentioned

10:37 Speaker 1 that there is an oath to David that his children—that the kingship of the House of David will endure forever. You said it at the beginning, so why repeat it: “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not be false to David”? Then, in Psalm 132, it is revealed again: “Hashem swore to David in truth: From the fruit of your body I will set one upon your throne. If your sons keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their sons too shall sit upon your throne forever.” Again, for a third time, it repeats that Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore to David that his throne, his kingship, would endure forever. What does this mean? What is going on here? What? What? In Tehillim, the oaths to David are repeated three times. We already knew, right at the beginning of Psalm 89, that David had been promised under oath that his descendants would endure forever—that his son, his son’s son, and David’s descendants would always endure. So why repeat it, and then repeat it a third time? “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not be false to David.” In any event, when you think about it and look a little at the Rebbe’s sichos—I don’t remember which sicha right now, but from studying the sichos over the years—I think there is something very, very deep here, and it bears on our subject today. Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore to David Hamelech that his throne would endure forever. How would it endure forever? How? His descendants would always exist; David’s descendants would always exist, and they would sit on the throne. Now, inheritance can take two forms. How does someone inherit? Usually we think of an inheritance passing from generation to generation. That is, a father owned property; unfortunately, he passed away, and his property went to his children. The property once belonged to the father, and now it passes to the children. It used to be in Yaakov’s name, and now it passes to Reuven. That is one form

12:50 Speaker 1 of inheritance. Sometimes inheritance has a deeper meaning. It is not that Yaakov’s inheritance passes to Reuven; Reuven sits on Yaakov’s chair and carries on as Yaakov’s successor. Everyone understands that these are two things as far apart as east and west. Does Reuven take Yaakov’s place, or does Reuven become the one who occupies Yaakov’s place? Those are two meanings of inheritance. If we recall the matter of 5 Teves, when the Rebbe spoke with the lawyers about how to conduct the court case over the sefarim, he maintained that the sefarim were not a matter of inheritance. He maintained that the Frierdiker Rebbe is alive. What does it mean that the Frierdiker Rebbe is alive? In other words, this is how it was understood then. At any rate, that is how I understood it at the time: it did not mean that something had passed from the Frierdiker Rebbe to the next generation. The person who fills the Frierdiker Rebbe’s place sits in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s chair. That is an entirely different kind of inheritance. I think that, in my humble opinion, the source for these two forms is here, in this blessing. In Tehillim. We will get to the blessing shortly. First, Hakadosh Boruch Hu swears to David: Know that Shlomo, Rechavam, King Chizkiyahu, Menashe, and all the others will be your descendants, and they will inherit the kingship from generation to generation. “I will build your throne for all generations, selah.” What does “for all generations” mean? Your inheritance will pass from generation to generation. It will pass from David to Shlomo, from Shlomo to Rechavam, and then onward, through Asa and all the kings, one after another. In other words, David’s inheritance will pass to Shlomo, and from Shlomo to Rechavam. That is one thing. It is the ordinary inheritance we always read about in the laws of inheritance that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave in Parshas Pinchas: a father bequeaths to his son. That is one thing. But there is a second kind of inheritance. It is

15:17 Speaker 1 not just that David’s inheritance passes to Shlomo; Shlomo sits on David’s throne. So what follows if Shlomo sits on David’s throne? David’s throne endures forever. It is not only David’s inheritance that endures forever. David’s throne endures forever, and anyone who is descended from David Hamelech and is fit for kingship, who descends from David Hamelech through an unbroken line of sons, who is descended from Shlomo, as the Rambam writes, and who takes his seat as king over Israel—not only does he inherit from David Hamelech, he sits on David’s throne. He sits on David’s throne. So, in other words, what do we see here? There is something very... I don’t want to know. I don’t want to, I don’t want to. In other words, what do we have here? Two things. There are two kinds of inheritance. There is an inheritance that passes on... When we look at the Rambam, it seems we can understand this from his words. For example, there was a descendant of David who was not fit for kingship: Menashe. He was wicked, one of the most wicked people. Later he did teshuvah, but he had been wicked. He was the son of King Chizkiyahu, and he took the throne and became king over Israel. What authority did he have? What authority did he have? After all—I will read the psalm from Tehillim shortly—if David’s descendants do not follow the path of Torah, then they do not inherit. They are not fit; they are not fit to inherit. Yes, certainly. They are not fit to inherit. In other words, King Chizkiyahu was a king, a righteous king in Israel and one of the great tzaddikim. He passed away and passed his kingship on to Menashe, yes? Menashe was not fit to inherit. He was not fit to inherit. He was not fit to be king

