על מאמר החלצו (חלק 2)

00:00 This is Igris, and this is the second of a two-part share on the Rebbe's approach to the Maamar Ehaz Chu. That's a bad title for this share. It's not really the Rebbe's approach. What it more is, is that we all know, as we talked about last time, we'll review again today, the Maamar Ehaz Chu deals with Ahavas Yisroel. It deals with the problem of Sinas Chinam, and obviously those are the most obvious uses of the Maamar is if you hate people, you might wanna learn the Maamar Ehaz Chu. However, the Rebbe uses it in several other contexts. So we wanted to explore the multiple ways, I guess, as the Rebbe wrings out the Maamar Ehaz Chu to make it applicable to many different parts of our lives. And, uh, in the last share, we started by introducing Ehaz Chu. We said that the Alter Rebbe initially delivered the Maamar in the lifetime of the Maggid, making it a relatively rare Maamar in that regard. Based on the Gemara Mesacht Chulin that said that the reason why we haven't seen the end of this galus is because we have-- we don't, we don't take Sinas Chinam all that seriously because when it came to our other averot that got us kicked out of the first Beis Hamikdash, we said, "Oh, you know, that was too far. Murder, uh, adultery, and idolatry are pretty bad. We did chill when we came back." But then the second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because we aren't too nice to each

00:56 other, and we said, "Ah, you know, I'm a pretty nice guy," and that's the reason why we haven't seen it be rebuilt. That's the Gemara Mesacht Chulin. The Alter Rebbe spun off that to create the Maamar Ehaz Chu, his version of it, and he would say it from time to time as his taat hasaver Maamar. That was the Alter Rebbe's Maamar that he would say occasionally just to clear out the air. We also said yesterday that the Rebbe Rashab said the Maamar in public at his version of the Maamar, which is the most famous one and the one that's published in Kuntres Ehaz Chu. Um, the Rebbe Rashab said it at least twice in public, each time in response to some unpleasant imien that was heif to Ahavas Yisroel, and we described some of those yesterday. Listen to yesterday's share for details. Uh, after that, we started looking at a few ways that the Rebbe uses Ehaz Chu. That was what-- from what we started and what we're going to finish today. In a few of the letters, we saw him wishing groups of people who were gathering into vads and groups, uh, all sorts of berakots, and the berakots for shalom and the berakots for success were supposed to be in line with Ehaz Chu, so you could hear the Rebbe say things like, "Al derech Maamar Ehaz Chu," because you're gathering in peace, you should have all sorts of berakots. We saw one letter where the Rebbe actually prescribes learning Ehaz Chu like

01:51 it's a, like it's a medication. That there was a problem in Kfar Chabad, there was a Sinas Chinam issue, and he said that he wanted a vad to get together and all the shuls to get together and all the people in the shuls, even those who weren't involved in the machlikess to get together and learn Ehaz Chu in public in every single shul. So we saw at least one example where the Rebbe specifically told people who were struggling in a community with a-- with, with, with Sinas Chinam or with machlikess to learn the Maamar Ehaz Chu. That was something that we saw yesterday. We, uh, the last thing we saw, last use of we, uh, last use of Ehaz Chu that we saw yesterday was a letter from the Rebbe Rashab, where he said that the Maamar Ehaz Chu teaches us not to see ourselves as the center of the universe. And, uh, that doesn't just make us better at Ahavas Yisroel, it also makes us better at davening because it, uh, takes a real ego problem to make the claim that I have better things to do than talk to God. Um, that's what we do though. We say, "Look, I can't daven at length. I have this to do and that to do." Sometimes it's a parnasah excuse, sometimes the Rebbe Rashab says it's a Kaddish excuse. "I have mitzvahs to do. I can't be davening all day." And the Rebbe Rashab says, "Someone who learns the Maamar Ehaz Chu will, uh, will

02:44 internalize the value that they're not at the center of the universe and thereby be able to, uh, to recognize that the most important thing is their davening, not, uh, not all of the other things that they think are important during the time of davening. They should be davening at least to the length mentioned by the Alter Rebbe." All this is in the prior share, Ayin Jam Heit. So what I have in front of you here is I wanted to show you one more letter about ho-how Ehaz Chu solves citywide issues and then dive into some new stuff. The city issue that we saw last time was in Kfar Chabad, and the Rebbe had this really interesting limud where he said that, uh, let me see if I can get it right. He said that since Aibishter looked into the Torah to create the world, if we see a problem in the world, we can fix it by going back into the Torah and edit the problem out of it. It was a very interesting lashon. Says the same way that God makes the world with the Torah, we can remake the world with the Torah. So if there is a machlikess somewhere, we can undo it by learning Ehaz Chu in that location. That was what he said last time. This is a much shorter letter. Just wanna draw your attention to the bottom of the letter where it says that the There was some sort of argument going on in this particular place where

