The Custom of a King - Rosh Hashanah - Rabbi Tuvia Zilberstrom shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 The month of Elul—the month when we prepare for the coming new year and wish one another a good inscription and sealing. These are the days when a chossid makes his way to the Rebbe. Guests who came to the Rebbe in the years I was there would ask us, “Give us some room. You’re here near the Rebbe all year and you get to see him. We come from Israel and pay a lot of money. You’re here all year—let us see the Rebbe up close.” We answered them: the Rebbe of Tishrei is not the Rebbe of the rest of the year. You could see it in the Rebbe and in the whole atmosphere. In Tishrei, the King is in the field, among the chassidim—or, more accurately, he lifts all the chassidim up to him. It showed even in ordinary physical habits: the times for eating, drinking and sleeping were not like the rest of the year. The Rebbe swept everyone along, raising them several handbreadths closer to him, higher spiritually. These are called the Days of Awe. In the Rebbe’s presence, every detail was awe-inspiring. Awe upon awe—those were the Days of Awe. Let’s try, as much as we can, to enter into those great moments in the Rebbe’s presence, to tell about them and relive them. We’ll begin with the first day of the year, Rosh Hashanah, starting with Selichos on Erev Rosh Hashanah. During the days of Selichos, even if davening was at nine-thirty, Selichos was always said at seven in the morning. The Rebbe came for Selichos. They finished the Selichos of Erev Rosh Hashanah and then prepared for Shacharis. From 5748 onward, after the passing of the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe continued to daven Shacharis with the congregation every day. So we saw the Rebbe every day wearing a tallis and tefillin. Until then, we saw the Rebbe wearing a tallis and tefillin only a few days a year: on the yahrtzeits of his father and mother, or on Yud Shvat. The other days were

02:41 Speaker 2 Erev Rosh Hashanah and Erev Yom Kippur, when the Rebbe would daven Shacharis with the congregation and come down wearing a tallis and tefillin. If we wanted to observe some detail of the Rebbe’s practice with tefillin, we had to remember it from one occasion to the next, with days and days in between. So on Erev Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe would come down wearing a tallis and tefillin and daven with the congregation. After davening came the procedure of Hataras Nedarim, the annulment of vows. They arranged for the rabbis to sit near the Rebbe. Toward the end of davening, two benches were set out, and a minyan or more of rabbis and respected members of the community would sit in an L-shape. The Rebbe would turn toward them, recite the Hataras Nedarim text, and then wish the rabbis a good inscription and sealing for a good and sweet year. After the Rebbe left the shul, there was preparation throughout the shul, and people—Anash—prepared themselves too. On a day like this, they could approach the Rebbe; it was one of the few days when that was possible. This was before the dollar distribution, when anyone who had something to ask could approach the Rebbe on a Sunday if he wished. Back then, people approached the Rebbe only a few times a year. After Yom Tov, when the Rebbe distributed kos shel bracha, that was after Rosh Hashanah, Simchas Torah, Pesach and Shavuos. The other occasion was the receiving of panim. People never handed the Rebbe a letter directly; it went only through the secretariat. Once a year, they could hand the Rebbe a pan directly. Of course, there was tremendous excitement at a chossid’s being able to approach the Rebbe himself and hand over his pan. The second occasion was Erev Yom Kippur, when one could approach the Rebbe to receive a piece of lekach cake. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe would wish each person who approached a good inscription and sealing, and on Erev Yom Kippur, a good and sweet year. Sometimes he would combine the blessings. So that was

04:58 Speaker 2 the preparation: the long line of people approaching on Erev Rosh Hashanah. In later years, as the crowd grew, the Rebbe began receiving panim several days before Rosh Hashanah. Every head of a household and every bochur went through. I remember one rabbi whose son came with him. When he reached the Rebbe to give him his pan, the Rebbe asked, “How old is the boy?” He said, “Twelve and a bit.” The Rebbe said, “If so, he should go and write his own pan.” I remember that. Even today, each head of a family writes a pan, but a child of twelve or older—and even younger—can write his own pan before the new year to receive the Rebbe’s blessing for the new year. The Rebbe would stand for hours on end at the doorway of his room, taking the letters. At first, he held as many as would fit on his palm. As it went on, the letters would pile up as far as his arm. Then the Rebbe would put them in his room and return to the doorway to receive the panim from everyone. I left out something about Erev Rosh Hashanah: everyone would hand in an individual pan, and there was also a collective pan, signed by the elder chassidim and respected elders of the community. They would go in to the Rebbe and give him the collective pan on behalf of all the Jewish people and all the chassidim. The Rebbe would also give a special general blessing for the Jewish people. It was recorded and written down, and that was another occasion in its own right. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, people hurried to give the Rebbe their panim. Then, as it says in halacha, they would travel to the Ohel on Erev Rosh Hashanah. This was the one time in the year. The Rebbe regularly went twice a month, on Erev Rosh Chodesh and on the fifteenth of the month, as well as on other special days. But he always went alone; no one else was there. The one occasion when people were there together with

07:09 Speaker 2 the Rebbe was Erev Rosh Hashanah. The Rebbe would take panim—not all of them, of course. He took whichever ones came into his hands to bring with him to the Ohel, and carried out his holy service there, as is well known. He returned very close to the start of Yom Tov. But there was one thing he was particular about: he would always go home. The Rebbe explained in one of his sichos that our Rebbeim were particular to enter the house, go into the Rebbetzin’s room and wish her a good and sweet year. He explained, according to halacha and Kabbalah, why that is the custom. That, in general, was the activity of Erev Rosh Hashanah. In the shul, preparations for Rosh Hashanah began. The special occasions unique to Rosh Hashanah included the shofar-blowing and the arrival of the many guests. Usually, the tiered standing platforms in the shul were used only at farbrengens. On all four sides of the farbrengen, apart from those sitting down and the older people, people stood around on those platforms. But there was also the shofar-blowing, on the bimah and all—that was one thing. The other was watching the Rebbe carry out his holy service in his place in the southeast corner, where all our Rebbeim stood. The crowd grew, and so did the danger to life—literally. There were always oxygen tanks in the shul, and there wasn’t a davening when they weren’t needed. People pleaded with the Rebbe until, in 5734, he agreed for the first time to stand on a platform in the shul. That was mesiras nefesh. He knew that throughout davening everyone would be looking at him, that he would be standing before everyone’s eyes. But they told the Rebbe it was simply a matter of saving lives, and he agreed, in 5734. When the Rebbe came in on Shabbos Bereishis, they tried to leave the platform in place. The Rebbe said that if it was there one more time, he would no longer come into the shul. So the platform was there only during Tishrei, until

09:35 Speaker 2 After Simchas Torah, from Shabbos Bereishis onward, there was no platform for the rest of the year. The Rebbe stood down below, on the same level as the congregation. It was only from 5749 that they began leaving the platform in place all year. So 5734 was the first year they set up a platform. And what was it made of? Three heavy tables, sturdy enough for the Rebbe to stand on. During the year, they stood near the farbrengen platform, which was larger and wider. That was how things stood on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5735. The gabbai asked me, “Come help me for a moment.” I asked why. He said, “We need to bring the farbrengen tables together and make a platform for the Rebbe.” I said, “Gladly.” What a privilege for me, in my first Tishrei after coming with the 5734 group. We took one table, a smaller table so the stairs could fit at its end—they too were part of the farbrengen platform—and another table. So there were three tables, with the stairs fitted into the smaller one, and on top was the Rebbe’s small rug, which he stood on during davening. I asked the gabbai, “This is the platform our Rebbe is going to stand on? Three tables? A lot of l’chaim was probably spilled on them.” He said, “That’s what we have.” I told him, “It isn’t dignified.” He said, “Do whatever you want.” So I had the gabbai’s permission to do what I wanted. The first thing was to put trim around the tables so it would look like a platform, not just tables standing there. It was quite a job, and, baruch Hashem, everyone was busy arranging a place for himself, with crates and a pyramid to stand on for Rosh Hashanah. They weren’t all to blame for my wanting to do this, so it fell to me. I found the boards and worked out how to make the platform. First, it had trim all around it

11:58 Speaker 2 so it would look like a platform, but on top there was only that little rug over three tables. What could we do? Where could we get a carpet? Hakadosh Boruch Hu put an idea into my head: a new carpet store had opened on Kingston Avenue. I went in. He had opened it only a month earlier. I said, “I need a room-sized carpet.” “What are the measurements?” I gave him the measurements. I could choose a color, so I chose a royal-looking burgundy, close to the color of the Rebbe’s chair. He asked me, “And who’s paying?” I didn’t look like anything more than a penniless yeshivah bochur. I told the store owner, “You are.” He looked at me. I said, “Look, you only opened your store two months ago. You need a bracha for your carpet business. The Rebbe will daven on it throughout Tishrei and bless you, and in the years to come as well.” That was a bit much for him to take in. He said, “Come back in an hour.” I waited and came back an hour later. Out of the goodness of his heart, he said, “I’ll give you the carpet for the Rebbe, and I’ll also add gold trim, fit for a king, so he’ll have a beautiful platform”—square gold trim where the carpet met the tables. I worked hard. Not everyone has to be a carpenter, but it was hard: working alone, without an electric saw, and having to cut the metal trim too. I managed somehow, until I finally sat down, exhausted. A bochur came over to me. He spoke neither Hebrew nor Yiddish, and I could barely understand his English. He said, “Can I do something too?” I was so pleased that another bochur wanted to help me. I asked, “Do you know a little carpentry?” He said no. I asked, “Then what?” He said, “I want the hammer for just a moment, so I’ll have the privilege of driving one nail into the Rebbe’s platform.” If

