Tu B'Av in daily avodas Hashem

00:14 Speaker 1 Well, since we’re now on the eve of 15 Menachem Av—has the sun already set, or is it a few minutes until sunset? I’m not exactly sure. Oh, right now. Sunset is right now, at 6:21. So we’ve just entered 15 Menachem Av. “There were no days as festive for the Jewish people as 15 Menachem Av.” So that’s what we’ll talk about today. Last year, the calendar worked out the same way: it was also Thursday night, also 15 Menachem Av, and we spoke about 15 Menachem Av then too. I assume everyone remembers what we discussed last year. At any rate, I don’t remember what I said last year. So if I repeat anything, it’s always good to repeat good things. But today I wanted to tell you a little about 15 Menachem Av with the Rebbe—how the Rebbe marked 15 Menachem Av over the years. Along the way, we’ll discuss a few points from what the Rebbe said, including instructions and guidance, so that we understand what this day means for us. Because we see something remarkable. The Mishnah says, “There were no days as festive for the Jewish people as 15 Menachem Av,” and it discusses this at length. There’s the entire Mishnah at the end of tractate Taanis, followed by two pages in the Gemara. The Gemara gives various reasons, supporting sources, and explanations: Why was it such a Yom Tov? What did they do? What happened, and why? Yet in our times—and I don’t mean just our generation, but the last several hundred years; I don’t know exactly when it began—it seems that Jews have not celebrated 15 Menachem Av as a Yom Tov. The only observance of 15 Menachem Av in religious life is that we don’t say Tachanun. That’s the only thing. We don’t say Tachanun at Minchah today; tonight, we don’t say Tachanun in the bedtime Shema; and then

02:19 Speaker 1 at Shacharis. That’s the whole way the celebration of 15 Menachem Av is observed according to halachah. There is another halachah that is brought in the Shulchan Aruch. I’m not sure whether it’s in the Shulchan Aruch itself or in the Rema. At any rate, it says there, in connection with 15 Menachem Av—I think it’s the Rema who says it—that we increase our Torah study. This is based on what the Gemara says in Taanis: “From this point onward, one who adds will have more added to him.” Since the nights grow longer—as they do in the Land of Israel and the Northern Hemisphere—the summer is drawing to a close and winter is approaching. So the nights get longer, and “the night was created only for study.” Nighttime is a time for learning, so we should increase our Torah study. And the Gemara says, “One who adds will have more added to him”: someone who learns more Torah will be granted more life. So that is brought in halachah: on 15 Menachem Av, we should increase our Torah study. That’s all. But apart from that, we don’t see that people celebrated it or made a special occasion of it over the generations. That was apparently done during the time of the Beis Hamikdash, or around that time. Back then, 15 Menachem Av was an occasion, and they celebrated it with all the things described in the Mishnah. But during the exile, this Yom Tov has not been celebrated. The straightforward explanation given is that after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, Tisha B’Av became a day of exile and destruction. Since 15 Menachem Av is so close to Tisha B’Av, people did not see it as a time for such a great celebration, such a major occasion. Presumably there are other reasons and explanations too, but that seems to be the situation. Even after the revelation of Chassidus, we don’t see that they made

04:18 Speaker 1 such a major occasion of 15 Menachem Av. When we look at the history of our Rebbeim—from the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid to the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbeim after him—we don’t see a great commotion over it, or that the Rebbeim made it a Yom Tov, held farbrengens, and said Chassidus. We don’t see anything special connected with 15 Menachem Av there either. There is a teaching from the Arizal. It’s well known and explained in Chassidus that the Arizal writes that the Gemara gives six reasons for 15 Menachem Av. Yes, it gives six reasons; you can look in the Gemara and see them. The Arizal says that the seventh reason is “the moon stands in its fullness,” the concept of the moon as explained in Chassidus. The maamarim on 15 Menachem Av discuss this. But we don’t see that our Rebbeim made a Yom Tov of it. The Tzemach Tzedek discusses 15 Menachem Av in Chassidus. There is a passage in Or Hatorah where the Tzemach Tzedek explains several matters connected with 15 Menachem Av. A maamar was printed in Or Hatorah, Reshimos Eichah, with an explanation of several details in the Mishnah at the end of tractate Taanis. And there is one maamar, if I’m not mistaken, among all the Rebbeim’s maamarim, from the year 5670. In Sefer Hamaamarim 5670, there is a maamar by the Rebbe Rashab, n”e, beginning “Bila Hamaves Lanetzach” (“He will swallow up death forever”), for 15 Menachem Av. It appears in Sefer Hamaamarim 5670. The Rebbe Rashab said that maamar under circumstances somewhat like this year’s. If I’m not mistaken, 15 Menachem Av fell on a Friday, and the Rebbe Rashab would always say a maamar around candle-lighting time. So he said the maamar “Bila Hamaves Lanetzach.” I think it’s the only maamar of our Rebbeim that begins with those words. There he explains the subject at length, building on the Tzemach Tzedek’s maamar that we mentioned. Hayom Yom. The first time we see real attention given

