כוחם של תהלים

00:01 This is Igress, and today we are going to talk about Tehillim, reciting Psalms, which has been a mainstay of the Jewish people for millennia since they were composed by David HaMelech. Hasidim, in particular, have always been big fans of Tehillim, and our Rebbeim are no exception. Putting a shiur on Tehillim together is therefore impossible. Uh, in his letters, our Rebbe recommends Tehillim for every malady, every concern, every question. It's hard to find a letter where the Rebbe's advice for someone struggling with something or hoping for some kind of blessing doesn't include in it the advice that they recite some extra Tehillim. So instead of doing an exhaustive review of all of the instances in which the Rebbe prescribes Tehillim, I thought we'd explore three big ideas in Tehillim, and that's ambitious because we don't have that much time. But the three big ideas that I wanted to bring out today is, number one, the origin of the decree that we should recite, uh, a certain number of Tehillim at the end of davening every day, such that we finish the entire book of Tehillim every month. That is especially timely because this coming year will be the one hundredth anniversary of that takanah, and so we're gonna talk about that a little bit. More on that later. Number two, I wanna look at why our Rebbeim value Tehillim so much. Obviously, that's difficult to encapsulate in a single class. We'll look at a couple statements from our Rebbeim about the value of Tehillim and just

01:07 how much you can get out of it, a general discussion of its power, what more Tehillim could do for you. And number three, if God gives us the time, uh, since we're in Elul and Rosh Hashanah is fast approaching, a deep dive into the connection between Rosh Hashanah and Tehillim specifically, and the instructions of our Rebbeim to spend the entire Rosh Hashanah in an essentially reclusive state absorbed in nothing but Tehillim. Uh, so that's a lot to cover. Let's get started. I wanna start you off with something that is a diary entry from Reb, uh, Reb Eliyachim Alteis, which is printed in Der Her. Uh, I did find parts of the original. I'll send them to you, or at least I'll put them in the, uh, Imir Tzion. I'll put them in the group folder, so you can read some of the original. But I have an excerpt here in English as translated by Der Her to give you a little bit of context for the foundation of the takanah, uh, that we should say Tehillim after davening, and that that Tehillim said after davening should be split up according to the months, that every month you finish Tehillim. Reb Eliyachim wrote the following in his diary: "The Rebbe told us as follows verbatim: 'Before the year fifty-six eighty-seven..." Anybody wanna do the math for me on that one? That would have been a hundred years ago. So that is, uh, right now it's twenty twenty-six. That would have been nineteen twenty-six, nineteen twenty-seven. "Before

02:12 the year fifty-six eighty-seven, I was terri-- I was, I was frightened. I wasn't thinking about myself. I was worried about the Hasidim. Before I gave the instruction about reciting Tehillim, things were very difficult for me." This was, of course, the year that the Frieda Rebbe would get arrested, and, uh, he was very nervous, not for himself, but for his Hasidim. And that was when he came out with the takanah, the, uh, decree, I suppose, that a person should say Tehillim after the prayers every single day. Uh, Reb Eliyachim says, "I asked the Rebbe, 'When was the instruction about Tehillim given? Exactly when did you give it out?' And the Rebbe answered on Simchas Torah." So that would mean that this year's Simchas Torah will be the one hundredth-year anniversary of the takanah to say Tehillim after davening every day according to the days of the month. "Then I recalled," continues Reb Eliya-- Reb Eliyachim in his diary, "on the day of Simchas Torah, the Rebbe kept asking all of Anash to accept upon themselves to recite the daily section of Tehillim after davening. I have no doubt that the note that we found on the Rebbe's room on the day of his arrest about reciting Tehillim was also written in Elul fifty-six eighty-six or Tishrei fifty-six eighty-seven. This is what was written in the note found in the Rebbe's holy table after his arrest on the fifteenth of Sivan, fifty-six eighty-seven in Leningrad." And before I read that note to you, I wanna just point

03:17 out that Reb Eliyachim is saying that although the Frieda Rebbe put out the decree that we should all be saying Tehillim after davening every single day according to the days of the month, split according to the days of the month, he put that out on Simchas Torah by his own admission. They found a letter in the Rebbe's room saying to do this, and that he's certain that that letter came from either Tishrei of that year or Elul of the year immediately preceding it. Which means that there's a possibility that since we're in the month of Elul now, this takanah is already one hundred years old. It could be that this really was started a hundred years ago in Elul, could be it was in Tishrei. It certainly was announced publicly on Simchas Torah. I guess you have to be a certain kind of Chabad history nerd to find it exciting that it might be Elul, might be early Tishrei, and might be Simchas Torah. But if you are one of those people, this is your moment. Anyway, this is what was written in the note found in the Rebbe's holy table after his arrest on the fifteenth of Sivan in the year, I don't know, nineteen twenty-six, probably still, because of the way the calendar works in Leningrad. The Rebbe wrote on this letter-- in this letter: "Attention, Hasidim and all Jews who are waiting for Mashiach. Please convey in my name to all Hasidim across the world in all Hasidish shuls that they should

