Ep. 65: You Want To Be Shpitz Chabad? with Rabbi Zushe Winner

00:00 Speaker 1 He's standing on line, and as soon as the person's gonna come out, Rebbe will give him a signal, "Go in." He tells him, "As soon as he comes out, go in." And then as soon as that on his next. Hmm. I'll give you a dugma to that. Watch the faces next to ... Shalom Aleichem, Rabbi Winner, how are you? Okay, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to have you here, and let's get right into it. Who is Rabbi Winner? Where were you born? Uh, b- where, where did your parents come from? How did the Winners come to Lubavitch? My, uh, parents, my father was a Slonimer Hasid, and, uh, in Europe, and, uh, f- for several generations. There were Slonim Mm-hmm ... Which is also part of the Lubavitch story also. Yes, they were Lubavitch Hasidim. Uh, Lubavitch Yeshiva of Mm-hmm ... a big chunk also took that route. He, he knew some Hasidim who were there Mm-hmm ... So that's the background of my father. Eventually, we moved to Crown Heights, and- He got married here ... he got married here after the war, and he sent us to Lubavitch Yeshiva. So where was your mother from? My mother was born in Munkács. Munkács, uh, it's, was Czechoslovakia, but really it was, um, Hungarian Hasidim. And her family also for many generations were Hasidim and also Munkács Hasidim Her father, her father was from Hungary, was a Talmid Chacham. He learned in, uh-- He, he got, uh, what they call a heter ha'eruah

06:12 Speaker 1 from the Darchei Saboism. Eh, but they were really Tzanz Chassidim. A lot of, a lot of Hungarian, uh, Chassidim used to go to Tzanz, to Poland, to Galicia, and then one of the Tzanz, uh, sons, uh, became a, a, a rebbe in Hungary. So they were really Tzanz Chassidim. S-so which is, uh, uh, it's, it's less Chanoi type of Chassidus, more obviously Srur and so on. But they were also... He used to travel every Shavuos to Stropkov, um, with one of his sons. So yes, they were Chassidim. Both my father and mother were from Chassid-Chassidish families, and, uh, this idea of Amud HaSadekim and being Rekusha with the Sadek was very strong by them.

07:00 Speaker 2 So they, so they lived in-- They got married here in, in America?

07:04 Speaker 1 Yes. My fa-- My mother was in Auschwitz, and she survived Auschwitz. She survived the war. Uh, much of her family was killed. Her mother and s-sisters were killed in Auschwitz, her father in a different camp, but she survived the war. After the war, she came here, and that's where my father and mother, uh, were introduced, and, uh, they got married.

07:26 Speaker 2 And where were they living?

07:28 Speaker 1 Originally, they lived in Williamsburg, so I was born in Williamsburg. And, uh, then my father was a businessman here, and, uh, and, uh, they eventually moved to Crown Heights. It was called then Crown Heights. For a while, it was called Bed-Stuy. You're talking about Park Place in Nostrand.

07:52 Speaker 2 So over on the other side of Eastern Parkway.

07:53 Speaker 1 The other side of Eastern Parkway. In that area, um, eventually, there was, in the apartment houses that we lived in, there was, there were a lot of Chassidim who lived there, the Pinskers, the Lipskers, the Weingarten, Wilhelm, uh, and there was Bobov had a, had a big community over there. There were other shuls.

08:15 Speaker 2 So you already said that you went to Bedford-Indienne. How did your parents decide to send you there?

08:19 Speaker 1 So that's a good question. Um, my father was a Slonimer Chassid, as I said, his family, and he was born in Mir. Mir is really, uh, it's today Belarus, which is a Litvisher type of, uh, setting. Boruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech HaOlam, the real old school Russian Litvisher Yiddish. And, um, he got to know Lubavitch. He got to know Lubavitch from, uh, even in Europe. He got to know Lubavitch.

08:55 Speaker 2 In, in, in Poland?

08:56 Speaker 1 In Poland, he heard about it. He got even more to know in, in Shanghai. But also, he had an uncle that became a Lubavitcher already in Europe, uh, z- uh, Shamshin Zilberstein. He is buried near the Ohel. His wife, that, that which is my, my father's aunt, she was a Wiener. Uh, she's in the first row of the women's section. When you go to the Ohel, the first row, you see Nechama Zilberstein. And, uh, they became Lubavitcher Chassidim, I think, still in Russia or Poland. Uh, they were originally Slonimer, but they became Lubavitcher, and, and they came here to the United States, I believe, before the war. And, uh, they, they were, they lived in Crown Heights. He used to be, uh, by the Friediker Rebbe and the Bober Rebbe, but more-- He was more active by the Friediker Rebbe. So he knew about Chassidus, about Lubavitch.

09:58 Speaker 2 Your father?

09:59 Speaker 1 My father. Also, it was known that Lubavitch is Mesirus Nefesh. And, um, he, he believed, and he said this to some people, I heard, that i-in America, you need Mesirus Nefesh to Yiddishkeit to, to stay. Today, we take Yiddishkeit in America bepashtus. Yiddish, there's Yiddishkeit, big Jew yeshivas and, and, uh, kashrus and Jewish communities flourishing, kol haminim. But you have to understand, the people who lived before the war, America was a treife medina. And to keep Yiddishkeit in America, there were a lot of, um, siblings and family members from, uh, the best families, so to say, Chassidish families even, that when their sibling or relative came to America, they lost it. So it was bizchatches. Yiddishkeit in America was, so to say, bizchatches, not bepshates. And he believed, and he said this to some of us, that the kinders on braib mefrom Lubavitch. I think he was also, uh, give me, uh, uh, influence, uh, following a Slonimer, a Slonimer, uh, ch- saying that Slonimer Chassidim repeat. Um, you know that when the world, world war broke out, there was, uh, an agreement with Stalin and, uh-

11:33 Speaker 2 Hitler

11:34 Speaker 1 ... and Hitler, and, um, they split Poland. The Slonimer Rebbe then and his, his yeshiva was in Baranovichi. That section was taken over by, by, uh, the Russians. Now, Russian took over that chunk of Poland. All the, you know, there knew that's big trouble, because everyone heard that in Russia- They closed all the yeshivas. They, they, they fired all the rabbonim from their positions. And then Yiddishkeit, chassish, schachtim, it was big problems. So everybody knew that. So now that Russia's coming into Poland, that's, that's gonna happen. So at that time, there was a Slonim Rebbe, they called him the Yungere Rebbe, 'cause his father died relatively young, and he was maybe 20 years old when-- about when he took over. But he was a big oved Hashem, and they respected him. Uh, when the Russian army came into Berdychiv, he, he wanted to s- speak to a Yiddish soldier or Yiddish Russian officer what's really going on in, in, in Russia as far as Yiddishkeit. So the Slonimim say that, uh, they found a soldier and-- or probably an officer, and they, they brought him to the Slonim Rebbe, and the Slonim Rebbe says, "Nu, what's going on? It's-- with Yiddishkeit?" He says, "They closed everything, the shuls, the yeshivah, schachtim, everything. Everything is closed." So he said, "Is there anybody still left?" Said, "Yes, the Lubavitch Hasidim in Russia are, are, are mesirus nefesh. They're holding. They're still holding on." So the Slonim Rebbe said, "Ay, Lubavitch." You know, like, "Wow, Lubavitch." So this

13:28 Speaker 1 was known.

13:29 Speaker 2 Slonimer vort.

13:30 Speaker 1 Yeah. Interesting. It's called... Even though in one of the story where they have it, they took out the word Lubavitch.

13:37 Speaker 2 Right.

13:37 Speaker 1 But I, I seen earlier they-

13:39 Speaker 2 What did they replace it with?

13:41 Speaker 1 Um, Hasidim who are mesirus nefesh.

13:43 Speaker 2 Ah.

13:43 Speaker 1 The only way that you can stay frum in Russia is through the Hasidim who are mesirus nefesh.

13:49 Speaker 2 Ah, okay.

13:49 Speaker 1 But he actually said, "Ay, Lubavitch." Um, and so he knew about this for sure.

13:57 Speaker 2 Your father.

13:57 Speaker 1 Because he was my father-- 'cause he was in touch. He went to Vilna, and he and some other Slonim Hasidim wanted to bring the Slonim Rebbe to Vilna to take them with them in their journey, but he didn't wanna go. Um, so bottom line is, so Lubavitch is, is, is, b- bleibt frum vu narn shmen s'd larzayn. So he believed in that. Uh, he also saw the Rebbe as, you know, a real Rebbe, and he, he wrote to the Rebbe, a- and, uh... So he sent us to Lubavitch Yeshiva. And it was also convenient. I used to walk from Park Place and Nostrand to Beth Carroden. It was a ten-minute walk. It was relatively safe. Later on, the, the, the commun- the neighborhood changed, and there was a lot of crime. And, um, but at that time, uh, we moved there, and he sent us to Lubavitch Yeshiva.

14:54 Speaker 2 Your mother was okay with this as well?

14:56 Speaker 1 Yeah. She was-- Yes. I mean, she's also a Hasidisha shtub, frumish shtub. And, uh, you know, it's a shtikel also chidush, you know. After the war, there are interesting shidduchim happen. Like, my father is Boruchato, my mother is Boruchatu. It's two different-

15:14 Speaker 2 Right

15:14 Speaker 1 ... different... It's not only dialects, but different mentalities and personalities, and there are a lot of shidduchim. A lot Lubavitcher families married Polisher families and Hungarian families.

15:24 Speaker 2 But it sounds like you were living amongst Lubavitchers, so she was okay with that also? And your parents were-

15:30 Speaker 1 First of all, when we moved to, uh, Crown Heights, there were not many frum people around us. And actually, my mother was not re- very happy-

15:40 Speaker 2 About living in Crown Heights?

15:41 Speaker 1 About moving to Crown-- And that part of Crown Heights was very not, uh, Jewish.

15:47 Speaker 2 Not frum.

15:47 Speaker 1 Not frum. Not-- It was Jewish, but it's actually not, not frum, and, uh, certainly not on our block. And she was upset about this because we had lived in Williamsburg, in the heart of Williamsburg, where you see, you know, frum Yidden passing by Shabbos and weekdays, different, different, uh, atmosphere. And, um, she wanted to move back. So she, she, she, she told my, my father that she wants to move back. I mean, I was just a little kid, two, three years old at that time, but that's what she told me. She wanted to move back, and she went for a walk with, uh... Probably I was in the carriage. She went for a walk to, to Eastern Parkway, from Park Place, Eastern Parkway, a few blocks. Then on Eastern Parkway, she walked, and then she found a, some Hasidish bachurim. He's from Lubavitch, a bachur, and we asked him where they're from. He says, "Lubavitch." In Munkacs, they knew about Lubavitch. They heard about the Friediker Rebbe, so it was a name. So she says to him, "I wanna talk to the Lubavitcher Rebbe," which is interesting, but that's what it was. You're talking in the 1950s. She just wants, she wants to go to Lubavitch to talk to the Lubavitch Rebbe. Because she was brought up in a home, there's this tzaddikim, there's rebbes, and they give you advice and berachos and all of that zazah. So she, uh, so she says it was Rabbi Groner. It was a bachur. I mean, I don't

17:21 Speaker 1 know exactly when he got married. It was a y- it was very young, in the 1950s, early '50s. And, um, they told her, "You can't just go into the Rebbe. You have to make an appointment." She made an appointment, and she goes into the Rebbe on yechidus, and she tells the Rebbe that she's upset. How should she deal with it? Her husband moved from Williamsburg to Crown Heights. Apparently, he needed-- 'cause that house that they own, they owned a house in Williamsburg on U Street, 146 U Street. And, uh, he sold the house to use tho- that money to go into busi- to go into, uh, uh, some kind of a business. The bottom line is she wanted to go back. She complains to the Rebbe- And the Rebbe told her, "Tzurik geyt men nisht." You don't go back.

18:14 Speaker 2 Tzurik geyt men nisht.

18:14 Speaker 1 Tzurik geyt... The words Yiddish, the way she said it all, "Tzurik geyt men nisht."

18:18 Speaker 2 We don't retreat.

18:19 Speaker 1 We don't retreat, which is an interesting, uh, hashkafah in life.

18:24 Speaker 2 Yeah.

18:24 Speaker 1 You know, tzurik geyt men nisht. Yeah, it's a good translation. We don't retreat. Um, so what you sh- what you should do is tell, uh, ask your husband that he should publicize that, that you're living over there. Above him was two blocks away, there was a Hungarian shul a block away, but the block was not Jewish. She- s- he said, "Tell your husband to publicize on this side of Crown Heights," this, that side of Eastern Parkway was already a Jewish community. A lot of shuls on Crown Street, and Montgomery Street, uh, President Street. There were shuls, uh, and, um, publicize it in the shuls. Hang up little, uh, notes, and, uh, and that's where you'll get, you'll get people to move over there. And that's what he did. He made a deal with the landlord. These were, um-

19:18 Speaker 2 Your father did this?

19:19 Speaker 1 My father made a deal with the landlord. He told the landlord, "Any empties, tell me, I'll find you a tenant." And, uh, that's what it was. Soon it was, uh, filled up, those, uh, three... They're like four-story, five-story apartment houses. Each floor had two apartments, big apartments, and it was, like, three or four such buildings a row, uh, with one landlord, and a Sigverner, a J- a community. And he had, um... So I said, our neighbor was, uh, Lipskier and then Pinson, then upstairs was Wilhelms, and then, uh, next door was, uh, Weingartens, and then there were Hungarian Chassidim, Belzer Chassidim.

20:02 Speaker 2 And that stayed like that until, like, the neighborhood, I guess, changed-

20:04 Speaker 1 Yes, yes

20:05 Speaker 2 ... later. Right. Yeah, and-

20:05 Speaker 1 So we left. My father was niftar chaf beis, so we moved shortly after that to Borough Park. She had a brother in Borough Park.

20:15 Speaker 2 One second. So your father was niftar chaf beis?

20:17 Speaker 1 Right.

20:18 Speaker 2 How old were you?

20:19 Speaker 1 I was ten.

20:20 Speaker 2 You were ten years old, you became a, you were a yasom.

20:22 Speaker 1 Yes.

20:23 Speaker 2 So you ended up moving to Borough Park.

20:25 Speaker 1 So we moved to Borough Park.

20:28 Speaker 2 But you stayed in Bedford-Stuyvesant?

20:31 Speaker 1 Actually, I did, which is interesting. Um, I stayed in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Um, so I'm not, I'm not sure what year we moved, but not long after that, maybe a year or two. I did stay in Bedford-Stuyvesant. How did I get travel to Bedford-Stuyvesant? I do remember, uh, that I stayed in Bedford-Stuyvesant. I used to travel by bus, two buses from Borough Park to, uh, to Bedford-Stuyvesant until, uh, chaf tes, Be- Bedford closed, and we moved to Ocean Park, and it was much easier. So-

21:12 Speaker 2 So I have a few questions. Was it-- I mean, if, uh, becoming a yasom and your father not being there, a lot of things changed. So was that, like, a given that you're gonna stay in Bedford-Stuyvesant, you know, or, like, things change, you're moving to a new community? Like, is there, is there some- something that happened then?

21:32 Speaker 1 Um...

21:35 Speaker 2 That's one question.

21:36 Speaker 1 Yeah. Y- you have four kashas?

21:39 Speaker 2 We'll start with one.

21:41 Speaker 1 So, all right, so it's a good question. My mother, you know, was, was already a shtikel Chasidista.

21:53 Speaker 2 Of the Rebbe?

21:53 Speaker 1 Of the Rebbe. Um, and for example, that yechidus, when the Rebbe said to her, "Gey nisht, gey nisht tzurik," she was pregnant, and she probably asked for a bracha, and the Rebbe told her, "You should put a tzedakah before lich behen in a girl's push-- in a girl's yeshiva, okay, or a school." Bes-- Like, Bais Rivkah, Bais Yaakov. And she, she told my father that, so, uh, so he said, "Looks like you're gonna have a girl." And taka a girl was born.

22:34 Speaker 2 I was gonna say, I think it's an unusual... To give tzedakah before licht in, yeah, we know.

22:38 Speaker 1 Yes.

22:39 Speaker 2 But the, the girl's yeshiva-

22:40 Speaker 1 Yes

22:40 Speaker 2 ... is unusual.

22:41 Speaker 1 So she said, clear, that's the way she told me over there. He told her to give it to a girl's school. They knew already, besamim, it's gonna be a girl. So she had two boys before the, before the girl. Um, yeah. L'maisa, and, um, afterwards also, looks like my father and mother did go to yechidus. I know that the Rebbe told my father that he should learn two hours a day, to learn two hours a day, um, which was hard for him. He was taka benteleh, and he knew how to learn, and he learned, uh, he learned Gemara. He had a Shulchan Aruch that looked pretty well used, and, uh, he had this Slonimer Sefer Yereim, the Tanya. So he, he did l- learn Sefarim, but two hours is very hard for him because... So here you're talking about a Holocaust survivor. He was a chever man and very bright and successful in business, uh, but he was running everything himself. Then he bought a- ano- one apartment house in, in what was called then Spanish Harlem, then another apartment house.

23:55 Speaker 2 He was in real estate?

23:56 Speaker 1 Real estate. And he was managing everything from the house. He didn't have an office. Everything from the house. He had a study where he learned over there, and it was, uh, it, it was his study, and his office, and the business office. Everything from that, uh, room. Um, of course, he had contacted lawyers and accountants, but he was running the business from his house. Then he would go to Manhattan to, to the, to the buildings, but he was running it from the house. And you have to understand, so he's new at all of this, so he's, he's very busy, and his head is into that. And the Rebbe says you have to learn two hours a day. So this is, uh, two hours a day. Um, so that I do know. And I also know that once they were supposed to, they were supposed to go on yechidus, and they went, but my father was apparently not there. My mother then went in alone, and, um, the Rebbe asked her about her husband, and he asked her, "Does your father learn every day?" So she said, "Yes." Lo si keda aka zi, he used to s- sit, go in his study and, uh... And then the Rebbe said, "Two hours?" He asks the Rebbe. The Rebbe asked my mother, "Two hours?" She didn't answer. First of all, she doesn't look at the watch. Second of all, it was a tzvei sha'ot. And I heard from others that, uh, the Rebbe told, you know, businessmen from

25:33 Speaker 1 that type of background, people who learned in yeshivas, people who learned, uh, Bnei Torah, big business people, that they have to learn two hours a day.

25:43 Speaker 3 Seems to me almost like-

25:44 Speaker 1 This was the shita

25:45 Speaker 3 ... seems to me almost like the Rebbe was looking out for your father, that, like, he has, uh, this background, this Chassidisher background, this European background, and now not to lose himself in, in the American way and, like, to zechasen and to learn, you know, like-

26:00 Speaker 1 Yeah, 100%, 100%. I think that's what he liked about the Rebbe and Lubavitch, that nekuda, 'cause he had that attitude of nisht ne'spogeln for America. He had that-- 'cause I saw a letter, there was a letter from the Rosh Yeshivas of the Slonim Yeshiva. They, they, they wrote a letter to America to do something to get papers for my father. Bechol, all those, all those people who were in, in Vilna or in Japan, some of them got semikhas, other paperwork they can get to send to America to get visas. They were trying to get visas. And so there was, uh, the, the, the Rosh Yeshivas of, of, uh, the Slonim Yeshiva in Baranovich. They were actually Litvishe people who were related to the Tels, to the Telshe Rosh Yeshivas, and they gave him a letter. So I've-- I have the letter, the original, the copy from there ksav yad. Maybe he sent the copy to America or it never went. So they write about my father that he has, um, he would be great for America 'cause he has a strong daas and emunah that would be very good for American youth. So he had that, that nekuda you're bringing out not to be swallowed up. So he did have-- he had a strong emunah in Yiddishkeit, and this nekuda, for example, that he told someone, send him the, the kinder afn bleibn Yidden. Just send them to Lubavitch so that, you know, this nekuda of America is nisht anders what we call Lubavitch. He

27:40 Speaker 1 had that very strongly, not to nispol for this or that or the third thing.

