ספרי תורה עתיקים (מחלוקת פצוע דכא)

00:01 This is Igress, and today we are going to discuss Amirz Hashem, one of the most controversial issues in Sifrei Torah at large, and that's whether the word psua daka is spelled with an aleph on the end or a he. The verse in question is in Devarim twenty-three two, and it says, "Lo yabe psua daka uchres shach atikal Hashem." And that means that somebody whose, uh, genitalia are crushed or cut may not enter the congregation of Hashem. The controversy, thank God, has nothing to do with genitalia and everything to do with the word daka, which in Chabad and Yemenite Sifrei Torah is always spelled with an aleph. In most Sephardi and Ashkenazi Sifrei Torah, the word is instead spelled dalet kaph he. Uh, you might be familiar with the issue. It is on one hand a very big deal. Every letter of the Sifrei Torah is sacred, and if any single letter is missing or incorrect, the entire Torah is no good. It's sort of amazing that of the Torah's more than three hundred thousand letters, which we've been copying by hand for what, three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine, I guess now years, we, we all agree on just about everything except for this one aleph/he difference. Uh, so it says a lot to me, I guess on the positive side, about the fidelity of Torah and the divine providence that goes into maintaining the Torah, that this is the only thing we're arguing about, an aleph or a he that effectively sounds more or

01:07 less the same and means more or less the same thing at the end of a word. But we do have this one issue, aleph or he, and it is a big deal. So before we look at the Rebbe's letters about the aleph/he controversy, I wanna give you a bit of a historical, I, I don't know if that's the right word, maybe historical overview, and, uh, that was a bit of research I was doing on the side, and that is to say that, uh, if we're basing our ruling on history alone, and I'm not convinced we should be, uh, Torah is more than what we find archaeologically, but if we are basing our ruling on history alone, aleph, the Chabad tradition is the very clear winner, and it's not even a contest. Uh, of the oldest manuscripts of Tanakh and Sifrei Torah that we have today, they are basically all aleph. Uh, the Rebbe lists a whole bunch of them in a letter that we're going to see inside. So in the spirit of the Rebbe's list, I would like to add to the list or complement the list with some of the oldest ones that we now have. They all say aleph. They all say aleph. The, the Aleppo Codex, which is without a doubt the oldest one, uh, that we have, the oldest record of Tanakh, or at least the oldest, most complete when you combine those two, estimated to be from around the year nine thirty, uh, has daka with an aleph. The

02:02 Leningrad Codex, the other really reliable, very old one, is also with an aleph. The Damascus Pentateuch, or the Codex Sassoon five oh seven, that's, that it's called sometimes, that's from the eleventh century, so I don't know, roughly contemporary to the Leningrad Codex, also an aleph. The Bologna Sifrei Torah, uh, from eleven fifty-five-ish, maybe twelve hundred, is also with a aleph. And recently, there was a thirteenth-century Ashkenazi Torah scroll that, uh, was put up for a Sotheby's auction, and this one also was spelled with an aleph. Uh, in the Mishnah, the Gemara, the Rishonim, the word psua daka is basically always written with an aleph. Uh, there's a Sefer Divrei Nechemiah that lists all of the cases in which it's written with an aleph. I don't believe there are any in which it's written with a he. Uh, the Mishnas HaAvodah that the Rebbe's going to quote in some letters, you'll find this in Mishnas HaAvodah thirty-two two. He says that the Sifrei Torah written by the Sefer of the Baal Shem Tov and Rav Shabsai Roszkover, as well as many other old Sifrei Torah, were all written with aleph, and he saw them with his own eyes, he claims. Uh, the Minchas Chinuch testifies that he saw in a number of old Sifrei Torah that it's written with an aleph, and it is noteworthy that Ashkenazim, although it is their current custom to largely write it with a he, it's very clear that the previous custom of Ashkenaz was to write it with an aleph.