04:19 recite the daily section of Tehillim as divided for the days of the month, both on Shabbos and every day. To Hasidim, you should say that I command it. To other Jews, you should say that out of Ahavas Yisrael," love of the fellow Jew, "and seeking the best for all Jews, I request of them that they should fulfill this." So the Re-- the Frieda Rebbe had written that, uh, Hasidim should be commanded to do this. Hasidim have to listen. The Frieda Rebbe wants you to say Tehillim every day after davening, that is not optional. You're a Hasid. You should command it in his name. However, for people who are not Hasidim, they don't feel the need to listen to the Frieda Rebbe. So he says you should tell them out of Ahavas Yisrael, because I truly am seeking the best for you. I strongly request that you do this as well. That is the beginning of the takanah to say Tehillim according to the month, split according to the month after davening in a universal way. Obviously, people were doing that before, but this is where it really began to be something that everybody did on a daily basis. In addition to this, this would be around the year, oh, me and years, nineteen forty-two? I think Tuv Shin Bes would be nineteen forty-two. Yeah? Okay, nineteen forty-two. In nineteen forty-two, uh, just as World War II and the Holocaust were at their height, um, and terrible things were happening all around the world and everybody

05:20 was nervous about everything, the Frieda Rebbe did something else with Tehillim that is historically interesting, especially for us, as you'll see in just a moment. And that is that he appointed a group of people to go to the cave-- to go to the kever, to go to the, uh, gravesite of King David himself in the Holy Land and say the entire Book of Psalms there every single day in the merit of people around the world being protected from the horrors of what was going on around the time-- around the year nineteen forty-two. The Rebbe writes, uh, the Frieda Rebbe writes, this is a letter labeled Alef Tuv Shin Pei Vav, and this is from Tes Zayin Eiyr of Tuv Shin Bes. And the Rebbe writes this to-- the Frieda Rebbe writes this to Machane Israel as an instruction. He writes, "Shalom Ubrah." You have the letter on your screen. With this, I hereby am handing over to you my general letter, my public letter that was written to inform those in Yerushalayim, in the holy city of Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt speedily. That is that I have instructed some individuals to act as messengers for the entire Jewish people and to go to this grave site of King David, and every single day complete the entire book of Psalms, the entire Tehillim, and also to daven alongside King David's kever, that there should be salvation for everybody in the world. And I'm telling those who have already established groups for saying Tehillim, as I

06:44 have instructed previously, to encourage other people to join in this effort. And in places where there are not yet groups of people reciting Tehillim, you should establish groups of people who should be saying Tehillim because this is-- we're going through rough times, and we need more people saying Psalms in groups. So for those who already have these, and in areas where-- groups of, groups of, uh, Tehillim sayers that have already established their groups, and if they go to an area, they know of an area where those groups are not established, they should establish such groups in those areas too. This should spread. The Friediker Rebbe says, "I'm asking you to please, uh, publicize my letter, this particular letter about doing this, to spread it as much as possible." Among all people who care about practically getting stuff done, make sure they spread the word. And for that, God will be there to help you in physicality and in spirituality. And the Rebbe signs his name. The Friediker Rebbe signs his name. There is a much longer letter that does almost the same thing that is labeled Alef Tav Shin Pe He, that is from Yud Dalet Year of Tav Shin Beis. And there, the Friediker Rebbe just explains in context what he's saying. The bottom part of the letter gives the same instruction. The top part of the letter, which is on your screen, explains that the world has gone mad, that there's war going on everywhere, that our brothers and sisters are, uh, are

07:57 overseas, they're in danger, and some of them are literally fighting in the war on sea and on land and in air. This is what he says in that middle paragraph. And because of all the things that are going on and all the people who need protection, it's time for more Tehillim. And the Friediker Rebbe really pushes the idea of Tehillim. The Friediker Rebbe, of course, handed this over to Machane Israel and gave the organization Machane Israel the responsibility of spreading this idea. And the reason why that should be so interesting to you is I found this-- I've never even heard about this. This shocked me completely. I have this on the screen. This is in Reshimas. This is in Reshimas Cheveres Nun Beis. It seems that the Rebbe, our Rebbe, one time went to the Agudah, looks like. It looks like he went to Agudas Yisrael on behalf of the Friediker Rebbe as his Shliach, and his job was to go there and present to them the idea that they too should be pushing everybody to say more Tehillim during these times of war. And we have here a transcript of the Rebbe's talk that he gave in front of the Agudah, and it's fascinating. Uh, first of all, the Rebbe is going to advocate for Tehillim and explain that even Talmidei Chachamim and even big Rabbonim should be pushing this. And then the part that I cut off that you can read if you continue, we're not gonna read it today, but I have

08:56 it in your-- I have it in the folder for you. The Rebbe goes into a, uh, a Lumdishe explanation about why it should be just as good as saying Tehillim as it is learning Torah. And, uh, he demonstrates this to the satisfaction of a group of the biggest Rabbonim of the generation as a young man and as a Shliach of the Friediker Rebbe. So I want to read to you a little bit of this just 'cause it's so interesting to me. The Rebbe appears in front of the Agudah, and he says the following. He says, "Even though I am not one of the members of Agudas Harabonim," our Rebbe says, before he became Rebbe, "I'm asking permission-- with permission from all those who are gathered, and of course, at the very head of them, the people who are leaders of this organization." I'm going to-- Since I have their permission, says the Rebbe, I'm going to allow myself to take a little bit of their time and a little bit of their attention. And the Rebbe says, "In order to establish what we're about to talk about," says the Rebbe, "I need to give you a little introduction, and the introduction is that we have established an organization known as Machane Israel, and I want to tell you briefly what they are up to." At the beginning of the year Tav Shin Alef, which should be nineteen forty-one. At the beginning of the year nineteen forty-one, probably back then nineteen forty because of the way

