Bereishis: 5784 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a timely story about the Rebbe's grandfather, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, how he was saved from typhus thanks to Letter 11 in the Igros Kodesh in Tanya…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:03 Speaker 2 In connection with the situation we find ourselves in today, there’s a story about the Rebbe’s grandfather, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky. He was Rebbetzin Chana’s father and the rabbi of Nikolayev. In those days, an epidemic broke out in the city—a typhus epidemic—and there was nothing they could do. This was before penicillin and antibiotics had been invented. People were dying like flies. When someone fell ill, because the disease was so contagious, they would take him to what they called a hospital outside the city. But it wasn’t really a hospital, because there was nothing they could do. It was more like a final stop. Usually, people didn’t come back from there. The Rebbe’s grandfather had a good friend, a chossid called Reb Moshe of Nikolayev, who wondered what he could do to help him. He couldn’t visit, because they didn’t let people in; it was very, very contagious. So what did he do? He went to the hospital outside the city, stood outside, took a Tanya and read Chapter 11 of Igeres Hakodesh aloud. What does Chapter 11 say? The Alter Rebbe explains there that no evil descends from Above. There’s no such thing: from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is the essence of goodness, nothing evil can come. But there is good that comes from the hidden realm—good that is concealed, whose goodness we cannot see—and there is good from the revealed realm. Whatever happens, whatever Hakadosh Boruch Hu does, is all good. And when a person believes that no evil descends from Above, he transforms the,

02:21 Speaker 2 the evil—what appears evil to him—into revealed good, so that it becomes good he can see. That’s what Chapter 11 says. So Reb Moshe would go there and read the letter aloud, hoping that perhaps his friend could hear him. He didn’t know whether he could or not, but he hoped he could. And he did this every single day. He would come, stand outside and read that chapter, Chapter 11, which begins “Lehaskilcha Binah.” He would read it aloud and go home. The Rebbe’s grandfather overcame the illness. That, too, was extraordinary, and he came out of the hospital healthy. Later, he said that what gave him the strength to overcome the illness was hearing, from wherever he was in the building, Reb Moshe reading “Lehaskilcha Binah” aloud every day. It gave him strength, and he managed to recover. What does this have to do with us, and why is it relevant now? Many Jews are doing all kinds of good things to help the Jewish people. Some say Tehillim; some righteous women separate challah; people take on all kinds of good resolutions. Sometimes a person may think, “Wait, I’m saying a chapter of Tehillim right now. Is anyone listening? Is it helping anyone?” We have to believe that Hakadosh Boruch Hu hears the prayer of every mouth. He most certainly does. I once heard an interpretation of “the prayer of every mouth”: even someone who is lost—Hakadosh Boruch Hu hears his prayer. And so, everything we do to support and help those Jews who, G-d forbid, have suffered what they have—those who are there

04:28 Speaker 2 in captivity, and the soldiers fighting there—every good deed and every chapter of Tehillim we say most certainly has an effect. It certainly makes a difference, just as in this story. Reb Moshe read aloud without knowing whether his friend could hear him, but someone did hear him, and it helped him. In the same way, Hakadosh Boruch Hu hears the prayer of every mouth. Every good deed and everything we do certainly has an effect and helps the Jewish people in a time of trouble. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help us, with Hashem’s help, to hear only good news.

05:02 Speaker 3 Amen.

05:02 Speaker 4 May there be only light.