27:46 Speaker 3 And it's part of what, like, Yad Ma- the Rebbe-

27:48 Speaker 1 I guess it's a Chassidishe, uh, it's a Chassidishe grupe, but he saw-- but this nekuda of Lubavitch, this certainly, uh, he, he, he note-- took note of.

27:59 Speaker 3 So you were saying that your mother was in Yechidish without your father, right? So that I think you were trying to weave into, um, how you're staying in, in, in Bedford.

28:08 Speaker 1 This-- That was later. Um, so she went to-- That was when he was, when he was alive, about learning two hours a day. Um, you know, in parentheses, today you have a lot of, uh, programs for Anash, and not only for Anash, Lema'yan Yilmedu and, uh, these other programs of, um, Lubavitcher in galut paying money to be part of a learning program, which is, which is, uh, it's, it's gevaldik zach. Uh, and a lot of people-- the neshama wants them to learn. The neshama wants to learn. But the Rebbe pushed it, you know, today t-two hours doesn't sound so much, but for people who just came to America, just, uh, they're less than ten years and, and they're trying to figure out America and, and they're making new moves in business and so on, it was, uh, it was a sacrifice. It was a lot of time. Uh, but Limud HaTora, uh, by the Rebbe is, is something central. Like you said, it shapes you not to be caught up in the lamchaza and other things. Um, after my father was nifter, um, so, uh, the, the, the Rebbe actually wrote a letter, Rosh Hashanah greetings to, to my mother. I don't think he-- Before that, he sent her a le- a Rosh Hashanah letter. You know, there's Rosh Hashanah to wish her a g- to wish a good year.

29:45 Speaker 3 Your father wasn't, like, coming to farbrengens. He wasn't, like, part of Lubavitch.

29:48 Speaker 1 Um, I think he came to some farbrengens.

29:51 Speaker 3 Oka- maybe occasionally, what-

29:52 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

29:53 Speaker 3 He never became a Lubavitcher.

29:55 Speaker 1 Um, I don't know. He, he certainly wasn't a card-carrying Lubavitcher.

30:02 Speaker 3 Right, sure.

30:02 Speaker 1 But he, he did write to the Rebbe sh- shailas. You know, there's a whole shaila that he, he writes about it, that he had a shaila about the building. They bought a building with a partner. Partner was an Israeli Slonimer chasid, a bigvir. Apparently, he wanted to, uh, invest in America, and he trusted my father. Um, so he, he-- they bought a building beshotfis, and in the contract it says that they should, uh, that they will give tzedakah before taking profit. They give ten percent tzedakah before taking profit. So my father wrote a shaila to the Lubavitch Rebbe. This is how he writes to his, to his partner. "I had a shaila, and I wrote to the Lubavitch Rebbe. What was my shaila?" They bought a building, so they had to write-- invest a certain amount. Then they put it on a mortgage. In the mortgage, there's two parts of the mortgage. One part is to pay interest, other one is amortization. Amortization is you're, you're taking-- you're, you're getting more Of the building. You're taking off the loan. So since they made a commitment to give 10% before profit, so what's considered a profit? So interest is for sure expense. So every expenses, all the expenses of the building, of course, is not profit. But what about the payment for paying the loan and taking more ownership-

31:35 Speaker 3 That's the principal

31:36 Speaker 1 ... That's the principal.

31:37 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

31:37 Speaker 1 So l'chuda that is, that is part of the profit. So what did he give 10%? Also that. So he's right. So I wrote to the Lubavitch Rebbe, and Lubavitch Rebbe said we should count the 10% the, from the, from also the payment of the principal, and that's what we're gonna do 'cause we have to go with Lubavitch Rebbe.

31:55 Speaker 3 Oh, wow.

31:56 Speaker 1 I saw such a letter that he wrote his, his partner.

31:58 Speaker 3 So a card carrying or not, but he's listening to the Rebbe.

32:01 Speaker 1 Not only is he listening, he, he asked the Rebbe.

32:03 Speaker 3 He asked Rebbe.

32:03 Speaker 1 He asked the Rebbe.

32:04 Speaker 3 I saw sometimes that the Rebbe told business-

32:05 Speaker 1 And he writes to Rebbe 'cause that guy was a, was a businessman.

32:07 Speaker 3 Right.

32:07 Speaker 1 He's an Israeli you know, Israelis think that the... Whatever they think. But uh, he says, "We're gonna, and we're gonna go with what Lubavitch Rebbe says." He writes-

32:16 Speaker 3 I saw sometimes the Rebbe told business people to give, um, whatever percentage of the deveik noki of the business.

32:25 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

32:26 Speaker 3 So it's different, right?

32:26 Speaker 1 Yeah, whatever. Yeah, okay, I hear what you're saying, but-

32:29 Speaker 3 I saw a few videos of that. Yeah, okay.

32:30 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

32:32 Speaker 3 Okay, continue.

32:32 Speaker 1 Videos that were made here or-

32:34 Speaker 3 Yeah

32:35 Speaker 1 ... videos of the Rebbe?

32:35 Speaker 3 Videos of the Rebbe. Footage.

32:37 Speaker 1 Footage. Um, so there was a yakes. It wasn't just... He was also, he believed also in the, in the, in the, in the Lubavitch, the shita. There is, there is, I know the, the Tav Sharei Chaf Beis was Shnas HaShashim, and everyone was giving the Rebbe, uh, letters and brachos, or $60 or $6. So there is a, a letter from the Rebbe to him, from Yud Aleph Nisan Tav Sharei Chaf Beis, to my father, Zichrona Livracha, thanking him for his wishes that my father gave him for the Yom Ha'Zman. There were a lot of people-

33:19 Speaker 3 Right

33:19 Speaker 1 ... who wrote out. It was... Lubavitch wasn't that big Shnas HaShashim, but there is Shnas HaShashim and also a receipt from Lishkas Chasidim for $60. Lishkas Chasidim was a special fund that the Rebbe had. Generally, uh, the receipts, if someone sent money to, to the Rebbe, they would get a receipt from Machneh Israel 'cause that was the account. Sometimes, uh, the money would go to a special account, uh, Lishkas Chasidim, and it was a different receipt from the Lishkas Chasidim. So remember, this was Lishkas Chasidim, which is a special account for special tzedakas that the Rebbe had. So there was a yakes. He also, uh, sent me for a while to Oholei Torah. So I was about two years in Oholei Torah. Oholei was just beginning, and it's a cheder, no English. Bedford had English. And he got to know some people from, from Oholei Torah. Uh, um, and, um, he sent me to Oholei Torah for two years. It's bes- Oholei Torah, the whole yeshiva was maybe s- 60, 70 kids. It was, um, it was just started. It was on Eastern Parkway, where Oholei Torah building is now. There's a b- a building, where the playground is now, there used to be a building.

34:44 Speaker 3 House.

34:44 Speaker 1 For... A house. And for a while, Kahaz had their-

34:47 Speaker 3 Oh, like a little building, yeah, in the corner.

34:49 Speaker 1 Yeah, Kahaz had their, had their sfarim over there.

34:51 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

34:52 Speaker 1 Uh, but before Kahaz had their sfarim over there, Oholei Torah had a... That was the whole cheder Oholei Torah. There's two, two floors over there. That was the whole cheder Oholei Torah, and he sent me over there, which there were mesum and not Lubavitcher families in Oholei Torah, maybe two or three. Maybe two or three. Myself, and there was a Margolin who's now a shliach in, uh, the South.

35:16 Speaker 3 Virginia.

35:17 Speaker 1 In Virginia, I believe. Then there was another one, a Friedman. I don't think he stayed in Lubavitch. But you had to be someone who really believed in inner America, old cheder melamed. I mean, it was really old cheder melamed, the Gemach, with snarsin and there were tests. It was o- old cheder with the knelt and old, old style there. So you have a bala- l'chuda bala bas, okay, of a, to have an appreciation from old, old cheder melamed. Uh, but I was there till about nine years old, and then he t- he put me back into Bedford. Could be because of English, 'cause I went to English in Bedford, third grade English. Uh, but he had a shайche to Oholei Torah. Um, he was an honoree by, I'm mesum the first dinner of Oholei Torah. Well, well, like a Melava Malka. But the- the- there's a picture of it. There was a Mr. Ganeles was, was there that-

36:22 Speaker 3 On the, on the wine?

36:23 Speaker 1 The Ganeles wine. There's another, another person, and Avram Wiener-

36:28 Speaker 3 Hmm

36:28 Speaker 1 ... were, were the honorees. Um, I did see, uh, he used to lend money to the Michol Teitelbaum. I saw some, uh, promissory notes from, uh, Michol Teitelbaum to my father, made out to my father, so it looked like he lent the money for Oholei Torah, poshtes. And, uh, and there were promissory notes from Tzedakah that he lent Moises money, and he was nifter. And my mother asked the Rebbe what she should do with-

37:05 Speaker 3 So yeah, you were saying that, uh, just go like, just 'cause she got a shana teve letter after-

37:10 Speaker 1 Right

37:10 Speaker 3 ... after he passed away.

37:11 Speaker 1 I'm just trying to go back to my father.

37:13 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah.

37:13 Speaker 1 So she said that- It, it was he a Lubavitcher? Did he become a Lubavitcher?

37:19 Speaker 3 Right.

37:19 Speaker 1 So he was strongly tied, my point is he was-

37:22 Speaker 3 Yeah

37:22 Speaker 1 ... strongly tied. He was up in Lubavitch. He had a Tanya near his, uh, bed, a table. He had a table. He used to learn before he went to fall asleep, I guess, he was learning something. So there was this resembling Avoda, which is so to say, Slonim Tanya, so to say, and there was a small Tanya that he had. So he, his Lubavitch connection he took very seriously.

37:43 Speaker 3 Yeah. So your mother-

37:44 Speaker 1 Okay

37:44 Speaker 3 ... did chidduš about the promissory notes.

37:47 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe s- said, what she's doing, so Rebbe said-

37:49 Speaker 3 She asked, she asked Rebbe, "What do I do about this?"

37:51 Speaker 1 She asked Rebbe, yeah. So Rebbe told her, "It's a, be a zechus for your, for your, for your husband if you just let it go."

38:01 Speaker 3 Really?

38:02 Speaker 1 Told her if... It, it, it'll be a zechus for him. And then she never... I s- I saw them later on. I remember I saw Michol Teitelbaum and this, that. A kopanim. So you're asking about, it seems to me that it was a stronger Nirtza. He als- I remember he came out to the levaya.

38:21 Speaker 3 The Rebbe came to the levaya?

38:22 Speaker 1 Yeah. So lchud, that's not so, it was not so uncommon.

38:26 Speaker 3 Then.

38:27 Speaker 1 And I don't know who arranged it, 'cause my fa- my mother was totally broken, and I don't think she made any arrangements.

38:33 Speaker 3 He passed away suddenly.

38:34 Speaker 1 He passed away suddenly. He got sick with a stroke. He lasted a few days, and it was niftar. Um, but there was Bakant and Lubavitcher. You see he had a shajus with, uh, with, uh, Olatina, and his kids went to Lubavitch Yeshiva. So the poel, the hearse did pass 770. This I remember. But there was a chidduš that we learned this year. Uh, uh, this year we learned a chidduš, past year. Um, they were publicizing the yoman of Reb, Reb Leibel Groner. They were publicizing his r- his yoman. That's your choveves. It's right over there, um, that, uh, chof ov, the Rebbe was going to the oil. And he's, he goes out with his bag to the oil, to the car, and in front of 770 is a hearse. A levaya is there. The levaya was my father's levaya. And he asked Groner, um, "Alef daled Vilner?" A question, right? Groner wasn't sure it was Vilner or Vinner.

39:48 Speaker 3 Mm.

39:49 Speaker 1 But Alef Daled's Avrohom Dave. He knew him. I mean, there was a, a, a yachas to my father and the Rebbe. And he said, he went to the... He said to him, "Mustam ve'tznushnem elang." He took his bag in, in the car. They opened the door to the car. He took his bag, put it in the car, and he went for the levaya.

40:12 Speaker 3 Mm.

40:12 Speaker 1 He, he, he went. Then he had to go back to 770 to wash the hand and to go into the zal to do the, the seven, uh, vehinayams. Then he went back to his room, went back to the car to go to the oil, which is also very interesting because usually when the Rebbe was in a certain mode, especially going to the oil, holding the bag-

40:35 Speaker 3 That's it

40:36 Speaker 1 ... that's it. But it wasn't it. He put it in the bag. He put down the bag, and he, and he walked to the levaya. So I didn't know that at kedai-

40:45 Speaker 3 Till now

40:45 Speaker 1 ... ach. Yeah, but this I saw in the, in this yoman. But I do remember as a kid sitting in the, in the, the car that he, uh, the Rebbe came out. I mean, I was a kid. I knew the Rebbe. Um-

41:02 Speaker 3 So what, what else, what other, what other interactions did, uh, your mother have with the Rebbe about, like... It sounds like she was going to the Rebbe with her questions, so did she discuss about raising the kids-

41:14 Speaker 1 So-

41:14 Speaker 3 ... running business and stuff like that?

41:15 Speaker 1 So the, the business fell in her lap. Uh, she was not a business type of personality, but there was not much choice 'cause he was managing the buildings himself. So for a while, she took her brother along with her to help her go to the buildings and collect the rent, a- and, um, it was Span- mostly Spanish Harlem, so it was not such a great neighborhood, but it was Parnossa. And, um, she had the questions about her business. She always asked the Rebbe, and she went with yechidus to the Rebbe, and I remember going as a kid with her in yechidus, and she would cry to the Rebbe. You know, she used to bring in a handkerchief, and, uh, she sat down in front of the Rebbe's desk, and, uh, she would tell the Rebbe this and tell the Rebbe that. The Rebbe would give her brachos and advice, and, uh, I would see as, as standing on the side by the windows, right? Between the window and the desk, uh, and she's talking to the Rebbe. I'm watching. And Groner's coming in. So Rabbi Groner's job was to watch the Rebbe's time.

42:30 Speaker 3 Move it along.

42:31 Speaker 1 To move it along. So she's coming in behind my mother, and the Rebbe goes, like, makes this motion with his hand that he should... So he goes out a second time.

42:41 Speaker 3 To, to leave her.

42:42 Speaker 1 To leave her. So there, there was kiruv that my mother got from, uh-

42:47 Speaker 3 Yeah

42:47 Speaker 1 ... the Rebbe, that she felt special. Uh, she said that she thinks a special kiruv is because of the following. After my father was niftar, uh, this, my, my brother's bar mitzvah year was about, was that year, or the end of that year, and they get a letter, she gets a letter from Yehuda Shalem. Slonim, uh, rebuilt itself after the war. The younger Rebbe was killed in the war, and, uh, Slonim rebuilt itself after the war, and there was a Slonim Yeshiva And my father al- also started getting involved. They, they wrote letters to my father. He's a Slonimer family from Europe. His father was a, sh- was a, was chashuv in Slonim, in the Slonimer Kehillah in, in Warsaw, and they were for generations Slonimer Chassidim that... So my father start- started sending money to... He especially was into Sefarim, so he paid, supported, uh, to, to reprint two Slonimer Sefarim in Eretz Yisrael. So he, um... So they sent a letter that, you know, he's a son of, uh, Rav Weiner, a Slonimer mishpacha for generations. They wanna invite, inviting his son to come to Slonim Yeshiva after his bar mitzvah, and they're gonna take care of him, that he doesn't have to worry about anything. They'll take care of him because he was a, uh, he was a supporter of Slonim, and he was a Slonimer mishpacha. So what's she gonna do? So she took the letter to my shv, to the Rebbe, and she asked the Rebbe, she says... She showed

44:32 Speaker 1 the letter to the Rebbe, and she asked the Rebbe, "What should I do?" On one hand, her husband was a takka, a Slonimer mishpacha, serios, and they're inviting his son bar mitzvah. So I think he asked her, "What do you think?" She says, "I want the children, uh, by me." So bottom line, the Rebbe says, uh, "With the yeshiva." It's Lubavitch yeshiva, he knew that.

44:59 Speaker 3 And so the Rebbe asked your mother what does she think?

45:02 Speaker 1 I think so.

45:02 Speaker 3 And she said, "I want him to stay."

45:04 Speaker 1 She want him to stay, of course.

45:04 Speaker 3 Yeah.

45:05 Speaker 1 I mean, Mama.

45:05 Speaker 3 Yeah.

45:06 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe said, "Let him stay." Bottom line, "Let him stay." So she felt the fact that she to- asked the Rebbe what to do, put it so to say on his lap, and the Rebbe was the one who made the decision, that he, well, the Rebbe appreciated that the, the, the, the, the, the sons remained in Lubavitch because of that decision to put it to the Rebbe, and, and they stayed in Lubavitch. So she felt that the Rebbe wa- was sort of say makir tov and-

45:42 Speaker 3 Right

45:42 Speaker 1 ... mechaber because she did get kiruv from the Rebbe. There was a... I remember which, which day. It was a Yom HaDepagra. The Rebbe gave out, uh, my morim. I forget the Rebbe's my morim. Could be it was Yitzchok. I think Pei-Beit is my morim. It's a purple booklet. The Rebbe gave out my morim that, that evening. It's in Trei C, remember? In Trei C-

46:05 Speaker 3 Yeah, ma- mm, much later, yeah

46:07 Speaker 1 ... Yeah, much later. And so she didn't go from Boro Park. She was very ill that she lives there.

46:15 Speaker 3 Sure, 'cause she lived in Boro Park the whole time.

46:15 Speaker 1 She lived in Boro Park. The whole time-

46:16 Speaker 3 Yeah

46:16 Speaker 1 ... she lived in Boro Park.

46:17 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

46:19 Speaker 1 And she-- My brother went, Moshe, my older brother, for himself. Rebbe gave out morim, so he went to 770 like everybody in Crown Heights. And he took a morim, and you know, the rest, the line is rushing. So he takes the line and goes by it, and the Rebbe said, "Weiner." No. Moshe, to Moshe, he says, "Weiner, this is for the mama."

46:44 Speaker 3 Wow.

46:46 Speaker 1 So we did, we did some research that night, maybe three or four people, but they were more ish klalim.

46:54 Speaker 3 That Rebbe gave them some-

46:56 Speaker 1 They gave-- The Rebbe says, "This is for your father, this is for this." But she was, uh, you know, you, you didn't-

47:04 Speaker 3 Oh

47:04 Speaker 1 ... and, uh, my brother goes by and he says, "Weiner, this is for the mama."

47:08 Speaker 3 Wow.

47:10 Speaker 1 So I still have that, that, uh... We wrote it in the thing.

47:12 Speaker 3 "This is for your mother."

47:13 Speaker 1 Weiner, Weiner, this is for the mama.

47:16 Speaker 3 So at that time you stayed in Bedford-Indy. The, the Rebbe was-

47:20 Speaker 1 Yeah

47:20 Speaker 3 ... fully involved in this.

47:22 Speaker 1 Hundred percent. So we're talking about the kiruv also the, the, the end of that year by Rosh Hashana of, of... Erev Rosh Hashana, which is L Chaf-Beis, towards Rosh Chaf-Gimel, she got a letter, Rosh Hashana again. I don't think, I don't think he got after that, she got letters regularly. I don't know. Uh, I didn't even know about that letter. Somehow it ended up on, uh, these, um... They sell, they sell, uh-

47:51 Speaker 3 An auction

47:52 Speaker 1 ... in an auction. It's an auction. Someone sends me a link. He says, "What's your mother's letter? Is that your mother?" Bluma. Her name was Bluma. And it says, "Weiner, is that your mo- What? You're selling letters?" I said, "I never heard of that letter." Never saw the letter in her house.

48:08 Speaker 3 Somehow, someone got it.

48:09 Speaker 1 Somehow, I can't say what's going, and it has Samved Koigish's signature, and it's Elul, so it makes sense that he would send her a letter to, to be mechaber, so to say. For someone else, I also heard that that Tisha, he asked the maskiras to the Weiner's hav malulu ven esres.

48:31 Speaker 3 Wow.

48:32 Speaker 1 So there was, there was kiruv.

48:35 Speaker 3 Amazing. But you didn't know this when you were a kid.