10:05 years change around the beginning of a Jewish year. So probably around the year nineteen forty. That is that the Friediker Rebbe, without making any big fuss about it, without publicity, gathered some people together, some special people, a small group of individuals. That is that he gathered a few people who want to be involved in strengthening Torah and mitzvahs among the broadest possible range of Jewish people. Without concern for their party or their division or their sect, simply because they're Jewish, helping them spread and, uh, spread and strengthen Judaism. And to especially work with Jews, uh, who are the most distant. If you came to such Jews in the name of an organization or in the name of a certain political party or in the name of a, uh, an organ-- a group of Jews, this would have made them scared, and they would have fled from you. But if you speak to them as just friends, it works. So what the Rebbe is saying in this paragraph is the Friediker Rebbe established Machane Israel to be essentially an undercover movement for strengthening Judaism. It's not associated with any movement openly. It's not associated with any political party or any rabbinic party or any sect of Jews. And because of that, it's able to reach Jews who would generally flee organized religion as it were. And you just intend-- incidentally, members of Machane Israel were expected to make friends with their fellow Jews and strengthen Judaism on the ground without affiliation with any particular party or

11:27 ideology. Besides the idea-- ideology of Shulchan Aruch, of course. The Rebbe says a whole bunch of people joined this organization. All of those people who joined knew the rules, which are: This is not the kind of thing that's going to get you honor, and you're not gonna get publicity for it. This is a low-key job. They also knew that they wouldn't be asked to pay any dues. They wouldn't have to pay a regular tax, uh, to the organization to be members. Of silver or gold. The only obligation was that they would bring their strongest energies and their practical action to the table. I don't know for sure if the Rebbe is poking fun-- I don't really want to say poking fun, but poking at the Agudah, which inevitably did involve these things, a whole lot of publicity and a whole lot of dues. But, uh, I, I don't know if that's specific, but it certainly is a contrast here that Machane Israel is not like the Agudah and other organizations in that it is not tied to any organization, you don't pay dues for it, and the only thing that's expected of you is your effort. And you shouldn't expect to get any publicity. But then the Rebbe says, "Thank God," Even though we haven't done a lot of recruiting, their reputation has grown and their numbers have grown. And they're able to do more work in holiness. And anybody who keeps the conditions I mentioned above is welcome to join our organization known as

12:46 Machane Israel. Now, after this introduction, the Rebbe says, "Now let me get to the point of what I'm saying in front of you." The Rebbe tells the Agudah, these big Rabbanim. For the past certain period of time, the Friediker Rebbe, who at the time is the Rebbe, so that's Admor Shlita, is, uh, has been involved in two major projects through Machane Israel, and I want to tell you about them. Number one, according to the words of the Rebbe, the Friediker Rebbe, since there are terrible things going on overseas for the Jewish people, because of all the things going on in the world and what we're going to have to prepare for things that might be going on here too, says the Rebbe, I need to ask you, and I'm asking-- the Rebbe-- the Friediker Rebbe has said that he's asking, and he's asking three times a fundamental , a request at the level of his soul. Number one, . Number one, people should be learning Mishnayos Be'al Peh, the Mishnah. They should know it by heart, and they should then be saying it and reviewing it as they're walking through the streets in order to purify the air. This is something that I would like to-- I, I don't remember if we ever did a Shiur on this, but I'd like to if we haven't. It's a fascinating period of time where we, uh-- where the Friediker Rebbe comes to America, and he tells all the Jews there, "I can't breathe. The air is just

14:02 full of tumah. And if you don't start saying Mishnayos as you're walking through the street, I won't be able to breathe here." And after a little while, he announces they've been doing it, and now he can breathe again. I hope we someday can do that together if we haven't already. Anyway, that's thing number one, but thing number two is, of course, the point of our Shiur today. That is that he-- the Machane Israel has been asked to establish, the second big request is to establish a group of Tehillim sayers in Yerushalayim. And he got permission to do this from Rav Herzog, who was the chief rabbi, and a bunch of other ones as well. In the letter that I skipped over that I didn't show you, he says that he got permission from all of the chief rabbis, Rabbi Teshibski as well, and Rabbi Uziel as well. So all the chief rabbis were on board with him. That they should daven on behalf of all Jewish people wherever they are. And that in all places, they should strengthen the organizations of Tehillim sayers that exist already. And that there should be new organizations, groups of Tehillim established in new places. And that they can join with the international Tehillim effort of and through their prayers, these lovely words that are the songs of the Jewish people, they will protect the Jew-- the Jewish people. And this should, uh, give us victory and also, uh, lessen the Chevei HaMashiach, which, uh, is what he's calling World

