The "Slogan" with Which the Rebbe Opened His Leadership ✦ Part 1

00:00 At the historic farbrengen of Yud Shvat 5711—the farbrengen at which the Rebbe formally accepted the leadership—a year had passed since the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe on Yud Shvat 5710. Throughout that year, chassidim had pleaded, urged, written, and asked the Rebbe to agree to lead Chabad chassidim, but the Rebbe would not hear of it. And—with tremendous emotion—after a year had passed since the passing, on that great day of Yud Shvat, at the farbrengen marking the yahrzeit of his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, the shul at 770 was packed. People were even standing outside. An enormous crowd had come from all over New York to take part in the first yahrzeit. The Rebbe began the farbrengen and delivered several sichos. Among them was a remarkable sicha directly connected to the beginning of a new era, the era of the Rebbe’s leadership. Afterward, as is well known, came the special maamar the Rebbe delivered on the verse “I have come into My garden, My sister, My bride,” in which the Rebbe spoke openly and explicitly about our role as the seventh generation of Chabad chassidim and our goal of bringing the Geulah. But before that maamar, the Rebbe said that there is a custom in America, a custom that comes from the wider world. Yet the Gemara says that when a person goes to a city, he should follow its customs: “When you go to a city, follow its ways.” When you go to a particular city, it is fitting to act according to its customs. So even though this custom is not itself a holy one, it is the custom of the country. The Rebbe said: Let us adopt this custom for what we are discussing today. The Rebbe was referring to the American practice that when a new era begins, or there is a new prime minister or a new president, there is what they call in America a “statement”—

02:37 a slogan, an expression, a headline, something distinctive, a special slogan with which they begin, as though to convey a message meant to be empowering, important, precious—something that brings about change. So the Rebbe said he would make use of this practice and, now too, wanted to convey a message, a slogan. In other words, the Rebbe wanted to say what the central slogan should be for the period of leadership he was now entering, as he led the chassidim into a new era in the leadership of the generation. What is the central message here? Then the Rebbe said: It is known that the Frierdiker Rebbe said, in connection with the Baal Shem Tov, that Chassidus is founded on three loves: love of Hashem, love of Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel—and they are all one. The Baal Shem Tov revealed the three fundamental loves within every Jew: love of Hashem, “You shall love Hashem your G-d”; love of Torah, when a Jew studies Torah out of love and receives the Torah with love; and Ahavas Yisroel, “Love your fellow as yourself.” These three loves are all one; they are one thing. The Rebbe went on to explain: Which of these three loves leads to which? There is no fixed order. One Jew starts with love of Hashem, and that leads him to love of Torah, from which he reaches Ahavas Yisroel. Another Jew starts with love of Torah. He falls in love with learning; he loves to study, and his Torah study brings him to love of Hashem, and from there to Ahavas Yisroel. Another Jew starts with Ahavas Yisroel, which brings him to love of Hashem, and from there to love of Torah, and so on. People can arrive there by different paths. The goal is to have all three loves, and for them to be “all one,” each love strengthening the others. The Rebbe explained that, sadly, there are sometimes Jews who have love of Hashem and love of Torah.

05:22 They love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They are observant Jews who keep Torah and mitzvos and love studying Torah. But when it comes to Ahavas Yisroel, they are weak in that area. It does not concern them so much; it is not so important to them, does not touch them so deeply, to love another Jew, to bring a Jew closer, to look at another Jew and try to help him. They need to be taught that when Ahavas Yisroel is lacking, their love of Hashem and love of Torah are incomplete too. For love of Hashem to be as it should, it must also lead a person to Ahavas Yisroel; likewise, love of Torah must lead to Ahavas Yisroel. On the other hand, there is also a message here for a Jew who, for now, has begun only with Ahavas Yisroel. He still lacks love of Hashem. Perhaps he is lacking in his observance of mitzvos or in love of Torah, but he does have Ahavas Yisroel. He needs to know that Ahavas Yisroel, too, is meant to bring him to love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and from love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to love of Torah. The Rebbe also cited a well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad Chassidus, on this subject. The story is told that once, in the Alter Rebbe’s early years, chassidim were sitting at a farbrengen and a debate arose among them. At that chassidic farbrengen, each expressed what was in his heart and his own understanding, and the chassidim debated the subject of love of Hashem and Ahavas Yisroel. Which is more important? Is Ahavas Yisroel more important than love of Hashem, or is love of Hashem more important than Ahavas Yisroel? Which does Chassidus place first? As we said, the Baal Shem Tov spoke of the three loves, but which of them is more important, loftier, higher? They did not reach a conclusion.

