Ep. 43: A Yud Aleph Nissan Farbrengen with Rabbi Shais Taub

00:00 Speaker 1 So it's not that the Rebbe has this incredible bikiyus, and he's the answer man. You can ask him any question, and he can pull out an answer. Not the point. The point is that anybody can ask the Rebbe, "Hey, this is what's going on in my life," and the Rebbe cares and has insight. Like, that's the mind-blowing thing.

00:24 Speaker 2 This episode is brought to you by Machane Israel. As Yud Aleph Nisan comes and we prepare to write panim to the Rebbe, there's another integral component to a pan, which is called the meipan. If you want to learn more about what this is, stay tuned later in the episode. I'm Yossi Kamen. Welcome to Among Chassidim by Der Her, an ongoing farbrengen about life as a Chassid, our vibrant connection with the Rebbe, and inspired living shaped by the way he teaches us each and every day. Shalom Aleichem, Rabbi Taub. How are you?

01:04 Speaker 1 I was waiting to hear those magic words. You're famous for it.

01:08 Speaker 2 Okay, you got it.

01:09 Speaker 1 Okay. Do you really n- want to know how I am? Or it's a formality?

01:13 Speaker 2 The sh- the short version, yeah.

01:14 Speaker 1 Short version. Okay. I'm thrilled to be here talking with you. I was wondering when my chance would come.

01:23 Speaker 2 Okay.

01:23 Speaker 1 There's so much that I've been holding back, and I've been waiting for some peer-some rishon.

01:29 Speaker 2 Exactly.

01:29 Speaker 1 Okay.

01:29 Speaker 2 Okay, so thank you so much.

01:30 Speaker 1 All right.

01:30 Speaker 2 And we're actually sitting in, uh, in your studio.

01:33 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. But-

01:34 Speaker 2 So thank you for hosting me

01:35 Speaker 1 ... this is not my podcast. This is your podcast.

01:37 Speaker 2 Okay, excellent.

01:38 Speaker 1 I'm your guest.

01:40 Speaker 2 So this is a special recording and a special podcast that we're doing that's going to be released on Yud Aleph Nisan. So that's when people are listening to this.

01:49 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

01:49 Speaker 2 And Yud Aleph Nisan is obviously a day when every Chassid and everyone is looking to connect to the Rebbe. I think that's what we'll talk about.

01:56 Speaker 1 Okay.

01:57 Speaker 2 And I would like to begin, I know there's a special-

02:00 Speaker 1 You don't always talk about connecting to the Rebbe? What else do you talk about?

02:03 Speaker 2 Yeah, but, you know, now we're actually addressing- ... addressing it.

02:06 Speaker 1 How to do it, yeah.

02:08 Speaker 2 Um, there's a special project that you have been involved in and working on and teaching, which is, I think, I believe it's called 30 Letters, 30 Days.

02:18 Speaker 1 30 Letters in 30 Days, yeah.

02:19 Speaker 2 Which is about learning the Rebbe's Igros-

02:21 Speaker 1 Yes

02:21 Speaker 2 ... which is obviously, we're talking about the Rebbe, let's talk about-

02:25 Speaker 1 Yeah

02:25 Speaker 2 ... I think let's talk about that.

02:26 Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay. So first of all, 30 days is a concept of shleishim yemim lefy nei chat, right? The concept 30 days before any yom tov, you start to prep for the yom tov. So, uh, you don't just go in and expect, uh, everything's gonna happen automatically. You have to put in your work. So we came up with this concept nu- a number of years ago to prepare properly for Yud Aleph Nisan. Now, when it comes to Yud Aleph Nisan, we know the Rebbe expressed pretty clearly what his wishes were as far as birthday gifts. Um, gifts of Torah, Torah study. So any, any Torah is beautiful. You can learn a Maimar, you can, uh, learn a Masechta. But obviously, learning the Rebbe's Torah itself has a special kashivas, a special importance. And then I had, uh, an agenda, which was specifically learning the Rebbe's Igros because I felt that it was something that had been undervalued. People... Of course, the whole world knows about the Rebbe's Torah. The world, I mean, thank God today, I'm saying today. Um, because in the past, maybe people knew more about other aspects of the Rebbe, um, the Avas Israel, shlichas, um, even, even mofsim, miracles. Today, baruch Hashem, the Rebbe's Torah is very well known. Obviously, could it be even more well known. But mostly the sichas and the maimotem. What I felt was undervalued and under-recognized was the Igros as a form of actual learning. Um, I mean, you, you get around, you talk to a lot

04:16 Speaker 1 of people. Have you found that to be the case? You told me before we started that you're gonna be quiet and ask me questions.

04:22 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

04:22 Speaker 1 And I warned you. I said, "I'm gonna get you to say interesting stuff." What have you found? Do you f- find that people are aware that Igros is a real serious, uh, limud, something to learn?

04:31 Speaker 2 You might be... I think you're right. Generally, it's not seen that way. Could be, uh, the circles that I hung out in, there wasn't em- there was an emphasis on that. I mean, I personally have read many, many, many Igros. You know, ala seider. Actually, whenever I bring people to the ohel, that's what I do then. Before we go in-

04:50 Speaker 1 Beautiful

04:51 Speaker 2 ... we wanna learn something from the Rebbe. That, that's what I always-

04:53 Speaker 1 Learn a letter

04:53 Speaker 2 ... I always, I learn a letter from the Rebbe, always.

04:54 Speaker 1 Any letter, or you have certain letters you like to go to?

04:56 Speaker 2 No, anything.

04:58 Speaker 1 It's beautiful. Yeah. Um, when I started 30 Letters in 30 Days, there were people, um, I mean, like, unzere, like Chabad, who were like, "What, what are you gonna learn? What are you gonna... ""Shalom U'bracha in Brooklyn, New York." Like, uh, ""Maana Im Achdaveit." Like, what, what are you gonna..." 'Cause they're thinking of it like, unfortunately, like, um, a formality, kind of like, okay, like the, you read the letter under the chuppah, you read the letter at a bris, right? And so it's a nusach, which by the way, even those letters, it's not just a nusach. Everything, everything there is exact and precise. But there's a special connection to the Rebbe's worldview that really, in some ways, you can only get through Igros. What I mean by, by that is this. In the sichas, you see lamdus, you see the Rebbe's depth as far as Torah scholarship. Maimotem is obviously more the Pnimias Hatorah, the, the, the- Chassidus, you know, the, the mystical concepts. And every- everything the Rebbe teaches always is, you know, Hederah. Like, To- Torah, Halachah, and Hederah, right? Everything is practical. But in Igris, you actually see the practical. Like, you see the practical on a whole other level because the Rebbe's writing to a real person with a real situation, the Rebbe's spelling it out how it's gonna look in this person's life. And it's the same Rebbe, the same Rebbe who says the Maamarim and the Sichas, but now you're seeing how that Rebbe spells it out and applies

06:43 Speaker 1 it to a real person's situation, and there's something really, really powerful in that. Um, the, the Rebbe spoke about, about, um, the Gemara, like, "Inisha Daita Derabba Ada Bo Yom Shnin," right? Takes 40 years till you really learn what the master was talking about, and the Rebbe made several diyukim about that. But, uh, o- one of the diyukim is, what does it mean, likaya inisha daita derabba? He stands up, he becomes sufficient, he becomes, um, not just repeating words that he heard, but he can pick it up and run with it. Also, i- in, in a similar vein, uh, Daito. It's not just the Deus. It's not just, "Oh, what was the Rebbe's opinion about this? What was the Rebbe's opinion about that?" Daito means the same mind, the same worldview that arrived at this concept you can use to understand all concepts. So if the goal of a Chassid is not j- not just to know what the Rebbe said, but to understand the how did the Rebbe arrive at it, what are the values that the Rebbe is teaching us as tools to apply to understanding different situations. If it's not just about knowing the Rebbe said this, the Rebbe said that, and then, you know, which is very important, um, obviously having, uh, familiar-familiarity with the, with the different subjects that the Rebbe spoke about and when the Rebbe spoke about it and yeah. One of the things Deheret does beautifully, by the way, I mean, it does many things beautifully. One

08:24 Speaker 1 of the things I love about Deheret is charting the, historically, the, the evolution of a concept. The, th-that's one of the things I love, where it will show like how the Rebbe took a theme and developed it over years. Like, I love that. Um, but when, when you see it in a letter to a person about a life, uh, a woman who's a mother with children or a, a teacher who's working with, with, with youth, or like a, a businessman who's worried about he's not gonna have f-food to feed his family, and you-- someone who's getting, going in for an operation, like real-life issues, all of that approach, that, that, the tzugang, you know, the, the, the way of looking at life, how to look at something, how to approach something, and you're seeing it in real life, that's when, for me, at least, it becomes so real. And, uh, yeah, that's, to me, one of the things about Igris that makes the connection to the Rebbe through Torah. Obviously, the, the, the famous, uh, letter the Rebbe said that the, the Ikar hiskashrus is through limud, right? What's the, that, uh, geulah chukal hiskashrus, right? The great yearning for hiskashrus. First, maybe we have to back up and say, how do you get the chuka?

09:43 Speaker 2 Okay.

09:44 Speaker 1 But let's say that you do have the chuka, that ein, ein yocha lasvia, you can't satiate it except by learning-

09:52 Speaker 2 Interesting

09:52 Speaker 1 ...the Torah, right. So the Ikar hiskashrus is through Torah. But yeah, the Igris is, uh, it's a whole other level, yeah.

10:00 Speaker 2 What I think you're saying, I understand, is that-

10:03 Speaker 1 Yeah

10:05 Speaker 2 ...in general, people have a dilemma in life, or they're trying to figure out what should, what their next move should be.

10:10 Speaker 1 Yeah.

10:10 Speaker 2 Something like that. So people might be in the dark, like, "What would the Rebbe tell me?"

10:16 Speaker 1 Right, right.

10:17 Speaker 2 Now, if you're educated and you educate yourself through the Rebbe's Teyre Bahual-

10:23 Speaker 1 Right

10:23 Speaker 2 ...and specifically through the Igris, you're able to approach many things in life, and by the way, advise others with the Rebbe's, the Rebbe's look-

10:31 Speaker 1 Right

10:31 Speaker 2 ...at things. And, and it's not one letter, it's something that you picked up over many letters that you learned.

10:36 Speaker 1 Correct.

10:36 Speaker 2 And that's something that you're talking about,

10:38 Speaker 1 koy inisha daita derabba. That's something that you can gain in the Rebbe's Teyre Bahual and specifically through Igris, that, that, that type of clarity. Right. How would the Rebbe look at something? Meaning, not theoretically, how, um, based on what the Rebbe taught, what the Rebbe put out there.

10:53 Speaker 2 And you're only getting that through learning the Igris.

10:56 Speaker 1 And I, I don't think a lot of people know also that it was the Rebbe himself who pushed the Igris.

11:00 Speaker 2 So actually, people don't know yet. I mean, people know about this, but there will be a future podcast where I interviewed Rabbi Ber Levin.

11:08 Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

11:09 Speaker 2 And in that interview, he spells out and talks about specifically how the Rebbe instructed him to publish the Rebbe's Igris. It was not his idea.

11:18 Speaker 1 Right.

11:19 Speaker 2 He had no i-- He had never thought of doing that. He was doing the previous Rebbe, and he thought, you know, they're printing all kinds of Sichas. What does that have to do with, with his work, with the Igris Kodesh? He did his Kodesh on the previous Rebbe.

11:26 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

11:26 Speaker 2 Then it came straight from the Rebbe.

11:28 Speaker 1 Right.

11:28 Speaker 2 The Rebbe sent him a, a, a, a stack of letters, "Start with this, see if there's anything to print." And that's how the whole project began.

11:34 Speaker 1 Right.

11:35 Speaker 2 And there's also a story, I don't know if it's a true story. Apparently, the Rebbe asked if people are learning it. Do you know, are you familiar with the story?

11:42 Speaker 1 I heard the sto- yeah, but yeah, if, if, if, if they're learning the, the Igris right.

11:47 Speaker 2 And I think it was Rabbi Groner, right? Is that, is that correct?

11:49 Speaker 1 It could also be... I heard something Rabbi Simpson was, was involved-

11:53 Speaker 2 Oh, he said the story in a speech in some sense.

11:55 Speaker 1 Correct.

11:56 Speaker 2 Yeah.

11:56 Speaker 1 Yeah. That, uh, I told the Rebbe, that in Morristown, there's a say that-

11:59 Speaker 2 In Teheres, in Teheres

12:00 Speaker 1 ...Right, right. In Teheres, there was a say. Uh, uh, which let's just pause it here a second. Between you and me, I mean, nobody's listening to this, I'm sure, right? But the fact that the, the Rebbe's asking, are people learning Igris? And the one report Is that they're learning in one yeshiva. I mean, it's... Uh, I don't wanna, you know-

12:23 Speaker 2 Right

12:23 Speaker 1 ... say negative, but-

12:26 Speaker 2 And what did the Rebbe say?

12:28 Speaker 1 What did the Rebbe say?

12:28 Speaker 2 The Rebbe said-

12:29 Speaker 1 Remind me

12:29 Speaker 2 ... if I remember correctly, "The fact that the Bachurim are doing it, okay, but what about the Baalabatim?"

12:34 Speaker 1 Aha. Right. So clearly-

12:35 Speaker 2 Yeah.

12:36 Speaker 1 ... it was, the Rebbe said right there that it wasn't enough.

12:38 Speaker 2 Correct.

12:39 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah, but you know, it's never too late, and we could always catch up. That's one of the things you learn from the Rebbe that, uh, even if you messed up in the past, don't, don't wallow in that. Just get to work and do it, do things right in the future.

12:52 Speaker 2 So what are you doing now?

12:52 Speaker 1 Yeah.

12:52 Speaker 2 So you're learning the Igris. What, what is this project?

12:55 Speaker 1 So we learn a, a letter every night, 30 letters in 30 days. Kipshote, like that's what the name is. That's what we do. Um, how do we pick them? We're... You know what? There was a whole big discussion when we started the first year. I should- When I say we, Be'ikar, I mean Levi Shamtow of West Bloomfield, who was the main push, and he's someone who went through the entire Igris. I'm not saying he's the only one who's ever gone through, but he made a siyum recently on the whole Igris. Um, and we had a discussion. Should we try to pick, like, famous letters, let's say, letters to famous people, letters that bring out like a really big i- what we would consider a big idea in the Rebbe's worldview? And the conclusion was no, let's not try to pick big letters. Let's just go through a year 'cause the letters are chronological. Pause for a second. I just wanna say why they're chronological, 'cause this also adds to what we were saying before, that the Rebbe's the one who initiated and pushed, continued pushing, pushing, urging, urging more Halakhim should come out. Um, when Rabbi Levin... I don't know if you asked him this question or if he brought this up, but when he asked the Rebbe, "How should we organize the Igris? Should we do it thematically or should we do it chronologically?" Did he speak about that with him?

14:05 Speaker 2 Yeah, he did.

14:05 Speaker 1 Right. So the Rebbe told him, "Whatever can come out faster."

14:08 Speaker 2 Right.

14:09 Speaker 1 So he said chronological is easier to do, I guess 'cause it's, like, simpler. You already have... Just go in order. Thematically, you gotta, you know, I guess there's more, uh, shikila das. There's more organization that takes place. But at any rate, so it's all chronological. So what happens is you're getting a year, and we're going in order. So, you know, you start in Tishrei, you go to Cheshvan, and you're going through a year. Um, what happens is you get a slice of life. So some letters are famous. Like, we already have picked out the letters we're going through. So for instance, the letter that we're gonna finish off, the 30th letter, On Yud Aleph Nissan.

