Ep. 14: The Mivtza That Unites All Jewish Children with Rabbi Shmuel Greisman

00:00 Speaker 1 At a fabrengen Balales Hachof She'meim Alef, the Rebbe said that Moshiach needs two Sifrei Torah. Every king, and especially Melech HaMoshiach needs two Sifrei Torah. The two Sifrei Torah of Melech HaMoshiach will be, one, Sifrei Torah of Kabbalas Melech HaMoshiach, and the second one will be the first children's Sifrei Torah because the Yahudi Yisroel are called Moshiach, Hakil beMoshiche. Able to make it to Beis Rabbeim, the children are considered the anointed ones. They're, are, are Moshiachim of the Aibishter. So those will be s- the two Sifrei Torah of Melech HaMoshiach.

00:39 Speaker 2 I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chasidim by Der Her, an ongoing fabrengen about life as a Chasid, our vibrant connection with the Rebbe, and inspired living shaped by the way he teaches us each and every day. How are you, Brucha Abaim, Rabbi Greisman?

00:59 Speaker 1 Baruch Hashem, and you?

01:02 Speaker 2 I'm doing well, Baruch Hashem. And, uh, thank you for being, uh, available all the way from Eretz HaKodesh, Eretz Yisroel. And, um, I actually was, uh... I was reading a article that Der Her wrote a bunch of years ago about the, uh, Shluchai Kodesh, those at the Rebbe's center, Eretz Yisroel. Um, Taf Shin Lamed Vav, Lamed Zayin, Lamed Ches, there's three, uh, three groups, uh, one group of three installments. I'm not sure exactly how's, how it's, uh, classified, but, um, you're, uh, you're a part of that, and that, that, that's what you're doing there, right?

01:41 Speaker 1 Correct. Baruch Hashem.

01:45 Speaker 2 So, so the, the-- today in your specific shlichas, I believe the main focus is the Sefei Torah for, uh, Yahudi Yisroel, for the Jewish children. Um, so maybe, I don't know, I don't know if we should start off with the Shlichas Eretz Yisroel or before that when you were, you know, in seven 770. How would you, uh, how would... What, what do you, what would you like to do?

02:12 Speaker 1 I mean, I was at 770, but I don't know what, what I'm gonna add to you for about 770. I was in 770 like every bachur. This is 770 from Taf Shin Chof Ches till we were in Shlichas in Lamed Vav. And, uh, whatever happened at 770 happened. It's recorded, the Sichas with the Rebbe, the, the Yomim. I don't really have much to, to add to that, uh-

02:40 Speaker 2 Where are you from? You're from, you're from Brooklyn?

02:44 Speaker 1 I was born in Brooklyn, East New York, where most of the, the Jewish community lived in, that came out after, uh, after Europe and came to, to live in East New York. Had a little bit of Brownsville, East New York. I was more in East New York than Brownsville. And my parents are not a, not a Lubavitcher family. We're a Belzer family that came from, from Europe and settled in Brooklyn, and, uh, decided to send myself and my brother to United with Lubavitch Yeshiva in Bedford-Stuy. And that's where I was from probably Taf Shin Tes Zayin until Taf Shin Chof Gimel, and then I went to seven-seven, to Chof Zayin. Finished 12 years, and Taf Shin Chof Ches, I started 770.

03:35 Speaker 2 Why did they decide to send you to Bedford-Stuy?

03:37 Speaker 1 The Rebbe's tzedakah.

03:42 Speaker 2 I'm, I'm, I'm understanding you're very thankful for the, the, that.

03:46 Speaker 1 What's to say? Yeah, 100%. There were a lot of... At, at those days, there were a lot of non-Lubavitch families that learned in Bedford-Stuy. A lot of them, not too many of them stayed on, for whatever reason. Uh, today you have bachurim, shluchim, you have

04:36 Speaker 2 So, at-- I was actually thinking about that. You know, I've met a lot of people over the years, or heard a lot about people, and met people that lived in Bedford-Stuy. So what those that stayed on in Lubavitch, I've heard about... You don't have to talk about those. Talk about yourself and, uh, your family. What was the hilich that made you stay on and, uh, you know, go to 770? Like, what... Was, was the Rebbe involved in that, or that was something you decided?

05:04 Speaker 1 Um, probably the Rebbe was involved and whatever. That's what happened, that, uh, some people stayed and some people went to other places. Whatever.

05:16 Speaker 2 Uh-huh. Okay. So you're in 770, and you're a bachur when this whole, the Shlichas to Eretz Yisroel starts, right? And you're-- Some of them were married, I believe.

05:26 Speaker 1 No. I was after, after marriage, almost a year after marriage.

05:32 Speaker 2 Oh, you were married?

05:32 Speaker 1 Married, hey, yeah. By Lamed Heh, and Lamed Vav was just about, uh, already a year after, after the chasam.

05:43 Speaker 2 So what happened? How, how did this, uh, go on, the, the Shlichas to Eretz Yisroel?

05:47 Speaker 1 The Rebbe started with Yitzhak Kissel with the fabrengen. Come out-- I was at the end of, end of the fabrengen, probably close to three clock in the morning, and that there was-- after the Nigunim was a sign of the end of the fabrengen, and then the Rebbe said that all the Rebbeim had a special connection and an interest to Eretz HaKodesh from the Alter Rebbe, the Mittler Rebbe, from the Friediker Rebbe And the Rebbe says he has now a feeling, if I remember the word, to send two groups, an Eid HaKodesh to Yerushalayim HaKodesh and an Eid HaKodesh to Tzvot HaKodesh. Originally, it was supposed to be 10 to Tzvot and sent to, to, to Yerushalayim. And the purpose was to be Mechazeh Eretz Yisroel through different times. I don't know if it was at farbrengens or at different, uh, times when he spoke to Rabbi Mentlick, who was appointed to come along as the head of the Mishlachs of the group that was going to Eretz Yisroel. And the Rebbe said the purpose of the shluchim is he wants to strengthen Eretz Yisroel, bolster the morale of the people there, Binyan Oriz, Pagashmis or Baruchnis. Pagashmis by living there, Baruchnis by working in the, in, the, uh, the Rebbe's work. And, uh, people should sign up. A- afterwards, from Maskiras came out details of how, how the, the shluchim were gonna be picked. They had to be either a year before m- wedding or a year after marriage, not affiliated with a different moser.

07:20 Speaker 1 The Rebbe didn't wanna take anybody away from a moser that they were c-connected to. Um, they... And everybody should sign, and then the names went in, and the Rebbe picked. He picked and there are two groups, one to Yerushalayim, one to Tzvot. And it was the week of Chet Teves. It wasn't Chet Teves yet, but it was that I remembered Chet Teves. I used to go every day after kol to walk into the Maskiras to, to talk to Rabbi Binyamin Klein, my brother-in-law, and I would ask him, uh, "You know any news? Any this?" And one time I came and knocked on the door, there was no answer. Then it was like two fifteen, two twenty. And he walked out of the Rebbe's room, uh, looked at me and walked into the office, and he told me that I'm on the list to go to Eretz Yisroel. And, uh, so I said, "Okay, ready," you know. But he said, "No, there's three conditions. First of all, you have to get permission from your wife. It has to be Simcha, and you have to be healthy." And then the names started from that Tuesday or Wednesday till the end of... Till Erev Shabbos. Slowly, all of those that were picked got the answers. And then when it was the first farbrengen was on, uh, that Shabbos, I think it was Vayigash maybe. And the Rebbe spoke again about the shluchim. He said, "Shluchim ." And that's when the, uh, that's when the shluchim started. In other

08:51 Speaker 1 words, to, to get ready. We had... This was Kislev Teves, and we had to be ready in a month. Yud Shevat, pack up, get and move to Eretz Yisroel, to Eretz HaKodesh.

09:03 Speaker 3 And-

09:03 Speaker 1 The purpose, the Rebbe did not say in the beginning exactly what the purpose of the shluchim, but pack your bags and go to Eretz Yisroel. And it was Rabbi Mentlick who was, was... Be... On the day of Yud, Yud Shevat. The Rebbe said he's not gonna segens a zich, you know, uh, part with the shluchim, but it'll be at the farbrengen of Yud Shevat. And Yud Aleph Shevat, we w- we went by the Rebbe and gave him a tachten. The Rebbe gave money for tzedakah, he gave sefarim, he gave a Sefer Likutei Sichos the first time that the Rebbe gave shluchim or a Se- his... The Rebbe's Sefer Likutei Sichos. It was Chelek, uh, Chelek Yod Aleph. And a year afterwards, he gave Chelek Yod Beis, and the year after that, he gave Chelek Yod Gimel to the Chabad shluchim that were going. And he gave the women w-- And chi-children also. There were children also. Women got, uh, Sefer, a Siddur and a Tanya, and children got just a Siddur, plus money for different things and tzedakah. Tzedakah for money for expenses in America, money for expenses in Israel. Tzedakah in Eretz HaKodesh in different currencies. I think it was also in American currency and Israeli currency. Uh, we left Yud Aleph, and we came to Eretz Yisroel on Wednesday. The Rebbe said, "". There were different expressions. The Rebbe said one time at a farbrengen that the purpose of a shliach is, is a to look to where the will take every

10:43 Speaker 1 single Jew by hand and bring him to Eretz HaKodesh, sort of a, of an aliyah of, of, of coming to, to Eretz HaKodesh. And we came to Eretz Yisroel. We didn't know exactly what we were supposed to do, but the younger like were supposed to learn in kollel. Bachurim were supposed to learn in Yerushalayim, were to learn in yeshiva. There were families, couples came only to Tzvot. And bachurim that were picked, that were chosen to be shluchim were learning in Yerushalayim. So in they were learning in, in Kollel Tzemach Tzedek in the Old City. And that was our mission, to, to sit and learn, mitzvot of And, uh, for several years, for three and a half years, till Taf Shin Lamed Tes, the Rebbe did not, uh... When we asked to come to, to 770, to come to, to, to the Rebbe, the Rebbe did not answer to come. And it wasn't until Taf Shin Lamed Tes, on the Shmini Shvat, the Rebbe sent a letter to the shluchim in Eretz HaKodesh and said, "Until now, you were fulfilling the shlichut in a general way," which what we did was learn and We, we, we, we, we traveled the land. We came to all, all communities, to every, every kehilla of Chabad in Eretz Yisroel and to different places and spoke, uh- Spoke Rebbe. One of the main things that we did in those three and a half years has brought the, brought the Rebbe closer to, to the community of Eretz Yisrael, to Chabad

12:21 Speaker 1 Hasidim, to, to, to, to, to Jew- the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael. We spoke about the Rebbe and spoke about Sichas and learning Sichas and learning the Rebbe's Yannom, doing the Rebbe's Yannom. That was our main koch in that three and a half years. Afterwards, the Rebbe detailed in a letter that the purpose until now was done in a general manner. Now the time has come to settle down each and every Shliach in a spec- in a particular specific Shlichus, and each one should choose what he is, uh, uh, the best at. And the Rebbe started, the first thing should be Rabbonis or Dayyanis, those that have a sheyches to it, those that, that's their Inyan. Otherwise, to be involved in Chinuch and building new Beis Din's, um, even things on Al Tar Eretz Yisrael, the Rebbe said the main purpose of the Shlichus is to build the country by living in Pekachnias and doing things in Ruknias. Rabbi Mendlik, wherever he went, uh, said over... Wherever he went, every... Even when he came to the Kehillah, even when he came to every community, to every group, wherever he met anybody, the Rebbe s- he said in Yiddish, "As the Rebbe in Tzvias and in, in, in Yerushalayim. If you, if the Shluchim will be happy, will be pleased with the people in Eretz Yisrael, the people in Eretz Yisrael will be pleased with, with the Shluchim," the Rebbe said he will send more. But he just sent a group in Lamed-Vav, Lamed-Zayin, Lamed-Tes.