18:15 Speaker 1 because he did not follow Hashem’s path. So how did he inherit the king—how did he inherit the kingship? That’s right, he did not inherit it. Which kingship did he not inherit? He could not inherit the kingship that passes from generation to generation. Because if you want King Chizkiyahu’s kingship to pass to Menashe, that cannot happen. He does not inherit; he is not fit to inherit. But there is another matter. He sits on David’s throne. David’s throne endures forever, and he sits on David’s throne if he is descended from David. Even if he is not fit to inherit, even if he is not a tzaddik—quite the opposite, he worships idols—if he sits on David’s throne, he has the authority of David’s throne. This is a novel idea... an extraordinary innovation: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave this power only to David Hamelech, that his throne would remain established forever. Besides the inheritance that passes from generation to generation, there is also the fact that he sits on David’s throne. And we will see this. First, in the earlier passage in Tehillim, it speaks about inheritance from generation to generation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore to him that his descendants would endure forever, so that inheritance would pass from generation to generation. There would always be heirs. Then Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore another oath to him: “I will establish his descendants forever, and his throne for as long as the heavens endure.” David’s throne will last as long as the heavens endure. Here it does not say “generation after generation”; rather, David’s throne will last as long as the heavens endure. Then it adds: “If his sons forsake My Torah and do not walk in My laws; if they profane My statutes.” And how does it continue? They will not follow the path of Torah or the path of the mitzvos. But “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not be false to David.”

20:10 Speaker 1 “His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne shall be like the sun before Me.” His throne is like the sun before Me. So what do I care if his descendants don’t, don’t, don’t follow the path of Torah? They’re sitting on David’s throne.

20:26 Speaker 2 What’s the blessing in that?

20:27 Speaker 1 What?

20:30 Speaker 2 What’s the blessing in that?

20:31 Speaker 1 What, what?

20:31 Speaker 2 What’s the blessing in that?

20:31 Speaker 1 The blessing in what?

20:32 Speaker 2 That even people who can’t follow the path of Torah can—

20:36 Speaker 1 No, not just anyone. Only if they’re descended from David.

20:39 Speaker 2 If they’re descended from David. Why is that called a blessing?

20:41 Speaker 1 What, that his throne endures? What greater blessing could there be?

20:45 Speaker 2 Even though it isn’t...

20:46 Speaker 1 Well, what do you mean, that the connection is only to that? On the contrary, that’s where the greatest possible blessing lies. If a person has children and descendants, and they inherit from him, then they all inherit. That could be true of the kings of Israel too. If Jehoram had had descendants fit to... I mean, heirs, they could have inherited his position. But this is something extraordinary: David’s throne will endure forever, and whoever sits on it—even if I don’t care for him. The throne sanctifies him, because he sits on David’s throne. “And his throne shall be like the days of heaven, and his throne like the sun before Me.” What are we to make of that? What comes next? Wait, perhaps we’ll pause there and move on. There’s a third oath here. A third oath. Because Psalm 132 speaks about the Beis Hamikdash, right? Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the site of the Beis Hamikdash as the place where He would dwell forever. The kingdom of the House of David isn’t merely the kingdom of the House of David, meaning that a king from that house rules Israel and there will be no other king, nor can there be another. The kingdom of the House of David is part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. It’s like... the Beis Hamikdash had a number of elements. There was the site of the Beis Hamikdash, the altar, the chambers. All of them are part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. So too, David’s throne is... It’s not only that there’s a king in Israel, not only that there’s a king in Jerusalem, and not only that there’s David’s throne. There’s a third oath. Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore to him: Know that just as the Beis Hamikdash will endure, so will you. He didn’t merely promise him that both of them would be eternal. They’re bound together. There cannot be a Beis Hamikdash without David’s throne, and there cannot be David’s throne without the Beis Hamikdash. And that’s the third oath in Psalm 132, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu

23:04 Speaker 1 swore to him. “Hashem swore to David in truth; He will not turn back from it... If your sons keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their sons too shall sit upon your throne forever.” So that’s what it says: they shall sit... But what? There’s something deeper here. What did He tell him? Know that this isn’t merely about an heir. As we said, the first part concerns inheritance, that it passes from generation to generation. So now, in Jerusalem, he’ll also be... he’ll be part of the Beis Hamikdash. No. “Upon your throne.” After the second oath I swore, that your throne will endure forever, know that this throne is part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. Not David’s kingship as such—the throne of David. That enduring thing of David’s, the fact that David’s throne exists forever. Just as we say that the site of the Beis Hamikdash endures, so David’s throne endures forever and is part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. That’s why it stresses, “upon your throne.” Your throne belongs to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem belongs to it. But then, what could go even further than that? Imagine—and you can discern this in the Rambam’s words. I don’t have the Rambam here. Imagine a Jew like Menashe, a king like Menashe. A king like Menashe. This is an enormous innovation. From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective on the kingdom of the House of David—because King David was so close to Him—a king like Menashe, when he was king in Jerusalem and sat on David’s throne, on the throne of King Chizkiyahu, was part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. Menashe himself, seemingly the greatest of the wicked, was part of the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash. But imagine a king from the House of David who doesn’t reign in Jerusalem, but reigns in Chevron. He has a son who’s the greatest tzaddik, and the son continues his reign.

