Farbrengen 5 Teves 5764, Kfar Chabad

00:00 Many times—and today, boruch Hashem, let us hope we never have to face such trials. I heard this story from Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, a"h, who passed away a few months ago. He told me that he had a friend. He himself lived in Australia, and his friend lived here in Israel. Whenever they met—when his friend came to Australia, he would visit him, and when Rabbi Gutnick came to Israel, he would visit his friend. It was understood: one would call and say, “I’ve arrived,” and they would get together, farbreng and talk. Once, Rabbi Gutnick came to Israel and called his friend. His friend said, “I’m sorry, I have to go to a funeral now.” “Can we fit it in? I don’t mind. I’m a kohen, so I won’t go into the cemetery anyway. I’ll come and sit outside in the car during the funeral.” And that is what he did. They went to the funeral together. He sat outside in the car and listened. The grave was near the fence, and he heard the eulogies for the deceased, who was a woman. Someone eulogized her and told this story. It is a truly frightening story, but one we must learn from. During the Nazi era, when they were rounding up Jews in city after city, this woman lived in a city that the Nazis had, for some reason, passed over. But people were constantly afraid they would come, so each person hid in a hiding place. She, too, was hiding, but she had given birth to a son only a short time earlier. The baby was just a few months old. Whenever German soldiers passed by, she was afraid he would cry and that, if they searched, they would find her. Then one day, of all days, the baby was not feeling well. He cried and cried and cried, and they found

03:51 him. That was how they found many others, too. This was still at a time when the Jews were being taken on ordinary passenger trains, not cattle cars. Several women were sitting together on the train. They knew the route the train was taking and began talking among themselves: “There’s a place where the train will go very, very slowly because it has to climb a hill. The moment it slows down, we’ll all jump.” Those old trains had many doors, not just one at the front and one at the back. Almost every compartment had its own door. “We’ll all jump off the train and run away.” And that is what happened. When the train reached that slope, it began to move slowly. They gave a signal, and everyone jumped off and started running. She had taken her child with her, along with a bundle containing everything they needed—all the clothes and things for the child. She ran and ran, and everyone else ran too. The Nazis began shooting. Boruch Hashem, she survived. As she ran, carrying both the child and the bundle became difficult; they were heavy. So she took the bundle and threw it away. The child was what mattered, and she kept running. She reached a forest and went in. Boruch Hashem, she and the child had survived. “Boruch Hashem! Yankele, Yankele, we made it! Yankele, we survived!” She looked down: it was not Yankele. It was the bundle. She retraced her steps and searched for Yankele, but she could not find him. Hashem gave her the strength to make it through the war, and she came to Israel. Wherever she saw a bundle, she would go up to it: “Yankele.” My friends, let us not throw away the child while holding on to the bundles. Didan Notzach—the victory is ours. If a child sees his father immersed in learning, especially learning with friends, with a chavrusa, together with a group, the child will understand

07:40 that his father truly wants him, and the father will come and take the child along with him. But if, in his free time, the father grabs hold of the bundle—earning a living, earning a bit more, one thing after another—I don’t want, G-d forbid, to hurt anyone, but that is the point. What do we end up with? We bring the bundle and, G-d forbid, lose the child. Didan Notzach. The victory must be ours. Didan means “us.” This is our victory. If each person notices that his friend has missed the shiur a few times and asks, “Yishai, where were you yesterday? What happened? Why didn’t you come?”—then it will be Didan Notzach. One person will help another. Each will say to his friend, “Be strong,” and each will feel that his victory comes precisely through the fact that it is ours. But if it is only “my victory,” that is not the true purpose. So let us hope that over the course of this evening, each person will be stirred a little and will take upon himself, together with his friend, the purpose of this evening. Every single day has its own work. If we are to take a lesson from all this, it is precisely this: by coming together in unity, we will bring about the complete and true victory.

00:01 Speaker 1 Thank you very much. Rabbi Lazar’s farbrengen will continue afterward. The plan is to show another video of the Rebbe, and then we’ll see Berl Levin on the broadcast, telling the story of how the events of 5 Teves unfolded. There’s also a surprise here: sitting with us is a young man who was involved in something the Rebbe mentioned in the sichos of 5 Teves. He has a personal story connected to the Rebbe’s sicha about 5 Teves, and he’ll tell it here. He’ll share with everyone an incident he was involved in—an incident the Rebbe mentioned in a sicha in connection with 5 Teves, the books, and the attempt to sell the books. Rabbi Lazar is stepping out for another event. He’ll be back here in twenty minutes or half an hour, and he’ll sit and farbreng here. By the way, Rabbi Lazar’s talk helped me understand a line in the Rebbe’s sicha, where the Rebbe said, “Didan—the books—won.” At first glance, there’s “Didan natzach,” and there’s “the books won.” What does “Didan—the books—won” mean? When the books become part of a person—when a person takes up the books and attends a Torah class in the evenings—then it’s “Didan—the books,” because the books and we are one. We won. Ah, I’ll ask the organizers to show everyone a video of the Rebbe that also relates to 5 Teves.

01:47 Speaker 2 [unclear] We need to understand the plain meaning of the story told in the Gemara—or rather, in Midrash Rabbah. Then we’ll see what a person can learn from it and what he needs to guard against. [unclear] The story is told in Midrash Rabbah on Parshas Kedoshim. What is it that we need to guard against? Every Jew—apart from [unclear]—has “with both your inclinations.” Everyone else has two [unclear]. One person is strongly connected to the yetzer tov, while another is simply connected to the yetzer hara. One must guard against the conflict between these two spirits within him. The yetzer tov tells him that he must follow [unclear], follow the Rema, and follow what is written in [unclear]. But immediately the other spirit comes along and starts putting forward arguments and counterarguments: this needs to be taken into account, and that needs to be taken into account, and so on with all matters of mitzvos. The analogy is:

03:48 Speaker 2 What can influence the yetzer, the spirit found in the left chamber, which is connected with the yetzer hara? A story is told about something that happened, and it appears in Midrash Rabbah, Parshas Kedoshim. Anyone can look it up afterward in the Midrash and see all the details. [unclear] the coat. [unclear] the spirit. [unclear] and therefore [unclear] the good spirit. And the proof is [unclear]. [unclear] becomes involved in undesirable things. Why does [unclear] come into the picture? [unclear] the spirit, and that is the opposite of good; it leads to something else. [unclear] and so on. And [unclear] with the people. [unclear] the farmer. First he asked [unclear], “What do you want from me?” [unclear] the spirit. [unclear] Parshas Kedoshim. [unclear] between two things. [unclear] his hands. [unclear] right now. And the bad spirit [unclear], and from that comes something undesirable. And this is [unclear] of the Jewish people. [unclear] two kinds [unclear]. [unclear] right now, right now. [unclear] the reason for this. [unclear] what makes [unclear]. And [unclear] stands in the place where the good spirit is found. And [unclear] undesirable things come. [unclear] Didan Notzach. [unclear]