03:41 the Rebbe's writing to. This is-- this letter I'm showing you is in volume eighteen. The letter is above, Tav Shin Chaf Beis, the year Tav Shin Gimtess. And the Rebbe writes, It said already about, uh, all words of Torah and certainly about pnimiyus Hatorah, the mystical secrets of the Torah, that all of God's words are like fire, and fire in-- is metaharas. Fire purifies things. Unlike fire, which purifies things by burning it to a crisp, the Torah is full of kindness and is full of mercy, so it purifies things in a way of kindness and mercy, not in a way that is Chas V'Shalom negative. So in this area where they were having problems, the Rebbe again prescribes Ehaz Chu as a solution to a community-wide problem. We saw one example of that yesterday. We're seeing one more right now. Now, it doesn't just have to be a citywide problem. We have here a letter from volume four. The letter is Aleph Kuf Nun Dalet. And here the Rebbe prescribes Ehaz Chu to an individual who's having shalom bayis problems, telling him to learn Ehaz Chu so he'll stop fighting with his wife Just very interesting. I hadn't seen that before. We're gonna jump down to the second paragraph. The Rebbe says, "But I've already told you many times I'm gonna repeat myself again You gotta really work on Shalom Bayis between you and your wife." So this isn't somebody writing to the Rebbe that they have Shalom Bayis problems. This is where it got

06:01 so serious the Rebbe's writing to him, "You gotta work on this." Uh, the Friediker Rebbe had, uh, the Friediker Rebbe had agreed to the Shidduch between these two individuals. So and the Rebbe says some things that I don't know if we want our women listeners to listen to, but we're gonna tell them anyway. The Rebbe says, that women they, uh, they-- That datim kalos, which you can translate however you like. Uh, a woman is more likely to cry. Therefore, it is the husband's job to give in. It's the husband's job to give in because women have-- women are more sensitive, so it's the husband's job to give in. Def-definitely when it comes to physical matters, when it comes to average matters, not necessarily when it comes to milah shemaya. When it comes to spiritual matters, sometimes the husband can't give in. When it comes to things that are not spiritual in nature, that aren't, uh, that aren't mitzvah related, uh, women are more sensitive, and therefore, the husband should just give in. This is the Rebbe's position. I believe that's what that's saying. Um, it is what he's saying. He says that certainly the, uh, Chazal say that at all times, Shalom Bayis is very important. This would certainly apply on Erev Shabbos Kodesh on Friday, and we are in the Friday of the entire world after chatzet, after midday, coming close to Mashiach. So now Shalom Bayis is more important than it ever was before. Now, here comes the part that has to do

07:16 with us. It is understood that one of the greatest helem vehesters that we have nowadays in Galus is regarding Shalom Bayis, is regarding peace between a husband and wife. We know the value of peace and that the entire Torah is about peace. All of its ways are peace. And especially since the Galus that we're living in right now comes from a lack of Shalom. That means that the closer it comes to the end of this exile Do you see what he's saying here? He's saying in this line that the closer we get to the end of Galus, to the, to the Geulah, the closer we get to Mashiach, the more serious the challenges are going to be specifically between a husband and a wife because the entire cause for the exile is lack of peace. And that means that we can end the exile by creating peace, which means the other side, the other side, the side of evil, which wants us to stay in Galus, will try and make a last-ditch effort to hang on and keep us in Galus, and the way they'll do that is by having husbands and wives fight with each other. He says, "Nonetheless, according to the, uh, according to the, the camel is its load." Basically, you can handle it, or you wouldn't have the problem. Everybody has the strength to stand up to this test. And he says, and look into Konchos Aharon. So, uh, he says everybody has the power to stand up to these things,