25:01 Speaker 1 He’s an heir of David. I don’t know whether he has David’s throne, but he isn’t part of the Beis Hamikdash. Why? Even though he’s a tzaddik, the greatest tzaddik, his throne isn’t part of the Beis Hamikdash. Why? Because David’s throne is found only at the Beis Hamikdash, and the moment he comes and sits on David’s throne, he has a share in the Beis Hamikdash.

25:25 Speaker 3 What does the rabbi mean when he says the Beis Hamikdash is eternal? About that—

25:28 Speaker 1 What?

25:29 Speaker 3 What does the rabbi mean?

25:30 Speaker 1 Wait, I’ll get to that shortly. What do I mean when I say the kingdom of the House of David is eternal? That’s what’s written here in Psalm 89. Further on, it says this. Look carefully at what it says: “His descendants shall endure forever”—his descendants will endure forever; the line of the House of David will not cease. “And his throne shall be like the sun before Me, established forever like the moon.” He says it will be like the sun and the moon. What does that mean, like the sun and the moon? There are two things here. The sun endures forever. It always rises in the morning and sets in the evening. It undergoes no changes—only the length of the day changes, and the points where it rises and sets. The moon changes. It waxes and wanes, becomes hidden and then appears again. Hakadosh Boruch Hu told David, “Your kingship will be like that. There will be a period when, like the moon, it will be hidden.” But when the moon is hidden, does it cease to exist? It’s there. The body of the moon is there. It’s just that the sun isn’t illuminating it, but it’s there. It has both the quality of the sun and the quality of the moon. The same is apparently true of the Beis Hamikdash. We don’t see it, but the Rambam says that the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash has never departed from its place. The same sanctity that existed then is there now; we only need to open our eyes. There are Jews who see it. I haven’t yet merited to see it, but whoever sees it, sees it. This helps us understand a little of what the blessing means. That’s what it says: “They shall sit upon your throne.” David’s throne, as we said earlier in the second oath to David—that’s not something just anyone can sit on. It’s only for David’s descendants. Whoever a descendant of David may be, if he’s descended from David, he sits on David’s throne. It cannot—

27:39 Speaker 1 “There shall never cease to be a man of yours sitting on the throne of Israel.” There has never been anything like this. From the time Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose King David, He promised him that his throne would endure forever. But David’s honor, David’s kingship—that’s what we called the first oath, that it would pass down through the generations—there were indeed periods when... And it may well be, according to the Rambam, that Yeravam, who became king over Israel—who established him? Achiya HaShiloni—had David’s honor. That is, he had David’s kingship. He didn’t have David’s throne, but he did have David’s kingship. The same goes for the kings of the Second Temple period, the Chashmonaim and so on. And this is what I also want to get to regarding Melech HaMoshiach, which the Rebbe discusses: what power and authority he will have. But in any event, the throne... “And others shall no longer inherit his honor.” It says “no longer” because there were periods in Israel when others did inherit his honor. But we ask that “others shall no longer inherit his honor,” that it never happen again, that it belong only to David. Why? Why, really? This is where I want to get to, though I don’t know if I’ll have time. There are two things here. We have to look closely at the prayers. In the blessings of Bircas Hamazon and in the prayers, we mention the kingdom of the House of David and the Beis Hamikdash. There’s a formulation of the Taz, who quotes the Rashba’s wording in the laws of Bircas Hamazon, section 187. He changes a few words of the Rashba’s wording there. We can learn something very fundamental about prayer from this. We ask for the Beis Hamikdash; we ask for the kingdom of the House of David. What are we asking for? What are we asking for?