14:04 Speaker 2 So he meant, uh, Mendlik said this when you were going?

14:07 Speaker 1 He came along with us for the first two weeks of the Shlichus. He, he made sure that everybody was settled, you know, and everybody was in Yeshiva. Wherever we had, uh, there was a big gathering in Binyanei HaUmah for, for Kabbalas Panim for Shluchim. Wherever he went, wherever he, he came to, he, he mentioned... He said this, this statement as if probably he heard the statement, uh, from, from the Rebbe. One of the Shluchim once told him this is something, a special Shlichus. So he, he would answer, "You, you, you say it, and I know it." And that it was a special Shlichus that the, that the Rebbe sent, not an ordinary Shlichus. And obviously it was... Purpose was to strengthen the country. It was after the Yom Kippur War in, in Lamed-Heh. And this was in Lamed-Vav, connected with strengthening Eretz Yisrael. And, and the Shluchim today are spread all over the country. All the big Meisders and all the, the Rabbonis and, and the positions are held by, by Shluchim that the Rebbe sent. And they made a, a, a Mapech, a revolution in Eretz Yisrael.

15:15 Speaker 2 And, um, and when you were in Tzvias, in the Kehillah, s- uh, who was supporting the Kehillah? How did that work?

15:25 Speaker 1 The Kehillah was under Maskiris. The Kehillah in general of Tzvias was paid, I think that was Rabbi Kaplan, Label Kaplan arranged or made an arrangement that the expenses, the Kehillah Yungleit would be paid by Maskiris, the Rebbe's Maskiris. The same Maskiris that pay for the Kehillah Yungleit. In, in Crown Heights also with the Kehillah Sha Yedeh Maskiris, also the Kehillah in Tzvias was Yedeh Maskiris and, and that's where we got our, uh, monthly stipend, whatever. The Bachurim in Yerushalayim were under Yeshivat Kerem Tzemach, Tzemach Tzedek. In other words, they were... They slept at their accommodations, and their food were all supplied by Yeshivat Kerem Tzemach, Tzemach Tzedek Kehillah.

16:14 Speaker 2 And, um, the Bachurim ended up staying in Eretz Yisrael also, right? Most of them.

16:21 Speaker 1 Most, the major... Out of the 44 Shluchim the Reb- the Rebbe originally sent, several left to return to the United States. Some by... Some had a He'arah from the Rebbe to go back to, to, to do like, uh, Yossi Darin was told to take over his father's position as Shochet. Chaim Dukner was told to, to take over, to build the Kehillah Chabad office in, in, in America. Other Shluchim for personal reasons left. The Rebbe said that in the long letter, the, the three-page letter that the Rebbe sent, one of the, one of the points was also that if a Shliach feels that he... If, if his Shlichus wants to continue his Shlichus of doing wherever he wants and outside of Eretz Yisrael, then he can do that. And what he did in Eretz Yisrael is Nitzchi Leolam Vaed.

17:14 Speaker 2 Right. So, but most of you understood from that, that you're supposed to find something in Eretz Yisrael to continue-

17:19 Speaker 1 Right. Correct. Right.

17:22 Speaker 2 So I know-

17:22 Speaker 1 In fact, after the three years, the Rebbe asked that everybody should write and what they wanna do, what their interests are, and to let, let the Rebbe know that you're planning to continue the Shlichus because in the Fabringen, if you get the Skisa or Fabringen afterwards says, "You'll go for a year or two, and afterwards we'll see," something, something to that, to that effect. And after those two and a half, three, three and a half years, the Rebbe asked that everybody should, you know, let know that they're continuing the Shlichus.

17:56 Speaker 2 So I know that, um, for many years until today, your, your, your main Inyan is the Aishes Chofetz Chaim, the Yad Chofetz Chaim for Yad Yisrael, but I believe that didn't start till Mem-Alef, right?

18:10 Speaker 1 Ri- right.

18:11 Speaker 2 So what happened between-

18:13 Speaker 1 So 12-

18:13 Speaker 2 Whether it happened Lamed-Tes or-

18:16 Speaker 1 Until I came to Kfar Chabad to work for, for Rabbi Leibo from Tsach to do some projects. And after that project finished, uh, in and I was living-

18:30 Speaker 2 So you were living in Kfar Chabad?

18:32 Speaker 1 Living in Kfar Chabad. I moved to Kfar Chabad to work for Rabbi Leibo and then the project ended. And when the Rebbe announced the Sefer Torah campaign, I was going between one, one type of work to another type of work looking for something else. Uh, the Sefer Torah came up and Rabbi Chabad, Rabbi Ashkenazi at the time from Kfar Chabad approached me, asked me like, um, two days later, I think it was in, out of Shabbos, Nisan, if I'm ready to take the project, then... Not-- They're not knowing-- knew exactly how long the project was gonna be and was it a one-time thing to write a Sefer Torah one time and to continue it? But after the Rebbe sa- after the... Finished the first one-

19:15 Speaker 2 So, so can you, can you start the story of, of Sefer Torah? Like, I mean, ev-everyone knows about it, that hopefully everyone, uh, signed up their kids as right, right, right when they're born and, uh, and is involved in getting other kids to sign up, w- w- decide to be part of it and to have a S. But what is the, uh, the whole... How, how did that whole thing begin and what, what was the whole story of the, of the Sefer Torah ?

19:39 Speaker 1 the Rebbe said on the farbrengen the night of Nisan, the beginning of the Rebbe said he wants... He started to spoke about the campaign, that he wants to, uh, the Rebbe wants to start a new campaign and called it Writing a Sefer Torah. And a Sefer Torah has three hundred and four thousand eight hundred and five letters. That amount of children, boys and girls, under the age of bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, hevel, shayim, bechet, will unite together in a Sefer Torah, and that achdus of Jewish children in a Sefer Torah, the ikar yinion of achdus, is through Torah, through writing a Sefer Torah. That will create a force to bring down Hashem's beracha to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people now are in the need of a Yeshua and beracha. The Rebbe was accomplishing something of beracha for the Jewish people by the writing of the Sefer Torah for children.

20:35 Speaker 2 What do you mean, what, what do you mean they're in the need of a Yeshua? Can you explain?

20:39 Speaker 1 No one knew exactly what the Rebbe meant. The Rebbe did not say at that time exactly what the Yeshua beracha was, but a month later, on, on Yut Tes Hachodesh, day after Shabbos Parshat Behaalotecha, Yut Tes Hachodesh, the day after Lag BaOmer, that year Lag BaOmer was on a Friday, the Rebbe said that there's a madman in the world who can s- go into a room and press a button and bring destruction to the entire world, not only to himself. He's not... He's, he's, he's a madman. He can't be controlled. You can't predict what he will do tomorrow. This person has to be stopped. There's no way to educate him, and there's no time to, to educate him or, or to, or to prevent him from carrying out this, his ideas, his evil ideas. The only thing the Rebbe said then, that is a, a, a permanent, a continuous mitzvah is the writing of a Sefer Torah. The Rebbe-

21:37 Speaker 2 The Rebbe was referring to Saddam Hussein?

21:40 Speaker 1 Obviously, he was talking... He said-- Rebbe said that the, the person is ready to press a button. At that time, Saddam Hussein was the one that was threatening to use nuclear activity, nuclear weapons against the, the, the, the, the, the Yidden and Eretz Yisroel. And the per- way to stop it is by writing a Sefer Torah for Jewish children. And, uh, the Rebbe said at the even at that the farbrengen that mitzvah filling is not on Shabbos. Mezuzah, if you don't have a house, you don't have to buy it. Put on a mezuzah. Tzedakah is when you did the mitzvah, you did it, but it's... And it's mitzvah l'maalah. A continuous peulah of achdus is, is the writing of a Sefer Torah. And the Rebbe started with the children's Sefer Torah. And then the Rebbe said, between Lag BaOmer and Shavuot, everybody should get involved in writing, in, in signing up as many children as possible in, in, in, in the Sefer Torah. And everybody in every community, every part of the world should write, sign up their communities, their children, wherever they can get a hold of, in a letter, in a Sefer Torah. That is the call of the hour. Shabbos Parshas Nasso was then Daled Sivan. Hey Sivan was Erev-- Sunday was Erev Shavuot. At the farbrengen, the Rebbe says, "Tomorrow, Daled Sivan, all Hasidim, all communities all over the world should stop all of their other activities and get involved in signing up children in the Sefer Torah." The Rebbe said

23:04 Speaker 1 he wants a duch, a report of how many children in each country signed up at that time, because if you have to give a report, you're gonna get... You're gonna do things differently. And that Erev Shavuot, when everybody was involved in writing up kids and sending the duch to the Rebbe, at the same time, the Israeli Air Force decided, the government decided that this was the last opportunity before nuclear activity. It would-- Before the nuclear reactor would, would start functioning, and destroying it then would create rad- radio-radioactivity over the area, which is dangerous. So it had to be done before the nuclear reactor started. And at that time, it was Begin at the time that decided that the Israeli government is going, the A- Air Force is going on a mission to destroy the nuclear reactor. And it was a miraculous mission. They took off from bases in, a base in, in south of I- south of Israel and flew. And it was a difficult mission because there was wind effects, and they didn't have enough, uh, oil for, for, for, for flying. They had to refuel in, in, in, in air, and they destroyed the nuclear reactor and came back at the night of Shavuot, and that's when the news got out that the threat of the nuclear reactor was removed from Jew- from the Jewish people. It's interesting that a month before that, in one of, in one of, one of the days of Iyar, the Rebbe sent a hundred single dollars to

24:31 Speaker 1 Eretz Yisroel that they should be distributed to the, uh, sergeant, the Katzinay Tza'al, the sergeant in the army, and they were given out to a, a, a, a meeting of the, of the headquarters, and the dollars were given out also to that air force base where the pilots took off on the mission. Again, you saw that the Rebbe was, was, was doing something here. And the Rebbe said afterwards that even though you had to do a mission, anything that you do has to be b'derech hateva, you have to do in natural ways. Nevertheless, the hatslacha of a mission is the Aibishter's beracha, and especially when it's connected with achdus, it to, to, to... Which is bro- bro- brought, which was the success- was the reason. The Rebbe mentioned it to somebody in Yefit, that's one, one of the Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. Not, not Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, that was Rabbi... The Rebbe, the Rebbe told him that you see that, that this mitzvah of the, of this campaign to sign up as many children in Sefer Torah was what, what, what brought the Aish HaTorah to stop this, uh, Saddam Hussein from his evil intentions. Until today, there are still thousand- hundreds of thousands of, of children all over the world. And maybe from this platform, I can call to anybody that's listening, get as many children as possible wherever they are. All schools should sign up their children. They can do it as a package deal, get all the kids and get all the certificates.

