22 Shvat - Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka a"h

00:13 Today, with Hashem’s help, is 22 Shvat. This isn’t a farbrengen; with Hashem’s help, there will be a farbrengen tomorrow night. But I wanted to explain a little. Bochurim ask: What is 22 Shvat about? To the extent that it can be explained, what exactly is its significance? Everyone knows that 22 Shvat is the yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. Over the years, more and more, it has become a day marked primarily by women. There is the Kinus Hashluchos in America, and some of the bochurim here have parents who are shluchim, so their mothers travel to the Kinus Hashluchos. Similarly, around the world, people hold gatherings, farbrengens, and events, focusing them mainly on Chabad women. So some people think 22 Shvat is a day connected with women. What does it have to do with bochurim in yeshivah? That question, that thought, is out there. Some think it, and some even say it: 22 Shvat is a day connected with righteous women. We’re talking about a very important Rebbetzin, but what does 22 Shvat have to do with bochurim? So I want to explain the matter a little, starting with the significance of a Rebbetzin in general, and also tell you a little about what happened with the Rebbe. I was there then. I can’t say I “merited” to be there, because you can’t use the word “merited” for something like this. We’re speaking about destruction, about grief, about the passing of tzaddikim, which, as we learned, is harder than the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Especially since we saw tangibly that this was so with the Rebbe. We saw that the Rebbetzin’s passing affected not only hidden matters, but things that were openly apparent. We could actually see it in the Rebbe

02:52 himself, in his physical health and in the way he influenced the chassidim. All kinds of things changed with the Rebbe, things we could see with our own eyes. The Rebbe himself spoke about it during that period, and several times afterward too: the Rebbetzin’s passing was something very profound that affected both the Rebbe and the chassidim. So clearly, we’re talking about something of very great significance. The truth is that when we were bochurim before then, we didn’t know much about the Rebbetzin. Not much was known, and people didn’t talk about her much either. I mean while the Rebbetzin was alive in this physical world, with her soul in her body. We didn’t know much about her, and we didn’t talk about her much. It wasn’t the way of chassidim to talk about the Rebbetzin, especially since, as is well known, she conducted herself with an extraordinary degree of modesty and discretion. With the Rebbetzin, this was absolute. So everything about her remained out of sight. A few chassidim had a connection with the family, but chassidim in general didn’t talk about it at all. It wasn’t something people made an issue of. As bochurim, we knew that the Rebbetzin came to 770 on Erev Shabbos. I’m talking about when I was a bochur, in the 5740s, after 5745. We knew that she came to 770 on Erev Shabbos and stayed in the library, the building next to 770, where the Rebbe’s library is. There was a room there, a kitchen. I don’t know exactly what was there, but the Rebbetzin would spend all of Shabbos there. We also knew that she arrived close to candle-lighting time. Many times we saw her car arrive. The car was black, and the windows— even if we had wanted to look, you couldn’t

05:13 see anything, because the windows of the Rebbetzin’s car were… What’s that called in English? Huh? Tinted, right? All the windows. You couldn’t see anything inside. Perhaps if you tried very hard, but that wouldn’t have been proper—standing there staring. So in practice, you couldn’t see. We knew that on Erev Shabbos she arrived and went into the driveway, into that enclosed area, so there was no opportunity to see her. It was the same on Motzaei Shabbos. Right after Shabbos ended, the Rebbetzin would go home, and you could see the car leaving. And if you really wanted to see her… I remember that as bochurim, we wanted to. Once we crowded in there to see the Rebbetzin leave, but the Vaad Hamesader shouted at us not to look. We caught a glimpse of something. But generally, you couldn’t see her. People usually didn’t see the Rebbetzin, and she deliberately kept out of sight. She didn’t want to be seen. She never came into 770. She kept herself off to the side, out of sight. She didn’t circulate among the chassidim. She made a point of being discreet. There were two occasions when the Rebbetzin came out in a way that people saw her. Both were in her last year. I wasn’t there for the first one, so I didn’t see it, but friends told me about it. I think there’s a photograph of it today as well. It was on Lag BaOmer 5747, during the parade. Those who were there saw her. I recently saw a photograph too; someone managed to take one. They saw the Rebbetzin standing at a window of the library, looking out at all the people, the whole crowd, during the parade. She stood there looking for a few

