One Year Since the Passing of Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi

00:00 Speaker 1 It helps him rise through the levels of Gan Eden, ascending from one level to the next. That is what the Kaddish said down here helps with: it helps him rise in Gan Eden. This also explains, the Rebbe said, why Kaddish is said on Shabbos. On Shabbos there is no judgment, so why say Kaddish? The simple explanation is that the Kaddish said on Shabbos relates to his ascent within Gan Eden itself. If so, the Rebbe continues, why do we say Kaddish on a yahrzeit? The Rebbe says something remarkable: On a yahrzeit, as the Alter Rebbe writes, this applies to every Jew, not only to tzaddikim. All the Jew’s deeds, Torah study, and activities in this world ascend and are united Above. As a result, their effect continues down here as well, bringing blessing and success. In other words, on a yahrzeit there is something special: such a great light shines then, in keeping with the principle that what is highest descends to the lowest place. And this applies to every Jew, not only to tzaddikim. On a yahrzeit, when such a great light shines for every Jew—and “Your people are all righteous”—the Torah, mitzvos, kindness, and good deeds that a Jew accumulated throughout his life all stand Above. Because of the intensity of the great light shining on that day, what is highest descends to the lowest place, so it reaches down here too. And because it reaches down here, through Kaddish we connect to it all the more strongly and draw that light down here. How much more so when we are speaking of great people, chassidim, devoted to the Rebbe, people who gave their lives for the Rebbe’s concerns—whether through Torah study, tremendous dedication to the teachings of our Rebbeim, writing books and articles, or spreading Torah,

02:39 Speaker 1 through decades of work on behalf of the community in all the Rebbe’s concerns, even when there were difficulties and even when it involved struggles. He did not shrink back or lose heart. He fought for everything he believed would bring honor to the Rebbe, everything he believed the Rebbe wanted. I can attest to this, having had the privilege of spending quite a lot of time with him. I don’t know whether people—whether everyone realizes how precious the Rebbe’s honor, the honor of Lubavitch, was to him. If he had any concern, even the slightest concern, that the Rebbe’s honor or the honor of Lubavitch might, G-d forbid, be harmed, he was like a lion. Like a lion. Nothing intimidated him; he was afraid of nothing. He would see it through to the end to protect the Rebbe’s honor and the concerns of Lubavitch. That is how he was for decades, in every situation—when things were easy and when they were hard, when his health was better and when it was worse. Nothing moved him from his mission. He felt he had to stand like a soldier on the front line, protecting everything connected with the Rebbe. And not only that—it wasn’t limited to communal affairs. There is work on behalf of the Jewish community, and there is work on behalf of an individual Jew: helping a Jew with shalom bayis, livelihood, or education; listening to him, giving him good advice or a kind word. I don’t know whether people realize. I can tell you how many calls the Rabbi received for advice every day—not just from Kfar Chabad, though very many were from Kfar Chabad, but from across the country and around the world. Shluchim who found themselves in difficult situations wanted help, support, a kind word, advice, direction, guidance, answers to difficult halachic questions

04:21 Speaker 1 and help with all kinds of problems and disputes. They wanted to rely on his wisdom, his understanding, and the Divine assistance he had. And so he would listen and listen. He wouldn’t turn people away. He had the patience to listen with love and a smile, always to say a kind word to a Jew, to begin on a positive note, to make things easier for him and lift his spirits. That was how he lived for decades. So today, on the day of his hilula, surely all his deeds, his activities, and his Torah stand Above and shine down here too. He told me several times, particularly in the last year, that his life’s aspiration was to preserve Kfar Chabad as he had received it: to keep it a Chassidic village, the Rebbe’s village, where the Rebbe’s concerns are evident. So surely, on this day, when all that he did stands Above, it is an auspicious day to draw down blessings—for good health and success for us all, for the family, for the Rebbetzin, for the entire family, for all the residents of Kfar Chabad, for all Anash, and for all the Jewish people. May there be good health and success in everything, materially and spiritually. We’ll begin with a video clip. There will actually be two video segments this evening. The first is now: we’ll see a sicha of the Rebbe connected with the work he compiled. Later there will also be video clips of various interesting events in Chabad history with which he was involved during his forty years of work. The first clip we’ll see is from a farbrengen of the Rebbe in Teves 5732. As a young married man, following the Rebbe’s instruction, he had completed the book Marei Mekomos VeTziyunim on the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, volumes two, three, and four, and sent it to the Rebbe. He told me he hadn’t even

06:20 Speaker 1 had time to give it a hard cover, because he wanted it to reach the Rebbe before 24 Teves. He went to the airport and gave it to someone there. And indeed, the work reached the Rebbe before 24 Teves. The Rebbe came down to the farbrengen on 24 Teves with his book and spoke about it—about the great merit of a young married man compiling a work on the Alter Rebbe. Let’s all watch this video of the farbrengen of 24 Teves 5732.

10:34 Speaker 2 [unclear] the hilula. [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear].

14:15 Speaker 23 In practice, the halacha [unclear] and a very good ruling emerged. There is a mention [unclear] this is considered readable, and they responded [unclear]. It became [unclear] something great, and its strength [unclear]. These are the words of [unclear], for prophecy is in it, [unclear] the spirit of our Rebbe [unclear], and in this way [unclear] what the Jewish people received. Yechezkel [unclear]. On the contrary, this causes [unclear]—what is surprising about it? [unclear] as is customary, and it was already said two weeks ago. And then, behold, Moshe’s face [unclear]. [unclear] they accepted the decree of the Sages [unclear], and here is the difference between [unclear] what must be done. What about that? What about their proposal? Are you saying “joy”? But what is it really? I said [unclear] even before [unclear]. [unclear] his thousands of students [unclear]. The practical halachic ruling is [unclear]. And what about the Shulchan Aruch? That is not correct. [unclear]. He will stand [unclear], and this judge [unclear]. And two things [unclear], and it should be established [unclear]. [unclear] with honor [unclear]. For it was said [unclear], and the desire for rest is not yet an obligation. And there are specifically [unclear] who do not know [unclear]. [unclear]. And that is fine; that is the expense [unclear] such a ruling. So these are rulings of the Rambam, and [unclear] this is a Torah scholar. This title, Rabbi Avraham Chai[unclear], and it seems to me [unclear]. Not [unclear] that someone is a prophet, or that someone should tell me about a book—on the contrary. But what is this here? [unclear]

16:36 Speaker 23 This. And this requires two, and this is [unclear]. Specifically, remembering and hearing, and two [unclear] through the prophets, and these are the laws of a sefer. But [unclear]. Because two things happen here, and this describes two things: one is this, and the other is described through the prophets, and they have a remedy for repayment, and these are the Rambam’s laws of [unclear]. And not only that, but also to make it succeed. So, you know, they give the laws of a sefer, and [unclear]. So these are also the laws, and this is described through the prophet. And [unclear] the Rambam learned from this that these are the laws of sefarim, or [unclear]. And about three months ago, [unclear]. Who are you? Who is [unclear]? Who is the student? You have been [unclear] me about this for several years. What people come to him about, and in several cases [unclear][?]. You have been [unclear]. So [unclear] what everyone will say. And that is the whole truth in all this. Here we are doing [unclear]

18:00 Speaker 24 Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi is the rabbi of Kfar Chabad in Eretz Yisroel.

18:05 Speaker 25 I had an interesting experience that month. Rabbi Avraham Ezra[?] asked me a year earlier to prepare the marei mekomos in the rabbi’s name, for Rabbi Talmi[?]. I tried to do it, and it came to the month of Teves. That was because of this rabbi’s farbrengen, particularly in Teves. One of the reasons for the farbrengen was that the marei mekomos arrived precisely in Teves. And the sicha then was on exactly that subject. Once we had arranged the marei mekomos, the first thing I did was go to Rabbi Zevin. He asked me what I was doing. “What? What are you doing here?” I told him I was working toward a degree, because learning in yeshiva alone had not been enough for me. I wanted to read more, including things outside what I had studied. So he suggested that perhaps I could work for him at the Talmudic Encyclopedia, writing for it, to see whether I could do that after I had already prepared the marei mekomos. It was something I was meant to do. In short, I [unclear], worked on it a little, and brought him another presentation. But then he said that perhaps he would speak to the rabbi about bringing me into that work at the encyclopedia. Afterward I told him, “I’ll go ahead with it. But I have to ask the Rebbe; I can’t do anything without that. First I’ll go to him and ask whether he agrees, and then I’ll proceed.” He was sitting there with Dolf Nissner[?], so I said I would ask him. Yes, Dolf Nissner[?] had arrived. Those who remember Dolf Nissner[?] will remember that whole farbrengen. That was when the whole matter of shlichus began, [unclear], and it began to take shape. And it started then with Dolf Nissner[?]. But I didn’t know what to do: should I ask the Rebbe and go work at the encyclopedia, when the whole matter

19:52 Speaker 25 of shlichus and all that had not yet begun? And I was embarrassed to ask such a thing. So afterward, throughout Pesach, I thought it over from every angle. Finally I decided that I would not ask him anything. I didn’t know how to ask the Rebbe about going to work outside Chabad. If the Rebbe asked me, I would tell him—but only if he asked. So I went into his room. I hadn’t written to him about it; I gave him a note about something else. Then the Rebbe began to speak. He said that I had now finished the maamar [unclear] on the Shulchan Aruch. The Rebbe gave three reasons why the Shulchan Aruch had prompted an awakening to study the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. And the Rebbe said to me, as I remember it, that when I was in kollel I had written to him and given him notes on the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. So now I should begin writing them more extensively. He gave me several instructions on how to do it. The Rebbe had been looking at me the whole time. Suddenly he raised his eyes toward the window and said, “Why go looking for work elsewhere when there is so much work in the vineyard of Chabad?” I hadn’t asked him about it. He looked toward the window like that, and then went back to discussing the whole idea—how to do it and what to write. Then he suddenly looked toward the window again and said, “I haven’t heard of anywhere better to work than in the vineyard of Chabad.” That was it. I had my answer. That is what I have been occupied with ever since. After I came back here, I told Rabbi Zevin about it, and he gave me a chair to work from.

21:53 Speaker 26 We have all seen here how dear the sefer of marei mekomos was to the Rebbe. More broadly, the Rebbe entrusted him with the shlichus of writing about the teachings of our Rebbeim. And he truly continued that work with devotion and tremendous effort throughout his life. He published six volumes, three thousand pages, on the four chapters of the Alter Rebbe’s Hilchos Talmud Torah. That works out to roughly six or seven hundred pages on each chapter of Hilchos Talmud Torah in the Alter Rebbe’s work—just to give us some idea of what we are talking about. It is a work of genius, as anyone who has worked through it knows. He wrote many articles investigating customs, the text of the prayers, and the siddur. Some of his work has been published, and with Hashem’s help we will have several more volumes of what he wrote. I would like to invite and honor a close friend of the rabbi’s, may he be distinguished for long and good life, who has spent many years studying Torah in general and the Alter Rebbe’s teachings in particular: the distinguished chossid and scholar Rabbi Chaim Shalom Deitsch, who sits at the Tzemach Tzedek. Anyone who has seen even a little of the collections published on explaining and delving into the Alter Rebbe’s teachings—in halachah, the laws of Pesach, and many other areas—will know his work. Rabbi Deitsch, please.

23:13 Speaker 27 This is a farbrengen. At a farbrengen, it isn’t customary to give impressions and all that. Let’s get straight to the point. I once saw a discussion of why we speak about someone’s praises at all. When we speak about a Jew, as people have spoken here and will continue to speak, the real purpose is to learn from him. I once saw something quoted in the name of the first Rebbe of Sadigura. He said that it is written, “The offspring of the righteous are their good deeds.” What exactly are our Sages trying to tell us by that? He explained it this way: the offspring of the righteous are like a son who has children of his own, and this relates to the halachah of being fruitful and multiplying. If a person has children but, G-d forbid, those children have no children, then the grandfather has not fulfilled the mitzvah of being fruitful and multiplying. That mitzvah is fulfilled specifically when his son has children. So this is what it means that the deeds of the righteous are considered their offspring: that principle applies to their deeds as well. They produce offspring, and offspring of offspring. There is no doubt about this in the present case. As the rabbi himself, the rabbi z"l, related, the Rebbe told him in yechidus to study the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch more, and the rabbi connected that instruction with this work. The reason I am speaking here is that I knew him from his youth, from the time he was just beginning to work on the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. I saw how his work developed, and I can testify to how much he influenced me, too, giving me a geshmak and an interest in the Alter Rebbe’s wording and original insights. So when we speak about this, there is simply a certain vitality in discussing, developing, and emphasizing his approach, his knowledge, and everything connected with it. Naturally, speaking about it awakens a desire for more.