48:39 Speaker 1 About what?

48:40 Speaker 3 Well, the, the... I guess you-

48:41 Speaker 1 Some of this I knew

48:42 Speaker 3 ... may- maybe you recognized. You saw the reply of the Rebbe.

48:44 Speaker 1 Some of, some of this I knew. Um, I was, I was there. I was, I was a kid. Um...

48:56 Speaker 3 So it's very, it's very interesting. It's beautiful. So maybe we, yeah, I have to talk about you a little bit. So you're growing up in this environment, Bedford-Indy, in Crown Heights. What is like, um... What's your early memories of the Rebbe? I mean, there's like Bima parades. There's, uh, probably Yechidus for your bar mitzvah. Maybe you can, maybe you can tell me a little bit about those early years-

49:23 Speaker 1 Um-

49:23 Speaker 3 ... from your viewpoint of, of, of, of the Rebbe.

49:27 Speaker 1 So I was a, a s- a kid who learned in Lubavitch yeshiva, so I'll attend a little bit in the Lubavitch yeshiva. So of course, the Rebbe was something central.

49:37 Speaker 3 So let me ask you a question that's, that's just like, I guess, a hakdamah to the, what I already asked you. You knew you're a Lubavitcher? Was that a process? Was there a moment? W- What's, what's the story?

49:49 Speaker 1 Do you know you're a Lubavitcher?

49:52 Speaker 3 Yeah, I think so.

49:54 Speaker 1 If it's so.

49:54 Speaker 3 It might, it might be an embarrassment, but, uh, yeah.

49:57 Speaker 1 Um, so for me it was with pshitas. Well, I- I'll share with you some things. I mean, as a kid it was with pshitas, you know. This is, this is my, this is the only thing I know. Yes, I knew my father was a Slonim. I didn't was, didn't wasn't so aware of how much he was, he was connected to Slonim. I knew about it. I didn't know ad kadey kak until later on when I saw letters and I realized that he was quite connected in the whole family yichus. But he didn't talk to us about the Slonim or about, um, anything. He wanted us to learn Torah. His hapdasha was to learn Torah, to learn, to learn Torah, was very chashuv him. This had an impact in my life that he wanted us to learn, that he, he was the only parents who went to Bedford to talk to the Rebbes how their kids are doing.

50:49 Speaker 4 Very modern.

50:50 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:51 Speaker 4 That's very modern.

50:52 Speaker 1 Well, it was-- He, he, he cared about it.

50:54 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

50:55 Speaker 1 Other pa-- other k-kids that learned all the Torah in, uh, uh, in, in Bedford remember that the only one who came really was your father, that he was interested, you know, in, in our learning. He also hired for us bochurim to learn with us, and this did have an impact on my, uh... Later on as I was growing up, I was, I was just ten years old, I was nifter. And you know, you're alone, you have to make decisions, you can do whatever you want really. But it did have impact that he wanted me to learn, had an impact on me, really I could say, to, to choose the derech of, of learning Torah as something important. And I'm saying this 'cause I think sometimes parents don't realize how much, um, of an impact you can have on your children. And this is, uh, you know, it, it should come across to the children, no matter what age they are, that limmud haTorah is important to you, even though it may not, so to say, be so obvious that they're listening. Maybe you're gonna think they're not listening, was it different? But it does have an impact that may come back to the children. I've seen years later, you know, as they're growing up, you know, they might be get busy with other things, but it comes back to them, this, this, this idea.

52:32 Speaker 4 I spoke to a friend, uh, who told me that, um, his father isn't no longer alive. He passed away recently, but he said that "When I was a kid, my father would learn with me 'cause I hated it, but then I missed it." Not, not, not after he passed away, like, like when it's, when it was gone, like I missed it. And he's basically telling me that how he has a, a ratzon to, to l- to learn, and he's like crediting his father, you know, that value that he, that his father instilled in him, so.

53:07 Speaker 1 Yeah. You're saying about him learning with him, interesting. So there was Mesibes Shabbos in Seven seventy, every Shabbos. So I used to go from Bedford and Dean-- no, no, from Park Place, walk to Seven seventy. It's a walk to, uh, for the Mesibes Shabbos. All the kids were up-upstairs in the zal. I can imagine it was not so many kids. And I think it was Rabbi Goldstein, Yossel Goldstein was leading the Mesibes Shabbos. And, uh, and he says, "Whoever can answer this question is gonna win a prize, a small prize." So what was the question? He opened up kilayim, "Hashem kitev kilayim chaysei, kilayim chaysei, kilayim chaysei." Says, "If you can tell me how many kilayim chayses is here, you win a prize." That Shabbos or the Shabbos before, my father was telling me there's twenty-six kilayim chayses because this is the greatness of the chas-cha-chasid shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu against Torah. I was some nine years old, eight, nine years old. So it stuck in my head. So he opens it up for maybe ten seconds, opens up the, the, the sidder. "Who can tell me is that?" I raised my hand in the back, "Uh, twenty-six." "Twenty-six. You're right." I come, uh, now, so it says, Goliya, the principal in Yeshiva, was Rabbi Tannenbaum. And, uh, so I was eleven-- uh, no, I must have been nine years old already back in Bedford. So he asked me, "How did you takka know?" I said, "My father told me." So he gave me some

54:53 Speaker 1 chamayra, you know, it was a small prize. But, uh, yeah. So, um, yes, that impact is very important.

55:01 Speaker 4 Right. So you're, so you're saying that your father, the Torah was-

55:05 Speaker 1 Yeah.

55:05 Speaker 4 Uh, uh, my question was about you knowing that you're, that you're lamavtur. Was that, was that like a decision or not? So that was like a-

55:15 Speaker 1 Yeah, that was pashitos. Later on when I was in, in, uh, in Borough Park, we moved to Borough Park, as I said. So I used-- I still learned in, in, uh, so Be-Bedford already. For a while I, I learned in Bedford. I used to take a bus, two buses to Bedford every day. And it was a really bad neighborhood, and it was a lot of crime, and I had to keep my eyes open from the right to left taking those buses. And then the yeshiva moved Tosfon Lamed to Ocean Park, which is much easier to go from, uh, my house in Borough Park to Ocean Park. You can go by bike sometimes. Um, so, um, so it became much easier. Now, at that time, uh- I used to be Shabbos in, in Borough Park, and I sit down next to my-- next to the house we lived on 55th Street. Next to my house, there was a shul and a yeshiva. So I ha- I made friends with some of the kids my age, sixteen-year-old, seventeen-year-old kids who learned different yeshivas. And then the vikuchan, funktsion the vikuchan. About Rebbe, why about, uh, why the Rebbe, and why when the Rebbe walks by, they jump, and why they, they adore the Rebbe, and all these questions. And then why only Tanya? You only learn Tanya, Tanya. And so I used to... We had, we had these interesting, um, discussions, and I wanted always to answer them nishtame ze. You know, the, the answer them al

56:51 Speaker 1 pi Torah. And, and I would always look for an answer al pi Torah to answer them about the Rebbe and about, um, Sefarim and Tanya, why Tanya. So there's, there's Choimer, the Sichas, and... So I would, I would, um, say, "So why don't you learn, uh, Mesilas Yesharim?" Says, "Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna read Mesilas Yesharim." So I, I bought a Mesilas Yesharim. So I'm reading through Mesilas Yesharim, and on the bus, this was, this was I was still in, uh, in Beth Surfa-- So I had, I had forty-five minutes to an hour a day each way. So I used to learn on the bus. I have, I have a lot, a lot of time. So I think I had the small Mesilas Yesharim, and I'm reading it on Perek, another Perek. It's a Moshe Sefer, and it's about, you know, Amar Hakzal, Priitzus Meivul DeTar, Tar DeKedusha, steps, fifteen steps to Shleimus. And I had already learned already, uh, Chassidus, and then, uh, Tanya. I was, I was learning in Be- in, in Beth Sur the V'el Gevashim, Davras Gevshurim. So I was really getting into this idea of Chabad, and I was like, I wanted to, I wanted to understand why, why I'm a Yid, and Chassidus has a nig laun, so wha- how does Halakhah work? Uh, I, I think the motivation for my learning was to know why I'm a Yid. Vas meint zein a Yid? And vas meint zein a Yid is learning through learning Torah. So it's,

58:38 Speaker 1 it's Chassidus is more, uh, vas a Yid, vas the Tachas Hakavana, what we're doing in this world, um, vas a Neshama, vas is Torah, vas is the Aibishter. And also nigleh, how to get Halakhah, all the structure, to understand it, to understand it. So really, you could say my motivation Torah, to learn Torah, nigleh, Chassidus was part of vas meint zein a Yid, that you understand it and you feel it. And so, uh, I started learning some of the Kontras of the Rebbe Rashab, Kontras Hamaim, even Ramayon, then Derech Mutztsa Sacha. And he is hacking me with, "Why not other Sefarim?" I go, "Why not?" So I came back reading the Mesilas Yesharim. It's telling... Really, it's, it's a, it's, it's a Sefer if you wanna b- reach Shleimus, so you take these steps based on Amar Hakzal, fine. Uh, but okay, so it's about my Shleimus. The, the feeling you come learning, learning Mesilas Yesharim is, is reach your Shleimus. The feeling you have learning Tanya and Chassidus is what you can do for the Aibishter, what's the Kavana of your Briyah. You know? It's a different type of a feeling. So you're asking me about if I felt like a Lubavitcher. At that stage, I wa- these people were asking me questions, and I wanted to, "Okay, it's a good question." So I come back to him, he says, "Mesilas Yesharim, the Ramchal wrote Mesilas Yesharim, but the Rebbe says you want a deeper Sefer, and the real yungerleit, they are deeper. They

1:00:19 Speaker 1 learn Derech Chayim." That's a Sefer from the Ramchal. So he says, "Get me a Derech Chayim." I went to Derech Chayim. So he told me about Eylemes. Eylemes Briyah, Hecher Hamalach. Eylemes Yitzirah, Niderkhamalach. That is Eylemes Asiáh. Okay. I mean, fine. Uh, uh, uh, but the Eymek of, of, of Chassidus, of Tanya-

1:00:40 Speaker 4 If we're getting into Eylemes, we might as well learn Chassidus because it-

1:00:43 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:00:43 Speaker 4 ... it's gonna be treated, it's gonna be treated properly.

1:00:45 Speaker 1 Yeah. So it's so, it's so, it's a kum nisht, it's a kum nisht.

1:00:48 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:00:48 Speaker 1 Okay. There's deeper Sefarim from, from Ramchal, but they started telling me, "But they don't learn that either." The sev- s- I was seventeen maybe that, that year.

1:00:56 Speaker 4 Yeah. The Mesilas Yesharim is popular.

1:00:57 Speaker 1 Seventeen, seventeen. Yeah. So, um-

1:01:03 Speaker 4 So that's how, like, this is developing.

1:01:04 Speaker 1 Yeah, but, you know, I, I just wanna say about that shame, you know, if, if today people say, "I'm not gonna look at any other Sefarim." The Rebbe says we don't need... The, the Rebbe said also, "Also isn't Chassidus." You know, "Come to Kavanos Sefarim, also Chassidus." Which is, which is true. But sometime you see the Rebbe himself was gantz bahavant in other Sefarim.

1:01:33 Speaker 4 Well, there's a lot of things that the Rebbe quotes constantly, like Nitzotz Mashiach, Shevoc- Shevocolech, it's from Mei DeNaim.

1:01:40 Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.

1:01:41 Speaker 4 The Rebbe, the Rebbe always says it's from Mei DeNaim.

1:01:42 Speaker 1 Yeah, but, uh, uh, half law is there's... The Rebbe brings, and there's a story behind it, in Chelek Heh, Chof Cheshvan, by Yom Ieledis. So everyone knows he brings from, uh, things, you know, Shalmi, the Yom Ieledis, Mazal Hagever, Matan Molich, and that. But then he says also, "Ayin b'ez--" He says, "Reh ei or ayin b'ez siseilai." Sefer the Siseilaila The Rabbi Tzadik, Reb Tzadik Hakohen, from Lublin. And he quotes from Reb Tzadik in the Sefer Resis Elilo that he writes about Yemaledes, the male Yemaledes. Reb Tzadik was-- I mean, obviously, Reb Tzadik was Reb Tzadik. He was from the big, uh, Gadole Hachsidus in Poland. Granddad, my father, in his library, had a few copies of diff-- he had s- he had thin Sefer from Reb Tzadik mostly. He had a Se-Sefer, and Granddad had the Resis Elilo also. He had. What's Resis Elilo? Resis Elilo, in the section that Rebbe quotes, he was a Godol be Yisroel, and in his dreams, he dreamed, uh, Torah. So he dream-- So he writes over there that this and this night he had a dream, the Kasha of the Rambam. And in the dream, he was Mashiach of the Kasha of the Rambam. And in the morning, he writes in the dream, he says, "Granddad, I thought it over, and I have some other Torahs." So that Torahs was a good Torahs. He writes his dreams. So the Rebbe, I don't know when he saw Sefer Resis Elilo, if he saw it in Europe or here

1:03:15 Speaker 1 in America. It was reprinted in America. My father, uh, had it. Resis Elilo pa- uh, it's not-- And which Sefer he had, you know, the other Sefer with the Tiferet Machshavot, these people are big fans of Reb Tzadik. Resis Elilo, which has his dreams. So it means the Rebbe was ganz behavend astota. And not only that, he quotes it. He wrote the, the, the, the ones who amagim the Sefer, the, the Lichut Hesichas, the, the, the Vaad. And he tells them, "Check, check the Lashon." And they didn't have a Resis Elilo nearby that was reprinted in America. They didn't know if it was reprinted. So they sent a bocher to, uh, a library to go check out those libraries in Manhattan with Sefer. "Go check out Resis Elilo if that's Takkah the quote." It was. In Digdak, it was a little off. Lashon yach, Lashon ad, v'chich denk nisht the Lashon. But he told me that, uh, it was ma shehu of the Lashon, but it's a-- it was a quote.

1:04:22 Speaker 5 So they did it ba-peh.

1:04:23 Speaker 1 Did it ba-peh. He tells them to check out the Lashon, and then they put it in there. It was printed. It's mugger. You know, uh, spit Chabad, they spit Chabad. The Rebbe made fun of spit Chabad.

1:04:35 Speaker 5 So what Takkah the right approach? 'Cause on the inside, we Takkah do o-only or mainly learn, uh-

1:04:43 Speaker 1 So the emphasis-

1:04:44 Speaker 5 Whatever

1:04:44 Speaker 1 ... the emphasis-

1:04:45 Speaker 5 Nigla and then Chabad

1:04:47 Speaker 1 The emphasis by the Rebbe, and I, I could say you saw him at this tkufah when people say, "What's special about your Rebbe?" So I wanted to answer them logically, not, "Uh, da, da, da." But Takkah.

1:05:03 Speaker 5 This week we will commemorate Vav Tishrei. Vav Tishrei is the Yahrtzeit of the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. One of the initiatives that the Rebbe began after her passing was to establish Keren Chana, a special fund that enables and helps Jewish girls to be able to attend a yeshiva or Jewish educational seminary, yeshiva, school, et cetera. To this day, the fund assists both people that do not have a Jewish educational background, that are seeking to become part and enroll in an institution for girls but don't have the necessary funds to do so. This fund enables them and helps them get those funds so that they can attend yeshiva. And it also helps people who did have a, a Jewish education, but their families cannot afford their attending a yeshiva or a seminary. The fund helps them be able to do so. At the Fabregens on Vav Tishrei, on the Yahrtzeit, the Rebbe would often remind and encourage the attendees and those that were listening live via the hookup to donate and take part in Keren Chana, which is in memory of Rebbetzin Chana. And as Rebbe mentioned by most and by many of the other Magbis, of the other funds that the Rebbe would mention at the Fabregens, that those that wish can write and send in their name and their mother's name down, and the Rebbe will mention it by the ayo. You can do so this Vav Tishrei at magbis.org, M-A-G-B-I-S.org, and you can click on the tab for Keren Chana, and there's

1:06:54 Speaker 5 an option there to mention your name and your mother's name as a donor to the fund. All of those names will be brought to the Rebbe's ayo. This is something that we can do to honor Rebbetzin Chana, and it's something that we can do to honor the Rebbe, and it's something that we can do to enhance and help the education of Jewish girls, which however important it has always been, is more important than ever. Have a good Yom Tov.

1:07:24 Speaker 1 The Rebbe's godless in Torah, you know. The, the question then w- and it was-- The question then was, was common for Lubavitcher, "Who's the Godol HaDor?" I remember in Swan Lake, in the Hofs-

1:07:38 Speaker 5 Camp

1:07:39 Speaker 1 ... camp, half of Swan Lake were not Lubavitcher. Counselors, you had Yodel, um, you had, uh, Shmuel Kunde.

1:07:48 Speaker 5 Shmuel.

1:07:49 Speaker 1 He was a counselor. He was-

1:07:50 Speaker 5 And I saw a picture of him.

1:07:51 Speaker 1 Shmuel Kunde was a counselor, and there was a, there was a Coco, and there was a bunch of-

1:07:55 Speaker 5 Was Shmuel Ku- Kunde the night activity director once?

1:07:57 Speaker 1 I don't think it was the other, but he was-- Shmuel Kunde was a toychendeke, uh, bocher.

1:08:02 Speaker 5 He was a rebbe. He was a melamed.

1:08:03 Speaker 1 He was a melamed.

1:08:04 Speaker 5 Yeah.

1:08:04 Speaker 1 He was a, he was a toychende. He was a ben Torah. His grandfather, his father was friends with my father.

1:08:10 Speaker 5 From, from Shanghai?

1:08:11 Speaker 1 From Shanghai or Poland.

1:08:13 Speaker 5 Yes.

1:08:13 Speaker 1 I don't know from where. I remember his father. His father was, you know, a literature type of Yid. And when I was in camp in, in, uh-

1:08:21 Speaker 4 Swan Lake

1:08:21 Speaker 1 ... in Swan Lake, I was already-- I was a yasom, so he was makarav me. He was talk teichein likinyanim, you know. He was, he, he was a baal haspa. Mesam he was makarav on the bachurim. That, uh, you know, shemayim, to learn Torah, uh, et cetera. He was, uh, uh, he was a teichein liker. But that's the crowd that was there. So I remember, I remember in Swan Lake playing ping pong, who's the gadol hador. This was saying, uh, Lakewood, this, that, Rab Moshe. Others were saying, "No, the Rebbe." The, the vikuach was, was going on. And this was going on in the whole world. So in Boro Park, the Rebbe. So part of these vikuachim, I could be mevatel, you know. And then, and I'm trying to-- It's shalo ba'erach. I'm trying to explain it. Sh- so let's Rab Moshe. Moshe's taka ehrliche Yid, and was a taka gadol hador. Was taka gadol hador in the Torah, and his ehrlichkeit, you see, he was taka. In his ehrlichkeit, you know, there were misnagdim that wanted to sway him, uh, against the Rebbe from Bnei Brak and even here, and he wouldn't budge. He was a Torah ish sh'emes, like Chovos HaLevavos type of amoleg ehrliche litvishe gadolei Yisroel who weren't interested in any politics. Torah, is it shtim Torah? That's it. So but then, but he, the Rebbe... So the Rebbe's, the Rebbe, his, his limud haTorah, pashut, even before the nesiyus, those ha'aros on Tofshin Ches, Tofshin Tes, you know, there was

1:10:07 Speaker 1 tarumus. You know, there-- You heard about it. There was tainaus on the Rebbe.

1:10:10 Speaker 4 On the Mamarin.

1:10:11 Speaker 1 On the Ram Mamram, the Rebbe wrote, uh-

1:10:13 Speaker 4 Rebbe wrote, uh-

1:10:14 Speaker 1 Those ha'aros

1:10:14 Speaker 4 ... the ha'aros, the Mamram, yeah.

1:10:16 Speaker 1 And some of mamram are called as meila. But you write any ha'aros. Simcha, is Simcha in yontif? Is, is Simcha in Shabbos? So it's all lashon. It's a gantz, a gantz, uh, lamdis in them. Mesirus nefesh, mesirus by goyim, mesirus by Yidden. A gantz thing. And there was tainaus from Spitz Chabad.