08:44 but you know what else helps? Learning Konchos Aharon. So when it comes to Shalom Bayis, one of the reasons that we say in this letter that we're having Shalom Bayis problems nowadays in the final days of exile, that's to be expected. This is the last-ditch effort of the Yetzer Hara, of the Satan, to keep us in Galus 'cause lack of Shalom is the only thing that can keep us there. And the Rebbe's advice for it is, first of all, to recognize, um, first of all, to recognize that since women are by nature more sensitive, we need to give in more often, especially when it's milah dama. The second piece of advice was that everybody has the power to, uh, to stand strong against this test. And the third piece of advice was look in Konchos Aharon. I know there's another way to read that letter where he's just saying, "Everything I just said is in Konchos Aharon," but I'm choosing to read it as you should also look in Konchos Aharon. By the way, I was told by many Mashpiyim that when the, uh, when the Rebbe-- when, when a Rebbe, any Maim or any Sefer says to look somewhere, that is the Rebbe telling you to look somewhere. It's not a footnote. It is, it is advice. You're supposed to Ayin Sham, you're supposed to look. So at the very least, this is the Rebbe directing that individual towards the Maimon Aharon. I have one more letter I wanna show you, then a couple

09:38 of sifras. This letter is from the year Tav Shin Yud Beis. The volume is volume five, and the letter is Alef Tav Ayin Ches. And this letter over here, the Rebbe uses the Maimon Aharon to explain that you need to be, uh, use my own words here, infinitely hard on yourself and infinitely easy on everybody else, that this is the way of Ahasid, that Ahasid is, like, very forgiving of other people and not very forgiving when it comes to themselves. The Rebbe says, the Rebbe writes at the top, "You're a student in Temim. I hear you're doing a really..." Excuse me. Same thing. Uh, maybe not the same thing. Ask me some other time. Uh, "You're, you're doing a really good job in yeshiva. Wonderful. Despite the fact that I'm hearing good reports it has to be across, it has to be in front of your eyes, the thing that's explained many pa-- many places in when it comes to other people I think that might be a typo. Le'in skos probably, right? Lekaf skos. Sometimes there's typos in these letters when they show up on chabadlibrary.org. Anyway, you have to have, you have to have a limud skos on every single person, uh, and that is very important. He says you'll find that in, uh, the, in the-- He gives a couple of references and, of course, Konchos Aharon. So he says Konchos Aharon is a great place to learn how to- It could be-- it could be like a, a mishmash babble of

10:48 words. It should have said, "Lamed-- Lumid alav skos," maybe. Yeah. I think that's right. It is. It should be alav. Yeah. It's just they, they sometimes confuse the letters when they print it on this site. It's easier to drop the links, but you get those mistakes. Good point. Yep, it's, it's definitely alav. It's lumid alav skos. Anyway, the Rebbe says in this letter that in order to teach yourself to be better at limud skos, to be better at judging people with merit and assuming that other people are doing the right thing even when it doesn't look like it, the trick of Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev that he, that he was supposedly so good at, and not supposedly, that he was so good at, uh, one of the tricks is learning Konchos Aharon. When it comes to yourself, don't look in Konchos Aharon, right? They did it again, mushed up the words. Um, basically, you have to be very strict about yourself, stand strong, and say that, uh, "I, I have some serious problems and I need to fix them." So, uh, to be strict with yourself and very lenient with everybody else is a skill that you will learn also from Konchos Aharon. So this is, uh, but I thought it was an interesting twist. Here the Rebbe says if you have trouble judging people favorably, Konchos Aharon is the Maimon for you I have a couple of sifas I wanted to look at. This one's got, as far as I can tell, at

11:51 least three things in it, maybe four things for the uses of the Maimer, , the . Here, this is from the year Tav Shin Mem Tes. And this year it's, um, it's a, it's a sifa from Chaf Mar Chesvan, and the Rebbe gives a strange piece of instruction, very cool instruction. He says that he wants everybody to find their local Temimat Taimim, their local Yeshivas Temimat Taimim, and to go to that yeshiva, to walk into the building and to learn there. And he wants them physically in the building. And he says in some-- from one place in the sifa, he puts in parentheses that, uh, that you can do it in a Chabad house if you really don't have one in your town, but better to leave your town for the day and go find a Yeshivas Temimat Taimim. He specifically wants, in honor of the Rebbe Rashab, for people to find a, a physical building of Temimat Taimim and step in it and learn something. every city that has one of these yeshivas, uh, whether it's a central one or a branch of the Yeshivas Temimat Taimim, whether it's in Eretz Israel or outside of Eretz Israel. Says even more so when it's in Eretz Israel. He wants everybody living in that city to walk into the yeshiva building on the day of Chaf Mar Chesvan, which is the, of course, the, uh, the Rebbe Rashab's birthday, the founder of Temimat Taimim. And then to do an act of Torah, an act of prayer,

