Educating Children for the Month of Shvat - Rabbi Yosef Avraham Pizam shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You are listening to the Lema’an Yishme’u podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Yud Shvat. Yud Shvat is the yahrzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe, our Rebbe’s Rebbe. And Yud Shvat is the day our Rebbe, the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, accepted the leadership. He is alive and enduring. His leadership began, in fact, on Yud Shvat, at around eight in the morning, when the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away. As it says, “The sun sets and the sun rises: before the sun of one tzaddik set, the sun of another tzaddik had already risen.” Clearly, the moment the Frierdiker Rebbe passed away—at least as it appeared to our physical eyes—our Rebbe became the Rebbe who would take his place, the leader of the entire generation. So Yud Shvat really has two aspects: the yahrzeit and the day the Rebbe accepted the leadership. With Hashem’s help, I’ll return to this later. Now, when we ask ourselves, as we do in this segment, what does this have to do with children, the Rebbe actually spelled out in precise detail the customs and what needs to be done in connection with Yud Shvat: the order of observances for the yahrzeit. On Rosh Chodesh Shvat 5711, the Rebbe issued a letter about this. So let’s go through it. First, after Maariv on the eve of Yud Shvat, one of those present should recite from memory part of the maamar for the day of the passing, beginning “Basi Legani.” If no one can recite it from memory, they should study it from the text. The same should be done after the morning prayers, completing it after Minchah. And the custom in all Chabad institutions—Talmud Torahs, schools and yeshivos—is to begin, thirty days before Yud Shvat, campaigns for memorizing lines from the maamar “Basi Legani” of 5710, from the maamar “Basi Legani” of 5711, when the Rebbe accepted the leadership, and from the maamarim relevant to that year, as we’ll explain in a moment. Every year. Our Rebbe’s custom was to explain, in a maamar of Chassidus delivered

03:06 Speaker 2 on Yud Shvat, one of the twenty chapters of the series “Basi Legani,” in order. When the first cycle ended, the Rebbe began explaining “Basi Legani” again from the beginning. Likewise, many have adopted the custom of studying each year the corresponding chapter of the twenty chapters of “Basi Legani” 5710 and the maamarim that follow it, as well as the maamarim the Rebbe delivered on that chapter. When twenty years are completed, the cycle begins again. And we do the same with the children. We tell them: Let’s learn some of the content. We prepare a particular section, a particular passage, a central point, for them. Let’s learn a few lines or a chapter from the maamar relevant to that year, from the chapter of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s maamar that relates to that year, and from the maamarim the Rebbe said on that chapter. Let’s learn from those too. This is relevant to every age, each at its own level. Even in kindergartens, they can learn a line or two. There are also pictures illustrating the seven tzaddikim, the seven generations who brought the Shechinah down until the giving of the Torah, and the seven generations of our Rebbeim, the seven tzaddikim, the seven Rebbeim who bring the Shechinah down here, culminating in the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, who will redeem us and bring the Shechinah down and reveal it in its fullest perfection, with the building of the third Beis Hamikdash and everything that follows. Very soon, amen. In the morning before davening, the Rebbe says, each person should study a chapter of Tanya on their own, and after the maamar following Minchah, they should also study a chapter of Tanya. Over the course of the twenty-four hours, they should study the chapters of Mishnayos corresponding to the letters of the name Yosef Yitzchak: yud, vav, samech, pei; yud, tzaddik, ches, kuf—chapters of Mishnayos beginning with the letters of his holy name. During those twenty-four hours, they should hold a farbrengen.

