פוליטיקה מפלגתית

00:01 All right. This is Icarus. After a considerable pause, we are back and, uh, the letters, the letters that we're going to be discussing today, with Hashem's help, are letters about Chabad's position on taking political stances. I decided I'd start with something that is a bit of a layup. I say it's a bit of a layup because, uh, this is not so much a shitah that I had to assemble so much as a shitah that you would have to find exceptions to. Uh, Chabad is fundamentally an apolitical organization. We do not, uh, involve ourselves in politics, as the Rebbe is going to say again and again. We haven't involved ourselves in politics for hundreds of years, so obviously we're not going to change what we do pretty much for any reason at all. Although today we will discuss a couple exceptions. I want to tell you the impetus for this. The impetus for this is that we are close to , which is a time to celebrate the Friediker Rebbe, and specifically the Friediker Rebbe's imprisonment, and I guess you don't celebrate that, the Friediker Rebbe's freedom from his imprisonment. And, uh, let me just make sure we're fully recording. I wanna make a backup in case something explodes on me. So we're celebrating the Friediker Rebbe's imprisonment and of course not his imprisonment, his redemption. And, uh, when reviewing that, you'll probably come across the story of how he got-- of how he first got arrested. Uh, I tried to find the Yiddish online. I

01:06 have the Sefer at home, but I, uh, didn't prepare until I got to work, so I couldn't find the original Yiddish for you. But I do have the English translation 'cause they put that one online. It's printed in, uh, Likutei Dibburim, where the Friediker Rebbe describes, uh, firsthand, uh, in his own words, what happened when the KGB, when the Osepchuk were searching his house, uh, and ultimately finding the reasons to arrest him and bring him away to what would be a death sentence. And during that search, I wanna read to you what he records. He sa-- he writes, the Friediker Rebbe writes, "They first went to search the room of my daughters, Chaya Musia and Shaina, and asked them, 'Which party do you belong to? Which political party do you belong to? Are you a communist?'" That's my commentary. They asked him, "Which party do you belong to?" Quote, "They answered that they were members of our father's party, apolitical Jewish women who hold dear Jewish traditions and despise the new trends. 'Why?' incri-- inquired Nakhmanson, astonished. 'Why?' replied Shaina. 'This we are not obligated to answer you. You asked regarding our beliefs, and I replied. As to the question why, this we are not obligated to explain, for you are not here to investigate my letters and documents for discussion's sake. What we were, we still are, and we declare this openly, regardless of whether you find it acceptable or offensive.'" In a time where, uh, partisan politics ruled the day, and in a

02:12 time once again where partisan politics ruled the day, and where it really astonishes people to hear that we are members of our father's party, that we are members of the party of Lubavitch, and we are apolitical Jewish people who hold dear Jewish traditions and despise new trends. This is, uh, I think maybe as surprising now as it was back then. So I wanted to take some time to explore, uh, the Friediker Rebbe's position, the Rebbe's position, the position of Chabad, that we don't involve ourselves in politics. Since we are based in Icarus, most of these will be letters. Uh, before I tell you the letters, one more thing as an acknowledgement. Uh, Rav Shmuel Bookiet, he put together an entire book on how apolitical Chabad is. He called it Chabad Bilti Miflagtit, which means Chabad is not political. Uh, and it's a whole book. It's like forty, fifty pages long, and he just collects all these letters and all these yichidias. He did a lot of the work for me. So I'd like to point you toward his book, uh, thank him for a lot of those letters, and, uh, I'm going to show you a couple excerpts from his book directly in just a moment, along with some English letters. We have a big mixture today. If you do have to leave at one o'clock sharp, please feel free to. I have the suspicion we'll go over ten minutes or so because we started ten minutes late. The first letter I have on your

03:11 screen, and I will send you all these b'lee neider in the WhatsApp group after the shiur, is labeled Zayin Reish Nun Gimel. It is from Taf Chet Chaf, and here the Rebbe writes to somebody who seems upset at Tzeirei Agudas Chabad that they were not getting involved enough in political parties. Excuse me. So the Rebbe writes, The Rebbe writes, "It's been a while, um, it's been a while, but I, uh, I'm finally getting around to your letter, and I am shocked regarding what you're telling me." Um, excuse me, I read that wrong. What he means to say is, "I finally have gotten to your letter, and I am reading about your shock regarding the things going on with Tzeirei Agudas Chabad, with the organization of Chabad in Yerushalayim. You are surprised by the fact," as we'll see in the context of the letter, "that they are not politically involved or as politically involved as you would like them to be." the Rebbe writes to this person. Let me make this a little bit bigger. There we go. Is that better? Better. "Although I am not familiar with the specifics of what you are talking about, " The Rebbe says, "I am aware of how much mesirus nefesh these people who are doing Tzeirei Chabad put into what they do. They are very much involved. They are entirely focused on strengthening Judaism and on spreading Judaism. They certainly have, therefore, a good reason that they are basing their behaviors on." So the Rebbe gives, uh, Tzeirei