1:10:39 Speaker 4 Because the Friediker Rebbe's mamram and, uh, Ari things.

1:10:41 Speaker 1 What are you writing? Who's gehen heck vorn? Um, um, of mamram schneipen, uh, the... Okay, this is Rav Tzadik was already Rebbe, I think already when he printed it. But where, where? And then Nigale, you're writing Nigale, where, where, what's, uh And it, and it's Nigale and Nistar, Kabbalah. The Rebbe showed bekius and everything. That's why if you see in the beginning of these kuntresim when they were printed, he writes-

1:11:04 Speaker 4 Apik kudas

1:11:04 Speaker 1 ... apik kudas.

1:11:05 Speaker 4 Apik kudas.

1:11:06 Speaker 1 Apik kudas.

1:11:07 Speaker 4 Yeah. Pretty sure that's Mesheletin.

1:11:08 Speaker 1 That's that Apik-

1:11:09 Speaker 4 My Chad Mesheletin.

1:11:10 Speaker 1 Yeah. Apik kudas. That was, "I was commanded. What do you want from me? I was commanded to do this." That's, that's the reason, Apik kudas. And it was Taka-

1:11:19 Speaker 4 By the way, by the way, it's interesting. Chassidim, you barely ever, you ever see anyone using that, he- that lashon? Apik hei ras.

1:11:25 Speaker 1 Yes. No, no, no. That was Taka. You only find that over there.

1:11:28 Speaker 4 HaRebbe, Apik kudas.

1:11:29 Speaker 1 Yeah. Um, all the, the sichas that were printed was Apik hei ras.

1:11:32 Speaker 4 To command.

1:11:34 Speaker 1 Apik kudas means I was commanded. A pruda.

1:11:38 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:11:39 Speaker 1 Because he's, he's saying, "I-- It's not my idea."

1:11:45 Speaker 4 Right.

1:11:46 Speaker 1 Some-- I wouldn't do it.

1:11:49 Speaker 4 It's also very interesting 'cause this is basically the theme of the Rebbe-- One, one of the theme, one of the themes in, in the Rebbe's Torah is the component of Torah One. So it's-

1:12:01 Speaker 1 Right

1:12:01 Speaker 4 ... Nigleh, it's Nistar-

1:12:02 Speaker 1 Yes, yes

1:12:02 Speaker 4 ... there's Chassidus, Kabbalah. It's all one thing.

1:12:04 Speaker 1 So this, so this, you know, this is one of the points I would bring out. You know, it's a shalo ba'erach, the, the echad and the kamus, and the all-encompassing, the all-encompassing, you know, Godlessness in Torah. So, you know, having these discussions with others made me even stronger, so to say, if, if, if you wanna use that term. Um, this idea of the broad, um, emphasis of limud haTorah, it-- The Rebbe really wanted to impress upon us as well. Yes, you know, is, is enough just for Chassidus and, and Nigleh and that. Uh, so, uh, the Rebbe re- really wanted us to have a broader kook, uh, s- a vision and scope. I was like, "How do, how do I know?" Because look at the Ma'amar Makom that the Rebbe writes for the sichas on the Mamram. Uh, he sends us on the letters. He sends us everywhere, Nigleh, Nistar. Yeah, mostly in the yeshivas, the kasvarim, yes. And, uh, he's not sending us to, to Sefarim, but even, even the, so to say, yeshivas, the kasvarim, it's a broad idea. Not just it's, it's Nigleh, it's Midrashim, it's Zohar, Re'eh Zohar. This and this page, and this is the Zohar.

1:13:44 Speaker 4 I was just reading a Mihtav Klali this morning.

1:13:46 Speaker 1 Yes.

1:13:46 Speaker 4 I was l-- When I finished reading it, I read the Ma'amar Makom.

1:13:49 Speaker 1 Right.

1:13:50 Speaker 4 Yeah. It, it's-

1:13:50 Speaker 1 Okay. So I have a, I have a sicha I remember the Rebbe spoke about, uh, Mihtav Klali. I believe it was a Peisach Mihtav Klali. The Mihtav Klalim used to come out now, about now, uh, Cheilel was the Rosh Hashanah Mihtav Klali, then Vaftishi was another edition, and then sometimes there was a third letter, but usually two letters, certainly in the, in the, the years in the Lameds. I think it was, uh, uh, in Nisan. So ba- it was, uh, uh, in the beginning of Nisan, the Rebbe wrote a letter, then Yad Af Shlis and another letter, which was a Hemshach. You see the Igros Kodesh, the, the, of the Yom, the Yom Tov of the Igros Kodesh. And it was a, I think it was a Beis Nisan Fabrengen, um, or, or Shabbos Hagadol Fabrengen. And the Rebbe writes that i-in, in the, in, in Mihtav was geshibn, so he received a kasha. That it says in the Mihtav this and this, halacha, how is it shitem with this Midrash or this Gemara? He didn't tish punk. So the Rebbe said, "Oiven velt gekukt in the Ma'amar Makom," was the, uh, was mit Yitzchak duntin. If you take a look, uh, with Metsayim over there to Maramokem, Re'eh, this Zohar or this Medrash or this Meimar, if you look into this farm shop and take that out and look it up, you'd see that over there talking about this Kashat Maramokem. Right. And then he said the following. He says, "I'm a slave, this

1:15:37 Speaker 1 Tzionim, the Maramokem is Re'eh, the Maramokem made this Takhim." So Takhim, them in a Sefer on a Reinkukum. On the, the town of us, Meshaibdi, Tzionim is actions with Tsukim Asach Yedeias. You'll gain a lot of Yedeias.

1:15:59 Speaker 6 So first of all, you should-

1:16:00 Speaker 1 First of all, you should do it 'cause you'll gain a lot of Yedeias.

1:16:02 Speaker 6 But first of all, you should-- When it says Re'eh-

1:16:03 Speaker 1 So look it up

1:16:04 Speaker 6 ... it means to look it up. Yeah.

1:16:05 Speaker 1 You should go look it up.

1:16:06 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:16:06 Speaker 1 And first of all, you're gonna gain, what's the, what's the purpose of it? First of all, the Tsukim, Tsukim Asach Yedeias. On Tzvitens, with the Tzveter Habrachayelik and Din Limedatira. Other, what's art, what's art there? Has a Tzveter with Habrachayelik and Din Limedatira.

1:16:25 Speaker 6 What does that mean?

1:16:26 Speaker 1 What does that mean? You tell me what that means.

1:16:28 Speaker 6 That the Rebbe has a Chelek?

1:16:29 Speaker 1 The Rebbe has a Chelek in Limedatira.

1:16:31 Speaker 6 There's someone else. The Rebbe is having Chelek in Limedatira.

1:16:33 Speaker 1 He's having it saying himself. He said, "With the Tzveter Habrachayelik in Limedatira." Now listen to that. Wow. If you-- It means if you're gonna look up that Medrash or that Meimar 'cause the Rebbe said that a Re'eh are ayin. So okay, so the current CD is, okay, Yeshikah. But people ask, "What is a Skashas? What's a Skashas?" The Rebbe, you want the Rebbe... You wanna learn with the Rebbe? You want the Rebbe have a Chelek in Limedatira? You wanna learn with the Rebbe? If you say, look, take a Sefer, which he was mitzayin, in a Sikron Meimar, Re'eh. It says Re'eh or Ayin.

1:17:15 Speaker 6 Re'eh.

1:17:15 Speaker 1 Re'eh or Ayin. Yeah. Geba Cook.

1:17:19 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:17:20 Speaker 1 So you're doing it, so, so the Rebbe has a Chelek in Limedatira. It's a big deal. So, so now, so therefore I'm saying the whole Cook was a much broader, the Cook of, of, of Limedatira. And Bechal the hurts from the early Yechidim, so to say those who learned in, uh, by the Friediker Rebbe and before Tav Shen Yud. And when the Rebbe started saying his Sichas, all different type of Sichas, different style of Sichas than the Friediker Rebbe Sichas. So one of them once told me, he said he thought that the Limedatira and Lubavitch and Nigla, especially Nigla, 'cause the Rebbe was boylet in the ideas of Niglet, it's gonna be Gorandish, you know. And it is to a certain degree. Uh, but, but that's really the Rebbe. The Rebbe is Hagashan in Limedatira. There's expectations, and the broadness of it is something that we have to take, uh-

1:18:28 Speaker 6 Live up to

1:18:28 Speaker 1 ... have to take more seriously.

1:18:31 Speaker 6 Okay. That's for sure. But we're talking about have a... Th-this is the troop, uh, obviously. This I mean, obviously, but thank you for, uh, the Madgashit. But I wanna go back about the broader learning of the Svarim. I met a guy, I guess a but he was like, you know, I don't know. He had, he had and he was like, you know... So he's, he's talking to me after davening, he's like, "Yes, the Yechidas and Tanya. He says the Likutei Moharan." So he-- I guess he was watching my face, my facial express- I didn't say anything, so he's looking at my facial expressions. He's like, "How come when I tell the Lubavitcher the Likutei Moharan, they're like, they're, they're not into it?" So you're saying that, uh, we should learn everything?

1:19:17 Speaker 1 Just, uh, for the record, the Rebbe is mitzayin to Likutei Moharan in Likutei Sichas. Um, a trade of the Baal Shem Tov, um, that, um, listen, Din VeCheshbon. Din VeChe-- First Din because Cheshbon, they taitches because they show everyone what their, what their Din, their life, how he's done to someone else. Medatai Shelo Medatai. And there's a Tzin under-underneath Likutei Moharan.

1:19:51 Speaker 6 Moharan.

1:19:51 Speaker 1 So I'm, I'm Chaf Din learning Likutei Moharan. That's niche from the Zach Zach Shuvatat. But he's mitzayin Likutei Moharan. Also in, uh, I saw, which is very interesting, um, the Rishimos and Tanya, right? The Rishimos of Tanya. So they reprinted the Ta- They made Tanya Hashem, uh, which is an awesome, uh, Sefer. And I was, you know, this time around I was learning a lot, uh, using it a lot and, uh, noting of different ve- you know, taichen, which very inspiring. And I told this to the Motzim Loair. My problem with this is the, the earlier edition of the Rishimos, of the Rebbe's Rishimos and Tanya, you could see, uh, the Rebbe mitzayin to the Makar. the Rebbe would write where. where. And there were different Tzionim and Taichen that you knew this is directly from the Rebbe. So now in the Tzionim and the Maramokaim is that they have in this new Tanya Hashem- You don't see necessarily what's taka from the Rebbe.

1:21:06 Speaker 6 It's all one.

1:21:07 Speaker 1 It's all one. They combine other tziyunim. But when I s- but what I like is I wanna see how the Rebbe learned this.

1:21:15 Speaker 6 That's why I bring this up.

1:21:18 Speaker 1 Why I'm bringing this up, because in the Reshimas of Tanya Sha'ar Yichud V'Emunah, uh, in the, the original Reshimas which they printed, he has over there on Tzimtzum is kapshute, the nisht kapshute. Sha'ar Yichud V'Emunah says nisht kapshute. So he has a whole Reshima, a list of Bnei Yisroel who said Tzimtzum is nisht kapshute. And one of them is, uh, Rabbi Mibratslav, and he brings a ma'amad makom from the Reshima. He also has a Reshima of those whole Tzimtzum kapshute he brings from the Mishnas Chassidim in the Sefer. But I found it interesting... So like this he brings Mukbalim, who hold that Tzimtzum is not kapshute. It's Sefar. So really you see the Rebbe is looking at all these Sefarim and he's keeping a list of Tzimtzum kapshutes, nisht kapshute. And one of the, the lists is the, uh, the, the Rav Nachman of Breslov. So shpitz on Rav Nachman of Breslov. But he's re- he has it in the list.

1:22:26 Speaker 6 But-

1:22:26 Speaker 1 And, and it's also a Kabbalah zach.

1:22:28 Speaker 6 But then-

1:22:28 Speaker 1 He's counting, he's counting Rav Nachman as in Kabbalah.

1:22:31 Speaker 6 So-

1:22:32 Speaker 1 That he's from the days in Kabbalah that Tzimtzum is, is, is, uh, is not kapshute. So he's bringing that. Rav Nachman, okay. Rav Nachman, uh, tzadik and Chassidus, but he's keeping in the list with the Mukbalim that all Tzimtzum is not kapshute, which is interesting. I think it's revealing. I'm not sure exactly what to do with it-

1:22:53 Speaker 6 Ah.

1:22:54 Speaker 1 But, but-

1:22:54 Speaker 6 But hang on 'cause I have a rebuttal. I don't-- this is not what I think. I'm just saying, like-

1:22:59 Speaker 1 I found that interesting

1:23:00 Speaker 6 ... some- someone could say-

1:23:01 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:23:02 Speaker 6 ... it's not pshat. If you look, if you learn Chassidus Chabad, it's all Chassidus Chabad based.

1:23:07 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:23:07 Speaker 6 What the Rebbe is doing, since it's part of Tedehacheh, is the Rebbe will support in Yonah Chabad or the Hashkafa Chabad-

1:23:15 Speaker 1 The Rebbe-

1:23:15 Speaker 6 ... from other Sefarim. No?

1:23:17 Speaker 1 Fine.

1:23:18 Speaker 6 Like the Rebbe always quotes-

1:23:19 Speaker 1 He, he's also being-

1:23:20 Speaker 6 The Rebbe, the Rebbe always quoting this Me'ei L'Noam on netzas Moshiach. There's not so many other quotes from, um, maybe there are others, but that's, uh, that, that specific quote, the Rebbe likes very much. It likes that quote. The Rebbe says al pi nigla also.

1:23:31 Speaker 1 I understand. You know, you're asking practically speaking, uh, this, so first of all, there is so much Chassidus, Chabad Chassidus, and this, uh, and this Kabbalah in times. The question is, you know-

1:23:44 Speaker 6 We are it. We are it

1:23:45 Speaker 1 ... you know, yeah. Without the chiyuv of the Chassidus and the, and the Chassidus, the Rebbe printed everything. He was mevazhes the tzaddik. Everything got his hand, he'd print, print, print, print, print.

1:24:00 Speaker 6 Right.

1:24:01 Speaker 1 You know? So mevazhes tzaddik or Chassidus, then there's nigleh, and then there's ihun. Uh, he wants taka the heart of it in the learning. So, okay, I'm not saying that, you know, make a seder go learn, but sometimes it comes your way.

1:24:18 Speaker 6 Right. But-

1:24:19 Speaker 1 It comes your way.

1:24:20 Speaker 6 But wait, but, but-

1:24:20 Speaker 1 From Mishna Yomit if it's sefer about taste for the Baltiya.

1:24:23 Speaker 6 Right. It's okay.

1:24:25 Speaker 1 Uh, and, and if it comes your way, you see the Rebbe did, uh-

1:24:29 Speaker 6 You can ask the same question like Meiri Nevuchim. Uh, should, is it everybody should learn Gra not to study Meiri Nevuchim, right?

1:24:36 Speaker 1 Should learn Gra, Talmud, whatever. Okay. Yeah, and Hanami of in the Meiri-

1:24:40 Speaker 6 There's something in Tzedakah about that.

1:24:43 Speaker 1 In Meiri Nevuchim.

1:24:43 Speaker 6 That I think he said, the Maharash maybe, I think.

1:24:46 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:24:46 Speaker 6 It says that he, he knew the, the tata, I think the Rebbe said the tata, the altgevos, he knew the Meiri Nevuchim from Chassidus, right?

1:24:53 Speaker 1 Yes, but in the payos there's other sichos referred the Rebbe.

1:24:57 Speaker 6 And the Rebbe also.

1:24:58 Speaker 1 That the alter, that the, I think the alter Rebbe learned with Tzemach Tzedek, and Tzemach Tzedek learned when we start, um, to wash and help wash and-

1:25:07 Speaker 6 Uh, Meiri Nevuchim

1:25:07 Speaker 1 ... the Meiri Nevuchim or the, the ganzem halachah.

1:25:10 Speaker 6 The Rebbe writes in Kotzker such a said the Ram, the Ram is going to Meiri Nevuchim from Zein Dor and from-

1:25:14 Speaker 1 From all deres

1:25:14 Speaker 6 ... from all theirs. All theirs. Okay, this is great. I wanna move back to... We'll do, we'll do a little more story and then, uh, fabrengen. We'll, we'll, we'll go, we'll go back and forth. So, so you were, you were telling me about the early years, the early years around the Rebbe, the Fradin, and Lag BaOmer parades, and, you know, Yechidut Shebattrit.

1:25:40 Speaker 1 I, I would, I would say my, one of my early memories, impactful memories, and I don't even remember when it was and what age it was. But I remember it had an impact by a fabrengen. I was a kid. "Torah is Emes zogt." "Torah is Emes zogt." Like even if I would come to the Babish and the Rebbe say, "Un Torah is Emes zogt." So it's the Torah us from Torah is Emes, us is zogt. So it got on this. Uh, uh, you know, when the Rebbe said, "Torah is Emes zogt." It's like you heard Maamad Har Sinai. It's like you heard Torah is Emes zogt. And, uh, yeah, so that's the nekudas. That's a very important nekuda. Even as a kid, the impression that, you know, the Rebbe is talking and with Emes and, uh, and this is, you know, it's Maamad Har Sinai, the ganze, the ganze zach. So that's from the, I would say from the earliest memories. Um, I think I was in Ohel Torah then, so there was probably, there was a bus taking us from Eastern Parkway, probably to Park Place. And the Rebbe would walk sometimes to 770, it was time or two. I mean, probably it was 12 o'clock. He's, he's walking from his house to 770 on Eastern Parkway. Was in front of that apartment house by the corner. And, and so the whole bus was is piled by the window on the side facing the Rebbe, and the driver's scared it's gonna kill the bus.

1:27:37 Speaker 1 And what are we looking at? We're looking at the Rebbe walking. And what do we see? The Rebbe s- is saying where it's-- he's walking from his house to 770, and we would start singing, and they would notice a, a bu- a yeshiva bus, and he would go like this. Um, those are the earlier memories.

1:28:02 Speaker 6 So besides the Yechidus you went in with your mother, I mean, you had a Bar Mitzvah Yechidus.

1:28:10 Speaker 1 I don't remember details of our Bar Mitzvah Yechidus. Uh, he asked me to s- if I prepared anything for our Mitzvah. He asked me to say something. I don't remember what I said. I think it was maybe the pulpit. He didn't ask me any questions. He gave me a bracha. Um, I remember on the day of my Bar Mitzvah, I was in 770. It was Chof Hei. The Rebbe was davening for the Amid. It was in the summer, and it was in a small ohel upstairs, and I was by the table behind the Rebbe. Uh, the Rebbe was down for the Amid, and he was constantly putting his hand under the tallis, fixing the knot behind the head. That it-

1:29:02 Speaker 6 Kesher

1:29:02 Speaker 1 ... the kesher. Which I found interesting 'cause they don't tell the, the Bar Mitzvah bochurim or anyone, "Make sure your kesher is in the right place."

1:29:15 Speaker 6 The Rebbe be- the Rebbe bechal during davening would be-

1:29:17 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:29:18 Speaker 6 ... mashgir to the-

1:29:18 Speaker 1 This, but I was behind him. I took note. There was-- He was making-

1:29:22 Speaker 6 Kesher

1:29:22 Speaker 1 ... he was touching the kesher should be in its place behind the head. Everyone looks in the front, it's behind the ohel, before the hairline, above the hairline. Um...

1:29:36 Speaker 6 So you went after-- Y- you were in Bedford-Indien for, for, for yeshiva afterwards.

1:29:43 Speaker 1 Then I went to Ocean Parkway, and then I went to Newark, and then I went to 770.

1:29:46 Speaker 6 So you had-- All those years you had Yechidus, all those years?

1:29:50 Speaker 1 I had Yechidus. Um, I had different Yechidus.

