Ears to Hear 26 | Moshiach at the Center of the Connection

00:00 Speaker 1 And Hashem gave you a heart to understand, eyes to see, and ears to hear.

00:08 Speaker 2 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim, presented by Ata Haolami.

00:14 Speaker 3 Back then, at 770—not all the time, but this was something that happened—everyone had their close friends, the guys they were really good friends with. After the Rebbe’s farbrengen at 770, bochurim would meet up, and often they would kiss each other because of the revelations they had experienced at the farbrengen. There was that kind of excitement. One would go over to another; they had both heard the farbrengen, and they were beside themselves.

00:58 Speaker 2 Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Chabad-Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and around the world. We’re now beginning a special program in the Ears to Hear audio series, a program steeped in a spirit of strong hiskashrus to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach shlita. Our subject is “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach,” in the fullest sense. This entire program is devoted to those words and to what “Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu” means in relation to the leader of our generation, Melech HaMoshiach. We want to focus on two stages in this program: our hiskashrus to the Rebbe, the fact that the Rebbe is the center of our lives, and the fact that Moshiach is the center of it all. We’ll talk about it and explore it in depth with Rabbi Yitzchok Axelrod, with lively enthusiasm, in a chassidic farbrengen and a special program on this special subject. So let’s welcome Rabbi Axelrod. Shalom aleichem, Rabbi Axelrod.

01:49 Speaker 3 Aleichem shalom.

01:50 Speaker 2 Well, boruch Hashem, we’re sitting here at the Bucharian Yeshiva for Ears to Hear. That’s certainly something special already.

01:57 Speaker 3 Yes. This place is under the Rebbe’s leadership, and you can feel the Rebbe here.

02:03 Speaker 2 Well, boruch Hashem, if you can feel the Rebbe here, that’s the first point we want to discuss: feeling the Rebbe. What does it mean to feel the Rebbe at all? When we speak about the foundation of hiskashrus to the Rebbe, we’re trying to understand just how much the Rebbe is the center of our lives. What is the basis of it? Can we explain even the most basic point, the underlying principle? What is hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and how central is it to our lives? It isn’t like in other places, in other circles or other chassidic courts, where it doesn’t occupy a chossid’s life twenty-four seven. Here, it’s the Rebbe all the time. Where does that come from? What is the idea behind it?

02:46 Speaker 3 There are several layers to the answer. One has to do with the essence of the matter. The Rebbe himself writes that the writings of the Arizal say our generation is a reincarnation of the generation of the wilderness. And we all know that the problems they had revolved around hiskashrus. They were, after all, souls of the World of Atzilus, as it says. They were very great people, but the areas where they stumbled, so to speak, all had to do with hiskashrus. The Rebbe writes that, since our generation is a reincarnation of the generation of the wilderness, as the Arizal says, we are correcting that problem of hiskashrus. That’s how I would begin to explain it. So in this generation, hiskashrus has become what it is. The truth is that the Rebbe led this: the tremendous emphasis on hiskashrus, in a way there hadn’t been in earlier generations. I heard Rabbi Portuguez speak about this many times, especially when he was with the Rebbe in Tishrei. He was always deeply moved during Tishrei. He would see the bochurim, the whole scene, as everyone knows it. He said that this kind of hiskashrus had not existed in previous generations, not even in the time of the Frierdiker Rebbe, when he himself was a bochur, or before that. There are many stories that indicate that this really is something different.

04:18 Speaker 2 Not just the bittul and kabbolas ol to go anywhere in the world, but in the whole fabric of everyday life, too.

04:24 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. On the one hand, as I said earlier, it follows from the descent of souls into this world: as the Rebbe said, we’re here to correct the sin of the generation of the wilderness. And in practical terms, that same idea shines very strongly. These aren’t two different sides; it’s the same point, shining very strongly. There’s a little-known passage in the Rambam—not in his letters, but in his introduction to the Mishnah. There was once a gathering in Nachlas Har Chabad, and one of the Torah scholars there, Rabbi Moshe Hillel, the dayan, read it aloud. Everyone in Nachlas Har Chabad sat there open-mouthed, myself included, because we had never heard this from the Rambam.

05:09 Speaker 2 Was that in recent years?

05:10 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. He read it aloud. It’s in chapter eight of the Rambam’s introduction to the Mishnah. There the Rambam writes at wonderful length, in his eloquent Hebrew, laying out the structure of the world—the Rambam’s whole philosophy of the world, the Jewish view as he presents it. He begins with all the nations, and then the Jewish people. He also distinguishes between people according to what characterizes them. What defines a human being? Eating and drinking are things animals do too, he writes, so they aren’t what defines a human being. It’s beautifully written, quite long and very carefully organized.

05:50 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

05:51 Speaker 3 Eventually, of course, he reaches the Jewish people, and distinctions within the Jewish people. He speaks about those more involved in action and those more involved in learning. He keeps progressing, and at the end comes the startling conclusion—a real bombshell, you might say. He says that all of creation, the nations of the world, and, lehavdil, the Jewish people—even the Jewish people—all exist to serve the one person in the generation. There is one Jew in each generation, and everyone exists to serve him and to… I don’t remember the wording. I very, very much recommend reading it. It’s extraordinary, and the Rambam brings sources from the revealed parts of Torah.

