Farbrengen of 19 Kislev 5766, Kfar Chabad

00:00 Speaker 1 I ask everyone to come inside the shul so that we can begin the central farbrengen for the Festival of Liberation, 19 Kislev. Honored rabbis and dignitaries, Member of Knesset Rabbi Benny Elon, chairman of the National Union; the Rebbe’s head shliach in Boston, Rabbi Yehuda Tzvi Fogelman; Rabbi Kesselman; public figures; our honored congregation; and last but certainly not least, the children, soldiers in Tzivos Hashem. From Kfar Chabad, the center and capital of Chabad in the Holy Land, I have the privilege once again this year of welcoming you all with a heartfelt chassidic greeting. Welcome to the central farbrengen in honor of the Festival of Liberation, 19 Kislev, marking 207 years since the liberation of the Alter Rebbe, whose soul is in Eden. Let us rejoice together and thank Hashem for His kindnesses, and greet one another with the traditional chassidic blessing: A gut Yom Tov, a joyous festival! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and the ways of Chassidus. Ladies and gentlemen, honored congregation, the story is told—and we repeat it every year—that after the liberation, some chassidim wanted to write a megillah, a Megillah of 19 Kislev. They asked the Alter Rebbe whether they should write one. The Alter Rebbe did not permit it, and said, in his holy words: “This day shall be established as a perpetual festival among the Jewish people, on which His great Name shall be magnified and sanctified, and thousands upon tens of thousands of Jews shall be stirred to teshuvah and service of the heart. For the event”—meaning the account of the liberation—“is engraved in the heart of Israel above and written in the heart of Israel below.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe says that the story of the liberation does not need to be written down, because it is something living and eternal. The Rebbe foretold then that this day would be established as a perpetual festival among the Jewish people: that 19 Kislev, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, would carry through the entire year. And indeed, ladies and gentlemen, the hundreds and thousands—and today we can say tens of thousands—of farbrengens for the Festival of Liberation held on this day throughout

04:14 Speaker 1 the world, year after year, including this central farbrengen here, are living testimony to the fulfillment of the Alter Rebbe’s holy words. There is a well-known story about the Mitteler Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe’s son. He was accustomed to hearing his father read the Megillah, but one year the Alter Rebbe did not read Megillas Esther, and someone else read it instead. The Mitteler Rebbe approached the reader and told him: “Today I heard from you a very beautiful tale, a story about something that happened long ago. But every year I was used to hearing Megillas Esther not as a story that happened once. I was used to hearing it from my father as though it were happening now—and not merely as though it were happening now.” That is what the Festival of Liberation, 19 Kislev, is. “We have no need of a megillah,” the Rebbe says. “It is engraved in our hearts every day.” In one of his letters, as we mentioned earlier, the Rebbe Rashab calls 19 Kislev the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. Just as on Rosh Hashanah vitality is granted for the entire year, so on 19 Kislev the treasures of abundance and blessing of the inner dimension of Torah are opened Above. Every Jew, and every one of us taking part in this farbrengen, can draw new strength to study Chassidus and follow its ways. At the time, when that letter from the Rebbe Rashab calling 19 Kislev the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus reached Vilna, a rabbi told the renowned gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski about it. As he told it, he mocked the chassidim, saying that they had added another Rosh Hashanah to the four already mentioned. Rabbi Chaim Ozer responded to the mocking rabbi with a measure of displeasure: “For them, there is one more; for us, there is one less.” And indeed, this is what has characterized Chassidus through the generations, right up to our Rebbe: always

07:30 Speaker 1 increasing and advancing. The Rebbe educated us and taught us never to be satisfied with whatever level we have reached. One who has a hundred must always want two hundred. In our days we see Chabad Chassidus growing and gaining strength. Precisely when harmful winds are blowing through the world and it is becoming harder to preserve the purity of authentic Jewish life, Chassidus does not content itself with maintaining what already exists. It adds light and holiness, even reaching beyond its own boundaries to spread Torah to all Jews. In our generation, Chassidus has reached the height of that outreach. The Tanya, the book of the one whose liberation we celebrate, has been printed throughout the world. Today there is hardly a Jewish home anywhere in the world without a Tanya. It is studied in yeshivos, both chassidic and non-chassidic. The ideas of Chassidus have spread throughout every part of our people and become so widely accepted that many find it hard to believe they were innovations introduced by the teachings of Chassidus. Today, in the seventh generation from the Alter Rebbe, we can certainly say that the words Moshiach spoke to the Baal Shem Tov have been fulfilled. When asked, “When will the master come?” he answered, “When your wellsprings spread outward.” This is the time when we must look forward to his imminent arrival. The Festival of Liberation teaches us, ladies and gentlemen, my brothers and friends, not to be daunted by trials or obstacles. The journey toward the Geulah cannot be stopped, just as the spread of the light of Chassidus could not be stopped. On this day, let us say l’chaim and draw renewed strength to prepare ourselves for the approaching Geulah, above all by strengthening our study of Chassidus, which is the true preparation for the coming of Moshiach. We know what the one whose liberation we celebrate said. Let us listen to his words: “I have designated the day of 19 Kislev as a day like Yom Kippur; whatever a Jew asks for, his request will be accepted.” Ladies and gentlemen, let us make use of this great day, which has opened a gate for us even as the gates are closing. Let us offer a prayer to the Creator of the world and ask that

10:58 Speaker 1 this hour of chassidic farbrengen be an hour of mercy and favor before our Father in Heaven. May the great and powerful anticipation the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, awakened in us—to prepare ourselves and the people to greet Moshiach—continue to grow. May the journey toward the Geulah gather strength and reach its destination in the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach, with the Rebbe at our head, very soon indeed. Amen and amen. And one of the ways we connect with the Rebbe is to open the farbrengen with the Rebbe’s chapter of Tehillim. I have the honor of inviting the mashpia of the Beis Menachem shul, where we are holding this farbrengen, the chossid Reb Baruch Kesselman, to begin with the Rebbe’s chapter, “Bless Hashem, my soul.” Rabbi Kesselman, please. Shh... We ask all the children to behave like soldiers. A soldier stands guard and takes part, and you are the ones guarding all of us adults. Listen and join in the recitation of Tehillim, and afterward in the singing. I’ll say it once more to all the children, because most have already heard me, but a small group still hasn’t: soldiers of Tzivos Hashem, please behave like soldiers of Tzivos Hashem. Thank you. I ask everyone to stand for the recitation of the Rebbe’s chapter. Please. Bless Hashem, my soul. Hashem, my G-d, You are exceedingly great; You are clothed in majesty and splendor. He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers upon the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He moves upon the wings of the wind. He makes the winds His messengers, His servants a flaming fire. He established the earth upon its foundations; it shall never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. Mountains rose, valleys descended, to the place You had established for them. You set a boundary they may not cross; they shall never again cover the earth. He sends springs into the streams; they flow between the mountains. They give drink to every beast of the field; wild donkeys quench their thirst. Above them the birds of the heavens dwell; from among the branches they give voice. He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.

15:42 Speaker 1 the earth. He causes grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man’s labor, to bring forth bread from the earth. And wine gladdens the heart of man, oil makes his face shine, and bread sustains the heart of man. The trees of Hashem are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork makes its home in the cypresses. The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the hyraxes. He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set. You bring darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest stir. The young lions roar for prey and seek their food from G-d. When the sun rises, they gather and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and his labor until evening. How abundant are Your works, Hashem! You made them all with wisdom; the earth is full of Your creations. There is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, small and great. There the ships sail, and the leviathan You formed to play in it. They all look to You to give them their food in its time. You give to them and they gather; You open Your hand and they are satisfied with good. You hide Your face and they are terrified; You take away their breath and they perish, returning to their dust. You send forth Your spirit and they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. May the glory of Hashem endure forever; may Hashem rejoice in His works. He looks at the earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to Hashem as long as I live; I will sing praises to my G-d while I exist. May my words be pleasing to Him; I will rejoice in Hashem. May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless Hashem, O my soul. Hallelujah. Long live our master, our teacher and our Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Long live, long live our master, our teacher and our Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Long live our master, our teacher and our Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Thank you to the shul’s mashpia, Rabbi Baruch Kesselman, for opening with the Rebbe’s chapter, chapter 104, “Bless Hashem, O my soul.” Shh… dear children. And as is the custom of chassidim at every chassidic farbrengen and every gathering, we open the farbrengen with a Dvar Malchus, a sicha of the Rebbe. I have the honor of inviting one of the foremost disseminators of the Rebbe’s teachings in our Holy Land, Rabbi Shmuel Hendel, to open with a Dvar Malchus. Please.

19:51 Speaker 2 In one of the sichos about 19 Kislev, the Rebbe discusses something very interesting. 19 Kislev is called the festival of festivals, the festival of the inner dimension of Torah, the festival of Chassidus. Now, in contrast to the other festivals, the Jewish people count the Hebrew date by the moon, because the Jewish people are likened to the moon and count by the moon, for they are destined to be renewed like it. And we see something remarkable: all the festivals of the Jewish people—Pesach, Sukkos, Shavuos—fall no later than the first half of the month, either while the moon is waxing, as with Shavuos, or in the middle of the month, as with Pesach and Sukkos, when the moon shines in its fullness. But 19 Kislev, the festival of the month of Kislev, falls on the nineteenth, after the moon has begun to wane following the fifteenth of the month, until it disappears completely. The same question applies to Chanukah, which begins on 25 Kislev, toward the end of the month, when the moon is waning until it disappears completely. Why are these festivals different from all the others? To explain this, the Rebbe discusses the meaning of the moon’s waning during the second half of the month. At first glance, if we count by the moon, we should count the days of the month one, two, three, up to fourteen and fifteen; and then, when the moon begins to wane, go back to counting fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, and so on, as the moon gets smaller. What is the difference between the fourteenth of the month and the sixteenth? Why do the numbers keep increasing? But in matters of holiness, the principle is that we ascend in holiness—and certainly do not descend. So once we have reached the fifteenth of the month, we do not count downward; we continue upward to the sixteenth, seventeenth, and so on. What, then, is the meaning of the moon’s waning? The Jewish people continue to ascend, so why does the moon grow smaller and its light diminish? The Rebbe explains that the light between

