Ears to Hear 28 | Tomchei Temimim Students in the Generation of Moshiach

00:00 Speaker 1 And Hashem did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

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

00:14 Speaker 3 A chassidisher bochur is made up of many things, and it’s really hard to define one, because there are different levels. And baruch Hashem, there are many such bochurim—all of them chassidisher bochurim. But ultimately, our seventh generation has a responsibility to bring the Geulah, literally. That responsibility is both collective and personal. In that famous sicha, the Rebbe says that if someone thinks somebody else will see the Beis Hamikdash, that’s not it. It’s directed at us. So it moves you to do something. But doing something means taking the direct path. I say again and again: the direct path is the subject of Geulah and Moshiach. Everything connected with studying Moshiach, with the Rebbe as Moshiach, with connecting to him—quite simply, that chassidisher bochur should be permeated with the Geulah of Moshiach. He should be permeated with “Yechi”; he should be permeated with his connection to the Rebbe. He has a Rebbe, a living Rebbe.

01:06 Speaker 2 Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and across the world. We’re now beginning a special program in the Ears to Hear audio series, a program infused with a strong connection to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach shlita, and with the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach. In this special program, we’ll speak with the chairman of World Atah, Rabbi Chaim Eliel Springer, about the founding of this special organization, the World Association of Yeshiva Students, which brings together the Temimim in all Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch yeshivos worldwide. Its overall aim is to enliven and fan the flame of enthusiasm for Geulah and Moshiach. We’ll hear about the organization’s founding, what went on behind the scenes as it was established, and, of course, its guiding direction: instilling in the Temimim the one central point concerning Geulah and Moshiach—a sense of responsibility. So, shalom aleichem, Rabbi Springer.

02:04 Speaker 3 Shalom uverachah. Good afternoon, and l’chaim to a chassidisher farbrengen—at least in the manner of a farbrengen. May this be very successful for all of us. Above all, may we already see the Rebbe with our physical eyes in the Third Beis Hamikdash.

02:17 Speaker 2 Amen. So we’re sitting down for such a special program about World Atah. I’m sure that already inspires you to talk about something very close to your heart. The first thing each of us wants to know is this: we hear about World Atah, and we’re constantly hearing about new initiatives springing up—more projects, more activities. Every Tomim has experienced it firsthand. Today there are Anash, parents, and alumni who, as bochurim, truly experienced how much this organization infused them with enthusiasm for the Geulah of Moshiach. Maybe we can go back to the beginning, to the organization’s founding. As far as we know, it was founded in 5768. What’s less well known, what isn’t in the written history, is who founded it and what prompted its founding. What exactly got the organization on its feet?

03:08 Speaker 3 First, I should point out that I’m personally not from the generation of the founders. I’m from the second generation—or really even the third—after the founding of Atah as we know it today. It’s true that the websites say 5768. That was when several processes came together and matured into an institution for which there was a very clear need.

03:32 Speaker 2 So it actually began before 5768.

03:34 Speaker 3 Yes, yes. First of all, already in 5757, the bochurim in 770 felt—meaning, the bochurim in 770 were leading the whole world, all of Chabad and the entire world, toward belief in the Rebbe as Melech HaMoshiach, belief in his continuing life. There were all kinds of Tishrei projects. Looking back today, they may have been a clear voice in a world that wasn’t quite sure where things were headed.

04:06 Speaker 2 Right.

04:06 Speaker 3 Take Tishrei 5755, for example, when the fire was rekindled. Someone came along and said, “All right”—Rabbi Nadel[?] and his team at the time, Rabbi Yossi Ginzburg and Rabbi Shlomo Alperin, who were part of that group, said, “We’re taking on all the editors; yes, we’re continuing.” And there were all sorts of things like that, campaigns... One of them was called, at the time, the Lubavitch Chari”f Committee[?], and it had various names and forms. They ran a very large study campaign on Geulah and Moshiach in 5756 and 5757, studying the relevant subjects in depth. Anyone who remembers that period will recall it. It may even have been a truly worldwide campaign, reaching a great many yeshivos, with new material on Geulah and Moshiach, really rekindling enthusiasm in this area. That was one side of it.

04:51 Speaker 2 Looking back, you can see that it was like a light amid all that darkness.

04:56 Speaker 3 I wouldn’t call it darkness—a bit of fog. But yes, the bochurim in 770 were there near the Rebbe, living with it and drawing everyone along after them: the Temimim, and behind them the entire world. Suddenly you had hundreds, even thousands, of bochurim immersed in studying Geulah and Moshiach, who needed to—

05:14 Speaker 2 Those were the years when you were in yeshiva ketanah.

05:17 Speaker 3 Yeshiva ketanah.

05:18 Speaker 2 Do you remember it? Do you remember receiving something from—

05:22 Speaker 3 For all the bochurim, especially those of us in yeshiva ketanah, the novelty was that the campaign came from overseas. We didn’t yet know all the techniques used for these campaigns: hard and easy multiple-choice tests, all kinds of clever ideas. It was very, very engaging. We studied hard—we worked through the subject of the two periods in the coming of Moshiach, and the coming of Eliyahu. Then there was the Beis Hamikdash, the Third Beis Hamikdash, and the beginning of the days of Moshiach. Over those years, it all came from 770, from the bochurim, but it was a less organized framework.

05:49 Speaker 2 There was no logo for the World Association of Yeshiva Students.

