סיפורו של מכון חנה

00:01 Speaker 1 This is Igerus, and the letter that we're looking at today is from exactly fifty years ago. Actually, I have no idea. It's from Cheiref, from sometime in the winter of Taf Shin Lamed Daled. We don't have the date exactly, but in our book, in our volume of Igerus, which is volume twenty-nine, it is exactly fifty years ago. And, uh, it's a list of the Rebbe answering questions. The Rebbe does this sometimes in letters where instead of writing back, he'll address multiple points in the letter, and you need the context below the line to figure out what's going on. So you see here, the Rebbe has six points, and one of them, point number four, is the word Machon Chana. This was in fact the day that Machon Chana opened officially. This was the founding of Machon Chana. It officially opened on the-- in the winter of Taf Shin Lamed Daled, and therefore, we're going to look at this letter, but only after a little bit of context and a broader discussion about the founding of Machon Chana, what it, what it is, what it was, uh, and the Rebbe's incredible interest, uh, and incredible focus on making sure that it happened exactly the way that he wanted it to. Uh, Machon Chana briefly is a Baal Teshuva yeshiva, right? I mean, that's the, the briefest explanation of it, is it's a, uh, it's an, it's a-- it exists today. It's still very successful. They have a beautiful website. Uh, they have tons of teachers, and

01:04 Speaker 1 I recognize almost all of their names . So a lot of the people that we know that work in other institutions also work there. Now, the Rebbe was deeply involved in the founding of Machon Chana. Uh, the idea originally goes back to the summer of nineteen seventy-three, and it started really at Camp Emunah with, uh, Rabbi Yanky Yehuda Hecht, that they were doing a program at the camp at the time, and it was successful enough that there started to be a discussion about maybe making a full-time institution for women's education, specifically women's education for women who, uh, who were not yet frum or not yet exposed to a lot of Torah. So, uh, this started at Camp Emunah in nineteen seventy-three, and in Elul of Taf Shin Lamed Gimel, we didn't read this letter. At least I don't think we read this letter. If we did, it was in some other context. In Elul of Taf Shin Lamed Gimel, a group of women who were interested in starting Machon Chana in Crown Heights wrote to the Rebbe asking for his advice, and the Rebbe wrote back. This letter is Yud Tet Taf Tet Ches, and it is from the Yud Beis Elul of Taf Shin Lamed Gimel, and the Rebbe writes back, resembling now in response to all the things that you mentioned. When it comes to, uh, when it comes to how you are to set up this place in Crown Heights, what should it be like? You can't get away with the things

02:07 Speaker 1 you get away with, with bachurim, you know? Bachurim are used to, uh... When I, when I was in yeshiva, I slept on a, uh, I slept on a, um, a, uh, bed, bed frame without a mattress for, like, six months. It's not gonna work for the girls. Says, all expansiveness when it comes to the building, when it comes to the, uh, when it comes to learning, when it comes to the places they'll be living, needs to be. And it's, uh, not just ..., it's also . It's not just worthwhile, it's also completely necessary. Pressing. Which exactly, which kind of house to buy for the building. The Rebbe's classic answer to any practical question about how to do something in Gashmius is talk to experts in Gashmius. So find out, talk to some experts, people who understand these sorts of things, which building would make the most sense to buy. And the Rebbe says, "Don't just trust people on their word. You should go visit the building, make sure that it's a house that you're actually going to want." The Rebbe says, "I also want this to be the spirit of the entire mosad in both quality and quantity." Uh, and that is referring to the thing that he mentioned above, that the entire building, that the entire mosad, that the entire institution should be . It should be expansive, and that this isn't just a good idea, this is . It's necessary that this be an expansive project, a big project, a beautiful project. The

