אלמנות חיילים

00:01 Speaker 1 This is Igress. Today, we are looking at a letter that was written on Vov Chesvan of Taf Shin Lamed Daled exactly fifty years ago, give or take. Is it exactly? What's today? You're, uh, you're muted, but I think you said daled with your-

00:14 Speaker 2 It's daled. Daled, daled.

00:15 Speaker 1 Daled. We're close to Vov Chesvan. We're close. We're close. I just, uh, I just say whatever tillim is on my phone from Sha Sheels app, so I never know what day it is. This is a shameless plug for Sha Sheels app. Okay. The letter is Yud Tav Tav Kuf Peh He. The date on the letter is Vov Chesvan Taf Shin Lamed Daled, and it's a very short letter that has enormous story behind it and many, many other letters behind it, so we are really going to jump into an entire inyan from here, but it's a very short letter. And the cool thing about this very short letter is that we have the original Ktav Yad. It's printed in the front of the, um, in the front of our volume. So if you wanna see that on the screen, I'm just putting that on the screen right here. The central Yeshivat Temche Temim had written to the Rebbe. This is, uh, Rebbe Wolf had written to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe put his notes, and you can actually-- in this case, the Rebbe's handwriting is sometimes a little hard to read or sometimes a little small. Here, the Rebbe wrote in big letters. For-- so, so for those of you who are not listening and are looking at the screen, you can actually see what we're about to read right here as notes on the letter with the exclamation points and the question marks. You see them over there? We're gonna see those with the fifty

01:12 Speaker 1 percent. Okay, let me read the letter before we, uh, before we, uh, get excited about the Ktav Yad. The letter says, number one, "B'midan mach g'delem, fifty percent me-chol tz'os m'kan." So when it comes for the greatest, for the greatest expenses, I want fifty percent of the cost to come out of my office. And number two, "Miv'tzah ha-manes tichyu? What about helping the widows?" Question mark, question, question mark, exclamation point, exclamation point. So what's going on here? What is going on here? Uh, there's a little note at the bottom. I was able to find a little more context than what's in our note, so I'll tell you what I know. Uh, about a week after the ceasefire, after the Yom Kippur War, Rebbe Efraim Wolf, uh, wrote to the Rebbe that Chassidim throughout Eretz Yisrael were involved in-- uh, they were visiting the wounded, they were visiting the families of the wounded, they were visiting the families of the dead, Rachmanah Leitzlan, to, uh, to lift their spirits and to do mitzvot and to do mitzvahs with them. And so he said that, uh, Rebbe Wolf wrote to the Rebbe that people were hired, they were making rounds in the major hospitals every day. There were long lines of soldiers who were injured, who wanted to put on tefillin. It was going very well. And he wrote this doch to the Rebbe explaining that everything's going very well, so-- very well. So the Rebbe told-- not, not going very well, but you know, the, the

02:13 Speaker 1 initiative is going very well to reach these injured soldiers, the wounded soldiers, the families of the soldiers, Rachmanah Leitzlan, who died. He wrote to the Rebbe saying that it was working pretty well. So the Rebbe said, "First of all, uh, when it comes to the total budget, I want to pay for half of it." That's our first line up here. When it comes to the budget itself, half of it should come from the Rebbe's office. This is an enormous-- the Rebbe frequently would send, uh, like a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars toward initiatives he supported, but very rarely does the Rebbe say he wants to support all or half of an initiative. The Rebbe wants to support half of this initiative, but the Rebbe believes the initiative is lacking. Look at that line down there. "What about the widows? You told me that you're doing mitzvah with the injured soldiers. You told me that you're reaching out to the families to raise the spirits of the dead soldiers, but I wanna know what you're doing about the widows specifically." I don't know if Rebbe Wolf answered, but I do know what happened after the Rebbe sent this letter, and, uh, we're going to tell that story right now. So the Rebbe's involvement with, uh, with widows of soldiers who die, Al Kidush Hashem, uh, went back far before the Yom Kippur War. Unfortunately, there were quite a few in the Six Day War. And the Rebbe first became, as far as I can tell, very