05:51 Speaker 3 No, there wasn’t. At the time they called it the Lubavitch Chari”f Committee[?] and other names[?]. And every generation has its own needs, its own leaders, and its own financial possibilities. In other words, there wasn’t one person saying, “I’m going to do this.” Rather, different people saw and felt the need. Alongside that, of course, there was Tishrei, when many bochurim got together, and the activities of what was called Eshel’s spiritual department. Naturally, from year to year, they gained experience and confidence and came to understand what was needed in light of the situation. That’s roughly how it all developed. That was one side. On the other side, around the same time, some enterprising, energetic bochurim wanted to bring a bit of order to mivtza tefillin in Manhattan. That’s a subject of its own, not directly related to this. Anyone familiar with how it worked knows that bochurim would go to different buildings. You could have a fifty-story building with a hundred pairs of bochurim visiting it. One pair would go to room seventeen on the second floor, and another would go to—there were all sorts of overlapping tefillin routes.

06:53 Speaker 2 They wanted to bring some order to it.

06:54 Speaker 3 They wanted to coordinate the bochurim in 770 and the other yeshivos as well. The situation had developed where, in a single building, each pair had its own people, and they were wasting a lot of energy. They wanted to organize things. I think it started with Fifth Avenue. A bochur went out, and with the cameras they had then, they photographed all the buildings on Fifth Avenue and hung the pictures on the wall downstairs in 770, in what was called the Mivtzoim Center. That’s what they call the area downstairs now, near the lower entrance. [unclear] They hung them on the wall, and each pair came and said where they went. It turned out that this was already called Atah, because it dealt directly with mivtza tefillin. If I remember correctly, they gathered all the heads of Atah—the Atah representatives from the larger yeshivos who were in 770—and through that tried to create some order. It worked to a greater or lesser extent. Of course, not completely, because if a bochur has a donor somewhere, you can’t really—never mind.

07:50 Speaker 2 So it began with something very, very practical: organizing mivtza tefillin, doing it properly, taking responsibility as an association of yeshiva students and coordinating the bochurim who—

07:59 Speaker 3 That led to the Mivtzoim Center shop run by Atah in 770, which sells organized supplies for mivtzoim. Various things developed from there.

08:07 Speaker 2 So we can put that to one side as a kind of beginning. But where did the organization itself actually emerge?

08:14 Speaker 3 That was in the 5750s, the mid-5750s, maybe the late 5750s—somewhere around then.

08:18 Speaker 2 Okay. Now where did the organization called World Atah actually emerge?

08:22 Speaker 3 Of course, by the time Hoshana Rabbah came around, a number of energetic, knowledgeable bochurim had gathered at 770.

08:29 Speaker 2 Who, mainly?

08:30 Speaker 3 I don’t know all of them, but there was Rabbi Birel Andel [unclear], who heads the yeshivos in Or Yehuda, and Rabbi Meir Vilizhansky from Tzfas, and also Rabbi Mendy Vilizhansky, who was a little older. There were other older bochurim who decided, in a sense, to put the whole thing on an organized footing. Both inside 770—the matters of Geulah and Moshiach and the campaigns—and outside, keeping track of what was happening in the other yeshivos. After all, Torah goes out from 770 to the whole world, quite literally. It kept going, as though there were something standing over this growing plant and telling it, “Grow.” So it was Geulah and Moshiach again, and Geulah and Moshiach again, coming from here and from there. And then it began: in Tishrei, people travel to the Rebbe. So there were new, more sophisticated booklets, with stories that suddenly—various things—anything that would get everyone—

09:19 Speaker 2 The booklet [unclear] back then.

09:23 Speaker 3 It was a beautiful booklet, and in those years there was a very substantial partnership with [unclear] and [unclear] Moshiach. It was a way of taking real responsibility and saying, yes, we’re dealing with this. That was the first generation of founders. I very much hope I haven’t left anyone out. If I have, I sincerely ask their forgiveness in advance.

09:41 Speaker 2 What do you think—was there also just the committee?

09:43 Speaker 3 That came later. That was the next stage. There was the committee, and Rabbi Moshe Rosenblatt, Rabbi Mendel Friedman, Rabbi Yechiel Bril—all sorts of people who worked on—

09:53 Speaker 2 And when did you get the urgent call to come into the office, to come to [unclear]?

09:57 Speaker 3 It wasn’t that dramatic. I was studying in 770 with the group; I came with the group of 5762. By then, the first generation was moving on, getting married and so forth, and the office needed fresh people. So I joined the office together with Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Abayo [unclear] and Rabbi Yossi Schwartz. We were all from the same group. Since then, that pattern has more or less continued: every few years, the people working in the office at 770 change. That also keeps the office’s energy alive. It doesn’t depend on the married men. They’re a chapter in their own right, but the bochurim are what drive it—the real inner driving force. The ongoing work comes from 770. That’s the place the world draws its life from. The world doesn’t draw its life from Tzfas or anywhere else. It draws its life from 770, and that’s where Atah’s main office is, where the bochurim work. But circumstances changed. For a very long period, Rabbi Shmuel Drazin, may he be well, funded a substantial part of Atah’s projects. Some people remember Dardaa [unclear] and other enormous projects that he really—

11:05 Speaker 2 If we’re placing it in time, the 5760s began with [unclear].

11:07 Speaker 3 Yes, something like that. And in the middle of the 5760s, in 5765 or 5766, Dardaa [unclear] began. He should be well; with great generosity, he gave a lot of money to these things. So Atah found itself in a certain financial uncertainty. There was the money coming from him, and a little money from other donors here and there. Somehow it was possible to keep going and, let’s say, maintain what was already there. But it developed and grew.

11:34 Speaker 2 But that issue came up when you joined.

11:37 Speaker 3 No.

11:38 Speaker 2 I mean, when you came in, you had to raise money and bring people on board.

11:41 Speaker 3 When we came in—yes, I should mention that I forgot Sandy Gizensky [unclear]. You could call him the second generation. Atah really moved forward with him. He brought in a great deal. He connected Rabbi Shmuel Drazin with Atah, and then there were the big 11 Nissan campaigns. Very, very many bochurim studied the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach. The books Yalkut Geulah U’Moshiach, Maamarim Geulah U’Moshiach, and Chiddushim U’Biurim B’Inyanei Geulah U’Moshiach were published then. All those books came out at that time.