14:43 Speaker 2 On Yud Aleph Nissan.

14:44 Speaker 1 On Yud Aleph Nissan, right. And we're gonna do an event in the Sol Words House. Uh, our, our, our opening event of the Sol Words House was a year ago. On Yud Aleph Nissan was the 30th letter of last year's 30 letters. So Im yirtzeh Hashem, we're do-do-doing the same thing again this year. This year, the th- the 30th letter happens to be, um, from the same chelek we've been going through. It was Chelek Good Base, a letter the Rebbe wrote On Yud Aleph Nissan Tashin Tzion, which happens to be a famous letter to the president of Israel.

15:11 Speaker 2 Yehi molchi l'cheider.

15:12 Speaker 1 Right.

15:13 Speaker 2 L'cheider mitah.

15:13 Speaker 1 So that's famous 'cause that's the Rebbe giving a very-

15:16 Speaker 2 Yisrael is-

15:17 Speaker 1 Wri- the unusual glimpse-

15:18 Speaker 2 He's naken b'dbirimi. That's why

15:20 Speaker 1 ... Uh, uh, yeah. Yeah, like, uh, it started to take form in my mind. But that's, uh, that's f- that's famous because, first of all, it's unusual the Rebbe's giving such a personal glimpse into his personal life. Um, it's famous because it's, it's very strong about Mashiach, and it's also emotionally very compelling. Uh, "Idicha Hashem Hashem naftabi." I'm gonna thank Hashem for all the-

15:40 Speaker 2 And it's a famous person.

15:41 Speaker 1 And it's a famous person. There's a lot about it that's famous, but that's not what we're doing. We're doing it because we're just going through that volume. But the point is when you go through a volume, and you're going through the year, and some letters are to famous people, uh, some letters are to people who... Like we had a letter a, a few nights ago to Eliezer Steinman. Now, to me, I'm an American boy. That's not a famous name. But anyone who's Israeli, he's one of, like, the big authors of modern Hebrew, and he was a very influential person, and, uh, you know, so he's a famous person. And then there are letters to, like, just, uh, Bachurim. Like, like s- Can you imagine that? Some Bachur is struggling with keeping Seder, and he's writing to the Noshi Yador, and he's getting an answer. Like, to me, that itself is mind-blowing.

16:31 Speaker 2 I've been reading a lot of the English letters recently. There's a whole 'nother world.

16:37 Speaker 1 Yes.

16:38 Speaker 2 The, the style-

16:39 Speaker 1 We don't, we don't really do the English letters 'cause we're going through Igris.

16:42 Speaker 2 Right. So I happened to-

16:43 Speaker 1 Right

16:43 Speaker 2 ... I happened to be doing this.

16:43 Speaker 1 But I love English letters. Yeah.

16:45 Speaker 2 And you see the same recipient getting letters continuously, and they're very... I mean, they're about... They're trivial. I mean-

16:54 Speaker 1 Right. Well, we don't call trivial. Right

16:55 Speaker 2 ... they're things... I mean, I mean, they're things that the guy could have asked his Mashpia.

16:58 Speaker 1 Right. Right.

16:59 Speaker 2 And, and the Rebbe's having a whole correspondence and guiding this guy, you know, through, you know, yeshiva, through, through, through whatever it is.

17:06 Speaker 1 Yeah.

17:06 Speaker 2 And it's just fascinating to see, yeah, the Noshi Yador doing that.

17:09 Speaker 1 A- and also, I, I wanna just bring this out because I tried to bring it out on my, uh, on my live stream, and I don't know if it, if I made the point that I was trying to make. I think some people misunderstood it. I think they were getting from me the opposite of what I was trying to say. Letters to women, not just to women, adult women, but girls, single girls, like a girl who's, who's, who's teaching. I don't know how old she was, if she was 18, 19, 20, whatever. The point is, who else in the history of the Jewish people was... W- I mean, even setting aside all the Hasidisha ways, like your specialus, the Meish, the Beino, Beho- You know, like, I'm just saying, daily Yisroel spending time in correspondence with literally everyone, like to, to the point where some single girl is asking advice about her teaching job, and she's getting, like, lengthy answers. I, I'll tell you something. This is an s... Okay, this appears in Mishan. I have to be very careful how I say this I was once speaking to a young lady, a single girl from a... I, I mean, I can, I can, I guess I can say from a Litvisher background, and very, very intelligent, very well-read. She had—she was not ignorant about Lubavitch. She, she had done her research. She said to me, she said, "I saw a thing from Tzvika Hashem. It bothered me." It said something about take the kids,

18:51 Speaker 1 make, make the Rebbe proud. Give the Rebbe nachas, something like that. So she says, "This is very weird to me because these kids are all born after nineteen ninety-four." You know, they're, they're born after Gimmel Tammuz, and you're telling them that they should... these kids should have, like, a feeling of some type of a relationship with the Rebbe where, like, they're, they're trying to make the Rebbe proud. Like, make your mommy proud, make your tatty proud, make your teacher proud, like, the Rebbe proud. So she said, "It's weird to me. I'm just telling you, it's weird to me." So she says, um, like, for instance, I believe, and here's where I'm gonna be super careful, so and so is the Gadol Hador. She named a particular figure who I think many, many, many people would agree would give him that title, Gadol Hador. Like, that's not the controversial part. I believe so and so is the Gadol Hador, and this was a living person. It's a living person at the time. She says, "I don't think he knows who I am. I don't think he cares who I am. And I would certainly not be motivated if someone told me to do something because it'll make him happy. I really don't think he's keeping track of what I do." I don't remember what I answered her. I remember afterwards unpacking that 'cause it, it affected me very, very deeply. It was like, it was like a reality check. It was a reminder of something we

20:27 Speaker 1 take for granted. 'Cause for you and me, the Gadol Hador means... I mean, what's, what, what's Rebbe? Reish-Beit-Yud. Rosh B'nei Yisroel, right? Like, the head of the body, and it feels even what's going on in the toe. And like, for us, what's the definition? Who, who, who's the Nasi? A Nasi who are Koil, right? Who, who is the leader of Klal Yisroel is the one who's connected to every Yid, even, even children, everybody, right? And she's coming to me, and she's got an entirely different definition of, of the Gadol Hador to the extent that that's not even part of his re-requirements.

21:10 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

21:10 Speaker 1 It's not even... And then I was thinking to myself, like, then what makes... Because it's so funny, it's like shows my, my bias here 'cause I'm thinking to myself. I actually had to stop and think to myself, "Why is she calling this particular person Gadol Hador when she... not only is she saying he doesn't know me, he doesn't even care to know who I am and yet she freely bestows upon him the title of Gadol Hador." So I realized that the, the, the, the distinction that by them or maybe by most of the, the Torah world, the Gadol Hador is defined by what he knows. The guy who knows the most, he's the Gadol Hador. He knows the most. So it's defined by what he knows. And by us, Gadol Hador is defined by who he knows. It's that he knows every Yid, he cares about every Yid. That's the Gadol Hador. It's a completely different definition. But getting back to Igris. So it's not that the Rebbe has this incredible bekius and he's the answer man. You could ask him any question, and he can pull out an answer. Not the point. The point is that anybody can ask the Rebbe, "Hey, this is what's going on in my life," and the Rebbe cares and has insight. Like, that's the mind-blowing thing, that the Rebbe is answering people, and he has what to answer. And, and, and he's relating to them, and he's, he's pushing them, but he's also encouraging them, and he's, he's

22:47 Speaker 1 gentle, but he's firm. It's like, you know, like the, the, the, the classic discussion, you know, if, uh, you had a farbrengen, maybe this is not a three AM conversation, but more like a one AM conversation. You know, there's levels.

22:59 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

22:59 Speaker 1 Like, there's nine PM, which you don't, you probably don't-

23:02 Speaker 2 You skip.

23:03 Speaker 1 Yeah, you skip that. You don't show up for nine PM. That's the... You get the formal, you know, formalities out of the way. Now, eleven PM, you might get, like, a little bit of... And then one AM to three AM, okay. So this is like a one AM discussion. Like, the Rebbe, melech or taté, right? Avinu Malkeinu. Okay, so they're both, right? Is a Hasid, avid or ben, you know, like it talks about in Samach Vov. Um, I think, you know, obviously, like, uh, like every discussion in Torah, eilu v'eilu divrei Elohim chaim, you know, there's, there's truth in both. But melech means, you know, his nasus. He's up there on his throne, and he's running the whole malucha. He's got this massive operation, the whole weight of the world on his shoulders, and that's all true, right? And that's, there's a certain hispilut you can have just thinking about that, right? But then there's, there's taté. There's the Rebbe as a caring father who knows about your life, wants to hear about your life. To me, the craziest thing in the Holy Igris, and it's in probably thousands of times, and every time I see it, it blows my mind, is the Rebbe is not only telling people, "I'm happy to have received." Normally, it's, it's pleasant for me to receive your letter 'cause I'm like, every time I have a new email pop up, like, "Please, I, I have, I have twenty thousand unread, but don't..." Not only is that, but the, the,

24:39 Speaker 1 but the Rebbe is saying, "Why don't you write me more?"

24:43 Speaker 2 Man, man, the Rav-

24:44 Speaker 1 Right. It's been so long. I'm thinking to myself, "Rebbe, please, they might take you seriously. They're gonna bother you. Like, don't ask." But the Rebbe's like, "No, I wanna hear from you more." That's the wild thing. I one time was at a Sheva Brachot of a relative, not Lubavitch. It was a Sheva Brachot in Manhattan, the Karlbach Shul. This is twenty-five years ago. I w- I, I wasn't married then. I was still a bachur, so this is twenty-six years ago. I remember I took the subway. I was in seven seventy. I took the subway from Crown Heights. I went to Manhattan, and there was Sheva Brachos for my, for my cousin. So I was the only Lubavitcher there. And there was a guy, an older guy. He was older then. This was in the '90s. He was, you know, older then. I don't know if he's still with us, but he turns to me and he says to me, "You're Lubavitch." I was the only Lubavitcher there, so he says, "I wanna tell you something. I used to have yechidus with the Rebbe quite often." He says, "I used to do business in Jamaica, and, uh, whenever..." By the way, I told this story once at a Gimel Tammuz farbrengen, and, uh, the shliach there in Jamaica now, Raskin, he said he was driving and he heard this, like punked right at that moment. He said he was, like, going to some far-flung place, and he was like this, "I don't have time for this."

25:53 Speaker 3 Yeah.

25:53 Speaker 1 And then he heard that, and he's like, "Ah, I gotta go." Okay. So, um, the guy is telling me, "Yeah, I used to have a lot of yechidusim with the Rebbe because I would go to Jamaica on business." This is in, like, in the '50s. "And whenever I would come back, if, uh, if I would come to 770, I would say I have reports about the Jewish community." Who's the Jewish community in Jamaica? Maybe 150, 200 Yidden who are, a lot of them intermarried, very assimilated. It wasn't like, uh, you know, very... I mean, uh, w- I, I, I'll, I'll... I don't know how to say it in a nice way, so I just won't say it, but you can imagine the situation there. So he said he would come back from Jamaica, and he would report what's going on with the Jews there, and the Rebbe would always, like, fast-track him in. And I said... So I said to him, I, uh, now I look back how silly this was. I said to him, "And be-" I said, "You're not a Lubavitcher, so why did you go to the Lubavitcher Rebbe to tell the Rebbe about these things?" He looks at me, like, shocked, then he laughs, and he says, "Who else would care?" And I stop, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh. That's right." Like, who else would care? Like, you're gonna go to some R-R- Rosh Yeshiva and be like, "I, I need to tell you about 150 intermarried people in the

27:07 Speaker 1 Caribbean." Like, "This, uh, this is what you ha- you have to tell me? Like, we're running a yeshiva over here, right?" It's a reality check. It's a reminder.

27:16 Speaker 3 Yeah. It reminds me that there's a group of... the famous group of, uh, Lubavitch Hasidim that used to be Satmar Hasidim. They became Lubavitch-

27:24 Speaker 1 Right

27:24 Speaker 3 ... in the memz. So I heard from one of... I didn't hear from them. This is secondhand, but someone told me that he heard from one of them that after the whole controversy and after he became a Lubavitcher many years later, you know, after Gimel Tammuz, his father says, "Eh, by the way, I was in yechidus with the Rebbe." And he's like, "What? You never told me that, that, after all these years." He's like, "Yeah. What do you mean? We, we all... Everyone used to go."

27:50 Speaker 1 Right.

27:51 Speaker 3 "In, in, in the yud too." Like, like, like who, who-

27:53 Speaker 1 Right

27:53 Speaker 3 ... like who cares?

27:54 Speaker 1 Who else, right?

27:54 Speaker 3 Who, who, who would care? Who would wanna see us? Like- ... everyone. I just met someone, uh, someone in Stanford just told me that his father in the yuds was with a bunch of Litvisher bachurim. They came to New York. They went to the Rebbe.

28:08 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

28:08 Speaker 3 And he said, his mother, she said, "You, you, you, your knowledge, your base," and they, they, uh, just, just to speak to the Rebbe, learning.

28:15 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

28:15 Speaker 3 And, and the Rebbe, the Rebbe, I mean, the Rebbe took them. I just wanna say that, though, that, you know, back to the point about that, uh, that, that person that was comparing the Rebbe to, you know, the-

28:28 Speaker 1 Oh, that girl.

28:29 Speaker 3 Yeah, that girl.

28:29 Speaker 1 Yeah.

28:30 Speaker 3 Yeah. So first of all, there's a Hayyim Yayyim that talks about what's the difference between the Rosh Yeshiva and the Ram. And before, before the, the Rosh Yeshiva was elligible and the Ram was elligible, and now-

28:40 Speaker 1 Right

28:40 Speaker 3 ... and now we're not alone. I think it's that, I think that's that concept-

28:44 Speaker 1 Right

28:44 Speaker 3 ... that there's a, there's a connection-

28:45 Speaker 1 Right

28:45 Speaker 3 ... between the Hasidim and the Rebbe. But, but also-

28:49 Speaker 1 Right

28:49 Speaker 3 ... um, that, that point of, uh, that connection that, uh, that the Rebbe has with the people. So there, there's this conversation that you speak to people that were, you know, bachurim in the memz, and they'll tell you that there was a reid. There's a question that some people would ask. You, you, they would consider, like, a shvache, a shvache that would, would ask, "Does the Rebbe know me?"

29:15 Speaker 1 Right. Right.

29:15 Speaker 3 It was a whole dilemma.

29:16 Speaker 1 Like, how could you even wonder?

29:17 Speaker 3 Right. 'Cause the, the Elem was growing, and there weren't Igris like this.

29:20 Speaker 1 Right.

29:21 Speaker 3 That stopped. There weren't letters like this.

29:23 Speaker 1 Right.

29:23 Speaker 3 And, and there's a much bigger crowd, and that became a dilemma. Does the Rebbe know me? That was like-

29:26 Speaker 1 Right

29:26 Speaker 3 ... today we talk about how could we connect to the Rebbe after Gimel Tammuz. So then there... Those, those are like the asking questions at how can we connect to the Rebbe.

29:33 Speaker 1 Right.