26:06 Speaker 1 Today, you get a certificate, a PDF by email as soon as you sign up. A day later, you, you get the... Two days later, you get a, you get a certificate. Every certificate has to go through a lottery, which letter belongs to which child. So it takes a day or two-

26:19 Speaker 4 That, that's from the Rebbe, right?

26:21 Speaker 1 The Rebbe said it should be not knowing, not we should decide which letter goes to which child.

26:27 Speaker 4 Right.

26:29 Speaker 1 And because the, the Rebbe said then, if there's a mini Yizkor that when somebody buys a letter on a Sefer Torah, you- he's told which specific letter he bought or which part of the Torah he bought. The Rebbe said that mini has to be discontinued not only by children, but even by adults. Because if one child is gonna know that he has a letter in Shem HaShem, and another child is gonna have a letter in a word that's the opposite of good or the way op- opposite of pure, there's gonna be a difference of feeling between one child and another. And if he's gonna worry what letter he has, it might even affect his mazal, which is why children should not be told which specific letter they have, and the human being should not be the one that decides. It should come in Hashem, Hashem HaGoral, to decide which letter belongs. We should have it recorded in the office, in our files. We have which specific letter belongs to which child. The Rebbe allowed us to do the lottery by a computer program, and that's the way it's done. The letter that comes in gets a letter from the computer. The computer decides-

27:33 Speaker 4 Already, already in the beginning you were doing it by computer?

27:37 Speaker 1 It took a few months until we got organized to get all the names into the computer and to get the certificates printed. But that, that's what we... I asked the Rebbe then if, uh, we can do it by computer, and the Rebbe said yes. And that, that's when we started putting it into computer. We had the-- We had a program made for as which the name goes in as the, the... Not probably one of the modern pro- program, but 40 years ago, a computer company did it for us. And that's the letter we have recorded in our files in the office, and the child just knows which Parsha. The Rebbe said, "Really, you should not tell him anything. Just tell him you have the letter in the Sefer Torah." at least tell the child which part of the Torah he has. In other words, which Parsha he... His letter, what kind of his lottery, uh, is the letter that he has. And that's what we do until today.

28:32 Speaker 4 One of the integral components of being a Hasid are the Chassidishe Yamim Tovim and Yemei Depagra. Whether it's Hey Teves, Jod Shevat, Yod Alef Nisan, or Gimmel Tammuz. These days give us an opportunity to connect with our Rebbeim, to connect with each other, and be better Hasidim. What is the story behind each of these days? How did the Rebbe commemorate and celebrate these days? And most importantly, what are the lessons, the takeaways, and the action items, , needed for each of these days? All of this and much, much more are answered in the new set recently published by Der Herr. Our Days is a journey through the Chabad calendar in story, meaning, and practice. With over 700 beautiful glossy pages, with elevated content, beautiful, beautiful photographs, you, your family, and friends will enjoy and live with each Chassidishe Yamim Tov. This book is a must for every Lubavitcher home, for every shul, for every school. It is a perfect gift item. This will not collect dust. It will be used day after day, month after month, year after year. You can have this set. Go to derherr.org/ourdays, order your set today and start living like Chassidishe Yamim Tov. It's, it's interesting that you're mentioning about the, the Iraqi, uh, you know, the, the mission, the nuclear in Iraq, saying, uh, having just, uh... We all lived through just now a similar thing in Iran. It's like an interesting, uh, it's-

30:25 Speaker 1 In fact, in fact, because of the situation in Iran, there was a special . Everybody got involved in lighting up more children in, in, in the Sefer Torah, and there was even a plan that because of the situation, uh, we hope that maybe this year there would be... We would be able to complete the ninth children's Sefer Torah, but it didn't turn out that way, and there's still 80,000 letters missing, and there's only a month left to make the seal on Chof Ov. It's interesting we're talking about Chof Ov- In Tofshim Mem Alef, when the first siyim was supposed to be made, the Rebbe wanted it finished by Yud Beis Tammuz.

31:07 Speaker 5 So the Rebbe started it-

31:09 Speaker 1 The Rebbe wanted it finished.

31:12 Speaker 5 So Nisán, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av. The Rebbe wanted it in four months.

31:16 Speaker 1 In four months, less. Rebbe finished at the end of Tammuz, so three and a half months that the, the Rebbe was able to sign up 300,000 children. He signed up more than 300,000 children, because we had letters left over for the second Sefer Torah. But when the siyim came around, originally the Rebbe said the latest date to make the siyim is Erev Rosh Hashanah. The Erev Rosh Hashanah is the letters from Tzemach Tzedek, and the Rebbe had instructed that the Sefer Torah should be written in Yerushalayim HaKodesh, in the old city within the walls, and in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, which is the only shul that it intact... That remained intact, its walls and its roof. The entire time it was in Jewish hands, shows our Nitziyus. That's where the Sefer Torah should be written. And the Rebbe had thought, , maybe that one Sefer would not finish in time. So the Rebbe suggested to take a second Sefer. There were two soferim that were writing the first Sefer Torah, and those two soferim, the Rebbe said, should write the second Sefer Torah. One that wrote the beginning should write the end, one that wrote the end should write the beginning. That way, each one writes a complete Sefer Torah, and you won't have any problems how to pay each one for a complete, for a complete Sefer Torah. And then the s- so even though the Rebbe said that the last day to make the siyim is Erev Rosh Hashanah, but when he, when

32:37 Speaker 1 the Rebbe heard that they're, they're gonna finish earlier than that... And so the Rabbonim were sitting and they were talking about making the siyim Chof Av, and mentioned it to, and wrote to the Rebbe that there's plans and idea to make it on Chof Av, and the Rebbe said to make the siyim on Chof Menachem Av. Then an idea came up from some of the Askanim that, uh, the Vaad, that it would be hard to get children in summer, because everybody's on vacation or the camps weren't, weren't there. There wasn't as many camps in those days, overnight camps or day camps. Not as many children as there is in the later years. So there was suggestion, an idea to make it in Cheshvan Elul when school started and to be able to bring the schools as, as groups. So-

33:22 Speaker 5 To the siyim.

33:23 Speaker 1 The Rebbe said no to the siyim. And so the Rebbe said no, it should be on Chof Menachem Av. And a day later, Rabbi Chadakov called Rabbi Yruslavsky, the Maskir, the president, and said to him, "You, you heard what we... You were told yesterday. The siyim should be Chof Menachem Av." Now, when the second siyim came along in Tofshim Mem Vav, in, in five years later, there was a question. I wrote to the Rebbe, "Where should we make... We're making the siyim in Chof Menachem Av. Should we make it on..." The Rebbe gives, uh, his maskim, that's coming back to make it on Chof Menachem Av, and the Rebbe said, "Maskim." And then I asked the Rebbe in a... If the siyim should be made in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul where the first one was made, or maybe-

34:12 Speaker 5 That was made up from the Rebbe originally, in the first one.

34:15 Speaker 1 Originally, it was clearly, yeah, in the Tzemach Tzedek. It should be written in the Tzemach Tzedek. The siyim should be in Tzemach Tzedek.

34:21 Speaker 5 But wasn't the-

34:22 Speaker 1 And then-

34:22 Speaker 5 And it went to the Keisoh. So there was a... They walked to the-

34:24 Speaker 1 The reason was because there wasn't enough room. Originally, the pl- original plan was not to go to the Keisoh, but it was... S- since there was not enough room in the Tzemach Tzedek, they are... Came up to, to, to make it at the Keisoh. So that was told to the Rebbe and, and the Rebbe said to, to make it at the, at, at the Keisoh. There's a very interesting thing. There was a shailah at the time, uh, to make a siyim in a shul, you don't go out of where you make... Usually you make a siyim outside of the place where you make the Hachnosah.

34:55 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm.

34:55 Speaker 1 You write the letters, you finish the letters in a, in a house, in a different place, and then you make a taludah to the shul.

35:00 Speaker 5 To the shul.

35:01 Speaker 1 Now here, now here... To, to... So here you're supposed to make this Hachnosah in the Tzemach, in the, in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, but the siyim, the letters were being written in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul. So how can you go out with the Sefer Torah? So Zalman Shimon, Zalman Shimon was, was sent by the Rebbe. And at, at the first siyim Sefer Torah, the Rebbe chose Zalman Shimon's work on the Rebbe 770 Crown Heights to be the Rebbe's personal Shliach emissary to finish the first Sefer Torah, to write the last letter of the first Sefer Torah, and definitely you will start a second Sefer Torah, because as long as there are Jewish children being born, you're gonna have to write a second Sefer Torah, a third Sefer Torah, and continue writing Sefer Torah as long as there are Jewish children that need the letter. And you should... And Zalman Sh- Zalman Shimon should be the Shliach to begin to write the of the second Sefer Torah. So Zalman Shimon was at the siyim. So Zalman Shimon said that it was... He had the shailah where to, how to do the siyim, so... And how can you go to the Keisoh to, you know, you can't leave the Tzemach Tzedek Shul. So the siyim of the letters of the first Sefer Torah were written downstairs on the first floor of the Tzemach Tzedek. And on the way out to go to the second floor, we stopped by the Keisoh and then came back and went up

36:26 Speaker 1 to the second floor of the, of the Tzemach Tzedek, uh, where the shul is. That way we-

36:31 Speaker 5 Maybe that's called, uh, the second one.

