Farbrengen of 19 Kislev 5767, Kfar Chabad

03:16 Speaker 1 Thank you very much. Yasher koach to the orchestra of Rabbi Maran[?], Elior Wellner, and the wonderful, delightful choir, the Kfar Chabad Children’s Choir. Yasher koach to the gabbai of the shul hosting the central farbrengen, Reb Yosef Haboer[?]. And as we said, a chossid pictures the Rebbe’s holy face, and studies his teachings—a maamar, a sicha, or a story. I have the honor of inviting Rabbi Shmuel Hendel to open with words of the Rebbe’s Torah. Rabbi Hendel, please.

04:12 Speaker 2 Ladies and gentlemen, we have the honor of hosting the distinguished benefactor who does so much for Kfar Chabad and Beis Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Tzvi Boimelgreen. On behalf of the committee and the community, I would like to honor him. Please come up and grace the head table. And with him, the businessman who has become a great supporter of Kfar Chabad, Mr. Roni Demana[?]. Please, Rabbi Boimelgreen and Mr. Demana[?], come up to the stage.

05:08 Speaker 3 The Rebbe explains in a sicha that the festivals occurring during a given week have a connection to the weekly parsha. We live with the times, and the festivals that fall in that week have a connection to its parsha. By Divine Providence, 19 Kislev falls around Parshas Vayishlach and Parshas Vayeishev. So there is a connection between the content of the Festival of Liberation, the Rosh Hashanah of chassidim, 19 Kislev, and Parshas Vayishlach and Vayeishev. The Rebbe explains that the content of 19 Kislev is the revelation of Chassidus after Petersburg, after the imprisonment and liberation. As is known, there was a charge against Chassidus—against spreading Chassidus even to lowly places. Chassidus contains the profound secrets of the inner dimension of the Torah, yet they were being spread far and wide. The Alter Rebbe himself removed that charge with the parable of the jewel in the king’s crown: the king agrees to grind down the precious jewel that gives the crown its value, all so that perhaps even a single drop will enter the prince’s mouth and save him. That was the Alter Rebbe’s answer to Reb Pinchas of Koritz about spreading Chassidus even to places where it would end up rolling on the floor. The Rebbe explains that afterward, the Alter Rebbe spread Chassidus beyond the way it had been spread in the time of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid. He did it differently, in a way that connected more with the world, and this brought another charge against him. So while the Alter Rebbe was in prison, he asked the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid, who had come to visit him, for a ruling: should he continue or stop? They answered him, “Since you have begun, continue even more, and more, and more.” Then came the spreading of Chassidus that the Rebbe calls the period after Petersburg. This is what the Baal Shem Tov was told in answer to his question, “When will the Master come?”—“When your wellsprings spread outward.” It began chiefly on 19 Kislev, with the Alter Rebbe’s liberation. And the point of 19

08:13 Speaker 3 Kislev is the union of G-dliness with the physical world that will exist in the future. It is written that Matan Torah was like betrothal compared with what will be in the future. The Torah a person studies in this world is like a mere breath compared with Moshiach’s Torah. All the Torah we have today is only a preparation for the complete union of G-dliness and the physical world that will come in the future. Then there will be a marriage, a complete union. We prepare for it by spreading Chassidus, the secrets of the inner dimension of the Torah, everywhere, connecting the physical world with G-dliness. This began in a special way on 19 Kislev, and it went on to further stages, right up to our generation. But he says that this is the connection to Parshas Vayishlach and Vayeishev, because Yaakov Avinu has a special connection to the Alter Rebbe. Even among both the Chassidic and the traditional ushpizin, they fall on exactly the same day. So in Parshas Vayishlach and Vayeishev, Yaakov Avinu, unlike in Parshas Vayeitzei, stands—as the Rebbe puts it—at the completion of the work of refinement. “He sent angels”—actual angels. One explanation of why he sent actual angels is that he sent them to tell Esav that he was already ready for the Geulah, and to invite him to go together toward the Geulah. They came back and told him, “We came to your brother, to Esav, and he is also coming toward you.” You may be ready for the Geulah, but Esav is not ready yet. So for his part, Yaakov was already ready for the Geulah in Parshas Vayishlach. And in Vayeishev, “Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility.” He did dwell in tranquility, particularly until the troubles concerning Yosef suddenly came upon him. And after he went down to Egypt, following the sale of Yosef, he had seventeen years of tranquility there—the best years of his life. But the true dwelling in tranquility intended by the verse “Vayeishev” is what will be in the future: the tranquility of the true and complete Geulah. So we see that the plain meaning of Vayishlach and Vayeishev, unlike the earlier period when Yaakov was still working with Lavan, is that, for Yaakov,

