Farbrengen of 11 Nissan 5765, Kfar Chabad

00:01 Speaker 1 For the Torah scroll to dance—but a Torah scroll has no legs. So what do we do? A Jew knows that, if he is worthy, he becomes the legs of the Torah scroll. And when he dances, who is dancing? The Torah scroll. But he is the one dancing; in other words, he is only the legs. The Rebbe puts it this way: The Chabad movement is made up of very many Jews who need to do their work in Chassidus and so on. But because someone is needed to unite them all, there is one person who serves as the legs, who does that job. In other words, the Rebbe speaks of himself as though there is a movement and he merely organizes it. The Rebbe says even more than that. The Rebbe says that, in fact, the one who accomplishes everything is the Frierdiker Rebbe. That is what the Rebbe says. The Frierdiker Rebbe carries out all of Chabad’s activities, but since he is in the World of Truth, someone is needed here in this physical world to manage the whole enterprise. So it is like being the legs of a Torah scroll. The Torah scroll itself is above, while he is like its legs. That is how the Rebbe regards 11 Nissan: after all, since he is the one who organizes it—he organizes Chabad, not 11 Nissan—he organizes Chabad, so honor must be given to the movement. And the Rebbe says this is obvious, that everyone understands it and everyone knows it, and that it is clear to everyone that this is not a matter of giving him honor. That is despite the fact that everyone knows that, on 11 Nissan, they would bring all sorts of dignitaries and representatives from various countries, and so on. The Rebbe says it is not about that. But chassidim did not see it that way. On the contrary, the whole reason chassidim celebrated 11 Nissan was not the Chabad movement. They celebrated 11 Nissan because of the Rebbe himself—because of the Rebbe. You can celebrate Chabad on 19 Kislev or on other dates, but 11 Nissan was purely an expression of admiration and love for the Rebbe. And that is why I gave the example earlier

02:09 Speaker 1 of Chag HaMatzos and Pesach: Hakadosh Boruch Hu calls the festival Chag HaMatzos for what the Jewish people do. We call it Pesach for what Hakadosh Boruch Hu does. In other words, each names the festival for the other’s virtue: Hakadosh Boruch Hu for what the Jewish people do, and we for what Hashem does. The same applies to 11 Nissan. The Rebbe looked at 11 Nissan as a day of celebration for Chabad, but chassidim did not see it that way. Chassidim saw 11 Nissan as a celebration of the Rebbe. Or, as they say, “Were it not for this day that made the difference”—and I remember that in 770 the mashpi’im would always debate that saying: “Were it not for this day that made the difference, how many Yosefs would there be in the marketplace?” In other words, 11 Nissan was an expression of intense love for the Rebbe. And here I must mention something. Until 5734, they celebrated 11 Nissan with dancing and farbrengens, and they would dance all night. From 5734 onward, the bochurim decided that we would not celebrate 11 Nissan according to what we enjoy. Of course it is more pleasant to farbreng with mashke, to dance and say l’chaim. They decided to devote the entire day to the Rebbe. In other words, drinking and dancing are your own enjoyment. They decided to devote the day to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe accepted it in—in—you could say, I do not know exactly how to put it, but the Rebbe accepted it. So much so that when certain bochurim or children went into yechidus, if it was in Adar or Shvat, the Rebbe would ask the child, “What have you prepared for me as a birthday present?” I remember that David Drizki’s son went in and the Rebbe asked him, “What have you prepared?” He was a little boy. “What have you prepared for me for 11

04:14 Speaker 1 Nissan?” So he told the Rebbe that he had prepared fourteen pages of Gemara by heart. Later, a practice began of bringing the Rebbe gifts—all sorts of gifts. It is recorded that people would bring gifts, actual silver items or a bowl connected with the mivtzo’im, and all sorts of things. And the Rebbe said he did not need that. For the Rebbe, the gift was something spiritual. The coupons. What point do I want to draw from the sicha of 5745? The Rebbe made a point there that is very important to notice. The Rebbe said: Why does the Chabad movement need a leader? This is what the Rebbe writes in the sicha of 11 Nissan. He says that because people have different opinions, and everyone is active and wants to work in a particular direction, those differing opinions can lead to disagreements, and disagreements can lead to division. Therefore, there needs to be someone who knows how to relate to each person’s temperament and unite everyone. And that is why the Rebbe is there. In other words, the Rebbe wants to explain why 11 Nissan is celebrated and what its significance is. So it is clear that one of the roles the Rebbe saw for himself—or perhaps, in this sicha, the Rebbe says it is the primary role—is to bring unity among chassidim. That is what the Rebbe says in the sicha of 11 Nissan 5745: Why is he there? So that there will be unity among chassidim. And if we are thinking about what gift we can give the Rebbe on 11 Nissan—I said earlier that a decision was made to give the Rebbe gifts—one of the things we should decide to give the Rebbe as a gift is unity. Unity among chassidim begins with each person himself, knowing that the Rebbe is with us. Since he is with us, he is the one who brings about unity among chassidim. And if each and every one of us acts—I am speaking about myself as well—if we

06:25 Speaker 1 work in that direction and try to bring about more unity among chassidim, that is the aim, that is the point, as we say to the Rebbe, and that will be the best gift we can give the Rebbe.

