0230 - Paying Attention at Farbrengen - R' Shimon Ben Yochai or R' Shimon Ben Nesanel

00:01 We know how much Rebbe wanted that people should pay attention to the farbrengen and kazachim what he said, and if they have questions, they should ask. They should show a real interest in the inyonim that the Rebbe speaks about. Ad ka'dekach that many times Rebbe would complain by farbrengen why people aren't listening, sometimes even fall asleep, and people don't ask any questions, and people don't care, et cetera. And the summer of Tov Shim Chof Ches, that's when the Rebbe spoke a lot about it. And one of the things it started with is because in Shabbos, Parshas Baal Oizcho, the Rebbe spoke on Pirkei Avos, Sicha on Pirkei Avos, and he spoke about the Mishneh in the second Perek, Mishneh Yud Gimel, where the Mishneh says, "Reb Shimon Omer," Reb Shimon says, and it goes on three things that Reb Shimon said. And the Rebbe said, since Stam Reb Shimon in the Mishneh is Reb Shimon Ben Yochai, so this is Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. So the Rebbe went on to explain the connection between the three things that he said to Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. Since Reb Shimon Ben Yochai was Torah, so Yem Nosseh, his whole occupation was only Torah, therefore he said these three things. The Rebbe went on to explain by Arichas the connection. The next farbrengen, which is Shabbos Parshas Shlach, Rebbe spoke about it again, and he said that this Mishneh is not Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. This Mishneh is Reb Shimon Ben Asanel, because in the previous Mishneh it

01:17 says, "Chamisha Talmidim Hoylu L'Rebbi Yehuda Ben Mazaka." Rebbi Yehuda Ben Mazaka had five talmidim, and it mentions their names. One of them is Reb Shimon Ben Asanel. And then the Mishneh continues what each one of these talmidim said, and then it says what Reb Shimon said. Who's this Reb Shimon? Reb Shimon Ben Asanel, obviously. So he said, "How come no one asked the question?" But the Rebbe went on to explain that the beer he gave fits to Reb Shimon Ben Asanel also, and he went into Arichas to explain that the inyan of Toras HaYem Nosseh that we find by Reb Shimon Ben Yochai also happened by Reb Shimon Ben Asanel. But melech of the beer fits also to Reb Shimon Ben Asanel. Then another farbrengen later, which was Parshas Bolok, Rebbe spoke about it again in a very great Arichas, and he said that lepel mamash, he did use the loshon that Stam Reb Shimon, Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. So how come no one asked? No one cares. Why didn't they ask if this is not Reb Shimon Ben Yochai, Reb Shimon Ben Asanel? And the Rebbe went on to say that the reason he said it, because he wanted to test. He said he wanted to see if people will ask. And he went into Arichas that there's a din that you're allowed to say something that's not correct in order to test if they're listening. And he went into Arichas, are you allowed to or you should do that? And then he went

02:23 into the inyan that says you should get angry at the people who don't listen. And he went into all Arichas on this whole thing. And he complained very much why no one asked. And that shows that people don't care. And then the Rebbe said that in truth, this is Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. Not physically, but this is Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. Besides the fact that we find a lot of inyonim by Reb Shimon Ben Yochai also by Reb Shimon Ben Asanel, but the fact that both names was Shimon shows there's a deep connection between the two. And we find the connect-- the inyonim that they're the same. But melech, in essence, Reb Shimon Ben Yochai said this. And he even used the term, if someone would read this Mishneh independently of what the Mishneh said before, he would automatically say it's Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. But melech, in inyan, this is a statement of Reb Shimon Ben Yochai because it fits to the inyan of what Reb Shimon Ben Yochai stands for. So physically, Reb Shimon Ben Asanel said it, but he was generations before, so Reb Shimon Ben Yochai didn't have to repeat it. But it really fits that this would be Reb Shimon Ben Yochai. But the main thing we see from here, HaHamish, the Rebbe bothered the Rebbe that people didn't care. After the Rebbe finished the Sicha, Rabbi Weinberg went over to the Rebbe by the farbrengen, even though usually you don't do such things, but the Rebbe was so upset

03:36 that he felt he had to say something. And he went over to the Rebbe and he said that the truth is that a lot of people had this question. That after the first farbrengen when the Rebbe said this, Reb Shimon Ben Yochai, a lot of people had the question. And the Rebbe answered him, "Oh, but tzumir it, das nisht der gaingen." It didn't get to me. In other words, it really didn't bother them. If, I'm just saying pshat, if it would bother them, they would write to me. It shows, yeah, they had the question. He didn't mean tafki that if they have the question or not. Do they care? And then on in the lot of farbrengens in that summer, the Rebbe spoke a lot about the importance of listening to the farbrengen and complaining if people don't listen, et cetera, et cetera, from different angles the Rebbe spoke about it. But it shows to us how much we have to koch zach in the Rebbe's Sichas.