04:44 Chabad a, the benefit of the doubt in this letter. He says, uh, "I know that they're doing good work. I know they're pushing themselves. I know they're meser nefesh, uh, and I'm sure that their entire focus is spreading Yiddishkeit and strengthening Yiddishkeit. So, uh, I'm sure that they have good reason for what they did." We don't know what they did, but we do know that it's political in nature because fi-- she-- excuse me, apolitical in nature. "Based on what you're writing to me, I've also read the newspapers about this. I have a guess," says the Rebbe, "about what's going on. Their reasoning for acting the way they are is presumably because of the command, the strong command, that has been placed upon them which applies to all the Chassidim of Chabad, the command of our Rab-- of our Rabbeim, that is to keep as far away as possible from anything resembling politics." The Rebbe says, "I don't know exactly why they're doing what they're doing, but I've read some newspapers. I have some idea about what's going on, and I'm guessing the actions that you find, uh, distasteful are because they are following the rule that every Chassid of Chabad has been told to follow, that we don't get involved in politics. This applies to any political party, even to the very best political parties. There can be a political party that's entire job is to spread Yiddishkeit and do good, but since they're a political party, we don't get involved with them. So odds

06:00 are, I'm sure you have a noble cause," the Rebbe implies, "but not noble enough for us to get involved, because no matter how noble it is, even the very best causes we don't get involved in if they are political in nature. The reason why we don't get involved in politics, even good politics," right? You could have guessed- That, uh, Chabad doesn't get involved in politics because politics is usually dirty or usually has a bad side. The Rebbe says not always, sometimes these political parties are good, but our job is not to be political, tapkirenu. Our job is to serve the entire Jewish people and to spread Yiddishkeit everywhere. V'nikunaf nimis lafitz teras haChasidis, and more specifically, to spread teras haChasidis gam chutzah, specifically outside. V'lachen, zru ma'alem lisnachik b'yesa v'yes m'kol inyan ha'ol l'maid afshar yesh al hafatzu. Therefore, the Rebbe says, we have been-- we, the Rebbeim, have told the Chasidim that they are to keep themselves as far away as possible from anything that could get in the way of their primary dir-- of their prime directive. The prime directive of the Chasidim is to spread Chasidis and to spread Yiddishkeit, to spread Torah. And since having a political affiliation, even a positive one, could get in the way, it's just not worth it. We have a main focus. Our main focus is spreading Yiddishkeit to everywhere and everyone, and we can't afford to alienate anyone or close doors to the main cause, even if your cause is a very good cause. V'ankidekach

07:13 shafilu safek ve'sifek sfeik ha'bazel chumrahu. This is very important, I think, as a sentence. The Rebbe says this in more than one letter, where he says that it's gotten to the point, it's ankidekach, so far are we from political involvement, that if there is a doubt or a doubt of a doubt that the thing we're doing might be construed as political, we are strict to not involve ourselves, which means we don't even get involved in something that smells like politics. The Rebbe then writes, "Tikbasi chazakah," is my sincere, my strong love. "Shel achri shisbeinin kava terasah b'amar," that after you've thought about this a little bit, "matil v'maimar chazal," have a dinnes kolon tach chus, and you've lined yourself up with the statement of our sages that you should judge all people with merit. "Yom chus al tzir haChabad," I assume that you are going to judge the Tzir haChabad with merit and understand that they're just trying to stay out of politics. "Gam b'niyan zeh," even in this issue which you find so objectionable. "V'lo levad shlo yakbid aleihem," I hope you won't only not be upset about them. "El she'yisa ei lehem," I hope you'll ac-- you'll, you'll actually help them, "babedesem," in their work, "v'chatzat zamayon," as they spread the wellsprings of Yiddishkeit, of Chasidishkeit, of Chasidis. "Ve'aderam v'saf ha'siyr shehad kan," and I hope you help them even more than you have up until now. "Shar b'vadai gam l'kvede yakar taf-- yakar tafkir amor v'yir atzin shekam mechtam v'suraster z'chach amor."

08:19 He says, "Honestly, uh, uh, definitely you understand what I'm saying. You also recognize the value of this, so I hope you'll help." And the Rebbe says, "Maybe Hashem's will that I'll receive good news from you, uh, in all of these matters." "Par egdei l'shalom sh'kol et nitna l'rabbi shalom eilem," and the Rebbe then adds this one final line, "Don't, don't forget, peace is great because the entire Torah was given just to create more peace in the world at large." So we have here-- actually, you know, let's look at the footnote for just a moment. The Rebbe signs, "Bechavru beracha," and the Rebbe has a footnote. The Rebbe says, "Mu van migan pashet." It is understood and it is also simple, fundamental. "Shebe'amor le'ela derech hatzivi y-al i miflag tiyot shel Chabad ve'anash ve'inyan-- ve'inyaneha lo bas lanageh chas v'shal ma'askalot miflag tiyot miuser al Torah ve'mitzvot." The Rebbe's saying that, uh, I-- by saying that we're apolitical, I'm not saying that we don't involve ourselves in askanus that could be in, uh, what political involvement that is, uh, political activity, activism, in activism in areas that strengthen Torah and Mitzvot. "Kim ladgish asher filu askanus zu," but even this askanus, "einim ha'tafkid ish shel Chabad ve'anash." So the Rebbe's saying, uh, I need to, I need to say that more precisely. What the Rebbe's saying here is that when I tell you that we don't get p- involved in politics, that doesn't mean that we want to offend those who are involved in askanus. We