06:39 Speaker 2 L’chaim. I forgot, I forgot Rabbi Goner[?], Rabbi Goner[?], Rabbi Goner[?]. L’chaim. We welcome [unclear], Rabbi Beged, and the mashpia, Rabbi Gopin. Since gifts that people used to give the Rebbe were mentioned, I want to share an excerpt from... an instance in which the Rebbe asked someone for a gift. It was not common for the Rebbe to ask someone for a birthday gift, but it happened. There was a Jew, David Chase, to whom the Rebbe wrote a letter. In the letter the Rebbe addressed him and said: Since my birthday is coming up soon, and you will surely want to give me a birthday present, I am asking you for a gift. The Rebbe asked him to put on tefillin every day. The Rebbe told him: Set aside fifteen minutes to put on tefillin and recite Shema. If you can manage it in ten minutes, the Rebbe told him, I will let you off the other five. That man wrote to the Rebbe that as soon as he received this request, he began putting on tefillin. But, perhaps we should read his letter. This is what he wrote to the Rebbe: “Dear Rebbe, in response to your letter of 12 Nissan 5741, after reading its contents I was filled with feelings of joy, pride and humility. Your reference to our special relationship and your request to receive a birthday gift from me made a very deep impression on me. I hasten to report that I began putting on tefillin during my morning prayers the very next day. Since this event will undoubtedly change the entire course of my life, I ask your forgiveness for having the audacity to ask you for a birthday present. It would be a great honor and privilege for me if you would obtain for me, through your representatives, three pairs of tefillin: one to use at my home in the north, one for my residence in the south, and one small pair to take with me when I travel.”

10:06 Speaker 2 Since I am asking for a gift but do not want to deprive anyone of something they need materially, I am enclosing, with your permission, a check for $1,800. He goes on to write to the Rebbe: “My spontaneous response to your request echoes a Biblical episode involving Yaakov, when he said, ‘I know, my son, I know.’ Forgive my audacity,” and he writes to the Rebbe—listen to this—“I know, Father, I know.” This Jew felt that the Rebbe was his father, and he writes to the Rebbe: “I know, Father, I know.” L’chaim, l’chaim. May we, too, have that same feeling and that same gratitude to the Rebbe, expressed in those words: Father, Father, this birthday is our birthday. L’chaim, l’chaim. Orchestra, please. There was a Jew who, on the night after Yom Kippur, was so inspired by that great and holy day that when the prayers ended, he began singing “Ana’im Zemiros.” In his enthusiasm, he kept singing all night. A few weeks ago, at a farbrengen, I heard a Jew tell an additional story about this niggun. I’ve only heard it from him, but it’s an interesting addition. He said that in those days, there was a Jew who owed money to a landowner, and the landowner took him and his family and threw them into a pit, as happened back then. While they were in the pit, of course, they had nothing to eat or drink, and their health deteriorated badly. Another Jew decided to get them out of the pit and collected money from everyone to free them. It took him some time to raise enough money. When he got them out, the head of the family was already in very poor physical condition. He told him, “I can’t repay you for what you’ve done for me, because I feel my strength leaving me. But I’ll try to come back, and somehow I’ll return your kindness.”

13:10 Speaker 2 That Jew passed away, and on Yom Kippur he appeared to the man who had freed him and taught him the niggun of “Ana’im Zemiros.” He told him, “Right now, in the chamber of Gan Eden, they’re singing the niggun of ‘Ana’im Zemiros Veshirim E’erog.’” When the man heard the niggun sung with such passion, he hummed it to himself throughout Yom Kippur. And even after Yom Kippur ended, he went on singing “Ana’im Zemiros” all night. And from “Ana’im Zemiros,” let us invite Rabbi Yoske Bagad, a true friend of Chabad and a regular participant in our farbrengens, to say a few words. Rabbi Bagad, head of the Nachalim Yeshiva, please.

14:15 Speaker 3 L’chaim. Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came into being. L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim! With the permission of the mara d’asra, the esteemed Rabbi Ashkenazi shlita, esteemed rabbis, and holy congregation. On 7 Adar, I make a point of going up to Meron—especially this year, fifty years since I was privileged to found the Nachalim Yeshiva on 7 Adar. I’m a young man, right? Just fifty years at the Nachalim Yeshiva, and I didn’t start at age zero. I went up to the gravesite. As I was leaving, members of the press and television crews approached me. Are you from television? They said, “Rabbi Bagad, you don’t belong here. These are all people with superstitions, who believe in amulets, believe in mystical practices, believe in... Rabbi Bagad, you’re a modern man. You were a member of the Knesset. This doesn’t suit you. Really, what are you doing here?” I told them, “You know what? Come with me to the entrance for a moment.” “What?” “Come with me to the entrance. Film this. What does it say at the entrance? ‘For it will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants.’ The final letters spell Yochai: ‘For it will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants’—Yochai.” I told them, “It’s a good thing there was no media in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s time. If there had been, I’m sure they would have come and said to him, ‘Rabbi Shimon, you’re in a cave with your son—haven’t you heard the news? They’ve just executed your teacher, Rabbi Akiva; they combed his flesh with iron combs. They burned down the Beis Hamikdash. They just announced on the news: millions have been killed, millions exiled, and you’re sitting in a cave saying, “It will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants.” [unclear] The Jewish people are finished. How can you say, “It will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants”?’” I said to the media people, “Two thousand years have passed since then. Has it been forgotten or not? Look at the tens of thousands who have come here to Meron. Look at the world of Torah, look at the yeshivos. Has it been forgotten or not?” They stood there stunned. I’m telling you, the Rebbe is the Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai of this generation. What