14:16 Speaker 2 until then I had felt that I was building something, at that moment he inspired me with something more spiritual, something higher. It gave me the strength to carry on almost until Yom Tov began. I had no place to stand for the shofar blowing or for davening, but the Rebbe had a beautiful, dignified platform. It has remained to this day, with the changes that have been made. Baruch Hashem. On the night of Rosh Hashanah, when the Rebbe entered, the shul was packed—more than packed. Yom Tov began with Avinu Malkeinu: the Alter Rebbe’s melody for Avinu Malkeinu was sung three times, before each tefillah—before Maariv, before Shacharis and before Minchah. In later years, the Rebbe said that on Shabbos, when Avinu Malkeinu is not said, it should not be sung either. But the opening of Yom Tov, the opening of the Yamim Noraim, was with that singing, with kabbolas ol: “Our Father, our King, we have no king but You.” After Maariv, the Rebbe would wish each person he passed, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” People did not stand in line; he would say it as he left the shul. At farbrengens, or in Rosh Hashanah sichos in other years, he would say it publicly. But here, as he passed, he said to each person, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” The next morning, Shacharis again began, as I said, with the singing of Avinu Malkeinu, at the regular time of ten o’clock, the time for davening on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Every Shabbos, the Rebbe entered the shul with his regular Siddur Torah Or—as he always did, every day of the year. In the morning he would also bring a Chumash for the Torah reading. On Yom Tov, the Torah reading is included in Siddur Torah Or, so he would come in with only the siddur. On Rosh Hashanah, he came in with several siddurim: Siddur Torah Or, the siddur of Rabbi Shabsai of Rashkov, and sometimes

16:40 Speaker 2 other siddurim as well. These were siddurim with the kavanos of the Arizal. The Rebbe would bring them in for davening and place them on his lectern. But on Rosh Hashanah the Rebbe came in carrying several other things too. In his other hand he held the shofars. He brought in a large cloth with the shofars inside it. Behind him, the secretaries accompanied him with bundles of panim, written requests for blessings, which the Rebbe had wrapped up. There was always the same number: three and a half bundles. That was how it was every year. They were placed on a table beside the Rebbe. A special table was set up next to his lectern, and the panim remained there during davening. After Shacharis came the Torah reading. Two Sifrei Torah were taken out, one for the reading and one for Maftir. As usual, the Rebbe was called up for shishi and Maftir. When he went up for Maftir, he of course took his siddur for the haftorah and the shofars with him, and the panim were brought along too. But the bundles were not on the bimah while he recited the haftorah; they were brought up only afterward. As for the shofar blowing: when the Rebbe recited the haftorah during the rest of the year, you heard the words of the prophets. But on Rosh Hashanah it was different. It was a special haftorah, the haftorah of Chana, with all its details. As much as the Rebbe tried to hold back and not show it, the haftorah of Chana was always accompanied by weeping and a special arousal. It was already an awe-inspiring moment before the shofar blowing that followed Maftir. During Maftir, there were still people standing on the bimah—perhaps the person who had been called up for shevi’i, or someone else. But of course, once the haftorah ended, there was no break,

19:10 Speaker 2 The tekios came immediately afterward. So everyone came down from the bimah and placed the bundles of panim on it. Once they had done that, the Rebbe took the bundles and arranged them in his own particular order, always side by side, one below the other. The Rebbe arranged them himself. You could see a particular order even in how he placed those bundles. Afterward, he arranged them and put the bundle of shofars in front of him. The bundles were farther forward, with the shofars, of course, directly before him. That was when the preparations for blowing the shofar began. Besides the fact that the Rebbe was the one who blew the shofar—which did not begin right at the start of his nesius—our Rebbeim used to blow the shofar. In the Frierdiker Rebbe’s later years, it was difficult for him to blow, so the Rebbe would prompt the person blowing. In keeping with our custom, he did not prompt him aloud; he pointed in the siddur with his finger to tekiah, shevarim, and so on. At the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius, too, the Rebbe pointed with his finger for the one blowing, who was Rabbi Tannenbaum. They asked the Rebbe to do more than that. At first he agreed to say the pesukim, and no more. Later he agreed to say the berachah, and no more, until Rabbi Tannenbaum put the shofar in his hand. Then the Rebbe took the shofar and began blowing it as well, and he blew it every year. Rabbi Tannenbaum once told me that when the Rebbe was prompting him by pointing with his finger, he would not move his finger from shevarim until he... He tried again, and again, and again, until he saw how particular the Rebbe was about the shevarim, as we’ll discuss shortly, that they should be sounded with an additional note. But I’m getting ahead of myself, because we were talking about the preparations. So, the Rebbe’s preparations for blowing the shofar, the scene when the Rebbe blew the shofar, and the recitation of the pesukim and the berachos. As I said, the Rebbe came in not with a bag, but with a cloth wrapped around all the shofars.

21:41 Speaker 2 Every, every, every item had a role in blowing the shofar. First of all, there was a large silk cloth wrapped around all the shofars. When the Rebbe came to blow the shofar, the first thing he did was take that silk cloth I’m talking about. He brought one on both the first day and the second day—two different cloths. We’ll talk about that later. First he put the silk cloth aside. He spread out several other cloths. I brought along some cloths that I also use when blowing the shofar, because I was privileged to receive several of them. The cloth we see here comes from the Rebbe’s shtender, at which the Rebbe davened for several years. The top of the Rebbe’s shtender is velvet, and this is the lining. This is what I received: he took the lining, and this is half of it. Where is the other half? The other half is here. The other half is here, and it was made into a case for the shofars, while this was made into a cloth to cover the shofars. And I, too... On this cloth you can also see two letters embroidered here, because it came from the fringe on the Rebbe’s shtender. The covering had fringe like this, and when pieces fell off, they went to the people who received them. This cloth also has some around its edge. When it was sewn, it was sewn with red thread, and later I’ll explain why it was sewn with red thread. So the Rebbe would take one cloth, and this is one cloth, and this is a second cloth that the Rebbe also used at farbrengens. We’ll talk about that afterward. It covered the challahs or the cakes at the Rebbe’s farbrengen. So these are cloths that I... Why do I use the Rebbe’s cloths when blowing the shofar? Because that is also what the Rebbe did when blowing the shofar. That is, the Rebbe would spread a white cloth

24:18 Speaker 2 over the bimah, and over the white cloth he would spread another cloth. The second cloth is called “the red cloth” among chassidim, but it was not red. I brought an example here. It was a white cloth with red dots. It is called the red cloth. When did the Rebbe use this cloth? Twice. He used it on Rosh Hashanah for the tekios, and he used it once more on Yom Kippur. The Rebbe wore it around his neck throughout Yom Kippur. There are photographs of the Rebbe on the night after Yom Kippur, and you can see it there: when the Rebbe held his gartel with his hand, that same cloth peeked out—a white cloth with red dots, as I said. You can see it up close. What is this red cloth? Over the years, I was privileged to have different people as chavrusas. One of them was the Rashag, the Rebbe’s brother-in-law and the Frierdiker Rebbe’s son-in-law, and I tried to ask him whatever questions only he could answer. He told me that the cloth I call the red one had been inherited by the Frierdiker Rebbe from his father, the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe Rashab held these cloths while delivering a maamar. It is known among chassidim that when the Rebbe says a maamar and speaks about lofty levels and spiritual worlds, he is there. He is not only speaking about them; he is there as well, and he needs something to hold on to in the physical world to remain connected to us, to our lowly world too. And that was the Rebbe’s practice at every farbrengen: before delivering the maamar, the Rebbe had a special cloth that he would hold during it. How do I know it was a special cloth? Because I was at farbrengens. The Rebbe kept a handkerchief in his pocket and used it to wipe his face and the like. But when it was time for the maamar, the Rebbe would take a special handkerchief for the maamar out of his trouser pocket. This was even more apparent when, on one occasion, the Rebbe called

26:40 Speaker 2 Rabbi Groner over before the maamar, gave him the key to his room, and told him to bring the handkerchief for the maamar that was in his room. So the Rebbe did hold a special handkerchief while delivering a maamar. The Rebbe Rashab held those cloths while delivering maamarim. The Rashag, the older brother-in-law, had one cloth, while the cloth the Rebbe had was more worn—more maamarim had been delivered while holding it. The Rebbe placed it on the cloth beneath the shofars. So, after laying down one white cloth, the Rebbe would take what I call the red cloth and place it like this. Then he would fold the edge of the lower cloth over the red cloth, as I call it, at all four corners. Why? There is no explanation. But it also appears in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Sifrei Hasichos that this was the Rebbe Rashab’s practice. On top of that, the Rebbe placed the three shofars he had. He blew one of them, but he had three shofars. He covered them with another white cloth, and then took the same silk cloth in which he had brought all the shofars and wrapped it around the whole arrangement. What were these cloths used for? As I said, this was a cloth of the Rebbe Rashab, and the Rebbe also wore it on Yom Kippur. But later we’ll see that the Rebbe used this silk cloth as well. The Rebbe covered the shofar and... Again, according to halachah, the shofars must be covered during the preparations for blowing and while the berachah over the shofar is said. This is also stated in halachah, with reasons connected to the ram, so the shofar must be covered. Once the Rebbe had covered the... finished preparing the shofars—what I’ve described was on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. On the first day the order was not exactly the same, though there was a certain order then too, and so