29:33 Speaker 3 But the whole, the whole question is assuming that the Rebbe has to have this personal connection with you, and, and, you know, that's a foreign concept to someone else. But, but so that guy-

29:42 Speaker 1 You're saying that even asking that question-

29:44 Speaker 3 Right

29:44 Speaker 1 ... shows that that's part of your assumption, of course.

29:48 Speaker 3 Of what an Oseh Ha'avodah is-

29:49 Speaker 1 Right

29:49 Speaker 3 ... and what, what the Rebbe is.

29:51 Speaker 1 Right.

29:51 Speaker 3 But it, but it is interesting to me that the Rebbe, uh, there was a shift. First of all, you know, after Mimches, the Rebbe spoke about what to do when you can't ask the Rebbe. Shevini shel Elem.

30:03 Speaker 1 Right.

30:03 Speaker 3 That sicha. Um, but there's also, there's a sicha, the Rebbe says, "Why is everyone looking to ask questions?" So the Rebbe, like, pushed back a little bit on that, uh, I think in the later years. The Rebbe says that, you know, you, you go to the Mashpia, there's a sicha, it's on video. You go to the Mashpia to ask what to ask.

30:22 Speaker 1 Right.

30:23 Speaker 3 The Rebbe says, "This is nisht the chinuch from Temimim." The Rebbe says, "This is, this is nisht the chinuch from Beis Rivkah."

30:29 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

30:30 Speaker 3 So, like, the Rebbe pushed back on that a little bit, and I'm wondering if that connects to our time today. I don't know. What, what do you think about that?

30:36 Speaker 1 But yeah, well, you know, asking questions just to ask. So every... I think every teacher, every educator has this frustration. It's like you're asking questions just 'cause you wanna have a question, right? But there's something in the Igris that you see fairly often. We had it twice in, uh, the past, uh, 30 letters in 30 days that we're doing. It, it's a Gemara from Rosh Hashanah. It's a Machloket Tana'im about the shape of the shofar. So o-o-one says you should have a straight shofar, one says you have, you should have bent straight, shows you're straightening your ways. Bent shows you're subjugating your, yourself to Hashem. O-one, so one says the straight one should be Rosh Hashanah, the curved one should be Yom Kippur. The other one says, fakert, curved on Rosh Hashanah, straight on... But the, the, the lashon there is called the poshid malitve. Whatever is straight goes better. And the immediate context there is talking about the shape of a shofar or the oth- or even if you say it's not talking literally about a shofar. I mean, it's also talking literally about a shofar, but it's speaking about in terms of avoda, you're saying, "What should be the approach on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur?" But the Rebbe generalizes it and says it's, it's a, it's a, it's a general rule, like klal gadol batora basically, that if you're trying to figure out how to live, what to do, you're, you're doubtful, you have questions, kol deposhid malitve. Whatever is simpler, just simplify

31:58 Speaker 1 it. Don't complicate it. Keep it simple. And it, and it's not that, you know, we're not thoughtful people. Chassidus Chabad, you know, it's chochma binah daas. It's, it's, uh, it's havana ve'saga. We are very thoughtful people, and we learn, and we think, we're misbonen. But that's about thinking about Hashem to deepen our connection to Hashem. When it comes to life, don't make problems. Just look in front of you, you know, see what you need to do, and just do it and, and don't complicate it by, by, by wondering should you be doing something different. Just do the thing in front of you. Repetition, routine. Um, so I, I think that maybe that's a little bit of what that is. Like, why are you making up questions? Why are you trying to make yourself confused?

32:55 Speaker 3 Yeah.

32:56 Speaker 1 Yeah.

32:56 Speaker 3 But I think it also highlights what the first point that you're saying.

32:59 Speaker 1 What?

33:00 Speaker 3 To learn the Igris. The Rebbe published the Igris. I think the Rebbe wants a Chassid to build a worldview based on the, based on the Rebbe.

33:12 Speaker 1 Yeah, no question.

33:12 Speaker 3 That, that, that's... I think that's the message. That's really the message over here.

33:16 Speaker 1 Well, there's a certain assumption the Rebbe has that his Chassidim have a certain amount of clarity. Chassidim Chabad. You're not just a Chassid in that, you know, the, I don't know, whatever else. You're a Chassid, you learn how to think like a Chassid. There's a certain worldview. So it's not just mimod im es iras. It's, uh, it's, it's day-to-day life. There's a certain way of thinking. So yeah, there will be questions. And like you say, you know, there was that tekufa where the Rebbe started speaking about if you need guidance and, uh, a seila harav, um, that was, you know, a big thing. But just connecting that also with Igris. You mentioned, I don't know if, uh, Rabbi Levin told you this, but he said a speech in seven seventy that was at the siyum of one of the halakim. I don't remember which one it was, but I believe that following that speech, the Rebbe asked to put a maeve in chelek... Yud alef? No, I'm not remembering. That he's, he, he was putting a maeve.

34:16 Speaker 3 He wr- he wrote, yeah.

34:17 Speaker 1 For the earlier halakim because there was more like history that was context-

34:22 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm

34:22 Speaker 1 ... like historical context. Then after you start getting in the first few years of the Nesius, like, he didn't feel there was new historical context to give, so he stopped writing the maeve, the, the... call it the, the intro. And then he gave this certain speech in seven seventy, and the Rebbe told him, "You should write the maeve again." Um, and so he put that speech into the maeve. What did he say? He said a... He said something that if he had said it on his own, it would still be gishmak, but you would say, "Who knows?" But the fact that this became the maeve of a chelek of Igris, now it has like canonical, uh, verification, validation. He said a vort like this, that just like... Okay, so first of all, a seila harav, the Rebbe said, "You should have a mashpia." But also, in conjunction with that, the Rebbe's putting out the Igris. Why? Because just like the Alter Rebbe wrote Tanya, and he writes in Hagdama... Rabbi Levin told you this?

35:23 Speaker 3 He didn't say it, but it's printed in his book.

35:25 Speaker 1 Okay.

35:25 Speaker 3 It's this whole thing.

35:26 Speaker 1 Just like the Alter Rebbe had a Tanya. And he writes in Hagdama samalakit, the purpose of the Tanya. You don't have to wonder why he wrote the book. He tells you why he wrote it. He says that these are the conversations that I've had with people in Yechidus. It's not shayach that I should have everyone come to me one-on-one. He says, "First of all, people forget what I told them, so, you know, I'm telling them multiple times. Um, but now we're gonna record it, and if you're not able to figure out where to find your answer, every answer is in here. If you don't know, you ask your local mashpia, he's gonna help you to find it." So Rabbi Levin said, just like the Alter Rebbe had Tanya, the Rebbe has the Igris. Now, again, if a, if a Chassid said that on his own initiative, it would still be gishmak, and it would be something worthy of repeating. The fact that it is in the maeve of the Rebbe's Igris, with the Rebbe's shar blat, you know, the Rebbe accepted this concept that the Igris are the Rebbe's Tanya. How many people know that, that the Igris are the Rebbe's Tanya? I, I don't think that's known. I think people... Are we allowed to talk... Are we... Can we be real here?

36:37 Speaker 3 Um, you can edit it out if it's gonna work then.

36:39 Speaker 1 You can edit it out if it's too... I think a lot of people know about Igris, about randomly opening a page, and I, I don't h- I don't have an opinion on it, honestly. Um, randomly opening a page in order to get an answer. We don't have to guess why the Rebbe wanted Igris printed. The Rebbe was very vocal about it. First of all, we don't have to guess if the Rebbe wanted the, the Igris printed. The Rebbe was the one who made the whole thing happen. But secondly, we don't have to guess why the Rebbe wanted it. The Rebbe wanted us to learn it. What does learning it mean? It means And I wanna be careful how I say this. You know, Geulah Gro and Hashkah Haprotes and all those things, and if that's how somebody wants to... But how about this? How about this? The Rebbe gave us a window how to look at almost every practical issue that a person could face in life at every phase of life, and gave us hundreds of examples of each of these things, whether it's making a living, or it's health, or it's raising kids, or it's, or it's marriage, or, or spiritual issues, or whatever it is. And if you'll just learn these letters, it will train you how to think. Just like if you'll learn enough of the Rebbe's sichas, like nigleh sichas, let's say Rashi sichas. I'll, I'll give an example. If, if you learn twenty Rashi sichas, it'll change the way

38:08 Speaker 1 you learn Chumash Rashi. There's no question, right? You'll, you'll... Maybe you won't be an expert in the methodology, although the Rebbe wanted that. The Rebbe would always ask, "Where are the hadas? Where are the, the, the articles from the Chassidim?" Like, I'm teaching you the klalim. Like, in fact, the Rebbe's-- I, I saw at least a few times where the Rebbe said, "Last week, I taught a certain klal, and then this week it came up in Chitas, and I thought I would have pouring in people found, you know, finding that and asking that question. Nobody did it." So the Rebbe's like, "I'm teaching a methodology over here. What, do you think you're just supposed to memorize what I, what, what, what I said? Don't tell me what I said. I know what I said. Use the methodology to, to figure out things that I didn't say." So even if you learn Rashi sichas, you will look at Rashi completely differently. You will learn it because you'll, you'll, you'll, "Oh, what, what's bothering Rashi here? What, what is he answering? Why is he saying-- Why is he mentioning the, the... Why is he using those words particularly? Well, why does he say, um, the name of, of the, the Tana?" Or whatever. There's different things you learn from the Rebbe's klalim. Well, would you think that a Chassid should say, "I don't know how to learn Chumash the way, Chumash Rashi the way the Rebbe taught, but I can repeat to you Rashi sichas shakav atah

39:22 Speaker 1 yibal peh"? I would say that's beautiful, but you think, you think you've gone all the way with it, right? So to simplify it, it's not just what did the Rebbe say, it's how did the Rebbe say it. It's not just the what. Don't just repeat to me what the Rebbe said. Tell me how did the Rebbe say it. And I don't-- And by that, I don't just mean the, the, the, the sign and the, the, the tone, which also I'm saying that as well, but I'm saying, like, the process. How did the Rebbe arrive at it? You don't think you can learn a derech halimud? You don't think the Rebbe has a distinct learnable derech halimud in nigleh Chassidus and day-to-day life? I mean, it's very open and charted and, and, and Ma'ad Makomis, everything you can look up source to make it so simple. And matechos, I mean, everything is so just systemized in order to learn how to approach learning and life and anything else that could come up, there's a way to look at it as informed by the Rebbe's approach.

40:34 Speaker 4 As we're getting ready for the 10th of Nisan, I know most of us will be writing a pan to the Rebbe. I wanna mention something that's a big part of this process, but that sometimes is forgotten, and that is the Demei Pan, the money that we give with the pan. If you're wondering why we give money with a pan, we can actually find the explanation in Tanya Niggas Hakedush. The Alter Rebbe explains that our livelihood, our parnassa, is where our energy is invested. The chayay nafshe, as he refers to it. When we give Demei Pan, we're giving a piece of our physical essence. That's what creates the vessel and the keili to receive the berachos and this connection and his kashrus we're asking for in our pan. It's a longstanding tradition from the times of the Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe. By giving this tzedakah together with our pan, we're making the request real in the physical world. So when you send your pan this year, make sure to include Demei Pan. You can do this through magbis.org and through clicking on the tab for Demei Pan, which ensures that these funds will go to the same place that the Rebbe would deposit the money that he received in the panim, which is the Rebbe's institutions. It's a small step that makes a huge difference in how we prepare for the 10th of Nisan.

41:55 Speaker 1 Can I-- Di-is it considered on the podcast, is it considered, um, good content when the guest complains about something? 'Cause people like that.

42:02 Speaker 4 Is it controversial?

42:03 Speaker 1 I don't know if it's controversial or not.

42:06 Speaker 4 Let's try it.

42:06 Speaker 1 Okay, let's try it.

42:07 Speaker 4 We'll find that afterwards.

42:08 Speaker 1 Okay. I think a lot of times that we, I'm including myself here, sometimes because of... I'll, I'll, I'll say a limuzkus, because of our reverence for the Rebbe and every holy word that the Rebbe said, sometimes we become intellectually lazy. In other words, we're satisfied just to quote, "Here's what the Rebbe said." But the Rebbe wasn't asking to be quoted. Rebbe was teaching you how to think.

42:44 Speaker 4 How to apply it.

42:45 Speaker 1 How to apply it, and also how to be mechadesh. Mechadesh is not a dirty word. We think of it, we, we laugh, "Oh, chidush, you have a chidush. What are you, Mesanagi? You have a chidush." The Rebbe wanted Chassidim should be creative. I-I-I-I'll, I'll... I'm sure you know this story, but I heard it directly from, uh, Rabbi Shapiro from, from Miami. He said when he was a bachur, he went to a Yud Tes Kislev habrengen in Boston, and, uh, Rabbi Soloveitchik was there at that time. And he said, uh, that the, the Rav spoke for... I think he said he spoke for two hours, like his drash was like two hours. And then afterwards, they sat down to farbrengen, and they wrote up a doch to Bochurim. So he was a resembling shver, he was a bochur at the time. So he wrote up a doch, and, uh, Soloveitchik was very into, uh, I would say brisk into Rambam, especially Hilchos Teshuva. And so the Rebbe was saying sichas at those times about, uh, Yerushah Teshuva. And so he wrote in the doch that the, the, the Bochurim spoke with, uh, talking with JB Soloveitchik about, uh, the, uh, about the, the, the Rebbe's sichas about, uh, about Teshuva and Yerushah Teshuva. So the Rebbe wrote, wrote back on the... You've heard this before?

44:06 Speaker 3 No.

44:06 Speaker 1 Okay. So he wrote back on, on the doch. Uh, you can ask him, uh, Rabbi Shprir for the exact words. It was something like, "Bevadei lei," uh, "lei medubeh rak beonyan..." N-r-r-- "Bevadei lei shokov haTorah be, be, beonyam shemedubeh b-rak behis-medubeh rak behisvada." Certainly, they didn't just do, do a shaklav Torah back and forth. "Beonyam shem-shemedubeh rak behisvada." Only content that was already given over in the, in the-

44:38 Speaker 3 Farbrengens

44:38 Speaker 1 ... farbrengens. Um, ele veonyam shelachem, but their own, their own concepts. Okay, pause. A bochur... First of all, just to think that a bochur, even a talented bochur, a future Rosh Yeshiva, should speak in front of, you know, JB Soloveitchik. Like, y-you know, like, you'd have the confidence to speak, to, to hold your own, to speak in learning. That, that's, that's, that's already a, a darga. But the, the Rebbe is saying, "I hope you didn't just kasu my, my, my sichas. I hope you said your, your, your own ideas."

45:18 Speaker 3 I think I'm, uh... I think I... Recently, I spoke for a few minutes, and someone came over to me and said, "It's a very good... It was amazing, Sham. Exactly what, you know, like Chabad, like it was per-perfect." I told him, "Yeah, it's because I didn't make it up."

45:38 Speaker 1 Okay.

45:38 Speaker 3 I was repeating, uh, something I listened to in a farbrengen.

45:41 Speaker 1 Okay. That's safe.

45:43 Speaker 3 So you're saying it's not g-that's not-

45:44 Speaker 1 No, it's good. It's good. That's the beginning.

45:49 Speaker 3 There's this, there's this concept, like, I think I mentioned it on one of the podcasts, that Chasidim, I think it was a thing from previous generations, they would say, "Mizol kenin deRebbe akurat." There's like idea, like a... There's like a longing or like a, a, a, a strive that a Chassid is supposed to have to know the Rebbe in accurately.