05:29 Speaker 2 Since this farbrengen is connected with the yahrzeit, we open it with a Torah thought relating to the yahrzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe says to set aside a time during those twenty-four hours to explain to the members of one’s household, may they live, about the Frierdiker Rebbe, of blessed memory, and the work he carried out throughout his life. And “members of one’s household” certainly means men, women and children. During those twenty-four hours, those suited to it should visit the city’s shuls and study halls and share a teaching or saying from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Torah. They should explain his love for every Jew, and inform people about and explain his directive to say Tehillim and study Chumash with Rashi’s commentary, and, where appropriate, to study Tanya according to the division the Frierdiker Rebbe made for the days of the year. If possible, all this should be done through a farbrengen at the place they visit. Also during those twenty-four hours, those suited to it should visit places where religious youth gather. Here the Rebbe is speaking explicitly about children, religious youth. And, as far as possible, they should also make an effort, in peaceful ways, to visit places where youth who are not yet religious gather. Ask permission, find a way, and get there. Explain to them the special affection the Frierdiker Rebbe always showed them, what he asked of them, and the hope and confidence he placed in them that they would ultimately fulfill their role. And what is the role of all Jewish children? To uphold Yiddishkeit and spread Torah with all the energy, warmth and vitality that are the special qualities of youth. The Rebbe adds: Of course, if local conditions allow, all these activities should continue in the days after Yud Shvat, particularly on the following holy Shabbos. As for adults, they should try to receive an aliyah on the Shabbos before Yud Shvat, or on the Shabbos on which Yud Shvat falls. That’s regarding Yud Shvat. The instructions are very detailed. Our Rebbe, the Rebbe,

07:41 Speaker 2 the leader of our generation, our righteous Moshiach, has already written out virtually everything for us. But in the Dvar Malchus sichos of 5752, the Rebbe also began speaking about the date of 11 Shvat. And over the last several decades, a situation has developed where, just as we speak of 19–20 Kislev, not only 19 Kislev, we speak of Yud–Yud Alef Shvat: two days. Yud Alef Shvat is a day entirely devoted to our Rebbe, a day entirely devoted to the seventh generation. In the Rebbe’s words: “Within the generation of the leader of our generation itself,” the Rebbe says, “there are several stages and periods, and in general, three stages. The tenth day of the eleventh month, Yud Shvat 5710, marked the end of the period of the work of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, during his lifetime in this world. Second, the following day, the eleventh day—11 Shvat, the eleventh month counting from Nissan.” That, the Rebbe says, was the first full day after the passing. And especially in 5711—eleven in the eleventh—when a new period began and the luminaries of the seventh generation from the Alter Rebbe, or the ninth generation from the Baal Shem Tov, were set in place. This is what we call the leadership as it became openly manifest. Although we understand that the Rebbe’s leadership began the very second the Frierdiker Rebbe ascended on high, the leadership became openly manifest on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 5711. In other words, the Rebbe himself speaks about this great, holy and joyous day. On Yud Alef Shvat, the luminaries of the seventh generation were openly set in place. It was the first full day after the passing of the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe’s Rebbe. So what do we do on Yud Alef Shvat? Certainly, both on Yud Shvat and on Yud Alef Shvat, we focus, on the one hand, on the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe’s Rebbe, and, on the other hand, especially on matters particular to our Rebbe: his life story, his books, his niggunim, his instructions, his letters, and so on and so forth. All these things

10:30 Speaker 2 These are special matters in which we need to strengthen ourselves—in learning about them, knowing them, and experiencing them. So it is right to hold a farbrengen and gatherings of Tzivos Hashem on 11 Shvat as well, to strengthen our connection to the Rebbe by carrying out his directives. Above all, we must fulfill the Rebbe’s mission. What does the Rebbe say that mission is? What is the Rebbe’s mission? To bring the true and complete Geulah in actual reality. That is what we are enlisted for. “Do everything in your power” so that each of us will continually add to all the good things that hasten the Geulah, so that the mission of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, will be fulfilled completely, revealed completely, and immediately—literally, literally, literally. We have an important part to play in enlisting ourselves, our children, and our students in this mission. 22 Shvat is the day of the passing, the hilula, of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. May her merit protect us. First of all, we should know when it happened: 22 Shvat 5748. There are books about the Chabad Rebbetzins, or about Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, that we can read to learn about her and who she was. She devoted her whole self to the success of the Rebbe’s mission. We have to understand—and mothers will understand this better—what it means for a woman to give up having her husband at home so that he can devote himself entirely to the chassidim all day long, including Shabbos and Yom Tov, investing all his strength, energy, and sense of responsibility. In a way, everything the chassidim have is thanks to her, as Rabbi Akiva said of his wife Rachel: “What is mine and yours is hers.” The Rebbe was able to give his whole self to the chassidim thanks to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. That already says everything. Beyond that, the Rebbe himself said, “Only Hakadosh Boruch Hu knows her greatness.” Once, on a date connected with the Rebbetzin—I think it was their wedding anniversary, it seems to me—they brought