28:54 Speaker 2 It also says in the sichos that the main part of this avodah, with all these details, took place on the second day. There was an order to things on the first day too, but not to the same extent, not with every last detail. There were bits here and there, but not all the details and finer points. The Rebbe finished his preparations for the shofar. He took the bundles of panim that lay before him, pulled his tallis over himself, and threw himself into those pidyonos, into the requests of the Jewish people. At the recitation of the—at the general pan: as I mentioned, on Erev Rosh Hashanah each person would submit a pan. In addition, there was a general pan signed by the elder chassidim, the elders of the community. They would go in to the Rebbe and give him that general pan on behalf of the entire Jewish people and all the chassidim. The Rebbe would also give a special, general blessing for the Jewish people; it was recorded and written down. That was another occasion in itself. With that general pan and the individual panim that had reached the reading table, the Rebbe would immerse himself in the panim, throw himself into them, for a long time. His whole body would sway, and you could hear him crying. It depended on the year, probably on what was written in the panim, and on what was happening in Heaven—something only the Rebbe could see and know: what needed to be averted and what blessings needed to be drawn down that year. When the Rebbe finished this holy avodah, he cut it short because the crowd was in danger. The crushing pressure all around was terrible; people had been pushing throughout the beis midrash since morning. I would add something here. There was a dear Jew who was a rosh yeshivah in the United States and brought young men closer to Yiddishkeit at Hadar Hatorah. They called him Rabbi Abba, a chossid, Reb Abba. Everyone was pushing. One of his close students, named Meir, who lives in Jerusalem, looked for his teacher. He saw him standing toward the back of the shul,

31:14 Speaker 2 almost near the aron kodesh, deep in thought, not pushing or trying to get closer. That bothered him, because he saw everyone else moving closer. He asked him, “Mashpia, I haven’t seen you try to get closer.” He said, “I’m standing here contemplating this awesome, majestic occasion: we are about to hear the Rebbe’s shofar blasts. That’s where I am.” There is the—the external side, the surrounding aspect, the—he and other chassidim were standing there, about to hear the sound of the shofar, about to hear the Rebbe’s shofar. You could also see, all around, how the elder chassidim prepared themselves to hear the Rebbe’s shofar blasts. It had a great effect on the younger people. When the Rebbe finished this avodah, he would rise, his face awe-inspiring and red, his eyes—and he would lift the tallis up to his holy forehead. You could see only his awe-inspiring face. Then he would begin the call to say “Lamnatzeiach,” the preparation for the seven times everyone recites aloud: “For the conductor, a psalm of the sons of Korach.” He would lower the tallis again and once more throw himself into the panim. The crowd said “Lamnatzeiach” seven times with a special feeling, while the Rebbe had still not finished his—When they finished “Lamnatzeiach,” the Rebbe lifted his tallis again and began saying the verses in a distinctive voice, with a distinctive tune. The chassidim still follow that practice today. But every year, as I say, the majesty of the occasion as those verses were recited was something to behold. The tune the Rebbe used—it is the accepted tune, as it had been with our Rebbeim, with the Rebbe Rashab and all of them, with slight variations in how the Rebbe said it. The first verse is “From the straits,” and then the verses follow in the usual order. The Rebbe would say the first verse: “From the straits I called to Hashem; Hashem answered me with expansiveness. Hear my voice according to Your kindness, Hashem; grant me life according to Your judgment. The beginning of Your word is truth, and forever every

34:23 Speaker 2 judgment of Your righteousness endures. Be a guarantor for Your servant for good; do not let the arrogant oppress me. I rejoice over Your word like one who finds great treasure. Teach me good sense and knowledge, for I have believed in Your commandments. Accept, please, the offerings of my mouth, Hashem, and teach me Your judgments. G-d ascends with a blast; Hashem, with the sound of the shofar.” The Rebbe would cover his face again with the tallis and say the verses, the preparations, the “May it be Your will” prayers that all these things should—And now he would begin the blessings and blow the shofar himself. First, the Rebbe arranged the shofar he was going to blow so that it would be ready, since there must be no interruption between the blessing and the blasts. On the other hand, according to halachah, the shofar also has to be covered before the blasts. So he would turn the shofar toward himself, leaving just the very tip of its curve protruding a little. As far as I clearly recall, the Rebbe also placed his hand on the shofar under the covering. But just a small centimeter was exposed, so that it would be ready for him—on the one hand covered, and on the other, ready so there would be no interruption. Then he would cover it again and position it for what was coming. The Rebbe also adjusted his tallis. He lifted it up and placed it behind his ear so it would sit properly and he could hear the blast without the tallis or anything else in the way. And, of course, he held the shofar angled upward to the right. The Rebbe began the blessings once it was quiet. The gabbai would always announce that no one had permission to do anything during the Rebbe’s shofar blasts. There was a special announcement reminding everyone to know where they were standing and before Whom they stood. That announcement before the Rebbe’s blasts was chilling too. No one stood on the Rebbe’s bimah. But the Rebbe would turn around to check that the people he wanted there were present.

37:39 Speaker 2 First and foremost was his brother-in-law, the Rashag. The Rebbe would turn right and left until someone showed him, “Here, he’s standing here.” He would not begin until he saw that he was there. At times, when Reb Mendel or others had arrived from Russia, the Rebbe wanted those advocates of merit standing near him for the shofar blasts—men who had lived with mesirus nefesh for so many years in exile in that country. But he always looked for the Rashag, and wanted him to come closer, showing him every respect and honor before beginning the shofar blasts. The Rebbe would begin the blessing, and everything, of course, was always precise. When an ordinary blessing is recited, one says, “Blessed are You, Hashem,” and then the congregation responds, “Blessed is He and blessed is His Name”; at the end of the blessing, they answer “Amen.” That is for a blessing through which they are not fulfilling their own obligation. For Kiddush, halachah says one must not say “Blessed is He and blessed is His Name.” There is a question whether you would fulfill your obligation through the blessing if you did, because you are listening to the blessing and need only say “Amen.” The same applies to the blessing at a wedding, to Kiddush, to Havdalah, and elsewhere. And here stood a crowd of thousands for the shofar blasts. So the Rebbe arranged the way he said the blessing so there would be no opening for anyone to say “Blessed is He and blessed is His Name.” Usually one says, “Blessed are You, Hashem,” and then, “our G-d, King of the universe.” At the shofar blasts it was, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe,” without a pause. Everything was precise so people would not say “Blessed is He and blessed is His Name” and raise a question about the blessing. So the Rebbe would begin: “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to hear the sound of the shofar.” I would add that halachah says to raise one’s voice on the word “sound.” With the Rebbe, it was consistently, “to hear the sound of the shofar”—on the word “shofar”

39:58 Speaker 2 He would consistently raise his voice at that point. The same precise emphasis on “Hashem Elokeinu” was there in the second blessing too: “Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who has granted us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.” Then he would take the shofar, as we said, holding it so that it pointed upward. “Upward” does not necessarily mean it has to be at this angle rather than that one, as some people ask. It means the shofar should not point downward; it should point upward. No, it does not mean one exact angle. People simply misunderstand the halacha. So it was always pointed that way, and of course it was at the right side of his mouth, and the Rebbe would begin the blasts. These were the first thirty sounds the Rebbe blew: tekiah, shevarim, teruah, tekiah; tekiah, shevarim, tekiah; tekiah, teruah, tekiah. We mentioned earlier that with shevarim, the Shulchan Aruch says that after the three broken sounds one should make a short sound—some call it a short tekiah. The Alter Rebbe says in his Shulchan Aruch that the custom is not to do this. The Rebbe discusses it in writing and says that our custom is to do it. Why? Because the Rebbe Rashab did it in public when blowing for others to fulfill their obligation. So that is our custom. As I mentioned earlier, when the Rebbe was calling out the blasts, he did not lift his finger until that additional sound after the shevarim had been made. And the Rebbe himself always made that sound in public. Anyone who studied the halacha and listened closely knows that the halacha says to make a short sound after shevarim and also after teruah. The Rebbe was careful to make that short sound after both shevarim and teruah. With teruah it blended in more, because it sounded like yet another of the teruah sounds. But the Rebbe always made that short sound after shevarim and after teruah. Our teruah sounds are

42:27 Speaker 2 not limited to nine; the customs already say to make many teruah sounds. The Rebbe’s teruah was very long too. With shevarim, though, it says to make only three—three broken sounds. That additional blast can cause a problem, and I want to stress this halachic point: if you know how to make that extra sound after shevarim, you can do it and practice it. Someone who does not know how may run into a halachic problem. I have already told several people not to do it at all, even though everyone very much wants to do as the Rebbe did. What do I mean? First, shevarim in general. There is the Polish style, the style of other chassidim: “tu, tu, tu.” In the language of the Gemara, one sound is groaning and the other is wailing. Wailing is teruah, and groaning is three sounds. Other chassidim—not Chabad—make them all “tu, tu, tu.” Then there are the Lithuanian and Lubavitch styles. Both make shevarim differently from a tekiah, but in opposite ways. In Lithuania they make it “u-tu, u-tu, u-tu,” pushing outward, with the emphasis—the break—at the end. With us it is a soft, gentle sound, “u-tu, u-tu, u-tu,” drawing inward. That is shevarim itself. Then comes the additional sound: “u-tu, u-tu, u-tu, ut”—one more short sound. Sometimes that little sound can come out as two sounds. If it comes out as three sounds to the listener, that raises a halachic question: it can already be considered a teruah, because a teruah consists of nine sounds, and making three sounds here raises a question of teruah. We are not going to study all the laws of shofar now. But if you make a teruah after shevarim, or an extra teruah between one teruah and another, that is a halachic problem. So you can make an additional sound, a broken sound. With the Rebbe, at times all the sounds came out; for us, it would come out as one, perhaps one and a half—let us call it a half plus another quarter. But if you do not know how to do it and want to do it