03:06 The, uh, Rav Yaakov Yosef, he testified that he saw the Sifrei Torah of the Ran in the Hebrew University Library and that it's written with an aleph. So the aleph tradition is very well established, but, uh, the old manuscripts that we have, they're all aleph pretty much. There's one from the fifteenth century that has a he. I don't think we have he showing up any earlier than that. Anyway, let's look at some letters all the way back through Chabad history to discuss this issue today. We are going to start with a Hayyim because this is where people basically know the controversy from. It is in Hayyim of Elul, of the seventh day of Elul. I put it in English on the screen just because, 'cause why not, right? "The Alter Rebbe instructed," this is the Hayyim I'm reading in English. "The Alter Rebbe instructed that the phrase psua daka, the word daka written in the Torah scroll should be with an aleph at the end and not with a he." The Hayyim continues, "In Prague, there is a Torah scroll which according to local tradition had been examined and amended by Ezra HaSofer, Ezra the scribe. It is read only on Simchas Torah and is always rolled to the portion of Shema. When I was in Prague in the year 1908," says the Friediker Rebbe, "I saw that Sifrei Torah, and in it, daka is spelled with an aleph. So too, when I was in Worms in the year 1907, I saw a Sifrei Torah

04:08 written according to their tradition by Rebbe, Rebbe Meir of Rottenberg, and there the word daka was written with an aleph. See also Shearis Yehuda, Yoreh De'ah sixteen, Divrei Nechemiah, Yoreh De'ah twenty-two, Mishnas HaAvodah section thirty-two, cites a number of works that deal with this subject." We have actually mentioned most of those outside at the beginning of the year, but the one that I didn't bring up was the Shearis Yehuda. And so let me show you the Shearis Yehuda. The Shearis Yehuda over here, Siman tes zayin says, "Psua daka be aleph. Vinyan l'shailah shnia, psua daka, regarding the question of psua daka, how it should be spelled. Kibaltu mi'rabinu again, uh, my brother, the Rebbe," this is the brother of the Alter Rebbe, so he said, "I've received from my brother, the Alter Rebbe," um, all these honor, all these honorifics, "l'chtaveh aleph v'seif lo he." That we should write an aleph at the end, and we should not write a he at the end. "Ve'ata," and the reason why. "Ki daka be'he hu lashon nekaveh." The reason why is grammatical. He goes on for the rest of the paragraph to explain that grammatically speaking, not based on history, not based on Masorah, just based on good old grammar, the word should be daka with an aleph. Uh, the reason why is daka with a he is lashon nekaveh. That's in the feminine. "K'mei raka, daka, levena, zaka, uh, ma she'ein kein daka with an aleph, hu shem dover when it's daka with a, with an

05:13 aleph that becomes a noun. K'mei boreh m'kodesh hashkra v'es daka, tesha tashreganesh ad daka," et cetera, et cetera. And he goes on to give a g-- couple other grammatical tips that make it very clear that daka should be with an aleph grammatically speaking. And then he writes at the end, "Al kapach daka badeh aleph." At the end of the day, daka is definitely with an aleph. "Ve'chen tziveh la'agiah Sifrei Torah she'eisa tchilasah be'he, ve'tziveh l'chtaveh aleph davka." And furthermore, the Alter Rebbe commanded us about a Sifrei Torah that was written with a he, that we should go in and fix it, that take this perfectly good Sifrei Torah that has a he in it, erase the he, and write in an aleph because it's so clear that aleph is correct. That's how much the-- That's how convinced the Alter Rebbe is. Not, not just convinced enough to write new ones that way, convinced enough to correct old ones and turn them into aleph. The Rebbe Rashab at least once was traveling and asked this question. It seems that this was sort of a, I hesitate to say the word hobby, but almost a hobby of our rebbeim, that if they were traveling somewhere, and they saw an old Sefer Torah, their first question was, "Can you show me, uh, can you show me ‹pesukah dakah› and tell me if it's with an aleph or a heh?" So this is a letter that you'll find labeled Aleph Tes in Igris Rashab. These are letters of the