1:29:55 Speaker 6 Let me, let me ask you a general question about Yechidus. What was the whole thing of Yechidus for, for a bochur then? Like w-

1:30:07 Speaker 1 What was Yechidus? Lashon Yechidus, there's a reshimah from the Friya Rebbe. There was a sefer called Ohr HaChassidus. I don't know why they didn't reprint it. Yes, everything that's there already is reprinted in different places. But I think Lichtenstein put together Lichtenstein, a special person, different reshimas and letters. So there was once a-- There was a pereg de Yechidus that has three lashonas: Yichud, Birur, and Yechida. That the meaning of Yechidus is to analyze yourself, make a birur of where you're standing, and connect with the Rebbe in a bchin of Yechida. So I would say, al pi panu, we were taught that to take Yechidus very seriously. Rebbe Yael would, all the mashpiyim, um, would emphasize Yechidus is a time when you go to the Rebbe and you, and you make a chones beforehand, um, and to open yourself up to the Rebbe and ask the Rebbe for a guidance and bracha to be a better yid, to be a better chassid.

1:31:28 Speaker 6 Were there specific things from Yechidus when you were a bochur that, uh, you can share?

1:31:36 Speaker 1 Bechlal, you know, uh, Yechidus is a personal experience.

1:31:41 Speaker 6 I ask this to every guest, and they all say-

1:31:42 Speaker 1 I know

1:31:42 Speaker 6 ... the same answer.

1:31:43 Speaker 1 I know.

1:31:43 Speaker 6 Yeah. Okay.

1:31:43 Speaker 1 I know. So stop. You know why they give you the same answer?

1:31:47 Speaker 6 No. Why?

1:31:47 Speaker 1 'Cause that's the answer. That's, that's the tak of the answer. So, um, so, uh, what-- I'll give you the arum, right? Um, so y- y-- there's different bochurim, and part of the scene, the scene over here. And, and there's different bochur who had different-- who are in different levels. So you can have a bochur... And this is because we used to farbrengen together. So I'm gonna give you about the scene and about different bochurim to give you an idea of, of how this, this works. And we used to farbrengen, and sometimes we used to farbrengen about our own Yechidusin, and, uh, should I go into Yechidus, should I not go into Yechidus, and so on. So, um, so first of all, some bochurim were struggling with their yetzer hara, which is, which is common. Bochurim these years have a yetzer hara, and they were-

1:32:57 Speaker 6 The lashon of the Rebbe somewhere in, in a different inyun is that the Rebbe says it's yemei hachamimus.

1:33:04 Speaker 1 I didn't hear such a lashon.

1:33:05 Speaker 6 The Rebbe said about mashke, about not drinking mashke.

1:33:08 Speaker 1 Um, I didn't, I didn't hear such a, such a lashon.

1:33:11 Speaker 6 It's printed.

1:33:12 Speaker 1 Okay. Where is it printed?

1:33:13 Speaker 6 Sefer Chassidim.

1:33:15 Speaker 1 Sechas Kodesh, how it's printed.

1:33:18 Speaker 6 I saw it in a, in a printed form. Yeah.

1:33:21 Speaker 1 I understand. I'm saying it's not Mugan, it's a-

1:33:23 Speaker 6 Okay, yeah.

1:33:23 Speaker 1 It's a, fine. Um, so some people were, were struggling with their yetzer hara more than others. Other people, although they were struggling with their yetzer, but didn't wanna bring it up to the Rebbe about their issues with their yetzer hara. So they would ask the Rebbe, uh, uh, the Rebbe inyanim of, uh, Asei Tov. Um, and other people, well, taka, they weren't struggling so much with their yetzer hara, and their questions were, were in Asei Tov and Limud and then, uh, Sefer Shem Tov Chassidis. Others with the issues of yetzer hara, um, with Chan, uh, one of the common things where the Rebbe told bachurim was that when they go in the street, they should chazak chassidis ba-peh. And some he said, "Tanya ba-peh." Osios. Some people after Yechidus would write in the kod of the Yechidus, the Rebbe would magea it. Some people didn't write, or some people did. The Rebbe didn't-- wasn't magea. I know someone the, the Rebbe told him that he should learn, that when he goes to the street, he should tracht chassid, he should chazak chassidis. Umblitus. Some people, he didn't say umblitus.

1:34:53 Speaker 6 Umblitus means to, you know, like, sort of like mumbling, like-

1:34:55 Speaker 1 Yeah. Today you l- can do that 'cause yeah, everyone's on the iPhone.

1:34:58 Speaker 6 You can listen to the sicha, you can listen to HaMayim.

1:35:00 Speaker 1 Yeah. Today people are, are mumbling.

1:35:01 Speaker 6 Now you can mumble. Yeah, yeah.

1:35:02 Speaker 1 I can remember the first time I was driving a car, and when it started this whole thing, and I'm looking at the guy on the side of me, he's screaming. And then for me I have to realize that he's on the phone.

1:35:11 Speaker 6 This is a few years ago, right?

1:35:13 Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah. He's on the phone. That mele, he's in the car and he's on the phone. Akapana. So, so the one pers-- the Rebbe told, um, Tanya ba-peh taka. He should learn, he should chaza Tanya ba-peh when he's in the street. And this was more to do that you're in the street, you're exposed to the street, so you chaza-- you should chaza, you should tahat. The kop is full mit chassidis. Um, then he should-- he would, um... So this was, was quite common in this, uh, nekuda. Uh, but again, going back to Sur Merah, uh, the Rebbe-- I'm sharing with you different friends we would discuss. He said, "Zos lernen Torah met a koch, met a chayas, ve nit zayn di koch in andere zachen." In other words-

1:36:16 Speaker 6 You transfer the koch into Torah.

1:36:17 Speaker 1 Transfer the koch. He told him about chaim olam, he said, you saw. So that koch-

1:36:24 Speaker 6 Channel it.

1:36:25 Speaker 1 Channel it.

1:36:25 Speaker 6 Channel it.

1:36:25 Speaker 1 Channel your koch in chassidis, ve nit zayn di koch in andere zachen. Or he said, "Grube zachen." I think nish what was-- he says, "Ve nit zayn di koch in andere zachen, in grube zachen." So this is, uh, uh, a saying. Um, in that, that kupa, the Rebbe, uh, I know there was a, a discussion between two, two, uh, bachurim. And it gives you an idea about the bachurim. So they, uh, they had gaava. I don't know if people are bothered by gaava today, but akapana, pnim tsdik bachur, shayeach, it bothers him that he has gaava. Now, who has gaava? So, I mean, this is pidas. There's some boasting. It's, you say, the ruach. But then this gaava, you say the aish, because he has taka, he has ma'alas. So s- he writes to the Rebbe, he has gaava. So both of them, and this is this more or less same kupa. One, one the Rebbe answered, "Fakit. Nutst di gaava af leren mer." It should motivate you, learn noch a Maymer, learn noch a blat Gemara, and so on, as a motivation. The other one, he answered, uh, as, "Um lernen kuntres HaMaayan, redat vu se shteyt az afila ma- ma'alas hamitim iz nish dor av-- uh, iz nish dor avos haba gaava." So over there in Kuntres HaMaayan explains that your ma'alas are a gift from the Aybosher. So you didn't make yourself smarter than anyone else. You didn't make yourself eidelier than anyone else. You're lucky.

1:38:13 Speaker 6 There's nothing to be proud of.

1:38:14 Speaker 1 It's, uh, yeah. It's not the ga-ga-ga... You're the ga-- So, so s'iz der gantz habereng in zwischen bachurim. One person, he tells to use the gaava. Other person, he tells how really there's no point in it. There's no, there's no seichel in having gaava. So your Yechidus, you're asking about Yechidus, everyone, uh, it's Yechida of, uh, like it says in Dos is Shivas, it's a Yechida of a chasid with a Yechida of the Rebbe. That's in Yechidus. Um, there was, uh, people who ask, you know, uh, I know someone who asked the Rebbe about, he feels he's a baal-- he was a baal teshuva, but he, but he, he became a, a talmid of seven seventy in Hashura. A, a guy with, with kashrus. He still, he still is using his kashrus for Lubavitch, and, um, but he was a baal teshuva. You know, from the, from the, from the hippies, uh... I don't know if he was a hippie, but he was-

1:39:19 Speaker 6 That era.

1:39:20 Speaker 1 That era. He was out. He was totally out. And then he us- he uses kashrus, and he's now seven seventy. Top bachur, seven seventy. So he was trying to makarav his family or other people, and he feels that he's not successful, and was very frustrated. This is what he asked the Rebbe in Yechidus. So the Rebbe told him, I, I don't know if this was the lashon, but the take was the mitzvah V'hechech t'chiyach, could be didn't say V'hechech t'chach, aber is suton. You have to do your part. If you're gonna... Uh, and the, the chiyuv and the inyan is for you to do your part.

1:40:03 Speaker 6 It's on you, the chiyuv is on you.

1:40:04 Speaker 1 It's on you. If you're gonna be successful, that's, that's not in your hands.

1:40:08 Speaker 6 Mm-hmm.

1:40:09 Speaker 1 So therefore, what you're doing is gval dikh zachen. But that's not you to a decision if you're successful or not so, or not successful, therefore, therefore you didn't do the inyan. You did the inyan. Um, Psachya was saying, another saying about what's the difference between... I don't remember the lashon, uh, the, the, the, the heida of heidel Hashem in the beginning of davening, and the heida of meidim. So personally, I thought this was a he was trying to impress the Rebbe. Maybe, maybe I'm wrong, but you know, uh- Asking such a, a tiferet shaya. Yeah. It's, uh, maybe it bothered him, you know? Maybe it bo- May-may-maybe it really bothered him. Maybe it bothered him. So the Re- Reb Yael used to say that when you get to the yechidas, ""You should open yourself up to the Rebbe, and you should say things that you wouldn't tell your closest friend." So that was, uh- Whatever it is. Whatever issue, whatever you... I mean, obviously you want, you want, uh, you want guidance, you want, uh, bracha. Mm. Um, you know, Chassidim used to say a story that there was a, and this is still in Lub-- In Russia, in Lubavitch before, that, uh, the Chjalal in those, in the earlier years, they weren't mekarev everybody to Chassidus. Especially a person who was a big bal gayver, especially a shoyte. Let him stay where he is. A Chassid is a kluger. A Chassid, a kluger. Let him stay where he is. But they saw Psachya, a

1:42:06 Speaker 1 yungerman, a psakeli, that he was making a gvaldik Chassid. So they used to reach out to him, mekarev him. "Eh, everything, es taka, uh, es, uh, es, a neshomo fun a Chassid." So there was a, a guy in the shtetl, in Chassidus shtetl, was not a Chassid, but he, um, um, had a bunch of milas. So they saw a person, they would-- If they saw he was a psakeli, they would look for what? A way to mekarev him. So, you know, this is then davening and saying, "Go around this, that this line Chassidus." Well, so they were mekarev taka. A lot of people, e-even in my generation, a lot of people in the Skver are from not Lubavitcher homes because of to be a better Yid, avodas Hashem, and davening, emunah, teichein. That's, that's what people in the Skver of Chassidus Chabad. Chabad taught the imek, what's Nishma Fradel, you know? S- He's not gonna find in the Midrash Hashom Nishma Delechaim, are you? Not in Peleh Shefatom. The imek and the rechil and the avoner of the tachles haChaim. So that's what people in the Skver of Chassidus Chabad. So that this guy, he, al midas Tavis, he had gute kop on meinen, and he davened ehrlich. And they couldn't find anything which they could sort of say, sell him, that he should become a Chassid. 'Cause then you're lacking in this area. He's not lacking in anything. Like this, his midas, there was this, you know, your midas, and if he's a ehrliche

1:43:45 Speaker 1 person, and you tell him, "You know, you wanna know a, a way to be Mishanah, Eitevim Yiddis, Yiddis Yivivim. Chassidus- Yeah ...is gonna teach you how to make yourself eidel." You know the story of Chassidus macht eidel. But his ei- midas are eidel. There's no selling point there. There's no-- They can't think of anything. So whe-whether it's right or wrong, so by a fabrengen, a Chassid-- One of the Chassidim says, let's call this person Reb Yankel. He says, "Reb Yankel, zal nikshal veren a graba veyda, vet der visn iz daf onkomen tsum reb." Hmm. Now, I'm just giving you an example about the scene. Is that taka? I don't think the Rebbe would be very fond of this type of a malach, but I'm giving you an idea. So you talk about Yechidas, uh, y-you're coming to the Rebbe to op-open yourself up to the Rebbe, um, that he should make, should make from zokt an, an hecher, an hecherer, you know, a, a... On a different, on a different level. That, that was in Yechidas. Amazing. I like what you did here. I asked you about yours, you told me about everyone else's. It's good. It's, it, it- But- But that in inyan. In inyan, yeah. But that in inyan. Speaking of, uh... Yeah, so- No, I could hear you about the Yechidas. No. So but that, we exact in inyan, the whole scene is the scene. Um, we used to fast. The day you went to Yechidas, we used to fast. Kapshute yet.

1:45:30 Speaker 1 That- From the morning till- From the morning- ...till night ...till, till Yechidas. I don't know. Az eyt men es gezagt, and, and, uh, we felt that it's, you know, it's Yom Kippur Hagadol. We felt it. And so, uh, uh, Yechidas, so Seleh Chassidus was till nine thirty. The door, uh, so I-- Seleh Chassidus was mostly upstairs, certainly American bathroom. So I used to sit Seleh Chassidus upstairs. Then after nine thirty, the door would open from the zal to the lobby where the elevator is. So you could see people coming and going for Yechidas. Guys would still be learning, so they would be learning or they would see what's going Yechidas. And then the door of Gan Eden HaTachton was also open 'cause people are coming to Yechidas. The waiting room for Yechidas was in Gan Eden HaTachton. So there was a bench in Gan Eden HaTachton, and people would sit there, families would sit there. And I used to like to watch the guy who's next on line to go in. So Groner or whoever was in charge that night, mostly Groner, would... People-- There should be less waste of time. So let's say if there was a Yechidas, then he would line up a few bachurim, would go in and out. Usually, a bachur used to be in there a minute, a minute and a half, and if I would-- If they read the tzetl, then they would leave. The rebbe will give a bracha, and they would leave. So next on line, there's

1:47:11 Speaker 1 a bachur, let's say, that I would know. Or any chassid in Yekumen, he's standing on line, he's standing by the mezuzah, right, right over there, and as soon as the person's gonna come out, Groner will give him a sign to go in. He tells him, "As soon as he comes out, go in." But then as soon as that bachur's gone, the next one on line would go in. So it means the person's waiting on line for his next by the door, by the mezuzah, standing, and he's waiting for someone to leave. He's next. I used to love to watch the faces and it's the aidel upon him. It's mamash. He could be, he could be make-- have hirhur teshuva watching the guy be on his next. Hmm. I'll give you a dugma to that. The other, uh, this, uh, summer, I think, maybe before the summer, I was in the oil, and I'm waiting for someone. I, I'm supposed to... I'm waiting for someone, and I'm in the room where you write your tzetl, or pan they call it today. So people are by the table, and they're writing, and I'm waiting, and I'm looking at the people who's, who's there, and I, I, I was inspired. Why? Watch the faces next time you're in the oil. Watch the faces of the people who are writing their tzetl. It's inspiring. You have different people. You have old and young, frum, not frum, Anashim, Noshim, V'taf, and they're writing their tzetl, and you could see a

1:48:57 Speaker 1 certain aidelkait, and they're thinking, "What I'm now writing to the Rebbe." Just these people writing, putting in paper, and they're thinking what they're writing now to the Rebbe has a-- Their, their face is a different, it's a different person. It's a different person. And I was going around the room. I never-- Thirty years since, uh, yeah, Kimel Tammuz, and I, and I never took note of it. I never was watching the people. But here I'm waiting, and I, I thought of it. It's really meidelek, and it shows the power of the Makom Kodesh that the effect that it has on people who are there writing their, their tzetl. They're in their, in their, in their moment of truth, in their Makom of truth. That's me-- You know, I was thinking this is something like Yechidas, that, that Nekuda of your Etzem. You can see it today. Yeah, you could see it today. You see with people how they're, uh... I don't know what they're writing. Everyone's writing different-- And every- everyone's probably writing different things. I mean, some doing Ruchniyus, some are Gashmiyus, some, some sick, some thing, but that Nekuda, that this is a place where the truth is, the truth is Emes, Kedusha, Ma- Um, Malchus. I'll-- You know, it's the effect that, that, that, that tzetl and the Re- the Rebbe really is having on all these people. Yeah. Yes, by Yechidas, you could see. I, I was thinking that this is similar to what I used to see with people on

1:50:45 Speaker 1 the next when the Yechidas there, so to say, it is their moment of truth. Right. Very geschmack. Okay. Appreciate that. So let me move a little... What do you, what, what can you tell about the Beis Yel? You mentioned the Beis Yel a little bit with, uh, Yechidas, but in general. Uh, Beis Yel. And he was in Bedford. So the truth is in, in Bedford, um, depending on which class, you have some, uh, in Bedford who, who, uh, who did-- He was, he accomplished more, and some classes didn't accomplish as much. Um, I, I came close to the Beis Yel. You know, the truth is, in the, uh, he, he didn't give a shiur in 770. For many years, for one reason or another reason, uh, he, he was in Bedford, which you're talking about 16 top 17-year-old bachur. He didn't give a shiur. It was the Rebbe's cheder- But he didn't give a shir chassidus. The Omaspin in seven seventy would give a shir chassidus. For one reason or another, he didn't give a shir in seven seventy. In Tofshin Lamed, the yeshiva moved to Ocean Parkway, and they decided they want elter bachurim there. To say the sh- the yeshiva in, in Ocean Parkway and, and, and Bedford, bachurim used to learn there two sh- uh, two shiurim a zman till about seventeen, eighteen years old. Then they would go to New York for a year or two, and then you went in seven seventy. And shlichas, there was hardly shlichas. Australia had

1:53:00 Speaker 1 shlichas, but generally there was no other shlichas. So it means bachurim used to-- usually run seven seventy for four years, three, four years, maybe five years. Depends on how old you were when you got in seven seventy. Um, so, uh, they wanted to make a ruach in the zal. They decided they're gonna bring elter bachurim, seven seventy bachurim, who were already in seven seventy a year or two, I think. So they bring bachurim from seven seventy would now be, so to say, shluchim, or really it was a, a class. And what was the attraction? The attraction, Reb Yael's gonna give them a shir chassidus. So that's when Reb Yael started giving a shir chassidus in Samach Vav and Tof Shin Ches. Li'yum for bachurim, twenty-year-old, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one-year-old bachurim. It's gonna go under the Reb Yael. So that started Tofshin Lamed, and taka they brought a whole ruach in the zal of, of, uh, Ocean Parkway. Reb Yael's giving a shir chassidus. Rabbi Mendy used to come once a week, give them a shir nigleh. So this was like a branch, and seven seventy was in-- And this ha- went on for, for many years till, I guess, the Nuns when, uh, Nun Beis, Ocean Parkway moved to Crown Heights. But this went on. Um, that year with th- that level, Reb Yael was now giving a shir to bachurim who were seven seventy after I went to seven seventy. So I came for a year in Ocean Parkway. And Reb Yael was makarev me,

1:54:51 Speaker 1 and I was really taken by the oymek of his shiurim. Reb Yael is-- Until then, people talk about the-- uh, Reb Yael's genius, his memory. He has a photographic memory. After the farbrengen-- the farbrengen for four or five hours, he goes, chazes it, and makes a chazarah. Memory, memory, memory. But the oymek of Reb Yael and the, the gaonus in, in, in amkus, and havonah, and hasbarah of Reb Yael, this was not what, what people were talking about and what people appreciated. But this-- Here was this galach. I mean, people who knew and close to him knew that, and he was always considered ili, even as a bachur. But then it was taka you saw his havonah chassidus and his biurim on Samach-- and HaChodesh Samach Vav, and the maamar, um, Vayelech, the dagas in Kesser, and the chiddush of the Alter Rebbe. And af shotet dikah very tife in yonim. Before he spoke, he gave a shiur in the Tof Shin Ches for a few months, and then he went into a yom. And I was totally taken by it. I wrote his shiurim down. And, and we used to go to his house. Just me. Me and a- another two friends. There were guys-- Usually in his house was, uh, his, his nephews were there, especially Yossi, Reb Yossi, uh, uh, Panes. Yossi Hecht was there. These are older than us. But since he was makarev me al tzah, and he told me to come to his house. So we used to go

1:56:49 Speaker 1 to his house on a Thursday night. Before he started going to Borough Park, we used to prepare a question of chassidus just to get him to talk. And, uh, he'd spend a few hours. Sometimes the elter bachurim were there already, sometimes not. Reb Yael's taman. People don't really appreciate Reb Yael, and it's important for it to be said. Reb Yael, this gemant davening. But et gemant charben chassidus. He wanted us to chazer the maamar in the Samach Vav. Uh, certain sichas, Shmoys Chelek Vav, Vayigash Chelek Heh, uh, other sichas. And w- we went to his house to learn them, rimizot, sort of out of the curriculum. And we asked him, "Give us a shir in, in, uh- Shmoys Chelek Vav Shmoys. Right. I even remember there's a ha'arah there, um, about what's in Afikim Min Ha, the different reasons for, for, uh, taami ha'briyah. So this begin the Mishtameidim lei, the Har Ha-- uh, Keichas, Keichasiv, Har HaKeichasiv, uh, Al Hapoel. And then the Sava So there's a Harod there that, um, and that Kmina is if there's a reason, I begin this to maiden lay. So then there's a reason why you're Battled today, Byshtar. So if there's a reason why I bought the Amers, that's a bit layesh, how much you understand, and there's a reason. So it appeals bit layesh. But if there's higher than a reason, that's deliver Tachtaynim, the Sava. So then you're just doing it because the Amers took Gazak. There's nothing to you left. The fresh taste garnished.