09:28 don't want to offend those who are involved in political involvement to spread Torah and Mitzvot. What I'm doing instead is emphasizing that even that great askanus, even that great activism, which is the, uh, which is the, um, to strengthen Torah and Mitzvot, is not the tafkid. It's not the job of Chasidei-- of, of Chabad and Anash. That is that the Rebbe does not want the Babechers involved even in that kind of askanus. It's not our thing. "Ki yamglei l'daraminei. Hafatzon meyanos v'dafkah derech sheyige gam chutzah." The Rebbe says the most important thing going on here, to use the lashon Hagamarra, the very most important thing going on here is hafatzat zamayonot, spreading the wellsprings, and, uh, even outward to people who might disagree with the political position. So the Rebbe's here saying that, uh, we're not, we're not going to knock the people who are using politics to strengthen Torah and Mitzvot. We are going to say it's not what we do. "Ach sh'kol tavish r'vodei Yisrael achad," who even though the truth is we should all be united in doing the same thing, since we all have the job of spreading Yiddishkeit, in theory you would expect that to mean that the Rebbe wants nobody be-- to, to be politically involved. That's not exactly what he's saying. "Ki deva Mishnah, ani l'ner veys l'shames hashkei," it's everybody's job to serve Hashem. "Avah b'chlal aveidu zu atzmah kamasugim minim pratim, kol ach echad b'silaso, yaale b'eys keil." The Rebbe's saying here, although we all have

10:30 the same job of spreading Yiddishkeit, we don't all have the same job of doing it in the same way. So the Rebbe's not closing the door to people who are not Chabad, people who are not Chabad Chasidim, to, uh, be involved in politics for good causes. That is, uh, I think the Rebbe's closing the door definitely on being involved in politics for not good causes. But if somebody wants to become politically involved with the goal of spreading Torah and Mitzvot, and they're not Chabad, and they're not associated with the Rebbe as one of his Chasidim, the Rebbe goes, "Yeah, I see room for that. I, I see room for that because everybody has the same job, but everybody has different departments. You do your department. I don't mean to, uh, detract from what you're up to. But if you are a member of Chabad, absolutely not. We have something that I consider more important, that I consider more fundamental, and that will be restricted by your political involvement." So the Rebbe completely closes the door on Chabad, Chabad organizations, Anash, Chasidim of Chabad being involved in these things, but leaves the door open for other people to be involved in these things. The Rebbe's idea here is, uh, very much taken from the Friedik Rebbe. I mean, you saw it from the Friedik Rebbe's daughters answering instinctively in a time of terror that we are apolitical, but I wanted to show you a couple examples where the Friedik Rebbe says things like this and the

11:28 advantages he's gotten from it. This is a sicha from the Friedik Rebbe from the year Tav Shin regular. Tav Shin regular, right? Yeah, just Tav Shin. Just good old-fashioned Tav Shin. Uh, what is that? 1930? Tav Shin Yud is 1950. 1940. 1940. The Rebbe-- the Friedik Rebbe writes, among other things that you can see on the page, but I'll zoom in so you can see this part. "V'yesi bilti miflagtit k'lama erev kol Yisrael, retzei le'eis l'ta'eles l'chol sugei, uh, Yehudim l'azer lem nigeh l'chizuk hadaas v'shmirat haTorah u'mitzvos. Hai li kal yesu l'rei sas emes." The Rebbe says, the Friedik Rebbe says, "Since I decided, since I am entirely apolitical, and that is to say I love every single Jew, and it is my goal to make sure that every single type of Jew can be helped, to help every single type of Jew when it comes to strengthening their religion and strengthening their ability to keep the Torah and Mitzvot, it is because of that, hai li kal yesu l'rei sas emes, therefore it has been easier for me to see the truth as, as Nekudas HaYadus, the fundamental pintel yid, as Nekudas Hayehuda Me'ira. I'm able to see what a Jew really is and value other people more serious. I'm able to value people more. I'm able to see the truth more." The Friedik Rebbe says, "I have a special clarity because I'm not involved in politics, and being involved in politics messes with your clarity. It messes with your love for your neighbor,

12:38 messes with your love for your fellow Jew, and messes with your approach to the truth itself." So the Friedik Rebbe says, "A lot of what I have, that is love for my-- love for every single Jew and a knowledge of truth, comes from the fact that I didn't get involved in politics." The Rebbe explains the </i>Fridiker Rebbe's</i> shita very clearly in one of the earliest letters in Igris. This is letter labeled Taf, Reish, Lamed, Daled. You know it's an early letter because there's no, uh, number in front of it, so it's an early letter. This is from the year Taf Shin Yud, so that would be nineteen fifty this time, and the Rebbe writes, "I'm responding to your letter from Chof Zvan." Hey, that's my birthday. Uh, the Rebbe says, "Kol shaila b'chai Am Yisrael, any question when it comes to the life of the Jewish people, </i>kal v'chomer</i>, whether it is very, uh, small question or a very serious question, the rest is </i>simas lev v'nitsani</i>. You gotta take these things very seriously." It's, uh, </i>kol v'ida nikras l'dun oidis in yoni tero v'yados</i>. You have to look at, uh, every single angle, um, </i>kol v'ida nikras l'dun oidis in yoni tero v'yados</i>. </i>Omna bizman mina zmanim ela al pereg shailas keila</i>. Every now and then you get a real serious question like this, the Rebbe's dealing with something big. </i>Asher yish behem m'shum p'kuach nefashas</i>. So every single question in Judaism takes seriousness, but when it comes to life and death matters, they