26:14 Speaker 27 And then, and then it really is a merit that this became an entry point between one thing and another. So I want to say what I feel we can learn from the way he worked, from what he left behind that will remain forever: the books he produced. There is no question about that. There is no question that the kind of work he did—I once described it this way, and I stand by it—was beyond human capacity. Beyond human capacity: to notice every nuance of wording and discover that this nuance has its source here, and that this resolves a question here, and accordingly something else becomes clear there. So many things, all based on a single stroke of a letter. It was something like the way Rabbi Akiva would derive heaps upon heaps of halachos from every stroke. He did something like that with every stroke, every nuance, even the order of things, even the order. Especially where he goes into more detail, as in Hilchos Talmud Torah: Where did the Alter Rebbe place this? Did he put it among the father’s obligations or among the son’s obligations? As a father’s obligation it has one definition; as a son’s obligation it has another. And can one be learned from the other? To pay such close attention to the order of things and to every single detail—that is beyond human capacity. I’m telling you plainly. As much as I understand approaches and reasoning, I don’t see anything natural about it. How can someone command such a vast range of novel insights drawn from nuances of wording? At first they seem like nothing more than minute distinctions, but in the end you see that every one of them sheds light. I thought a little about what enabled him to do such things, things you don’t find among authors of books today. I thought about it, and looked at one point after another, and another—

28:47 Speaker 27 point. Especially in the places where he goes into greater detail, in Hilchos Talmud Torah. I began to conclude that the very foundation of his work was a pure faith in every word and every variation in the Alter Rebbe’s writings. Most of the time, when people ask, “Well, why did the Alter Rebbe say it like that?” they give a little shrug: “What difference does it make whether he put it this way or that way? Well, that’s just how it is.” There was no such thing with him. He had pure faith about everything, such complete faith that the Alter Rebbe had thought about every small detail of wording and had arranged each thing as he did for a reason. In my opinion, that may be the first thing: when you have that kind of faith, you simply toil much more afterward. That’s the nature of things. A person who believes it is so will toil over it; even if he doesn’t understand, he understands that he needs to work still harder to understand. I remember one time when I was with him at the Rebbe’s during Yom Tov. He went in to the Rebbe with an entire bundle of source references. He told me afterward what the Rebbe had said. I don’t remember all the details; I only remember the blessing he asked for. I asked him what he had said. I don’t even remember the wording. I didn’t quite understand what blessing he had requested. The gist was that, since the Rebbe is on such an exalted level, while we are down here, one needs special assistance from Heaven to grasp what the Rebbe meant. Or something like that. He wrote something about sources and the intent of the Nasi, along those lines. In other words, he understood that if he saw—

30:55 Speaker 27 something here where a word seemed not quite the way it ought to have been written, the Rebbe certainly had some intention in it. If he couldn’t grasp or understand it, that reflected the limits of his own understanding, not the greatness of the one who had said it. In my opinion, that guided his whole approach. I know that more than once, when I heard him speak informally—not at conferences—and he would start on his precise readings, there were people who reacted, “This is getting desperate. What kind of distinction is that?” But he was not grasping at straws. Everything mattered to him because he truly had pure faith that every word of the Alter Rebbe was exact—in its wording, its intention, or its place in the order of things. I want to say that this is very reminiscent of what our Sages say: when someone cites his teacher by name—and presumably the same applies when studying someone’s book—he must be in awe as though the person whose teaching he is citing were standing before him. That is what the Gemara says. In other words, it isn’t enough to state the ruling and mention the name of the one who said it; you have to be in awe as though he were standing before you. When you study Orach Chaim in the Shulchan Aruch, then the author is present. He is speaking. That attitude of his toward the Shulchan Aruch and toward its author found expression in something quite tangible: he never missed going to the Or Hachaim’s hilula. Even when walking was difficult for him—and there were periods when it was more difficult and periods when it was less difficult—he never missed it. We all know this. Those who remember will recall that there was—

33:07 Speaker 27 one time, around [unclear] Teves, in the year 2000, I think it was, when people said the whole world was going to collapse because of a computer failure. Those who remember the alarm at the time will know what I mean. All the regulars who traveled every year did not travel that year. The only one—he was literally the only person who came to the Or Hachaim’s resting place—was Rabbi Ashkenazi. Yes. The author whose teaching he studied really was standing before him. More than once I saw him go into the Or Hachaim’s resting place carrying notes and things he had prepared. I didn’t go inside to see what he did, but I saw him outside arranging the notes and then going in. He was deeply attached to the Or Hachaim, and consequently to his book as well. Now, if you look afterward, after studying his work, at what was distinctive about the novel insights he produced, you see several very, very special things. Since the people sitting here study Chassidus, I would describe his distinctiveness as lying, first, in the very emergence of a new idea—in its chochmah, so to speak. That is, discovering new points about what the Alter Rebbe is saying here. Then there was the expansion of the idea, its binah. And I’ll illustrate that. You could see it; let me tell you how. Many times he was invited to say something. I was with him once, or even more than once, in a room at Midreshet Chaim Tovim, where he was invited to speak. Usually he would say something fresh, something that had only just occurred to him—

35:38 Speaker 27 especially in his later years, when he was busy putting things in order. The most recent things he had developed. I’ll tell you the truth: there was a big difference between people’s reactions when they heard it. Some simply laughed: “What is the Rosh Yeshiva making of this? It’s written right there.” Later, those same ideas appeared in a carefully organized form in Kfar Chabad. Then you saw that he had built a whole structure, a whole structure. But when he first said it, he had only the point, the novel idea in it. He couldn’t yet develop it into binah; even within the chochmah of the idea, he had not yet worked through and demonstrated its details. But he had already seen a point there, some new insight, and was already speaking about it. At that stage it sounded like an outburst, as they say. To put forward a new idea and then develop it—that was another ability. And that power of binah, the ability to spell things out, was very, very pronounced in the distinctions he drew in the Alter Rebbe’s work. That is one of the things I learned from him. The Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch is written in such a clear style—some have called it a luminous work. He wrote with such clarity that the novel insights, the distinctive points and details, seem to blend into the flow, like a melody. This is in contrast to what the Alter Rebbe himself wrote in Choshen Mishpat and Yoreh De’ah—mainly Yoreh De’ah; we have little of his Choshen Mishpat, though there is some. In Yoreh De’ah he proceeds by discussing questions, so you can see exactly what the Mechaber wrote and what the Alter Rebbe added. There are nuances there too, but you immediately grasp what the addition is. In Orach Chaim, by contrast, he incorporates both the Mechaber’s wording and the Rema’s wording into his own.

38:08 Speaker 27 But to notice that the same wording appears in the Rema, and then in the Alter Rebbe with a small change—he had tremendous expertise in that, tremendous expertise. More than once he would write, “No, that isn’t found in…” Even when he didn’t yet know where it came from or why it was that way, he noticed it. He noticed it. That ability to discern—I think that’s the power of understanding: to notice every detail, every little thing, every detail. So perhaps that’s daas; perhaps chochmah is daas, at any rate. This work of his, what they call those organized studies, and the way he arranged them, had more breadth to it. It’s a whole picture, you might say. There’s something extraordinary there. There are brilliant, striking original insights, but what you see most readily is the attention to every detail. It isn’t particularly easy reading. You see it in Hilchos Talmud Torah: every word, every phrase of three or four words, recurs in ten notes. Once he dwells on this word, another time on that word, and another time on the three words together. So those same three words may appear ten times, each time with a different note about them. It’s incredible. How did you even notice that the Alter Rebbe is making a novel point here? But no, he’s making yet another novel point. And with every novel point in Hilchos Talmud Torah, finding sources for it was simply a matter of siyata dishmaya. After all, you had to know the entire Torah to find sources where it was stated explicitly. The Alter Rebbe wrote Hilchos Talmud Torah. The title page says that he wrote Hilchos Talmud Torah; he built it from the Gemara, not from the halachic authorities, as is usually done elsewhere. So you had to know the entire Torah

40:27 Speaker 27 for that. So where did he find it? There were the Rishonim, the halachic authorities, [unclear], the Semag, all kinds of works. “Oh, it’s written there; it’s written there.” He once told me, in Darkei Chaim Tovim, that he thinks what is said about the Alter Rebbe—that his wording is like the Rambam’s, like that of the Rishonim—is meant literally. Because if you look through all the Rishonim and so on, you find that these two words come from the Rashba, and those two words from the Ritva. The Alter Rebbe assembled all the Rishonim together. At any rate, the fact that he worked at this and succeeded in doing it is certainly a great merit of his. But our merit in learning from it is also to his credit: that we should learn from it. Fortunate are we. Oh, it is to his credit, for the elevation of his soul, that we should learn from him—simply learn from him. To look into the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. Aside from [unclear], he also had a mission to study the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch in depth. Someone told me about something he had heard from… He would sometimes stay in Antwerp—not Antwerp, in [unclear]. Where is that? Huh? Vienna. Yes. So one Friday night he was speaking there about the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. He started from—what was it, a chapter?—from the beginning. In short, he studied all night, going page after page, page after page. That, too, was remarkable: his memory. He remembered that the Alter Rebbe discusses a point in several places, and each time says something new about it. This insight applies here too, or this insight doesn’t apply here. He had a great many instances like that. Apparently, he had studied it straight through. Come on, this too—when you ask a Jewish man, “Do you study Torah in order?” “Yes,

42:44 Speaker 27 one time I studied chessed, another time something else.” I admit to myself that it wasn’t like that with him. Someone said about the Rogatchover—I think he said it with a smile—“The Rogatchover didn’t have a good memory. He had simply studied it recently.” Because when he traveled for his father’s yahrzeit, he would review it for half an hour on the way there and another half hour on the way back. So he had studied it recently. I think that his knowledge of all the places in Ohr HaTorah came from the fact that he was constantly reviewing it. So someone who doesn’t think he can come up with a novel insight can still be moved to notice a subtle point. But at least let the material be as fresh to him as it was to him. So let’s do something for the elevation of his soul: truly follow his path, especially when this whole matter is [unclear]. It’s simply another way to connect to Ohr HaTorah, when tomorrow night is the yahrzeit. So this whole thing is truly lasting. If someone comes away from this yahrzeit and begins to study more, simply and steadily—“Torah is light”—let that be for the elevation of his soul. May we soon see with our own eyes what we have longed to see, with Hashem’s return to Zion, and [unclear].

44:28 Speaker 28 Yasher koach, and thank you very much to the learned chossid Rabbi Chaim Shalom Deitch for his illuminating words and for inspiring us to study the Alter Rebbe’s teachings as well. And we wish him, in the spirit of this Chassidic inspiration, good health and many long, good years, in which he will continue to offer novel insights into Torah in general, the Alter Rebbe’s teachings, and the teachings of our Rebbeim. Rabbi Deitch also mentioned the deep connection that accompanied the Rabbi’s study of Torah—his connection to every word, to the Alter Rebbe, with every word being sacred. I should add, in a sentence, that this extended to the teachings of all our Rebbeim, and especially to the Rebbe’s teachings, including the Rebbe’s replies. He didn’t just read a reply and consider it understood. He studied the reply; he labored over it. Why precisely this wording and that wording? From that, he drew all kinds of conclusions about how one should act in different situations. Among his other roles, the Rabbi was also a member of the Chabad Rabbinical Court, at the Rebbe’s instruction. I would like to invite the learned chossid Rabbi Michael—Rabbi Michael Halperin, rabbi of the Givat Hamivtar neighborhood in Jerusalem and a member of the Chabad Rabbinical Court—to share words of Torah and blessing. Please.

45:50 Speaker 29 Since the notice for this farbrengen said it was for the elevation of the soul of our friend and relative, the learned chossid Reb Mordechai Ashkenazi, may the memory of the righteous be a blessing, I want to say something. I’m not going to stand here and deliver an hour-long sermon, because that isn’t customary at a farbrengen. But I do want to tell a story from which we can learn something more about him, beyond his genius, which we’ve already heard about from Rabbi Deitch. He would travel every year to Haditch, to the Alter Rebbe’s resting place, and I happened to travel there several times as well. I don’t remember exactly which year this was. He asked whether I was going, and then asked me, “Are you going there?” I told him, “I hope so.” So he asked, “If you’re going, perhaps it will work out for us to travel together.” And that’s what happened. We traveled together, and along the way I saw several things he had prepared in advance, from which one could learn just how devoted he was. This evening there’s a national shluchim conference here in Jerusalem. He was so devoted to the shluchim in Ukraine and Russia, in places where they needed guidance. Two things. First, in Kyiv, before the whole network of shluchim who are there today, there was only Baruch [unclear], may he be well. There was a question about a woman—whether her conversion had been performed properly, according to halachah. So he asked me, “Since I want to convene a beis din, perhaps you could join me so that we can perform a conversion for her as a stringency.” I should point out that I had participated before. Generally, I don’t sit on a beis din for conversions; I don’t deal with conversion matters. But I have served a number of times on courts that perform conversions, and I can say quite clearly that the way he conducted the conversion—the rabbis in other places who deal with conversions,

49:00 Speaker 29 In matters of conversion, people could come and learn from him about every little detail, about every single thing. You could really see his genius even in the practical side of conversion. That’s one thing that happened in Kyiv. And on the way, before we reached Haditch, he said, “Maybe we can go into Odessa, because they’ve built a mikveh there.” He said to me, “You’re also involved with mikvaos, so let’s travel to Odessa together.” So we went there. In Odessa, too, he somehow knew his way around the subject of mikvaos and how to approach it. You could see that he was a great expert. And, thank G-d, we saw that in quite a few countries he provided the plans—that is, the guidelines—and oversaw the work. He was very involved in the field of family purity. And on the way—perhaps this is a story I shouldn’t tell. We are sitting at a farbrengen of rabbis, but I was debating whether to tell it. I’ll finish with this. We passed a sign showing how many kilometers it was to Uman. That was the road to Uman. I said to him, “If we’re already just a few kilometers from Uman, perhaps we should go in after all?” He told me, “I don’t need that.” I said, “All right.” As it happened, there was another Jew with us in the car, and he did want to go. I said, “Well, for the sake of someone who’s asking, let’s go in.” The man went into the tziyun in Uman, and I got out too. I stood there for two minutes and said some chapters of Tehillim. He didn’t want to get out of the car. I asked him, “Why?” He said, “[unclear].” But I told him a story. There’s a short continuation to this. I told him that I had once heard from Reb Shlomo Chaim, zichro tzaddik livrachah,