44:42 Speaker 2 without making a teruah, you simply need to know that you must make three sounds. That is the halacha. Adding the sound is the custom the Rebbe taught, and the Rebbe instructed us to do it, but one must be careful that it not come out as three sounds there. That raises the question of a teruah. According to halacha, a tekiah must be as long as the shevarim or teruah in the middle. So with shevarim alone, the tekiah can be shorter. With teruah it is somewhat longer. If we make a long teruah, the tekiah must be correspondingly long. Since we add many sounds to the teruah, we need to know that the tekiah must also be longer. I will try to demonstrate, if I can. Yes, now, between shevarim and teruah: these are always done with... Each blast must be made in one breath: the tekiah in one breath, the shevarim in one breath, and the same for the teruah. In tashrat, there must be a break between shevarim and teruah. In the blasts blown while seated, before Musaf and after Shacharis, both are done in one breath. In the blasts blown while standing, during the repetition of the Amidah—and among chassidim who also blow during the silent Amidah—the shevarim and teruah are done with a breath between them. The break must not be long. Why not? Because then they become two separate blasts, when they are supposed to be connected. So you do not make a full pause to breathe out and then breathe in. The blasts themselves involve blowing air out. You draw in just a little air—that is the breath between them—and continue with the teruah, so that it remains tashrat. When the Rebbe finished, he put down the shofar. The shofar-blowing had been an occasion like the one I have tried to describe. After the blasts there was a kind of release. The melodies for the verses were a whole different world. There were another three verses. Which verses come after the shofar blowing? After everyone says the Yehi Ratzon, about the blasts that were valid and all the other things. The first verse is “Ashrei.” Elsewhere, all three verses are sung to the same melody. With the Rebbe, they were divided: “Ashrei” had

48:15 Speaker 2 one melody, and the other two verses had another. “Fortunate are the people who know the shofar’s sound; Hashem, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day, and through Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, and through Your favor our horn is raised.” At this point the Rebbe would gather his things, but two more things happened before he came down from the platform. First, the Rebbe took that silk scarf, lowered his tallis from his head onto his shoulders, and put on the silk scarf. On the second day we understood that this was for Shehecheyanu. The scarf was the—on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, a Shehecheyanu must be said, but there is a halachic question: is it like the two days of Yom Tov observed outside Eretz Yisroel, such as Sukkos, when Shehecheyanu is said twice? If so, Shehecheyanu is said twice on Rosh Hashanah too. Or, since the two days are considered one extended day, is one Shehecheyanu said for both? The question applies to the person making Kiddush on the night of Rosh Hashanah and to the one blowing the shofar. For Kiddush we take a new fruit, but during the shofar blowing you cannot take a new fruit; you will only eat it three hours later. The halacha says that the one blowing should wear, uh, a new garment. Apparently, the new garment the Rebbe wore was this scarf, which he put around his neck after the shofar blowing. Do we say Shehecheyanu over a scarf? Certainly not. Shehecheyanu is said only over a significant garment. But when there is already an obligation to say Shehecheyanu, the basis for saying it over a garment can be combined with it even where we would not say Shehecheyanu over that garment on its own. The Rebbe said this once in a sicha when speaking about Birchas Hachamah in 5741. The Rebbe said then to recite Shehecheyanu for Birchas Hachamah. The Rebbe added, “I also wore a new sirtuk, so we said Shehecheyanu.” In general, there is a question whether one says it over a sirtuk, but combined with the other reason... Likewise, on Rosh Hashanah night, in homes where women say it at candle lighting, or men at

51:20 Speaker 2 Kiddush—you don’t necessarily need a garment that would itself require Shehecheyanu. A new item, together with the day, for which one has to say Shehecheyanu anyway, can be included even if it is only an important garment: a tallis, a new shirt, a new sirtuk, and the like. So the scarf was probably enough for Shehecheyanu too. But that reason doesn’t satisfy me, and to this day I don’t know the reason. Why? You need something like that only on the second day for Shehecheyanu. On the first day there is no need for a scarf, because Shehecheyanu is said for the day itself. On the second day, everyone who blows the shofar looks for a reason to say Shehecheyanu; they buy or wear a new shirt. But the Rebbe wore this scarf on both the first day and the second day. What’s more, when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos and the second day is the first time the shofar is blown, no new garment is needed. Even then, the Rebbe wore the scarf. The difference I noticed was that on the first day it looked older. I don’t know whether it actually was old. It was silk, a yellowish cream color, while on the second day it was white. There was a difference between the two scarves on the two days. Someone once told me that the Rebbetzin would cut a scarf like this for the Rebbe every year. Well, that’s what he said, but to this day I don’t know. I’ve never received an explanation for the scarf. The Rebbe would put on this scarf, pull his tallis back over his head, and walk toward his shtender. He did one more thing: he called Rabbi Tannenbaum, who was also standing near the Rebbe, because Rabbi Tannenbaum continued blowing the remaining hundred blasts—during the silent Amidah, during the chazzan’s repetition, and the final thirty blasts—from the bimah. So the Rebbe turned to him and took the shofar. Not another shofar. I looked closely: it was the very shofar the Rebbe had used to blow

53:27 Speaker 2 the shofar. He received it and davened on the bimah. No one else was allowed to stand on the bimah at all. The Rebbe davened all the prayers at his shtender. Rabbi Tannenbaum stood on the bimah and blew all the blasts with that shofar. When the Rebbe left the shul and passed the bimah, Rabbi Tannenbaum gave it to Rabbi Groner, who took the other shofars as well, and the Rebbe took them with him. So that’s the part about Rabbi Tannenbaum. Afterward, the Rebbe took all his shofars and siddurim and returned, kissing the Torah scrolls. How did he kiss the Torah scrolls? With his tallis. He took his tallis, touched both Torah scrolls, and returned to his place. On Shabbos he returns to his place right after reading the maftir, because we still have to say Yekum Purkan, sometimes Av Harachamim, and Ashrei Yoshvei Veisecha. Here, Ashrei comes immediately after the shofar blasts, and right after Ashrei the Torah scrolls are returned to their place. On such an occasion, the Rebbe waited and accompanied the Torah scrolls. So the Rebbe kissed both Torah scrolls, waited for them to be brought down, and then accompanied them to the Aron Kodesh. After the Torah scrolls were placed in the Aron Kodesh, the Rebbe went up onto the bimah and put the siddurim on the shtender. They opened its doors—that was what they were used for. The doors are still on the Rebbe’s shtender today. The Rebbe used those doors twice a year. The shofars were kept there on Rosh Hashanah, and the Rebbe’s hat was kept there on Yom Kippur. At the time of Ne’ilah, the Rebbe would go in with it for Ne’ilah, and it would stay there until Maariv. At any rate, the shofars were placed there before Shacharis, and the Rebbe put them back there. There the Rebbe again took the tallis off his head, removed the silk scarf, and put it into that same shtender. So, again, the Rebbe wore

55:48 Speaker 2 this scarf, which had been bought for Shehecheyanu, as we said, from after the shofar blowing until the beginning of Musaf. After that, the blasts were still not over. And it is written that there is a very great segulah in seeing the face of the one who blows the shofar. So the Rebbe stood and turned, making a full circle. It didn’t take long, but he stood and looked around—not taking everyone in with one glance, but looking at each person individually. It was one of those stirring moments: you would look, and the Rebbe’s eyes would meet yours, face to face, with every person in the shul. I’ll give just one example. In the majestic moment of the shofar blowing, with everyone packed tightly together and the Rebbe wrapped in his tallis—nothing is hidden from before Your Throne of Glory. A friend of mine went into yechidus with his parents in Cheshvan, and the Rebbe asked, “How are the boy’s eyes? I saw him before the shofar blowing wearing glasses, and at the hakafos on Simchas Torah he wasn’t wearing glasses. How are his eyes?” So even while looking around, he saw each and every person. That is one of the extraordinary things about the Rebbe. The person blowing the shofar also has someone to prompt him with the blasts. He is called the makri because, in general, Jewish practice follows the halachah: he calls out “tekiah,” then “shevarim,” “shevarim-teruah,” and then “tekiah.” When the blasts have to be done in one breath, those instructions are given too. In our practice, we are concerned about an interruption, so we don’t say it aloud; instead, we point with a finger to the shofar blower, so the blasts always go in the proper order. Beyond that, one has to make sure they are done as required. There is an entire chapter in the Shulchan Aruch about what happens if a person inserts an extra blast where it doesn’t belong. So in our practice, the makri does not call them out; he points. I mentioned that in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s later years he only pointed with his finger, and likewise, at the beginning of the Rebbe’s nesius, the Rebbe was the makri. That

58:23 Speaker 2 meant that he pointed with his finger. He would point for tekiah, shevarim, and all the other blasts. Who was the makri when the Rebbe blew the shofar? One of the elder chassidim, who was a mashpia in 770. I still saw him at one Tanya class, and I was privileged to see him at one farbrengen, because I arrived in 5734. That was the year of his passing. He had been the Rebbe’s makri from when the Rebbe began blowing the shofar until Tishrei 5734. The Rebbe had a special affection for Rabbi Shmuel Levitin. First of all, since we’re speaking about the festivals of Tishrei: chassidim would write a pan to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe would send back a letter of blessing: “The pan was received,” with blessings for the year and for a good inscription and sealing. In the early years, everyone has these; they have one from every year. My father has them, my grandmother has them—every year, in various languages. My grandmother’s were partly in Yiddish, partly in Hebrew. My father’s too. But Rabbi Shmuel Levitin was the only one. Who was he? He was the first to be named Shmuel after the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Rashab had one son, the Frierdiker Rebbe, but he wasn’t named Shmuel. So Rabbi Shmuel Levitin was the first to bear the name after the Rebbe Maharash. He was very close and dear, both because of his name and, later, because of who he was. He studied under the Rebbe Rashab in Lubavitch and, of course, later served as a shliach, continuing when he returned to New York. So there was a special affection for him. He was a mashpia, and the Rebbe told a number of stories about him. Now, he would receive the New Year’s blessing entirely in the Rebbe’s handwriting, from the words “Boruch Hashem” through the Rebbe’s signature—the one and only person to do so. He received it every year for thirty-four years, with titles such as “the veteran mashpia.” Some people published them together: thirty-four letters from the Rebbe, year after year. That was a special affection during Tishrei, but I saw another expression of special affection. So first of all, he was the makri in 5733, 5734,