00:01 Speaker 1 There are things that existed, things that seemed permanent. There was the Beis Hamikdash; there were kings, David and Shlomo. There were great kings whose rule stretched from sea to sea. There was the First Beis Hamikdash and the Second Beis Hamikdash. Now, when we ask, when we find ourselves in the darkness of exile, what are we asking for? Sometimes in our prayers we ask: Restore what we once had. Sometimes we ask: Give us what You promised. It is certain and clear, and this also seems to be the Rambam’s view, that the Geulah to come will unfold in stages. First, what once existed will return, as the Rambam writes: “All the laws will be restored in his days as they were before.” Right? And afterward, David’s kingship over all Israel will be renewed, his rule will extend from sea to sea, and everything the prophets said about it will come to pass. When we make these requests, there is a major difference between Birkas Hamazon and the prayers. The Rebbe Rashab says that there, the Alter Rebbe explains the meaning: We ask for David’s kingship to return. For David’s kingship to return. But in the prayers, we do not ask only for David’s kingship to return. We ask for the kingship of the House of David as it was promised to us: that David will be king over all Israel. And according to the sequence in the Rambam—how does it go, how is it written there?—a king from the House of David builds the Beis Hamikdash and then gathers the dispersed of Israel. First there is a king, but he is not king over all Israel. Only after he gathers the dispersed of Israel will he be king over all Israel, and afterward all the great revelations will begin. We need to distinguish carefully between these things. At one point we ask for the kingship of the House of David to return, and at another we ask for David’s kingship to be renewed in its fullness. That, seemingly, is the meaning of the Rebbe Rashab’s words. “The fullness of the kingship of the House of David” means the kingship of the House of David as it will be. Here we say

02:13 Speaker 1 “No stranger shall sit on his throne, nor shall others ever inherit his glory, for by Your holy Name You swore to him that his lamp would never be extinguished.” Seemingly, why do we say, “nor shall others ever inherit his glory”? What does it mean for “others” to inherit “his glory”? Because there was a time when Yeravam was king over Israel, but Rechavam was also king, over Yehudah. He was not merely king over Yehudah; he had all the authority of a king of Yehudah, as the Rambam writes. But he was not king over all Israel. The kingship may return, but that is not enough for us. We want the kingship as it will be in the future, as we were promised: after the ingathering of the exiles, there will be a king over all Israel. There is more one could say about this, but it is hard for me to stand, and may we merit to see it immediately, right now.

03:03 Speaker 2 Thank you to the mara d’asra, Rabbi Ashkenazi. With us is the mashpia and mashgiach at the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in Kfar Chabad. He was among those who reviewed and recorded the Rebbe’s sichos, and wrote down the Rebbe’s sichos in 5752. He will rekindle an old longing and remind us of points from the sichos of 5751 and 5752, from the sicha of 29 Nissan onward, bringing these matters back to life so we can experience them together. After Rabbi Damichovsky, we will hear a talk from Rabbi Mendy Brod about the way we study, and how studying the subjects of Moshiach ourselves can affect our outlook on the world. It is worth staying. Rabbi Damichovsky, please.

04:09 Speaker 3 With the permission of the mara d’asra here, and everyone present. The truth is that I am apprehensive about opening my mouth. What can I say here before shluchim who put what the Rebbe said into practice every single day? How do we bring Moshiach through our daily work with all of the Jewish people? You know, there are chassidim today who collect maamad funds and, once a month, go around to the shluchim and distribute them. So I once asked one of them, “What are you doing?” He told me, “Listen, there is such a thing as maamad. Every chossid must give maamad to the Rebbe from his own money. Today I give it to the Rebbe’s children, so I go around among the shluchim and give maamad.” Still, we had the great privilege—and the obligation—of being there during that sicha, four or five benches away from the Rebbe. We had the great privilege of being there throughout those years when the Rebbe spoke so much, and demanded so much, about Moshiach, constantly. So when Rabbi Gruzman asked me, I really had no choice; I could not say it was not appropriate, that I would not come, and so on. Unfortunately, we are all subject to time, and years have passed since then. As the Rambam says, the passage of time takes its toll. Time has an effect, and matters of feeling, of love, certainly fade and need strengthening. So I thought I would remind myself—and you—of what we experienced that year, or at least some points from it. Throughout that entire year, the Rebbe’s farbrengens had a different style, a different tone from what we had been used to in the early 5740s, and certainly in the years before that. I remember the beginning of the farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Mikeitz 5751. The Rebbe spoke about himself; that is how he began. He said that when a person is immersed in a particular subject, then whatever he