06:31 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

06:31 Speaker 3 He simply cites a straightforward passage in the Gemara that people seem not to have noticed—

06:35 Speaker 2 “All these people were created for me.”

06:37 Speaker 3 Ben Zoma, or one of the other Tannaim, was standing at the entrance to the Beis Hamikdash. There were millions of people there—I’m adding that; presumably there were millions of pilgrims—and he said, “All these people were created only for me.” When I heard this, it reminded me of a story people tell. Reb Zusha of Anipoli once said something, and someone told the Gaon of Vilna what Reb Zusha had said. The Gaon of Vilna replied that it was stated explicitly in the Jerusalem Talmud. He wondered how Reb Zusha of Anipoli knew it. When they told Reb Zusha, he said—and Reb Zusha was an exceedingly humble man, but this is how the story goes—“I didn’t know it from the Jerusalem Talmud. I knew it from the place where the Jerusalem Talmud got it.” So for me, this shed a very strong light on the matter.

07:30 Speaker 2 The Rambam, of all people.

07:31 Speaker 3 That passage in the Rambam—I’d say it’s not just recommended; it’s essential to read that chapter.

07:36 Speaker 2 It’s clear throughout the Rebbe’s books, sichos and letters. But when you find the Rambam saying it in just a few words…

07:42 Speaker 3 No, but I’m speaking about something else now. It suddenly shed a very strong light for me on certain farbrengens. There aren’t many chassidim who farbreng in the style of Gershon Mendel Gerlitz, zichrono livrachah, Zusha Posner, and, may he be distinguished for a long and good life, today there’s—

07:59 Speaker 2 Reuven.

07:59 Speaker 3 Reuven Matusof. The Rebbe, the Rebbe—that’s what they speak about. Someone looking on from the side might wonder whether it’s in proportion. But when you see the Rambam, you see that they drew it from the same place he did. You see that this point shines for them: the whole world is here for the Rebbe. We can recite those words, but for them they shine in their hearts and feelings, in every one of their 248 limbs and 365 sinews. And they’re right. It’s a very high level of hiskashrus, not one everyone reaches. We can enjoy a taste of it; we can benefit from those farbrengens and that style. But these are people who probably reach it when they let go of their own little world and guard their thought, speech and action. Then it’s possible to reach that degree of love for the Rebbe.

09:08 Speaker 4 If we’re talking generally about a worldview, then, as the Rabbi just pointed out, in Chabad we deal with that more than anywhere else. But particularly in the generation of Rashbi, because we’re talking about reincarnations of those who left the generation of the desert, who need to rectify that matter—and we are rectifying it. You could discuss this on several higher levels, but that still leaves it in the realm of ideas. Now the aim of this program is to come down from there and speak openly, from the heart, about Rabbi Axelrod’s personal life. Where was that first moment, as a student at the yeshivah in Lod, and then after that short trip to [unclear], right? And then the trip to [unclear], and the years you spent with the Rebbe, in the presence of the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. When was that first flash of light that made you understand, “I belong to the Rebbe completely”? Was there some moment that shaped how you saw the Rebbe, a moment that brought you to the point of understanding, “Yes, this is where my bed will be,” and meant it all the way? Or was it something gradual?

10:12 Speaker 3 My bed was in 749. Yes.

10:14 Speaker 4 Your bed. Which room?

10:16 Speaker 3 In 401. Yes.

10:19 Speaker 4 So did it come gradually, or was there a moment when the essence of the soul, the yechidah, came through—perhaps during the seventh hakafah on Simchas Torah? What was it that caught hold of you?

10:30 Speaker 3 Look, there wasn’t one thing that caught hold of me. But I can tell you that the dates you gave for my history aren’t quite accurate. We won’t get into that now, though.

10:38 Speaker 4 Okay.

10:38 Speaker 3 I wasn’t there continuously from 5746 onward. In 5746 I was there for Tishrei. Then I went back to Israel, and later I traveled to the Rebbe. I went in Elul 5747.

10:47 Speaker 4 Until the winter?

10:48 Speaker 3 Until the Shabbos before—yes, 7 Adar. Broadly speaking, I was there in 5748, 5749, 5750, 5751 and 5752, though a year and a half of that time I was on shlichus.

10:56 Speaker 4 In Australia.

10:56 Speaker 3 In Australia. I count that as part of my years with the Rebbe. Anyway, I remember arriving at the Rebbe for Tishrei. There are memories and interesting stories from that too, but that’s not what this program is about. That was in 5746. But when I came to learn there in 5748, throughout that winter—before 22 Shvat, and especially after 22 Shvat—I discovered a whole new world, like a baal teshuvah arriving from another planet. Looking back at how we grew up in Israel, even with all the excitement, you might say that on the surface it looked the same. And not only on the surface: to some extent there was the same excitement here too. In Israel too, people lived with the Rebbe, learned the Rebbe’s sichos, drew strength to do mivtzoim and did everything the Rebbe wanted. All of that is true. But when I got there and encountered what we might call the American approach to avodas Hashem, I discovered an approach to avodas Hashem that we hadn’t known in Israel. We hadn’t known it.

12:06 Speaker 4 People say that the shluchim who came to the Holy Land brought it with them in many cases.

12:10 Speaker 3 They introduced it, but it takes years.

12:12 Speaker 4 Before it reaches people.

