0116 - Stern Brothers' Yechidus Part 1 - Eschalta D'geulah and Davening Late

00:01 In the chofetz, I used to give a shir chassidus for bochrim. We used to learn in the Yeshiva RJJ, Reb Yankiv Yesiv in the East Side. Amongst the bochrim, there were two brothers called Stern. They lived on this side. They learned in RJJ, and they actually lived in the same co-op, in the same floor as Reb Moshe Feinstein. They had a shaichas to Lubavitch even before they came to my shir. They used to come to the fabrenge sometimes, even on Shabbos. They even told me that they once asked Reb Moshe if they're allowed to cross the bridge on Shabbos. So Reb Moshe asked them, "Where do you wanna go?" So they said, "To a fabrenge of the Rebbe." So right away he said, "Im egdegen, you're allowed to go." But anyway, they used to come to my shir chassidus. I remember once at fabrenge, when they lost their father, the Rebbe told them to say l'chaim. But because they learned by, in my shir, I got them a yechidus that they went in to the Rebbe. And the yechidus was Thursday night, Hay Od Hasheni, Tov Shin Chof Zayin. And when they came out, they told me over what the Rebbe said to them. It was a long yechidus, and I wrote it down right after they told me what it was. And since it's a long yechidus, I would like to repeat what they said, but I'll have to break it up in two parts. And obviously, I don't take a chayas on all

01:15 the words that they said. First of all, I probably didn't remember everything. Besides that, it's something that they said. I wasn't there, but I'll just repeat what they said. They wrote a tzetl, and in the tzetl they asked five questions. One question is, what is the Rebbe's shita concerning Eretz Yisroel? Is it aschalta d'gula? Is it the beginning of the gula ready? And part of that question was, are you allowed to go to vote there? And can you be a minister in the government? A second question is, why Chassidim daven late? Third question was, benege a college, is it-- are you allowed to go to college? A fourth question was, how come other Chassidim don't do yefutza meinese chachutza? They don't spread Chassidus. And the fifth question is, benege a beard. They didn't have beards, and they asked the Rebbe, is it important to have a beard? When the Rebbe looked at the tzetl, the first thing he said, "You have five questions here, k'neged the chamisha chumash Torah, k'neged the five chumashim. And on each question that you asked, you're able to write a whole sefer." And then the Rebbe started answering them. First, he says concerning Eretz Yisroel, the answer is that it's not aschalta d'gula because the Rambam writes befarish as when is the coming of Mashiach? When there will be a person, a yid, a yid Hashemayim, hegi beteyrah learns Torah, and he's gonna force all the Yidden to do Torah and mitzvahs. It's not gonna be like today, but it's

02:40 going to be that if a Yid doesn't want to put on tefillin or a Yid doesn't want to make a sit in the sukkah, Mashiach will force him to do it. And even then, it's only a sofek if this is Mashiach. Then he's going to build the Beis Hamikdash, and even then it's still a sofek if this is Mashiach. Then he's gonna be mekabetz galuyos. He's gonna gather all the Yidden from all over, and then everyone's gonna know that this is the beginning of the gula. Now, I don't know if he said the lashon, this is the beginning of gula, or this is the gula. But for sure, if this doesn't happen, then it's not aschalta d'gula. They asked the Rebbe, but they heard that Reb Aaron Soloveitchik says differently. So the Rebbe said, "Im midrash, there could be shivim panim la-Torah." In discussions, in learning, you could have 70 different ways of learning Torah, but halakha is clear. In the halakha, the Rambam writes clear, and you can't say any other way. And then the Rebbe continued. The Rambam brings different madrigas in stages in the coming of Mashiach, and it's still all a sofek. And as long as we're not sure that this is Mashiach, it's not aschalta d'gula. This is al pi halakha. Then the Rebbe said al pi logic, the explanation is, since we say, "Mipnei chatoeinu golinu ma'artzeinu", that we were chased out of our land, we went to galus because of our sins. So the galus, the sins are

03:50 the cause, and the effect is golinu ma'artzeinu. So as long as the chatoeinu is still here, the cause is still here, so the effect is that they were still in galus. And he says, now we still have that. Now we still have that there are still sins around. And he said, "Maduch in the time of the Amoraim and the Rishonim, there was still chatoeinu, and there was still a galus, certainly now." And the Rebbe said, for instance, Rebbe Aaron Soloveitchik's zeide, Reb Chaim Brisker, he was definitely greater than him in tzaddikes. And even then there was still chatoyim. So now there's still certain chatoyim and even more. So how can you say that now there is no more galus? That means that because that now there is no more chatoyim. That is not true. Concerning whether you're allowed to hold a position, so he said, if it's nothing to do with the government, like a street cleaner, then it doesn't matter. But if you're a minister and you have an opinion, and this is against the Shechinah, because you can't be part of doing things which-- the making laws which are against the Shechinah. And even if you're a shliach from two million Yidden, ein shlichud va'aveirah. You can't be a shliach to do an aveirah. The shlichas doesn't count. Unless you're there and everything that they say, you always protest, you always scream against it. But otherwise, you can't be. But then they said that the Rebbe said that if it's trying to get

05:06 tevis, trying to take things that will help Yiddishkeit, maybe you're allowed. I don't know those words exactly if he said. But concerning going to vote, elections, so the Rebbe said it's good, it's okay, even though there are different opinions. But since it could help Yiddishkeit, then it's a good idea to go vote. Concerning that Chassidim daven late, so the Rebbe said like this, k'rishmeh, you have to takif Chassidim read it on time, bizman. But tefillah, what the zman of tefillah is till the end of the fourth hour. So that Chassidim tak a do daven later. What is the reason? Because the Rambam says, and the Alter Rebbe brings it in the Shechinah, that the kavana of davening, if you don't have it, then your davening is botal. And the Rebbe explained it doesn't mean pirush hamillim. It doesn't mean if you didn't think the meaning of the words. But if you don't have the kavana klalis of dalif nimai, mi atah im, the kavana klalis that you realize that you're standing in front of the Aibishter. So the Rambam says it's tefillah sebeteyleh, the tefillah is botal. So what's the good-- what's gonna gain if you're gonna daven on time, but you won't have the proper kavana b'shas davening? You will think about your business, you think about your grocery, you think about your shoemaker, and then you'll really, al pidin, you'll have to daven over again. Bemele, what is the purpose? That's why Chassidim daven later. The rest of the yechidus will be in

06:23 the next broadcast.