10:41 Speaker 3 the work of refinement was complete. That is the connection to 19 Kislev, because it has the same theme: connecting the physical world with G-dliness, refining the world so it can become a vessel for G-dliness. That explains the connection between 19 Kislev and Parshas Vayishlach and Vayeishev. The Rebbe explains that this, too, has stages throughout the generations, including our generation. As the leader of our generation testified and announced, the buttons have already been polished, the world has been refined and rectified, and much G-dliness has been drawn into it. In our days, the Rebbe says, all obstacles and delays have come to an end. Since the work of refinement is complete, our task now is a special one: to bring about the revelation of Moshiach in the world. Then the Rebbe goes even further. As we come closer—and the Rebbe spoke about this especially in 5752, a year of wonders—not only has the work of refinement been completed, so that we must bring about the revelation of Moshiach in the world, but Moshiach’s revelation is already present in the world. All we need to do is open our eyes and see it, to receive the revelation of Moshiach that is already here. The Rebbe connects this with the explanation of Parshas Vayishlach, where it says, “The house of Yaakov shall be fire, the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav stubble.” In our generation, the Rebbe says, the house of Yaakov, as we said, refers to the Alter Rebbe, and the house of Yosef refers to the Frierdiker Rebbe, whose name was Yosef. The Rebbe says that the house of Yosef in our generation—the Frierdiker Rebbe—published special discourses for the wedding of the house of Yosef. That was the wedding of the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s daughter on 14 Kislev. Those wedding discourses express the inner meaning of the marriage between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people: the revelation of Chassidus and the idea of the wedding. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin’s wedding took place on 14 Kislev. And 14 Kislev

13:11 Speaker 3 is precisely—according to the Rebbe, the Rebbe’s work of refining the world comes from Seven Seventy, the home of the house of Yosef, the house of Yosef Chai. Seven Seventy is exactly, exactly the numerical value of “paratzta,” “you shall spread forth” [unclear]. And 14 Kislev, the date of the Rebbe’s wedding, is the fourteenth of Kislev. The completeness of 14 Kislev—the difference between 14 Kislev and “paratzta” is tzaddik and sixteen. Sixteen is nine and nine; when each is complete, with each one comprising ten, together it comes out to 14 Kislev, and tzaddik is “paratzta.” So the completeness of 14 Kislev, of the wedding of the house of Yosef, is tzaddik in the year of tzaddik, which is 5752—ninety years since the Rebbe’s birth. Then there is the fullness, the year of tzaddik, of the G-dly revelation that unites the physical world with G-dliness—the work of refinement. And the Rebbe connects this with the fact that, as we know, 19 Kislev is the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. When was it revealed that 19 Kislev is the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus? Not immediately, on the first 19 Kislev. The first time the Rebbe Rashab wrote a letter announcing that 19 Kislev is the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus was on 16 Kislev 5662. And that is precisely the year the Rebbe points to as the year of the birth of the leader of the generation—ninety years before 5752. So we see that the G-dly revelation of 19 Kislev began with the first revelation, at the end of the year of imprisonment and liberation, and then, over the years, that revelation grew. In 5662 there was an even greater revelation, when it was announced as the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. In 5752, ninety years had passed, bringing that to completion. And to this day, all these G-dly matters only continue to advance, until we see Moshiach the King. I just want to add a story. I heard it at a farbrengen on Shabbos, in the name of Amram Alex Friedman of Tzfas. He relates that once the Rebbe

