האם צריך להיות ב־770 בחודש תשרי?

00:00 Speaker 1 This is an Igres Shir, and we are doing letters from exactly fifty years ago, and we are going to do a letter from exactly fifty years ago. But I don't think it's easy to teach that letter without a little bit of background, so we're going to do the letter somewhere in the middle. I'll let you know when we're up to the letter from exactly fifty years ago. The topic for today is how a Hasid is to view spending Tishrei with the Rebbe, spending Tishrei in seven seventy, then and now, whether it is a productive idea, a good idea for us to go to seven seventy now for Tishrei, whether it ever was a good idea to go to seven seventy for Tishrei, uh, what the Rebbe feels about it, when it makes sense, when it doesn't make sense. That's the, uh, that's the topic for today. I think we have-- Some people already told me, I don't know if we have anybody on the call today, but I know some people from our community are already planning on spending, uh, Rosh Hashana in seven seventy. Um, anybody on the call? No? Everybody's staying here for now so far? Okay. Maybe I'll sway you, maybe I'll sway you to it or away from it. Excuse me. Maybe I'll sway you to it or away from it. I don't know. Let's start with the reasons to go, though. Here we have a section from the Rebbe. You'll find this in a Toldos Menachem, uh, from the year

01:05 Speaker 1 of Mem Zayin. That is the Hisvadius because they haven't printed them in the fancy new Toldos Menachem's yet. Volume one, page four sixty-five, read this. The Rebbe says something almost exactly like this, like seven or eight times in the Mems, but this is the one that I pulled because it's the most succinct. The Rebbe says, "B'degeulat echad ha'inyan d'aliyah l'regel." When it comes to aliyah l'regel, going up to the Beis Hamikdash fo-- three times a year for the major holidays. "V'aveda ruchnius b'nefesh ha'adam," this also exists in a spiritual way in the soul of a person. Here's what it looks like. "Mivuer b'l'kutieha d'Torah," it's explained in the Maamar from the Alter Rebbe. "Sh'meshechar beis hamikdash hagam she'einanu yochelim l'hishtachaveh," m- from the time that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, although nowadays we are no longer able to bow in the Beis Hamikdash, "Ikar ha'ri'ayah hi hishtachaveh sh'mishtachaveh yetze." The main point of showing up in the Beis Hamikdash three times a year was to bow there. We can't do that anymore. There's no Beis Hamikdash to go show up in and bow in. "Af al pi kenissa shtek kudshah sa'aruzu avek ksei hu b'mikdash me'at." Nonetheless, this holiness, at least a version of it, a small amount of it, has spread to the mikdash me'at, the small Beis Hamikdash, which is the Beis HaKnesses, Beis HaMidrash, the shul, and the study hall, meaning that you can sort of fulfill aliyah l'regel, sort of fulfill ri'ayah and hishtachaveh by being in shul or in a

02:09 Speaker 1 Beis Midrash. "V'al achas kama v'kama," the Rebbe says that this applies far more strongly. "V'ad Beis HaKnesses, Beis HaMidrash miyukhadim when it comes to a special shul or a bes-- or a special Beis-- or a special Beis Hamikdash. "Ve'ad, v'ad derech, v'ad derech, v'ad zeh, v'ad..." What do you think, Cyrili? I don't know. V'ad derech just doesn't seem right here. Uh, "shel kavod hakodesh meruchacha mamrenes yi'dei'enu." Anyway, this would certainly apply. I think it means probably all the more so, although I don't know what that abbreviation is doing there. This would apply to any Beis HaKnesses, Beis HaMidrash, and specifically to the Beis Hamikdash, Beis HaKnesses of the Chabad, of course, of our Rebbe. So right here we have an advantage to going to seven seventy, by the way, whether or not the Rebbe is there in a physical body or not, um, because it sounds like anytime you go to a shul or a Beis Midrash, you're gonna have the advantages of aliyah l'regel, and if it's a shul or a Beis Midrash that's special, specifically one that is shayeach to the Nasi, you're going to have a much greater advantage, very similar to going to the Beis Hamikdash itself. "Inyan of aliyah l'regel. Achein es gam hayam," therefore we do this today. Sheka-

03:09 Speaker 2 It is v'ad derech-

03:10 Speaker 1 Huh?