1:00:56 Speaker 2 In Elul 5734, he passed away. I’ll come back to that shortly. So in 5736, there was no one to call out the shofar blasts. The Rebbe held the shofar in his right hand, and with his left hand he used his Torah Or siddur to call them out for himself, placing his finger on each blast as he sounded it. Then, from 5737—two years later—Rabbi Tannenbaum, who sounded the shofar, also became the one who called out the blasts for the Rebbe, in 5737, 5738, and onward. Speaking of Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, I’d like to show you something very interesting here: what is this cup standing here from 5734? I had still seen Rabbi Shmuel Levitin on 12 Tammuz, and once when he passed by me after Shavuos, and once when he came for a short time to the 12 Tammuz farbrengen. On 11 Elul, Rabbi Shmuel Levitin passed away. The custom was that when one of the group passed away, once the funeral reached 770, the Rebbe would join it. The Rebbe would come out and accompany it across the street, along Eastern Parkway and along the stretch from 770 to Kingston. He would cross the street, and two buildings farther on, where the Tzivos Hashem building—the dreidel—stands today, there is a fire hydrant that is still there. The Rebbe would stand by that hydrant and wait, as halachah requires, until he saw that the coffin and all those accompanying it had passed. Then Rabbi Groner would show him that everyone had passed. The Rebbe would return, not by exactly the same path but a little to the side, as halachah requires. He would enter 770, wash his hands, and go in. At the time, a cup would be placed outside 770, on the steps. It was a dignified silver cup the bochurim had bought as a gift for the Rebbe. It was the cup the Rebbe used to wash his hands for the meal at farbrengens, and it would stand outside 770. The Rebbe would

1:03:24 Speaker 2 fill it with water. You don’t pass a cup from hand to hand. He would take the cup in his right hand, transfer it to his left, pour three times over his hand, tilt the cup or turn it over—it varied—and then enter 770. Only then would he sit on a bench and say seven times, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,” up to “For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” He would step over the bench seven times, like the seven stops made during a funeral procession. Then, without drying his hands, he would enter his room. That was what he did when returning from a funeral. When the Rebbe returned from the Ohel, a cup was also there, but he would go inside 770. At first there was a faucet at the end of the corridor, where it still is today, near the library room or the broadcasts room. Later, after 5738, they installed a kitchenette, and the sink that is in Gan Eden Hatachton is still there today. So when he returned from the Ohel, he would go inside and wash his hands three times. Rabbi Klein once told me that he would pour a fourth time and then dry his hands. That is a separate halachic discussion about the laws of washing hands. On 11 Elul 5734, when Rabbi Levitin passed away, I was standing not far from the Rebbe. As the coffin passed and those accompanying it began to go by in their cars, the Rebbe turned to Rabbi Groner and said in English, “Where is the car?” Everyone was stunned. Rabbi Krinsky or Rabbi Klein ran—I think it was Rabbi Krinsky—and brought the car, and the Rebbe accompanied Rabbi Shmuel Levitin all the way to the cemetery. The Rebbe did not go inside. What people said at the time was that if he went in, he would have to go to the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Ohel, and that had not been planned for that day, because a day when the Rebbe went to the Ohel was

1:05:40 Speaker 2 an entirely different day, from morning until evening. When we arrived, the bochurim had of course joined the procession with the Rebbe. Those who tried to stay near the Rebbe were instructed by him to go inside the cemetery. He even turned to each one individually, and one said he was a kohen. So the Rebbe turned to the secretaries and said, “You’re kohanim too; go in.” The Rebbe remained outside with four or five kohanim. I was able to travel behind the Rebbe both on the way there and on the way back. On the way back, when the burial was over, the secretaries came out and the Rebbe drove back. I caught the first car and drove behind the Rebbe. When the Rebbe arrived at 770, there was no one to prepare the cup as they always did, because everyone had traveled to the cemetery. So they took a cup from the beis midrash and filled it with water. This is that cup, from Elul 5734, the first Elul I spent with the Rebbe. The Rebbe washed his hands with it. I asked a rabbi whether I was permitted to buy it, and I gave another cup to the beis midrash in its place. I don’t know whether that other cup is still there today, but this cup is. Time has taken its toll, but this is the cup the Rebbe used to wash his hands after the funeral of the man who called out the shofar blasts. At the farbrengen a week later, on 18 Elul 5734, something unusual happened as well. The Rebbe told a story about Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, something he had heard from him in 770. The Rebbe praised Rabbi Shmuel Levitin very highly, saying that he had served the Frierdiker Rebbe here, and now he was already with the Rebbe and hearing Chassidus from the Rebbe. For the Rebbe to speak about such things in the middle of a farbrengen—may the Rebbe tell us such things too. So this is the cup from after the funeral of Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, who called out the blasts. Now, in the order of the shofar blasts, the Rebbe sounded the first thirty, the tekiyos d’meyushav. Afterward, as we said, he passed on the shofar. Rabbi Tannenbaum took it and sounded the tekiyos d’me’umad: thirty blasts,

1:08:01 Speaker 2 thirty tekiyos d’me’umad during chazaras hashatz. To complete the hundred blasts, there are another ten during Kaddish Tiskabel. Halachah says not to interrupt after the—because, in principle, the shofar blasts were instituted in the course of the blessings. Only later, because of the decrees, was it instituted to sound them earlier, before the prayer. Originally, they belong within the order of the prayer. As it says, “Recite Malchiyos and Zichronos”—each set of thirty blasts has Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofros. So it says not to interrupt by speaking from the start of the tekiyos d’meyushav, from the blessing, until all hundred blasts have been completed. The hundred blasts are completed before Kaveh, after Kaddish. At that point, as far as interrupting the shofar blasts is concerned, one may speak, and that is what the halachic authorities say. Only one or two authorities say not to interrupt until after the additional blasts. As the Alter Rebbe writes, some sound one more blast, while our custom is to sound another thirty blasts after the prayer. “After the prayer” means after Kaveh, after Aleinu, and then the recitation of Tehillim and Mishnayos by those who are obligated to say them. At the end of the prayer, when it is no longer part of the prayer itself, we sound another thirty blasts. Here too, the custom is to sound them in a single breath, to fulfill the obligation for those who perhaps did not hear properly. In practice, then, we sound 130 blasts. With the Rebbe, we saw a particular emphasis on not speaking until after all 130 blasts. How did we see that? On every Yom Tov, outside Eretz Yisroel, the custom is for the kohanim to bless the congregation only on Yom Tov, during Musaf. Before there was a platform, the Rebbe would leave his place on Yom Tov. They would move his chair entirely off the carpet, and the Rebbe would clear his place. All the kohanim would come up there, extending past the Aron Kodesh and filling the entire eastern side. The Rebbe stood on his chair; there he

1:10:37 Speaker 2 He put down the siddur, and we saw many customs of the Rebbe’s during Birchas Kohanim. We’ll talk about them shortly. Now, when they finished Kaddish D’Rabbanan, the Rebbe returned to his place. On the way back, after picking up the siddur again, he would say to each of the kohanim, “Yasher koach, kohen. Yasher koach, kohen.” They all passed by in a line to receive the Rebbe’s “Yasher koach” to each kohen. When there was a bimah during Tishrei—and later on, when it remained there throughout the year—the Rebbe stood behind the bimah. They placed a lectern there, the same one they put up on Mondays and Thursdays, and the Rebbe put his siddur on it and stood there for Birchas Kohanim as well. On Rosh Hashanah, it was noticeably different. The Rebbe remained standing in his place below the bimah for Kaveh, Aleinu, Tehillim, and the shofar blowing. Only after all the shofar blowing did the Rebbe return to his place to collect his things—the shofars, the Tehillim, and all the books he had there. He then went up to the bimah again and, in later years, said “Gut Yom Tov” from there. But you could see his emphasis on not interrupting, even to say “Yasher koach” to the kohanim. There was one year when the first day of Rosh Hashanah fell on Sunday and he did it differently, but the next day, the second day, he returned to his custom of all the other years: making no interruption at all, not even to say “Yasher koach” to the kohanim. Since we’re talking about Birchas Kohanim, the customs describe how the chazzan stands during Birchas Kohanim and how the congregation responds to Birchas Kohanim. When the congregation stands for Birchas Kohanim, they turn, uh, one direction at a time. They start in the middle: “Yevarechecha” in the middle; “Hashem” to the right and back to the middle; then left, middle, right, left, middle, in order, one after another. That’s the congregation. By contrast,