03:23 Speaker 1 Rebbe says, "I also want you to look into," I think. Yes. "Credits and programs." The Rebbe says, "I'd also like you to get some, um..." What's the word I'm looking for here? Uh, um, like official recognition. There's a word. Accreditation. The Rebbe wants accreditation. The Rebbe wants this place to be accredited by some sort of government or outside, outside group. He'd like it to be for credit, that people can get college credits for it. There should be programs that are officially recognized. Uh, again, a form of specifically attached to Machon Chana. The Rebbe says there's a good chance that a lot of the things we're talking about, this path has already been cleared by Hadara Terra, the Baal Teshuva Yeshiva for boys that had been opened much earlier. We can probably learn from, uh, we can learn from the, um, the difficulties they went through. Maybe also learn from or maybe from their experience. We can also learn from their connections, maybe. So definitely talk to Hadara Terra about founding this school. If the connection with Rav Hecht over the summer in the camps did succeed, and as we mentioned, this was in fact the founding of, uh, Machon Chana, was going back to the summer camps. Maybe we should increase in that too. Especially when it comes to the and the , when it comes to the, uh, the costs of the, the things you're gonna have to buy, and also when it comes to the accreditation. There's certainly many things that Hadara Terra

04:44 Speaker 1 is doing that would function as a, a candle for one is a candle for a hundred. An expression I think that goes back to a Gemara. But in any event, yeah, it's in Shabbos, but it's also a very logical expression that a person who gets light from one candle, that one candle can also give light to a hundred people. There are some things that are just fungible. You can pass around, uh, responsibilities and connections and things like that. So if things are already being taken care of by Hadara Terra, and it doesn't cost them any extra to help you too, you should borrow stuff from them. You also should do things, uh, in the direction that Hadara Terra did in personis when it comes to things like PR. Uh, do things like Hadara Terra did it 'cause it worked for them. The Rebbe says, "I also want you to think about," uh, connected to , which is the, uh, the, the, the Rebbe Tzin Chana's yard site. Uh, I want you to think about the fact that, uh, exactly how the campaign should go in Ruchnius and in Gashmius and in both of them. To find an expert who's going to work in this. Maybe somebody who can bring it into action. Also, maybe somebody who can organize it. You can really see what the possibilities, the greatest possibilities might be in Gashmius and in Ruchnius. So again, the Rebbe wants experts involved. It would make sense to borrow money in order to put together

06:00 Speaker 1 this, uh, this organization. Certainly, it's going to pay back and that's easy to understand. So the Rebbe was very invested in getting a good Vaad together, in paying to get a good Vaad together, and paying to get the ground-- school off the ground or taking out loans to get the school off the ground. Now, since everything I mentioned, I mentioned a lot of things. Look, the Rebbe did give them a lot of different things they're supposed to do. Yeah, we've learned a lot of letters together. I don't recall the Rebbe ever giving anybody this many instructions in a single letter. So the Rebbe says, I told you to do a lot of things like The Rebbe says, "It would make sense for you to add more people to your Vaad. You're gonna need more people involved in this to take care, delegate some of these responsibilities ." And I remember that we did-- May-maybe the reason why we read this letter in the past was for that line 'cause we did a whole Shiur on Tshuva B'rabiei. So that's possible 'cause I know some of these words sound familiar to me. The Rebbe says, as he does in many of his letters, that it makes a good sense to have a nice big Vaad who gives you a lot of advice because salvation comes through much counsel. And the Rebbe says he will mention it by the Ohel. So two months later, they'd done a lot of the things the Rebbe told them to do.

07:02 Speaker 1 I have some notes. Yeah. Two months later, they'd done just about everything the Rebbe told them to do as Hashfon of and they wrote to the Rebbe again. And they wrote to the Rebbe, if you look down here, to announce that they had opened Machon Chana, which is just incredible really, because we've, uh, we've been together for a while. We've done now, I think, uh, almost a year of this, uh, a few times a week every week. Uh, have you ever seen something work this quickly before? I have not. That is that they, they wrote to the Rebbe asking how to do something. The Rebbe told them how to do it, and you have to remember Tishrei is in the middle. So this is in the middle of Elul. Tishrei is basically a dead month for activity. In, uh, in, in, in what amounts to about a month, they got the message together. So they wrote to the Rebbe saying they were opening the uh, based on the Rebbe's, on the Rebbe's mother's name. So, uh, they had it-- They, it, it was in action already. So, uh, this is, this is, um, It says that I happen to know it was Hashfon They wrote to the Rebbe with a few questions. The first thing was that they announced it was open. The Rebbe says Thank you very much. Thank you very much on the good news. They asked the Rebbe in this next note, uh, what way to raise money, what sort of, uh,