03:10 Speaker 2 -by the way.

03:11 Speaker 1 It is v'ad derech?

03:12 Speaker 2 Because if you read it the way he's writing, it's like, "B' mikdash me'at b's pesach v's meshech v'al achas kama v'kama b'Beis HaKnesses, Beis Midrash miyukhadim," special Beis Midrash. What would be a special Beis Midrash? V'ad derech b- Beis Hamikdash shel kvod hakodesh meruchacha mamrenes yi'dei'enu.

03:24 Speaker 1 Okay, that works. Just not the way I'm used to seeing the word ad, ad derech used, but okay.

03:28 Speaker 2 No, but he's saying it because he's, he's mentioning the word miyukhadim and saying, "What's considered miyukhadim?"

03:32 Speaker 1 For example-

03:32 Speaker 2 For example, shel kvod hakodesh meruchacha mamrenes yi'dei'enu. That's v'ad derech is.

03:36 Speaker 1 Yeah, fine. I don't usually see ad derech used as an EG, but yeah, it does seem to be functioning that way here. "Achein es gam hayam sheka ma v'kama asirios amei's miYisrael metalim es atmam tirtul l'digavra gam tirtul l'de'itsa m'beisei'hem um'mekomei'hem," therefore we see even nowadays people do this. There are many tens and many hundreds of Jewish people, they, uh, displace themselves, displacing themselves and also displacing their wives. Um, "m'beisei'hem um'mekomei'hem from their house and from their place k'dei l'shas meshech me'ah derechei d'Tishrei in order to spend time in the month of Tishrei in the dalet amos of nesivas yirei'enu. "Me'ein v'dugma l'zecher inyan d'aliyah l'regel bizman Beis Hamikdash haya kayam." This is me'ein and dugma. This is sort of like and quite similar to an azekah, and also a remembrance for the fact that we used to have aliyah l'regel. So why do we go to the Rebbe on Tishrei? I don't know. A lot of people have their reasons. The main reason to go to seven seventy for the month-- for, for the month of Tishrei, for the holidays of Tishrei, it seems is an inyan of aliyah l'regel. So this goes all the way back to the Alter Rebbe, who says, "Nowadays, aliyah l'regel, going up to the Beis Hamikdash during the holidays happens in a Beis Midrash, in a Beis Knesses, specifically in the Beis Midrash, Beis Knesses of the Nasi. So there's an enormous advantage to going to the Beis Midrash, Beis Knesses of the Nasi in the times-- in

04:40 Speaker 1 the three times of the year that you would wanna go, that is Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Sukkot being in the middle of Tishrei as an inyan of aliyah l'regel. That's the way the Rebbe talks about it. That's something like aliyah l'regel. There's a very old letter from the Rebbe. This letter is from Tav Shin Ches. So this is quite a few years before the Nesius. This is what? Three years before the Nesius when the Rebbe writes to somebody who-- I don't know who this is. Maybe you know from the abbreviation who this is. This is somebody who the Rebbe is very disappointed that they're not going to be coming to the Rebbe for Tishrei, and he writes in fairly harsh words about how, uh, about how this person appears to be losing touch a little bit by the fact that they are not going to be by the Rebbe for Tishrei. And the Rebbe writes in this letter, this is letter Dalet Shin from the-- from volume two, way early on. "Shalom u-bracha," the Rebbe says. "Emor amarti asher k'mei b'chol shana," I had thought that like every single year, "yavo hena limei t'ashmini etzeret u'simchas Torah, that you would come here," uh, "to seven seventy, "ad shmini etzeret u'simchas Torah v'nisra v'nisa-- v'nisa-- v'nischayach yachad," and that we would see each other, and that we would speak together. "V'k'dei asher sibus m'sibus sheines a-a-akvu hu, i'kvu hu, v'lo yakhu l'heitz l'haper nesiu zu." It seems that there were, uh, whenever he says sibus m'sibus