06:19 Speaker 1 to 15 Menachem Av is in Hayom Yom. The Rebbe prepared Hayom Yom before he became Rebbe. But as is well known, the Rebbe already incorporated the theme of the seventh generation into Hayom Yom. The Rebbe included it back in 5703, as it were. In Hayom Yom, you can already see the theme of the seventh generation; you can see how the Rebbe brings certain ideas into it. One example is the entry for 14 Nissan, with a birthday and so on. There are various things in Hayom Yom in which you can see the seventh generation. And this relates to 15 Menachem Av. The Rebbe includes a few lines in tomorrow’s entry in Hayom Yom, and it’s remarkable. Why is it remarkable? Because the passage the Rebbe quotes for 15 Menachem Av comes from a maamar of the Rebbe Rashab, n”e, from 5670. That is very unusual, because we know that Hayom Yom consists of sayings of the Frierdiker Rebbe. As it says at the beginning of Hayom Yom, these are sayings the Rebbe took from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s sichos and letters. Here, though, he quotes a maamar of the Rebbe Rashab, n”e. He quotes from the maamar of 5670; you can see it there. In fact, the content comes from the Rebbe Rashab’s manuscript, in Sefer Hamaamarim 5670. There he presents, briefly, the central idea of 15 Menachem Av according to Chassidus. That was the first time, you might say, that 15 Menachem Av suddenly received attention. It gave the day significance and brought it to wider notice, so to speak. The Rebbe also included it in the entry for the day before, 14 Menachem Av. The Rebbe writes that Tachanun is not said at Minchah. He doesn’t always write that. It shows that, for the Rebbe, 15 Menachem Av was an important day. In practice, during the first years of the Rebbe’s leadership, we still don’t see the Rebbe making a great commotion over 15 Menachem Av. A few times, at a farbrengen of

08:13 Speaker 1 On 20 Av, there was always a farbrengen. It’s the yahrzeit of the Rebbe’s father, Reb Levi Yitzchak. So several times, at the 20 Av farbrengen, the Rebbe mentioned 15 Av. Since it was close to 15 Av, the Rebbe would sometimes make a siyum on Tractate Taanis and speak about the Mishnah there concerning 15 Av. For example, in [unclear], 20 Av fell on Shabbos. At the Shabbos farbrengen, the Rebbe said a short maamar about Eretz Yisroel. If I’m not mistaken, that’s how it begins. It was at the 20 Av farbrengen, as a continuation of 15 Av. But on 15 Av itself there was no farbrengen. There wasn’t, there wasn’t. The Rebbe did not hold a farbrengen even when it fell on Shabbos. The first time the Rebbe made a big stir about 15 Av was in 5735. In 5735, the Rebbe held a farbrengen on 15 Av. What happened then? That whole year, the Rebbe made a very big stir throughout the period of Bein Hametzarim. You can see it in several things. In 5735, already on Erev 17 Tammuz, the Rebbe began a very big campaign. There was a farbrengen then—something completely unusual. On Erev 17 Tammuz, the Rebbe held a farbrengen and said the maamar beginning “Ach Begoral.” The Rebbe said to make use of the days of Bein Hametzarim to transform darkness into light, and to increase Torah study and mitzvos. The Rebbe brought about a major change then, transforming those days, as it were. Right after the farbrengen, the Rebbe also edited the maamar. That was completely unusual. In those years, the Rebbe was not editing maamarim at all. It was remarkable that the Rebbe edited a maamar after years of not doing so. It