1:12:59 Speaker 2 the one leading the prayers turns right for “Yevarechecha,” left for “Ya’er,” and to the middle for “Yisa.” It’s detailed in the customs. First of all, when the Rebbe led the prayers—not on the festivals, so perhaps that’s why it was different—he always followed the words of Birchas Kohanim in the same order as the congregation listening to Birchas Kohanim: middle, right, middle, left, and again middle, right, and middle. That was different when the Rebbe stood at the amud. Now, when I had the privilege of standing near the Rebbe on a festival, in that special atmosphere, everyone was wrapped in talleisim, but some people also peeked to see how the Rebbe conducted himself during Birchas Kohanim. As we said, during Birchas Kohanim the Rebbe turned to the middle, right, middle, left, middle, in order. But while the kohanim sang the melody, there was a distinctive movement of his head; you could see a particular movement in that direction. In fact, these movements and how to make them are recorded from what the Tzemach Tzedek saw the Alter Rebbe do. For example, when they said “Yevarechecha,” the Rebbe faced the middle; for “Hashem,” he turned right, and then came “v’yishmerecha.” While the kohanim were saying the word, the Rebbe stood still, but when he turned right, he continued moving in that direction as long as the kohanim sang. If he had turned right, there was a continuous movement to the right; if he had turned left, it was the same, and there was movement when he faced the middle too. You could see movement toward each angle we turn to. It was a distinctive motion. Regarding the prayers, when Kedushah is said during the chazzan’s repetition, some have the custom to stand until Kedushah ends. We follow what the Rebbe cites from Eliyah Rabbah: to stand until after the blessing “Boruch Atah Hashem, HaKeil HaKadosh”—or, during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, “HaMelech HaKadosh.” What happens

1:15:32 Speaker 2 on Rosh Hashanah, when the piyutim begin before “Boruch Atah Hashem, HaMelech HaKadosh”? The Rebbe would sit during those piyutim. He waited until after the first part of the blessing, “Atah Kadosh v’Shimcha Kadosh, u’Kedoshim b’chol yom yehalelucha selah.” Then the piyutim begin, with “L’dor vador hamlichu laKeil ki hu levado marom v’kadosh.” After “Atah Kadosh v’Shimcha Kadosh, u’Kedoshim b’chol yom yehalelucha selah,” the Rebbe would sit down. Of course, he stood for “Unesaneh Tokef” during Musaf, but before “Unesaneh Tokef” there is also “L’Keil Orech Din.” The Rebbe would rise for “L’Keil Orech Din” as well; it is also said during Shacharis. For the other piyutim, the Rebbe would sit. After Shacharis, in the afternoon, following the Yom Tov meal, we had Minchah, which began with the “Avinu Malkeinu” melody, and then Tashlich. In earlier years, the Rebbe would go with a whole procession toward the park, where there was water. In later years, they dug deep beneath 770 until they reached water. They used that water twice a year: once for mayim shelanu, drawn from the wells beneath the floor, and a second time for Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. Later still, the people involved built something very beautiful, shaped like a rock with water flowing from inside it. They would turn on the water before Yom Tov and put fish in the place they had made for Tashlich. Then Tashlich would be said there. It was very interesting to watch, of course. Toward the end of Minchah, everyone who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Rebbe in that narrow courtyard would hurry over so they could see him. The Rebbe would come out with his siddur, approach the place for Tashlich, where the water was, and

1:18:08 Speaker 2 look into the water to see the fish. After that, the Rebbe would walk around the place in a half-circle and stand to say Tashlich. It’s worth pointing out a halachic detail that shows how careful the Rebbe was about everything. Many people say Tashlich while continuing to face the fish. The Rebbe would turn, look at the fish, walk around the place, and position himself facing east, because prayer is always directed eastward. This is also worth emphasizing with regard to Kiddush Levanah. People go outside, look for the moon, stand facing it, and begin to say Kiddush Levanah. That isn’t desirable either. After the Rebbe had looked at the moon, wherever it was, he would position himself facing east. We pray neither to the moon nor to the fish—always facing east. After Tashlich, the Rebbe would return. At the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah came the Yom Tov meal and the farbrengen, which was relatively short. The Rebbe said it was meant to connect the days of Rosh Hashanah, the Yamim Noraim, with the new year through words of Torah. The maamar of Chassidus was always said around sunset, carrying over into the new year and connecting it with a maamar of Chassidus. There were one or two sichos and a relatively short farbrengen, followed by bentching and Havdalah, Maariv, and kos shel brachah. At a Shabbos farbrengen, there was first Kiddush and then mezonos—Kiddush in the place of a meal. At the farbrengen after Yom Tov, it began with washing hands, and during the meal the Rebbe made the blessing Borei Pri Hagafen and said l’chaim. He also sipped l’chaim over the course of the farbrengen. That was how it went. So first, let’s talk about what was said—first, at an ordinary farbrengen. As we mentioned, there was always the cup. It would be brought after being rinsed. The Rebbe took the cup, dried it, rinsed and washed it inside,

1:20:46 Speaker 2 From outside, he handed it to the person pouring, who would fill it to the brim. If it was a meal with bread or challah, there were, of course, two challahs, because the requirement for two loaves applies on Shabbos night, on Yom Tov night and during the day of Yom Tov. Throughout Shabbos and Yom Tov, whenever a person breaks bread, he needs two loaves, even if he eats five meals on Shabbos. Even at an ordinary Shabbos farbrengen, when there was a pile of lekach, of cakes, on the table, the Rebbe would take from the large pile. There was a cloth with a little flower here covering the pile of cakes. The Rebbe would take a napkin from that pile and put it down for himself, take two pieces of cake from the large pile, and cover them again with another napkin, because the bread must be covered during Kiddush. But this was a halachic practice we saw with the Rebbe: even when he made Kiddush over cake, he was careful to take two pieces for the requirement of two loaves. So at farbrengens there is sometimes bread for that purpose. If you take cookies, take two to begin with, because the requirement of two loaves applies to cookies as well. As we said, the farbrengen begins with Kiddush over wine on a Shabbos after a kos shel brachah—say, the Shabbos after Rosh Hashanah, after Pesach or after Shavuos, following the big farbrengen. So before they poured the Rebbe’s wine, a small bottle would be brought over. What was in that small bottle? Wine left over from the big farbrengen. The Rebbe would use it as the base for the wine of the next Kiddush. Let’s say there was a farbrengen at the conclusion of Rosh Hashanah. The Rebbe distributed wine, bentched, they davened Maariv, and afterward there was Havdalah and kos shel brachah. At the end of kos shel brachah, the Rebbe would make the blessing of Al Hagefen while seated, and take the cup with him. He would leave with the goblet. Not on an ordinary Shabbos, but at the conclusion of Yom Tov—

1:23:13 Speaker 2 When there was kos shel brachah, yes, because halachah says that one should send some from the cup of blessing home to one’s wife. The Rebbe would take the cup of blessing to bring to the Rebbetzin, and some would remain and go into a small bottle. First they would pour wine from that small bottle into the goblet, and then fill the goblet to the brim. That was Kiddush on a Shabbos after a big farbrengen, Kiddush over cake. On Yom Tov, the farbrengen would begin with washing hands for a meal. Why did they wash? For the third meal on Shabbos, or at the conclusion of Yom Tov, quite simply because they wanted the farbrengen to continue into the night. Once the sun sets, or perhaps a few minutes afterward—no more than ten minutes—you may no longer taste anything. And the farbrengen goes on for hours and hours, usually until midnight and beyond. The Rosh Hashanah farbrengens were shorter, but those of the seventh day of Pesach, Simchas Torah and Shavuos went on a long time, so they would wash. The Rebbe would wash his hands and then instruct the gabbai to announce that anyone who had not yet washed should do so before sunset. They brought the water for washing to the Rebbe at his place at the meal. They would bring the Rebbe a silver washing cup and a towel. This is the towel from one of the farbrengens. Boruch Hashem, it is a little worn—it is fifty, almost fifty years old. The Rebbe used it twice: when washing for the meal before the farbrengen, and at the end of the farbrengen, during kos shel brachah. After the Rebbe finished Havdalah and stood up to distribute kos shel brachah, his siddur, with which he had made Havdalah there, was beside him. The towel covered the siddur throughout kos shel brachah, and every such towel has traces of the Rebbe’s holy wine on it. That was the procedure. Whenever the Rebbe entered a farbrengen, he came in with his siddur. Needless to say, he brought it for davening, but—

1:25:40 Speaker 2 Also for a farbrengen. Why did he come to a farbrengen with a siddur? Because at the end of the farbrengen there is Bentching, there is Al Hamichyah, there is Al Hagefen. The siddur stood there. In every picture of a farbrengen, at every farbrengen there was, the siddur was always beside the Rebbe. I would add something here. Once, I was returning from the Rebbe, and a Jewish chossid sat next to me. He did not outwardly look like a Chabad chossid, and he began asking me questions about the Rebbe. They seemed to me like provocative questions, all sorts of questions. “So who is the Rebbe?” I tried to explain what I knew, and everything else, a few of the Rebbe’s sichos and a point from the Rebbe’s teachings. I could see he was not satisfied, and he kept asking more questions. When he had finished with me, he said, “You don’t know who the Rebbe is at all.” The whole conversation suddenly changed. “I wanted to test you. I was at a farbrengen. You don’t know who the Rebbe is.” So I listened closely. Let’s hear what he has to say. He said, “I was at a farbrengen with the Rebbe for five hours, six hours, seven hours. This man, the holy Rebbe, speaks about the entire Torah. The entire Torah. Torah, Nevi’im, Kesuvim, the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud. All the Midrashim, all the Zohar, all of Kabbalah. There isn’t a single note beside him. Everything, everything is engraved in his holy mind. There is only one thing he cannot say by heart. The Rebbe comes into the farbrengen with a siddur. He really cannot say Borei Nefashos by heart. He knows the entire Torah by heart, but he cannot say Al Hamichyah by heart. That is your Rebbe, with all his great intellect and all his Torah. He has the simple, wholehearted faith of a child whose mother sent him to cheder with his siddur. That is the Rebbe. Learn to know who the Rebbe is. ‘Be wholehearted with Hashem your G-d’—from the weekly parsha.” In any case, the Rebbe used that siddur to bentch and afterward to make Havdalah.