08:06 Speaker 1 fundraising strategies to use. And the Rebbe says two things, Look for things that are easy and look for things that are practical. It has to be an eas-- the easiest way that is practical is the way to raise money. When it came to point number three, they said that they wanted to start some classes in the afternoon for Bal Teshuvahs who already have families or have jobs and aren't gonna be able to leave their families to go study until the afternoon. The Rebbe says That's a great idea. Don't have classes running only during hours that people who are single or don't have other responsibilities or jobs can do things. Make a night school. That's a great idea. They then wrote to the Rebbe saying they wanted to name it after his mother, but they didn't know which name to use. They gave him two options. They said that it could be Beis Chana or Machon Chana. And the Rebbe circled the words Machon Chana. We don't know why. The Rebbe never explained why he wanted Machon instead of Beis as far as I know, but, uh, he did choose Machon Chana over Beis Chana. The Rebbe says I don't think that's in response to anything in particular. And then he has one more note. The Rebbe wants them learning Halacha every single day. especially since not everybody comes every day. So he wants to make sure that in the curriculum, every single day at Machon Chana, there is a Halacha class because that guarantees that

09:09 Speaker 1 even the people who don't come every single day will get some Halacha on the days that they do come. Okay. Um, they opened their programs already then, but the school did not officially have a building until significantly later, which does make a little bit more sense. Uh, the building was not ready. They finally bought a building on Thirteen sixty-seven President Street in Shevat and on Tu B'Shevat, on Chamisha Shevat, they brought this information to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe was involved. The Rebbe on, on Sheva Chamisha Shevat, he went to the Ohel first, and after the Ohel, he went to Mincha, and after Mincha, he did-- there was Mincha, and there was Maariv. After Maariv, there was a Farbrengen, and then after the Farbrengen, the Rebbe went to visit the new building. And there's a-- It's recorded in a Yuman. This is just a great story. It's recorded in a Yuman. I don't know who the source of the Yuman is. It's from one of the Tlimim, exactly what happened and how the Rebbe ended up visiting the building. Uh, he visited it in the dark with a flashlight 'cause they didn't have electricity up yet. It's quite a story. So after the Farbrengens on your screen, after the Farbrengen of Tu B'Shevat, Rebbe, he has a share about how Machon Chana got started. Yeah. Machon what? Um, so after the Farbrengen, which was on Chamisha Shevat, it was about, uh, nine forty at night when this, when this, when this Farbrengen ended. So the

10:30 Speaker 1 he walked into the Rebbe's room, and the Rebbe spoke to him about Machon Chana, and then the Rebbe went to go look for keys to the building. He asked for keys to the building for Machon Chana, and he said to him, uh, "I'm giving them back to you. I'm giving them back to you as a gift." I guess they'd given the Rebbe the keys. He's now returning them as a gift. So he said, "I want you to go open the door of the new building." Rav Yaakov Yisroel Hecht said to the Rebbe that there's no, there's no electricity in the building. The Rebbe said, "Great. Bring a flashlight." So Yaakov, Yaakov Yisroel Hecht, um, he also said it's not clean in there. They haven't cleaned the place up. And the Rebbe said back, "That's not so important. I don't mind. We can go even though it's dirty and even though there's no electricity." Before they left the Rebbe's holy room, the Rebbe said to him, uh, "You should also bring your-- You should, you should also bring your winter coat because it's gonna be cold outside." If you, if you know a little bit, a little bit about the Rebbe's relationship with, uh, with Rabbi Hecht, you can imagine this being said in a very fatherly tone. Um, when they finally did visit, when they got to the building, the Rebbe went into Machon Chana. He checked all three floors of the building in every single room. So the Rebbe walked into every room on