12:06 Speaker 2 Yoman Kabbalas HaMalchus [unclear].

12:07 Speaker 3 Yoman Kabbalas HaMalchus [unclear], Sefer HaTemimim, volume three, and other such things and ideas. Shabbos Kulo Moshiach began then in Israel, Europe, and the United States.

12:15 Speaker 2 Let’s pause for a second and—

12:17 Speaker 3 First, that generation.

12:18 Speaker 2 —put these things in order. We understand that it really began as separate initiatives in the later years, and then took on a bit more shape at the start of the 5760s, until you actually came in to run it. Within—

12:32 Speaker 3 Let’s not exaggerate, let’s not exaggerate, let’s not exaggerate. It took shape—

12:34 Speaker 2 Even before that.

12:35 Speaker 3 Even before that, and afterward too. And not just because of me. Baruch Hashem, many people were involved along the way, and some still play an active part in Atah today. You mentioned Rabbi Yisroel Gizensky, and others who are very deeply involved in the work. Rabbi Yishmael Chavavio [unclear] and others—their hearts are really in it, and they’re involved as though they were still young Chabad bochurim. Even now, a phone call at night can get them moving. But in practice, when bochurim are working on their own, things naturally start to become established, and then there are expectations too. They have to deal with the yeshiva administrations. Sometimes mistakes were made on both sides. So everyone saw a need to straighten things out, put them on a more formal footing, and establish a more solid representation in Israel.

13:22 Speaker 2 Of course, the office at 770 continued to operate, but alongside it there was a more organized group of married young men. It was more established, more grounded, and gradually developed specialized branches and departments whose purpose was to bring the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach to the Temimim. You could say the main ones in those years were the Shabbos of unity, Shabbos Kulo Moshiach, and the summer yeshiva. Perhaps we should talk about that idea. What led to the start of Shabbos Kulo Moshiach, the Shabbos of unity?

13:57 Speaker 3 I just want to clarify something. It’s not really that a new body was founded; we stayed. We stayed in the office—I stayed. It wasn’t as though something new was set up. Rabbi Yisroel Gizensky stayed, and Rabbi Mendy Gruzenberg stayed for a while, along with various others. We got stuck there, baruch Hashem. We stayed with the office after having worked in it as bochurim, each of us in one way or another. And I’ll say again that, to this day, many of the married young men who are involved with the office are still very much involved, some more and some less.

14:38 Speaker 2 One of the most interesting things for us as Temimim is to know how it all began. First of all, how were Atah’s main activities actually set up? Let’s talk about how the summer yeshiva was founded. How was Shabbos Kulo Moshiach started? Where did the idea for the yeshivos during the breaks come from? These are the main ways Atah works to bring the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach to the Temimim. Let’s start with the Shabbos of unity, Shabbos Kulo Moshiach, which we all know as taking place around 11 Nissan. Apparently, it used to be held at a completely different time. What’s the idea behind it? Where did it start, and how much do these Shabbos gatherings actually bring the subject of Moshiach to the Temimim?

15:16 Speaker 3 Let’s take these one at a time. The learning campaigns may have been Atah’s first activity. Its principal activity was learning campaigns. Over time, they became established around Yud Shvat, 11 Nissan, and Gimmel Tammuz. In other words, before each of these significant dates, we give the Rebbe a gift. That gift consists, of course, of studying the subjects of Geulah and Moshiach. We’re talking about serious, in-depth study, as broad as possible. There is a goal here: on the one hand, to present it attractively, in a way that draws the heart and gives the animal soul its place too; and at the same time, to have very high expectations for deep study and—

16:05 Speaker 2 As befits the Temimim.

16:06 Speaker 3 Yes, as befits the students. There’s that well-known “Maayan Eish” [unclear]—the Rebbe said, the Rebbe wrote on that 11 Nissan, when bochurim sang something—then the Rebbe said that he was pleased they had brought—

16:17 Speaker 2 “Min Hameitzar.”

16:18 Speaker 3 I don’t remember the exact words, but the song they brought—

16:20 Speaker 2 “Min Hameitzar.”

16:21 Speaker 3 In other words, there is an expectation of the Temimim, and they are given the strength to live with these things deeply. By the way, everyone knows that the Rebbe explicitly asks for gifts of Torah study. I connect that with studying matters of Geulah and Moshiach. The Rebbe says that this is the direct, easy and quickest way to bring about Moshiach’s revelation and arrival. It is something we constantly have to work on. And it’s really incredible how ideas come about. We don’t have great copywriters or anything like that; Hashem sends ideas from time to time. Amazing ideas, and talented designers who bring them into being. At the end of the day, all the ideas, notices, publicity and prizes—everything—bring the bochur to studying matters of Geulah and Moshiach and to intensive study of sichos. You can meet an avreich who remembers how, at fourteen or fifteen, he reviewed dozens of sichos—or fourteen, fifteen, twenty sichos—and knows them backward and forward, including all the footnotes. Of course, as you move up to the higher levels, it gets harder and harder. For several years, Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth [?] checked the major exams for ATA. They called him an expert in handwriting: he had to decipher all the papers. There were all sorts of stages to it. Gradually, we learned how it worked, how to prepare for different things, how long it took, and so on. But ultimately, the central goal is simply for their heads to be full of Geulah and Moshiach.

17:48 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

17:48 Speaker 3 Now, I call that a kind of inner vitality. It comes from a person learning Torah, or learning the Torah teachings about Geulah. At the same time, there are also things in all this that are, in a sense, surrounding influences. But that surrounding influence both protects the inner life and brings it out; it all works together. And that brings us to “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach.” It began on Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar, when the Rebbe—

18:11 Speaker 2 Shabbos [unclear].