06:22 Speaker 2 [unclear] This is a kind of “Didan natzach.” [unclear] The struggle with the yetzer hara [unclear]. The Midrash says, “over the face of the waters.” [unclear] That was the sign of “Didan natzach”: the strength to wage that battle against the other spirit. [unclear] In particular, [unclear] the Midrash Rabbah [unclear] “Didan natzach.” [unclear] May we have the strength for “Didan natzach.” [unclear] That undesirable spirit will be driven out [unclear]. And through this, we will see [unclear] carry out the shlichus. Today is a day connected with books. [unclear] I will try to give a dollar to

08:47 Speaker 2 everyone who wants to take one. He should use the dollar [unclear]. And afterward [unclear] connected with buying new books or repairing old books. Or he can give the dollar to another Jew, so that the other person can use it for the mitzvah just mentioned. [unclear] Buy new books or repair old books. [unclear] books, including very old ones.

10:36 Speaker 3 That's right. We went to Minsk.

10:41 Speaker 4 He was also in Minsk.

10:44 Speaker 3 Yes.

10:44 Speaker 5 Yes. Oh, yes. Yes. In Minsk and in Moscow.

10:47 Speaker 4 In Minsk and in Moscow. And no, no, no, that— Oh.

10:51 Speaker 5 And Riga.

10:52 Speaker 3 Riga.

10:52 Speaker 4 Riga. He, he— Oh, the yeshiva there. You know the yeshiva?

10:56 Speaker 5 Yes. Yes, we're in the yeshiva in Riga.

10:59 Speaker 3 We saw your picture in Minsk, in the synagogue.

11:03 Speaker 4 Now you have the occasion to see the original.

11:07 Speaker 3 Absolutely. Because my— We went to look for the grave of my great-great-grandfather, Matisyahu Avraham Abich [unclear].

11:15 Speaker 4 In what? In Minsk?

11:17 Speaker 3 In Minsk.

11:17 Speaker 4 Minsk.

11:18 Speaker 3 But the Russians, they, they had two Jewish cemeteries, and they destroyed them. They built a, a stadium, a sports stadium on one and made the other one into a park, and they, they destroyed the tombstones.

11:31 Speaker 4 If you know what happened to the matzeivahs, maybe you can save the matzeivahs.

11:36 Speaker 3 No, I, uh... The tombstones. The tombstones, though.

11:40 Speaker 4 In many tombs, the tombstones in Poland were taken away and put in Moscow, but we found tombs together in, in, in Minsk.

11:51 Speaker 3 Because we were told that they maliciously took the tombstones, and they just broke them up. They destroyed them. They put them into sewer lines.

11:59 Speaker 4 Not, not everywhere.

12:01 Speaker 3 Not everywhere.

12:01 Speaker 4 Not everywhere. If you want to, if you have the ability to make this, I will send our address—

12:08 Speaker 3 I will.

12:09 Speaker 4 And the names on our matzeivahs there. The matzeivahs—I mean, all the things they don’t... they do.

12:18 Speaker 3 All right. Because we’re trying to trace... We went to a genealogist in Belarus. Supposedly, they have records going back hundreds of years, and they’re trying to find where my great-great-grandfather might be buried.

12:35 Speaker 4 The political problem is, usually [unclear] any paper from Moscow or from Russia. Currently, they’re together only in Moscow now. They’re quiet now as we near our participation.

12:51 Speaker 3 Yes. I spoke to the American ambassador at the embassy in Moscow, urging him to have the books released promptly. And you have a good emissary there working very hard on it. But so far, I gather they haven’t been willing to release them.

13:12 Speaker 4 I believe that can change. From then, it seems strange in the office, but it seems to change the substance.

13:22 Speaker 3 I hope.

13:24 Speaker 4 We wish you well. Of course, it’s a great pleasure.

13:28 Speaker 3 Thank you. And we—

13:29 Speaker 4 With our earliest thanks.

13:30 Speaker 3 And we send the best wishes from our two wonderful daughters, Rachel and Becky Benyamina [unclear].

13:38 Speaker 4 We hope so. And we

00:05 Speaker 1 As I said, we have an avreich sitting with us here who has a connection to a passage in one of the Rebbe’s sichos. It’s one of the sichos Berel Levin mentioned, where the Rebbe spoke with pain about the sefarim being held captive and sold. So I’ll ask my friend Rabbi Mendy Brod to tell us about something he became involved in through Divine Providence, which the Rebbe later spoke about at a farbrengen. Perhaps that will help us understand a passage in one of the Rebbe’s sichos about 5 Teves. Rabbi Brod, please.

00:47 Speaker 2 Happy Yom Tov! The truth is, we’re living in a time when we need to bring out everything people remember, everything they know—even things they themselves didn’t think, or don’t think, are anything special. And as 5 Teves approached, people were looking for something special. Suddenly I remembered that there was actually something interesting I had been connected with through Divine Providence. To me it seemed like a small thing, but it might still be of some interest. This was in 5745. Rumors started reaching us before 12 Tammuz that the Rebbe was going to announce something on 12 Tammuz. The Rebbe had called in the members of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and told them certain confidential things that nobody knew about. So there was tremendous anticipation ahead of 12 Tammuz, though in fact nobody knew what was going to happen. Maybe a few people knew. We didn’t. Honestly, what did we think the Rebbe was going to say on 12 Tammuz? Something about Moshiach, some—we were expecting a happy surprise. At that time I was living in Bat Yam. That night, 12 Tammuz, we were waiting for the big news and didn’t sleep all night. We were excited. Then the broadcast came on, and suddenly there was such a difficult, painful sicha. We didn’t really understand what the Rebbe was saying or what it was all about, but our mood—after expecting something happy—suddenly turned to something very painful. There was another sicha at yechidus on the night of 9 Tammuz. After that broadcast, in the morning, after we’d heard it, I hadn’t managed to go to the mikveh beforehand, so I went afterward, to the mikveh in Bobov’s neighborhood in Bat Yam. I went in and met a Jew there, a Bobov chossid and a local resident named Chaim Tzvi Kopteil [?]. Today he’s a businessman. In those days,

