Ears to Hear 1 | Traveling to the King Moshiach

00:00 Speaker 1 “But Hashem has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear.”

00:08 Speaker 2 Ears to Hear. An audio program for the Temimim, presented by Eshel HaTorah HaOlami.

00:15 Speaker 3 Welcoming Moshiach means living Geulah: traveling to the Rebbe as one should, truly and sincerely, with action, and growing through it. When we come to the King Moshiach, accept his kingship, and devote ourselves to him—that is living Geulah to the fullest. That is living Moshiach to the fullest.

00:37 Speaker 2 Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and around the world. We’re now beginning this special edition of Ears to Hear, a program permeated with a spirit of strong hiskashrus to the Rebbe, the King Moshiach, shlita, and with the spirit of Geulah and the days of Moshiach. This time, we’re focusing on something important, essential, and vital for every chossid: traveling to the Rebbe, the King Moshiach. It’s a journey every student, wherever he may be, prepares for. He wants to come to the Rebbe and stand before the King Moshiach. So in this program, with Hashem’s help, we’ll talk with Rabbi Binyamin Gendel, a mashpia in the yeshiva ketanah in Tzfas, and delve into what this journey is all about. We’ll discuss what it means to prepare for the trip. Why does every chossid need to travel to the Rebbe? Why can’t we manage without it? How important is this preparation for each of us, and how does it connect to the most important, essential, and vital task of crowning the King Moshiach and actually welcoming Moshiach Tzidkeinu? We’re beginning the program now with Rabbi Binyamin Gendel. Shalom aleichem. Welcome, Rabbi Gendel. Let’s begin this special farbrengen. L’chaim. L’chaim.

01:57 Speaker 3 L’chaim. L’chaim and blessings.

02:00 Speaker 2 L’chaim and blessings.

02:00 Speaker 3 They say this farbrengen should be the last act in exile and the first act in Geulah.

02:05 Speaker 2 Amen.

02:06 Speaker 3 L’chaim.

02:06 Speaker 2 L’chaim and blessings. As we sit together now at this special farbrengen, on this special Ears to Hear program, and talk about preparing to travel to the Rebbe, the King Moshiach, there’s obviously a lot to discuss: how to prepare for the trip, what preparation really means, and what specific things need to be done. But before anything else, we need to understand what traveling to the Rebbe itself means, and just how important, vital, and essential it is for every chossid. Because a question does creep into the hearts of some Temimim: If I’m a chassidishe bochur who learns Nigleh and Chassidus, keeps the sedarim, and is involved in Geulah and Moshiach, what am I missing if I don’t travel to the Rebbe? Can’t I be a full-fledged Tomim, complete in everything connected with the Rebbe in the most chassidishe and perfect way possible? What would really happen if I didn’t go? Why is it so vital and indispensable? Why is traveling to the Rebbe such an inseparable part of being a chossid, if I can be a full-fledged Tomim, a chossid involved in Nigleh, Chassidus, and Geulah and Moshiach, even without it? How can we bring this into focus in our own lives and hearts, and understand what preparing for the trip really means?

03:26 Speaker 3 The story that comes to mind when I think about traveling to the Rebbe is that of the chossid Rabbi Zelig Slonim, the Rebbe’s man in Jerusalem, the representative of the Rebbe, the King Moshiach, in Jerusalem. He came to Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch at the age of fifteen, I think. He had lost his father, and the whole Slonim family lived in the Holy Land—the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel Slonim, a daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. Having been orphaned as a young boy, he came to Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch at fifteen and stayed there. You could say he became part of the Rebbe Rashab’s household. His entire extended family was in the Holy Land, but he was a relative, though not a close one, of the Rebbe’s family. Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, the Rebbe Rashab’s Rebbetzin, took him under her wing. She really looked after him and made sure he had everything he needed. He spent a great deal of time with the Rebbe Rashab and was a guest for Shabbos and Yom Tov. He was truly like a member of the household. During World War I, when the Rebbe Rashab moved to Rostov, Zelig Slonim was already an older bochur. He wasn’t with the Rebbe Rashab; he was at a branch of Tomchei Temimim. Communism was beginning to take hold, and there was a great deal of turmoil. He was at a Tomchei Temimim branch very far from the Rebbe Rashab when the Rebbe Rashab passed away in Rostov. When he heard, he was naturally devastated. For several weeks, he barely spoke to anyone. Then he heard that the Frierdiker Rebbe had accepted the nesius and become the Rebbe. He decided that for the coming Tishrei he had to get to Rostov, to the Frierdiker Rebbe. He could have written a letter, and he could also have received the maamarim afterward, but he—