06:13 Rebbe Rashab in the fourth volume of the Igris of the Rebbe Rashab, and he's writing about where he was and where he's been. And in this paragraph right here, which is the only one we're going to look at, he says, "Just yesterday, I was by somebody." I, I don't know how to read his name exactly. "Our friend who is..." I think his last name is probably spelled Farsetz maybe? Parsitz, Farsetz. Anyway, he's a friend of ours, and I was by him. ‹Asher boyle poshebul az at›. He's here this week, the ‹ir Katana›. I, I came to there this week. Um, the ‹ir Katana›, ‹leilech al kamipoy›. And once again, I'm gonna have trouble with the word. "I was in a small city not far from Kenningsvar, Kenningswort, Kenningsworth, maybe Kenningsworth?" Kenningsworth, probably. That doesn't help me. I don't know where Kenningsworth is. Uh, but anyway, Kenningsworth. Uh, ‹veyesh sham beis kneses yeshan›. "There, there is a very old shul, ‹vesefer torah yeshan›, and a very old Sefer Torah, ‹vekasuv bah dakah vealef›." And he writes there in parentheses, "I checked 'cause, you know, anytime I go to an old shul, ‹kivi akal›." I'm, I'm putting words in his mouth. He doesn't say this, but he's saying, "I went to an old shul, and what did I do? I opened the Sefer Torah and checked their old Sefer Torah, and indeed it was an aleph," which shows to me two things from this letter. Number one, if you give a rebbe an old shul and an

07:13 old Sefer Torah, he knows exactly where he's rolling to. And he notes this in his-- It's a longer conversation, all the things that he did, but one of the highlights for the Rebbe Rashab of this particular trip was that he popped into the shul, checked out the word, and found that it was an aleph. He also says he bought a bunch of sefarim, uh, which is once again very characteristic of the Rebbe Rashab. He bought a bunch of sefarim. That's another thing he does wherever he goes. Uh, moving on to the Friediker Rebbe. I have a Friediker Rebbe letter here, two Friediker Rebbe letters for us to look at. This Friediker Rebbe letter is labeled Aleph Tzadik Aleph. Actually, I have one Friediker Rebbe letter and one sicha. The sicha we'll do later. Let's just do the letter right now. Aleph Tzadik Aleph, Tzadik Aleph is what it's labeled. You'll find it in volume two of Igris of the Friediker Rebbe, and he writes, ‹Bechlalos›. "In ‹kesivas Sefer Torah yesh hevdah bemtsakah› coming to ‹Shulchan Arukh› Har Zaken and Ben HaGrah." In general, there is a difference of opinion between the Alter Rebbe and the Vilna Gaon, how to write this, uh, how to write this Sefer, this part of the Sefer Torah. ‹Gmek seivas dakah vealef veheim bealef veheh›. They have a debate over whether to write the word ‹dakah› with an aleph or with a heh. ‹Vechein temuras es tzadik›. They also have an argument about how to write the letter tzadik, specifically

08:10 how the letter tzadik is formed. ‹Venagla chassidim kidas›, hey, coming to ‹Shulchan Arukh› Har Zaken. Obviously, Chassidim have been acting according to the custom of the Alter Rebbe, ‹bechol yamim›, in all things, uh, ‹heil ikuv›, all these things, uh, no matter what. ‹Ubechol zman ech mirub›, hey, ‹melisheles, melishanes›, excuse me, ‹minusach minusach›. And in all times they've been very strict not to change from one nusach to another, ‹nei agas chved harasu shabal›, because of how much they love the ones who made that nusach. ‹Uvenes chosbah lassefer Torah asher kol echad ve'echad kasvas hanusach vetumah lufi nusach gizai›. And therefore, people write, generally speaking, in the form and in the nusach of the origins of the nusach in honor of the people who composed those nusachas. So what the Friediker Rebbe here is saying is something that is not really so, uh, opinionated. It's actually-- it's, it's on more on the sweet side. He's saying, "Look, some people keep the Alter Rebbe's minhag, some people keep the Vilna Gaon's minhag. The reason why they keep these minhagim is because it has always been the custom to attach yourself to the baal ha-minhag." That is, the Alter Rebbe, who put together this particular way of writing Sifrei Torah, said a tzadik should be done this way, the nusach should be with an aleph. People who follow in his footsteps are showing their love and respect for him, and he strongly implies people following the other school of thought are showing their love and respect for those people

