לחיות עם הרבי – הרב פולי דובוב

00:00 Speaker 1 A maimer, a mi Yehudi, a shleimus ha'aretz, the krias of the Shabbos, it really brought, brings you into a higher world view of, uh, uh, perspective on the world. And then it's always, you know, the Rebbe would, you know, when you walked in-- whenever you walk into a farbrengen, I, I walk in like on a empty tank. I'm, I'm empty, I'm thirsty. I, I wanna be filled, I wanna be enlightened, I wanna be inspired. When you get to the end of the farbrengen, you know, the Rebbe himself made it this way, that the end of the farbrengen was always a climax. At the end of the farbrengen, you know, on the old day by the big farbrengens, he would sing Tzav alecha nafshi, or usually at the end of farbrengen, the Sheivena b'es Hamikdash, so then yet, yet, yekavo. Of when everyone's minds and hearts were open, and by then the Rebbe, you know, shturmed you up, and with that you walked away. And when you walked out-- whenever you walk away from the Rebbe's farbrengen, you walk out looking mil'alma l'alamata on the world. You look at the world and it's all small, it's all down there, and you, you ha- you have clarity, you have ambition, you have a goal.

01:08 Speaker 2 You know when you're at a good tochen digga farbrengen and you wish it was being recorded? Welcome to Spreading the Springs: Conversations in Chassidus, a podcast farbrengen where we have real conversations about real Chassidus.

01:24 Speaker 1 Good morning.

01:24 Speaker 2 Welcome. Thank you for coming. I'm sitting here with Rabbi Folly Dubov, an esteemed mashpia in Alei Torah Mesivta. And, uh, in the past two years, I've worked in Alei Torah Mesivta as well, so I got to know you a little bit. And, uh, definitely, uh, all around gishmake guy, if, if I could say so on your behalf. And, um, you, you definitely-- Uh, I'll, I'll start with this. There's, there's a certain... We're gonna-- We'll, we'll go back, we'll start from the beginning of your story, and then we'll go forward, and we'll farbrengen and we'll talk, and we'll-

01:58 Speaker 1 Go for it

01:59 Speaker 2 ... and we'll converse. But, uh, but one thing that I just want to start with that really struck me about you, and I've heard this from so many people, um, that know you and that, um, that have been in your classes, that you talk about a Rebbe's farbrengen as if you were there. Mamash as if we were there. So besides for the tochen of the, of the actual farbrengen, which is obviously the ikar, you know, like, uh, you know, the reliving, living and reliving the, the message of the farbrengen, even the arum. Like, it's almost like you could say exactly who was sitting where, and, uh, and if they were there, weren't there, if they turned around in the middle of the sicha. It's like mamash as if you were, you were there live. And obviously, it comes from a tremendous amount of, uh, of learning and kaching and, and really living in it. And for sure, in the context of this podcast, of the relevance and the, and the life of Chassidus, um, we're, we're not just learning Chassidus, we're trying to live it. I think that, that itself shows on a tremendous, um, a tremendous chush that you have, Baruch Hashem, that you, and that you give over to your talmidim, and talmidim know this about you, so that means that you give it over to them. Um, so yeah, I think that's definitely like, almost like as if you need credentials in the beginning. I think that's, uh, that's something that stands

03:12 Speaker 2 out and something that's, that's very special. And yeah, maybe we'll talk about that, you know, going forward. But, uh, let's, let's back up now. Let's go back to the beginning. You're from England.

03:22 Speaker 1 London, England.

03:23 Speaker 2 London, England. And, uh, okay. So where, where did you grow up? Where did you go, go to yeshivas? What's your seder? I, I, I've heard that, uh, kind of Esrog olias before you ended up in, uh- ... in Alei Torah. So can you, uh, can you-

03:35 Speaker 1 Okay, so-

03:35 Speaker 2 ... take us briefly through that journey?

03:36 Speaker 1 In brief, I was born in Crown Heights.

03:40 Speaker 2 Oh.

