Farbrengen of 19 Kislev 5773, Kfar Chabad

00:00 Speaker 1 The wars with Esav take their toll. At last, he reaches the age of 108. These days, people retire at 75. They go to a club on Friday, or [unclear] at five in the morning—that’s what retirees do. What did Yaakov Avinu do now, at 108? At last, after all the years of suffering and struggle, the anguish over Yosef descended upon him. You are the father of the twelve tribes. You are establishing the Jewish people. You cannot sit quietly, not even for a moment. You must work for the sake of the Jewish people; you cannot sit still. The anguish over Yosef descended upon him. My teachers and friends, I think that the strength of Yaakov Avinu—the strength to bring distant Jews close, and to carry out shlichus in every place—is something that, boruch Hashem, Chabad chassidim carry on proudly and for the sake of Heaven. I travel to many places in the world and meet with officials, especially as a deputy Rebbe. There is no place in the world I go where I don’t see Chabad chassidim. Whether it’s Tunisia, India, or China, wherever people travel, there are shluchim. I always ask myself: Where do they get these strengths? Where does this incredible mesirus nefesh come from—to leave home with a wife and children and face all those challenges? It’s astonishing. I don’t know whether I would be prepared to do it. But this strength, this power, and this success—you draw them from the line of Chabad Rebbes, who have done so much for the entire Jewish people throughout history. And you carry on in the path of our three holy Patriarchs and of Yaakov Avinu, who did not rest quietly for even a moment, but kept finding new ways forward. I wish us all, with Hashem’s help, a happy Yom Tov. May you continue this tremendous work, this shlichus, and may we all merit the coming of the righteous redeemer speedily in our days, amen and amen. Good Yom Tov! L’chaim, l’chaim! We should have said l’chaim yesterday. Whoever is playing... Life, life and blessing. Two lights, two works the Alter Rebbe composed, two lights: one from the light of Chassidus,

04:42 Speaker 1 the Tanya, and one from the light of revealed Torah, the Shulchan Aruch. At the age of twenty-one, the Alter Rebbe wrote his Shulchan Aruch at the instruction of the Maggid. As the author’s sons write in their introduction to the Shulchan Aruch, the Maggid instructed him to write a Shulchan Aruch and urged him repeatedly, saying: “There is no one as discerning and wise as you, able to delve into the depths of halachah and undertake this work, this sacred task.” The Alter Rebbe received the Maggid’s assurance that his book would be accepted throughout the Jewish world, and indeed it was accepted as a work of halachic ruling and a definitive guide for the Jewish people. Some spread the wellsprings through their personal efforts, and others through the power of their pen. It is our honor to hear from someone who works day and night at the sacred task of understanding the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch and explaining it to the public—both in inspiring weekly articles in the Kfar Chabad newspaper, and especially in his series of books on the laws of Torah study, books that have earned a place of honor in the Torah world. The esteemed mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad, the learned Rabbi and chossid, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi shlita. And let us all wish the Rabbi mazel tov, mazel tov, on the birth of his great-grandchild—he has become a great-grandfather. May we wish him many long and good years.

06:32 Speaker 2 Amen. L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. First of all, we need to—we are now at a 19 Kislev farbrengen, celebrating the Alter Rebbe’s release to freedom. A 19 Kislev farbrengen. So let’s say l’chaim. Come, everyone, let’s say l’chaim. L’chaim, l’chaim. This is a special year, because on 24 Teves it will be two hundred years since the Alter Rebbe’s passing. Indeed, at a farbrengen fifty years ago, marking the 150th year, the Rebbe said that this was an auspicious time, and anyone who wanted to ask for something should ask for it then, at that farbrengen. We learn from this that as we are here now at a farbrengen celebrating the Alter Rebbe’s joy, on the festival of 19 Kislev, this is not merely a celebration of something that happened 214 years ago. We are certain that the Alter Rebbe, too, is participating in his celebration here at this farbrengen. As it is said of the joy of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: he declared that whoever rejoices in his celebration, he will rejoice in that person’s celebration as well. The same is true for us. We are now taking part in the Alter Rebbe’s celebration. Surely, surely he is present at this farbrengen, bestowing an abundance of blessing, an abundance of life, an abundance of blessing in every respect upon each and every participant—children, life and sustenance, and so on and so forth. L’chaim, l’chaim!

08:55 Speaker 3 L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim.