12:12 Speaker 3 Yes, it takes years to sink in. Reb Mendel introduced it, but still, you can’t compare it to the source. The source was in America. And the love for the Rebbe—you saw a love for the Rebbe that...

12:26 Speaker 4 What do you mean, you saw it? Where?

12:27 Speaker 3 You saw it at farbrengens. It was strongest at Gershon Mendel’s farbrengens. But more generally, you saw a different kind of chassidim, even among the bochurim. You simply saw love for the Rebbe. Because here in Israel, love for the Rebbe was presented, so to speak, as something that spurred you on in avodas Hashem. It was all part of avodas Hashem, let’s call it that. There, you saw a tangible bond with the Rebbe—simply an immense love for the Rebbe that you can’t describe. I remember farbrengens. I remember Zelig Katzman z”l, and, may he live and be well, Meir Minkowitz, a man there who keeps very much to himself and whom, in my opinion, people don’t hear enough from. He was a good friend of Gershon Mendel and Zelig Katzman. You saw them sitting and crying over the Rebbe. Really crying over the Rebbe. Tears of love. I didn’t know what that was, and it opened up another world for me. You discover a world that, to live in it, requires a great deal of...

13:32 Speaker 4 Sensitivity of soul.

13:33 Speaker 3 Sensitivity of soul. And no, it doesn’t go together with [unclear] in that way. The two contradict each other.

13:39 Speaker 4 Fire and water.

13:40 Speaker 3 Yes, something like that. There’s always a balance; nothing is completely one way or the other. But you saw chassidim. Broadly speaking, that’s what I mean by the positive side of the American way of connecting to the Rebbe. I’m saying it was something different, something we didn’t have in Israel.

13:56 Speaker 4 That’s interesting, because from the way the Rabbi describes it, what planted this idea in you was actually the chassidim, rather than some particular moment with the Rebbe.

14:03 Speaker 3 With the Rebbe, there were moments all the time, all sorts of things. Yes. But you discovered this kind of connection, and suddenly you looked at the Rebbe differently. You looked at the Rebbe differently. I’ll give you a very endearing example that I’ll never forget. My students have heard it from me. It was in Tishrei 5748, on 13 Tishrei. The Rebbe was still holding farbrengens on weekdays then. I don’t remember exactly when the Rebbe held a farbrengen. Anyway, there was a farbrengen of chassidim, either after the Rebbe’s farbrengen ended, or the night after, or the night before—I don’t remember. In short, Gershon Mendel held a farbrengen in the small zal. The small zal was packed with tiers of bochurim. He drank, and I don’t remember what he spoke about. But there was this all-encompassing atmosphere of love for the Rebbe, and he cried over the Rebbe, then kept covering up his tears with laughter. Anyway, something was still on his mind. The fact that ten years had passed since 5738 was in the air.

15:05 Speaker 4 In other words, with Rosh Chodesh Kislev approaching.

15:07 Speaker 3 Not Rosh Chodesh Kislev—it was Sukkos.

15:09 Speaker 4 Sukkos. Ah.

15:10 Speaker 3 Yes, the thirteenth. Then he said we had to count how many years it had been. This was talk after a little mashke, but you were discovering another world. In Israel, this wouldn’t have happened; people wouldn’t have understood what you were doing. So he decided we had to count how many years had passed from 5738 to 5748. He climbed onto the table, and all the bochurim started counting along with him on their fingers. He went, “5738, 5739, 5740...” He started counting, and in the middle of it Shimeke Lazaroff came in.

15:41 Speaker 4 Ah.

15:42 Speaker 3 He’s a close friend of Gershon Mendel—may he live and be well. Shimeke started confusing Gershon Mendel. It was all in good spirits, with laughter and joy, the spirit of a farbrengen. He played that trick on Gershon Mendel where you count on one hand and somehow end up with only nine. Gershon Mendel became completely confused about how many years it had been, to the cheers of all the bochurim, as they say. So he sat down. But he still wasn’t satisfied: he sat on the table among the salads, took off his shoes and socks, and began counting on his toes how many years had passed since 5738. Now, think about what you’re seeing. Someone looking at it superficially would say, “What’s going on? These people are crazy.” But if you come to understand that there’s something here, you grasp that this was a love for the Rebbe we hadn’t had in Israel. We hadn’t known about it in Israel. I don’t want to speak about mashpi’im, G-d forbid, but that wasn’t the style in Israel. There, the emphasis was on avodah, avodah, avodah, and a bond formed through avodah. Here you saw a love that, as they say, depended on nothing. It was something else.

16:49 Speaker 5 And—

16:50 Speaker 3 Of course, afterward Gershon Mendel put his shoes back on and farbrenged with us until six in the morning. It was a very special, deeply personal farbrengen. He chose to... It was a farbrengen I’ll never forget. But I brought that example to show you that you were seeing another world.

17:07 Speaker 5 That’s very interesting, because now, in the Rabbi’s role as a rosh yeshivah for bochurim in Israel—even though, with all due respect, people say that this American outlook has already reached Israel, it hasn’t really reached it. But in any event...

17:21 Speaker 3 That style is less common.

17:22 Speaker 5 How can you give a bochur that feeling, while also bringing Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the story in the right way? How do you build that?

17:28 Speaker 3 That isn’t a problem.