22:45 Speaker 2 the sun and the moon reflects the relationship between a giver and a recipient. The sun is the giver, bestowing its light on the moon, while the moon receives its light from the sun. In the natural world, the closer the moon is to the sun, the less of the moon’s light we see from Earth. And the farther the moon is from the sun, the more of its light we see. Why is that? When a recipient receives from a giver, the farther away he is, the more he can share the light he received. When he is close to the giver, he becomes absorbed in the giver’s very essence, and his own light is less visible. As an example, think of a chossid who is close to his Rebbe, drawing near and receiving from him, as opposed to a chossid who goes out and shares what he has received. In other words, the Rebbe says that when the moon draws closer to the sun, its light indeed diminishes, but it draws closer to the essence of the sun and unites with that essence. That closeness is not necessarily expressed in light or illumination, which is something external. The Rebbe explains that this is also true of 19 Kislev, the festival of festivals. That is why 19 Kislev, and likewise Chanukah—the festival of oil, which alludes to the inner dimension of Torah—fall specifically in the second half of the month, when the moon draws closer to the essence of the sun. This is the meaning of the inner dimension of Torah, of Chassidus: drawing close to the essence, to the essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to the inner dimension of Torah and to the inner dimension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is what the revelation of Chassidus is about, and so the festival falls in the second half of the month. The Rebbe also explains that the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment, which ended on 19 Kislev, brought concealment over the dissemination of Chassidus. But after Petersburg, after the Alter Rebbe was released from prison, there was a redemption for the Torah, for the dissemination of Chassidus. Chassidus then became more accessible to understanding and comprehension. The Rebbe Rashab relates in one of his sichos that he received

25:26 Speaker 2 a manuscript of the Alter Rebbe’s on a certain subject—the same subject as the Alter Rebbe had discussed before Petersburg, before his imprisonment, and again after Petersburg, after his release. Before Petersburg, only a select few could understand that subject. But after Petersburg, anyone could understand precisely the same subject. That is what happened on 19 Kislev, the festival of festivals: the revelation of Chassidus, of Chabad Chassidus, of the inner dimension of Torah—bringing G-dliness and the inner dimension of Torah within our understanding and comprehension. And the Rebbe explains that throughout the generations, the purpose of our Rebbeim’s dissemination of the inner dimension of Torah, of Chassidus and Chabad Chassidus, outward was so that “when your wellsprings spread outward,” Moshiach would come and King Moshiach would be revealed. The more Chassidus spread outward, the more prepared the world became for the revelation of the Geulah. This continued until our generation, about which the Rebbe explains that the work has already been completed, including the polishing of the buttons. The work of refining the world and preparing it for the Geulah has been completed. What remains for us now, after the Rebbe’s testimony that everything has been completed, is only to open our eyes and see how matters of Geulah are already unfolding in the world. The Rebbe pointed to several signs, beginning with “They shall beat their swords into plowshares.” We see in the world that countries and superpowers that had always fought wars with tremendous bloodshed have, remarkably, come to understand in our time that they must beat their swords into plowshares—redirecting resources from war to the economy. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares.” Similarly, the Rebbe explains that non-Jews accept Jews and recognize that the Jewish people are the chosen people. The Rebbe said that non-Jews call us Jews “The Chosen People.” This was not the case a generation or two ago. A generation or two ago, a non-Jew who converted to Judaism, along with the person who converted him, could be sentenced to death. In our generation, the situation has changed so completely that it is hard to believe things were ever different. In our generation, non-Jews accept the Jewish people and appreciate them more and more.

27:55 Speaker 2 Some time ago, a statement was published in The New York Times by—I'm not sure if I may mention it here—the center of Christianity, saying that they accept the Jewish faith in the Tanach and are changing their view of it. This is something that had never happened before: non-Jewish believers officially changing their understanding of the Jewish people. I also want to tell you something. I heard from a friend who was recently in the United States and went out on mivtzoim. Perhaps it illustrates this on both a general and a personal level. He went out onto the streets of Manhattan on Sukkos. In Israel, he's used to approaching every Jew—he's an American yungerman—and saying, “Come put on tefillin, come put on tefillin.” But in the United States, he knew that when he approached someone, he would first have to ask, “Are you Jewish?” If the person said no, then what—“Okay, off you go”? He felt uncomfortable. What should he do? So they told him, “You have nothing to worry about. The Rebbe says you can speak to non-Jews about the Seven Noahide Laws. Approach someone and ask if he's Jewish. If he is, explain the mitzvos of the Torah to him. If he's not, explain the Seven Noahide Laws.” And that's what he did. He went to the busiest street in Manhattan, stood there and invited Jews to shake the lulav and esrog. When he met a Jew, he immediately explained the 613 mitzvos; when he met a non-Jew, he explained the Seven Noahide Laws. He told several stories. I'll share two of them. He says he approached a woman and asked, “Are you Jewish?” “No.” He said, “No problem. You should know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, and in it He created the Jewish people and all the nations.

29:55 Speaker 2 “He gave the Jewish people 613 mitzvos, and He gave the non-Jews seven mitzvos. If we all keep our mitzvos, the world will be put right and Moshiach will come.” He immediately took out a card called “Seven for Seventy”—seven for the seventy nations—which, incidentally, gives the number 770. He gave it to her and explained the Seven Noahide Laws. She was so moved. A non-Jewish woman in the middle of a busy Manhattan street, with thousands of people around, said to him, “Listen, you're giving me my life back. Until now I went to a non-Jewish house of worship, but I no longer believe in it. And now you've given my life a purpose.” And that wasn't the only story. He noticed a man watching him from a street corner for some ten or fifteen minutes, observing what he was doing. He pretended not to notice. After ten or fifteen minutes the man approached him and said, “Listen, I'm not Jewish, but I see what you're doing, and I think you're the chosen people. You are G-d's people. When I look into your eyes, I see G-d through you. You are the chosen people.” All right, he heard him out. Then the non-Jew said, “May I hug you?” He was a little embarrassed, but said, “Please.” The man hugged him and began to cry. An ordinary non-Jew began to cry, and he told him that when he hears about an Arab blowing himself up in Israel to kill Jews, he can't bear it. How could someone do that to kill the chosen people? From these small examples we can see it plainly, and I'll conclude with this. Just as 19 Kislev is “the light and vitality of our souls”—“light” means opening our eyes and seeing the world by the light

31:44 Speaker 2 of the inner dimension of the Torah. When a Jew follows the teachings of Chassidus, he walks through an illuminated world. Likewise, the Rebbe asks us to open our eyes by studying the subjects of Geulah, and through that to see how the elements of Geulah are already present in the world. Perhaps I can offer a practical suggestion, since this is a farbrengen—a suggestion for actual practice. Ever since the farbrengen of 28 Nissan, when the Rebbe said, “I am giving this over to each and every one of you. Do everything in your power to bring Moshiach,” each of us can ask ourselves: Am I doing enough to say that I have done everything in my power with what the Rebbe entrusted to me, to bring the true and complete Geulah? In the sichos over the Shabbosos that followed, the Rebbe went on to explain what he meant. What is Geulah? What does it mean that Geulah is present in the world? I think our task is for each of us to review those sichos, perhaps set a regular time to study and review them, to keep up with the latest news, so to speak. Through this, with Hashem's help, may we merit the revelation of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, already this 19 Kislev, in this year of Geulah. May the true and complete Geulah come immediately, now. Gut Yom Tov, Gut Yom Tov.

33:05 Speaker 6 Thank you, and yasher koach to Rabbi R. Sh. R. Hendel[unclear] for opening with a Dvar Malchus, presented with clarity and understanding. Yasher koach. Ladies and gentlemen, the answer in She'eilos Uteshuvos Min Hashamayim is well known. It says there: “After seeing all this, I asked on the night of 19 Kislev.” The commentators point out that, of all the questions in She'eilos Uteshuvos Min Hashamayim, this is the only one given a date. For all the other questions it says, “I asked,” followed by the question. But here it says, “I asked on the night of 19 Kislev.” He asked his question and received an answer. First, 19 Kislev is a day of good tidings, and later it says, “And we waited until the light of morning,” when we received the answer. Chassidim explain the words “we waited until the light of morning”: before the light of morning there is dawn, and then sunrise, and only then do we reach the light of morning. For us, on Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, the Festival of Liberation, the Baal Shem Tov revealed the dawn and illuminated it; the Alter Rebbe brought the sunrise; and the Rebbeim after him, through to the Rebbe, bring us ever closer to “we waited until the light of morning”—to seeing the true and complete Geulah. And the Rebbe has a special part in our farbrengen here in Kfar Chabad every year. For years, the Rebbe sent a special telegram to the farbrengen. I would now like to invite the chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and chairman of Tzeirei Agudas Chabad, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak HaKohen Aharonov, to read to us the telegram of blessing that the Rebbe would send—and sends—to this farbrengen. Rabbi Aharonov, please.

36:17 Speaker 7 To all the men and women participating in the farbrengen celebrating the Festival of Liberation, shlita: I join in your farbrengen for the festival on which “He redeemed our soul in peace,” and “the light and vitality of our souls was given to us.” May it be Hashem's will that the inspiration be revealed and carried forward with the deep, essential desire and will within each and every member of the Jewish people, until it permeates daily life, the wellsprings spread outward, and Melech HaMoshiach comes very soon. L'chaim, l'chaim and blessings. Signed by the Rebbe. L'chaim, l'chaim and blessings! And everyone is invited to say l'chaim together with the Rebbe. L'chaim, l'chaim and blessings. A telegram—mivrak, as the Rebbe calls it—is also related to barak, lightning. We have waited for the light, but no longer. We ask to see the light of morning already. Ladies and gentlemen, the Alter Rebbe's promise is well known. He said, “Whoever rejoices in my joy, the joy of liberation, I promise…” There are three versions: “I promise to take him out of Gehinnom”; “I promise to take him from the material to the spiritual”; and “I promise to take him from constriction into expansiveness.” Ladies and gentlemen, that's a promise—for whoever rejoices in his joy. The Tzemach Tzedek explained what it means to rejoice in his joy. He said, “Take hold of the door handle.” And what does it mean to take hold of the handle? You can't go inside to the Rebbe without taking hold of it. But even when you're holding the handle, you still haven't entered. You have to give it a turn, push, move the handle so that the latch goes in—and then you can go inside to the Rebbe. That is how the Tzemach Tzedek explained “take hold of the door handle.” Ladies and gentlemen, every year we have the pleasure and honor of hosting a great public figure, a great representative of the public, who always holds on to the Rebbe's door handle, stands up proudly in defense of the Jewish people, and safeguards the flame and the Rebbe's directives. He is our esteemed friend, Knesset member Rabbi Benny Elon. Please.