13:29 Speaker 2 a list of names for blessings. They handed it to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said, “Bring it to the Rebbetzin; she can give blessings too.” That already says everything. The Rebbe regarded Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka as the daughter of the Rebbe—the daughter of the Frierdiker Rebbe. So that is just a glimpse, as they say, to give some sense of it in a way that even children can understand. There are directives from the Rebbe concerning 22 Shvat. First of all, the Rebbe said to establish institutions in her name. They should ask the rabbis about choosing the name—each community its own rabbi—and name the institution accordingly. Also, of course, since Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka had no biological children, every chossid, of any age, is like a child of the Rebbetzin and the Rebbe. Students are called children. So each person understands the responsibility: on the day of a passing, a yahrzeit, one should study the Mishnah chapters corresponding to the letters of the name. In our case, Chaya Mushka—the letters of her name. Mishnah chapters that begin with those letters. If that is too much for children, they can do part of it. Another thing: this is an idea I introduced in our educational institutions. On a yahrzeit, people recite the verses in Tehillim corresponding to the letters of the deceased person’s name, whether a man or a woman, and add the verses spelling “neshama.” These are the lettered verses of Psalm 119. I think that is a good thing. Where studying Mishnah is difficult—perhaps it is harder for the girls, for example—fine, let them say the Tehillim. The same goes for the boys; each according to what suits them. Saying Tehillim is much easier, and it is an important practice that Jews observe on a yahrzeit. When someone goes to the resting place of a deceased man or woman, that is what they do. So why not say the Tehillim?

16:04 Speaker 2 That too is important and good. The Rebbe also points out the significance of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s name in connection with Moshiach: its letters include the letters of “Moshiach.” The connection is understandable. She was the daughter of the leader of the sixth generation, the Moshiach of his generation, the Frierdiker Rebbe, and the wife of our Rebbe, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. That is why the letters of Chaya Mushka include those of Moshiach. It is also worth noting that Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka was descended from Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, and also from Reb Nochum of Chernobyl, Reb Mottel of Chernobyl, and Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkass. They were all very great tzaddikim. The Alter Rebbe himself arranged the match for the Mitteler Rebbe’s daughter to marry the son of Reb Mottel of Chernobyl—the tzaddik Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkass. They were extraordinary tzaddikim, and this too is connected with Moshiach. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev was known for finding merit in the Jewish people, for speaking in their favor. The Rebbe says that simply mentioning the name Berditchev arouses merit for Jews, because Rabbi Levi Yitzchak would speak in favor of the Jewish people. And Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka would speak in favor of the Temimim and the chassidim, and so on. Then there are the tzaddikim of Chernobyl. After all, the Alter Rebbe arranged this match. He came to Reb Nochum of Chernobyl and said to him, “I want to arrange a match with you.” Why? Because the Maggid of Mezritch had said that Moshiach would come either from the descendants of his oldest student, Reb Nochum of Chernobyl, or from the descendants of his youngest student, the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch. From that match ultimately came the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Moshiach of his generation, and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. She connects the Rebbe to the Frierdiker Rebbe and to this entire lineage. The Alter Rebbe arranged the match for Moshiach to be born from it, and a son-in-law is like a son. And the Rebbe said, “His soul is within me.”

18:29 Speaker 2 So the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach. All of this is alluded to when the Rebbe says that the letters of “Moshiach” are in “Chaya Mushka.” It is important, then, to mark this day with a farbrengen, good resolutions, donations to institutions named for Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and good deeds that hasten the Geulah, and to learn from the Rebbetzin’s ways: modesty, humility, and self-effacement before the Rebbe. There is also the matter of faith in Divine providence, as in the well-known story. Once she traveled through an area she did not usually pass through and saw a family of immigrants from Russia—what we would call olim in Israel, though they are not called that there—who had been evicted from their home. She asked her driver to find out what had happened. He told her that they were short a certain sum of money, and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka paid it all with a single check. Those Jews were able to return to their home. He asked her, “What made you feel you had to do that?” She said, “My father taught me what Divine providence is. That is how he raised us. I understood that if we took a different route from the one we take every day and saw this, it was a sign that it was connected to me and that I had to take care of it.” Let us learn that from her too. And above all, may we merit, by increasing our deeds and our service, to see the fulfillment of the promise: the building of the third Beis Hamikdash in its place on the Temple Mount. May the third Beis Hamikdash be built in the triangle, and may we all dance together straight into the true and complete Geulah, immediately, right now.