17:30 Speaker 5 What?

17:31 Speaker 3 At farbrengens and in the messages I give the bochurim, I tell them about it. It’s also reflected in the style of the farbrengens. And I bring in chassidim like that when I can; I try, though I can’t always find them. I expose the bochurim to it, or, during Tishrei, I encourage them to go to different people who embody that style. Slowly, they pick it up. They pick it up.

17:54 Speaker 6 [unclear], [unclear]. Well, you must [unclear]. Well, you must [unclear].

19:05 Speaker 5 Okay, so that brings us past the first point, the fundamental point: understanding that the Rebbe is at the center of our lives, and seeing how deeply that entered you and took hold. It really is interesting. But moving on for a moment: there were the years you were at Ohel Torah, and afterward, in Building B, you came back.

19:23 Speaker 3 We went to Australia on 23 Shvat 5750 and returned on 18 Sivan 5751.

19:30 Speaker 5 18 Sivan 5751—you were there for the sicha.

19:32 Speaker 3 Yes, I was there for the sicha. There was something else there that I have to tell you about. The bochurim farbrenged all night about it. Reb Reuven Matusof [?] was a star there that night, and—

19:50 Speaker 5 The niggun of Reb Michel of Zlotchov.

19:51 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, yes. How do you know that?

19:54 Speaker 5 That’s what I was told.

19:55 Speaker 3 There’s really no—what a shame there’s no video of it. It stirred the place up. I have a very long theory about the whole story of Reb Michel of Zlotchov, but this isn’t the time for it. What’s the connection between 18 Sivan, which leads into Gimmel Tammuz, and Reb Michel? In the kuntres the Rebbe distributed that night, there’s a diary the Rebbe wrote about the rescue. The Rebbe writes there that on the Shabbos after 28 Sivan, which was Gimmel Tammuz, the Frierdiker Rebbe asked, “Who knows how to start this niggun?” And the Rebbe started it.

20:30 Speaker 7 Apparently the only one who knew it.

20:32 Speaker 3 Could be, yes. The Rebbe started the niggun. But when you know the story of Reb Michel of Zlotchov—what happened? He was traveling to the Baal Shem Tov, became ill on the way, and was stranded for Shabbos. On Shabbos, he missed the Baal Shem Tov so intensely that this niggun came out of his longing for him. So it’s a niggun of longing for the Rebbe, and this was on Gimmel Tammuz. Everything there is precise, including the whole significance of 18 Sivan as a lead-in to Gimmel Tammuz. Anyway, they farbrenged about it all night, and afterward they were—

21:06 Speaker 7 Were you at the—?

21:07 Speaker 3 No. I had just landed. The farbrengen was—

21:09 Speaker 7 The Rebbe came in for davening while they were singing the niggun.

21:11 Speaker 3 Exactly, because they’d already had mashke. Who starts a deveikus niggun near the Rebbe? But they’d had mashke, and they weren’t paying attention to anyone. They stood along the path as early as nine in the morning, drunk, making a path for the Rebbe and waiting for him to come in at ten. And they started singing it. Fine, people looked at them—you know, those guys [unclear]. Gradually more and more people arrived. Now, someone who’s had mashke—you can’t tell him anything. In short, the moment of truth arrived. By ten to ten the place was packed, and everyone was singing that niggun. It was something special. Then the Rebbe suddenly appeared, coming down in the morning [unclear].

21:49 Speaker 7 …

21:50 Speaker 3 Yes. Someone once put it this way, and it really stayed with me: it looked like Moshe Rabbeinu coming down from Mount Sinai. You can see it in the video too—the Rebbe’s face is shining intensely.

22:00 Speaker 7 [unclear].

22:02 Speaker 3 It was something. The Rebbe came down like that and gestured with his hand. The Rebbe encouraged the singing of Reb Michel of Zlotchov’s niggun. At that time, the Rebbe would also put down his siddur and turn all the way around. That movement was basically something from Simchas Torah, but in 5751 and 5752 the Rebbe continued doing it after Simchas Torah too. The Rebbe would put down his siddur and go, “Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay,” turning like that. That was it. You felt the taste of the vision, so to speak. It was really something.

22:34 Speaker 7 To arrive as a shliach and see something so stirring—it already lifts you to a different place.

22:37 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, yes.

22:39 Speaker 7 So that was essentially [unclear]. And by the way, even then—and this is really the second part of the program, where we want to focus on Moshiach, which is central to the discussion—people were already talking about 28 Nissan. You couldn’t just dismiss it; you couldn’t. The expressions in the sichos were already part of the conversation. We’re talking about two and a half months after 28 Nissan.

22:57 Speaker 3 Yes, of course. It was all about Moshiach. Actually, it had already started with—

23:01 Speaker 7 When the Rebbe said that the Beis Hamikdash would descend in 5751, and expressions like that.

23:07 Speaker 3 In that period, in 5751 and 5752—not all the time, but it was a thing—you had your close circle of friends, the people you were really friends with. Bochurim would meet after the Rebbe’s farbrengen, and often they’d kiss each other because of the revelations at the farbrengen. That’s how it was. There was such excitement.

23:30 Speaker 7 It went both ways.