46:09 Speaker 1 Yeah.

46:10 Speaker 3 I think what y- I think what it means is, first of all, have the knowledge, but like you're saying, to, to know how to apply it to every scenario and how to maneuver that, how to... How, how that applies to y- the particular situation which, which you're dealing with, which cannot always be quoted. You know, the Rebbe said, "Kah v'kah." It needs, it needs-

46:30 Speaker 1 Right

46:30 Speaker 3 ... it needs to be, uh, applied to the situation.

46:32 Speaker 1 If you met a yungerman, a Lubavitcher yungerman who told you, um, "Listening to the news, I'm hearing what's going on in Eretz Yisroel," and, um... Let, let's take, like, a real slam dunk e-easy one . Um, I... "But I don't know what the Rebbe would say about land for peace." You'd be shocked, right?

46:54 Speaker 3 Right.

46:54 Speaker 1 Like, why would you be shocked?

46:55 Speaker 3 'Cause the Rebbe addressed it thousands of times.

46:57 Speaker 1 Right. So it'd be weird to you that he wouldn't know, and he would say, "I, I, I know. I, I think the Rebbe said it a bunch of times, but I'm not sure how it would apply in this situation. Maybe it's different." You'd be like, "How can you not be sure how to apply that when it's... The Rebbe gave you hundreds of examples of it." Mills of a time. It's not like the Rebbe said ex et exarti. The Rebbe gave the logic behind it, right? So it was very transparent, especially in the, in the, in the farbrengen. So I'm saying maybe s-stuff like that, like political stuff, you wouldn't know so clearly if you only learn Likutey Sichos. But, you know, certainly if you learn farbrengens from that time, um, and if someone was say, say to you, "I, I, I don't know. I don't know what the Rebbe would say about it. I don't know. We can't ask the Rebbe, so how, how could we know?" It'd be weird, right?

47:47 Speaker 3 Right.

47:48 Speaker 1 Okay. So what I'm telling you is, to me, it's equally as weird if somebody would say, not that they don't know, okay? Uh, it's not a crime to not know. But like, "I don't know. We can't know. How would we know? How would we know what the Rebbe would say about this?" How would you know? 'Cause the Rebbe didn't have to spend his entire life teaching his worldview. He didn't have to do that. The Rebbe clearly spent, not just time, but like energy to make it very transparent how we look at things, whether it's land for peace, or whether it's Chinuch, or Shalom Bayis, or the role of women, or how to learn Rashi. Like, don't tell me, "I don't know." Tell me, "Maybe I have to think about it more. I have to digest it more." But it's all laid out there. Is... There's a, a comprehensive worldview contained within the Rebbe's Torah. There's nothing in life that we couldn't figure out based on the information that we already have. That, that's, at least that's how I feel.

49:10 Speaker 3 I mean, to me, it's always been a clear thing that the Nasi HaDor already addressed everything-

49:16 Speaker 1 Right

49:16 Speaker 3 ... for the-

49:17 Speaker 1 That's another way of saying it

49:18 Speaker 3 ... for the day.

49:18 Speaker 1 Yes. Right. Right. If it's gonna come up for anyone in this generation, then it has to be that the Nasi of that generation covered it.

49:26 Speaker 3 Right.

49:27 Speaker 1 Oh, where did he cover it? Quote it for me. Okay. It's like Torah Shebichtav and Torah Shebe'al Peh. You know, it's like Moshe Rabbeinu says, "Why, why was the Torah given to me? It should be given to Rabbi Akiva." And then, then Rabbi Akiva says, "Halakha leMoshe miSinai." It's all there.

49:41 Speaker 3 So twenty-five years ago, when the world was closer in time to when the Rebbe said it, it might have been... You have to, you have to... M- You might have to, in certain scenarios, uh, have to think less to apply it because it was extremely dayanut what everyone was... the Rebbe spoke about. So now-

49:57 Speaker 1 The world was more similar.

49:59 Speaker 3 Right, right.

49:59 Speaker 1 Yes.

49:59 Speaker 3 So, so now we might have to, like, have more da'as and understanding in order-

50:03 Speaker 1 Yeah

50:03 Speaker 3 ... in order to apply it, but-

50:05 Speaker 1 Right. Yes

50:05 Speaker 3 ... it's all, it's all there.

50:06 Speaker 1 Right. B- The difference between the world-

50:08 Speaker 3 By the way, in certain things, it's the opposite. Certain, certain things that the Rebbe said it, people... no one understood, and now-

50:15 Speaker 1 Yes

50:15 Speaker 3 ... it's so clear to everyone. I mean-

50:16 Speaker 1 Yes

50:16 Speaker 3 ... I mean, Eretz Yisrael is a good example.

50:18 Speaker 1 Yeah, Eretz Yisrael is a great example.

50:18 Speaker 3 I mean, look at, look at, look up the polling, how many people think they should give away land. It's a, it's a extreme minority.

50:24 Speaker 1 Th- Yeah, there's definitely stuff like that where it like, "Did the Rebbe say this in two thousand twenty-six?" 'Cause it sounds like... And you're like, "The Rebbe said this in the '50s? How did people even know what that meant in the '50s? This makes more sense now."

50:37 Speaker 3 Right.

50:37 Speaker 1 A good example is, there's a sicha, I think it's Achron Shel Pesach, and the Rebbe's speaking about levels of cheirus. So, you know, 'cause we have two days of, uh, Shli Shl Pesach, Achron Shel Pesach, so the Rebbe says, "It's not redundant. They're two different levels." One is, uh, freedom on the level of freedom from Mitzrayim, the other is freedom from, from this Galus, Mashiach. So two different levels of cheirus. So the Rebbe's describing like what does it mean to be free. Well, we know who's a Ben Chorin, a person who learns Torah is called Ben Chorin. Okay. So one level, this sounds like two thousand twenty-six. One level Ben Chorin is somebody, he's learning, and the phone rings.

51:22 Speaker 3 Yeah.

51:23 Speaker 1 You know? And he won't answer it 'cause he's learning right now. That's one level. That's only the first level. The second level, higher level, Meshiachnika level, is he's learning and the phone rings, and the sound of the ringing is irrelevant. It, it... he doesn't process it. He says it's as meaningful to him as the sound of a fork falling on the floor. It's just noise. At one level, I hear it, I know it's a phone ringing. I'm even maybe even thinking, "Who's calling me?" But no, I won't do it. That's one level of freedom. You know, you're not a knecht to the phone. You don't have to answer it. But then there's, "I'm learning. What, what's a phone?" It's... It does, it does... It's not part of my reality right now. You talk about that today when we're all so hyper-connected and we're, we're-

52:23 Speaker 3 The Rebbe was speaking about when there was a payphone in the, in the hallway.

52:26 Speaker 1 Right. There's a payphone down the hall, right. Right.

52:29 Speaker 3 Someone mentioned, uh... I think Benji mentioned that they took-

52:32 Speaker 1 Uh-huh

52:32 Speaker 3 ... the Rebbe said they took out the payphone from seven seventy.

52:34 Speaker 1 Oh, no. What did he say?

52:36 Speaker 3 I think Benji Piercer mentioned it-

52:37 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah

52:37 Speaker 3 ... during a podcast that-

52:38 Speaker 1 The what?

52:38 Speaker 3 I think it was him. That when they, when the Rebbe said that sicha, that's when they removed the payphone-

52:41 Speaker 1 Oh, really?

52:42 Speaker 3 ... from the, from the, from the hallway.

52:43 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

52:44 Speaker 3 But you're saying, you're saying that whatever the Rebbe was saying then, now it's like on steroids.

52:48 Speaker 1 Right.

52:49 Speaker 3 I was actually... Last, yesterday, I was learning a kabbalistic, Taam Shlom Beis, and the Rebbe says very, very, like, interesting. Rebbe's speaking about a father being mechanech his child.

52:57 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

52:58 Speaker 3 And you're telling them one thing, but then they see that you come home Shabbos afternoon, and they undo your tzitzit, and you're having tea, and, uh, you're, you're bus- you're busy with nefivos, nef- uh, uh, nefivos and, uh, of the, of the world. You for sure they'll only take, take the main chassidus from the, from the shelf. And the Rebbe earlier was speaking about a grandfather that's telling his grandchild how to behave, but then he sees how does he behave? He's sitting on the telephone talking, not var a masorah, but sitting and talking on the telephone.

53:28 Speaker 1 Wow.

53:28 Speaker 3 And when I was reading this, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, the Rebbe's talking about-

53:31 Speaker 1 Today

53:32 Speaker 3 ... us, the father that's supposed to be learning chassidus-

53:34 Speaker 1 Right

53:34 Speaker 3 ... and telling his kids chassidus. Meanwhile, what is... What's the father doing on the phone?

53:37 Speaker 1 He's on the phone. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. It... You know what it reminds me of? It's like, you know, the famous, uh, Sichah Parshas Noach about, uh, the Nazir, about, uh, the Industrial Revolution. So the Rebbe says there are certain things that until the technology existed, it was very abstract for people. Like, ayin ro'eh oto, isn't shamas, right?

53:59 Speaker 3 Shamas, yeah.

53:59 Speaker 1 So that was just an example, right?

54:01 Speaker 3 Of the famous ma'ase with the-

54:03 Speaker 1 Uh

54:03 Speaker 3 ... tzvei chassidim. There's names that-

54:06 Speaker 1 What's the story?

54:07 Speaker 3 They were learning. He says, "A chassidus, there's more-"

54:10 Speaker 1 What?

54:10 Speaker 3 "There's more, uh-"

54:11 Speaker 1 Yeah. Water-

54:12 Speaker 3 "... there's more water than land."

54:14 Speaker 1 Yeah.

54:14 Speaker 3 He says, "I was in Samarkand, then I was in here, and I was there."

54:17 Speaker 1 Right. In every place, all I see is land.

54:19 Speaker 3 It w- It must be emunah.

54:20 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

54:21 Speaker 3 You believe in it. Yeah.

54:21 Speaker 1 Some things you have to take on emunah.

54:23 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah.

54:24 Speaker 1 Yeah. The Alter Rebbe says that two-thirds of the world... And look what they tell you. The Alter Rebbe says, "Well, you know, that two-thirds of the world is water." And he says, "Well, I don't, I don't understand. Every... I've lived in different countries. Everywhere I go, it's all land."

54:34 Speaker 3 Yeah.

54:34 Speaker 1 "You don't see water." Uh, some things you have to take on emunah.

54:39 Speaker 3 Yeah.

54:39 Speaker 1 Um, yeah. So certain things were very abstract, and then as the technology existed, it was like, "Oh, this is a real thing." And I think Alter Rebbe, a similar vein. Certain things the Rebbe was speaking to chassidim in the '50s and the '60s, and of course, the Rebbe's saying it's holy, you take it seriously. But I don't think they could imagine that the Rebbe's speaking about our time, you know. And, you know, you call it nevua. Like, to me, it's not negeia. Like, like the Rashash said, like, if a Rebbe needs to have Ruach Hakodesh, he has Ruach Hakodesh. If he doesn't need... Like, it's not to me like a checklist. But is it nevua? To me, you know, chacham adef min navi. A general concept, right? That a, a chacham is greater than a navi. Why? I mean, it's like, it's a, it's a, it's a concept in chassidus. Um, because a navi doesn't really understand what he's seeing. I mean, that's his, that's his ma'ala too. He's a, he's a conduit. He's just telling... He's reporting. He's a faithful reporter. But he doesn't understand it. He doesn't need to understand it. Chacham understands it. So that's why the chacham is greater than, than the navi. So in the Rebbe's Torah, it's like- You start seeing how the reality that the Rebbe's speaking to doesn't become less relevant, doesn't become, "Oh, it's dated," you know, "That was for then." It's more prescient. It's more, um, ahead of its time, even if it were Nevuah.

56:24 Speaker 1 I mean, the Rebbe said the ...</ve was a nav- you know, sheyftim, right? The, the, the famous sicha about, uh, the navi sheb'dre'i, no. So but that, uh, to me, that's not... I, I don't get impressed with Nevuah 'cause I don't know, I don't really relate to it. But I don't know if I ever had Nevuah, but I know that I've understood a concept before, maybe on a very low level. I mean, I'm not s-such a genius, but I've learned a concept. I've understood a concept. So then, you know, that impresses me. That excites me that you can have someone teaching a chochmah that doesn't become less applicable as the time goes on, but it becomes more obviously applicable as the time goes on. That, that's wild, and it's exciting. It's inspiring. Like, if you want a clear understanding of life, just learn the Rebbe's Torah. Just go learn what the Rebbe is saying about life, and you will have a better understanding of your life. That like type, type of thing that people should be thinking about on Yom Tov Nissen. Does that count as hesederus? Is that, you know, mind or-

57:38 Speaker 3 Um-

57:39 Speaker 1 Too abstract

57:40 Speaker 3 ... if, if there... The question is, how did it, how did it to be neseder to do that?

57:46 Speaker 1 Oh, we said geulah chuka. How do you get to chuka?

57:50 Speaker 3 Yeah.

57:50 Speaker 1 Yeah. We should explain that question, the famous letter the Rebbe wrote after Michvat. Yeah.

57:54 Speaker 3 Now, if, if anybody that- ... learns the Rebbe's Torah-

57:57 Speaker 1 Uh-huh

57:58 Speaker 3 ... is uplifted.

57:59 Speaker 1 Yes.

57:59 Speaker 3 Hundred percent. And-

58:01 Speaker 1 Right. Always happens

58:01 Speaker 3 ... if it's any element of the Rebbe's Torah, it's a letter, it's learning a fabrengen, learning a ma'amar, learning a sicha. If, if you're reading the her-

58:08 Speaker 1 Right

58:08 Speaker 3 ... you, you, you, you-

58:09 Speaker 1 "Tai moru ki tei vashev." You're always gonna be-

58:12 Speaker 3 You get uplifted. Exactly.

58:13 Speaker 1 Yeah. No question.

58:13 Speaker 3 The question is, on a, on a random Tuesday-

58:18 Speaker 1 Right

58:18 Speaker 3 ... how do you gravitate towards the Rebbe if you're involved in havla haolam and you're busy and you're raising a family-

58:26 Speaker 1 Yeah

58:26 Speaker 3 ... and, uh...

58:28 Speaker 1 So I have an answer. It may be grub, but it's an answer. And you know, some of us are grub, so maybe a grub answer is-

58:37 Speaker 3 Never met anyone.

58:38 Speaker 1 You never met such guys? 'Cause you do. Not on this podcast 'cause you have all the-

58:43 Speaker 3 All, all the, the limitations.

58:45 Speaker 1 Yeah. There's, there's a, you know, ..." right? So the Rebbe there speaks about that, um, the Gemara says that, uh, Hashem says, "Barasi et ha'aretz." I created the "et ha'aretz." But the good news is Barasi also created Torah tavlin. It created Torah as tavlin means spices, but you know, like, it means medicine. That's why, like, medicine is also on Shabbos 'cause you grind spices, right? Okay. So the Rebbe says like this, "Dovid HaMelech was punished for calling Torah zmiras." It's a Gemara in Sota. It's also in Igeres HaKodesh from the Alter Rebbe, but the original thing is, uh, Gemara in Sota. Not a Talmid Chacham, but Sota, you know, Svara. You have to... Yeah. Okay. Um-

59:37 Speaker 3 Dovid HaMelech.

