Farbrengen 19 Kislev 5727, Kfar Chabad

00:00 Speaker 1 This is the first time our university’s national phonetics department has recorded the celebration of the Geulah in Kfar Chabad. I know your name is Reb Yitzchak. Could you tell me your full name?

00:12 Speaker 2 Ginsburg.

00:12 Speaker 1 Yitzchak Ginsburg. Are you from Kfar Chabad?

00:14 Speaker 2 Yes, I live in Kfar Chabad.

00:16 Speaker 1 How long have you...

00:17 Speaker 2 I’ve been here eight years.

00:19 Speaker 1 Eight years.

00:20 Speaker 2 I’m Russian too—

00:20 Speaker 1 Perhaps you could tell us a little: were you born in Russia?

00:22 Speaker 2 Yes, I was born in Moscow, but we came to Israel nearly thirty years ago now. We came here in ’37, among the few who were able to leave then.

00:33 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

00:34 Speaker 2 And later, we were already on shlichus for the Rebbe. I was a school principal.

00:41 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

00:43 Speaker 2 After some time, he told me, “Settle here with your family.” I’m also one of those involved in spreading the wellsprings. We—

00:52 Speaker 1 What does that mean? Could you tell us a little—

00:53 Speaker 2 Yes, I’ll explain.

00:54 Speaker 1 What are the wellsprings?

00:55 Speaker 2 At the heart of this celebration is what the Alter Rebbe revealed: that we need to know how to look at a Jew.

01:03 Speaker 1 Which celebration are you talking about?

01:05 Speaker 2 The celebration of the Geulah.

01:06 Speaker 1 The celebration of the Geulah.

01:06 Speaker 2 Yes, of course. I’m speaking about the celebration of the Geulah because today we’re at the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus.

01:12 Speaker 1 Yes.

01:12 Speaker 2 The Alter Rebbe revealed that we need to know how to look at a Jew. Not everyone knows what they’re seeing. There was an incident with the Frierdiker Rebbe: he said in a sicha that a Jew is a diamond.

01:29 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

01:30 Speaker 2 Another Jew there objected, as they say, and said, “Such-and-such a Jew is a bad Jew,” if one can put it that way. The Rebbe was silent; he said nothing to him.

01:43 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

01:44 Speaker 2 Some time later—it happened that the man was a diamond merchant—

01:47 Speaker 1 Yes.

01:48 Speaker 2 There were some shards from a glass bottle left on the table. So the Rebbe said to this diamond merchant, “Why don’t you take those pieces? You’ll have diamonds.”

01:58 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

01:58 Speaker 2 “Those aren’t diamonds.” So the Rebbe said, “But they sparkle too. Can’t you see they sparkle?” He said, “No, you have to be an expert to know what’s a diamond.”

02:08 Speaker 1 Yes.

02:09 Speaker 2 The Rebbe said, “Ah, that’s it.”

00:00 Speaker 1 Yes. Is there a niggun that’s special to the festival of the Geulah?

00:04 Speaker 2 Definitely. It’s the niggun the chassidim composed to the words “He redeemed my soul in peace.”

00:08 Speaker 1 “He redeemed my soul in peace.” Maybe you could now—

00:10 Speaker 2 I’ll tell you about it now.

00:11 Speaker 1 No, perhaps sing us a little of the niggun first.

00:13 Speaker 2 I hope you’ll hear the song during the evening, but yes.

00:17 Speaker 1 I’d actually like to hear it now.

00:18 Speaker 2 Yes, I’ll also tell you the story behind—

00:21 Speaker 1 But actually, I think it would be better if you sang it with feeling now. We’d take it in better, and then you could tell the story.

00:26 Speaker 2 No, first I—

00:28 Speaker 1 Sing it softly for me.

00:30 Speaker 2 I can do that, of course. Ah, I just wanted to say that the story behind the song is that while the Alter Rebbe was reciting the verse in Tehillim, “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me,” the door opened, and they came in to tell him he had been released.