1:27:59 Speaker 2 So during kos shel brachah, the towel covered it. When the Rebbe washed his hands for the meal—we all know that chassidim have the custom of washing with a towel—we saw that the Rebbe was careful about something further. What was it? The Rebbe put the towel they gave him over his hand. Then they set down the cup, and the Rebbe wiped its handles. We take the cup in the right hand and pass it to the left, then pour three times over the hand, and afterward grasp the cup with the towel, as is the custom of chassidim. But the Rebbe grasped it with the towel the very first time, too. He did not touch the cup; that was noticeable. And, of course, he passed it to his left hand. So even when first picking it up, he took care not to touch it. He poured three times over his hand, in a way that washed the whole hand, then over the left hand, of course. He left water on his hands and held both hands at heart level, as it says to do, and made the blessing for washing hands. He held them up like this, then dried his hands and put the towel on the farbrengen chair. Then the blessing—how did the Rebbe make Hamotzi over the... As we said, there were always two, even at the end of the day. So the Rebbe had two challahs. We are using small ones here for now, because it is not yet Shabbos, but there were two rolls. The Rebbe removed the napkin from over the challahs, marked the challah he was going to cut without scratching it—on the right, of course—and covered them again. At “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d,” he lifted both challahs and finished the blessing. He removed the cloth, and here I learned from the Rebbe how to cut the two loaves. After all, we cut one of the two. So the Rebbe took the knife and began—he did not cut yet, but began like this—and here he made the cut into the roll. So it comes out that he did not

1:30:24 Speaker 2 He held them together only for the blessing, which is the main point of lechem mishneh, as stated in Shulchan Aruch. But when he cut the bread, he began here and cut into the—into the first roll, moved it afterward, and then cut off a piece of challah. He covered the challahs again and used only the challah that was near him. He took the challah and dipped it in salt three times. Also, as it says in the Shelah, toward the end of the farbrengen he took some more challah and tasted it. During the farbrengen, he had a little—mainly he said l’chaim, and sometimes he also took a little challah. But at the end of the farbrengen, that was already a sign it was ending, so he took another piece of challah and dipped it in salt three times again. By the way, what did he do on Pesach? Our custom is to dip the bread for hamotzi in salt. How can you dip matzah in salt? Others sprinkle salt on the matzah. The Rebbe would dip it in salt: he put salt on the matzah, then dipped it into the salt on the matzah, and ate two pieces of matzah with salt between them. So that was dipping it into the salt that remained on the matzah. Later, during the meal, he took the wine and said the blessing of hagafen over it, and the same was true throughout the farbrengen. The farbrengen ended when the Rebbe took the siddur and began saying Shir Hamaalos from it. Then he would, uh, move the cup toward the person pouring the wine, who would rinse the cup and refill it with wine. When they brought the Rebbe mayim acharonim—water, as we said earlier, was brought to him—when the Rebbe moved the cup, they would bring a cup of water in the cup we showed earlier. He drank the water from that cup, and then they removed it and he bentched. On the second day, toward evening, there was a Rosh Hashanah farbrengen. After Maariv, the Rebbe made Havdalah

1:32:39 Speaker 2 over the cup, and from the Havdalah cup the Rebbe distributed kos shel brachah. For distributing kos shel brachah, we had the cup the Rebbe used at the farbrengen. When the Rebbe received the cup, after it had been rinsed, he took another, special napkin and dried the cup inside and out, personally fulfilling the practice of rinsing and cleaning it. After the Rebbe finished cleaning the cup inside and out, he handed it to the person pouring the wine. At first, that was the rosh yeshivah, Rabbi Mentlik. Later, he was replaced by the Rebbe’s attendant, Rabbi Berel Junik, who would fill the Rebbe’s cup during the farbrengen. During the farbrengen, after saying hamotzi, the Rebbe said hagafen over the wine. Toward the end of the farbrengen, our Sages say: “After everything you eat, eat bread, and after everything you drink, drink water.” So they would bring the Rebbe a cup like this specially—not this one, but this one, a similar cup, because this cup also actually belongs to the Rebbe. I’ll explain shortly. They would fill it with soda for the Rebbe. At every farbrengen where they washed for bread—that means Rosh Hashanah, Simchas Torah, Pesach and Shavuos—they would fill it with water, and the Rebbe would drink from it at the end of the farbrengen. Yes, and then he would hand over the cup to be rinsed again. Once more, the Rebbe would dry it inside and out and hand it to the person pouring the wine to fill the cup for bentching. When the Rebbe took the cup for bentching, it was, of course, filled to the brim. The Rebbe would always grasp it with his right hand, transfer it to his left, move his fingers down across his palm, fold them, with his finger like this, and say, “Gentlemen, let us bentch.” With your permission—a brief pause—my masters, rabbis and gentlemen, let us bless our G-d, from Whose bounty we have eaten. He would rise as he said, “Let us bless our G-d,” and then he would say: “Gentlemen,

1:35:19 Speaker 2 let us bentch in the name of Hashem, and blessed be He from now and forever. With your permission, my masters, rabbis and gentlemen, let us bless our G-d, from Whose bounty we have eaten. Blessed is our G-d, from Whose bounty we have eaten and through Whose goodness we live.” Now, halachah says that the one leading bentching must say everything aloud through “Who sustains all,” and that is what the Rebbe did for many years. He said bentching aloud through “Who sustains all”; there are recordings of it. For some reason, various chassidim asked the Rebbe whether he was fulfilling their obligation for them, as had been done in earlier years. The Rebbe said no, and they asked again. So the Rebbe stopped, so that others who should not do so would not take their cue from it. The Rebbe continued bentching, but he would say only the endings of the blessings aloud. As mentioned, he would pause when he reached the end and say aloud: “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who sustains all.” The same with the second blessing: “You shall eat and be satisfied and bless Hashem your G-d for the good land He has given you. Blessed are You, Hashem, for the land and for the food.” When he reached Retzei, if there was also Yaaleh Veyavo, he would wait until everyone had finished “Who rebuilds Jerusalem in His mercy, amen,” because only then is one permitted to answer; one does not answer in the middle of a blessing. Then he would say aloud: “For grace, kindness, mercy, a good life and peace on this Day of Remembrance, on this Yom Tov, a holy convocation. Remember us on it, Hashem our G-d, for good; be mindful of us on it for blessing; and help us on it to a good life.” After that he would raise his voice again: “And rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city, speedily in our days. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who rebuilds Jerusalem in His mercy, amen.” Then he would lower the cup until the end of bentching, but he would raise his voice again at the end of the Harachaman prayers: “And may we never lack any good thing, all of us together, with a complete blessing, and let us say amen. May the Merciful One grant us a day that is entirely good. May the Merciful One

1:37:46 Speaker 2 renew this year upon us for good and for blessing. He grants great deliverance to His king and shows kindness to His anointed one, to David and his descendants forever. He Who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel, and say amen.” At a farbrengen, if it was not after Shabbos or Yom Tov, he would take the cup and say borei pri hagafen. There were also farbrengens during the week. But if it was after Shabbos or Yom Tov, one cannot drink before Havdalah. So they would set that cup aside and cover it, so as not to leave the wine over which a blessing would be said uncovered, until it was time for Maariv. After Maariv came the Rebbe’s Havdalah. Again, they rinsed the cup from which the Rebbe had drunk, and poured into it the wine from bentching, over which we would make Havdalah. Usually, at sheva brachos, there are two cups, because one may not bundle mitzvos together, so they bring two cups. How can one use the same cup for Kiddush and Havdalah? The Rishonim answer: because Maariv comes in between. But before Havdalah, even though no one had drunk from the cup as they had at the farbrengen—which would make it a cup someone had drunk from and require rinsing it again—they nevertheless poured the wine from bentching into this cup, rinsed the cup again, and brought it to the Rebbe as the Havdalah cup. They poured the wine into it from that cup, which remained on the table, and added more wine after the cup was in the Rebbe’s hand. They poured in more wine because there is a mitzvah for the Havdalah cup to be filled to the brim, and the Rebbe began Havdalah. For Havdalah after Yom Tov, there are several versions of the text: where does one begin? One begins with borei pri hagafen, not with “Behold, G-d is my salvation,” because those auspicious verses, “Behold, G-d is my salvation” and “May He grant you,” are said only after Shabbos, not after Yom Tov.

1:40:16 Speaker 2 So if the Yom Tov also ends on Motzaei Shabbos, or if Rosh Hashanah falls on Thursday and Friday, followed by Shabbos, then everything is included: “Hinei Keil Yeshuasi,” “Veyiten Lecha,” the spices, and the Havdalah candle. But if it’s an ordinary Yom Tov—for example, Rosh Hashanah can fall on Shabbos and Sunday—then on Sunday night we have only wine. There are no spices on Sunday night, and we already made the blessing over the Havdalah candle in Yaknehaz the night before. In any case, when Yom Tov falls during the week, we have wine, spices, and a Havdalah candle again. When Yom Tov ends during the week, we have only wine: the blessing over the wine and the Havdalah blessing, “Who distinguishes between holy and ordinary.” So we’ll talk about all the Havdalahs together. First of all, before the Rebbe took the cup of wine for Havdalah, if it was also Motzaei Shabbos, there were spices and a candle too. The candle was lit, because when making the blessing over the wine, it says to look at the cup and the candle. The spices were there as well, in a box that held them. One year I said to myself, it should be a little more dignified than the cardboard box the spices were kept in, which the Rebbe would bring close and smell. I went to a store to buy something made of solid silver. It was expensive for me, but perhaps I needed to do it. So I bought a Havdalah holder within my means, as much as I could afford. I spoke with the attendants, and they told me to bring something dignified. I wanted it to be something other than a box like an esrog box, a cardboard box, not silver-plated—something very beautiful. So I found something a little larger than that, and I asked the

