0319 - Changes to the Piyutim in Slichos

00:01 In Tofshin Tes Vav, the first Selichos of Lubavitch Habad was printed. And there you had the Kutei, Taymim, u'Mekares of the Rebbe concerning the Selichos. So one of the things that the Rebbe writes there is concerning the piyut that we say on Erev Rosh Hashanah. The piyut starts, Shloish Esrei Mides HaAmor Es Bechanino. It's a long piyut, and it piece by piece is said by the chazan out loud, and then the people say, and then the chazan out loud, piece by piece. And the Rebbe writes that that really goes according to a certain seder of the Alef Beis. But if you look at the piyut, the way we have it, it doesn't fit. The Alef Beis doesn't fit. And therefore, the Rebbe suggests that he thinks, he says, that really it's said a little different. A lot of words were different, and then it fits according to the Alef Beis. But the printers, the original printers changed it because the way it's written is as if we're speaking to the Mides of Hashem. And there's a whole discussion if you're allowed to daven or not daven, but speak to the Mides of Hashem, asking them certain things. The discussion goes concerning the piyut that we say in every day of the Selichos, which starts with the words, Machnisei Rachamim Machnisei Rachameinu, which means those that bring in the Rachamim, bring in our Rachamim, whether we could say that piyut because we are talking to them. And concerning that piyut, the Rebbe himself has a big

01:22 ha'arah there in this Likutei Taymim Im Hochim, or Taymim u'Mekares, ha'arah six. A shakla v'tarya brings all kinds of marar mekamis, whether you could say it or what. And the maskona is according to us, the way the Tzemach Tzedek writes, we could say it because we're not, chas v'shalom, davening to them, but we're asking them to take our tefillos up. So we do say Machnisei Rachamim. So the Rebbe writes that those printers were of the opinion that you should not say Machnisei Rachamim, so you cannot talk to the Mides. And therefore, a lot of the words that are in this piyut, Shloish Esrei Mides, they changed. And the Rebbe suggests how we have to change it back. L'pel mamash, the Rebbe didn't change it in the print. The printed Selichos had it the way it was before, even though the Rebbe writes these ha'arahs that he thinks it should be changed. What people did on their own Selichos, they would take with a pen and make all the changes that the Rebbe wrote. And also the chazan by Erev Rosh Hashanah, by the Rebbe's minyan, who was usually Reb Yossel Weinberg, would say it the way the Rebbe changed, not the way it's printed in the Selichos, even though it's printed in the Selichos. And obviously, the Rebbe didn't want to base it on his own assumption to change the print. And this was printed Tofshin Tes Vav, and then the next heitzo'eh, Tofshin Chaf Gimel, again the same thing, and with the same ha'arahs

02:34 in the back of the Rebbe. But then one some- one Elul in the middle of the chodes, I don't remember which year it was, from Askirus came out a printed page of this piyut with all the changes the way the Rebbe made. And what they said was that they found an old print of Selichos, and there it was printed tachit the way the Rebbe said it has to be. So now that there is a mokir to this, it's not just the Rebbe's assumption. So the Rebbe said they should print out the page with that and give it around and pass it around, that people should have that page and be able to say it from that page the way it with the changes. And from then on, the next heitzo'ehs, all the next editions of the Selichos already was l'chatchilah printed with the changes the way it is. And our Selichos now has it all correct the way the Rebbe wants it to be. And some people really don't understand. They look at the Selichos, and then they look at the Rebbe's ha'arah there in the back, and they don't understand what he's saying because it's printed the r-right way. And this is what happened. The Rebbe wrote it when the print was the old way, and the Rebbe didn't have it changed even though he wrote he thinks it should be changed. But when they found a mokir, they found an old print, the Rebbe said that they should print out a page and

03:45 pass it around to everybody. Everybody should have the page, be able to put it into their ma- into their Selichos, and be able to say it the correct way.