18:12 Speaker 3 Shabbos [unclear]. Actually, it started on Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar. For quite a few years it was held on Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar—

18:18 Speaker 2 How many is “quite a few years”? How many years altogether?

18:21 Speaker 3 Wow, to pull that out of my head right now... It started, if I remember correctly, in 5761; the first Shabbos was in 5762. If I remember correctly, it was at Yeshivas Or Simcha in Kfar Chabad. Remember? There was a big farbrengen, at the yeshiva gedolah in Kfar Chabad. I think it stayed that way through 5765, inclusive. After that, things had developed; everyone had learned how it worked. The yeshivos had expectations. At first it was almost funny to say that: the bochurim came, and that was it, there was a farbrengen. No program, no emcee, no speakers.

18:54 Speaker 2 Not like today, when every minute has to [unclear].

18:57 Speaker 3 Now there’s a program, people sit down, and that’s fine. That’s how it works. Things develop, you know. Then there were a few years—

19:04 Speaker 2 And the yeshivos flocked to it. Coming to that Shabbos was the natural thing to do, because ultimately it was a Shabbos devoted to [unclear].

19:10 Speaker 3 Yes, and it gives vitality to their avodah too, in yeshiva and in everything else. There’s nothing like it for a bochur. A bochur spends many hours at a farbrengen through the night, and then they sit together during the day, with more bochurim... Of course, it developed gradually. Then, for a few years, the Shabbos was only for the younger yeshivos. That was already done differently, in real partnership with the yeshiva administrations. We had several meetings with the administrations themselves to work out a plan—how to screen out various things. That was in Givat Haviva, and afterward in other places.

19:42 Speaker 2 And then it reached its regular format.

19:43 Speaker 3 Then we saw that it really was making things a bit difficult for the yeshivos during the school year. It placed demands on both the yeshivos and the bochurim. In short, we moved it to mark the end of the 11 Nissan campaign, right during bein hazmanim, so—

19:58 Speaker 2 Now in the north it’s [unclear].

19:59 Speaker 3 Yes, for several years it really was... Let’s say we’ve pretty much settled on Givat Washington. We have ongoing arrangements with them, and boruch Hashem, it takes place there. [unclear]. There were about two years when there was no Shabbos, and instead there was something called the Lubavitch Conference. There was a fair—a fair, like a Chinese auction, for—

20:20 Speaker 2 [unclear]

20:22 Speaker 3 —coins from the Rebbe, a dollar, [unclear], a Tanya. So we held an event. Rabbi Chaim Ashkenazi a"h came to speak, with real emotion. He spoke at length about his close relationship with the Rebbe and how good the Rebbe is to the Temimim. Much of that is included in his book, Rabbi Ashkenazi, Volume One, and so on. Afterward we went back to the Shabbos, with the conference held alongside it.

20:45 Speaker 2 If you mention Rabbi Ashkenazi and the Shabbos, you can’t leave him out. You simply can’t speak about the Shabbos without mentioning Rabbi Chaim Ashkenazi.

20:53 Speaker 3 Chaim Ashkenazi was Rabbi Chaim Ashkenazi. Ever since then, we’ve dedicated “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach” to the elevation of his soul. How can I put it? His last farbrengen was, in fact, at “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach.”

21:08 Speaker 2 We’re talking about just a few hours after he returned from that Shabbos.

21:10 Speaker 3 Sadly, he passed away that Motzaei Shabbos. It was Erev Pesach, a time of year like this one. He had come, though he really wasn’t feeling well. He told me he didn’t know whether he would come for Shabbos. Then, on Erev Shabbos itself, he let us know that he couldn’t come. He came with his son, Rabbi Ashkenazi, may he be granted long life.

21:27 Speaker 2 The following Shabbos.

21:28 Speaker 3 No, he didn’t... But on Shabbos he felt better. It was very interesting; he felt better on Shabbos. He sat and davened. It was very special to see him—a Jew sitting and davening, [unclear], outside in the fresh air. Afterward he farbrenged a little on Shabbos afternoon. And yes, we’ve dedicated the Shabbos ever since.

21:45 Speaker 2 Entirely about Moshiach.

21:45 Speaker 3 Yes, it worked out with [unclear] on that same day.

21:49 Speaker 2 So the surrounding atmosphere of the Shabbos gives—

21:51 Speaker 3 It’s a surrounding influence, but it’s not just that. What do I mean by “surrounding”? You see the bochurim. Geulah and Moshiach enter through their heads, their stomachs and their feet. Bochurim stand on the benches and tables on Shabbos and dance, another minute and another minute, to Yehuda Lipman’s new niggun. Every year, suddenly a bochur feels he’s part of something big. He isn’t some isolated kid somewhere, learning about Geulah and Moshiach, surviving some kind of golus. Through it all, he’s part of a large group.

22:20 Speaker 2 Staff members.

22:21 Speaker 3 That he’s connected to. It’s a surrounding influence that—

22:24 Speaker 2 That’s important.

22:25 Speaker 3 That gives him a great deal of room.

22:28 Speaker 2 All the rabbis from the yeshivos, when they come to that Shabbos—

22:31 Speaker 3 Everyone benefits from it in the end, both materially and spiritually. Of course, we try to make it good materially too. We learn from year to year. Boruch Hashem, in recent years the Shabbos has really improved a great deal, and we keep learning. Of course, the big challenge is that when you organize things properly, they cost much, much more. In other words, you can’t compare “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach” in Kfar Chabad in 5762 [?] with “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach” today. Just to give you an idea—I don’t know if this is the place to get into costs—but “A Shabbos Entirely About Moshiach” in Kfar Pines [?] costs over 200,000 shekels.

