What the Rebbe Asked to Write the Week After Yud Shvat

Welcome to our weekly "Mivtza Shabbos" program. Last week I shared with you a letter about the sefirot, the acceptance of the Rebbe's leadership, and what he said after the passing [of the Frierdiker Rebbe]. Today is [Yud Shvat], a day of hiskashrus, and as we read in the letter from last week, Yesod is the sixth attribute and Malchus is the seventh, and today they come together - Yesod and Malchus together - and these are very important days.

So, the week after the histalkus (passing) of the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe, who was then still the Ramash, asked Rabbi Mindel to write a tribute. I don't know whether it was written for a newspaper, or a magazine, or for Talks and Tales, but he wrote seven pages - amazing stories about the things the Frierdiker Rebbe went through, which I don't think have been printed - about Poland, about Russia, and also about the ten years of being in America. Maybe I will show you that some other time, but what I do want to speak about today is something that he wrote about when the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America.

He had to tackle two major problems. Number one: Am Ha'aretzus - ignorance. There was no [Torah] education in America; that's why the Frierdiker Rebbe started right away with publishing. The ignorance in America was unbelievable. And also: America is not different than Europe - meaning, the people who came to America, the refugees from the shtetlach of Europe, they convinced themselves that "America is anderish" (America is different). This is what they had in mind all the time: "Europe is Europe, now we're in America." The Frierdiker Rebbe had to fight [that notion] - that America is not different.

The immigrants, in order to ease their guilt feelings over having neglected the traditions of the old country and family life, [came up with] a rationalization, he writes, which seemed to justify everything, including the neglect of the Torah education of the children. And what's more - this was not limited to ordinary people in the street; this thinking reached the spiritual leaders as well, and the Frierdiker Rebbe had to deal with it. He writes that in the name of a mistaken "realpolitik," concessions were made - at first small concessions, but gradually leading from one to another, until the very foundations of Judaism were shaken. Judaism became so watered down that it became [unclear].

And he writes about this: they gave out kosher certification to stores - "kosher, kosher" - and [the supervisor] had a beard. There was once [someone] sent to look at a fish - you know, the carp, the carp has worms in the head, you have to check it. So he came into a store, he sees the mashgiach, and he says, "No, this fish has worms, it's not supposed to be kosher - it has worms." So the mashgiach got angry: "Look at my beard! I have a long beard - you're asking me if it's kosher? Look!" So he told him: "There are beards, and there are worm-beards."

He [the Frierdiker Rebbe] had to deal with all of this after everything in Europe - being in prison, dealing with the KGB, running from one place to another. He came to America; on the boat he wasn't well, and we're going to talk about that another time - how he came, and who he came with. And now he came, so to speak, to break the ice of America - and who he dealt with. So Rabbi Mindel wrote up this whole thing.

So today is the yahrtzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe - we have to remember what [he accomplished]. And also [we remember that] a year later, the acceptance of leadership by the Rebbe took place in 770. For the whole year [after Yud Shvat] he refused to officially accept the leadership. People were hoping that on the first yahrtzeit - a year later - he would start saying a maamar. He had not said a maamar the whole year, and they were hoping [he would]. So, after [a period] during which the Rebbe was farbrenging, the entire [room was quiet] - a voice rang out amongst the packed crowd. This was the voice of Rabbi Sender N[?], and he said, very loudly: "Everyone - we want to say that [the Frierdiker Rebbe's] ways are good, but we want to hear [a maamar from the Rebbe]." Everybody was quiet when he said that. And the entire room was silent, waiting to hear what would happen next.

At 10:40 p.m. the Rebbe opened [a sefer] containing the maamar, and he began to say it - and that was his first acceptance of the leadership. After the first or third paragraph of the maamar, the Rebbe paused and said, "We'll take a break," and people were very happy. Someone stood on a table and announced, "Repeat after me - we must say l'chaim to thank the Rebbe for giving us a maamar!" And the entire crowd answered. The Rebbe smiled and told him to sit down. This is how [Rabbi Mindel] writes it here.

So now we have to do the work of what the Rebbe wanted from us - his hiskashrus. We always speak about hiskashrus - what does that mean? Learning, of course, we always learn - but what does it mean to be connected? He writes: whenever somebody does something, one should always think, "What would the Rebbe do?" One should always think that way. And nowadays, from the internet, we can see that on so many issues in the world, the Rebbe touched on it, the Rebbe knew, and the Rebbe wrote or the Rebbe said [something about it]. So always think: people have anxiety, people have other problems - what would the Rebbe do? Don't run to doctors, don't go to psychologists, even [regarding] lectures - he wrote about lectures - just think, what would the Rebbe say about this situation. That's part of being connected to the Rebbe.

And also we have to be connected, just like the Chassidim were - just look at how the Rebbe cared, there are so many stories of how the Rebbe cared about everybody. Time is important. Learn from the Rebbe's ways. Be like the Rebbe. Be a chossid.

I heard [a teaching about] why [we give] a half-shekel - what's the reason for a half, why not give a whole shekel? [The explanation is that] the aleph [is made up of several parts] - in the middle is a vav, and there are two letters [yuds] before it and two after it, [forming the letter aleph out of two yuds and a vav]. Next to the tzaddik is a [yud] on the right side, next to the tzaddik on the left - when you are connected, close to [the tzaddik]... people say, "We learn" - "What else?" - "We know" - "No, we can learn, but you learn as one who is connected" - you understand it that way. It used to be that before they began to learn, [they would first establish] - do you grasp this - that it comes through being connected?

So, when you are far from it, [it's as if] the first letter becomes the last letter, and then you are like one who is dead. You can learn, but it's like that - to be alive, you have to be connected in order to learn the ways [properly]. Then, whatever you learn, whatever you do, you will do it always with chayus (vitality). And this is what we can learn from the Rebbe, and we should all be [connected to him] in that way.

Next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.