A Memorial Evening Marking One Year Since the Passing of Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi - A Historic Video Screened at the Event

00:02 Speaker 1 One moment, one moment. I wanted to say something here. [unclear] raising hands—that should not happen. Because [unclear]. We have, boruch Hashem, we are not a republic. We have an emperor, and “one king shall be over us all,” over the whole world. [unclear] raising hands [unclear]. I’ll say more about that later. A little quieter. I very much welcome what was said before me, and I agree with it wholeheartedly. We should see to it that one result of this evening is a letter to the Rebbe. It should be a letter for everyone to sign right here—a letter from the entire village. Everyone here should sign the letter. That should be the first concrete result. Here is a short draft of the letter that will go to the Rebbe, and anyone who wishes can sign it afterward. Listen to the letter. “To the honorable Rebbe shlita: In the letter of the Rebbe shlita dated 24 Tammuz, he spoke about the general meeting. [unclear] gathered in Kfar Chabad. It was unanimously resolved that [unclear] in Kfar Chabad [unclear] the Rebbe shlita. We ask the Rebbe shlita [unclear] mercy. [unclear] Kfar Chabad. This letter [unclear] from the Holy Land.”

01:45 Speaker 1 [unclear] the honor of the Rebbe shlita. We hope for this with love, joy, and willingness. Attached are the names of those who participated in the general meeting, where [unclear] the resolution was made. Whoever wishes may sign. For the others who have not signed, we will be in all three shuls tomorrow, and each and every person should make an effort to come and sign. We now honor the shliach who has come from the Rebbe shlita’s court, the distinguished Rabbi Reb Shimon Dvorkin. He came especially as a shliach [unclear] of all the rabbis abroad, as a shliach of the entire kollel, and as a shliach of [unclear]. Everyone understands [unclear] who called him in and who told him to write. He was told that he would write a letter in the Sefer Torah, and a letter in the new Sefer Torah being written for the souls of the children of Israel. We now honor him with writing the letters alef and lamed of “before the eyes of all Israel.” May the Aibershter help us see kindnesses very soon indeed. May King Moshiach write “before the eyes of all Israel” in Jerusalem, the holy city, “a city joined together.” In this Sefer Torah, may he write for us “before the eyes of all Israel.” Fold the Sefer Torah; place it here on the chair. Rabbi Ashkenazi, fold the Torah, then—

03:28 Speaker 1 place it on the chair.

03:39 Speaker 2 It is very hard to speak. I think all of us, at this moment, feel something truly special. We have had many joyous cornerstone-laying ceremonies in Kfar Chabad, but we have never yet merited a privilege like this. I doubt anyone ever has. Each of us heard the Rebbe shlita speak at the farbrengen in connection with 12 Tammuz, when he announced that he wanted to build a house in Kfar Chabad like the house known and famous throughout the world: 770 Eastern Parkway. To build such a house in Kfar Chabad, which would serve as a center for spreading the wellsprings of Torah and Chassidus throughout the Land of Israel.

04:53 Speaker 3 Let us give thanks, let us give thanks, for He is our G-d. There is none besides Him.

05:09 Speaker 2 [unclear] Reb Eli [unclear]? And [unclear]? We wish to share good news with everyone: just before the entrance [unclear]. Here he comes, here he is.

07:54 Speaker 4 The second thing is a proposal. We did not manage to prepare a form here, but it would be right to do this: everyone has an obligation to offer condolences to the Rebbe shlita. As I understand it, and as the halachah says in Shulchan Aruch, this is included in “Love your fellow as yourself”—all the more so when it concerns the leader of the generation. Anyone thinking of traveling should certainly do so if possible. But anyone who cannot travel should send a letter. I think the letters will reach the Rebbe, and that he will now go through them all. It would be worthwhile to draft a collective message of condolence and have everyone in the village sign it—men separately and women separately—and send it to the Rebbe with those who will be going there. In this way, we can fulfill the mitzvah of comforting mourners. On one of the days when people were offering condolences to the Rebbe shlita, several people from a Chassidic court approached him to offer theirs. The Rebbe asked how their father was. They said he was weak. So the Rebbe asked why he did not come out to the chassidim. They said he did not have the strength, may we be spared. The Rebbe said, “What does that have to do with it? Chassidim can accomplish things beyond nature, beyond natural strength, through the power of chassidim.” Those words are an instruction for us. In these days, each and every one of us knows—there is no need to elaborate or explain—what matters touch our very souls, to the innermost depths of the soul. We too must draw on our strength, on the strength of chassidim. Chassidim can wrest things free through the power of chassidim, by gathering together, making requests, and praying. That is our strength. And, G-d willing, with that strength we will go forward and bring nachas to the Rebbe shlita, and he will lead us to our righteous Moshiach very soon indeed. Every single person here today, and everyone not here today, must remember and repeat to himself

11:04 Speaker 4 day and night what the Lubavitcher Rebbe invested here. Many, many people still shout in the streets and say, “What for? He was above it all; his stature was far above all these struggles. What for? Why did he have to involve himself in this?” I do not even intend to explain it. But once he entered the fray, we owe him thanks and blessings for giving us this great miracle and complete deliverance. To him we owe thanks, and to him we owe our blessings. Let us wish him long life and good years.