15:21 War II, the Chevei HaMashiach, the birth pangs of Mashiach, these terrible times we're going through right now. So the Rebbe's saying here that point number two of the Friediker Rebbe's big efforts that he's saying is that his fundamental request is that there be established a group of people to say Tehillim in Yerushalayim, that people saying Tehillim around the world in groups should strengthen what they're doing and do it more and do it more consistently, and that they should go to places where there are not groups saying Tehillim already and establish new ones, and this is going to protect the entire Jewish people, and this is going to lessen the birth pangs of Mashiach. And Machane Israel has succeeded in getting these two i-- big ideas off the ground in many places. We've seen that hundreds and hundreds of our fellow Jews have taken to this. They really do love these initiatives, and they're doing them with, uh, with great desire. Therefore, says the Rebbe, I'm now coming to you, Hagados Harabbanim, and I'm coming with a request from the Friediker Rebbe. I would like you to make a . I'd like you to, uh, make a resolution. That every one of the members of Hagados Harabbanim, remember, these are the biggest rabbis in the world, very busy people. The Rebbe says, "I want every one of you to, uh, s- make a resolution." Whether you are present today or whether you're not present today. That is that they should establish in their synagogues and in

16:33 their kehillahs that they should establish groups like I described previously of people to say Tehillim, and that they should publicize this idea. So the Rebbe is bringing this idea now to the broader world and saying, "I want Hagados Harabbanim to get behind the Friediker Rebbe's Tehillim idea." The Rebbe goes on to say, some people are going to tell me that these two ideas, saying Mishnayos by heart and saying Tehillim, that's not a thing for big rabbis. That's a thing for ignorant people and for women, people who aren't so educated. It's not for big rabbis. But Chazal have already told us of blessed memory requested from God that Chazal have already said that of blessed memory asked, he requested, you should remember that Dovid HaMelech, the Halacha is always like him. He's a big Talmid Chaham. He is a very, very big rabbi. He learned Torah all the time. Uh, whether he was in-- whether he was in Shalva, whether things were going well for him, he learned Torah. When he was in a time of tzarah, when he was in a time of trouble, he learned Torah. And nonetheless, despite the fact that he was a big Lamdan who learned Torah all the time, he asked that his saying of Tehillim should be considered like somebody studying some of the most tricky and technical sections of the Talmud, of the Mishnah, uh, the laws of, uh, the laws of purity and impurity, uh, regarding different things you touch in different tents and things like that.

17:49 Um, that is that the request here from Dovid HaMelech is that saying Tehillim should count like Torah study at the very highest level. The Rebbe then goes on to say, and we're not gonna read this inside today, but he goes on to present to the Agudah why that would be. He gives a showing that specifically are similar to Tehillim and that a person can get all the advantages of learning Torah by saying Tehillim. But in any event, the Rebbe presents this, uh, I guess around the year nineteen forty probably. So he presents this a good ten, maybe even fifteen years before the Nesi'os. I don't know exactly when this was. I would say about ten years before the Rebbe becomes the Rebbe. He's standing in front of the biggest Rabbanim in the world saying, "I would like you all to, uh, stop focusing so much on the..." You know, I know he's saying stop. Uh, "Focus less perhaps on some of these big initiatives that you think are fit for a Rabbanim and focus on what really needs to get done, which is spreading the word that we need more Mishnayos Be'al Peh, and we specifically need more Tehillim." The reason why the Frieda K'rava leans so heavily into Tehillim in times of trouble, and why the Frieda K'rava-- I mean, both times of trouble, right? In the Frieda K'rava's, uh, I guess it's not really personal life, in the safety of the Nasiyas, and by extension, the safety of the whole Jewish people with

18:46 the miracle that ultimately happened on Yud Beis and Nugim El Tammuz, the Frieda K'rava's imprisonment. In that case, that was a time of terrible trouble for the Jewish people. And then later on, there was the Holocaust, another terrible time of trouble for the Jewish people. In both of these cases, the Frieda K'rava leans very heavily on Tehillim and really pushes Tehillim, and the reason why is because Tehillim is so incredibly powerful. I have a couple, uh, expressions on the screen of how powerful Tehillim is from various Rebbeim. I wanna show you a few of them. One of them is the classic Hayemim from Chaf Dalet Shat. I have it in English on your screen, and it says here, "If you only knew," the Tzemach Tzedek said, "the power of verses of Tehillim and their effect in the highest heavens, you would recite them constantly. Know that the chapters of Tehillim shatter all barriers. They ascend higher and still higher with no interference. They prostrate themselves in supplication before the master of all worlds, and they effect and accomplish with kindness and compassion." So Tehillim is very powerful. Says the Tzemach Tzedek, "If you knew the power of Tehillim, you would never stop saying it." So when we're looking for what to do in a time of destruction, God forbid, in a time of trouble, God forbid, any time a person's in trouble, Tehillim is definitely their first stop. So it makes sense that this is the Frieda K'rava's first stop in times of trouble. I