59:38 Speaker 1 Yeah. I don't remember which daf, but, uh, whatever, it's, uh, somewhere there, one of the forty-nine pages. At any rate, so Dovid HaMelech was punished that he called Torah zmiras. Zu- zmiras means... I mean, it means songs, but it means like, it's a, it's a pleasant, uplifting distraction. You know, like somebody is, like, sad, and they put on, uh, some music, and it makes them feel better. So it's... Dovid HaMelech said with all of his... You know, he had problems. I know we're, we're, we're Lubavitchers. We don't learn Nach because that's for the Maskilim learn Nach.

1:00:10 Speaker 3 It's how we relegate the Lubavitch. So-

1:00:11 Speaker 1 Right. The whole Frum world.

1:00:13 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:00:13 Speaker 1 Yeah, because-

1:00:13 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm

1:00:14 Speaker 1 ... to, to show the Maskilim. By Maskilim, I don't mean like masculine Ovid. I mean, like the Haskalah movement, right? We have to show them that we don't... You know, they didn't win, so we don't learn Nach. But there, you, there was this person named Dovid HaMelech.

1:00:26 Speaker 3 The Rebbe said yom yom that

1:00:28 Speaker 1 Yeah. How do they do that?

1:00:30 Speaker 3 'Cause I saw someone at seven seventy with a broken arm.

1:00:33 Speaker 1 Okay.

1:00:33 Speaker 3 He's struggling to wrap his tefillin.

1:00:35 Speaker 1 Okay.

1:00:35 Speaker 3 I asked him, "Do you want me to help you, or are you gonna, are you finishing Nach?" It's so hard for you to do it.

1:00:43 Speaker 1 So, um, Dovid HaMelech had a, had, had a lot of problems in life, and he took refuge in Torah. He found it soothing. That when he had... You know, Josh Gordon, alav ha-shalom, when he was doing the Rambam Shirim for chabad.org, I was in touch with him regularly. And by the way, cover Josh, I just wanna say I made a bracha earlier.

1:01:08 Speaker 3 Yeah. Every time I drink in the podcast, and I don't say that-

1:01:12 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:01:12 Speaker 3 ... when I drink earlier-

1:01:12 Speaker 1 Right

1:01:13 Speaker 3 ... I think, I think, like, you know, I should look into why he always does that.

1:01:17 Speaker 1 I know why he does it, 'cause somebody told him that he should say it, so no one should be choysh that he didn't make a bracha earlier.

1:01:22 Speaker 3 Say it.

1:01:23 Speaker 1 And I know who told him to say it.

1:01:24 Speaker 3 Oh, okay.

1:01:25 Speaker 1 Okay. At any rate, um, I made a bracha earlier.

1:01:30 Speaker 3 Fine. Fine. It's not mashki.

1:01:34 Speaker 1 So Josh told me... And he... Look, he was very private about his health issues, so I don't know to what extent he knew about his health issues at that time. Um, but he certainly had a lot of responsibilities, fundraising. We had a huge operation. I mean, he had a lot of responsibilities. And so he was teaching Pereg Kahot. He was teaching, you know, one, one chapter a day Rambam, and he would teach it right after Shacharis. So when would, when would he prepare it? He would get up at like 4:30 or 5:00, and he would learn the, the, the, the chapter of Rambam, and then he would go to Shaharit, and then after Shaharit, he would teach it. So he told me that, "This is my Rambam therapy." What do you call it? Rambam therapy. That when life is stressful and I have all this stuff going on, I learn my Rambam, 5:00 in the morning, all by myself, and I just go into Rambam. That's-

1:02:37 Speaker 3 That's it

1:02:38 Speaker 1 ... my Rambam therapy. Yeah. So Dovid HaMelech says that Torah is, is, is soothing. It's his escape. It's his, it's his refuge. And he was punished for it. He was punished for it. He, he forgot the, you know, the, the Torah is supposed to be carried on shoulders. He put it on a cart, the whole thing. Okay. Now the Rebbe explains why after that was the... Doesn't matter. I, I mean, not gonna get to this. It does matter, but not gonna get to this. What's gonna get to this is the, the Rebbe's question. That if Dovid HaMelech was punished for even saying that Torah was soothing, that it was an escape from his worldly troubles, how does the Gemara come and say, "You know what Torah is? It's a remedy to worldly problems." And not just regular Stam Klipos Negah, Yetzer Hara. Like the worst of the worst. That's what you're reducing Torah... You're taking Torah and you're reducing it to a solution for your sick problems, for your struggles with your, your sick Yetzer Hara, and that's what you're turning Torah into? People have this complaint a lot about the way sometimes people learn Chassidus today. They say, "Why can't you just learn about, say, the Rishonim, and, and that itself, the, the haf law of it, and just get away from your, your sick life for a while and just be moved by the, the grandeur of it? Why does everything have to be applied to your, your, your personal struggles and your

1:04:01 Speaker 1 doubts and your, your problems and..." Okay. So at any rate, according to Sinyanim Shas Torah Chassidus, the Rebbe says, "What kind of a compliment is this to Torah to call it Torah Tavlin, that this is the remedy for the Yetzer Hara?" And the conclusion is that, you know, the whole, the theme of, of Kuntres Sinyana is, is etzem. What's etzem? Etzem means something that's indivisible, something that just is what it is, from the highest level to the lowest level, and it's unchanging. It... That's what it is, essence. So the Rebbe says like this: "Where do you see the essence of Torah?" The mafka on the lowest levels, that if something can be translated even to not just this world, but the lowest parts of living in this world, meaning having a Yetzer Hara, that shows how Torah is atzmus. That it's relevant on the highest levels, and it's relevant on the lowest levels. Okay. So backtracking. We're discussing right before we got into this-

1:05:14 Speaker 3 Discussing how to get into-

1:05:16 Speaker 1 Okay. So I told you I have a, a way of doing this grub. But some of us, that's our language. By the way, you mentioned earlier about English letters of the Rebbe. My Nevuelah speaks English. So if I want to learn Nevuelah Kids, Nevuelah Sichlis, you know, that's Igress. But if I want to speak my Nevuelah, definitely English letters. 'Cause that's, that's, that's... When, when, when my Nevuelah comes and bothers me, it speaks to me in English.

1:05:44 Speaker 3 Speaks in English.

1:05:45 Speaker 1 There's no question. So that's like how you fight fire with fire. But here's, here's the deal. We all have problems. Everyone has problems. How do I know everyone has problems? Well, first of all, because in my personal life as Shayest Taub, everyone decides to write me with their problems 'cause I write this, uh, this Ami column, which I've said hundreds of times is a poor imitation of Igress Kodesh.

1:06:10 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:06:10 Speaker 1 And there's a famous, uh, clip that, you know, our friend, uh, Ben Shimon sent around, where I said at his Huff All event, a one-liner, "My, my Ami column is a poor imitation of Igress Kodesh." And he took that clip, and he sent it around. And by standby, it's true, uh, because w- Rabbi, Rabbi Frankfurter asked me, "Write an advice column." I'm like, "I don't even know what an advice column is." He's like, "You'll figure it out." So I was like, "Okay, I'll imitate Igress." But at any rate, so I know that everyone has problems-

1:06:35 Speaker 3 Imitated-

1:06:36 Speaker 1 What?

1:06:36 Speaker 3 ... in which sense?

1:06:38 Speaker 1 Imitated the style.

1:06:39 Speaker 3 Style.

1:06:39 Speaker 1 The style, the, the approach. Uh, there's a lot of column that I picked up from Igress, how to validate people, w- especially when you disagree with them. You can't agree with somebody's premise 'cause they're, they're wrong. Their whole problem is based on a misunderstanding. But you have to validate them. You can't just be mavatal. You can't just negate them.

1:06:55 Speaker 3 You validate them first.

1:06:56 Speaker 1 First, first. You validate them, and how to encourage somebody, but, but, but also-

1:07:00 Speaker 3 But demand

1:07:01 Speaker 1 ... not, but demand and not let them off the hook. Um-

1:07:04 Speaker 3 Yeah

1:07:05 Speaker 1 ... how to, how to empower them. Like what's... Let's say they're complaining about something. It's not their bechir chofshe. It's, it's, it's yene. They're complaining about some other guy. So you have to put it back, put the onus back on them where they have power. Like these are things that I picked up from Igress.

1:07:18 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:07:19 Speaker 1 At any rate, uh, we can come back to this if you want. But, so here's the deal. I, I know that everyone has problems. There's a saying, there are two kinds of people in the world. There's normal people and the people that you really know. 'Cause if you'll know anyone, you'll find out that everyone's crazy. So when people, you know, when it comes to Shidduchim, you know, they, they, "Oh, that family's no good. They're crazy. Oh, that one from Australia, they're good."

1:07:40 Speaker 3 Yeah, 'cause no one knows them.

1:07:42 Speaker 1 They're from Australia. You think they're normal. They're just as crazy as everyone.

1:07:45 Speaker 3 Okay.

1:07:46 Speaker 1 At any rate, so I know everyone has problems. But also, y- you don't have to be me. You don't have to borrow my e- email inbox. Just look at the Igress. All these people have problems, okay?

1:07:56 Speaker 3 By the way, there's many Igress that are not published with-

1:07:58 Speaker 1 Oh, very good point. And that's what was fit for publication.

1:08:04 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:08:04 Speaker 1 How much of it was not or, or dot, dot, dot, redacted?

1:08:08 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:08:08 Speaker 1 A lot of sections of-

1:08:09 Speaker 3 And that was all the Rebbe said that 'cause it's too p- too personal.

1:08:11 Speaker 1 Too personal.

1:08:12 Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah.

1:08:12 Speaker 1 Right. Yeah. Right. That's the tip of the iceberg. That was what was published.

1:08:16 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

1:08:17 Speaker 1 Right Or people have asked me, like, "Where did the Rebbe speak about," whatever, let's say, a very personal, uh, very, um, intimate issue. "Did the Rebbe ever speak about it?" I said, "I think he spoke about it thousands of times." "Where?" And I say, "Look in the Igeres." Rebbe talks about Chesed Kedosh. Yeah. What is he talking about over there? Yeah. What is... What do you think he's speaking about? Mm-hmm. I mean, just use a little... What was most devastating to me, the person who asked me this was a Mashpia Bechir. Mm-hmm. Which to me, the number one qualification you have to have to be a Mashpia Bechir is to know that ninety-nine percent of the time the Rebbe's saying Chesed Kedosh is about these things. But whatever. It was disappointing to you, yeah. Okay, it was disappointing to me. Yeah. Okay. But- Add that to the list. Okay. Okay. Well, add- Add that to the list. Okay. But let's talk about this, the grub way to get the chukah going. Okay. So we all have problems. We're in Galus. Okay, we-we have problems. So would it be better perhaps, and maybe I could, I could even argue the opposite, actually, but would it be better to pick up a Maimor just because I just wanna connect to the Rebbe? Yeah, I guess that's beautiful. It's very clean. It's very pure. But at the very least, let's just say you have problems in life, and you have doubts, and you don't know how to deal

1:09:44 Speaker 1 with it. So at the very least, the pnia, the graba pnia, the ulterior motive, selfish reason, just open up the Rebbe's totah. Open up Igeres and just start reading just to have some clue how to deal with your crazy life. You, you're asking how to start learn... If you, if you start learning, everyone always enjoys it, right? They always enjoy. Yeah. But how to get started if, if you, you need the, the initial motivation. So I'm saying, when you're trying to deal with your life in Galus, and you're dealing with all your problems, and you're dealing with it, this will give you clarity. It'll give you soothing. It'll give you peace of mind. So it's about identifying when you're running on empty, which very often people are. Sure. It's just about identifying that the resembling and the Rebbe is the address, and therefore go, go access. Like, go do it. You know, it's that- That's... Your motivation should be your empty tank. But right. I mean, the motivation is there, but you know what the problem is? There's a, there's a letter that I learned recently, but it's a motif that you find all the time. One of the things I told you that I learned certain kolom in the Rebbe's letters, one of them is the problem is the solution. Always the problem is... Like, it's true in learning. Like, the bigger the kasha, the more of a chiddush you're gonna arrive at, right? So also in life, the bigger the problem or hasidus,

1:11:13 Speaker 1 the, the bigger the helem, the bigger the giluy. That's the Rebbe's approach when he asks questions in learning. In learning, right. The answer- The bigger the question, the bigger the answer. Right. Or in terms of hasidus, it's- The answer is in the question ... the bigger the helem, the bigger the giluy that ensues. But in life also, you see in the Igeres, the bigger the conundrum the person is facing, the more clarity they're about to, to come into. To receive. Right. And it's not just the lefiera, it's also the oifen, the manner of it, because the answer is embedded in the question. The, the famous simple example of it is Jonathan Sacks writes to the Rebbe, "Should I become the next Chief Rabbi of England?" I should. Right. I should. They have to... Made the transposition editing marks. Turns should I into I should, right? You, you're asking it as a question. I'm telling you, you, you're saying it as an answer. Or "" right? The Veindamb story, right? Famous. Okay. We, we have many such illustrations of this. Now, a side note. Yeah. You go back. Just h-hold your thought, but- Yeah ... one of the most geschmacke parts of that story of Rabbi Sacks, they saw, I think it's a, I think it's a gem or video where he's describing how he wrote to the Rebbe about whether he should become the Chief Rabbi, and he got that answer, but he told his wife, "Okay, I'm gonna write to the Rebbe, but are

1:12:30 Speaker 1 you ready?" "Because whatever the Rebbe's gonna say, I'm gonna do." Right. So it was like a very hasidisha- Right ... like, "I, I don't know if I should write. You want me to write?" Right. It's a commitment. "Okay, just remember, w-w-whatever it is." Yeah. So the answer is in the question. A guy writes to the Rebbe, and he says, "I can't do this avodah because I don't have time, and I don't have concentration. I'm thinking all day long about other things, and I just... I can't do it. I can't, uh, think about Hashem." So the Rebbe writes him back, and I'm paraphrasing, but it's like, "Oh, good, good news. So you do have time and concentration." You're just, you're just using it for the wrong thing. Using it for the wrong thing. But, like, I was afraid that maybe you're gonna tell me, "Push it. You can't think. You don't have... Some people just can't think." No, clearly you can think. You can concentrate. Good news. You're just thinking about the wrong things. Okay. So that's an example of the, the problem is the solution, right? Question is in the answer, or the answer is in the question. But what I was saying before about, so we have problems in life, and we're in pain, different degrees of pain. It could be like massive, massive pain, or it could just be general discomfort, right? Okay. And we know that we, we need clarity. We need some way to frame this, some way to, to look

1:13:51 Speaker 1 at this so we can get through the day. And then what do we do? And I, I, you know, I'll include myself. I'm not, I'm, I'm not perfect here. I... Look for, for, for... Look for answers in other sources. And that to me is the tragedy because it's just satisfying enough that it delays the need to search further. It feels like- Those other, those other sources. What? Those other sources. Yeah. So, you know, podcasts and books and whatever, other sources. Some are Klipos Nogah and some are, you know, lower, but the point is that- Someone sent me... I believe I mentioned this also somewhere in one of the podcasts, but, the youth, and help, uh, uh, like- Right ... and it's like, okay, so you get... So you're, that's what you're saying. You're delaying some of the- Right ... but you're gonna have to go, go further, and you're, and you're gonna get the, the, the real source anyways. By the way, this is a story, mamish a story the Rebbe told. The Rebbe told a story that, uh, that, that, that Rebbe Rashab says that, uh, he was at a seder. Seder Yom Tov, I think it was, and there was someone there at the seder, I think from Beis HaRav, and this person was listening to podcasts. So I guess in the 1890s, didn't have podcasts. It must've been a, must've been a book. I don't know what it was. Bichah. Bichah, yeah. That was the clip- So- That was the podcast of