39:39 Speaker 8 With the permission of the local rabbi, Rabbi Ashkenazi; our moderator, Rabbi Roth; Rabbi Aharonov; all the rabbis at the head table; and this entire holy gathering. And with the permission of one of the earliest shluchim, whom I have the honor of sitting beside here, from Boston, Massachusetts, and the thousands of shluchim who are now in every corner of the world, spreading the light and rejoicing together on this joyous festival. “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” For years now there has been no Kiddush Hashem like this. As Rabbi Roth said, for 207 years, in every place, even an individual sunk deep in the mire—wherever he may be—whether an Israeli searching for himself who has fallen terribly in Tibet, or a Jew in America or anywhere else in the world who does not even know he has a Jewish spark within him, those sparks of every single individual have been raised through a Kiddush Hashem since the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, when the Alter Rebbe was redeemed in peace. To redeem each and every person is an enormous thing, unparalleled in any other movement spreading Torah, Yiddishkeit and light. This has been going on for years, beyond belief, and every one of us personally knows dozens of stories of rescues like these. But the great innovation—and here I feel the privilege and kindness you gentlemen show me by allowing me to rejoice with you—is that “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” This is a movement that does kindness for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, for the Shechinah and for the Jewish people as a whole: “for many were with me.” Because it feels a willingness for self-sacrifice for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel when they are in danger. And it is a movement to which, every 19 Kislev, since I was a child, long before I came here, leaders from every stream would come and take pride in being associated with it. But when lives were in danger and they felt that true kindness meant warning of that danger, they did not make calculations of popularity or considerations of

43:15 Speaker 8 political correctness or any other outside considerations. Instead, with self-sacrifice for the Jewish people as a whole—not only for every individual, wherever he may be—they spread the Torah and the light of Yiddishkeit to all the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, and spread the truth even when it hurts. When everyone was captive to the lies of Oslo, they spoke out even though it was unpopular. And in these difficult days, when the Jewish people saw Jewish communities uprooted before their eyes, Jews driven from their homes and synagogues going up in flames here in the Holy Land. That kind of self-sacrifice is not always there—that true love of a mother who sees her baby, G-d forbid, drinking something poisonous. She does not say, “I love you, so drink whatever you want.” She takes it away by force, because she is a real mother. There is no precedent for this phenomenon, this G-dly kindness that began 207 years ago: self-sacrifice for every single individual, to redeem him wherever he is, from whatever depths he has sunk to, from whatever low places he has fallen into, rachmana litzlan. And there are so many low places in our reality. At the same time, it is a movement for the Jewish people as a whole, a movement that is entirely love—and its love is true love. A mother’s true love for the entire Jewish people, here in the Holy Land and everywhere else. So I truly hope and pray that those promises the Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, gave to every individual who rejoices in his joy will certainly be fulfilled for us too: that the Jewish people, and the broader situation here in the State of Israel, facing such difficult circumstances, such terrible setbacks and such grave dangers, will also merit, as a whole, “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” And may we truly merit to hear good news and tidings of salvation with the coming of the righteous redeemer, speedily in our days. Chag sameach.

46:42 Speaker 9 Applause. Thank you, and yasher koach to Knesset member Rabbi Benny Elon. From this chassidic farbrengen, which can accomplish more than the angel Michael, we send him a blessing for his work, a blessing that he should not have to wage the great battle—“He redeemed me in peace from the battle against me.” And we wish him what equals the numerical value of “Rabbi Benny Elon yichyeh”: “Be strong, be strong and courageous, and always succeed in your mission,” wherever you are, in every place. We heard the Rebbe’s telegram, with wording rare among all the telegrams and letters we know. Even in the telegram from the Rebbe to all the participants in the hakafos, which I have the privilege of reading after Simchas Torah, this sentence is rare: “I am participating in your farbrengen for the festival on which ‘He redeemed my soul in peace.’” The Rebbe says, “I am participating with you in the farbrengen.” He participates and says, “L’chaim, l’chaim and blessings.” As we said, the Rebbe participates with us in saying “L’chaim, l’chaim and blessings,” and called this farbrengen “the central farbrengen in the Holy Land.” Until the local rabbi returns to us, allow me to tell briefly a story I heard from one of the elder chassidim. It is the well-known story of a student who went in to the Rebbe for yechidus. At the end of the yechidus, he asked the Rebbe’s permission to ask a personal question. He was an Israeli student, a native-born sabra, and he said, “Rebbe, may I ask you a personal question?” The Rebbe smiled and said, “Please.” “Every person,” the student told the Rebbe, “has some challenge in life, some aspiration to achieve something. Rebbe, what is your challenge? What is your aspiration in life?” The Rebbe told him, “My aspiration, my challenge, is this: It says, ‘The soul of man is the lamp of Hashem.’ Every Jew is called a lamp—‘The soul of man is the lamp of Hashem.’ My challenge is to light the lamps of all the souls in the world, until they all join together in one great flame and the whole world is filled with light. The complete Geulah—Moshiach will come.” The student listened and was about to leave. When he reached the door, he turned around and asked the Rebbe’s permission to ask another

50:04 Speaker 9 personal question. The Rebbe said, “Please.” “Rebbe, what do you think? Have you lit the lamp of my soul?” he asked. The Rebbe told him, “I haven’t lit it. I didn’t want to light it. I gave you the match, and you will light the lamp.” The local rabbi is with us now. As we said, the Rebbe called this the central farbrengen and is participating here with us. It is my honor to invite the one who heads the central farbrengen and heads this village: the local rabbi, the gaon and chossid Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi shlita. Please.

51:18 Speaker 10 L’chaim, l’chaim. Great is a drink shared, for it brings people closer—especially at a 19 Kislev farbrengen here in Kfar Chabad. In keeping with the tradition of many years, and with the Rebbe’s encouragement to hold the central farbrengen here in Kfar Chabad, may it be an effective farbrengen, with good resolutions, and bring nachas to the Rebbe. L’chaim, l’chaim. Honored rabbis, may you live and be well; holy and esteemed gathering. As mentioned earlier, today we are holding a farbrengen 207 years after the day of liberation in 5559, the day of liberation of the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch. The numerical value of 207 is or, “light,” but 207 is also the numerical value of raz, “secret.” And this year in particular, the beginning is bound up with the end. We feel and see the Alter Rebbe’s self-sacrifice. As hinted in his name, Schneur—two lights—the light of the revealed Torah and the light of Chassidus, he devoted himself to bringing the secrets of the Torah, the raz, the inner dimension of Torah, in the manner of Chabad: chochmah, binah and daas. To understand—to bring this Torah to the people, so that each and every person could study it, and not only study the inner dimension of Torah but also put it into practice in accordance with halachah. Whether we are speaking of matters of the heart, of thought, speech and action, or of chochmah and binah, intellect and understanding. That is why the joy is ours. The farbrengen is ours. As is known, halachah instructs us in various particulars to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. But there is a distinction here. Some things we do on Seder night are a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt: to recall that we left Egypt three thousand years ago, so that we do not forget that day. But as is known, the Rebbe draws attention to the precise wording of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya: “In every generation, a person must see himself.” A person must see himself as though he has just now left Egypt.

54:12 Speaker 10 It is not merely a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt long ago. A person must remember, think about it, reflect on it in his mind, and feel: Just yesterday I was a slave, and now I have left Egypt. That is the proper fulfillment of the mitzvah of telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt. And so, on 19 Kislev, we are commanded: “These days are remembered and observed.” As the Rebbe cites from the writings of the holy Arizal, when they are remembered, they come to pass. “One who reads the Megillah backward has not fulfilled his obligation”—the holy Arizal explains: What does it mean to read the Megillah backward? He reads about a miracle that happened to the Jewish people thousands of years ago. That is not enough. He must understand and feel: The miracle happened now; I was in danger now; and now Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself brought me from danger to redemption and greatness, from death to life. So if we are speaking of the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, the day of which the Rebbe Rashab said that the light and vitality of our souls were given to us, then from this day and this farbrengen we must learn, reflect, and leave with the feeling that today we left Egypt—for this day, for this year, 5766, on 19 Kislev. It was for us that the Alter Rebbe put his life on the line, so that he could see us following his ways, carrying on what he sacrificed himself for: spreading the teachings of Chassidus in every place throughout the world. There is something interesting in last week’s parsha. It tells the story of “Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out”—the story of what happened in Shechem. Rashi asks: Why did such a thing happen to Yaakov Avinu? Why did this happen to his daughter in Shechem? Rashi says that when Yaakov Avinu met Eisav, he hid Dinah in a chest, fearing that Eisav might see her and want to take her as a wife. Yaakov Avinu did not

56:34 Speaker 10 want that. He was therefore punished for hiding Dinah in the chest. The question is: Why was he punished for it? Because perhaps, had Dinah married Eisav, she would have brought him to teshuvah. But that raises a simple question. In the preceding parsha, Parshas Vayeitzei, it says, “Leah’s eyes were tender.” Why were Leah’s eyes tender? Because she thought, as people said, “The older daughter for the older son, and the younger daughter for the younger son.” Leah, the older of Lavan’s daughters, would marry Eisav, while Rachel, the younger, would marry Yaakov. That is why Leah cried. Why were her eyes tender? Because she did not want to marry Eisav. So why was she not punished? Surely, had she married Eisav, she would have brought him to teshuvah, just as Yaakov was punished for not giving Dinah to Eisav in marriage. All the more so: Leah was certainly no less righteous than Dinah, and had she married Eisav, she surely would have brought him to teshuvah. Yet we do not find that she was punished for this. Why was Yaakov Avinu punished specifically in Dinah’s case? The answer is as I saw in one of the Rebbe’s holy sichos. When a person goes out to fight darkness, to fight evil, even if he is completely righteous, he can—and should—be concerned. Who knows whether I will win? Perhaps the evil will overpower me. Why am I so certain of victory? But when he goes as an emissary of a king, and when he goes as an emissary of the leader of the generation, he has nothing to fear. We are confident in the strength of that elder: we will go forth, prevail, and refine the darkness, even the worst darkness, the darkness and wickedness of Eisav. That is why Yaakov Avinu was punished. Dinah was not punished; Yaakov Avinu was punished, because he should have sent Dinah to confront Eisav, to fight Eisav’s evil. With the strength of Yaakov’s mission, she would certainly have prevailed. But in Leah’s case, had Lavan sent her to marry Eisav, there would have been