05:25 Speaker 3 felt that he had to come to the Frierdiker Rebbe physically, in person, and accept his nesius, accept the Frierdiker Rebbe’s kingship. There isn’t time to describe how much danger to life the journey involved. The Communists and gangs were running wild. He describes what it took to travel: several times they were nearly thrown off the train and had to jump off it, and Jews were killed along the way. It was real, genuine danger to life. But he felt that one had to travel to the Rebbe physically, in person. He reached the Rebbe in Rostov and sat with Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, who was like a mother to him in a certain sense. They sat together, drank tea, I think, and talked about everything they had been through. Suddenly the Frierdiker Rebbe came in. You have to understand: in a certain sense, the Frierdiker Rebbe had been like an older brother to him. They had, in a way, grown up together. He had been part of the Rebbe Rashab’s household, and the Frierdiker Rebbe had been, you could say, like an older brother. But now he was the Rebbe. The Frierdiker Rebbe entered the room. Zelig Slonim shook all over, sprang to his feet, and cried out, “Rebbe!” He cried “Rebbe!” with every fiber of his being. At that moment, he felt that with all his heart and soul he was accepting the nesius, accepting the Frierdiker Rebbe’s kingship, and binding himself to him in heart and soul. I think this is the story we should have before us when we talk about traveling to the Rebbe. First of all, there’s that clear feeling that we simply must come to the Rebbe, physically, in person. Why come? For that moment of inner bittul, that profound surrender, when the soul surrenders itself. We need to keep that moment before our eyes: that cry of “Rebbe!” from the very essence of the soul. The inner bittul, the inner devotion, the inner hiskashrus. That is why we travel to the Rebbe, and why we must travel to the Rebbe. I—

07:31 Speaker 3 want to add a little. There’s a letter from the Rebbe to a chossid in which the Rebbe writes that it’s a pity he didn’t come there. I assume this was before 17 Tishrei. It’s a pity he didn’t come to the Rebbe—to the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe explains that there is an outward bowing and an inward bowing. Outward bowing is when the body bows. Inward bowing is when the soul bows, when the soul surrenders and devotes itself. To reach that inward bowing, the Rebbe says, one needs to come to the Rebbe, so that the soul will bow, so that it will surrender with a true, essential, inner bittul. That is why we come to the Rebbe, and that is what we need to keep before our eyes.

08:07 Speaker 4 And nothing else will do if we remain in the Holy Land or somewhere else, even if we still have a certain degree of bittul to the Rebbe.

08:17 Speaker 3 Well, it talks there about shluchim, for example, whom the Rebbe tells that they need to be in their place of shlichus. So surely the Rebbe is telling them that their inner bowing, presumably, will take place in their place of shlichus, because the Rebbe tells them to stay there. Perhaps you could say the same thing about a bochur whom we tell to stay somewhere, or something like that. So, seemingly, if we tell him to stay, or at a certain point it makes sense for him to stay, then if that is what the Rebbe wants, his inner bittul will probably be there. But in general, certainly that’s how it is. That’s the point. G-dliness has clothed itself in the physical world; we have to understand that. G-dliness has clothed itself in the physical world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere, but in a shul He rests and is revealed more; in the aron kodesh He rests and is revealed even more; in the Beis Hamikdash, more still; and in the Holy of Holies, even more. So one centimeter over, there is more of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and one centimeter over, less? G-dliness has clothed itself in the physical world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothes Himself in physicality. The Rebbe clothes himself in physicality—in a physical body, a physical house, and a physical place. And you need to know: you want Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so you need to come to the Beis Hamikdash. You can connect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu anywhere—what kind of question is that? Hakadosh Boruch Hu says there is an inner way of coming here, and [unclear]. The Rebbe says that every Jew’s place is before Hashem. The Rebbe also says that this means both inwardly, the inner meaning of being before Hashem, and literally being before Hashem. Physically, you have to come before Hashem physically. And so it is with the Rebbe. The Rebbe clothes himself in physicality, and therefore you need to come to the Rebbe’s physical place, where the Rebbe is physically. And now, of course, we need to

10:11 Speaker 3 understand that this demands serious work. In other words, what we’re talking about now really demands that we come. Maybe I’ll put it this way. I was in Nof HaGalil for a few years. Rabbi Koenig [unclear], a"h, was there too—a Jew who lived Geulah on an extraordinary level, in a very tangible way,

10:36 Speaker 4 in recent years. People remember very well how he strongly encouraged the Temimim in all matters of Moshiach and in praying for the revelation, with tremendous intensity.

