0301 - Spreading Chassidus with a Bus

00:00 Everyone knows that the concept of the Mitzvah tanks, the Mitz-the tanks of Mivtzoim started in the Lameds, around Lamed Heh Daled, Be'erach. But in truth, something very similar happened much before. In the year Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, which is 1963, we saw there was a bus parked in front of Seven seventy. This was a Bais Medrash school bus, but it had different writings on it. On top of the bus it said, "Uferatz to yom havekedem et sefeinevei Negbo." And lower down under the windows it said, "Merkez L'Minyan Ech Chinuch." And we heard that this was a bus bought by a person called Reb Aaron Klein. Reb Aaron Klein was somebody who originally came from Vienna. He was very close to the Rebbe. He learned in Montreal, I think, at the Michmimim, and he was very, very close to the Rebbe, very much Ibiri Yem to the Rebbe, and he bought this bus. Just to show who he was, he was involved when they were ex-panding the shul of Seven seventy downstairs. He was very, very much involved. He was the person who bought for the Rebbe a Menorah, a present made of gold, and he gave it to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe took it. And they said that Bechalal the Rebbe didn't take presents from anybody. But from him, the Rebbe would take a present if he gave, and he gave the Rebbe a golden Menorah. So just to show his connection to the Rebbe. So he bought this bus, took out the seats,

01:24 put in their b-bookshelves with Seforim and Seforim BaYidishkait, and he made a little corner there where you could put on film, and the bus would go around from community to community to have people borrow books like a library, be able to sit there and read, and be able to go in and put on film. And during the day, it would go around. At night, it would be parked in front of Seven seventy. Once the Rebbe went into that bus, he asked to go in, and he looked at it, and he ca-- made comments. One of the comments he made is that he would like that the corner where you're able to put on film with somebody should have a curtain, that the person who puts on film should be able to have privacy when he puts on that film. Maybe he'll be embarrassed of others or whatever other reason. He should have privacy. The Rebbe made a comment. But this bus was made for Afot Samayones. Shabbos Parshas Ki Tavo, Cha Elul that year, the Rebbe spoke about this bus, and the Rebbe said that he wants to mention that there's a Chidush that happened in Afot Samayones because Bechalal from time to time, nu Chidushim happened in Afot Samayones. So there is a Chidush that now Afot Samayones would be done through a Merkavah which goes on four feet, on four Aglayim. This was a play on words, I guess, of the Merkavah that we learn in Tanakh, the Merkavah BiCheskavah. We always talk

02:45 about the four Aglayim Merkavah, the four l-legs of the Merkavah. Anyway, so the Rebbe said that through this, you will be able to do Afot Samayones, you'll be able to-- people will be able to take Seforim, and they'll be able to put on film, et cetera, et cetera. This is a Chidush. The Rebbe connected Bechalal before Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh is a time when the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that there is a Eir Chodesh, a new Eir. Every Rosh Chodesh comes down to this world. So this is also a Chidush in Afot Samayones. And the Rebbe said that the people who are involved should come up and say L'Chaim. And the Rebbe gave it very much Chizuk. And that bus, it went around from community to community. And there are people who drove it, and they would take it around, and people utilized it a lot. Summertime, it went to the country, and it went from bungalow to bungalow colony, and people would go in, and people would use it. And this did a lot in Afot Samayones. And this was all done by this Reb Aaron Klein, who was very, very close to the Rebbe and wanted to do things to give Nachas Ruach to the Rebbe to do what the Rebbe wanted. Then eventually, this stopped. I don't know why. Maybe because the bus broke down, I think. I'm not sure. I don't remember exactly how it stopped. And years later, started the concept of the Mitzvah tanks.