1:58:44 Speaker 1 There's no part of you that is being convinced you, Mitzad, you. So it's Bitlamitzias. That's why here, a small heart on the bottom that the Nefkimina between the reasons is gonna affect Bitlamitzias are the Bitlayesh. So he told us a story. So he told us a story like this. By the Sifas between the, in, in, in Russia, so the Rebbe Rashab was there, and Rab Chaim Briskie was there. They appointed a Mendel Chen to be Meshamesh Rab Chaim Briskie. He was a Ilui. He was Tam. He was a Bachar then still, a big, a big Lamdan. And the Rebbe Rashab was Mesada, the Rishvi Meshamesh Rab Chaim. And he was very impressed with, uh, Rab Mendel, which is another story. So, and Rab Chaim was very impressed with the Rebbe Rashab. So Rab Chaim Briskie asked Rab Mendel, "Is Sado Faralen Teyre? Sado Faralen Teyre from the, from the Babat Sha Rebbe?" So he says, "Sado Achsidis." He says, "What was Achsidis?" So he gives him the Maimer and Samach Vav. You have to see the years, the Shtim. If the year Shtim, which year was the Asifa, I don't know. Akuponim, he gives, uh, he gives the Maimer Samach Vav, the Yamta Shalosh, the, the whole question of the time Yevriya. I, I don't know which Asifa it was and which meaning it w- that the Rebbe Rashab had with Rab Chaim Briskie. Akuponim, it comes back a day or two later, and he tells Rab Mendel, "Dos shreibter, es shreibter the time Yevriya,

2:00:41 Speaker 1 Farvos, or the Ibrisht HaBarshaf in the world. Uns is nisht negeya der Farvos, uns is negeya der vos." Now, this is a famous line from Brisk. The Derech Halimut of Brisk is not to understand the reasons for anything, to do, to understand what is everything. So it's Gavra, Cheftza. It's a famous line. The Briskie Derech nisht Farvos, Nervos. This is Gavra, this is Cheftza, this is Matzad, Matzad the Poel, Matzad the Nifo, Matzad the this. The Gidonim, the way they are, you're not to understand why. What is it? Not why is it. The other, uh, the Derech Halimut is a Higoian, is to understand why everything. But Brisk was always, is nisht negeya der Farvos, uns is negeya der vos. Because the Farvos is, uh... So his line meaning, the Rebbe Rashab reflect Farvos, the Ibrisht HaBarshaf in the world, it's nisht negeya Farvos. The Ibrisht HaBarshab in the world, das is the vos. Mm-hmm. So if Yael said this HaOra, Chelich, Chelich Vav- Tells us- Helps us understand- Why it's negeya ... as, as the Farvos is negeya to the vos. There's a, there's a Hashlacha. There's an Afkimina. There's an Afkimina. The Farvos negeya. Ibris is the Farvos, the time Yevriya, is Bitla Yesh, nisht... So felt in the Bitl the Matzias. Hasheken is an Asava. I, I was almost just telling it. You, uh, Psaha Ora. So these are in Yonin that, uh- Yeah, this is Harum says. You gave them to the air. And he's-- A- after we used to learn,

2:02:20 Speaker 1 he used to sit for another two hours on the couch and tell us Harum Achsidis, uh- It's funny because, uh, I sat through a very long Shiurim in Shemes Chelik Vav from Talmidim of Yael's, I guess. You heard this Vart that I told? No, no, but I sat in long Shiurim of- Uh-huh ... on Shemes Chelik Vav, for example- Yeah ... from Talmidim of Yael. Yeah. So, so he, he, his, his Koch was... So, so number one, he did Mon from us, Koch and, uh, Harav in learning, Harav in Achsidis. He Mon from us, "Av vas ma lerens, al lerend dein Hashkafa." It's not the Taiches Achsidis State as- It can take you over ... it becomes your Hashkafa. It should reshape your mind. You should see things the way Achsidis Mon, as Eined Mevade. It should be in a way that you see it in your head and you feel it. You have a Yetzar, this is a bizunder zach. But the Limud, there's a Limud that you're applying it to yourself. You see that you're learning in Achsidis. You should apply that it sh- it, it s- s- so zain dein cook of the zach. That's how you start thinking. That, that was, that was one of the things. I'm s- I'm trying to bring you, uh, out to you that Rab Yael wasn't just, him azakt, Galen Achsidis of Hilu HaMaskil. This, this, uh, he wasn't a Maskil in the c- what's called a Maskil. Hilu HaMaskil was another land on how

2:03:51 Speaker 1 to-- It, it's so to say, uh, intellectual pleasure or intellectual acrobatics that a person who is a Maskil enjoys Nigla or Achsidis because he's a Sichli and he enjoys Sechel. Chas v'Shalom limikach. Rab Yael was Achsidis Sheyid, uh, and he'd, he'd gemont a mizlon zain Achsidis, Achsidit. His Kashas is Dova Sered. He'd gemont his Kashas b'tachlas in Yivra Kashas. Um, so to say the Rebbe, you know, speaking about the HaFlo of the Rebbe, you know, mala mala den ketz, mata deivisht, el Rebbe zazeich, un zen, zen galusn teyre, un zen tzitkes, etc. Then ach kumter el al, uh, Nashpa, Filut, Anashim Pshutim, Inyonim Pshutim, v'cholo v'cholo. So the Kashas, es Kashas, Achsidis, uh, I don't know, Ibri Yemkai to Achsidis to reshape you. So we didn't hear from him much about Fil, I can't remember. Eskafia, we were younger bach already in Bedford. You know, he was different. One time we were talking about so to say, "Watch your eyes," that type of an averte. Not about ketchup or ice cream. Didn't hear about ketchup and ice cream. I don't know. I didn't hear. Maybe they know about it. Uh, so I component, um, yes, and I got close to the Rebbe. Um, years later, to my mamish the last two years, he sees me in, uh, front of Seven Seven. I think I was coming for, uh, a Shana Rabah. He's standing outside of his house. He had a bachur with him all the time already. "Vot ya? This don't-- This kasher benamo, uh,

2:05:50 Speaker 1 mene shiru." He asked me if I have something still left for what I wrote forty years ago. I did have a few things. Most of them got lost. So I brought him, you know, copies of some stuff that I wrote. I had still pieces of paper floating around in swadam. Uh, so I was looking at it, you know, to remem-- And, uh, sometimes he asks other people as well 'cause he wanted to refresh. Uh, he, he told me that his, his, uh, later years, and also he really enjoyed teaching Chassidus in Lush-- in Yiddish, and that crowd. Mm-hmm. The American crowd. Later on, it changed to Lush and Kaddish. I mean, he was Ivrim, you know that, until the last minute, uh, all you needed to say is, uh, "Far fat sama yonas Chassidus." Mm-hmm. He's there. He can schlep when he's tired, and he's schlepped him in at cisral. It was-- But yeah, he saw that also. He sees Ivrim kind of Chassidishkeit. So, um, we have to appreciate that. Yeah. Um, so back to you a little bit. You also had counselor in camp, right? You mentioned Swan Lake before. I was-- Yes. That's Swan Lake. I was- No, but you mentioned Swan Lake, so. Yeah. Yes. So I was, I was in camp. I always held that, um, you know, camp is, is the Rebbe's camp, and, uh, I had talent for it. So I, I, I was two years, once a head counselor, and I was a, a, a co-head counselor

2:07:34 Speaker 1 was in I think Lamed Dalet. Now, with Gimel we worked Rabbi Galitsky. I was the head counselor, and he-- I was the, the head-- the assistant head counselor there with Itche Grifkin. Uh, Lamed Dalet, I was the head counselor, co-heads. I said Itche Grifkin was there. Zam Aleph was also there on the head staff. And you have to, they have to-- At the end of camp, the Seder was, the end of camp was by the Rebbe Mincha. And, um, the Rebbe would wait for Mincha. The Rebbe's usually three fifteen was Mincha, but the camp is coming. So the camp tried to organize to be there, not to him is a ibedrein, the Rebbe's se- uh, schedule, but it's traffic and you're coming from upstate until, you know-- There's a few buses. So it usually wasn't three fifteen, a-and the Rebbe would wait on the-- when the camp came. They all came down Seven seventy and sat down on the benches, and they would tell the Rebbe, the Rebbe would come down, and then Ashei, Yahsheiveh, Sekhal. It was the, the nusach of camp. And the Rebbe would daven with camp. At the end of the c- that, the head counselor would give the closing address to the campers, and that in, in front of the Rebbe, and then everyone would go home. That was the end of camp. So naflu begarali to s- be the speaker, to speak in front of the Rebbe. I prepared a whole speech, and it was Elul already. And usually

2:09:14 Speaker 1 this title of the speech was you're presenting to Rebbe with all the points of tzvas Hashem. I think that year we started Yahche kala, uh, Rebbe Shemtov started Yahche kala, and he said, "Put that in 'cause the Rebbe has naches from that." So we mentioned that. And the Rebbe was listening to the whole drashah. The drashah was maybe two minutes without ma'arakh over there. And at the end of the drashah, I prepared, of course, the drashah, speaking in front of the Rebbe, v-very nervous. I wrote it down. And the Rebbe, I finished the drashah, I said-- And the last words were, "And with the Rebbe's berakhah, we're gonna have a ksivah ksimatova." Good? Mm-hmm. Yeah. That shpitz? Sounds Chabad. It, it-- Well, it's not shpitz. It's regular. Yeah. With the Rebbe's berakhah, we have ksivah ksimatova. And really, we want the Rebbe's berakhah, ksivah ksimatova. We're gonna go give a pan to him later. It was Elul already. With the Rebbe's berakhah, I say those words. The Rebbe was listening to the whole thing, of course. I didn't see the Rebbe's face when he's listening, of course. I'm looking, uh, uh, standing there, talking to the thing. The Rebbe's on the side, and the Rebbe is looking the whole time, maybe at the kap te pik. And the Rebbe says to me, I said, "With the Rebbe's berakhah, we're gonna have a ksivah ksimatova." The Rebbe said, "Zog ad the Eibishter veter gebn a ksivah ksimatova." He says, "Zog." He's telling me to say- Say

2:10:43 Speaker 1 that say ... to-- So I didn't know what to do. Tak a zog. I mean, I wasn't-- I, I was just, like, shocked. So I think I said again, "And with the Rebbe's berakhah, the Eibishter is gonna give us ksivah ksimatova." And he said again, "Zog ad the Eibishter give us." So I, I said, and, and, and now we're already-- All the nudniks are already screaming and meyaholiks there, "Ech, that..." Hamandeh Omar. And so I said, "Zoga," the, uh-- I said, "The, the Aibish, uh-"

2:11:12 Speaker 7 You said Yiddish talking?

2:11:13 Speaker 1 Uh, by end, I said it in Yiddish.

2:11:24 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:11:24 Speaker 1 "The Aibish is gonna give us She davened to the Aibishter. In fact, the Gemara, . It's Tanya, Perek Beis. So the, you know, the sprach, you know, there's, there's doing what the Rebbe wants you to do, to speak the law. is Rebbe is, is, is, uh, is . That's the the whole for Rebbe is durch, durch Rebbe That's the So I'm telling these guys also how come, how come y- y- we feel it, you don't? You have a problem.

2:18:17 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:18:18 Speaker 1 And again-

2:18:18 Speaker 7 The shame is on you.

2:18:19 Speaker 1 The shame is either, either h- he's, he's, he's, he's, he's that-

2:18:26 Speaker 7 He's that

2:18:26 Speaker 1 ... and you're, then you're, then you have a problem. You're not, you're not, you're not davening properly to, to, to him, or he's not that.

2:18:33 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:18:34 Speaker 1 If he's not that, so what do you want f- what do you want from us? Because you have the sprach. What's that ? Spitz Chabad. So Rabbi Yael, I heard him more than once, what his mazel, what says ? What says ? So he teached it. What says ? It's not . It's a the Rebbe It's his bottle to- Is the He's, he's, he's just a mer- what says ? He's, he's just bottled himself, and therefore What is, what is, uh, the Rebbe's ? No. The Rebbe is bottling . The Rebbe's nothing. What's, uh, Abraham said, uh, My Rebbe is so big. That's bigness, that's bigness. This the whole of the Rebbe is he's nothing. He's, he's just, he's just atmus is da, a Rebbe says, "I'm nothing. I'm gonna be through me as the Aibishter the Velte."

2:20:19 Speaker 7 And that's why it's called As opposed to the

2:20:23 Speaker 1 Because it's, because, because he, because the, he feels a nothing. What was the Rebbe doing? He didn't live himself. two billion dollars, three billion dollar worldwide budget. He slept in this small, tiny bed in se- in his room with books around him. Where did he eat? Where, uh, For sev- the last few years, he's in his l- he's in his little, uh, r- r- room with I don't know how wide that bed was.

2:21:02 Speaker 7 If they have used it also.

2:21:03 Speaker 1 Huh?

2:21:04 Speaker 7 There's usually, there's usually on the bed.

2:21:06 Speaker 1 That's right. Yeah. Uh, 'cause it's two hours they used to-- The outside would hear . They knew the Rebbe got up. Like it wasn't more than two hours there that he was from when He didn't-- He was no giving out dollars. Who? Everyone comes, Because it's, you know, there's, there's, uh,

2:22:07 Speaker 7 So you don't have... So it's not even-

2:22:08 Speaker 1 But

2:22:09 Speaker 7 You're saying it's not even spitz to say it, 'cause why do you, why do you say that?

2:22:13 Speaker 1 No, but that-

2:22:14 Speaker 7 No?

2:22:14 Speaker 1 ... the reason Rabbi Yael was mazel-

2:22:15 Speaker 7 But I, I saw, I saw weird today. People write like they, they're, they're engaged. They're writing these like, uh... Do you know what I'm talking about?

2:22:25 Speaker 1 No, but I don't think it's, it's kedai to write, to say all the things that are not, uh, not beside that. I'm trying to bring out, uh, van Hogre and what he taught us. I didn't mean anything, uh, spitz. I said that because we, we, we want the Rebbe's berakhah to have a We wrote This is, this is is emphasized to their from That's why it has to be . There's a reason. There's a You know, um, the, the Rebbe said, you know, there's this Ava in, in the Geras HaKedosh doctor, the way to connect to the Tzadik is through Ava. So there is this union of Ava, you know, and, and the Ibrigi Geven that the, the Rebbe has to us. So yes, y- y- you know, the Rebbe was Yishual Ikim.

2:23:36 Speaker 7 That has to say the Rebbe has a whole sikha, the Meish HaRebbe, Yishua, Chetzel Amal, uh, Chetzel Amal-

2:23:42 Speaker 1 So upon, you know, how does, how does this work? It's a shaila, you know, how does this work? Because we understand this, these actions, it's good. This will lead us, yes, you know, you know, w- when after Chasina, so there was that minig at Mstamas today also. So y- you have an apartment, and the apartment is a dining room. What are you supposed to have in the dining room in the walls of your apartment? A picture of the Rebbe. So you need a big picture, a big picture of the Rebbe. In your dorm room with a bunch of people, a small picture, really, you have a picture of a-- Now you have to have a nice picture with a frame. So the question over here is, so there was a vort when we were in Chasan and Shanah Rishainikis. If you go into someone's apartment, and you see a picture on the wall, you can tell who gave the Chasan a, a kallah the picture. If, uh, you can tell if the friends of the Chasan gave the picture or the friends of the Kallah gave the picture. How could you tell? No?

2:24:53 Speaker 7 I don't know. I never heard of this minig, yeah.

2:24:55 Speaker 1 Yeah. No, that's the vort.

2:24:56 Speaker 7 Never heard of the picture myself, yeah.

2:24:57 Speaker 1 Friends. The friends used to b-buy.

2:24:59 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:25:00 Speaker 1 So if the friends are-- You can tell who, which friends, the friends of the Chasan or the friends of Kallah, because they wanted to give a picture, they give a picture. So friends of Chasan wanted to give a, a gift. You a picture of the Rebbe, you give a gift. So you can tell who gave the gift. If there was a serious picture of the Rebbe, the friends of the Chasan. There were s- there were serious pictures of the Rebbe, you know, famous pictures, Nechiras Rom. If there was a smiling Rebbe, so you know the friends of the Kallah gave the picture. So which is the real Rebbe? It's one Rebbe.

2:25:37 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:25:38 Speaker 1 It's one Rebbe.

2:25:43 Speaker 7 Okay. That's very title. Everything is like, uh, you have to unpack. Each of these things we can, we can remind it more and more. So you mentioned your Chasina, so what happened by your Chasina?

2:26:02 Speaker 1 Uh, what happened by my Chasina? There was a band, there was music, and we danced.

2:26:10 Speaker 7 Yeah, but how did you get engaged?

2:26:11 Speaker 1 How did I get engaged? How do you get engaged?

2:26:18 Speaker 7 Very good. How did you get engaged?

2:26:21 Speaker 1 You treff zich mit the Kallah. Chayav adam dinnes is, uh, l'roisa lifnei the kiddushin, that's how you understand.

2:26:30 Speaker 7 But you still have to ask the Rebbe.

2:26:32 Speaker 1 You have to ask the Rebbe? You don't have to ask the Rebbe. You have to ask the Rebbe? That's, that's chitzanius. You have to ask the Rebbe? Why do you have to ask the Rebbe? Chassidus is not what you have to do. Midda chassidus is chassidus. You don't have to do nothing. You don't have to do anything. What's a have to?

2:26:53 Speaker 7 Okay, very good. Thank you for the hakdama.

2:27:01 Speaker 1 If you want to ask the Rebbe for bracha-

2:27:04 Speaker 7 You have a brain, you ask the Rebbe.

2:27:06 Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. So you have to have sekhel. If you want to have a bracha or an eitzah-

2:27:12 Speaker 7 You said a chosid is a kluge, no?

2:27:14 Speaker 1 A chosid is a kluge. Good. I'm all have a question of them.

2:27:19 Speaker 7 No, ask, ask the kashe.

2:27:22 Speaker 1 Zicher, a mesnag did zicher nisht kein kluge, aber volt geved klug, volt gevor a chosid.