19:47 also have a maimer from the-- excuse me, a sicha from the Rebbe over here. It's in, uh, excuse me, nineteen eighty-five in volume two, page seven hundred and twenty-seven. And the Rebbe says here, "Kol elo isindam yudas tilim peles is hamshachas kol habrachas l'chametz tzarach." The general idea of saying Tehillim affects a hamshacha, a drawing down of all blessings for everything a person could possibly need. You're not gonna get a better segula than that. Just today, segula to draw down all blessings and all things that a person could possibly need. "Kubish sheroim bemuchash shekash yehudis zaku klinin sheabracha beizin in shi," as we see explicitly, that any time a Jew needs a blessing in anything, no matter what the matter happens to be, "amer hu kapitol Tehillim," for he says a kapitol of Tehillim, he says a single perekh of Tehillim or a Mizmor of Tehillim. "Bekeven sheyish be es kol hakolos lamshachas kol habrachos kol hametz tzarach." He does this because inside one Tehillim, inside one single Psalm, includes all of the segulas, all of the, uh, I don't know how to translate segulas. You know what a segula is. All of the segulas to draw down all of the brachas in anything that he could possibly need. That is, there are a million segulas. People are wearing bracelets on their, uh, and they, and they're hanging things on their wall. They're doing all sorts. They're walking around graves counterclockwise or clockwise. At the end of the day, the segula for everything, all of

20:51 the segulas are in Tehillim, says the Rebbe. Any bracha you want in anything, you'll find that segula in Tehillim. So obviously, when we're in trouble, God forbid, or when we need anything, that's not a God forbid, when we need anything good, the first stop should always be Tehillim. The Rebbe has a sicha where he expands upon this a little bit, the importance of Tehillim. "Menim tza kasha shir Tehillim yemi hu kafol azam shachas habrachos ubevin kafol." That particular kfiyas had set things up that since on Shabbos Habarakim you were going to say Tehillim twice, you say the whole Tehillim, and then you say your daily Tehillim again. Uh, I've been asked before about this, that somebody said the whole Tehillim on Shabbos Habarakim, should they really repeat their daily Tehillim after saying the whole Tehillim? And the Rebbe says, "Sure, why not? You'd get double the blessings." "She'ilum kulan asa tilim velt." That is, that you can, through saying Tehillim, turn the entire world into a tilim velt. You can turn the entire world into a world of Tehillim. "Uneisha, b'shmunisha, b'ria kula mehaleles nekoleses omeshabechases hakadosh baruch hu." It creates a version of the world where the entire world sings the praises of God Almighty, sings the praises of the Holy One blessed be He. "Eilun pishi meturbiz Mizmor Baruch Nafshi." You can create a world as is described in the Tehillim Baruch Nafshi, which describes a world that is not like our world at all, a world where everything is praising God. The

21:53 truth is that's happening at some level now, but if you want to bring that into a reality, the way that you bring that into a reality is through saying Tehillim. So Tehillim is obviously very, very powerful. Because of the power of Tehillim, when people ask the Rebbe about stopping saying Tehillim for any reason, the Rebbe is hesitant to let them. This is a letter from the Rebbe. This is in Igeret Sha'ar after all. So we have a letter from the Rebbe. It is labeled Aleph Tav Kuf Yud Beis. It is from Yud Gimel Nissan of Tav Shin Yud Beis. And somebody writes to the Rebbe saying that they had made a, achlata, they made a, a resolution a very long time ago to say a ton of Tehillim every day. And now they're out of trouble, and they're now in the land of Israel, and they'd like to learn Gemara all day. And unfortunately, they don't have time to learn Gemara all day because their Tehillim schedule is overwhelming. So the Rebbe writes, "Kibalti mechtava me, me, me Beis Tzav." I think probably for the Monday of Parashat Tzav, I'm guessing. "Mesmachti likres bei shekvari stader lehiye shle acharas l'chazik b'she'aret Torah v'gam Tehillim." The Rebbe says, "I'm very happy to hear from you. I'm glad that you're established in Eretz Israel, and I'm glad that now you're able to strengthen in your Torah learning and in your saying of Tehillim." "V'gam she'elcha vestadi," but then you ask my opinion. "Ashar biyes," dot, dot, dot.

22:52 When you were in this other place, I don't know where, "kibal al atzme nekham ha-tamim she'orim b'sefer T-- b'sefer Tehillim." You accepted upon yourself for specific reasons, for various reasons, that you were going to say a whole lot of Tehillim. "Vecheftzu ledasi im yachzik lehem gam atah," and you wanna know whether you need to keep doing this nowadays. "B'yes hara tzekeish k'vehenoves kenen," nowadays you live in the Holy Land of Israel. "Uvrach azli sharla kol cach zman limud Gemara k'shereitza." And now you don't have as much time to learn Gemara as you would like, and this Tehillim is taking away from your Gemara time. How are you gonna do Daf Yomi when you're saying Tehillim all day? I added those words. How are you gonna learn Gemara when you're saying Tehillim all day? So I wanna know what I should do. Yeah, you got the reference? That one was for you. He didn't say Daf Yomi. "Hinhe d'ati." The Rebbe says, "It is my opinion." "Miachash min hagamidust Tehillim mida kazul machzik beiz man rav," since you have had this custom to say Tehillim already for a long time, "henhi afal pishi nira lecha siva karah leyeshna," even though you think the reason for saying Tehillim is no longer present, "vechozeh tzarch lamshicha v'eresim Tehillim k'mei, k'mei al atah." I want you to continue doing this now. I want you to continue saying Tehillim the way that you always have. "Ve'ein ledasa ma yakir yes etza hakadosh, baruch hu." It's hard to know what is.