05:44 Speaker 1 sheines, that means inappropriate reasons. It seems that there were bad reasons, various reasons that have prevented you and are not-- and now, now you're not gonna be able to make the trip. "V'chaval," the Rebbe says the real shame. "Khamad Hazal says in Masechet Rosh Hashanah, 'Chayav adam lehakot panav b'rabin b'regel.'" You're chayav to see your rebbe every regel, every holiday. "V'rei b'kas ha-mishnah b'Masechet Avodah Zara hilchot tamid," uh where that's codified in Halakha. So the Rebbe here gives another reason why it's important to go to the Rebbe for Tisha, to go to the Rebbe for the holidays in general. Seems like it's an actual din, a Halakha that's codified in Rambam, brought down in the-- brought, brought from the Gemara all the way to Rambam. That is, that a person is must greet their rebbe on the Regil. Meaning even though nowadays we are lenient about this, we don't hold the Halakha that you have to visit your rebbe three times a year. There's reasons given for our Halakhic leniency on this front. There's another reason why I'd expect to see you. We say all the time in Musaf we're unable to go up, make Aliyah, we're unable to see you, we're unable to bow before you. This is talking to God because we don't have a Beis Hamikdash. We can't have Aliyah, we can't have and we can't have . That is, uh, going up, seeing and bowing. It's true, we can't go up to the place of the Beis Hamikdash and to see

06:54 Speaker 1 and be seen. That's the chul because the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, we can't do those things. But the truth is, we could bow anywhere before God. What are we missing with the bowing? Because the truth is we're allowed to bow before God anytime. Every Aliyah we bow before God. What are we missing by not being able to bow in the Beis Hamikdash? The Rebbe says the answer is there's two kinds of . There is an ex-external bowing where you bow with your body. There is an even further form of outward bowing. That is, it involves your body. So there's two kinds of external bowing. One is that I physically bow, and the other one is that I make sure not to rebel against God with my body. And there's another kind of bowing, that's an internal bowing. There's internal bowing. That is that I nullify my will that I give my will over to God's will. I'm not gonna have any other desires, any other wills besides God. This is the soul's bowings. The body can bow by me not doing the wrong thing and by me fig-- physically bowing, and my soul can bow by giving over my will. We used to only get that when we would go to the Beis Hamikdash. From the time the Beis Hamikdash got destroyed, period, this is now in a shul and in a Beis Hamikdash. What he's saying here is that although we lost which ? Probably . I think that's . The ability of we

08:31 Speaker 1 used to receive automatically when we went up to the Beis Hamikdash. Since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, we're not able to do that anymore. We can do a version of it by going to a shul and a Beis Hamikdash, specifically during time of Tequila, as is mentioned in the same Likutei Torah that the Rebbe quoted in that prior sicha. We see actually we see that nullifying one's own will, taking my own and being them to Hashem without any help, that's very, very difficult. It's very hard to do that by yourself, to give over your will completely. It's quite easy actually, to bow physically, and it's also not terribly difficult to do what he calls the other kind of which is that I decide I'm not gonna do the wrong thing because I'm not allowed to rebel against the king. But making my desires God's desires, that's hard. a person knows themselves. You won't find a reason in yourself to get rid of your ratzon entirely, if a person does a person does come to the conclusion that they should be says who's the kind of person who's holy enough to come to the conclusion that they shouldn't want what they want? Probably somebody who wants the right things anyway, and that would be the reason to want what they want. So the inyan of bitul ratzon is not really possible for one to do by oneself. It's very difficult to do on your own. You see what he's doing here with the, with the sort

09:56 Speaker 1 of a word flip. Says that, uh, once you are good enough that you would be without help, you're also somebody who won't be 'cause you're so good at it that you should listen to your ratzon. So how do you get around that loop where a person really can't be their own ratzon, where they can't really give themselves over to Hashem by themselves? He has to ask for help from a person, a certain person, he has to find somebody who's higher than his level. He'll ask of somebody who has no, um, has no ulterior motives. Therefore, you'll definitely listen to him, so you'll listen how as, as he instructs you on the best time for that is just like we would do when there was a Beis Hamikdash. Now, the Rebbe doesn't drive home the point, but I think the point is understood, and that is that there's another advantage of going to the Rebbe, and that is the . Now, he mentioned in our sicha that according to the Alter Rebbe is accomplished nowadays simply by visiting a shul and a Beis Hamikdash, and specifically by visiting a shul and a Beis Hamikdash of the Rebbe. But the Rebbe says in addition to that, having a rebbe there is actually a bowing, and that is that, that, that I'm not able to really convince myself to give over my ratzon completely without the help of a rebbe. A rebbe can help me give over my ratzon to Hashem completely, and therefore, since that is the

