Farbrengen 19 Kislev 5774, Kfar Chabad

00:09 Speaker 1 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me. May G-d hear and answer them, He Who is enthroned from of old, Selah. May G-d hear and answer them, He Who is enthroned from of old, Selah.

01:49 Speaker 2 For they have no changes, and they do not fear G-d. For they have no changes, and they do not fear G-d. For they have no changes, and they do not fear G-d. Oy, 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. His words were softer than oil, yet they, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden upon Hashem and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous, the righteous to falter. And You, and You, O G-d, will bring them down to the pit of destruction. And You, and You, O G-d, will bring them down to the pit of destruction. Men of bloodshed, bloodshed and deceit will not, will not live out, will not live out half their days. Men of bloodshed, 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, trust in You. Oy, oy, oy. 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, but I will trust in You, trust, 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, but I will trust in You, trust, 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, but I will trust in You, trust, trust in You. But I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, trust in You, oy oy oy, 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. Oy oy oy, but I will trust in You.

09:40 Speaker 2 But I will trust in You. Oy oy oy, 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, trust in You. Oy yoy. 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, 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, trust in You. Oy yoy. 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, trust in You. But I will trust in You, but I will trust in You. Oy, but I will trust in You. Oy, but I will trust in You. Hoo! But I will trust in You. But I will trust in You. But I will trust in You. Trust, trust in You. Oy yoy yo. 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, 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, trust in You. Trust, trust. 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, trust in You. Oyo. But I will trust in You. But I will trust in You. But I will trust

14:18 Speaker 2 in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, but I will trust in You, trust, trust in You. Oy, but I will trust in You. Oy, 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, trust in You. Oy, 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, trust in You.

15:58 Speaker 13 L’chaim, l’chaim. Good Yom Tov, chassidim. Welcome to the central 19 Kislev celebration here in Kfar Chabad, in the Holy Land—may it be rebuilt and established. L’chaim, l’chaim. As is the custom among chassidim, we will say the Rebbe’s chapter of Tehillim, chapter 112, led by Rabbi Velvel Kesselman, the mashpia of this shul, Beis Menachem. The words of the chapter will be projected here on the screen. Please honor the occasion by standing.

16:46 Speaker 23 Halleluyah. Fortunate is the man who fears Hashem, who greatly delights in His mitzvos. His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. A light shines in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, compassionate, and righteous. Good is the man who is gracious and lends; he conducts his affairs with justice. For he will never falter; the righteous man will be remembered forever. He will not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in Hashem. His heart is secure; he will not fear, until he sees the downfall of his foes. He has distributed freely, giving to the poor; his righteousness endures forever, and his strength will be raised in honor. The wicked man will see and be angered; he will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish. Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever—long live! Thank you to Rabbi Velvel Kesselman. The Rebbe showed an especially close connection to this special farbrengen at which we are now sitting in Kfar Chabad. Every year, ahead of the 19 Kislev celebrations, the Rebbe would send telegrams of blessing to the Chabad community for the holiday. One telegram was addressed to the entire Chabad community, and another was specially addressed to the participants in the 19 Kislev farbrengen in Kfar Chabad. We will now read the Rebbe’s telegram to this celebration from one of those years. We invite Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak HaKohen Aharonov shlita, chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and Tzeirei Chabad, to read the telegram. Please honor the reading of the Rebbe’s telegram by standing.

20:27 Speaker 31 And to all the participants in the great 19 Kislev farbrengen, shlita: L’chaim, l’chaim, and blessings. May it be Hashem’s will that for each and every one, “He has redeemed my soul in peace” be fulfilled in its entirety, and that they succeed in making the vessels for this. As our Sages explain concerning the verse, this means engaging in the revealed teachings of Torah and in Chassidus, in acts of kindness, and in prayer. All this in a manner of “you shall spread forth,” continuing with the mitzvah campaigns and all the campaigns, especially as this year it falls on the day of “Hashem reigns,” the liberation of Lubavitch, the eve of the holy Shabbos and complete rest. Auspicious days for the fulfillment of the promise in the book of the sweet singer of Israel, David, King Moshiach: “G-d stands in the congregation of G-d.” [unclear] among all the nations, with the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach, [unclear].

21:57 Speaker 32 One of the moments... Thank you very much to the chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, who gives us the privilege each year of hearing the Rebbe’s telegram read aloud. May he continue to stand at the forefront of spreading the wellsprings in the Holy Land, bringing the Rebbe nachas. One of the special moments of a chassidic farbrengen is the recitation of a maamar. A maamar of Chassidus consists of the words of the living G-d, delivered with a special melody and a special tone. When the Rebbe delivers a maamar, his face changes, and it is clear that he is not here with us. A maamar is preceded by a preparatory niggun, a melody through which we prepare to hear and receive the maamar. Chassidim customarily repeat a maamar of the Rebbe at a chassidic farbrengen, and through its recitation, the soul of the one who delivered the maamar shines in that place. More generally, when repeating words of Torah, it is said that one should picture the person whose teaching is being repeated as though he were standing opposite him. “Opposite him” means that he is present, but at a distance. When a maamar of Chassidus is recited properly, and people listen to it with the proper bittul and attention, the light of the soul of the one who delivered the maamar actually shines within him. This is not something that belongs only to a select few; it applies to everyone who repeats a maamar of Chassidus in public. We must therefore cherish it as we would cherish the opportunity to see the Rebbe’s face right now. We invite Rabbi Eliezer Brod, rabbi of Karmei Yosef and head of the beis midrash for rabbinic ordination, who has the special privilege of repeating a maamar of Chassidus at this farbrengen, to recite the maamar. A preparatory niggun for the maamar.

28:15 Speaker 33 Ya ya dam ay dray dram, ya ya dam ay dray dram, ay dray day. Um. Ay ay ay ya dam, ay ay ay ya dam, ay ay ay ay ay.

29:08 Speaker 34 Rabbi Yoshiyah said: What is meant by the verse, “The righteous acts of His dispersed ones in Israel”? Hakadosh Boruch Hu did an act of kindness for the Jewish people by dispersing them among the nations. The Frierdiker Rebbe examines this closely in his maamar beginning with these words, from 5689. He goes on to explain that “the righteous acts of His dispersed ones in Israel” also refers to the spiritual dimension: the very fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu dispersed the Jewish people among the nations means that even if a government makes it difficult to observe Torah and mitzvos in its country, so that learning Torah and keeping mitzvos require mesirus nefesh—and, moreover, there are situations where even mesirus nefesh cannot make it possible to keep certain mitzvos, such as taking the four species on Sukkos, if the authorities will not allow the four species into the country—there are Jews in other countries and places who can keep those mitzvos easily, without mesirus nefesh or pressure. In this way, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did an act of kindness for the Jewish people by dispersing them among the nations. When those Jews in places where life is easier keep these mitzvos without strain or worry, it helps and influences the Jews whose observance requires mesirus nefesh to keep the mitzvos even under those conditions. As is known, there is a discussion among the halachic authorities: apart from the three transgressions for which one is commanded to be killed rather than transgress, a person is not obligated to give his life for the other commandments of the Torah. Nevertheless, according to a number of authorities, if he wishes to give his life in order to keep those other mitzvos, he may do so. And then

31:31 Speaker 34 when the Jews in those other places keep the mitzvos as they should, this helps ease the pressure and difficulties faced by Jews in places where observance is hard, until they, too, can keep the mitzvos easily where they live, without pressure or mesirus nefesh. As the Mishnah says, “Whoever upholds the Torah amid poverty will ultimately uphold it amid wealth.” Now, in one of his maamarim, also among the wedding discourses of 5689, the Frierdiker Rebbe discusses the mitzvah of tzedakah, saying that the greatest form of tzedakah is redeeming captives. The Frierdiker Rebbe explains that redeeming captives applies not only in the physical sense, rescuing someone captured by enemies, but also in a spiritual sense. In an actual captivity, a person may be in prison with his body intact, yet unable to go anywhere. So, too, spiritually: a person’s yetzer hara can take such complete hold of him that he is bound by it and unable to keep the mitzvos. This can sometimes happen even to businesspeople: their business concerns and worries leave them without the time, strength, patience or desire to keep mitzvos as a Jew should. Such a Jew is spiritually captive to his yetzer hara. This is where “the righteous acts of His dispersed ones in Israel” comes in: Jews in different circumstances, who are not under the control of their yetzer hara and are not its captives, can keep the mitzvos easily and joyfully. By keeping the mitzvos, they redeem those Jews who are captive to their yetzer hara, so that they, too,

33:47 Speaker 34 can gradually emerge from captivity and keep the mitzvos as they should. The novel point here is that this applies even when those other Jews are themselves captive to their yetzer hara. We know the teaching of our Sages, “Which mitzvah was your father especially careful about?” Every Jew has a particular mitzvah that especially belongs to him. Consequently, the main opposition from his yetzer hara, and his main obstacles, concern the mitzvos especially connected to the root of his soul. But for other Jews, whose souls have a special connection to different mitzvos, the mitzvah that is difficult for one Jew is easier. By keeping those mitzvos, they redeem from captivity the Jews who struggle to keep the mitzvos connected to them. The same applies across time and generations: every period has its own challenges. As the Gemara says, in the time of Menashe the main challenge was the desire to worship idols. That desire later diminished until, as the Gemara says, it was eliminated entirely. Every period likewise has its own desires, difficulties and challenges. Similarly, every individual has his own particular difficulties, where the yetzer hara tries to take control and prevent him from keeping the mitzvos especially connected to the root of his soul. The maamar points out that, if so, the verse should have said, “The righteousness of His dispersal in Israel,” using a word meaning “dispersal.” Why does it say, “The righteousness of His unwalled ones in Israel”? It explains that “unwalled” alludes to “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city”: the ultimate goal

36:05 Speaker 34 of a Jew’s avodah is to reach a state, in his soul and in his very being, of “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city.” Through this, he redeems himself from captivity to the yetzer hara and brings the entire world to that state. What does this avodah mean? As explained there, the name Jerusalem comes from yirah shalem, complete awe, as Tosafos says. Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, called Jerusalem “Shalem,” and Avraham called it “Yirah”; together these became “Yerushalayim,” yirah shalem. Just as there is the physical city of Jerusalem, every Jew has his own Jerusalem, his own yirah shalem: the point of awe of Heaven within him. A Jew must come to a state of “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city,” in which that innermost awe of Heaven breaks forth—“You shall spread out westward and eastward, northward and southward”—until it governs his body, including his thought, speech and action, so that his thoughts, words and deeds are as Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants them to be. At the level of this point of awe of Heaven, all Jews are equal. In one person it is more revealed, and in another it is more concealed. This is also reflected in the Hebrew acronym for “community,” which, as the seforim explain, stands for tzaddikim, beinonim and resha’im—the righteous, the intermediate and the wicked. The connecting “and” before “the wicked” joins them to the righteous and the intermediate, because this point of awe of Heaven exists in every Jew. When one Jew keeps a mitzvah with the intention of including and helping another Jew through it, he thereby redeems that other Jew. May it be Hashem’s will that, through each person’s avodah in this manner of “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city”—which, in general, is

38:20 Speaker 34 connected to the three pillars on which the world stands: Torah, avodah and acts of kindness. As the Gemara says about the verse, “He redeemed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me”: anyone who studies Torah, performs acts of kindness or prays with the community is considered to have redeemed Me and My children from among the nations of the world. Through a Jew’s service of Hakadosh Boruch Hu along these three paths—Torah, avodah and acts of kindness—and through studying and spreading Chassidus, as Moshiach told the Baal Shem Tov when he asked, “When will the Master come?” and was answered, “When your wellsprings spread outward,” we will merit the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. We will attain “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city” within every Jew even during the time of exile, and “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an unwalled city” in its literal sense: Jerusalem will one day spread throughout all of Eretz Yisroel, and Eretz Yisroel will spread throughout the entire world, with the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days, amen.

39:30 Speaker 35 How’s it going? How are you?

39:31 Speaker 34 Boruch Hashem, Boruch Hashem.

39:33 Speaker 35 I spoke about inspiration.