13:41 take serious seriousness. </i>B'gashris uv'ruchnias</i>. Sometimes you have a question that's </i>p'kuach nefesh</i> in physicality or in material. </i>P'kuach nefashas yechidim gam sh'el rabim</i>. Sometimes it involves the individual, sometimes it involves many people. </i>U'meilei</i>, and in those cases, 《derech is heymish simas lev yochidas</i>. There you have to be very careful and pay very close attention. 《Rikos kol keches beziz is her l'avedes ha'atza》. And in those cases, you have to really put all of your energies toward saving s- saving somebody who's in danger, spiritually or physically. So that's quite a lead-up. What is the Rebbe talking about? The Rebbe says, 《Sha'agat Hazes hi-ka'es sha'agas chinuch ha'yeladim ha'ilum la'artzenu ha'kedeshah v'atza'asah m'kfirah v'klia ruchnias chas v'shalom</i>. The Rebbe says here that this question, this sort of question, one of those big questions that is a </i>p'kuach nefesh</i>, a life and death matter for the masses, is happening right now in nineteen fifty as people, as, uh, as small children, Jewish children, uh, make aliyah to 《Eretz HaKodesh》, and we have to save them from 《kfirah</i>. We have to save them from, uh, from rejecting the faith and from being destroyed spiritually, God forbid. So the R- Rebbe continues and he says, "The </i>Fridiker Rebbe</i>," with all of the honorifics before and after the name, in this case, all and after the name, including the one saying that it was still in the year of Kaddish, "《Manig Yisrael al miflagti》." The, uh, </i>Fridiker Rebbe</i>, as everybody knows, was above politics. He transcended politics, didn't get involved. 《Asher kol hagdosim

14:52 m'siras nefesh》, his entire work with 《mesiras nefesh m'mesrach asiri yeshanim hai sa mai legata m'flaga</i>. The </i>Fridiker Rebbe</i>, for tens of years, all of his work was entirely above politics. 《Hine bechol meikosh hasakana</i>," despite the fact that he was always above politics, when it came to danger, God forbid, 《Am Yisrael</i>, where somebody could get hurt, 《Yish tavil natsaas kol ha'chugim sh'yeashru l'heila idan natsaas hamavet</i>. He worked with all the political parties. 《V'shasa hischer rikos ha'keichas ha'atsaas yadam anav</i>. The Rebbe says, basically, we need to start working with other political parties not to get involved with them politically, but at least to talk to them and to interface with them because in real serious cases, we have to make sure that we, uh, that we are protecting the Jewish people at all costs, even if that means doing the very distasteful thing of being slightly politically involved. Not politically involved, I wouldn't say, but to, to deal with pol- with political parties and politicians. So the Rebbe here says basically, the reason why I showed you this letter is here the Rebbe is saying the </i>Fridiker Rebbe</i> does not do politics. The only time he ever did politics was in a life and death matter, and even then he didn't do politics. He just hung out with politicians and was willing to work with them. But even then, we're working alongside the politicians, not literally involved in politics. I told you about this booklet that Rav Shmuel Bookiet put together. I brought some excerpts over here

15:57 on the screen in PDF form for you to see 'cause these are excerpts that are taken from places that you won't be able to find in Igris. They're in other random books. Uh, some of them are in </i>sichas</i>. I just-- you know, easy to put them all in one place. Just wanna show you a quick rundown, then we'll look at another letter or two and, uh, and maybe some English letters too, and then we'll conclude with Hashem's help. He tells us to take a look at the </i>lashon harebi</i>. Take a look at this. This is in 《Tzadas Menachem Isvadius》from Taf Shin Nun, Chelek Beis, page five oh three. So this is Taf Shin Nun. This is quite recent. The Rebbe says very simply, 《Eineini misarev b'politica</i>." I do not mix in with politics. That's pretty explicit. Uh, in a letter that is dated twenty-six Tebet of Taf Shin Tes Vav, the Rebbe writes, 《Eineini politicai</i>." I am not political. I'm not pol-- I'm not pol-- I'm not a politician. I'm not political. I'm not political. Uh, in a letter that is dated Tes Zion Elul of Taf Shin Yud Alef, the Rebbe writes, 《Pashut hadavar she'eini reitz l'niknas l'sayev-- l'lisayev b'politica uv'sichsuchim</i>. It is simple that I do not want to involve myself at all. I don't want to enter at all into anything political or into any sort of, uh, um, debate regarding that. 《Ein in yoni poli-ein in yoni politica</i>," the Rebbe writes in-- or this according to the Rebbe writes in a