03:41 Speaker 1 Um, my father-- my parents were here and in Kollel, and my father went on shlichus when I was a little, an infant. And we lived-- I grew up, I was raised in Wimbledon, which is known for the tennis, um, in London, England. Um, I was raised on shlichus. In order for my chinuch, I had to commute over an hour every day there and back-

04:04 Speaker 2 Wow

04:04 Speaker 1 ... to Stamford Hill, to the Lubavitch, uh, boys' schools in London. Um, and I went through the, the, the junior school, the elementary, and the mechinnah, the, the, um, in London. And then I learned in France, in Brunois for two years, and then in Alei Torah. Alei Torah zal, that was the, the best years. Alei Torah zal, um, for two years, and then I was a shliach, a talmid shliach in Tzemach Tzedek in Yerushalayim, and then I was back in seven seventy for two and a half years.

04:38 Speaker 2 Okay.

04:38 Speaker 1 So that's my story. Um, and then-

04:41 Speaker 2 As, as a talmid.

04:41 Speaker 1 As a talmid.

04:42 Speaker 2 And then, yeah.

04:42 Speaker 1 And then, uh, in my in-- after, in my shana reshina, I got a job in Manchester Yeshiva in England, um, for-- with Rabbi, Rabbi Kive Cohen, Rabbi Wohlberg, zayngesund. Um-

04:59 Speaker 2 That's zal, right?

05:00 Speaker 1 In zal. And I worked there for seven years.

05:03 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

05:03 Speaker 1 I was like a junior mashpia. I was, like, getting involved a little bit more close with the bochurim. That's where I did my training, and there's some good memories, good years, good peydus from that. Um, whatever the case is, whatever the story was, but the yeshiva in Manchester closed, and I ended up in Moscow. Okay? Um, Rabbi Berel Lazar has a yeshi-- there's a yeshiva, there's for bolchovahs, there's a yeshiva for Anash Shluchim's children. And then he made a, um, a introductory, like a mesivta for bolchovah children, Russian kids that needed transition into the system, so to say. And I ran that for two years-

05:50 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

05:50 Speaker 1 ... until COVID.

05:52 Speaker 2 Uh-huh.

05:53 Speaker 1 And that's when I came back to Crown Heights. The place closed down, and, um, and I'm in Alei Torah for the last five years.

06:00 Speaker 2 Wow. When, when you were in, um, Alef-Teth-Yud Razel, you, you mentioned those were your best years. So which, uh, in terms of Chassidus, in terms of Hashpia, who was, uh, who, who built you up?

06:15 Speaker 1 Who built us up? I mean, they're all zei gezunt, they're alive.

06:19 Speaker 2 Yeah.

06:19 Speaker 1 Talk about them, but it's, uh, Alef-Teth is very special. It was something that I believe Alef-Teth is-- I mean, today it's a little, you know, time has moved on a little since, uh, the 20 years ago that I was there. But, uh, this-- what was special for me about the staff of Alef-Teth was the closeness to the Rebbe. In other words, you have-- You can go to Eretz Yisroel, and you have Mashpi'im that could teach you Chassidus, and you can have Rosh Yeshivas that could teach you Nigla, and there's different characters and people. The, the almost like the, the, the transparency, the closeness, the, the, the, the staff in Alef-Teth, I mean, Rabbi Nachman Shapiro, Rabbi Shalom Charatana, Rabbi Pinchas Korff, uh, Rabbi Yisroel Friedman, uh, uh, Rabbi Shalom, uh, Rabbi Avrohom Gelitzki zei gezunt. I mean, these Yidden, which I, I hodoved on. You know, when I was a, a bachur in zal, I had a policy. I would not be mekabel from any yunger light, like from the young guys, uh, from after Gimmel Tammuz. Like, that was not why I was in Alef-Teth.

07:18 Speaker 2 Right.

07:18 Speaker 1 I wanted to get close to the Rebbe, and I wanted to have the experience, and the-- by rubbing off from these people, I, I got a lot of the Rebbe's Torah, Chassidim of the Rebbe, Chassidim by the Rebbe.

07:35 Speaker 2 Right.

07:35 Speaker 1 Like what you mentioned before.

07:37 Speaker 2 Right. Is that, is that when you started having this ruchin in learning the Rebbe's chabrangens or was something before?