10:15 Speaker 1 was like a Yom Tov when the Rebbe suddenly edited the maamar “Ach Begoral,” the one included in Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat. After that, during those same weeks, the Rebbe also unexpectedly held a farbrengen on Erev Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av. Yes, something that had never happened before. On Erev Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av, the Rebbe returned from the Ohel and unexpectedly held a farbrengen. He said the maamar “Tziyon Bemishpat Tipadeh.” It’s a wonderful maamar too. The Rebbe edited it, and it’s in Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat. That was on Erev Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av. If I’m not mistaken about the details, I think that on the day the Rebbe spoke at that farbrengen, that night there was something involving America. There was some issue concerning Eretz Yisroel, some problem between America and Eretz Yisroel. The American president was saying unfavorable things about Eretz Yisroel at that time. The Rebbe began the farbrengen around the time that the person—the prime minister, the president in America then, Carter, if I’m not mistaken—was about to speak. The Rebbe said to hurry with the niggun before the maamar. The Rebbe signaled that they should sing it very quickly, and you can hear on the recording that they’re singing in a very unusual way. You can hear how fast they sing the niggun before the maamar. Later it became known that the Rebbe simply wanted to begin the maamar a minute before he began speaking. It was as though the Rebbe wanted to break the kelipah of... It was a spiritual matter: the Rebbe wanted to begin the maamar before that person, the president, began saying things against Eretz Yisroel. Because with the Rebbe, there were spiritual matters like that connected with a maamar; sometimes a certain kelipah has to be broken. In fact, that was Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul. There was

12:22 Speaker 1 a farbrengen with a maamar. Then on Shabbos Chazon, there was also a maamar the Rebbe edited on “Tziyon Bemishpat Tipadeh.” The second one is also in Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat. So at that time you could see that the Rebbe was bringing about a very big change throughout Bein Hametzarim. That was also when, as we related on Shabbos, the Rebbe said to sing the Baal Shem Tov’s Three Movements niggun with the words “Tziyon Bemishpat Tipadeh,” and also the 101st niggun with “Tziyon Bemishpat Tipadeh.” It was that same year, 5735. In any case, according to what people relate, they brought about an enormous change all over the world. There were mivtzoim on a tremendous scale everywhere, particularly in Eretz Yisroel. They reached all the army bases, all the soldiers, the entire IDF. There was tremendous publicity then—Mivtza Tefillin and all sorts of other things. They brought about changes that gave the Rebbe a great deal of nachas. On 15 Av, the Rebbe went to the Ohel, as he did every 15 Av. When the Rebbe returned, it was suddenly announced that there would be a farbrengen. It was remarkable—why would there be many people there in the middle of the summer? There were very few people, and it happened without any advance notice. It was the first time the Rebbe held a farbrengen on 15 Av. Two things happened at that farbrengen. First, the Rebbe delivered a hadran on Tractate Taanis—a truly wonderful hadran. You can hear it on the recording and see it in Likkutei Sichos. It was published in an edited version in Likkutei Sichos, volume 19. The sicha of 15 Av is a wonderful hadran on Tractate Taanis. The hadran took over an hour—an hour and a half. The Rebbe spoke at length,

14:12 Speaker 1 explaining the tractate, and there was also a maamar, with a niggun. The maamar begins “Lo Hayu Yamim Tovim LeYisroel KaChamishah Asar BeAv.” The story of this maamar is very interesting. The Rebbe said it that night, 15 Av. As usual, they submitted a written transcript of the maamar to the Rebbe. The transcribers wrote it up and submitted it to the Rebbe. The Rebbe edited the maamar, but no one ever knew he had edited it. He edited it at the time, and it remained in the Rebbe’s room. Usually, after the Rebbe edited something, he would send it out for printing. But at that time—no one knows for certain—it seems the Rebbe wanted to finish something else, or complete the editing, and for some reason it remained in his room. He did not finish editing the maamar. So it stayed in a drawer in the Rebbe’s room all those years, until after Gimmel Tammuz. In 5749, when the Rebbe had already begun editing maamarim for every Yom Tov, Reb Yoel Kahn prepared this maamar for publication. He didn’t know the Rebbe had edited it; he knew nothing about that. It was just that in those later years, maamarim were being submitted to the Rebbe for every Yom Tov. Reb Yoel would work on them, preparing them with great care for the Rebbe to edit. So he submitted this one to the Rebbe for editing. In 5749, exactly thirty years ago, Reb Yoel submitted the maamar from 5735 to the Rebbe. It was the first 15 Av maamar he submitted to the Rebbe. In 5748, no edited maamar was published for 15 Av. One was published for Shabbos Chazon, but not for 15 Av. In 5749, an edited maamar was published for 15