10:44 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, it was truly a privilege for me to live near him and hear many farbrengens from him. He was a Jew who—I don’t know whether to say he opened your eyes. With him, living Geulah and opening your eyes was something very, very tangible. When people asked him questions like, “Where do we see Geulah in the world?” he would simply sit with you for a few minutes and show you things happening in the world. You came away convinced—convinced that you could literally see Geulah in the world. So I want to tell you something that happened there in my time. Rabbi Moshe Korenveitz [unclear] was there too, and once I heard someone ask him, “Where do we see Geulah in the world? The Rebbe says so—where do we see it?” And he gave a different answer. What do I mean, different? It complements the point. He said something you have to think about a little to understand. He said: Living Geulah, opening your eyes—that takes work. It takes work. You’re looking for it: the Rebbe says Geulah is in the world, so I open the window and want to see Geulah. Yes, we want it, and we demand it of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And the Rebbe also says in one of the sichos that Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs to open our eyes. True. But understand that there’s work to do here. You can’t just sit there with your legs crossed and say, “Please bring it to me; open my eyes for me.” You need to open your eyes. You need to live it. You need to see Geulah. That takes work. It’s not sitting on the couch; it’s serious work, opening your eyes and seeing Geulah in the world. So, when it comes to our going to the Rebbe, the easier part is getting a passport and a visa, and perhaps permission from [unclear], and money for a plane ticket, and traveling, and so on. The difficult, challenging part is bringing

12:30 Speaker 3 your soul to the Rebbe, and truly coming to the Rebbe with inner, essential bittul. Zelig Slonim didn’t arrive at that over a cup of coffee. He reached it through serious inner work, through Chassidus and avodah, through inner bittul and devotion to the Rebbe. That is work. Reaching these things takes very serious work. We need to keep that before our eyes.

12:51 Speaker 5 Perhaps the question that arises, once we understand what it means to come to the Rebbe specifically in a physical sense—a question that has also been lurking in the background—is this: ultimately, to come to the Rebbe physically. Zelig Slonim came to the Rebbe and accepted the kingship and leadership of the Frierdiker Rebbe. Ultimately, he saw the Frierdiker Rebbe. He—and other chassidim who came to the Frierdiker Rebbe—came to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, and saw the Rebbe, with all the revelations and so on. Here, though, we’re talking about these days, which, for now, are within the reality of galus. We’re talking about days that are entirely about essence, when, within the reality of galus, we do not see or hear the Rebbe. In any event, the whole matter here is essence, one great essence. So how can we, even in this situation, even in the present reality of galus, when we do not see or hear the Rebbe, come with all that this entails—with that complete devotion to the Rebbe—and lift our soul to the Rebbe, even when we do not see or hear him?

13:51 Speaker 3 First of all, as we said, G-dliness has clothed itself in physicality. That is something you need to know and contemplate: that the Rebbe clothes himself in physicality, in a physical body and a physical place. And first of all, there is that very knowledge. As the Rebbe says in Ani Ledodi [unclear], about the king in the field: knowing that the king is near you. The king is in the field, but he is concealed, as with Esther. He is dressed in the clothes of the field and conducts himself like—meaning, you do not openly see a king here. That is what the Rebbe says: you do not openly see a king. Knowing that the king is there, that he is waiting for you and receives everyone with a pleasant countenance—there is a face there, after all—that knowledge gives you the strength and the desire to truly come to the Rebbe. So first comes knowing. What does knowing mean? Contemplating the matter. Contemplating that the king is there. The king is here, waiting for me. He is happy I have come, and he awaits my bittul and my devotion. That is the first thing. The second thing, continuing what we said and sharpening it further: there, in Ani Ledodi, about the king in the field, the Rebbe says that anyone who wishes may go out to greet him. “Anyone who wishes”—your desire is essential, because the king is in the field, dressed in the clothes of the field, and you do not see a king. You do not see a king. He is concealed, as with Esther. Your desire is essential. Your desire is essential. I’ll sharpen the point this way. There is a handwritten response from the Rebbe that was published quite a few years ago. There are several responses from the Rebbe along these lines, and one handwritten response that I saw, which I think was also published. Someone asks the Rebbe for a private yechidus after the Rebbe had begun holding public yechidus. In response, the Rebbe writes to him

15:33 Speaker 3 that, as is known, every farbrengen now is like yechidus. And the Rebbe adds, “for one who wants it.” “For one who wants it”—the Rebbe emphasizes that. It makes it very clear: whoever wants it will have yechidus. In other words, there are thousands of people at the farbrengen. Whoever wants it will have yechidus; whoever doesn’t, apparently won’t. It’s unbelievable. It—

15:57 Speaker 5 You could say that in the past it depended more on the general circumstances, whereas now it is a more inward, personal matter for each individual, dependent on his own desire—meaning, on his own part.