11:14 Speaker 1 whole inyan of in the first place, we used to go to the Beis Hamikdash, bow, and learn how to give over our will to Hashem. We can go to the Rebbe, we can go to seven seventy. The Rebbe will give us the koach to be able to bow to Hashem and give over our will to Hashem. So we have kind of three things here if we had to break it down. Three which are really one, and that is there's the advantage of going to seven seventy on Tisha because it's a kind of Aliyat HaRegel. We have the advantage of which seems to be a Halakha, though it's one that we don't necessarily follow strictly nowadays, the Rebbe says in this letter. And three, there's the practical hadraha that you get from your rebbe and the inspiration you get from your rebbe that allows you to have a bitul ratzon, which would be most important really on Rosh Hashana more than any other time, which is a day of Kabbalah where we try to be These are all excellent reasons to go to the Rebbe for Tishrei. However and however is our letter for today. However, there are conditions. There were always conditions, and there were always people who were not allowed to come to the Rebbe for Tishrei. The most, uh, the most common example, I'm sure you've heard it before, it's a million stories about this, is people on shlichus. People who are on shlichus were, uh, were not supposed to go to the

12:11 Speaker 1 Rebbe. When the-- when they came, the Rebbe was sometimes upset that they came. Um, and the Rebbe would sometimes write letters to shluchim who were upset that they couldn't come to the Rebbe for Tishrei and say, "What exactly are you doing here? You belong back in your community." Now, of course, there are no blanket rules. There were certain shluchim who did come to the Rebbe for Tishrei, certain shluchim who brought people to the Rebbe for Tishrei, certain shluchim who the Rebbe wanted for Tishrei. This is on a case-by-case basis. But obviously, a large group of people who in large part were frequently exempt from this or, uh, or not expected to or not, or not desired that they should come were shluchim who were doing the Rebbe's work somewhere else. There are a couple other kinds of people, though. That's our letter for today. Our letter for today-- we're now what? We're fifteen minutes into the shiur, we're doing our letter for today, but, uh, introductions are important. The letter is Yud Tav Tav Kivuv. It is in volume twenty-eight, exactly fifty years ago. From Elul of Tav Shin Lamed Gimel. The Rebbe writes-- uh, actually, the Rebbe doesn't write this first part. The Maskirus writes . For all those who keep on inquiring, . A lot of people have been asking the office, uh, when it comes to people who are-- or administrators for the Meisdoes Chabad. That is the male teachers and the female teachers, the male students and the female students. may

13:14 Speaker 1 they live long. We're getting a lot of questions from the various Meisdoes Chabad, specifically from those in the educational branch, both the teachers and the students and the administrators, whether they should come to the Rebbe for Tishrei. Although what we're about to write is really self-understood of . We don't, uh, we don't inspi-- we don't, uh, ch-- I don't know, push people except for those who are already self-mo... We don't motivate except for the self-motivated. That's a good translation. We, we were told from the Rebbe to answer all of you who are wondering whether to come for Tishrei along the following lines. So these are presumably more or less the words of the Rebbe. The following kind came out of Maskirus as a from the Rebbe for people who wanted to visit for Tishrei who are associated with our educational Meisdoes. Alef, first. When it comes to the staff, the teachers, et cetera. They have to be very careful that if they come for Tishrei, it can't get in the way, it can't damage the Meisdoes. It can't be that the Meisdoes won't be able to run while they're off, uh, gallivanting in Crown Heights. Gallivanting, but you know what I mean. They can't, they can't go off pursuing their own spiritual gains and not wor-- and not worry about their Meisdoes crumbling 'cause they're not there. And since you're gonna be biased about this, you're always going to think, "No, they'll be fine without me. I'll do what I want." Therefore, you need to

