0619 - Sitting in the Rebbe's Place for Learning in the Zal Part 1

00:00 The class that I learned in, in Bedford Avenue, we came to learn in seven seventy in Tammuz Tov Shin Chav Gimel, which is nineteen sixty-three. When we came there, there were not so many Bochurim, but nevertheless, the place was full. All the seats were taken, and we only learned upstairs in shul. The big shul downstairs, th-it wasn't a place for yeshiva. That was more for davening. So everyone learned upstairs, so the place was full, and we came as newcomers. We had to find a place to sit to learn. So we had to wait till a place vacates and becomes empty. So my chavrusa, Reb Shloime Zarchia myself, found a place that was given to us because some people left, which was at the corner of the shul, of upstairs shul by the door from the lobby of seven seventy. When you come in, when you walk into seven seventy on the right side after the door to maskiros, there's another door, and that's the door to the zal, which now they close it completely. But it used to be a door. That's where you would walk in, and as soon as you walked in there, that's where's the shul, the zal, the beis medrash upstairs, and that's where you had all the tables. So right there by the wall, the Mizrach wall was a table with two benches on both sides, and we found an empty space, or we were given the space, the last one by the table, last two places across each other

01:22 by the table. The table started by the aron kodesh and went all the way to the door. So the last two seats by the door, that's the places that we were given to sit to be able to learn. The problem was that the seat over there, the last seat by the wall at the end of the table was the place the Rebbe would sit for Mincha-Maariv. The Rebbe those years did not daven Shacharis with a minyan. He'd only come to hear Torah, but then he wouldn't sit down. But for Ma- Mincha-Maariv, the Rebbe would daven with the Bochurim, and he would come and sit on the place, on the last place of the table on the bench, the regular bench. There were no special chair for the Rebbe. Years later, they put a shtender and then special chair for the Rebbe. But those years, it was the regular bench in the yeshiva, and the Rebbe would come and sit down on that bench, and that's where he'd sit for Mincha-Maariv. So the question in our mind was, are we allowed to sit on that place? It's the Rebbe's place. But all the Bochurim used to sit there from before, all the years before they sat there. We even asked Don Holen, and Don Holen said, "Yes, there is no problem. We know that you can sit there. That's not considered the Rebbe's place, and you're allowed to sit there." So for a measure of months, probably for a year or more, we sat on that

02:26 corner. Sometimes I would sit on the place by the wall, which was the Rebbe's place, and he would sit across and sometimes the opposite, but this was our place. And we didn't consider it that this is the Rebbe's place. And then afterwards, we found other places, and we sat other places. Now, for many years, this bothered me, even though I was told by Don Holen that this is okay, and we know that everyone sits there, and there's no shailas. But it was uncomfortable. After all, maybe you're not allowed to sit there because this is, after all, the Rebbe's place. Till it came to Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha Tov Shin Mem Beis. So the Rebbe spoke about it by the farbrengen, and the Rebbe said that in one of the kontrasim, Likutim, as he called it, of the Bochurim that give out with ha'ores, they had this discussion. This was in the ha'ores, the, the, the ha'ores hatmimim of Morristown. They had a whole discussion there whether you're allowed to sit on that place because it's the Rebbe's place, and you're not allowed to sit in the place where your Rebbe sits. And the Rebbe said this is the place where he sits at Mincha-Maariv. So the question that was asked, are you allowed to sit there? Is this called a makom kevua, the set place for-- where the Rebbe sits, and therefore you cannot sit on that place? Because there's a din, there's yikva makom with tefillah. So you have to have a makom kevua,

03:41 a set place. So it seems like this is a set place the Rebbe said of himself. And therefore, how are you allowed to sit there when the Rebbe, the person that you heard Torah from, the person that you are listening to Torah now, how could you sit on this place? So the Rebbe said it's like a strong shaila, but the Rebbe said I wanna answer and explain why it is allowed, and that I will explain in the next voice note.