51:44 Speaker 29 who related that during the great dispute—there were several disputes—there was one between Rabbi Yosef [unclear] and Rabbi [unclear]. The Alter Rebbe took a side. The Alter Rebbe came a little later, but he supported Rabbi Yosef [unclear]. He called him Rabbi Safra. And in the dispute surrounding Rabbi Nachman, the Alter Rebbe defended Rabbi Nachman. I told him what I had heard from Reb Shlomo Chaim. Afterward he said to me, “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” He approached everything with wisdom. As Rabbi Deitsch already said, just as in learning there is the point of chochmah and the breadth of binah, so it was throughout his life. Since there are surely many more people who will want to speak in his memory after me, let us pray that this entire holy farbrengen be an elevation for his soul, that he advocate on behalf of his family, the rabbis, and his descendants, and that we soon merit that Hakadosh Boruch Hu

53:13 Speaker 3 whose strength is great. Our esteemed chossid, Rabbi Wolperish [unclear] shlita, [unclear]. We wish him complete health and long, good years, and may he continue to lead for many years. I want to mention, Rabbi Wolperish, that he also wrote to the Rebbe about the trip to Haditch. He said that, among other things, he was going to Haditch and was also going to help the shluchim. He was traveling on the Rebbe’s missions, and as part of that trip he was also in Haditch. He connected the two things even then. As I mentioned at the beginning, the rabbi passed away suddenly, without any warning, although he had given hints that he felt something was about to happen. But no one expected it; no one was prepared. Naturally, after his passing, one of his sons was appointed as the mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad. That, too, happened suddenly, without any preparation—truly all at once. The rabbi asks the public’s forgiveness, as he has another urgent matter to attend to. And we really see here the strength of the community, the strength of the chassidim, who all joined together to protect Kfar Chabad and help Kfar Chabad. Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi truly threw himself into the work with full courage and energy, despite all the difficulties. He devotes himself day and night to safeguarding Kfar Chabad, so that Kfar Chabad will remain strong and will flourish and prosper as the Rebbe wants. Let us all wish, at this special moment, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu give him the strength to lead Kfar Chabad as the Rebbe wants. The Rebbe surely gives the strength for everything to be done with peace of mind and ease, with blessing and joy. We are honored to invite the mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad, my brother-in-law, the distinguished chossid and scholar Rabbi Menachem Ashkenazi shlita. In the time of the Rebbe Rashab, a portrait of the Alter Rebbe was published for the first time. Chassidim debated: “Is it really the Alter Rebbe? Is it not the Alter Rebbe?” But there had been no earlier portrait. There was

56:19 Speaker 3 a chossid in the Rebbe Rashab’s beis midrash, a great chossid, and he said this.

56:34 Speaker 4 We welcome the Rishon LeTzion, the great and eminent scholar, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar shlita. Please.

57:52 Speaker 3 So when the portrait of the Alter Rebbe was first published, chassidim debated whether it really was the Alter Rebbe or not. In the Rebbe Rashab’s beis midrash there was a great chossid, who had also been a teacher of the Frierdiker Rebbe, named Reb Chanoch Hendel. He raised the Frierdiker Rebbe and guided him. Reb Chanoch Hendel said that the true portrait of the Alter Rebbe is the Tanya. What does that mean? You can look at a portrait, but you can also study his Torah. The more deeply you delve into the Alter Rebbe’s Torah, the more you see the Alter Rebbe’s greatness. We always knew, and we spoke about it recently, that my father’s involvement with the Alter Rebbe’s Torah was one part of a larger whole. It was simply a matter of his connection to the Rebbe [unclear] Moshiach. A word from the Rebbe—whether it concerned conduct, Torah, or a custom of the Rebbe—always mattered to him. He always urged us to be precise about the Rebbe’s practices and to look for their sources. People mentioned earlier that the amount he accomplished in studying the Alter Rebbe’s Torah is hard to comprehend. Beyond the natural order? His faith and his connection to the Rebbe and to the Alter Rebbe simply brought him to places beyond the natural order. When a person believes and works hard, he succeeds beyond all expectations, and that is what we saw in him. On a day like this, the heart is full. Perhaps, for the elevation of his soul, I’ll say something from the laws of Torah study in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. He invested so many years, so much of his life, in the laws of Torah study, and he truly produced a wonderful work. I’ll speak about a subject that concerns every one of us: Yissachar and Zevulun. We read in Parshas Vayechi that our forefather Yaakov blessed the tribes, giving each a blessing suited to him. There are

1:00:55 Speaker 3 fathers who bless their children to be like them. And there are fathers—and our forefather Yaakov was one of them—who look at each child’s qualities, see what suits him, and bless him accordingly. “Each according to his blessing, he blessed them.” And here we see two complete extremes: he blessed Yissachar with Torah and Zevulun with commerce. When we come to Moshe Rabbeinu’s blessings at the end of Parshas Vezos Haberachah, we see that Moshe Rabbeinu joined Yissachar and Zevulun together: “Rejoice, Zevulun, in your going out, and Yissachar, in your tents.” He joined them and spoke of the joy that results from this arrangement. Our Sages explain that there was an agreement between Yissachar and Zevulun. As Rashi says, Zevulun engaged in trade and supplied food to the tribe of Yissachar, while they studied Torah. This arrangement between Yissachar and Zevulun is something the world of Torah relies on. A rosh yeshivah comes to a wealthy man and says, “I have students; the Yissachars are with me, and you are the Zevulun. Let’s make an agreement: you’ll support the yeshivah, and that will enable us to study.” Today we’ll say a few words—time is short—about this agreement between Yissachar and Zevulun. What does the agreement mean for Yissachar? What does it mean for Zevulun? And when is it even possible to make such an agreement? This law concerning Yissachar and Zevulun appears in the Shulchan Aruch of the Mechaber, the Beis Yosef, at the beginning of the laws of Torah study, in the first paragraph. The Mechaber writes: “Every Jewish man is obligated to study Torah, whether poor or wealthy,” and so on. A person, he writes, must set aside time for Torah study by day and by night, as it says, “You shall meditate on it day and night.” In other words, every person, whatever his circumstances, must set aside regular times for Torah study by day and by night, as it says, “You shall meditate on it day and night.”

1:03:19 Speaker 3 The author of the Shulchan Aruch continues: “And someone who cannot study because he does not know how to study, or because of the demands on his time”—what should he do? “He should provide for others who study.” If he does not know how to study, or he is too preoccupied to study, he should give money to other people who do study. The Rema brings what the Tur writes, adding another sentence: “And it will be considered as though he studied himself.” When he gives money to other Torah scholars, it is considered as though he studied himself. That is what the author says, with the Rema’s addition, which is actually from the Tur. The Rema continues with another sentence: “A person may stipulate with his fellow that his fellow will engage in Torah study, while he will provide him with a livelihood, and they will share the reward.” What exactly does he mean? He adds another sentence here. We’ll see in a moment. And one more point about the Shach: the Shach adds that “they will share the reward” means that the reward for Torah study and the earnings from work will both be shared between them. We’ll examine this shortly, but two things are already clear in general. First, this halachah, the agreement between Yissachar and Zevulun, was not designed for Yissachar. It was designed for Zevulun. Some people think the idea of this agreement was devised for Yissachar, so Torah scholars would be able to study. So they came up with a clever arrangement: make an agreement with Zevulun, he will support you, and you can keep studying. That is not the case. The Yissachar–Zevulun arrangement was designed for Zevulun. He cannot study, so they found a solution for him. What should he do? Go to Yissachar, make an agreement with him, provide for someone else who studies, and that way you can fulfill the mitzvah you are missing. Your problem will be resolved. We’ll soon see exactly how. The second thing we see here is that this agreement between Yissachar and Zevulun also

1:05:44 Speaker 3 was not designed for every Zevulun. It was designed only for someone who cannot study, or whose other demands make it difficult for him to study. But an ordinary Zevulun certainly has to study and cannot make such an agreement with Yissachar. That is the general picture. But when we look closely at the language of these halachic authorities, we notice differences, different levels, and the matter seems difficult. What do the author of the Shulchan Aruch and the Tur say? They say he should provide for others who study, and it will be considered as though he studied himself. He gives money, and it is considered that he studied. What about the reward for Torah study? The Tur and the author do not say a word about the reward. It is considered that he studied. So what? That resolves his problem of lacking the mitzvah of Torah study. He gives to others who study, and consequently it is considered that he studied. They say nothing about the reward. The Rema adds another sentence: “A person may stipulate with his fellow that his fellow will engage in Torah study, while he will provide him with a livelihood, and they will share the reward.” The Rema does speak about the reward. Yes, Zevulun also receives a reward, but the Rema goes further. He is precise: “They will share the reward.” That means Zevulun’s receiving part of Yissachar’s reward reduces Yissachar’s reward. They divide it between them. Yissachar receives half and Zevulun receives half. Let’s return for a moment to the author of the Shulchan Aruch, who says it is considered as though Zevulun studied. So one could indeed say that he receives some kind of reward. After all, Torah study is attributed to him. He receives a reward, but he does not receive Yissachar’s reward. Yissachar receives the full reward for what he studied. Zevulun receives some general reward because Torah study is, in a general sense, attributed to him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give him something for that. After all, he supports Torah scholars, but it does not come at

1:08:01 Speaker 3 Yissachar’s expense. Then comes the Shach, and when we look at what he writes, we find a third approach. The Shach writes: “The reward for Torah study and the earnings from work will both be shared between them.” The Shach introduces a reciprocal partnership, a sharing in both directions. Not only does Zevulun receive half of Yissachar’s reward, but Yissachar also receives half of Zevulun’s earnings. They share both things. We really need to understand what exactly the disagreement is here. What does this whole issue hinge on? Why these precise differences in the wording of the halachic authorities? In the Alter Rebbe’s words, he mentions nothing about reward. The Alter Rebbe writes: “It will be considered as though he actually studied, and the Torah he supports is called by his name.” He does not say a word about reward. Does Zevulun receive the reward? Does he receive it at Yissachar’s expense? He says nothing about that. To understand this, we’ll see that there is another fundamental disagreement on this subject between the Alter Rebbe and all the other halachic authorities. According to the author of the Shulchan Aruch, someone who cannot study, or who is too preoccupied, is completely exempt from the mitzvah of Torah study. The author begins the first section by saying that everyone is obligated to study Torah, as it says, “You shall meditate on it day and night,” and immediately continues: “And someone who cannot study should provide for others who study.” In other words, someone who cannot study is exempt from “You shall meditate on it day and night”; he is exempt from Torah study. The Alter Rebbe explicitly says otherwise. His words make it clear that everyone is obligated to study Torah. There is no such thing as a person who cannot study. There are different levels. You cannot study the reasons behind the halachos? Study Aggadah; study Midrash. You cannot study those either? There are practical halachos; there are all kinds of levels. Everyone has to study. To what does this law—that a person

1:10:17 Speaker 3 who cannot study, a Zevulun of this sort, should support Yissachar—apply? It applies only to the reasons behind the halachos. Someone who studies but cannot understand the reasons behind the halachos should support Torah scholars, but there are still plenty of parts of Torah that he can study. In this disagreement—whether everyone really must study, whether everyone is obligated in “You shall meditate on it day and night,” and the Yissachar–Zevulun arrangement applies only to the reasons behind the halachos, as the Alter Rebbe holds, or whether, as the author of the Shulchan Aruch holds, such a person is completely exempt—we can suggest the following. We know that one of the Alter Rebbe’s central innovations in the laws of Torah study is a remarkable one. The Alter Rebbe uses it to explain a number of things. The Alter Rebbe teaches that the mitzvah of Torah study has two parts. One is called knowledge of the Torah, the mitzvah of knowing Torah, and the other is called “You shall meditate on it day and night.” And there is something very interesting here. The Mishnah says: “At five years old, Scripture; at ten, Mishnah; at fifteen, Gemara; and at eighteen, marriage.” What happened? Why suddenly marriage at eighteen? The Alter Rebbe explains it this way: Everyone is obligated to study the entire Torah. What does that mean? The halachos and their reasons—to study the 613 mitzvos with their reasons. The age schedule in the Mishnah is designed to bring a person to fulfillment of the mitzvah of knowing Torah. In fact, before a person has studied the entire Torah, before he has fulfilled the mitzvah of knowing Torah, he may not marry. First he has to fulfill that mitzvah. So he is told: At five, study Scripture; study the 613 mitzvos. Then study Mishnah, which contains halachos without their reasons. Then, at fifteen, study the reasons, and by the age of eighteen you have studied the entire Torah