14:36 Speaker 1 talk to, you have to counsel with the other staff, that is whether they should visit, when or not to visit at all. Basically, talk to the majority of the other staff there and figure out whether they should be visiting. If so, when they should be visiting or maybe not to visit at all. There's a discussion needs to be had, and you can't decide on your own, but you need to go to the Rebbe for Tishrei. Um, never mind. I'm not gonna tell a story I wanted to tell. I'm skipping it. Ask me after the shiur. Aft-- I'll tell you after, just some things don't belong in the recording. There-- Suffice to say there are people who clearly violate this sometimes, and I don't understand it. Maybe they should be shown this letter. Beis. When it comes to the students, this needs to be explained to the yeshiva or the for the school . The students need to explain it to their own hallah, and they should do according to what the own hallah says. So basically, the students need to ask permission. They can't just come. The Rebbe says certainly he'll pass this along to all those asking, and, uh, we appreciate the effort, and they write and this is F. Simpson. Okay. Down here there's a note from Rav Wolf that came apparently from Rav, from Rav Padakov. Here we go. It's a similar but it's just a slightly different words. When it comes to those traveling for Tishrei, if they want to travel

15:59 Speaker 1 for Tishrei, they need a from their own hallah b'makom. I believe that's in Crown Heights, right? Or is that where they're from? I think it's in Crown Heights. If they're going to spend more time, either way, they need permission from, I think, their school if they're going just for Tishrei, and they need from both places if they're going to be there for longer than Tishrei, I believe is the message. When it comes to teachers, it's based on their own hallah. The administration has to make sure it's not gonna damage the studies, and this is an important point here, though, that we didn't see in the last letter. Don't make it too hard for them. Don't go real hard on them. If you think you can-- if you're an administrator, and you think you can do without them for a couple weeks, let them go. Don't be, don't be mean about it because as we saw, this is a priority. It's just a priority that can't break the Meisdoes Chabad. There's a ksavyat over here that I found in Derhar. There's the ksavyat. We're also gonna see it on the screen. Uh, this is-- I think we have up here who it is. It's a handwritten letter to Reb Mulazimof about arranging a group to come from France to the Rebbe for Tishrei. The Rebbe says, "Only if the following conditions can be met." First of all, somebody needs to take care of them while they're staying. You can't just show up in Crown Heights for

17:05 Speaker 1 Tishrei and expect everybody to take you in and feed you. It's not fair. Don't come unless you have arrangements for somebody to take care of you. Uh, second, they have to promise, whoever wants to come here, they have to promise as far as they can tell that coming will increase their observance of Torah and mitzvahs. If you're going to have a better Tishrei outside of Crown Heights, don't come. The whole point is Torah and mitzvahs, and there isn't an inyun to go have a terrible Rosh Hashanah, have a terrible Yom Kippur, and a terrible Sukkot and say, "Well, I was there." That's not the way it works. It has to increase your observance of Torah and mitzvahs. Three, they have to not get big debts from the trip. It used to be very expensive to go. It still can be for a lot of people. It shouldn't be a whole lot of debt. And if all these things are met, these three conditions, then it should be There's another condition I found which I just found a little humorous that I do wanna show you for the, uh, for the thrill of it. And that is, I don't know when this came out. This is printed in Mikdash Melech, so I don't know what year it was. But whatever year it was, the, uh, the maskirus had to remind people they weren't allowed to break the law to come visit the Rebbe for Tisha. So it says, " They should be self-understood of All people

18:05 Speaker 1 wanna visit the Rebbe for Tisha They have to be very careful. as much as they can. They have to be very careful when they enter the country and leave the country, or when they enter the area and ar-leave the area, not to break any rules. No breaking the law. You're not allowed to break the laws of the country you're leaving, nor America. Don't-- There, there is a kind of philosophy, and it's not our fault we have this philosophy. We come from Soviet Russia, right? There's an idea that you have to, uh, that you have to break all barriers to visit the Rebbe. The Rebbe's saying, "Not in America. Don't break all barriers to visit me here. Don't break the law." Uh, and they give him the tourists then. I think that has to do with tourists, right? Make sure not to make a Not to make a Don't break into the country. Don't break laws while you're here. Keep the laws while you're here. The, uh, maskirus had to put this out. and look at that. I only-- I'll only-- Your, your visit is only ratze. Your visit is only desirable to the Rebbe. You're not breaking any laws to be here. So we have a couple interesting, uh, ideas, I think, about visiting the Rebbe for Tisha. One is that it's amazing milo. We explained why. We said that it's an inyan of Aliyah L'regel. We also said from this letter over here that it's an inyan of, um, of Mekubal Panim Raba. We