39:39 Speaker 34 Many thanks to the distinguished Rabbi Eliezer Brod, rabbi of Karmei Yosef and head of the beis midrash for rabbinic ordination, for his special address. With Hashem’s help, may he continue for many years to share words of the living G-d publicly at this farbrengen. Two hundred and fifteen years have passed since the first Festival of Liberation, and each year our appreciation grows for the meaning of this festival and that liberation: the Alter Rebbe’s release from imprisonment, the liberation of the entire teachings of Chassidus, and their becoming an ever-flowing spring, bringing the inner dimension of Torah to the Jewish people until the coming of King Moshiach. It is very interesting that a year after the original 19 Kislev, the chassidim still did not know how they would celebrate the day that year, particularly in light of the Alter Rebbe’s request that the rejoicing not be too loud or boisterous. So they waited to see what would happen, and the idea arose to write a scroll, call it the Scroll of 19 Kislev, and read it every year. They came to the Alter Rebbe with their wonderful proposal: Let’s write a scroll. The Alter Rebbe told them: No. “This day”—and let us pay attention to the Alter Rebbe’s words—“will be established as a permanent festival among the Jewish people.” This day does not need a scroll. It is a festival, a permanent occasion among the Jewish people, which will endure as a festival, a day on which His great Name will be magnified and sanctified, and countless thousands of Jews will be stirred to teshuvah and heartfelt service. When you write a scroll, you celebrate the miracle that happened in those days, and you have to remind yourself that it matters today as well. But 19 Kislev does not need a scroll. Every year it is a permanent festival, representing the spreading of the wellsprings and awakening countless thousands of Jews to teshuvah. A permanent festival, an occasion that extends through the entire year. And ever since then, we have seen with our own eyes how Chabad chassidim everywhere celebrate this day. Countless thousands of Jews also celebrate

42:36 Speaker 34 this day, the triumph of the teachings of Chassidus. This year is particularly special, with the great festival of 19 Kislev falling on a Friday. On a previous occasion when it fell on a Friday, the Rebbe related that he had received a letter from a Jew describing how they had celebrated 19 Kislev fifty years earlier, when it had fallen on a Friday. The chassidim sat and farbrenged from Thursday night through Friday, Friday night and Shabbos day, until after Shabbos. They called that 19 Kislev “the long 19 Kislev.” So we now open the long farbrengen, which begins here and will conclude, G-d willing, when all those farbrenging at 19 Kislev celebrations around the world gather together in the holy city of Jerusalem for the central farbrengen in the Third Beis Hamikdash, with the Rebbe at our head. L’chaim, l’chaim, gut Yom Tov! We have with us an honored guest who makes a point of coming here every 19 Kislev to offer us a short blessing and share a brief Torah thought: the distinguished military rabbi, Rabbi Shimshon Klein shlita. Please. Let us welcome the head of the central Tomchei Temimim yeshiva at 770, the distinguished Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski shlita. Let us welcome Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky shlita, whose words we will hear later on as well.

44:52 Speaker 36 L’chaim, l’chaim! A good year in the ways of Chassidus. It says in Shir Hashirim, chapter 7: “The mandrakes have given forth fragrance, and at our doors are all delicacies.” The Midrash says: “‘The mandrakes have given forth fragrance’—this refers to Reuven, who brought the mandrakes to his mother and gave forth a good fragrance by saving Yosef, as it says, ‘Reuven heard and saved him from their hands’; ‘and at our doors are all delicacies’—this refers to the Chanukah light, whose mitzvah is to be placed by the doorway.” The question is: What is the connection between Reuven’s saving Yosef and the Chanukah light? The Gemara in Shabbos, page 22, gives two beautiful teachings from Rabbi Tanchum. Rabbi Tanchum says: “A Chanukah light kindled higher than twenty cubits is invalid, as with a sukkah and an alleyway.” And Rabbi Tanchum said: “‘And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.’ If the pit was empty, I already know there was no water in it. Rather, it teaches us: There was no water in it, but there were snakes and scorpions in it.” The question is: What is the connection between the halachic statement about kindling lights higher than twenty cubits and the aggadic statement that the pit had no water, but did have snakes and scorpions? If we pay attention, we see that a Chanukah light kindled higher than twenty cubits is invalid, like a sukkah. The Gemara in Sukkah, page 2, gives three views as to why a sukkah higher than twenty cubits is invalid. The view accepted as halachah is that above twenty cubits it is a permanent structure rather than a temporary one, and a sukkah must be a temporary structure. Another view says that above twenty cubits a person sits in the shade of the walls, not in the shade of the s’chach. But there is a view that says that above twenty cubits the eye does not take in that height, and because the eye does not take in the s’chach, the sukkah is invalid. With a Chanukah light, the explanations about walls and about permanent versus temporary structures do not apply. Only the issue of whether the eye takes it in applies. For the whole point of the Chanukah miracle is to publicize the miracle. The whole point of the Chanukah light is publicizing the miracle, and if

47:31 Speaker 36 the eye cannot take it in at that height, then there is no publicizing the miracle and we have not fulfilled the mitzvah of lighting. Maran rules in Even HaEzer that if a person is thrown into a lions’ den, his wife cannot be permitted to remarry, because a lion sometimes does not devour a person if it is not hungry. But if a person is thrown into a pit full of snakes and scorpions, his wife is immediately permitted to remarry. Why? Because snakes and scorpions strike even when they are not hungry. If so, how did Reuven save Yosef if he threw him into a pit full of snakes and scorpions? That is precisely the difficulty. What does it mean that “Reuven heard and saved him from their hands”? But there is a great insight here, my friends: Because Rabbi Tanchum’s statements come one after the other, we learn that the pit into which Reuven threw Yosef was more than twenty cubits deep. And if it was more than twenty cubits deep, the eye could not see that it contained snakes and scorpions. So Reuven truly meant well and intended to save Yosef. He did not know there were snakes and scorpions there. And we learn this from the first statement, about kindling a Chanukah light higher than twenty cubits. We have learned, then, that Reuven saved Yosef rather than killed him, thanks to the Chanukah light. Now it is clear: “The mandrakes have given forth fragrance.” This refers to Reuven, who saved Yosef. And how do I know he really intended to save him, not kill him? After all, throwing him into a pit full of snakes and scorpions meant certain death. The answer is: Because “at our doors are all delicacies”—thanks to the law of a Chanukah light kindled higher than twenty cubits, we know that the pit, too, was more than twenty cubits deep, and therefore Reuven did not know it contained snakes and scorpions. My friends, the main point of the Chanukah light is publicizing the miracle, and in Chabad there is something tremendous. All the time, everywhere—in the army, in the police, throughout the country, in prison—everywhere, there is publicizing the miracle. But not only on Chanukah: throughout the entire year.

49:48 Speaker 36 May it be Hashem’s will that, with His help, in the spirit of Chanukah—whose principle, following the ruling of Beis Hillel, is to add more light each day—our wellsprings spread outward, and that He fulfill for us the promise “You shall spread forth.” And with Hashem’s help, through this, may we hasten and see the Geulah with our own eyes, speedily in our days, amen.

50:16 Speaker 3 Thank you very much. Thank you very much to Rabbi Shimshon Klein shlita, who, in his position, helps and assists so many Chabad chassidim. May he enjoy long years in his role. L’chaim, l’chaim! The day of 19 Kislev is the festival of spreading the wellsprings. The greatest spreaders of the wellsprings are the Rebbe’s shluchim, throughout the country and the world. The Rebbe appointed a special person to take responsibility for and guide this vast network of shluchim, who devote themselves to reaching another Jew and bringing the Geulah closer. With tremendous dedication, he attends to all their needs and goes to any corner of the world when one of the Rebbe’s shluchim needs his help. It is our honor to host Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky shlita here at this farbrengen. Please.

51:37 Speaker 4 L’chaim

51:41 Speaker 5 Gentlemen, l’chaim. Honored rabbis, roshei yeshivah, shluchim, and Jews from all over the world who are here. I’ll tell you a story. I’ll tell you a story connected with the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe. Once I was in New Orleans, when we were opening a Chabad branch there, and suddenly, in the middle of the day, I got a call from the Rebbe’s chief secretary, Rabbi Chadakov. He told me the Rebbe had called him in and asked him to tell me that I must return to New York immediately. I asked why. He said, “When you get here, you’ll find out.” I took the first flight back to New York. When I arrived, I went in to see Rabbi Chadakov, and he told me the Rebbe had said I should take the first available flight to a certain island in the Caribbean. The Caribbean. It was already too late that day, so I went the next morning. I asked what I was supposed to do there. He said he didn’t know; he would ask the Rebbe. The Rebbe said I should print a Tanya there, and besides that, once I arrived, I would know what to do. Before I left, I arranged a meeting with the leadership of the community there. We met and made plans for a summer camp. We arranged to send bachurim there for Merkos Shlichus, but I still didn’t know why I had come. As I left the meeting, I met a Jew who told me, “My name is Chaimy Grossman, and your being here is an open miracle.” I asked him, “What happened?” The country was Catholic, and its education system was under the authority of Rome and the clergy. All through the years, when the students went to prayers, the Jewish boys and girls would go play soccer. A new bishop had arrived, a new clergyman appointed to oversee education, and he said it wasn’t good for all

55:45 Speaker 5 the students that while they went to pray, the Jewish students played soccer. So all the Jewish students would have to attend their prayers. There was a huge uproar. People wrote to Rome, made every effort, but nothing helped. Nothing helped, and on a certain day everyone was going to have to go in and attend those prayers. “Last night,” he told me, “I had a dream in which I saw my grandmother. When we arrived here from Ukraine after the war, my grandmother called me over—I was five or six at the time—and said, ‘Listen to me, Chaimy. I want you to promise me you’ll marry only a Jewish girl.’ I said, ‘Grandma, I’m five. What are you talking about?’ I didn’t even know what getting married was. She said, ‘Promise me: only a Jewish girl. And one more thing. If you ever have a problem concerning your Judaism, know that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the previous Rebbe, has arrived in New York. You can turn to him, and he’ll help you.’ And in my dream she said to me, ‘Chaimy, you have a problem. Why don’t you turn to the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York?’ Then, the very next day, before I even had time to think about how to contact the Rebbe, here you are.” I asked him, “What’s the problem?” He said, “It’s simple. There was the question of whether the children would go into the prayers or not. My son—he isn’t all that traditional, all that religious, and I wasn’t all that religious at the time either—insisted he wouldn’t go in. The clergyman came over to him and said, ‘Elias, go in.’ He said, ‘I’m not going in.’ The clergyman said, ‘I’m telling you, go in.’ He said, ‘I’m not going in.’ The clergyman grabbed him and slapped him. My son turned around and slapped the clergyman back. The clergyman fell to the floor, and they expelled my son

58:31 Speaker 5 from school. They didn’t publicize it, because it wasn’t in their interest. But for two days now I’ve been walking around, not knowing what to do with my son. And suddenly you arrived.” I told him, “Listen, it’s a week before Purim. Come to New York for Purim, and we’ll work out what to do about your son.” He came to New York for Purim and attended the Rebbe’s farbrengen. Afterward, he wrote me a letter saying how much he had enjoyed being there and so on. But at the end of the letter he wrote: “I don’t know how to write to the Rebbe, so please, if you can, find a way to tell him that he touched the soul of a small Jew living on a small island in the Caribbean.” I gave the letter to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said to send him a letter bearing his holy signature. The Rebbe wrote: “Every single Jew has a G-dly soul, an actual part of G-d Above. Therefore, there is no such thing as a ‘small Jew,’ a ‘small Jew’ as he calls himself in his letter.” You could say that this is the foundation on which the entire worldwide enterprise of shlichus is built. Because there is no small Jew anywhere in the world, and that is the work for all of us: to recognize that no one is a small Jew. Once, the Rebbe received a letter from the city of Cochabamba. I don’t know if you know where Cochabamba is; I didn’t know either. But on the letter the Rebbe wrote, “Do you know about this?” and my name. Rabbi Chadakov gave me the letter and told me to go to the office; he would call me there. I went into the office, and he called. I knew the Rebbe would be on the line. He asked me, “Do you have an answer to what the Rebbe is asking?” I said, “Do you know this place? You don’t know it either.” I said I didn’t know it. Suddenly I heard the Rebbe’s holy voice

1:01:31 Speaker 5 saying: “Do you know what you have done for them? If you don’t know, how can there be a place in a country you are responsible for whose spiritual needs you know nothing about?” That is the Rebbe’s approach to every Jewish man and woman in the world. Every single one, based on the holy Tanya of the Alter Rebbe, whose liberation we celebrate today, has a G-dly soul, an actual part of G-d Above. Therefore, there is no such thing as a small Jew. That is why the Rebbe sends shluchim throughout the world. But beyond the shluchim the Rebbe sends and has sent throughout the world, he demands that every one of his chassidim who are connected to him, and those connected to Chabad Houses around the world, also go out and spread Torah and the wellsprings of Torah outward, and bring closer those who do not yet come to a Chabad House, who do not yet observe Torah and mitzvos. We spoke a great deal at the Kinus Hashluchim about how we are approaching the twentieth year since Gimmel Tammuz. And I said: We are not “approaching the twentieth year.” Nineteen years is already far too long, and we must see to it that we do not reach the twentieth year, Gimmel Tammuz 5774. We must not reach it. How can we avoid it? If every single chossid and every single Jew does what is incumbent on us. There must not be even one Jew in the world who does not know that this world has a Master, that there is a G-d, that there is Someone who governs the world, that there is Torah and there is the Torah of Chassidus, and there are Torah and mitzvos. We must reach every Jewish man and woman in the world. Then, with Hashem’s help, we will not reach Gimmel Tammuz 5774, because long before then the true and complete Geulah will come, and we will be together with the Rebbe. And now, as we approach 19 Kislev, the festival of liberation, we must wish for the Geulah of all of us—the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. May we all take it to heart that we know someone who does not yet put on tefillin. And we know someone who does not yet observe mitzvos. Every

1:04:14 Speaker 5 single one of us must make sure, by Gimmel Tammuz, to reach at least twenty people who do not yet observe Torah and mitzvos, so that they will do another mitzvah and another mitzvah. Let them come to a Torah class; let them come to a Shabbos meal in your home, so they can see what Shabbos is, what holy Shabbos is. May we try to fulfill the will of our Rebbe, who is the successor, as he said many times, to all the previous Rebbes, and who has all their qualities as well as his own. Let us strengthen ourselves in the seventh generation, and there will be no eighth generation, because we will merit the true and complete Geulah very soon indeed. L’chaim, l’chaim, and a good Yom Tov.