23:31 Speaker 3 Yes. Not all the time; it wasn’t a ritual. But now and then one would approach another—both of them had heard the farbrengen—and they’d be beside themselves. The focus on Moshiach had already begun in 5748. There’s a sicha of the Rebbe’s, not so well known, that I always talk about, from 7 Adar 5748. It was during the shloshim for the Rebbetzin. The Rebbe brings something astonishing there, as they say. The Rebbe says that the major years in the life of the Jewish people—he doesn’t use the word “historical”—were years ending in the letter ches. He gives a whole list: what year they went down to Egypt, a year with a ches; when they left Egypt, what year they left, again something with a ches; what year they entered Eretz Yisroel, also something with a ches; what year the First Beis Hamikdash was built, something with a ches; what year it was destroyed, something with a ches; when the Second Beis Hamikdash was built, again with a ches; and when it was destroyed, also with a ches. Then the Rebbe says, “And therefore the histalkus of the righteous Rebbetzin took place…” I think that’s the only time in history the Rebbe specified a date. The Rebbe says—and it’s there in the Rebbe’s edited text; you can see it in the sefer—that therefore the histalkus of the righteous Rebbetzin took place in 5748 so that in 5748 there would be, in short, [unclear]. You can see, as it were, that there was a connection here. Later, the Rebbe mentioned that the histalkus was only in order to bring about this ascent, something along those lines. But here you see that already during the shloshim, the Rebbe mentioned it. The Rebbe said it was in order to bring Moshiach. And the Rebbe certainly wanted—

25:19 Speaker 3 For it to happen completely, right then. But you can see that because of the Rebbetzin’s histalkus, the focus on Moshiach began. She brought it about through her mesirus nefesh. It began on 2 Nissan, meaning just a few days later. You connect the two clearly. What— The histalkus and 2 Nissan. What the Rebbe said in general— Well, that’s what I’m telling you now. That’s my point. L’chaim, [unclear]. 2 Nissan 5748. Yes. “Yechi hamelech hamoshiach,” and little by little it developed. It kept developing until [unclear], and I remember: I was standing right near the Rebbe. It was my first trip. Then, in [unclear], the Rebbe shouted at Sholom Ber Wolff—terrible shouting. At Bereishis, right? And in [unclear], the Rebbe said, “[unclear]—what will people say about the nasi of our generation, that he is Moshiach?” Afterward, at [unclear], it was in the display case. Were you there? I was there, standing right near the Rebbe, because I’d come with the procession and I was new. It was my first trip. If I’d been a veteran, I wouldn’t have tried to get so close to the Rebbe. You stood near the Rebbe at [unclear]? I got there. I stood next to Leibel Goldenkrautz [?]. Because some people say Sholom Ber Wolff did a somersault. You saw it. Not a somersault. He stood on his head, stood on his hands, because of that sicha. Yes, yes, yes. The point had gotten across. It had gotten across. He was happy; he was beside himself. Someone from the organizing committee wanted to remove him, and the Rebbe gestured to that committee member with his hand, as if to say, “Get out of here.” Wolff himself told that story on this program, in episode fourteen. I remember it; I mentioned it to him a few years ago. He was moved. He said, “You remember?” You see that the first signs were already appearing then. Yes, yes. It was already happening,

26:46 Speaker 3 But from your perspective, the turning point was here, after the last day of Pesach. There was a much sharper shift. Very noticeable. Very, very noticeable. You were at the sicha of 19 Nissan 5748, when the Rebbe spoke about himself and Moshiach during Chol Hamoed. There’s a video. I remember it. I remember it. It was almost a shock to hear the Rebbe speak so directly in the first person. No, it was, it really was. I always tell my students: it was like those conversations you have at home during Chol Hamoed, a father sitting and talking with his children. That’s how the Rebbe spoke. The Rebbe was in a very good mood. Throughout Pesach you could see that the Rebbe was truly full of joy, and there weren’t many guests either. It felt very much like being at home. And in that sicha the Rebbe said, “The truth is, why am I speaking so directly about Moshiach?” It was like a conversation at home. “Before I came here to America, I myself didn’t deal with this,” the Rebbe said. “I didn’t see it with my father, or with my grandfather,” I think. I hope I’m not mistaken, but that’s how the Rebbe put it. The main thing is that you see a child. Huh? So the Rebbe says, “How did I myself...” and didn’t explain. “Ich veis nisht”—I don’t know—but in practice, that’s how it is. And the main thing is that you see a child who says “no galus,” that you can see in a child that there is no galus. That makes it all worthwhile. Afterward we farbrenged with our mashpia in Australia, Rabbi Sholom Charitonov, and he made a very profound point. He said: the Rebbe’s “ich veis nisht” is like Hashem’s desire, because you don’t ask questions about a desire; it’s connected to Atzmus. He explained that “ich veis nisht” very, very beautifully. Suddenly you see that every word of the Rebbe has such...