07:45 Speaker 1 I always-- You know, we alway- uh, had a, you know, the, the, the, the, the fire burning of hiskashrus from my youth, especially that my youth was the tkufa of, you know, Nun Bais and Gimmel Tammuz and the aftermath. And in London, I mean, the role models for hiskashrus after Gimmel Tammuz, um, um, uh, Rabbi Gordons zei gezunt, Rabbi Telsner, you know, who really blew into, uh, my father, who, who really gave us the Rebbe when it be-- in after Gimmel Tammuz, and, and gave us a hiskashrus. Rabbi Paris alav ha-shalom. Levi Paris was my melamed when I was in, you know, for 15 or 16, whatever it was. And they really gave us a hiskashrus, a feeling and a sense of, of, of i- of identifying with Lubavitch and the Rebbe and Shlichus and et cetera. And that's what... Uh, but that was in an infant way. I guess in, you know, and in zal, Alef-Teth, it was more, you know, the party, the celebrative aspect. I mean, I learned. I think what gave me-- what really stood me on my feet and what gave me the solid Torah hiskashrus that I have to the Rebbe was Reb Yael, Reb Yael Karnol alav ha-shalom, the Rebbe's choseer and the Mashpia in 770, which I, I-- When-- Even when I was in Alef-Teth, I valgared by him. I spent a lot of time with him, and when I was in 770, I was, um, I, I really, I really was mekabel from him.

09:24 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

09:24 Speaker 1 I mean, uh, I would arrange his Siyurim Monday and Thursday mornings. I brought him his tea. I spent every Friday night for, for four or five years in his house with the Israeli bochurim and him pumping into them darkei Chassidus stories, um, the Rebbe's Torah, Hashkafa. Um-

09:42 Speaker 2 You're related also, no?

09:42 Speaker 1 And I was actually close to him. Uh?

09:45 Speaker 2 You're related.

09:45 Speaker 1 I'm related because I'm na- I'm the first name after his father.

09:48 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

09:49 Speaker 1 So the Reb Yael wasn't, as if to say, a family person. He was, you know, an abstract mind, uh, you know, a maskila, a hochimer in that way. But he had a very warm spot, uh, for me. Um, and that personal connection, um, also with his wife zei gezunt, that I still have a connection with, and I've named a child of mine Yael after him. Um, he was really-- He-- You know, I would have hiskashrus, but it would be a lot-- It would be more fluff and dancing on the tables and, uh, and mitzvah tanks. To say that the Rebbe's Torah, he thoroughly taught us halachot and the earlier krochim, fundamental sichas and Likkutei Sichos, the Rebbe's mussar and really drilled in, in addition to the Chassidus of warmth, nigunim, stories that he was a master. But the Rebbe's Torah, um, um, um, not just did he teach it to me, but I, in my personal life, I have a sense of that Reb Yael is w- is a bit of a role model. I mean, I didn't know Reb Yael. We only heard about, you know, Reb Yael in his heyday, in his younger years when he was, you know, uh, you know, when it was, you know, in the earlier days when he was, you know, more wild and more un-- I- I- I would have to say, you know, not necessarily with that responsibility. But after Gimmel Tammuz, of course, he crashed. I mean, I didn't see him right after, you know,

11:21 Speaker 1 the original years. There was lots of, there was lots of pain and politics and whatever, whatever. But in the, in the Samach's, in the-- That's the-

11:33 Speaker 2 2000s.

11:33 Speaker 1 Uh, 2000s. In those years, he basically reconstructed himself. I think he realized that he had-- he wanted to take responsibility for transmitting and giving over the Rebbe's Torah to the world. He, he was a role mo- He was in his ei-- He was an old man. In his 80s, he would fly to Eretz Yisroel, speak in Binyanei HaUma. He fabri-- You know, he went to Borough Park like a tad every Thursday night, Motzaei Shabbos. His commitment, his dedication to be mefitz temayonos. I, I, I, I heard him say, you know, a moshol in Chassidus, "Zrika seven, milimata lemaylah," the, the, the Aibishter creates the world. I heard him say that dozens and dozens and dozens of times, and he said it with the same patience and the same chayas and the same Uh, you know, with, with the, with the, with the genuine vibe, the vibrance of Chassidus, he could say it a trillion times again and again to any Talmud that he could reach, um, especially in the Frumer world and the Bochum 770, um, you know, that, that, that valued and, and, and under-understood the, the weight and the quality of the, you know, of, of, uh, you know, the Rebbe's firsthand, um-