1:05:29 Speaker 6 A great yasher koach to Rabbi Kotlarsky, the chossid. I’ll just tell you that for most of the year Rabbi Kotlarsky doesn’t live at home; he lives on airplanes, traveling from place to place and from shliach to shliach. We can wish him that, with Hashem’s help, by next 19 Kislev he’ll have many more places to visit, and that together with all the shluchim he’ll come to the Holy Land, with the Rebbe at our head. When the Alter Rebbe was released from prison, he sent letters to several of his friends, fellow students of the Maggid, telling them of the great miracle Hashem had performed. “He was magnified and sanctified before the many, and especially in the eyes of all the ministers and all the nations, and they answered and said: ‘This is from Hashem; it is wondrous in our eyes.’” And the Rebbe concludes his letter: “This is the day Hashem has made for us, a day on which ‘it was good’ was said twice, 19 Kislev, the great day of the passing of our great and holy master, the Maggid of Mezritch. And as I was reciting in Tehillim the verse ‘He redeemed my soul in peace,’ before I began the following verse”—so writes the Alter Rebbe—“I was released in peace. And I shall conclude in peace: peace from Hashem.” The Rebbe’s mesirus nefesh stood by him, so that he was released in peace—peace from Hashem—and could spread the teachings of Chassidus. As the chossid Reb Aizik of Homil expressed it at one 19 Kislev farbrengen. Reb Aizik said: “For whom was the salvation on 19 Kislev? For the Rebbe? What difference does it make to the Rebbe where he is? Even in prison he lacked nothing. Perhaps you’ll say he lacked a change of Shabbos clothes? He didn’t even lack Shabbos clothes. Every Friday evening, while in prison, the Alter Rebbe would take out a handkerchief he had with him, tear a strip from it and use it as a new garment for Shabbos. So the Rebbe lacked nothing. For whom, then, was the salvation?” And Reb Aizik of Homil said: “The salvation was Hashem’s, for through the Geulah, the revelation of G-dliness became known down here. So let’s dance!” And the chassidim began to dance. Let us, too, dance

1:08:10 Speaker 6 a dance of Geulah. Let us offer a prayer to “He redeemed my soul in peace.” L’chaim, l’chaim. What joy—as though the news of the Alter Rebbe’s Geulah had arrived today. And in truth, that is how it is, because the Geulah did not take place 215 years ago; it takes place anew every single day. L’chaim, l’chaim. Welcome to everyone joining us at the farbrengen. Chassidim counted ten merits, ten merits, of the Alter Rebbe. Shh... Chassidim counted ten merits of the Alter Rebbe—ten things he accomplished in the world. The first two merits that chassidim named among the things the Alter Rebbe accomplished in this world were arranging the Shulchan Aruch and establishing the text of the prayers. The Alter Rebbe composed his Shulchan Aruch with the reasons for the laws; he clarified, refined and thoroughly worked through the laws themselves to arrive at their truth. The Rebbe established the text of the prayers with sixty siddurim of different versions before him, and from all of them chose the version we pray from today, Nusach HaAri. Two merits: one in Torah, one in prayer. Both of these are connected to the imprisonment and the Geulah. Chassidim would gather together. Why did they gather? To study Torah and to pray together with a minyan, using the text established by the Alter Rebbe. For both of these matters, the Rebbe showed mesirus nefesh. They were the source of the accusation and the imprisonment, followed by the Geulah of 19 Kislev. Ladies and gentlemen, it is our honor now to hear from someone who devotes himself with mesirus nefesh to both of these matters: study and original scholarship in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch—and yesterday, just yesterday, his new book on the Alter Rebbe’s siddur arrived from the printer. The new book by the esteemed Rabbi, the mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi shlita. Please.

1:11:23 Speaker 7 L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. May it be Hashem’s will that the merit of the one whose Geulah we celebrate stand by us, and that we have everything we need in children, life and sustenance, all in abundance. L’chaim, l’chaim. There was once a chossid named Reb Uriel Zimmer, a well-known chossid, a man of brilliant talents. Once, at a 19 Kislev farbrengen with the Rebbe—before the farbrengen, he was, may he rest in peace, suffering from a condition in his legs and sitting in a wheelchair. A Jew came up to him—I’ll tell you what happened—and asked him, “Reb Uriel, vos macht ir? Reb Uriel, how are you?” He said, “Not so good.” The man asked, “What do you mean, not so good? What happened?” He answered, “Every year on 19 Kislev, I’m used to drinking a bottle of arak from beginning to end. This year I had to stop twice.” That was what it meant for him to feel not so good on 19 Kislev. He was used to drinking a whole bottle of mashke from beginning to end. He began to feel unwell and had to stop twice. That’s what happened to me just now when I started coughing. But this year, 19 Kislev falls on Friday and Shabbos. A woman phoned me today with a question, an ordinary woman. The question might seem to reflect a lack of learning, but I was actually so moved by it. She asked me, “Rabbi, this year 19 Kislev falls on Friday and Shabbos—on Friday and Shabbos. Do we have to make an eruv tavshilin?” She is used to making an eruv tavshilin whenever a Yom Tov falls on Friday and Shabbos follows, so that one can cook on Friday for Shabbos. This year 19 Kislev falls on Friday and Shabbos. She asked me whether she needed to make an eruv tavshilin toward evening today in order to prepare for Shabbos. A woman might ask a question like that, but I was actually so moved by it. She felt

1:14:18 Speaker 7 the Yom Tov of 19 Kislev. Do we need to make an eruv tavshilin because the Yom Tov of 19 Kislev falls on Friday this year? So now, at this 19 Kislev farbrengen, let us feel a little as though the one whose celebration this is stands here with us. We rejoice in his joy. We try to follow his ways and study his teachings. May his merit protect us. L’chaim, l’chaim. As is well known, the Alter Rebbe brought new insights to the teachings of Chassidus, and to the revealed dimension of Torah as well. There is an interesting Gemara in Bava Kamma. The Gemara says, “One who wishes to be a chossid”—someone who wants to be a chossid. The Gemara offers three views on this. One says he should observe the laws of damages, the laws governing relations between one person and another. Another says he should observe the laws of blessings: he should take care to say each blessing properly, not, G-d forbid, say an unnecessary blessing, and recite the appropriate blessing over each thing. And another says he should observe the teachings of Avos. What does “the teachings of Avos” mean? The straightforward meaning, as the commentators also say, is the teachings and ways of conduct in Pirkei Avos. In the six chapters of Pirkei Avos we learn various ways of behaving with proper conduct and fear of Heaven. These are not definitive legal rulings, but guidance on how a person should behave, as a chossid and a G-d-fearing person, and so on. I once heard another interpretation. What does “the teachings of Avos” mean? It means our connection with the Avos, with our forefathers and their forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and with our Rebbeim, our Nesi’im. One of the fundamental teachings of the Alter Rebbe in the Tanya is what is new about every Jew’s connection with our holy forefathers. There are two things our forefathers bequeathed to us, which are present in each and every one of us, in every Jewish man and woman. What are those two things? Love of Hashem. Every Jew has, in the depths of the heart, a connection

1:17:02 Speaker 7 To Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is one thing. And the second is faith in Hashem’s oneness: “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” This is engraved and embedded in the heart, soul, and mind of every Jew. Where does it come from? It is an inheritance from our forefathers. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov passed this faith on to their descendants. And so the Alter Rebbe says that a Jew, even if, G-d forbid, he is in the state of the lowest of the low—we see that he does not understand much, yet he gives his life to sanctify Hashem’s name. Why? He does not know or understand, and he may not even know the halachah. But to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, G-d forbid, is impossible. How could he be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Where does he get this conviction that he cannot be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? It is our inheritance from our forefathers. And this is the meaning of “to uphold the words of the fathers”: that he himself upholds the things our forefathers passed on to us. There are things our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov passed on to us, and there are things our fathers, our Rebbeim, passed on to us, from the Alter Rebbe to the Rebbe. They passed on to us the teachings of Chassidus, the study of Chassidus, and the ways of Chassidus—and above all, how to illuminate the soul within every Jew. Every Jew has a soul that is truly a part of G-d above. That G-dly part is within him, burning inside him and longing to draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But what happens? He is in this world, a material, physical world. There are all sorts of obstacles and hindrances. But the paths of serving Hashem and drawing close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu were passed on to us by the Alter Rebbe in the holy Tanya, and by the Rebbe in his holy sichos and maamarim: how to serve Hashem. On this festival of 19 Kislev, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus—the Alter Rebbe was named

1:19:17 Speaker 7 Schneur Zalman. What does “Schneur Zalman” mean? The Rebbe explains: What is “Schneur”? Two lights. Which two lights? There is the light of the revealed Torah, and there is the light of Chassidus. He illuminated the world with the light of the revealed Torah through the Shulchan Aruch he wrote, and he illuminated the world with the light of Chassidus through the Tanya, Likkutei Torah, Torah Or, and all his holy books. But the Rebbe says that they are connected. These are not two Torahs, one Torah and then another. The Torah is one. Where do we see this unity between the revealed Torah and Chassidus? There are many examples. Let us take one from a halachah in the Shulchan Aruch. There are thirty-nine categories of forbidden work on Shabbos, beginning with plowing, and one of them is kindling a fire. Kindling means that a person may not light a fire on Shabbos. He may not produce a flame on Shabbos; it is one of the primary categories of forbidden work. And if, G-d forbid, he does this, he is liable to stoning, kares, and so on. There are two aspects to kindling: producing the flame, and, as the flame is produced, consuming the wick. The wick is used up and the flame is created. The halachic authorities ask: What constitutes the forbidden work of kindling? Is it consuming the wick, or producing the flame? The Alter Rebbe discusses this in the Kuntres Acharon to the laws of Shabbos and concludes that kindling on Shabbos means producing the flame, not consuming the wick. He brings proof from a halachah in the Rambam: if a person heats iron until it becomes a glowing ember capable of burning something, he is liable for kindling. The question is: A person heats iron, but the iron remains as it was; nothing is consumed. Yet he is liable for kindling. Why?

1:21:44 Speaker 7 It is a sign, proof, that the forbidden work of kindling is not consuming the wick but producing the flame. So when he heats iron until it becomes a glowing ember, no wick is consumed. Although no wick is consumed, he is still liable—proof that the forbidden work is producing the flame. I once heard at a Chassidic farbrengen why the Alter Rebbe placed such emphasis on this point in the laws of kindling: that the forbidden work is producing the flame, not consuming the wick. The chassidim explained it this way: This is the difference between Chassidus and the teachings of mussar. Mussar focuses on negating—on consuming the wick. How do you control the body? How do you wear down the body so it will not interfere with serving Hashem? Chassidus comes to teach the world how to produce the flame: to kindle the soul, to kindle the light, and then the body will yield of its own accord. Here we see the revealed Torah and Chassidus joined together in the Alter Rebbe’s teachings. We are now in a darkness that is doubled and redoubled. Twenty years—almost twenty years—after Gimmel Tammuz. We must strengthen ourselves more and more, to get through this moment: “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you in”; to get through the final moments of this doubled and redoubled darkness. How can we get through it? How can we overcome this darkness? That is where the Rebbe’s teachings come in. That is where the Rebbe’s holy directives come in. Whether in the work of shlichus—how to spread Yiddishkeit and bring Jews closer, how to kindle Jewish souls. We are now approaching Chanukah, whose theme is bringing forth light, and it is no coincidence that the connection between 19 Kislev and Chanukah is so clear. So let us all leave this farbrengen with renewed strength and increased dedication to the Rebbe’s directives, each and every one of us as his shliach and as a shliach of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Let us strengthen our observance of Torah and mitzvos, strengthen

1:24:05 Speaker 7 our children’s education in the ways of Torah and mitzvos, and illuminate our surroundings with the light of the true and complete Geulah. And may we all merit the true and complete Geulah, with our King at our head, immediately, right now.

1:24:24 Speaker 8 Thank you very much, Rabbi. And we all wish the Rabbi mazel tov on his new book, Shaarei Tefillah Uminhag, which was published yesterday. We wish him wholeheartedly that by 19 Kislev next year—this is only volume one, on weekday prayers and Birchas Hamazon—there will also be a volume on Shabbos prayers and more. May he publish many more books on the Alter Rebbe’s teachings, enjoy long years in his position, and greet our righteous Moshiach immediately, right now. Here with us is someone who makes a point of taking part in this 19 Kislev celebration here in Kfar Chabad: the Rabbi of the Western Wall and the holy sites, the distinguished Chassidic scholar Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz shlita, who helps and supports so many Chabad activities in spreading the wellsprings at the Western Wall and at the resting place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron. Rabbi Rabinowitz. L’chaim.