28:28 Speaker 3 It was very, very special. You can see that the strong turning point came in Nissan 5748 and onward, regarding Moshiach, and then we come to the alef-beis, as you already described. I have to add a story. It is somewhat known, but not everyone knows it, and I heard it from the person it happened to himself. Boruch Chen, z"l, used to write “His Holiness the Rebbe, King Moshiach” in his pan to the Rebbe. I heard this from him. One time he went in for yechidus and placed down his pan. The Rebbe was in an upbeat mood; it was an auspicious time. The Rebbe put down the pan, pointed to “King Moshiach,” and said, “King Moshiach, King Moshiach.” That’s what the Rebbe said to Boruch Chen. I heard it from him personally. What year was it? I heard it at a farbrengen on 12 Tammuz 5747. I was here in the village. I had come to—on 12 Tammuz, people from other yeshivos would often come to hear Reb Mendel. We went to farbreng until Reb Mendel began his farbrengen, so we went to farbreng at Beis Menachem. It was Shabbos, 12 Tammuz fell on Shabbos, and Boruch Chen had quite a bit of mashke and farbrenged, and he told this story. Among other things, he told various stories. He spoke about 12 Tammuz, but he also told the story about “King Moshiach.” People weren’t talking about it at all, but after some mashke he suddenly told it. And no one made an issue of it, because it hadn’t really begun yet. Right, no, no, no. It was understood that the Rebbe was King Moshiach, but talking about it wasn’t a focus. If we’re being precise here, what we’re saying is that it was clear to everyone that the Rebbe was the center of our lives

30:04 Speaker 3 and that the Rebbe was also King Moshiach. Then suddenly we enter a period—the alef-beis and everything concerning Moshiach from Nissan 5748 onward—when Moshiach takes on an extraordinary central place: both in the general focus on Moshiach, on Geulah and Moshiach, and specifically in the focus on the Rebbe as King Moshiach, the constant attention to it, and spreading the Rebbe’s message and the Rebbe’s identity. How do I bring these two threads together? In other words, with the devotion expressed here so warmly and personally—that the Rebbe is my whole life—how do I carry that forward properly, so that Moshiach is central to my avodas Hashem, without veering right or left or staying a few steps behind? Look, staying behind is like those Chabad chassidim who were Chabad chassidim, but, say, didn’t do mivtzoim. If you don’t do mivtzoim because of your animal soul, fine, you have something to work on. You’re a chossid like everyone else. But someone who, on principle, won’t do mivtzoim is missing the point of avodas Hashem. To make a distinction, it’s like a convert. If a convert doesn’t observe every mitzvah, and you tell him about them gradually and so on, that’s one thing. But if someone says, “I accept all of Judaism except for one thing,” his conversion is invalid. This is only an analogy, of course, with many, many distinctions. Your avodas Hashem has to keep up with the times. It has to keep up with the times, because that’s what avodas Hashem is about. It’s like—I don’t know—like a father and son. You can’t... Things happen, and you can’t stay back

31:44 Speaker 3 because life goes on. [unclear] So the subject of Moshiach is critical, because today, without it, you can’t be connected to the Rebbe. Again, if someone struggles with it because of his animal soul, that’s one thing. But if someone simply erases it—without, G-d forbid, meaning to offend anyone—not erases Moshiach itself. The subject of Moshiach is very simple: you just have to study matters of Geulah and Moshiach—halachah, sichos and maamarim, in Nigleh and Chassidus and all these areas. That’s the straight path. We’re all busy saying how people should behave, and we forget simply to study matters of Geulah and Moshiach. There are other problems too; never mind, but that’s one of them. Another problem is that people spread the message of Moshiach in a way that isn’t received well. If someone thinks it is received well, let him spread it. But if deep down he knows people don’t like it, then he too is going against the Rebbe. That’s just as serious as someone who erases Moshiach. Erasing Moshiach is very serious. And someone who handles Moshiach the wrong way—if he does it innocently, that’s one thing. But if he knows it’s inappropriate, why insist? Check whether it brings people closer or not. Be honest with yourself. Does it bring them closer? Continue. It doesn’t? Stop. Change your approach. But people... Never mind, I’m not going to educate Chabad. Still, you have to take a stand. Today the problem is that it’s become a social thing, peer pressure. In the past, every chossid stood before the Rebbe. Of course he heard from others how he should be, but you didn’t lose your independence. Today you follow the group you’re in. If they decide it’s good

33:28 Speaker 3 then you say it’s good too. If they decide it isn’t good, then it isn’t good. That’s not right. You’re connected to the group, not to the Rebbe. If you truly think it’s a good thing, fine. But if you don’t think it’s good, then what are you doing? So what’s the test? The Rebbe says no. The Rebbe says it should be done “in a way that will be accepted.” Today, sometimes—and I’m speaking now to people for whom Yechi and Moshiach are central issues—you say “in a way that will be accepted,” and someone replies, “in a way that will explode.” What are you doing, making a joke of the Rebbe with those quips? If you think it will be accepted, then of course you should do it. But I’m talking about someone who, deep down, when he looks in the mirror—when he faces himself, or faces the Rebbe—knows that this isn’t how you bring people closer. Not by shouting, and not by deliberately doing all sorts of things just to make a point. So what are you doing? Whose chossid are you—your friends’, or the Rebbe’s? So what test can I use to see whether I’m a chossid of the group or a chossid of the Rebbe? I’m not... I’m saying that each person—I think each person needs to decide for himself. People shouldn’t lose who they are. Each person needs to decide for himself. That’s all. Every person. The Rebbe says to spread the message of Moshiach in a way that will be accepted. Period. That’s it. How can everyone think exactly the same way? That’s not... Something is wrong here. There are all sorts of things that the Rebbe didn’t... The Rebbe said to publicize Moshiach, but the manner of publicizing it, the words you use, the way you speak—whatever it may be. How can everyone think exactly the same thing? There’s something rotten about that. So if we speak in terms of “do good,” we...

