148. Who Killed The Evil Stalin On Purim?

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, and a freilechen after Purim. I was gonna send you these stories about Purim earlier, but got, got a little bit busy with Purim. But we're still in the month of Purim, so I'm gonna share with you two connected stories about how the Rebbeim on Purim took care of the different Hamans of their time. First, in the time of the Rebbe Rashab, it was right after the communist government became in charge of Russia. It was very dangerous for the Jewish people. It was especially dangerous for the Jewish people to gather together and have a farbrengen. They weren't allowed to gather a lot of people at night. If you gathered many people at night, it looked like, to them, as if you are trying to plan something against their government. So it was totally forbidden. Weren't allowed to have any gathering. It was the night of Purim. Of Tefresh Pei. It was the last Purim of the Rebbe Rashab in this world, and the Rebbe Rashab was at that time in Rostov, the city of Rostov, and before Purim, he had told Hasidim not to come to his house, and if they have to come, they should come quietly one at a time, not groups of a lot of Hasidim because that would make the communist police and the KGB suspicious of them, and they may, Chas v'Shalom, do some terrible things to them. So people were very careful not to go to the Rebbe's house um, in large groups. A few Hasidim here, a

02:30 few Hasidim there. They had a minyan, but there was no big gatherings of people. Uh, but Purim, the night of Purim, Hasidim got together and decided it's Purim tonight, let's try to go to the Rebbe. But it was forbidden to be there at night and gathering with a farbrengen. So at first, the Rebbe Rashab didn't invite Hasidim to come. But as he started taking a little l'chaim on Purim, he changed completely and decided Hasidim should come, and they should have a farbrengen, and they should sing loud, and they shouldn't be afraid of the KGB hearing them singing. One of the things that also was very dangerous in those days, that you couldn't gather money. The communist government wanted to take everybody's money. They wanted all the money should go to the government. The government will support all the people. They don't want there to be rich people who have more money, poor people that have less money. So if there was a lot of money somewhere, they would take it away. On Purim, the night of Purim, by farbrengen, the Rebbe Rashab would raise money for the yeshiva and for other things, and people would put money on the table for tzedakah. That night they brought mashke, a lot of mashke, and the Rebbe Rashab took a lot of l'chaim, and the Hasidim took a lot of l'chaim, and the Rebbe Rashab said they shouldn't be afraid, and people started singing loud, loud, loud, and it was heard outside in the streets. Some people were

04:14 a little bit afraid, but then the Rebbe Rashab says not to be afraid because now, uh, he says, "I'm not afraid of them because now we're-- uh, I'm now in Purim, and on Purim, the kedusha of Purim is so strong that all the bad people, all the rashaim, are going to be batal, are going to be nullified and nothing, uh, in the face of kedusha." Then they heard that the k- that the police, the secret police, the KGB was coming to visit 'cause they heard noise and they heard singing. They're coming to see, and that was very dangerous. People got very afraid. They thought maybe we should take away the money from the table and take the mashke off the table, and maybe people should leave the shul altogether and go quickly home so they wouldn't see a large group of people. But the Rebbe Rashab says, "No, we should ignore them. Not look at them. Today is Purim. We're gonna farbreng, we're gonna sing, and this is a very holy day, and all the klipus and all the evil people will become nothing." The people were very afraid, but the Rebbe Rashab said, the people did it. They kept singing and singing. Finally, the KGB officers came into the room, into the big room where the Rebbe Rashab was f- having a farbrengen. And they looked what's going on on the table, which was very dangerous 'cause they saw mashke and money on the table and lo- a lot of people gathered. And the