1:12:28 Speaker 3 [unclear]. Now an eighteen-year-old can get married. And then what? By then he has fulfilled the mitzvah of knowing the Torah, and now he has a different mitzvah, one that remains with him all the time, throughout his life. He is still obligated to “meditate on it day and night,” and a person can fulfill that by studying one chapter in the morning or one chapter in the evening. He can go to work. After all, he has a millstone around his neck: he married at eighteen, and he has to go to work. So now he will fulfill the mitzvah of Torah study by studying one chapter in the morning or one chapter in the evening. That is how the Alter Rebbe understands it. But we saw that the Mechaber cites only the mitzvah of “meditate on it day and night,” not the matter of knowing the Torah. And although the Mechaber does cite the principle—an explicit statement in the Gemara, brought as halachah—that a person should always divide his study into three, spending a third of his time on Scripture, a third on Mishnah, and a third on Talmud, according to the Mechaber this is not in order to fulfill some mitzvah of knowing the entire Torah. For the Mechaber, it is a prescribed measure. Just as there is a prescribed amount of time for study—one chapter in the morning or one chapter in the evening—there is also a prescription for what to study. So he is told to divide his time, studying a third in this and a third in that. With this, we can understand the distinction between the Alter Rebbe and the other halachic authorities. According to the Alter Rebbe, who understands that there are two mitzvos in Torah study, we do not have to say that a person—such as Zevulun, who cannot study or is burdened with other concerns—is entirely exempt from the mitzvah of Torah study. There is no need to say that. Why? Because it is very, very difficult to say that this person cannot study at all. Can he not

1:14:25 Speaker 3 study verses? Can he not even read Scripture? The Alter Rebbe understands that everyone is obligated to do something in Torah study. What is he unable to do? He cannot—not everyone is capable of understanding the reasons behind the halachos. Not everyone can understand the reasons behind all the halachos of the entire Torah. That is where the law of Yissachar and Zevulun comes in. Everyone can fulfill the mitzvah of “meditate on it day and night” by studying some part of the Torah, the simpler parts. When it comes to the reasons behind the halachos, that is where you make an agreement between Yissachar and Zevulun. But according to the Mechaber, who understands that the whole mitzvah of Torah study consists only of “meditate on it day and night,” when the halachah says that someone who cannot study should make a Yissachar–Zevulun agreement, we must say that this applies to the mitzvah of Torah study itself. That is the point here. With this, we can also understand the Alter Rebbe’s reasoning in saying nothing about the reward. When a Yissachar–Zevulun agreement is made, the Alter Rebbe does not write, as the Rema does, that Zevulun shares with Yissachar in the reward for the mitzvah. Why does the Alter Rebbe not say that? We can explain it as follows. According to the Alter Rebbe, we are speaking about the mitzvah of knowing the Torah. A person who does not know it does not fulfill the mitzvah of knowing the Torah. If a person does not know it, someone else’s knowledge cannot be attributed to him. After all, he does not know it. Knowledge is something in his own mind. It is like what we always call a mitzvah that must be performed by the person himself. So if the other person studied and the other person knows, while you do not know, you cannot thereby fulfill the mitzvah of knowing the Torah. The act of study—some involvement in study—can be attributed to you, but the knowledge cannot. You do not know. Therefore, according to the Alter Rebbe, since we are speaking

1:16:36 Speaker 3 about fulfilling the mitzvah of knowing the Torah, the one who receives the reward for the mitzvah of knowing is only the one who knows. That is only Yissachar. Zevulun receives some general reward for the study attributed to him, but not for the knowledge. And at the end we will come to explain the disagreements among all the halachic authorities we spoke about earlier. So the essence of the matter is this. There is the Rambam, who says that a Torah scholar must work and earn a living from a trade. The Rambam writes: “Anyone who sets his heart on studying Torah, does not do any work, and supports himself from charity has desecrated Hashem’s name, disgraced the Torah, extinguished the light of the faith, and brought harm upon himself.” One may not turn the Torah into a spade to dig with. The Rambam writes very severe words about a Torah scholar who lives on charity rather than going to work. And the Rambam, uh, stresses that a person should earn his living through the work of his hands, and speaks of the conduct of a chossid, and so on and so forth. Now, the Kesef Mishneh does discuss this issue. How did Torah scholars, in fact, support themselves through charity? They supported themselves through agreements they made with Zevulun. The Kesef Mishneh offers a new explanation. He says, “It is a time to act for Hashem; they have set aside Your Torah.” In other words, although a Torah scholar is ordinarily forbidden to support himself from charity, if there is a concern that Torah will be forgotten among the Jewish people, he may do so. And this may explain the Mechaber’s wording: he writes that someone who cannot study should provide for others who study. It is interesting that the Mechaber uses the plural, “others.” Why the plural? Perhaps he means the concern that Torah might be forgotten among the Jewish people, and to prevent that, one must provide for many Torah scholars. We will stop here because of the late hour. [unclear] Amen. [unclear] Rabbi Ashkenazi shlita. It should be noted that the Rebbe once told the Rabbi, of blessed memory, in yechidus

1:19:06 Speaker 3 that despite all the demands of the rabbinate and the communal work connected with it, he had to shut himself away from time to time. Perhaps he told him every day, or once a week—I do not remember the exact wording—to shut himself away, disconnect from everything, and study Torah in depth, with diligence and perseverance. I also remember that I once had the privilege of being with the Rebbe privately, and the Rebbe said: “The Gemara says that many followed Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and did not succeed, while those who followed Rabbi Yishmael did succeed.” But the Rebbe said that each and every person must have an element of “Torah is his occupation.” What does that mean? During the time he sets aside for Torah study, that is his occupation. No news, no phone calls, no stock market—nothing. He is wholly occupied with Torah. Following on from that, I would like to invite— I just want to point out to the audience that we... This is an intimate chassidic farbrengen for our community. We invited only a handful of people who, first, are Chabad chassidim, and second, were very, very, very close to the Rabbi. We have the honor of having with us a great friend of Chabad in general, a very close friend of the Rabbi, of blessed memory—may he be distinguished for a long and good life. I remember their first meeting, and from then on they were inseparable. It is an honor to invite the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, the Rishon LeZion, the great Torah scholar Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar. Their connection had an aspect of both Moshe and Shlomo. Moshe represents Torah—“The Torah that Moshe commanded us.” They spoke a great deal about Torah and engaged in many Torah discussions. And there was also the aspect of Shlomo: “Hashem gave wisdom to Shlomo.” They spoke together about the rabbinate, communal affairs, what to do and how to do it. It was a delight to hear them discuss Torah in the manner of Moshe and matters of wisdom in the manner of Shlomo. It is my honor to invite, as I said, a great friend of Chabad and of the family, the great Torah scholar Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar

1:21:08 Speaker 3 shlita, the Rishon LeZion and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.

1:21:21 Speaker 5 Could someone bring a Chumash Shemos? Thank you to whoever brings one for the Rabbi.

1:21:28 Speaker 6 With the permission of our esteemed rabbis and great chassidic scholars, may they live and be exalted; with the permission of this entire holy congregation, and foremost among us the honored rabbi of this community, who carries on his father’s sacred role, may he live and enjoy long life; and with the permission of our honored host, who is guiding the proceedings with grace and kindness, and all the participants—I will try not to speak at length. In truth, the connection we had in Torah study and in practice was remarkable. We sat together to rule on questions concerning the Sabbatical year, on which kinds of work are forbidden and which are permitted. What constitutes improving a tree? What constitutes keeping a tree alive? When do we permit it, and when do we prohibit it? We dealt with these matters over several Sabbatical cycles, and in between, too, we always maintained a close connection. But I believe our first connection was through Torah study, concerning his work on the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. We corresponded about it at length and in depth, to the extent of my limited abilities. That was where I saw the immense effort the Rabbi, a"h, invested out of love for Hashem and love for the Torah, and with self-effacement before the teachings of the holy sages, particularly the Alter Rebbe. I believe he also told me that the Rebbe had assigned him this task. That is how I remember him telling me, a"h, and it gave him tremendous strength, because undertaking and completing such a great work is no simple matter. And, boruch Hashem, he succeeded. Then he continued. His diligence never ceased. But it was not only diligence and persistence. It was toil—tremendous toil, to the point of giving his whole soul. It was toil of the kind described as “one who gives his life in the tent of Torah.” I sensed this about him many times: he was immersed in, and dwelled in, the tent of Torah, in the depths of halachah, at a truly profound level. What a loss. We do not have many people who immerse themselves and devote all their strength to understanding Torah, grasping and distinguishing its finest nuances, down to a hair’s breadth, in order to arrive at the truth of Torah. Our generation has lost a great scholar, a rabbi, whose Torah surely

1:24:41 Speaker 6 afforded protection to great people. The righteous are greater in death than in life, and surely he continues to pray for the entire holy congregation of this holy place and for all of the Jewish people. Since we have gathered in his memory, I thought I would share an original insight for the elevation of the soul of the Rabbi, a"h. It says... When Pharaoh’s daughter found Moshe Rabbeinu in the Nile, “She sent her maidservant and took it. She opened it”—she opened the basket—“and saw him, the child; and behold, a lad was crying. She had compassion on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrew children.’” How hidden are the ways of Hashem. How wondrous are the ways of Hashem. Pharaoh said, “Come, let us deal cleverly with them.” On the day Moshe Rabbeinu was due to be born, which Pharaoh knew from the stars, he decreed, “Every son who is born”—even to the Egyptians—“you shall cast into the Nile.” He did not want to leave any possibility that this child, who would save them, might be born. He wanted to prevent it from the outset. And when the Torah says “let us deal cleverly,” if the Torah calls it cleverness, then Pharaoh’s plan really was remarkably clever under the conditions of those days. There were no hospitals, no organized medical services, no nurses, and certainly no computers. Today, with all our advances—beyond description or comparison—it is impossible to keep track of every woman and when she is due to give birth. Yet Pharaoh, under the conditions of his time, devoted such resources that he knew every Jewish woman. There were already millions of them; by the time of the Exodus, they had “been fruitful, swarmed, multiplied and grown strong.” They knew everyone’s names, and he knew exactly when each woman was due to give birth. For it says of Yocheved, “She hid him for three months.” That gave her some time beyond the expected date, because she gave birth early, but “she could no longer hide him.” No other way remained for them, to the point that she had to take a child who, when he was born, filled the whole house with light and had the Shechinah with him, and place him in a basket at the edge of the Nile, so that there would be no chance left. Such cleverness, such

1:27:41 Speaker 6 effort that wicked man expended to prevent this child from being born. And if he was born, to ensure he would have no chance of survival. And in the end, who saved him? When a person tries to outsmart the will of Hashem, of course he cannot. “There is no wisdom and no understanding against Hashem,” blessed be His name. Not only can he not divert or thwart Hashem’s will; if he tries to outsmart it, Hashem ultimately makes him carry it out himself. Because Pharaoh had schemed so cleverly, Hashem said to him: You will carry it out. Who saved Moshe? Pharaoh’s daughter. “This is one of the Hebrew children.” She knew and understood that he was a Hebrew child, and still she saved him. In the end, Pharaoh even paid his mother to nurse him. What would Yocheved not have been willing to pay to have her son, this son, Moshe Rabbeinu, returned to her so that she could continue nursing him? But because Pharaoh had schemed, his daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you your wages.” From where? From Pharaoh’s treasury. Pharaoh paid Moshe’s mother to nurse him, and after she had taken him in, she brought him back. He grew up in Pharaoh’s household, on his knees and on the knees of [unclear]. Ibn Ezra says in his short commentary that this was from Hashem: Moshe would grow up in a king’s house and learn the ways of royalty, because he would need to lead the Jewish people. So Pharaoh not only fed him, clothed him and raised him; he also taught him wisdom, leadership and diplomacy, for Pharaoh was a clever man. He had thought he could outsmart Hashem. But look at the marvel I noticed many years ago in these verses. Here it says, “She opened it and saw him.” The holy Or Hachayim asks: It should have said, “She saw the child.” Why does it say “saw him”? He explains it in his own way, speaking of sublime matters. And I thought

1:30:06 Speaker 6 to explain “she saw him” simply. The “him” is the letter vav, referring to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to the Shechinah. When she opened the basket and acted with self-sacrifice, she merited to see: “She saw him, the child.” She saw the vav together with the child—“she saw him, the child.” Once she saw that the Shechinah was with him, what more did she need? “And behold, a lad was crying.” “Lad,” as is known, is a name for the heavenly angel of the Presence, Metatron, whose full name has the same numerical value as “lad.” And the Arizal writes that wherever the Shechinah is found, he is there. Now that the Shechinah was in exile, even in Egypt and in the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter, “a lad was crying.” The angel Metatron was crying over the exile of the Shechinah. When she saw that crying—the great angel Metatron crying over the Shechinah’s pain—“she had compassion on him.” She could no longer resist that compassion. “And she said, ‘This is one of the Hebrew children.’” She said: He is one of the Hebrew children. It was impossible for the Shechinah to be with a child like this unless he was one of the Hebrew children. He could not be anything else. Her compassion was then stirred so deeply that she could not hold back, even though she knew what her father had decreed. Even though she knew she was putting herself in danger, nothing stopped her. She then tried to have her maidservants nurse him, but Moshe would not nurse. Even at such a time, even in such a situation, when it meant he would not eat, he would not take in anything impure. “His sister said”—Miriam, who had “stood at a distance” all along—now she ran over. “Shall I go and call a nursing woman from the Hebrews for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her: Yes, go. She went and brought his mother, the child’s mother. “Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse him for me.’” Here, too, there is that same “him.” See how many times it is mentioned here. It is wondrous. Just as we asked about “she saw him,” so here too: it could have said, “Nurse the child for me.” Why “nurse him”? She is telling her: Be careful, this child