1:25:33 Speaker 9 L’chaim, l’chaim! Our esteemed local rabbi, the distinguished Chassidic scholar Rabbi Shmuel Ashkenazi—Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi—whom we all bless on the publication of his new book: “May You add days to the days of the king, his years as many generations.” May he continue to increase and glorify Torah and spread the Alter Rebbe’s teachings throughout the world. Esteemed rabbis, everyone seated here at the head table, holy congregation, my teachers and friends: We heard the song “He redeemed my soul in peace.” These are the words of King David that the Alter Rebbe was reciting when he left prison on this day. And it says there: “Cast your burden upon Hashem, and He will sustain you.” The faith that everything that happened was from Him, blessed be He. The imprisonment, the release, the Geulah, everything bound up with spreading the light of Chassidus to this very day—and, with Hashem’s help, “When will the Master come? When your wellsprings spread outward.” In the merit of spreading Chassidus, we will merit the complete Geulah. Everything was for the good; everything was from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In the weekly parsha, we read our forefather Yaakov’s prayer as he prepared to meet Esav—a prayer we all need, a prayer we all say in the face of our enemies in Iran and those who hate us on every side and seek to destroy us. And what does our forefather Yaakov say? “And You said, ‘I will surely do good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’” Everyone asks: Why the repetition, “And You said, ‘I will surely do good to you’”? The books of Chassidus say: “And You said, ‘It is good.’” If a Jew says that everything from Hakadosh Boruch Hu is for the good, Hakadosh Boruch Hu promises, “I will do good to you.” I will do good for you and give you twice as much; I will do twice as much good for you as the good I have already given you. We all know the story of Nachum Ish Gamzu, who would say of everything, “This too is for the good.” The Gemara in Tractate Taanis relates that once, a decree was issued. They asked: Who will go and have the decree changed? They said: Nachum Ish Gamzu

1:28:53 Speaker 9 He was accustomed to miracles. He went on a mission with a suitcase containing a gift of diamonds and precious stones. While he stayed at an inn, the innkeeper and his men stole the precious stones and put earth and stones in their place. When he reached the king, he presented the gift. They opened the case and found earth inside. The king was angry. Then Eliyahu Hanavi appeared in the guise of one of the king’s ministers and said to him, “Perhaps this is the earth of Avraham Avinu, with which he fought the four kings.” The king was at war with another country at the time, so he tested it. The earth did indeed have the special power of Avraham Avinu’s earth, and with it he won the war. Of course, the king canceled the decree, treated Nachum Ish Gamzu well, and refilled the case with precious stones for him to bring back to those who had sent him. On his way back, Nachum Ish Gamzu met the people from the inn, and they asked him what had happened. He told them what they had done. They demolished the inn and came to the king with earth they claimed had the same power. They said, “That wasn’t Nachum’s earth. It was ours.” They tested it and discovered that their earth had no power at all. And, of course, they were punished. Nachum Ish Gamzu’s student was Rabbi Akiva. He followed the same path and said, “Everything the Merciful One does is for the good.” A similar thing happened to him. He wanted to spend the night in a town, but they would not let him. He slept outside the town, and his lamp went out. His donkey was devoured, and so was his rooster. In the end, it turned out that bandits had come to the town and taken its people captive, while he was saved. The Rebbe asks: Why didn’t his student Rabbi Akiva use his teacher’s expression and say, “This too is for the good”? Why did he say, “Everything the Merciful One does is for the good”? The Rebbe says: There is a difference.

1:31:33 Speaker 9 Sometimes a person thinks: I look at the outcome, like Rabbi Akiva, who said, “Everything the Merciful One does is for the good.” The outcome was good, even though it was very hard for him at the time—when he was sleeping outside the town, when his donkey and rooster were devoured, when his lamp went out. But he believed that, in the end, everything the Merciful One does is for the good. Nachum Ish Gamzu, by contrast, knew that even in the difficult moment, what is happening right now is also for the good. As the Alter Rebbe said, everything—even what happened to him—was “this too is for the good.” That is what he writes in Igeres Hakodesh: a Jew must believe that only good comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Even if, at that moment, it seems to him that something is going wrong, it is not. Nothing is going wrong. Everything is for the good. The process is good, and the outcome is good. Everything the Merciful One does is for the good. But more than that: this too is for the good. May it be fulfilled for each and every one of us: “And You said, ‘I will surely do good to you.’” May Hakadosh Boruch Hu bestow goodness upon us many times over, especially in these days, when our enemies want to harm us, when we face battles over the Torah of Israel and battles for our very existence. May we merit the fulfillment of: “And You said, ‘I will surely do good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted for multitude.’” And I will trust in You. Amen.

1:33:54 Speaker 10 [unclear]

1:34:27 Speaker 11 [unclear]

1:35:01 Speaker 10 [unclear]

1:35:18 Speaker 11 [unclear]

1:36:07 Speaker 10 My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and weary land without water. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Yes, in the sanctuary I have beheld You, to see Your strength and Your glory. Yes, in the sanctuary I have beheld You, to see Your strength and Your glory. Yes, in the sanctuary I have beheld You, to see Your strength and Your glory. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay.

1:40:34 Speaker 12 We extend a warm welcome to the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau shlita. Honored Chief Rabbi of Israel, this is our opportunity, here at a Chassidic farbrengen, to wish you great success in your position. Mazel tov on your election. May you merit to increase Torah and glorify it, and to help spread the wellsprings of Chassidus until our Master, the King Moshiach, comes, very soon indeed. We are now honored to hear words of blessing from the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi David Lau.

1:41:44 Speaker 14 L’chaim!

1:41:45 Speaker 15 L’chaim!

1:41:49 Speaker 14 Through Whose word everything came into being.

1:41:56 Speaker 15 Amen!

1:41:56 Speaker 14 With the permission of the mara d’asra. With the permission of the rabbis, my teachers and gentlemen, we gather, as we do every year, to celebrate with great joy and to mark this occasion, with the large and fitting portrait of the author of the Tanya behind me. And as we stand here today, we feel this is the right place to mention an important point from the weekly parsha. Parshas Vayeishev ends with a dream—two dreams dreamt on the same night. Yosef Hatzaddik arrives at the prison, and there in the dungeon he sees Pharaoh’s two ministers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. Both have troubled, angry faces. Something is bothering them. Seeing how distressed they look, Yosef asks them, “Do not interpretations belong to G-d? Please tell me. What happened? Is there something here that you think G-d cannot, Heaven forbid, resolve? Tell me.” The first, the chief cupbearer, tells him his dream. He describes a vine with three branches; then he squeezes the grapes into a cup and hands it to Pharaoh. Yosef tells him, “What do the three mean? Three days. The three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.” The chief baker sees that the interpretation is good, and then he tells his story. “In my dream, I too saw something with three. There were three baskets above my head, and in the top basket were baked goods of the kind I used to give Pharaoh, all kinds of food for Pharaoh, and a bird was eating them from above my head.” Pharaoh tells him—Yosef tells him: “In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and hang you on a tree.” And indeed, just as Yosef Hatzaddik said, so it happened. Within three days, on Pharaoh’s birthday, the chief cupbearer returned to his position and his duties, and the chief baker was hanged. The commentators seek to explain how Yosef knew this, beyond the ruach hakodesh that clearly rested upon Yosef Hatzaddik.

1:45:13 Speaker 14 How did Yosef identify such a great difference between the dreams? The commentators discuss it. The Maggid of Dubno has a beautiful answer, but in my humble opinion there is one important word here that is, in fact, the essence of this special day, on the night of the Festival of Liberation. What does the chief cupbearer see before his eyes? He sees himself returning and once again doing what he had done for years. He sees the vine, he sees the cup filling, and he has a responsibility to carry out his duty. He has a responsibility. He had done this for years. True, he has now been in the dungeon for a whole year, but for years he never gave up his steady, consistent effort, and for years he made sure Pharaoh had something to drink. So what does he dream about? How can I improve? I have a responsibility, and I need to fulfill it. The question is how to do it properly. What does the chief baker dream about? He dreams that he sees a bird eating Pharaoh’s food from above his head. But you are responsible for the food! No, your job is not to let a bird eat those baked goods. Your job is to guard them. Your job is to drive the bird away, to make sure the food reaches Pharaoh. You have no sense of responsibility, Mr. Chief Baker. You do not even raise a hand to drive the bird away. Yosef tells him: If you have no sense of responsibility, that is a sign you are not suited to your position. You will not carry out your duty. My teachers and gentlemen, the chief cupbearer had responsibility and concern, and he merited to leave the dungeon. The chief baker showed irresponsibility and disregard, and he was hanged on the tree. My teachers and gentlemen, the message we take away this evening is the knowledge that there was a great Jew who felt an immense responsibility to spread the teachings of Chassidus. So he was in prison, but his spirits did not fall. On the contrary, he emerged

1:48:06 Speaker 14 From there, with renewed strength. Because I have a responsibility. There is a responsibility to the Jewish people. There is a responsibility to every Jew. There is a responsibility to the entire world. And from there, the wellsprings began to spread outward, and a light for the world shone from the Alter Rebbe through the generations that followed. We, too, have merited in our generation to see and feel what Jewish responsibility means: the responsibility to spread the light of Torah, to spread Judaism. We have merited to see it, and we continue to see it. Today we stand and say to ourselves once again: May we all merit to be responsible shluchim and continue spreading this great light. “When will the Master come?” “When your wellsprings spread outward.” How fortunate we are to see the wellsprings of Torah and Chassidus spreading to every corner of the earth. May Hashem grant it, and grant still more, that we all merit to see the great light shine upon Zion soon. And may we all soon merit, together, to see and enjoy the great light that will shine upon the mountain towering above all mountains, Jerusalem the holy city. Very soon indeed, speedily, amen and amen.

1:49:53 Speaker 16 Our representative here doesn’t think we need another speaker.

1:49:55 Speaker 14 He’s a representative, oh. Our guest of honor today is the esteemed Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson shlita, who joined the Rebbe’s team of chozrim at a very young age. The chozrim are those who record and repeat the Rebbe’s sichos delivered on Shabbos and Yom Tov, when recording is impossible. They stand there with a live tape recorder in their heads and commit the Rebbe’s words to memory. Since then, he has taken on the mission of drawing from his teacher’s Torah and sharing it with others—on six continents around the globe, in hundreds of Chabad Houses, on campuses, at universities, and even in the United States military. Yes, Rabbi Jacobson went there too and taught the Rebbe’s Torah. Through the website he founded, TheYeshiva.net, Rabbi Jacobson teaches Chassidus to thousands of people every day, spreading the wellsprings outward. It is our honor now to hear from the guest of honor of this special farbrengen, the chossid and distinguished scholar Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson shlita. He’s drinking water.

1:51:51 Speaker 17 What? Huh?

1:51:58 Speaker 14 [unclear]

1:52:00 Speaker 17 That’s what it says, isn’t it? Read the first one with a vav, with money.

1:52:05 Speaker 14 L’chaim.

1:52:05 Speaker 17 L’chaim.

1:52:14 Speaker 14 Thank you.

1:52:14 Speaker 17 So you don’t get confused.

1:52:15 Speaker 14 Water, l’chaim.

1:52:17 Speaker 17 You said the second one is l’chaim.

1:52:19 Speaker 14 So, l’chaim. Gut Yom Tov! Happy holiday! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and in the ways of Chassidus. L’chaim, l’chaim, and blessings. L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. “The Sages taught.” That is how our Sages, of blessed memory, begin telling one of the most difficult and baffling stories in the Babylonian Talmud, in the second chapter of Chagigah. Once, on a holy Shabbos, Elisha ben Avuyah rode his horse. Who was Elisha ben Avuyah? Of all the hundreds of Sages of the Oral Torah, Tannaim and Amoraim over the course of centuries, we know of only one case of a leading Torah scholar, one of the great Sages of Israel, who “cut down the saplings” and left the path of Torah. Just one. His name was Elisha ben Avuyah, and they did not even want to mention his name; to this day, they call him by another name. Elisha ben Avuyah had one student who remained loyal and devoted to his teacher even after he abandoned his people, his Torah, and his G-d. That student was Rabbi Meir. One Shabbos, Elisha ben Avuyah was riding his horse. Riding a horse is one of the prohibitions instituted by our Sages, one of the Shabbos restrictions, as the Mishnah says in tractate Beitzah. But Rabbi Meir knew that Elisha ben Avuyah would give a Torah lesson as he rode, and he did not want to miss the brilliant Elisha ben Avuyah’s Shabbos-afternoon lesson. Elisha ben Avuyah rode, and Rabbi Meir walked alongside him, listening to every turn of phrase, every sound, every point that emerged from Elisha ben Avuyah’s brilliant mind. Suddenly Elisha stopped and said to him, “Meir, turn back.” Why? “I’ve been counting my horse’s hoofbeats. I counted every step as I rode and taught, and by my calculation, this is where the Shabbos boundary ends. We’ve gone two thousand cubits beyond the city. You’re a Jew who is scrupulous about Hashem’s word. We won’t get into whether the law of Shabbos boundaries is Biblical or rabbinic, but Rabbi Meir does not cross

1:56:28 Speaker 14 the Shabbos boundary. Turn back. That’s it. I’ll continue my outing, enjoying myself, on my own. The heretic himself can go on; the religious man, the observant man, cannot.” Rabbi Meir turns to his teacher. He does not lose his composure, and he says, “You, too, should turn back.” Of course, he means “turn back” in two senses: turn back geographically, but also turn back in the deepest sense. Turn back in your soul, in your heart, in your life. Turn back. Elisha says to Rabbi Meir, “I can’t turn back.” Why can’t I turn back? “Because I heard a heavenly voice, and that voice, the Shechinah, said to me: ‘Return, wayward children—except for Acher.’ All the children are invited to return. But there is one exception: except for Acher. I can’t return.” And so, according to the account in Chagigah, page 15, Elisha ben Avuyah died without turning back. And I ask you, my teachers and friends: How could a heavenly voice say such a thing? What happened to the great words of the great eagle, the Rambam? Nothing stands in the way of teshuvah. Even someone who sinned all his life—Menashe, king of Israel, who killed his grandfather, the prophet Yeshayahu—returned in teshuvah. After fifty years of bloodshed and idol worship by Menashe, G-d dug a tunnel for him beneath the Throne of Glory, as the Gemara relates in Sanhedrin. Yet Elisha ben Avuyah could not return in teshuvah? What happened to that great foundation of Judaism—that every single person, until their last breath, can return to their G-d and their people? How could the heavenly voice add, “except for Acher”? A short while ago, I attended a bar mitzvah in the United States. I came in while the dancing was underway, went over to the bar mitzvah boy’s father, gave him a warm kiss, and wished him mazel tov. He asked me to dance with him. We took each other’s hands and began dancing in the middle of the bar mitzvah hall. In the middle of the dance, I saw tears

