How to prepare for Rosh Chodesh Kislev?

00:00 A bochur asked me: When we keep quiet and don’t press the issue—but still, Reb [unclear]—the bochur asks me a question: As 19 Kislev approaches, what is the preparation? What is the preparation for 19 Kislev? For every Yom Tov, for Rosh Hashanah, we know what the preparation is. He asks me: What is the preparation for Rosh Chodesh Kislev? And the answer is: There is no preparation. That itself shows what the preparation is. Preparation is for a particular thing, a specific thing, a revelation. 19 Kislev is the revelation of Chassidus, and on Rosh Hashanah there is kabbolas ol of the kingdom of Heaven: we crown Hashem as King. Rosh Chodesh Kislev is the essence; it isn’t a detail, it is the essence as it is. In a sicha leading up to Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5752, the Rebbe speaks about a child and what the child says, as it is written: “I pray with the understanding of this child.” In Derech Mitzvosecha, he explains this at greater length. Reb Shimshon of Kinon had a debate with a kabbalist about the sefiros. Reb Shimshon of Kinon said of himself, “I pray with the understanding of this child”—I pray like a child. The plain meaning, as he explains at greater length in Derech Mitzvosecha, is that I don’t need to bring such intentions into prayer. “I pray with the understanding of this child,” whereas the kabbalists have intentions connected with the sefiros. But the Rebbe interprets those words to mean that this is the point.

01:40 The point of the whole matter of prayer. At first glance, in their plain meaning, those words say the opposite: he wants to emphasize to Whom we pray, why there is no need for the sefiros, what matters most—we pray to Hashem; we ask Hashem. That is what he does in Derech Mitzvosecha, in a very lengthy explanation. The reason he brings “I pray with the understanding of this child” in Derech Mitzvosecha is to explain that we do not pray to the sefiros. But the Rebbe says that those words, “I pray with the understanding of this child,” are the point of prayer. And in the sicha, the Rebbe makes a great deal of it. What is there here, simply speaking? A child has no intentions; he seeks only Hashem. He doesn’t want revelations. That is the essence. In the sicha leading up to Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the Rebbe explains: How does an adult see Hashem? He wants revelations. For an adult, even when he asks Hashem, the qualities of the revelations also have value in his eyes. But a child has none of that; he wants only Hashem. That is the essence of a Jew. The Rebbe explains that when a child wakes up, when a person wakes from sleep, there is even just the matter of “Modeh Ani.” The yechidah of the soul. We once learned the entire kuntres Inyanah Shel Toras Hachassidus, and there the Rebbe explains four interpretations at length, and the reason. It’s been twenty years already—how am I supposed to remember which

03:08 sicha the Rebbe said on 19 Kislev [unclear]? We once learned that sicha. But afterward we used it to study the kuntres Inyanah Shel Toras Hachassidus. The Rebbe said the sicha on 19 Kislev twenty years ago. Something new comes along; if they study it again in twenty years, they’ll return to that new thing. But if you go to sleep, you don’t get to the new thing. At any rate, the Rebbe speaks about the meaning of “Modeh Ani” according to halachah, according to derush, according to Chassidus. It is about the yechidah of the soul; Chassidus explains “Modeh Ani,” and the Rebbe shows how that illuminates the other four interpretations. But it is all yechidah. What is yechidah? Chassidus quotes, “It was given five names.” And what is the “it”? “It” is the essence of the soul, and yechidah. That is what it says in Chassidus. All of our avodah is founded on this, because this is the main avodah: the “it” and the yechidah. The Chassidus of earlier generations speaks about it too. The Rebbe introduced new insights into these matters. But what does the Rebbe say? “As soon as he wakes from his sleep,” he already says “Modeh Ani”—a beautiful explanation, bittul. A certain revelation of the soul becomes manifest in him. This, says the Rebbe, is the foundation of a Jew: “As soon as he wakes from his sleep.” He brings Rashi, what Rashi says in [unclear], that here, in this Rashi, which says [unclear], when you wake from sleep, you wake from sleep, there is no

04:33 soul—wake up. That is how the Rebbe brings it in the sicha. But if we think about it carefully, this is the foundation of the entire day. When we wake from sleep, what happens a minute later? We turn over onto the other side. Oy, oy, that is the whole point. When we wake from sleep, what happens in the first minute after waking? Even before we say “Shema Yisroel,” before we go to wash our hands, what is your thought? Am I getting out of bed? Yes, you pull yourself away from the bed—even if you still have three minutes? After all, you could sleep another five minutes, another half-minute. The Rebbe’s sicha, [unclear], should be a preparation for Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Have you seen the sicha? Yes, we had that sicha. L’chaim, l’chaim. I don’t want to go on at length. But the moment we wake from sleep stays with us throughout the day. After that, it isn’t the same anymore. As it says in [unclear], the first thought that comes to mind—and if that isn’t your first thought, everything afterward is entirely different. The Rebbe goes further. When we wake from sleep, the Rebbe describes it: He wakes up, and what does he do? He gets up. Really, he wouldn’t want to go to sleep at all. But he has to sleep, and he falls asleep. Rabbi Tzvi [unclear] related that he once came to a farbrengen in Lubavitch, [unclear]. And he farbrenged with the bochurim. About what? That when—

06:01 When you sit and learn, and do what you do, you also have to sleep. But why do we go to sleep? We go to lie down, take off our daytime clothes and put on our nighttime clothes. He puts it this way: What is he saying? Until now I belonged to Hashem; now, as I change into pajamas and put on nighttime clothes, until now I belonged to Hashem, and now my own existence begins. Could there be greater chutzpah than that? After all, they relate that the Rebbe [unclear] used to [unclear] sleep. So when I—I have to go to sleep, fine, that’s that. But when I wake up, what next? What, have I slept enough already? What? But there’s still another minute. And seemingly, that “another minute” isn’t just another minute. It casts light on the person’s entire [unclear]. Before you do what you need to do with all your [unclear], in the first minute, the first second—get up promptly. There is [unclear] in that. But let me say: I’m not talking about you here; I’m talking about myself. I don’t want—I mean, I’m talking, I’m talking; nobody needs to leave. I mean that I was referring to myself. I’m not standing here as a guide with a stick. This concerns me; it’s not the... Presumably fifty percent of the people sitting here are in this position. That’s no great distinction, I know; I’m not proud of it. But what thought comes to a person when he wakes up—

07:19 Ah, another minute. What does “another minute” mean? It isn’t the minute; it isn’t just another minute. L’chaim, l’chaim, l’chaim. It isn’t just another minute.