03:15 Speaker 1 involved in helping widows after a war, after the Six Day War. This letter, I don't believe it's published in Igress. I found it in Iskashrus, and a few people have put it in other places. It's, uh, it's around the internet. You'll find it, I think, uh, I think, um, Der Herr put it out in English. I, I don't know if this letter is in Igress, but this is a letter from the Rebbe. The Rebbe-- this actually came from the Beis Din HaChacham, but it was obviously from the Rebbe and was written to, uh, to Agudath Israel. So the Rebbe wrote to this to them immediately after the Six Day War. It's on your screen. Maybe I should make it a little bigger so you don't have to squint. Everything's slow. Oh, now it's blurry. Okay. Kadasi. Okay. "Asher b'sech ha-manes ha-mechames nimtzes k'shim nischarim u-bales." The Rebbe says, "Among those women who are amanus, who are widows after the Six Day War, I've read that about sixty of them are pregnant." This is the Rebbe s-- Rebbe talking. "B'ne, im am namken adavar," if this is true, because the Rebbe doesn't know if this is true. He read this. "Par elush li al diben tayim asitas leila b'shatav u'metsachas b'karav." First of all, he gives a bracha that those who have not given birth yet are going to have it, are going to have children, "b'shatav u'metsachas b'karav." All of these babies are going to be okay. "Ve'asher yadua shematz ogzed derish b'koach v'yeser." And

04:18 Speaker 1 this requires particular care. "Hein b'mash negeh liya ledes atzma v'led achaneh led." They're going-- these women are gonna need help after they give birth, and the newborns are going to need help after they come out. "Veheim mash negeh besidah abayas," and also when it comes to arranging the house. "Veashkach al shari lad mashich yochil." They're gonna need help watching the other kids. They're gonna need help taking care of their homes. They're not gonna have their husbands, unfortunately. "Hamashi kemubam machbid b'yeser sheein b'bayis a bav v'eav." The thing that will, of course, be the greatest stress on the household is that there will not be a husband and there won't be a father. "Asher l'chen betach tiseru es es tumas levan shel elum n'shei Chabad ha'ez kis mikfar bez es amanus anal." Then I want you to get involved with, uh, n'shei Chabad, with women who in the past have been involved in helping widows, obviously not war widows, just regular widows. I want you, says, uh, the Rebbe was saying to Agud, I want you to reach out to, uh, women among n'shei Chabad who are normally involved in helping with these sorts of things and direct their energies toward the widows of those who died Al Kidush Hashem in the Six Day War. "She's yam nitakev matzah." There, they should look into this immediately. Um, "Techsenah eitzes ech vezebesim yisbarach asadas inyan anal b'chitayov." And they should give a-- they should give advice. The Rebbe is not saying exactly how to help the widows.

05:23 Speaker 1 The Rebbe is saying, "I want the people, the women specifically, women in Chabad who are normally involved, the n'shei Chabad who are normally involved in helping widows, I want them to propose what might work with God's help to help these widows and their newborn children or their soon-to-be-born children." "Muvne ilach," the Rebbe says it is self-understood. "Ki sheyoldu narim yezer, yezer tach, tach," excuse me, "n'seagam besider bas Mila v'yasudah sheye b'chol hider v'simcha." The Rebbe says when these boys-- when the-- when these children are born, as for the boys, they're gonna need a Bris Mila, and the Bris Mila should not be a small affair because this widow is sad or because this widow can't afford it. That he wants Tach to be involved in arranging the Bris Mila and arranging a big suda, making sure that all of the hiddurim are followed and incredible simcha is present there. When these kids are born, Tach is supposed to take care of the Bris Mila. "Ve'azirus v'amsus v'sider technes anal" when it comes to, uh, alacrity and hard work, uh, when in arranging these things. "Darsh v'yesim leiv lazash v'makim ugan shalom anus v'puz b'chol ha'aretz." One thing to remember, the Rebbe says, is that these women are not all in one place. These are not all just far Chabad families. Excuse me, there are widows everywhere. And since there are widows everywhere, excuse me. We're going to need people, we're gonna need agents in all of the major cities all over Eretz Israel taking care