07:17 minutes. That was one occasion. Whoever was quick enough saw her. I wasn’t there, but my friends told me about it. The second time was on Shavuos of that same year, Shavuos 5747. It was the Rebbetzin’s last Shavuos in this world, and it was the one time that I did see her. It was on the second night of Shavuos, when everyone was returning from the Tahaluchah. There was a customary arrangement when people returned from the Tahaluchah—not the parade. I mean the Tahaluchah, when they went to the shuls. On the second night of Shavuos, at eleven o’clock at night, everyone would gather by the Rebbe’s library. Once everyone had arrived, around eleven, the Rebbe would come outside to welcome all of Anash, all the Temimim, the whole crowd returning from the Tahaluchos. They would sing the tune of Napoleon’s March, and the Rebbe, in great joy, would move his hands and clap. There was tremendous joy when everyone returned from the Tahaluchah. That year, on Shavuos 5747, a few minutes before the Rebbe came out, the Rebbetzin came to the library door. If you know the library door, it’s a glass door. The Rebbetzin stood behind it. She came with her—she used a walker—and came over to the door. She stood there looking at all the chassidim. She watched for a few minutes, then turned and went back inside, and a minute later the Rebbe came out. I remember that moment. It was very unusual. None of the chassidim were accustomed to anything like it: suddenly the Rebbetzin appeared and looked at everyone. But of course, after 22 Shvat came the following year, we understood that this had, as it were, been a kind of farewell. That was the only time that we, at least, merited to see the

09:27 The Rebbetzin, and that was Shavuos 5747. Uh, 5748, Yud Shvat, we were with the Rebbe. Yud Shvat fell on Shabbos, and there was a farbrengen on Shabbos, 11 Shvat. We were with the Rebbe. It was the Yud Shvat farbrengen, with all the excitement. The Rebbe spoke there about quite a few matters concerning that Yud Shvat in 5748. By the way, that was the last Basi Legani maamar the Rebbe said. That Basi Legani maamar was also published in an edited version. There the Rebbe speaks about the seventh generation and the eighth generation—very powerful words about Moshiach and our generation. That was Yud Shvat 5748, Shabbos, 11 Shvat. We were with the Rebbe then. Afterward, we went back to Montreal. On 15 Shvat, the Rebbe held his last weekday farbrengen. As is known, the last time the Rebbe held a farbrengen on a weekday was 15 Shvat 5748, a week before the Rebbetzin’s passing. After the Rebbetzin passed away, the Rebbe stopped holding weekday farbrengens. The Rebbe held farbrengens only on Shabbos, not on weekdays. The last weekday farbrengen was on 15 Shvat. Uh, there was also a yechidus close to 22 Shvat. There was a general yechidus just before 22 Shvat. At that general yechidus, just two days before 22 Shvat, the Rebbe ended the sicha with “In the light of the King’s face is life.” Those were the last words of the sicha. That was unusual. Usually, the Rebbe would end a sicha with something about Moshiach. This time, the Rebbe ended it with “In the light of the King’s face is life.” Two days later, the Rebbetzin passed away. So people connected that verse, which speaks of passing away, with “the King’s face is life,” and also with the Rebbetzin’s name. In any case, on 22 Shvat we were in Montreal—I’m speaking about myself and the yeshiva students. We were studying in Montreal. It was an ordinary day, an ordinary night. What