58:50 Speaker 10 no power of a tzaddik behind that mission—quite the opposite. So Leah did not want to rely on her own personal strength. But when one goes on a mission from Yaakov Avinu, one will certainly prevail and has nothing to fear. That is why Yaakov was punished and Leah was not. Today, 19 Kislev, is the day of the strength and power of my Rebbe’s mission, from the Alter Rebbe through the Rebbe—their beginning is embedded in their end. It is the mission of the leader of the generation, the Rebbe’s mission to spread Torah and Chassidus throughout the entire world. And we see, boruch Hashem, how this mission keeps growing stronger and spreading light and Yiddishkeit throughout the world, in every country. Today, hundreds upon hundreds of young married men are even waiting in line, wanting to go out on shlichus. The world has become small; there is no longer a place without a Chabad shliach’s mission. Today is 19 Kislev. Whether we are speaking of the mission to spread Torah and Chassidus throughout the world, or the personal mission of each one of us to build Chassidic homes and institutions, institutions filled with Torah and Chassidus and the inner dimension of Torah—to live a Chassidic life, to have Chassidic family life, to give our sons and daughters a Chassidic education in the ways of Chassidus, as the Rebbe taught us and continues to teach us—all this comes through the Alter Rebbe’s self-sacrifice. It is a way of life every day and every hour. And although it is difficult, although we now find ourselves in a time of darkness and gloom, with the sitra achra growing stronger, when we go with the Rebbe’s strength, with the Alter Rebbe’s strength, and with the self-sacrifice of 19 Kislev, it becomes a day of victory not only two hundred and seven years ago, but for each

1:01:02 Speaker 10 and every one of us. When a person leaves this 19 Kislev farbrengen, he must know and remember this resolution: I have the Rebbe’s strength for everything that concerns me, both communal and personal. If I only follow the Rebbe’s path, I will certainly succeed, materially and spiritually. So let us say l’chaim, and let us act and plead with Hakadosh Boruch Hu that the good tidings of this day, as mentioned earlier, become an actual reality: that we leave exile for Geulah, the true and complete Geulah, with our king and leader, with the revelation of the Rebbe, King Moshiach, immediately, right now.

1:01:49 Speaker 11 Who’s speaking now?

1:01:57 Speaker 12 Thank you very much, and yasher koach to the mara d’asra, the distinguished Chassidic scholar Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi shlita. On behalf of everyone here, we wish him the blessing: May he long preside over his community in goodness, health, and joy. Ladies and gentlemen, there are sayings, teachings, and words of Torah that are spoken—and there are things that are spoken and then seen on the ground. We mentioned what the Alter Rebbe said: that this day would be established as a permanent festival among the Jewish people. We have the privilege of seeing that prophecy come true from generation to generation: a permanent festival among the Jewish people. But there is another side to it. We have a guest with us who always reminds us that this festival is a permanent one. A great friend of Beis Chayeinu and of the Rebbe, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council and rabbi of Givatayim, the distinguished Rabbi Yosef Gliks shlita. Please. He is always with us—that is what I meant to mention.

1:03:18 Speaker 13 With the permission of the mara d’asra, the esteemed Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi shlita; with the permission of Knesset member Rabbi Meir Porush; and with the permission of all the distinguished rabbis, including the rabbi’s son-in-law, himself a distinguished rabbi. The chairman of Tzeirei Chabad, the chairman of this gathering, chassidim and guests—a holy congregation. This day, 19 Kislev, is a great day. A very great day in several respects. It is a great day because the Alter Rebbe, who was imprisoned and in mortal danger, experienced the fulfillment of “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” And, thank Hashem, there was joy for the Jews: those in captivity were redeemed. It is a great day because the Alter Rebbe left prison, and both before then and even more afterward, he filled the world—especially Russia—with the light of Chassidus, with the light of devotion, prayer, Torah, tzedakah and good deeds. He brought a great transformation to the world, and a world of faith in the coming of Moshiach. What great joy. It is a great day because his successors in every generation continued these great deeds of the Alter Rebbe. And we have merited—I myself have merited, over the last two generations—to see those who follow his path continue to illuminate the whole world with the light of faith. Fortunate is the person who merits the light of Chassidus. But through them, the light of faith has reached many tens of thousands of Jews, perhaps even hundreds of thousands. But, my friends, every great day, every great event rooted in the past, must have a purpose and a continuation in the future. I’ll give an example. The mara d’asra mentioned the Exodus from Egypt: the tefillin passages “Kadesh” and “Vehayah Ki Yevi’acha” speak of the Exodus from Egypt. But what does the Rambam say? The Rambam says that tefillin possess great holiness. Why is their holiness so great? Because when a person puts them on, his thoughts are elevated; they sanctify his thoughts. That is the greatness of tefillin: they sanctify those who put them on, generation after generation. That is their holiness. As we say, we place them on the head opposite

1:07:14 Speaker 13 the brain, and opposite the heart, to subjugate the desires and thoughts of our hearts to His service, blessed be His Name. That is the holiness of tefillin. The past. So I say: when I consider how great this day is, I see that the inspiration, the remembrance and the celebration of this day strengthen thousands upon thousands of shluchim of the Chabad movement throughout the world. It inspires them to strengthen others and increase their efforts; it gives them strength, faith and devotion to continue on this path. That is its greatness. This day, as the rabbi already mentioned, gives strength to thousands, to tens of thousands. Those who pray are inspired to pray with greater concentration and devotion. Those who study are inspired to delve into their studies and study diligently, both the revealed and the inner dimensions of Torah. Those who give tzedakah are inspired to increase their tzedakah and good deeds. Everything that the Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbes taught throughout the generations. This, too, gives special greatness and significance to this day of 19 Kislev. It is a great day for Chabad Chassidus, without question, and I would say a great day for all the Jewish people. Everyone benefits from this light. He mentioned our forefather Yaakov. Yaakov said: I must go and pray at the place where my forefathers prayed. My forefathers, Yitzchak and Avraham—I follow their path, remain devoted to their path, remember them and pray in their place. That is the past. That is the greatness of the past. What did Hakadosh Boruch Hu tell him? The place where my forefathers prayed, the memory of the forefathers, must be turned toward a great future, with renewed vigor [unclear]. And he was told: from this place where your forefathers prayed. This is also my blessing, the blessing of an ordinary person, for this holy movement on this day, which recalls the place where my forefathers prayed for more than two hundred years: may “You shall spread out westward and eastward, northward and southward” be fulfilled in you and in us. Amen, may it be His will.

1:10:20 Speaker 3 Thank you very much, and yasher koach to the distinguished Rabbi Yosef Gliksberg, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council and rabbi of Givatayim. We wish him many more years in his position, in health and joy, and may we merit to see him at this annual celebration year after year, until the coming of Moshiach and beyond. Ladies and gentlemen, [unclear], this is the time to remember at the farbrengen a dear, longstanding friend, faithful and connected heart and soul to the Rebbe over the years, who participated in the farbrengen every year and is not with us this year: Professor Avner Chai Shaki, of blessed memory. May his memory be a blessing. We ask Rabbi Shmuel Fogelman to come up to the dais, please. Rabbi Fogelman is invited to come up to the stage. Ladies and gentlemen, “when your wellsprings spread outward”—and we mentioned that the Rebbe taught us: he gives us the match, but once we have a match, our task is to light it ourselves through our work. Then one candle becomes many, until there is a great flame. One of the centers—and perhaps the largest and most important center in the world today—for spreading the wellsprings is the Western Wall, the remnant of our Beis Hamikdash. The Rebbe devoted many letters to it and showed it affection, encouragement and support. Since we merited to reach the site, it has become one great Chabad House: the tefillin campaign, the campaign to spread the wellsprings. And the rabbis of the Western Wall—Rabbi Getz, of blessed memory, lent his support to spreading the wellsprings throughout the years. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of Jews watched the Rebbe’s sichos on video in the Western Wall plaza, and at first heard them through broadcasts and on the radio. Today, may he be distinguished for a long and good life, his successor, who now serves as rabbi of the Western Wall, supports, encourages, strengthens and helps spread the wellsprings in the Western Wall plaza with great dedication. I would like to introduce him to you and have the honor of inviting him to the microphone, to the podium: the Rebbe’s shliach at the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch. Please.

1:13:50 Speaker 4 With the permission of the mara d’asra, the rabbis—Rabbi Gliksberg, Rabbi Yaroslavsky—all the members of the presidium seated on the stage, chassidim, and this holy and distinguished gathering. The truth is, this is my first time here in Kfar Chabad on 19 Kislev. As a child, I attended the farbrengens Rabbi Roth organized at the Chabad synagogue in Mattersdorf—not with a crowd this large, but with a gathering of chassidim who sat and farbrenged for many hours on the Festival of Liberation. Those are probably the deep roots that brought me to be here with you on 19 Kislev in Kfar Chabad. Regarding every festival the Jewish people celebrate, the works of Chassidus ask: Why? If something happened in history three thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, a thousand years ago, why must we celebrate it? Must “those days” always be present “at this time” as well? For every festival, lengthy maamarim in the works of Chassidus explain the great light of “those days” that is present “at this time.” The 19th of Kislev, too, is not a celebration of an event 207 years ago, but of an event that gives us strength each and every year. It was not for nothing that the author of the Tanya said: “This day shall be established as an everlasting festival in Israel, on which His great Name shall be magnified and sanctified, and tens of thousands in Israel shall be stirred to teshuvah and to the service of the heart.” What is this festival about? The answer is found in the weekly parsha. When Yosef HaTzaddik faces the great test posed by Potiphar’s wife, the verse says, “And he refused.” He refuses. Why doesn’t it say why? There is a pause in the cantillation after that—then comes a dialogue between him and Potiphar’s wife. The Sfas Emes says: it was a simple refusal, without a reason. The real reason for that refusal, Rashi says later, was that “the image of his father appeared to him.” Suddenly, he saw the image of his father. What was that image? It was, in fact, a chain of generations—Avraham and Yitzchak before him, who had faced tests. And the test of our forefather Avraham was not

1:16:47 Speaker 4 It was a test—not only for Avraham Avinu, but a test that instilled inner strength in the Jewish people, generation after generation, down to our own, to withstand trials. It was the strength Avraham Avinu had, the strength Yitzchak Avinu had, the strength Yaakov Avinu had, and the image Yosef Hatzaddik saw at that moment. The image of self-sacrifice for Judaism, the strength of self-sacrifice for Judaism, was born on this day, 19 Kislev, when the author of the Tanya gave himself over for Judaism and emerged from prison. Generation after generation, that is where we draw the strength to devote ourselves to spreading Judaism. So this is not merely a day marking 207 years since we celebrated the author of the Tanya’s release. It is an enduring festival on which we celebrate self-sacrifice for the spread of Judaism. Half a year ago, during Pesach, the president of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin—the president of Russia—came here. Five days before his visit, a delegation of 200 people came to prepare for it. They said, “He’ll be here, he’ll be here, but we’re not sure he’ll come.” Under the protocol in Israel, when a head of state arrives, he is not required to visit the Western Wall. But if he comes to the Old City, he cannot visit somewhere else there without visiting the Western Wall. They said it was not at all certain he would visit the Old City, so this was only a preparatory visit in case he did. And indeed, he arrived on Chol Hamoed, and that day I was told he was not coming. He was not coming to the Old City at all, so he would not visit the Western Wall either. I was at the Wall for the holiday. That afternoon I had accompanied the commander of Northern Command, Benny Gantz. I wanted to leave the Wall, but the police commander told me there was a problem: the president of Russia was going to another location in the Old City, and the entire Old City was blocked off.