15:48 Speaker 3 At a farbrengen years ago—I don’t know exactly which year, but it was one of the early years—the Rebbe sent a special message to a great Torah scholar named Rabbi Aharon Kotler. In the middle of the farbrengen, the Rebbe called over one of his students and charged him with delivering the message to Rabbi Aharon Kotler. When the Rebbe gave him the message, everyone heard what he said. After the farbrengen, the chassidim who would review the sichos sat down to reconstruct what had been said. They also tried to repeat the words the Rebbe had entrusted to the messenger for Rabbi Aharon Kotler. They all tried, but not one of them could recall those words, even though they had all heard them. Some time later, Moshe Groner, the brother of Levi Groner, a"h, met that messenger, whom he knew. He said to him, “Listen to something interesting. After the Rebbe gave you the message, we all heard what he said, including everyone who reviewed the sichos. But afterward, when we sat down to review the farbrengen, no one could recall the words. It was extraordinary. The Rebbe wanted only you to hear them.” The messenger replied, “Would you like me to finish the story for you?” He told him that he had gone to the yeshiva or kollel, whatever it was, to deliver the message to Rabbi Aharon Kotler. He arrived and delivered it. It must have been something very interesting, because afterward he thought he would tell someone about it. He didn’t want to speak about it openly, but he had a study partner who was a close friend, and he thought, “Let me tell him about the special message the Rebbe sent me to deliver to Rabbi Aharon Kotler.” He went out and called his friend from the kollel, saying, “Come outside. I want to tell you something special.” He called him out and began to tell him. He said, “You should know, I was just with the Rebbe, [unclear], and in the middle of a farbrengen he called me over and gave me a special message to deliver to Rabbi Aharon Kotler.” But when he tried to tell his friend what the message was, he got stuck. He couldn’t remember what the Rebbe had told him to say—even though he had already delivered the message. He came to tell his friend, and it had vanished from his mind.

17:58 Speaker 3 That completes what Moshe Groner had told him. So let’s finish the story as it was told. It shows us that tzaddikim, and especially the Rebbe, the leader of the generation, have control over their words. Even when the words have been heard, the Rebbe controls when they will be heard and when they will not. For us, this is a lesson particularly connected to 19 Kislev. We know that the entire story of the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment and Geulah happened with his consent. We see, for example, that when the Alter Rebbe wanted to perform mitzvos and the guards would not allow it, the Alter Rebbe brought it about that he did perform the mitzvah. Only afterward did the Alter Rebbe want things to happen through natural means. But we see that the Alter Rebbe was in control, and everything happened with his consent. And certainly, as we find ourselves today on 19 Kislev, in this year after Gimmel Tammuz, we know that everything that has happened with the Rebbe, everything that has happened in the world, is with the consent of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, the leader of the generation. The Rebbe knew exactly what was going to happen, and the Rebbe prepared us for Moshiach in all the later sichos, throughout 5751 and 5752, from after 28 Nissan, when the Rebbe said, “Do everything in your power.” From one sicha to the next, the Rebbe

19:52 Speaker 3 spoke more and more forcefully about the Geulah, and said that every aspect of the Geulah had already been drawn down into the world. Until the Rebbe announced it publicly, before the whole world. Our own eyes saw it, and not a stranger’s. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Vaed. In every corner of the globe. All this happened with the Rebbe’s consent and with the Rebbe’s knowledge. What is required of us, it seems, is to withstand the test—the final test, at the final moment—to remain steadfast, faithful and connected to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. And may Hashem help us, with Hashem’s help, to greet the Geulah with joy and glad hearts, perhaps immediately, with the true and complete Geulah, right now. Certainly.

20:45 Speaker 4 Thank you very much, and yasher koach to the chossid Rabbi Shmuel Hendel for the Dvar Malchus, presented with such clarity and understanding. My friends, the saying of the Frierdiker Rebbe is well known, and we repeat it often: Every lock has a key, but a master craftsman has a key that opens every lock—and that is a niggun. My friends, we need to enter into the joy, the joy of the Geulah, especially when the key is in the hands of the dear children Michael Rivkin, Menachem Kahana, Avshalom Tzuberi and Chizkiya Sharabi of the Kfar Chabad children’s choir, together with Rabbi Reuven and Rabbi Elor[?]. “In his days the righteous shall flourish.”