06:17 Speaker 3 sees, he immediately sees its connection to the subject he is immersed in. So if a person is immersed in Geulah, Moshiach, and perfection, then when Parshas Mikeitz comes along, it immediately strikes him: Ah! The end of days. That is how the Rebbe began the farbrengen. And so it was throughout the year, Shabbos after Shabbos: the Rebbe spoke about Moshiach, about how immediate it was, how it needed to be part of our present moment. Sometimes the Rebbe spoke in the language of halachah, about how strongly the Rambam speaks of one who does not await Moshiach’s coming—not only one who does not believe in him, but even one who does not await his coming. How serious this is... Then came Pesach 5751 and the last day of Pesach. And then came that sicha. At first, the Rebbe gave a long sicha. The Rebbe went through all the details of the dates, the months, the days of the week, and so on. He counted twenty in the Omer and said that everything was connected to Moshiach. Then, in the last few minutes of the sicha, as we all remember—and anyone who does not remember can watch the video again and be reminded—the Rebbe spoke about this with such intensity. Two things. First: How can it be that the Geulah is still not here? And then the Rebbe asked how it could be that ten Jews were standing together and it was not inconceivable to them that this could keep being delayed, while they were not occupied with it as they should be, not immersed in it as they should be. I remember standing right by the lectern, and the whole lectern shook as the Rebbe delivered that sicha. You can imagine the atmosphere in 770. We were young students and married men; there were men with black beards and men with white beards—everyone. No one went to sleep. Afterward, people sat and thought: [unclear]. What does the Rebbe want here? And so on and so forth. And it continued like that, day after day,

08:06 Speaker 3 for days. And even today, when 28 Nissan comes around each year, you cannot turn down any invitations you receive. Because when you remember that sicha, you remember the force of what the Rebbe said. It takes you out of your routine. The big question is: What happens the day after that sicha? When 29 Nissan comes and once again we slip back into our routine. So I think perhaps we need to pay attention. We are not talking right now about what to do in practice, but simply about what is going on within us. When the Rebbe spoke with pain, with great pain, about this matter, the Rebbe said: “Do everything you can, and make every effort you can.” The Rebbe put it this way: “These matters must be in a manner of lights of Tohu, but in vessels of Tikkun.” Whenever people discuss that sicha, they always mention lights of Tohu and vessels of Tikkun. But we need to listen carefully. The Rebbe did not say “lights of Tohu.” The Rebbe specifically said “lights of Tohu, but in vessels of Tikkun.” It could be the other way around: vessels of Tikkun, but with lights of Tohu. The question is what comes naturally to us, what carries our enthusiasm. When the Rebbe spoke—first of all, if you listen to the way the Rebbe spoke—it was all, “These matters must be in a manner of lights of Tohu.” That comes first. “But in vessels of Tikkun.” We have to bring it into vessels of Tikkun. And here the real question arises: If we are talking about work, as was mentioned earlier—personal work, daily work, painstaking work, as was mentioned earlier—then what is the difference, and where do we feel that difference in the very same action or word? How can one action, one word, one thought be an action, word, or thought of lights of Tikkun and vessels of Tikkun, or, instead, of lights of Tohu but in vessels of Tikkun? We are now in the days of Sefiras HaOmer, so I think we can understand

09:58 Speaker 3 If we just go back to a passage from a sicha that I actually heard—not from a tape, as they say. In general, when yeshiva students sometimes talk a lot about “kvutza,” the year they spent at 770, I tell them: If you really want kvutza, listen to all of 5748 and all of 5749. In my view, that was, of course, the strongest argument for actually doing it. You have an entire year, with a farbrengen every Motzaei Shabbos, every Shabbos, and you can listen to it. Now, in Pirkei Avos—the Rebbe asked, and we’ll get to it shortly, in chapter three of Pirkei Avos. The Rebbe asked a question in one sicha, and in a later sicha he explained the plain meaning of a mishnah in Pirkei Avos. There’s a mishnah in chapter three: “Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given; the world is judged with goodness, and everything is according to the abundance of deeds.” So the Rebbe asked: What, seemingly, is the connection? There are four parts to this mishnah. True, the Rambam says this mishnah contains very great foundations of Judaism. Freedom of choice—that’s “freedom of choice is given.” The fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu knows everything that will happen—that’s “everything is foreseen.” And the Rambam does connect the two: although everything is foreseen, freedom of choice is given—the question of foreknowledge and free choice. But still, the Rebbe asks, seemingly each one—and then there’s “everything is according to the abundance of deeds.” As the Alter Rebbe cites in Igeres Hakodesh, the emphasis isn’t on the amount given. In other words, if you give a thousand shekels to tzedakah, don’t give it all in one gift of a thousand shekels. Give it in many separate gifts, because each act of giving is something in its own right. Each one is a supernal union in its own right. But the Rebbe asks: What’s the connection here? Why is this one mishnah? “Everything is foreseen” is one subject; then there’s “freedom of choice is given,” “the world is judged with goodness,” and “everything is according to the abundance of deeds.” What connects them? So the Rebbe