17:26 Speaker 3 he did, and continues to do, so that it will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants—his work is nothing short of astonishing. It wasn’t for nothing that I made sure of this at the Nachalim Yeshiva. Rabbi Meir Bestomsky[?] is sitting here; for some forty years, he has been involved with the Nachalim Yeshiva and made sure that dozens—dozens? What am I saying, dozens? In my book, Nachalei Bagad, I published the list: more than a hundred Nachalim graduates hold positions. It got to the point that people in Bnei Akiva accused me: “This isn’t a Chabad yeshiva! What is this?” But thank G-d, I’m proud, because I know they are the Rebbe’s shluchim, so that it will not be forgotten from the mouths of his descendants. Wait, there will be louder applause yet. Just a moment, just a moment. We were all shaken: the Supreme Court ruled on shortcut conversions. But something else shook me, and I’m astonished that everyone is silent about it. Two months ago, the Supreme Court ruled that if, within three years, the chareidim do not begin studying general subjects—mathematics, physics, chemistry, and so on—then, starting in 2008, funding for them will stop. They say there cannot be people who are old-fashioned, not modern, know nothing, and go on living as though it were the Middle Ages. That made me so angry. If the president of the Supreme Court and his colleagues knew what is in the Torah! In my book, Nachalei Bagad, I bring the Pythagorean theorem from the Torah, and Thales’ theorem from the Gemara. They talk about an arithmetic progression. Do you know what an arithmetic progression is? That reminds me—can I tell one more short story, or...? A teacher came into cheder and said, “Children, whoever knows how many candles we light over Chanukah, including the shamash, will get a day off from cheder.” Little Ashel[?], who later became a great rabbi, jumped up and said, “Forty-four!” “Wow, how do you know?” He said, “What do you mean, how do I know? There’s an explicit verse: ‘The snare was broken, and we escaped.’” The Hebrew word for “snare,” pach, has the numerical value eighty-eight. Break it in half and you have forty-four candles—and “we escaped”: we got a day off from cheder. How did he know? How did they know? There’s an arithmetic progression. It will be

20:33 Speaker 3 forty-four candles. On the first day of Chanukah, you light two candles including the shamash; on the last day, nine—eight plus the shamash. Nine and two make eleven. Eleven times half the days of Chanukah—you always multiply by half—makes forty-four. Without the shamash, it’s one on the first day and eight on the last. Eight plus one is nine; nine times half the days of Chanukah, times four, makes thirty-six. And this is written in the Gemara, Menachos 106. So they’re going to teach us what an arithmetic progression is? They’re going to teach us all about physics, chemistry, and mathematics? It all comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And people were silent in the face of that Supreme Court ruling. We have to learn from them? Orna Amir[?], Israel’s ambassador to China, who served with me in the Knesset, asked me: “Rabbi Bagad, they asked me a question in China and I had no answer. How can it be that the Chinese are a quarter of humanity, one and a quarter billion people, yet they don’t win Nobel Prizes? The Nobel Prize is a non-Jewish award; it isn’t ours. And the Jews, who number six—twelve million, two-thousandths of humanity, win—two-thousandths win thirty percent of the Nobel Prizes. How can that be?” I told her, “Because Jews learn Gemara: ‘For it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations.’” There’s an American space agency called NASA. They invested billions of dollars and discovered that the time from one new moon to the next is 29.588 days. What a shame—they could have given the money to the yeshivos. The Rambam already wro—wrote that exact number a thousand years ago, based on the Gemara. What a shame. Let them give us the money, and we’ll reveal all the secrets to them. And the one who revealed the secrets was the Rebbe—with his wisdom, his knowledge of every subject. They accuse me of being

23:16 Speaker 3 As a Lithuanian-style opponent of Chassidus, a product of the Chevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Geulah neighborhood, I became a Chabad chossid. That happened because I see the greatness. I see the— I was with the Rebbe, and this is not the time to go into it at length: what he revealed about me and what he told me without knowing me. So let us end with one thing. Before the establishment of the state, there were riots; Arabs murdered Jews—the riots of 5689, the riots of ’36. Afterward, an Anglo-American commission of inquiry was sent here to investigate the riots and the causes of the conflict. The commission came to the YMCA. I remember it as a child—the YMCA opposite the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Among those invited was Rabbi Moshe Porush, z"l, the father of Menachem, shlita. He was invited to appear as a representative of Agudas Yisroel. He said, “Mr. President, I want to ask a question.” The chairman said, “Excuse me, you’re not the one asking questions. I’m conducting the inquiry.” He said, “Show me respect—respect my beard, my age.” “All right,” he said, “one question.” He asked him, “Do you happen to know what Columbus ate, and what clothes he wore when he discovered America?” The chairman burst out, “Are you making fun of me? He discovered America five hundred years ago. How would I know what he ate or wore five hundred years ago?” “What? You don’t know about five hundred years ago? I’ll tell you: Moshe Rabbeinu and the Children of Israel, who left Egypt some three thousand five hundred years ago, ate matzah, with their staffs in their hands and their loins girded. And you come to judge the Jewish people?” They say it had such an impact that the decision was then made to partition the land and establish a Jewish state. My friends, we are living through a difficult time. We will not take them into account. We will continue on our path, for “Hashem will not forsake His people, nor will He abandon His inheritance.” And today, 10 Nissan, 11 Nissan, we will continue on the path until the coming of our righteous Moshiach, soon

25:43 Speaker 3 in our very days.

25:59 Speaker 4 Thank you to Rabbi Yosef Bagad for those warm and wonderful words. And we welcome the chassidic philanthropist who does so much to help all the residents of Kfar Chabad and all Chabad chassidim, Rabbi, the chossid Reb Shai Boymelgreen, who has come to join us here at the farbrengen. Welcome. And we are honored to invite the local rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi, to speak as we begin the farbrengen.