06:30 Speaker 1 of the widows from the war wherever they might be. So we see here the Rebbe's incredible concern for the widows. This is of course long before our letter. This is from the Six Day War, so like six years before our letter at least. Uh, Chof Ches to Lamed Dalet. That's two-- Yeah, six years. This is six years before the letter that we read. But we see that after the Six Day War, the Rebbe was very invested in making sure that the widows were taken care of. Now, did anybody listen to the Rebbe? Uh, the answer to that question this year is usually no. Usually, the Rebbe asks us for something and everybody ignores him. In this case, I am proud to report, happy to report that this was not the case. In this case, they did listen to the Rebbe. Um, some representative from Tzach, I don't know who, decided to approach, uh, Shifra Marozov. Now, Shifra Marozov is her own story. Uh, she's written at length about her story with helping the widows. Uh, and the problem was, or the tragedy of it all was that Shifra Marozov was particularly well-suited for this role because she was a widow herself from the Six Day War. Her husband, uh, Reb Dovid Marozov, he was married-- he was murdered, excuse me. He was murdered on, um, Lamed Sivan, uh, by the Suez Canal from Egyptian fire. They just had a baby. He came home for the bris, I believe, and then he went back out to

07:32 Speaker 1 fight. It was, uh, it was the aftermath of the Six Day War. He went back out, he went back out to fight, and, uh, he was, and he was killed. Um, the, uh, Dovid Marozov was an eynikl of Chaim Marozov, and he was fairly-- and he was-- his-- he and his family were close with the Rebbe. I, I read that Reb Yomen Klein did not know how to convey that Reb Dovid Marozov had died to the Rebbe. He didn't know how to tell him. So he apparently left it on a top of a pile. He came in with the letters that day and put on top of the letter pile the terrible news and put the pile in front of the Rebbe and just kind of stood there. Reb Yomen Klein says the Rebbe stared at the pile for a long time and wouldn't move, and eventually Reb Yomen Klein walked away. So the Rebbe was deeply, uh, was deeply hurt by this. This is very apparent from a farbrengen the Rebbe gave right afterward. He mentioned at the farbrengen afterward that an eynikl of Chaim Marozov, who was himself Mesire Nefesh, uh, Al Kiddush Hashem, uh, was himself killed Al Kiddush, Al Kiddush Hashem. And as he said, Hashem Yikom Damov, he said that he-- that, uh, Dovid Marozov, uh, his, his family should build a, should build a Bayis Nehem BeYisrael, that he's going to have Olam Haba, that his children are gonna be okay. He gave a lot of brachos, said Tzidk’u

08:30 Speaker 1 V’Tzir’chu Chayim, that my master, Adoni, should be Tzidk’u V’Tzir’chu Chayim. That was the lashon in the sefer. The Rebbe spoke very strongly about, uh, about Reb Dovid Marozov's death. Uh, so Shifra Marozov was the widow who Reb Dovid Marozov left behind, and the, uh-- and after this letter was sent to, was sent to, uh, Tzach in, in, uh, in Eretz Israel, uh, they went to her. They said, "Hey, you're one of these widows that the Rebbe wants to reach, and you're also a prominent member of N shei Chabad. Would you be interested in leading this initiative?" Uh, so she took over. She, for twenty-two years, ran the initiative out of, uh, Kfar Chabad to take care of widows. She merited incredible kedumim from the Rebbe. The Rebbe spent a lot of time talking to her, helping her with this task, uh, fielding requests from her to answer questions or to help out the widows. The Rebbe was deeply involved, and she writes at length about the Rebbe's involvement. She, uh-- I did-- I have in my notes here, I did wanna mention this. It's kinda creepy, but we like, we, we like a little creepy. She says later on she noticed that the letter that she received from the Rebbe as a beracha for her son's birth, you know, when people-- when children are born, the Rebbe would write a letter. She had two daughters before these sons, and that always had, had the same nosach as every other letter. It's a very traditional nosach.