11:49 Speaker 3 explained afterward—I think this is the explanation. The Rebbe explained the mishnah this way. The Rebbe began [unclear]. Sometimes a Jew starts thinking: This matter is a Torah obligation; this one is rabbinic; this one is a custom; this one is [unclear], and so on. But the moment he remembers that everything is foreseen—I can’t—but you have to hear the way the Rebbe said it. “Everything is foreseen. The King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Himself stands beside you and watches what you’re doing right now, in every step and every action.” The Rebbe said: “A little child gets up in the morning, a three-year-old boy, [unclear]. He stands beside him and watches [unclear], and so on and so on.” So once everything is foreseen, a normal person—that’s how the Rebbe put it—what difference does it make whether it’s a Torah obligation, a rabbinic obligation, or a custom? Atzmus Umehus Himself is watching you, standing beside you and seeing what you do. So it’s obvious how you need to respond. How could you start making calculations about what’s a Torah obligation, what’s rabbinic, where you can be lenient and where you can be stringent? It’s out of the question. But then, “freedom of choice is given.” What does that mean? The Rebbe said: Seemingly, when a Jew understands that everything is foreseen, where is there any room for his own existence? Where is there room for him to do any avodah of his own? Where is there room for free choice? The Rebbe says it doesn’t say freedom of choice “exists”; it says freedom of choice “is given.” In other words, although everything is foreseen and you truly are together with Atzmus Umehus—so what room is there even to talk about what I can do?—freedom of choice is given. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives you, so to speak, this space in which you have the possibility of free

13:36 Speaker 3 choice. Still, a Jew asks—as the Rebbe put it—[unclear]. Because a Jew knows that everything is foreseen, that he is [unclear], and that Hakadosh Boruch Hu watches him every single moment, in every step and every action. So what happens? He’s afraid. How can he even move? He is told: “The world is judged with goodness.” When it comes to judgment, when it comes to—are you afraid? When it comes to judgment, know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes into account that a person comes from dust and will return to dust, that he is made of physical matter, that “we are like dust,” and so on. Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes all his limitations into account; He Himself created you with limitations. So you can’t fully live up to what “everything is foreseen” seems to demand. When it comes to being judged, “the world is judged with goodness”: the aim is to give you as much as possible in a way of goodness. Still, that isn’t enough. Sometimes a Jew comes and says, “I know I can’t give more than this to tzedakah. I know I can’t devote more than this to Torah study,” even though everything is foreseen. He is told: “Everything is according to the abundance of deeds.” Go and divide up whatever you have. You, too, will have gained a great deal. Fine, no one is asking you to increase the amount. This is the amount you can give, and no more. But divide that amount into six coins, and that, too, accomplishes far more in refining and elevating the world, and so on. So what’s the difference? A Jew might ask, “What difference does it make? In the end I’m giving the same coin, and everything is according to the abundance of deeds. Why does it matter whether the end of the mishnah is connected to its beginning,

15:07 Speaker 3 to ‘everything is foreseen,’ or whether ‘everything is according to the abundance of deeds’ is a mishnah in its own right?” That’s what the Rebbe comes to explain to us in this sicha: it’s all one mishnah. It’s entirely different when “everything is according to the abundance of deeds” follows from “freedom of choice is given,” which itself comes after contemplating “everything is foreseen.” If what drives you is “everything is foreseen,” but that thought leaves you overwhelmed, you say, “No, the Rebbe [unclear] knows me. ‘Freedom of choice is given,’ ‘the world is judged with goodness,’ and ‘everything is according to the abundance of deeds.’” Ultimately, he brought it down to a level where each and every one of us can live up to it. But what drives you through all of this? “Everything is foreseen.” So clearly, when—as the Rebbe explains—this is all one mishnah, one continuous thought, then “everything is according to the abundance of deeds” is different, even if in the end you give the very same coins as another Jew who doesn’t think about “everything is foreseen.” It’s entirely different if this is one mishnah or if it isn’t. Is “everything is according to the abundance of deeds” a continuation of that contemplation, with “everything is foreseen” driving you? Or is it a Jew who is focused on himself and gives tzedakah because he gives tzedakah? Because every year, when we come to this day, 28 Nissan, and reflect a little on what the Rebbe actually told us here, and listen to it again—we understand the content of the sicha, we hear the tone of the words—it seemingly puts us in that overwhelmed state of “everything is foreseen.” Everything is foreseen! It’s, it’s, it’s—so what can we do? How can anyone take in 28 Nissan? What can I do? So what happens? We really go out of our minds. We act—and it really becomes utter chaos. The next day we go to sleep,