11:37 I remember is that in the middle of the night, around three in the morning, or two, something like that—I don’t remember exactly—someone came to the dormitory. Reb Tzvi Eliyahu Gurary came; he had heard about it from his father. He shouted, “The Rebbetzin! The Rebbetzin!” We didn’t really understand what had happened. We had never talked about the Rebbetzin, and suddenly, “The Rebbetzin!” It was as if... Look, I don’t remember. I remember asking, “What about the Rebbetzin?” “We have to say Tehillim.” All right, we got up. What did he mean, the Rebbetzin? In short, we eventually learned that the Tehillim was already being said after her passing, not before. In any case, we got up very quickly, and they immediately arranged a bus. The whole yeshiva, together with Anash and several others who were there, left Montreal and arrived in New York. By the time we got there, the funeral was already underway. I remember the Rebbe at the cemetery, during the funeral, when the Rebbe came out. It was already after, after, after the whole—anyway. Then came the shiva. The Rebbe sat shiva at his home. I remember seeing the Rebbe during shiva. It was very hard to see him. Throughout the days of shiva, the Rebbe’s face looked very drawn. His eyes were very swollen; you could see the swelling all the time. Several times, even in the middle of davening, the Rebbe cried. I particularly remember Thursday—the passing was on Wednesday, 22 Shvat. Uh, on 22 Shvat itself the Rebbe was not yet at the prayers, but on 23 Shvat, Thursday night—I don’t know if it was during Maariv—the Rebbe paused several times and cried several times. Some people said that before Maariv, the Algemeiner Journal had been brought to the Rebbe, and it had printed several photographs of the Rebbetzin

13:47 from different periods. Some connected his crying with that. I don’t really know; those were the feelings of chassidim, I don’t know. But throughout that week, you could see that the Rebbe was very, very broken. You could see it on his face. It was simply hard to look at the Rebbe’s face in those days. Of course, after davening, chassidim would pass by to say, “May the Omnipresent comfort you.” It was also very hard to walk past the Rebbe and say those words. The Rebbe looked at each person. What was remarkable was Friday night. The Rebbe came to 770 on Friday before candle-lighting, and when the Rebbe entered 770 on Friday night, his face looked as if nothing had happened. The change! It was a different face. Suddenly you saw the Rebbe’s face shining. When Shabbos began, the Rebbe’s face was completely different from before Shabbos. It was even more striking on Motzaei Shabbos. On Motzaei Shabbos the Rebbe held a farbrengen—before Shabbos, excuse me, on Shabbos itself there was a farbrengen. At the farbrengen, the Rebbe was, on the whole, uplifted. The Rebbe was in high spirits and led the farbrengen, and there were even niggunim. The Rebbe moved his hands along with them. On Shabbos, the farbrengen was a farbrengen. The Rebbe delivered a sicha. Of course, in the sicha the Rebbe also spoke about matters connected with passing away. He mentioned such matters several times, in the maamar and in the sicha. But on the Rebbe’s face you saw the face of someone joyful, someone who—someone. The Rebbe’s face as we knew it: a holy face, a radiant face, a happy face. On Motzaei Shabbos, when the Rebbe—the farbrengen ended close to Motzaei Shabbos. The Rebbe went up to his room and came back. I don’t remember exactly what happened there or all the details, but I remember that the Rebbe

15:55 came in for Maariv and still looked all right. But once the Rebbe began Maariv and Vehu Rachum—they changed his shoes there in the middle, before Borchu; I don’t know exactly how the halachah works, but I remember that he changed his shoes there—and suddenly you saw the Rebbe’s face change completely. Really. After Maariv, the Rebbe sat there and people passed by to offer condolences. The Rebbe had davened downstairs in the large zal. After Maariv, as people passed by, you could hardly believe this was the same Rebbe who, an hour or half an hour earlier, had been at a farbrengen with a happy, radiant face. Now it had changed. Then we got a little sense, you might say, of what it means to be “a man of G-d,” reflecting what takes place Above. Shabbos arrives, and everything is entirely different. Before Shabbos and after Shabbos there is mourning. Shabbos arrives, and suddenly you see a completely different bearing in the Rebbe, a change from one extreme to the other. Really. Uh, after the—after shiva, the Rebbe did not hold farbrengens throughout that period. There was no farbrengen even on Purim. That was a first. People were very broken, I remember. I mean, the Rebbe was not holding farbrengens. Rabbi J. J. Hecht even wrote a letter asking the Rebbe to hold a farbrengen again, and the Rebbe answered him, “There is yet a vision for the appointed time.” That means the day will yet come when we merit to have a farbrengen. We are still waiting for it. That was the Rebbe’s answer to him. I remember that on Purim the crowd was very broken because the Rebbe did not hold a farbrengen. That had never happened before. Well, after that it continued that way. There were no more weekday farbrengens, including on Motzaei Shabbos. The Rebbe did not hold farbrengens on Shabbos throughout that period either.