36:33 Speaker 1 And that's called the second one. It was also made on, on... It was made upstairs. So maybe downstairs. I don't know exactly remember. Could be it was made even downstairs because there was a Sudah made downstairs, so could be it was finished after the Sudah downstairs. I don't remember. But that was the way the, the siyim was made. And the Rebbe wanted as many Rabbonim as possible, Rosh Yeshivas from not Lubavitcher, uh, uh, not Lubavitchers. And the Rebbe then said that the Sefer Torah is not for Lubavitchers, it's for the Jewish community. It's for every single Jew. And even on the certificate, the Rebbe says, "Don't pronounce, don't point out the name of Lubavitch." You have to write "Signed by the secretary," and you should sign it by, by one of the, one of, one of the p- people of Lubavitch. You have to write the address of where the Sefirateira office is, Chabad. That's the only thing of Lubavitch that should be on, on the, on the certificate. The Rebbe suggested to put, uh, drawings or pictures of the Mekomes HaKodesh. The Rebbe pointed out Kever Rochel... Not Kever Ro- pointed out the Kessel, Maarshama Kever Rochel, Siyum Rashbi, and there was a fourth one of Kever Rochel. When a sketch of the certificate went into the Rebbe to okay it, is number one, he asked that it should be looked over by one of the prominent Rabbonim in, in, in Eretz Yisroel, not a Lubavitcher Rebbe, that there should be no... That everything

38:05 Speaker 1 should be okay. Kashrus-wise, there shouldn't be any questions by anybody. And second, the, the Kever Rochel was on the right corner on top, and the Kessel was on the left corner on top. The Rebbe said to switch it, that the Kessel should be on the right on top, and the Kever Rochel should be on the left, and then the other two Mekomes HaKodesh. The name of the child should be on the certificate, the date when the s- letter was bought, and again, as mentioned before, where, where, uh, which letter the, the, the lottery, in which section of the Tehilim he has a letter in the Sefirateira, and it should be signed by one of the members of the com- committee to make it an official document. Over the years, the certificate was changed to make it more colorful when, and the Rebbe said that then Eretz Yisroel should decide to make changes. Uh, the first certificate there was a date of, uh, a date of, you know, if you want to make a date, was a date of Purim and another date Chof, Chof Menachem Av. All the certificates had the same date. But afterwards, we changed it to fill in the date because it didn't take just a few months to, to write. Not everybody got a Sefirateira at the same time. It took over a period of years. So the date is also changed as the person writes about the date.

39:23 Speaker 5 You're saying now already there's a system, it goes right away, but then you had to do a whole data at once.

39:28 Speaker 1 At that time, we used a company outside of, of, of the office. Now we have our own system, our computer system, and we print the certificates ourselves in the office. So the computer just decides, takes the date. The date that the person gets the certificate printed, that's the date that the, that, that is on the, on the certificate.

39:47 Speaker 5 You started saying about the second Siyum that you asked the Rebbe about the location.

39:51 Speaker 1 Oh. Yes, I asked the Rebbe because at the, at Chof Menache- uh, the second Siyum Sefirateira took place in Tov Shebav. Mem- Tov Shebav was the Chanukkah of the Bayis of the 770 of Chabad. The Rebbe pointed out that whenever you mention the 770, you should say 770 Hasheth BeChabad, the 770 of Chabad, to distinguish from the 770, the other 770 in, in, in Crown Heights. And so with the Svara to make the Chadas Sefirateira, the same Sefirateira was Tes Vav, was Tes Vav Tammuz. And here the Siyum was a month later, Chof Vav. So it made sense. But the Rebbe underlined... I asked the Rebbe this or this, and the Rebbe underlined, "Kamo, just as the first was done in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul." So that why the second Siyum was also made in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, and the third Siyum was after Gimmel Tammuz. And, uh, since the Rebbe wanted the second Sefirateira, it seems all the Siyumim of all the Sefirateira are in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul. In one of the Sichas, I don't know the date, the Rebbe emphasized that all the Se- that the Sefirateira are in the old city of Yerushalayim. The Rebbe connected it all with Beon HaChamas, within the walls of the old city. It seems that a special brach of Yerushalayim, and in, it's davka, it's especially in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul in, in, in, within the walls. In fact, if you take a look at it, the Ohel Kodesh has all eight Sefirateira, the

41:25 Speaker 1 children Sefirateira in, in an Ohel Kodesh. That means there are almost three million children united in the Sefirateira in one Ohel Kodesh in the old, in, in the old city. And the Rebbe in Sichas always mentioned, connected the, uh, the Sefirateira of Yahad Israel with Shlimus HaArets, with Shlimus Yerushalayim in HaKodesh, and a special brach to, to, to, to the, to the people in Eretz, in Eretz HaKodesh. So I guess it seems that the Sefirateira ha- they, they're all being written in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, and the Hachnosah and the Si- the Siyum and the Hachnosah are also taking place in, in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul. Concerning the, uh, can add a, a detail that the Rebbe, since the campaign is Hagdos, that the Rebbe said all the children should be the same. There shouldn't be one difference. One child should not know which letter they have different than another child. Also, the price of, of a, the suggested price of a, of a letter for the Sefirateira should be $1, or it's equivalent in currencies all over the world. Since we're in the United States, the Rebbe said, we're setting up the, the, the, the, this price of one, one American dollar or its equivalent.

42:36 Speaker 5 So, so in, in Eretz Yisroel, let's say they give one shekel, or they give the equivalent of $1?

42:41 Speaker 1 No, $1, $1.

42:43 Speaker 5 So whatever-

42:44 Speaker 1 In the beginning, it was like 10, 10, 10 shekel. Today, it's almost four shekel.

42:48 Speaker 5 Right.

42:48 Speaker 1 Today, the computer takes four shekel. There was a time it was five shekel when the dollar was close to five, but now it's set at, at four shekel. And at that time, there was a newspaper, not a very, uh, pleasant newspaper in, in, in Eretz Yisroel that wrote an article about the most expensive Sefirateira in the world. Was the Sefirateira being written by Chabad And he made it, he made it a calculation. How much could a Sefer Torah be written of? He took the price of a value of a Sefer Torah with the siyum, with the celebration, $50,000. 300,000 letters is $300,000. That means you're pocketing a quarter million dollars. So this was sent to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered, "Did you explain to them that according to the, uh, our valuation of a, a professional The mokher, the cost for each child is going to be $2. The cost for the certificate and the mailing and the, and the processing is gonna be $2. Three days after the Siyum Sefer Torah, this was n- this was said in the beginning while the Sefer Torah was being written. After the Sefer Torah was finished and the Siyum was made, one of the Hasganim in Eretz Yisroel had a project in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul to... That needed money and connected with the Sefer Torah for the Aron Kodesh, for the windows, for... And he wrote to the Rebbe that, uh, maybe the Vat Sefer Torah that, that made a lot of money could help

44:15 Speaker 1 with the expenses in, in, in, in fixing up the shul and fix- or the, or whatever was needed for the, for the safe, for the, for the Kesser. There's a shiur about the Kesser. And so the Rebbe said that, uh, it seems that you're not really don't know what's going on in this world. The chi- in Eretz Yisroel, the child pays only $1 for a letter, and the, the processing and taking care of the child and with the mailing is almost $3. That means they already ha- between $2 and $3, which means that they're at a r- deficit today of $300,000. And you want, you know, you want to... Where do they have money to help you with the, with the, uh, to pay for the expense? And that's what it is. Until today, it's approximately mail is almost $3. Send a certificate from Israel to America is $3. Send a certificate in Ame- in Israel is, is a dollar, almost a dollar. It's 3.6 shekel. It, it's more than a dollar today. And the rest of the expenses comes from either people that the Rebbe said that people can donate to the cause. The letter itself is $1, the cost of $1. If people wanna donate to the campaign or help the campaign, the Rebbe said that is what should be done, and people should help with the expenses of going out and reaching children. The Rebbe said that every community should not have shluchim sent to them, but they themselves should see that

45:39 Speaker 1 all of the children are, are written up in a letter in the Sefer Torah. All mosdos should see that all of their members and their students should get a letter in the Sefer Torah. That's the only way they can sign up everybody in the world, everybody on the sp- on, on the plates to get, gets the children. At a Farbrengen Rosh Chodesh Iyar. It was, it was three Farbrengens in, in, in, in one after the other. I think Erev Rosh Chodesh and Shabbos and Beis Iyar that the Rebbe spoke about every time at that time the Rebbe spoke about Sefer, the Sefer Torah. And yod- that was Beis Iyar he spoke about L'chatchilah Ribir, and at those Farbrengens he spoke about Tzedakah. Rav Zalman Gurewitsch was sitting at the Farbrengen and he... In the Siyur from the Rebbe's talk, and he wanted to donate the Kesser, the crown of the first children's Sefer Torah. He wrote to the Rebbe if he, if the Rebbe will accept the, the, his, his, his gift. The Rebbe said yes, but there's one stipulation the Rebbe said, that the Sefer Torah, uh, that it should be similar to the Sefer Torah, to the Kesser that's on Moshiach's Sefer Torah. The Mosh- Moshiach's Sefer Torah that was finished in Taf Shin Lamed, that the free Sefer Torah started Taf Shin Beis, it should be similar. The Rav Zalman asked... Wrote to the Rebbe the Sefer Torah of Moshiach is partly silver and partly gold. It's not 100% gold. He would

47:08 Speaker 1 like to donate a Kesser 100% gold. Will the Rebbe accept it? And the Rebbe said he'll accept it. And they copied, they took, uh, pictures and took out the Kesser of, uh, Moshiach's Sefer Tora- Moshiach's Sefer Torah, and they copied it. And the Sefer, the Kesser that's on the Moshiach, that on the ch- first children's Sefer Torah is similar to the Sefer Torah, the Kesser on Moshiach's Sefer Torah. At a Sefer Torah, at a Farbrengen Bal Aliyah Taf Shin Mem Alef, the Rebbe said that Moshiach needs two Sifrei Torah. Every king, and especially Melech HaMoshiach needs two Sifrei Torah. The two Sifrei Torah of Melech HaMoshiach will be, one, Sefer Torah the Kabbalah of Moshiach, and the second one will be the first children's Sefer Torah because Yaldi Yisroel are called Moshiach, Al Tilbe Mishiche. Elu Tzedekim Sh'bais Rabo. The children are considered the anointed ones, the, uh, uh, Mishiche of the Avister. So those will be s- the two Sifrei Torah of Melech HaMoshiach. Which Chassidim then spoke and said that probably that's why the reason, that's why... Maybe that's the reason that the Rebbe said the two serers, the two crowns should be similar one, one to another.

48:18 Speaker 5 Similar.

48:20 Speaker 1 Yeah.

48:21 Speaker 5 Interesting. Um, there was also other Hirhurais from the Rebbe with the first one, right? With the, with the menteleh of the-

48:29 Speaker 1 Correct. It's not... The, the... When the Rebbe sends Zalman Schimone to the Siyum-

48:33 Speaker 5 I think by the way it's interesting that it's very-- it's connected to Rabbonim, right? That it should be VaAd Rabbonim Chabad and then Zalman Schimone. It's, like, interesting that the Rebbe wants-

48:42 Speaker 1 The Rebbe told Zalman Schimone that he's not... He's going out to Shliach, but he's also going as Shliach from all the Rabbonim i-in the United States. From all those that are here in the, in the name of Rabbonim, he's going out to Rov. He's going out to Shliach to, to, to do this and this, but he's going out to the Rov. He also connected with the in, with the in, uh, uh, Rabbonim. In fact, the Rebbe said that the campaign of the children's Sefer Torah should not be affiliated with any other Moisei. It should be only under the VaAd Rabbonim Chabad, not connected with any other, uh, any other, any other Moisei. Rav Zalman Schimone was given also 12, 12 $100 bills, also money for Tzedakah, also a bottle of Mashke from a Farbrengen in Russia. The Rebbe spoke about signing up children then, because at the end w- was still the Iron Curtain. The Rebbe wanted children in Russia to get a letter in the Sefer Torah. All the certificates that we sent to Russia at that time only had first names. There were no family names. In Morocco, for example, the Rebbe said that a certificate should be made without any mention of, of, of Chabad, of Chabad at all, or just, just a different certificate. They made a separate certificate, I think, in Morocco.