1:32:50 Speaker 6 He is not alone. The Shechinah is with him. “And nurse him for me”—nurse that one too. You have to look after him. “And I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him.” Again, “him”—the suffix “-hu.” It appears so many times here; you don’t find that anywhere else. We’ve never seen anything like it. “The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter.” Again “-hu,” in “she brought him”: she brought him together with the Shechinah. “And she called his name Moshe, for I drew him from the water.” Once again, the same “-hu,” which is the Name. When I saw this, I said: Let’s go back to the beginning. I see that it starts earlier. “The woman conceived and bore a son”—that was Yocheved—“and she saw that he was good.” On the third day, “that it was good” is said twice, but it doesn’t say “he was good”; it says “good was he.” For she saw the Shechinah with him, illuminating the entire house. And what does it say after “good was he”? “She hid him.” Again, she hid him—“she hid him.” “She could no longer hide him.” The word for “hide him” is very unusual, but it has a heh at the beginning and a vav at the end—again, heh-vav. “She could no longer hide him.” Then she put him in the basket, and so on. So we see here, almost explicitly, how the Shechinah accompanied Moshe Rabbeinu at the beginning of his life. Afterward, who actually saved him? Bisyah, Pharaoh’s daughter—bas Y-ah, “daughter of Y-ah.” She took the vav, completing Y-ah with vav-heh. Bisyah, the daughter of Y-ah, was the one who saved that heh-vav that was with him all along. Because there is, in fact, a great difference between Y-ah and vav-heh. As everyone here knows, Y-ah is the supernal father and mother, which is beyond us. As we say, a man and a woman have Y-ah between them. It is there, from Hashem: the yud and the heh in the Hebrew words for man and woman. And what is their task? To complete the vav-heh. That is the task of the man and the woman. The Arizal says they complete it through the kesubah. The kesubah is a written document of vav-heh; through it—

1:35:19 Speaker 6 We complete the vav and the heh through a kesubah. “And to the sons of the concubines whom Avraham had”—there Rashi says that “concubines” is written without a yud. According to Rashi’s reading, the Gaon says, she was a concubine because there was no kesubah. That is a concubine: kiddushin without a kesubah. It is only a part. There is no vav-heh. So a concubine represents only half the Name. And what is this vav? That is what we complete. Why? Because the vav is completed specifically through the material world. Our task in this world is to transform the material into the spiritual. That is our work, just as we add time from the weekday to the holy day. The same applies to food: “This is the table before Hashem.” And the same applies to everything we deal with. The goal is to engage with ordinary things and transform them, to elevate them to holiness. That is our work. In this connection, they quote the Rebbe of Kotzk: “The heavens are Hashem’s heavens”—He made the heavens—“but the earth He gave to mankind” so that they should make heavens out of it. I thought this was alluded to in the verse itself. “And the earth”—the vav is a vav, yes. It depends on the earth and on mankind. And the kesubah, which comes to complete the vav—what does the kesubah say? What spirituality does it mention? Only material things. “I will work, feed, support, sustain, provide for and clothe you,” and so on and so forth. Only material things. But from this earth, from these material things, if we elevate and sanctify them, we make the vav; we complete it. And that is the meaning of “Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, and the distress over Yosef sprang upon him.” [unclear] Yaakov sought to reveal the End. Here we think this is a different request—to dwell in tranquility. I think here, too, it means revealing the End. For “a hand is upon the throne of Y-ah”: Y-ah and the throne are already there. Our task until the Geulah is to complete the vav-heh. Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility—“with the Name vav-heh.” The word for “in tranquility,” beshalvah, alludes to “with the Name vav-heh.” That is what he sought to complete, and then it would be revealed. So why did the distress over Yosef spring upon him? Because if—

1:37:41 Speaker 6 He had completed vav-heh, Moshiach ben David would have arrived already. Moshiach ben Yosef had not yet come, so he sprang upon him: “Why are you skipping over me?” He sprang upon him. Gentlemen, when a person immerses himself in Torah study, devoting his very life to learning Torah, then it is not just his Torah study. Rabbi Kook says so explicitly: his eating is also Torah, his work is also Torah, his speech is also Torah. I met with the Rabbi, may he rest in peace, many times, and we sat together at length. I always felt that he was entirely Torah. It wasn’t only that he learned, or only that he spoke. His entire being was Torah. The way he sat, every conversation with him—everything was Torah. And everything we discussed was Torah. I truly felt that every time. Not long before his passing, too, we sat together to discuss matters of the Sabbatical year, and to this day we feel the benefit of his kindness. He would contribute more and more, both from his deep and wide-ranging knowledge and from his wisdom. He knew how to work through questions involving an otzar beis din, for example: how to weigh the issues and arrange everything so that it would not turn into commerce, but remain a beis din—a beis din that operates, distributes and makes payments, all in accordance with the beis din. That takes great wisdom, and he was a man of wisdom. And today, as we gather in his memory, first of all we thank Hashem. Blessed is Hashem, Who has not left him without someone to carry on his work. We heard the wonderful class given by the local rabbi and his successor. It gladdens the heart to see, thank Hashem, that there is a successor not only in the official position, but also in knowledge of Torah and in its depths. May Hashem give him the strength to continue delving into the depths of halachah and to grow more and more in Torah, with Hashem’s help, so that its greatness will increase and not cease, and we will not lose that greatness of Torah, but it will continue. And surely the merit of his great father will stand by him, and by his dear son-in-law, our friend, the great scholar Rabbi Brod. May Hashem—

1:40:04 Speaker 6 Exalt him, and may he be raised and lifted up very high. Surely his great merit rests upon us here. May Hashem grant us the coming of Moshiach, who will be revealed in calm and tranquility, speedily in our days, and let us say amen. I apologize and ask your forgiveness that I cannot sing; I have a heavy burden upon me. Please forgive me.

1:40:32 Speaker 7 Thank you very much, Rabbi Avi Mordechai.

1:40:38 Speaker 8 [unclear] So why go on and on? Well, [unclear] and put an end to this nightmare. Every time they enjoy themselves in the village, [unclear]. The shtiebel [unclear], and not only that. If they impose fines for it, then [unclear]. After all, I’ll replace his car. [unclear] At what point of light does he have no choice? There’s always some need [unclear]. The wording of the letter [unclear], and it was also explained [unclear]. [unclear] all of Chabad. What an opportunity [unclear] mercy and the merit of his salvation [unclear]. In this letter, specifically to the two [unclear] from the Holy Land [unclear]. [unclear] receive it with joy and willingly. Attached here [unclear]. How can this be a Jew? [unclear] with the heart [unclear] peace [unclear].

1:42:44 Speaker 9 [unclear] the shliach [unclear] the Rebbe shlita [unclear] from all the Rebbes and from abroad. [unclear] all of the Jewish people. [unclear] Chabad [unclear] before all of Israel. [unclear] Moshiach [unclear] before all of Israel [unclear] Jerusalem [unclear] before all of Israel. [unclear] Rabbi Ashkenazi spread this to all of Israel.

1:44:12 Speaker 8 It is very hard for me in particular to speak, because all of us, right now, feel something truly extraordinary. We have had many joyous cornerstone-laying ceremonies in Kfar Chabad, but we have never yet merited such a privilege. I doubt anyone ever has. Each of us heard the Rebbe shlita’s words at the farbrengen in Tammuz, when he announced that he wanted to build in Kfar Chabad a building like the one known and famous throughout the world: 770. To build such a building in Kfar Chabad, which would be a center for spreading the wellsprings of Torah and Chassidus throughout Eretz Yisroel.

1:45:42 Speaker 9 [unclear]

1:48:27 Speaker 10 The second thing is a proposal. We did not have time to prepare a form here, but it would be the right thing to do: every one of us must offer condolences to the Rebbe shlita. As I understand it, that is what the halacha says explicitly in the Gemara: “And if he finds him in a place far from his city, [unclear],” when it concerns the leader of the generation. Anyone thinking of traveling should certainly do so, but anyone who cannot travel should send a letter. I think the letters will reach the Rebbe and that he will now go through all of them. It would be worthwhile to write a common text of condolence, and for everyone in the village, men separately and women separately, to write and send it by air, or pass it along with those of us going there, so that we fulfill this obligation of comforting mourners. On one of the days when the Rebbe shlita was receiving condolences, several people from a Chassidic court came to comfort him. The Rebbe asked how their father was. They said he was weak. The Rebbe asked, “Why doesn’t he go out to the chassidim?” They said he had no strength to get up. So the Rebbe said, “What difference does that make? Chassidim kenen alts—chassidim can do anything.” Chassidim can accomplish things beyond nature, beyond natural strength. These words are a lesson for us. In these days, each and every one of us knows, and must recognize and clarify, which matters touch our very souls, to their innermost depths. We must also be open to our own strength, the strength of chassidim: chassidim kenen alts. We have that strength when we gather together, ask and pray. That is our strength and our faith in Hashem. With that strength we will go forward and act, [unclear], and go to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu very soon indeed.

1:51:31 Speaker 10 Every person here today, and every person who is not here today, must remember and take note, day and night: What does [unclear] mean to him? Many, many people still cry out to us and ask, “What for? He was above it all. His honor [unclear]. Rabbis everywhere consulted him. Why did he have to say it?” I do not even intend to explain these things. But once he entered the struggle, we must thank and bless him for giving us this great miracle and this great deliverance. We owe him our thanks; we owe him our blessing. Let us wish him long life and good years, that he prevail in Hashem’s battle and lead us to Moshiach Tzidkeinu. No, no, no. 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 him, even those who trample on his work, even those who laugh and mock, have taken up what he saw and what he accomplished decades earlier. The only question is how. As explained in the holy teaching printed for 11 Nissan this year, some draw their sustenance from the front, and some draw it from the back. But in the end, both holiness and its opposite, the kelipah—even nationalism—have their source and root in the tzaddik and in holiness. Fortunate is the one who draws from the front; woe to the one who draws from the back. This is the power of the tzaddik, the power of the leader of the generation: to bring holiness into the world, not leave it hovering in the air, but bring it into every part of the world. We see this tangibly. Wherever we approach Jews today, we see that they are ready to receive. The whole world is ready to receive—ready to receive Torah, ready to receive the mitzvos. We can take the world by storm through spreading Torah and Yiddishkeit.

1:54:11 Speaker 10 How did this happen? How is it that the world is suddenly receptive to it? How is it suddenly welcomed around the world? How did the world become ready for it? Only through the extraordinary one, the foremost sage of the Sanhedrin. He is extraordinary not only in relation to the generation, [unclear]; Hashem has done something wondrous and great in our generation by sending us the holy soul of the Rebbe shlita. On 11 Nissan, we are all together at the farbrengen, with thanks and with—this effort. Let us wish him long life and good years. May he long reign over his kingdom and lead us to Moshiach Tzidkeinu very soon indeed.

1:55:54 Speaker 11 Moshiach Tzidkeinu will come and put an end to the darkness of galus. The Midrash says that Hashem determined how many years the world would spend in darkness, but at the end of that time, the darkness would end. The holy Zohar explains this in connection with what is written in the Torah, [unclear]. That is what the verse says in Proverbs 15, [unclear]. I will never forget the sight I merited to see during the ten days I was there: seeing the Rebbe come out to the crowd time after time. But it was not only the moment when he came out. It was the feeling of the crowd. “I dwell among my people”—being there among hundreds of chassidim and seeing the bond of the soul, the deep connection between chassidim and the Rebbe. Precisely at such a time, it revealed itself in all its greatness and strength, in a feeling that is hard to describe. At the time, I thought to myself: How fortunate we are, how good our portion and how pleasant our lot, that we are together with the Rebbe—and together with this entire holy gathering. That unity, that bond of the soul, the joy bursting from the eyes of every chossid, of every boy and girl, when they saw: “Oh, the Rebbe moved his hand. The Rebbe moved his foot. The Rebbe moved his head. The Rebbe moved his legs.” Such tremendous joy, joy arising from all 248 limbs and 365 sinews. Perhaps no such bond exists anywhere else in the world. Of course, in the time of great pain, everyone felt it. But in a time of joy, it is even more tangible and powerful: true, complete joy that seems to burst forth of its own accord. For [unclear] the honor of our Rebbe. Each and every one of us must guard that, and it must be foremost in our minds. We can argue; we can quarrel. Reb Shimon

1:59:03 Speaker 11 used to call it a kind of quarrel—but there are quarrels. At a kiddush, people might even take a swipe at each other with a bottle, but that is at a kiddush. What? There? You want to take a swipe? Yes. Well, she does not need to ask. That is not what I said. I said an empty bottle, not a full bottle. No, sorry—an empty bottle, not a full bottle. But I hope my words do not end up on the internet. It will come out as a ruling that one person may hit another with a bottle. I protest against that; in any case, that was not what I meant. But even if it happens, it is not so terrible. In any case, in private, whoever needs to can choose [unclear]. But outwardly, there is the honor of the family, the wholeness of the family. Imagine—let us imagine—Chabad appearing before the outside world divided, split, torn to pieces. One pulls this way, another pulls that way, another pulls that way. How does a person look at Belz? Even if there is a dispute, perhaps a substantive dispute, perhaps there is merit to this position and merit to that position. But [unclear]. Even King Shaul! After Dovid—after Shmuel the prophet tore [the kingdom] from him. [unclear] What will the public think of it? What will they see? How will the world view it?