03:16 Speaker 2 he dealt in all sorts of antique books and other antiques. He would travel to different places, search through genizahs, buy things and sell them. I don’t think he works in that field anymore. So we were sitting in the mikveh, and I told him that the Rebbe had said something about books taken from the library and being sold. Then he said he was beginning to understand. He told me that some weeks earlier, someone had come to Israel—if I’m not mistaken, he said it was the grandson’s wife—and gone around to various booksellers, including him, offering to sell the books. It was clear that these were books from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s library. He added that because it was being done so openly, not in secret, the dealers had assumed the Rebbe had given tacit consent, or at least was turning a blind eye. He told me, “I didn’t buy anything myself. It didn’t seem quite right to me, but I know people who did.” He also mentioned some of the things they’d bought. I didn’t quite understand the terms—an icon, stamps, various antiques—and that was what I heard there. At the time, it seemed like just a few incidental details. Later, when I came to Kfar Chabad, I told someone about it, and he said I should report it to the secretariat. So I asked someone who was in touch with Rabbi Groner to tell him what had been said. Rabbi Groner asked me to write down every detail of exactly what the man had told me, down to the smallest particulars, and fax it to him immediately. So I sat down and wrote everything out: exactly where we’d met, what was said, and so on. I wrote that we’d met at the mikveh. That was it. I sent it off. That night we sat down again for another broadcast,

05:29 Speaker 2 after 15 Tammuz, and the Rebbe spoke. It was another very, very painful sicha. In the middle of it, the Rebbe suddenly said that they had gone, disgracefully, to booksellers—booksellers who go to the mikveh, who go to the mikveh before and afterward. And the one who went to the mikveh and actually immersed did not buy anything. But others, the Rebbe said, did buy. I heard that all of a sudden. Why did the Rebbe say it? I don’t know. I also can’t say for certain that the Rebbe meant what I think he meant. But that, at least, is how I felt about it. So that’s the part I can add to the story, and perhaps we can look now at this short passage from the Rebbe’s sicha.

07:07 Speaker 3 In any event, we see here that something which seems merely incidental becomes central. Because anything that happens through Divine Providence is something we must take a lesson from in our service of Hashem. A Jew who is careful to go to the mikveh didn’t stumble in this matter, even though he didn’t know—even though it would have been unintentional. He didn’t know, and he even said explicitly that he thought it was with the Rebbe’s permission. Nevertheless, he didn’t stumble. Here we see how important something can be that seems secondary, that doesn’t even seem so significant. It helps in serving Hashem: when a Jew is careful to go to the mikveh, it keeps him from stumbling in a matter that touches on rebellion against the Nasi of the generation, and so on. In any case, Rabbi Lazarov will be back shortly to farbreng with us. Earlier he gave a talk, a lesson in serving Hashem, about the need to work on our Torah study schedules. Didan d’sefarim natzach. He’ll be here shortly to farbreng. Meanwhile, we’ll sit and sing some niggunim, and perhaps ask Rabbi Tzvi Green to say a few words. Rabbi Tzvi. L’chaim, l’chaim. Come say a few words to everyone. There’s a microphone; it’s all right. We’ll sing a niggun, and—Rabbi Butman, remember those few words? A few words, eh? Rabbi Leibov [?], remember the few words? [unclear]. Rabbi Wood [?], here, we’ll bring you your microphone. Where’s your [unclear]? He said he’d arrived. Rabbi Butman, a few words, [unclear]. Please. Rabbi Sholom Ber Butman from Tel Aviv, who’s a guest here—a new face—a few words.

09:50 Speaker 4 Of course. L’chaim, l’chaim. Of course, I have no connection to the matter of the sefarim, but when chassidim gather together, one should tell a story about the Rebbe. This story has a bit of a connection to Tel Aviv. There was a chossid living in Tel Aviv—he’s since moved—who has a brother in the United States. A shidduch was suggested for his son, who is also a descendant of the Alter Rebbe, with the daughter of Melech Neiman. You know, Melech Neiman is a chossid who lives in Boro Park. He visited the Rebbe many times. Meanwhile, there was a bar mitzvah for his brother’s son in the United States, and he traveled there with his wife and visited the Ohel. He would always go to the Ohel; he had been there several times. He says that when he went into the Ohel, he saw a video. He saw the Rebbe giving a kos shel bracha to Melech Neiman. So he said to his wife, “Look, we already have the Rebbe’s approval.” She asked, “What?” She hadn’t seen it. Then he saw it again: the Rebbe giving a kos shel bracha to Melech Neiman. He was deeply moved. A young man standing there asked him, “What is it? What did you see in the video that moved you so much?” So he told him—since they didn’t know each other, he felt he could say it—that a shidduch had been proposed, and he’d seen the Rebbe giving to Melech Neiman. He understood it as the Rebbe’s approval of the shidduch for his son. The young man said to him, “Let me tell you what happened to me.” Unfortunately, he didn’t remember the young man’s name or know where he lived. The young man didn’t live in New York.

12:33 Speaker 4 But in one of the outlying towns. Every year, on Simchas Torah, he would come to the Rebbe after the farbrengen to receive kos shel bracha, and that year, too, Simchas Torah came around. He said he had nowhere to go—where would he travel? But during Yom Tov he thought to himself: He travels every year, so this year he wouldn’t? No, he had to go. So he decided: He would go to the airport, and if there was a seat on the plane, that would be a sign that he should fly. He got to the airport, and there was a seat. So he flew. It’s about an hour and a half, something like that. On the flight he wondered where to go after Simchas Torah—to 770 or to the Ohel. He decided to go to the Ohel, and he arrived there. As he told it to a fellow chossid, he went into the Ohel, and in a video he saw the Rebbe giving him kos shel bracha. That’s what this young man related. And by the way, that same Melech Neiman told his mechutan—he’s a mechutan now—that he had come to the Rebbe on Erev Yom Kippur to ask for lekach. He came with his four children, and the Rebbe took several pieces of lekach and put them in a napkin. Melech told the Rebbe that he had four children, but he wanted a bracha for another child. He’d had four children for quite a few years and wanted another. So the Rebbe handed it to him and said, “Ich meg geben”—“I can give.” Melech thought the Rebbe was saying “far di fir kinder”—“for the four children”—so he said to the Rebbe again, “Far di fir kinder,” meaning: I want a bracha for another child. The Rebbe said again, “Ich meg geben.” He felt awkward, and it was Erev Yom Kippur, so he took the package in the napkin and left. He got home, and there were several pieces inside. How many pieces of lekach? There were seven pieces, seven pieces.