09:00 Speaker 2 As was mentioned, the Alter Rebbe wrote two books. One is the Shulchan Aruch, and the other is the Tanya. Several more sections were added to the Tanya: Igeres Hateshuvah, Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, and Igeres Hakodesh. The latter is a collection of letters the Alter Rebbe wrote, some in response to questions and some to our fellow chassidim without their having asked. In chapter 27 of Igeres Hakodesh, the Alter Rebbe wrote a letter to the Jews living in Eretz Yisroel at the time. The first group of shluchim from among the Maggid’s students had gone up to Eretz Yisroel and settled in Tiberias. They were led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, who was the foremost of the Maggid’s students. After his passing in Tiberias, the Alter Rebbe wrote a letter to comfort his family and students. That letter appears in two forms: the letter itself and an explanation of the letter. There the Alter Rebbe explains the statement of the holy Zohar: “A tzaddik who has passed away is present in all worlds more than during his lifetime.” When a tzaddik departs this world, we must not think that he has gone up to the heavenly realms and is no longer with his family. The holy Zohar writes that a tzaddik who passes away is present in this world even more than he was during his lifetime. How can that be? What does it mean? After all, we do not see him. He is in the heavenly realms, rising higher and higher, from one level to the next in Gan Eden. The Alter Rebbe explains there at length how the tzaddik is here with us now, at this farbrengen taking place in Kfar Chabad. We will not go into those profound matters now; they require a great deal of study. But one of the points explained there is this: How do we connect with the tzaddik when he is no longer here with us, when he is in the heavenly realms? He gives two ways. The first is through faith, awe and love. The second is through studying his Torah teachings and the path of divine service he taught during his lifetime. He explains there that this tzaddik

11:37 Speaker 2 who lived in the world—the light of his Torah influenced the very air of the world, and that air is with us now. That air was present in the days of the Alter Rebbe, when he was freed, released from imprisonment, going from the danger of death to life. Through that air, the teachings of Chassidus spread throughout the entire world. That air is here now, growing stronger and stronger, from strength to strength. We can see it tangibly. We see it in our generation: the spread of the teachings of Chassidus and the study of Chassidus. Above all, as the Rebbe instructed us, we must study even more, to prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach. And the way to prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach is through “your wellsprings spreading outward.” May it be Hashem’s will that we leave this farbrengen with greater vigor and greater strength, following the ways of the Alter Rebbe: studying more and more, setting fixed times for Torah study—for the Shulchan Aruch, the Zohar, Tanya, books of Chassidus, the Rebbe’s maamarim, Likkutei Sichos, and the Rebbe’s sichos on the weekly parsha. Through this we connect with the tzaddik; this is how we remain connected to him and become vessels to receive his holy blessings. May the blessings now being showered upon us, upon each and every one of us, reach us both materially and spiritually—with children, life and sustenance. L’chaim, and to life. This year’s Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus falls on a Monday and Tuesday, just as Rosh Hashanah did. We see the close connection: Rosh Hashanah, on 1 and 2 Tishrei, was on Monday and Tuesday; so too, 19 and 20 Kislev fall on Monday and Tuesday. We see the connection between Rosh Hashanah of the world and Rosh Hashanah of the teachings of Chassidus. May it be Hashem’s will that on this Rosh Hashanah we be inscribed—inscribed in the teachings of Chassidus, in the study of Chassidus and the ways of Chassidus, and in connection with the Tree of Life. And may we all merit to see the Geulah with our own

13:56 Speaker 2 Our eyes. L’chaim, l’chaim. I have the honor of greeting the local rabbi, Rabbi Ashkenazi, and we all wish him l’chaim. May he celebrate with us in good health, and may he have much nachas from his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the entire Chabad family. L’chaim, l’chaim. There is a story, which the Rebbe told, that when the Alter Rebbe was denounced, he was accused of sending money to Eretz Yisroel because he wanted to become king of Israel. At the time, they brought in a professor to examine the Rebbe’s character and state of mind. After speaking with the Rebbe, the professor submitted a report saying that this man, the Rebbe, had an overwhelming desire for something he could not attain. They took this as proof that the accusations were true. What was this desire he could not attain? The Alter Rebbe did not crave money. He did not crave honor. He certainly did not crave rest. After the Alter Rebbe was released from prison, they asked him: What did that mean, a desire you cannot attain? The Alter Rebbe answered that it came from his avodah in the spirit of “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth”—as the Rebbe would say, he desired nothing but Hashem alone. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is infinite; He cannot be grasped. That is why it is a desire he cannot attain. I just want to read you a passage from the introduction to a book published in honor of this Yud-Tes Kislev. For this Yud-Tes Kislev, a book called “Hashem Is My Portion, Says My Soul” was published. It contains explanations of the Rebbe’s maamarim by Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira shlita, head of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva. In the introduction, Rabbi Shapira writes: “One verse was constantly on the Rebbe’s lips, an inheritance from the author of the Tanya, who laid the foundations of Chabad Chassidus and paved its path: ‘Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.’ Neither material abundance nor spiritual abundance, neither in this world nor in the World to Come. The Jew seeks only You