13:01 and an act of good deeds while inside that-- while inside the, the yeshiva building. should either daven or lear-- or, uh, or say a, uh, say a typical tefillim. Uh, let's say it's tzedakah, is basically the, uh, the, the tefillah will be either davening or tefillim. The learning will be some Torah from the Rebbe Rashab, and the tzedakah should be toward one of the mestes that represents the Rebbe Rashab, ideally Temimat Taimim itself. And then over here, when the Rebbe talks about what he would like them to learn specifically, That's the line that I was looking for when I started that sentence, but I will finish the sentence and flip it around on its head to tell you what I meant. Basically, he says here that, uh, of the things that you're supposed to be learning, uh, in the-- in honor of the Rebbe Rashab, this obviously ups the day of the Rebbe Rashab. You could learn , you could learn Ayin Beis, you could learn his Ignis. There's so many things to learn from the Rebbe Rashab, a lot of the Rebbe Rashab. He says, "What should you pick of all things? Pick ." This is the Rebbe's suggestion, is if you're trying to honor the Rebbe Rashab for a day, that's the Maimer to learn. So first of all, he says to learn that Maimer in honor of the Rebbe Rashab. The other thing that he's saying up here is I need to go back and read this a little bit. The, um,

14:24 says you'll find in an idea that when one person makes a decision to do a good thing, he's able to get himself out of it very easily. But when a group of people get together and all make a haflata together, they're not able to get out of it as easily. We saw this in our community when it came to the, uh, when it came to the haflata to go to the aisle. Uh, if that had been an indivi-individual haflata, uh, I would have given it up a long time ago. That's for sure. Um, but the fact is that we have each other, we-we're all pressuring each other. So we've now kept it up for, in one month, an entire year, right? When Elul comes, that'll be a whole year. Maybe not to, I guess, Tishri. Whatever, close. Close to a whole year now, we've kept up that one and, uh, this one as well. You know, if we made haflata, if individuals made haflata to learn a letter from the Rebbe every day, it might last, it might not. But the fact that we all meet together on the screen and do it together makes haflata stick. So another thing the Rebbe is pulling from Ehallsu is the idea that it's not just about keeping people together, it's about the power of people being together. And one of the powers of people coming together for a good deed is that they pressure each other into sticking with their positive resolutions. We also have here, um,

15:23 that as I said a second ago, that when it's a-- when it's a day for the Rebbe Rashab, the Maimer to learn is and also this line here, something that he adds at the end of that sentence, which is maybe a third thing we can pull from the Sefah, which is that the learning of falls under That when we learn something, we end up automatically starting to do it. That the great thing about learning Torah is that it can bring to action. So I see three things in the Sefah that we can say about Ehallsu. Thing number one is that, um, there's a power to group resolutions. Thing number two is that when I learn something, I end up internalizing it. And thing number three is that when I wanna honor the Rebbe Rashab, the Maimer of all my Marm to choose is the above everything else. There is a letter from the Rebbe that was from the year Tav Shin Lamed Zion. It's and the footnotes are from the Rebbe himself. In this I just wanna point out one line to you. It's on your screen. The Rebbe says that getting everybody together to do things together is not just an important thing when it comes to davening, but also when it comes to all good deeds and mitzvahs. And the Rebbe's source for that, if you look at his source that he brings below the line, is the . Another thing the Rebbe learns from Ehallsu is that there's not just a value

16:33 to tefilah betzibur, to davening as a group, to getting ten people together to daven betzibur, but also to doing mitzvahs betzibur, to doing mitzvahs in a big group, and also to learning Torah in a big group. The reason why I say also to learning Torah in a big group is because there is a Maimer from Taf Resh Peh Ches from the Friydel HaKodesh, Maimer . It's the one that traditionally we learn on Yud Beis Tammuz. And in that Maimer, I don't think we're gonna read it together, but I have it on your source sheet, so you can look at it yourselves. In that Maimer, the Friydel HaKodesh proves that, uh, tefilah betzibur has all the-- I'm sorry, the Torah betzibur has all the same advantages as tefilah betzibur. That the whole point of tefilah betzibur, of davening in a minyan, api kabbalah, is that when you daven in a minyan, you draw down the , the thirteen attributes of mercy. And he demonstrates that because Torah is derived through the thirteen principles of Rebbe Ishmael, which are the corollary of the thirteen attributes of mercy, that you have the same advantages of limud Torah berabim. That when a person-- people learn Torah together in a minyan or in a large group of people, they get the same advantages as though they're davening berabim. That's how he proves that learning Torah berabim is as important as tefilah berabim. So the Rebbe is saying up here that you get that also in the Maimer Ehallsu, that even