09:16 as well, which is sort of a, uh, a friendly letter about our neighbors who might have a heh instead of an aleph. Uh, please don't take this the wrong way, though. Despite the fact that we have friendly letters about our neighbors with a heh, you're going to see across the board, our rebbeim saying, "If you do get such a Sefer Torah, change it. It's not right." So on one hand, there's a lot of acceptance for the idea that, uh, the other-- that Jewish people are, are, broadly speaking, following what Jewish people normally do, which is the traditions that are in front of them from the people that they love. At the same time, we're gonna tell them to change it just about every time. Let's take a look at some Rebbe, at some Rebbe letters. We're into Rebbe letters now. This is the Igris of the Rebbe podcast, and up until now, we've spent, what, uh, ten minutes, more, talking about other things. We're up to Rebbe letters. This is from Yod Aleph Tammuz of Tuchin Yod Aleph. Uh, the letter is labeled Aleph Tzadik Gimel, and I wanted to just show you the Rebbe trying to investigate this for himself. So the Rebbe reaches out to a certain Friedman. We have our own Friedman. I don't think it's the same one. He reaches out to a certain Friedman, uh, in Yerushalayim, and he asks him a question. He says, ‹Chafitz vekashasi›. "It is my desire and my request." ‹bim efshar la'asis tzilum›, photo, ‹meamud

10:17 shveya pasuk leya vepesula dakah›. Uh, you have a Sefer Torah. Excuse me, I should have gone one let-- let me go one sentence above. ‹Ve'etav kesiv shirah Sefer Torah meharangoin›. May a Rav someone go. Let me see if I can get more information. I don't know. The Lissingen? Could be the Lissingen. I don't know. It says Ma- Maharango. So I don't know who exactly, but de- definitely a very, very old Sefer Torah. ‹Shezeh erei de Sefer Torah atika shel Mari Abuav›. And you're also going to see the Abuav Sefer Torah. Anyway, he says, you, you said, "I'm writing to you because you, you mentioned to me that you're going to be seeing some very old Sifrei Torah." Uh, therefore, the Rebbe says, ‹Chafitz vekashasi›. "It is my desire and my request." ‹Bim efshar la'asis tzilum› photo, ‹meamud shveya pasuk leya vepesula dakah›. And therefore, says the Rebbe, when you're visiting these old Sifrei Torah, I'm asking you, please take a picture for me of these, of the section ‹pesula dakah› of these two old Sifrei Torah. ‹Kayduchei rabbe ze yeshana mekom kedusha marazaken›. As I'm sure you know, as is known, that there is an instruction about this from the Alter Rebbe. ‹Sheral kazav se Sefer Torah shemekubal shehi shel Ezra hassefer›. Uh, that we saw, that, that he saw a Sefer Torah that was from Ez-- the times of Ezra. ‹Veshameh kesiv kem pasuk shel marazaken›. And there it's written like the Alter Rebbe. So he's saying, uh, there, there's some, there's some record

11:19 of there being Sifrei Torah that are very old, that are like the Alter Rebbe. If you can find more, I would like you to find more. The Rebbe writes ‹kedas chen› twice. ‹Meireish›. Thank you, thank you in advance. ‹Mimishlach li a photo meamud anav hashem mishnei mishnei Hasifrei Torah›. I would thank you very, very much if you would send me photographs from these two Sifrei Torah. So you see the Rebbe is very invested in this. We're gonna see another letter where the Rebbe is very invested in this, and this one matters to history. Uh, beyond just the interest of Igris, this is being written to Rav Sasson. This is almost certainly the same, I, I can't imagine it's not, the same Sasson who is the o-owner of a ton of Jewish books, specifically the oldest manuscripts of the Bible, a number of them. And, uh, we mentioned that the Sasson manuscripts pretty much across the board are, uh, are showing dak. Maybe even entirely across the board. I believe all of the oldest copies that are around and still sort of in play auction-wise are his. So, uh, he writes about the Sasson collection, I believe to the Mr. Sasson, and he says, "Heyesh yesh keluke de'es beksav b'tzua dakah." I'm sorry. This letter is from Tuf Shingir Baz. It is labeled Alef Taf Resh Sameches. The Rebbe writes, "Heyesh yesh keluke de'es beksav b'tzua dakah," since there are multiple opinions on how to write b'tzua dakah, or differing opinions on how to write the