16:06 Speaker 3 That’s how it seems. That’s what we see in the maamarim, the sichos, and the Rebbe’s responses, as we just said, and that’s what we see on the ground as well. You need the desire. Now is a time when you have to want it. Whoever wants it will be part of it. In other words, the answer to that question—first of all, the question itself. First of all, the Alter Rebbe needs it, we need it, the Rebbe needs it, Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs it, the world needs it, and Judaism needs it: the complete revelation, right now, immediately. And the truth is that we’re not prepared to accept any other answers. And what is our way of bringing about that revelation? Every moment that there is still [unclear], the real answer—I’ll put it this way—you have to give the real answer. The bochur gives it. Do you want it? Do you want the Rebbe? You have to search. You have to find. You have to want it, and you will receive it and find it. You can even see this in reality. There are people who became observant in recent years, people who never saw the Rebbe. People became observant through [unclear]. In other words, you see G-dliness. You see that the Rebbe is here, that this is real. You see the G-dliness; you see the Rebbe here, drawing souls to him and transforming them. You can see it. Do you want it? If you don’t feel it but you want it, then you have to give the answer yourself. You have to want it. Anyone who wants to [unclear] needs the desire, the dedication, the ability to step outside himself, his own dedication and bittul. You have to give the real answer. The bochur has to give it through his dedication and his bittul. On this point, I think there’s something that contributes a great deal. There’s a story about one of the chassidim. I think I heard it

18:03 Speaker 3 told about Reb Shmuel Munkes, though it may have been someone else. On Erev Yom Kippur, he had to take on a case of pidyon shvuyim, redeeming a family from the landowner’s dungeon. He came to an inn and saw three frivolous men playing cards. He asked them to contribute to the pidyon shvuyim, and they told him they would give him the entire sum if he finished their cups of liquor. These were inn cups—mugs of liquor, you might say. He finished what they gave him and got the money. Of course, he was completely drunk. Somehow he managed to redeem the family. He arrived at shul before Kol Nidrei, collapsed onto a bench, and sat there through Kol Nidrei with a machzor and Tehillim. He slept the whole time. Nobody understood what had happened to this chossid on the night of Yom Kippur. Then, around midnight, he woke up, got up, went over to the bimah, banged on it, and began saying, “You have been shown to know that Hashem is G-d; there is none besides Him!” He started jumping up and down—on the night of Yom Kippur. The chassidim came to take him out, but the Rebbe said, “Leave him alone. He’s at Simchas Torah.” He had reached Simchas Torah. Now, I thought: What does it mean that he reached Simchas Torah? I think of it this way: Mesirus nefesh lifts you to another, G-dly place. There’s Yom Kippur, there’s Sukkos, there’s Simchas Torah. There’s a ladder, and you’re supposed to go through the stages one after another. When you act with mesirus nefesh, when you break through your own boundaries, you break through your limitations, and the G-dly limitations are broken through as well. You can reach Simchas Torah. You can reach places that aren’t ordinarily within your reach, but you have to act with mesirus nefesh. You broke through your boundaries; G-dly limitations are broken through, and you reach Simchas Torah. That’s

20:02 Speaker 3 another point we really need to take into account. Mesirus nefesh for the Rebbe, dedication to the Rebbe. When a Tomim gives himself over to the Rebbe in things that are hard for him to give, and he knows the Rebbe is waiting for that, he knows the Rebbe wants it, he will reach G-dly places that might not ordinarily be within his reach—but he will be there. There’s a passage in a sicha where the Rebbe discusses the verse, “For Yisroel is a child, and I love him.” The usual, well-known explanation is that Yisroel is like a child: he has a child’s sincerity and bittul. That’s why Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves a Jew who behaves like a child. But I saw a sicha in which the Rebbe says that when you act with bittul, sincerity, mesirus nefesh, and self-sacrifice like a child, then “I love him” will be yours. You’ll have an inner love; an inner love will be drawn to you. The feeling will come to you, too, when you dedicate yourself with kabbolas ol. You’ll have the feeling as well. You’ll feel the Rebbe; you’ll feel G-dliness. When you dedicate yourself to the Rebbe, you can feel the Rebbe more.

21:15 Speaker 6 So the point at which I can feel the Rebbe and reach the Rebbe in a real, essential way, even now, is complete dedication to the Rebbe, expressed in the things that are hard for me, the things for which I act with mesirus nefesh. [unclear]

21:30 Speaker 3 I think that’s the main point. Along with it, you also need to learn—for example, the maamar Ani Ledodi that we mentioned earlier, which explains how to approach the King, what it means that the King is near you, and what it means that the King receives you with a welcoming face. And other sichos and maamarim that explain what a Rebbe is. So mesirus nefesh really is the main thing: bittul and dedication to the Rebbe. Each person has to think about what the Rebbe wants from him, and then do what the Rebbe wants from him, even when it hurts. You also need to learn and understand what a Rebbe is, and contemplate it. Contemplate whom you are approaching—whom you are approaching.