21:51 Speaker 5 On my birthday, my heart sees happiness. Only on my birthday does my happy heart see. On that day it will be like [unclear], and then I will say [unclear], and then [unclear] will go toward glory. [unclear], and [unclear] will go toward glory. Ah, ah, ah, ah; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya; ah, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya. [unclear], and [unclear] will go toward glory. [unclear], and [unclear] will go toward glory. Let us rejoice on this festive day, and on Rosh Hashanah [unclear]? Ah, let us rejoice on this festive day, and on Rosh Hashanah [unclear]? [unclear], and [unclear] will go toward glory. [unclear], and [unclear] will go toward glory. Ah, ah, ah, ah; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya. [unclear]. [unclear]. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya; ah, ah, ah, ya, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya; ay, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya. [unclear]

25:50 Speaker 5 [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear]. Eliyahu is the grandson of [unclear], beloved and king. Elisha is the grandson of [unclear], beloved and king. Eliezer is the grandson of [unclear], beloved and king. Eliezer is the grandson of [unclear], beloved and king. Eliezer is the grandson of [unclear], beloved and king. Eliezer is the grandson of [unclear], beloved, and let’s go out to [unclear]. Beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out, beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out barefoot. Beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out, beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out barefoot. Beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out, beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out barefoot. Beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out, beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out barefoot. Beloved, he gives all the household utensils. And let’s go out, beloved, he gives [unclear]. [unclear], beloved [unclear]. [unclear], beloved [unclear]. [unclear], beloved [unclear].

31:06 Speaker 6 And now, a round of applause is due to the Chabad children’s choir, together with Rabbi Reuven Marant[?] and Rabbi Ben Or Gellner[?]. Thank you, and yasher koach. We’ll hear more from them later. We are also pleased to welcome the guests who have joined us: Member of Knesset Mr. Tzvi Hendel; Member of Knesset Rabbi Benny Elon; Member of Knesset Mr. Effie Eitam; Rabbi Gruzman, one of the heads of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivos; the head of the Emek Lod Regional Council, Mr. Menashe Moshe; the chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and Tzeirei Agudas Chabad, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak HaKohen Aharonov; and all the distinguished guests and rabbis who have joined us. Welcome in the name of Hashem. Ladies and gentlemen, in the conversation between our forefather Yaakov and his son Yosef about Yosef’s two sons, Menashe and Ephraim, Yosef argued that Menashe was the firstborn. His father told him: I know that, but, he stressed, “His younger brother will become greater than he.” The Rebbe explains that the younger brother, Ephraim, would become greater, as expressed in Ephraim’s name. Ephraim’s distinction is, “For G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction”—in a land of hardship. Ephraim sees his mission as transforming exile and darkness into light. And we welcome the chief rabbi of the city of Givatayim. Ephraim: “G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Ephraim sees his mission as transforming exile and darkness into light—the mission of Chassidus, the mission of the Festival of Liberation, 19 Kislev. Here with us we welcome an Ephraim: Member of Knesset Mr. Ephraim Effie Eitam, who does so much and fights the battles of Chassidus to transform exile and darkness into light. It is my honor to invite our friend, Member of Knesset Mr. Ephraim Effie Eitam.

33:49 Speaker 7 Good evening. With the permission of the mara d’asra, my teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Ashkenazi; Rabbi Glicksberg here to my left; and all the distinguished rabbis who honor us with their presence—people of action, who give us the strength to keep going and carry out our everyday work, our weekday work, while remaining connected to holiness. Welcome, holy congregation. In the parsha we read this Shabbos, “Yaakov remained alone.” Many things become clear when we consider Yaakov’s being alone. Our Sages, and the great teachers of Chassidus too, I know, compare this verse to the words “And Hashem alone shall be exalted.” There are other expressions of being alone: “Hashem alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with Him”; what we sing with such deep feeling, “And after all is finished, He alone, the Awesome One, shall reign”; and “A people that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations.” There is much to clarify about this aloneness. I saw, in the teachings of the great Chassidic masters on this parsha, two approaches. One says that this aloneness relates to the idea that even when the merit of the Patriarchs is exhausted, the covenant with the Patriarchs is not. It is as though the Jewish people no longer have merits of their own; they can no longer be sustained on the basis of their own worthiness, so they stand alone. They are judged only by that innermost, solitary point that remains—the covenant with the Patriarchs. And indeed, after Yaakov moves his camps across the Jordan—the river, the Yabok crossing, excuse me—and after his future is seemingly secure, he faces the threat of Esav. Nor can he rely on the covenant with the Patriarchs, since Avraham and Yitzchak are Esav’s forefathers too. This is the moment when Yaakov stands alone. He must draw his strength and courage from his direct connection with the Master of the Universe. There are no intermediaries and no channels: it is as though the Master of the Universe Himself bends down to our forefather Yaakov and grants him courage directly. So that is one approach to