17:01 letter dated, uh, twenty-four Elul of Taf Shin Mem Alef. I do not have any 《yoni politica</i>. Uh, my 《inyan</i>, my, uh, my topic, the stuff I study, my focus is not in politics. 《Ki im b'halakha</i>. My focus is in Jewish law. My focus is on 《halakha</i>, not in politics. We have printed in his 《Kasherus》in, uh, volume two hundred and fifty, page eighteen, that the Rebbe wrote to Yitzchak Mendel Liss, I believe. Um, he wrote the following: 《Kvaragati borish ein li zman lishatav politica eiza min shtiya</i>. I've already told you, says the Rebbe, s- clearly, I've already told you clearly that I have no time to get involved in any kind of politics, no matter what kind of politic-- politics it might be. 《V'lei el shufidati gam anash ein zman al zeh</i>. I love this line. The Rebbe says, "In my opinion, 《anash》don't have time for it either." So the Rebbe goes, "I'm a very busy person. I do not have time for politics. In my opinion, my 《chasidim》are also very busy, and they also don't have time for politics." The Rebbe is saying if you have time for politics, you should be busy. You should be too busy for it. 《Ki nimtzah anan b'dar dikvis v'd'vis v'meshiach</i>. We find ourselves in the generation right before Mashiach comes. 《V'chol rege yakar</i>, every moment is precious, and it can't be wasted on something as silly as politics. So going back on one of our earlier letters where we saw that the Rebbe says that, uh, other people

18:08 can be involved in politics, but not my 《chasidim</i>. The Rebbe is saying here, "As far as I'm concerned, if my 《chasidim》have time for politics, they are not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They should be focusing on something else." Uh, 《V'karasi ve--</i> Do you, do you guys know the 《sefer Karasi Ve'eina》? It's a fantastic 《sefer</i>. They put together all the times the Rebbe had exactly the solution to what to do in the Holy Land, and nobody listened to him. Uh, the book is called I Cry Out and No One Answers because that's pretty much the summary of the Rebbe's, uh, of the Rebbe's entire experience with telling people what would be good for the Jews and 《leham to》the non-Jews in 《Eretz HaKadesh</i>. The Rebbe tells Jews and 《leham to》the non-Jews, "If you do this in the Holy Land, no one will die anymore." Everybody ignores him, and everyone keeps dying. Um, I hope you don't sense my, uh, my despair at this fact. However, they didn't name the book after that. So, uh, in this book- They have here-- I, I put this because I thought you'd find this amusing. The Rebbe writes, "Kahl yes li stada im goyim Hashem politicayim." The Rebbe says, "I have an easier time. It's easier to work with non-Jews than it is to work with politicians." It's easier to work with non-Jews than politicians. The reason why: "The fellowship politically, yasa teshuva v'yetzen l'anshei tzava kashe medlifel to affect the-- to affect the politicians will do tshuva, and

19:09 they will start listening to the people who are in charge of the military and taking military advice to pr-- basically admitting they're wrong. Kashe medlifel. It's very hard to affect that a politician will change their position and admit they're wrong. Hayei zeh ve'ha politica lo yitach en shita. The average politician cannot imagine that they would make a mistake. Ov en goyim, when it comes to non-Jews, HaKadosh Baruch Hu machlim alav. When it comes to non-Jews, Hashem decides for them, so they at least could change their minds. But when it comes to, uh, politicians, they have this, uh-- they have a free will and also a sort of falseness to them. So the Rebbe has a real distaste for not just politics, but the, the study, the... I don't know, the study, the field. The field of politicians is not a field that the Rebbe seems particularly fond of. We learned a letter together a long time ago where the Rebbe writes, um, regarding a certain politician, uh, that, uh-- and he wrote this to, um, uh, man, I wish I could remember who he wrote it to. Anyway, we saw the letter together. It was in English, and there the Rebbe said that politicians all value expediency above all else. He didn't say all. He said in his experience, politicians involve expediency among all-- above all else, and although he can't say about this one politician, they tend to be that way. You s-sense a real distaste for politicians as a field, not as individuals,

20:11 God forbid, but as a field in the Rebbe's writings. This is printed in Likkutei Nitzotzei Ur on page one fourteen. Uh, and here the Rebbe writes, "Yesh hara ekronis l'chol-- al chol is Kaneh hapele Chabad li shtandert kol ha sheba avodas Hashem." The Rebbe says, "A fundamental rule, a hara, is that everybody involved in Chabad should be involved in avodas Hashem, in spreading Yiddishkeit." "Hatera mitzvos b'chol fulgam ubli taruvah shelo tiftalted politicah v'keitz v'zeh." We should be involved in spreading Torah and mitzvahs to all different corners of the Jewish people without mixing in with any kind of partisan politics, uh, or anything like that. "Mikol she'ein shleili lechanes leinyanim shehamachlikes," we certainly shouldn't be involved in debate and arguments. "Mikol enin shiaclim naya mishu lehes be'tera mitzvos eh." This is really the Rebbe's point. We can't get involved in politics 'cause it'll compromise our mission. The Rebbe says here, "I can't let any of you. I don't-- I ask all of you. I've told all of you, do not get involved in any kind of politics or partisanism or argument that could alienate anybody because that would prevent you from being able to spread Torah and mitzvahs." Let's look at a couple others. I mean, there's so many on the page here. I don't know if I want to read all of them, but they're such interesting little snippets. Um, how about this one? Regarding your question about ътсире Гудс Хабад, the central one in ътсире Забриск in America, if they should set up a,