2:01:15 Speaker 12 Distinguished audience, the next part is beginning, and it is not all that late. There are some amazing, fascinating revelations here—remarkable stories that the public has never heard before. I really recommend staying. You will enjoy it very much. There are simply astonishing things and special revelations. Before we invite our guest and begin this part, I would like to invite and honor Rabbi Ashkenazi’s cousin, who was a close friend of his for many years: the rabbi of the city of Holon, a member of the Chabad Rabbinical Court and an author of Torah books, the distinguished chossid Rabbi Yochanan Gurary. Please. It is worth staying; I recommend it. No one who stays will regret it.

2:02:12 Speaker 13 Good evening. The truth is, it’s hard for me to speak about Rabbi Ashkenazi in the past tense. To me, Rabbi Ashkenazi was like an older brother. When he was fifteen, he came to the United States and studied at a synagogue. He stayed in our home for two years. I remember... I wasn’t allowed to play in the living room because my mother would say, “Moti, Rabbi Ashkenazi is learning.” We weren’t allowed to speak loudly because Rabbi Ashkenazi was learning. He was only a young man, but my mother respected him very, very much and loved him very much. My mother passed away more than twenty years ago. In our house, he was practically, as they say, like G-d. He was a young man, but all those years he was sharp, a genius in the literal sense, a genius. He was a chossid. I remember nights when I would get out of bed and go into the living room, and there he was, sitting with the light on, learning. He was a fifteen-year-old boy. No father, no mother, nobody watching over him and telling him what to do. He just sat and learned. He was what you call a frummer, a deeply observant young man—I don’t know how to say it in Hebrew. He was careful about every detail, great and small. And again, he was just a young man, not an older person meticulous about everything. I remember the food: this he would eat and that he wouldn’t, not because he liked or disliked it. He simply looked at it from a halachic standpoint and decided that this wasn’t something to eat right now, or that he couldn’t eat something because of the waiting time between meat and milk. He had his calculations. His whole conduct was that of a Torah scholar. During the time he stayed in our home, he wasn’t writing, but he sat and learned day

2:05:02 Speaker 13 and night, literally day and night. No wonder he grew into such a great Torah scholar. I remember... one of a kind in his generation here among us. You could already see who he was in his youth. Afterward he went to Montreal and studied there, but he was immersed in learning, immersed in Chassidus—not only the revealed dimension of Torah, but Chassidus too. Although he was known as a scholar of the revealed dimension of Torah, he was immersed in Chassidus. He studied Chassidus; he knew maamarim of Chassidus. He sat and learned Chassidus too. He was called a scholar of the revealed dimension because he wrote collections on that subject, but in fact he knew a great deal of Chassidus. For me, he was a guide in the fullest sense. I looked up to him. He was the older brother, as they say. When he left, I told my mother, “Now I have no one to talk to.” I remember telling her, “Moti has left us. I’m alone here.” He grew up in the home of his grandfather and grandmother, Rabbi Krasik and Rebbetzin Krasik. I remember how much his grandfather... I remember. I didn’t see it myself, but I was told that his grandfather would devote hours upon hours to studying with him. I remember him saying, “Motl, not this yet. Not this yet. Don’t fool yourself. Learn it again and again.” All his life, he never fooled himself. He learned everything thoroughly, until he knew it completely. He had a phenomenal memory. He remembered things not only from his studies. He remembered other things too, including the life of the chassidim. He grew up in Tel Aviv. He remembered all the farbrengens that took place in Tel Aviv, all the chassidim. Talking to him was simply a pleasure. To this day, I think about him all the time.

2:07:50 Speaker 13 He told this story, he told that story. He simply lived Chassidus and the chassidim. He remembered every chossid, what this one said and what that one said. He remembered the whole history of Chabad. Talking to him was a pleasure, plain and simple. You could sit with him for hours upon hours. I think he truly brought fresh recognition to Lubavitch among the great Torah scholars, the great [unclear], the rebbes, and chassidim from every circle. They all appreciated him, on all sorts of occasions. I remember when he was a young man and there was a disagreement over an incident in which a glass cup fell on the floor. There was a disagreement among the [unclear]. His knowledge was vast. He would sit for hours upon hours in the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv, with Rabbi [unclear], studying the books there. Yes, he learned day and night. He was familiar with so many books and so many halachic authorities. Whatever I spoke to him about, he knew it all, and immediately drew comparisons from here and there. It was... he was simply a pleasure, a real pleasure. He was also very sharp. If you wanted to talk to someone, to understand something and simply get advice, he was the one—Rabbi Ashkenazi. In Kfar Chabad, as we know, there were sometimes all kinds of problems, disputes brought before a beis din. I remember sitting with him during one such case, between an individual and an institution. He had a beis din in his home before the Chabad beis din was established. So I asked him, “Rabbi, why do you rule each time in favor of the individual rather than the institution? Each time you lean toward finding a way that the individual is more in the right

2:10:34 Speaker 13 than the institution.” He said to me, “Listen, Yochanan, I’ll tell you why. The institution will manage. But this individual, this Jew who hasn’t received his pay from the institution, is suffering. The institution has money. So each time I look for a way to help the individual Jew.” There were families in the village too. There were disputes involving a family connected to other families, and he told me, “Woe is me—I’ll soon get myself into trouble if I issue a ruling on this. I’ll get into trouble with so many families.” He was sharp in the fullest sense of the word. He knew how to navigate between the raindrops—when to rule one way and when to rule another. In many disputes, and with many halachic questions people asked him, he knew how to maneuver. He was a genius, a genius. He knew how to calm people down. He also knew how to shout at people when he had to, as everyone knows. What? [unclear], [unclear], something else entirely. Woe to anyone who picked a fight with him—he would come away battered. But he led the village, and he told me many times, “Do you know how hard this is for me? Do you know how many problems there are here in the village? It’s not that the village is no good, but it pains me terribly that there are problems. With every single problem I have to think about what to do without hurting this person or that person.” There were all kinds of disputes and questions. I remember he would call me. We were very, very close. Sometimes he would call at midnight or one in the morning because he didn’t have a particular book. My library was a little bigger, so he would ask, “Have you perhaps found someone who writes about this? Have you found that responsum?” I would fax it to him in the middle of the night, or I would come to him

2:12:29 Speaker 13 in Kfar Chabad and bring him the book so he could look it up. He was occupied with Torah twenty-four hours a day, literally. That was his life. He was a true rabbi. Nowadays rabbis are busy with communal affairs and this and that. He was a true rabbi. What does that mean? Despite everything involved in leading a village, his mind, his entire being, was Torah, Torah, Torah. I could tell many, many, many stories, but I’ll keep it short because I also have to leave. I do want to say one more thing. Two days before he passed away, I was at his home. I went to see him. I had been there about a week earlier, and my wife said to me, “Why are you running over there again? You were only just there.” I told her, “I don’t know. My heart is pulling me there, pulling me there.” My heart drew me to him, and I sat with him for an hour and a half. In fact, I had gone to ask him a question about the laws of niddah, and right there on the spot he told me there was a disagreement, and that even in the Otzar itself there were two opinions. He was modest, so modest. Sitting with him... His son was something extraordinary. Who could have imagined such a thing would happen, that he would leave us like that? But I told the rabbi that the day after the funeral, one of my rabbis was at the cemetery with [unclear], and he texted me—sent me an SMS. He wrote, “I’m standing beside Rabbi Ashkenazi’s grave,” and he read to me what was written on... So I said to him, “Please go over to the grave and say on my behalf that I hope he is pleased with the choice made for his son, and that this was what he intended.” And how I received

2:14:54 Speaker 13 The answer? Very simple. When Rabbi Meir took up his position—and today is the yahrzeit, and also the anniversary of his becoming the rabbi—no, many people have told me this. It’s not that I want to say even part of his praise to his face. Many people in the village, people who know that it isn’t simple, feel this warmth toward him. They told me, “Nothing like this has happened. In such a short time, a rabbi who hadn’t lived in Kfar Chabad, who had lived in Tzfas, came into the village and began making changes in the most literal sense: fixing things, instituting rules. And the community is with him; the community loves him.” That was the answer his father gave me. I asked him whether he was pleased. Yes, he was pleased, baruch Hashem. I think he has nachas, and I think he is praying—surely he is praying Above—that no troubles should arise, and that, with Hashem’s help, his son will lead the village in accordance with the Rebbe’s wishes and his father’s wishes. And I also want to say to the Rebbetzin, who has been left alone after so many years together with the rabbi: I remember their shidduch. I remember how the shidduch came about. Baruch Hashem, she raised a generation of Torah, Chassidus, and shluchim. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu grant her long life and good years. And truly, with Hashem’s help, soon we will be reunited with the rabbi, together with the Rebbe, in his rebuilt home, speedily in our days. Amen.

2:16:41 Speaker 14 Amen.

2:16:45 Speaker 13 Yasher koach to the gaon and chossid Rabbi Yochanan Gurary, rabbi of the city of Holon. And we’ll continue. We’ll move on to the second part. As is known, much of the rabbi’s role involved communal work, with many, many directives and missions from the Rebbe passing through him—the Rebbe specified that they should pass through him. Whether these were matters concerning the leadership of the community, questions from individuals, matters involving life and death, or many other subjects. The next two speakers will focus on these subjects, on the communal work. I would like to invite the editor of Kfar Chabad magazine, the Chassidic writer known to all of us for many years, who himself carries the history of many decades of Chabad communal work. He has some interesting revelations that the audience will certainly want to hear. It is my honor to invite the editor of Kfar Chabad magazine, the Chassidic writer Rabbi Aharon Dov Halperin, to share some of what he has to tell us—because if he tells us everything, we’ll have to sit here for a week.

2:18:33 Speaker 15 There’s a well-known saying that a rabbi also needs the fifth volume of the Shulchan Aruch. And there are degrees to this. Someone who has that fifth volume in full—meaning that his practical wisdom is at its peak—is rare. Someone who knows all four volumes of the Shulchan Aruch inside out is also rare. But rarer still is a rabbi in whom both qualities come together, who is exceptional in both. But you’ve heard about that from the rabbis, and you’ll hear it from the rabbis. I’m not qualified to testify about such matters. Still, throughout all the years that he guided us with his advice, both qualities stood out: a rabbi who knew the Shulchan Aruch inside out, and the fifth volume just as well. I first saw him in 5731. I had come to study here in the village, and after davening—we ate at about three-thirty in the afternoon—I was walking with my friend Shabtai Slavaticki, today Rabbi Slavaticki, the shliach in Antwerp. On the first floor, we saw a young married man wearing a tallis, and he came over to us. He asked our names and who we were. Then he introduced himself, and Shabtai asked him why he was still there so late. He had already finished davening. So he said, “My wife doesn’t let me into the house on Shabbos before four in the afternoon.” That sentence stayed with me so strongly. And... the second time I encountered him, the connection wasn’t direct, but years later it had an effect. I’d even call it a connection from Heaven. In those years, the Rebbe’s farbrengens on weekdays were held only a few times a year, until 5734: on 19 Kislev, Yud Shvat, 12 Tammuz, 20 Menachem Av, and 6 Tishrei. Farbrengens on 11 Nissan began in the early 5730s. In 5731, something called a “surprise farbrengen” began. It happened several times in 5731 and 5732. It started with the Rebbe returning from the Ohel. The sign was that he came into Mincha wearing his Shabbos sirtuk,

2:21:31 Speaker 15 the silk one he wore to the Ohel. Afterward, they would announce that there would be a farbrengen. We bochurim would call in various ways, because a call to New York was very expensive then. So when we knew it was a special day on which the Rebbe would go to the Ohel, we would place a collect call and ask whether we could speak to “Mr. Moshiach” or “Mr. Farbrenger.” If they told us he would be there in another hour, we knew there would be a farbrengen in an hour. Otherwise, they would say they didn’t know when, and so on. I remember that on 24 Teves 5732, we also found out there was to be a surprise farbrengen. We woke up Muli Grifkin in the middle of the night because there was a broadcast, so he could come and arrange the broadcast. I remember that later in that farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke about the reason for it. It was the first time the Rebbe had held a farbrengen in the month of Teves; it wasn’t a day on which the Rebbe usually farbrenged. The Rebbe said that a young man—I don’t remember the exact wording; others surely remember it better—ah, that a book had arrived from a young man in Eretz Yisroel, Rabbi Mordechai, who had compiled the laws of Torah study. The Rebbe explicitly said that this was the reason for the special farbrengen. Later in the farbrengen, there was a very sharp sicha, with an expression the Rebbe had never used before, and I don’t know whether he used it afterward either. At the time, the Rebbe was fighting over the “Who is a Jew?” issue, and the Rebbe had arranged for a conference of rabbis from around the world in Vienna to work on it. That well-known person from Bnei Brak, simply because it was the Rebbe, did everything he could to cancel it, and he succeeded. He managed to carry out his plan and have the conference canceled. Then the Rebbe delivered a very sharp sicha, and used this expression: “Anyone who oppresses Lubavitch becomes a leader.” You can hear it on the recording. I remember hearing it

2:23:58 Speaker 15 on the broadcast. Years later, my connection to this was that because of that “Anyone who oppresses Lubavitch becomes a leader,” Kfar Chabad magazine was founded. The Rebbe said it for the first time at a farbrengen, saying that it was in his honor, because of Rabbi Ashkenazi. But the truly remarkable continuation was that exactly ten years later, on 24 Teves 5742, there was again a very sharp sicha about the same person. Throughout those ten years, there had never been words like that. At the time, he had declared, “We lived two thousand years without the Golan Heights, and we can live another two thousand years without the Golan Heights.” The Knesset then passed the Golan Heights Law, and the Rebbe spoke about it in the sharpest possible terms. That week, there were no telephones in Kfar Chabad, and the only telephone within kilometers of my home was Reb Moishe Slonim’s. One day I was called to the telephone, and Rabbi Chodakov told me several things about that sicha—what to delete from that sharp sicha. But the truly remarkable part is that I published an open letter in the magazine that week against him. It was the first time we had come out openly against that person, against his outlook and his whole campaign against the Rebbe. It caused a stir. The Chareidi press at the time was controlled by those people from Bnei Brak, and they ran a front-page headline about my audacity and my magazine’s audacity. I received a notice from a beis din, a summons from the rabbinical court in Tel Aviv. The person who had petitioned the beis din was someone named Rotter from Bnei Brak. The summons included an injunction forbidding me to write anything more about that man, that prominent rosh yeshiva, and called me to a din Torah over what had been written. In any case, that same week Rabbi Yechezkel Wolpin received a phone call. It’s a whole story, but what I’m about to tell you, I learned only thirty-one years later.