2:27:27 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:27:28 Speaker 1 A kol ponim. All right, so really it starts-- So yeah, sh- should you start in shidduchim? So, so, so we used to write in if you wanted, so to say. So, uh, it was an opportunity. You could write in. So it boiled down to two hatsaos, right? So y- you have different hatsaos. Is that, yeah, nisht interesant, yeah, interesant. So it boiled down to two hatsaos, and one was who I, who I actually married, and one was, um, another hatsa which had my list, but I wasn't sure about, wasn't sure about something there. Uh, I don't know what, how to express it, but I wasn't sure. So I wrote, uh, this name first, my, my Rebbeson's name first, and then the other name, but about the second one, I'm not sure, you know, if it's gantsen masim. So he circled what I wrote, "I'm not sure," and he, he, uh, made a line to the first one, and he wrote, "Al pizeh yisaanyim behari shainah."

2:29:01 Speaker 7 Because you're not sure, therefore-

2:29:02 Speaker 1 Because you're not sure, al pizeh yisaanyim behari shainah. So it was besanyim behari shainah. So we went a few times, and I-- And, and, and went a few times, then, uh, yeah. So te- you know how we proposed?

2:29:24 Speaker 7 How?

2:29:24 Speaker 1 You wanna hear a really interesting way to propose?

2:29:27 Speaker 7 No.

2:29:28 Speaker 1 'Cause I hear there's different ways to propose, and the English 십시오 different than the-

2:29:33 Speaker 7 It's a whole, uh-

2:29:34 Speaker 1 It's a gantsa alts har to propose.

2:29:36 Speaker 7 Right.

2:29:37 Speaker 1 So a propose means you ask her, "Are you ready to write into the Rebbe?" That's like a wow. Thus is proposed.

2:29:52 Speaker 7 Only if you're, uh, smart.

2:29:54 Speaker 1 Only smart. Are you ready to write into the Rebbe? Thus says proposal. And, uh, we were ready to write into the Rebbe, so we wrote into the Rebbe. But now first thing, thus says proposal.

2:30:11 Speaker 7 It's not will you marry me.

2:30:12 Speaker 1 Nah, it's not, it's not a pisachist nisht, all the chitzanius dike pitch of kids. Does he snitched proposal? Proposal is are you ready to write it to the Rebbe? A couponim. So then at the end we wrote, we wrote to the Rebbe, and, um, so our shadchan was Rabbi Groner, Reb Leibele Gron himself. He's a neighbor of my schwinger over there on, uh, President and Eureka area. And so he gave the answer. I'm starting with him, I think.

2:30:53 Speaker 7 What year are we talking about?

2:30:54 Speaker 1 Uh, lamed vav.

2:30:57 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:31:00 Speaker 1 Lamed vav. And so, so I got-- we got an answer. Uh, so I got an answer that if ""Since, since she's a Bas Kohen,"" which I didn't write behalal that she's a Kohen 'cause I didn't know she was a Kohen or not. It was not part of the-

2:31:26 Speaker 7 It wasn't on the resume.

2:31:27 Speaker 1 It wasn't on the resume. It was not megiya to the, to anything. But as I've discovered that she's a Bas Kohen, I just wrote, uh, uh, uh-

2:31:37 Speaker 7 You discovered from the Rebbe that she was a Bas Kohen.

2:31:38 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. I wrote Esther Bas Rabbi Chaim Yisroel HaKoh-- uh, Rabbi Chaim Yisroel Shpielman. And he just gives, "So you bakka mesachta," which is, which is regular.

2:31:49 Speaker 7 It's a halacha.

2:31:50 Speaker 1 Yeah, it's halacha. It's a mechadeck. Brings a Gemara. Because, uh, a, a Bas Kohen should marry-

2:31:56 Speaker 7 A kohen.

2:31:59 Speaker 1 So you're a kohen. But it's one mesachta. It's a shen nashtik otam. A couponim. Then we also wrote, "Vadei echlitu shneim leiyased beis hamayused et haTorah vemitzvot." Um-

2:32:15 Speaker 7 Vadei echlitu shneim-

2:32:16 Speaker 1 Shneim leiyased beis hamayused et haTorah vemitzvot, which is, uh, which is at that time was uncommon.

2:32:26 Speaker 7 What was the lashon?

2:32:28 Speaker 1 Common lashon?

2:32:29 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:32:29 Speaker 1 Shidduch nachain, shidduch masim, shidduch tov.

2:32:34 Speaker 7 You sure about this?

2:32:35 Speaker 1 Yeah. Now, um, that was the way we-- the way it was-

2:32:41 Speaker 7 So I think I have, I think my parents had that mind it from lamed he.

2:32:45 Speaker 1 Okay, lamed he.

2:32:46 Speaker 7 The year before.

2:32:47 Speaker 1 Okay. So but, but, uh-

2:32:49 Speaker 7 It was changing then, basically.

2:32:50 Speaker 1 It was changing then.

2:32:51 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm. I don't know if it's exact lashon exactly. We have to check with this.

2:32:55 Speaker 1 Yeah, but it was changing then.

2:32:56 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:32:56 Speaker 1 But some of my friends who that time, that more or less the, in those months had shidduch nachain or shidduch tov or something.

2:33:04 Speaker 7 Ah, so it depended. Mm-hmm.

2:33:06 Speaker 1 Right? So, and I never heard that that was an answer. So I, I took it very to heart. You know, what does it mean? Maybe it was, you know, all things start. It's a lashon in the, i-in the letter. The, it's a lashon, the, the letters, uh, the letter of the Chasan Kala does this.

2:33:27 Speaker 7 The as-, uh, you say-

2:33:29 Speaker 1 The answer. I say that to the mitzvahs. But so, you know, behala Chasan after chet has to work on himself. So, and this answer healed as a tenai in the whole shidduch, and I thought it was chidush. Then another person also got such an answer. I was nish mamish, uh, uh, tachas chassidus. So I took this very seriously. And, um, yeah. So that, that was the, the shidduch scene.

2:34:12 Speaker 7 You took it seriously? Is there a hemsha to the story?

2:34:17 Speaker 1 Um, by the chidush, uh, before-- we went to the chidush before the chasuna. It's not two months later, or a month and a half later before the chasuna. So the first, the Chasan Kala go in with the mechutanim, and the Rebbe gives a, a bracha to all of them. And then the mechutanim go out, and the Chasan Kala give a letter to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe gives a bracha to Chasan Kala. So I asked my rebbetzin that I want to, the a-after the Rebbe gives the bracha to us, she should leave. I wanna ask the Re- the Rebbe something personally. And I gave a title about this answer. I said it to the mitzvahs. Uh, I don't remember exactly the lashon that I wrote, but I took it very seriously. Like, it was a tenai, and what does it mean? Like, you know, how seriously is this tenai here?

2:35:27 Speaker 7 Is it what, what your dilemma was 'cause you didn't know what it means, or 'cause, like, it wasn't a regular answer? Like, what, what was your dilemma?

2:35:32 Speaker 1 How much... I mean-

2:35:34 Speaker 7 Yeah. Are you saying a tenai?

2:35:36 Speaker 1 Healu. I mean-

2:35:38 Speaker 7 I think there's also different lashoness. I think like, I think like the, there was like, "Beim echlitu."

2:35:43 Speaker 1 No, I didn't have. Vadei echlitu.

2:35:45 Speaker 7 Or there was, I th- I think-

2:35:46 Speaker 1 Could be beim, yes.

2:35:47 Speaker 7 Then I think there was-

2:35:47 Speaker 1 Yeah. It rings a bell such a lashon

2:35:49 Speaker 7 ... beim and but-

2:35:49 Speaker 1 But it said, "Vadei echlitu." But so, so he told me as-

2:35:59 Speaker 7 Rebbe said.

2:36:00 Speaker 1 Rebbe. Um- So the Rebbe says that zicher is a Yid, a Yid macht a achlota in the zicher mit an emes, right? It's kilu, my question was, do I know atah kemit mit an emes? I don't remember my question about kilu because the response was-

2:36:35 Speaker 7 How do I know I'm fulfilling it?

2:36:36 Speaker 1 How do I fulfill it? Atah kemit mit an emes.

2:36:38 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:36:38 Speaker 1 And it was a machat mit an emes. Emes was, what's this emes? Was emes no bedavish to emes? And so I, I, I was, I guess I was a, a Chassidish or Pnim Yitzchak Bachach. I took it very seriously. And he says, "Az a Yid macht a achlota in the zicher mit an emes vi shteyt in Rambam, az the, the a Yid vil tam bedavish tevel, so no yitzri on sei, v'meilas beis, uh, beis atrach tcharayen dem. Um beis ratzein." He used the word beis ratzein.

2:37:16 Speaker 7 Like a chasid.

2:37:18 Speaker 1 He didn't say what's beis ratzein. Yes, I thought about by the chasid.

2:37:22 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:37:23 Speaker 1 Or does it mean then right now by the Rebbe?

2:37:26 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:37:27 Speaker 1 I didn't-- They made, they printed a, a, a flyer recently about what I said. I didn't put it in their beis ratzein, but emes he said beis ratzein, ufrat beis ratzein. So if that is the staka mit an emes, it is staka mit an emes. That was the tochen. So after we, if you misbayom-

2:37:48 Speaker 7 You had to have tochen the Rambam, and then-

2:37:50 Speaker 1 The Rambam says, it says it's mit an emes. Umefrat mit atrach tcharayen dem beis ratzein, it is staka-

2:37:55 Speaker 7 It is-

2:37:56 Speaker 1 Is, you know. That's what he answered me. So the-- So then it's by the chas-- By the minik, by the-- Then there's the chasuna. The chasuna was two weeks later, I remember. By the, uh, Shabbos of the ofuruf, there was a fabregen. If there was a fabregen, um, I guess it was Shabbos Vorachim because the chasuna was Beis, uh, the Beis. So there's a fabregen. So the chasanim would give a bottle of Smirnoff to the office, and then the Rebbe would give out the bottles to the chasanim, that they should give-

2:38:38 Speaker 7 Bring it to the Rebbe directly.

2:38:40 Speaker 1 No, he brought it to the office. He brought it to the office, and then he would bring down all the bottles, and then-

2:38:48 Speaker 7 I think there was a time when-

2:38:49 Speaker 1 Could be

2:38:49 Speaker 7 ... they gave directly.

2:38:50 Speaker 1 I, I don't think so. I-- And then the Rebbe-- So he went to the Rebbe with a cup. The Rebbe poured into my cup, and he says to give it out a, a little now. See, and that's just like make a chalitz before, uh, Sha- on Shabbos for the weekday, and the rest is here by the chasuna. And then he hands me the bottle. When he hands me the bottle, he looked me in the eyes, and he says, "Al ti oseid et et Rebbe Metzis."

2:39:19 Speaker 7 Rebbe's using the lashon.

2:39:20 Speaker 1 He, he said-- He didn't tell anybody anything when he gave the bottle.

2:39:24 Speaker 7 They say that they Rebbe-

2:39:25 Speaker 1 He's, like, he's telling me, "You know, you were into that, right? And you were-- Yeah, you had brought it up again. So kilu, don't worry about it. I got it, and you got it, and it's good."

2:39:42 Speaker 7 Wow. Amazing.

2:39:46 Speaker 1 Um, yeah.

2:39:52 Speaker 7 So after chasid went to kollel?

2:39:54 Speaker 1 After chasid was in kollel, so I was really going for Yad Yad. Finished Semikhah, then I was gonna put Yad Yad. And then suddenly, Kislev, the Rebbe is printing Ayin Beis. And he gave the kollel yungerleit a shlichas to make mafteichas on Ayin Beis. Um, that was my Pablo Fabregen. Uh, he said a whole, the sikha that is-- was to print Ayin Beis, and it's a new Gili Yechsidis, and it's a Gili. He doesn't wanna put any names, uh, to anyone who's w- the chlal, the people who used to work in the print or, or, or used to prepare the mizach, the, the mafteichas, their name was in it. It says no, this is a Gili. He doesn't wanna put any names there.

2:40:45 Speaker 7 Names.

2:40:46 Speaker 1 It's too intense, so no names. But there's gonna be printing it, and there's gonna give, um... He's gonna give, uh, uh, he's gonna give, um, it to print. And he also wants there should be mafteichas. So after Fabregen, Rebbe Yael, uh, goes to me, and he says the kollel should make the-- that the Rebbe wants the kollel should make the, the mafteichas. So who's in kollel then? Was shayach to, to be the mareches, so to say. It was me and Yossi Hecht from Eilat. He says, "Go to, to Rebbe Groner, and he's gonna give you instructions." It looks like, um, the Groner asked Rebbe Yael who's shayach to be in charge of this. So I was a kind of chasidis, um, as a bachor. Yea- uh, Yossi, Yossi also. Um, also the-- Who the kind of chasidis. Bechal Rebbe Yael recommended. And don't ask him once in a while, we choose a Russian bachor because he wanted the, the nuts of Russians. But, uh, o-okay. But, um, so, uh, we- With Russian parents, you mean? Yeah. Or Russ- or Russian also the-- Nu, Bachom came from Russia. Oh, you know me- Yeah, the Mm-hmm. Um, so, so I guess that's-- We should go to the Rebbe, go to the Rebbe Groner. So we, we thought we're gonna to tell him in the kollel they're gonna do the, the We're gonna to tell the We're gonna make mafteachas. We go to the Rebbe Groner. Divide and conquer, that was the plan. Not divide-- It's not conquer,

2:42:51 Speaker 1 it's not divide. It's, uh, to make it faster, you know? Yeah. So we go to the Rebbe Groner, we said, "Rebbe, we have a shailah," because there's already mafteachas the Rebbe made on all of the kasav of the Rebbe Rashab that was already printed. And for example, the first time they printed Samach Vav, they only do is they cut and pasted everything that the Rebbe wrote in, uh, in that mafteachas that he made for Chassidus of s- of the Rebbe Rashab. They took that out, and they put it in print in the back of Samach Vav. "So why don't we just do that? What does he want us to do?" He says, "No." He says, "I asked the Rebbe also, the Chabad already mafteachas the Rebbe made." So he says, "No, that's not what he has in mind. This is normal vav will sign." 'Cause the Rebbe, so he didn't explain why, what the Rebbe meant, but the pashas that means is that when the Rebbe made mafteachas on call Kisvei Rebbe Rashab, so he thought it was A lot to Ayin Beis, but it would, it wouldn't cover everything that's in Ayin Beis, 'cause when you're looking at a closed of all Kasam of the Rebbe Rashab. So the only things which are of such, uh, universal emphasis that in the big picture of all the Rebbe Rashab he quoted, he cited. But if you make a maftech only in Ayin Beis, it should be more specific. Okay, so we, we started, uh, asking

2:44:20 Speaker 1 Kollel in Galut who's Shaya. Basically, it boiled down to me and Yossi Hecht. Um, Tzvi Grunelad wrote a couple of mamarim maybe, but really it was boiled down to me, Yossi Hecht, and we just divided as, uh, Ayin Beis. I did like five, six mamarim. He did five, six mamarim. In the beginning, we weren't sure what-- how to make it, so we made a dugma of one or two mamarim. We sent it in to Rebbe. The Rebbe was very pleased, and he gave a bracha, And, um, he gave us a nice bracha. Um, the Rebbe, uh, then we got a, uh... They started printing Ayin Beis, but we were working with photographs, copies of what the Rebbe took of the Rebbe Rashab's- Kesav Ya'ad ... Kesav Ya'ad. What the Rebbe-- Friedik was the-- Friedik, that was, I think it was the Friedik Rebbe's Kesav Ya'ad, and the Rebbe Rashab also. The Rebbe said by the fabrengen that the Rebbe, Friedik Rebbe gave him to watch- He knew they were copies ... when he traveled. He knew they were copies. It looks like it was those copies that he gave to us because it was a f-- it was... By then, the Xerox was making copy machines, paper on paper. Those were photograph copies. He went to a photo-photographer to make a picture of every page. That's what that was. It was not so thick glossy, but it was photo. Must spent a lot of money on that. Mm-hmm. And that box he gave us to,

2:46:02 Speaker 1 to, to work on. So we worked on that. So that was, uh, about a half a year, tw- uh, three or four months- Wow ... we're busy on, uh, Ayin Beis. So, obviously, the Rebbe give his own... You see Meshar, that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Also, the numbers, it had numbers on each page in pencil. Look like the Rebbe's handwriting. You guys understood this Meshar too? Yeah, I guess. Yeah. No, we saw, we saw that the Rebbe's, uh, It's amazing. Crazy. Wow. So you, you went to Caracas before you, you were here, right? You had a, you had a- Yes. So it was after a year in Kollel, it was at saw, um, to... So I, I asked the Rebbe, should I continue Kollel or should I look for a saw? The Rebbe said, "Look for a saw." At the same time, I asked to look for a saw, and what should I look for? Uh, Rabbonus, uh, Chinuch, um- You asked the Rebbe this? Yeah, Beis Chabad, all that possibilities, Siri. So the Rebbe answered, Whatever is more practical. Well, uh, so I asked Rebbe, "What does that mean?" So he says, "You, you have a saw? You're asking a klomosdik question, what I, what I should do. Fine. So you, you, you, you're ready to do all possibilities." To tell us what's possible. "Who said that, who said that you have such an offer- Mm-hmm ... you have such a possibility? Ask the Rebbe questions about what's the raven tish." So, so

2:47:49 Speaker 1 the Rebbe... So, um, soon after that, Rebbe Mentle comes to me, and he says, "I have a saw for your shlichus." "What?" "They're starting a new yeshiva in Caracas, and it'll be a yeshiva in yeshiva." What's a yeshiva? Like I-- They, they started opening new yeshivas at the time. I think Miami is, was earlier, but they opened then in, in New Haven and in Seattle, and in, um, Cincinnati maybe also. They're opening cities. Let's say he's opening a yeshiva. He said, "Ten bochurim." I'm like, "No, shluchas bochurim." "Ten bochurim, and you're gonna be their rosh yeshiva." So I was sure. I was more in seven, seven, the last two years was in more in... I was in Taanit Niglah earlier, very heavy into Niglah. But, uh, this was, this was, uh... But then in '77 I was a kind of Chassidus. I was originally focused Chassidus. So bottom line is, Caracas, should I go? So I asked him, you know, uh, if he was, how was the yeshiva? He says, "You know, I was a kind of Chassidus." But he remembers me also from before. I was also in Taanit Niglah. Bottom line, he says he thinks it's a, it's a, it's a good idea. It's-- I'll, I'll do okay. So I wrote to Rebbe, and the Rebbe gave his beracha. I asked, I-I'm not sure. So he said, and I, I said, Rabbi Mendy said. So he says, um, uh, he's underlined what, and Halas the yeshiva said, and he, um... So we went

2:49:37 Speaker 1 to Caracas. I wanted to first travel to Caracas to see what it's like, right?

2:49:46 Speaker 7 Sounds normal.

2:49:48 Speaker 1 Yeah. So you wanna hear something not normal? I went without going. We went blindly to Caracas. It's not a, such a pretty city. It was a good community. It's not the churban that's there now, but, uh, it was a, a chashuvah community. There was half Ashkenaz, half Sefard. There was, uh, prosperity over there. And, uh, we accomplished a lot i-in there, the, the bochurim and the shluchim, Rabbi Pearman and, and Mrs. Pearman. But, uh, I went to, I said I wanted to go see it, to travel there. But, uh, the shliach said, you know, they started this yeshiva, the Baal HaBatem are gonna-- I-it's better if it just comes as a fact.

2:50:42 Speaker 7 Surprise.

2:50:42 Speaker 1 Surprise. No, but he had involved the Rabbonim.

2:50:47 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:50:47 Speaker 1 The Rav Hashi, Rabbi Brenner of the yeshi-- of the Caracas Ashkenazi community, and Rav Hashi Avram Selim, Rav Avram Selim from the Sefardi community, they were on board. But it looks like they didn't ask the Baal Habat. They wanted to bring Yiddishkeit. It looks like Rabbi Brenner was a Yechidus. That's what he told me there. Rabbi Brenner was a Yechidus with the Rebbe. The Rebbe said, "You know, you should make a yeshiva in Caracas." This really came from, from Rab- from the Rebbe. And Rabbi Brenner told Rabbi, Rabbi Pearman, "You know, the Rebbe suggests I make a yeshiva. What about it?" And Rabbi Pearman, uh, Taka wrote to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe, it looks like approves it, uh, wanted it. And he came to Rabbi Mendy, and says, "I need a Rosh Yeshiva." But apparently, it was much better for the shlichas if we come down without-

2:51:42 Speaker 7 So that's what happened.