16:06 Speaker 1 Av. That 15 Av maamar from 5749 appears in Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat, volume 3, and the Rebbe edited it. That was that. What happened after Gimmel Tammuz? They found the maamar from 5735 in the Rebbe’s room—the original transcript with the Rebbe’s edits. A month after Gimmel Tammuz, that maamar was published. It was the first maamar edited by the Rebbe to be published after Gimmel Tammuz. It was like a Yom Tov. I remember there was a tremendous awakening. Everyone, everywhere, was devastated. After Gimmel Tammuz, the whole world was in a state of profound heartbreak, and suddenly a maamar came to light that the Rebbe had edited but had never been printed. And what kind of maamar? One that speaks about Moshiach, about a descent for the sake of an ascent. The whole point of the maamar is that we must know that when there is darkness and the deepest descent, precisely from there we reach the greatest day. That is the whole essence of the maamar. So there are two versions. In the newer editions of Sefer Hamaamarim Melukat, the main text contains the maamar the Rebbe edited in 5749, and at the end, in the appendices, there is the maamar published in 5754. You can see that the two versions are not at all alike. There are a number of differences—not minor ones, but very substantial differences between the two maamarim. One is as the Rebbe said it, written down at the time. The maamar Reb Yoel prepared in 5749 was prepared the way Reb Yoel prepared maamarim then: he wrote it with explanations and elaborations, as the Rebbe had guided him to do when preparing maamarim. So the wording is not at all the same. But they are two maamarim, both edited, from 5735. That was in 5735. After that, it became a regular occurrence. Once the Rebbe had held a farbrengen that first time, from then on we merited that the Rebbe began holding a farbrengen every

18:09 Speaker 1 In 5736, the Rebbe also held a farbrengen on 15 Av. In 5737 it fell on Shabbos, and the Rebbe held a farbrengen then too. It was Shabbos Nachamu. There is the maamar Nachamu from 5737, when the Rebbe held a farbrengen on Shabbos. In 5738, the calendar worked out as it does this year: 15 Av fell on a Friday, and no one thought there would be a farbrengen. They thought the Rebbe would hold one on Shabbos. But in fact, the Rebbe returned from the Ohel on Thursday evening and held a farbrengen then as well. It was unexpected, and the Rebbe delivered the maamar beginning “Veshinantam Levanecha.” The Rebbe also began editing that maamar but did not finish it, and it was published afterward in an edited version. In other words, it was printed in recent years, and you can also find it in the new Melukat. The maamar is available now. The Rebbe only began editing it and did not finish; there are several corrections by the Rebbe at the beginning. “Veshinantam Levanecha” discusses the verse in the parsha, but later in the maamar it also explains the whole subject of 15 Av. In 5739 there was no maamar. There was a farbrengen, but no maamar. There was another hadran on Tractate Taanis; the Rebbe delivered another hadran on Tractate Taanis in 5739. It is a wonderful hadran in the revealed dimension of Torah, and the Rebbe’s explanation of Tractate Taanis there is fascinating. It was printed in volume 24, in the sicha for 15 Av. There are several explanations there, where the Rebbe explains the whole point: What does it mean when the Gemara says that one of the reasons for 15 Av is that they stopped cutting wood for the altar and would break the sickle, the cutting tool? What does it mean to break it? Why break it? And what about Tishrei? What is this whole matter about? And what is the connection in the first place? They stopped cutting wood, so they made a Yom Tov—what kind of Yom Tov is that? The Rebbe explained in an