18:01 Until Shabbos Mevorchim. In Nissan, the Rebbe began holding farbrengens, and from then on, thank G-d, we merited that the Rebbe held a farbrengen every Shabbos. It began again on Shabbos Mevorchim Nissan and became the regular practice every Shabbos. Before that, the Rebbe had not held a farbrengen every Shabbos. But from Shabbos Mevorchim Nissan, during 5748, there was a new pattern: the Rebbe held a farbrengen every Shabbos, while on weekday evenings, instead of a farbrengen, there were only sichos. To understand a little of what we’re talking about, one of the things we heard from the Rebbe during that period was something he said about the Rebbetzin. Speaking about the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe said that we see among the Avos—Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov—that the Imahos, their wives, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, and Leah, were in some respects on an even higher level than the Avos. As the verse says, “Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice.” Hashem told Avraham Avinu that if Sarah says something, he must listen to her. The Gemara says that in prophecy, the Avos were secondary to the Imahos. In other words, when it came to prophecy, the Imahos had more prophecy than the Avos. That is written regarding Sarah. Similarly, we find with Rivkah: she wanted the blessings to go to Yaakov, while Yitzchak loved Eisav, and in the end it became clear that Rivkah was right. Hashem vindicated Rivkah rather than Yitzchak. We also see this later with Yaakov, Rachel, and Leah. With the Imahos in general, we repeatedly see that they were on a higher level than the Avos. So the Rebbe asked: Why? What is the meaning of this? Why, among the Avos, were the Imahos on a higher level? The Rebbe said

20:34 that it is written that in the future, when Moshiach comes, “A woman of valor is the crown of her husband.” It is explained at length in the maamarim of Chassidus that when Moshiach comes, “A woman of valor is the crown of her husband.” That means the woman will be on a higher level than the man, and “the woman will encompass the man.” The woman represents the recipient, while the man represents the giver. When Moshiach comes, the recipient will be on a higher level than the giver; the woman will be on a higher level than the man. And since the Avos, as it is written, were given a foretaste of the World to Come—Hashem already gave the Avos a foretaste of it—the Imahos were already on that higher level. The Rebbe said the same regarding our Rebbeim, the Chabad leaders. In other words, with the Rebbeim too, it was similar to what we find with the Avos: in certain respects, the Rebbetzins were on a higher level. We don’t understand much about this, but that is how the Rebbe said it. Just as we see that the Imahos had something greater in a particular respect, so too, the Rebbe tells us, with the Rebbeim there was this aspect of the Rebbetzin. Although we did not see the Rebbetzin’s role openly in practical action, we understand that the primary influence here is not physical; it is an influence transmitted spiritually. So the Rebbe says that in certain respects we see with the Rebbeim, just as with the Avos, that the Imahos were on a higher level and had a loftier standing in several matters. There is a well-known story chassidim tell: once, Chabad people brought the Rebbetzin a gift. I don’t know whether it