26:38 Speaker 5 For the occasion. L’chaim, l’chaim. We are now on the night of 11 Nissan, the luminous day of 11 Nissan, an auspicious day not only for the Rebbe but for the entire community of chassidim. So we must farbreng and strengthen ourselves more and more in what the Rebbe instructed us to do, in what the Rebbe devoted himself to with self-sacrifice, until we merit the true and complete Geulah. L’chaim, l’chaim. As is customary—and the Rebbe especially renewed this old practice—on one’s birthday, one recites the chapter of Tehillim corresponding to one’s age. At thirteen, when one becomes bar mitzvah, one says chapter 14, and so on. The Rebbe connected this to a verse, an interesting and well-known source: at the end of chapter 72 it says, “The prayers of David son of Yishai are ended.” That is, he had reached and finished chapter 71. After all, King David lived seventy years, and he would have had to move on to chapter 72, so it says, “The prayers of David son of Yishai are ended.” At first glance, that does not quite fit. But the Gemara says in Tractate Berachos that “Ashrei” and “Why do the nations rage?” are counted as one chapter. So chapter 72 does indeed fit the calculation in which “Ashrei” and “Why do the nations rage?” are one chapter. It follows that when King David reached seventy full years, he was supposed to begin reciting chapter 72. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu completed his days exactly, from one birthday to the next; he did not have time to finish reciting the new chapter. That is why it says, “The prayers of David son of Yishai are ended,” and then the next chapter begins, “For Shlomo: O G-d, give Your judgments to the king.” In other words, David’s reign ended and Shlomo’s reign began. From here comes the allusion to, and the practice for, every Jew to recite the chapter of Tehillim each day according to

30:06 Speaker 5 the years of his life. Now, on 11 Nissan, every chossid also recites the Rebbe’s chapter. And on 11 Nissan this year, 5765, we begin the chapter “Bless Hashem, O my soul.” At first glance, this chapter deals with Creation: how Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, how He illuminates it, how He created man, the animals, the birds, the lions, the great sea creatures, and everything in Creation. But there is an interesting verse at the end of the chapter. It says there, “You gather in their spirit, they perish and return to their dust.” Does anyone know it? “You gather in their spirit, they perish; You send forth Your spirit, they are created.” What does “You gather in their spirit, they perish” mean? There is a disagreement about this in the Midrash. What is meant by “You gather in their spirit, they perish”? After all, wherever this word appears in Scripture, it means gathering in. The Midrash discusses whether it means gathering here or dispersal. Then, regarding “You send forth Your spirit, they are created,” Rashi explains that it refers to the world of resurrection. In other words, until now the chapter has dealt with the creation of heaven and earth during the Six Days of Creation, with the world proceeding in its usual way. But then, at the end, it says, “You gather in their spirit, they perish and return to their dust; You send forth Your spirit, they are created; You renew the face of the earth.” What is meant by “You renew the face of the earth; You send forth Your spirit, they are created”? When does this take place? Rashi explains that it refers to the world of resurrection, and it follows what is said, “You gather in their spirit, they perish.” What does “You gather in their spirit, they perish” mean? Does it mean gathering together, or does it mean dispersal? Now, when we study the Rebbe’s holy sichos—and this relates to the time and period in which we find ourselves—when we study the Rebbe’s holy sichos from before 27 Adar, the Rebbe spoke then, as if by allusion, about the Frierdiker Rebbe’s final period. He said that nothing took place without his consent, and that he had, as it were, agreed to everything

33:09 Speaker 5 that might happen and everything that would happen to him. When we reflect on this, we see the wording “You gather in their spirit” as an idea of gathering, a gathering and consultation between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the tzaddikim. How will things proceed? How will the true and complete Geulah come? And as the Rebbe mentioned then in his sichos, throughout the winter of 5752, the concept of dormita d’ze’eir anpin—a state of sleep before awakening and revelation. When we reflect on the verse “You gather in their spirit, they perish,” followed by “You send forth Your spirit, they are created,” it seems as though it speaks of the period in which we find ourselves. And so, as Chabad chassidim, Lubavitcher chassidim, whether in the Holy Land or throughout the world, each chossid asks himself: What will be, and how will it be? The darkness is doubled and redoubled, and, G-d forbid, it seems to be growing darker and darker. What will happen next, and how will we carry on? But we reflect on the verse and say, “You gather in their spirit,” and then, “You send forth Your spirit, they are created.” This is today’s chapter, the Rebbe’s chapter, and we say it on 11 Nissan. The point of this farbrengen, and what we should take away from it, is to see and merit what we have been promised: “You send forth Your spirit, they are created”—that we should merit to celebrate Pesach together with the Rebbe, with a kosher and joyous festival. People spoke here about a birthday being a day to give the Rebbe a gift. As the Rebbe himself noted in his holy letters, when Jews asked what to bring the Rebbe, the Rebbe said they should give him a gift of things that require effort. And I can say that over the last ten years I have had the opportunity to visit many, many places—in Russia and abroad, in Europe and in America. I have had the opportunity to speak and farbreng with many shluchim, and I have heard from them

35:40 Speaker 5 time and again that, after all, the darkness is doubled and redoubled, and everyone has a request. Everyone has problems. Everyone has questions. In normal times, he would ask the Rebbe and the Rebbe would answer him. Now, too, he is connected to the Rebbe and will do nothing without the Rebbe; yet he needs the Rebbe’s help and blessing. So he travels to the Rebbe—whether to the Ohel or to 770—and prays and asks for the Rebbe’s blessing. I heard something very interesting from several shluchim, who told me this: “Listen, when I came.”