37:38 Speaker 7 “Yaakov remained alone”: not that he is alone in the sense of being abandoned by every source of strength, but that now he and the Master of the Universe connect directly. Yaakov must draw from within himself, from his innermost being, that direct connection with the Master of the Universe. I also saw this explained there in relation to Shabbos. On weekdays, our connection to the Master of the Universe comes through what we do in this world, through all the structures of our many constructive actions, which connect us to Him. But on Shabbos, it is “Yaakov remained alone.” This is hinted at, yes, when we say on Shabbos, “He shall inherit the heritage of Yaakov”: it refers to this quality of direct connection, a taste of the World to Come. It does not depend on the order of doing things or on indirect channels; rather, the direct light of Shabbos connects with him. And there is another approach, which I also saw in Chassidus, that says “alone” means “with no one else.” In other words, Yaakov stands there, a person stands there, and says, “The world was created for me”—for me alone. That is why man was created as a single individual: in his eyes, he is the only one in the world, a singular, unique, one-time creation, unlike anything else. In truth, these two approaches to being alone complement each other. One kind of aloneness says, “The world was created for me.” I am singular and unique, and my uniqueness stands on its own. It is not dependent on my family, the community, a minyan, or the nation to which I belong. It is me and the Master of the Universe. Just as He took care in creating me, He takes care with every single creation. That is why no two faces are alike. Each person is singular and unique, an only child to his father. On the other hand, “Yaakov remained alone” means that each person is responsible for his connection with the whole. He is responsible for forging those connections from within himself, from his sense of belonging to something that is

40:52 Speaker 7 beyond himself. I say all this because it happened to me personally. Let me tell you about it. Chanukah is coming soon, and... they say that, statistically, most citizens of the State of Israel will stand and light candles. Jews will light candles, even those who are not so religious, because of this idea of continually adding light. It is such a deeply Jewish trait that even people who do not observe mitzvos light menorahs. We know this. Even homes that call themselves secular, homes empty of other things, have this quality of continually adding light to the world. It is so beloved, so much a part of us, so natural. Most Jews in the State of Israel do it. They will light candles, and we will say there, “For the miracles, for the deliverances, and for the battles that You performed for our forefathers in those days, at this time.” The miracle in battle is connected to “Yaakov remained alone.” In the end, every soldier in a war, when he has to take stock of his life and his world, is left alone for a moment. No grand speeches, no slogans, not even a tradition of military valor, can turn someone into the person he needs to be at that moment or prepare him for the moment when he must find courage within himself. Unless he experiences an outright miracle, an open miracle, it is impossible for a person to be ready to risk his life. During the war, the Yom Kippur War, on its second day, when the Golan Heights were being overrun by hundreds of Syrian tanks, I was left literally alone. My soldiers, to put it politely, ran away, and I was left alone with an old anti-tank weapon from World War II, a kind of bazooka. I waited for the lead tank to come closer, when every instinct should have been telling me, “Run.” What can one man do against not one tank, not ten? There were dozens upon dozens in the lead battalion, and then hundreds in the Syrian Third Division, and in every