1:19:13 Speaker 4 So if I wanted to leave, I should wait a few minutes, and they would direct me along some route so I could get home. I asked him, “Are you sure the president isn’t coming to the Wall?” He said, “Certain. We aren’t making preparations. His delegation informed us he isn’t visiting.” By the time I got home, it was already ten at night. Ten minutes after I walked in, I got a call from the head of the Shin Bet in Jerusalem. He told me the president of Russia had decided to visit the Western Wall, would be there within half an hour, and I needed to come back. I arrived at the Wall. Thousands of people were there—it was Chol Hamoed—a very large crowd. The police faced a real problem. The president of Russia was coming to the Wall with no security preparations, no security arrangements at all. The motorcade was on its way to the Wall, there were traffic jams throughout the Old City area, and nobody knew what to do. They began looking for solutions: perhaps he could enter the Western Wall tunnels, or stand at a certain point and go no farther. Within a few minutes, before they could even work out what to do, the president arrived. He got out and began apologizing that Rabbi Berel Lazar was not there. He explained that he himself had not known he would come to the Western Wall, and Rabbi Lazar was not in the country. But Rabbi Lazar did not even know he was there at the Western Wall. He also said to me, “Why did I come here? The truth is, I hadn’t planned to. But I thought to myself: how could I, a child who grew up near a chassidic family and saw how they welcomed me...” He said, “There’s a certain food people eat on Friday night. Every Friday night I would go into their home to eat; they looked after me. I said to myself, ‘Will I visit here and not visit the place sacred to the Jewish people? That’s impossible.’ So at the last moment I decided to come. I understand that the Shin Bet

1:21:27 Speaker 4 won’t let me go all the way to the Western Wall, but just being here is, for me, a way to honor the Jewish people.” Two weeks ago, I read an account of the Kinus Hashluchim in Kfar Chabad, and there I saw Rabbi Lazar tell the story of how that president had come to feel connected to the Jewish people. He said that as a child, he had nothing to eat and no one to help him with his homework. A chassidic family devoted themselves to him. In those years, it was forbidden to live as they did. It was forbidden to walk outside openly as Jews, yet they did so without fear and gave of themselves for Judaism. They also took care of that non-Jewish child. And because of that, he said, when he was deputy mayor of Leningrad, he established the first Jewish school in Leningrad. How many other candles one candle can light; how a chassidic light can sometimes illuminate an entire world, a vast world of Judaism. The transformation of Jewish life taking place in Russia today may be thanks to that little boy: a chassidic family that drew its strength from 19 Kislev, from the self-sacrifice handed down to us by the author of the Tanya and other rabbis, kindled a great light that shines across an entire world, bringing Jews closer to our Father in Heaven. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us truly draw from this day the great strength to continue spreading Judaism until “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” May we merit to see the coming of the righteous redeemer, the building of our Beis Hamikdash, and everlasting joy upon our heads, very soon, in our days.

1:23:27 Speaker 5 Thank you, and yasher koach to the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz. Rabbi Rabinowitz forgot the special privilege he had during his tenure as Rabbi of the Wall: the prayer rally, the million-person rally, took place in the Western Wall Plaza—something not seen since the days of the Second Beis Hamikdash. Rabbi Rabinowitz merited that prayer gathering during his tenure, a prayer which, despite everything that has happened, we all surely believe will yet be answered today. The greater the darkness, the greater the light. As we mentioned, we waited until the light of morning, and it will indeed become a reality very soon, with a mighty Geulah. Today is a day of good news—and “good news” without the vav, in its shorter spelling. That is Rabbi Ben Tzion, Rabbi Shmuel Ben Tzion Rabinowitz. The news that should come from him—I’ll be his spokesman—is that in these days, or more precisely, these months, a plan is taking shape to establish a Chabad House at the Western Wall. There is already a mobile Chabad House headed by the chief shliach on behalf of Tzeirei Agudas Chabad, Rabbi Yossi Halperin. Rabbi Rabinowitz, together with Tzeirei Agudas Chabad, is helping to establish a permanent Chabad House in the Western Wall Plaza soon, which will be... The applause certainly belongs to Rabbi Rabinowitz for all his help. And this Chabad House will serve as preparation for the greatest Chabad House, the one closest to the Wall: the Third Beis Hamikdash. Thank you, and yasher koach to Rabbi Rabinowitz. Ladies and gentlemen, I once heard—

00:01 Speaker 1 My teachers and gentlemen, I once heard a speaker at a chassidic farbrengen say: “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” “In peace”—beshalom? In life, we say leshalom, “toward peace.” We say beshalom after 120 years. So what does beshalom mean here? It is based on what Yaakov said: “And I return in peace to my father’s house.” Our Sages say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu rested His name upon Yaakov because he had completed his work. The speaker went on to ask: How can one attain completeness? By fulfilling what the letters of shalom stand for: “And let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven.” We have the pleasure and privilege of introducing and inviting to the podium someone who fights Hashem’s battles and whose every deed is for the sake of Heaven. With the pride of Yaakov, mighty and great, he brings the Rebbe’s words into the public sphere everywhere—even to the place called Israel’s Knesset. I am honored to invite a man of Jerusalem, a member of the Knesset and a fighter of Hashem’s battles, Rabbi Meir Porush.

01:40 Speaker 2 Honored mara d’asra, the distinguished Rabbi Glicksberg; the distinguished Rabbi Yaroslavsky; my friend Rabbi Aharonov; distinguished presidium, public figures, holy congregation. Divine Providence placed two festivals for the Jewish people in the month of Kislev, and their proximity is no coincidence. The two festivals have something in common, a shared theme. One is Chanukah, a festival of mesirus nefesh: the self-sacrifice of the Chashmonaim, who went out to fight, few against many and weak against those stronger than themselves. The second is 19 Kislev, the festival of the liberation of Chassidus. It, too, is a festival of the Alter Rebbe’s mesirus nefesh: he did not shrink from persecution and danger, but spread the inner dimension of Torah through chochmah, binah and daas. From the beginning, Chabad Chassidus has brought the spirit of both festivals together in its own distinctive way—a way of mesirus nefesh. Since Chassidus was founded, settling the Land of Israel and unwavering loyalty to it have held an important, central place in its activities. It is well known that the Alter Rebbe was a great supporter of the first chassidic aliyah in 5537. From then until today, none have shown loyalty to the Land of Israel like Chabad chassidim, with their deep conviction that the Jewish people’s right to the Land of Israel is an eternal right granted by the Creator of the world. And just as on Chanukah we are commanded to light candles at the outside entrance of every Jewish home, so, according to Chabad’s teachings, we are charged with the mission of “Ufaratzta”—“You shall spread out westward, eastward, northward and southward”—spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit among every segment of the people, in every community in the Land and throughout the wider world. On 19 Kislev, the inner dimension of Torah was revealed to the many in an understandable form, and people began to study it and spread its wellsprings outward. My teachers and gentlemen, in this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayeishev, there is a verse that expresses the message of Ufaratzta: “It is my brothers that I seek.” The commentators explain that a Jew must always ask in his prayers and deeds not only for himself, but together with his brothers, with all of the Jewish people. As our Sages said, when praying for a sick person, we say, “May the Omnipresent

05:05 Speaker 2 have mercy on you among the sick of Israel.” This, then, would seem to be the meaning of the verse: “My brothers”—together with my brothers. May my deliverance come together with the deliverance of all the Jewish people, for all Jews are responsible for one another. When the Rebbe declared that the task of every Torah-observant Jew in our time is to devote some of his time and energy to bringing other Jews closer to the light of Torah, many circles did not think this task applied to them. But over the years—and today, when we see, boruch Hashem, how this approach has become almost universally accepted—none serve as an example and model for bringing distant Jews closer like Chabad and the Chabad shluchim. As the Rebbe said, Chabad must do what others cannot do. My teachers and gentlemen, on this day, 19 Kislev, the festival of the liberation of Chassidus, we all know that the teachings of the Alter Rebbe and all the Chabad Rebbeim who followed him are with us and live among us. The shepherds of the Jewish people do not part from their flock, and they strengthen our spirits until the great day, the day of the complete Geulah, which will come speedily, in our days, literally. Thank you very much, and yasher koach to Knesset member Rabbi Meir Porush. Here at this chassidic farbrengen, we ask him to say l’chaim. L’chaim and blessings; may he have blessing and success in all his endeavors, in his great public mission, in the mission he carries out as the Rebbe’s shlichus, until he truly merits to see that great mission fulfilled with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, amen. My teachers and gentlemen, in the Rebbe’s holy sicha on the weekly parsha, the Rebbe discusses at length how Yosef was “a successful man.” Twice it says there, “And everything he did, Hashem made successful in his hand.” Later, when he was in prison, it says, “And everything he did, Hashem made successful”—but the words “in his hand” do not appear. The Rebbe explains that these are two stages of success. There is success “in his hand,” which is very limited—limited indeed. And there is success in which Hashem makes him succeed, sending His angel ahead of him: Hashem makes him succeed,

08:04 Speaker 2 and it is not tied to the limitations of what is “in his hand.” The Rebbe explained that this is what happened with the Alter Rebbe. At first, the ministers and the nations were impressed by his wisdom and greatness. But later, not only were they impressed; they themselves said, “This came from Hashem; it is wondrous in our eyes.” Gentlemen, about a month ago we merited to see, “This came from Hashem; it is wondrous in our eyes.” We saw the Rebbe’s thousands of shluchim, whom Hashem makes successful. The notion of “in his hand” does not apply to them. A young shliach sets out and arrives in a barren wilderness, and turns it into a settled place. Yeshivos, shuls, a Chabad House, a mikveh, a Talmud Torah and more are established—and Hashem makes him successful. Why is that? As the Rebbe said in one of his sichos: If you want to know where you came from, you must look at where you are going. From where you are going, you know where you came from. Where did you come from? From the Rebbe’s strength. Gentlemen, we have the privilege and pleasure of welcoming an honored guest to this chassidic farbrengen: a veteran shliach, one of the longest-serving shluchim in the world. There, too, prime ministers and heads of state who are not Jewish say, “This came from Hashem,” and lend their support to the shluchim in carrying out the Rebbe’s shlichus. I am honored to invite our guest of honor, the Rebbe’s shliach in Worcester, Rabbi Yehuda Tzvi Fogelman.

