The Rebbe’s Yearning and Work for Moshiach

Welcome to our weekly program, the inside story of Chabad in America through the Mindel archives.

We mentioned in the past the Frierdiker Rebbe's historical journey from war-torn Europe to America, and also the Rebbe, when he came in 1941. I will not go into that; you can always look back and see. The purpose and the goal of them coming to America is, as he said to Rabbi Mindel on the ship, to spread Yiddishkeit [?], and that will bring a light to the world, and ultimately to bring Moshiach. In other words, the coming to America, in kadura [?], the Western Hemisphere, is to spread Yiddishkeit [?], and the ultimate is to bring Moshiach. This is the purpose, the goal, of the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe coming to America.

Those days, America of course, as we spoke, was not like today. Baruch Hashem, today we have Torah, we have everything. Those days it wasn't. The Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe were the first ones, or one of the first, that actually came to such a desert, a spiritual desert. What the Tanya says, that [unclear], the whole reason of creation is to come to this, to Moshiach, the revelation of Moshiach. This is the whole purpose of everything. This is what the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe accomplished, tried to accomplish, in this world, in America.

Now, the famous Chof-Ches Nissan [?], where everybody is talking about it, what the Rebbe said: "I did everything, and now I'm giving everything over to you." So I asked Rabbi Mindel (he worked with the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe from 1938 until the end), "Can you explain to me what the Rebbe meant by that, 'Ich hob altz oisgeton,' 'I did everything'?"

He said to me, and I remember what he explained to me, first of all, he says he knew that very well. He worked with the Rebbe at one table for 10 years, even more. The Rebbe never took a vacation. There was never a Rebbe that didn't take a vacation. Never. He mentioned that when the Rebbe went to Gan Israel in the 50s, one time, he traveled a long time, and then what did he do those few hours? [unclear] he gave, I think, and he was busy. And then a while later, he told [unclear]. My shver told me he told him [unclear] that it was like, I don't know, wasted, or that he's spending at Gan Israel, it's like a vacation. That's called a vacation by the Rebbe.

When the Rebbe had a heart attack, the first heart attack, [unclear] said, on that day of the heart attack (it was a mild heart attack), he walked, he went to 770, because everything was for Chassidim. Everything. He did nothing for himself. That's what my father told me. He said, [unclear], was there ever a person that gave himself over thousands of hours, years, 50 years, to speak and speak and speak? Everything given over, Torah, everything, for somebody else.

My shver worked with him on hagahos, notations, and I'll show you soon Talks and Tales notations. On everything he wrote. People gave books that the Rebbe looked over. Hundreds of letters, English letters, Hebrew letters. The Rebbe stood, like he says to me, then people go have a [unclear] meal; the Rebbe gave lekach a whole day. And Erev Yom Kippur, people have a meal; he gave, standing and giving lekach. Dollars, this is all brachos [?]. The Rebbe was standing on the aisle for hours and hours and hours. Everything for Klal Yisroel. Everything. This is what the Rebbe says; this is what the Rebbe did all his life. [unclear] I mean, there was even, let's say, this whole night, all nighttime. Was there ever a Rebbe like that?

[unclear] the Frierdiker Rebbe said [unclear] about [unclear] to make it, I think I went into it, meaning that before Moshiach [unclear] everything. This is the preparation that the Rebbe did here in America, to make it easier for us to bring the Geulah Shleimah. And now it's up to us, what we have to do. In other words, the Rebbe gave a [unclear], we can see, everything that the Rebbe made ready, everything, what we have to do. This is what he told me, that the Rebbe did it, and now we have to take it and we have to do it.

So zohu ha'ikar [?]: if we do the mitzvos, if we follow the way the Rebbe taught us, then he'll come right away. This is what the Rebbe wanted, that we should do, for 50 years. He always brought down the Rambam. The Rambam says that when Yidden [unclear], right away they'll be redeemed.