16:49 Speaker 3 We eat breakfast, enter a new world, study Mishnah. And then there’s no connection to the beginning of the book; it’s an entirely different subject. But if we know from the outset that those same—certainly the subject of 28 Nissan and the subject of Moshiach, what the Rebbe introduced here beginning with Purim 5747, when the Rebbe spoke about it at length for two hours, in two sichos: how each and every one of us has to enter into this and has to know that he is allowed to, and so on. The first feeling, then, is lights of Tohu. That’s simply what it is: lights of Tohu. But we need lights in vessels of Tikkun. We have to know from the outset how to take this and bring it into vessels of Tikkun. Not vessels of ordinary Tikkun, but vessels of Tikkun in which you can see that they come from lights of Tohu. Perhaps something else? I’m just saying what I think today. I don’t know. There is Igeres Hakodesh 27. We all know it. There are two sets of notes by the Rebbe on Igeres Hakodesh 27. The second is much more detailed, and it doesn’t reach a conclusion; it stops in the middle. There the Rebbe also writes a whole introduction. The Rebbe writes that it is well known that the great sages of Israel customarily wrote and spoke using the language of verses and teachings of our Sages. This was very common before the Alter Rebbe’s time, and in the Alter Rebbe’s time as well. Their style, their letters, their correspondence, always used the language of verses and of our Sages. Sometimes, because of this—because of that apparent constraint—the idea that a tzaddik wanted to convey was limited, because he couldn’t convey it perfectly through verses and teachings of our Sages; he wasn’t speaking in his own style. The Rebbe says:

18:37 Speaker 3 The Alter Rebbe does this too, but he has his own approach here. As in many things, the Alter Rebbe has his own approach here as well. What is that approach? The Rebbe explains: although the Alter Rebbe uses verses and teachings of our Sages, he uses precisely those portions of verses and teachings that fit exactly the message he wants to convey. And when they don’t fit, he changes something—he adds or alters some detail. The Rebbe writes at the beginning of the notes: “In my humble opinion, I will explain what seems to me to be the meaning of the changes and the precise wording in Igeres Hakodesh 27.” It’s very, very interesting. Everyone should, of course, study it and see inside what the Rebbe explains to us. There are many very interesting points. One of the last things the Rebbe explains there, perhaps, concerns the passage in Igeres Hakodesh 27 that explains how a Jew can live, and how a Jew must live, after Gimmel Tammuz. It says there, “to every living soul.” The Alter Rebbe explains what “to every living soul” means: “the soul of every living person bound to his soul by thick cords of great love and an everlasting love that will never falter.” The Rebbe explains every detail. What does it mean? What does it mean to be a chossid? What is “every living soul”? Someone who is alive? “Every living soul”—what does that mean? Anyone who is alive? What does “alive” mean? It means someone who loves him with the cords of great love and an everlasting love that will never falter. Now, in Chassidus generally, when speaking about one’s relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “everlasting love” is a much lower level than “great love.” Great love comes from a Jew’s innermost being, as we just learned in Tanya. Everlasting love comes from a more external level. Here the Alter Rebbe explains “everlasting love” differently. What is it?

20:17 Speaker 3 Everlasting love? It’s another, lower level: “an everlasting love that will never falter.” “Great love and an everlasting love that will never falter”—a love that time does not damage, that time does not weaken. Here, in the notes we’re discussing, the Rebbe points out and asks: There is no verse that says “an everlasting love that will never falter.” There is a verse in Tehillim that says, “It shall never falter, forever and ever.” The Alter Rebbe takes “shall never falter,” removes “forever and ever,” and writes “for all eternity.” What is the significance of this change? “Shall never falter for all eternity,” rather than the wording of the verse in Tehillim, “shall never falter, forever and ever.” The Rebbe explains it this way: Both expressions, “forever and ever” and “for all eternity,” do express permanence. But there are two kinds of permanence. One kind lasts as long as there is no change in the place of the thing in question. As long as its place does not change, the expression is “forever and ever.” But when speaking of something whose place will change—which is the subject of this letter, Igeres Hakodesh 27—something whose place has already changed, “forever and ever” is not enough. That is why the Alter Rebbe changes it and writes, “shall never falter for all eternity.” That is how the Rebbe explains it. I’m only pointing it out; everyone can open the text and see it inside. That is how the Rebbe explains “an everlasting love that will never falter for all eternity.” Each and every one of us, in general—and certainly when a day like this comes—wants to lift himself up and to feel that despite all the years that have passed, and despite what each of us has gone through in all these periods and all these years, nevertheless, [unclear] should not be something that time affects,

