Vayeishev: 5785 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld, who returned from a trip to the Rebbe, saw through Divine Providence an unusual sign in a shul in Crown Heights, "It is permitted to talk in the shul". What did he learn…

00:00 We are at 19 Kislev, the festival of the Alter Rebbe’s Geulah. There is a book called She’eilos Uteshuvos Min HaShamayim (Responsa from Heaven), written hundreds of years ago, and one of the answers is headed with the date 19 Kislev: “Today is a day of good tidings.” This was long, long before the imprisonment and the Geulah, but it already says there that 19 Kislev is a day of good tidings. So today, 19 Kislev, is a day of good tidings, the festival of the Geulah. The Alter Rebbe said of this day, “This day shall be established as an enduring festival in Israel.” What does “an enduring festival” mean? The Rebbe explains that it is not only for that day, and not only that it has an effect throughout the year. Rather, just as with the Exodus from Egypt, every person must see himself as though he left Egypt today. The same applies to 19 Kislev. One of the most important teachings of the Baal Shem Tov is that everything a Jew sees or hears is by Divine Providence. If he saw or heard something, it is because Heaven has arranged for him to learn something from it. I spent a week in the United States and visited the Rebbe. I davened at one of the neighborhood shuls, and I saw something unusual there. That, too, was by Divine Providence. Usually, shuls have signs saying, “Do not talk during davening,” or “Do not talk during the Torah reading.” But there I saw a large, eye-catching sign: “You may talk in shul.” I looked at it and thought, What does that mean, you may talk in shul? But there was another line underneath: “Only to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” You may talk in shul only to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is the difference between the two wordings? There is a very fundamental difference: am I looking at things positively or negatively? “Do not

02:19 talk in shul” is a negative way of putting it. “You may talk in shul—but to Hakadosh Boruch Hu” is positive. It is the same point. This is what Chassidus is all about, the teachings the Baal Shem Tov and the Alter Rebbe revealed: a little light dispels a great deal of darkness. Instead of dealing with the darkness, we bring light; and when there is a little light, it dispels a great deal of darkness. All the more so when there is a great deal of light—it certainly dispels a great deal of darkness. That is the difference. It is a very fundamental difference, and since I saw that sign, and everything is by Divine Providence, it carries a message for today. We need to look at everything positively. When we approach a Jew, the question is how we see him. Do we see a Jew who has a Divine soul, truly a part of G-d above, or do we see his tattoos, or the fact that he walks around without a yarmulke? How do we look at a Jew? We need to look at everything positively. Along these lines, I once heard an explanation about the morning blessings, with which we begin our day. One of the first blessings we say in the morning is “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” We thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for not making us non-Jews. But I think there is a question here: why do we need to say this blessing every morning? Wouldn’t it be enough to say it once? There are many answers. One explanation is that when a Jew goes to sleep, he entrusts his soul to Hashem, and his soul ascends above. It could be that in the morning, when his soul is returned, he might be given the soul of a non-Jew. So we make the blessing, “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” But I once heard a very interesting, beautiful explanation that also connects to this question of saying it in a negative way:

04:07 “Who has not made me a non-Jew.” Why don’t we make a blessing that says, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has made me a Jew”—putting it positively? I once heard an explanation of what “Who has not made me a non-Jew” means: it was not a non-Jew who made me a Jew. Sometimes a Jew is born in a place where he receives no Jewish education. He does not even know that he is Jewish. Then a non-Jew comes along and tells him, “You’re Jewish.” And he says, “What does ‘Jewish’ mean?” He has no idea what it means. “You’re Jewish.” So who made him a Jew? The non-Jew made him a Jew. We thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu that it was not a non-Jew who made me a Jew. “Who has not made me a non-Jew”—not a non-Jew. There is something positive here: a person knows for himself that he is a Jew, because he has a Divine soul and is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he learns Torah and fulfills mitzvos. So this is not a negative idea. On the contrary, it is positive, and we thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for it every day. The person I heard this explanation from connected it to the decree concerning “Who Is a Jew,” when the law on who is a Jew needed to be amended. At the time, the Rebbe spoke about it a great deal at every farbrengen, and gatherings were held everywhere about that terrible decree. He gave this explanation and said that in Russia there are many people who have no idea they are Jewish. People were saying there were ten million Jews in Russia, but the Rebbe said there were many more, because many Jews did not know they were Jewish at all. So when such a young man enlists in the army and fills out a form, he sees the word “Hebrew,” “Jewish,” written there. He asks, “Shto takoye Ivri? What is that? What is a Jew?” He does not know

05:51 at all. It is a non-Jew who tells him he is Jewish. So this blessing, too—“Who has not made me a non-Jew”—has a positive meaning: we thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu that we are Jews and can fulfill mitzvos and connect to Him. And since we are at 19 Kislev, as the Rabbi said earlier, “This day shall be established as an enduring festival.” What does “an enduring festival” mean? That it will always be celebrated, until Moshiach comes. It is written that in the time to come, all the festivals will cease except for Chanukah and Purim. Similarly, 19 Kislev will be an enduring festival in Israel. We have already been celebrating and marking this day, the festival of the Geulah of 19 Kislev, for 226 years. From 5559 until today, that is 226 years of celebration, and it keeps growing and spreading. We see 19 Kislev being celebrated throughout the world.