12:22 word b'tzua dakah, "im hu b'alef or b'hei," if it should be with an alef or it should be with a hei, "lekav hadush hadelei nazakin, ba'al hasholchan aruch vehatani peseh dakah ve'alef," and the Alter Rebbe, who is the master of the Shulchan Aruch and the Tanya, the author of both, he pasken that we should write dakah with an alef. "V'hu gad li ki lekav tenasah yesh lecha yesh esei sefarim," and I've heard that you have a large sefarim collection, "ksav yad hatikin," with a whole bunch of very old handwritten copies. "Azker teida rabba lemarit," I would really appreciate it if the mas-- if, if this person, if you, "im yayel lishleach li," um, photostat, uh, which is, uh, photocopies, right? Copies. "Likol ksav yad benidenzah." If you would send me copies of any ksav yad, of any handwritten version that would have something to do with this case. "Kol mum sha'atzaz al shlibani," and certainly any expenses you incur, they will be something that I will take care of. The Rebbe says, "I'm sending you something as well, so hopefully we can have a bit of an exchange." And, uh, the Rebbe's hoping that, uh, that this Mr. Sasson will send him the original manuscripts, so he can verify that they are indeed with an alef. Uh, the good news is that he did it, and he received these letters. And look at the difference in, uh, I guess, uh, in, in, in this first letter, um, it's just written to a Rav Agon. Here,

13:26 the honorifics are three lines long. Uh, the Rebbe writes in Tuf Shin Yud Gimel with three lines of honorifics to a certain Dovid Sasson, and that is certainly the Sasson from the collection. His name is Dovid Sasson, so that's-- that, that would be him. And the Rebbe writes, "Shalom u-vracha. Yikes miktavei, uh, meyud gimel b'Shvat kibalti b'simcha." I received your letter from Yud Gimel B'Shvat with joy. "Uvai gimel t'munas," it included three pictures, "m'gimel kasfi yaad atikim," from three hand-- an-ancient handwritten copies of the, of the Torah. "Ashem hem nikar hamitis hapsek din shel kav haduch shedami nazakin," and there it is apparent the truth of the pesek din of the Alter Rebbe, "baal HaTanya veShulchan Aruch liftem li les dakah vepasik leiv b'tzua dakah be alef," that you should write it with an alef. So he says, "I got three from you. These are very, very old versions, handwritten, and it vindicates the Alter Rebbe's position, and I'm very, very happy." Uh, and this is, "Bet yahfe du a lekav tenasai. Uh, riva de'esh nemer bazash yakul nikve b'tzua sefer Mishnas HaRam." Certainly, says the Rebbe, you're aware of all the different opinions which are in the Mishnas HaRam. I mentioned some of them to you in our introduction. And then he says, "I wanna mention what I heard from the Friedlik Rebbe that he was-- when he was in Wormatia, when he was in Worms, he there saw a Sefer Torah that they say they have from the Maharami Rottenberg that was written