00:01 Speaker 1 A gift, as the Gemara says in Berachos about Elisha: when someone came to the prophet, he brought a gift. And that gift—what kind of gift? What gift could he bring to the Rebbe? One person might offer a silver tray, another a case for a Megillah, another a Sefer Torah, and so on. But what can he bring the Rebbe today? And why does he bring it? Not just to receive something—that is what I was told. When I come to the Rebbe with a request, I first have to say: “Rebbe, I did something you instructed me to do.” Shluchim have told me truly remarkable things. They came to the Rebbe and said: “Rebbe, I am doing, and I want to do more. I want to do everything. I want to devote my very life to the shlichus you have entrusted to each and every one of us. I am doing it, but I want you to help me. I am in a darkness that is doubled and redoubled.” And then the deliverance and success are beyond the natural order. This is a reality. This is not the place to go into it at length, and I do not remember every detail. But one thing emerges from speaking with chassidim, with those connected to the Rebbe, with Temimim and with shluchim. Baruch Hashem, this message reaches everyone, across every part of Chabad: when you come to the Rebbe and say, “Rebbe, I am doing, and I want to do more. Help me”—whether the need is for children, life and livelihood, for success, for spiritual work, for material matters, or for success in business and going from strength to strength—so that I can help with the Rebbe’s work, the Rebbe’s institutions and the Rebbe’s shluchim, the Rebbe is present, alive and active, bringing salvation in the land. Granted, we are now waiting for “You send forth Your spirit, and they are created,” but we must know that this is only a matter of darkness,

02:36 Speaker 1 of darkness—as discussed in Chassidus, which examines whether darkness is a reality in itself or merely the absence of light. All of that concerns “Who forms light and creates darkness.” The darkness of exile is not a reality; it is only a matter of tests. It is only a matter of “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.” This is the message each and every one of us needs to carry when we meet chassidim and Temimim, whether residents of Kfar Chabad, other people, or chassidim from elsewhere. On the one hand, you see sadness and gloom on their faces. What will be? What will be? What will be? What will be? How long can we go on like this? But we must strengthen ourselves in faith and confidence in the Rebbe: “I am with you. I have not left you, and I will not leave you, not even for a moment.” How the revelation will come is in the hands of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But this faith—that light will emerge from darkness—is what unites each and every one of us. Now, as we approach Pesach, “here the son asks.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu made room for this question: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Why is this night different? It does not say “from all other days.” The question is about the night, even though the Gemara in Berachos says that the Geulah does not come at night. But here the question is about this night: if we are already in darkness, already in exile, then among all the exiles chassidim have experienced over two hundred and fifty years, there has never been—we have never been in an exile like this. So why is this night different from all other nights? Here the son asks; the son must ask. He must demand an answer; he must bang on the table. “Hakadosh Boruch Hu, why is it different? We are Chabad chassidim, we are connected to the Rebbe. Why are we in a darkness, doubled and redoubled, the like of which has never been?” And only Hakadosh Boruch Hu

04:51 Speaker 1 can answer the question and bring us out of this doubled and redoubled darkness. I will just share a short thought from the Rebbe about “Why is this night different?” It is a well-known sicha. Why is it different? “The Torah speaks of four sons: one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask.” To the wicked son, we say: Since he excluded himself from the community, “you, too, blunt his teeth.” Why? Because he said, “What is this service to you?” Why does he ask, “What is this service to you”—to you and not to him? What does he mean, “to you”? We are all in this together. Why say “to you”? That is why we tell him, “Blunt his teeth.” All the great commentators ask: Why single out the wicked son for saying, “What is this service to you?” The wise son, who is righteous, asks the same thing: “What are the testimonies, statutes and laws that Hashem our G-d commanded you?” He says “you”; he does not say “me.” So why do we not say that he, too, excluded himself from the community? Yet the one who said, “What is this service to you?” did exclude himself. The Rebbe explains as follows. First, there is the question: What does it mean when we say, “What is this service? Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed”? We tell the wicked son, “Had you been in Egypt, you would not have been redeemed.” How can that be? Were there no wicked people at the Exodus from Egypt? We find that even idol worshippers left Egypt. Michah left with his idol, as the Gemara in Sotah relates. So what is the question? “What is this service”—no, no... “Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.” We see that wicked people did leave Egypt. That seems to contradict the statement that he would not have been redeemed. The Rebbe says: There is a disagreement between Rabbi

07:13 Speaker 1 and the Sages in Tractate Shevuos. We know that there is one day each year that brings atonement: Yom Kippur. For whom does Yom Kippur atone? There is a Mishnah in Tractate Yoma about which transgressions it atones for, but for whom? For someone who sinned deliberately? For someone who sinned inadvertently? Rabbi says—one opinion holds—that a person who believes in Yom Kippur is atoned for by Yom Kippur, even if he committed the gravest transgression on Yom Kippur itself, as long as he believes that there is such a day as Yom Kippur. And the Rebbe presents this as the Rambam’s ruling in halachah. The second opinion, that of the Sages, says: For whom does Yom Kippur atone? Only for someone who has done genuine teshuvah. But someone who sins and commits a transgression on Yom Kippur itself—could Yom Kippur atone for him? No. Rabbi says that if he believes in Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur atones for him. The Rebbe says that according to Rabbi’s opinion, the same was true at the Exodus from Egypt. What does this mean? “Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed” is not about transgressions. It is not even about [unclear]. It is not even about idol worshippers, though there were idol worshippers in Egypt. It comes down to one thing: when Moshe Rabbeinu came and said, “I have surely remembered you,” did the person believe him or not? If he believed, then even if he worshipped idols, he left Egypt. But this wicked son, who laughs and says, “What is this service to you?”—he does not take part in the Pesach offering. He does not believe in the Geulah at all. He does not believe in Moshe Rabbeinu. He does not believe in “They believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant.” An idol worshipper who believed in Moshe Rabbeinu left Egypt. But if he did not believe, it is as we say about Yom Kippur: if he does not believe in Yom Kippur,