11:26 Speaker 1 every floor, and when he went down, he asked where the library was, and they brought him to the library. On the library, there was a table, and he put down a, uh, Siddur, a Tfila Matanya, a Keser Shem Tov, and a Magid Dvar of the Yakiv, and also a Tzedaka Poshka. These are things the Rebbe been demanding for the-- for prev-- during many previous Farbrengens. And then after that, he said to Rav Hecht, that it should all be in a good time and a successful time. and he gave him five hundred dollars as to make Kadima, as a way to start off the, uh, the fundraising and the efforts that they would be doing there. After that, he turned to Mrs. Goldstein and Mrs. Levkovsky, uh, who were going to-- who were involved in, um... They were the ones who came up with the idea for Machon Chana. I believe Mrs. Levkovsky continued, continued and continues to run the institution. And she-- and said to them-- he said to both of them mazel tov. And he also gave each of-- he gave, uh, Mrs. Levkovsky, he gave her four hundred dollars, and, uh, single dollars. It must've been like a pile. Uh, and he told her to take two dollars, one for her and one for tzedakah, and also to give each of the students two dollars, one for each student and one for tzedakah. So this was the Rebbe's visit to Machon Chana, uh, where he walked the entire building in the dark with

12:31 Speaker 1 a flashlight, checked out the library, and put down some books. I have one more letter to show you, and then a little bit of story, and then we can talk. Right after this visit, the Rebbe sent this letter to Mrs. Gurari, but he didn't really just send it to Mrs. Gurari. I don't know why they put this up here, because if you look below the line, it's very deceptive. Uh, So this was sent to Mrs. Hecht, this was sent to Mrs. Levkovsky, this was sent to Mrs. Katzman, this was sent to Mrs. Klein. It was also a version of it was sent to several men. It was sent to Rabbi Hecht, it was sent to Rabbi-- Is that, uh, Avraham Pari-Paris? Is that Paris? Is that, is that how they do Parshan?

13:06 Speaker 2 Parshan.

13:07 Speaker 1 Yeah, Parshan. Um, it was sent to, uh-- And in Rabbi Hecht's, there was a different heading. So I don't know why in Igris they, uh, they didn't mention everybody's name. But in any event, the Rebbe writes, He writes to everybody involved in Machon Chana his impressions after visiting the place. And he writes, When it comes to, uh, after my visiting the new building of Machon Chana, because I wanted to let you know the great satisfaction and the great... I, uh, is, you know, a calmness, and is a, is a, is a joyful, but both are satisfaction. The Rebbe is incredibly satisfied, uh, through this visit. And he says, And I wanna thank everybody who put an effort into this and who brought this to fruition. And you specifically, because you were involved in the building and also involved in putting together the, uh, the, the visit. This should be a , a big house. And all of the that Chazal say about a big house, I guess. Every single person who comes to it, that, uh, all the people who are involved in this, the students, the teachers, the, uh, counselors, the, uh, administrators, they should all get the following: and all people who support this. With the efforts of their bodies and the assistance of their money, all of the aforementioned should go from strength to strength, in all ways of good and holiness. Specifically beginning with the three mitzvahs that were given to women specifically, which is, uh, in, uh, in which is,