34:57 Speaker 3 Yes, people look at the Rebbe’s sichos, they put up [unclear], and they see that we need to publicize it whenever possible. Of course. So as a Tomim, in my free time, when I can be involved in these things, I do want to be involved. What’s the best way to go about it? I don’t know. There are a million and one initiatives and explanations about doing it in a way people can accept—and even about how we dress and behave. I think part of it is that there are many chassidishe bochurim who feel very strongly about Moshiach, but they walk around looking so sloppy. Why don’t they think about how they might dress more normally, more neatly? You’re walking among people. I’m just saying this as an aside, because there have always been chassidim who didn’t dress neatly. I’m not even sure we should protest it; somebody has to disregard what people will say. It’s not as though we’re arranging a display window. Never mind. A display window. Yes, never mind, but I’m talking about the issue now. People look at you. The point is that we focus too much on this aspect of publicizing, when there are many other levels of Moshiach to talk about. But here, too, you have to set boundaries and always ask yourself: Am I a chossid of a social circle, or a chossid of the Rebbe who genuinely cares about the result? Right. Or do I care about myself? Right. And always keep that in front of you, with a strong emphasis on caring about the Rebbe’s instruction to publicize it. As we said. Without that, it’s just a jumble. And there has to be genuine vitality. Someone who lives with Moshiach but doesn’t take this on is [unclear]. The Rebbe explicitly said that everything must be permeated with Moshiach. Without that, we have no justification for our existence at all. And there are the other, different layers of Geulah and Moshiach—the more inward layers. That’s—

36:33 Speaker 3 Also contemplation. How do I really bring it to the point where I myself am there? That’s the heart of it. Only by studying Geulah and Moshiach—and not only that. I mean, as a chossid, to be a shliach you have to learn Chassidus yourself so you’ll have something to tell people. You have to live with Moshiach, not just technically. And there’s another very important point—I’m glad I remembered it. If you live with Moshiach, you also have to look at things through the eyes of Geulah. Sometimes you see someone who lives with Moshiach but is fighting with another person so fiercely he feels like killing him. Where’s Moshiach in that? And there are all sorts of things like that. Living with Geulah means looking at things outside the box, looking at them in a Geulah way, not seeing faults in everyone, not hating. How can you live with Moshiach and hate someone? Either you’re not thinking straight, or you don’t really hate him, or you don’t really live with Moshiach. But when someone reaches a point where he truly lives with Geulah and doesn’t see faults—he tries and works at not seeing faults—and even his response to someone who hurt him is a Geulah response, that brings Jews closer to Moshiach. But if people see the same old patterns of behavior from galus in someone who lives with Moshiach, supposedly—or not supposedly; he does live with Moshiach—but with all the old impulses and everything else, then what? What’s going on in your head? In other words, if we’re really talking about Moshiach on a genuine level, then the whole way we speak has to change, throughout the entire system. Yes. My whole system, my whole being. Not just my thoughts, my learning and my actions, but everything I touch,

38:20 Speaker 3 everything I think, say and do, and every conversation I have with people. You have to see the good, not the bad. Some people live with Moshiach so intensely that they hate everyone who doesn’t. You can see the hatred in their eyes. So you live with Moshiach? That’s nice. You can pull out a source for that, but I know that you have to love. Living with Moshiach means seeing only the good in a Jew. Reb Mendel Futerfas, whenever he was asked to speak in public, would say just this one thing. Just this. He would take the microphone—usually he didn’t like speaking into a microphone—and bang on the table and say, “Do not harbor evil against your fellow in your hearts.” He would say, “Do not harbor evil against your fellow in your hearts.” That’s the foundation. Without it, you can’t rise higher. [unclear]. You can’t shout “Yechi Adoneinu” and still behave according to all the old rules, with all the old impulses. No. You need a different outlook. Something to think about. Okay, so if we sum up what it means to live with Moshiach, we have a system with many parts that have to work together so the wheel turns properly, on the right path, starting from the right place. That includes my own personal, human, chassidishe makeup, which takes me everywhere, as well as the actual practice of studying Geulah and Moshiach and publicizing it—all in the right way. By the way, as Temimim, when we were moving toward the end, through 5751, 5752, 5753 and 5754, was it really the case that you heard those special statements and sichos about Moshiach and reached an entirely different place?

40:07 Speaker 3 Of course. Did it translate into practice, into other areas? No. I mean, no— No, I’m asking. People sat down and studied Geulah and Moshiach. Oh, certainly. People studied and lived with these things very, very intensely. Certainly, certainly. So what didn’t happen? There was a lot of controversy. Ah, okay. Explosions. That’s something else. Look at what someone said at one of the Kinus Hashluchim gatherings, when the explosions started: “Blood will be spilled here, but Eretz Yisroel will be here.” Yes. But, well— So there was a building up of Geulah and Moshiach. I’m talking about studying Geulah and Moshiach. Yes, there were tremendous energies. And today, too—no less, even more. Today they do it even more. Thank G-d, people help themselves reach those places. They live on a very high level. All told, I’ve voiced various complaints here, but the bochurim’s situation—if I may judge—is very, very elevated. Bochurim are truly immersed in holiness, in [unclear], and in the Rebbe. I’m talking about bochurim—it’s simply unbelievable. They know everything; they live it. It’s unbelievable. If you put the bochurim of the fifties and the bochurim of the eighties on a scale, the bochurim of the eighties surpass them. Mm-hmm. Without a doubt. We had an easy time of it; life was good for us. But today the bochurim are wholly immersed in it. After Gimmel Tammuz, there are no longer open revelations. You have to reach the essence and create moments of revelation and awakening. People travel to the Rebbe and try to draw out a revelation at the corner of Kingston and Montgomery. But all of that demands a tremendous amount of inner life, and they have it. They have it. Every year I travel for Tishrei, and every year I’m amazed anew, as though it were my first time. You see thousands of G-d-fearing bochurim, thousands of bochurim living with Moshiach,