09:24 Speaker 1 Yom Kippur does not atone; the same applies to the Exodus from Egypt. But the Rebbe says we can learn from the words of the Haggadah, from the author of the Haggadah: “Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed” from Egypt. But in the true and complete Geulah, it will be like someone gathering ears of grain: the farmer goes down to the field and gathers the ears. As he gathers them, he takes everything that comes to hand. The combine harvests it all. Later, when they reach the threshing floor, when they come to the storehouse, they sort out which ears are better, which are rotten, and which are shriveled. But while gathering the ears, there is no distinction at all. The true and complete Geulah will not be like that. But the Rebbe says that, nevertheless, this faith—the faith of “They believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant,” the faith of “I have surely remembered you”—surely we cannot come to find ourselves in such a state, a state of doubled and redoubled darkness, where no one knows what is happening. We have just one course: to believe, and to live with the faith that what the Rebbe said will be fulfilled and come to pass. We must teach this to ourselves; we must repeat it in our homes, to our sons and daughters, to our male and female students, and to everyone around us. I don’t know what Chabad’s task is today, which activities come first—and we need to do everything. But one thing is clear: we are waiting and hoping and waiting. Moshe Rabbeinu was the first redeemer and he will be the final redeemer; he will redeem us and bring us out of the darkness, this doubled and redoubled exile. There is no doubt about that, and that is what we need to live with. We are now on 14 Nissan. Let us wish and bless and ask and pray and plead that we merit [unclear], that we merit the true and complete Geulah, and that we merit to eat of the Pesach offerings and the other offerings. I would like to welcome here a special friend of Kfar Chabad, a friend who has shown not only love but practical deeds as well. When you come to

12:05 Speaker 1 a Jew and say to him, “Put on tefillin,” he says, “Leave me alone with deeds and actions; what matters is the heart.” We see the importance of the heart among many Jews. But it is not only in the heart—it is in deeds, in actual deeds, too. Deed is the main thing. A friend of Kfar Chabad, the chassidic philanthropist Reb Shayeh Boymelgreen, has taken time out of his crowded, demanding schedule and come to farbreng with us in Kfar Chabad on 11 Nissan. May Hashem help him to merit success, to go from strength to strength, and to succeed in everything he undertakes. May he merit to do even more for Kfar Chabad, for Chabad institutions, and for Chabad as a whole. L’chaim, l’chaim.

12:54 Speaker 2 L’chaim, l’chaim. Thank you to the local rabbi for his words of Torah and blessing. And the orchestra, one of the Rebbe’s niggunim, please. We’ll continue the farbrengen, and we are honored to invite the local rabbi of the Chabad community in Rechovot, deputy secretary of the Beis Din of Anash, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Goldschmidt. Please.

13:56 Speaker 1 L’chaim, l’chaim. Rabbi Ashkenazi spoke earlier about a gift. While he was speaking, I remembered a story that happened a few years ago to a member of my family. Someone in our family was involved in a car accident. It was a serious accident, and the woman was injured and needed to be hospitalized for a while. Afterward, baruch Hashem, her recovery was miraculously, remarkably quick, despite what the doctors had said. Her husband, who had been writing panim to the Rebbe all along, felt a need to go into the Rebbe’s room to give thanks for her rapid recovery. So he asked Reb Sholom Ber Ginsburg whether he could let him into the Rebbe’s room. He wrote a pan, went into the Rebbe’s room with his wife, and read it aloud, just as in yechidus. He thanked the Rebbe for everything that had happened—thanked Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and thanked the Rebbe for all his efforts. Afterward, he left the room and went home. He also has a regular practice of reading five letters in Igros Kodesh. A few hours later, he took out Igros Kodesh to do his regular reading. In the first of the five letters he was reading in order, the Rebbe writes: “You write that you are grateful for what happened to you.” The Rebbe writes, “Among chassidim, a thanksgiving offering means an additional session of learning Chassidus. That is a chossid’s thanksgiving offering.” So the Rebbe told him that, for a chossid, giving thanks means adding another session of Chassidus study. That is what the Rebbe said. He had written to the Rebbe that he wanted to give thanks, and the Rebbe wrote back to him: “Among chassidim,

17:23 Speaker 1 a thanksgiving offering means an additional session of Chassidus.” As we heard earlier, there is no doubt that the Rebbe is here with us. The question is where we stand in relation to the Rebbe. But there is no doubt that the Rebbe accompanies us all the time. And the gift we can give is certainly in all the Rebbe’s matters—whether it is the mivtzoim or the Rebbe’s other work. That is the gift we can give. Besides that, someone brought something to my attention—I heard it only a few days ago. Many years ago, there was a year of drought in the Galilee. In one particular area, the lack of rain threatened to cause very serious damage. People prayed and pleaded; they went to the kabbalists. One man was told by a shliach in the area, “Write a letter to the Rebbe.” He did, and the Rebbe answered him, telling him to check his mezuzos. So he checked them; some were not kosher, and he replaced them. And wonder of wonders: after he replaced the mezuzos, rain fell in their area, and baruch Hashem, they were spared the feared danger of all that serious damage. Everyone in the area was talking about how it had happened thanks to the Rebbe’s blessing and the replacement of the mezuzos. There was a Jew living there who had witnessed everything. He had seen the miracle, but it bothered him very much that people were saying so much that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had performed the miracle. What did that mean? Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed the miracle. How could they say the Lubavitcher Rebbe had done it? So he met one of the shluchim and said to him, “Yes, baruch Hashem, there really was rain and everything. But what is all this talk about the Lubavitcher Rebbe having done it?” That shliach said to him, “After all, we study

