What Donors Complained About During 770 Visit

Welcome to our weekly Shabbos program. This program is l'ilui nishmas my mother - her yahrzeit is Yud Adar. Her father, my grandfather, was the Rebbe's [?] - he once said that he put me on my feet. So since the yahrzeit is now, I want to say [a few words], and we should all be reunited speedily with Moshiach at the end of this program.

If you remember, last week I mentioned the class in Manhattan, and I said that I want to study with you, or at least show you the handwritten letters that the Rebbe wrote, since he was called to teach that class. So, l'ilui nishmas my mother, instead of learning Mishnayos, I would like to at least start to learn this - what the Rebbe wrote. And if we can finish it, fine; if not, you'll be able to see it, and you can finish it yourself.

Today is Ches Adar. I mentioned last week that the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America. I mentioned last week that he came with a small plane - eleven people, there were five seats left, and he said, "We're not leaving until we fill the five seats." This was before the war, and they filled the five seats. This was a very dangerous time. He wasn't well, after everything he went through in Russia, as we all know the stories of the Frierdiker Rebbe's imprisonment. And he came to America, and he said, "America is nisht andersh" - America is the same golus as in Europe, the same golus as in Poland, in Europe, in Galicia.

And the Frierdiker Rebbe was holding the manuscripts the whole time - when he went off the plane, he took a ship to Sweden, he was also holding with him those manuscripts. I think - I'm not 100% sure - but Rabbi Mindel told me that in the room upstairs in 770, near the table, in a suitcase, the Frierdiker Rebbe had those manuscripts in that suitcase. I think - I'm not 100% sure.

Now, being on the boat, the Rebbetzin was there, and she was crying. She said, in Yiddish, "God, You have a lot - You have no troubles, but many people have money, You have a lot, and You don't give. People should give - my son is coming to America, he is not a well person, he's coming to break the ice of America." Those days, America was not like now - in the '40s there was a problem with Shabbos, there was... I mean, we've spoken about it many times. So she cried for her son, and the Frierdiker Rebbe had no money - "Give him a dollar, you should be able to do something."

So he came, they arrived - the eleven people - and whoever was involved, I think Rabbi Jacobson was involved, there were the Kramer brothers, Stillman - they took him to the Greystone Hotel in Manhattan, all eleven people.

Maybe a few weeks later - a few weeks, because the Rebbe was not here yet, our Rebbe, he was called the Ramash, he didn't come yet - this was a few weeks after the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived. Two well-to-do people told the Frierdiker Rebbe, "We want to make a melave malka for you, you need some money to function, you came here, you want to do something, you can't do without money. So we want to make a small dinner, a melave malka." So he said, "Yeah." So they made him a melave malka - this was in the shul of Rabbi Young, there was a hall in Manhattan - maybe I'll show you a picture of Rabbi Young's place in Manhattan. There was Rabbi Young, he had a hall. So they made a dinner there, after Shabbos.

So Rabbi Mindel wheeled the wheelchair to the kitchen - the Frierdiker Rebbe was waiting in the kitchen while these people were getting ready. When they were ready, they called Rabbi Mindel and said, "Tell the Rebbe that we are ready for the dinner, and tell the Rebbe we have a schedule" - they had a list of what the program would be. So they gave him the program. He went to the Frierdiker Rebbe in the kitchen and told him they're ready now, there's a program. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "Read the program." So he started to read - the first thing it said was that they'll sing a Zionist song - this was the custom in those days, I guess. So the Frierdiker Rebbe stopped him and said, "This song they will not sing." Can you imagine - here he doesn't have a penny to his name, the people have money, they want to help, and he's telling them the program is not going to be okay.

So Rabbi Mindel went to the people and said, "The Rebbe said that this song he can't sing." They were members of [the organization], they were shocked - this has to be... Anyway, they took a few minutes, and then they told Rabbi Mindel, "Tell the Rebbe that we have to sing this song, this is our custom, and if not, we'll walk out." So he went to the Frierdiker Rebbe and told him that these people said this is their minhag, and they would walk out if he didn't sing it. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "Tell them: in Europe, in America - let them go home and be well. Just like God was with us in Europe, God will be with us in America." So he went to the people and told them what the Rebbe said. So most of the people took their coats and left. There were some people who stayed, not many.

After they left, Rabbi Mindel came to the kitchen and told the Frierdiker Rebbe that they were ready. So he came, and they had a dinner. They didn't make much money, because people didn't want to stay. Some people stayed - Stillman stayed, the Kramer brothers stayed, and I have the names of people who stayed - but most of them left. Okay, so this is what happened a few weeks after they came to the Greystone.

Now I want to say further - this was 1940. In 1947, or '48 - 1947 - the Frierdiker Rebbe was already a few years in America, and they had already established - they had a building already, 770 - because before that they didn't have it. And the money for this building came from this melave malka - not all the money, but this was the beginning. So they actually bought the building of 770, or they had something to do with the buying of the building - maybe not the entire money, I don't remember exactly what Rabbi Mindel said - but it started from that melave malka.

So two people came to the Frierdiker Rebbe and said, "We gave money, but we want to see what we gave money for - we never saw the building." So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "Okay, you can come." They went around and looked for a while, and they didn't like what they saw. They were balabatish people, they knew a tie has to be white - but they saw black. They said they never saw such things - I mean, some of it should have gone to the laundry. Anyway, they didn't like it. They saw - you know, when you eat, you sit on a chair and eat with a fork - but they saw a bochur sitting on a milk box, eating lunch, maybe with his hands, maybe with a fork. And then they saw other things - the clothes could have been better. They mentioned the shirt - they said, "A shirt, if it's white, it's white; if it's black, it's black; but from white to black, a black-white, they never saw." They were a little bothered - the building itself was fine, but this they didn't like.