41:52 Speaker 3 thousands of bochurim whose eyes are lichtike oigen—radiant eyes. You can see that the Rebbe has nothing to be ashamed of in his bochurim, certainly not in the bochurim here of Gimmel Tammuz [?]. Zhukov’s battalions [?]. Yes, exactly. What’s the point? There’s nothing else to say. It’s the Rebbe. The Rebbe is simply alive. There’s no other explanation. The Rebbe is with us, physically in this world, even though the intellect can’t understand it. But that’s how it is. And so the Rebbe lives in the bochurim. So, as we come to the end, Rabbi Axelrod, after such a rich, warm, heartfelt program: the last time I merited to see the Rebbe was on Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5754. That was after my wedding, after 5753. Yes. Was there something there that left an impression on you in this regard? It left an impression. What left an impression? I saw the Rebbe. The Rebbe’s face shone very brightly. Mm-hmm. There was a special light—that’s how I felt, as I remember it. They opened the door for five minutes. I was at the Kinus Hashluchim; by then I was a married man and was about to travel to Australia. I was considered a shliach in Australia, though I lived in Eretz Yisroel. So I was at the Kinus Hashluchim, and a thought came to me from Heaven. There were workshops at Oholei Torah, all kinds of courses about how to raise money and how to do this and that. Suddenly I said to someone, “Come to 770.” I have no idea who it was. There’s no chance I’ll remember. There hadn’t been a pager alert or anything. Nothing. It was an ordinary day, and the Rebbe hadn’t come out. That was it. Mm-hmm. Suddenly I had this feeling and said to someone, “Come to 770.” So we walked over slowly; there was no reason to hurry. We reached 770, right on the sidewalk across from the building, and suddenly Chanina opened the door and said, “Only shluchim.” Within a second

43:46 Speaker 3 Of course, we went in, put on a gartel, and a line formed. The door was open for five minutes. No one knew this would be the last time they would see the Rebbe. Apparently everyone wanted to go through, but after five minutes they closed it, because the truth is, you could see that the Rebbe was sitting rather hunched over, and apparently—anyway, I was privileged to go through then. Wolf Sternberg went through two people ahead of me. It was quiet. People were going through, and he went through right before me, so I saw it. The Rebbe was sitting there, looking very weak, though his face was truly radiant. And suddenly he said, “Yechi Melech HaMoshiach!” in a loud voice, and the Rebbe moved his body like in the videos the students watch. His whole body moved strongly, together with his head. Then we went out the other side.

44:33 Speaker 8 You saw that moment?

44:35 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, I saw it with my own eyes.

44:37 Speaker 8 What did that give you? On an emotional level, without going into too much...

44:41 Speaker 3 I don’t—I don’t know what to say. What did it give me? It became part of my—

44:48 Speaker 8 Life.

44:49 Speaker 3 Yes.

44:49 Speaker 8 So if we want to sum up this program: the Temimim are listening to a whole program about hiskashrus with the Rebbe and Moshiach being central to that hiskashrus. If we put it into one point, the bottom line, what do I come away with? How do I put the Rebbe at the center of my life and Moshiach at the center of my life? If we sum it up in one sentence.

45:07 Speaker 3 There has to be hiskashrus and avodah. Hiskashrus without avodah is worth nothing, and avodah without hiskashrus doesn’t last. It’s worth a great deal, but it doesn’t endure. Hiskashrus means learning about the Geulah and Moshiach, and hiskashrus means sitting down for a farbrengen. What did Yosef say? “The man in whose hand the goblet was found shall be my servant.” Someone who farbrengs—what is a farbrengen? It’s to bring this into the [unclear] of the farbrengen. Say l’chaim and farbreng about every aspect of hiskashrus. And avodah means being a decent person, not being [unclear], not judging things by the standards of a galus mindset, and loving everyone. Yes, let people see that you’re a Jew of Moshiach, and that itself will bring everyone closer to Moshiach. But when they see someone with the same old impulses, then that’s... May Hashem help that everything should be all right, and may Moshiach come immediately, right now, and all the bochurim will stand in front and all the yungeleit will stand behind, and didan notzach.

46:06 Speaker 8 L’chaim, l’chaim. Many thanks to Rabbi Wolfson.

46:08 Speaker 3 All the best. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Le’olam Va’ed.

46:11 Speaker 8 Many thanks to Rabbi Wolfson.

46:14 Speaker 9 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim from the World Ata organization. For more programs, dial star six three five eight. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Le’olam Va’ed.