19:17 Speaker 1 also said that it's an inyan of teaching yourself to have a spiritual yishchachaveh. There's a lot of advantages to going to the Rebbe for Tisha. However, there are rules. One of the rules are you can't hurt the institution that you're leaving. I'm sure this doesn't just apply to and just apply to of Chinuch. You also have to ask your-- You also have to ask or I think probably with the ask some friends or other people whether leaving your community is going to damage your community. This is a question, that you're not allowed to go to the Rebbe and take away from the community that you're in if it's going to truly damage. At the same time, don't forget the message down here. Don't be too hard on people. As long as the place isn't gonna break without them, let them go. Uh, we have from the that there are a couple other conditions. You can't throw yourself on the and expect other people to take care of you. You have to make arrangements for your stay. You have to promise that it's going to cause an increase in Torah and mitzvahs to be there. It's not just an inyan to be there, it's an inyan to become better because you were there. And of course, not to get incredible debt. The final thing that we saw is that no one is allowed to break the law to visit the Rebbe. They have to keep the laws of the, of the Medina, laws of America, I

20:11 Speaker 1 assume local laws as well. And otherwise, their trip is Chas V'Shalom not ratze. And, uh, that is more or less, uh, visiting the Rebbe for Tisha. Questions, comments?

20:28 Speaker 3 I do find it interesting that if the Rebbe's gonna compare it in a few places to Aliyah L'regel, that s-- that he would put so many restrictions on it, right? So if Aliyah L-

20:37 Speaker 1 Yeah

20:37 Speaker 3 And, and not only that, in the, in the the Rebbe doesn't say a person shouldn't, shouldn't go to death. He says they shouldn't go to That means it would be a regular maybe it would. Like, it puts a person in death, fine, just don't go into You know, don't get-- don't, don't, don't bury yourself in it. But, but you don't see in these places where the Rebbe's putting the, the restrictions that the Rebbe is also talking about how necessary it is, right? Even to the he's not saying like, "Listen, even though it's Aliyah L'regel and you have a blah, blah, blah, still you're-- you, you should be careful that the place doesn't fall apart." He's basically asking very straight up, "Listen, you wanna come, gezunt aheit, but just make sure you that, that, that the place doesn't fall apart." And it's interesting that you would think that if it's such a strong thing, the Aliyah L'regel, then why wouldn't that override some of these conditions?

21:21 Speaker 1 It's a really good point.

21:24 Speaker 3 Wow, it's interesting. So it's like almost like it is, but it isn't. It's like, I guess if you could make it, then you have the advantage of Aliyah L'regel. If you can't make it because of the conditions, it's not so bad, I guess. I don't know.

21:35 Speaker 1 Well, to who wanted to go to the Rebbe for Tisha, the Rebbe would often write back something along the lines of, "If you're on my I'm with you." And of course, that would give all of the advantages of Aliyah L'regel. You're visiting your Rebbe because in your place the Rebbe is with you. You get the spiritual yishchachaveh. You're in a shul and the Rebbe is in the shul with you because you're a . Therefore, you're in a shul with his base . You did Aliyah L'regel. You could answer that the, uh, that the idea is that people who are not supposed to come for one of the Rebbe's reasons are fully fulfilling Aliyah L'regel. But you're right, it's very interesting then the letters where he places restrictions, he doesn't counterbalance them with the incredible, with the incredible advantage. It's very strange.

22:08 Speaker 3 Because in a lot of cases when the Rebbe does write this, he does do a counterbalance. He does usually s-- he would say like, "These are the advantages. However, even though these are the advantages, this is the reasons why I think it shouldn't be," or whatever