11:59 Speaker 5 Amen!

12:01 Speaker 4 May he fight the wars of Hashem and prevail.

12:04 Speaker 5 Amen!

12:05 Speaker 4 And may he lead us to our righteous Moshiach, please, please, please. Anyone who sees and considers the great transformation that has taken place in the world over the past several decades will see that even those who oppose, even those who trample, even those who laugh and even those who mock, are taking up what he saw and what he worked to achieve decades earlier. The difference is, as explained in the holy maamar published in honor of 11 Nissan this year, that some draw sustenance directly, from the “face,” while others draw sustenance from the “back.” But ultimately, both holiness and its opposite, kelipah, draw their source and root from the tzaddik and from holiness. Fortunate is the one who draws sustenance directly, from the face. Woe to the one who draws sustenance from the back. This is the power of the tzaddik, the power of the leader of the generation: to bring holiness into effect, not to leave it floating in the air, but to bring it into the physical object and into the whole world. We see this plainly. Today, one can approach Jews and see how ready they are to receive. The whole world is ready to receive—ready to receive Torah, ready to receive the mitzvos. The world can be won in a surge of spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit. How did this happen? How did the world suddenly become ready for it? How was the world suddenly prepared for it? How is the world suddenly receptive? Only through the extraordinary one, the preeminent sage of the Sanhedrin. He is not merely extraordinary in terms of his generation or his lineage; rather, Hashem has done wondrous and great things in our generation by sending us the Rebbe shlita’s holy soul on 11 Nissan. All of us, at this farbrengen and on this occasion, wish him long life and good years. May he reign for many years, leading us to our righteous Moshiach very soon indeed—to the Geulah through our righteous Moshiach, which will put an end to the darkness of exile. And it says in the Midrash: “A time was set for the world, how many years it would spend in darkness.” The Midrash says

15:33 Speaker 4 That Hakadosh Boruch Hu allotted the world a certain number of years of darkness, but at the end of that time, this darkness would come to an end. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that this is along the lines of what the Zohar says about the verse, “For everything there is a time, and a season for every purpose.” That is what the verse in Koheles says: “For everything there is a time, and a season for every purpose.” I will never forget the sight I was privileged to see during the ten days I was there: each time the Rebbe came out to the crowd. But it was not only the moment he came out; it was the feeling among the crowd. Sitting there among hundreds of chassidim, you could see the emotional bond, the deep bond between chassidim and the Rebbe. And precisely at such a time, it revealed itself in all its greatness and strength, with a feeling that is hard to describe. At the time, I thought to myself: How fortunate we are, how good is our portion, how pleasant our lot, that we are here together with the Rebbe shlita, together with this entire holy crowd. And this togetherness, this emotional bond, the joy bursting from the eyes of every chossid, of each and every person, at seeing: Oh, the Rebbe moved his hand, the Rebbe moved his foot, the Rebbe moved his head, the Rebbe moved his legs. The great joy, the joy that comes from every one of the 248 limbs and 365 sinews. You will not find a bond like this anywhere else in the whole world. Of course, during the time of great pain, each and every person felt it. But at a time of joy, it is all the more palpable and powerful. A true and complete joy that seems to burst forth on its own. [unclear] the honor of Lubavitch. Each and every person must safeguard that; it must be foremost in their thoughts. You can argue, you can quarrel. Rabbi Shmuel used to say, “Argue, but don’t quarrel.” You can even hit each other with a bottle at a kiddush—but that’s at a kiddush.

18:41 Speaker 6 A halachic ruling.

18:43 Speaker 4 What?

18:43 Speaker 6 A halachic ruling.

18:43 Speaker 4 That what?

18:46 Speaker 6 It’s permitted to hit someone.

18:46 Speaker 4 It’s permitted to hit someone, yes, well. So I didn’t ask a question. I didn’t say—I said an empty bottle, not a full bottle. No, sorry, an empty bottle, not a full bottle. But I hope this doesn’t go up on the internet with the headline that there was a halachic ruling permitting one person to hit another with a bottle. I object to that. In any case, that wasn’t what I meant. But even if it happens, it’s not so terrible. In any case, at a farbrengen, [unclear]. But to the outside world, there is the family’s honor, the unity of the family. Imagine—let us imagine—that Chabad appears to the outside world divided, torn apart, ripped to pieces. One pulls this way, another pulls that way, another pulls yet another way. How would a person look at Lubavitch? Even if the disagreement is substantive, even if there is room for this view and room for that view. But what about outward appearances? Even King Shaul, after David the—after, after Shmuel the prophet tore the kingship away from him, said, “Honor me now before the elders of my people.” How will the public look at it? What will they see? How will the world look at it?