2:26:34 Speaker 15 And Rabbi Ashkenazi, for all his greatness, was not someone it was very hard to get a good story out of. Quite the opposite—he liked to share. Even so, for thirty-one years he never told me this. Only at a gathering less than three years ago, for the 1,500th issue, did he reveal it for the first time. All those years I wondered: How was that lawsuit suddenly silenced? Suddenly I stopped getting... I got one reminder once. That was nothing. Of course I went on writing what I needed to write, and so on. The lawsuit had been silenced. Then he revealed that during the week of Yud Shvat 5747, he had received a phone call from Rabbi Chadakov. Rabbi Chadakov told him, “What I’m about to tell you, don’t tell anyone. No one should know about it.” And he really didn’t tell anyone. Only after thirty-one years, when it had already been twenty years since [unclear]... “You need to see to it that the lawsuit against Aharon Dov Halperin, against the newspaper, is dropped. Find a good rabbinical court advocate, and if money is needed, we’ll send you the money from here.” That’s what he told him. Rabbi Ashkenazi related that he immediately took action. He went to a rabbinical court advocate in Jerusalem named Rabbi Tzvi Weinman, a well-known advocate. What? He passed away this year. And he succeeded in having it dropped. Rabbi Ashkenazi said he called Rabbi Chadakov, who was very pleased that it had been dropped. I was in close contact with him throughout those thirty-one years, almost every day. He never told me. Never. But in retrospect, I understood all the help we received from him over the years. Earlier they showed a sentence on the video, where you could see how wholeheartedly he said it: the matter of Lubavitch’s honor. Rabbi Ashkenazi was completely immersed in the matter of Lubavitch’s honor wherever he

2:29:00 Speaker 15 possibly could be, in every area and on every subject imaginable. Earlier they showed the elections, when Chabad supported Gimmel, but no one knows how much he ran around after the elections. First, there was an effort to form a government headed by the Labor Party, and he worked on this as part of a delegation with Rabbi Yitzchak Holtzman, who was chairman of the Kfar Chabad committee. They went to the home of the current Gerer Rebbe, and he tried to persuade him. After that, to the home of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. Then Arik Sharon came here to Kfar Chabad, to Rabbi Ashkenazi’s home, and he made certain that the question of “Who is a Jew?” would be the first issue to be corrected. He was involved in these matters every time, including when Lubavitch’s position had to be conveyed at the rabbinic level. During the tensions over the well-known maneuver involving Agudas Yisroel and the rabbis, we did the newspaper’s main interview with Rabbi Ashkenazi. That wasn’t just an idea of mine; we were dealing with this issue. All those interviews with Rabbi Ashkenazi—Rabbi Ashkenazi reviewed every word. Every word was gone over, and Chabad’s explanation of these issues came through him. One could sit or stand here and express appreciation, but there are others who still need to speak. I just want to tell a story. I remember that in the early years, after my wedding, I had two Litvish yeshiva students staying with me on Purim. Now, in Chabad there’s the advantage of the geborene, those born into Chabad, and there’s also the advantage of the gevvorene, those who became Chabad chassidim, and each has an advantage the other doesn’t. Rabbi Ashkenazi had both advantages. He was truly born into Chabad, Chabad through and through, but he was so knowledgeable about the Chassidic and Torah world outside Chabad that it was part of him. So when I thought about where to take those two

2:31:18 Speaker 15 young men on Purim night, Reb Mendel Futerfas was an excellent farbrenger, but sometimes they might not be ready to take such a direct message, and so on. Then it occurred to me: I knew Rabbi Ashkenazi held a farbrengen at his home on Purim night. I don’t remember whether it was every year. So I brought them. Two fine young men. Rabbi Ashkenazi spoke with them all night about one thing. He said to them, “Listen, there’s the approach of the misnagdim, and there’s the approach of Chabad. That’s legitimate. Some follow the approach of Chassidus, and some don’t. But you’ve become chassidim in the last generation. You tell stories of miracles—the very thing the misnagdim used to laugh at. If you’re already chassidim, then at least go to the true Rebbe.” He wove so much into what he said around that point, and it affected them. Today they are two very distinguished married men. All right, let’s conclude by wishing his son and successor that, just as we’ve noted how successful this first year has been, with Hashem’s help, the son’s strength should surpass the father’s—in both senses the Rebbe gives to that saying. May he reign for many years. May we soon merit the complete Geulah, and may “those who dwell in the dust awaken and sing.”

2:32:42 Speaker 16 Amen.

2:32:42 Speaker 17 Thank you to the Chassidic writer and editor of Kfar Chabad magazine, Rabbi Aharon Dov Halperin, [unclear]. Now we’re going to hear a story connected not with the Jewish people as a whole but, as I said earlier, with Rabbi Yisroel. A personal story, an amazing story of a miracle connected with a mission from the Rebbe that passed through the rabbi, which the Chassidic writer Reb Yomi Lipschitz learned about. But before we hear this amazing story, the family has a request. I’d like to invite his brother-in-law, Reb Yisroel Ashkenazi, to say something and present something. Please.

2:33:25 Speaker 18 Beyond everything that’s been said, on a personal level, one of my father’s remarkable traits was gratitude. When someone did my father a favor, he never forgot it, and he would go all out for that person. My father isn’t here to say this, but we can say it both on his behalf and on behalf of the family. There is a person to whom my father owed extraordinary gratitude, and we as a family owe him no less. We want to acknowledge that on a day like this, my father’s yahrtzeit. That person is Yomi Lipschitz, who deserves our deepest thanks for everything—for the blood, you might even say, that he shed for my father. He made sure my father had a good, peaceful life, and quite simply prolonged his life, so that even I, with my young children, was able to enjoy time with him while he was in good health. On behalf of my mother, the Rebbetzin, too, I thank him for everything we owe him. We wanted to give him a small gift: a picture that captures the deep bond between my father and Yomi. Yomi. Just a moment that captures their friendship. It will be a keepsake forever. As I said, I’d like to invite the Chassidic writer Reb Yomi Lipschitz to tell an amazing story of a miracle from the Rebbe that came through Rabbi Ashkenazi. An amazing story. Rabbi Lipschitz, please.

2:36:16 Speaker 19 With the permission of the local rabbi and the distinguished rabbis. There’s a story about a thief who found himself in a certain town at night and wanted to earn his living in his usual way. And... he asked himself which house to target. He looked for a house he could somehow enter using the skills he had acquired, until he spotted one with what seemed to him a faint light. He slipped in through the chimney. Once inside the living room, he saw that it was brightly lit. He had made a terrible mistake: this was the rabbi’s house, and the rabbi of the town was sitting there engrossed in his studies. He didn’t know what to do, but he quickly collected himself and said to the rabbi, “I have a question.” The rabbi asked him, “Come, what’s your question? Let’s hear it.” So he said to the rabbi, “How do you get out of here?” That was his question. To tell the truth, I asked myself much the same thing after seeing everything that has taken place here. Who am I, really, to tell a story here or to describe him? I’ll just say a few brief things before that Chabad story, which is why Rabbi Brod asked me to come and speak here. Those who spoke before me talked about his wisdom and about the “fifth part” of the Shulchan Aruch. We saw that many times. I had the privilege of seeing it on some particularly interesting occasions. For example, there was a time when the impression arose—at least outwardly, mainly among people in the media—that there was some internal Chabad disagreement over a certain public issue that concerned the people living in the Land of Israel, if we can call it that. Around that time there was the large, well-known 19 Kislev farbrengen, of which we saw some footage here, when the entire political leadership would come here

2:38:46 Speaker 19 To Kfar Chabad. People from the right and the left felt it was both a privilege and a duty to come here and celebrate with the Chabad chassidim on their special day. And so, shoulder to shoulder... I was there with a few other journalists, backstage near the rear entrance where the dignitaries come in. The rabbi called me over and told me that a researcher from Kol Yisrael had phoned him that day. She wanted a background conversation before they prepared a report about everything that was happening, what the real picture was in Chabad, and so on, concerning a public issue that occupied everyone in the country. Then, he told me, she said to him, “I’m speaking freely here, just between us, but the Chabad Rabbinical Court doesn’t necessarily agree with the rabbi.” He said, “I immediately told her: Look, when you say on your radio station, ‘Jerusalem says’ or ‘Jerusalem has decided,’ what does that mean? Everyone knows that ‘Jerusalem’ means the position of the Israeli government. That’s Israel’s official position. The rabbinical court, you say? I haven’t checked that, but a rabbinical court deals with gittin, chalitzah, and yibbum. But Chabad’s position is the position of Kfar Chabad.” That was how he handled it. I once had the special privilege of seeing how he went about getting something done, getting it done immediately and decisively, as you might say. A very senior figure in Chabad communal affairs was summoned to him. One day the rabbi phoned him and asked him to come to his home. The man asked, “What’s it about? Can I help? We have telephones today; there are ways to do things.” He told him, “I want you to come to my home today. There’s a particular problem, and I want you to come here so we can solve it on the spot.” And he knew—he knew Rabbi Ashkenazi very well. He knew this was no trivial matter and that the rabbi was not given to exaggeration. Within a few hours, that very evening, the senior communal figure arrived at the rabbi’s home. Waiting there was one of the most prominent Chabad communal figures in Eretz Yisroel. Beside him sat his son, a shliach in a provincial city abroad. The son had a problem that, according to the rabbi’s analysis, could be resolved if Israel’s Foreign Ministry contacted its counterpart in that country directly. He practically compelled that communal figure to act. I’m calling him “a communal figure” so as not to identify him, because everyone involved is still with us. Right there, on the spot, he made a call that evening to the director-general of the Foreign Ministry—once his people had tracked down the director-general’s number for him—and the meeting did not end until the matter was fully resolved. He came out and said to me, “Listen, I’ve seen rabbis; I’ve seen all sorts of things. I’ve never seen anything like this—such confidence, such breadth of spirit. He simply compelled me to make sure this was resolved here and now.” And that is what happened. On the other hand, we spoke about Ahavas Yisroel. I know a story because of a family connection to the person involved, who is still with us. A Jew was hospitalized, G-d forbid, during Pesach at the nearby hospital, Assaf Harofeh. He was a chassidic Jew through and through, one of the longtime residents of Kfar Chabad, and he thought—

2:40:39 Speaker 19 The doctors had brought him various medications, including some lifesaving ones. But he was a very chassidic Jew and did not want to take a single medicine, because it was Pesach, and as far as he was concerned, that was that. His son phoned the rabbi and said there was a problem: “My father won’t take these medicines. I don’t know what to do. They’re lifesaving.” To the son’s astonishment, the rabbi asked, “If I come to the hospital now and meet him, do you think it will help?” This was just a few years ago. The son said, “I’m sure it will. I really think it could help.” Perhaps a quarter of an hour passed before the rabbi appeared in the room of that chossid, whom everyone knows and holds in esteem. With remarkable tact, he began asking him, “How are you? I heard you were hospitalized. What’s going on? What are the doctors saying?” Then, as if in passing, he picked up the chart at the foot of the bed. He looked through what the doctors had written, including the list of medicines, and spotted one tablet. If you know it, Tums is the most ordinary, commonplace tablet for heartburn. He looked at it and said sternly, “Tums is outright chametz. It’s forbidden. Absolutely forbidden.” Then he went through the other medicines. “Yes, this one is perfectly fine. This one is fine; this one is fine.” When that chossid saw that the rabbi himself was making a distinction—prohibiting one medicine while permitting the others—he had no problem taking them. And so it was. Now I’ll come to the story I came here to tell, a story I know firsthand.