43:44 Speaker 7 At that moment, a miracle happened to me. A real miracle. I wasn’t afraid, and I wasn’t... Of course, I wasn’t religious then. I didn’t know the value of the Jewish people or the value of the Land of Israel. All those things came later, when I became religious professionally. I didn’t know any of that, but a miracle happened to me, and I said to myself, “I’ll stay here and stop whatever I can.” I aimed that bazooka and fired. The first tank was hit and stopped, and with it, all those dozens of tanks stopped for about an hour. That was exactly enough time for the IDF to call up... to bring in the reserve units. The rest of the story is well known. Many years later, I saw that the Gemara actually attributes a miraculous quality to one person’s courage under conditions of extreme danger. There’s a Gemara about a shepherd who had a flock and abandoned it. Bears came, and the Gemara says a miracle happened: the goats grew horns, gored the bears, and the bears ran away. The Gemara calls that a small miracle, a nisa zuta: nature changed. Suddenly goats had horns like billy goats, and they were aggressive enough to attack the bears and drive them off. That’s a change in nature. That’s a small miracle. The Gemara says that if the shepherd had been there and risked his life for the flock, a great miracle would have happened for him. What’s a great miracle? The Gemara says he would have become so courageous that he could have overcome the bear, as in “Your servant struck down both the lion and the bear,” like King David. So a small miracle is a change in nature. Yes, oil lasts for eight days. Vinegar can burn; water can burn. That’s a small miracle, says the Gemara. The great miracle is when a person overcomes his fear and is left alone—not alone in the sense that now he’s in danger and helpless and can only

46:11 Speaker 7 fear everyone around him, but that out of this solitude, he suddenly forms, as it were, a direct connection with the Master of the Universe. He becomes filled with such courage that nothing can stand in his way. I experienced this myself, and I know it really is a miracle. One second earlier, all you want is to run away, or to be an ant that can crawl under a rock where no one will see it. The next second, suddenly you’re the bravest of the brave. I remember something that amazed me: that bazooka had a kind of electrical plug you had to connect in order to fire it. You had to line up the plug exactly with the socket on the launcher. And I remember that as I connected it, one thought went through my mind: Look, my hands aren’t shaking. Before that, my hands had been shaking so badly I really couldn’t control them. But when I came to do it, I was calm and composed. That didn’t come from me; that much is clear. And now, too, there are many signs that the Jewish people have been left alone in the struggle. There’s a lot of sighing, a lot of lamenting: the Americans are running away, the Europeans aren’t with us, and the world is leaving and abandoning us. But this, too, is a great preparation, one of the wonders of the One Who is perfect in knowledge. We now have to stand alone, and out of the individual’s aloneness grows the courage of a nation standing alone. “Your name shall no longer be called Yaakov, but Yisroel.” Now Yisroel stands alone once again. And this aloneness—as though the Master of the Universe is leaving us with the Iranians, with Hezbollah, and with Hamas, while everyone else runs away—is a great preparation for a miracle of courage and holiness that is about to happen for us very soon. It’s really clear that this is how the Master of the Universe is preparing the ground. And in preparing for this, we must see it not as the aloneness of abandonment, not the aloneness of helplessness, but the aloneness of “Hashem alone guided him, and there was no foreign god

48:42 Speaker 7 with Him.” Yes, foreign. And from the quality of “Yaakov was left alone,” he returns to stand in his true essence—not from the outside, from his external side, but from within. So with Hashem’s help, we will very soon see great miracles of great courage, of a great call, of holiness spreading through the nation from within. Then surely the verse will be fulfilled in us: “For the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they will fear you.” Not because we have the Americans or the Europeans beside us, but because a holy fire will grow from within the nation, from within its leadership and its army. That is what can truly stand up to the leaders of the nations, even when they disguise themselves, as it were, as people invoking the name of their deity. So from this farbrengen, from the warmth of our hearts, and from what the great teachers of Chassidus have taught us about the solitude of courage, we do not fear our national state of being alone. It is clear to us that a great salvation will come from it, and we will see it through Chanukah, through an increase of light. Surely matters will become clear in that way, too. Happy holiday.