14:29 with an alef." And he says, "I also have a tradition that in Prague, they have a Sefer Torah there that was checked by Ezra Sifer." It's essentially what we saw in Hayem Yum. And then the Rebbe writes, "I wanna th-thank-- as a, as a sign of my thanks, I'm going to send you a, uh, a, a stehemed." Um, and, uh, he says, "B'kav ruvarah." So the Rebbe sends him something back in exchange. I have a letter here from the Rebbe labeled Alef Taf Resh Chaf Gimel. This is from Gimel Sivan of Tuf Shin Yud Beis. And here, the Rebbe is listing some corrections, uh, some, some additions to the Eitz Hayyim Poskim. And in his additions to the Eitz Hayyim Poskim, he lists what he's found so far, just of his own, uh, examination of the subject, proofs that it-- b'tzua dakah is supposed to be written with an alef. This was also printed, uh, long before Igris in the back of Likutei Sihos. 'Cause just so interesting, the Rebbe made a list of seven places where he found b'tzua dakah in classical sources. This is from the Rebbe. So the Rebbe says, "B'din b'tzua dakah be alef," regarding b'tzua dakah be alef, "hines mamash hekesef beEitz Hayyim Poskim sham," in addition to what's already in the Eitz Hayyim Poskim, "ve'az davku f'samech Ches Sefer Tor Beis, mutza klal lamash nimtzem beEitz Hayyim Poskim, be'etz sefarim," excuse me, "ksav yad shel Mar Sasson be London." I wanna add what I got from Mr. Sasson, who's

15:32 over in London, because I have more information now. And the Rebbe adds information. He says that he has learned that Tanach HaRashba, the one that was attributed to the, the, the Rashba's Tanakh, um, "ayedei sefer echad sh'kazv es Hatanakh l'neched esh alo Rashba," this was a certain sefer who wrote a Tanakh for the grandson of the Rashba. "Heiner esheshtrek ben Yitzchak ben HaRashba," I guess that was his name, "beksav yad ezet dakah k'se be alef," and when he wrote this up for the grandson of the Rashba, he wrote it with an alef. Number two, "beksav yad Hatanakh sh'nechtav b'ksav yad mamish shel talmidah shel HaRashba," one of the students of the Rashba wrote it with his own hand. "Rav Shem Tov ben Gaon mekhaber Sefer Migdal Oz al HaRambam haya kesef dakah be hei." He wrote it with a hei, not like an alef, not like us. "Ve'akhakh macha kesei Rav Shem Tov be'atsme," and then Rav Shem Tov himself erased it, "ve'tikin bi yade dakah be alef." So we have here a student of the Rashba saw that a Sefer Torah was written with a hei, and he erased it himself and wrote it with an alef. Um, excuse me, not a Sefer Torah, this was a Tanakh, but same idea. Uh, "veTanakh atik," I will remind you that you used to have to get handwritten Tanakhs. This is before the printing press. Uh, "veTanakh atik me-- a very, very old Tanakh, Khumash Damascus." This is the, uh, Damascus Chumash, which, uh, I think

16:35 is one of the-- it's probably one of the manuscripts that I mentioned earlier. Do we have Damascus on our list? I don't remember. I have to find my, uh, I have to find my personal list. But anyway, the Damascus one, um, "sh'nis-- sh'nechtav lifnei elef u'meah shanah," written more than, uh, eleven hundred years ago. "Metur ba'el davidd sad taf twenty-two through twenty-three, ve sham kesef dakah be alef," and there you can see that it is written once again, dakah, with an alef. "VeChumash ksav yad," this is a handwritten Chumash, "nechtav lifnei khamish meah shanah," it was written five hundred years ago. Uh, you can see there that it is written with an alef. "In ksav yad of a Tanakh from the year four ninety-nine, nechtav lifnei khamish meah shanah," written before-- written more than five hundred years ago, once again with an alef. And another ksav yad of the Chumash Temani, the classic-- one of the classic old Yemenite Chumashim, he once again found it was written with alef, and that was also written more than five hundred years ago. And this last one, "Foss Blanton Berger," maybe Bombergery? Okay. Uh, anytime something's transliterated, good luck to me. Anyway, it was written in the year Shin Chaf Vav, and that was once again dakah with an alef. So the Rebbe has collected over time, and this is only as of the year Tuf Shin Yud Beis, a list of seven places from very, very old Chumashim and Tanakhs that are like the Alter Rebbe, and