09:35 Speaker 1 The Rebbe says, "You and your wife should, uh, raise your children Torat Chaim Umesorat Emes." The Rebbe's go-to letter. She noticed that in the Rebbe's letter to her about raising the son that her husband would never get to raise with her, the Rebbe says, "You should merit to raise your son Torat Chaim Umesorat Emes." It doesn't mention and your wife. So the Rebbe-- the letter could be read as a letter directly to the mother, not including the father and, uh, that as far as I know, never shows up in any other letter. So just a, a side note. Uh, anyway, she took over. Um, one of the major things they did were Hanukkah parties. The Rebbe funded some of those Hanukkah parties. He at least would send hundred-dollar bills every now and then to help fund the Hanukkah part-- the Hanukkah parties. The Bar Mitzvah initiative is one that people are probably somewhat familiar with. Uh, they decided to do Bar, Bar Mitzvahs for all of these boys, Bar Mitzvahs for all of the children of soldiers who had died Al Kiddush Hashem. They made these giant Bar Mitzvahs. Uh, they were, I think, in Tel Aviv. They rented out these big halls that were given to them by, by, by local authorities. Uh, everybody in Eretz Israel got involved in this project. I believe, uh, the president of Israel at one point showed up to speak at one of them. At least I think a prime minister showed up at some point. The Bar

10:33 Speaker 1 Mitzvahs were very prominent. They also started a, uh, Shabbos candles campaign, a Nashim campaign, and the Rebbe, when he heard the candle holders would be difficult to purchase, offered to pay entirely for the candle holders for these aumanas. For all of the Bar Mitzvahs that were arranged, the Rebbe would send a letter, sort of a form letter, and the letter was more or less the same every time, and I found in, uh, his kashrus what that letter would look like. So the Rebbe would send each of these boys, each of these orphans whose fathers had died Al Kiddush Hashem in the military, excuse me. "You should cause great real nefesh ruach to your father. Hashem Yikom Damov, may his blood be avenged. Hashem El MehaEmes Vehu Nimtza, right now he's found in the world of truth, and from there, Mashgiach Venasa Yimi Ledav, he's watching over what happens to his children. excuse me. He gets incredible eineg from the way that they act when they act good. He rejoices with a great joy when he sees that they are going from strength to strength, Terat Mehein Terat Memis in our Torah, the Torah of truth, Umitzvasa, and in mitzvahs." So this was the Six Day War, and, uh, the Rebbe-

11:41 Speaker 2 Was that in addition to the traditional, um, Bar Mitzvah letter, or was it sep-- was a separate letter?

11:46 Speaker 1 I mean, uh, you-- I, I believe this was the-- I actually don't-- I, I don't know the answer.

11:50 Speaker 2 Oh, uh, it looks like what-- it looks like it was a general telegram to the group.

11:56 Speaker 1 Right. I don't know if they also received the traditional Bar Mitzvah letters in addition to this, but this was definitely a-- this was definitely an addition where he would tell them specifically about their fathers who had died Al Kiddush Hashem who are watching them. It's a good question. It's possible he also sent the traditional greeting to some of them. I, I don't know. In any event, just a moment, I don't wanna miss anything in my notes. A lot of history here, not a lot of reading today, so we don't wanna miss important things Uh, in her first yechidas with the Rebbe after she was assigned this role, she brought letters from 40 almanas. She brought letters from 40 widows, uh, who wanted to write to the Rebbe about various concerns. The Rebbe, first of all, decided he was going to respond to each of them individually. So the Rebbe took it upon himself to respond individually to every almana that she brought him, and sometimes he would give a check, sometimes he would give a check from his own accounts if he felt they needed money, and he often would propose, uh, interesting cures for some of their children's diseases. Some of them that were definitely a little bit on the spiritual side. At one point, the Rebbe suggested a certain syrup from a certain tree that cured a kid. So the Rebbe was very involved in these almanas. Um, Shifra Morozov says that the Rebbe also, very strange, the Rebbe would always refer to