15:14 Speaker 4 There were six of them—four children, him and his wife. There was one extra piece of lekach. Yes, that year they had a son. L’chaim. Okay, I have an audience. I have an audience. Thank you, bye. I just got a call from Rabbi Druckman in the Krayot. He says the young man from—who used to come every time, the chossid—that’s Yitzchak Gurkov from Boston. He says he knows from a reliable source that it’s him. What did you say there, Rabbi Druckman? I didn’t hear. Druckman saw it—Druckman probably just saw it on the internet, and Goldman is broadcasting this online on COL. What, what, what—did Rabbi Druckman call him? Ah, ah. Who did he call? Did you see it? Online, well.

17:10 Speaker 5 I, I—it’s a person who... We were also at the Ohel, and it was that sort of evening. We went—we decided to go to the Ohel. When we had already come out of the Ohel, they told me, yes, that they were coming, and suddenly I saw him alone.

17:41 Speaker 4 Wait, come, come, let’s hear that moment.

17:50 Speaker 6 The fact that the crowd isn’t singing means they want to listen. So, as was mentioned here, we have someone who is a researcher at the Rebbe’s library. Sitting with us is also a Chassidic researcher who specializes in the history of Chassidus. The library, after all, holds the whole history of the chassidim. He’ll tell us about some things he’s found. The Rebbe said that he opened the library to researchers. Let’s ask Rabbi Kaminetsky to share with us. He has new research now on chassidim, on the elder chassidim. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kaminetsky, please. The whole world wants to hear you. We’re getting calls from all over the world from people who want to hear you. Rabbi Kaminetsky, please.

18:59 Speaker 7 It isn’t right to invite someone without giving him a chance to prepare. You could have called me half an hour ago, and I would have prepared, and it would have been a wonderful speech. But I can’t leave you with nothing. They simply have a gap here that they need to fill, and they found someone to fill it. But a good thing is brought about through someone worthy. Today is 5 Teves, the day the seforim were saved, the day of their liberation. But the truth is that, for those who know, 5 Teves was the day the Frierdiker Rebbe was saved. [unclear], do you know that story? No.

19:35 Speaker 8 There’s nothing I don’t know.

19:40 Speaker 7 In any case, on 5 Teves, during World War II, the Frierdiker Rebbe was saved from the Nazis. On 5 Teves he arrived in Riga, after having been in Warsaw at the beginning of the war. I’ll just say a few words about what happened there. On 21 Elul 5699, the war broke out—World War I, the second one. The Rebbe was then in Otwock. On 21 Elul the Rebbe left Otwock intending to return to Riga, but the roads were closed. So the Rebbe had to go to Warsaw. When the Rebbe reached Warsaw, he wanted to leave for Riga. It turned out everything was closed. The war was already in full swing. The Germans had already occupied Poland, and it was impossible to leave for Riga. There were bombings then. Warsaw was bombed day and night. There’s a harrowing account by Reb Tzvi Ribav[?] of the bombs, the smoke, and people being killed in the streets.

20:53 Speaker 9 Yosef’s.

20:54 Speaker 7 What?

20:54 Speaker 9 There’s a diary, a diary by Rabbi Yosef Weinberg’s brother. People don’t know who he is, but it was his brother, and his diary covers the entire period when the Rebbe was in Warsaw and they lived through the bombings.

21:05 Speaker 7 Where is the brother?

21:07 Speaker 9 Where is the brother? He apparently perished.

21:11 Speaker 7 In any case, the Rebbe was there, moving from place to place. He was mainly in the home of a Jew named Reb Yehoshua Gurary. That’s where the Frierdiker Rebbe stayed. His mother was there with the whole family. The chassidim in the United States began making efforts to get the Frierdiker Rebbe out. How do you go about—how do you get the Frierdiker Rebbe out? They approached the U.S. State Department and asked it to exert pressure in Germany. The Germans still had diplomatic relations with the United States. There were people in Germany who opposed Hitler. Officially they were Nazis, but they had connections with the U.S. government. The State Department officials approached the Germans they were in contact with and asked them: “Make an effort, find the Rebbe in Warsaw and get him out.” The chassidim in the United States didn’t know that the Rebbe had left Otwock. They thought he was in Otwock. At the head of German military intelligence, known as the Abwehr, was an admiral named Wilhelm Canaris. He’s a very well-known figure. He headed Germany’s counterintelligence. The man in Germany who had ties with the United States was actually a friend of his. That man, who wanted to maintain ties with the United States, knew that to do so he had to fulfill the State Department’s request and find the Rebbe. He approached the head of German intelligence and asked him to save the Frierdiker Rebbe. He told him that the Frierdiker Rebbe was in Otwock. The head of German intelligence contacted the head of German intelligence in Poland. His name was Herzog, Herzog. How did he contact him? He sent... Oh, that’s almost a phone call, sorry. In any case, he sent an officer of Jewish descent named Ernst Bloch. This Ernst Bloch—his father

23:40 Speaker 7 There was a Jew who was an officer in German intelligence. His mother was a non-Jew, but he was Jewish. Canaris sent this Bloch to the head of German intelligence in Poland and told him, “You must find the Frierdiker Rebbe and get him out.” Bloch arrived in Poland, found this Herzog, and they went to Otwock. When they got to Otwock, there was already no one there. A few yeshiva students were wandering around. When they saw Germans, they said, “There’s no Rebbe here. We don’t know anything. The Rebbe is in Warsaw.” They didn’t find the Rebbe. After that, they began going around the Jewish neighborhoods in Warsaw. They found a Jew and asked him, “Do you perhaps know where the Lubavitcher Rebbe is?” Eventually someone sent them to Hershel Gurary’s home. Herzog, the head of German intelligence in Poland, arrived there with Ernst Bloch, an intelligence officer of Jewish descent. They knocked on the door and asked where the Rebbe was. The Rebbe was in the house, but as soon as the people inside saw German officers, they said, “There’s no one home.” The officers left. Meanwhile, Canaris sent word to the United States: “We can’t find the Rebbe. You gave us an address, but we can’t find him.” A telegram came—wait, a telegram came, but word reached the Gurary family: “You should know that the men who came to your house came to rescue the Rebbe. Let them in.” A few days passed, and they came back. This time they brought another soldier with them—a Jewish soldier whose mother was Jewish. His name was Schank—Schenk, and he served in German intelligence. He was Jewish according to halachah; his father was a non-Jew. So they went like this: one Jew whose father was Jewish, one whose mother was Jewish,