23:02 Speaker 2 For one Shabbos.

23:03 Speaker 3 For each Shabbos, the bochurim pay a little, but the main financial burden falls on the office here in Israel, together with its director, Rabbi Charmatz [?], who took on the work. Since Rabbi Drazin’s support stopped, for various reasons, the office here in Israel has taken overall responsibility for raising the money for all the activities. So of course there’s a campaign, and really, all year long, boruch Hashem, we need a lot of money—and the more money there is, the better. But boruch Hashem, the means follow the will, and the will creates new means.

23:43 Speaker 2 With the Shabbos, we touched on another point: a surrounding influence that, of course, permeates the inner life. And if we move on to another area of activity, the summer yeshiva—

23:51 Speaker 3 There’s a summer yeshiva?

23:52 Speaker 2 The summer yeshiva is a kind of surrounding influence, but it’s also very, very internal, because we’re talking about two weeks. Any bochur who has come out of the summer yeshiva can testify to it. Many bochurim’s lives changed with regard to Geulah and Moshiach: they confronted the subject of Moshiach very directly. Many credit the summer yeshiva with that, because it immersed them in a completely different atmosphere for those two weeks.

24:10 Speaker 3 The summer yeshiva is a whole different operation. The first summer yeshiva was in 5762 [?]. Rabbi Sandy Wilshansky and Dovid Katz organized it.

24:18 Speaker 2 You were the ones from 770—the summer, the leadership summer program.

24:21 Speaker 3 We also had to prepare the materials, the registration—everything. It was at Gesher in Jerusalem. A summer yeshiva, though, is something else. I would call it the light of Torah in practical vessels. It’s something extraordinary. It combines a wonderful chassidic experience—“wonderful” doesn’t even begin to describe it—with turning ideas into practice, turning thoughts into action. A bochur spends two weeks, or twelve or thirteen days, in a place where he lives it [unclear]. Not just in talks or farbrengens, and not just hearing that this is how things should be. The whole experience is different. It’s tangible. We’re there together with the best bochurim from 770 that we can get. Most of the counselors—all of them, as far as we try—are bochurim who have been to 770. Boruch Hashem, the summer yeshiva has grown, so that’s become difficult. It’s an exceptional group. It isn’t like a camp, or anything of the sort. It’s something else.

25:20 Speaker 2 Really.

25:20 Speaker 3 A different atmosphere. You simply live it—a different, more elevated atmosphere. In recent years, registration for the summer yeshiva has really grown tremendously. Boruch Hashem, we managed to work it out, partly through the office here in Israel taking something of a financial leap of faith, of course, and partly with help from others. Now there are two separate summer yeshivas, so that we can—

25:43 Speaker 2 That’s really very welcome news—

25:44 Speaker 3 Accept more students. In some not-so-distant years, we couldn’t accept everyone, and we had to tell people no. What does it mean to say no? A child wants to join a program, and you tell him no? But we couldn’t take him. So we took a leap. We took a leap of 150,000 shekels. What does that mean?

25:58 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

25:59 Speaker 3 You rent another campus, bring in more counselors, more staff. Anyone familiar with—

26:02 Speaker 2 Expenses.

26:03 Speaker 3 Registration, registering camps and getting licenses. Everything has to be legal now; you can’t just do whatever you want.

26:07 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

26:07 Speaker 3 But Boruch Hashem, it’s—

26:09 Speaker 2 So since 5782 [?], when that framework was established, you’ve essentially had two summer yeshivas that—

26:13 Speaker 3 There are two summer yeshivas. They’re separate, but together.

26:16 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

26:16 Speaker 3 They’re next to each other. At the moment, they’re in Tzfas. This year too, we decided to go there despite the situation.

26:22 Speaker 2 And every shekel you invest in this brings a return from the outset. You know the bochurim are entering a world of the Rebbe, of hiskashrus, of Geulah and Moshiach, at a level that leaves its mark on them for life.

26:35 Speaker 3 It’s something extraordinary. It’s an experience. Boruch Hashem, we have the privilege. I’ll tell you, there are even yeshivas that very much encourage their bochurim to come.

26:41 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

26:42 Speaker 3 Because they see it. I’m not even talking about the practical question of what a bochur does at home. Beyond that, it’s a different atmosphere. Besides the summer yeshivas, there’s something called the bein hazmanim yeshivas.

26:51 Speaker 2 So that’s the next thing we need to talk about. The summer yeshiva is the main program we’ve discussed: taking the students’ vacation and immersing them in a really strong atmosphere. Then, a few years ago, around the beginning of the 2000s, there emerged—

27:05 Speaker 3 And it took time to take shape.

27:06 Speaker 2 A new project called the Pesach bein hazmanim yeshivas.

27:09 Speaker 3 The bein hazmanim yeshivas are a very successful idea. You can see that from the fact that others have already taken the idea wholesale and brought it—

27:17 Speaker 2 To other institutions.

27:18 Speaker 3 With some adjustments. Good—if it spreads the Rebbe’s idea and gives him nachas, that’s fine. In any case, in practice it took time.

27:25 Speaker 2 You can see the demand for it—

27:27 Speaker 3 It’s extraordinary. Mind you, it took time. At first they ran a traveling summer yeshiva: each day was in a different place, with all the arrangements that involved. Again, a summer yeshiva is a very resource-intensive project.

27:36 Speaker 2 Bein hazmanim.

27:36 Speaker 3 The bein hazmanim yeshivas are a costly project. Every bochur gets breakfast every day. With several hundred bochurim, do the math—how much does that cost? And the bochurim pay nothing. That’s essentially the bein hazmanim yeshivas. Broadly speaking, the programs—

27:49 Speaker 2 Prizes, booklets, a schedule.