50:16 Speaker 8 Thank you very much, Efi. Yasher koach to Knesset member Mr. Efi Eitam. Indeed, “a people that dwells alone” has a numerical value of five hundred and sixty-six. Efi Eitam is five hundred and forty-two, short by exactly fourteen. Add fourteen—Chabad—to Efi Eitam, and you have “a people that dwells alone.” He stands in the breach together with a small group of Knesset members. May we truly merit what was said here: that very soon it will be for the good, with peace for my soul and true completeness—a complete Land of Israel, a complete Torah, and a complete Jewish people. Our Sages say of Binyamin that because he did not take part in the sale of Yosef, he merited that the Beis Hamikdash be built in his portion. Here with us is the Binyamin of our day, of our generation: Rabbi Binyamin Elon, who stands in the breach. Not only does he refuse to take part; together with a very small group of Knesset members, he stands in the breach and fights the battle for a complete Land of Israel. It is my honor to invite Knesset member Rabbi Binyamin Elon. Please.

51:46 Speaker 9 Thank you very much, Rabbi Roth. With the permission of Mordechai Atar[?], Rabbi Ashkenazi, the rabbi of Givatayim, Rabbi Gliksberg, Rabbi Aharonov, my colleagues Efi Eitam and Tzvi Hendel, all the members at the head table, and this entire holy gathering—after all, every Jew is royalty. And truly, thank Hashem, there are now so many 19 Kislev and Chabad events, packed full all across the country, that each time I wonder, as with the miracle of the cruse of oil: How is this place full, too? There are 19 Kislev events everywhere, and thank Hashem, may they only increase. This light. “He redeemed my soul in peace, for many were with me”—and they keep multiplying and multiplying and multiplying. That may really be the one central point I would like to speak about briefly, and to receive your blessing: you are the ones who have maintained the spiritual strength throughout, thank Hashem. Not to be afraid or frightened, and not to enter into negotiations that weaken us in the first place. Not to wait until afterward and then come out against the kinds of foolishness promoted by all those people who think themselves geniuses, who even receive a Nobel Peace Prize. They’re such geniuses that they invent ideas like this: the way to make peace is to give weapons to your enemy. Genius like that deserves a Nobel Prize. Obviously. Nothing like it has ever existed anywhere in the history of any nation or people. But that’s what happens when people distance themselves from the Torah and from common sense. Sadly, few have listened all along to the consistent position that the Rebbe put forward, with courage and with relevance to each issue as it arose. “He redeemed my soul in peace.” This festival, the festival of Geulah that was and remains, is what distinguishes Chabad and all the chassidim and others who followed them. Geulah in this combined sense: the individual searching for meaning in his life, searching for the values by which to live, for the “Ayeka—Where are you?” of the well-known story from the Rebbe’s imprisonment, together with actual Geulah. These things are intertwined. And when an individual truly reaches such a level that everything he does is for the sake of the entire Jewish people—and who is a chossid? One who acts with kindness

54:50 Speaker 9 [unclear] with Knesses Yisroel, the Jewish people, and redeems the children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu from among the nations of the world. “Evening, morning, and afternoon, I speak”—truly, both in prayer and in Torah study. And it is all with the Jewish people, for the sake of the Jewish people, and for the sake of Heaven. Then the Geulah of the individual and the Geulah of the community draw closer. How much we need this light to keep spreading. Sadly, we are constantly reading about things that add to the darkness. This is not the place to discuss the unpleasant, dark details we hear about violence. These things are so terrible. The lack of the light of Jewish education, the lack of the light of Torah, the lack of the light of the individual’s Geulah—all this comes along with obstacles and complications that lead people away from the straight path, from common sense, from the sound judgment needed to act properly. They stand in the way of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—literally stand in the way of Hakadosh Boruch Hu gathering the exiles—and stand in the way of the Jewish people defending themselves here in the Holy Land. The things we are seeing are unbelievable: so many points of darkness. But a little light dispels a great deal of darkness. In the merit of this special occasion, this great festival of Geulah that connects the Geulah of the individual with the Geulah of the community, may we all merit to see the light of Chabad continue to spread, and “your wellsprings spread outward,” and may Jews everywhere return to their sound judgment. And may everything we do, G-d willing, be for the sake of the community, for the sake of Knesses Yisroel. Through this, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will help us too, and with Hashem’s help, may we all merit the complete Geulah. Happy holiday.