25:40 Speaker 7 and the head of German intelligence went to the Gurary home. This time they were let in. It was dark there. They took them from one room into another. Finally, in an inner room, they saw the Rebbe sitting there. That German soldier whose mother was Jewish knew how to speak Yiddish. The Rebbe sat him down, and they began working out how to get out of there. The Germans had thought the Rebbe would leave with the Rebbetzin and his mother. The Rebbe told him, “No. I have twenty people here. I must get twenty people out. Without those twenty people, I’m not leaving.” They began trying to arrange it. How could they get twenty people out? It wasn’t possible to get twenty people out. Perhaps I can stop now? This doesn’t end so quickly. In any case, in short, the Rebbe said, “I will not leave Warsaw without twenty people.” They included the secretary, Chatshe Feigin, and his family. Chatshe Feigin had children—six children, seven children—and various other people. In short, how could they get out? Canaris, who headed German intelligence, issued an order. He wrote an order on behalf of the German army stating that the Rebbe was needed for interrogation. He had to come to Berlin for questioning by German intelligence. Anyone who knows the route knows that if you want to travel from Warsaw to Riga, you don’t need to go through Berlin. You can go straight from Warsaw to Riga; it’s a little closer. It’s like traveling from Kfar Chabad to Eilat via Haifa. In the end, Canaris decided that the Rebbe and his entire entourage, the whole family—all twenty people—had to be brought to Berlin. The problem was that there were SS checkpoints on all the roads. The intelligence officers belonged to the Wehrmacht, while the checkpoints belonged to the SS. The SS and the Wehrmacht

27:56 Speaker 7 didn’t get along. They didn’t work together; there was friction between them, an internal struggle. The SS knew that some people in the Wehrmacht took money from Jews to get them across the border, so there was real danger. The Germans—the intelligence officers—asked the Rebbe to at least change his clothes. They could keep their beards, but they should change their clothes. The Rebbe said, “Absolutely not. I’m leaving in these clothes, just as I am.” In short, they agreed on a particular day. They set out in one car—a military car—and a truck. The twenty people were in the truck. Freind Lichtenstein[?], the Rebbe, the Rebbetzin, and his mother traveled together with the head of German intelligence and this officer, Bloch. They were to leave Warsaw for Berlin. As they were being brought out of the house, a unit of SS soldiers passed by and began looking at them: What was this—Germans escorting Jews? So the officers started shouting, “Schnell, schnell!” and acted as though they really were transporting prisoners. They began making their way out of Warsaw. They were stopped again and again at checkpoints, but there were very large checkpoints between Poland and Germany. At one SS checkpoint, the SS men ordered everyone out of the vehicles. Suddenly they saw Jews with beards. They told them, “You can’t pass.” They told Bloch, who was an intelligence officer, “Mr. Bloch, you’re not taking them through. You’re staying here.” Bloch began shouting at him: “You have to let me through! We need these people for the war. This man’s testimony is vital to the war, and you...” The man refused outright. Bloch told him, “You know

30:14 Speaker 7 what? Call Canaris right now. Call Berlin and ask him whether they’re needed.” The man went and called Canaris. Canaris confirmed that these people were needed for interrogation in Berlin, and so they passed from checkpoint to checkpoint, with extraordinary miracles along the way. The full account of what they went through at those checkpoints is very long. There were things... All these details were actually recounted by one of the soldiers who was there, the one whose mother was Jewish. He survived and told the story afterward. A few years ago, he told it to someone. In any case, they reached Berlin. On Shabbos they were in the Jewish community building, in the middle of the World War, while the Nazis were rampaging. The Rebbe and all twenty people were in the Jewish community building, and the Nazis—the Nazi intelligence officers—guarded the Rebbe. On Motzaei Shabbos, they took them, together with the Latvian embassy, and escorted them to the border. That is how the Rebbe was saved. What I wanted to tell you is the end of the story. It later emerged that this man Canaris, who was an admiral, had not rescued only the Rebbe. He had not rescued the Rebbe just because he had interests involving the United States. He rescued hundreds of Jews and headed an underground movement against Hitler. In 1943 they caught him and placed him under house arrest. Then, toward the end of the war, they took him and hanged him. It emerged that he had saved many hundreds of Jews by way of Ger... He would take Jews and send them, supposedly as spies, to the United States. It also later emerged that Canaris had passed the date of the German invasion to Stalin through someone. Stalin didn’t believe it, but there are documents showing that he passed it on. Recently, a year ago, I don’t know exactly how, a researcher uncovered all these stories about Canaris. So he approached Yad Vashem and proposed that they award

32:23 Speaker 7 To this man, Mr. Canaris, the title of Righteous Among the Nations. He saved Jews. He was part of the underground resistance against the Nazis. He deserves the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Then there was... a big uproar. How could that be? A man who had been part of the Nazi regime all those years? They had never awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in a case like that. So he told them the story of how Canaris saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They said to the researcher, “Listen, go to Chabad. If Chabad says he deserves the title of Righteous Among the Nations, we’ll give it to him.” So he came here, to Kfar Chabad. He went from person to person until he came to me. A year or two ago, a book came out in English called “Out of the Inferno, Inferno, Inferno.” That’s Yiddish to English—an escape from the inferno. The story is in there, with all the details of how he saved him. And according to that book, this man deserves the title of Righteous Among the Nations. Does anyone here know Professor Bauer, the Holocaust researcher? In short, everyone was against it, but the committee decided that if Chabad said this man deserved the title of Righteous Among the Nations because he saved Rabbi Ephraim Kirshav[?], they would award it to him. So he came to me. I told him, “I’m a very important person, but not that important.” I went to the Vaad Rabbonai Anash here, and they told me, “We’re important people, but not that important. Contact the worldwide Agudas Chassidei Chabad.” I contacted the worldwide Agudas Chassidei Chabad. A year and a half has gone by, and I’m still waiting for an answer. Thank you very much.

00:00 Speaker 1 As he said, 5 Teves is an auspicious day not only because of the sefarim. It was already an auspicious day when the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in Riga. And as Rabbi Lazar said earlier, an auspicious day has to find expression in the matter of the sefarim: everyone needs to add Torah classes, Torah classes in public. But it isn’t enough just to say that. You also need to farbreng about it, say l’chaim, and take to heart, each and every one of us, what 5 Teves means in our chassidic lives. Say l’chaim and farbreng. Rabbi Lazar, please.

00:33 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim. My friend Kloymirish[?] is sitting here with me. We studied together. But there’s one thing I remember: he taught me a niggun. Remember? And that niggun became the dearest, most important niggun for the Jews of Russia. I’m not afraid of anyone, I trust no one—only G-d alone. I’m not afraid of anyone, I trust no one—only G-d alone. No, no, [unclear]. La la ra la ra. No, no, [unclear]. Only G-d alone. Ay ay ay ay ay ay ay la ra ay la ra ay la la la ra. Ay ra ay la ra la ra. Ay la ra ay la ra ay la la la ay la ra. Ay la ay la la la ra.