27:50 Speaker 3 There are prizes. This year there was something new: scratch cards. Those are things the organizers put into practice. The program was very successful.

27:56 Speaker 2 Here, too, you take the week before 11 Nissan, when the bochurim are at home, and plan out a few hours for them.

28:06 Speaker 3 Morning Chassidus for an hour. That’s generally how it works: an hour of morning Chassidus, then breakfast, and then they learn. But again, the precise schedule isn’t the point. And 11 Nissan is one of the biggest Chabad dates during vacation on the calendar.

28:17 Speaker 2 You see that 11 Nissan is really the—

28:20 Speaker 3 Today, the—

28:22 Speaker 2 Absolute high point.

28:22 Speaker 3 The peak. It works out that activity reaches its height in the spring, because there’s also 11 Nissan.

28:28 Speaker 2 So there are, in effect, some four projects—

28:30 Speaker 3 The 11 Nissan campaign, which has been Atah’s biggest campaign to date; Shabbos Kulo Moshiach, which runs at the same time and also has to be organized; the Lubavitch Conference alongside it; and the programs team.

28:40 Speaker 2 And the bein hazmanim yeshiva.

28:41 Speaker 3 And the bein hazmanim yeshiva. There’s also, on the side, a project providing vouchers for inexpensive hats and suits. Rabbi Drazin started that through the same donor. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a donor on that scale, so it isn’t as heavily subsidized as—

28:55 Speaker 2 Ahem.

28:56 Speaker 3 It ought to be. But with Hashem’s help, that will come too. I very much hope so. Of course, we hope the Rebbe will be revealed, but this too will improve, with Hashem’s help. The bein hazmanim classes take up part of a bochur’s day while he’s at home, but not the whole day.

29:21 Speaker 2 These, then, are major avenues of activity: learning about Geulah and Moshiach, the seasonal campaigns that go on throughout the year, Shabbos Kulo Moshiach, the summer yeshiva and the bein hazmanim yeshiva. Gradually, we’re seeing more and more avenues of activity for Atah. For example, Purim with the Rebbe is something that has really developed only in recent years.

29:37 Speaker 3 There’s Purim with the Rebbe, through which a video translated into Hebrew is released each time.

29:41 Speaker 2 It lets the bochurim engage with portions of sichos during the vacation. They learn for three or four hours.

29:46 Speaker 3 And there’s already a fairly substantial archive of translations. There are also, of course, the new, modern projects.

29:55 Speaker 2 We want to talk about those too. Connection with the Rebbe: Atah has made it a goal to instill that in the bochurim so deeply that they maintain a connection with the Rebbe and connect strongly with the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

30:07 Speaker 3 Ultimately, Atah’s main goal—look, I don’t want to use grand words, but the first thing we’re prepared to work hard for, and want to do, is simply to bring Geulah and Moshiach into their lives, both through study and in the most straightforward sense. Simply to be the Rebbe’s chassidim, to be connected, to know how to be a chassidishe bochur, a sound chassidishe bochur. He has a Rebbe, and that Rebbe means something to him. He lives with it; the Rebbe is alive in his life. It isn’t just some abstract thing. In short—

30:40 Speaker 2 I want to touch on that point, because right now we’re in the first part of the program, where we’re discussing Atah’s activities. Soon we’ll talk about Atah’s guiding approach, which is what you’re beginning to address. But let’s first finish this point about Atah’s avenues of activity. We’ve discussed the new things that have been established. There are now two more new divisions: the Special Division and Beis Haniflaos, which was established within the last four years.

31:01 Speaker 3 It brought about a revolution.

31:02 Speaker 2 And—

31:04 Speaker 3 Of course, we have Oznaim Lishmoa, our podcasts—Boruch Hashem, may you have strength to continue. There’s also [unclear], which has resumed publication. I mean, it ran for years with interruptions, and now it’s being produced together with the Beis Moshiach editorial team. Another issue is due out for Gimmel Tammuz, with Hashem’s help. With Hashem’s help, we’ll already have the Beis Hamikdash by then. But I want to go on. And the whole purpose of all these things, of course, is [unclear] Moshiach, quite literally.

31:29 Speaker 2 How do you see it? Beis Haniflaos really brought an additional perspective to the bochurim in yeshivas. Until now, Atah hadn’t really managed to bring these treasures onto video screens and show them in the yeshivas. How do you see the purpose of this division?

31:48 Speaker 3 Hashem gave you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear. Broadly speaking, it can work that way in a person’s everyday life. After all, a person takes things in through all kinds of channels. He takes things in through his ears, through his eyes, and even through his feet. He walks a lot, and he feels it. At a Simchas Beis Hashoeivah, for example, there’s a lot of dancing at the farbrengens, and you feel joy. You tell someone, “Start dancing, and you’ll be happy.” How will he become happy? He dances, his feet start jumping, and he feels happy. Yes, that’s a fact. It’s the same here. When we talk about living with the joy of the Geulah and Moshiach, part of that experience comes from the intellect. It’s simple: a person learns the Rebbe’s sichos and knows that the Rebbe speaks about where we stand now, [unclear]. He knows it’s written in the sicha. Does he feel it? Not always.

32:32 Speaker 4 So that’s “A Heart to Know.”

32:33 Speaker 3 That, that—I don’t know if that’s “A Heart to Know”; that’s the mind understanding. That’s part of it too, you know. Now, there are other parts of our inner life. How do I feel about it? What does it mean to me? And “Beis Haniflaos” and “Ears to Hear” are meant to reach those places too. What did people feel? Maybe we should go back to something simple: a chossid standing there during, say, the sicha of Chol Hamoed Sukkos 5751, hearing the Rebbe say [unclear]. Today there are headlines about it; the whole sicha is startling. But all right, everything has its time. So it’s not only “What do we do?” It’s also: what is happening in my heart? After all, every one of us understands that the Rebbe’s call is still in force now. It isn’t just a historical sicha, and so on. So what does “Do all that you can” mean for me in practice, right now? What about this very moment? How do I act? That’s living with the—

33:32 Speaker 4 So much of knowing where my heart needs to go, what direction it needs to take, can come from learning what chassidim felt then.