This is what the Frierdiker Rebbe started in 1945 with HaKriah VehaKedushah, and that's a program by itself. Who wrote HaKriah VehaKedushah? There are people there that I don't think that's the real name. I have written down exactly how HaKriah VehaKedushah went, all the [unclear]. I'll tell you [unclear].

When the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America, he started that people should [unclear] do mitzvos [unclear]. This was the goal of coming to America.

And the last farbrengen that the Rebbe said, from this we can learn, he spoke about Ahavas Yisroel, how we should be.

I mean, if I may say, my shver was not a big chossid of the Moshiach flags. Even though, he says, if that helps bring Moshiach, fine. But he doesn't know what it says. I don't know if that means stickers or flags or signs. If that will help, fine, but I don't know if that's what the Rebbe really meant, to bring the Geulah Shleimah by that. That I don't know. But anyway, that's good.

So the Rebbe put Moshiach mamesh, that Moshiach is real. The world says, and everybody says [unclear], the whole world: they say a speech, they say a drashah, rabbonim. What do they end off with? That [unclear] Moshiach [unclear], which is the right thing to do. But that's the end of a speech; everybody ends with that. Is that really what the Rebbe wanted? That Moshiach is mamesh real. I'll just end off with this: this was the purpose of the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe coming to America.

Also, I want to mention: usually when I say a maaseh, I heard it from Rabbi Hodakov or from Rabbi Mindel, or myself, my father, Rabbi Virgin [?]. I wrote down a lot of maasehs that, in younger years, I heard from Rabbi Working [?]. But here I just want to mention, talking about Moshiach, I heard from [unclear] the same thing. Since now we're at Hei Iyar (Hei Iyar is the establishment of the Medinas Yisroel), I just want to say that I heard from them that Reb Shmuel Levitin went in to the Rebbe, to the Frierdiker Rebbe, on Hei Iyar, the year 1948, the establishment of Medinas Yisroel. The Frierdiker Rebbe was crying, and he asked the Frierdiker Rebbe [?], why is he crying? He says, "Moshiach is born today, but it was a nefel [?]. There was a miscarriage."

Reb Shmuel Levitin explained that this probably was [unclear], that if not [unclear], [unclear] would have come. What does that mean? The Rebbe loved every Yid. The land is a holy land; he always called it Eretz HaKodesh, Eretz Yisroel HaMekudeshes [?]. The Rebbe loved everyone. But it was established not al pi Torah, and because of that, that held up the Geulah Shleimah. Meaning that the only way Moshiach will come is if we follow the [unclear], we follow the ways of Torah and Yiddishkeit [?], and do mitzvos, as the Frierdiker Rebbe said when he came to America, by doing [unclear] mitzvos.

And it's not that important to analyze why you do it or what; first do it. The Frierdiker Rebbe always used to say, and a few times I [unclear] his daughter, and he talked to Mr. Stillman [?] and many people, [unclear]: if a person eats, if a person is hungry, and he wants to know how the food is going to digest before he'll eat, is that a way? No. First you eat, and then, if you want to know how you digest it, eating it will make it easier to understand; you'll feel better. Same thing also when a person does the mitzvah of tefillin or whatever it is: first put on tefillin. And this is also for all [unclear], all people that go and do it. Do it first. Do the mitzvah, and when you do the mitzvah, [unclear] it'll be easier to understand. You'll understand much better by doing the mitzvah than before you do the mitzvah.

And this is what this parsha mentions: "Speak to all." Why doesn't it say el [unclear] Yisroel, or daber el Bnei Yisroel? So Rashi says over here that that means kol hamitzvos [unclear], all the mitzvos are [unclear]. That means most of the mitzvos; all the Yidden had to be here. What's this parsha talking about? This is very most important: "Ish imo v'aviv tira'u," people should fear their parents. People should be honest; they shouldn't steal; they shouldn't kill; they shouldn't put a stumbling block in front of a blind person; don't take revenge. All these mitzvos are bein adam [unclear]. And this is what the Rebbe left us also with Ahavas Yisroel. This is called mitzvos. And this is why we're still in galus. Galus is because of [unclear], because of sinas chinam. And this is the only way that we can bring [Moshiach] mamesh right away.