17:41 the Rebbe's making that case. We have a letter here from the year Dalet Tav Tav Kuf Chaf Vav. This is, uh-- That's not the year, that is the label of the letter, excuse me. Dalet Tav Tav Kuf Chaf Vav. The year is Tuf Shin Yud Zayin, and the Rebbe writes to somebody who's about to write a Sefer Torah to be very careful to write it Tzuvadka with an aleph. The Rebbe writes, "Kem shekol bashklat pratit." I'm sorry, let's go one line above. "Memayen hamechtav," I'm responding to your letter. "Bakes et zelis ini ksiva Sefer Torah v'siyuma." You wrote to me about writing a Sefer Torah and finishing a Sefer Torah. "Kem shekol bashklat pratit," since everything is with divine providence. "Uvfrat ini nakash v'Torah mitzvot," and especially things that are tied to Torah mitzvahs, those who are especially tied to divine providence. "Kesvei li b'ini ksiva Sefer Torah," you wrote to me about writing a Sefer Torah. "Mechivasi v'zekosi," it is my-- it is among my, uh, my obligations and my merits. "Lazkir v'kan p'sak din Shulchan Aruch," to mention here the ruling of the Alter Rebbe, Baal HaTanya, "Pasek b'nistar d'Torah v'Shulchan Aruch, pasek b'nidlu d'Torah." The Alter Rebbe, who is the author of Tanya, and therefore a pasek in nistar of the Torah, in mysticism, and the author of the Shulchan Aruch, and therefore a pasek, the final halakhic decision in the niglu d'Torah as well, in the revealed aspects of the Torah. But he says, "Lichtev tzuvadak be aleph l'vaveh d'sefer," to

18:46 write the word tzuvadak with an aleph on the end. "K'meshul b'shut Sher e-Tsiyoda," as you will find in the Sher e-Tsiyoda, which we saw inside from the brother of the Alter Rebbe. Uh, he continues by, uh, by, uh, quoting the Hayim more or less. We're not gonna read the rest of this letter. But anyway, the Rebbe reaches out to somebody. You can tell by the tone of the letter that he's not reaching out to somebody. I mean, uh, the person's name is Schneur Zalman, but, uh, the lashon of the letter strongly suggests to me that the person that he's reaching out to is not necessarily someone that familiar with the way that we do things. Otherwise, he wouldn't be holding his hand regarding who the Alter Rebbe is. But in any event, he writes to people, "Mazel tov on your Sefer Torah, and make sure to write it with an aleph." Let's say somebody didn't write it with an aleph, or they got a Sefer Torah that was not written with an aleph. We have a letter-- We have two letters like this. I'm only showing you one of them, although there's at least two on the books where the Rebbe says the same thing. This is labeled Hey Mem Vav, and it is a letter from Tuf Shin Yud Zayin, where somebody writes to the Rebbe about a Sefer Torah that is written with a hey and asks how they should-- what they should do about it. And the Rebbe writes, "Shalom u-bracha." Oh,

19:41 heh. This is just-- This is fun for us. I'm just gonna read this line just for, just for the in-house crowd, all right? "Me shenik vas mechtav mener shvi, ve-na'em li de-kreis bai mir is hachshus hashiurim." There we go. So he writes, "I'm very happy that you've started up your shiurim again." Okay, uh, and let's go down to our section. "Mach sh'kor et is tikon ha-Sefer Torah." Uh, what you wrote about repairing a Sefer Torah. "Lichtev k'eras Elokim," that you're asking whether when you fi-- whether you should fix the Sefer Torah that you've received and write it like the Alter Rebbe with an aleph. "Nachon hadavar." There we go. It's absolutely, that's the right thing to do. "Uv'von sheyesh liz'ar v'zeh b'yesh im pirsum." However, the Rebbe says, "Be careful. Uh, it's understood that you shouldn't do this in a public way." "Mim nei mach lihkes ve-kahal ha-avim," because this is gonna cause debates, it's gonna cause arguments, and it's easy to understand that that could cause arguments. "Uv'frat sh'ya pirsum yakhol ligrem sh'yurtz lachi le'chakes limkem v'yaso hefekh." The Rebbe says, furthermore, if you publicize that you've changed it, this could cause people who are on the other side of the debate to want to write their Sefer Torah with a hey, "le'chakes," um, intentionally, um, to-- in, in anger, literally. "Limkem," and to may take revenge, "v'yaso hefekh," and specifically do the opposite to show that they're not like Chabad that's doing it the other way. So the Rebbe very much wants the