10:06 Speaker 3 Thank you. L’chaim. L’chaim, gut Yom Tov. First of all, I ask you to forgive me. Hebrew is not the language I speak, and if I switch between Ashkenazi and Sephardi pronunciation, mix up masculine and feminine, or make mistakes in the rules—the rules of Hebrew—please forgive me. But I wrote down a few things I want to emphasize. It is not just I who am speaking; all of us together are speaking with a deeper purpose. I once heard, in the name of the Slonimer Rebbe, an explanation of the teaching of our Sages quoted at the beginning of Tanya: “Even if the whole world tells you that you are a tzaddik, regard yourself as wicked.” Why? He asked: How does the whole world know that you are a tzaddik? The whole world knows you are a tzaddik—how do they know? Presumably, you publicize it yourself. Everywhere you go, you announce that you are a tzaddik. And his second question was: “The whole world tells you”—why do they tell you? Because you enjoy it. You want the whole world to know you are a tzaddik and to tell you so. That is why you should regard yourself as wicked. We have all come together to farbreng on the festival of festivals, 19 Kislev, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. It is explained at great length that, as on the holy day of Rosh Hashanah, a new light shines in the world, and all the blessings for the entire year are received from the light of this month. The profound power and the light that shines on 19 Kislev—the honor of the inner dimension—shine and permeate us, and from this we share together in bringing the supreme purpose of the world’s creation to completion. There is an interesting story I want to tell you. In 5702—that was more than sixty-four years ago—His Holiness the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, spoke about when Mesibos Shabbos began operating in the United States. What that meant was that the Rebbe guided the students of Tomchei Temimim who were then studying at 770 to gather children every Shabbos, give them sweets and tell them good stories. Those were Mesibos Shabbos, and all of us did this throughout Brooklyn.

14:07 Speaker 3 And when the Rebbe said it, he meant it in the fullest sense. The Rebbe, the Rebbe—compare it to a campaign, to Shabbos gatherings. It reaches the ends of the earth, the whole world. That was sixty-four years ago. I was young then, but I say this with all the seriousness I can muster. Now we are faithful witnesses: we see Chabad spreading throughout the entire world, just as the Rebbe foretold. We all need to look at ourselves. What are we doing? What should we be doing? How do we treat one another? And so on. There is an interesting point here. Throughout the world, when people daven in the morning, they say, “bringing peace between one person and another.” The Alter Rebbe added one more letter, a shin: “bringing forth the peace that is between one person and another.” In other words, “bringing peace between one person and another” means that two people are arguing, and one cannot bear the other, so a third person comes and makes peace between them. But “bringing forth the peace that is between one person and another” means that the peace is already within us, and we need to reveal it. To bring forth the peace between one person and another is to reveal it. The Alter Rebbe, the Rebbe, and all the Rebbeim through the Nasi of our generation planted within us the peace and unity that lie concealed within us. We need to reveal them. And on Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, 19 Kislev, the light within us shines; may we unite with true intention and bring the Geulah, with the Rebbe’s encouragement in thought, speech, and action. Every morning, before we begin “Hodu laHashem ki tov,” we recite the Baraisa of Rabbi Yishmael. Its final rule, among the thirteen principles by which the Torah is interpreted, is: “And likewise, two passages that contradict each other, until a third passage comes and reconciles them.” That is, when we find two verses in the Torah, a third verse reconciles them—not by deciding that this verse or that verse is right. It reveals that the two verses, the two passages, express one idea. One speaks

17:45 Speaker 3 in this direction and the other in that direction, but the third brings out the inner intent in the middle. That is its power, its very power. Among us there are differing opinions. One person holds that we should do this or that. There are different factions among us—two passages that contradict each other. The third passage is the deep secret of 19 Kislev. That third passage, the inner intention within us, reconciles all the opinions, unites us, and reveals the truth to us all. That is what we are waiting for. And how do we get there? Through studying Chassidus, putting Chassidus into practice, farbrengens about Chassidus, and the chassidic love we should all have: listening to what the other person says and loving one another even when we disagree. It is not easy simply to say that. So how do we get there? There is a wonderful parable from the Mitteler Rebbe, in a maamar in Derech Chaim, in the name of Rabbi Nachman of Kosov, one of the Baal Shem Tov’s students. The parable goes like this: “In ancient times, the king had [unclear] many groups of people, and caves were prepared for them underground. The king sent many families together into a cave.” We have heard this ancient account. The families lived there; children were born there, and they did not know there was a living world outside the cave—fields, warmth, the sun and moon. They knew nothing of it. What a powerful thing. After some time, the king’s son, the prince, came to visit them. They did not believe him when he told them: There is a king, there is a sun, there is light, there are people. They did not believe him. The parents tried to explain it to them, but hearing is not the same as seeing. So the king’s son took out a violin and played a beautiful melody for them. He explained that the food brought to them did not originate there: there were fields, wheat and barley, from which their bread came. And the Rebbe explains the power of this. All of us—our animal soul sees only the external. We eat, we sleep, we accomplish great things in technology,

21:41 Speaker 3 in science and the like, and we might think that is the whole story. But there is a king’s son. During davening, says the Mitteler Rebbe, the king’s son—the G-dly soul—serves Hashem, sings a melody, and senses that what we see is not the whole story. There is Hashem, who “in His goodness renews the work of creation every day, continuously.” In conclusion: we are shluchim of the Nasi of our generation. The greatest and final campaign the Rebbe, the Nasi of our generation, spoke about is that we must know about and reveal the coming of Moshiach and the building of the Beis Hamikdash by Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That is the ultimate point. Together, let us unite in a moment of joy, a moment of affection, a moment of unity. And together we will keep adding more and more. The Geulah is here now, to envelop the entire world with the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Amen, may it be His will.

23:38 Speaker 4 Yasher koach! To the Rebbe’s shliach in Boston, the head shliach in Boston, Rabbi Yehuda Tzvi Fogelman. This is precisely what they always said: “When you see a shliach, you see the Rebbe.” When you see a shliach, you see the Rebbe—in the substance of his words and the way he says them, speaking with the Rebbe’s strength and as his voice. We wish Rabbi Fogelman a long life and many good years, and may he, together with all of us and all the shluchim, merit to see the Rebbe very soon. Amen. When the Alter Rebbe recited the verse “He redeemed my soul in peace,” he received the news that he was being released from prison, and our Chassidus was victorious. I would like to invite the children’s choir—the quintet, like the Five Books of the Torah—to open with “He redeemed my soul in peace.” Please.

25:04 Speaker 5 He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me. Many, many were with me. G-d will hear and answer them, He who is enthroned from of old, selah. For they do not change, for they do not change, for they do not change, and they do not fear G-d. He stretched out his hands against those at peace with him; he violated, violated, violated his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. Cast, cast your burden upon Hashem, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous one to falter, the righteous one to falter. But You, but You, G-d, will bring them down to the pit of destruction. But You, but You, G-d, will bring them down to the pit of destruction. Men of bloodshed and deceit will not, will not live out, will not live out half their days. Men of bloodshed and deceit will not, will not live out, will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, trust in You, trust in You. But I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, trust in You, trust in You. But I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust

31:51 Speaker 6 And that—and that applause is for the soldiers of Tzivos Hashem, the children of the choir that was formed and founded a week before the Festival of Liberation: Michael Rivkin, Menachem Kahana, Benny Brod, Yitzchak Lipsker, and Avshalom Tzuberi. Thank you, and yasher koach. And the orchestra, the Arnatz Brothers [unclear], musician Rabbi Yosef Chaim Moshe, the trumpeter, and [unclear]. We will ask the orchestra, together with the entire audience, to play a nigun before the maamar. And I have the honor of inviting—we have a regular speaker, someone who regularly reviews a maamar of Chassidus, and may we always merit to review the Rebbe’s maamarim—Rabbi Eliezer Brod, the rabbi of Karmei Yosef. A nigun before the maamar, and then the maamar.

33:31 Speaker 7 Oy yoy yoy yoy, pai ya ya yo, oy yoy oy yoy oy oy oy oy, ya ya ya mama, oy dai dai dai dai dai dai ma, oy ai di di di di di bai, ai hei di di di di di bai, oy hei di di di di di di di di. Na ya ya yida na ah ya mama, oy daida ma daida yida ma ho, ya didi daida ma ya hei, hei didi daida ma ya hei, hei didi daida ma didi daida ah, ya ya mama, ya ya mama, oy daida ma daida yida ma ho, ya ya mama yo ya ya yidam, oy daidi daida rada yida ma ho, ya ya ya ya mama, ya ya ya ya mama, yoi dai daida rada yida ma ho, ya didi daida ma ya hei, hei didi daida ma ya hei, hei didi daida ma didi daida ah, ya ya mama ya ya ya ya mama, yoi dai daida oy oy oy oy.