23:51 The Rebbe says it's hard to know what is more dear to God. "Uvrach min hakteiv zehu min kam kamaz man," especially since you've been ha-- doing this good custom for a very long time. That to me is the most important line in the whole letter. The Rebbe here says that I don't know how I would ever figure out. How would you ever know what matters to God more, your Torah learning or your saying of Tehillim? To say that you should say fewer, fewer Tehillim so you can learn more Torah, I don't know how exactly you would know that. Now, I remind you that this is the same Rebbe in the year Tav Shin Yud Beis who ten years previously stood before the Agudas HaRabonim and told them that Tehillim is just as good as Negah HaMoad Eleis explained to them how. So the Rebbe does not accept the idea that somehow I should be taking away from my Tehillim time so I have more Torah time, especially since this person has already been doing it for a while. The Rebbe continues, "Vetach karas sipurnim bedavar milas minnes Tehillim," certainly you have read stories about the incredible advantage of saying Tehillim. "Sheb'sfarim hakodeshim uvrab mesifrei chassidis," you're gonna find this a lot in holy books and especially in the Chassidishe sfarim, the idea that saying Tehillim is a very, very lofty thing, so the Rebbe does not let him off the hook at all. I know we're over time, and please feel free to leave if

24:49 you're out of time, but I've decided I, I think we're gonna continue. Let's continue a little bit. I wanna show you this last piece. We've done part one and part two. Goal number one was to establish how the, uh, how the custom to say Tehillim after davening started, to talk a little bit about Machane Israel and the history of the Frieda K'rava pushing Tehillim, and of course, the Rebbe's role in that in front of the Aguda, and we did that. Our goal number two was to establish, uh, just how important Tehillim is, to find a couple samples from sichas and from a letter or two, uh, se-- telling us that Tehillim can get a lot of things done, and we've done that as well. The last thing that I wanted to do is give you something to go into Rosh Hashanah with. Obviously, I'm hoping we will have other Igrot Shurarim before Rosh Hashanah, but in any event, this is something to have in mind as a person goes into Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah, people seem to have a taava to do everything. E-everything on Rosh Hashanah. I've seen people learning Torah the whole day, which I-- they're their worst taavas in the world. bifsam all day is a wonderful thing, blowing shofar for other people. Some people eat honey cake all day. Uh, in certain corners, you have devarim b'tehillim the entire day. Let's see what a person is actually supposed to do on Rosh Hashanah. What are they supposed to spend their

25:41 whole day doing? So I have here a letter. This is a letter from the Friediker Rebbe. It is labeled Gimel Tav Shin Lamed Ches, and he describes what Rosh Hashanah should look like. Zooming in so you can see a little better. The Friediker Rebbe writes, "Ve'agan de'ikar avodas Rosh Hashanah hu b'kabbalas malchus shamaim." The main avoda of Rosh Hashanah, the main job on Rosh Hashanah is to accept the yoke of heaven. "V'lachein, avodas hayom," and therefore, the service of the day, "gam b'gedolei m'baalei tzurah," even when it comes to big people, big baalei tzurah, even when it comes to the biggest Torah scholars, the job on Rosh Hashanah is, "la'avoda hamidahs k'mei peshutah v'amidah Tehillim k'mei zman u'lmai prushin u'vezeh leil u'zeh." That is, that a person should be saying Tehillim the entire day, and that they should minimize their sleep during these two nights so that they can say more Tehillim. That is, the day of Rosh Hashanah is a day for Tehillim, whether you are the biggest talmid hakham who could learn Torah all day, or whether you are a simple Jew who can't. Tehillim is what we do all day on Rosh Hashanah, and as a matter of fact, you sleep less at night in the hopes that you will have more time to say Tehillim over Rosh Hashanah. "Ki chalah efshar la'aziv et devarim b'tehillim ad k'se'ach," and be very, very careful to the furthest extent to keep yourself away from devarim b'tehillim, from saying things that are not words of

26:45 Torah and words of tefillah. "Gam b'sechas zeh z'shiyah," and also from conversation. Says the Friediker Rebbe, I don't really know why people are having conversations at all on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is a day for Tehillim. Conversation is not what we do on Rosh Hashanah. "Ki eiver d'sher eyn leizman af regalish ves umlachta im elecha sadan adonei." You should be like a s-- a sl-- like a slave, like a servant, who does not have even a moment to stop from working for his master, that he can't even take a second to breathe. He doesn't even have a second for a quick side conversation 'cause he's so observed-- u-absorbed in serving his master. Admittedly, that would not be an appropriate way to live day in and day out. A person needs to be a person. But for the t-- forty-eight hours or so, forty-nine hours, I don't know. For the forty-eight hours or so of, or so of Rosh Hashanah, you minimize your sleep, you minimize your conversation, you minimize everything, and you spend all your sign-- all your time with your nose buried in a Tehillim like a servant who's rushing to serve his master at every single moment. "U'oi, ki me natar b'simcha tzuas k'nevi'i bar." If you don't wanna think about it that way and you wanna think about it a little happier, there's a happier ver-version of this. You could imagine yourself like a son who is very, very busy with the joy that he has of seeing his father. "Sher Rosh