20:21 Speaker 1 extraordinarily wonderful way how this expresses the whole theme of 15 Av as the rectification of Tisha B’Av, and how breaking the cutting tool breaks that which is the opposite of serving Hashem, the opposite of life. That expresses the whole point of rectification and Geulah: the destruction came about because of baseless hatred, and the Geulah comes about through love without cause. The Rebbe gave a wonderful explanation both according to the revealed dimension of Torah and according to Chassidus, and in terms of our avodah as well. That was in 5739; there was a farbrengen. The Rebbe held a farbrengen in 5740 too. If I’m not mistaken, in 5741 it fell on Shabbos, and the Rebbe held a farbrengen on Shabbos. The farbrengen in 5742 was very interesting and had to do with Argentina.

21:03 Speaker 2 Yes.

21:04 Speaker 1 In 5742, at the farbrengen on 15 Av, the Rebbe spoke about what happens in Argentina. It was a long farbrengen with many subjects, but among them the Rebbe raised this question: The Gemara and halachah say that on 15 Av we must increase our Torah study because the nights become longer. What happens in Argentina, where it’s the opposite? Here we’re at the end of winter, and the nights are beginning to get shorter, not longer. So must people in such places also increase their Torah study then? Or should we increase our Torah study on 15 Shvat instead? It’s not a simple question. Do we need to increase it now, or on 15 Shvat? The Rebbe said that it depends on how we conduct ourselves regarding Shemoneh Esrei, regarding “Vesein Tal Umatar.” If we ask for “Vesein Tal Umatar” differently from the rest of the world, then perhaps this too should be different. But if in the text of Shemoneh Esrei we follow the rest of the world, then regarding increasing Torah study we should also do as everyone else does and increase it on 15 Av. I think the Rebbe’s conclusion was that in Argentina they should increase Torah study both on 15 Av and on 15 Shvat. That’s our Rebbe giving us more work to do—a stringency: we must increase our study. Though there was more to it then, if I’m not mistaken. I haven’t looked at it now; I saw it many years ago. It needs checking, because the discussion continued. The Rebbe spoke about it on 15 Av and then continued later. I believe there was a farbrengen on Rosh Chodesh Elul 5742, and the Rebbe continued the discussion. He spoke at length about it. There was quite a novel point there. Since we’re discussing it, anyone who wants to study the subject will find it very interesting.

23:01 Speaker 1 Something very interesting happened then. From the lengthy explanation at the 15 Av farbrengen, it sounded as though the Rebbe thought that here we should not follow the practice in Eretz Yisroel, but that our Shemoneh Esrei should reflect the local season. I mean, you’re in winter and asking for things associated with summer, or you’re in summer and asking for things associated with winter. Prayer should correspond to the season, with each place following its own season. Just because it’s summer in Eretz Yisroel, should that determine what you ask for in your prayer? The Rebbe did not actually state a conclusion. But in the course of the lengthy explanation, including a responsum of the Rosh, the Rebbe discussed the matter at length according to the revealed dimension of Torah. It sounded as though, in the Rebbe’s view, the practice required examination and perhaps each place should follow its own season, rather than following where the majority of the Jewish people are. From what I heard—if I’m not mistaken; I don’t remember exactly—I once heard from him that after that farbrengen, people asked the Rebbe whether they should actually make changes. The Rebbe said to continue following the local custom; he had spoken only to stimulate thought. In practice, they should follow the local custom and not make changes. If the custom is to say it a certain way, they should continue doing so. That was then. The Rebbe spoke about this twice. He also spoke about it when the shluchim first went to Argentina, in 5740, if I’m not mistaken—or 5741. I think it was 5740, when the first group of student shluchim went to Argentina. The Rebbe spoke with them then. There was a yechidus, and the Rebbe spoke to the shluchim about this matter in connection with prayer as well: whether they should

