The Launch Event for Issue 1500 of the "Kfar Chabad" Weekly

00:00 Speaker 1 A good man with extraordinary talents that I myself had not known he had. I had known him as a writer for several years, but I had no idea what wonderful, outstanding abilities he possessed. And all this happened this year, after we had already thought that... So we have not had the experience of [unclear]. The Rebbe accompanies this newspaper; we see it tangibly, day by day, hour by hour. We went through very difficult times when we truly thought... and every time, at the last moment, things worked out, thank G-d. I want to finish what I mentioned earlier about what my wife, a"h, received from the Rebbe, through which many others have also been blessed over the years. I want to finish with this, and I hope he won’t be angry with me. There is a Jew sitting here who prayed for a child for many years. He had two children, but many years had passed since then. He prayed for more children, and waited and hoped. About a year ago, when the newspaper was in crisis, he came over to me—he is one of the newspaper’s employees—and said, “I’m taking it upon myself that, starting this week, the newspaper will come out. It will come out. I’m taking responsibility.” Exactly nine months later, a daughter was born to him. He is sitting here with us. His name is Rabbi Sharabi. I’ll finish with this: as the rabbi said, each and every person should do all they can, and the Rebbe does not leave anyone unrewarded. We see it tangibly. So may it truly be Hashem’s will that we celebrate issue 1,540 here with the same emcee, after the coming of Moshiach—but with the same emcee. Once, someone was riding back with Rabbi Gorlik, and the driver was taking Rabbi Grossman back from the wedding of [unclear]. So at the end, before he got out, he said to the driver, “I wish you that when I reach my age, you’ll drive me too.” So I wish myself and Rabbi Naftali that, in another 1,500 issues, you will still be emceeing

03:01 Speaker 1 here at our celebrations, in good health, and that all those who have helped, are helping, are lending a hand, and will help the newspaper should receive a thousand times as much.

03:23 Speaker 2 Thank you very much. Yasher koach! Excuse me. To the editor and founder of the newspaper, Rabbi Aharon Dov Halperin, my personal thanks for those wonderful blessings. Anyone who knows our Dov’le Halperin knows that the editor is always smiling, always happy. You would never know whether it had been a difficult night at the newspaper or a difficult period. Aharon Dov, about you we say all year long, “When Adar begins, we increase in joy,” because “Adar” is an acronym for Rabbi Aharon Dov. So all year long it is “When Adar begins, we increase in joy.” Ladies and gentlemen, a question. The Gemara in Megillah says that Esther came to the Sages and asked, “Establish me for future generations.” Then, later on, there is another passage with different wording: “Write me for future generations.” What does that mean? What is the difference between “establish me” and “write me”? Anyone who wants a detailed, elegant, clear answer, with all the explanations, should pick up the latest Kfar Chabad newspaper and read the Halachos, Practices and Halachos column by our mara d’asra, also of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Ashkenazi. You will find an exceptionally instructive and interesting answer. And I have to say, I read the article once, but when I found out I would be emceeing, I studied it again so I would know it better before coming to the event. So... And the Kfar Chabad newspaper also has the great privilege of being named after the place. I understand there were discussions about changing the name, and the Rebbe said to keep it. Clearly, there is a connection. Kfar Chabad is the capital of Chabad throughout the world; from there, Torah goes out to the entire world. And we know the blessings the Rebbe gives the residents of Kfar Chabad. That extends to the Kfar Chabad newspaper as well: anyone who supports it, encourages it, or distributes it, as we heard in the letter, is part of it—the Rebbe’s blessings accompany him. So to you as well, Rabbi Halperin: may the Rebbe’s blessings accompany you and all your work, and may we merit

05:46 Speaker 2 to see issue 1,540, with Hashem’s help. Five hundred, and then another five hundred, with Hashem’s help. I now have the honor of inviting the mara d’asra, the distinguished chossid and scholar Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi shlita, to speak from Kfar Chabad to Kfar Chabad. I can also

06:17 Speaker 3 Honored rabbis, distinguished audience. There is a story about a discussion at the Security Council in the early years of the State. The IDF had carried out some operation, and it came up for discussion at the Security Council. Israel’s ambassador to the UN at the time was Abba Eban. He explained—he had a gift for rhetoric—and presented Israel’s position. Afterward, he sent the text to Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion called him and said, “After reading what you wrote, I’m convinced we’re right.” In other words, after he read it, he understood that... Often, once people write something, they become convinced they are right; they think they are right. In any case, I have just come from a wedding in Kfar Chabad II. There was a rabbi there, not from our circles, a Litvish rabbi. As an aside, he happened to speak to me by the chuppah and began praising the Kfar Chabad newspaper. He said, “You don’t realize what you are bringing to the public. The people who receive it, the people who read through it—it gives them a taste for life, a taste for Chassidus, a taste for the Rebbe, a taste for everything, with understanding and without any craziness or frenzy. It is something of tremendous value. It simply gives people life.” He told me that where he serves as a rabbi, there are about ten rabbis in his circle. One passes it to the next, and over the course of the week they all read the newspaper. As an aside, that shows how widespread it is. There is a special connection between Kfar Chabad and the Kfar Chabad newspaper. Personally, I remember a time—I don’t remember which year it was—when... Yes, please. The newspaper had sharply criticized the Litvish community and its leader, so they sued the newspaper in a beis din, the rabbinical court in Tel Aviv. It was the middle of the night when Rabbi Hodakov called me and told me something he asked me