20:45 entire world to switch over to aleph and, uh, seeing that, uh, if we, if we very publicly are erasing their Sefer Torah and putting alephs in, that's gonna undermine the cause. He says, "Make sure you do it quietly." Uh, those are all the letters and the big ideas I wanted to show you about the switching from the hey to the aleph and the aleph and the hey and this whole debate. But I did wanna end off with something that is, uh, beautiful, meshiachdic, and vaguely related to this topic. There is a sicha from the Friediker Rebbe, uh, Taf Reish Tzadik Aleph. I believe it's also printed in Likutey Dibburim. And in the middle of the sicha, we have a note. It's footnote thirty-eight, so let me zoom in a whole bunch. He says, "A miktav Rav Chatche-Fagin." Rav Chatche-Fagin, uh, he wrote a letter in Taf Reish Tzadik Aleph, and he mentioned the sicha, so he summarized the sicha. That's what-- That's what people-- That's how people used to communicate back then, by the way. Chassidim would reach out to each other and be like, "I heard a sicha from the Friediker Rebbe. Here it is." And they would write it down and send it to each other. We should start this again. I, I learned a, I learned a great sicha. I learned a great letter, just sending it to each other. I guess we kind of do that on WhatsApp. Uh, so yeah, there we go. We're, we're basically still doing it. We

21:41 just have WhatsApp nowadays. Anyway, uh, Rav Chatche-Fagin, he wrote about the sicha, and he added something, and they put what he added. He said, "Moif," and he says, "Ach akakh," after this part of the sicha, "Diber Rabbeinu harbeh meiniam bias Moshiach." After this, the Friediker Rebbe started talking a whole lot about the coming of Moshiach. "Ve'amar shebashanah zoo davar nizchrif then," which means, I believe, that we need to start getting ready. We have to start preparing ourselves. Yes, we have to start preparing ourselves. We need to get ready. Yeah? Acceptable? You want a better translation? Go ahead. Um, riften, maybe make a reckoning, perhaps? So I'm okay with my translation, then okay. Make a reckoning, get ourselves ready. Uh, in any event, we gotta start getting ready for Moshiach. "V'al men az tirtzah aretz eshav seseiha," right. That then the land will be appeased of its, of its sabbaticals, right? That's the way I believe it's translated. Uh, "Az hu apiye zeh," he says az is like the zeh. "She-aleph hu alah zayin," that the aleph is al zayin, "shehu madregas Moshiach." Okay, so that is something, the word az itself is related to the idea of Moshiach. "Avak she'amar tirtzah behey," and even though tirtzah is spelled a b'hey, and remember, it is the year Taf Reish Tzadik Aleph, so what he's trying to do is draw a parallel between the year Taf Reish Tzadik Aleph and the word tirtzah, which is a lashon of Moshiach. He says it is true that tirtzah is

22:46 written with a hey, "Ach yedua m'Rabbeinu shehach lif'hey alah aleph." However, it's known from our Rebbe, it's known from Rabbeinu, it's known from the Alter Rebbe that we switch a hey for an aleph. So he seems to almost certainly be-- Right. So that's, uh, it's, it's said tongue in cheek, but you can see the Friediker Rebbe using this idea of switching a hey to an aleph and tying it to the idea of Moshiach entirely. I don't think it's a small jump at all. I don't think it's a large jump at all to say that, uh, that, that we can wish the same blessing upon one another, that as we study this subject, learn more about the hey-aleph controversy, and switch our hey to an aleph, we can switch tirtzah to Taf Reish Tzadik Aleph and, of course, you know, move that into the future and make that a Tuf Shin Pey Vav kind of thing. You do the math, you'll make it work. Anyway, uh, these sorts of things should bring Moshiach, obviously. Uh, that's it. Thank you all very much.