27:40 Hashanah k'meila yadosim bim," who hasn't seen his father for an entire year. A son who hasn't seen his father for a whole year and finally gets some time with his father is going to not, uh, be distracted at all from the joy of seeing his father, so that joy can overwhelm you as well and go into your Tehillim. So it can be serious, it can be joyful, but at the end of the day, it is completely focused. There is no room really for conversations on Rosh Hashanah. Now, lest you think that is a one-off, I brought you an entire page of, uh, from Eitz Havurah Chabad that is dedicated specifically to quotes from our Rebbeim saying that you should not be doing anything but saying Tehillim the entire Rosh Hashanah, and I don't know why you're having conversations, and I also don't even know why you're learning Torah. Uh, it seems that learning Torah on Rosh Hashanah is something our Rebbeim are not very fond of. I got a couple examples here. This is printed again in Eitz Havurah Chabad. I brought you the whole page. Let's read some of them inside. This first one is, uh, is a story. I-- It's printed in a couple story sources. It's not something that was said in a sicha, but it's printed here. "Pa'am achas b'Rosh Hashanah," once on Rosh Hashanah, "nichnesu bnei Admor HaTzemach Tzedek nish mesedem v'chasidim b'kav k'dushas v'akish dach." Once on Rosh Hashanah, the children of the Tzemach Tzedek and some of the

28:37 Chassidim entered in to ask the Tzemach Tzedek, "Will you say Chassidis for us on Rosh Hashanah?" "V'kalem ma'az Tehillim," at the time, the kehillah was saying Tehillim, the shul was saying Tehillim, and they wanted to hear a ma'amar from the Tzemach Tzedek on Rosh Hashanah. "Pesach-- Pasach kav k'dushas es pat-- es pesach," the, uh, the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, opened his door and he said the following: "The congregation is saying Tehillim, and you're asking for a Chassidis?" Question mark, exclamation point. "It would be better for you to say Tehillim." And then they ran off and they said Tehillim too. This one is printed in, uh, the letters of the Friediker Rebbe. Says, "Id el neis tefilas arvis amar el yaatz l'musar l'chol anash shmispal l'metz voi. Ki elo hashem retzem lishar lachakei zeh et mar tefilasi l'savku b'shmias tefilas levav. Rakim et Tehillim b'kol ram davka." That is, the Friediker Rebbe, along with all of our Rebbeim, had the tradition to daven a very long Maariv on Rosh Hashanah night, and people would stay for a very long time to watch their very long tefillah. And Friediker Rebbe said, "Please announce to everybody before they decide to stay and watch me that they can stay and watch me, but I don't want them just watching me. If they're gonna stay in shul while I'm taking forever to do Maariv, they should be saying Tehillim out loud the entire time." "Yishu mishmaris k'viyas lamidus Tehillim k'be yom u'valaila," and I would like there to be shifts

29:41 to make sure that in the shul, day and night, there are people saying Tehillim the entire Rosh Hashanah. The next one is printed in Sefer HaSichos from Tav Shin Heit. That would be nineteen forty-five, I think. "Harbe anash ratzu likanis," uh, many, many of Anash wanted to enter into the sudah of the day of the second day of Rosh Hashanah to be by the Friediker Rebbe. And kav k'dushas admor, the Friediker Rebbe, "v'es ratzu miza." The Friediker Rebbe did not like this, that everybody was trying to come to his meal. "Amar," and he said the following, "V'meshe chazal hazeh hayu chaim lis teisim milenei tevis b'sfiras ha-malchus." During the period of time that you are trying to sit at my meal, you could have added millions of letters and million-- millions of letters to Sefiras HaMalchus, and that is you could add a ton of letters of Tehillim to the Sefiras HaMalchus, which is what we build on Rosh Hashanah. "Anash yahtzu li skil lem et Tehillim b'kol ram," and the Anash ran out of the room and started saying Tehillim in a very loud voice. I have here from Sefer HaSichos Tav Shin Beis, that would be nineteen forty-two. "Minhag haRebbeinu heim b'kabbalas m'hehd kav k'dushas admor avoeinu hazakin." The custom of our Rebbeim of how they acted on Rosh Hashanah was something that they received from the Alter Rebbe. "V'em k'shayar avoeinu hazakin b'mei na'arusom." When the Re-- when the Alter Rebbe was still a young man, "hay esim bim Rishon Rosh Hashanah