24:53 Speaker 1 conduct themselves like the rest of the world or differently. It was a very interesting sicha. I think that then too, it sounded as though the Rebbe thought they should say it differently. They asked then as well, and the Rebbe again said to continue following the local custom. Just an interesting point. Incidentally, there was once a Jew in San Sebastián, a well-known mashpia named Rabbi Shalom Arozov[?]. He was a mashpia in San Sebastián, and I lived in his home. We had a connection. His wife came from Uruguay. She was born there, and she always wanted to return to Uruguay. She spoke Spanish. So when I became engaged, his wife very much wanted to travel here, to Argentina, because she had family here and so on. In short, she wanted to travel with her husband. I remember him saying that he couldn’t go. Why couldn’t he go? He said he didn’t know what to do in practice about saying “Vesein Tal Umatar.” Since he didn’t know the practical ruling, he said that if he could clarify the ruling and know what to do, he would be willing to go. As long as the ruling on how to say “Vesein Tal Umatar” was not clear to him, he would not travel. That was his reason. It wasn’t a joke; he meant it seriously. Anyone who knew him knew that he was a very spiritual Jew, not just an ordinary person. He was a person of very, very high standing in his observance of halachah and mitzvos. He was an exceptionally special Jew, truly G-d-fearing to an extraordinary degree in every respect. Let’s return to our subject. In 5743 there was a siyum on the Jerusalem Talmud. In 5743, the Rebbe was very, very involved in this... The Gerrer Rebbe, the Lev Simcha,

27:02 Speaker 1 At that time, the Lev Simcha launched a campaign to study the Yerushalmi. Gerer chassidim study the Yerushalmi to this day. That was when the daily page of Yerushalmi began. The Rebbe strongly encouraged the campaign. The Rebbe wrote letters and sent letters for their siyumim. The Rebbe was very supportive of it, and because of it, the Rebbe began making siyumim on the Yerushalmi and speaking about the Bavli and the Yerushalmi. Throughout that period, in 5743 and 5744, you can find several farbrengens in which the Rebbe resolves questions, connects the Bavli and Yerushalmi, and explains the differences between them. Boruch Hashem, that gave us several wonderful sichos of the Rebbe on the approach of the Yerushalmi. It was thanks to this initiative. So on 15 Av 5743, the Rebbe made a siyum on Yerushalmi Taanis and explained all the differences between the Bavli and the Yerushalmi, leading into the subject of 15 Av. That sicha was also published in an edited version and appears in Likkutei Sichos, volume 24. In 5744, there was a farbrengen too. In 5745, there was no farbrengen on 15 Av. It fell as it does this year, but in 5745 there was the affair of the sefarim. That was the beginning of the whole turmoil over the sefarim. The Rebbe was deeply distressed, and the Rebbe did not hold farbrengens during the Sefirah days. But the Rebbe did hold a farbrengen on Shabbos Nachamu, and it followed on from 15 Av. The one year I had the privilege of being with the Rebbe on 15 Av was 5746. Yes, boruch Hashem. We came back from camp on the eve of 15 Av, so I had the privilege of being with the Rebbe on 15 Av 5746. There was a farbrengen, and the Rebbe explained several matters connected with 15 Av. He spoke at length about the moon being at its fullest, and a great deal about Torah study.

29:01 Speaker 1 There was also “There were no Yomim Tovim for the Jewish people...” It was a farbrengen, really a 15 Av farbrengen. The crowd was very small. I remember it being a relatively small farbrengen, because it was the middle of the summer and most of the camps had not yet returned. And there is something interesting that happened at that farbrengen that I remember. Actually, there are two things I remember and want to tell you about. One is that in the middle of it, there was some kind of quarrel. Two people were fighting over a place, the usual sort of thing that happens when people push their way in. Suddenly, we saw the Rebbe’s face turn white, white, white—as white as chalk. The Rebbe looked over, and the expression on his face changed. It was frightening. The Rebbe motioned to one of them to get up and come over. You have to understand, all this happened... The Rebbe motioned for him to cross over the farbrengen table to this side, and the Rebbe moved the older men there to make room for him, until the matter was settled. So that there should not be a quarrel. The whole thing took two minutes, but it was terrifying. Just to see the Rebbe like that—you could see how deeply the existence of a dispute affected him. That is one thing I remember from the farbrengen. The second is that at the end, the Rebbe said they should continue the farbrengen the following night, holding another farbrengen as a continuation of that day’s. The Rebbe took the lekach and the water and gave them to Rabbi Dovid Raskin so that he could continue