08:39 Speaker 3 not to tell anyone. He called and told me to get a to’en, a rabbinical legal representative, and have him submit a claim on my behalf—as he put it, as a resident of Kfar Chabad. Since the newspaper was named after Kfar Chabad, I had the right to defend it. I was to get a rabbinical legal representative and say: Because I am the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, and the newspaper is Kfar Chabad and bears the name Kfar Chabad, we have the right to have all their claims heard only before Chabad rabbis. He asked me to report the decision to him immediately afterward. So I traveled to Jerusalem. There was a well-known rabbinical legal representative there at the time, Tzvi Reiman. I spoke to him about it, and he told me he had immediately taken the matter in hand and was dealing with it. Afterward, I informed Rabbi Hodakov of their decision to remove it from the agenda, and there was great rejoicing. I understood very clearly then the Rebbe’s wish that others not interfere with something the Rebbe was protecting—the newspaper and everything... He was also responsible for everything the newspaper wrote. So when someone else had complaints about it, it was as though the Rebbe had to defend it. I remember very vividly the joy that the Rebbe defended the newspaper, and that, to the Rebbe, it was as though this had been an affront to him personally. I don’t remember another instance like it, in cases involving journalists and lawsuits, where the Rebbe stood behind the defense of an institution as he did in this case. It is something I remember very, very clearly and have never forgotten. In any case, I also came to understand my connection with Kfar Chabad then, and over the years one sees, and has seen... Thank G-d, I have the... I think the first newspaper, the newspaper

10:43 Speaker 3 The first issue that came out was still in the format of a small booklet. At the time, Rabbi Dov was a teacher at our cheder in Ultra[?]. My son Meir, my eldest, studied with him, and then they decided to publish the newspaper. I remember traveling to the Rebbe for Shavuos with my son, and there was a yechidus. The Rebbe tested my son and asked him several questions. He was studying with Rabbi Dov, I think, in Ish Mekudash. Afterward, when he came back, he told Rabbi Dov about the yechidus, and Rabbi Dov wrote it up in the newspaper. It was in one of the first issues—the first or second—that came out after Shavuos. But over the years, when you look back, you see the treasure the newspaper has gathered over thirty or forty years: the entire history of Chabad, its spiritual history and its practical history, all the Rebbe’s activities in Israel and throughout the world. I don’t know whether there is any precedent for its scope today. When you open the newspaper—look through the early volumes and the later ones—you find a priceless treasure built up over the years. A priceless treasure of Torah, chassidic stories, chassidic guidance, and the Rebbe’s guidance. Without exaggeration, there is enough material there for fifty or sixty books. In any event, Rabbi Dov had the merit of running this project. May he be granted many good years and continue onward with ever greater strength and vigor. And to everyone here, I make an appeal and a request: help the newspaper. Simply help it establish itself on firm footing, so that it can expand further and further and reach all kinds of circles. There is a great yearning and thirst to hear the word of Hashem. People see something there about Chassidus, about a niggun, about [unclear]. This is an enormous platform, one whose value cannot be measured—

13:05 Speaker 3 I remember a farbrengen once at the old Beis Zechariah. Someone had come from America—I don’t remember who—and there was a farbrengen in the old shul. He spoke about the Rebbe. At the time, people didn’t know what a missile was; it was something new. He said that there is now such a thing in the world as a missile: you launch it from a ship, from a—those were the first missiles being launched. When the missile takes off, you don’t hear much, but a few hundred kilometers away there is a tremendous explosion that can blow [unclear] away. That was how he spoke about the Rebbe and the work being done [unclear]. You might think: you see the Rebbe, you enter the Rebbe’s room, you see the old telephone with its handset. Your first impression is, “Where have we come?” But the explosion and its impact are seen throughout the entire world. It is the same here. The Kfar Chabad newspaper may have what looks like an old office in a few rooms, but its impact and its reach throughout the world are tremendous. And yet, how much more could be done! Anyone who feels even a little responsibility for Chabad and for spreading Torah and Chassidus, for spreading the wellsprings, should recognize that we have a tremendous instrument here. We have the means, we have the instrument, but we need to expand its work, publicize it, and keep moving forward. May Hashem help us all continue to take part in and see progress in all the Rebbe’s endeavors, especially the spreading of the wellsprings. The press was one of the most important things to the Rebbe. It is a tremendous instrument for spreading the wellsprings, and this newspaper is—

15:08 Speaker 3 one of those great instruments. May Hashem help the editor and the editors; may he have many years to continue his work with ever greater strength and vigor. And may Hashem help not only spiritually but materially as well, so that there will be no financial problems and so on. Together, may we merit to advance and see [unclear] spread outward to families, going from strength to strength. Yasher koach. May Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi shlita have many years to continue his work in health and joy. After hearing words like these, I don’t want to use the word “obligation.” On the contrary, I say it is a privilege for each of us to do everything we can. Let everyone at least take it upon himself to bring in just ten new subscribers. Ah, how different everything will look—[unclear], as the Rebbe writes in his letter. Thank you very much, and yasher koach. May he have many years to continue his work. And what do you think of the following question? Is it permissible to put the bag containing Rabbeinu Tam tefillin together with the bag containing Rashi tefillin? That is—sorry—may Rabbeinu Tam tefillin and Rashi tefillin be put in the same bag, or is it forbidden? That is the question. And if they are in separate bags and we want to put them in a suitcase, which should go on the right and which on the left? And what does this question have to do with the approach of Seder night? Anyone who wants a clear answer from a Torah scholar need not go to the bookshelf. Once again, the Kfar Chabad newspaper has a regular column, “Practices and Customs,” by the distinguished chossid Rabbi Yochanan Gurary, and there you will find a detailed, clear, and most interesting answer.