22:13 Speaker 6 There’s an interesting aspect here, because usually what people discuss with us is the kuntres Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel. But from what you’re saying, there needs to be contemplation not only of Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel, but, within Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel, of whom we’re approaching: the essence of the nasi of the generation, of Melech HaMoshiach, of the intermediary who connects us. What is the more essential point here?

22:38 Speaker 3 I think that even in Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel, with a little contemplation, you see that it’s really talking about Rabbeinu. In other words, if the Shechinah is with him in Beis Rabbeinu, why is the Shechinah with him? Because of the beautiful walls? Why? The Gemara asks, “Where is it in Bavel?” and answers: “In Beis Rabbeinu Shebebavel.” So where is the Shechinah today? The answer is: with him, in his very being. That’s where the Shechinah is with him. Why? Because the Rebbe is there. Yes, that’s at the beginning of the kuntres: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah.” And according to the explanation, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of his very being.” That’s really the point. Why? Because the Rebbe is there. That’s another way to contemplate it, besides the fact that later in the kuntres the Rebbe speaks explicitly about Rabbeinu and the Moshiach of the generation, and so on. Even when the Rebbe speaks about Beis Rabbeinu, if you contemplate it, it’s really about Rabbeinu: the Shechinah is with him because of Rabbeinu. “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah”—of his very being—because of Rabbeinu. Along with that, I think that when you learn sichos about what a Rebbe is, like the sicha on Korach in Likkutei Sichos, volume 4, and the sicha on Beshalach—sorry, the one on Shir HaYam—sichos like those that explain what a Rebbe is, and the beginning of the maamar [unclear]—there are many sichos—you approach it differently. It depends on how much you learn and how much you contemplate. I’ll add another point. Halfway through my year of kvutzah, I felt that I needed to come to the Rebbe anew. Halfway through kvutzah, I felt that I needed to come anew. I took Biur Rabbeinu and studied it. I had studied it before, I don’t know how many times, but I felt

24:39 Speaker 3 I needed something new here. I learned it again, properly. I learned it well, and then I did something I don’t think I’d done before: I tried as much as possible to bring it down into physical reality. After you learn that the Shechinah is with them, you look around at the walls and say to yourself: The Shechinah is with them here, in these walls, in these walls, in this ceiling, in this floor. The Shechinah is with them. Look at the walls: this is the Beis Hamikdash, and [unclear] this very building, these very walls. Look at the walls, look at the ceiling; see the tables of the Beis Hamikdash, the benches of the Beis Hamikdash. You bring it down into physical terms; you make it tangible. I think that afterward it was different. And that’s how it is in Beis Rabbeinu, and that’s how it is in these sichos of the Rebbe. And you know what? I’ll add something else. There’s a section in the Kovetz Hiskashrus that came out a few years ago—a second section, too. There’s a chapter there on “the intermediary who connects.” I would very, very much recommend learning it before a trip to the Rebbe. And really, we’re always on a trip to the Rebbe. We’re always arriving at the Rebbe.

25:56 Speaker 7 That whole book is preparation for a trip to the Rebbe.

25:59 Speaker 3 Right, right, right, right. I think that chapter on the intermediary who connects is in the second section—or the first section, second chapter. It brings together a few excerpts from sichos, mainly from 5710, I think. What is a Rebbe? What is a Rebbe? What is a Rebbe? What does it mean that the Rebbe himself is a revelation? How much do we need a Rebbe? How much does Judaism need the Rebbe? How much does avodas Hashem need the Rebbe? How much does a Jew need the—there is no avodas Hashem. Avodas Hashem is hiskashrus. That’s it. And then, after you learn the sichos and the maamarim about what a Rebbe is, bring it down into physical reality, bring it down into physical reality. It happens. When I was studying in [unclear] in Netanya, our mashpia from our first year, Rabbi Shlomi Rosenblatt, told us about the first time he came to the Rebbe. He saw the Rebbe for the first time, and there was something he had to work through. He knew that the Rebbe is a revelation of Hashem’s very Essence, and he was seeing a human being. He had to—I don’t know how to put it. The Rebbe isn’t an angel; he’s beyond that. He is a revelation of Hashem’s very Essence. And you see a human being, flesh and blood. It took work to understand that this revelation of Hashem’s very Essence was clothed in a physical body, in flesh and blood. So there’s work to do here, work to do. Learn the sichos, learn Beis Rabbeinu, and understand that the Shechinah is with them. Learn the sichos, learn about the intermediary who connects, and bring it down to where you are. Understand that right now I’m here with a revelation of Hashem’s very Essence. Hashem’s Essence is here. Understand what’s happening here, in this [unclear]. Understand—

27:45 Speaker 3 Understand what’s happening, understand what’s happening, understand it, contemplate it. It takes work. It takes work.