05:47 Rebbe Rashab said, "No, they're here in the room, so we're gonna say a Ma'amar Hasidis, and that Ma'amar will completely make them into nothing." And he started saying a Ma'amar Rishos Goim Hamolich. And so the whole night went, and nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nobody was arrested. No one... This is the power of, of the Rebbe Rashab, a tzadik. It's Purim. Purim were, uh, higher than Haman. Haman, you know, was killed, and all the Hamans in history on Purim have no power over the Jewish people, and the Rebbe Rashab showed it in the time when they were in the Soviet Union in Russia. But now I need to share with you something even more amazing. In Tav Shin Yud Gimel, and the English date is nineteen fifty-three, as you know, there was a very, very vicious, evil, evil ruler of Russia. His name was Stalin. Stalin literally killed millions and millions of people. Many, many Jews, he sent them away to Siberia and then had them shot there. He killed many, many people. Man, millions, literally millions. Stalin hated the Jews very, very much. He, he, he was so afraid that the Jews are going to poison him that he began to spread rumors that the Jewish doctors are going to poison him and all other important people in Russia, and we need to, um, kill the Jewish doctors. Then he decided that he's going-- There was a secret plan to take all two million Jews that lived in Russia and send them to Siberia into

07:40 a labor camp. All Jews would be gathered on, on a train, on different trains, and send them away to the bitter cold, far, far place in Siberia where they would have to work very hard. All Jews, two million Jews. He already had the plans planned. They already built camps where all million Jews, two million Jews will have to live for the rest of their lives, and there they will die from the cold and from starvation. And maybe some of them or a lot of them will get killed by the KGB. It was a secret plan. This was around right before Purim. No-- People didn't know-- Not everybody knew about the secret plan. People knew that he was trying to kill the Jewish doctors, but they didn't know that he was planning to actually take all Jews of Russia and send them to Siberia. That people didn't know about yet. Meanwhile, on Purim in New York, in Seven and Seventy Eastern Parkway, the Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, was by a farbrengen. Now, normally by a farbrengen, the Rebbe would say some sichas or say a ma'amar first, then a few sichas, or first a few sichas and then a ma'amar. There was always one ma'amar in the farbrengen. You could always tell when the Rebbe said a ma'amar. A ma'amar was a special time because when the Rebbe said sichas his eyes were open, looking at everybody, and he spoke about s- things about the Megillah, about the meaning of Purim, deep pnimiyotham. But he said

09:18 a ma'amar was a whole different thing. A ma'amar is like a Rebbe where, where, where the Shechinah speaks through him. It's a very special time. The, the Rebbe's eyes are closed and, and, and the Rebbe doesn't move, and he speaks. You can see he speaks some very, very deep pnimiyotham Chassidus. So usually there's only one ma'amar, and everybody stands up. When the Rebbe says a ma'amar, all the Chassidim stand up. The Rebbe would wrap a, a, a, a towel or a, or a, um, handkerchief or something around his hand when he said a ma'amar, and that's how you said a ma'amar. There's a reason for it. That Purim, the Rebbe said many sichas and one ma'amar, and usually, like two, three in the morning was towards the end of the farbrengen. That Purim, nineteen fifty-three, while Stalin in Russia was planning to get rid of all the Jews from Russia, the Rebbe suddenly in the farbrengen became very serious, and it looked like he's going to say another ma'amar. And before he said that ma'amar, he says, "I wanna tell a story." You know, in the time of the Rebbe Rashab, first in Russia there were czars, kings. They ruled over Russia. Then they killed the last czar and the communists took over. They wanted the people, everybody to rule the country, not just one king. But of course, the leaders of the communist movement were, uh, you know, were bad people, and they stole all the money from the people and took it for

11:00 themselves, and they killed a lot of people. They murdered millions and millions of people they killed, but they took over the government. But in the beginning, when the communists came and they killed the czar, people thought that it would be good times because the, the czar was not nice to the Jews. They thought that the-- they killed the czar, everybody will have equal rights, everybody will be, uh, allowed to do whatever they wanna do. And they want, uh, you know, forbid people to do things like to daven, to learn. It'll be freedom. Everyone will be free to do what they want. So then they decided to have elections. Who, which, which, who's gonna be the elected as the leader of Russia? And they decided that people will come to one place, and there there will be a huge open space, and the different people that wanted to be leaders of Russia will go up on the stage and give a speech, and people will decide, "Uh, we like him," or, "We like him." Which one do they like? And that's how they're gonna decide who's gonna be the leader of Russia. The Rebbe Rashab told the Hasidim that we need to vote for the one who's probably the best for the Jews. So the Hasidim knew which one it is. The Rebbe Rashab said they should go and vote. You have to go to this big plaza outdoors, maybe it was a park, and thousands of people would gather, and then the, the person who