20:00 Speaker 1 Rambam.” He told him that in Hilchos Chametz Umatzah, chapter 7, halachah 2, the Rambam writes that on Seder night there is a mitzvah of “You shall tell your son”: even if the son does not ask, you must explain the Exodus from Egypt to him. So the Rambam writes that if he is a small child, or lacks understanding, you need to explain it to him by showing him: just as there is a servant here, we too were slaves in Egypt, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed a miracle for us and brought us out of slavery to freedom. That is what you need to explain to the small child or the person who lacks understanding. But if the son is older and wise, the Rambam writes, you should explain to him what happened to our ancestors in Egypt and the miracles performed through Moshe Rabbeinu. That is how the Rambam puts it. To the small child, or the one who lacks understanding, you say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed a miracle for us and brought us out of slavery to freedom. To the older, wise child, you explain the events that happened to us through Moshe Rabbeinu. That is what the Rambam writes. I’m not making this up; it is what the Rambam writes. From this we see quite plainly that recognizing Moshe Rabbeinu, recognizing that there is a Moshe—“They believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant”—is something one must be older and wise to grasp. As we see, there are many Jews who observe Torah and mitzvos, but because they lack this understanding that there is a Moshe in every generation, that there is the Rebbe, then despite their observance of Torah and mitzvos, they can go completely astray and become utterly confused on many fundamental matters. Only the deep, inner connection with Moshe Rabbeinu—“They believed in Hashem and in Moshe His servant”—safeguards everything, so that all our learning and doing is in the proper, straight way. And that is what we tell an older, wise child. As we now stand on 11

22:25 Speaker 1 Nissan, the Rebbe’s birthday, when his mazal is especially strong—this is certainly the day for each and every one of us to make good resolutions: to strengthen ourselves in everything the Rebbe asks of us and not veer right or left. I once... Actually, the Ben Ish Chai brings this. The Midrash says that at the time of the splitting of the sea, there was a dispute among four groups. They were confused about what to do. Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu, “Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them journey.” So Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jewish people, “Let them journey.” And one man, Nachshon ben Aminadav, jumped into the sea. So he asks: Why was there only one? If Moshe Rabbeinu said, “Let them journey,” what happened? Why did only one jump into the sea? He explains there that Moshe had only said, “Let them journey.” When Moshe Rabbeinu said that, another dispute began: What did Moshe Rabbeinu mean? Some said it couldn’t mean going into the sea. That was out of the question. So, plainly, “let them journey” must mean going back to Egypt. That was their understanding of “let them journey.” Others interpreted it differently: it couldn’t be meant literally; there must surely be some deeper meaning in those words. And so, over “let them journey,” differences of opinion began: What did Moshe mean by it? But there was one man, Nachshon ben Aminadav, who heard “let them journey” and took it literally. He went forward, not right or left, without interpreting it. He did what Moshe said. And that is how it must be with us too, despite all the confusion and everything else. We know that the Rebbe gave us the mission of preparing ourselves and the entire world to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu. And the Rebbe said we do this by spreading Yiddishkeit and spreading

24:30 Speaker 1 the wellsprings of Chassidus, permeated with the essential point of “all the days of your life—to bring about the days of Moshiach”; by telling Jews that the time of your Geulah has arrived and we are almost there. “In Nissan they were redeemed, and in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed.” By holding fast to the message the Rebbe gave us, we will merit to see it with our physical eyes, quite literally: the Rebbe will be revealed immediately, right now. L’chaim, l’chaim!

25:02 Speaker 3 Thank you for those stirring words from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky, rabbi of the Chabad community in Rechovot. We now welcome the chairman of Agudas Chabad and Agudas Chassidei Chabad in the Holy Land, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov. And from the words of a rabbi to the words of a mashpia: the head mashpia of the central Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Zev Mangofin[?]. Please.

25:50 Speaker 4 What kind of farbrengen? A chassidisher farbrengen—a chassidic farbrengen. What is a chassidisher farbrengen? There is what you might call a balabatisher farbrengen, and there is a chassidisher farbrengen. What is a balabatisher farbrengen? It doesn’t mean people come and talk politics or lashon hara or just tell tall tales. That isn’t a farbrengen at all. It isn’t a farbrengen. A balabatisher farbrengen is also a farbrengen. Still, it’s not—there is a chassidisher farbrengen. What does that mean? Sometimes people get together from the outset, come and sit together, and someone comes to the farbrengen thinking, “Maybe I’ll hear something good, a worthwhile idea, a good story, a niggun. Maybe there’ll be a good atmosphere.” All positive things, very positive things. It’s a farbrengen, but it’s a balabatisher farbrengen. A chassidisher farbrengen means that when you come to farbreng, why are you coming? Because you feel the farbrengen has to accomplish something—that you must leave it different from the way you arrived. Hearing a good word, a good niggun, even enjoying a good atmosphere—that isn’t the ultimate purpose. Rather, I know that if I come, things have to be different from today. Something must affect me, accomplish something within me—in some area, whichever area each person feels needs work. That is a chassidisher farbrengen. And that is the wording the Rebbe would use in the telegrams he sent with his good wishes for the farbrengens in Kfar Chabad: “an effective farbrengen”—one that affects you, changes something in you. That is why you come. The truth is, coming to farbreng on a day like this, on Erev Pesach, is like Minchah. As they say about Minchah, “Eliyahu was answered only at the time of Minchah.” As explained, at Minchah a person is in the middle of business,