27:51 Speaker 7 Wow. This really stirs every Tomim listening. But one of the main things every Tomim wants to hear from the mashpi’im is this: we’re not just at some point in Chabad’s history when people travel to the Rebbe. Nor is this simply like the charter flight that took off and landed in our seventh generation, followed by all the trips chassidim made over the years. We’re in entirely different days now—the days of Moshiach. Over the years, beginning in the 5740s and then in 5751 and 5752, the Rebbe announced that we’re already on the threshold of the Geulah and that all that remains is to welcome Moshiach Tzidkeinu. Our task now is to live in the days of Moshiach, in the spirit of “Do everything in your power.” So surely the whole picture of traveling to the Rebbe points somewhere else, somewhere more elevated. What exactly? How? What’s the particular direction? When a Tomim travels to the Rebbe while we stand on the threshold of the Geulah, on the threshold of the days of Moshiach, that’s what’s hard to pin down. What’s special about traveling to the Rebbe now? Is there something that distinguishes it from that first charter flight, or are we essentially on the same course? It’s a question that stirs everyone. First of all, there’s a story about someone who asked a Chabad chossid, “You travel to the Rebbe, but with that money you could have set up soup kitchens or Chabad Houses, or funded mivtzoim.” He answered, “You don’t understand. When you travel to the Rebbe, everyone who comes back opens a new Chabad House—or a mivtzoim stand. The point is that the money spent on a ticket comes back as strength, energy, and new activity worth much, much, much more.” For our purposes, of course you receive strength, and you can plainly feel that you come back from the Rebbe with renewed strength, dedication, and enthusiasm for everything connected with welcoming Moshiach, living the Geulah, and spreading the message of the Geulah. But there’s something much deeper here.

29:52 Speaker 7 A friend once asked me about all the energy, all the shturem, and the whole point of traveling to the Rebbe. If the goal is to spread the message of the Geulah and live the Geulah, then by going to the Rebbe you’re seemingly missing the point. That was his question, more or less: spreading the message of the Geulah, living—

30:38 Speaker 8 Dvar Malchus.

30:39 Speaker 7 —doing what needs to be done. Spending money on a trip to the Rebbe and making a shturem about it, and so on. Honestly, for one second I was confused. Then I remembered that this friend also doesn’t really understand the importance of publicizing Moshiach’s identity: the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. More than that—Moshiach is here. And then I realized that this is the very point. To live Moshiach, to live the Geulah, means first and foremost to live with Melech HaMoshiach. What is the Geulah? The essence of the Geulah is Melech HaMoshiach. What is the Geulah? The Geulah is the revelation of Hashem’s very Essence.

31:15 Speaker 8 “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see”—the revelation of G-dliness, the revelation of Hashem’s very Essence.

31:20 Speaker 7 That is Melech HaMoshiach. The revelation of Hashem’s very Essence in the Geulah is revealed through Melech HaMoshiach. Everything comes through Melech HaMoshiach. The maamarim and other writings explain that “the wolf will dwell with the lamb” is a revelation of G-dliness through Melech HaMoshiach. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem” is a revelation of G-dliness through Melech HaMoshiach. And as in the Dvar Malchus of Parshas Mishpatim, “All the nations will stream to it.” It all comes about through Melech HaMoshiach. It’s all the work of Melech HaMoshiach. And “they shall beat their swords into plowshares”—that too is his work. It’s all Melech HaMoshiach. Melech HaMoshiach is the essence of the Geulah. He is its central point; he is the Geulah. When we speak about living the Geulah, we mean living with Melech HaMoshiach. The most fundamental foundation of living the Geulah, of living the days of Moshiach, is living with Melech HaMoshiach: accepting his kingship, connecting to him, devoting ourselves to him, living a life centered on him. My whole life—my soul, my mind, my heart, and my thought, speech, and action—is devoted to welcoming Moshiach. That is living the Geulah. When you travel to the Rebbe properly and sincerely, with inner understanding that you are coming to Melech HaMoshiach, accepting his kingship and devoting yourself to him—that is living the Geulah and living Moshiach to the fullest. That is the central point for us today. In the Dvar Malchus of Parshas Ki Sisa, the Rebbe speaks about how the period of receiving reward is beginning, and therefore our avodah must also involve matters of Moshiach. The first of those matters is our entire lives. It is Melech HaMoshiach. Our entire lives are the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. And the deepest, most essential part of that is to come to Melech HaMoshiach physically and spiritually, body and soul—to come to him all the way, all the way, all the way. So yes, today all of Judaism is lived in a mode of Geulah. And in the Dvar Malchus sichos