1:59:50 Speaker 14 running down his face. I turned to him and asked, “Why are you crying?” He told me, “When I was a young boy in school, someone important at the school came up to me and once said: ‘You should know that you’re wasting your time here. Nothing special will ever come of you.’” He looked me in the eye and said, “Rabbi Jacobson, tell me: Was he right? Has anything come of me or not?” A forty-two-year-old Jew. I looked at him and said, “How long have you been carrying this story in your heart?” He said, “Every single day since I heard those words: ‘Nothing will come of you. You’re just causing trouble, wasting your time.’ Rabbi Jacobson, tell me honestly, sincerely: Has anything come of me?” When the one whose celebration and liberation we mark declared that Chassidus is not a political party, he did not mean only a party in the political sense—this party, that party, while Chassidus is nonpartisan. He also meant a party in the emotional sense, as though Chassidus belonged only to the circle of chassidim. He meant that the tradition of Chassidus contains the light and vitality that respond to the challenges of our times. On 19 Kislev 5774, here in our Holy Land and across the Diaspora, we are aware of three great troubles. First, within our own hearts, an inner distress. Second, the gap, the rift that is sadly widening between different groups of our Jewish brothers and sisters, with another story erupting here or there every other day. A third trouble is our relationship not only with ourselves, but with our neighbors and the wider world. And for all three of these great questions of our time, the teachings of Chassidus—from the Baal Shem Tov and his students, from the Alter Rebbe, our great master, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch, and his students, down to our own generation—have a message and a light they can give us, our families, our communities, our people, and our world in 5774. Let’s explore together what the heavenly voice’s message to Elisha ben Avuyah was

2:03:52 Speaker 14 He heard it that day. This Gemara in Tractate Chagigah of the Babylonian Talmud also appears in Tractate Chagigah of the Jerusalem Talmud. But there is one difference. What did the heavenly voice say according to the Jerusalem Talmud? “Return, wayward children—except for Elisha ben Avuyah.” In the Babylonian Talmud: “Return, wayward children—except for Acher.” And I ask you: What did the heavenly voice say? Did it declare “except for Acher,” as in the Babylonian Talmud, or “except for Elisha ben Avuyah,” as in the Jerusalem Talmud? In halachah there is a rule: between the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the halachah follows the Babylonian. Here we are dealing with aggadah, but the Babylonian Talmud was also written a hundred years later. The halachah follows the Babylonian, yet the Jerusalem Talmud says “except for Elisha ben Avuyah.” What is going on here? This small difference in the Talmud holds the depth of this great, tragic, moving story. What the heavenly voice said was this: “Return, wayward children—except for Acher.” The heavenly voice addressed Elisha ben Avuyah and said to him: “Listen, you are My son. I love you with an essential, unconditional love. Nothing can corrupt or diminish My love for you, because you are My son; you and I are one in our very essence. Love without any conditions. You are a son. ‘Return, wayward children.’ Come back into My embrace, My son.” But what about “except for Acher”? One day you woke up in the morning, and suddenly a thought, like some kind of possession, some feeling entered you, and you began telling yourself: I am Acher, an outsider. I am estranged from my G-d, my people, and my Torah. I am a failure. I am no good. I betrayed my Creator, my father, my mother, my family. I am Acher. I do not identify with the nation. I do not identify with the community of Israel. I do not identify with the house of Israel. I do not identify with the Torah of Israel. Books of heresy, Greek books, fall from his lap. You declared to yourself in the mirror: I am Acher. On that day—which, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, was Yom Kippur—Elisha ben Avuyah rides a horse on the Temple Mount, which lies in ruins, and from behind

2:07:10 Speaker 14 the curtain he hears one message that day: “You are a son. Return, children—except for Acher.” Take this identity you have given yourself, this “Acher,” and put it outside. Stop identifying the Acher within you with who you are in your essence. You are as good, holy, pure, noble, and regal as can be. The only thing wrong is that you think you are no good. That is the only thing wrong. That is Acher! It is a bubble. You live inside a bubble, and your entire life runs from that place: I am Acher, I am Acher, I am Acher. Put it outside. “Return, wayward children.” That is what the heavenly voice said, as it says in the Babylonian Talmud. But what did he hear? He did not hear “except for Acher.” Do you know what he heard? He heard “except for Elisha ben Avuyah.” Because for him, the tragedy of this Jew was that his story about himself had fused Acher with Elisha ben Avuyah, combined them into one. Hakadosh Boruch Hu told him “except for Acher,” and what he heard was “except for Elisha ben Avuyah.” Doesn’t this story repeat itself every single day within us, within our children, within our communities, within our families? A sweet, beloved young child grows up even in a good, courteous, loving family. I am not talking about a family with serious problems, G-d forbid; there it is obvious. I am talking about families we call normal. In English they call them “functional families”; supposedly everything functions. But the child grows up with the great expectations that Judaism places on him. And even though our intentions are good, what he hears throughout his upbringing, consciously and subconsciously, is that I always have to please somebody else; that I have to justify my existence; that I need a compliment from my father and mother to know that my existence is worth something. My whole life depends on circumstances within me and around me, on you

2:10:07 Speaker 14 and you and you telling me I did a good job. Then I can justify myself. And throughout my life, I grow up with a deep-seated story that tells me, deep inside, that I am no good as I am. My very self is worth nothing unless I get validation from those around me, from the community, from the school, from the teacher, from my parents, from my siblings, from this educational system or that one—even if I succeed within the system. But deep down, in his innermost being, he is Acher. He is a stranger to himself. He does not celebrate his life, his very essence. He hates himself because he truly believes his life is worthwhile only if this person and that person say, “Ah, you’re a good boy from Jerusalem, a good boy from Kfar Chabad.” I looked at this Jew at a bar mitzvah, at age forty-two, celebrating his son’s bar mitzvah. A Jew with, thank G-d, a beautiful hall, endless sushi, drinks like at Achashverosh’s feast, “white, green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple.” Everyone says, “Wow, what a beautiful meal!” And he dances with me and cries, because he carries a story with him. What is the story? “You’ll never amount to anything.” He went off the derech, and I tell him: If I am the one who decides whether you amount to something, we are going right back into that same bubble. When the Alter Rebbe declared, “The second soul in a Jew is truly a part of G-d above,” the meaning is: Does G-d need justification for His existence? Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu exist because I tell Him He is allowed to exist? This is what Chassidus calls life rooted in one’s essence. Your worth is intrinsic. Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves you—me, the boy, the girl—without any conditions. Your worth is not contingent on any circumstances, or even on any conduct. Even if you have made great mistakes, nothing you do can undo the fact that your independent, innermost identity is the very height of goodness, nobility, wholeness, purity, and holiness. With this

2:12:47 Speaker 14 go out into the world; with this, enter a marriage. Look at your children this way, because this is how you look at yourself. Then, at every educators’ conference, in every school, at every parent-teacher meeting, and throughout the educational press, everyone asks the same question: Why do we lie so much? Why do people cover up the truth so much in everyday life? Why are people afraid to be authentic? Simple. How could I not be afraid if I believe my worth depends on your thinking I am good? If I do not cover up my truth, if I do not lie, perhaps you will attack me, all my worth will burst like a balloon, and I will be nothing. So all day I walk around with a defensive wall, weighing what to say, to whom, and how, so this person will accept me and that person will accept me and that person will accept me. People wonder why it is hard for men to tell their wives, “I was wrong. I made a mistake.” Why is it so hard? Simple. If I believe the value of my existence comes from not making mistakes, of course I am afraid to say I was wrong. But if my worth is unconditional, then I was wrong. So what? I asked forgiveness. It does not shatter my existence. When I truly love my soul, I can have the greatest bittul. We did an injustice when we interpreted the words of the Alter Rebbe and all the Rebbeim through the Rebbe, who say that the pinnacle of Chassidus is bittul, incorrectly for ourselves and for our children. How did we explain bittul to ourselves? You are a zero. You are worth nothing. You are a rag, a doormat to be trampled on. Only if you behave the way I want and live up to my great expectations will you be somebody, will you be a chossid. What an injustice we did. How we took the concept of bittul,

2:15:20 Speaker 14 The meaning of bittul is that you are greater than you think. You are part of the Infinite. Bittul means: Don’t think of yourself as a nobody, as small, as just some coarse animal. You are part of the Infinite. Your worth is infinite, rooted in His very Essence, in the Infinite, blessed be He. That is how you should see yourself, unconditionally. Nothing can diminish it. “His existence is from His very Essence,” the Alter Rebbe established in Tanya. What does that mean about Hakadosh Boruch Hu? His existence is from His very Essence. Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t sit at a farbrengen waiting for a compliment. Say l’chaim. His existence is from His very Essence. If I can give my child that feeling—that because he has a part of G-d above, his existence is from His very Essence—then he will never need to lie in his life. He will have no problem admitting mistakes. Another thing: we ask, why are marriages so complicated today? Why can’t men and women give freely? Why are there problems and complications? You did this, so I’ll do that. I don’t feel good. You don’t feel good. Why can’t you freely, willingly love and give to your wife, your husband, your children? Of course I can’t give. I’m wounded. I don’t believe that I exist. I come home and wait for my wife to compliment me, because my existence depends on it. And when she says, “Oh, I had such a hard day,” I explode, because what I hear isn’t that she had a hard day. What I hear is: I’m not a good husband, I’m not capable, I can’t make my wife happy. Oy gevalt, all she said was that she had a hard day. She wanted a little empathy. If you loved yourself, if you weren’t wounded, you could give freely. But if I’m wounded, I’m always keeping score, because I always need you to say something that justifies my existence. I don’t have

2:17:31 Speaker 14 a life of my own; I have a dependent life, dependent on circumstances. I’ve built a bubble, and I live inside the bubble called “me.” I look at myself: I’m no good, I’m no good, I’m no good. It’s like a scratched CD. You know, a scratch on a record. Yes. And it keeps repeating: I’m no good, I’m no good, I’m no good, I’m no good, I’m no good, I’m no good. Then he opens a maamar of Chassidus, and the maamar says that there is nothing besides Him, that the only reality is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. How does he interpret it? Even the Alter Rebbe, even the Rebbe, who loved the Jewish people—and loved them deeply—also believes I don’t exist. They also believe I’m nothing. My wife thinks so, my mother-in-law thinks so, my boss thinks so, and the Alter Rebbe thought so too. And he doesn’t understand the love pouring from every sentence and every line of Likkutei Torah and the holy Tanya and the sichos of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. They tell you just the opposite: all your learning about “there is nothing besides Him” rests on a completely false, mistaken assumption. Your existence comes from His very Essence, from the Essence of the Infinite, blessed be He, unconditionally. You are part of G-dliness, and nothing can destroy that. People wonder why, when they sit around a table at a farbrengen, a kiddush, a wedding or a bar mitzvah, no one speaks honestly. No one opens his heart and talks about his challenges. Everyone pulls out some story he heard from his grandmother about a dream someone had, or it’s one l’chaim after another, and that’s called a kiddush and a good farbrengen. A farbrengen can happen only when people believe they have a life of their own and love themselves as Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves them. Then I can tell you, “This is what’s on my heart,” because I’m not afraid that I, I,

2:19:55 Speaker 14 uh, uh, am packed in like butter in a pot. Before my talk, I went outside for some air. I walked around outside, thinking. Three very sweet children from the village were sitting there drinking soda, and they saw me walking around like that. I looked a little, uh, not quite with it, as they say. And in the sweetest way they asked, “Is everything all right? Are you looking for someone?” So I told the children, “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m about to give a talk, so I’m walking around here, thinking a little.” One boy turned to me and said, “And how do you feel now? How do you feel now? Are you excited?” I knew what I was going to talk about, so I couldn’t be a hypocrite, a hypocrite, a hypocrite, right before the talk. I looked at the boy and said, “I’m not so much excited as nervous. I’m on edge—nervous, tense.” The three children heard that, lifted their faces and nodded with such healthy, normal, emotional understanding, as though they were my therapists. And I saw, I saw that when you offer them genuine feeling, that’s the world in which they flourish, in which they grow, in which they become real human beings. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created thoughts in every person that tell us all sorts of crazy things: I’m tense, I’m nothing, I’m not this, I’m that, I’m this, this—and I can talk about it because I have a life of my own. I felt such a connection with them. I asked, “Are you going to come into my talk, or will it be boring for you?” They all said together, “We’re coming in. We want to listen. You have to understand,” they said, “we’re on the same level as adults. We’ll listen to everything.” I said, “Do you know why I’m nervous?” They said, “Of course. It’s like us before our bar mitzvah maamar—we’re very nervous because there’s a big crowd.” One boy said to me,

2:22:30 Speaker 14 “But you have to know that you—you are who you are regardless of the talk. You are who you are, regardless of the talk.” That’s what he told me. How sweet! How sweet! But how many have grown up in the other bubble—the different bubble of “me”? A heavenly voice says: It’s time to peel yourself out of that bubble. You are a child; you are not “the other.” There are two terms in Kabbalah. Everyone has heard them, most of you: teshuvah tata’ah and teshuvah ila’ah. Admit it, admit it to me—not all of you, but many of you—that those two terms don’t evoke a particularly happy, joyful feeling. Neither teshuvah tata’ah nor teshuvah ila’ah. But do we understand what they mean? Again, the Rebbe said—I heard from his holy mouth dozens of times—that in our generation the main form of teshuvah is teshuvah ila’ah. I always wondered: teshuvah ila’ah is such an exalted level. I grew up a little. Oy, how did we miss it? Teshuvah tata’ah means that I repent for mistakes I’ve made, for wrong things I’ve done in action, speech and thought. Teshuvah ila’ah, higher teshuvah, means that I repent for thinking I need to repent.