14:44 Speaker 1 of course, I know, I know them, but I always get confused which one to use the ches for. I believe it is, uh, it is challah, niddah, and hadlakas neris, right? There we go. And also the tefillah of Chana should be fulfilled. My heart leaps for Hashem. He watches over the footsteps or the feet of his righteous. He gives power to the king. And raises the scion of his Mashiach. Bringing Mashiach. The Rebbe's signature. One point here, just because, uh, I guess some people might have missed it. Uh, what does the Rebbe mean when he says as Chazal say? That's a Gemara in Masach of Megillah. It's over here, but I scrolled down, so I'll never find it again. I might just-- Oh, there we go. He says, Not a very happy line. Says every one of God's houses got burnt. That's the Beis Hamikdash, that got burnt. That's the, that's the, uh, the palace. All the houses in Yerushalayim, that's all the people's houses. So what is the big house? One says that a makom-- that a means a place a place where Torah is built up. And the other one says it's a place that tefillah is built up. So when the Rebbe says that you should have a in all of its meanings, he says it should both be a where Torah grows and a where tefillah grows. This is the last significant letter, or very, very large and weighty letter that we have about Machon Chana. Uh, we also just have

16:13 Speaker 1 some information. Uh, I was reading a few interviews people had with Mrs. Levkovsky over the years. She mentioned how seriously the Rebbe took his relationship with Machon Chana. We've seen it in some of our letters. We saw that almost every time something interesting came to Crown Heights, the Rebbe asked that Machon Chana be one of the institutions that received it, including the recent, uh, shiur that we had in the bilingual English Tanya that Rebbe had once sent there, which actually is very interesting now, now that we realize that the m-- the institution was quite young when that, uh, when that Tanya was sent there. Uh, Mrs. Levkovsky said in an interview that every year the Rebbe would come to a Seder-- would come before the Seder to give a berakhah to the girls at Machon Chana. Uh, this was one of the several institutions the Rebbe visited every, uh, every Pesach night. He would visit the free. He would visit a free. He'd visit Hadara Terra. Um, he'd visit the guests and the kitchen of So Machon Chana was on his rounds. Uh, one year, most years, I think he went to Machon Chana last. That's the way that she describes it. And so one year, he went to Machon Chana, uh, after visiting all of them, and he said, Rabbi Hecht, uh, before he went to Machon Chana, he said, "Now I'm going home." The Rebbe saw Machon Chana as the, as the place that he called home, uh, prior to going to his

17:09 Speaker 1 own home. He also made a rule that every girl who was at Machon Chana needed to have her own cup for Kiddush and her own, uh, her own, uh, tash for the matzah. He insisted on this. He also gave a package of matzahs every year to Mrs. Levkovsky to be given out to each of the girls. And, uh, when the Rebbe visited the Seder, he would give the girls a berakhah that every single year the same berakhah, that next year they should have the zechus of having their own Seder in their home and not in Machon Chana. So every year, he would give them a berakhah that they wouldn't be there next year. Um, one year, uh, and let me see who the Rebbe said this to. One year, the Rebbe told Mrs. Gansburg, who was the house mother at the time, "Thank you for raising my daughters." So the Rebbe was-- felt very close to the girls who were studying at Machon Chana. Uh, one time after inspecting the kitchen, the Rebbe told Mrs. Galperin, who was the cook at the time, that, uh, that he hopes that she prepares the food for the girls the same way she prepares them at home, that she takes the way that she cooks there just as seriously as she does at home. Uh, every year on Erev Yom Kippur, the Rebbe would give lekach to the girls, or at least send lekach to the girls. As we said, he sent matzah on Erev Pesach. And on

18:05 Speaker 1 Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, which I guess is the, uh, is really the anniversary of the founding of the school, the anniversary of the Rebbe's first visit, the Rebbe would send a basket of fruit, which I don't think was typical of the Rebbe at all. I don't think a lot of people received fruit baskets from the Rebbe on Tu B'Shvat, but the, the girls did at Machon Chana. Uh, the Rebbe asked that every year they send-- the Machon Chana send a picture of all the girls who are attending Machon Chana, and that everyone said that his mother's presence is constantly in Machon Chana because the girls there follow in her ways. That's it for now. Thank you all very much. If anybody has personal stories or things to add about Machon Chana, its founding, its present status, please let me know.