17:31 mitzvahs berabim, which means that it's better to, uh, I don't know, better to get a group of women together to light Shabbos candles than to do it alone. That's a little bit questionable, that example of all examples, 'cause ideally, Shabbos candles should be in a place where everybody's eating. So let's make a big Shabbos dinner and have them all light together, and now there's not even a halakhic problem with what I said. The, uh, last thing that-- if you got it, you got it, and if not, it's fine. The, uh, last thing that I wanna mention is just a story, so I don't really-- I just have down here, "D don't nuts up story." Some of you probably remember this. Um, I had to read a whole bunch of Yumanim to figure out how it happened. So if you remember it differently, please do tell me at the end of the share. But the way that the journals suggest is that the, um- Is-- and by the way, the Rebbe never draws the following parallel that I'm about to draw. I'm just gonna draw it from the journals. Uh, it's noteworthy that Didan Natsach, the day that the Rebbe won the court case from Chetes was actually on the twenty-fifth of Cheshvan. So the, the, the original announcement came that we were going to win on the twenty-fifth of Cheshvan, and the final decision that we celebrate came on Chetes. The original victory was twenty-fifth Cheshvan. That was three days after the Rebbe did something

18:25 that he'd never done previously. Three days before that, that is, from Chaf Alef until Chaf Beis Cheshvan, the Rebbe seriously overworked the printers in seven seventy to put out thousands of Kontras Hechalutz, and the Rebbe handed them out to any-- to children, really. Uh, any boy over age twelve, any girl over age eleven. He stood for a while handing them out at night. He ran out, and then the maskira said, "Come back tomorrow, we'll have more." They worked all night to print more, and he handed them out again. The people then went into seven seventy itself. They sat down in the Zal Agadol, and they all learned Kontras Hechalutz. Reb Yael gave a shiur on Kontras Hechalutz. There was a, uh, there was a giant shturem around the Maimon Hechalutz, and only when the Rebbe handed it to each person, he said, "Hatzlacha deki lernen." That was his lashon, is that you should succeed in learning it. And apparently on Chaf Cheshvan, he also said, "Badalis hatzlacha chaf," uh, I'm never gonna pronounce it. "Hey, hatzlacha deki chaf Cheshvan." There we go. A lot of chafs. Um, but that these things should be with success. All of this came together, and a few days later, we had the court decision of Didan Natsach that we celebrate on Chetes. So, uh, although the Rebbe himself, as far as I know, never drew that parallel, a lot of the people who were involved drew the parallel that perhaps the learning of the Maimon Hechalutz even gave us

19:27 the, uh, even gave us the final push necessary for the big court case victory, which of course affirmed the fact that, uh, that even the American government, even the, uh, even the government in exile recognizes, uh, the value of a Rebbe and that a Rebbe belongs to his chidduv. It is also noteworthy that the time that the Rebbe handed out that Kontras, there was something going on in seven seventy, and I'm not aware of what it was. The Rebbe just keeps hinting to it. You know this always happens to me. Nobody wants to tell me the history. But there was some inyan of Heichal Chabad hishel right around that same time. And so people say perhaps that's why the Rebbe handed out the Kontras. And I don't think that's a svara though. Whether, whether or not there-- if there was a problem and the, and the, and the Kontras fixed it, and that allowed us to win the court case, then that's the story. If, uh, there was a problem and the Kontras fixed it, and in addition to that, the way that we absorbed it and got so interested in it helped us win the court case, that's also cool. Uh, bottom line, it is noteworthy the two things happened right next to each other. So as a final point, it seems that learning the Maimon, learning the Maimon Ko-- learning the Kontras Hechalutz, uh, may have advantages far beyond just increasing Abba's self, uh, all the way until, uh, possibly benefiting the, benefiting

20:22 the area in ways that are, that are unforeseen until after it's been learned. Okay, that's it. Got nothing to say?