2:24:16 Speaker 14 Teshuvah ila’ah means: I repent for seeing myself as “the other,” for spending all day and all night destroying myself inside and telling myself, “You’re no good.” That is what I need to repent for, and that is the teshuvah of our generation. The main teshuvah of our generation. Then it becomes easy to confess, to admit mistakes and correct them. The same applies to our relationships with Jews from different walks of life. If I know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves me with an essential love, I don’t sit in judgment of others. It’s only when I’m disappointed in myself, in my own essential self, that I need to put you down and humiliate you to feel better. If I stand in a place of essential existence, of a life of my own, of the second soul in a Jew, and I love my essential self for what it is, I can look at you with the same love, the same respect, the same appreciation of your worth. Chassidus came and proclaimed: this is not only true of yourself, but of every Jew. Leave “the other” out of it and truly identify with “Return, wayward children.” One of the great Chassidic sages was Rabbi Avraham Dov of Avritch. In his Chassidic work Bas Ayin, he says something wonderful. Listen, I read it. Wow. The Bas Ayin says this: “And it came to pass after about three months that Judah was told, saying, ‘Tamar your daughter-in-law has been unfaithful, and she has also conceived through unfaithfulness.’ And Judah said, ‘Bring her out and let her be burned.’” Every verse also has an interpretation according to its hidden meaning. The Bas Ayin says: Yehudah contains the four letters of the Divine Name, yud and hei, followed by vav and hei. Tamar represents righteousness. “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree”—Knesses Yisroel, the Jewish people. “And it came to pass after about three months”—from when? From Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, every Jew comes to shul, proclaims “Hashem is G-d,” and returns in complete teshuvah. “And it came to pass after about three months.” Tishrei passes, Cheshvan passes, and most of Kislev passes: about three months.

2:27:10 Speaker 14 Now, in the middle of winter, the inspiration, the warmth, the fervor of Tishrei, of the holidays, of the Days of Awe, of the luminary drawing close to the spark, have faded. “And Judah was told, saying.” The attribute of judgment comes before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as written in the teachings of the Arizal, z”l. Here one must leave a space between one passage and the next.

2:27:45 Speaker 18 One second. I’ll say it: that’s the Rishon LeZion. That’s an honor.

2:27:51 Speaker 19 We welcome the Rishon LeZion, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the esteemed Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef shlita.

2:28:03 Speaker 18 I don’t know where he is.

2:28:09 Speaker 14 Moshe, take the microphone so not everyone talks to him. That’s too much.

2:28:13 Speaker 18 Go ahead. The schug.

2:28:25 Speaker 14 No, no, no.

2:28:47 Speaker 18 The Arizal says that the final judgment is on Chanukah. “And it came to pass after about three months”—Chanukah had arrived—“that Judah was told: Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been unfaithful.” Your daughter-in-law, the Jewish people, who on Rosh Hashanah cried out, “May You alone, Hashem our G-d, reign.” “After about three months,” the awakening faded, the fervor passed: “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been unfaithful.” The Jew found other places where he felt freer, more comfortable. “And what’s more, she is pregnant through her unfaithfulness.” Not only was she unfaithful once; she wanted to build a home—she was pregnant through her unfaithfulness. “Judah said, ‘Bring her out and let her be burned.’” What is the point of the Jewish people if they do not fulfill their role of connecting the Creator and creation? She is brought out. “As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law: ‘I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong. Please recognize whose seal, cords, and staff these are.’” The first night of Chanukah arrived. A Jew takes oil from a single flask sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol. Then he puts a wick into the oil and uses a menorah, a vessel. “Staff” has the same numerical value as “vessel” when the inclusive unit is counted. And he turns to the Master of the Universe and says: “Please recognize whose seal, staff, and cords these are. I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” Why, for thousands of years, did we give our lives to kindle the light of the candle, the light of Torah, carrying a wanderer’s staff from country to country, from city to city? “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” How can that insolent accuser make his claim and say, “She is pregnant through her unfaithfulness”? Has Tamar abandoned You? Tamar is pregnant only by Judah. Look at the menorah. See how the history of this people is steeped in blood, tears, sweat, love, and boundless self-sacrifice, even though the nations of the world cried, “Return, return, O Shulammite!” as the Midrash explains. “Judah recognized them and said, ‘She is right; it is from me, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.’” In Parshas Vayechi it says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes.” Rashi says: This is Moshiach.

2:32:14 Speaker 18 “She is right, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” What do you expect? Two thousand years of darkness, doubled and redoubled—and you expect that no Jew will look at me and say I am a stranger? Who bears the blame for this? Who bears the blame? “It is from me. I did not give her to my son Shelah.” He is not a stranger; he is my son. Anyone who was there still remembers the fervor, every prayer and every sicha that Shabbos, when the Rebbe spoke about the beginning of the exile—how the exile began. People say: The brothers sold Yosef into Egypt. No. Why were the brothers able to sell him? Because Reuven was not there. “Reuven returned to the pit and tore his clothes. ‘The boy is gone! And I—where can I go?’” Where was Reuven at the time of the sale? What does Rashi say? According to one explanation, he was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting in repentance for disturbing his father’s bed. Reuven was not there because he was fasting. He was engaged in spiritual rectifications and unifications. The Rebbe, the teacher of the Jewish people, said: Open your hearts. What began the exile in Egypt? It was not that greedy people sold a Jewish child into slavery. It begins with something much subtler: there is a holy Jew, and he is occupied with his sackcloth and fasting while a Jewish child lies thrown into a pit. How can you go off and occupy yourself with fasting when a Jewish child has been thrown into a pit? That is where the exile begins. It begins when I feel justified in leaving a child in a pit because I am busy with myself. The exile begins there—with a lack of caring, a lack of identification, because I, too, am wounded in my service of Hashem. For the Alter Rebbe established a great principle in chapter 32: What is Ahavas Yisroel? True Ahavas Yisroel means that if you love your essential self, you will naturally love another Jew. If you do not naturally love another Jew, it is because you love your image, your suit, your bank account, your beauty label. You do not love yourself. If you

2:35:21 Speaker 18 loved your essential self, you would open yourself to another Jew. You would look at a child in a pit and you would not see a stranger. What would you see? “May Hashem add for me another son.” You would take the stranger and make him a son. Just as you took your brother and made him a son, so too, when you see a child, you will be able to see a son and say, “Here I am.” “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” And here we come to the third point: the distress and the relationship between us and our world. Let us not deny that two thousand years of exile have not only produced antisemitism; they have also produced deep feelings of inferiority among the Jewish people. Deep down, we do not forgive ourselves for being Jews. I read many of the writers here in Israel, and beneath the surface of all their articles, they cannot forgive themselves for being Jews. They believe two thousand years of antisemitism telling them that they are to blame for the Holocaust. That sense of guilt, with all its terrible troubles, is here and throughout the world. Until the Baal Shem Tov, Jews always sang “Eichah”: “How does the city that was full of people sit alone, like a widow?” Then our teacher the Baal Shem Tov came and began the great melody of Shir Hashirim: “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for Your love is better than wine.” Chassidus restored royalty to the Jewish soul within the exile, before the Geulah. Chassidus came to the Jew and said: Enough. Exile is not an order to surrender to the world. Exile is not an order to surrender to feelings of inferiority. Exile means this: “Pray for the peace of that city”; “the law of the kingdom is law”; and “we do not rely on a miracle.” For during the exile, Hakadosh Boruch Hu ordained that the channels through which blessing flows would operate according to the ways of nature. But to sell your soul, your essence, your true self? You are a child of the King of Kings. The world is waiting to hear the word of Hashem from you. And when you bow your head, they are ashamed of you, because they know you are a child and you are not

2:38:14 Speaker 18 a stranger. Not long ago, the United States military invited me to speak before its chaplains. Thousands of Christians are sitting there, and a Jew is speaking to them. I have to say, it was much easier to speak to them than to speak—lehavdil—to Hashem’s people, simply because they turn off their cell phones. And they also know how to listen. Jews, bless them, do not listen. They think: He’s a good speaker, good, not good. That’s a good idea. I’ve heard that one already, I know it, that one’s no good. Every Jew is a judge, an expert judge—not merely a lay judge, an expert judge. But they, non-Jews, know how to listen. They listened. Wow, how interesting it was. I spoke for an hour, finished my address, and the chief of the chaplains, whose name was Douglas L. Carver—you don’t have to remember it—he’s a Baptist. Do you know what a Baptist is? How do you say it? Baptists are a group within Christianity, and they’re very expressive, very enthusiastic. He stood at the microphone and thanked me for my address. He repeated the points—he had grasped them well—and then he said, jokingly, he said: “It’s clear as day that Rabbi Jacobson was raised and educated by the Baptists. You can tell from the way he speaks, the way he delivers a speech. He must have drawn inspiration from the Baptists.” They laughed; the whole audience laughed, just as you are laughing. I was sitting there. My mind said: Laugh, it’s a good joke. But in my heart, something troubled me. What troubled me? I thought: I am sitting here today because for thousands of years Jews gave their lives in the freezing cold for faith in the one Hashem. Millions of Jews were slaughtered during the years of wrath and persecution throughout the exile because they would not accept Christianity. No fewer than hundreds of thousands—many, many thousands. Even if he was joking, how could I accept a joke like that, that I had been educated by the Baptists? Of course everyone knew he wasn’t serious. I had—I had a beard, peyos, a

2:41:01 Speaker 18 A big yarmulke. So they wouldn’t think I was a Baptist and had converted to Christianity. But even as a joke—even as a joke. I remembered the story of how they asked the Alter Rebbe in prison whether he was connected to the Baal Shem Tov. If he had denied it, they would have released him immediately, because they couldn’t tolerate the Baal Shem Tov. And it was only in prison, before non-Jews, for one second. But the Alter Rebbe said he could not separate himself from the Baal Shem Tov even for a moment, even if it was only for appearances before non-Jews in Petersburg, Russia. He said, “Yes, I am connected to the Baal Shem Tov.” Then my mind says, “Yossi Jacobson, stop being such a fervent zealot. Make a joke. Relax. This is America; it’s not a tense country, it’s not Israel. People make jokes in America. What’s the problem?” But then I tell myself: I—I wasn’t invited because I live on Carroll Street in Brooklyn. I was invited as a representative of the Jewish people. The head of the army said, “For fifty years we’ve heard what the Christians have to tell us. Let’s hear what the Jews have to tell us.” If I repre—represent the Jewish people, I have to be faithful. This whole debate went through my mind, you understand, in half a second, just like that, like that, like that, like that. And this is the head of the offic—head of the army; interrupt him in the middle? You don’t do that. That’s not, that’s not—no, no, you don’t do that. And there’s respect for rank there, you know. You understand? But I decided, come what may, I would interrupt him respectfully. I said, “General Carver, Officer Carver, you’re mistaken. You’re mistaken. The Baptists learned it from us! The Baptists!” What happened? What happened? All the Christians started applauding! And I say to myself, Master of the Universe, a moment ago I said I’d learned it from them, and they laughed. Now I tell them they

2:43:31 Speaker 18 learned it from us, and they give me a standing ovation! Much better than your applause. All right. And then, in a single moment, I understood what I had heard from the holy mouth of our Rebbe, the leader of our generation, for decades: If Jews want the world to respect them, appreciate them, love them, the first thing they need to do is appreciate themselves, love—love themselves! Believe in their heritage, in their Torah, in themselves, in their G-d! The world, the world... “Through me kings reign.” The world wants to be kings and not slaves, sons and not slaves. I heard this from the man himself. The year 5739, Chanukah. Today there are menorahs all over the world. Back then it was something new. People lit menorahs at home, in the window, at the entrance to their homes. Lighting outside was an innovation, a revolution. And in 5739, for the first time, a menorah was lit at the White House in Washington. Who came out for the lighting? The president of the United States at the time, Jimmy Carter. The shliach who organized the whole lighting told me that he, the president of the United States, and a Jewish man who was an adviser to the president, named Stuart Eizenstat, went up on what’s called a cherry picker. Do you know what a cherry picker is? Yes? In the language of the Torah it’s called a lift, a lift that raises a person. Some kind of lift. They went up to the menorah, a large menorah. All the American press was there. Television, newspapers. It was a major novelty: the president of the United States, Chanukah at the White House for the first time. It was the fourth night of Chanukah. They gave the president of the United States the great honor of lighting the shamash. And Eizenstat, the Jewish man, recited the blessings and lit the menorah, four candles. Pirsumei nisa—publicizing the miracle. The president of the United States, Mr. Carter, turned to the Rebbe’s shliach in Washington and said, “Rabbi, why don’t you light the whole menorah?” The rabbi told him, “Chanukah has eight days.” He didn’t get into Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, Shabbos page 21, the festival bulls, [unclear], Tosafos, Rambam, Sephardim, Ashkenazim, all that...