2:42:36 Speaker 19 I know the people involved very well. This happened quite a few years ago. There was a Chabad young woman who, according to the natural course of things, had no chance of bearing children. This had become clear long before she married, when she was still a teenager. They knew she had a fertility problem. It went so far that a very senior doctor told her, “Hair will grow on the palm of my hand before you have children.” She wrote to the Rebbe and received something especially rare: not just an answer, but a letter, signed by the Rebbe’s holy hand, in which the Rebbe told her explicitly that she would have viable children. This was before she had even begun considering shidduchim. That letter was like a talisman she carried with her, accompanying her every step of the way. On one side were the doctors she saw from time to time; on the other was that letter. When the time came for shidduchim, both she and her parents, who were G-d-fearing Jews, said to themselves: We have a promise from the Rebbe, an explicit, unequivocal blessing. But still, when she starts meeting someone she might marry, shouldn’t he know what the doctors say, alongside what the Rebbe says? She wrote to the Rebbe with that question, and an answer came. Although she did not live in Kfar Chabad—she lived in Jerusalem—the Rebbe said, and this was his wording: “Act on the advice of Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi in Kfar Chabad.” That was the wording of the Rebbe’s answer: “Act on the advice of Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi in Kfar Chabad.” They phoned Rabbi Ashkenazi, told him the story, and Rabbi Ashkenazi

2:44:27 Speaker 19 I know the people involved very well. This was quite a few years ago. There was a Chabad girl who, according to the natural course of things—according to the natural course of things—had no chance of having children. This had become clear long before she married, when she was still a teenager. They knew she had a fertility problem. It reached the point where a very senior doctor told her, “Hair will grow on the palm of my hand before you have children.” That girl wrote to the Rebbe and received something especially rare. She received not just a reply, but a letter—a letter bearing the Rebbe’s handwritten signature, in which the Rebbe told her explicitly that she would have living, enduring offspring. This was before she had even begun looking for a shidduch. That letter was like a kind of amulet she carried with her. It accompanied her every step of the way. On the one hand, there were the various doctors she met from time to time; on the other, there was that letter. When the time came for shidduchim, both the girl and her parents, who are G-d-fearing Jews, said to themselves: Yes, we have a promise here from the Rebbe, an explicit blessing that leaves no room for doubt. But still, if she begins meeting someone and is about to meet her intended match, shouldn’t he be told what the doctors say—and, on the other hand, what the Rebbe says? She sat down and wrote that question to the Rebbe, and a reply came. Although she did not live in Kfar Chabad—she lived in Jerusalem—the Rebbe said, “She should act acc—” This was the Rebbe’s wording: “She should act on the advice of Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi in Kfar Chabad.” That was the wording of the Rebbe’s reply: “She should act on the advice of Rabbi Mordechai Ashkenazi in Kfar Chabad.” At the time, she lived in Zion. They called Rabbi Ashkenazi, told him the story, and Rabbi Ashkenazi

2:46:36 Speaker 19 With his particular wisdom and sensitivity, he knew how to get down to the smallest detail. He told her, “Listen carefully. You’ll go to the meeting”—a meeting had already been arranged, and the shidduch was beginning to take shape—“and you’ll come to the next meeting with the letter in your pocket. You’ll talk for a while about this and that, and then you’ll tell the young man, ‘I want to show you something. I have a special envelope here, a special letter, and I want to tell you about it. It’s a letter from the Rebbe. But before I tell you about the letter, I need to give you some background.’ Then you’ll lay out the facts. On the one hand, present the full picture; on the other, precede it with that deeply moving, powerful introduction—the Rebbe’s letter.” And I want to tell you something truly surprising. The rabbi knew what day the meeting was going to take place, and the next morning Rabbi Ashkenazi called the young woman’s home and asked, “Well, how did the young man take it?” And indeed, the shidduch went ahead. The young man saw everything laid out so clearly, and the Rebbe’s blessing was fulfilled beyond anything they could have imagined. That couple now has three grown children. Here we saw how he brought together the halachic requirement to disclose these things with the question of how to do it and what to do about it. I think these things speak for themselves. I, too, would like to join those offering their blessings, though of course I am not worthy. If we spoke earlier about the “capital,” jokingly, I think the fact is that no one can fail to see—especially over this past year—that there is someone in charge of this capital. We all, myself included, sincerely wish Rabbi Mordechai shlita many long years leading his community, following in his father’s ways and continuing to lead the Kfar higher and higher

2:48:44 Speaker 19 to the Rebbe’s satisfaction, until we all merit the true and complete Geulah.

2:48:51 Speaker 20 Thank you very much to Rabbi Lipni[?] for that interesting story. And, incidentally, there were many stories, since Chabad chassidim from all over the country and indeed from around the world turned specifically to Rabbi Ashkenazi for his advice. To deliver the closing remarks, we have with us the rabbi of the Chabad community in Rechovot, the deputy secretary of the Chabad Rabbinical Court, who arrived late because he was at the Shluchim Conference in Jerusalem. I am honored to invite the distinguished chossid and scholar Rabbi Menachem Mendel Gluckowsky to share words of Torah and blessing, and to tell us a little about his relationship with Rabbi Ashkenazi.

2:49:26 Speaker 21 With Rabbi Mordechai’s permission. I won’t speak at length. I just want to tell two personal stories about my experiences with Rabbi Ashkenazi, of blessed memory. The first is about something he taught me concerning rabbinic leadership. I had the privilege of being here in 5735, when they held his installation here in the shul. I was a student at the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, and I think the installation was around Yud Shvat. Could that be? As far as I remember. The ninth—the ninth of Shvat, something like that. The ninth of Shvat, that’s how I remember it. Here in the central shul. Yes, well, I was there. That year I was in charge of the group of yeshiva bochurim baking matzos for the yeshiva in Kfar Chabad. Those who remember know that we used to bake for almost two days. That was when I first got to know Rabbi Ashkenazi, because I went to him for guidance about the baking. This was at the end of Adar. Then the supervisor at the bakery asked the rabbi for a few days off before Pesach—he wanted to take leave already at Rosh Chodesh to help at home. So Rabbi Ashkenazi approached me and another bochur and asked us to be the supervisors at the bakery until the baking was finished. I became like one of the family. I would get up in the morning, daven, and come to the house; the Rebbetzin would prepare breakfast for us. From there we went straight to the bakery. We also had lunch and dinner at the house, and we worked in the bakery, of course under the rabbi’s guidance. One day it was very hot. Those who remember know that the bakery was a little asbestos structure with those windows. Baruch Hashem, when you look at it now by comparison... Anyway, it was very, very hot, and at around nine in the morning I noticed that the dough had cracks in it from the heat. I knew that was not a good sign. So I told the other bochur, “You stay here. I’m running to the rabbi’s house to ask him what we should do.”

2:52:45 Speaker 21 I went to the rabbi’s house and found him in the middle of learning. I told him we could see cracks in the dough, and that its color didn’t look right. He said, “What? It’s that bad?” I said, “Yes.” He closed his Gemara and hurried with me to the bakery. He walked in, took one look at the dough, and then said to Yoske Firman[?], who owned the bakery—Reb Yoske—“Close it. Stop everything.” I thought Yoske was going to faint. “What? What? What?” “Quiet. Everyone out of the bakery!” And he closed it down. Yoske was stunned. “I don’t care,” the rabbi told him. So what could we do? They started thinking about a solution. During the day they installed sprinklers on the little roof, on the roof of the bakery. Those who remember them—that’s when it started. A water sprinkler ran along the whole roof, and the next day things went smoothly. But he didn’t leave until he was sure the solution was good enough. The way he shut down the bakery in an instant—that firmness of his! Anyone who knew Reb Yoske will appreciate it even more. It was no simple matter. He practically ate me alive, as they say. But what can I tell you? There wasn’t even anything to argue about. That was the first time I saw that firmness. I remember once hearing a vort about the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. It says that Bar Kamtza brought an animal and made a blemish in it. The commentators ask: What did he think would happen when he pulled that trick? Surely the choice was straightforward: either they would offer the sacrifice despite the blemish, or they would kill him. How did he think his plan would succeed? I saw one explanation

2:55:09 Speaker 21 that said he had simply worked it out this way: He saw that when he was sitting at the feast and the host threw him out, there were so many rabbis, Torah scholars, heads of yeshivos and great Jewish leaders there, and they all remained silent. Why? What would people say? It would be uncomfortable. So he saw that their guiding consideration was “What will people say?” and “It’s uncomfortable.” He understood that when he brought the sacrifice, they would react the same way: “What will people say?” And that is exactly what happened. One person would say this, another would say that. He understood that they lacked the firmness to act. That was something I saw all the time in questions of the laws of family purity and, more generally, in matters of [unclear]. That was our rule when we would sit together: once there was evidence, we would follow it through to the end. That firmness. For me, as a younger rabbi, it meant knowing that I should always ask someone who could give the definitive word. That was in general. Then I had another experience. I remember the first time I had to officiate at a wedding—the very first time. I came to his home and told him, “Rabbi Ashkenazi, I’m not willing to officiate unless you accompany me.” He said, “All right, then I’ll...” I said, “No. I need you to come to the wedding. You have to be there when the tena’im are written, and you have to be there at the chuppah too. I’m not willing to do it unless I know you’re beside me, accompanying me and guiding me, so I know exactly what to do, without mistakes or complications. I’m not willing to rely on what I’ve learned, because there’s nothing like seeing a rabbi do it and seeing how things are done in practice. You tell me exactly what to do.” And he did. The wedding was on 13 Tishrei. That’s not an easy day, just before Sukkos, with all the commotion and everything that needs doing. And he came to Rechovot

2:57:20 Speaker 21 And he stood beside me through the vort, the signing of the tena’im and the chuppah. Right there beside me, he guided me: “This is how you do it, and this is how you do it.” After he had done it with me once, that was it. I had received the guidance and knew what to do, and I went on doing it. I remember it so clearly. For him it was simple: “Please.” And that was always how it was, with phone calls and questions and all sorts of things. I remember once he said to me—if I’m not mistaken, he said, “Come.” I’ve come back to this story several times. He said, “The first din Torah I ever had taught me something for life, deep in my heart.” But what was his first din Torah? A din Torah between, uh, between Yoseke [unclear] and Reb Sola in Rishon? What was the din Torah about? He said it was in the summer, after Reb Yoseke had summoned Reb Sola to a din Torah. What was the claim? Yoseke began: “He took a ton of matzos from me for the matzah campaign, and to this day he hasn’t paid. It’s already well into the summer, and soon I’ll have to start [unclear].” He finished presenting his claim and said, “If only it were my own bakery, that would be one thing. But it’s the Rebbe’s bakery! And [unclear] the Rebbe’s bakery.” So, Rabbi Ashkenazi told me, “I asked Reb Sola, ‘Well, what do you say?’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s right. I did take matzos, that’s true, and I still haven’t paid, that’s true. But if only it were my own matzah campaign! It’s the Rebbe’s matzah campaign.’” So Rabbi Ashkenazi said to me, “The Rebbe against the Rebbe—the bakery against the matzos,

2:59:27 Speaker 21 the matzah campaign.” And he said, “That’s how the din Torah began, deep in my heart: the Rebbe against the Rebbe, all the time. The Rebbe against the Rebbe.” [unclear] The Rebbe’s name. I mean, listen, when you hear that—and the same thing came up in different variations—that’s what we were saying earlier: that perceptiveness, and the sense of proportion too. Understanding the proportions of things, and having that perceptiveness. I would always tell him, “Rabbi Ashkenazi, I don’t envy you being the rabbi of this village. I know, and I can see, how much special strength a person needs.” I remember once we were here during renovations, and I’m sure I came in when [unclear]. I remember it; we were here. Uh, it wasn’t for nothing that he said it. It happened from time to time. In Basel, we had to make a rule that there would be no more glass bottles on the table, only plastic. After a few heated discussions, [unclear], I said, plastic bottles are best, uh... Have you noticed that lately Smirnoff comes in plastic bottles too? In any case, what I want to say is that Kfar Chabad was fortunate. Truly, over the years, Kfar Chabad was fortunate to have a rabbi with that perceptiveness, that Yiddishkeit, and everything else. Kfar Chabad was fortunate. Now Kfar Chabad carries on, with Hashem’s help. His son is continuing, and we all need to lend a shoulder and help, because ultimately it is the village that belongs to all of us, our capital. In the end, people look to Kfar Chabad and learn from it how Chabad as a whole should conduct itself, throughout the world. So the responsibility of Kfar Chabad’s residents, and the responsibility of its mara d’asra, is greater than in all other

3:01:50 Speaker 21 places, because this is the place from which the whole work of “spreading your wellsprings outward” begins. So all of us together need to continue helping the rabbi so that he succeeds in his mission. All of us together must ensure that Kfar Chabad is a place worthy of the sanctity of Chabad and of the Rebbe, for all to see. And may we already merit [unclear].

3:02:24 Speaker 22 [unclear] the great gaon and chossid Rabbi Boruchovsky, [unclear]. Regarding the din Torah he mentioned, I remember that the rabbi would say two things about it. First, he said it recurred every year, because it was a dispute for the sake of Heaven, so it endured. Second, he said he knew the dates and seasons of the year by the din Torah cases. [unclear] He always knew the dates of the year from the din Torah cases; he didn’t need a calendar. In any case, thank you all for taking part. Surely the rabbi is an advocate on behalf of everyone. First and foremost, may the Rebbetzin shlita have good health and long life. She stood at his side with self-sacrifice all these years and merited many good, long years together with him, building a wonderful family. May he be an advocate on behalf of the whole family, for the success of the mara d’asra of Kfar Chabad and for the success of all its residents. To the rabbi, everyone was like family. And may all the Jewish people merit, very soon, now, to see the true and complete Geulah, and to be reunited with the Rebbe, with all the Rebbe’s rabbis and with all the Rebbe’s chassidim. Now, truly. Thank you all for taking part.