1:42:22 Speaker 2 seller, “Where do the spices go in here?” It opened like this. You put the spices in here, and the scent comes out so you can smell them. You can smell them from the outside too, because it’s perforated. So I bought it on Erev Shabbos, Erev Yom Tov. I bought a box of cloves, which were always used there because they have the strongest scent. I filled it on Erev Yom Tov so it would be ready as soon as Yom Tov ended. I filled it, and it was on the table when the Rebbe came to make Havdalah. Something new—a spice holder. Someone had dared to put something quite beautiful there for Havdalah, and the Rebbe looked at it: where are the spices? So the Rebbe opened this part. But he wanted to bring the spices close to his nose to smell them, so he tried to open the top part too, and it wouldn’t open. There’s a recording of this. There’s a special video showing the Rebbe handing it over, and he wasn’t satisfied with this Havdalah until they took the spices out onto a piece of paper—there was some foil or a piece of paper there. So the Rebbe didn’t smell them through the holder or in the cardboard box; he smelled them on a piece of paper. Afterward I also understood why the Rebbe didn’t want it. When you smell it from the outside, you’re not smelling the spices; you’re smelling the container. The proof is that you can take the box of cloves and empty it completely, and the scent of the spices will still remain. But we need to smell spices, not a container. And smelling this from the outside, you smell the metal, even though it also has the scent of the spices. Every movement of the Rebbe’s was measured and in accordance with halachah, and... So that was it. The Rebbe didn’t want it and didn’t agree to use it, and continued smelling the spices in the box, with their strong, sharp scent. That’s regarding the spices. All right, the Rebbe made Havdalah, taking the

1:44:30 Speaker 2 candle, of course, while standing. Actually, I would add: we say every Kiddush and every Havdalah standing, not sitting. With Havdalah, it’s obvious. The Rebbe stood and made Havdalah because the entire crowd was standing. When the Rebbe made Kiddush on Shabbos, though, once the Rebbe had come in and sat down, the whole crowd was already seated, and the Rebbe didn’t want to make everyone stand up again. And the daytime Kiddush blessing is only Borei Pri Hagafen. The Rebbe said all the verses, all of “Veshamru Bnei Yisroel” to the end. Then the Rebbe took the cup and rose for Kiddush. He would say “Savri Maranan” and rise up from his seat, and that’s how he said Borei Pri Hagafen. It was especially noticeable on Simchas Torah night, when Kiddush is very long and there was also a farbrengen. The Rebbe didn’t want to make the whole crowd stand. So these are things that we, younger people, aren’t capable of doing. The Rebbe rose like that and held the cup by his knees, not just for Hagafen, but for the entire blessing, including Shehecheyanu. He would rise somewhat, but Kiddush was always said standing, and certainly Havdalah was too. So the Rebbe made Havdalah over the cup, saying Borei Pri Hagafen standing. Then came the spices and the candle. Halachah says, and it also says so in the Alter Rebbe’s siddur, that when saying Borei Minei Vesamim, one should move the cup to the left hand, take the spices in the right hand, and say the blessing that way. The same applies to the candle: one takes the cup back in the right hand and says Borei Me’orei Ha’esh, then looks at the right hand—and some look at the left hand too—to see the tips of the fingers. First, with the thumb held upright, you see the shadow, and then the fingernails. That is what the Rebbe did until 5728. From 5727–28 onward, the Rebbe would put down the cup and not hold it for the spices and the candle.

1:46:47 Speaker 2 So some follow what it says in the siddur, and some follow what they saw the Rebbe do from 5728 onward, throughout the years: the Rebbe would put down the cup, take the spice box in both hands and smell it, then put it back. He would begin saying the blessing as he extended his hands, holding both hands, right and left, like this, and saying Borei Me’orei Ha’esh while looking at his palms. Afterward the Rebbe would sit down to drink the wine, because drinking should be done sitting down. Then the Rebbe would stand and distribute kos shel brachah from the cup for hours and hours, until the last person had come through. Even after standing for hours and hours, his extraordinary, well-known Ahavas Yisroel was so evident: he would turn around to see whether there might still be someone in the crowd who hadn’t received any. We saw the same thing during the distribution of dollars. Perhaps there was still someone standing there who hadn’t received one. And here I come to a particular year when the Rebbe sat down and wanted to begin distributing kos shel brachah. The seating at a farbrengen followed an exemplary order. The Rebbe sat in his place, with the older people, the elder chassidim, behind him, and the younger ones seated facing him in several rows, from four to twelve rows on each side, depending on the occasion. In Tishrei, the seating extended around the entire shul, with tiered rows of young Chabad chassidim on all four sides. When the Rebbe made Havdalah and they began distributing kos shel brachah, that order wasn’t maintained so well. Everyone had to go through the new space that had been made where the Rebbe distributed kos shel brachah to people coming from both sides, and benches and chairs had to be moved so everyone could pass through over the course of several hours. So the order was disrupted. When the Rebbe finished drinking from the cup, stood up, and saw the... the disorder that had developed, the Rebbe very much disliked it. There was a great commotion. I

1:49:05 Speaker 2 I should say that I, too, had been standing four or five meters from the Rebbe during kos shel bracha. I moved closer, to within half a meter of the Rebbe, perhaps even less, both to see the Rebbe and his movements as he distributed kos shel bracha, and to see and enjoy watching the chassidim come up—everything we wanted to see and hear at kos shel bracha. Then a commotion broke out. The Rebbe held the goblet like this and said, “If there isn’t order here, I will stop distributing kos shel bracha. There must be order here!” The Rebbe said it in a very loud voice—he actually shouted. I had never heard the Rebbe speak that way. Everyone froze where they stood, both because of what the Rebbe had asked and, more accurately, because he had shouted it. Well, the Rebbe remained standing with the goblet, and everyone stood rooted to the spot. Nothing moved. Three or four minutes had already passed. So the bochurim standing there immediately said, “The line for kos shel bracha has to start moving. Otherwise, the Rebbe will soon finish. He said he would finish, make the brocha over the wine, and leave.” They quickly urged Rashag forward and told him, “Start,” because he was the first to approach. Behind him, another twenty or thirty elder chassidim were seated near the Rebbe, and the line continued. Thirty or forty prominent chassidim went through, and the commotion returned—partly because things needed organizing, and partly because everyone wanted to come closer. Then the Rebbe put the goblet down on the table and began a sicha that lasted seven or eight minutes, speaking in a raised voice, almost shouting: “It’s impossible to maintain order this way. I’m stopping immediately, as I said.” He spoke about order and its significance, and his voice was like “the voice of Hashem hews flames of fire.” Everyone stood motionless, rooted to the spot, and you couldn’t hear—

1:51:22 Speaker 2 How do you say it? You couldn’t hear a fly’s wing in the shul. When the Rebbe finished, nobody moved. Again the bochurim said, “Kos shel bracha has to start. Otherwise, it will end here, in Tishrei 5735, and there won’t be any more.” Nobody dared go up to receive kos shel bracha. They said, “But somebody has to go up.” And I dared. We said, “What will become of kos shel bracha? This can’t be.” I went up to the Rebbe. People received kos shel bracha in small l’chaim cups, plastic or paper, whatever was available that year. But there were none. Where were they? None. The gabbai who held them, Rabbi Meir Harlig, may he be well, was standing two meters away with thousands of cups for everyone—but he, like everyone else, stood rooted to the spot, frozen. Nobody could move a finger. I stood there gesturing to him, “Hand me a cup.” No response. Everyone was stunned. I said, “Meir”—right in front of the Rebbe—and got no response. The Rebbe stood on one side of the table, and I stood on the other. The only cup on the table was the one the Rebbe had drunk from during the farbrengen, the one from which the wine had been poured. But everyone was so confused, myself included, of course, and it was the only cup there. I reached toward it, and the Rebbe approached with the goblet from the other side. I was on this side, and someone pinched my leg: “Don’t touch it! That’s the Rebbe’s cup.” So I pulled back, but the Rebbe moved another millimeter, another centimeter closer, and I moved forward again. Then I got another pinch or a kick—whatever they could manage against my legs: “Don’t touch it! It belongs to the Rebbe.” I pulled back again, and the Rebbe moved forward, until I took hold of the cup. Then the Rebbe came over and poured me a generous amount of wine—not a little, like you’d pour into a small cup, but a generous amount. And then my legs got what...

1:53:32 Speaker 2 How do you say it? What you’d expect to get in the face, on the head, and beside the head. I backed away trembling, because the Rebbe was standing there and I was going back down, and the Rebbe noticed everything—everything. The Rebbe came all the way to the edge of the table, leaned over, and poured in another generous amount. Well, all right. When I came down, the bochurim came over: “What did you do?” I said, “You told me—yes, yes, yes. Not okay, not okay. It really wasn’t okay.” The cup came inside with me, and I said, “This really isn’t okay.” I went out, took it to my room, and put that “not okay” cup there. The next morning I looked around a store and saw one, and then I came back to kos shel bracha. Everyone said, “What did you do there?” I said, “Boruch Hashem, the line has kept going from 5735 until 5752, and to this very day—with all that abundance, boruch Hashem, for many more years.” The next day I went to a store and saw that you could buy this cup, with its gold band, for two dollars. I went over to the dear, holy wine-pourer, Rabbi Yunik. I said, “I’ve already been to the store. I’ll bring you a few cups. Can I keep this one?” He said, “You can keep it; it’s all right. Those cups are mine from home.” Boruch Hashem, the cup is here before you. That was the night after Rosh Hashanah 5735, and perhaps it played a part in kos shel bracha continuing for many years. I wanted to use it at my wedding, but we break a cup. So, boruch Hashem, it can be used at a bris, a pidyon haben, or a sheva brachos.