49:55 Speaker 5 Not Chabad and not Eretz Yisroel.

49:57 Speaker 1 Huh?

49:58 Speaker 5 Becau-

49:59 Speaker 1 Not Er- not Eretz Yisroel. No, no.

50:00 Speaker 5 Yeah.

50:01 Speaker 1 Not Chabad. Chabad, you'd say it's Eretz Yisroel, but I think the Mekomei HaSkadishim c- I'm not sure what was on the, on the Mekomei HaSkadishim. I have to take a look on that certificate. Could be there was no connection at all with Eretz Yisroel, that, that cer- certificate that was given out in Morocco. And in Russia, the children didn't even receive their certificates. They're all... They were left in the office. In fact, all the certificates of children that bought letters in Russia, that family members knew about people in Russia, children in Russia or people in different ways, uh, we p-gave them letters only with the first name. Uh, 20 or 30 years later, just several years ago, somebody from Russia, uh, who is adult today, came out and said he knows maybe that he... A, a letter was bought for him in a Children's Sefer Torah. And we went through the box, and he went through it, and he found his certificate that went... When he was a child in Russia. He found that, that, that certificate. The Rebbe designed the mantle, the me'il, the, the, with the covers, the Sefer Torah. The Rebbe drew. There's a drawing of the Rebbe. He drew... The Rebbe drew on a piece of paper a square, six tfachim by six tfachim. Now, each luchas is three. The two luchas, three tfachim, three tfachim. From top to bottom, six tfachim.

51:18 Speaker 6 The picture wasn't six tfachim. He, he wrote that it should be six tfachim, right?

51:22 Speaker 1 Right. It, it was on a piece of paper, right. It wasn't-

51:25 Speaker 6 Yeah

51:25 Speaker 1 ... the size of the... But he wrote that it should be six tfachim, six tfachim. Each luchas was given gimel tfachim. The Rebbe wrote the word, "Onechi," and then wrote, "Beis gimel daled hei, lamed zayin tes tes yud." And also asked that the pasuk, "Torah tziva lanu Moshe morasha kehillas Yaakov," should be written on the mantle. But within the, the, the six tfachim, the one ama of the, of the luchas. In other words, the pasuk should not extend longer than the luchas. It should be within the mezuzah of, of the luchas. On the Etz Chaims, on each one of... The Rebbe ma-asked for two mantle, a blue one and a white one. A white one for the Yom Im Yoreh. In fact, the Rebbe sent $118 for each one of the... I think it was together with the Rebbetzin. If I remember, that was always told then, that, uh, in the name of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe sent for the two mantle, $118 for each one. And for the second one, the Rebbe sent it. Then the Merchus and Rabbi Quincy gave. Rabbi Grob different times sent $118 for each one of the mantle that are on the eight Sifrei Torah are... The Rebbe gave $118 for, for each of them to the Rebbe's Kupa. And, uh, that was the mantle. On top of the Etz Chaims should be written two psukim. One, "Torah tziva lanu Moshe morasha kehillas Yaakov," and "Etz Chaim hi limchazikim bo." We didn't have the Kav Yad

52:57 Speaker 1 at the first Siman Sefer Torah, so we also added the words, "Leshimcha meushar." But twice on the, on the Kav Yad, when we received the Kav Yad, later it came out in the Torah, the Rebbe just wrote, "Etz Chaim hi limchazikim bo." So the last, uh, two Etz Chaims only have the pasuk, "Etz Chaim hi limchazikim bo," without the words, "Leshimcha meushar." That was the Halacha l'Rabbonim, that we should do exactly what's written on the Kav Yad.

53:26 Speaker 6 And, um, I think there was also a, a heara about the, the Etz Chaim, that they should be wood, right?

53:36 Speaker 1 Rabbi Ruslavsky asked the Rebbe if we can use... I don't know if... What the question exactly was, if it was, "Can we make the Etz Chaims from silver, or should we put silver on, on top of it or around the Etz Chaims or the Etz Chaim itself should be?" But the Rebbe answered, "Etz Chaims is holz. Etz Chaim is wood." So all the Etz Chaims of the Children's Sefer Torah have no silver on it, no even silver plaques on top. Everything is inscribed in the wood of the Etz Chaim. The two psukim are inscribed and wr-within, in, in, in, uh, in the wood itself. At the second Siman Sefer Torah, the Rebbe also sent 20 coins, 20 matbehs. At that time, there were five liras, and five liras had a picture of a lion on it. Chasidim, I feel... We thought to ourselves, but the Rebbe didn't say why, but the Rebbe sent 20 coins that had a lion on it, and there was five, five liras. And we thought at that time that the 20 matbehs is chaf, then after maf. Aryeh is the mazal of Chabad Ish Av, Mazal Aryeh. And five corresponds, corresponds to the Chamisha Chumshei Torah. 'Cause on the certificate, there's a picture of a wall of the old city that has five stones. And although we didn't... It wasn't the... That wasn't the intention, but the Rebbe says, even though they didn't have that in mind, but bas garchum frates, there are five stones corresponding to the Chamisha Chumshei

55:16 Speaker 1 Torah.

55:17 Speaker 6 But it was a hirah to put the wall, right?

55:23 Speaker 1 Mm, not that I remember.

55:27 Speaker 6 So it was just the Mekames Achdesha?

55:29 Speaker 1 Mekames Achdesha. There was no hirah to put the wall. But since it was, uh, the old city was written, so we... A, a wall was put on. Maybe the graphic artists decide. I don't exactly remember.

55:40 Speaker 6 That's part of what the Rebbe said, that it should be done-

55:43 Speaker 1 He said it after-

55:43 Speaker 6 ... done famous.

55:46 Speaker 1 Yeah.

55:47 Speaker 6 Uh, and, um, the Rebbe sent... So, uh, the Rebbe sent Rav Zalman Garrari to bring the Kesser.

55:56 Speaker 1 Zal... So when he dono-donated the Kesser, it was 100... It was a $80,000 Kesser at the time Ruzalman was in Europe at the time. It was very hot in the summer, and the Rebbe, he got a call from Rabbi Chadikov that the Rebbe wants him to come to Eretz Yisroel and put the kesar on, on the Se- on the Sefir HaTehirah. When he brought the kesar, the kesar it, it came from New York. Ruzalman came from Schweiz, and I think his grandson, uh, Yossi, brought the kesar from... Yossi Sferberg brought the kesar from, from, from New York. You know, it was insured and a safe, a safe was made in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, and the kesar, the... is kept in that, in that, uh, in that, in that safe at all times. It's taken out only by a siyum or Rosh Ha- Rosh Hashana, Sefirat HaOmer, Yom Kippur. That, that kesar is taken out and put on the first Sefir HaTehirah. Each one of the Sifrei Tehirah are in the Aron Kodesh of the Tzemach Tzedek, and every week, a different sefer is taken out to, to, to, to lain it, to be read in. The Sifrei Tehirah do not go out of the Tzemach Tzedek Shul. They're in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul at all time. In fact, one time they already enlarged the, the Aron Kodesh, and now for the next siyum, they enlarge it a-another time so that there should be more room for, for the children's Sefir HaTehirah. And hopefully, with

57:30 Speaker 1 the help of Hashem, we're gonna finish ninth. And as long as there are Jewish children, uh, like the Rebbe said at the first siyum Sefir HaTehirah, that before the siyum of the Sefir HaTehirah, before the first siyum, Mashiach will come and community Yisroel that were Mechabed are not some shuvim special people with writing the letters of the Ein Hakol Yisroel, so Mashiach will be given that zechus to finish the last letters of the Ein Hakol Yisroel.

57:59 Speaker 6 Was there herosh from the Rebbe of how long... After the first one that the Rebbe said should be done in four months, was there a herosh of how often it should happen? Wasn't-

58:07 Speaker 1 No.

58:07 Speaker 6 There wasn't a clear-

58:08 Speaker 1 No. No, but he said that sin- the Rebbe said that since it's a second Sefir HaTehirah, you should have extra merits, extra activity, and extra strength. You need more than just what the Rebbe did in the first Sefir HaTehirah, you know. That's why it took several years. The second one finished. Each one took longer than, than... In the, in the later years, in the last few years, because of the new communication between Chassidim and publicity all over the world, whether it's, it's, whether it's WhatsApp or internet or... That is used to spread the, the message, more people are involved and more children are written up because of that. Besides the fact that there are so many more Chassidim than-- that are involved in the campaign than... But the, the avail-- the possibility to reach the rege echad so many Jews, everybody, the whole Jewish community and all Chassidim all over the world, is what helped that people, more people get involved in signing up children for Sefir Tehirah, especially now you can do it online, and you can do groups and, and schools, entire schools within a day. You can get... You can just send an Excel file, and it goes straight into the computer, processed, a lottery sele- a printed PDF sent by email, and then the rest takes mail. Mail is very problematic, aside because of the price, aside because of the postal service. Not all certificates get to their place to the... where they're supposed to get. A lot of certificates come

59:35 Speaker 1 back in the mail because of either one detail not correct in the address or, or the postman didn't find the place, so he just didn't look over work himself for, for getting the place, um, which is why it is very important to send an email address on, and especially if you do it online, put in an email address because that will ensure that the child will see the certificate even before it comes in the mail. That hopefully will come in the mail.

1:00:06 Speaker 6 Um, so-

1:00:07 Speaker 1 A lot of schools-

1:00:09 Speaker 6 There-

1:00:09 Speaker 1 A lot of schools don't even ask for the printed copy because they wanna give out a copy. And today with, with modern printers, they put in a, a thicker paper and get a good color printing of a certificate that they give out to the children in school because they want it quick. They don't wanna wait for the mail.

1:00:25 Speaker 6 Right. Is there, um, something from the Rebbe about signing up right away even before there's a name, or that's mimic Chassidim? W-what does that, uh, the way people do it, where does that come from?