22:37 was for a birthday or something like that. They brought the Rebbetzin a gift, and along with it there was a letter with a number of signatures and blessings, various things. When they brought it over, the Rebbe happened to open the door. The Rebbe received the gift, and they told him, “The gift is for the Rebbetzin, and the letter is for the Rebbe, with blessings.” The Rebbe said, “She can give blessings too.” Zi ken oich bentchen. Of course, the Rebbe did not say that merely as a figure of speech. That is exactly what the Rebbe said, and he meant it literally: “She can give blessings too.” There are also a number of stories about the Rebbetzin, instances where one could see her influence. There are several such stories; we won’t go into them now. But to get to the point, we need to understand that, regarding the Rebbetzin, there is a loftier dimension here. We know that among our Rebbeim, the only one whose Rebbetzin passed away before him was the Tzemach Tzedek. With all the other Rebbeim, the Rebbetzin passed away afterward: with the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Rebbe Maharash, the Rebbe Rashab, and the Frierdiker Rebbe. Only with the Tzemach Tzedek did she pass away first. That was in 5621, five years before the Tzemach Tzedek, who passed away in 5626. Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Tzemach Tzedek’s wife, passed away in 5621. This was also one of the things chassidim connected with the fact that the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin had the same names as the Tzemach Tzedek and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. It is known that when the Tzemach Tzedek’s Rebbetzin

24:58 passed away, a change was visible in the Tzemach Tzedek as well. He stopped saying Chassidus and stopped receiving people for yechidus. Several practices ceased after the Tzemach Tzedek’s Rebbetzin passed away. It is related—and the Rebbe cites this too—that the Tzemach Tzedek said, “A king without a queen is neither a king nor great.” Some learned this in a maamar from Rosh Hashanah 5659: “A king without a queen is neither a king nor great.” In other words, without the queen, the king is not a king and is not great. That is what it says. The king’s greatness, the greatness of his kingship, comes through the queen. The queen brings greatness to the king. In the maamar from 5659, the Rebbe Rashab explains this according to Chassidus: the recipient responds and, in turn, gives, and it is specifically through the recipient that the essence is revealed, and so on. The same applies to the Rebbetzin. That is what the Tzemach Tzedek said about his Rebbetzin. Why did he stop doing several things? Because “a king without a queen is neither a king nor great.” In other words, the Rebbetzin confers greatness and adds a dimension of greatness and exaltedness to the king. I also remember two things that happened on Rosh Hashanah 5748, things we understood only afterward. One of them happened at the Rosh Hashanah 5748 farbrengen—that is, the Rosh Hashanah before her passing. In one of the sichos, the Rebbe said he was now going to reveal something that had not been spoken about before. It had not been publicized, but for some reason, now was the time to publicize it. That was the Rebbe’s wording. And what was the secret that the Rebbe

27:01 He revealed that our Rebbeim had a practice on Erev Rosh Hashanah, before sunset, of going into the Rebbetzin’s room and speaking with her. The Rebbe said that even though it was Erev Rosh Hashanah—the very end of the year, a time when every moment is especially precious—the practice of our Rebbeim was to go into the Rebbetzin’s room a few minutes before the day ended and talk with her. They would have a conversation, not necessarily about Torah matters. The Rebbe later explained briefly in a sicha that this was connected with building the attribute of malchus. Rosh Hashanah is connected with the woman, with malchus. This was on Rosh Hashanah 5748. Of course, after 22 Shvat, people understood that on Rosh Hashanah all the matters of the coming year are already drawn down. The Rebbe had spoken about talking with the Rebbetzin. That was one noteworthy thing on Rosh Hashanah. The second thing I remember, I heard with my own ears, so I remember it myself. I’m not repeating something I heard from someone else. I was there, and I remember it. It was during the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah 5748. I don’t remember whether it was the first or second day, but during the shofar blowing that Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe said the verse, “Be surety for Your servant for good; let not the arrogant oppress me.” The Rebbe said—he cried out—“Be surety for Your servant for good; do not, let not the arrogant oppress me.” That is what the Rebbe said then. It was a little unusual, yes; that is what the Rebbe said: “Do not, let not.” Yes. Those were the words. Later, people talked about it. Some said—I don’t know the source for this, but I remember people talking about it then—