12:56 Speaker 1 women as Mrs. or s- or something like that, Mrs. Rebbetzin. He, uh, he never referred to her that way. He always called her Shifra. She says the Rebbe had a very close relationship with her and would call her Shifra, almost like a father, or very much like a father. Uh, one of the letters that these almana-- that one of these almanas sent to the Rebbe, we have a copy of from the Avner Institute in English. I looked to see if it existed in Hebrew. I suspect it does, because this is almost certainly to an Israeli woman who would speak-- this was certainly to an Israeli woman who would have spoken, uh, Hebrew as her first language. But the version I found was in English. We have the letter she wrote to the Rebbe, and we have the letter the Rebbe wrote back to her. The letter she wrote to the Rebbe, I don't know if we have to read all of it, but it is a-- it's, it's a hard letter to read. She says that Hashem was with them during this very difficult time. They stood strong, but this commitment and sacrifice to every victory, and my husband gave up his life al kedosh Hashem. I'm now a widow. I have no father for my children. It's hard for me to educate them and bring them up properly. It's hard to stand alone in a big world without, without help. My children are proud, so I have questions I wanna ask. And she says

13:50 Speaker 1 she's relaying her children's questions to the Rebbe. She says, "I have one daughter who's seven years old and a boy who's five years old. How do I explain that their father's death came through Mesiras Nefesh to Hashem's will? And my son's asking me, 'Mother, when Mashiach comes, the dead will come back and then Tati will come back, so why doesn't Mashiach come now?' Uh, how do I answer these questions? In my eyes, these questions, which are so fundamental, may have an effect on my children's beliefs and thoughts. It will be a tremendous honor if the Rebbe can answer." So this is one of the widows that the Rebbe took under his wing, writing really, really, uh, painful questions to the Rebbe. And here's the Rebbe's answer. Again, this is in English, and I'm almost certain the original is in Hebrew, but I couldn't find it. "In regards to the questions the children are asking, which you are writing to me about, explain to them the way, the way it is in truth. Tell them the truth, that there are souls that are so pure and holy that God wants them to be in the heavens after they've completed their mission in this world and guarded over all the sons of Israel who live in Eretz Israel. In the heavens, they intercede for all their relatives and loved ones, especially for their children, and they ask from Hashem that their children succeed in studies and conduct. When their children conduct themselves properly, that is the biggest

14:49 Speaker 1 pleasure that the soul can have, that it remains alive and existing." This answer actually sounds very much like the letters that the Rebbe wrote to bar mitzvah boys. So the Rebbe has a, a theme here. But anyway, this is one example of the Rebbe's many correspondences with widows after the Six Day War. And after the Yom Kippur War, Tzach figured the Rebbe would want a similar initiative, and they didn't know exactly what to do. They had an idea that maybe they should have, uh, Shifra Morozov again man the fort, and Shifra Morozov would be in charge of a round-the-clock hotline. That was their idea, that you could call her twenty-four hours and get chizzok, get some of her guidance from her previous experience dealing with widows and the Rebbe. And they wrote to the Rebbe with her consent, of course, saying, "Do you think this is a good idea?" And the Rebbe said, "No, Shifra needs to sleep." So he did not want her manning a twenty-four-hour hotline. Uh, nonetheless, she did continue her role helping with the widows. Uh, and as we see here in our letter today, circling all the way back to the beginning of this year, when, uh, when the, um, when Chabad in Eretz Israel reached out to the Rebbe and said, "We're doing a lot of good work," the Rebbe said, "Don't forget." We see it over here now in the Kesav Yad. What about the almanas? Don't forget the almanas. This was always a concern of the Rebbe,

15:49 Speaker 1 something the Rebbe took very seriously during the Six Day War, that he continued pushing through the Yom Kippur War, and of course, something that unfortunately the situation we find ourselves in now needs to be a top priority, uh, taking care of any of the widows who, Rachmanu Liitzlan, have come out of the most recent, most recent war. Okay. Ending a little bit early today, I think, but, uh, that's all I have to tell you. Questions, comments?

16:14 Speaker 3 No questions. I just think this is very, very touching, this whole, this whole, um... First of all, besides the fact that it's incredibly relevant, and I'm sure that Tzach is, uh, gonna get to work what they need to do, unfortunately, as this, uh, war continues, but it's, it's, it's very touching. But interesting the Rebbe doesn't answer the second question in the woman's letter about Mashiach.

16:35 Speaker 1 I didn't notice that. You're right.

16:37 Speaker 3 Unless it's there and it's just not excerpted here or translated here, but it doesn't seem like there's an answer to that question of why doesn't Mashiach come right now.

16:50 Speaker 1 I certainly don't know why Mashiach doesn't come right now