2:51:43 Speaker 1 So we Taka wrote to the Rebbe. Oh, for sure, you have to be crazy not to go there. And the Rebbe said, "You should listen to the Bochur Chabad Al Asar." So like a good boy, I listened, and we went there, over there. It wasn't so pashut across, uh, it's a inner city. But Baruch Hashem, we were there for seven years, and, um, did you-

2:52:09 Speaker 7 Uh, and then, and then when you end up coming back to New York, that, that thing was finished, so right away you end up in Brighton Beach?

2:52:17 Speaker 1 No, um, I-

2:52:19 Speaker 7 How did you get... I mean, you're, you're a shliach. I think you have a Chabad house also. There's a shul. You're a rav. Like you're, uh, like you're part of a bezdin. You're a Rosh Yeshiva also. Like h-how do you get all these... Like that's very unusual. How does that, how does that happen?

2:52:38 Speaker 1 So, uh, so that's the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chaya, Yechida. What's the shayela? Um, the Rebbe, uh, uh, so I, I was doing a bunch of things, and then, um, there was a Vaad Rabbonim of Flatbush, and the president-

2:52:59 Speaker 7 You're talking when you came back to New York?

2:53:00 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. You're asking about the, the s-

2:53:02 Speaker 7 Yeah

2:53:02 Speaker 1 ... the different hats.

2:53:03 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:53:04 Speaker 1 And the president was Rabbi Bamzer. Rabbi Bamzer was

2:53:07 Speaker 7 Rabbi Bamzer, of course.

2:53:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. So he says, "I, I would like you to become a vice president."

2:53:14 Speaker 7 But this is-- You're living in Crown Heights?

2:53:16 Speaker 1 No, this is when I was already in-

2:53:17 Speaker 7 Ah, yeah, yeah

2:53:17 Speaker 1 ... I'm skipping.

2:53:18 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:53:20 Speaker 1 Uh, I hope it doesn't confuse you. You may be able to handle it.

2:53:23 Speaker 7 I am. Well, I'll try, yeah.

2:53:24 Speaker 1 Your listeners, your listeners for sure. So, uh, so what happened? So he asked me to become a, a vice president. So I tell him, "I'm, I'm-- My, my plate is full. I have no, uh..." So he says, "Ask the Rebbe." So the Rebbe answered me, "Yeah, you should do it." The Rebbe didn't stop. Everybody should do more and more and more and more and more and more. Soon after that, I couldn't be with together with-

2:53:59 Speaker 7 So Rabbi Bamzer knew the Rebbe, huh?

2:54:01 Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. Soon after, I asked the Rebbe, "Zman, how do you handle Hatzlacha and Zman? How do you have..." The Rebbe-

2:54:09 Speaker 7 You asked the Rebbe?

2:54:09 Speaker 1 I asked the Rebbe.

2:54:10 Speaker 7 Yeah.

2:54:11 Speaker 1 'Cause, uh, uh, so many things that I have to do.

2:54:15 Speaker 7 Yes.

2:54:16 Speaker 1 You have to have Hatzlacha and Zman. That's, uh, that's not an easy thing. So the Rebbe says, "You got to, Matzoh Sota." Hmm. The second time I had, at least the second time I had. When I was a bocher, I asked the Rebbe a bracha, and he wrote on the paper, "You got to..." On the tzetl, he wrote, "You got to, Matzoh." I was standing very close 'cause I wanted to hear. See, the Rebbe was by the desk. I was standing, and he's there. Sometimes you couldn't see his, his, his face 'cause his hat-

2:54:51 Speaker 7 The Rebbe was looking at the tzetl.

2:54:52 Speaker 1 The Rebbe was looking at the tzetl, and he go like this. He read the tzetl fast. So I was standing almost close by the desk, and I could see he's writing on my tzetl, "You got to, Matzoh." Years later, I asked Rabbi Groner, "Is there a file of all the tzetl?" He says, "Why are you asking?" I says, "Because I saw the Rebbe write on my tettel. He, he wrote Yigai tumatsasa." He had a pencil, he used to write it. Why'd he write it? So he just told it to me.

2:55:27 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:55:28 Speaker 1 He says the Rebbe took it to the oil. I heard later that others told me that the Rebbe wrote on their tettel-

2:55:36 Speaker 7 Things

2:55:37 Speaker 1 ... things. So think about this. So it makes a lot of sense that he took it to the oil.

2:55:47 Speaker 7 To the... Right.

2:55:49 Speaker 1 Where else did he take? The tettel of the people wrote the, either what he tore out stuff, and other stuff he sent to the incinerator.

2:56:01 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:56:05 Speaker 1 This was private. So he's writing on a tettel, "Yigai tumatsasa." He told me, "Yigai tumatsasa." He's not giving me the tettel. So it makes a lot of sense that he took it to the oil. And by the oil, like I, I was by the oil a few times watching the Rebbe Erev Rosh Hashanah. He would read tettelach people sent him. But he-- here what's going on is, by Yechidus, he answered the thing, and he's taking it to the oil. Think about it.

2:56:38 Speaker 7 It's something that the Rebbe wants his answer also to be by the oil.

2:56:42 Speaker 1 Exactly. And, and, and no other people also. So and he said, "Ask a bracha or something." And he says, he gave him an answer. So it's done, and the Rebbe is taking that to the oil, and by the oil, he's bringing it again. This first chassid is there, and he was by me. And he said, "And I told him Yigai tumatsasa." As I'm saying this, I'm thinking, you know,

2:57:14 Speaker 7 No.

2:57:14 Speaker 1 'Cause he, he, he really-- he's taking it with him to the oil, doing it again.

2:57:21 Speaker 7 So you have to implement it.

2:57:24 Speaker 1 I'm just saying, I'm-- also the Rebbe is a avodah, a kodesh.

2:57:27 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

2:57:30 Speaker 1 He took his stuff also that he already answered and that he already said to us, and he took it to the oil, spending hours and hours by the oil.

2:57:42 Speaker 7 So you were matzliach in having hatslacha bizman yet?

2:57:48 Speaker 1 That's, uh... That's, that's for a different fabrink.

2:57:54 Speaker 7 By the way, when you left Caracas, you, like, knew that you still need to find a different shtichas? Like-

2:58:01 Speaker 1 Huh?

2:58:02 Speaker 7 It was clear to you that you need to find a different shtichas? 'Cause I know some people-

2:58:05 Speaker 1 Yes

2:58:05 Speaker 7 ... that left shtichas, I don't know, they settled in Kranite. I don't know.

2:58:07 Speaker 1 No, no. So I'll tell you this, this nekudah of shtichas also a very important inyan. Um, so Tzahal came for, uh, for Brighton Beach. So I, I had started writing my sefer on Hilchot Shechita. I started writing it in Caracas. I started Hilchot Shechita 'cause I'm-- not because I'm interested in Hilchot Shechita per se als zeiner Shayched. I, I wasn't happy with the, with the kashrus of the meat in Caracas. And there was an older Shayched, a Hungarian Shayched there, and I figured if I know how to shecht, I, I could, uh... It's gonna be a different sprach with him.

2:58:56 Speaker 7 You can have an influence.

2:58:58 Speaker 1 A stronger influence. Because I didn't like some of the things that was going on. Bottom line, I learned the Hilchot Shechita. When I learned the Hilchot Shechita, so besides Simla Chadasha, I was learning Al Treibesh of Horach. I figured, when's gonna have a chance, uh, to learn Al Treibesh of Horach and Hilchot Shechita properly? And as I was learning Hilchot Shechita, is and also Hilchot Shechita, especially, especially nekudah Yisroel, there's a lot of lamdis. So my tafkid really is, uh, uh, shiva saying shirim, and I found a lot of lamdis in Al Treibesh of Horach Shechita, and I started writing it. And we used to send a doch to the Rebbe, and I sent a doch to the Rebbe, and about fifteen, twenty pages that I typed up about the... This is also what I'm working on. And the Rebbe answered me, um, I told him, "This is what I'm doing." I don't think I asked him clearly a shaila, but he said,

3:00:03 Speaker 7 You should ask Rabboni Nash.

3:00:05 Speaker 1 If they think what they think of what I'm writing.

3:00:08 Speaker 7 If they should pub- publish.

3:00:09 Speaker 1 And if they're, if they're even, then you should publish. School. So in other words, if there's a safek-

3:00:16 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm

3:00:16 Speaker 1 ... and they're even, so then we, we mechali to publish it. I didn't write much. I just wrote maybe on one siman or a siman and a half. So then I, I continue working on that. And, uh, during that year about that I was between Caracas and-- Then I was focusing on finishing that sefer. And that's what taka I, I... So I, I, uh, the most of the chomer was then. It-- This l'maase took a few years till I decided I'm done with it because I was busy with other things. And part of the sefer was printed after noon.

3:01:04 Speaker 7 It was published

3:01:05 Speaker 1 It was published by Kohas, and, uh, when I sent in my, the galley, so to say, the first, um, printing page, printed pages, I sent in about, you know, about, uh, seven or two to the Rebbe that, uh, ready to print it. So he said, .

3:01:32 Speaker 7 Hmm.

3:01:36 Speaker 1 wasn't complete. So this was like a big thrill. that means Rebbe sat and read.

3:01:42 Speaker 7 Yeah.

3:01:43 Speaker 1 He sat and read and he, he says, That was like a big thrill. And then when it was printed, I sent it in, and it's, it's now behind the Rebbe's desk.

3:01:57 Speaker 7 In the Rebbe's room.

3:01:58 Speaker 1 In the Rebbe's room, i-in the-- It, it ended up in a, in a bookcase behind it, on the left.

3:02:04 Speaker 7 Right behind the Rebbe.

3:02:05 Speaker 1 Yeah.

3:02:06 Speaker 7 It's brilliant.

3:02:06 Speaker 1 Which is, uh, I guess it's special.

3:02:08 Speaker 7 Yeah, for sure.

3:02:10 Speaker 1 we're talking about-

3:02:11 Speaker 7 So you're saying shlichus.

3:02:12 Speaker 1 A shlichus. So, um, so then there was a of, of, uh, uh, Brighton Beach. I wasn't sure if I wanna go, don't wanna go. The Rebbe encouraged us to go, and I was offered to, uh, send in a resume, and the Rebbe writes, "Allen." I didn't get the . I got a to send in a resume and maybe go for a . So, so I said, "Oh, this is in the bag." And the president of the shul at that time was a Lubavitcher, Dr. Broner.

3:02:59 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

3:02:59 Speaker 1 And he had been in touch with the Rebbe, "Chad Hakav," he said, "Think about this, to take care of my winner," et cetera. I lost the vote by, um, two, two, two, uh, votes. This was like, you know, part of possible such a thing. The Rebbe would say the there was a and there was-- It boiled down to two candidates. The board of directors didn't like the way the other candidate was negotiating with them. He says, "Come back out to us," and the rest is history.

3:03:33 Speaker 7 You got the position.

3:03:35 Speaker 1 This-

3:03:35 Speaker 7 My, my question was-

3:03:37 Speaker 1 My shlichus.

3:03:37 Speaker 7 Yeah.

3:03:38 Speaker 1 So, so I was there about... So I came there Mem Hei, and I saw this as shlichus.

3:03:46 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

3:03:47 Speaker 1 Because I, I, I'm-- If Parnasa, I could find Parnasa if I was a businessman. I'm not there for Parnasa. I saw this shlichus, especially the, the, my, some of my friends like Yossi Echt and others who went on shlichus to Eretz Yisrael. The Rebbe told them their first choice is becoming a rav in a, in a, in a community. Eretz Yisrael is not the way it works in America, but that's-- But I saw this as a, a shlichus, especially the Rebbe was encouraging me. So I was doing of shlichus there. The bottom line is, in Mem Zayin, I think, or Mem Ches, was the first Kinus Hashlachim, and I wasn't called. So that goes right to the second Kinus Hashlachim. I called up Rabbi Groner. I'm a rav. I'm doing the Rebbe's Arbeit. I wanna go to the Kinus Hashlachim. He said, "But you're not a shliach." I said, "What do you mean I'm not a shliach? I'm a shliach. I'm doing the, the, the Rebbe's Arbeit." He said, "No, you're not working for the Rebbe's moysit. You're not working for me- me 'cause you're Rebbe's moysit. You're not working for Rebbe's moysit. You're working in a shul. And it's not only you who asked. There's other Lubavitcher rabbonim. Avrohom Echt has a big shul and, and others rabbonim in, in America want-- who are rabbonim a-and they were not invited." I was very upset. So what I was not upset-- I'm not here to be a, a, a, a job. I'm here to do

3:05:10 Speaker 1 shlichus. So I wrote to the Rebbe a letter. I, I should open up my guts. I never wrote to the Rebbe a page and a half. A page like this, eight by 10, a page and a half. I used to write small notes to the Rebbe. It wouldn't take this time. That from, uh, from, um, uh, yeshiva, from the Bach, I wanted to go on shlichus. And really, we were, we were piped up, you know, pumped up to go on shlichus, the Rebbe bringing mesh- is bringing Mashiach. We were to go on shlichus. I wasn't to go on shlichus. When we-- Chassan Kallah, we wrote in a letter. As we went into the Chassan Kallah, our letter together, we're ready to go on shlichus wherever the Rebbe is gonna send us. We're ready to go on shlichus. In Kollel, the Rebbe asked for volunteers to go to Eretz Yisrael. A lot of my friends went to Eretz Yisrael. We also volunteered, but we weren't chosen to go to Eretz Yisrael. Then we went to Caracas. Shlichus. Then over here, the only reason I was interested in con- in, in, in this rabbonis, is the Rebbe gave me a bracha, and I saw this as shlichus. So, and I'm doing the Arbeit of shlichus, and just because I'm doing the Arbeit of shlichus, and because it's not under, for some reason, Hmm. W- 'cause it, it bothered me, it hurt me. So the Rebbe answered one line, So I went to Maskirus. Maskirus sent me to

3:06:49 Speaker 1 New York's David Raskin. I went to David Raskin. After some negotiation, he appointed me to be a shliach in my neighborhood.

3:06:59 Speaker 7 Besides the rabbonis to be a shliach in the neighborhood.

3:07:01 Speaker 1 Yeah. First, you're a rav there anyways. I said-- So I was telling this In my neighbor alone, there's, there's, there's 50,000, 100,000 Yidden. Caracas had 20,000 Yidden. Caracas has the Shliach over there before I came. Then I came down, and then 10 bochurim came down. So, uh, uh, the, uh, I- do you have, you have someone to put over there in my neighborhood? Do you have even... Put a Shliach in my neighborhood. I'm ready to take responsibility for my neighborhood. "Okay, but you're already busy in yeshiva." Bottom line, I says, "Listen, I, um, I'm gonna, I'll eventually hire somebody else to help me, but I'm taking responsibility. I'm gonna raise money and do pulet." So bottom line, I became a Shliach. But that's a very important point. I asked-- I told the Rebbe I'm doing the work, and then I'm a Shliach. The Rebbe didn't tell me, "Dailoch Shani Uboracho Makiren Et Shlichusecho." Yeder reiner macht zecher Shliach. One is a Shliach. Ruf zecher Shliach. Yes, you could... The Rebbe didn't tell me, tell me that I'm a Shliach, don't worry about it, or my eyes you're a Shliach. The Rebbe said, "In a Shlichus Shayach L'Maskir Es Hamelach." This is a Hira, a Klal. You can't make yourself to be a Shliach. You wanna be a Shliach? Good. It's gevald kazach. And the Rebbe said everybody is a Shliach. Yes, we know that. And Taka, anybody, whether you're a Rav or a businessman, you're doing Davar Sakidish, the Rebbe's arbit, to a certain degree,

3:08:45 Speaker 1 you're Taka-

3:08:46 Speaker 7 Every Yid is Shliach

3:08:47 Speaker 1 ... you're a Shliach.

3:08:50 Speaker 7 But-

3:08:50 Speaker 1 But this Nekuda of Mosed HaShlichus, which the Rebbe made, that is the In of Mosed HaShlichus, which is Taka found- a foundation of Derashavi, this is, has its own way of working, and it's to be the Rebbe's Moset.

3:09:12 Speaker 7 Not to be a rabbi in a shul.

3:09:14 Speaker 1 Not enough to be a rabbi in a shul. So I Taka made a corporation, and I raised funds, and I started doing Pulet, and I, and I sent them to the Rebbe, the Tzach approved me to be a Shliach of my neighborhood, and that's how it started. Now I have already my son and another son, and, uh, it's, it's gevald kazach that another son, adjacent neighborhood, a daughter in another adjacent neighborhood, and, um, so they took it to a whole different, uh-

3:09:46 Speaker 7 But you're saying that for y- for you-

3:09:48 Speaker 1 But I think the moral of the story is that mamatzach nishtal ein ke Shlichus.

3:09:53 Speaker 7 Right.

3:09:53 Speaker 1 Shlichus.

3:09:54 Speaker 7 Yeah, but what, what, what was the convict-- I guess it could have gone either way. Like, you, if the Rebbe would've said, "You are a Shliach," you'd say, "Okay," right.

3:10:02 Speaker 1 Yeah.

3:10:03 Speaker 7 But he said no. He's saying you-

3:10:04 Speaker 1 He didn't say that

3:10:05 Speaker 7 ... you had to, you had to do the extra step. You had to do the extra-

3:10:08 Speaker 1 No, I had to go through the system.

3:10:10 Speaker 7 Right.

3:10:11 Speaker 1 He w-- he said this, "There's a system."

3:10:13 Speaker 7 Right.

3:10:13 Speaker 1 Why is he sending you to Maskiris? So I go to, to... So I bumped into, at the center, I just bumped into Rabbi Krinsky. So I had spoken many times to Rabbi Chadakov, Maskiris Rabbi Chadakov.

3:10:28 Speaker 7 Maskiris Vamelach.

3:10:29 Speaker 1 Vamelach.

3:10:31 Speaker 7 Merkas, which, which is-

3:10:32 Speaker 1 Is Melach. Melach is Merkas.

3:10:33 Speaker 7 Yes.

3:10:33 Speaker 1 Maskiris-

3:10:34 Speaker 7 So it's Chada-

3:10:34 Speaker 1 Shlichus could be either Maskiris or Melach.

3:10:36 Speaker 7 So it's Chadakov and, uh-

3:10:38 Speaker 1 Chadakov has-- there was the Rebbe Shluchim who were on the Maskiris, not on the Melach.

3:10:44 Speaker 7 Okay. Whatever. Yeah.

3:10:45 Speaker 1 Well, that's Pshat already. I'm tell-

3:10:47 Speaker 7 So you bumped, you bumped into-

3:10:48 Speaker 1 So I says, "I wanna go into Chadakov. I wanna ask him." Shlichus Rebbe says, says, "Don't waste your time. Uh, sh- New York City is under-

3:10:56 Speaker 7 Tzach

3:10:56 Speaker 1 ... Tzach. You have to go to Dobriasky." So I didn't go to, I didn't go to Chadakov. But I, I met with Chadakov in mesh of the years in Caracas. Before that, as a bocher, I used to, I, I... My mother used to go into Chadakov also. He would advise her different things. It's another discussion.

3:11:15 Speaker 7 Okay. Rabbi Winner, this has been amazing, and you're Mali V'Kadosh, so we can be sitting here for many, many, many, many, many, many, many hours. We didn't... It's not even a tip of an ayam of, I think, not-- say the stories that we can talk about, and say the bringing, and say So really appreciate it. And, uh, you should continue with Hatzlacha Bizman. I don't un- I'm not understanding how you could be a, a Shliach fundraising, and a rabbi in a shul, and Rosh Yeshiva, and a, a, and a ra- I don't... So maybe off air you'll give me some tips how to juggle different things. Thank you, Rabbi Winner. Hatzlacha Rabah.

3:11:58 Speaker 1 Amen. May you should have Hatzlacha Rabah in your Avodas Hakodesh as the, as Sidim Zon Darheren and the Weltzon Darheren. Vos mudav Darheren.

3:12:09 Speaker 7 Amen. Thank you very much.