29:08 later on, after 22 Shvat, that something similar had happened with the Tzemach Tzedek during the shofar blowing. In any case, these are things I remember. In 5749—actually, throughout the whole of 5748, the Rebbe’s routine changed. The Rebbe was at home all week. He would come to 770 only for Shabbos. All week he was at home; all the prayers were at home. There were a few other changes in the Rebbe’s routine that year. In 5749, 22 Shvat fell on Shabbos. The yeshiva came in for Shabbos and the farbrengen. We were with the Rebbe that Shabbos, 22 Shvat. The Rebbe led all the prayers, and afterward there was a Shabbos farbrengen, on Shabbos, 22 Shvat. What was the farbrengen about? The Rebbe explained the special quality of a soul in a body. The entire extended farbrengen was based on the Rambam, who says that liability for kindling a fire on Shabbos—one of the thirty-nine categories of labor—applies when a person needs the ashes. That is what makes one liable for this labor on Shabbos: needing the ashes. The Rebbe explained that the fire is the soul. The soul has a fire that wants to rise upward, but the entire purpose is to produce ashes. The ashes are the body. The burning must be such that it produces ashes—that the soul accomplishes something in the body. The Rebbe spoke about this at length throughout the farbrengen. The Rebbe also connected it with the giving of the Torah, in Parshas Yisro: the Jewish people did not want to hear directly from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They wanted to hear specifically from Moshe Rabbeinu, because Moshe Rabbeinu was a soul in a body. The Jewish people argued that the entire purpose of the giving of the Torah was for souls to be in bodies, and therefore they wanted Moshe Rabbeinu specifically, in a body. That was the emphasis of the whole farbrengen: we must work to ensure that souls are in bodies, to arouse

31:20 this matter of souls in bodies. At that farbrengen, the Rebbe also spoke about a husband and wife. He spoke about the Rebbetzin and cited the saying of our Sages in the Gemara, “A woman dies only for her husband.” The Rebbe mentioned that teaching. And then, since a descent is for the sake of an ascent, the opposite of becoming weakened is called for: we must bring about even greater strength. That was in 5749. I’m jumping ahead to 5752, the last year when the Rebbe was well and held farbrengens and spoke. In 5752, 22 Shvat was especially significant. I did not merit to be with the Rebbe on 22 Shvat that year; I was away on shlichus. But I remember it, and I’ve seen that the students here study those sichos. On 22 Shvat 5752, the Rebbe made an enormous stir. For one thing, the Rebbe delivered a sicha both on the first night and on the second night of 22 Shvat—that is, on the night of 22 Shvat and again after 22 Shvat ended. And then there was the content of the sichos. The Rebbe spoke about the special quality of 22 Shvat, about “Through you shall Israel bless.” He spoke about eleven and twice eleven, which is twenty-two, and about Shvat being the eleventh month. He explained at length the significance of eleven and its advantage over ten. Yud Shvat was connected with the Frierdiker Rebbe. Then comes 11 Shvat, a higher level. These were very powerful sichos. When the edited version was later published, it included further explanation; the Rebbe had edited it. It helped one understand the whole matter better. What else? The Rebbe writes very powerful things there about 22 Shvat: that it marks the beginning of an era, the beginning of an era of the days of Moshiach,

