Educating Children for the 20th of Av - Rabbi Yosef Avraham Pizam shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of the Chabad Halacha Institute.

00:09 Speaker 2 20 Menachem Av. What happened on 20 Menachem Av? It is the yahrzeit of the esteemed... the great Torah scholar, chossid and Kabbalist, the Rebbe’s father, Rabbi Reb Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. He was the rabbi of what was then called Yekaterinoslav, a regional center, and he was the one who stepped in—who saw to it that all the chassidim in Russia were guided at that time. He himself was descended from our Rebbeim, whose lineage goes back to David, son of Yishai, of the House of David. After the Frierdiker Rebbe left Russia, the last leader from the lineage of our Rebbeim to guide matters there with self-sacrifice was Rabbi Reb Levi Yitzchak. Of course, the authorities caught on very quickly, fought him and arrested him. He was moved from one detention center to another five times—through five prisons. They tortured him, and eventually he was exiled to the town of Chiili in Kazakhstan. Toward the end of his life, when he had supposedly served his sentence, it was agreed that he could go to Alma-Ata, the capital of Kazakhstan. There, the community gave him opportunities and better conditions. He was among chassidim, and there too he acted as a rabbi. But there he developed a very serious illness—that dreaded illness. After arriving in Alma-Ata, seemingly at a place of rest and security, where his surroundings were relatively comfortable, the illness flared up with renewed force, may Hashem have mercy. The doctors treating him could find no cure to save him. His condition worsened day by day. In his final days he was extremely weak. An eyewitness recounts: “On Tuesday night, I and one other person had the privilege of standing by Reb Levik’s bedside all night and attending to him. His lips moved constantly, but his voice could not be heard. Suddenly he stirred, opened his eyes and asked for water to wash his hands. When they brought him the water, he said, ‘One must, one must get across to the other side.’ It was time to prepare to pass over to the other side.” Those were

03:13 Speaker 2 his last words. The next day, Wednesday, the twentieth of Menachem Av, his condition worsened, and he suffered terrible pain. His lips never stopped moving. One of those present listened and heard Reb Levik saying in a melody, “Ay, ‘and Your footsteps were not known.’ Ay, the footsteps of Moshiach, the footsteps of Moshiach.” It says in Tehillim, “and Your footsteps were not known,” and he was saying that we are in the footsteps of Moshiach, the footsteps of Moshiach. [unclear] Toward evening his condition deteriorated, and his soul departed his pure body and ascended to the heavens. His funeral was modest. In those days it was dangerous to pay one’s last respects to a man—to a holy man, a man of Torah and mitzvos, a man who represented Judaism with pride. It was dangerous then, yet Jews came and did so anyway. And notice how the exile continued. Reb Levik, the holy Torah scholar and Kabbalist—one could easily call him a G-dly Kabbalist as well—was buried in a Muslim cemetery, a cemetery that was not Jewish. Jews were buried there, with a fence around their graves. In the case of Reb Levik, the Rebbe’s father, the community bought six graves so that a non-Jew would not be buried next to him, and enclosed the plot with an iron fence. But when my friends and I went there a few years ago, as part of a program organized by the Oholei Yosef Yitzchak network for principals and vice principals, what we saw was startling. You arrive at a cemetery and they tell you, “Well, go on ahead.” You say, “But this is a non-Jewish cemetery. What do you mean, go on ahead?” “No, inside. Go straight along the road inside, and eventually you’ll find the gravesite of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak.” They built a gravesite there, yes, a proper place, a gravesite like other gravesites. But it was horrifying to discover that he is still in a non-Jewish cemetery. Such a holy man... he is there with

06:06 Speaker 2 the Jews until our righteous Moshiach comes and redeems us. When we stood at the gravesite, [unclear] they said, “Holy Reb Levik, pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu that your son, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, will finally be revealed as Melech HaMoshiach before the eyes of all Israel and bring the true and complete Geulah, together with all the Jews in exile.” 20 Menachem Av. 20 Menachem Av brings us to good resolutions—first of all, to study the teachings of the one whose yahrzeit it is, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. His wonderful works on Kabbalah are written concisely, but they can be studied. True, we’re talking about children, but there are adapted materials for children too. I recommend reading the book Lelo Mora. It’s a two-volume book about the entire story of the arrest and Geulah, and the extraordinary life of the holy Rabbi Reb Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, a great Torah scholar, Kabbalist and man of self-sacrifice. It is not for nothing that he merited to be the father of the greatest Rebbe of all, the Rebbe who is Melech HaMoshiach. Surely he merited this through his self-sacrifice and his sublime, G-dly holiness. Reb Levik. So we can read about him in the Toldos Levi Yitzchak books. We can read about it in the two volumes of Lelo Mora, which tell the story in a way that is very suitable and captivating for children—and not only for children. There we will discover wonderful things about this holy tzaddik and strengthen our commitment to studying his teachings every week. Certainly for 20 Menachem Av there are adapted pieces that even children can understand: short insights, sweet and uplifting ideas. It’s very, very important. In recent years we’ve seen that, for many years, they would hold bar mitzvah celebrations for the children of fallen Israeli soldiers in Kfar Chabad. In recent years, when they completed the general Sifrei Torah, they held the celebrations in Jerusalem, in the Old City and at the Western Wall—the completions of the general Sifrei Torah for children.

08:37 Speaker 2 In short, we need to learn the life stories of all our Rebbeim, the life story of our Rebbe and of our Rebbe’s father, and do things to elevate his holy and exalted soul.