07:27 [unclear] Through the Mitteler Rebbe, they sent to ask the Alter Rebbe what Chassidus truly teaches about the order of these loves: which love takes precedence? It is told that the Alter Rebbe then entered a state of deep spiritual absorption and said, in his distinctive melody, that love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—love of Hashem—and Ahavas Yisroel are both engraved in the heart, mind, and soul of every Jew. Every Jew has a natural love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in his soul. Every Jew has a natural Ahavas Yisroel in his soul. But the Alter Rebbe said that when a Jew loves another Jew, when there is Ahavas Yisroel, that love is actually much greater, because you love what your beloved loves. In other words, when I love another Jew—after all, Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves every Jew. “I have loved you,” says Hashem. As the prophet tells us, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that He loves each and every Jew. So when I love a Jew, both loves are present in that love, because I love what my beloved loves. I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and I love the one Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves—a Jew. So love for a Jew also includes love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what the Alter Rebbe is said to have taught. But this brings us to a fundamental, central point that the Rebbe imparted at that first farbrengen—the slogan with which, the Rebbe said, we are entering this new era. And indeed, when we begin to reflect on and look at the Rebbe’s teachings—the sichos, the maamarim, the letters, the stories, everything we know, everything we have heard and seen and learned from the Rebbe’s wonderful, vast, and profound Torah—we see this point: the central place of the three loves. We see it emerging from every line, every passage, every maamar, every sicha, and every letter: love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Ahavas Yisroel

09:53 And love of Torah. With the Rebbe, we encounter the deeper dimension. What does it mean to love Hakadosh Boruch Hu? What does Ahavas Yisroel mean? What does love of Torah mean? We stood at the Rebbe’s farbrengens. Looking back, you remember times and moments when you stood at the Rebbe’s farbrengens for hours on end. We were young bochurim, standing through the farbrengen. Bochurim didn’t sit at farbrengens; we stood, and the farbrengen went on for hours and was filled with holiness. The Rebbe spoke about subjects from every area of Torah. But what you felt between the words—how much did we understand? I was a young bochur, and I remember that it took me time before I began to understand a little. Sometimes you understood more, sometimes less. We had to concentrate hard. Some of the sichos were very deep, whether in the revealed or the hidden dimension of Torah. But the love of Torah—the feeling that the Rebbe was speaking about a point in Torah with a burning, blazing love. The Rebbe would immerse himself completely in the subject. You could hear the passion in his words, and his immense love for Torah and every part of it. One story I once heard from Reb Yoel Kahn: he told us that the Rebbe once said to someone, “When I...” Actually, the Rebbe did not say this about himself; the Rebbe did not speak about himself, but it was understood that he meant himself. The Rebbe was speaking to someone in yechidus, and he told him: When a Jew, after davening in the morning, goes to the bookcase and takes a Gemara off the shelf to sit down and learn, it is like a child meeting his father after they have not seen each other for a long time. How does he hug him? How does he kiss him? With such love. That is the love a Jew feels when he gets up in the morning and takes a book to sit and learn Gemara, halachah, Shulchan Aruch, and so on. That burning love, the love of Torah with which the Rebbe spoke about every part