33:28 the beginning of a new era. This calls for a great deal of explanation. The Rebbe explains the difference between Yud Shvat 5710, 11 Shvat 5711, and 22 Shvat 5748. The Rebbe explains that these are three eras connected with the seventh generation. He explains it at length in the edited sicha. In the unedited version it is very brief and hard to understand, but the edited sicha explains at length, in an understandable way, what these three eras are and what it all means. There we see that the Rebbe makes 22 Shvat into something very, very significant: the beginning of an era of preparation for the Geulah. Although, seemingly, 22 Shvat was a time of concealment, the Rebbe writes that it was specifically on 22 Shvat that the whole process of preparing the world for Moshiach, preparing the world for the Geulah, began, and so on. On that 22 Shvat, the Rebbe also distributed a booklet to everyone there—a 22 Shvat booklet containing all the maamarim and sichos connected with 22 Shvat. Together with the booklet, the Rebbe also distributed lekach. That too was unusual at the time, for the Rebbe to distribute lekach in the middle of the year. The Rebbe distributed lekach and also five dollars to each person. The Rebbe also connected the number five with the Rebbetzin’s name: chamesh, “five,” is spelled with the initials of the Rebbetzin’s name—ches, mem, shin. This was on 22 Shvat 5748. In any case, from all this we can understand that tonight and tomorrow, this entire twenty-four-hour period, is an auspicious day. It is an especially auspicious day connected with the Rebbe and with the Rebbetzin. So this is a time when every one of us needs

35:34 to strengthen our hiskashrus. First, to study the sicha of 22 Shvat. Second, to study Mishnayos corresponding to the letters of her name during these twenty-four hours. Similarly, to hold a farbrengen or participate in one. And above all, to use this auspicious day of 22 Shvat to ask, to awaken ourselves, and to pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu that we merit to see “Awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust”; that we merit to see, in the literal sense, souls in bodies, which the Rebbe asked for and spoke about so much. Since the month of Shvat 5758, the Rebbe wanted to bring about that things should be specifically in the manner of souls in bodies, without interruption. So each of us must use this day to strengthen ourselves and awaken within ourselves the urge to ask for Moshiach: to ask that the Rebbe be revealed, to ask for the Rebbetzin, to ask for “Awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust.” May we soon, literally, merit to see the Rebbe as a soul in a body, the Rebbetzin as a soul in a body, and all our Rebbeim, and merit that “A new Torah shall go forth from Me” be fulfilled literally, here below, within ten handbreadths of the ground. Since we still have a few minutes, let’s tell a story about the Rebbetzin. A story—stories. One thing is that the Rebbetzin was born on 25 Adar 5661. The Rebbetzin was a year older than the Rebbe—a year and two weeks. When the Rebbetzin was born, her grandfather, the Rebbe Rashab, sent a letter. We have the handwritten letter instructing that she be named Chaya Mushka, after the Tzemach Tzedek’s Rebbetzin. That is where the name Chaya Mushka comes from, spelled specifically the way we write it, as the letter shows. People did not call the Rebbetzin Mushka; they always called her Mushi. Nevertheless, the Rebbe was careful to write her name specifically as Chaya

38:49 Mushka, as it is spelled: mem, vav, shin, kuf, alef. There was even an occasion when the Rebbe gave [unclear], when the Rebbe gave a sum of money for tzedakah: 470 dollars. That was on 22 Shvat 5748, if I’m not mistaken. The Rebbe gave 470 dollars, and 470 is the gematria of Chaya Mushka when it is spelled that way. That spelling comes from a letter the Rebbe Rashab wrote about what name to give her. The shidduch between Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and the Rebbe began in 5683. Some say that even before his passing, before 5680, the Rebbe Rashab had already spoken about the shidduch. On one occasion, the Rebbe Rashab said that they should think about Reb Levik’s son. In other words, there was talk of the shidduch already in the Rebbe Rashab’s time. But in practice, the discussions about the shidduch first began in 5683. That was when the Rebbe first came to visit the Frierdiker Rebbe, on Shabbos Parshas Bo 5683, as is known. That was in the month of Shvat, on Yud Shvat. The first maamar the Rebbe heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe was the maamar that was later printed in Basi Legani. The Basi Legani maamar of 5719 is based on a maamar the Frierdiker Rebbe said on Yud Shvat 5683, Shabbos Parshas Bo. That is where this whole matter began, and it continued into Basi Legani. That is our Basi Legani. In other words, the maamar of Basi Legani 5719 goes back to the first maamar the Rebbe heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe when he first arrived in 5683. Here again, we see how precise everything is with the Rebbe. Then they met again later, for several hours and so on, until the shidduch came about. That was during that period, 5683, and then 5684. And why did it take