1:00:36 Speaker 1 Several times by Fabregin. I remember one time... In the beginning, the Rebbe said that, that a letter should be bought as soon as the child is born. In other words, the first thing that a child should ha- do in Tehillim is connect with a letter in the Sefir HaTehirah. It's a kesher nishtane. Rebbe said it several times. I remember one time in-- at the siyum Chof Menachem Av, by the second siyum, the Rebbe spoke about the siyum that took place today in Yerushalayim. And, um, Rebbeth, and then the Rebbe says, "And I, I wanna mention again, and we will edit it again, that a letter should be bought as soon as the child is born. And when the child is given a name, you should let the office know what the name is so that we can fill it in. But the letter should be bought right away." There were times I heard from, from Rabbi... Rabbi Groner once told me that there were times of people that wrote letters, wro- wrote for a bracha, for refuah, for a child, for, for a preemie. And the Rebbe said, "Letter in the Sefir HaTehirah." That doctor child already has a letter in the Sefir HaTehirah. And there were some times that the Rebbe said that they should let us know in the office what name they're planning to give because having the name will be in-- will quicken the hamshchas habracha, the bracha from the Hamashach to, to, to the child. You shouldn't publicize it or

1:01:57 Speaker 1 print the certificate. It just be quietly for the office without publicity. And when the child is given the name after the bris, then you should, uh, let them know and have the certificate printed.

1:02:08 Speaker 6 So if you know the name Right away, it's-- when it's before the Bris, you're saying it's recommended to write the name to the office in, in, uh, in, in the certificate?

1:02:20 Speaker 1 The Rebbe said it only in the case of, of a, of a, of a Bracha for Refuah. He said, he said, "Ad Rabbi," he said, "Buy the letter right away, and after the Bris, let, let the, let the office know." There were certain-

1:02:32 Speaker 6 After the Bris

1:02:32 Speaker 1 ... cases after the Bris, after the person's given, after the child's given a name, let them know the, the name. It was only in certain instances when, when it was a child needed a special Bracha that the Rebbe said, uh, it wasn't just waiting for the Bris, but needed a special Bracha for Refuah, the Rebbe said that, "Let us know the name."

1:02:50 Speaker 6 So practically, well, the way to do it is sign up and add a name, and then after the Bris, send an email or whatever that-

1:02:57 Speaker 1 Right

1:02:57 Speaker 6 ... there's a name there, and then they have to redo the certificate.

1:03:00 Speaker 1 Right. They do it online. On the, on... It's, the, it's, it's a, it's pointed out that if it's before the Bris, s- fill in no name or before Bris something, and let us know. I mean, with an email or, or the what, what the, uh, to the office, what the name is, and then we'll process it with the name.

1:03:20 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm. And, and y-so you're saying that you've seen in, in recent years that there's much more of an, an awareness and, uh, people are, uh, you know, Shluchim-

1:03:29 Speaker 1 Right

1:03:30 Speaker 6 ... are signing up kids and then-

1:03:31 Speaker 1 Correct

1:03:31 Speaker 6 ... you know.

1:03:32 Speaker 1 Correct. Correct.

1:03:34 Speaker 6 Uh.

1:03:34 Speaker 1 There's definitely more of an awareness. We-- There, there's a lot more publicity today. There's a lot... There's, it's easier to reach the world, easier to reach every single world, you know. Communication, the Rebbe says to use that communication, the, all the, the new developments, and that's what we try and do, and to use it out, and, and it, it has its effect. It's a fact that, uh, more, more people are involved, more schools are involved, more children are signed up because it, it, it, it's more obvious. It's more...

1:04:04 Speaker 6 Right. And, um, so it's interesting, it's like another Inyan. Uh, it's also... This is al- it also connects to the Sefir HaKoli, which came out afterwards, right? Among Chassidim is brought to you by Chassidishe Der Her. We live in a chaotic world, a world where for us Chassidim, as a seiinu, lei rainu, we do not have the ability to hear and see the Rebbe on a daily basis. Yet we know that the Rebbe is very much with us, and Chassidus Chabad is alive and thriving more than ever before. One needs to only tap into it. Chassidishe Der Her provides you and your family with the tools necessary to tap into all of this, whether it's the monthly magazine, the way it all began, whether it's Der Her books, Der Her online content, and so much more. Men, women, and children throughout the world benefit and use these tools on a daily basis. Whether it's children enjoying the children's magazine that comes along with the regular Der Her or enjoying the children's podcast, whether it's Bachurim in Yeshivas receiving the Der Her, whether it's girls in high schools enjoying Der Her Club in their local high school. People all over the world and from all walks of life enjoy and utilize these tools and take advantage of it. If you're not already subscribed to Der Her monthly magazine, do so today at derher.org. That's D-E-R-H-E-R.org. Der Her is a dynamic organization which is committed to continue providing these tools, grow on a constant basis, and do

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1:06:19 Speaker 1 At the end of the year, on Tu B'Shevat, Erev Rosh Hashanah of that year, well, Rosh Hashanah, Tu B'Shevat, the Rebbe said, "I got a complaint from a Jew in Israel." And he said, "Why am I involved only with children? Hefos Sheyesh Bechet. What about adults? We also want letters in the Sefer Tor. So the Rebbe said he's gonna start. He did have an interesting point. He didn't say the word Hefos Sheyesh Bechet. He said Hefos that Shayas to the in-- that, that could perhaps come to, to Chet. The Rebbe didn't say Chet. And so right after Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe will announce the campaign, and at the Fabringen of the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe said that now that we finished the children's Sefer Tor, I don't remember the Maaromokum, but I remember the Rebbe saying it, that now that we finished Achdus with children, and it's easier to create Achdus by children because they're deis. Their opinions are not so, uh, opposite one from another, and their Achdus is easier for children. But since we brought down Achdus in the world, now we can start Achdus with adults. And we need this quick Achdus. And the Rebbe said, "Tomchei Temimim and Beis Rifke should each write a Sefer Tor for their s- members, for their, to, their students, for their families." And a question was asked, "How can you take a letter in the Sefer Tor of Beis Rifke or Tomchei Temimim from somebody that's not a, a student

1:07:46 Speaker 1 of Tomchei Temimim or what-- not an alumni of Tomchei Temimim?" So the Rebbe said that as soon as they give money for a letter, they become a connected with the Moses, they become a supporter of the Moses. So Memei was already Shayas to Tomchei Temimim and, and, and Beis Rifke. So they can have Shayas to, to that Sefer Tor. And then that was with the beginning. We started with Tomchei Temimim. I think Tomchei Temimim wrote about six or seven Sefer Tor. Beis Rifke wrote many Sefer Tor And I don't know exactly if they're writing one today, but there are other places in the country, in, in the world, like in, in, in Eretz Yisroel, Eretz Rabbi Yerucham in Kiryat in the, in the north and in, in the Qiryat writes a Sefer Torah Klali, and that is active, continuously active of getting letters in the Sefer Torah. And, uh, but originally, the Rebbe started the campaign with 12 women and, and the Beis Rivkah.

1:08:40 Speaker 6 It's very interesting that the, the Yahdi Yisroel and the one for adults, Sefer Torah Klali has like a whole... It's a very different function. So you see about, uh, the Sefer Torah Klali is written by Moses, and there's multiple of them. Yahdi Yisroel, it's like a standalone, like organization. It's like a, it's a whole different formula.

1:09:00 Speaker 1 Right. There's only one Sifre- Sefer Torah written being for children. For adults, there were Moses, different Moses that asked the Rebbe if they can write a Sefer Torah Klali, and the Rebbe allowed it. But then what started happening was everybody started writing a Sefer Torah, and then at a dif- two different Sichas in, in, in, in Tishrei, Teshri Mem Beis, the Rebbe said, "There's no inyan, there's no purpose in have- writing many Sifrei Torah." Because the purpose is that each Sefer Torah should be completed, filled up with three hundred thousand people buying letters. And if everybody's gonna have a, a Sefer Torah, you won't be able to fill up a Sefer Torah. That means those that started already should continue, but there's no inyan to write another Sefer Torah Klali. People write Sifrei Torah for themselves or even a whole Sefer Torah for themselves. But the Rebbe said that the Ba'ein Ha'arech, it doesn't compare to a Sefer Torah Klali where each person buys only one letter. 'Cause that way, more than, more, more people, more Yidden un- unite in the Sefer Torah, three hundred thousand. Three hundred thousand the, the, the Jews w- li- write in a Sefer Torah. And the more Jews, Yidden that write, that join in the Sefer Torah, the achdus is a greater one. So that's why Sefer Torah is c- different. The Rebbe said even if somebody writes a Sefer Torah for themself, it's not compared to the, the... And not the Eretz to the, to, to, to a,

1:10:23 Speaker 1 a general Sefer Torah where you're mesached in a full of Tmidis with, with, with, with Yidden all over the world, which is what the purpose of the campaign is achdus. In the Fabregen, uh, Vayishlach. Vayishlach Mem Alef from Mem Beis, I think, the Rebbe said that the Mitzvah of us, of Se- of Sefer Torah is a snif. It's a branch of the Mitzvah of Ahavat Yisroel and Achdut Yisroel. It's the same, it's the same idea. It's interesting that the, the Mitzvah, the, the Mitzvah of, of 11 Nissan, of Sefer Torah is connected with Achdus. And also the Mitzvah, the Takanah of the Rebbe on, on-- The Rebbe called it sometimes also a Mitzvah, Rambam. The Beis with Takanah, that is also an inyan of Achdus, that everybody... Yidden, the Rebbe said that Yidden Klal Yisroel should be learning the, learning the same thing. Interesting, but Mem Alef, Mem Daled and Daled Mem, the Rebbe-- These two m- inyanim are the Rebbe's inyanim. The Rebbe said it's a thing that the Rebbe took upon himself. The Rebbe said on, on his Mitzvah. Einer fun di zav was a ginuman of zich, ginuman of zich by also on the Rambam and also on, on Sefer Torah, like, uh, the Rebbe, like, took it upon himself as a, like a special inyan. It that-- Not like a Mitzvah, all the other Mitzvot are Mitzvot in Torah. But this idea of Achdus or Sefer Torah and learning Rambam, the kind of Rambam are like private things that the Rebbe

1:11:49 Speaker 1 said upon it, "I took it upon myself," uh, to, for, for, for Klal Yisroel. Both of them, inyanim of Ahavat Yisroel and Achdut Yisroel, which ki yadu that the stamor, our basic inyan, the one of the our important thing that the Rebbe wants from Chassidim, from Klal Yisroel, the Achdus. Achdus brings bracha. Ki yadu Alef Beis. Alef is Achdus, the Beis is bracha. Achdus brings Mamshan bracha, and that's what the Rebbe wanted with the, the campaign. Achdus will bring Mashiach, the Rebbe said.

1:12:24 Speaker 6 And, and, um, I'm saying every Fabregen, when the Rebbe mentioned the 10 Mitzvot, a- afterwards the Rebbe mentioned Eisav Sefer Torah. I'm saying that, that, that, uh, direct hemshot to the 10 Mitzvot.