12:28 wanted to become the leader would go up on the stage. A Hasid of the Rebbe Rashab, who didn't even know that the tsar died, he didn't know that there was the communist, who the communist was. He was learning Hasidas all day, davening all day. He was into learning. He had no idea what goes on in politics in the world. But the Rebbe Rashab said every Hasid should go and vote for the right leader, so he decided to go because the Rebbe said he put on his gartel, went to the mikveh first, put on gartel and doing what the Rebbe says. Even though he didn't understand what are we doing exactly here. Is the tsar... He didn't even know the tsar is dead, is alive, what's going on, but you gotta go and have to do what everybody else does. He thought he would copy. What everybody else does, he'll do the same. They went to the big plaza, and this big Hasid, um, looked at every-- all the other Hasidim, and he did whatever they said. Now, when, uh, uh, a, a speaker spoke and everybody liked him, and they wanted him to be the leader, they would say, "Hooray, hooray." In Russian, you don't say hooray. In Russian, it's hurrah, hurrah. Now this Hasid didn't know even Russian. He only spoke Yiddish and Hebrew. But when he heard all the Hasidim say, "Hurrah, hurrah," together with all the other people, he said, "Hurrah. Ah. Hu-rah in Hebrew means he is evil." So he started

14:03 shouting with everybody, yeah. He saw everybody was screaming, "Hurrah." They were saying, "Hurrah. Great. He's great. He's so amazing. Let's, let's have him as the leader." Instead, what does he say? "Yeah, okay. Hu-rah, hu-rah." In Hebrew it means he is evil, he is evil. And the Rebbe finished the story. Of course, it was a funny story, but the Rebbe finished the story. The Rebbe was very serious, and he said, "I want everybody to say together with me hu-rah, hu-rah three times." And he want everybody to scream with him together. Hu-- nobody knew what the Rebbe was talking about. Who was he referring to? The story with the Rebbe Rashab happened many years before, but he wanted everybody to also scream, "He is evil." Who said that to Achashverosh? Haman haRa hazeh, this evil Haman. Esther, when she wanted to the king to kill Haman, she says, "This Haman is evil." So the Rebbe said we should all scream hu-rah. Nobody knew who the Rebbe was referring to. People knew there was something going on, something from Shamayim. The Rebbe sees something, and he's trying to accomplish something. Three days later, everybody heard that Stalin died. Nobody knows what day exactly he died, but it turns out he died Purim time, after the Rebbe said three times hurrah, and the Rebbe said a ma'amar first. After he said hurrah three times, the Rebbe said a ma'amar, and in the ma'amar, the Rebbe talked about how Hashem destroyed Haman. According to Hasidas, what Haman trie-- how Haman

15:41 tried to kill the Jews, and Hashem turned his plan against him, and instead he died. And that was the whole ma'amar, and with that ma'amar, when a Rebbe says a ma'amar, he brings down from Shamayim certain berachos, and the Rebbe was mamshich a nes min Hashamayim through this ma'amar that Stalin was killed. Nobody expected him to die. He seemed to be very healthy, but suddenly he... Nobody knows how he died. Some people say that some people realized that he was being very dangerous to a lot of people, so some people decided to poison him by putting poison in his food. Some people say he died suddenly. Nobody knows exactly how. But one thing we know that the Rebbe's ma'amar killed Stalin, who was the Haman of his time. And see, in every generation, and even today, when you learn the Rebbe's ma'amar, we can bring down all the Hamans of that generation. L'Chaim.