41:21 so long until the wedding? The wedding was in 5689. In other words, about six years passed between the first discussion of the shidduch and the actual wedding. The reason, in natural terms, was that it was a difficult time, a time of persecution. The Frierdiker Rebbe said that he wanted this wedding to be a wedding of plenty. He wanted it to be held on a generous scale. Since that was not possible, they waited. As is known, the wedding of his eldest daughter to the Rashag had taken place in great poverty, under very straitened circumstances. There was almost nothing to eat. Conditions in Rostov, where that first wedding was held, were very, very difficult. When it came to the second wedding, the Frierdiker Rebbe wanted it to be held with expansiveness. So it took several years before that could happen. One of the things we know is that Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka was entrusted with all the secret matters, all sorts of things. She was his confidante, and the Frierdiker Rebbe relied on her to handle various financial matters: sending money out of the country, receiving money—very dangerous things. She managed all of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s external affairs in Leningrad. She was still a young woman at the time; this was before the wedding. Once, at a Yud-Beis Tammuz farbrengen, Zalman Duchman was there. Zalman Duchman—I’m not... I think it was him. Perhaps it was; I believe it was. In the middle of the Yud-Beis Tammuz farbrengen, he began to say that he wanted to tell everyone about the part the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin had played in the Geulah of Yud-Beis Tammuz. After all, not many stories are known about what happened. But the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin had played a

43:33 very large part in the whole story of Yud-Beis Tammuz. One thing that is known is that the Rebbe was out on the street, and the Rebbetzin was standing at the window. She signaled to him, the Rebbe understood, and he ran to Chaim Lieberman. There was a whole story there, and because of that, a number of things were saved. Suddenly, in the middle of the farbrengen, Zalman Duchman stood up and wanted to begin telling the story. The Rebbe stopped him and told him not to reveal it, not to speak about it. That happened once at a farbrengen. When the Frierdiker Rebbe had to travel—not to Leningrad, but into exile—he traveled with the Rebbetzin. He took no one else from the family, only his daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. She was there with him to arrange papers and take care of things. He relied on her to know how to handle all sorts of matters. When the news of the Geulah came on Yud-Beis Tammuz, when they said that the Frierdiker Rebbe could return home, it was the Rebbetzin who informed the family and the chassidim in Leningrad. She went to a telephone—getting access to a telephone was very difficult then—and called Leningrad to let them know. Of course, they did not want to publicize it, because it was dangerous at the time, and so on. So she said, “Without publicity.” That became the well-known phrase “without publicity,” which also came up during the seforim trial. In any case, I’ll finish. There are many stories, but I’ll finish with just one thing the Rebbe said after the Rebbetzin’s passing, on Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Terumah. It was a very difficult sicha. The Rebbe spoke about very painful things that were hard to hear, and many chassidim did not understand them at all. In any case, among the things the Rebbe said in that sicha, he spoke about what the Rebbetzin had said during

45:35 the seforim trial, when the whole issue of the seforim came up. She said of the Frierdiker Rebbe, “My father and the seforim belong to the chassidim.” That was the Rebbetzin’s statement: “Der tatte un di seforim gehern tzu di chassidim.” Her father, the Frierdiker Rebbe, and the seforim belong to the chassidim. The Rebbe said in the sicha that this statement was the main thing that had an effect on the entire trial. In other words, those words the Rebbetzin said about her father—that he and the seforim belonged to the chassidim—went to the heart of the whole matter of Didan Notzach. They enabled the non-Jewish judge to understand that a Rebbe is something different: a Rebbe is not a family possession. A Rebbe is not a material matter; a Rebbe is a spiritual matter, and he belongs to the chassidim. That was revealed through the Rebbetzin. That is a point the Rebbe spoke about after the Rebbetzin’s passing. In any case, once again, may we merit to see the Rebbe with our physical eyes, here below, within ten handbreadths.