1:15:51 Speaker 1 the day. That was the podcast. So the guy says, "Hey"- My ‹foreign language› used to still talk about Bichah. Bichah, yeah. So he says that the professors found out that when you look up, it helps you remember, and when you look down- Oh ... it's a story in Likutei Sichos. And when you look down, it helps you to concentrate because there's a vein in the brain, and it brings blood to different parts of the brain that do different functions. And the guy, you know, he said he was all excited about it, thought it was very interesting. And aft-afterwards, the Rebbe Rashab went and got a, a, a ‹foreign language› of the Mitler Rebbe, and he showed him, and say that a ‹foreign language› from the, the ‹foreign language› of, of, uh, of ‹foreign language›. And, uh, then that's why ‹foreign language› and a person that he... When he l- he's... The person is also made that way, and when he wants to remember, he looks up. When he look... When he wants to concentrate, he looks down. So the Rebbe tells this story as an illustration that everything's in the Torah. And this guy, nebach, he had to get excited that he heard it on a podcast or he read it in a book or whatever it is. It's in Sichos. Okay. So going back to what I was saying about Grabbe Pnias. So I'm gonna a- so I, I have that- Yeah. Do you wanna get controversial? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Among Sichim is brought

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1:19:05 Speaker 1 your financial support as well through visiting our website, derherr.org, or through contacting us to setting up a meeting. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. So recently, yeah, we, we, we published something from the Rebbe, and it was about depression. And the Rebbe gave a very clear answer that's in the Tzidkaha and Ha'itachin, how does it come to a chassid? Right. Where's time for this? Okay. And I got pushback. You know, it's out of context, and there's other letters, and, you know, it's a serious thing. Okay. So I mean, I'm open to criticism, no problem, but I mean, I just quoted the Rebbe's. I don't know what, you know. Right. But, uh, not I, whatever, the, the, the Herr. The magazine, yes. It was actually like a WhatsApp that we sent out. Uh-huh. Um- No, I remember that project. No, no, this is recently. Oh, this is- That was a different project. You did another project. It was another project. Okay. It wasn't happy to be. We have selections that we sent out, so that was one thing. Oh. I was thinking to myself, "Okay, ‹foreign language› I mean, maybe the Rebbe's right." Like, has no one ever thought of that? Right. Right. Right. In my own lifetime, I've seen, like, there's been a shift. Like, people have gone that way, and now- Right ... people are like, you know, slowly... I'm not, I don't know if I'm being c-clear. I mean, intentionally being a little vague over here. I understand that

1:20:26 Speaker 1 you're being careful, and the nature of trends is that they trend. Yeah. And that the understanding of things shifts and changes and evolves, and there's pendulum swings, and they go to one extreme and to another extreme. And what is considered conventional wisdom... I mean, I'm not even that old, but in my lifetime, I've seen not even a pendulum swing- And I'm, and I'm young- Back and forth and back and forth ... I'm younger than you, and in my- And you've seen it swing ... in my adult life- Right ... I've seen, I've seen- Swing it back and forth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe the Rebbe knows what he's talking about. Or at the very least, could you admit that the Rebbe knew what he was talking about to that guy? Right. And that there's some value In hearing what the Rebbe told this person, does it mean that you have to do exactly what it says there? See, where does that come from? That comes from that very shallow approach I was describing before when I said people who only think about what the Rebbe said, not how the Rebbe said it. Right. Then the Rebbe wrote, can the first thing that I wanna answer, the answers to one person, another person- Right. The Rebbe will give two opposite answers to two different people. In fact, I know of cases where regarding a shidduch, two parties, the same shidduch, the Rebbe told one one thing, the other the other thing. It's good for you. It's

1:21:40 Speaker 1 not good for you. Okay. So... And, and if you're learning Gemara, you don't have a problem with that. Right. came from. These generalizations. Like for example- But where does it come from- I would say- ... the generalizations? Where does that shvachkeit come from? It comes from this, the, the, this shallow way of learning, where I think that I just have to memorize all the things the Rebbe said and they're quotes. They're just quotes. They're things... And what was the Rebbe's opinion about what kind of car you should buy? The Rebbe said, "Buy last year's model." Like, like, and that becomes like, put that on the banner, that's- I can look at what the Rebbe said. Yeah. A used car. I think it even says, like, f- a year ago, like last year's model. I didn't see that. Okay. I saw a few times they've said a used car. Right. Whatever. The point is, and they make that, like that's like, like that's a shift in shochonora. Like, that becomes like- Likely now they're leased 'cause it's not a used car. R- Right. Exactly. Okay. There's an approach. Like, it's, it's, it's a way of looking at things. So yeah. Is, is, is it important to know Osios Sarav, to be able to quote and to... Yes, absolutely, and to know what did the Rebbe say, what words did the Rebbe use. Very important. It's very important. But that's the beginning. And I think what happens is people just get very hung up on, "What was

1:22:58 Speaker 1 the Rebbe's opinion about such and such?" Well, it says in such and such Sicha, this is what the Rebbe said, now that's the answer. No, no, no, no, no. What was the context for it? You know, this might be like a silly way to like make the point, but that'll be like coming up to someone saying, "What's the most important Yom Tov in the Jewish year?" "Oh, I know. It's Rosh Hashanah. I just learned a Sicha that Rebbe said Rosh Hashanah is the most important day." Right. Right? You know anything about the Rebbe? No. The Rebbe... Whenever the Rebbe's speaking about, he'll explain how this is more important than anything else, right? Right. But if the person just takes that one clip, and that's it, and now that's the whole binyan av, right? Katuv. Okay. Yeah. Exactly. Now we have a source, and that's it, and we're gonna make it on a poster, and that's it. And it, and it, and it absolves me from, from actually being a Talmud. I think that's also another thing that's connected to this whole discussion, like the Rebbe's Chiddush in the, the, the mussar of Kabbalah Sahl. The Rebbe innovates the definition of the concept of Kabbalah Sahl itself. Many places, but, uh, w- I think one approach to Kabbalah Sahl is, is Kabbalah Sahl and there's sechel, right? There's accepting the yoke and there's thinking, and those are two different opposite worlds. They're empathetical. You have to choose one or the other. Nasi or Nishma. You gotta

1:24:21 Speaker 1 do one or the other. And the Rebbe comes and says, "No, it's Nasi and it's Nishma." You know, you both. There's a say, they're obviously Nasi first, then Nishma, but don't say Nasi and then, "Oh, no, that's it. Kabbalah Sahl, now we don't- Saying the yeah. But that doesn't... You have to have a, a geschmack in Kabbalah Sahl for understanding it. Okay. Is that what you're saying? That's another thing. That's another thing. And by the way, in... Very interesting, a letter I saw the Rebbe wrote to a Mechaneches, seems to be in Kfar Chabad. He told her sh- she should tell the girls that even the I forget the exact ... but it was like non-Jewish scientists are also saying that you need to have Kabbalah Sahl in order to have a happy life. And I was thinking to myself, sort of like we were saying before, like, why do you... Well, it was nothing including some podcasts, right? And then I realized you can't have Kabbalah Sahl to Kabbalah Sahl. You first have to get the person to agree that it's good for them, 'cause they're not there yet. They have to agree it's good for them. Then once they agree it's good for them, now they can have Kabbalah Sahl. So at the, at the beginning of it was explained to them, even according to non-Jewish scientists, you have to have self-discipline in life. Okay. But getting back to this w- this other point about Kabbalah Sahl, the way the Rebbe explains it.

1:25:48 Speaker 1 Kabbalah Sahl is not you check your brain at the door and now you're not thinking anymore and now you're done. To the contrary. If you say Kabbalah Sahl means I no longer have an obligation to think, what you're basically doing is you're telling Hashem, "My Kabbalah Sahl only goes so deep. I can be Mekabel Ol on the level of maase, maybe even on the level of dibbur, but I cannot give you my Machshava, and therefore, what I'll do instead, I'll shut it off." Shut it off. "I'll shut it off, but I... S- I can't... I'm sorry. I, I can't think like a Jew. I just can't do it." So you're holding out on Hashem. So the Rebbe says, Kabbalah Sahl... Uh, by the way, one of the essays, the biggest Sichas on this is in, in the, the Sicha in, in Chelek Gimel on, uh, on, um, on Parsha Zachar. About Shaul and what does it mean, and what was his mistake, and w- what does it mean he didn't listen, and... That Kabbalah Sahl doesn't mean you turn off your brain. It means that you accept that you're going to use your brain, and you're gonna train yourself to think like a Yid. That's what it means. So I think a lot of times, one of the issues we have culturally is, as Lubavitchers, I'm saying, is like, "Okay, how will I have Kabbalah Sahl? I will just do whatever the Rebbe said. Tell me what the Rebbe said. Tell me what the Rebbe

1:27:13 Speaker 1 said. Tell me what the Rebbe says, and I, and I'll do it. Just tell me what the Rebbe said, and I'll do it." And the Rebbe wants Talmidim. The Rebbe wants people who know how to think. The Rebbe's spending thousands of hours teaching you how to approach not just learning, but life, and you're refusing to do it. You're saying, "No, no, no, I just... Give me the quotes. Give me the Kitzeh Shulchan Aruch and, and that's it. Now follow it." So that's why, like you're saying, you got pushback. Oh, the Rebbe told someone to get over their depression. Well, what, what, what does that mean? Everyone should just get over their depression? When did it ever occur to you because the Rebbe said something one time to one person that that is the binyan av, that it becomes the rule for every situation, every ti- There's an approach that that, that that brings across. It... But if you think about that in those terms, if your way of relating to the Rebbe's Torah is very, um, literal, where you're just, "What did the Rebbe say?" And now... Then you do generalize, and then you're afraid of words like that because you're like, "Oh, well, uh, but, but, but that doesn't fit with what we know." What... But it fits with the... That real human being reached out to the Rebbe in a time of weakness, and the Rebbe as a loving father said it to that person, so it has relevance at least on that

1:28:37 Speaker 1 level, has truth at least on that level. But no, but we can't turn it into a, a, a banner that we can, we could say, "Shach asmin chamayiv." Well, who said anything is like that? But there, but there is a general... There is an approach, like for the... in this, in this way that may not... with, with some... which some people may struggle with and find not conventional, you know? But it's an approach, and you have to know how to apply it. And obviously- What is, what is the approach? Well, generally, the Rebbe is very into minimizing people's problems, not invalidating it, not dismissing. See, being dismissive is, "Eh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Eh, that's nothing. You know, grow up." Grow up, right. There's an expression, um, "Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big God is." Okay, now that's my inver- my version of, uh, of, uh, Moshe Z'daîne Choshish, you know, that the Talmid of Baal Shem Tov had to hear the Ukrainian wagon driver say it in, uh- "Konin kunstu felpin velm." Right. But the question is, why did they have to hear it from, uh, the Ukrainian wagon driver? That was, it was a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov. Okay, the point is, sometimes it... you hear it said in, uh, the isius of, uh, the Sfas Emes and it makes more sense to you. So there's, there's a vort, uh, "Don't tell God how big your problems are, are. Tell, tell your problems how big

1:30:00 Speaker 1 God is." The Rebbe's approach is, is very much on the side of like, "This is manageable." I never saw the Rebbe say, "This is unmanageable. Like, we're never gonna be able to take care of this. This is too big. We can't deal with this." I never saw it. So that's very different than dismissive. Dismissive is, "I don't even wanna hear about it." Or it doesn't exist. Or it doesn't exist. It's not real. The Rebbe's like, "Yeah." You can do it. You can do it. Like, it's real, but we can manage this. This is manageable. Now, that's not to tell you that this is the binyan av, that anyone who has depression, that the answer is, "You can do it." Maybe that's not the answer, or maybe that's not the entire answer. Maybe that's only part of the answer. We love to generalize. I can get really controversial if you want. Hmm. Okay, go ahead. So the other day, we were learning a letter, thirty letters in thirty days, and I noticed that it was... The, the date of the letter was Yod Aleph Shevat. Not Toshon Yod Aleph, but it was... All the... We're learning Chelek Yud Bet. But Chelek Yud Bet, so all the letters are from Toshon Tes Ai. But it was, it was Yod Aleph Shevat. So I mentioned Yod Aleph Shevat is the first day of Kabbalah of the Nesius. And now it happened to be the day we were learning that letter was Beis Nissan, which Beis, Beis Nissan is

1:31:27 Speaker 1 the hilulah of the Rebbe Rashab. It's also Kabbalah of the Nesius- Sephardic Nesius ... of the Sephardic Nesius of, of, of the Friediker Rebbe. Not like with the Rebbe, where there's a whole inter, you know, period i, in between. Like the day of the hilulah was the day of, uh, Sephardic Nesius. So I mentioned, I said, "It's interesting 'cause Yod Aleph Shevat's the letter we just learned. That's the beginning of the Rebbe's Nesius, and Beis Nissan's the beginning of the Friediker Rebbe's Nesius." Of course, on the Yom HaKтораh, which I said that term because that's the language the Rebbe used, is, um, the, the beginning, the, the, the coronation of the, of, of, of, of the Friediker Rebbe. And so you should say Yechi HaMelech to give life to the nasi. So Yechi HaMelech, it gives life to the nasi. It's the Sefer Beis Nissan- Beis Nissan, Toshon in the Mem Ches, yeah. So someone made a clip of it. They got all excited. "Oh, the end of the igras sharei said Yechi HaMelech." So I w- I was in Crown Heights for Shabbos. A lot of people were coming, were commenting on, "Oh, yeah, he said Yechi HaMelech." Yeah, I did. That is correct. Beis Nissan is the time to say Yechi HaMelech. I'm not telling you you can't say it any other time. What I'm saying is the context of Yechi HaMelech is Beis Nissan. Now, maybe if you wanna generalize, you could say for us it's Yod Aleph Shevat, and maybe Yod

1:32:57 Speaker 1 Aleph Shevat I'll say Yechi HaMelech. It'll be an appropriate thing to say 'cause that's the Kabbalah of the Nesius, the HaKтораh, however you wanna say it. But my point is, I think people get really, really hung up on, "Well, this is the word. These are the words. This is the quote," okay? And now if it's good, let's just do it all the time. Like if the Rebbe said that Rosh Hashanah is the most important Yom Tov, that's it. Oh, but he said- Sukkot is the most important yom tov. You said Shavuot is the most important. Everything is context. There's a context for y- for saying Yechia Melech. There's a context for ev- every holy word that Rebbe said has an eternal context. Eternal doesn't mean that you should say that all the time. It means there will always be situations in which it is the most appropriate thing to say. Is that too nuanced? Is that, like, too, "I don't know what you wrote, so should we say it or not?" Can you imagine if somebody came to 770 for Selichos, and he heard Selichos, and he was so excited, and he's walking around in the cheder shadar, and he's saying, "L'chol shemeitzdoka, lvan uvesha upon them," it's so moving. That's, that's for Selichos. Like, why are you saying that now? Like, everything has context. So going back to your thing- That's the famous Rebbe Yael, Tzven Tzachomerat. Yeah, and people used to mock that. I remember clearly people mocking Tzven Tzach vos- vagen vos

