0077 - He Knows Which Mesechta One Took

00:00 We know that on Yud Tes Kislev we make a Chalukas HaShas. We divide the whole Shas, the whole, all the Masichtas, and people take different Masichtas to learn throughout the year. The Seder used to be by the Farbrengen of Yud Tes Kislev. They would give out cards, and each person would sign up on the card which Masichta he's taking, and he would sign his name. And the cards would be sent up to the front, meaning up to the Rebbe. And then after it piled up, the Rebbe, after the Farbrengen, would take the cards with him. And people would sign up which Gemara they are taking for the coming year to learn as part of the Chalukas HaShas. Now, in the year of Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, I'm pretty sure if it's Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, maybe Chaf Beis, but I think it's pretty sure Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, something different happened. That Beshas the Farbrengen, as the cards were coming up to the front of the Bima to the Rebbe, the Rebbe actually looked through the cards, looked to see what each person is taking. And this was strange because B'derech Klal, the Rebbe did not look through the cards by the Farbrengen. I don't know what he did later, if he looked through the cards or not, but by the Farbrengen, he definitely didn't look through the cards. But by this Farbrengen, the Rebbe looked through the cards, which seemed to mean that he wanted to show, who knows exactly the Rebbe's kavanas, but

01:12 he wanted to show everybody that he sees and he knows what you are taking. Now, the emes is that some people were pretty nervous because a few years before, which is Yud Tes Kislev Taf Shin Yud Ches, something strange also happened. We know that Yud Tes Kislev was the Chalukas HaShas. They would give out the cards for the Shas. Unlike other big Farbrengens in the weekdays, where the Rebbe made a Magbis, he made an appeal for different L'oni Odom V'dochek. And they would also give out envelopes, and people would sign up their name of how much money they're giving, or maybe they would put in the money or just sign up how much they're pledging. That would come up to the Rebbe. Yud Tes Kislev, there was no Magbis, but instead of that, there was the cards for Chalukas HaShas. Yud Tes Kislev Taf Shin Yud Ches, the Rebbe said there will be a Yetzem Min HaKlal, an exception, and he's going to make also a Magbis. That people should write, sign their name, how much they're pledging. And the Rebbe said that this is special for the Shichon in Kfar Chabad, and the Rebbe is gonna do this as a Yetzem Min HaKlal. And he said that since this is a Yetzem Min HaKlal, an exception, he's gonna do another exception. He said, "B'Klal, the Seder is I don't get-- I don't mix in how much a person gives. I take whatever he gives. Now, it could be one of the two things, or

02:24 I'm happy with what he gives, or I'm not happy with what he gives, but it makes no difference. I don't get involved. But since this is a Yetzem Min HaKlal, I'm also gonna make a Yetzem Min HaKlal. Nich'ozach Op Shamen, the Rebbe said, and I'm gonna tell everybody how much I think they should give. And I'm gonna do this by the Farbrengen. If I'll do it not by the Farbrengen, I don't know if people will give, but if I'll say to each person by the Farbrengen how much he should give, then for sure the person will keep it. And I know that Deivshet is going to help, and he's gonna get even more. That means that even if a person feels it's too much, they-- that means that he is gonna get more broches, so no one should worry about it." And the Rebbe said also that he shouldn't wait to give the money in. He should give it in tonight or tomorrow, mainly before Shabbos. And this was not only been the gate of Farbrengen. After the Farbrengen, for those people who were not there by the Farbrengen because they live out of town, they didn't come for the Farbrengen for Yud Tes Kislev, Rabbi Chodikov called each one of Anash asking him how much he should give, how much he would give. Now, by the Farbrengen, what the Rebbe did was that he looked through the names, the, the envelopes that person signed up, the papers the person signed up, and he would

03:29 announce that so-and-so-and-so give three times as much as you wrote. He wouldn't say how much he wrote. Give three times as much as you wrote. This time, this person, he said, "This and this man give twice as much as you wrote." Another one, five times. Rebbe, as much as the Rebbe felt that that person should give. And also the pa- beget the people that Rabbi Chodikov called later to ask how much they give, the same thing happened. That a person would tell Rabbi Chodikov he's pledging so-and-so, and later on, Rabbi Chodikov called back and said that the Rebbe said to give twice as much, three times, whatever it was. I remember sitting in my house when Rabbi Chodikov called. It was Cleveland still. And I remember my father, my father picked up the phone. Rabbi Chodikov called and told him the Rebbe's asking how much you're giving, and he said whatever amount he's giving. A day later, Rabbi Chodikov called back, and the Rebbe said, "I think he said you should give three times as much. I'm not sure exactly," but he told him how much to give. And that's what happened by this Farbrengen of Yud Tes Kislev Taf Shin Chai, that the Rebbe looked through the pledges and Beshas Mais announced how much people should give. When this happened, that the Rebbe looked through the cards of Chalukas HaShas, Yud Tes Kislev Taf Shin Chaf Gimel or Chaf Beis, people were nervous. They thought the same thing is gonna happen. The Rebbe's looking

04:38 through the cards, and he's gonna make announcements. Reb so-and-so, you wrote whatever you wrote, learn another Masichta. You learn two more Masichtas. It did not happen. The Rebbe did not do that, but L'peel, the Rebbe did show that he knows exactly how much you took, and that made the person more achrayis. An interesting thing that happened, that when I was still learning then in Bedford Avenue, in the Yeshiva in Bedford, two bochrim then, on the card that they wrote by Farbrengen, they wrote pretty many Masichtas and big ones. So I remember that, uh, a day or two or something after Yud Tes Kislev, they got a call, I don't remember from whom. I don't know if it was Rabbi Chodikov himself or one of the Maskirim, that the Rebbe on this card wrote. Now, I don't remember the exact Lashon, but the Treichem was, "Is it really that you plan to learn these Masichtas throughout this year, and this is supposed to be Chutz L'Seder, that you really even do it, or is it just written that way?" And I think they answered, yes, they're gonna learn. And if I remember correctly, they Tache learned it. So we see that the Rebbe really took an interest. But that Farbrengen, Yud Tes Kislev Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, was an exception to this rule.