35:56 Speaker 8 “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” There is a maamar on this, beginning “He Redeemed My Soul in Peace,” which the Frierdiker Rebbe delivered in 5704. It focuses on the verse’s words “redeemed in peace,” which imply that there are two kinds of redemption: ordinary redemption, and redemption on a higher level, in a state of peace. We need to understand these two levels, and also how they relate to the continuation of the verse, “for many were with me.” We also need to understand the verse, “Those who love Your Torah have abundant peace, and there is no stumbling for them.” In other words, even within peace there is ordinary peace, as in “redeemed in peace,” and there is the level of abundant peace, which is associated with those who love Your Torah. This raises a question: Isn’t Torah a matter of understanding and comprehension? If so, it would have been fitting to say that those who study Your Torah have abundant peace. Why does it say those who love Your Torah? What does love have to do with Torah study? And why is it necessary to add “those who love Your Torah” at all? After all, Torah itself is said to protect and save. So Torah itself, even without the aspect of loving it, already brings about peace. The explanation is that the ultimate purpose of the world’s creation, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms. That is, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a world—olam, a word related to concealment and hiding. And yet the Torah says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Our Sages point out that the Torah says “let us make,” in the plural. In other words, the Torah deliberately phrases it that way

38:07 Speaker 8 in the plural, so that whoever wishes to err may come and err. Although the verse speaks of the creation of man—“Let us make man”—and man was created “in our image, after our likeness,” creation was nevertheless made in such a way that there is room for people to err and imagine that the world consists of separate domains, a public domain. A Jew’s task is to reveal the G-dliness in the world: to transform it from a public domain into a private domain, belonging to the One Who is unique in the world. How do we accomplish this work of making the world a private domain? There are two kinds of service. One takes the form of battle, and is associated with the service of prayer. Of prayer it is said, “Which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.” The Targum translates “with my sword and my bow” as “with my prayer and my supplication.” In other words, prayer is associated with battle: a person asks for all his needs, which means he is involved with worldly matters. He descends into worldly matters and must refine them. In connection with prayer, too, it says, “Behold, a ladder was set on the earth, and its top reached heaven.” This refers to the service of prayer. Prayer reaches heaven, but it is also connected to the earth: “a ladder was set on the earth.” In the service of prayer, then, a person deals with worldly matters through battle. The Torah also says, “When you go out to war against your enemies.” Even when a Jew goes out to war, he does so with the clear knowledge that he stands “above your enemies, and Hashem your G-d will deliver them into your hand.” Nevertheless, he is ultimately engaged in battle. The second kind of service, by contrast, is Torah study. In that service, he does not deal with worldly

40:11 Speaker 8 matters at all. He is not in a state of battle; he occupies himself solely with Torah study, and through that he refines worldly matters as a matter of course. That is why the Torah says, “Are My words not like fire?” Just as fire cannot become impure, words of Torah cannot become impure. Through Torah, he has no involvement with worldly matters at all. Torah study is therefore a service characterized by peace: he is not in a state of battle. This is also why the Jewish people, because they study Torah, are called “the Shulammite.” As the Midrash says about the verse “Return, return, O Shulammite,” this refers to the Jewish people, who bring peace between the heavenly host and the earthly host. That is also why it is said of those who study Torah, “Torah scholars increase peace in the world.” And it says, “Hashem will give strength to His people; Hashem will bless His people with peace.” “Strength” refers to Torah: through studying Torah, which is called strength, we bring about peace. But even this level of peace is not yet complete. Although he is not in a state of battle, that does not rule out the possibility that an opponent might come at another time and fight him. Then there is a higher level—not ordinary peace, but abundant peace. Abundant peace is associated with “those who love Your Torah.” This love relates to prayer: “There is no service like the service of love.” When a person brings the love of Hashem into his Torah study, he connects his study with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the Giver of the Torah. This is also the meaning of making a blessing over the Torah first:

42:04 Speaker 8 when a Jew studies and reflects on Torah, he always remembers that it is the Torah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As we say in the blessing over the Torah, “Who chose us from among all the nations and gave us His Torah.” Even as the Torah descends to us, it remains the Torah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Thus it is said of King David that when he taught Torah, he connected it with the Giver of the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When a person studies Torah with abundant peace—with love and a connection to the Giver of the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu—he draws down this level of abundant peace. Not only is he not in a state of battle; there is no room at all for an opponent to come and oppose him. This is the meaning of “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.” On the simple level, when King David says “for many were with me,” he means that even Avshalom’s men prayed for David’s victory. Similarly, through this service of being redeemed in peace

00:06 Speaker 1 Until the one who opposed it no longer opposes it, but himself becomes part of holiness. This will happen in the future, with the coming of Moshiach, when “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” Then even evil will turn to good and become part of the good. And then we will merit the three forms of completeness: the completeness of the Land—“a land that Hashem your G-d watches over constantly, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year”; the completeness of the people—“with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters”; and the completeness of the Torah, with the coming of Moshiach. Amen and amen.

00:55 Speaker 2 A maamar of Chassidus: seven hundred and sixty-nine, and with the kollel, seven hundred and seventy. Rabbi Eliezer Brod, may he live and be well—seven hundred and seventy. Thank you very much, and yasher koach to Rabbi Eliezer Brod for the maamar, which, as he does every year, he delivers so beautifully that even someone who can’t understand, and even someone who doesn’t want to understand, has to understand. Thank you, and yasher koach. And now the new generation, the new shluchim, with their singing and music together with the orchestra, please. But before that—excuse me, [unclear]—I want to ask the audience to daven and pray for long life and good years, and for a complete recovery for the child Menachem Mendel ben Chana, may he live and be well. May he have a complete recovery very soon, amen. Yosef Elimelech ben Sarah, for a complete recovery, amen.

02:34 Speaker 12 [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go on. Come, beloved, let’s go on. [Unclear sung words.] Come, let’s go, [unclear]. [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.]

06:49 Speaker 13 [Unclear sung words.]

07:05 Speaker 14 [Unclear sung words.]

07:20 Speaker 15 Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Yes, [unclear].

07:56 Speaker 16 Yes, because if you know who, not only will you lower the prices, he lives, and afterward [unclear].

08:11 Speaker 17 [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.] Ay la la la, ay la la la, ay la la la la la la la la la la. Ay la la la, ay la la la, ay la la la la la la la la la la. [Unclear sung words.] [Unclear sung words.]

09:54 Speaker 18 What now? Who starts? Who’s starting? Who starts? Michael.

10:13 Speaker 17 As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for You, G-d. As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for You, G-d. My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living G-d. When will I come and appear before G-d? When will I come and appear before G-d? Ay ay, ay ay ay, ay ay ay ay ay ay ah. Ay ay ay, ay ay ay, ay ay ay ay ay ay ah. My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living G-d. When will I come and appear before G-d? When will I come and appear before G-d? As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for You, G-d.

13:08 Speaker 3 A round of applause for the five soldiers of Tzivos Hashem, [unclear]. They are the ones bringing Moshiach. In fact, the Hebrew word for “bringing” is an acronym: the first letter stands for Menachem Kahana, the second for Beni Brod, the third for Avshalom Tzuberi, the fourth for Yitzchak Lipsker, and the fifth for Michael Rivkin. Together with all the children of Israel, they are bringing us the Geulah and Moshiach. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been handed a note, and I’ll read it as written. We’re in the Year of Light, and since my daughter’s name is Orly bas Shoshana, she asks that in this Year of Light, there should be light for her too. In other words, she asks the audience to pray that she find a good match, sent from Heaven, very soon, in the merit of the Festival of Liberation, 19 Kislev. Amen and amen. But on condition that you come and tell us, so we can share in your joy. Until a hundred and twenty. Ladies and gentlemen, “These are the generations of Yaakov: Yosef.” How could we do without the generations of Yaakov—Yosef? There can’t be a 19 Kislev without Rabbi Yosef. One of the first to spread the teachings of Chassidus in the religious high schools, a former member of the Knesset who will, in the future, greet Moshiach: Rabbi, the chossid Reb Yosef Bagad shlita. Please.

14:51 Speaker 4 Well, first, as is the custom of chassidim: L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. With the permission of the esteemed rabbis, I want to repeat what I said at the Kinus Hashluchim at Kibbutz Netzer Sereni. Mazel tov to Avraham and—to Avraham and Sarah: a son was born. What did they name the son? Yitzchak. Why did they call him Yitzchak? Because Sarah our mother laughed. It’s lucky she didn’t cry, or they would have called him Crybaby. It’s lucky she didn’t get angry, or they would have called him Grumpy. What kind of thing is that? If the mother laughs, you name the child Yitzchak? Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to Avraham our father, “Know this: they will laugh at you, they will mock you.” That is the way of the Jewish people. But in the end, you will prevail. Yitzchak goes... Shh... Thank you. Yitzchak goes and digs wells of water. The Philistines come and fill them in, mock him, laugh, fill them in. He calls the place Esek, because they contended with him. He digs more wells, but gives them the names his father Avraham had given them. We don’t change names; we don’t change anything. They laugh and mock, and we continue on the path of Avraham our father, on the path of our forefathers. The first time, and the second, Sitnah. The First Beis Hamikdash was destroyed—Esek. The Second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed through hatred between brothers—Sitnah. Yitzchak isn’t disappointed; he doesn’t give up. He digs a third time: Rechovos. “Now Hashem has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” The Third Beis Hamikdash will be built. Holy congregation, what is Chabad? People laugh, mock, boycott. But no other movement has done what Chabad does. The Chabad rabbinical center in Brussels, the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, contacted me. “Rabbi Bagad, go to Tunisia to strengthen the community in Djerba.” I told them, “But it’s dangerous.” I phoned the Knesset security officer. He told me, “Don’t go. We have no relations with them; it’s an enemy country. Don’t go.” But my friend, the distinguished Rabbi Meir Mazuz, head of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva, with whom I give a class every Motzaei Shabbos at Kisse Rahamim—half

18:18 Speaker 4 he gives and half I give—said, “Rabbi Bagad, go. It’ll be all right.” I traveled to Paris. There was no visa, no... In the meantime, Rabbi Nachum [unclear] took me to give classes at the Chabad yeshivos in Paris and at Beis Rivka in Paris. It’s unbelievable how successful Chabad is everywhere in the world! Eventually I reached Djerba.

18:47 Speaker 5 Rabbi Yechiel Abuchatzeira, rabbi of Ramle, is invited to come up onto the stage.