00:01 Speaker 1 When I want to show my grandchildren, may they live and be well, that I also speak Russian, I remember the niggun Rabbi Butman taught me nearly—let’s say—fifty years ago.

00:21 Speaker 2 Nearly.

00:22 Speaker 1 Nearly. In any case, I really owe you a bit of an apology. Someone more important should have been here. A person is envious of everyone except his son and his student. If the speaker who was supposed to be here were here, he would tell you many things that I can’t tell you yet. But meanwhile, they say, “The son’s strength is greater than the father’s.” That’s how I interpret it; that’s how I heard it. The son’s strength is greater than the father’s. So I’d like to make some use of that strength, if I can. In general, I just want to tell you what is happening today for those who came out of the lands the Rebbe used to call “behind the Iron Curtain.” A few stories that really show how the Rebbe’s strength is bringing about actual salvation in the land today. Two weeks ago, as those who follow the news a little will know, there were elections in Russia—for parliament, for the Duma. The Communists lost almost completely. Two parties did well: Putin’s party and another party. I want to tell a story about the head of that other party. We’ll get to him too. The head of the second party, which received about thirteen percent, is a man called Vladimir Zhirinovsky. I’m sure many of you have heard of him. He is one of the reasons there is unity and respect for Jews today. How? This Vladimir Zhirinovsky was truly a Jew-hater, an antisemite. His party is called a nationalist party, meaning a party of the people. And how—meaning Russian. Those who were really Russian, as opposed to the others, the Jews. This is a very interesting story. He took every opportunity he had to slander the Jews. Two years ago, on Holocaust Remembrance Day—you know, every country in Europe had decided to honor that day—the chairman of the Duma, the parliament, announced in Moscow for the first time on Holocaust Remembrance Day: “I ask that—I ask…”

05:10 Speaker 1 “…for a moment of silence in honor of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.” The moment he announced it, Zhirinovsky stood up and protested forcefully: “The Jews? We have to honor this Holocaust?” He launched into every word he knows how to use, shouting and shouting and shouting some more. “And for the thirty million Russians who were killed, we don’t hold a memorial day?” When he finished, the chairman said again, “In any case, we have already agreed that on Holocaust Remembrance Day we will honor the Jews. So I ask everyone to stand for a moment of silence.” Nearly everyone stood. His party remained seated, and that was the end of it. On June 10, about a month after Holocaust Remembrance Day, there was Constitution Day, I think they call it—another Duma occasion. There was a reception at the Kremlin. Members of the Duma, the parliament, ambassadors, religious leaders and so on were invited. Berel was there too. He was standing there, talking with a few people he knew, when President Putin entered the hall. He began going from person to person, shaking hands—not speaking to everyone, but greeting some people. He walked along and saw Berel standing there, and began talking to him. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, twenty minutes. When he finished and went on his way, this Zhirinovsky, this Vladimir, had been standing nearby and watching. He came over to Berel. He was the head of a party, and it was an important party. He came over and offered his hand. “I see you’re an important man. Here’s my hand.” Berel said to him with Jewish pride, “I won’t shake your hand.” “Why?” “Zhirinovsky, after the way you slandered my brothers, the way you spoke about Jews, the way you behave toward Jews, you think I’ll shake your hand now?” There was such silence you could hear…

08:39 Speaker 1 …a fly. Everyone standing around—members of parliament, ambassadors, who knows who else was there—heard it. And Zhirinovsky stood there, not knowing what to do. A young Jew had confronted him like that. But he’s clever; he’s not so foolish. He said, “All right, but we can work this out somehow. There’s no need to make a commotion over it.” Berel told me afterward, “Dad, I don’t know how it came into my head. It was like a flash of lightning. I told him, ‘Fine. If you want to work it out, write a letter saying that your words were not taken as you intended, and that you love Jews and respect the Jews who were killed, and so on. Then I’ll think about whether to shake your hand.’” Zhirinovsky stood there, and everyone heard this. This wasn’t just some group of friends; these were people before whom he needed to make an impression. He said, “All right, I agree.” He was already turning to leave when he stopped and said, “Listen, you write the letter and I’ll sign it.” That was on June 10. Gimmel Tammuz was on Sunday. 4 Tammuz was on Monday. It was late June, early July; I don’t remember the exact dates. On 4 Tammuz we were at my daughter’s home in Crown Heights. Berel was there too, and I had a letter in my hand. It was published in all the newspapers in Russia. Later it emerged that this Zhirinovsky’s father was Jewish. He said, “Just because my father was Jewish, do I have to treat Jews kindly? What does it matter?” But from that moment, he changed his whole approach. This man had been a thorn in Putin’s side. Why? It’s simple. Putin wants to show the whole world that Russia today is a democracy, that there is no antisemitism in Russia…

11:57 Speaker 1 …no persecution, no racism, none of those things. Because Putin really does want to build up Russia. There’s no question about it. He isn’t thinking about himself. Boruch Hashem, he has what he needs, but he simply wants to build up Russia. This Zhirinovsky was a thorn in his side, showing the whole world that there was still antisemitism and racism in Russia, and so on. From that moment on, he kept his mouth shut. In the elections two weeks ago, Zhirinovsky was still at the head of his party, but with entirely different views, and his party now works together with Putin. Now, what does all this tell us? Those who have seen the video of the Rebbe speaking in Russian on Lag BaOmer in 5740, with Rabbi Gurary [unclear] standing behind him, looking to see whom he was addressing—the Rebbe said plainly that a day would come when there would be a government that not only would not persecute Jews, but would help every mother and father ensure that their child received a Jewish religious education. My friends, this is happening today, without exaggeration. In every corner of the Commonwealth of Independent States—whether in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus or Kazakhstan, wherever it may be—every governor does everything he can to help Jews live well. Today a Jew walks down the street proudly: “I am a Jew.” Those who came from those countries remember what the situation was like, what it felt like. A few more stories. These also show how we need to go forward with the Rebbe’s strength, with pride and firmness, without worrying about anything. Two years ago, on Shavuos, there was a meeting of religious leaders at the Kremlin. Because Berel is, how do you say, uh…

15:27 Speaker 3 A representative.

15:28 Speaker 1 …a representative of the Jews, he was invited too. It was on Shavuos, the second day of Yom Tov. There was nothing to be done; they had to go. They walked there. They entered the Kremlin. He reached the hall where the meeting was being held, looked inside and saw all the television—what do you call them, cameramen?—filming inside. Because every event at the Kremlin is recorded, all of it, and then shown across Russia, everywhere. Berel stood outside and saw those people. He said, “I’m not going in. If they don’t leave, I’m not going in.” The patriarch, the head of the Christians, the head of the Muslims and the head of the Buddhists were there. The most senior religious leaders were already inside waiting. Well, they were sitting there and he said, “I’m not going in.” They were told, and the camera crews left. He went in. There were loudspeakers on the table. What do you call them—microphones?