33:33 Speaker 7 The Rebbe teaches us that all of our service of Hashem—all of Judaism, all of Torah and mitzvos, the service of prayer, all of Elul and Tishrei, everything—is in a way that is about Geulah and Moshiach. And you can’t say it all. You simply have to learn all the sichos of Dvar Malchus. The Rebbe gives us a Judaism that is the Judaism of Moshiach: an Elul of Moshiach, a Rosh Hashanah of Moshiach. Erev Rosh Hashanah—learn the sichos for Erev Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei I and Tishrei II. I mean Erev Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei II. Then Erev Yom Kippur—learn the Rebbe’s blessing on Erev Yom Kippur. You live a different Yom Kippur. Let’s take that as an example. You learn the Rebbe’s blessing on Erev Yom Kippur, as we just said. The Rebbe brings you the whole Yom Kippur of the Beis Hamikdash, when one encounters Hashem’s Essence in the Holy of Holies. That is the Yom Kippur of Tishrei, with Hashem’s help: encountering Hashem’s Essence in the Holy of Holies. And to contemplate, as we said earlier, that this happens here, with Melech HaMoshiach. Where does one encounter Hashem’s Essence? At home. Of course, someone who is at home, in the place where he serves as the Rebbe’s shliach, certainly encounters Hashem’s Essence there, and the Rebbe and Melech HaMoshiach. And I have to add something. Someone listening to us now who is at home on Erev Yom Kippur needs to know that the Rebbe is with him now, and Melech HaMoshiach is with him. But surely everyone understands that encountering Hashem’s Essence in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, with the Rebbe, in the miniature sanctuary—the Beis Hamikdash and Melech HaMoshiach—is something else. It is certainly another world. Someone who learns Dvar Malchus, lives Geulah, and understands that everything is about Moshiach... Dvar Malchus suddenly asks—

35:28 Speaker 7 What does the Rebbe tell you? How do we prepare inwardly for the Geulah? How do we live Geulah inwardly? The judge, the counselor, and the prophet. Your whole life is the Rebbe. Your whole life is Melech HaMoshiach. Yes, the Rebbe—that’s it. The Rebbe brings there what we need to know. Every Jew needs to know that prophecy is revealed through Melech HaMoshiach before the Geulah. That is what it means to live Geulah inwardly. What does it mean to live Geulah inwardly? First of all, to live with the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach—the judge, the counselor, and the prophet. That is life; that is everything. His instructions, his counsel, his prophecies—he is your whole life.

36:07 Speaker 9 Essentially, someone who understands the essence of Geulah—that it is the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach—and wants to connect with the Rebbe completely, down to the yechidah of the soul, usually does one thing first: he travels to the Rebbe.

36:18 Speaker 7 Yes, yes, exactly. The first thing is to travel to the Rebbe. That is the heart of living Geulah. That is the main point of living Geulah. But for that, it has to be real and inward. I’ll put it this way. There’s a feeling—and it’s a true feeling—that arriving at the Rebbe is the reward, the prize. There’s all the work, the months of preparation, the mivtzoim, the dancing and the farbrengens, and then you arrive at the Rebbe. We’ve reached a place of rest, a place to call our own. And that’s true. There is no greater reward in the world, no greater pleasure. It isn’t merely a taste of the World to Come—a taste is only a taste. But there’s something deeper. The Geulah is the payment of the reward; it’s the greatest reward. But yes, as we said, [unclear]. It is the peak of the work, the innermost part of the work. Then he says, as we saw: when will the work be complete? Precisely in the Geulah. The Geulah is the payment of the reward. And what is that payment? It is the truest work. In other words, arriving at the Rebbe is the greatest reward in the world. And what is the greatest reward? That now you can do the deepest, most essential work. Your fullest devotion to the Rebbe begins now. Arriving at 770 is the greatest pleasure in the world. There’s no greater pleasure than arriving there. It’s the greatest reward a person on earth can receive—and now the greatest work begins. Now the real work begins. A bochur at 770 has reached the peak of the work, the greatest devotion. He isn’t resting on his laurels. He isn’t sitting back with his feet up. He has reached the peak of the work. Don’t miss the greatest—

38:19 Speaker 7 opportunity of your life: the chance for the most essential, most inward work, for the deepest devotion, the deepest bittul, to become one with the Rebbe, to unite with Melech HaMoshiach. And that’s what we’re saying now. We learn Torah; from afar we learn about Geulah and understand that Melech HaMoshiach is here. Then we arrive at 770. We have to be focused on this point right now. Now is the opportunity to reach him, to reach him completely, to devote yourself to him completely, to unite with him completely—with Melech HaMoshiach.