16:55 Speaker 2 alone. The Rebbe,” Rabbi Shapira writes, “was a wondrous sage, a genius among geniuses, at once an ever-flowing spring and a sealed cistern that does not lose a drop. We have no measure with which to gauge his levels of holiness, and what is well known needs neither proof nor definition.” Those are lines from the introduction to “Hashem Is My Portion, Says My Soul,” with explanations of maamarim skillfully written by the distinguished Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, head of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva. Ramat Gan, please. This is a great day for the Jewish people. I want to dwell carefully on the words the Alter Rebbe wrote on the title page of the Tanya, on that longing and desire that cannot be fulfilled. Throughout the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe does not ask merely that a Jew fulfill the mitzvos. He does not even ask merely that a Jew focus his clear mind on the performance of a mitzvah. The main thing is that a Jew should burn with longing for Hashem. In this, Chabad Chassidus brought an enormous innovation compared with what had been accepted until then. At the opening of the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe says that the book was written by “a long and short path.” A long and short path. This surely comes from the story of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya in Tractate Eruvin. He said, “No one ever bested me except a woman, a boy, and a girl.” And the Gemara asks: What happened with the boy? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya came to a crossroads and found a boy there. He asked how to get to the city. The boy told him, “This path is short and long, and that path is long and short.” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya took the short path and came close to the city, but gardens and orchards stood between him and it. He went back and said to the boy, “You call that a short path?” The boy replied, “Didn’t I tell you it was long?” So he took the long path. It appeared to wind and stretch on, but in the end he entered the city gates. King Solomon, of blessed memory, likens the heart of a Jew who serves Hashem to a city, a small city. And the question is: How do you conquer the heart?

20:32 Speaker 2 How do we bring our hearts to the point of “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth”? To have no other desire, not in this world and not even in the World to Come. Who knows how hard it is for us to withstand the temptations of this world? How will we withstand the temptations of the World to Come? Those are already temptations of G-dliness. “Besides You, I desire nothing”—even when there is the light of the World to Come, one’s only desire should be for Hashem alone. There is nothing besides Him, not even the World to Come. How do we bring the heart to be entirely given over to “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth”? The Alter Rebbe says that all of this is founded on a long and short path. What is the long and short path to conquering this little city, the human heart? The short path is to go straight for the heart. Certainly, that too has its place: through a niggun, through the joy of chassidim, a little mashke. But the essence of Chabad Chassidus, the Alter Rebbe’s central innovation—the wellspring that burst forth on this day, Yud-Tes Kislev, when he left prison, and flooded the entire world with Divine light—was that we reach the heart through the mind, that the mind rules the heart. From the time the Alter Rebbe left prison, explanations of lofty G-dly matters that had been reserved for a select few, and spoken of in riddles and hints, would be presented in terms the human mind can grasp. Even ordinary people could understand these supremely lofty G-dly matters clearly, until their hearts of flesh were transformed to desire only “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” That is the long path: a path on which a person devotes all the powers of his mind and understanding to contemplating the revelation of G-dliness, to contemplating that there is nothing besides Him, to contemplating how all existence is nullified before Him, through so many explanations and such an abundance of detailed maamarim. And when a person applies his mind to contemplate how there is truly nothing besides Him, how this entire world,

23:39 Speaker 2 from the perspective of daas tachton, appears to have been created as something from nothing, while daas elyon teaches that the world was created as nothing from Something. In truth, this world has nothing of its own. The true Something is the G-dliness that gives life to everything. It is not merely that we live and exist because Hakadosh Boruch Hu created us. As chassidim used to say, ordinary faith sees worlds as a given and G-dliness as something new: that these worlds exist, that there is a lectern here and there are microphones—this is taken for granted. No one needs Chassidus classes for that. There is no need to study it, contemplate it, and think deeply about it. He says: L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. No one needs to think deeply to know there is a microphone or a lectern here. That is taking worlds for granted. But we believe, firmly, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created everything. Everything we see—He created it. All of that is only daas tachton. The essential contemplation, the long path that seems so far removed from the heart, so far from its feeling of “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth,” is daas elyon: G-dliness is taken for granted, and worlds are the novelty. Chassidim would say this as something obvious. There is an expression of our Sages: “Were it not written in Scripture, it would be impossible to say.” Sometimes the Torah says things so daring and extraordinary that, if they were not written explicitly, one could not say them. Chassidim would say about “In the beginning, G-d created”: “Were it not written in Scripture, it would be impossible to say.” How can there be a heaven and an earth? How can anything have been created? From the perspective of daas elyon, where there is nothing besides Him, how can heaven and earth exist at all? But the Torah explicitly says that heaven and earth were indeed created. That is a wondrous innovation. When a person reflects deeply on this wondrous innovation—that although G-dliness is the obvious reality, Hakadosh Boruch Hu nevertheless brought heaven and earth into being—his whole being

26:19 Speaker 2 awakens. He merits to have the Divine light within him, and then the heart burns, then the heart awakens. Not because of some external act, not because of something he has seen, but because the soul within him, which is a part of G-d above, remembers the days of youthful love and the light of the countenance of the King of life. It awakens to be as it was before descending into this world. It awakens to the Divine life that is its truth, and so it burns even within this world. “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” I want to bless this entire holy gathering on this great and awe-inspiring day, when the wellsprings of the World to Come burst forth and the windows of heaven opened. The inner dimension of the Torah spread to the point that even with our simple human minds we can speak about, explain, and contemplate such lofty G-dly matters. May we walk the long and short path until Hashem refines our hearts to be something like the Alter Rebbe’s. As Moshiach told the Baal Shem Tov: when everyone is able to perform yichudim as you do. So, with Hashem’s help, may we too merit, with our simple, coarse minds, to engage along the long path with the G-dly matters of daas elyon—that the world was created as nothing from Something—and through this, [unclear] before our very eyes.