0007 - First Memories

00:01 The first time my father took me to the Rebbe for Farbrengen was for Simchas Torah, Tov Shin Chai, Tov Shin Yud Ches. It's not the first time I saw the Rebbe. We were in Yechidas, Tov Shin Yud Gimel. Our family came from France after the war. They were in France for a few years, and then they moved to America, and the joint sent them to Cleveland, but they stopped in New York, and they went into Yechidas. This was Elul, Tov Shin Yud Gimel. So I was part of that Yechidas as a kid. Actually, at that Yechidas, the Rebbe asked me if I could say Shema, and I actually knew how to say Shema, but I was a kid. I was embarrassed, so I didn't say the Shema. And, uh, I heard later that that same night, another family went in. Also, they came from Europe, and the Rebbe also asked the kid to say Shema, and he did, and the Rebbe gave him a silver dollar. So I really felt very bad, but there's nothing I could do about it. But that was the Yechidas. But for Farbrengen, my father took me for Simchas Torah, Tov Shin Yud Ches. So we were there, Hishana Rabba. So after davening, the Rebbe gave out Lekach. Like, the Rebbe would always give out Lekach to the Orchim who weren't there Erev Yom Kippur, so he would give them Lekach on Hishana Rabba. The Rebbe would give the Lekach standing by his sukkah. His sukkah was not where it's

01:08 now, where it's in front of seven seventy. It was in the back of seven seventy. The shul wasn't built there yet. Obviously, it wasn't built till Tov Shin Kaf Alef. So there was the shalash, the yard in the back, which had like a sukkah, a big sukkah. The Farbrengens and davening would be there. And by the sukkah, in front of that sukkah, that shalash, there was the Rebbe's sukkah. That was in the back of the building of seven seventy. So the Rebbe stood by that sukkah and gave Lekach, and there was a line for Lekach. Obviously, not a long line like later years, but there was a long line with a lot of people waiting. And so was my father, Alav HaShalom, and myself. We were waiting in line to get our turn for Lekach. And the Rebbe, bachlal, Lekach, since there's a big Elul, the Rebbe wouldn't stop and have a discussion with somebody. But when it came to our turn, my father got a piece of Lekach, and when it came for me to get, the Rebbe turns around to me, and the Rebbe says to me, "Vos hastu gelernt letstens? What did you learn lately?" In the cheder that I learned in Cleveland, we had learned in Elul, Mesichta Beia. So I told the Rebbe, "Mesichta Beia." So the Rebbe says to me, "What are the halachos? Vos halocho halachos hastu letstens gelernt? Which halachos did you learn lately?" Later, I real- realized that he probably meant, after I answered Mesichta Beia,

02:18 he meant which halachos, which inyonim in Mesichta Beia. But I didn't understand, so I assumed he's asking about which halachos in Shulchan Aruch did we learn lately. So I answered him, "Hilcha Shofar." So he's asks me a question, and he says-- First, he asks me, "How many-- Vivil keilas darf men blosn? How many keilas do you have to blow on Rosh Hashanah?" So I answered, "Hundert, 100." Then the Rebbe says to me, "Dos vos men darf blosn hundert keilas, dos midina de Gemara tzit." In other words, he assumed that I knew that it was not mideraisa, not all hundred are mideraisa. But what he was asking was that the fact that we have to blow 100, are they from the time of the Gemara? Is it from the Takanos Chazal from the Gemara, or is it something that was from later on, from later years? I didn't know the answer. I was very embarrassed, but I didn't know the answer, so I didn't answer. So the Rebbe gave me a piece of Lekach, and he said something. I think it was Lashon HaTevim Sukkah. I don't remember exactly what he said. And we went on. I was really afraid that when we go into Yechidas after Yom Tov, the Rebbe's gonna ask me other questions. So poshat I was very afraid the whole Yom Tov, going into Yechidas. But l'peal, when I went into Yechidas, the Rebbe didn't ask me anything. But as far as the Farbrengen is concerned, this was the first time that

03:33 I was by a Farbrengen. And since I was young, I only got the zeite gezach, and I chapt of different small things from the Farbrengen. But, but der achar, the teichon of the sichas was not something that I was able to grasp, uh, beprotzi in detail. But I do remember one thing which made a very great impression on me, even though I was a kid, words that the Rebbe said, and it's still in my mind. I don't know beheshed to what he said it, but he said these words. He was talking about birur hamiddes. The person has to be mevara, has to purify his middes. And the Rebbe stopped, and he says, he s- s'a shvere zach, he said. S'a shvere zach to mevara the middes. And he stopped, and he smiled, and he said, "A derabe. Pruft vet iz em. Try it out, and you'll see that it's a hard thing to be mevara the middes." I don't know behemshed to what he said it. I tried to look in the haNochos to see, you know, sichas from those days, from Simchas Torah, any Farbrengen to find it. I couldn't find it, so I don't know exactly behemshed to what. But it's clear, I remember even as a kid, these words I remember, besides a few other things from the Farbrengens, but I remember this expression, "Birur hamiddes a shvere zach. A derabe. Pruft vet iz em s'a shvere zach." And the Rebbe trying to bring out how important it is, even though it's

04:48 hard.