Same thing also Pirkei Avos. Now we started Pirkei Avos, and as we all know, everybody speaks about it: why is it called Pirkei Avos? There are a lot of reasons why it's called Avos. Why isn't it called Pirkei [unclear]? Why isn't it called Pirkei Mussar? Why Avos? So I heard once from Rabbi Hodakov, and I think I mentioned it once: Avos means this is a perek for parents. If parents are the way that it says in the perek, if they learn Pirkei Avos, they won't have a problem with children, because children follow parents. If they see parents are honest, the [unclear] of parents, this is the most important thing. And this should be a lesson to bring Moshiach.

We see that when the Rebbe and the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America, the first thing they did is [unclear]. So the Rebbe was the biggest and strongest [unclear], and this is what the Rebbe wanted for us. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said to Rabbi Hodakov and to Rabbi Mindel when they came in: "There's no lambs, there's no sheep." That means they started out with children. And that's why the publications. When the Rebbe came, the first thing he did, and all 10 years before he became Rebbe, he was busy with publications, Talks and Tales.

Here I have an example of the Talks and Tales, how it used to come out every year for 50 years by the Rebbe. This is the Shmuessen, and this is a Talks and Tales by the Rebbe. This was number one. [unclear] is very important by the Rebbe, Talks and Tales. And [unclear] said, and I think I mentioned it once, that when he reads the [unclear], the Yiddish. And the Rebbe was busy with Talks and Tales; he was busy, he wrote notations on every Talks and Tales.

The Commandments: the Rebbe said to Rabbi Mindel he should write The Commandments. Those days, people had [unclear]. It was after the Holocaust. The Commandments: he wrote notations, and everything.

Released Time: there is a book called Teacher's Guide, how teachers should teach children for Released Time, the Wednesday hour. The Rebbe was magiah, which I have, that [unclear] the kids. There was a book given out, Who, What, When and Where. This was all done, and this is all magiah by the Rebbe. [unclear]; the Rebbe also looked it over.

This was the third volume. [unclear] said that, of the two volumes in English, they should write the third one, and we did. This is the third volume that we gave out, the [unclear] of Liadi [?], everything. The Rebbe also told Rabbi [Mindel], and the Rebbe looked it over, but it was left in the middle, that he should write a biography from [unclear] until the Rebbe, whatever he can write. And he started to write, but he didn't finish it.

So in any case, we see here that the Rebbe was busy with [unclear]. The Rebbe was a gaon. He was a gaon in [unclear]. You see the way the Rebbe spoke: he knew everything. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said, Shas, poskim, Kabbalah [?]. The Rebbe knew everything; he said about the Rebbe that he knew everything. But he put everything aside, and he devoted himself to writing for little children, for children. And this is the beginning of coming to America, and this will bring Moshiach. So we all have to know that we should do whatever the Rebbe wanted.

And here I'll finish off with a word that the Rebbe said to somebody, to another chossid. I think it was a Satmar [?] chossid. He asked the Rebbe, "You know, we do in [unclear], we do in [unclear]. Why don't we do in kashrus? Kosher, you have to give Yidden kosher." [unclear] are very much into kosher and other things. "So why isn't Lubavitch so much..." Not that they're not, but they don't emphasize kashrus.

So the Rebbe said to him: every person in this world is created for a purpose. Every person. [unclear], as you said, [unclear] is created to give Yidden kosher. And we know what it means, to give kosher, to eat kosher, not treif; the [unclear] speaks about it, which is very important. And Lubavitch's [unclear] is to make [unclear] people that should eat kosher. So each one has a purpose in life.

So let's hope [unclear]. This is, I think, what the Rebbe means by "I did everything; now I'm leaving everything up to you": that we should continue right away, and then Moshiach will come right away.

[unclear] next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.