0213 - Announcement of V'haya Machanecha Kadosh

00:01 At the end of the fabrengen of Simchas Torah, Torashon Chav Gimel, something very interesting happened. The Rebbe spoke about the Israeli army. He started off by saying that all things in the world are a mixture of good and bad. But there are certain times when you have to stress the good part of it. And he started speaking about the Israeli army that even though there are things which are not ratzi, which are not good, nevertheless, tonight we have to stress the good part of it. And the good part is that they protect Yidden, they protect Eretz Yisrael. But we have to remember that in order for them to succeed, there has to be the proper, proper behavior. And the Rebbe quoted a posek where it says, Hashem Aleichem iz halach bekeret machnecha la'atzilcha velos es ivecha lefanecha ve'hoya machnecha kodesh. That Hashem goes in your machne, is in your army to protect you and to give over your enemies to you, ve'hoya machnecha kodesh, and your machne has to be holy. And by doing that, we succeed. And then the Rebbe said that since there are here yingelite and bochrim who went to the army in Eretz Yisrael, some have a sheichas to the rabannut in the army, so they should all say l'chaim. And I think the Rebbe said that even those that were in the army some other places, if I remember correctly, he said that even those that were in the army amol, meaning in Russia, rather than were taken to the

01:23 army, should also participate in saying l'chaim. And the Rebbe said that yehi ratzin, that we shouldn't need the army to do its job, but the mere fact that there is an army should already throw a pach and a fear on the enemies that they shouldn't do anything, chas v'shalom, to the Yidden. And then the Rebbe said they should all come up and say l'chaim. The Rebbe gave them all l'chaim to say l'chaim together. He told them to go onto the table on the Rebbe's left side, on the Rebbe's left hand. So there, people were sitting by the table to get up on top of the table. So a whole line formed of people who were sheichas to the army. And if I remember correctly, the first one in line was the older Rov, Reb Shmedel Sassonkin, who was from the Choshevster Lubavitch Rabbonim in Eretz Yisrael. No, no, said Reb Shmedel Batumer. He was also on that line, and I think he was the first one in line. And they all said l'chaim together. It was a very interesting machzeh, interesting sight to see all these people like forming as you stand in the army, representing the army. And the Rebbe told them to make a few hachrozos, to announce Sholem Al Yisrael and to announce Ve'hoya machnecha kodesh. Don't remember if he told them to say the whole posek. Possibly he told them to say the whole posek, Hashem Aleichem iz halach bekeret machnecha la'atzilcha velos es ivecha lefanecha ve'hoya machnecha kodesh, or just

02:42 the last words. But he definitely told them to announce that this inyan, and then he told them to sing Heshias Amecha. And after that was finished, they went down, and the Rebbe continued the fabrengen by singing the Alter Rebbe's niggun, et cetera, et cetera.