18:52 Speaker 4 Oh, our honored guest, Rabbi Abuchatzeira shlita. Well, I arrived in Djerba on a Chabad mission. I came to strengthen them, and left strengthened myself. A community three thousand years old, and not one person there desecrates Shabbos. Even the little children study Gemara in Hebrew. All the rabbis there, the teachers in the yeshiva, are graduates of Djerba. Only Chabad can do things like that. Rabbi Lau said at the World Mizrachi conference—and I’ll never forget it—two Chabad chassidim in Bangladesh can accomplish more than the whole World Mizrachi movement. Amazing! Yes, Chabad deserves a round of applause. Ah, there’s no place in the world without Coca-Cola and without Chabad. Everywhere. So people laugh and mock. We read that Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “Yitzchak.” And let’s finish with one interesting point. If the Rema, in his gloss on the Shulchan Aruch, had asked me which mitzvah to start with, I—and all of us—would have said bris milah, Torah study, Shabbos, Yom Kippur. What is the first thing he opens with? “One should not be ashamed before people who mock him.” They laugh and mock our clothing, our behavior, everything. We pay no attention, “for now Hashem has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” And may we merit, through the Rebbe’s holiness, the building of the Bei—Beis Hamikdash, speedily in our days, truly.

20:58 Speaker 6 Thank you, thank you, and yasher koach to Rabbi Yosef Bagad. I wish you, Rabbi Bagad, that you should always laugh, always be happy, and that we should turn laughter and mockery into joy. And there is nothing like joy to sweeten harsh decrees, ladies and gentlemen. The year of light. I want to quote the Alter Rebbe’s words on how we reach the light. “The beginning of a Chabad chossid’s avodah,” says the Alter Rebbe, “is to heat the oven and drive away the frost.” We have to drive away the coldness. “With a heartfelt Chabad niggun, we make it warm, and when it becomes warm, it begins to shine.” The orchestra and the Chassidic singer, Reb Nemuel Harush, together with the entire audience—we will warm up and merit light. Please.

22:59 Speaker 7 Ah ya, ah ya. “When will the Master come?” “When your wellsprings spread outward.” Ah hey hey, ay ay ay. “When will the Master come?” “When your wellsprings spread outward.” When, when, when, when will the Master come? When they spread. When, when, when, when will the Master come? When they spread. Ahhh. Tra-ram, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. “When will the Master come?” “When your wellsprings spread outward.” Ah hey hey, ay ay ay. “When will the Master come?” “When your wellsprings spread outward.” When, when, when, when will the Master come? When they spread. “You shall spread westward and eastward, northward and southward. You shall spread westward and eastward, northward and southward.” Ahoy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Outward, outward, outward, outward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Oh. Ahoy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Outward, outward, outward, outward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Westward and eastward, northward and southward. Come on, everyone, let’s spread outward. Oy, oy, let’s spread outward. Once more, once more. Ay, ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, ya ya, may, ya, may, ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, ya ya, may, ya, may, ay, ay. Oy, oy, oy, diri-ram. Oy, oy, oy, diri-ram. Ay, diri-ra, ya may, ay. Oy, oy, oy, diri-ram. Ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, diri-ram, oy. Ay, ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Ay, ay, ay, oy, oy, oy, oy, diri-ri. Ay, ay, ay, ay, diri-ram. Oy, oy, oy, diri-ram. Ay, ay, ay, oy, diri-ri. Oy.

30:15 Speaker 8 And our Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever, ay. Ay, long live our master, teacher and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Long live our master, teacher and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever, ay. Ay, ay, amri tat ay, ti doro roy ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, roy ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, forever and ever. King Moshiach forever and ever, wow, ay.

31:21 Speaker 9 And this singing will never stop; we’ll continue later, until the light of morning. We waited until the light of morning, and now for a blessing. I have the honor of inviting the rabbi of the city of Ramla, the esteemed Chassidic scholar Rabbi Yechiel Abuhatzeira shlita, to offer his blessing. Afterward, we’ll continue with song and music. Rabbi Abuhatzeira, please.

31:57 Speaker 10 My teachers and rabbis, distinguished and holy audience, honored rabbis seated here at the head, led by our friend Rabbi Agat[unclear] shlita, who does so much to strengthen Torah, and my friend Rabbi Binyamin Cohen, our dear host. I feel unworthy to say even a few words here, especially when we are celebrating the Festival of Liberation of that righteous man, the foundation of the world, the holy Alter Rebbe, may the memory of the righteous and holy be a blessing. To mention his name and his greatness—we must all regard with awe and reverence the entire foundation of Chassidus throughout the Chabad world. We see this remarkable phenomenon, as Rabbi Gad[unclear]—Rabbi Bagad shlita—already mentioned. There is no place in the world. I want to emphasize something here: he mentioned Tunisia. I want to speak about Morocco. I was born in Morocco and came here as a child, but over the last twenty years I have had the opportunity to go there almost every year. You can plainly see who is keeping things going today. Morocco was once a world of Torah, of sages, Rebbes and tzaddikim. But in recent years, you can see that if not for Chabad, nothing would have remained there. There are, thank G-d, Torah scholars and dayanim, but who keeps it going with mesiras nefesh? Let us mention Rabbi Raskin, a"h, who truly stirred so many hearts there, and, may he be distinguished for long life, the esteemed Rabbi Eidelman shlita, whom many surely know. I have the privilege, whenever I am there each year, of visiting his beis midrash. Day after day, the light of Torah—the merit of Torah—draws hearts close. He is a Jew who remains there with just his wife; all his children are scattered elsewhere, and he stays there with genuine mesiras nefesh. It is not easy. Many prominent rabbis have already left the place. But as long as there is still a Jewish community, still Jews to bring closer to mitzvos, then

34:15 Speaker 10 he continues to stay there, all in accordance with the instructions of that tzaddik, the Rebbe, a"h, who sent him. As long as the light of Jewish souls still burns, he carries on. And in fact, we learn a very great principle from Parshas Vayishlach, from Yaakov Avinu. He sent messengers ahead to meet Esav and said, as Rashi quotes, “I sojourned with Lavan.” Rashi says: “Another interpretation: I kept the 613 mitzvos and did not”—to continue—“learn from his deeds.” I have nothing to fear from you. At first glance, Yaakov Avinu seems to be provoking Esav here. After all, he is seeking reconciliation. He prepared himself for three things, yet here Yaakov says: I have nothing to fear, though “by your sword you shall live.” Rather, Yaakov Avinu is hinting: Know this—as long as we live in the world of Torah, as long as we stand firm—Yaakov says, “I kept the 613 mitzvos”—I have nothing to fear. Our merit lies in Torah. That is why he says, “I have acquired oxen and donkeys,” alluding here to Yosef and Yissachar: Yosef, who is Esav’s adversary, and Yissachar, who represents the world of Torah. That is our essence, our work, and the foundation to which we are bound. And he says, “I did not learn from his deeds.” The Rebbe of Ger, the author of Imrei Emes, asks: What does “I did not learn from his deeds” mean? If he said that he kept the 613 mitzvos, then surely he did not learn from Lavan’s deeds. He says, “I did not learn”—this, of course, reflects Yaakov Avinu’s extraordinary humility. What did he not learn? Lavan the Aramean pursued his own affairs, his idol worship and all the vanities of this world, with dedication and enthusiasm. Yaakov Avinu says: That I did not learn—to pursue holiness and purity with dedication and enthusiasm. Yaakov, of course, says this out of humility, but he comes to teach us, says the Rebbe of Ger,

36:18 Speaker 10 the author of Imrei Emes, that when the Jewish people engage in Torah and do something holy, perhaps they should learn from those distant from Torah who devote themselves so completely to vain pursuits. How much more so should we do things of the utmost importance with enthusiasm and mesiras nefesh. When you see people give of themselves, you see great success; you see help from Heaven. Thank G-d, across the Chabad world you see this dedication, as was mentioned. There is no place—we have occasion to visit all sorts of Jewish communities, even in the most remote places where there is only a small community—but Chabad is there. And all of it is done with genuine mesiras nefesh and enthusiasm, to reach one more Jew, one more soul and another soul. It all began with that foundation of holiness and purity laid by the founder of Chabad Chassidus. Thank G-d, it has left—and continues to leave—a deep impression to this very day. And, thank G-d, the Rebbe, a"h, continued with enthusiasm and mesiras nefesh, so that there is no Jewish outpost anywhere without a Chabad House that, thank G-d, brings merit to the many. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with Hashem’s help, help us continue with momentum, growth and uplift, and continue with mesiras nefesh to strengthen Torah and those who study it. This is what Yaakov Avinu taught us. When it comes to Yaakov, there is nothing for me to fear. When he speaks to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he says, “I am unworthy of all the kindnesses.” He truly does not see what merit he has for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to save him from Esav. But when he speaks to Esav, he must stand tall and not be ashamed—as was mentioned—of the scoffers. Let us uphold our wonderful tradition with real enthusiasm, holiness and purity. With Hashem’s help, may Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us [unclear]. May they continue to strengthen Torah and those who study it. May the merit of that tzaddik, the Alter Rebbe, a"h, stand by us and by all the Jewish people,

38:30 Speaker 10 and, with Hashem’s help, may we merit to greet our righteous Moshiach speedily and soon. Amen and amen.

38:42 Speaker 11 Thank you very much to the chief rabbi of the city of Ramla, the Chabad chossid Rabbi Yechiel Abuchatzeira shlita. May he serve for many years in health and joy. Before we move on to the Alter Rebbe’s niggun, Arba Bavos, we want to express our thanks and appreciation to the Kfar Chabad committee, its chairman Reb Ami Lipschitz, and all the committee members for organizing the farbrengen. Thank you to our longtime friend Rabbi Binyamin Cohen, who takes care of the refreshments, the lechaim, and the farbeysen. Thank you to the orchestra, to singer Nimrod Harush, [unclear], musician Yosef Chai Moshe, and trumpeter Adam Kinn. Thank you, and yasher koach—we’ll hear more from them. Thank you to the Kol Shaar sound crew, and of course to you, our dear and distinguished audience, who have been with us and are always with us. And an announcement for those who have not yet davened Maariv: a minyan is now forming in the shtiebel on the right at the entrance to the shul. So we ask the orchestra and the entire audience to join in Arba Bavos, followed by singing and music until we succeed in bringing Moshiach. Please.