38:55 Speaker 9 Essentially, this is the innermost point, the central thread running through everything we’ve been discussing: it is about the Rebbe. Arriving at the Rebbe means arriving at a particular person. It isn’t just a building; it isn’t just walls. It’s the Rebbe. And the Rebbe is unique. The Rebbe is the redeemer, the Rebbe is Melech HaMoshiach, and the Rebbe is Geulah.

39:14 Speaker 7 Yes, yes. I’m remembering something that happened when I was out on mivtzoim. Once, a boy of about twelve and a half came up to me—a very bright, clever boy. He wasn’t wearing a yarmulke. He came over and asked about tefillin. At a certain point I took out a picture of the Rebbe, took out a Moshiach card, and showed it to him. I said, “This is Melech HaMoshiach,” and he was beside himself. “Moshiach? Really? This is Moshiach? And he’s going to come to us? When—now?” “Yes, exactly.” “Wow, I have to tell my mother! I have to! Where will he be?” And I told him [unclear]. “Wow! I think I’ll want to visit him a lot.” After I left, I thought to myself: he’s the normal one. He’s excited, beside himself—and he’s the normal one! Melech HaMoshiach! Even a child knows about the hope of generations, two thousand years of waiting. Even a child knows. A child is beside himself: there’s a picture of Melech HaMoshiach; I’ll be able to visit him, I’ll be able to come to him. He’s beside himself. A normal person. When we learn Chassidus, learn the Rebbe’s sichos, learn Dvar Malchus, and understand even a little more—what Melech HaMoshiach is, what the revelation of G-dliness is, what the revelation of Hashem’s Essence is—when we arrive at 770, we should be beside ourselves. We should come here with bittul. We’re coming to Melech HaMoshiach, to the peak of the revelation of Hashem’s Essence, to the greatest certainty in Hashem, to the peak of the revelation of G-dliness. Thank you so much, Rabbi Gendel[?]. I believe that everyone who hears these words will, of course, connect with the very essence of traveling to the Rebbe, as we discussed at the beginning. To sum up what we’ve said about coming to the Rebbe specifically in a physical sense—coming into his four cubits, coming to 770, Beis Chayeinu and Beis Moshiach—coming to the Rebbe is, of course, expressed in surrendering one’s desires in a way that

41:14 Speaker 7 Absolute devotion to the Rebbe, to the point of surrendering even the things that are hard for us, revealing our yechidah, and devoting ourselves to the Rebbe as Melech HaMoshiach—that is really the greatest step toward Moshiach there could be. And afterward, of course, to go out with the greatest strength and transform the entire world to welcome Moshiach. So surely this farbrengen, this program, which has become one great, roaring fire now burning in the heart of every student wherever he may be, will, with Hashem’s help, bring the preparation and the complete revelation into actual practice, immediately. One more thing, one more thing before we finish. There’s one point I want to make. I always suggest this to the bochurim, and I suggest it to everyone. And I don’t just suggest it; I think it’s really been proven. When you come to the Rebbe each morning, I suggest that the Temimim come to the Rebbe anew each morning—arrive anew. I think it’s proven. After you’ve been here a few days, you may already have fallen into some kind of routine. Every morning, I tell the bochurim: between getting out of bed and going to 770, before the mikveh or after the mikveh, take a minute, two, three, and come to the Rebbe anew. Think again about where you’re coming, whom you’re coming to, whom you’re going to—to Melech HaMoshiach, to the revelation of the essence. What do I need to do here? For some people, it works better before Krias Shema She’al Hamitah; for others, after Krias Shema She’al Hamitah, or in the middle of the day, before Shacharis with the Rebbe or before Minchah with the Rebbe. It doesn’t matter. I think morning is best, but it doesn’t matter: take a few minutes—one, two, three—each day to come to the Rebbe anew, every single day. I think this is something that’s really been proven. Thank you so much, Rabbi Gendel[?]. With Hashem’s help, may these words have their effect, and may we merit, immediately, even before the trip to the Rebbe, the complete revelation of the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach. Thank you so much.

42:49 Speaker 7 Thank you so much, Rabbi. L’chaim, l’chaim. L’chaim, l’chaim, blessing, success, and [unclear].

42:54 Speaker 10 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim from ATA Haolami. For more programs, dial *6358. Long live our master, our teacher, and our Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, forever and ever.