1:12:37 Speaker 1 Kemat every time. There were times... There were some times that the Rebbe did not mention Sefer Torah for whatever reason. And, uh, the Rebbe once explained that, uh, that he's not mention-- He didn't mention it because, uh, most Yidden have letters in Sefer Torah, and it's something that, uh, for, for, for a reason that, uh... But every time, Kemat, every time the Rebbe mentioned it. Teshri Mem Vav was the last time that the Rebbe Bachla mentioned all the Mitzvot. Before the same Sefer Torah, the second same Sefer Torah, the Rebbe said that everybody should be Meshtatef, uh, be kufi, be nafshi, be mamoni in the same Sefer Torah. And, uh, then he mentioned all, he mentioned all the Sifrei Torah, all the Mitzvot after they said. And also the, the Mitzvah, the Mitzvah that we took up, that the ginuman of zich, that we took upon ourselves, a letter in Sefer Torah. And that was the last time that the Rebbe really counted out each one of the, of the Sefer Torah. Mem Zayin, Mem Ches afterwards-

1:13:40 Speaker 6 Of the Mitzvot?

1:13:40 Speaker 1 He, he said Mitzvot or Mitzvot Klali, inyanim klaliyam. And until, and from even after that, Mem Ches till Nun Beis, the only place that the Rebbe mentioned the word Mitzvot was in the Michtav Klali in the Bracha of Yut Tes Kislev. In the telegram of Yut Tes Kislev. The letter, the Michtav to Yut Tes Kislev mentions the Rebbe, the word Mitzvot. After that, the Rebbe us- used a different, different lashon for whatever reason.

1:14:08 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:14:09 Speaker 1 But that was after Mem Zayin, Mem Zayin time, the Ches. It was some of the last time. Sometimes he mentioned a few of them, Mitzvot, not even all of them, Mitzvot.

1:14:18 Speaker 6 You're saying the, the say that the Rebbe had at the end of the Fabregen to mention all the Mitzvot, the Rebbe stopped doing that?

1:14:24 Speaker 1 Right. Right. Right.

1:14:27 Speaker 6 And you were, um, you were living in Chabad while doing this?

1:14:33 Speaker 1 Yes.

1:14:33 Speaker 6 Or you were living-

1:14:33 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:14:34 Speaker 6 In Chabad the whole time?

1:14:35 Speaker 1 No, Chabad. I lived in Chabad until Tishri Mem Gimel was when we went to get involved also with, uh, with the, with, uh, my wife went to get involved with, with, with English-speaking, well, children and students in Yerushalayim, so we moved to Yerushalayim. But, uh, I was thinking what to do with the Sefer Torah, but the Rebbe-- I was told to continue the Sefer Torah. And the lashon that I heard from one of my client at the time was, "Fun danen veyst men nor dir," from here we know only you for the children's Sefer Torah. And it was at that time inTofshiman Gimel that the responsibility of the campaign was given... In the beginning, there were many people involved in the sefar Torah. But after the first sefar Torah, uh, a lot of the people that were involved only in the first went to do different things, and I was the only one that remained. And, uh, it was then that the, that the Rebbe replied that there's one person in charge of... And if I bring in Vayetse, Vayetse Mem Beis. After the general sefar Torah started, and the Rebbe said out of that fabringen that it's a keder deveshutfa. There's too many people, you know, too many cooks in, in, in the pot, in, in the pot, and he's not gonna succeed. The sefar Torah is not gonna move. This general sefar Torah is not gonna move unless-

1:16:01 Speaker 7 It's not about Eretz Israel. This is the-

1:16:02 Speaker 1 The, the general sefar Torah.

1:16:04 Speaker 7 The, yeah. Yeah.

1:16:05 Speaker 1 That the only way that there'd be a successful campaign is if there's one person, a responsible meshuggah laser dover, that he's in charge of, of the campaign. Otherwise-

1:16:16 Speaker 7 It's Russian?

1:16:16 Speaker 1 The Russian is, the Russian is-

1:16:18 Speaker 7 Meshuggah laser dover?

1:16:19 Speaker 1 That's what I remember. Meshuggah laser dover, one person. That's the Russian, that meshuggah laser dover, that he's involved totally in that union. That's what I understood at that time also, that if the children's sefar Torah is gonna continue, there has to be one person that, that's his union and that's his main union and that, uh, even though I did other things and other projects throughout the years in Jerusalem and I could have seen the Chabad in Israel and different, different campaigns and different, uh, other time. But my main thing that I was involved in-

1:16:48 Speaker 7 Meshuggah laser dover

1:16:50 Speaker 1 ... was meshuggah laser dover was the children's sefar Torah, and well, and that's, that's what it is.

1:16:57 Speaker 7 So back to the beginning of the shlichus in Eretz Israel. So the beginning, Tav Shalom Involves, you know, you're going to, to, to Tvas. I'm saying, you, you, there's no mission. You, you don't know, you don't know what, what, what the shlichus is exactly or how it's supposed to work. And here you are, you know, running the ninth Sefar Torah, and this is your union. So it's like this is what... You think about the whole shlichus, I mean, this is one-

1:17:22 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:17:23 Speaker 7 One hispatos of that, of that shlichus. You know, that, that, that's the-

1:17:26 Speaker 1 Yeah, sure.

1:17:27 Speaker 7 And each of the other shluchim have their own other, uh, um... But all this is also not only affecting Eretz Israel, it's affecting the whole world.

1:17:35 Speaker 1 Yeah. Of course.

1:17:38 Speaker 7 That's, that's the man.

1:17:39 Speaker 1 All the shluchim, it-- The Rebbe wanted each and every shliach to find a specific thing to do, whether to open a Chabad House, open a mesivta or become a Rov or become Dayanus or education. And Baruch Hashem, the Rebbe said when we were in, in the beginning, that Baruch Hashem, the Shluchim were matzliach. We made a ma'apecha. The Ikar ma'apecha, we feel that we did in Eretz Israel was to bring the Rebbe closer to, to an Ash in Eretz Israel at that time. You know, not a lot of-- not everybody was in seven seventy, not everybody went to seven seventy, not everybody had videos. In fact, uh, there, there were... Chassidim didn't even have... I remember bringing the first video machine in, uh, in Tofshim Mem Zayin. My wife and my son were in, in, were in, in, in, in Crown Heights. They're for, for by the Rebbe. And eight Teves, you know, it was the Rebbe-- It was... My wife's not supposed to have a ticket to come back on eight Teves. And then the, saw the re- reaction happening in seven seventy, so I told her to stay another day. And she stayed till Rov, and she came back Zayin. And that night when she came back, she brought with her a video machine. Tele- a little television screen with a video machine, and got from Chaim Boruch a cassette of the eight Teves. And that was the first, uh, uh, you know, what that we presented. Everybody started coming to the house

1:19:05 Speaker 1 to see the, the, the, the fabringen. It was the first time people saw videos from the Rebbe. That, that started in-

1:19:11 Speaker 7 Mem Zayin.

1:19:12 Speaker 1 Mem Zayin. In Mem Zayin. Um-

1:19:14 Speaker 7 But there was no hookup, uh, for the, the fabringen?

1:19:16 Speaker 1 There was a hookup, but there wasn't a visual. It was like the-

1:19:19 Speaker 7 There was no visual ever in the Mems?

1:19:25 Speaker 1 I don't think so. I don't know. I, I, I'm not sure. I don't know. Maybe. There was always videos. The videos also we, we started, uh... Well, also the audios we, we, with Rum, we had a push, the shluchim to push. You know, Laser Lichtstein started the, the, the-

1:19:42 Speaker 7 The hookups

1:19:43 Speaker 1 ... the hookups. Uh, Molech Grifkin started in Kfar Chabad, and, uh, we pushed it. We were up nights to, to find out if the Rebbe's coming back with the air, it would be a surprise fabringen or not. And a lot of our fabringens came down to show the closest shluchim that, uh, you know-

1:20:00 Speaker 7 So you-

1:20:00 Speaker 1 ... in the middle of the night, and we like were into it and finding when the Rebbe's coming back, is it gonna be a fabringen or-

1:20:06 Speaker 7 You're saying be-- until then, maybe the hookup was done in the major days, you know-

1:20:10 Speaker 1 Right

1:20:10 Speaker 7 ... when they knew in advance, and here the-

1:20:13 Speaker 1 Yeah. Right

1:20:13 Speaker 7 ... it happened much more often.

1:20:15 Speaker 1 Right. Because the shluchim that lived seven seventy were, you know, were, were more excited about getting involved in it and woke up the Israeli community to, to the-

1:20:25 Speaker 7 They, they, they, they, they didn't have access. They did-- You know, they, they didn't know what's going on.

1:20:31 Speaker 1 Tav Shalomid was the first. Tav Shalomid was the first hookup that, uh-

1:20:35 Speaker 7 That existed

1:20:35 Speaker 1 ... that Grifkin made in Kfar Chabad from Yit-- from Yitshak Hagadol. Yeah. There was a hookup.

1:20:41 Speaker 7 It reminds me of the first shlichus to Eretz Israel that the Rebbe sent Tav Shin Tezin. When the Rebbe, you know, after the ma- the, uh, the massacre in Kfar Chabad and the Rebbe sent the Shluchim. It reminds me a little bit of that 'cause I, I... We, uh, we did, uh, articles about it. We actually had an event once of, uh, all the Shluchim, and it was a similar thing That some of the, some of the older people, now today they're older, but then they were young, that was the first time they had access and hearing a, you know, a fresh, uh, regards from the Rebbe. So that, that, that was mamish. Taf Shin Zayin they didn't know anything. They probably didn't have pictures of the Rebbe even, you know, or, or re- or very few. Uh, but here it was like, I guess the next, uh, schlav in that, uh, uh, bringing, uh, connecting the Lubavitch in Eretz Yisrael to, to the Rebbe in New York.

1:21:37 Speaker 1 That's what we feel. That's, uh, Baruch Hashem. All Chabad houses started opening up after Taf Shin Lamed Vav. There were very few, uh, you know, the tzeidenu going out and being me'eir everybody to go out on shlichus started after those years 'cause the Rebbe wrote in, in, in, in the letter that one of the things is to open up new meisens, new Chabad houses, and that's what we spoke about when we made a tummel wherever we went, wherever we farbrengen, you know, shlichus, to go out there to be a shlicha, really that was shlicha. And Chabad, and that's when Chabad houses... There were very few Chabad houses at the time. That's when after the shlichus in Lamed Tes, that when it started growing, and then growing, and growing. Baruch Hashem today there's thousands all over the country.

1:22:20 Speaker 7 Yeah. And, and those that were went, was there any, um... That, that was picked by the Rebbe, the, the, that original group? You know, we don't know exactly.