21:22 uh, a, a dinner, l'chrede-- a dinner, l'chrede shel Senator Ted Kennedy. Oh, wow, I can read. So they s- every, every time I find English words in Hebrew, it takes me a second. Uh, they wanna know if they should set up a dinner for Ted Kennedy. The Rebbe responded in test ътсире Забриск, ътсире Ламе test, kapashut mufrach, obviously not. So things like this, you have this ътсире Хаскил Хаса, he has a couple up here, where the Rebbe says he doesn't want really us to invite politicians to things at all, except for maybe to private meetings in our houses. Uh, regarding the idea of maybe inviting a politician to speak at some central Chabad organization to come to a farbrengen, the Rebbe writes, mufrach legamrey, obviously not. Obviously, we're not involving politicians, even ones who've already been elected to, uh, to farbrengens in any way to, uh, make a stronger kesher between them. This doesn't mean they can't show up at their own accord. Everybody's invited to visit the Rebbe. But to, uh, to invite them to come to, uh, show some kind of support and to make a connection between them, the Rebbe says, mufrach legamrey, obviously off the table. But regarding the idea to bring them to a private house and have a conversation with them, the Rebbe says that that could make sense. That could ma-- theoretically, that could make sense. Um, let me show you a couple English letters, then we'll go back to the Hebrew letters, and then with God's help,

22:23 we'll conclude. Here's some English letters. I'll try to make them as big as I can. These are courtesy of the Rebbe Rastanza app, which does incredible work and is now doing even more incredible work because they've teamed up with, I believe, I can't remember, another organization in Lubavitch, and they are now publishing something like ten thousand English letters altogether that are coming out bit by bit. So it's an exciting time to be an English letter reader. These are all letters that were originally in English. This one is written on the nineteenth of Tammuz of fifty-seven forty, so that would be nineteen eighty, I believe. Yeah, nineteen eighty in the summer, right around this time of year. The Rebbe writes, "I received your undated letter and was surprised to read in it a purported stand of Lubavitch in connection with the forthcoming elections for Congress from the sixteenth congressional district." You historians can look that up and tell me who was running for the sixteenth congressional district in the year nineteen eighty for Congress. The Rebbe writes, "I heard about that there's a stand of Lubavitch regarding this election." The Rebbe writes, "It is well known that neither I personally nor the Lubavitch movement take a public stand in any election to any office, which is a policy of long-standing. It therefore surprises me how you could have received any impression contrary to this established policy with blessing," the Rebbe's signature. So the Rebbe doesn't know how anybody could ever have assumed that Chabad would, uh,

23:25 just-- would, would tell people how they should vote, uh, specifically. There was one occasion in the Holy Land that we're not gonna have time to discuss today, where the Rebbe said, "I'm making a one-time exception regarding this." But, uh, to have this-- to have Lubavitch make a policy about who you would vote for in an American election, very hard to imagine. Very hard to imagine. In the year fifty-seven thirty-three, this would be-- I have to do math constantly. This would be nineteen seventy-three, I think. Tell me if I'm wrong. Um, afterwards, I guess. "This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter." The Rebbe writes, "I must say that I was quite surprised that you should ask me to express judgment on a political issue. You must surely know that the Lubavitch movement, which I am privileged to head and lead, is not a political body and as a matter of basic policy steers clear of any political involvement. Its program is centered solely on chinuch, tzedakah, and the dissemination of Yiddishkeit and similar non-political services to the Jewish community and Jewish people at large. If any individual or individuals affiliated with Lubavitch activities choose to participate in their private capacity in any political activity, that is their personal affair and does not in any way implicate the Lubavitch movement. This is unequivocal policy of this..." Excuse me. "This unequivocal policy of Lubav-- of Lubavitch is so well known that there is no need to amplify upon it. Indeed, a n- I note from your letter

24:30 that you too realize it." So I guess that is kind of the the- the thesis of the entire shiur today is that this unequivocal policy of Lubavitch is so well known that I'm not sure I needed to amplify it. I think you guys kinda knew it too. Maybe you didn't know how often the Rebbe says it, or maybe I'm just repeating stuff you already knew, and it's good for review because we live in political times, and it's good to remind ourselves we don't do this stuff. One more English letter I have here, uh, from the year nineteen seventy-nine, uh, Rosh Chodesh Shevat. The Rebbe writes to the honorable somebody, doesn't say who, "Greeting and blessing. This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter. I read with much astonishment." Never a good thing when the Rebbe reads a letter with much astonishment. I don't think we've ever seen a case where the Rebbe writes, "I read your letter with much astonishment," and there's something good coming next. "Firstly, it is well known that as a matter of practice and indeed a principle, for a variety of reasons, I have nothing to do with politics, nor do I delegate representatives to speak in my name in any political meetings, least of all one with an agenda as you refer to in your letter. I cannot understand how anyone can have any doubts about something so well known and obvious. Well, there you go. Uh, secondly, with all due respect, I must take exception to the manner of

25:28 making accusations about other people and pre-- and prejudging them at the same time. The Rebbe speaks to a judge about prejudging. In such case, it is my duty, according to the Shulchan Aruch, as indeed is the duty of everyone else, to point out that where Jews are concerned, any accusation, especially a serious one, should not-- should be brought before a rabbinic authority and who, after hearing all the pertinent details, can then make a judgment in accordance with the Halakha. Needless to say, an involved party, whoever he may be, has no prerogative to make an impartial judgment in such a case. It is also well known that it is not one of my functions to pasken shailas or arbitrate in cases of dispute. And finally, I must regretfully add that I resent the tone of your letter, particularly the last paragraph. The Rebbe resents the tone of this person's letter, uh, as you can kind of tell by the Rebbe's tone in his letter. Though I would not presume to expect everyone to follow my approach, I do believe the way to make a point through logical argument and persuasion, the approach you chose in your letter is all the more disappointing inasmuch as it is out of harmony with the impression I gained from our meeting and brief exchange during the farbrengen. The Rebbe says, "You're not speaking respectfully. You're prejudging people in a way that's inappropriate, and obviously I'm not going to get involved in the politics you want me involved in." And that's