22:04 Speaker 3 something that time can weaken. We need to know that we have to search within ourselves. And if the Alter Rebbe demands this, and the Rebbe explains it this way, then surely we can find it. We can find that great love which is not only “forever and ever” but “for all eternity,” even when the present is the present we find ourselves in. And we do not—we do not run away from the present situation. Sometimes—and this is not the place to go into it at length—people come and say, “Listen, after 5752, time no longer exists.” Others say, “Before the true and complete Geulah, time doesn’t exist.” So one person denies the present and lives entirely in the past. Another denies the present and lives entirely in the future, while his physical actions take place in the present. The year 5774 is a creation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We deal with 5774, and so on. We need to know that there is a present here. And even though this present is different from the present we want, nevertheless, the love is “for all eternity.” That is what permanence means. I’m not trying to say anything else here, but clearly, regarding Moshiach, the Rebbe demanded of us: How can it be that there are not ten Jews who care about the inner meaning of it? How can that be? How can it really be? Not just that Moshiach should come so there will be the resurrection of the dead, so there will be a livelihood, so the sick will be healed, and so on. Rather, how can it be that there are not ten Jews who care about this—the subject of Moshiach, the revelation of G-dliness, [unclear], and so on? The Rebbe demanded: How can it be that there are not ten Jews who care? Yes. Although, as the Rebbe explained over many years, on many

23:42 Speaker 3 occasions, nineteen hundred years. Today we’re dealing with ninety years, not nineteen hundred years. That’s one percent. So if the Rebbe demanded of us, and demands of us, that we care about Moshiach—and as it says in Dvar Malchus, where he also speaks about the need for ten Jews, he says: Each person must know that the other nine are already there. Only the tenth is missing; you are the tenth. That has to be each and every person’s approach. It’s not that we need to go looking for ten Jews. Hakadosh Boruch Hu already has nine. You need to be the tenth, and that settles it. So certainly we can feel this sicha, even though it was said in 5751 and today we’re in 5774. This sicha can be alive for us; we can listen to it again. We have the strength for that. All it takes, as with everything, is a little effort. We have to—we have to work at it, listen to it, concentrate on it. We have to set aside a minute a day, a few minutes a day or a week—or, as I understand it, you do something here once every couple of months, sitting down specifically to discuss these matters—and not allow it, G-d forbid, to turn into some formulaic recitation of “A redeemer shall come to Zion.” May Hakadosh Boruch Hu truly help that the Rebbe return, that “our eyes behold the King in His beauty,” and that all of us be able to bring the Rebbe nothing but nachas.

25:20 Speaker 4 Thank you, Rabbi Demichovsky? Yudke. Okay, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Brod, known as Rabbi Mendy Brod, please.

25:55 Speaker 5 First of all, if I may ask: Chabad believes in bringing those who are far away closer, so if you could come a little closer... Just, Yudke, please stay behind the screens, because... so there won’t be a screen separating us. Rabbi D—Rabbi Demichovsky mentioned the teaching in the Mishnah that the Rebbe spoke about: “Everything is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given.” Rabbi Donin and Rabbi Gruzman, you feel that you worked hard, invested effort, prepared a day of learning—and the guys disappeared. There are two reasons. First, everything is foreseen. What are we going to talk about? Moshiach? That’s entirely foreseeable. Second, freedom of choice is given: you left the door open. You should have closed the door and not let anyone leave; then they would have stayed here. But we mustn’t make the mistake of giving a lecture to those who stayed. They deserve a commendation. The lecture should be for those who aren’t here. So now the challenge is mine. Maybe I need to speak so well that you’ll be able to tell them, “You missed out!” Well, we’ll see whether that works. I’ll try to present this idea of what’s called putting on Geulah glasses: how we can look at the very same reality we see, but through the lens of Geulah, and suddenly things look completely different. If we look at the Rebbe’s instructions, what instructions did we receive beginning on 28 Nissan? We had the instruction, “Do everything in your power to actually bring our righteous Moshiach immediately,” for each of us to act. And those of us who are a little older may remember what happened: there was great confusion. Then, on the very next Shabbos, Shabbos Parshas Shemini, the Rebbe said: It’s as though you’re looking for something to do—study Pirkei Avos. But by the following Shabbos, the Rebbe had already begun directing us precisely as to what to do. The Rebbe delivered the sicha there concerning the matter

28:24 Speaker 5 of Tiferes, and said that the work we need to do is Tiferes shebeMalchus, Torah shebeMalchus: increasing our study of matters of Geulah and Moshiach, preferably studying them together with others. This is a clear and unequivocal instruction the Rebbe gave us. Each of us really needs to ask ourselves and take stock: Where do we stand with this instruction? We have classes in Chassidus, classes on the weekly parsha, even classes in Gemara and many other subjects. How many classes do we have on Geulah and Moshiach? We know the answer. We’ll discuss shortly how, nevertheless, the shluchim have shown that it is possible to hold classes on Geulah and Moshiach. But this is a clear and unequivocal instruction, directly continuing the sicha of 28 Nissan. And afterward, as things continued