17:17 Speaker 4 Loudspeakers.

17:17 Speaker 1 Loudspeakers. Everywhere, for everyone. He said, “Excuse me, today is my holiday. If you don’t turn off the loudspeakers, I’m leaving.” They turned off the loudspeakers. This was inside the Kremlin, in front of the most senior, most powerful religious figures there. Why am I telling you this? Well, for me, of course, it’s a source of pride—it’s my son, and so on and so forth. But that’s nonsense. It simply shows that the Rebbe gives us the strength, if we only want it. If someone truly wants to do the Rebbe’s work with all his heart and soul, without letting anything stand in his way, success is within his reach—success beyond anything he could dream of. A week ago—no, sorry, nine days ago, on the eve of Chanukah, there was supposed to be a private meeting, not a public gathering or some kind of event. A private meeting between Berel and Putin. Putin kept postponing it. You understand? In the end Putin said, “You can come on Friday between two and three.” It was the eve of Chanukah in Moscow, and Shabbos began at 3:38. Berel went between two and three with someone from the leadership there whom they know, Sasha Boroda—a wonderful man, truly, a Russian baal teshuvah. He moves heaven and earth. They got there. They started at around 2:15, 2:30. At 3:20 Putin looked at his watch and said, “Rabbi, isn’t it getting late for you? It will be Shabbos soon.” The president of Russia was thinking about the fact that a Jew there with him would soon have Shabbos. Berel answered, “Don’t worry. We were planning to walk back anyway. There’s no problem. But there is one thing: you know that our holiday of Chanukah begins this evening”—Putin himself had already lit the shamash once, and also

20:33 Speaker 1 a second time. Putin said, “Yes, yes, yes, I know, I know.” “We have candles here. Could you give us a room?” “Yes, come with me.” He went with him, and for the first time in Russian history they lit a Chanukah candle inside the Kremlin, with the Shehecheyanu blessing. People can’t grasp it. Inside the Kremlin! A Jew passing a hundred or two hundred meters away used to tremble with fear. They lit Chanukah candles there. Today the world is turning in the opposite direction. The Rebbe took the world and is turning it, not in the direction the world wants to turn, but in the direction the Rebbe wants. Our job is not to spoil it. Once something has begun moving, it’s very easy to guide it. Now everything is already moving, everywhere the Rebbe is present. Things are proceeding with such force—success that’s impossible to comprehend. I’ll move on to another country. Again, this is a source of pride for me. I’m not afraid to say it. I’m proud, and I hope and wish every one of you the same kind of pride. I have a daughter in Budapest, Hungary. Hungary is known as a country that’s not so... There are many antisemites there. But little by little, things are turning around. A few years ago, they managed to get permission to put up a Chanukah menorah in the most important square. Where tens of people used to come, now hundreds and hundreds came. This year there’s a Jew there who isn’t very fond of Chabad and who, let’s say, became a little jealous of all this success. So he got permission to light a Chanukah candle in the parliament in Budapest. Fine. But it would be all over the media, and it would be a blessing for us, because if it happened there... The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Metzger, received an invitation from him to come and light

24:28 Speaker 1 the menorah in the parliament in Budapest. Whether you know him or not, this was something he had been looking for. You know him. Well. It didn’t work out. Word reached him, through his secretary, that this Jew, who is close to the parliament, is involved in things that aren’t exactly aboveboard, let’s say. His secretary called my son-in-law, Rabbi Oberlander, and asked, “Do you know this Jew?” and so on. My son-in-law didn’t want to say anything; Boruch didn’t want to say anything. It would be nice if Rabbi Metzger came. “I don’t know... I do know...” This and that. He understood there was more to it. In short, Rabbi Metzger didn’t go to him. He came on Sunday, the night of the third night of Chanukah. Rabbi Metzger was in Budapest at Chabad’s menorah. You can simply see how the world is turning around. We just have to know that we have the strength. We have all the strength, beyond any limit, and we can’t even imagine how to make use of all that strength. But as I said, the main thing is, G-d forbid, not to spoil it. Once again: No, no, there is none but G-d alone, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay. No, no, there is none but G-d alone, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay. Ay ram al ram, az ze ram, az ze ram. Ay ray ray ray ray ray. No, no, there is none but G-d alone, ay ay, ay ray ray ram. Ay ram ay ram ay ray ay ram. Ay ray ray ray ray ram. No, no, there is none but G-d alone, ay ay ray ray ray ram. Ay ram ay ram ay ray ay ram. Ay ray ay ram. L’chaim, l’chaim.

27:22 Speaker 5 Huh?

27:39 Speaker 1 What happened?

28:13 Speaker 5 Are there a few more stories? Yes. Shnik, shnik. Huh? That’s good, the director. I have one more little story, about the president of Latvia, actually. Three years ago we celebrated Pesach in Moscow. On the first days there were, of course, the big communal sedarim and so on and so forth; there was hardly any time to be at home. On the last day of Pesach, thank G-d, we were finally sitting down to a meal at home. When I came into the house, I saw a Jew and an older woman. I asked Berel, “Who is that?” He told me, “He’s the deputy... the deputy minister of transport.”

30:13 Speaker 6 Minister of transport.

30:15 Speaker 5 Deputy minister of transport. I don’t... Where we come from, we use different terms. Deputy minister of transport. What does that mean? The deputy holds a permanent position; that’s his job. The minister changes whenever there’s an election. That’s politics, a politician—they replace him. Huh?

30:42 Speaker 6 An administrator.

30:43 Speaker 5 Yes, an administrator, but there they call him a deputy. The deputy, vice... A nice Jew. And the older woman was his mother. Do you know what “transport” means in Russia? Everything that moves is transport. The mail, travel, the railways—anything that moves comes under, comes under...

31:25 Speaker 6 Transport.