30:54 Speaker 1 the farbrengen. Afterward, I remember a large meeting at 770. The bochurim who were there, older bochurim, and several rabbis said, “The Rebbe wanted us to hold a farbrengen. This is something small—we need to do something big.” They collected money and prepared a very large meal. The following night they made a tremendous stir, going all around Crown Heights with microphones and repeating the Rebbe’s words about holding another farbrengen. They announced that there would be a big farbrengen and prepared a meal. 770 was packed from one end to the other. People came from all over, from the whole area, and they held a farbrengen with a tremendous stir. That day they decided to establish the Committee for the Fulfillment of the Sacred Directives of the Rebbe shlita. It was a committee of older bochurim and several devoted members of Anash. They began making a great stir and organizing the large farbrengens at 770, and so on. That began on 15 Av 5746. In 5747, the Rebbe also held a farbrengen on 15 Av. It was the last time the Rebbe held a farbrengen on 15 Av, because afterward came 22 Shvat. But even though the Rebbe stopped holding weekday farbrengens after 22 Shvat, he still delivered sichos. In 5748, the Rebbe delivered a sicha. He also spoke about beginning, from 15 Av, to take stock of oneself in preparation for Elul. I remember that in 5748 the Rebbe also began speaking about the Vaad Hamosifim, the committee for making additions. I imagine some people do not even know what that is. Perhaps they should. On 15 Av 5748, the Rebbe introduced the idea that every shul should have a committee of three people, so that each person would take

32:46 Speaker 1 upon himself an addition—each time, an addition in something. It did not have to be an addition for life: some addition in study, in action, or something else. They were to collect all the additions, bring in notes describing them, and send the Rebbe a report of the notes every week or two. The Rebbe made a great stir about establishing the Vaad Hamosifim. He spoke about it at several farbrengens, and it continued for some time. Every institution had a Vaad Hamosifim. But afterward, as time went on, unfortunately it did not last very long. The proof is that we do not really see it today. Perhaps we need to renew it: study the sichos the Rebbe delivered then, and reestablish the Vaad Hamosifim. In 5749, too, the Rebbe made a great stir about 15 Av. Although the Rebbe did not hold a farbrengen, there were two sichos, one on the night of 15 Av and one after 15 Av. The Rebbe said to hold lively farbrengens and meals on a grand scale, so that [unclear]. But the Rebbe said to be careful not to drink more than a revi’is of mashke—the limit the Rebbe had set—not to violate that restriction. Even so, they should hold farbrengens with all the excitement, prepare a meal, and make a great stir. But they had to be careful, G-d forbid, not to exceed the limit with mashke. You could see that the Rebbe wanted it to happen. I remember that time. I was in Jerusalem then, and they held a very large farbrengen on the eve of 15 Av, as large as could be arranged in the summer. I do not remember what happened in 5750. In 5751, the last time, there was also a sicha. You can see it in the edited sicha that was published from 5751. The Rebbe speaks at length about 15 Av and explains its entire connection

34:33 Speaker 1 to Moshiach. He explains that on 15 Av we need to keep increasing, adding to our Torah study. The Rebbe spoke particularly about increasing the study of matters concerning Geulah and Moshiach. Since 15 Av follows Tisha B’Av and is connected with the time of the birth of Moshiach, there needs to be a still stronger awakening toward the Geulah. So the Rebbe asked that from 15 Av onward, there be an increase in Torah study in general, and particularly in the study of Geulah and Moshiach, to bring the Geulah of Moshiach Tzidkeinu closer and hasten it. Also on that 15 Av, the edited maamar beginning “Keitz Sam Lachoshech” was published, and it brought about a tremendous change. It is a profound maamar, one of the wonderful maamarim of the Rebbe’s teachings revealed at that time. And now we are waiting for the complete Geulah. May we merit this year to be together with the Rebbe on 15 Av, and to see, hear, and receive from the Rebbe himself. Especially since 15 Av is said to be the time of ascent after descent—may that not remain only in books, maamarim, and sichos. Enough; we have already had enough descent, one descent after another. We have sunk lower and lower, [unclear], in an unbounded descent. It is time for an ascent without bounds as well. May we merit, this 15 Av, to see that ascent with our physical eyes, [unclear] 15 Av [unclear] with the Rebbe at our head.

36:08 Speaker 3 Amen.