33:38 Speaker 3 Let’s put it this way—

33:40 Speaker 4 That’s the melody.

33:40 Speaker 3 I want the bochur to know what Rabbi Shmuel Menachem Mendel Butman’s heart told him, and what Rabbi Dovid Noach Stern and Rabbi [unclear] Garlick felt when they established the World Moshiach Headquarters back then. What were they feeling?

33:50 Speaker 4 And even other chassidim.

33:53 Speaker 3 They went out and did it. The Rebbe and “Beis Haniflaos” were publicized through private initiative, all those remarkable archives, and more and more. With Hashem’s help, may He help us.

34:00 Speaker 4 It was excellent.

34:01 Speaker 3 Because when the hope was that the Rebbe would reveal himself, none of this would be needed. But there’s a point here. The same goes for “Ears to Hear,” or anything else. It’s not just about passing on information to the mind; it speaks to the heart. You need to know the melody of the words. It’s like that chassidic story about the Alter Rebbe at the beginning of his leadership. He came into a shul on Pesach night, and they began saying Hallel—sorry, that’s what they were saying, Hallel on Pesach night. The gabbai came over and said, “The Rema says that we do not say Hallel.” I don’t remember whether it was the Alter Rebbe or someone else who replied, “Who told you what melody those words are written in?” Perhaps “And we do not say Hallel” is written with sadness. That’s the point. So “A Heart to Know,” “Ears to Hear,” “Beis Haniflaos,” and all of that also help complete the picture a little. Of course, the main thing is studying the laws of the Geulah and Moshiach, because that’s what the Rebbe speaks about. When the Rebbe says that the direct, easy, and quick path is studying the laws of the Geulah and Moshiach, then that means studying the laws of the Geulah and Moshiach. But there are also the things around it, and everyone also—

35:04 Speaker 4 What you’re saying suggests that the broader experience doesn’t just complete the picture; it’s actually a very central part of the picture itself. In other words, learning what happened behind the scenes and hearing the feelings of chassidim about these things are truly part of—

35:20 Speaker 3 There’s another discussion here too. I don’t know if it’s the main purpose, but it’s there in the background. Ultimately, the bochur knows. Let’s talk about what Anash thought the Rebbe meant when he spoke—not what people today have to say about it. When the Rebbe spoke, when the Rebbe encouraged “Yechi,” what did people think then? What were they saying to themselves? We’re standing now so close to Gimmel Tammuz—rachmana litzlan. We wish it hadn’t happened, that we could have passed Gimmel Tammuz differently. But what were people saying to themselves then? When the Rebbe spoke, what did people think? When the Rebbe said we needed to study, what was being discussed? What was 28 Nissan? What did people feel in their hearts? And suddenly you can say: all right, no one is taking away anyone’s free choice, and everyone means well. But in practice, when you want to know where things stand and what needs to be done, you know what the Rebbe is demanding—without gloves and without games. That has value. Ultimately, bochurim grow up in yeshivos. Not every yeshiva can produce materials for itself, and not every— But through the combined strength of the community, in cooperation with the yeshiva administrations, there is still a great deal to add in every area. With Hashem’s help, the plans are big.

36:32 Speaker 5 That’s a very interesting point, and as we come toward the end of the program, we should spend some time on it. We’ve spoken about the many ways World Atah works, and surely they can be expanded, while the existing ones can be developed and brought to the highest level, so students have the best materials, presented in the best way, to live with Geulah and Moshiach. If we ask you as the head of World Atah: what’s the guiding principle? I don’t know if we need to call it a vision, but what is the guiding principle? What is the main thing Atah wants to cultivate in the bochurim of the seventh generation? What should a bochur in the seventh generation look like, and how does Atah help bring that about? This takes us into a more Torah-based question of outlook.

37:13 Speaker 3 I’ll put it this way. First of all, Atah doesn’t shape bochurim. The people who shape bochurim are the yeshiva administrations. They really do have that ability. Atah isn’t some central yeshiva administration. It doesn’t replace the administrations, G-d forbid. They’re the ones who shape the bochurim, each administration and each yeshiva with its own priorities, and each place with its own group and type of bochurim and its own emphases. Atah comes to add some seasoning to that whole process. Atah comes to keep bringing all of us back and helping us refocus. Yes, we return to the starting point; we return to the Geulah and Moshiach. We mustn’t let the study of Geulah and Moshiach slip off the agenda. Time passes, people can forget, and we truly have many, many responsibilities. What, after all, defines a chassidic bochur? A chassidic bochur studies Shas with his whole mind. A chassidic bochur is G-d-fearing. A chassidic bochur observes mitzvos. A chassidic bochur lives by Likkutei Sichos.

38:08 Speaker 5 Look.

38:08 Speaker 3 All right, a chassidic bochur is made up of many things, and it really is hard to define one, because there are different levels. Boruch Hashem, most of them—really, all of them—are chassidic bochurim, and so on. But in the end, our seventh generation has the responsibility to bring the Geulah in the literal sense. It’s a collective responsibility and a personal one. That well-known sicha in which the Rebbe says [unclear] the Beis Hamikdash—that isn’t an exaggeration. It’s addressed to us. So it moves you to do something, to take action. That’s the direct path. Again, I keep saying: the direct path is studying the laws of the Geulah and Moshiach. Now, how does that work?