1:22:31 Speaker 1 That's what, uh, we were told, that the Rebbe had the, the list, and that were given in. Not everybody was... At the beginning, the Rebbe said, "You have to be a year before the wedding, a year after the wedding, not affiliated with any other meisen." And, uh, and everybody should sign up. There were a lot of older sidnim that signed up at the time, you know, that, that, uh, everybody that signed up and wanted to go. There were married couples in Crown Heights that signed up. But I guess the Rebbe could be the maskirus, gave in those names that were shichas, that, that had the criteria, and the Rebbe picked from those, from tho- from those lists. The first group, there were two groups that went. They went, uh, one group went to Tzfat and another group went to, to, to Yerushalayim. Bigger families, married couples went to Tzfat and bochurim went to Yerushalayim. The second group, the Rebbe sent only families, only six families that went to Tzfat and there were no bochurim to Yerushalayim for whatever reason. Could be there was, were problems with the accommodations, uh, but there were no way for, for the bochurim. And the third group was again eight couples to Tzfat and eight bochurim to Yerushalayim. And the, the famous letter that, that, that afterwards that the Rebbe point, uh, detailed what a shlichus is and what it should be, and, and what should we be involved with. Baruch Hashem why the Rebbe stopped after Taf Shin Lamed

1:23:56 Speaker 1 Tes is a different, different reason. Nobody knows why, but, uh, hard to know.

1:24:05 Speaker 7 But, uh, yeah, I guess that also makes it a unique group that, you know, it's these three years, it's... And this is, this is the, you know, the pillars. I don't-

1:24:13 Speaker 1 But-

1:24:13 Speaker 7 That's the way it is. I don't-

1:24:15 Speaker 1 I was told... But I, Menachem Klein told me that he knows that the Rebbe's plan was to send a group every year. Why it stopped, tzadik.

1:24:29 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm. You di- you don't know. Okay.

1:24:32 Speaker 1 I don't know.

1:24:33 Speaker 7 Uh, let me ask you a question. Can I go backwards, uh, before, before the shlichus?

1:24:40 Speaker 1 Okay. Try.

1:24:42 Speaker 7 What, what, what... So you're learning in Bedford-Stuy, you, you're by the Rebbe every Sh- every Shabbos. Like, how did it work? You didn't live in Crown Heights, right?

1:24:52 Speaker 1 No, I wa- didn't live in Crown Heights. I lived in... Very few times that I, that those years I went. My family was not a Lubavitcher family, and they wanted me to get a Limudei Hara, a secular education. But the fact is that a lot of Lubavitchers also were in, in, in, in, were in elementary for sure, a lot of them. So all the Teires started without, without the Limudei, without the Limudei Hara. That's one of the reasons that all the Teires started. There should be any Limudei Hara at all. But till the eighth grade, there were some Lubavitchers that continued ninth grade, then dropped out, some 10th, some 11th, some even finished. But I finished, uh, eight grades of elementary and four years of high school, and I got a degree in high school. And, uh, my parents, of course, like anybody fr- that grew up in, in, in America at the time, of all the couples, all the families that came over from Europe wanted their children to get a college education-

1:25:53 Speaker 7 Your parents are Holocaust survivors?

1:25:56 Speaker 1 Yeah, sure. They, they, they went through the war.

1:25:59 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

1:25:59 Speaker 1 They came out after... They came out in '48. They came to America. They went through camps in, in, in, in, in Russia and Italy and then, then came to the United States with, uh, lots of, uh... And they wanted their children, of course, to get a college education. And there were difficulties, you know, the difference of opinion, my opinion, their opinion. And it took a while, and a lot of support from the Rebbe. The-

1:26:25 Speaker 7 You asked the Rebbe about this?

1:26:27 Speaker 1 Yeah, the long yechidus in, in... From the Rebbe about, uh-

1:26:31 Speaker 7 What, what happened at that yechidus?

1:26:34 Speaker 1 Basically, the Rebbe explained what college is, what a university is, and, uh, it's not a place for a bocher. But, uh-

1:26:38 Speaker 7 With your... You had yechidus with your parents?

1:26:41 Speaker 1 No, no, myself. But, uh, he gave me guidance and direction how to talk to my parents about it, you know. And then they agreed. Slowly they agreed and-

1:26:49 Speaker 7 What was the guidance?

1:26:50 Speaker 1 It was, uh, to, to get somebody that knows their... That someone that, that a s- a child would not be able to influence their parents to get somebody on the outside that knows their characteristics. The Rebbe used the Russian Characterist- characteristics from the Yiddish, uh, and to explain to them, to influence them, to be mashpia on them, to let, uh, to let me stay in seven 70. And that's what happened.

1:27:22 Speaker 7 But by you it's clear-

1:27:22 Speaker 1 That's what... That's one of the reason, but my, my class went to Newark, Chof Ches and Chof Tes, but I went straight to seven 70.

1:27:31 Speaker 7 Because what?

1:27:33 Speaker 1 For, for whatever, for personal reasons, whatever. For-

1:27:35 Speaker 7 You just need to be near your parents.

1:27:37 Speaker 1 Whatever. Yeah, different, different, uh, circumstances.

1:27:42 Speaker 7 So by, by you it's clear that you didn't wanna c- d- that you didn't want.

1:27:46 Speaker 1 Yeah. Big problem, yeah.

1:27:49 Speaker 7 So your question for the Rebbe was how to talk to your parents. It wasn't a question about whether you should go to college or not.

1:27:54 Speaker 1 Right.

1:27:55 Speaker 7 'Cause there were other people I know that wanted to go to college, and the Rebbe told them... Rebbe had to tell them that it... That's not a good idea. So you're saying it was a, it was a different-

1:28:04 Speaker 1 No, but the Rebbe, but the... Yeah, but the Rebbe, you see, the strength and the opinion of not going to, of not going to college by telling me what the, what college is all about.

1:28:15 Speaker 7 What did the Rebbe say?

1:28:15 Speaker 1 One of the expressions the Rebbe used, one of the expressions of it, right? The, the longest Chiddush Hastam from almost 20 minutes, but that, uh, the Rebbe says, "I know what college is. I know what the university is. I myself was in college, and I know what goes on there. I know who the professors are, I know what the environment is. But I was 28, and I was after marriage. I was married." And for a bocher, it's a, a, a big nisayon. It's not, uh-

1:28:46 Speaker 7 Hmm.

1:28:47 Speaker 1 And...

1:28:50 Speaker 7 Yeah. So you-

1:28:52 Speaker 1 It's the same not until today that the people say what nobody know. They don't publicize what goes on in universities. They say, you know, just lately most professor most, most professors are apikorsim. It's a big nisayon for a bocher to, uh, a bocher who is 18 or 19 or 17. That was a

1:29:18 Speaker 7 So you went to seven 70 at 18. Was, was that typical then?

1:29:22 Speaker 1 No.

1:29:22 Speaker 7 Or mostly... Are you 17, mostly they're not?

1:29:24 Speaker 1 Yeah, more typical.

1:29:27 Speaker 7 So you were like the youngest bocher in seven 70?

1:29:31 Speaker 1 Yeah. A lot of the bochurim I met there were bochurim that were in Bedford by, by Yale Shiur in Yeshivah Katanah. But when they went to Mesivta... Well, I used to go home, but, uh, the older bochurim came that those days. Chof Ches-

1:29:45 Speaker 7 So you, so you were in the Yeshivah Katanah. You were in the high school. It's a different thing.

1:29:49 Speaker 1 No. Limudei Chaim was the same. Limudei Kodesh was the same. And it stopped at three clock. Limudei Chaim was from 3:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon. From, uh, five o'clock I went home, but the older bochurim came to, yeah, would come to, to, to, to Bedford. And, uh, at five o'clock or whatever, they did a shiur for the bochurim that stayed, for the bochurim that didn't go to Limudei Chaim.

1:30:14 Speaker 7 So you're saying those are the bochurim you met in seven 70?

1:30:17 Speaker 1 When I came seven 70, I met them seven... I met them then also. I knew them. I saw them around. But the bochurim then, uh, there were the You were just in seven 70 the whole time. What was happening to-

1:30:47 Speaker 7 No, but I'm talking when I was in Bedford, I'm talking about.

1:30:50 Speaker 1 Ah.

1:30:50 Speaker 7 When I came to seven 70, I was in seven 70, whatever. How many bochurim in seven 70 then?

1:30:55 Speaker 1 The zal was upstairs. The learning was upstairs. There was a time that they started a shiur in the vibber shul where Rabbi Grodner's office is. That was a part of the vibber shul. There was another cl- class, the first class that of, of seven 70, I think was, I was there in that class. The Midrash Shiur from Richard Wright board but gave the shiur. And that's when I started-

1:31:17 Speaker 7 What year did you say this is?

1:31:19 Speaker 1 Chof Ches. 57 Chof Ches.

1:31:22 Speaker 7 So there was still a vibber shul by, uh, by-

1:31:24 Speaker 1 That was the vibber shul. That room was the vibber shul. That... There was no afterwards till they, till they broke the walls and they made one.

1:31:35 Speaker 7 And w- what, what was it like 57 Chof Ches in, in seven 70 by the Rebbe? I'm thinking you saw, you saw the Rebbe in Shabbos, Mincha, Ma'ariv. Like, what, what was the interaction?

1:33:07 Speaker 1 In Chof Ches.

1:33:07 Speaker 7 What was the interaction-

1:33:07 Speaker 1 The Rebbe?

1:33:08 Speaker 7 Yeah.

1:33:08 Speaker 1 What do you mean? The, the, what, what bochurim do today. I mean, we do all the years. The, the... You come to Everything, we have Yom HaNim, we have Yuchidisim, and people are involved and getting stuff, and, uh, everything is printing. I, I don't remember. I don't have memories. I don't have a memory of the twelfth for everything, so I don't... Because you don't remember these things.

1:33:32 Speaker 7 Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh, so, uh, hopefully there will be, uh, many more Yidden that will, uh, make sure that they're doing all that they can to, uh, sign up for, uh, more, more children for, uh, A Specific Torah for Yahud Israel. And, um-

1:33:54 Speaker 1 Ev- everybody should get involved in their shlichas and find a Zohar Tvei. Everybody needs a Zohar Tvei. They can shugge a sedover what that thing could then do with a different chayetz. And we should all get involved in, in the, the campaign, save from Ardus, Avi Yisroel, and Ardus Yisroel. And, uh, today the campaign, the, the Lehavi L'Maaseh Moshiach to bring Moshiach Kipshuti, L'Matan Masoret Fochim, the Zgalas, B'kor Mamish, and every- the Limud Inyoni shel G'ul Moshiach, which that's the, the main campaign today. Everything is Choder. Everything is permeated with, with every letter in the Sefer Torah, like we say, "Od Ot Kum Moshiach." In other words, "Od Ot Kum Moshiach." Every letter is another step to bringing Moshiach closer, and every pool that everybody does is, and, and, and get involved in the Rebbe's Inyanim to, to, to finish the Zgalas, to bring Moshiach. Amen.

1:34:51 Speaker 7 It can happen now.

1:34:53 Speaker 1 Amen. Yeah.

1:34:54 Speaker 7 Hashekayacha, Rabbi Greisman. A tzachon haba.

1:34:58 Speaker 1 You too.

1:34:59 Speaker 7 Thank you.

1:35:00 Speaker 1 You too. Bye.