So they went to the Frierdiker Rebbe and told him, and the Frierdiker Rebbe said, "Go to my son-in-law, the Ramash" - go to the Rebbe, it's called the Rebbe, the Ramash - "and tell him what you saw." They went to the Ramash, to the Rebbe, and told him. The Rebbe became very serious, very serious, and said, "You are 100% right - it's one of the first things, that a person has to be clean and wear clean clothes, and I will speak to them, that the bochurim should be clean, and sit on a chair, and eat with a fork," or whatever, whatever they saw. And he was very serious, and said, "I will definitely make sure that this doesn't happen. But let me ask you a question" - the Rebbe asked them - "were you ever in a factory where they make glass, crystal?" They said, "No." The Rebbe said, "Go to a factory, you'll see - it's a factory, people walking around with Band-Aids, people walking around with aprons - it's not a fancy place, it's a factory. But when this glass is ready - beautiful crystal - and you put it in a window in a store, and you write that it's $10 or $15 - those days, a lot of money - would you ever believe that that glass comes from that factory? The money that you give," the Rebbe told them, "these boys that you saw, when they get married and they go out into the world, the way they're supposed to, and what they do - this is where your money goes. All these people who go out into the world and do yiddishkeit and raise their families the way they're supposed to - this is where your money goes." They were very, very happy to hear what he told them.

This is what I wanted to tell - I don't know if many people know this. Now, there is much more to say, but I mentioned in the beginning of this program that I, at least, am going to start l'ilui nishmas my mother, and here I'll show you the letter that the Rebbe wrote to that Manhattan class that we spoke about last week. And we're going to at least learn something, instead of Mishnayos.

The Rebbe writes: you can see - why is there a difference? On the first day, when Hashem created the world - remember, this was on - the text was Bereishis, the beginning, which speaks about the creation of the world. So the Rebbe wrote something about creation.

The Rebbe says: why is it that on the first day it says, "the light was good," but the other days it doesn't say this? What's the difference between the first day and the other days? The answer: on the first day there was a general creation, from absolute nothing to something - but that something did not yet have a form, it was just matter. And on the rest of the days, forms were given - vegetables, animals, whatever it is.

The Rebbe says, in addition to the idea of creation being on the first day, also on the first day was created a general creation - light, darkness, fire, water, earth, and light. The entire creation is constantly advancing from one level to another level. In general, the Rebbe says, it's very interesting - the entire creation is divided into two aspects: an aspect of positive, acting, doing - something is happening - and an aspect of not-doing, where it stops happening. We'll see soon what the Rebbe means. So every creation has a "doing" and a "stopping."

He says: the doing, the aspect of action, is necessary - otherwise you're not creating. But the not-doing, the stopping, is needed, because it's not possible to give a form to something without first taking off its previous form, and that taking off of the previous form is an idea of negative.

Now he gives an example, so we'll understand: it's impossible to build a king's palace on the very spot where there stands a peasant's house. It's impossible - first you have to destroy the house, and then you can build the palace, otherwise you can't. The same thing also applies to work - it's not possible to work properly unless you sleep from time to time, you rest, which is the opposite of work, of advancement. But this not-happening, this stopping, is necessary - you cannot work if you don't sleep, you cannot function. So the same idea applies - everything has a "doing" and also a "stopping" - you have to stop working, you have to sleep.

Another, more abstract example - what does that mean? Let me explain this in a more abstract way. Example: a smart child who begins to learn, and he's involved in learning - let's say mathematics - first he's involved with plus, minus, times, and division, and gets used to it, and is involved in this. Afterwards, he must stop this involvement and move on to learn algebra, equations, and the like. After that, he must stop this also, because his mind is ready to advance to more advanced algebra, and so on. This stopping of the earlier learning is also necessary, in order to advance. Very interesting.

Another thing we can learn from all the above: not only will he not advance to a higher level without this negative aspect, but what was previously considered an advancement is now, at the higher level, considered a lack, and one must negate it. In other words, stopping one thing is not only necessary in order to reach higher - it actually prevents you from falling lower, from not reaching the higher level.

So, based on what we just said, we can answer the question: because "light," in its broadest sense, means "the happening" - the aspect of creation - and "darkness" means "the stopping of happening" - the other aspect of creation. But you need both, and both are necessary and vital, to explain the above at length. You need both. But what's the difference between them? The difference is that the light is good because the light is good in itself. However, the not-happening, the darkness aspect, is only a preparation for the light, but is not good by itself - only light is good by itself.

And this is the last point, and this is why, when the Torah tells us the story of the general creation - the light and the dark, the doing and the not-doing aspects of creation, which occurred on the first day - the posuk says, "And Hashem saw the light, that it was good." It is only the light which is truly good, for it is good because it is good by itself. But not the stopping, the darkness of creation - which, although it is vital, is good only because it is a preparation for the light.

I mean, we still have to study more of this, but this is one of the things that the Rebbe wrote to discuss in the class, and they discussed it - mamash, it was unbelievable. So we learned this a little bit, l'ilui nishmas my mother. But this is for next week - we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.