00:47 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:48 Speaker 2 So the chassidim would set everything to a niggun. This is one of those things—they set the words “He redeemed my soul in peace” to a niggun too.

00:55 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:55 Speaker 2 It’s a long piece. I’m happy to sing you part of it.

00:57 Speaker 1 Just a little, just the beginning. Yes.

01:01 Speaker 2 He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me. He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me. G-d will hear and answer them, He who sits from of old, Selah. G-d will hear and answer them, He who sits from of old, Selah. For they have no changes, for they have no changes, for they have no changes, and they do not fear G-d.

00:00 Speaker 1 Are you taking part in the Geulah celebration tonight?

00:03 Speaker 2 Of course. We’ve been taking part for several years now—

00:07 Speaker 1 You—

00:07 Speaker 2 And we hold celebrations. We sing, dance, and bring joy to the crowd.

00:12 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:12 Speaker 2 With so much joy, and—

00:13 Speaker 1 What’s your full name?

00:14 Speaker 2 Shlomo Levin.

00:15 Speaker 1 Shlomo Levin. Where are you from?

00:17 Speaker 2 Kfar Chabad.

00:17 Speaker 1 You’re from Kfar Chabad?

00:18 Speaker 2 I’m from Russia, from the city of Leningrad.

00:20 Speaker 1 From Leningrad.

00:21 Speaker 2 Leningrad, yes. I fought in the Russian army, killing and avenging Hashem’s vengeance on—

00:28 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:28 Speaker 2 On the Germans, G-d forbid.

00:29 Speaker 1 How long have you been in Israel?

00:30 Speaker 2 Nineteen years already.

00:31 Speaker 1 Nineteen years in Israel.

00:31 Speaker 2 Yes, a hundred and—

00:32 Speaker 1 In Kfar Chabad?

00:33 Speaker 2 Yes, Kfar Chabad. I’ve lived in the village for six years.

00:35 Speaker 1 When did you come to Kfar Chabad?

00:37 Speaker 2 Fifteen years ago.

00:38 Speaker 1 Fifteen years ago, and you’ve been in Kfar Chabad for six years.

00:40 Speaker 2 Six years.

00:40 Speaker 1 Before that I lived in Malabes, in Petach Tikvah, and I was also in the Israel Defense Forces.

00:45 Speaker 2 Yes.

00:45 Speaker 1 And I served the country.

00:46 Speaker 2 Which brigade were you in?

00:47 Speaker 1 There was the Palmach and the Fourth Battalion near Jerusalem.

00:50 Speaker 2 The Fourth Battalion from Jerusalem. You’re talking about the Palmach battalion and the Jerusalem battalion together. Yes.

00:57 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:57 Speaker 2 We were close. I hope—

00:59 Speaker 1 And I was also in the army for the liberation of Sinai, in the Sinai War too.

01:03 Speaker 2 Yes. I hope that when the songs start here, you’ll... Excuse me?

01:11 Speaker 1 The vodka.

01:11 Speaker 2 You want to see the vodka. All right. No, it’s important.

01:15 Speaker 1 No, he wants to see the—the microphone.

01:17 Speaker 2 Oh, the microphone. The microphone. Tell me, the different niggunim—I understand they have names.

01:28 Speaker 1 Names, yes, they have names.

01:29 Speaker 2 So I’ll ask you to tell me from time to time. Now I know “Fun Rebbe’s Nigun,” right? Because I want the names of the songs at the end.

01:37 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, that’s sung at the end.

01:40 Speaker 2 Good. So when I ask you now and then, tell me—

01:43 Speaker 1 Generally, we don’t really know all the niggunim by their names in Sefer Haniggunim.

01:52 Speaker 2 Yes.

01:52 Speaker 1 We don’t really remember their names, just the songs themselves. We know the names of a few niggunim. We know there’s a song for going around, a song for [unclear], there’s Mordechai, and there’s a song called “Kosa V’shalom.” Here and there we know them, but not everyone remembers the names of the niggunim.

02:12 Speaker 2 Thank you. We’ll continue later.