31:25 Speaker 5 Transport. This is a man with real power. Just to give you an idea of his power: there’s a man in Moscow named Avraham Gest, a Jew from Zurich, Switzerland. He financed a lot of things there, including the synagogue... Before they built the synagogue, there was the old synagogue there, and he built it. This Jew’s business was a mail-order catalog. Can someone translate that? Explain it? They send out catalogs—that’s what they’re called in Hebrew too—and people order from the catalogs, pay, and the merchandise is delivered to them. Now imagine all sorts of things across Russia, which spans eleven time zones. Someone needs a tractor; someone needs any number of things. There’s no store nearby. So he started a business, and it was quite a business. If someone goes into that line of work, it’s bound to succeed. He started it, sent catalogs throughout the country, and received orders. But the system was that people paid the money into a postal account, got a receipt, and sent the receipt with their order. That was how they received the merchandise. This man had almost thirty million dollars with the postal service, and he wanted to withdraw it. He needed it. He asked to withdraw it. Well, they said, “We don’t have the money. We don’t have the money.” What could he do? He tried every possible way, but couldn’t get it. Being close to Berel, he came to him and said, “Can you do something?” Berel picked up the phone, called this Jew, and explained the situation. By the next day or the day after, the man had all thirty million dollars. That’s just to show you the power this man had. All right, we’re sitting together on the last day of Pesach. I’m sitting here, he’s sitting here, Berel’s here, my wife’s here, his mother’s here. We’re sitting there, and in the middle of it she says,

34:26 Speaker 5 [unclear]

00:00 A girl had finished gymnasium—that’s high school; here they call it high school. She wanted to get into university. This was under the communists, about forty years ago. In those days, if someone had some kind of certificate, some document, it could help. But she knew what was written on her identity card. In Russia, every identity card listed a person’s nationality. For Jews, it didn’t list a country. It said “Hebrew,” “Jewish.” There was no place for them. On an identity card, what’s your nationality? Jewish. And she knew her chances of being accepted were about zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, one. Because there was a quota. Every republic in the Soviet Union received a quota: this one a hundred, that one two hundred, another fifty, another thirty. Each republic was allotted a certain number of students who could enter university. Jews? But she was clever, and she wanted to go. She heard from a friend that there was a man who would forge an identity card for a few rubles. She brought him her photograph, went to him, paid him the last rubles she had, and he made her an identity card. Instead of writing “Hebrew” under nationality, he wrote some country, whatever it was. He handed it to her, and she went home full of joy. Her grandmother was there; her name was Chana. “What are you so happy about?” she asked. “Tell me, what’s the cause for celebration?” She said, “Grandma, there’s a chance I’ll get into university.” “Really? How can that be?” Her grandmother wasn’t—she understood what was going on. “How will that happen? Until now it was impossible, and now you have a chance? Where did you read that?” She said, “I’m sorry, Grandma, but I have a new identity card now.” “Show me

03:15 the card.” She brought the card to her grandmother. Her grandmother looked at it and read it. “Where does it say ‘Jewish,’ ‘Hebrew’? You erased it. What’s gotten into you? What’s gotten into you? Take this card back to that man right away. Whether you get your money back or not, never in your life forget that you are Jewish.” The girl took the card back and did not go to university. About a year and a half ago—about two years ago; it’s already three years, sorry, it was five years ago. Well, in any case, we were in Eretz Yisroel. Berel had a son there, and we held the bris in the Tzemach Tzedek synagogue in the Old City, and so on and so forth. Fine. Anyway, the day after the bris, Berel said to me, “We need to go to the Hilton in Tel Aviv. There’s a party, a birthday party for this woman, Chana.” There was a small hall at the Hilton. A number of people from Russia were sitting there for the birthday celebration. When we came in, the grandmother recognized us and so on. She asked us to speak. Well, what could I say in Russian? I can’t speak it. She said, “That’s all right, speak in English and someone will translate.” I spoke in English, and someone translated. I told the story she had told me. I said to them, “Gentlemen, do you understand what it means to be deputy minister of transportation? Why did her son become deputy minister of transportation? How did he reach a position like that? It was his mother’s mesirus nefesh. Actual mesirus nefesh.” And there are stories like that—so many, many, many that come to light every day. Every person you meet tells you a story about what happened to his father, his mother, his grandfather or his grandmother, how they showed actual mesirus nefesh. Didan Notzach. That was the victory of the seforim. Didan Notzach. We see that Didan Notzach: the chassidim who follow the Rebbe’s instructions, carry out his shlichus and draw on the strengths he gives them are victorious wherever

06:31 they are. And not only that. That man, the deputy minister, has already retired. He has become observant, he davens, and he comes to shul every day—every single day. Think about what’s happening here. It’s a revolution, a good revolution, and we’re living through it. If we told stories like these to those who came out of the land of silence, they wouldn’t believe us. Impossible. I know a Jew; perhaps you know him too. He came from Riga. We were together for the dedication of Marina Roscha. We went for a little walk around Moscow together. Rabbi Yaakov. Rabbi Butman was there too. Anyway, we got close to the Kremlin, and he simply couldn’t lift his foot. All he could remember was what had happened there when he was young. If someone had told him that things like this would happen, no, it would have been unbelievable. And think about it ourselves: when the communists staged their revolt, their revolution, how much blood was shed? How many thousands upon thousands of people were killed? When the communists fell, not a single shot was fired. We live like fools, watching and hearing about such things without taking them to heart. We are living right before the coming of Moshiach. We are living in a period unlike any other in the history of the Jewish people. But we just take it in. Everyone is thinking about his own affairs, and so on and so forth. It happens, it doesn’t happen—what’s happening in Iraq. The nations are fighting for justice and fairness, something we should have fought for ourselves. The Americans came and they’re fighting. It’s happening. “Strangers will stand and tend your flocks.” We see it; we feel it. But let’s not be foolish. Let’s not fail to recognize that something is happening throughout the world that has never happened before. Just think about one thing, and with this I’ll finish. In the last fifty years, if you reckon up the advances in the world—there have been advances many times before, but

10:20 they took hundreds of years, thousands of years, thousands upon thousands of years. In the last fifty years there have been advances, revolutions. Every single day something new appears. Someone who bought a computer, or anything else, a week ago or a month ago finds that today there’s already something much newer. The one he bought is already obsolete. From horse-drawn carriages to the cars we have now—everyone has two or three of them—who knows how many years that took, how many hundreds of years. The Rebbe would cry out: “Moshiach is burning over the exile!” When there’s a fire, things don’t move slowly. When you see a fire, it spreads faster than you can imagine. So, gentlemen, friends—I’m using words that shouldn’t be used at a Chassidic farbrengen. “Gentlemen” is a strange word. Someone says “gentlemen,” but what does he mean? Is he looking at the people he’s speaking to as his teachers? It’s just a word, just a word. But friends, my friends, my brothers: let’s take this day, because “in six days Hashem made the heavens and the earth.” There was work to do each day. Let’s bring about the victory, the final victory, with each person doing his utmost in Torah study, giving public classes, bringing many Jews closer. If every one of those called chareidim or religious in Eretz Yisroel—all those labels—brought just one nonobservant Jew closer, just one, what would happen? Why not? Let’s hope we have a little sense, and that this little bit of sense will bring us the complete Geulah soon, speedily in our days. Amen. L’chaim.