26:25 sort of a mic drop from, uh, Rebbe-- from, uh, from our Rebbe our Nasi. I'm not gonna read any more of these letters in Hebrew, although I will send them to you, the, uh, the, the excerpts, because I want to read at least one more letter inside before we conclude for today. I have four on the screen that I wanted to show you. Maybe I should have made this a two-parter, but you know, I, uh... it's been a while, and I forgot how long things take. Let's look at this one together. This is a letter labeled-- It's from תשד. It's labeled בז"ץ. And let me find the right paragraph so we can go right to it. Entry gimmel. He has a list of three things he wants you to know. And for thing gimmel, he says, uh, You mentioned in your letter that they met with so and so, apparently a politician. It is well known already. It is well known. It's already been well known for a while that the shita of Lubavitch, the position of Chabad, is that we do not get involved in any kind of politics. Let me make it bigger. I can see some of you squinting. All you old men squinting. You can explain this in a way that is polite. You can explain this in a way of peace. You definitely should explain this in a way of politeness and peace. You shouldn't scream in people's faces, "Chabad doesn't do politics. Stop it." But explain this nicely. If

27:33 you can avoi-- if you can just not be political and not explain it at all, that would also be great. Just do nothing. Certainly do not accept upon yourself anything that even has a zika, even that has a slight relationship to politicalism, to partisanship. So the Rebbe says, uh, uh, "I hear they met with somebody. Uh, our shita is that we would not do such a thing. Uh, whatever their meeting was was under the wrong circumstances. I guess it wasn't a private house meeting." And, uh, uh, you can explain this nicely or you can avoid it entirely, but the point is we don't get involved in even something that smells like politics, even something slightly political, let alone something openly political. I am having trouble moving my screen. Uh, let's run through some of these. We'll take another five minutes to run through the best parts of the remaining letters. All these letters are great. You should read all of them in full. I didn't really mean best parts, but you know. This one over here. The Rebbe says, in other words, Let me tell you what this letter is. This letter is ושמ"ו, and it's from תשכ, and the Rebbe says, in other words, and also in nicer words, the Rebbe in the first part of the letter says, we don't do politics. He says, now let me say it a little more nicely. Uh, I don't know. Beitz hof, any ideas? Um, Peretz, what do you think? The Rebbe says here, however much

29:06 advantage you might have gotten from politics, there is significantly more exponential advantage you would get by having the entire nation together and being able to access the entire nation. As we see explicitly, uh, especially-- even in times of elections says the Rebbe that, uh, even during times of-- Oh, I have a note. Maybe somebody is telling me, uh, maybe somebody in chat is telling me what the abbreviation is. Oh, right. Bekayakh, which later on-- Thanks, Peretz. Um, anyway, the Rebbe's saying here that even in times of, uh, even in times of voting, there is serious advantage to not taking a political position that is open, at least, and certainly during other times as well. The Rebbe says you gain a lot, uh, gain a lot more by being able to access, uh, the entire Jewish people and being able to work with the entire Jewish people than you do through any political involvement. This is my controversial letter. I think I'll save it for the end. Let's take a look at this one. Or you want to do the controversial one right now? We'll do it in a second. Hang on. Let me show you this one. The Rebbe writes up here, this is וכה, and the Rebbe writes-- I wanna make sure I get the right one. Here we go. Alef: it is understood. Fundamentally, there is absolutely understood. He's writing to Kfar Chabad in Eretz Israel. There is no room at all for even the thought, any sort of logic that the Kfar,

30:22 the Shikon, a neighborhood or a village would have involvement in politics. Even the best kind of political party, they shouldn't be associating with. Doing so, affiliating with a political party would be beenigud gamur, be fundamentally opposed to the actions of the hanhagos of the Rebbe in the Siano, the, uh, the behaviors of our Rebbes. The inyan of Chabad is to be above politics. Uh, and the Rebbe goes on to say many things we've seen already, which is that we need to spread Yiddishkeit to all the corners, and we can't be affiliated with the political parties. The, uh, last one, just as long as, you know, as long as I promised you something a little controversial, so here we go. This is the one that we get canceled for. Uh, this letter over here is from his Gimmel Tav Daled, and here the Rebbe extends that to say that this is a really good reason for Chabad schools not to do Yom Ha'atzmaut. They asked the Rebbe wh-whether they should celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut on Hey Iyar in one of the, uh, in one of their schools, and the Rebbe says, "That also counts as politics. I don't want anything to do with it." Uh, to tell you the truth, the Rebbe gave a very similar answer about having Israeli flags at the parade. I forget-- I'm sure we did that letter at one point. At the Lag BaOmer parade, the Rebbe was asked about... I can show you the letter sometime. I think we did. The