12:36 of Torah—whether the Written Torah, the Oral Torah, a verse, Rashi—you simply felt the immense love. Every word: how the Rebbe would polish it, wrap it in care, embrace it, examine it. Why is it written this way? Why this word? Why this letter? Why does this come first? He would examine every detail, delve deep, and uncover gem after gem in every word of Torah. Love of Torah. And when we speak of love of Hashem—hearing the Rebbe speak at farbrengens about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, about a Jew’s bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu; hearing him speak in maamarim of Chassidus about the greatness of Hashem and a burning love of Hashem. Not to mention watching the Rebbe daven and seeing his devotion. The Rebbe would stand in davening with extraordinary, absolute devotion, without moving. With tremendous self-effacement, tremendous devotion. Sometimes, during a niggun at a farbrengen, you could see tears of passion and longing. Such a wondrous love of Hashem. And not to mention Ahavas Yisroel. So that is where we are. Ahavas Yisroel was one of those things: when the Rebbe began speaking about a Jew, you felt his immense love in the way he poured out his soul. In every subject in Torah, he would look for a message of Ahavas Yisroel. Every parsha, every holiday, every day, every Shabbos, every point would immediately connect to it: What message of Ahavas Yisroel can we take from this? How should we look at a Jew? How do we love a Jew simply because he is a Jew? How many sichos, how many maamarim, how many expressions, how much ink and how many words the Rebbe devoted to speaking about loving a Jew in every situation, at every moment, in every corner, in every place. These are the things the Rebbe instilled in us and taught us about the three loves: to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu with love—love of Hashem, love of Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel. There is a passage in the Zohar, in Parshas Naso, and it is

15:22 part of the section of the Zohar known as the Idra. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai gathered the chavraya, the circle of his students, took them out to a field, and there taught them the secrets of Torah. This passage of the Zohar is also recited on Shavuos. Those who stay awake on Shavuos night and learn the Tikkun, reciting Tikkun Leil Shavuos, say this section of the Zohar. The Zohar says: Rabbi Shimon said. Rabbi Shimon is at a historic moment, speaking there as he is about to reveal the most wondrous secrets of Torah. The Idra Rabba is one of the deepest sections of the Zohar. He is about to reveal wondrous secrets, profound secrets of Torah, secrets of the Zohar that Rabbi Shimon reveals. And Rabbi Shimon tells his students, citing the verse from Chavakuk that relates to the giving of the Torah: “Hashem, I heard Your report; I was afraid.” It speaks of fear of Hashem. The prophet Chavakuk says: I heard of You, I heard of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and what I heard filled me with awe. As explained in the Midrashim, this refers to the giving of the Torah. “The people saw, and they trembled and stood from afar.” The Divine revelation at the giving of the Torah stirred in the Jewish people a response of awe, of utter self-effacement. Rabbi Shimon says: In Chavakuk’s time, or earlier, at the giving of the Torah, awe was indeed central. But Rabbi Shimon says: “For us, the matter depends on love.” Us—here I am speaking about the chavraya. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is speaking with the chavraya, with his companions, his students, whom he calls friends. How sweet it is to hear the great Rabbi Shimon, the righteous Rabbi Shimon, the holy Rabbi Shimon, speaking to his students and calling them chavraya, friends. It is an expression of love, of closeness and affection. And he tells them: “For us, the matter depends on love.” Our bond is a bond of love. “The matter depends on it”—he means the revelation of the secrets. He is about to reveal wondrous secrets here,

17:42 profound secrets, holy and lofty secrets of the inner dimension of Torah. You might think there would be a certain distance here, some detachment, something utterly exalted and beyond reach. Rabbi Shimon says: No, the opposite. “The matter depends on love.” With us, everything comes from love. He cites three verses: “And you shall love Hashem your G-d”; “Because of Hashem’s love for you”; and “I have loved you, says Hashem.” He brings three verses to express that our bond—a Jew’s bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s bond with a Jew—is a bond of love. Interestingly, the Rebbe spoke about this many times at farbrengens connected with Shavuos and Parshas Naso. What is this—he brings three verses. Why three verses? And notice, one verse speaks of our love, a Jew’s love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “And you shall love Hashem your G-d.” That is really the fitting verse, because the verse about awe also speaks of a person’s awe toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Hashem, I heard Your report; I was afraid.” I stand in awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So the corresponding verse about love would be that I, too, love Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “And you shall love Hashem your G-d.” But Rabbi Shimon does not stop there. He also speaks of love from above, from Hakadosh Boruch Hu toward us: “I have loved you, says Hashem”; “Because of Hashem’s love for you,” another verse in the Torah that speaks of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for us. So what does this mean? What is happening here? In fact, as we said earlier, the Alter Rebbe himself said that these loves are interconnected. Our love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu flows from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for us. One loves what one’s beloved loves. A Jew loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu because Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves him, and because Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves us, we also love another Jew.