38:47 Speaker 5 So there’s a point here that can grow dim and weaken, and you come along to clarify it again and again and put it at the forefront. Remember, there’s an overarching goal here: the Geulah and Moshiach, through in-depth study of the Geulah and Moshiach.

38:58 Speaker 3 Everything connected with in-depth study of Moshiach, the Rebbe as Moshiach, and Likkutei Sichos—that’s where Atah comes in, in coordination and cooperation with the yeshiva administrations. G-d forbid, Atah isn’t coming to replace the administrations, or to have the administration educate a bochur one way while we educate him another. But the more basic, fundamental point is that a chassidisher bochur should be permeated with Geulah and Moshiach. He should be permeated with “Yechi”; he should be permeated with [unclear]. He has a Rebbe—a Rebbe, a living Rebbe. This isn’t something he leaves aside. It’s a very significant part of his life. He’s involved in it, he knows he’s involved in it, and it interests him. And now, with Hashem’s help, this year there’s going to be a quiz for the first time in Israel, on Geulah and Moshiach. Does it take a lot of money? We don’t have the money yet. Maybe someone hearing this will want to sponsor the quiz. The opportunity is open, and this is serious. But in practice, what’s the purpose of the whole quiz? When we’re talking about thirty years now—however anyone understands it, that doesn’t matter at all—this is terrible, simply terrible. So what now? Where does that lead us? It leads us to the realization that we have to invest much more effort in Geulah and Moshiach, because what we’ve done until now hasn’t brought about the Geulah. Everyone has to go beyond their limits. I can’t demand anything of anyone. I’m saying that, at least for ourselves, we’re trying to go beyond our limits and undertake a major project that wasn’t planned on this scale at the start of the year. With Hashem’s help, we hope it succeeds, but—

40:17 Speaker 5 How can you explain to a bochur, as we come toward the end, this particular approach of studying Geulah and Moshiach in depth? Because that’s just it: he studies, and then another Atah Haolami campaign comes along—this time on the maamarim, this time on the sichos of those days, another time on [unclear] Moshiach, on all the [unclear] material about Geulah and Moshiach, and another time on Geulah and Moshiach. He sees that, once again, the study of Geulah and Moshiach is at the center. So he asks Atah: Why, specifically, are you so focused on studying Geulah and Moshiach? There are other things too. We really need to answer that question in a way that will satisfy us.

40:58 Speaker 3 There aren’t other things. That’s the answer. There aren’t other things. It isn’t true. What do I mean? The Rebbe says that the direct path—the Rebbe opens with a message. People wrote to the Rebbe; people spoke up. What does the Rebbe want? What should we actually do? The first thing the Rebbe spoke about—the very first—was studying the maamarim and Likkutei Sichos of the Nasi of our generation. In other words, studying the Torah of Geulah. Incidentally, at that time the Vaad Lehafotzas Sichos published two booklets of Likkutei Sichos on Geulah and Moshiach.

41:20 Speaker 5 Yes.

41:20 Speaker 3 That came later. Out of that grew the series that [unclear]; they actually published it together with the Vaad Lehafotzas Sichos: Likkutei Sichos on Geulah and Moshiach. In other words, what does it come down to? Yes, the crucial thing is to study Geulah and Moshiach. Just as everyone understands that you can’t be a chossid without a set time for study, you can’t be a chossid without a serious, set time for studying Geulah and Moshiach. This is the direct, easy, and quick path to bringing about the Geulah, which is every chossid’s deepest desire. Ultimately, let’s strip away all the wrappings and coverings and, let’s call it, all the politics and even our own inner [unclear]. What does each of us want? What does every chossid want? To bring about the Geulah and the coming of Moshiach. How do we bring it about? With gatherings, declarations, Tehillim, tzedakah—yes, all of that is good—and campaigns. We mustn’t give up any of it. But when the Rebbe says this is the direct, easy, and quick path—well, that’s it. And we don’t have answers to every question. You might ask how long it’s been. It’s such a terrible problem that so much time has passed. “Terrible problem” isn’t even the right wording. We can’t even define it.

42:20 Speaker 5 So that itself—the fact that we’re in this situation, that we’re approaching Gimmel Tammuz and it already shakes us—how can we keep studying Geulah and Moshiach? How do we get up again in the morning and decide to study again? Alongside the study, there has to be some kind of jolt, or a very powerful drive that will keep us going.

42:41 Speaker 3 Right, right. First of all, some of the campaigns also have prizes, which provide motivation; that has its place too. But truly, every chossid, every one of us, has no right to give up and no right to retreat. We’re in the middle of a campaign, so each person can tell himself whatever helps him. I think they say that the man who wanted to invent the electric light bulb made a thousand attempts. Do you know how many? A lot. If he had stopped at attempt number nine hundred, or nine hundred and fifty—each attempt could have been the last one before the breakthrough. So you can tell yourself: this is the final campaign. That really is our hope. As we keep writing to the Rebbe, we hope this will be the final action. But we mustn’t stop for even a moment. We’re in the middle of a long journey, and we have strength from the Rebbe, a shlichus, and a very great personal responsibility. The Rebbe says, “I’m giving you the work.” So each person should ask himself: What am I doing? What am I doing with the work the Rebbe gave me? It’s simple. We need to devote ourselves to studying Geulah and Moshiach—or at least give money to support it. But that’s another matter.

43:45 Speaker 5 I wish Rabbi Springer much strength for this special program, a program devoted entirely to Atah Haolami and its goal, its guiding principle: instilling within us a sense of responsibility for Geulah and Moshiach. Yasher koach, Rabbi Springer.

43:59 Speaker 3 Much success. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Vaed.

44:05 Speaker 5 A big yasher koach, Rabbi Springer.

44:08 Speaker 6 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim from Atah Haolami. For the programs, dial *6358. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Vaed.