31:26 Rebbe was asked about, uh, Israeli flags at the Lag BaOmer parade, and his answer was that, uh, there-- we want everybody to come to the parade, and there are some people who will be offended by the flag and, uh, offended by the politics it represents. And while we support everybody, we do not affiliate with any political party because we don't want to alienate anybody. So we do not-- "I've told my people," he says, "not to fly any flags that could alienate anybody or have any political involvement or political affiliation." So, uh, this is obvious-- this is Hey Iyar position, this Yom Ha'atzmaut position is very much in line with the, uh, Israeli flag position, which is that we don't do things that look political because it alienates people, because it helps-- it hurts our job. It makes us unable to do our jobs properly. We've seen a million letters about this. I didn't count. We have shown you many, many letters and many pieces of letters demonstrating that Chabad is not political. I want to, uh, put a sort of pin in it though, as we conclude. And, uh, pin in it number one is this: uh, there definitely are cases where the Rebbe is somewhat politically involved, and I'll tell you what that means. The Rebbe absolutely wants us to vote in elections. Uh, in Israeli elections, the Rebbe pushes this very hard, that the Jews should vote in elections. Not only that, they should specifically be voting in elections for-- Excuse me, my

32:27 voice went away. For the political parties that are most aligned with Torah and mitzvahs. So the Rebbe does give basic guidelines, but he doesn't affiliate with any party. He says that what a Jew does, the Jew votes, and a Jew votes for the party that in their judgment is going to be the best for the spreading of Judaism, obviously. And, uh, what exactly that looks like, the Rebbe never says, and that's part of our s-- that's part of us not getting involved in politics with that one known exception where the Rebbe said it was a one-time deal. The Rebbe very clearly does not want us to reject or eject politicians who attend our events to support what we're doing. We appreciate when politicians attend our events to support what we're doing. We don't invite politicians to make a connection with them and to make a connection with their political party. That's not the same thing as, uh, as having a politician there who is supporting our cause, uh, by showing up. That is not-- That's something that we definitely do support. Uh, the Rebbe clearly meets with politicians, uh, who visit him to advise them in matters of kedusha and in matters of running the state. That's also different. The Rebbe meets with everybody. That's not the Rebbe getting politically involved, and especially when there is, uh, Pikuach Nefesh on the line, as we saw earlier. Even the Friediker Rebbe, uh, who is very strict about not getting politically involved, will rub shoulders with politicians

33:27 as necessary, not in a political way, but in a practical let's-get-things-done way, in order to make sure that everybody is protected. So we do have some political involvement. The second thing that I want to say is that it's very clear that this is not just a Mosad position. It's not just that the Rebbe himself doesn't get involved in politics, and it's not just that Chabad houses and Lubavitcher shuls and our schools don't get involved in politics. The Rebbe said in letter after letter after letter that we don't get involved in politics, that if my Hasidim are involved in politics, they're not busy enough, that you cannot possibly do something that is so against the Hanhaga, so against the custom of our Ra- of our, of our Rebbe's zeiden and zeyde, that, uh, he expects Anashi, he expects Hasidim, he expects people who call themselves Chabad to be so involved in spreading Yiddishkeit to all corners that they would see this as, uh, that they would see any political involvement for what it is, something that closes them off from being able to reach certain kinds of Jews. Um, allow me to call some things out very specifically because why not? I'll call some things out very specifically. There is no room whatsoever in these letters, and I saw so many of them. I showed you an excerpt. I actually read the whole book today. So I have in my head right now forty pages of Rebbe letters on politics. There is no room whatsoever for

34:28 any paraphernalia regarding a political candidate on your car or on your house. There's just no room for it. Uh, a, a, a, a Trump or Biden or Kamala or whatever, Obama, any, uh, Bush. I'll name all the presidents so that we don't get political. Putting the name of a president on a bumper sticker of the car of a Hasid of Chabad is something that is fundamentally, so fundamentally against what Chabad stands for that it's hard to call yourself a member of the club if you're doing it. I'm not kicking you out, nor can I, but I am saying that it is very clear that the Rebbe says this is so against the way that we act as to be nearly disqualifying. Nearly, nearly disqualifying. This would, uh, apply to any open pol-- any open support of a political party and any open support of a president. This would apply, uh, not to-- This would apply not to supporting in general the idea of a president. You see a lot of sichas from the Rebbe where he values the office of the president. But making political statements like a vote for a certain president, it's very hard to imagine that falls under the realm of what is acceptable for us. So, uh, I think this is definitely an area that we could strengthen in our own community for the benefit of a podcast that Baruch Hashem reaches internationally and people who know where I'm from. Let me not say which side we tend to sometimes find

35:31 ourselves on in my dear community. But there are members of my community who tend to find themselves on a political side and perhaps, uh, putting bumper stickers on their car or perhaps putting, uh, things on their front lawns. And if you have found yourself doing that up until now, I must say, uh, ask your Mashpia, but I don't see any room for this in any of the Rebbe's work anywhere. We are obviously as individuals, as organizations, as Hasidim of the Rebbe, not involved in politics. And to echo the words of, uh, of the Rebbetzin Shaina, uh, to re-- to, to echo her words, um, we are members of our father's party. We are apolitical Jewish people. We hold dear Jewish traditions. We despise new trends. We don't get involved in this. And to echo the words of our own Rebbe, d- getting involved in this would sacrifice our ability to do what we're really here to do, Bekorvat Mashiach, on the final moments before Mashiach comes, which is bring Mashiach through the spreading of Torah and mitzvahs to all corners, including those that might not agree with the politics that are on our cars' bumper stickers. Okay. Thank you all very much.