19:59 Ahavas Yisroel flows from love of Hashem, as we discussed earlier. But there is another very, very sweet message here, especially in connection with Shavuos. Three verses: one speaks of our love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and two speak of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for us. There is a wonderful Midrash connected with Matan Torah. It says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” The Midrash says: Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells the Jewish people, “You shall be holy.” That is in the plural—two expressions of holiness. “For I am holy” is in the singular. The Midrash offers a parable: The people of a kingdom made three crowns for their king and brought them to him as a gift. What did the king do? He took one and placed it on his own head, and placed the other two on the heads of his children. So says the Midrash. What is the meaning? The angels above crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu each day with three crowns: “Holy, holy, holy is Hashem of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” The angels proclaim the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is like a crown: they place three crowns upon Hakadosh Boruch Hu—holy, holy, holy. What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu take for Himself? Just one crown. “Go forth and behold, daughters of Zion, King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding.” There is a crown that his mother crowned him with, a crown that Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes for Himself, but there are two crowns that He gives to the Jewish people. We all know the account in the Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Shabbos: when the Jewish people put “we will do” before “we will hear,” Hakadosh Boruch Hu, through the angels, brought every Jew two crowns—one corresponding to “we will do,” and one corresponding to “we will hear.” These are the two crowns that Hakadosh Boruch Hu places on the heads of His children. So there are three crowns: the crown Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes for Himself, and the two crowns He places on the heads of His children.

22:14 “We will do” and “we will hear.” These three crowns are really three expressions of the bond and love between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and they are alluded to here in the verses. “You shall love Hashem your G-d”—that is the crown we give Hakadosh Boruch Hu. I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu “with all your heart,” and not only “with all your heart,” but also “with all your soul,” and not only “with all your soul,” but also “with all your might.” With that, I give Hakadosh Boruch Hu a crown. Then there are the crowns He gives us, two crowns corresponding to “we will do” and “we will hear.” That is why the verse says, “Because Hashem loves you.” And then He says, “I have loved you,” says Hashem. These are two expressions of love that Hakadosh Boruch Hu directs toward us: the love of “we will do” and the love of “we will hear.” Broadly speaking, these are Torah and mitzvos. “We will do” is action—the mitzvos that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us. And “we will hear” is Torah: understanding and grasping, comprehending and learning. That is how a Jew connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The world stands on three things: on Torah, on avodah, and on acts of kindness. Torah is the crown that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us, the crown of Torah. Acts of kindness are the mitzvos; broadly speaking, all the mitzvos are included in acts of kindness. That, too, is something Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives us. And avodah is what we give Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the service of prayer. How do we connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? “You shall love Hashem your G-d.” So may Hakadosh Boruch Hu help each and every one of us, in these great days we are in now—the days of the Giving of our Torah, the days of completion following the Giving of our Torah; the whole month of Sivan is a month of Matan Torah—to take to heart the message of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, which is the message of the Baal Shem Tov and the message of the Rebbe: that every single Jew

24:20 has the privilege and the ability to connect through the three loves—love of Hashem, love of Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel—and to know that all three loves are one. And specifically, “It all depends on affection”: to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu with love, to love a Jew with love, to learn Torah with love. And that love will reveal Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for the Jewish people. “I have loved you,” says Hashem. May Hakadosh Boruch Hu reveal that love, redeem us from this difficult exile, and bring us to the complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach. Amen, may it be His will.