0318 - Mashke for Those Who Sat in Jail Longest

00:01 For Shavuos Tov Shin Lamed Beis, which is, uh, 1972, quite a few Yidden that just came out lately from Russia came to the Rebbe for Shavuos. And by the farbrengen of Shavuos, the second day of Shavuos, the Rebbe spoke about the Rusian Yidden. And he spoke with them that they're such a long time that they learned Torah, not only because they were missing the pleasures of this world, but they learned through sakonas nefashos bepal. They learned hidden, they learned in cellars, and learned on the roofs. They actually went through mesiras nefesh bepal. So they now have to-- when they're out from there, they have to give themselves over completely to learning Torah. Not only that, they have to be a living example to others. That if for fifty years in Canaan, which al pi Torah, fifty years is called a ye- an olam, like a yovel. They learn Torah me'einay and sakonas nefashos. So now that they're out from there, they and their children, their grandchildren, so they now have to work hard on learning Torah and show an example to others. But earlier in that same farbrengen, the Rebbe said that he wants to give mashke to give out to one of the Rusian Yidden. But he said, "Who should he give it to?" So he said, "We're gonna make an auction to see where is g'zesen zeman achi oro." Who was the one that sat longer in jail in Russia? And he's gonna get the bottle to give out. So different people said

01:26 how many years they sat in jail, and the Rebbe gave them a bottle of mashke. First, he gave the one that seemed to be the longest, which he said he sat eleven years. Then he gave to two people who sat for ten years, and then he gave one that sat for five years. And he gave them to give out. He gave them the bottle, and he gave them to give out to the people. And then he added, "Od itster zon ze zitzun u'lernen." He used the same term as zitzun. Zitzun is a term that you say zitzun in t fis is sitting in jail. You also say an expression, sitting and learning. So after he spoke about the Yidden, that nis lang ze zein gezesen, how long they sat in t fis, in jail, aber itster zon ze zitzun u'lernen Torah, they should sit and learn Torah.