2:46:45 Speaker 18 He didn’t get into it. And with Jimmy Carter, there are things it’s better not to get into. A Shabbos goy. But he told him the practical halachah: “It’s the fourth night. Each day we add a candle. With respect, Mr. President, come back on the eighth night and we’ll light the whole menorah. Tonight we light only four candles.” The president of the United States, without thinking it over, said, “Rabbi, light the whole menorah in my honor.” The rabbi, who was not weak-willed, said, “The tradition is four candles.” He said, “I represent the whole United States,” and rightly so: like most presidents of the United States, he was the most powerful man in this physical, material world. And he said, “In honor of the United States, in my honor, I’m asking you. I want to see the splendor of the full menorah.” Now this rabbi starts debating it in his head, pulling out every possible leniency. He thinks to himself: This isn’t actually the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles. It’s more than twenty amos high. There’s a large crowd. It’s only about publicizing the miracle. Well, for publicizing the miracle in Washington, for the press, is there such a big difference between four and eight? And there’s the sanctification of Hashem’s name. This is something that could benefit the Jewish people, benefit Israel. The blessing has already been said; they’ll add another four candles. What’s the problem? He lit the whole menorah. He lit the whole menorah. The president was pleased, he was pleased, everyone was pleased, and he came down. He regarded it as a tremendous event, and he was right—it was a tremendous event. He told me that the next day he got a call from the secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And the Rebbe conveyed one sentence to him in Yiddish. I want you to hear the sentence in Yiddish, and I’ll translate it. He didn’t give him a lecture. He didn’t attack him. He didn’t even explicitly reject what he had done. He wasn’t angry with him; he didn’t reprimand him. He said one sentence.

2:49:23 Speaker 18 “Fun dir hob ich ervartet mer.” I expected more from you. I expected more from you. I understand the pressure, I understand your predicament, but you were raised within the four walls of the leader of the generation. You were raised within the four walls of the Baal Shem Tov, of the Alter Rebbe, our great Rebbe; within the four walls of Torah and pure fear of Heaven, of Chassidus, which restored royalty to Israel. You weren’t representing yourself. You represented Hashem’s people. You should have said, “President of the United States, we appreciate you, we respect you. But this is the halachah.” That is royalty. “Except for one.” “Return, wayward children”—except for one. Because ultimately, the Alter Rebbe, the one whose Geulah we celebrate, taught us that the whole world yearns to put its mouth beside the mouth of a Jew and proclaim together, “May His great name be exalted and sanctified.” Fortunate are you. On the night of the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, we hear the echo of the great proclamation: “Awake, awake, for your light has come”; “Arise, shine”; “Awake, awake, utter a song.” Why? “For the glory of Hashem has been revealed upon you.” Whether it is the inner distress within us, in the bubble of exile in which many of us live and raise our children—a bubble that does not allow them to live expansive lives, to live authentic, inner lives, and thus to be happy and joyful, knowing that Hashem’s love for them is unconditional. This is the evening when we remember the relationship between one Jew and another, without an “except for one.” [unclear] And this is the night when, still in exile, in its final moments, inner royalty was restored to the Jewish people—the pride of Yaakov that comes from knowing that “the glory of Hashem has been revealed upon you”! This can take us out of our personal exile, out of an exile that binds us in chains: in our relationships with our children, with our families, with our communities and friends, with our people and with our world. And from personal Geulah will come the Geulah of all! Immediately, right now, truly. L’chaim, l’chaim and blessings.

2:53:10 Speaker 20 We are honored to welcome to this farbrengen the esteemed Rishon LeTzion, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the distinguished Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef shlita. This is our opportunity, here at this farbrengen, to wish him, in the spirit of a Chassidic farbrengen, mazel tov, mazel tov on your election. May he have great success in his position, merit to increase Torah and glorify it, and help spread the wellsprings outward, until our master, King Moshiach, comes, very soon indeed. Esteemed Rishon LeTzion, please.

2:54:01 Speaker 21 Esteemed distinguished rabbis, foremost among them the esteemed mara d’asra, the distinguished Rabbi Ashkenazi shlita, whom we have known for quite a few years now. Esteemed rabbis, each according to his honor and stature. Holy congregation, dear audience, my teachers and friends: May Hashem increase you a thousandfold.

2:54:30 Speaker 22 Amen.

2:54:30 Speaker 21 We read—we read in the parsha, “And Yaakov dwelt in the land where his father had sojourned.” On “And Yaakov dwelt,” Rashi says, “Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, but the trouble of Yosef sprang upon him.” Yaakov Avinu, after everything he had been through—Eisav’s pursuit, the household of Lavan the Aramean, what happened with Dinah—had suffered so many troubles. He wanted to sit in peace and learn Torah quietly, in tranquility. But the trouble of Yosef sprang upon him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu was hinting to him: A person doesn’t learn Torah only when life is tranquil, when he has a villa and everything is comfortable. You learn Torah even when the trouble of Yosef springs upon you. Yaakov Avinu was a pillar of Torah. “And he lay down in that place”—in that place he lay down; for fourteen years he had not lain down. He learned Torah with diligence. He might have dozed a little over the lectern, but for fourteen years he was devoted to learning Torah. That was Yaakov Avinu, a pillar of Torah. A young plant’s promise is evident from its earliest growth. Already in his mother’s womb, he showed his great yearning for Torah. In Parshas Toldos we read, “The children struggled within her.” When Rivkah Imeinu passed by houses of study, Yaakov Avinu would stir, wanting to come out. “They struggled”—it suggests running. He wanted to come out. When she passed by a shop selling pork or by houses of idol worship, Eisav would stir to come out. That is what our Sages say in Midrash Rabbah. In the Gemara, Tractate Niddah, page 30b, it says that an angel comes to a child in its mother’s womb and teaches it the entire Torah. The Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, the Rambam, [unclear], the Vilna Gaon, [unclear]—the angel taught him the entire Torah. What a pleasure! You’re a child in your mother’s womb, being taught the entire Torah. So we need to understand: Why did Yaakov Avinu want to come out? He passes a house of study and wants to come out. What for? Stay where you are. Look at the rosh yeshivah you have! You won’t find a rosh yeshivah like that angel here on earth.

2:56:39 Speaker 21 Eisav I understand: he wants to come out. He wants to eat pork. Where is he going to eat pork—in his mother’s house? So he wants to come out. But Yaakov—why is Yaakov stirring to come out? Many years ago, I heard my father, of blessed memory—may I be an atonement for his resting place—offer two explanations. Yaakov Avinu knows what it says in Pirkei Avos: “This is the way of Torah: Eat bread with salt, drink water in measured amounts, sleep on the ground, and toil in Torah.” The way of Torah is to make do with little and toil in Torah. It doesn’t say, “You learn Torah”; it says, “You toil in Torah.” “If you walk in My statutes” means that you should toil in Torah. The Sifrei says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu yearns for us to toil in Torah—not merely to learn Torah, but to toil in it. Toiling in Torah takes several forms. You work to understand a difficult Tosafos properly, to understand a difficult Shach. A difficult Sma, a difficult Ketzos Hachoshen—you don’t skip over them. You work and work until you understand them properly. That is toil in Torah. It takes other forms too. Getting up to look for sefarim. You’re writing a halachic responsum? Don’t make do with Magen Avraham and Turei Zahav, Pischei Teshuvah and Be’er Heitev. No. Get up and open sefarim, open collections of responsa. See what [unclear] says. What does Shaarei Minhag Uhalachah say? Open the books and look. That is toil in Torah. Don’t be lazy. Get up, open sefarim, see what the Chazon Ish writes. What does Pischei Devir say? What does [unclear] say? What does Rabbi Akiva Eiger say? Open the books. Toil in Torah. And there’s another kind of toil in Torah: A person is tired. He works hard all day, then comes to a Torah class at night. He’s tired, and he falls asleep in the middle of the class. Stand up, drink a cup of coffee, stand up. “I’m tired; I’ll go to sleep.” No—toil in Torah in every situation, even when you’re tired, even when it’s

2:58:36 Speaker 21 hard for you. Sit and toil in Torah. Don’t expect everything to be handed to you ready-made. Yaakov Avinu is in his mother’s womb, and the angel comes and teaches him the entire Torah. That’s wonderful. He can sit where he is and listen to Torah—it’s a pleasure. But when he passes a house of study, he hears the commotion, the passionate give-and-take of Torah study. He says, “I want to toil in Torah. I want to come out.” Otherwise, when will I toil in Torah? That is one explanation. My father gave a second explanation: “To learn, to teach, to observe, to do, and to fulfill.” Our purpose is to fulfill the Torah, not just to learn Torah without observing it. Imagine a person who studied the daily page of Gemara for twenty years but continued to desecrate Shabbos and continued to eat pork. What is his Torah worth? You want to draw him close? Please do; the light within the Torah will gradually bring him back to the right path. But there is a certain limit. A person cannot learn Torah his whole life while violating every Torah prohibition, desecrating Shabbos and eating pork. No. “To learn, to observe, to do, and to fulfill.” Great is learning that leads to action. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah—practical halachah. Yaakov Avinu is in his mother’s womb. He’s learning Torah, and that’s all very well. But Sukkos arrives, and he wants to take the four species. Where can he take them—in his mother’s womb? How could he take the four species there? So when he passed a house of study, he wanted to come out. Why? Because he knew that great is learning that leads to action. For it is not study that is the main thing, but action. That is why he wanted to come out. The Chabad Rebbeim all engaged in halachah, in practical halachah. The Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch—how much Torah, how many responsa he wrote! The great author of Tanya, Rabbi Zalman—I don’t think there is a responsum in Yabia Omer or Yechaveh Daas, on any subject my father discussed, that doesn’t mention the words of the great Rabbi Zalman.

3:00:32 Speaker 21 Rabbi Zalman dealt with—what didn’t he deal with? What subject did he not discuss in his sefarim? The Tzemach Tzedek, the most recent Rebbe, and his book Shaarei Halachah Uminhag—they were all great in halachah. All the Chabad Rebbeim—perhaps I can’t remember to mention them all, but they were all great in halachah. That is what distinguishes the Chabad Rebbeim. Chassidus is a great thing, without question. But not only that. We need practical halachah; we need to know it well. The great Rabbi Zalman writes in his Laws of Torah Study that the goal is to learn the practical halachos relevant to everyday life, so that one won’t have to ask a rabbi about every little thing. A person washes his hands; it’s forbidden to speak before saying Hamotzi. Are we going to run to a rabbi with every little question? Rabbi Zalman says we need to learn practical halachah, so that we know these things ourselves. That is what distinguishes the Chabad Rebbeim and Chabad rabbis. Many years ago, in 5719 or 5720, my father, of blessed memory, moved from Petach Tikvah to Jerusalem, to Elkana Street. He took part in the laying of the cornerstone for the Chabad housing development they built at the end of Elkana Street, now Shikun Chabad. I was a small child, and I remember that cornerstone-laying ceremony for Shikun Chabad. Later, after they had built several buildings, there was a minyan in one of the downstairs apartments there. My father regularly davened in Shikun Chabad, and afterward, when they built the shul, he would go downstairs and daven with them. He knew the leading Chabad rabbis well, including Rabbi Slonim and Rabbi Zevin. He was in close contact with them. People from throughout Shikun Chabad would come to my father from time to time to discuss halachah with him, consult him on halachah, and ask him halachic questions.

3:02:29 Speaker 21 The connection between them was close. In those days, fifty, fifty-five years ago, children in the Talmud Torah schools in Israel studied for half a day, until one or two o’clock. They didn’t study until four or five, as they do now. I don’t know which is better, but that’s how it was then. We children would come home and get bored. Talmud Torah finished at one or two. Father would send us to study at Chabad near our home. All the boys, all the brothers, studied at Chabad: proper classes, Tehillim, Tanya. We attended all the farbrengens there. We studied at Chabad until we went to yeshiva. Father’s connection with Chabad continued for decades upon decades. Even when Father discussed and debated the words of the Rebbes, it was always with respect, and above all, in the way of Torah study. He would delve into their words, cite the Tzemach Tzedek and the words of the Rebbes, but always with the utmost respect. He knew the greatness of the Chabad Rebbes in halachah. I think that what we should take from this evening, from this farbrengen, is the resolve to continue in the way of the Rebbes: to study practical halachah. “Study is great because it leads to action,” for “an ignorant person cannot fear sin, and an unlearned person cannot be a chossid.” A person might spend all his time studying other things. If he studies Zohar, that’s wonderful. He might recite Tehillim and study Chassidus, but if he never studies halachah, then an ignorant person cannot fear sin, and an unlearned person cannot be a chossid. He’ll say that what is forbidden is permitted and what is permitted is forbidden, and he’ll be left ignorant and unformed. The main thing for us, gentlemen, is to follow the way of the Rebbes and study practical halachah: to bring our studies to conclusions in halachah. Nothing is greater than that. Our Torah, gentlemen, is vaster than the sea. However much halachah we study, we’ll never finish it. After the passing of my revered father, they counted the books in Father’s home. You

3:04:19 Speaker 21 won’t believe it. This was a private home, not a shul with duplicate Chumashim and siddurim. A private home, and there were close to forty thousand books there. Think how vast our Torah is: Jewish thought, mussar, Chassidus, halachah, works on the Talmud. The Torah is vaster than the sea. We have to seize every opportunity and take it in, seize every opportunity and take it in, because the day is short and the work is great. One day goes and another comes, one day goes and another comes. We must make use of our time, study halachah, halachah, and know a great deal of Torah. And if we know a great deal of Torah, we’ll also know how to observe it. We’ll know how to guard ourselves so that we don’t stumble and come to ruin in this world and the next. We won’t stumble over all sorts of halachos, violating the prohibitions of sorting or cooking on Shabbos, or any of the other prohibitions. So let us all take strength this evening to study practical halachah. May it be Hashem’s will that we merit the complete Geulah and the coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu speedily in our days. Amen and amen.