1:34:23 Speaker 1 merat, vu merat. People used to mock that, that, that he, he's not committing. He can't... It's not that he's not committing. It's that... I, I, I'll give you a very, very simple example that if you don't grasp this, you cannot learn Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe says in Torah Or that mehusa nefesh has no tzayur. He says, "But in Sefer Sha'ar Bevim, I said that mehusa nefesh is koichei nefesh, eser koichei, seichel and middos." He says, "Yeah, 'cause in Sefer Sha'ar Bevim, we're talking about the avoda that you can control. You must control your levush ha-nefesh, your, your thought, speech, and action. You can't directly control your seichel and middos, your intellect and your emotions." So relative to the context of Sefer Sha'ar Bevim, we call koichei ha-nefesh mehusa nefesh in that text. But here in Torah Or, mehusa nefesh means something beyond, deeper even than mo- than, than koichei ha-nefesh, and it has no tzayur. But imagine somebody would insist that they, they, they learned... Or in the end of Perek Beis of Tanya, he talks about a levush, oisei ha-levush. Temach Tzedek says that that's the nefesh ha-siklos. But in Perek Dalet, and then for the rest of Tanya, levush is machshava, dibbur, ma'ase, thought, speech, and action. Imagine if you were forcing, "Well, if levush means this, it has to mean... If that's what it means two chapters later, it has to mean it in this chapter as well." But that's not the context. So the word, the same word has different meaning

1:35:59 Speaker 1 in different contexts. So I think a lot of the problem is that we get hung up on, "Did the Rebbe say it? If the Rebbe said it, now this becomes the simplified catch-all phrase for every situation." And that, I'm just saying, when people said to you, "You can't print the Rebbe telling somebody to..." What w- what, what, what was even the language? You don't have to be exactly precise. I don't wanna m- misquote, but it was, it was a translation. The Rebbe said, like, "Ver hatzait eftarov." Okay. Like a chas- Right ... a chassid- You have no time for depression ... yeah. Right. Okay. I think, I, I believe- Okay ... that's what it was, if I remember correctly. And then it becomes, "Well, that is dismissive of all depression, and because you're, you're saying that that's how you should speak to anyone every time." Nobody said that. We're saying the Rebbe said it to this... And by the way, let me, let me go further. This is what the Rebbe said to this person this time. I don't know what the Rebbe told that person the very next day. It could've been different. Nuance, that's why it's so important to understand the approach. It's not what, it's how. So let me ask you another question. Forget about what the Rebbe wrote to people, what the Rebbe spoke publicly. So it's the 12th Nisan- Mm-hmm ... and how you, how are you mechazek your skashlas, learning the Rebbe's Torah, and doing what the Rebbe told

1:37:22 Speaker 1 us to do. Mm-hmm. Kim hera Eisav, et cetera. So someone could struggle with some of the things that the Rebbe said to do that are hard. Yeah. Someone reached out to me today, "What does it mean to learn Shlishi Perakim min Hamam? It's very, very hard." It is hard. If they actually- It's very hard ... if they actually do it, they're not just read Tehillim. The two hardest things in my life are Shabbos Mevochim Tehillim and Shlishi Perakim. I don't have a problem with the Tehillim. You don't have a problem with it? Uh, I don't know. I, I don't have a problem with that, but the, the Shlishi Perakim- It's terrible. It's terrible. It's torture for me. Torture. Okay. And I'm saying it publicly because I wanna normalize it, that it may be torture for other people, and I want them to know that- Oh, so, so this is my question. Oh, yeah. So if it's hard, I'll give you... Let, let's do a, a hard, a very hard example. Okay. The Rebbe had a campaign, and we published an extensive, uh, essay on it, n- the Cheder a number of years ago. The Rebbe had a campaign to have large families. Okay. Okay. The Rebbe, Rebbe was very... And I, I read it often, Baruch Hashem, I have a large family, and I, I, I re- I, I reread it, the Sichas and, and, and that article often, and one of the chassan teachers tells me he gives it out to, to those chassanim-

1:38:40 Speaker 1 Right ... and the kal teacher also. The Rebbe is very, very clear- Yes ... about it. Yes. And also, the Rebbe addresses spacing very clearly, and the Rebbe is very strong about the lack of, the lack of it. Yes. So obviously, there's the, the... Everything, uh, uh, you already said before. Right. There's the nuance and, and, you know, you know- Right ... and, and fine. The, the, the, there's that nuance. But then there's another thing that sometimes the Rebbe wants us to do something that is very hard. Yeah. And that's part of what it means to be a soldier. Right. Even though it's hard, you're gonna do it. So what do you say about all the, uh, all this? Oh, that, that's a very valid question. This is a very sensitive area. I mean, that's a super sensitive area. I know. That's why I'm bringing it up. Yeah. Okay. That, I think, the most controversial thing. It happens to be that I am passionate about it, and I feel like that it's a f- it's... That particular area is something that gets written off very, very quickly. Yeah. And I think the Rebbe's whole point of the campaign was not to tell you that it's asur or anything like that. Right. The Rebbe was trying to educate us how- Yes ... we- Yes ... I think one of the lashonim that the Rebbe uses, the Rebbe's talking to women. The Rebbe says that you shouldn't go, "Ein naisen bain merav legadol chated." You should... The

1:39:58 Speaker 1 Rebbe wants- Right ... the Reb- the Reb- It's an attitude ... obviously, you could go to the Rav to get a chated. Right. But the Rebbe, the Rebbe- And the Tamim Tzedek, who's the posek for Chabad, writes about birth control. Right. But the Rebbe's- And if you learn the, the Tamim Tzedek- Right ... okay, so it exists. So the Rebbe's trying to- And a tzitzit rav knows how to give chated. Right. But the Rebbe's trying to influence not just the women- But when the woman- ... to get the women ... asks the Rav her attitude. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly, but people don't get these nuances. Talk about this now. I'm interviewing you, you know? The Rebbe's not telling you what to do. I mean, I guess maybe some places you could say the, the Rebbe's telling you what to do. I, I... That's a... We can, we can talk about that. The Chabad doesn't tell you what to do, the Rebbe teaches. But that's the thing, the Rebbe's teaching. The, the... With the family planning, clearly the Rebbe's not giving anyone an instructive, "This is what you have to do." The Rebbe's giving you an approach to it. There's one very powerful sip about family planning. The Rebbe talks about Bereishit, Barah Elokim, Et Hashamayim Ve'et Ha'aretz. Ha'aretz means Eretz Yisrael and the worldly approach, and from the worldly approach, it's so overwhelming and how can I do it? But then you have to say, "Va'aseh et min hashomah zom." You remember this, this Beautiful.

1:41:07 Speaker 1 Beautiful. Like, what would my neshamah say? And it's like a thought process, a meditation a person's supposed to go through. Like yeah, from a physical point of view, there's no way I can make this work. But what would my neshamah say? That's not a, that's not a zer ezarti. It's not a... the, the Rebbe making a decree, here's what you have to do. That's the Rebbe teaching. So my, so my question for you is, when there's an inyan from the Rebbe that's hard... I mean, a lot of things are hard. Shluchas is very hard, uh, for some people. Wearing a shaitel is hard. I mean, there's, there's, there's- Right ... a lot of things that are hard. Right. How does a Hasid... What, what's the mixture of Kabbalah but also chinuch to actually not just do something Kabbalah, but actually... Like for example, if you, if you struggle and have a large family, don't re-rely on the fact that 10 years ago you looked into it. Do it again. Right. However much you need it, every day, every week- Right ... every year, what-whatever it is. Like, but, but what, what, what do you, what do you, what do you do to be a Hasid to act like- Yeah ... the ha- the pa- the things that are hard for you, how do you just say, "I can't do it," or, or just have that Kabbalah without, without buying into it, but that's also a bad recipe. What, what's the, what's the balance? There's, there's

1:42:17 Speaker 1 the famous story about Herman Wouk came to the Rebbe, and Herman Wouk had a very interesting, unusual biography in that he grew up in America. I think he was from the Bronx. Uh, Shomer Shabbos his whole life, even when he was in the American Army and he was... Be- by the way, people think that everyone who ever was, like, on the radar of Lubavitch, like, they exaggerate their, their f- level of fame. How big they were, yeah. It's called the telethon syndrome. Like Lubavitcher Bacharim think, like, Jan Pierce was, like, the biggest star of all, 'cause he was, you know... But- Yeah ... Herman Wouk actually- He actually was. Y- yeah. I mean, i- i- if you list, like, top five influential American authors of the 20th century, I think everyone's gonna put him on the list, right? He, he was very big. Anyways, the pelo was, the guy was frum his whole life, okay? Now he comes to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe's telling him about his plan, and he says, "With all due respect, Lubavitcher Rebbe, do you think you can tell American Jews to do anything?" He's like, "I am an American Jew. I know these people." And he... You have to understand, American Jewry, even Orthodox were not Orthodox. I mean, very few people, very few people were able to, to hold it together. You're talking about, like, the, the, the pre-war generation- Pre-war ... and their, their, their offspring ... that generation, assimilation was super, super rampant. They came over

1:43:45 Speaker 1 from the old country and, you know, the stories of throwing the tefillin over the boats. I mean, tho- these are real things. Like, it was shakla. I mean, uh, I don't have to give you examples to, to prove it, but I can tell you the level- And that's the whole American Jewry that you see. Right. And when the This is about telling- ... Americans nishtanderis was not just for fun. It was, it was a real issue. Right. It was a crisis. Crisis. So Herman Wouk is talking about someone who was frum, and he is from America. He gets that mentality. He says, "Lubavitcher Rebbe, do you think you can tell American Jews to do anything?" Like, Americans are not Russians. Russians are very, you know, a folk, you know, a soldier. But Americans, like, are cowboys. You don't tell Americans what to do. M- my freedoms. My freedoms, right? You tell me what to do, I'm gonna do the opposite. So he says, "Lubavitcher Rebbe, you think you can tell American Jews to do anything?" The Rebbe says, "You... No, you can't tell them to do anything, but you can teach them to do everything." At least that's how Herman Wouk reported it. Uh, and I, I've heard R- Rabbi Feller repeat it, uh, before. I don't know if he told it directly to him. I know they were... I think they went to Yerov Nosson together on a- On a, on a private plane ... on a private plane- The whole story ... with,

1:44:57 Speaker 1 uh, Senator Bashowitz. Yeah, it's a whole story. Okay. You've heard that also, right? I did, I did, yeah. You, you think you can tell American Jews to do anything? No, you can't tell them to do anything, but you can teach them to do everything. Okay. So here's what I think. There may be some things that the Rebbe did say in a manner of zer ezarti. I'm not sure what they are. I'd have to think about it. I would think most things, though, is the Rebbe teaching. And the Rebbe's spending time explaining things, why it's important, why we do it this way, not other ways. You know, like you mentioned shaitel. Like, that was something the Rebbe explained why this way, why not another way, why is it important. Any of these concepts, the Rebbe had enough authority in the eyes of Hasidim at least, to say, "I'm... This is the decree. This is... I'm saying this is what you have to do." But the Rebbe educated and explained it. There were other Kaisin that you have to... they take attendance if you show up, uh, uh, at, at the Tish or whatever. Right. It was never like that in, in Lubavitch. Right

1:46:11 Speaker 5 Maybe the Rebbe took attendance, but there wasn't, uh, uh, you, you weren't, you know, it wasn't... You didn't feel that the, the mandate.

1:46:16 Speaker 1 Right. And it's interesting that people were there because they felt that they should be there. Nobody had to be there. They wanted to be there. And I think that's the same with a lot of things. Like, no one's forcing you to do this, but the Rebbe gave you enough information and explanation that if you think about it for a little while, you'll wanna do it. Just like Lahavdil, you listen to your favorite podcast and your favorite... You read your favorite, uh, author, and by the time you're done, you're all excited and you're motivated, and you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that. Okay. Can the Lubavitch Rebbe have as much place in your mind, Lahavdil, as, as, as those things? Do you think the Rebbe has the capacity to influence you? I would even just say it. I, I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I'm just saying it even as an innocent question. Try it out. Try to see what happens. See how influential it'll be. Go make it super easy. You don't even have to read. Go and pull up, um, Living Torah videos, uh, on, on family planning, and just watch those videos.

1:47:30 Speaker 5 And Jay made a whole, uh, film on that.

1:47:32 Speaker 1 They made a whole thing on it.

1:47:33 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:47:33 Speaker 1 Yeah. Just, just watch those and just see, see if it has an effect on you.

1:47:41 Speaker 5 And I was certain of-

1:47:42 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:47:42 Speaker 5 ... that when he gets the question, maybe if it's the first time, he says, "Just do me a favor. Watch the video."

1:47:51 Speaker 1 No, that's not-

1:47:51 Speaker 5 "It's actually the shiur, just watch the..." I mean, may-maybe now he says read the Devarim, I don't know. But wa-watch the video and then call me back.

1:47:59 Speaker 1 You did a whole thing in Devarim about family planning. Was that what you got bashed for?

1:48:05 Speaker 5 Yeah, we got-

1:48:05 Speaker 1 Or was it the mitzvah?

1:48:06 Speaker 5 Yeah, yeah, we-

1:48:07 Speaker 1 Which did you get bashed for?

1:48:07 Speaker 5 We got bashed because people thought it-

1:48:10 Speaker 1 It's inappropriate

1:48:10 Speaker 5 ... it's not appropriate for bachurim.

1:48:12 Speaker 1 Yeah, it's not appropriate for bachurim. You know the story, uh, Rabbi Dr. Pape told me about the, uh, Mishpacha times. You know about that?

1:48:21 Speaker 5 Tell me what?

1:48:22 Speaker 1 I'm sure you know it. Come on, Yossi, you know everything. The, the cover of the, the mitzvatim, and they didn't wanna write, uh, talas hamishpacha.

1:48:31 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:48:31 Speaker 1 Right? So, uh, they wrote some... The Rebbe had said a sicha about telling the truth, so instead... Ironically enough, telling the truth 'cause they were, like, hiding the truth. And, uh, 'cause they didn't wanna write talas hamishpacha. And the Rebbe wrote, uh, like, uh, the Rebbe was magiya all the covers of Mishpacha times. So it's like one of the mitzvatim is missing over here.

1:48:50 Speaker 5 Right.

1:48:51 Speaker 1 Talas hamishpacha. Not appropriate for a bachurim. Uh, the Rebbe wanted children should know what to think.

1:48:56 Speaker 5 I mean, first of all... I mean, whatever. I don't really wanna even-

1:48:58 Speaker 1 No, go ahead

1:48:58 Speaker 5 ... get into this.

1:48:59 Speaker 1 Well, yeah, do it.

1:48:59 Speaker 5 I mean, first of all, the Rebbe was speaking to a room packed with bachurim.

1:49:03 Speaker 1 Right, right. Who was there? Right.

1:49:04 Speaker 5 Even though I, even though I saw a sicha once that the Rebbe says that the ikar crowd is, is baalat ba'al. Like, I'm addressing... And, and not about this, about something else.

1:49:12 Speaker 1 Right.

1:49:12 Speaker 5 Fine. But the payot... I mean, second of all, um, when are they supposed to find out about how to think about life?

1:49:22 Speaker 1 Right.

1:49:22 Speaker 5 When it hits them in the face?

1:49:23 Speaker 1 Right.

1:49:23 Speaker 5 That's the first time they should... And I'm not even getting into the outside influence in our culture today and how Baruch Hashem-

1:49:31 Speaker 1 Right

1:49:31 Speaker 5 ... people, uh, people, the bachurim have-

1:49:35 Speaker 1 Right

1:49:35 Speaker 5 ... many of them know.