30:43 b'mirsh kim." He said that he would spend the entire first day of Rosh Hashanah doing nothing but saying Tehillim. He davened, but nothing but saying Tehillim. Kol meshech meis leis for the entire twenty-four hour period. Meacharei tefilas Mincha shel Erev Rosh Hashanah ve'ad tefilas Arvis shel leilasai shalalail ha sheni. From the Mincha of Erev Rosh Hashanah until after the Ma'ariv of the second day of Rosh Hashanah, all he did was say Tehillim. Trisha da, nagazu etze laviv ha rav, Rav, Rav, Rav, Rav, Ravenu haRav Dovid. Uh, the Rav Boruch, excuse me. That is that, uh, he saw this custom by his father, Rav Boruch, and, uh, that's a custom he picked up. Kam himshech Ravenu haZaken in heid gam leil haasei. And he continued this also as he grew older. So the Alter Rebbe is the one who initiated this minhag. It's a minhag of the Alter Rebbe to say Tehillim the entire Rosh Hashanah, and this minhag is something that he got from his father. Kishaya heid kav haDush Ravenu haZaken etze meviv ha rav, Rav, Rav, Rav, Maggid of Mezritch. When the Alter Rebbe was by his teacher, the Mezritcher Maggid, ral ki Rav haMaggid, he saw that the Maggid had fel beid yem amiras Tehillim, he said his pnimis, ad tefilas Arvis, he saw the same behavior by the Maggid. Vechol halaila asei bimeritz Tehillim, and actually all night, the Maggid said Tehillim as well. Vessed is a hidrich kav haDush Ravenu haZaken es banav venechadav. This is how the Alter Rebbe

31:43 instructed his s-son and instructed his grandchildren, his grandson. Vechachdag avaseh naravaseh naravasedeh shimchol dervador. And this is how our Rebbeim have acted from every generation. And finally, you'll find in the Sefer Minhagim. Vechav haDush admar, marvim amiras Tehillim meshech shnei me Rosh Hashanah. It's printed in the Sefer Minhagim that the Rebbe would say a whole lot of Tehillim for the entire two days of Rosh Hashanah. Tehilah aleilis, including the nighttime hours. So we have here three big ideas I think that we've explored at some length. Uh, big idea number one is how Tehillim got started. And we saw that every time there was a major problem in the Friediker Rebbe's life, he made Tehillim into a very big deal. Before the year fifty-six eighty-seven, we have from, uh, the Rebbe per Rav, Rav Eliyahu that before the year fifty-six eighty-seven, he was frightened, he knew something bad was going to happen, and he established that people should be saying Tehillim every day after davening. As the Holocaust was going on, he reached out to Machane Yisrael and gave them the job of spreading chevrei Tehillim in the entire world and gave-- making groups of Tehillim, especially in Yerushalayim, but all around the world, to say Tehillim as an international effort. And he sent the Rebbe to the Agudas Harabonim to push the rabbis themselves, the biggest rabbis of the generation, to push Tehillim on the entire world as a way to protect our fellow Jews. We figured out why that might be, at least one

32:49 reason why that might be, by looking at some of the, uh, statements from our Rebbeim about the importance of Tehillim. That Tehillim has power, that such a power, that if you knew about the power of Tehillim, says the Tzemach Tzedek, you would say them constantly. There's no interference between them. They ascend higher and higher. We saw a sicha from the Rebbe, the short version and the long version. We saw a sicha from the Rebbe where he says that, uh, Tehillim is the segula for everything. Anything you want done, anything you want fixed, it comes through Tehillim. So Tehillim is the ultimate, ultimate keli for bracha. There's no better keli when a person needs a blessing than Tehillim. And we saw a letter from the Rebbe where somebody said that they would like to reduce their time studying, their time saying Tehillim, so that they have more time to learn Torah. And the Rebbe said, "Absolutely not. I don't know how you would figure out which one matters to Hashem more." And finally, we talked about something a little more timely, that the idea of Rosh Hashanah is that Rosh Hashanah is not family time. You know, there's a lot of holidays that are family time. I would motion that almost every, that every Yom Tov is family time. Sukkot, Shavuot, Pesach, these are times we are expected to be around the table with your family celebrating. Rosh Hashanah, I will come out and say, is not family time. Rosh Hashanah is Tehillim time. Everybody sits

33:42 in their Tehillim and says Tehillim all day and all night. That's the way Tehillim is-- That's the way Rosh Hashanah is supposed to be. Rosh Hashanah is a Tehillim day. And the reason why is that in addition to Tehillim being an incredible segula, Tehillim also a, a segula for all good things and helps people in times of, in times of trouble, Tehillim is also the way that we accept the malchus of Hashem. It's the way that we accept the yoke of heaven. And since the main idea of Rosh Hashanah is accepting the yoke of heaven, and since Rosh Hashanah is the Yom Tov that includes all future Yomim Tovim for that year and all days for that year, if a person wants to establish themselves as somebody who has Kabbalas Ol, somebody who is, uh, one with God, and somebody who does what God wants, they start off their year by spending that entire twenty-four hours like a servant rushing to serve their master with no spare time, or like a son who is so, who is so overjoyed that he finally gets to spend time with his father, that he's got no time for anything else. And we established through multiple stories and sichas that the custom of our Rebbeim going all the way back really to Rav Boruch, the father of the Alter Rebbe, certainly going back to the Maggid, going back to the Alter Rebbe, all the way through our Rebbeim, was that, uh, was to say Tehillim the entire Rosh Hashanah

34:35 with basically no pauses. That is that a person davens and right back into the Sefer Tehillim, uh, reduces their sleep so that they can say more Tehillim. And with that, we have a beginning, at least of a discussion of our approach to Tehillim in the Rebbe Shittah and the Friediker Rebbe Shittah, and I would say in Shittas Chabad in general. All right. Thank you all very much.