3:05:22 Speaker 24 We now come to the most special moment of the 19 Kislev farbrengen, the moment when we sing the special niggun of the Four Stanzas. It’s interesting to see... As the Rebbe says, the Alter Rebbe’s work was to create baalei teshuvah. It’s interesting to read the description by a well-known baal teshuvah named Eliezer Steinman of what the Alter Rebbe’s niggun is. This is what he writes in his book Be’er HaChassidus. He writes that the chassidim of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, who was known among the people as “the Rav,” called the Rav’s niggun “the Great Shofar Blast.” That is how he describes the niggun of the Four Stanzas, which we are about to hear performed by the Chabad Chassidim Choir, with Moshe Mona Rosenblum and his orchestra. This is a contribution from a dear friend of this farbrengen and of Kfar Chabad, Mr. Gabriel Buzaglo, who sees to it every year that this special orchestra is here to enrich our farbrengen. Listen to what he writes in Be’er HaChassidus. He says that the niggun of the Four Stanzas corresponds—as explained in Chassidus—to the worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; to the four letters of Hashem’s Name; and to nefesh, ruach and neshamah. And he writes: “The niggun of the Four Stanzas gives life to and awakens the four levels of the soul. It pierces downward, descends and rises to the fifth level, yechidah, knocking at a hidden gate, reaching and reaching toward yechidah. That is the niggun’s virtue and what makes it unique. It is entirely an awakening from above. It circles and moves from the highest of all levels down to the deepest depths. It holds the heights above and the depths below. It holds heart and mind, joy and sadness, profundity and bitterness. It holds one thing and its opposite. As the Zohar says, ‘Joy is lodged in the heart on one side, and weeping on the other.’ That is what is unique about the niggun of the Four

3:08:31 Speaker 24 Stanzas.” The Frierdiker Rebbe once said at a farbrengen: “When a Rebbe’s niggun is sung, the Rebbe sings it at that very moment with the chassidim in Gan Eden.” The niggun of the Four Stanzas that we will now sing knocks on the Alter Rebbe’s door in the highest Gan Eden. Chassidim, we have the promise that whenever and wherever this niggun is sung, the Alter Rebbe will hear it and sense it, no matter how lofty the level he is on. It depends on one thing: how the recipient has prepared himself. Let us prepare together, as one person with one heart, to approach the innermost sanctum and sing the Alter Rebbe’s niggun with an inner awakening. This is an opportune time for teshuvah and for strengthening our bond with him. The Rebbe Rashab says that when this niggun is sung with purity of heart, in this moment one can ask for help with personal needs, for children and for life. On 19 Kislev 5712, at the Rebbe’s farbrengen, the Rebbe instructed that the Four Stanzas be sung. The Rebbe instructed that the fourth stanza be repeated ten times and said something remarkable in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek: “Whoever repeats a teaching, it is as though its author stands before him”—this applies to the Alter Rebbe’s niggun. And the Rebbe added: “Let them sing the niggun now and picture the Alter Rebbe’s face. It will be a telegram: we are now sending a telegram to the Alter Rebbe through this niggun of the Four Stanzas.” The Rebbe related that the Frierdiker Rebbe once instructed them to sing the Alter Rebbe’s niggun, and said that when the Alter Rebbe’s niggun is sung, the Rebbe is here with us. When the Frierdiker Rebbe finished saying these words, those present stood up, and each one looked to the side to see the Alter Rebbe. At this special farbrengen, which the Rebbe described with the words “I join your farbrengen,” let us make use of the extraordinary opportunity presented by the niggun of the Four Stanzas on this day, the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. As we sing it together, let us offer our prayers to the Creator of the world: that He send a complete recovery to everyone who needs it, and healthy, enduring children to everyone who needs them. Children,

3:11:28 Speaker 24 life and ample sustenance for all of Anash. Great success in the work of shlichus for all the shluchim. True abundance, ample livelihood, materially and spiritually, and much more. Above all, may Moshiach the King be revealed; may our eyes behold the King in his beauty, immediately, right now. Before the niggun, we will sing the preparatory niggun together with the Rebbe at the farbrengen. At the end of the preparatory niggun, Mona Rosenblum and his orchestra, the Chabad Chassidim Choir and Reb Nemuel Harush will join us, and together with the entire audience we will sing the Four Stanzas. The preparatory niggun.

3:30:38 Speaker 25 L’chaim, l’chaim. The orchestra isn’t going anywhere. We’re continuing to celebrate the joy of the Festival of Liberation together. Chassidim, today marks 215 years since 19 Kislev 5559, the day of liberation. We rejoice as they did on the day the Alter Rebbe was released from prison. L’chaim, l’chaim. Our great Rebbe spent fifty-three days in prison, from Chol Hamoed Sukkos until 19 Kislev. Fifty-three days, corresponding to the fifty-three chapters of Tanya. The accusation in the higher worlds against the dissemination of Chassidus led to the Rebbe’s imprisonment. The tree was nearly cut down; the wellspring was nearly stopped up. But the Rebbe’s mesirus nefesh while in prison gave him the strength to continue spreading the teachings of Chassidus. As the Rebbe Rashab said in striking words: It was not only the Alter Rebbe’s liberation that made it possible to spread the teachings of Chassidus. The imprisonment itself brought about the great spreading of the wellsprings. The Rebbe Rashab says: When you press an olive, it releases its oil. So too, the oil of the teachings of Chassidus was held within our great Rebbe, and through the imprisonment, the olive began to release its oil. Our Rebbe began to spread Chassidus extensively. The Rebbe’s mesirus nefesh during his fifty-three days of imprisonment—fifty-three days of mesirus nefesh for Chassidus—made it possible to spread the wellsprings of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in His garden. “I have come into My garden.” And when we reflect on this and see that 215 years have passed since that 19 Kislev, the day of liberation, we see that for seven generations the wellspring has watered the garden, working to make a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. Multitudes join in the study of Chassidus every day. And in our generation, the seventh generation, the Rebbe’s first maamar was “Basi Legani”—“I have come into My garden”—and we merited to hear from the leader of our generation that Hashem is about to descend into His garden. And the last maamar, for now, that the Rebbe gave us speaks of the olive that is crushed, of

3:34:00 Speaker 25 the oil that shines with the light of the menorah; of “crushed for the luminary,” when the olive is pressed to extract its oil. And precisely at this time, when we are all experiencing that crushing for the luminary and it is hard for us, we can see with our own eyes how Chassidus has taken root in the hearts of all the Jewish people in our generation. The Rebbe’s teachings are being published in every corner of the world. Multitudes of our fellow Jews study them regularly. Here, this has just come from the printer: volume 51 of Toras Menachem. The Rebbe’s farbrengens came from the printer yesterday—volume 51 of the Rebbe’s farbrengens. In Jerusalem, as we speak, half a million books are being sold, including fifty books published just for 19 Kislev this year. This year, chassidim, marks two hundred years since the Alter Rebbe’s passing. For two hundred years we have seen how his wellsprings have spread outward through the thousands of shluchim of the Moshiach of the generation, who sanctify Hashem’s name in public. How hundreds of thousands of Jews have been inspired to return through the Rebbe’s series of mivtzoim. Thousands of Temimim sit and study Chassidus, and every week they go out for the tefillin campaign. Thousands of Chabad women help Jewish women light Shabbos candles, illuminating their homes, and in every corner of the world the Rebbe has a home—a Chabad House. They once said of an empire that the sun never set on it. Today we can say that the sun never sets on a Chabad House. There is a Chabad House in every corner of the world, and the sun never sets. “The wellsprings have spread”—the wellsprings have indeed spread outward. Reb Mona, “when your wellsprings spread outward.” Mona Rosenblum’s orchestra, the Chabad chassidim’s choir, and Nemouel Harush, with the support of Reb Gavriel Bouzaglo, will bring us joy together—true joy on this day of our liberation and the redemption of our souls. We say to the Creator of the world: “The wellsprings have spread outward.” We want Moshiach now. Chabad, Chabad.

3:50:19 Speaker 26 Today I know that [unclear]. In the days of David [unclear]. They would go with David [unclear]. Great love. [unclear]. Ah, [unclear]. He would go with him a thousand times a day and circle around him. He would go with him a thousand times a day and circle around him. But he couldn’t, well. And he will be ours. [unclear] holiness. Today we have no sicha. [unclear]. Great love—he would go with him a thousand times a day, [unclear] around him. He would go with him a thousand times a day, [unclear] around him. Great love—he would go a thousand times a day [unclear]. I found him. [unclear]. What do you need? Today [unclear], and I love my secrets and my heart. [unclear]. … Elior. Where is reality today? What secrets will it reveal to me today? Let’s see how good it is. …

3:56:15 Speaker 27 [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear]. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. [Unclear], there’s nothing like it. Long live King Moshiach, long live the King. Long live King Moshiach, long live the King. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, Moshiach now! Long live King Moshiach forever and ever, long live King Moshiach, long live the King. Long live King Moshiach forever and ever, long live King Moshiach, long live the King. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, Moshiach now! Long live King Moshiach forever and ever, long live King Moshiach, long live the King. Long live King Moshiach forever and ever, long live King Moshiach, long live the King.

3:58:20 Speaker 27 We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now. We want Moshiach, Moshiach now.

4:00:37 Speaker 28 … … … …

4:06:20 Speaker 29 We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna wait. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna waaaait. Hey diddle babba dab da diddle gab dab yay diddle eyeaye yada da. Hey diddle babba dab diddle gab dab yay diddle eyeaye dada da. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna waaait. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna waaaaait. Hay diddle babba dab diddle gab dab yay diddle eyeaye yada da. Hay diddle babba dab diddle gab dab yay diddle eyeaye dada da. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna waiiiiit. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We want to see you now. We don’t wanna waiiit. We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We don’t wanna waaaaaait. We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We don’t wanna waaaait. We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We want to see you now! We don’t wanna waaaaait.

4:08:32 Speaker 30 Moshe Mona Rosenblum’s orchestra, together with the Chabad Chassidim Choir and Rabbi Nemuel Harush, are fulfilling the words of the Alter Rebbe: “Whoever rejoices in my joy, I will bring him out of straits into expansiveness, materially and spiritually.” We are concluding, but not really concluding. We are concluding the formal program. Mona Rosenblum and the orchestra will stay with us for more moments of joy, and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson will take the microphone for a Chassidic farbrengen until daybreak. It will go on at length. And we will conclude with this: When the Alter Rebbe was denounced to the authorities, the government sent one of its ministers to investigate the Alter Rebbe’s life. The minister’s name was Dzhabin. He was a drunkard and a virulent antisemite. What did he write to the government? He wrote that the chassidim believe Moshiach will come soon, and that because they will then need a great deal of money to build the Beis Hamikdash, the Alter Rebbe is already collecting money for that purpose—for the construction of the Beis Hamikdash in Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe told this story and said: “We see from this that even a non-Jew recognizes and knows who is called a chossid: someone who believes Moshiach will come speedily, and therefore awaits his arrival.” Let us conclude the formal part of the farbrengen with a heartfelt request from the depths of our hearts: We want to see our King, immediately, right now. And as you heard in the stirring words of the Rashbatz at the famous farbrengen of 19 Kislev 5662 in Lubavitch. Shh... Listen closely to the words of the Rashbatz on 19 Kislev 5662 in Lubavitch, which will close the formal part of the farbrengen. This is what the Rashbatz said: “How much thanks and praise we must give Hashem, Who has not left us without, from the line of our great Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, whose soul is in Eden, a teacher and deliverer to stand and serve before Hashem, to teach them knowledge of the Torah and of Hashem, the Giver of the Torah. He is our nasi and our guide, the crown of our glory, a man of great deeds, His Excellency, the holy Rebbe shlita, founder of Tomchei Temimim,”

4:11:58 Speaker 30 “its director and nasi, who will show us wonders as in the days of his grandfather, the holy Alter Rebbe.” Look how relevant these words are. “To bring beloved children back to our Father in Heaven. He is a giant among men, holding high the torch of Torah’s light and knowledge, to make known to Hashem’s people what Hashem asks of them and what the purpose of their deeds is in this world.” Then the Rashbatz stood up, held a cup for l’chaim, and said: “To the life of our Rebbe, our nasi, I raise my cup, and with every power of my soul I call out: May our Rebbe live forever. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu strengthen his power and his arm to carry the tower of light, to illuminate the earth and those who dwell upon it until Shiloh comes. L’chaim!” And here we want to thank the Kfar Chabad committee and its chairman, the chossid Reb Binyamin Lipschitz, for organizing this special farbrengen. Rabbi Meir Edelman, who for an entire month has not slept, night or day, for the sake of this farbrengen. The Chabad Chassidim Choir. Yasher koach to Rabbi Shaya Segal and the entire choir. To Rabbi Yaakov, to Rabbi Nemuel Harush, who has been with us for several years now at this wonderful celebration. To my cousin Moshe Mona Rosenblum and his sons, descendants of the Alter Rebbe, who came to bring us joy here on the Alter Rebbe’s day of rejoicing, and to the entire gathering of chassidim: May we rejoice in his joy, may he bring us out of straits into expansiveness, and may we see the revelation of Moshiach immediately, right now. A complete recovery for Ahuva bas Yaffa.