28:52 Speaker 4 in the middle of work, right in the thick of it—not just in the middle of work, but at the height of its demands and intensity. He leaves it all and goes to daven, and he davens properly. That prayer is heard and accomplishes something. So I think that somewhat resembles the situation on Erev Pesach. Everyone is busy with their own affairs, with communal and personal matters, at home and at work—each with whatever he is dealing with. And suddenly, in the middle of it, someone asks you: “Well, it’s 11 Nissan—come farbreng!” Come? Where are you? Your mind is neither on 11 Nissan nor on a farbrengen. You’re busy, rushing around, running from one thing to the next. And suddenly you have to leave everything and go farbreng for 11 Nissan. Sometimes, on Shabbos, you learn a little Chassidus in the morning and daven a little as you should. Then you sit down to farbreng, and the farbrengen falls into place. The time is right, the setting is right, and you’re in the right frame of mind. But here, in the middle of the week, in the middle of work and all the rushing around, you suddenly come and sit down to farbreng. It’s like Minchah: “Eliyahu was answered only at the time of Minchah.” So perhaps precisely a farbrengen like this—even though you haven’t made many preparations and the timing isn’t convenient, because of the day you’ve had and perhaps even more because of tomorrow, which will also be a full day, with so much to do, so much running around and arranging for Erev Pesach—when you don’t make all those calculations and come to farbreng anyway, perhaps that is [unclear] of a farbrengen. Perhaps a farbrengen like this will affect you more than one you prepared for and felt ready for. All of this may have a greater effect than anything else. A sicha at the farbrengen of Acharon Shel Pesach was mentioned. Acharon Shel Pesach. Reb Simcha Wolf. The Rebbe spoke about the Exodus from Egypt, about Yissachar. He brought up

31:25 Speaker 4 the point in Tanya about “as one fleeing.” What does “as one fleeing” mean? As Tanya asks: Why did they have to flee? If they had told Pharaoh to let them go free, wouldn’t he have let them go? Pharaoh wanted them to leave. Why did they have to flee? That is the question in Tanya. So the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya: They fled even though all the evil in the left chamber of the heart was still in full force. Nevertheless, they fled. They went. That is the flight—a flight from evil, a spiritual flight. They fled from evil, from the animal soul. But the truth is, the explanation in Tanya isn’t clear. It isn’t clear. Before that sicha, the meaning of Tanya wasn’t clear to me. What does “they fled from evil” mean? How can you flee from your animal soul? What does it mean that they fled? The evil was still in full force in the left chamber, as it says there, “for their impurity had not ceased.” The evil was in full force, and they fled. You fled? You took your animal soul with you. What does it mean to flee while taking your animal soul along? How can you flee from your animal soul? What does Tanya mean? The Rebbe explained it then. “As one fleeing”—they fled from the animal soul—means that they paid it no heed. Given their spiritual state, the animal soul was in full force, “for their impurity had not ceased.” And now they are told—Moshe Rabbeinu comes and says: “You need to leave Egypt. The time for Geulah has arrived. You need to go out and receive the Torah at Har Sinai.” So an upright, honest, sincere person makes a reckoning: “Can I? Am I ready to receive the Torah? We need to leave—but first we need to prepare. I need to make myself fit, to prepare, to refine myself, to work on myself, physically and spiritually, and then I’ll go.” That would seem to be the proper order. But they didn’t make any of those calculations. They went as they were. The Rebbe put it this way then: “With their forelocks”—with their hair as it was. Just like that.

33:44 Speaker 4 He put it this way: With their forelocks and all, they got up and ran, without worrying about the usual way of doing things—or whatever else might be needed. In practice, this is what happens with us when we approach a Jew and ask him to put on tefillin. We follow this approach every single day. Day after day, we come to a Jew and say to him, “Put on tefillin right here in the middle of the street.” He’s wearing shorts and is literally dirty physically, and none of us knows where he stands spiritually. He’s very far from it all. So he says to you, “I’m going to put on tefillin like this? Let me first go wash up and get dressed. Maybe I should even wash negel vasser,” if he knows what that means. Everyone feels that putting on tefillin requires some preparation. What, can you do it just like that, with all the dirt? So what do we tell him? No—as you are, that’s how you should put them on. Just as you are. Bringing close someone who is far away. That’s what it means to bring close someone who is far away. You don’t stop to consider all the dirt. You go with him and help him put on tefillin. And this teaches us something too, each of us in our own situation. Sometimes a person starts making calculations: Can I really come study Chassidus? Can I really come to a farbrengen? Right now I’m not... [unclear]. I haven’t done enough soul-searching. I didn’t study Chassidus today. Who am I? What am I bringing to the farbrengen? What do I have to bring? What am I coming here with? Bring close someone who is far away. Come as you are. That’s a farbrengen, and perhaps that’s the kind of farbrengen we can leave better than we were when we arrived. L’chaim and shalom.

35:43 Speaker 5 Thank you to the mashpia Rabbi Zalman Gopin. I heard a story in the name of Reb Sholom Chaskind. He told how the Rebbe’s first niggun, “Ki Elokim Yoshia Tzion” (“For G-d will save Zion”), began. I heard him say that in 5730, the bochurim began singing this niggun, “Ki Elokim Yoshia Tzion.” On Shavuos, on the first night, he was there with another Jew, Yitzchak Chorgi [unclear], I think, at the Rebbe’s meal. They agreed that between the fish and the meat, Reb Sholom Chaskind would signal to the other man, and then they would start singing “Ki Elokim” at the Rebbe’s meal and see how the Rebbe received it. Reb Sholom Chaskind looked at him, and the man signaled that he had forgotten the opening; he didn’t know how it began. Reb Sholom Chaskind started the niggun, and the Rebbe seemed very happy with “Ki Elokim Yoshia Tzion.” There was a rabbi sitting at the meal, and he said, “That’s an old niggun, not a new one. It’s a tune that goes with the words of ‘Dayenu.’” So the Rebbe said to him, “What does it matter to you? The words are new.” Afterward, the Rebbe asked Reb Sholom who had composed the niggun. Reb Sholom told him the bochurim had composed it and had already been singing it since Pesach, since 11 Nissan. And that’s how the niggun “Ki Elokim Yoshia Tzion” began. On the night after Shavuos, at kos shel bracha, as some people passed by the Rebbe, the Rebbe gestured to them with his hand and said, “And the descendants of His servants will inherit it.” Orchestra, please.