1:49:36 Speaker 1 It's called the dor deah.

1:49:38 Speaker 5 Exactly. I mean, there's the famous joke. Someone has the... A parent sits down with the child, and he says, "We're gonna have the talk." "Talk about what?" "Uh, the talk." And the kid says, "Okay, no problem. What do you wanna know?"

1:49:54 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

1:49:55 Speaker 5 Maybe that we have to cut out.

1:49:57 Speaker 1 No, no, it's fine. Leave it. It's good. So why were people upset about it?

1:50:04 Speaker 5 I mean, that, that was, that was a reaction that, that people had. I mean, it was a, it was a, there was a machlokes amongst various mashpiim, if there's any valid, validity to that, to that thing. I mean, um, I mean, the payot, the people that I spoke to felt very strongly that, um... First of all, the Rebbe saw to it to explain this berabim, and he even said in those sichas, and I'm speaking that even though it's quote unquote not tznius. The Rebbe said in the sichas.

1:50:30 Speaker 1 Right.

1:50:31 Speaker 5 He said that. He addressed that issue.

1:50:32 Speaker 1 Right.

1:50:32 Speaker 5 That's number one. And the Rebbe said, "Nevertheless, and we want to address it." And bechalal, whenever the Rebbe speaks about any of these things, the Rebbe speaks about such a elevated, um, idol. I, I listened to, to, to, to some shiurim from people from other chreidim. They say whatever they want as long as it's in Hebrew. You know, as long as it, as long as they're using a halachic term-

1:50:55 Speaker 1 Right, right

1:50:56 Speaker 5 ... anything Hebrew, chutz la'aretz, they're talking about, they just use it. You know, a-and whenever the Rebbe spoke about anything like that, the Rebbe always made sure to speak very, very elevated, kedusha, like a, a manner of speech. That's number one. I don't, I don't know which number we're holding. But, but, but the main point is that the Rebbe was educating an olam, and who, uh, who... When do you get educated? When you're single, when you're a bachur, when you're, when you're... Before you're married or you're a girl, saying that is when you get anything in life. I mean, I would say that most people, their, their most of their education, their hanakos come from an-

1:51:30 Speaker 1 Right

1:51:30 Speaker 5 ... from when they're bachurim. So anything that you need to hear, you need to hear then. Okay, the details, yeah, there's an answer from the Rebbe. A bachur wrote was on, I think, Merkos L'Inyani, and he wrote... He met somebody that had a bunch of shailas in amudim, like, like, like, not shailas in amudim, like halacha says this, but the reality is that, you know, like, uh-

1:51:48 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm

1:51:48 Speaker 5 ... it's a Torah and science type of thing. So the Rebbe gave... It's a ma'ayan. The Rebbe gave, like, a detailed answer. Two of them were, like, inyanim that were n-na, you know, inyani tznius.

1:51:57 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

1:51:59 Speaker 5 Like, uh, about, like, the biology-

1:52:01 Speaker 1 Right

1:52:01 Speaker 5 ... and something in halacha that says, and the biology is different. The Rebbe said, like, it's not appropriate, like, you're, you're a bachur.

1:52:08 Speaker 1 Okay.

1:52:09 Speaker 5 Fine, fine.

1:52:09 Speaker 1 So that was a limit, yeah.

1:52:10 Speaker 5 Fine, that was a limit.

1:52:11 Speaker 1 You see when the Rebbe had to make a limit, even though-

1:52:12 Speaker 5 There, there, there are-

1:52:13 Speaker 1 Or at least for that person

1:52:13 Speaker 5 ... there are limits, but-

1:52:14 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:52:15 Speaker 5 ... but you get in... So fine. So that's why we only learn, uh- You know, to have the mishpacha and the halachas when you're a chasan.

1:52:22 Speaker 1 By the way, how old does a bachur have to be to learn Rambam?

1:52:25 Speaker 5 Yeah, that's, that's for, that's for sure, right? You know.

1:52:27 Speaker 1 'Cause you go through Rambam, you're gonna, you get an, you're gonna get an education.

1:52:31 Speaker 5 Correct.

1:52:37 Speaker 1 Halavai, everyone's context for your original exposure to everything in life should be from Torah. And I think that's the theme of what we're talking about here, that the Rebbe should be as much of a mandama in our lives as all the other sources, lavdil, that we allow to have an influence on us, at least as much. And that there's no area of life where you can say, "Well, you know, the Rebbe can tell me, uh, how to daven. The Rebbe can tell me, uh, I don't know, shlichas, you know, the, in that chum. You know, if it has to do with avoda. But there's certain parts of life, uh, you know, I have to figure it out for myself." And, and it's like, so opposite of the way the Rebbe educates how to understand what a Rebbe is. What is a Rebbe? Is someone who is with you in all areas of your life. Famous sicha from the, from the, from the first, uh, you know, from the first sichas, from the first farbrengens after Yut Zvat, the Rebbe's talking about the, the Gemara, about, uh, Rabbeinu HaKadosh, Yehuda HaNasi, v'ani ani tzarich, I need my sons. And he speaks about the, the, uh, Rabbi says that I keep my, my bed made and my, my lamp lit and my, um-

1:54:00 Speaker 5 Ne'emiyudah lekum keimi

1:54:01 Speaker 1 ... and, um, what was the, the, the third thing?

1:54:04 Speaker 5 Matza, matzah matzah.

1:54:05 Speaker 1 And, uh, the, the, the, my, uh, my table. So, uh, and the Rebbe talks to this bonei chaim u'zeina, the, the, the, the, the table is parnassa and the, the, the, and that the, uh, mitah is, is children, you know. And, um, the lamp is, um, is, you know, ner Hashem nishmas avodam, is, is life. And people come to the Rebbe, and just like you came to the Rebbe before Yut Zvat, you come to the Rebbe after the istalkus and you talk about... You ask the Rebbe. Don't think the Rebbe is way up there and now he can't relate to your needs anymore of bonei chaim u'zeina, the, your, your family issues, and your parnassa issues, and your health issues. The Rebbe still cares. And then the Rebbe goes even deeper and says, "By the way, mitah, mitah, you know, on the parve level, mitah means family issues." But there's even lower. Mitah can mean avodas, 'cause first of all, mitah is when the head and the feet are on the same level. So you're not thinking. You know, ein od meivaref ele kim nichnas be ruchstos. But-

1:55:06 Speaker 5 Seita.

1:55:07 Speaker 1 Right. Seita. Very good. Okay. And, uh-

1:55:11 Speaker 5 That's like on the beis, no?

1:55:12 Speaker 1 Yeah. That's a... I'm always holding still at that point. I'm still... Um, but also the Rebbe says mitah is avodas. He says, "Yeah, of course," 'cause people are nichshal in those, in those things. People struggle with that. Yeah. So mitah means chatas nurim. And you can come... Listen to this. The Rebbe after the istalkus is high. I-I-I... Istalkus meaning elevation.

1:55:43 Speaker 5 Stalkus, kadu shebicha.

1:55:44 Speaker 1 Stalkus, kadu shebicha. Yeah. Bechol ha'olam. The Rebbe's on these high, high, high, high levels, and you think to yourself, "What kind of a connection do I have? I'm, I, I, I, I, I have, I have issues, real issues." And, uh, the shame and there's, there's the... You know, I didn't even wanna tell my mashpia. I should tell the Rebbe. And the Rebbe's saying, "What do you think a Rebbe is? What do you think a Rebbe is? Who, who, who are you gonna tell?" Like the guy who came back from Jamaica. "Uh, who, who else should I tell?" And I think everybody should know that. It's like whatever you're struggling with in your life, whatever it is, whatever it's... I'm not saying if you don't have these problems, go out and get those problems, God forbid. But whatever it is that you are dealing with, the Rebbe has answers for you and guidance. And, and the Rebbe knows how to be gentle, and the Rebbe knows how to also be firm. The Rebbe knows how to comfort you, the Rebbe knows how to push you, and it's all there. And there's nothing in your life that you have to keep private and separate from your relationship with the Rebbe, 'cause it's all there.

1:56:53 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:56:55 Speaker 1 Um, okay.

1:56:58 Speaker 5 So this is, uh, this is the Yad, the Yad Alf Nisan-

1:57:01 Speaker 1 Yad Alf Nisan

1:57:02 Speaker 5 ... w-work.

1:57:05 Speaker 1 That whatever's going on in your life, you should know the Rebbe has guidance for you, the Rebbe cares. It's relevant. You are relevant to the Rebbe, the Rebbe, the Rebbe is relevant to you.

1:57:23 Speaker 5 Okay. So I think we should, uh... I think Yad Alf Nisan is a day that, um, each day has d-different Yut Zvat, and Yad Alf Nisan has different-

1:57:35 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm.

1:57:36 Speaker 5 What is it, what is the difference... I mean, I mean, what, what is the uniqueness of Yad Alf Nisan over the Yut Zvat?

1:57:43 Speaker 1 Right. Yut Zvat is the beginning of the Rebbe's public life officially, the capacity of, uh, the official capacity of, of Nasi. You know, or, or Gmar Tammuz is the culmination of another level of the avoda, the life's work of the Rebbe becoming more impactful in the world. Or like Yud Dalet Kislev, the, the, the connections, the day they're connected. It's, yeah. So what are you saying? What, what's Yud Alf Nisan?

1:58:19 Speaker 5 What's the uniqueness of Yud Alf Nisan?

1:58:21 Speaker 1 Yud Alf Nisan is, is gratitude. So we give a present to the Rebbe. We're grateful that the Rebbe was born. That's it. It's pa-- it's, it's gratitude. We're, we're, we're thankful that Hashem chose to send the Rebbe here to this world. We're doubly thankful the Rebbe was sent to this world for us in our time, and we're, we're... That's it. We're grateful. We wanna celebrate. It's a day of celebration, a birthday celebration. Um, giving gifts to show our celebration, our gratitude. That's what it is. We're grateful.

1:59:00 Speaker 5 I always tell my kids that the, um, it's at least in some point in Nidaf Nissen, it's gonna be sunny. Kabbalah bechsidim. I don't know if I've ever heard from any chsidim, but sun always shines in Nidaf Nissen.

1:59:12 Speaker 1 Some point.

1:59:12 Speaker 5 Some point. And there's also the, there's always a big question that I always had. The Rebbe in the Sichos Nidaf Nissen thanks those that send brachos and, and w- and wishes.

1:59:26 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:59:27 Speaker 5 I was always wondering, and this is more as a bachur, I was wondering, a bachur-

1:59:33 Speaker 1 Who are you to give the Rebbe a bracha?

1:59:34 Speaker 5 ...sends, sends a, a, a wish to-

1:59:35 Speaker 1 Right. Right.

1:59:37 Speaker 5 So I, I recently... I remember when I was a bachur, a friend of mine told me that his grandfather, Nachman Tzaddik, he asked him this question, and he gave him a whole havdalah. And I asked him recently, I didn't remember what it was. I a- I recently asked him what it was, and he had no recollection of the whole thing.

1:59:51 Speaker 1 Oh, no.

1:59:52 Speaker 5 So what do you think?

1:59:57 Speaker 1 That we should send well wishes and brachos to the Rebbe? I mean, I have a thought about it, but it's, that, it's really definitely not a, a quote. It's more my personal thought. I mean, I, I guess I could share it.

2:00:19 Speaker 5 We won't quote you.

2:00:20 Speaker 1 Don't quote me. Yeah, exactly. I'm not quoting, so don't quote me. We were speaking about the idea that the Rebbe educated us how to think. So don't just repeat the quotes. Learn how to, learn how to think and, and think like the Rebbe. And a lot of chassidim get nervous, "Oh, you're gonna think like the Rebbe? Who are you to think like the Rebbe?"

2:00:49 Speaker 5 Famous Lubavitch words.

2:00:50 Speaker 1 Who are you?

2:00:51 Speaker 5 Who are you?

2:00:51 Speaker 1 Well, who are you? Right. Who are you to think like the Rebbe? So my, my only question to you, my friend, is then who would you like me to think like? Who would you like me to think like? And if your answer is, "Don't think at all," I'm gonna go to chagas. This is Chabad. I gotta think. So who do you want me to think like? So the Rebbe gave... This is just my unauthorized opinion. The Rebbe gave Rebbe training. Rebbe training. The Rebbe took things that the previous Rebbe told him, because that's what you tell a Rebbe in training, the Rebbe told us. Many such examples. Birthday is one of those examples, by the way. The fact that the Rebbe made birthdays a thing for all, that's a Rebbe thing. It's a Rebbeish a thing, birthdays. And I think shlichut Adam kamayse is a literal thing in the Rebbe's worldview, and I think that we are... I mean, the Rebbe said about, uh, with the, with the, the Sheva Rebbe, said, "Non-Alef, uh, yadei yid, ot dei keyach un, uh, un hispachdus from titul Admor." Right? Why? Because every son of the Tamim Tzadok says Admor in the, in the hayem yayem. Uh, yes, and I would've concluded from that also the same thing. No, I would've never come up with that, but the Rebbe taught it. And once the Rebbe teaches it, you start to realize, oh, you start to extrapolate, you start to understand. Okay, so the Rebbe's saying that there's a

2:02:22 Speaker 1 whole other level that chassidim can be lifted to. And, and this, that it didn't happen before in history, okay, you could say the same thing about chassidus itself. Why didn't it exist before? And the Rebbe answered that question, 'cause it wasn't needed. When the, the more needed it is, okay. And that's why, uh, if the Alter Rebbe went to prison and he was already acquitted, so why did the Mitler have to go to prison? 'Cause he pushed it further. Why did he push it further? 'Cause it was needed more. Okay. I, I do believe the Rebbe revealed something in chassidut that was never revealed before. I think the Rebbe b-bestowed things that normal chassidim would be nervous about and call it a Rebbeish a stuff. I think the Rebbe gave it to every kid. One of my big pet peeves, by the way, talking about just repeating what the Rebbe said about yud beis pesukim, and you look in the original farbrengens, uh, Rishonishia and, and Lag BaOmer 50 years ago, and the Rebbe didn't say the kids should memorize the words. The Rebbe said they should learn the concepts and teach them to other kids, because the whole concept of mitzvat chinuch is not to educate children, but to turn children into educators. And that same year, later, Yud Beis Tammuz, the Rebbe said, "Somebody wrote to me and said, 'Where did I get such a crazy idea of making children into educators?'" And I s- and I said, "Well, you never f- heard

2:03:41 Speaker 1 the Gemara about, uh, Kama Godlo, uh, uh, Maaseh Rabbi Chiya? That the Torah, the whole Torah was gonna be forgotten, and Rabbi Chiya went, and he, uh, he took kids, and he made them into edu- one kid for each Chumash, one kid for each Sefer Mishnayot, and he restored the whole Torah through children." So yeah, I think that the Rebbe gave us, uh, or brought out in us extraordinary powers. And, um, I also think that when someone gives you a gift, the polite thing is to use it. It's not nice if someone gave you a gift, especially a gift that's connected with a lot of time and effort. So for the Rebbe to download all of that holy information and make it available, and then to not use it, to not... It doesn't show sufficient appreciation. So yeah, I th- I think that's part of it. Just my personal opinion.

2:04:45 Speaker 5 Okay. Hashekeyach and hagot yamtif.

2:04:49 Speaker 1 Yeah, yamtif. Happy birthday.

2:04:52 Speaker 5 Happy birthday.