12:45 Speaker 2 Chassidus

12:46 Speaker 1 ... giving, uh, g- the one that was responsible for giving over and the Rebbe's Torah, um, on writing and, and, and published and, and to the, to the world. Um, so it was very-- not just did I gain from that i-in, in knowledge, but I got from that role model and marching orders for my own personal life of how to be dedicated, to be mefitz temayonis, to make Mashiach come.

13:12 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay. Hmm. I'm glad I asked about that because, uh, now we heard about the reveal part of it. Yeah. Um, so now going forward, and you're in Mesivta, and Mesivta's a little bit... You're, I'm saying you're Mashpia in Mesivta. Mesivta's a little bit younger. Mesivta's, uh, like you said before, like the infancy of a Sksharas. Um, th-th-th-- uh, n- um, this is not the, as I say always, this is not a Chinuch podcast. It's not about, uh, about how to be a Mashpia in Yeshiva. But I think just to, to dwell on this point, um, as it relates to a Sksharas and as it relates to, to guiding in a Sksharas and whether it's guiding other Bochum, whether it's guiding yourself. What-- from, from that, how do you, how do you translate that into for a younger Bocher? Because some of it, it takes maturity. Some of it, like, you know, takes Pashat, um, understanding what the Rebbe wants and, like, learning the Mimer, but not just learning the Mimer itself, learning the understanding the message of the Mimer, the, the, uh, like you said, the marching orders of the Mimer. Um, how, how does a young Bocher get that? Meaning, meaning, like, how much is it of... Uh, uh, or le-let's say going back to the Farbrengen, you said before, uh, I s- I mentioned before, learning f- learning the Rebbe's Farbrengen, right? So there's learning the actual Farbrengen and seeing, you know, the, the question on the Rashi and the Pirkei

14:37 Speaker 2 Avos and the Parshah, et cetera, then the answer, and then the, you know, connection to, uh, to Shem and Ozar or whatever it is. And then there's, like, the, the life behind it. So how do you give over that life? That's, that's, that's, that's I think the, the point of this. It's not just a message. It's not just you. So, and again, same thing when you're teaching a Mimer. You're, you're teaching the Mimer, and especially when you're-- when a Bocher is younger and he's more like f- you know, focused, tunnel vision a little bit, like, you know, and what's this Mimer saying? And what's the question? What's the answer? You know, what's the Chidush of the Mimer? How do you give over that life? How do you give over that Geshmak? I think especially to younger Bocher, but really to yourself. Meaning to anyone, to the, to themselves.

15:22 Speaker 1 Uh, let, let me... In other words, if, if we said like this, the m- the maturer understanding of the Rebbe's Torah definitely comes with time.

15:40 Speaker 2 Right.

15:40 Speaker 1 The Mimer Hazal Kohelet in Achar Arba'nim Shni- Achar Arba'im Shnim Kohelet Adaiti DeRabe. This is actually a theme the Rebbe developed many a time. Um, you know, Yud Beis Tammuz Chaf Zayin, 40 years from... But, but primarily, let's say Yud Shvat Taf Shin Nun.

15:55 Speaker 2 Right.

15:56 Speaker 1 Coming Yud Shvat. Yud Shvat Taf Shin Nun, when it was 40 years of the Rebbe's leadership, the theme, obviously the psukim in BaMei HaShabbatainu, Lei Nasan, Lei V'laDaas, and Na'im L'Reis and Na'im L'Shmeuya. That Mei HaShabbatainu said to the Yidden at the end of 40 years that you have now a much more of a mature understanding and a bird's-eye view and a deeper scope of what you've been taught. The Mashal in Chassidus for the Arba'im Shnim is the classic Mashal. It's in the Adaiti Moscow about the Rav and the Talmud. And the Talmud is, the Rav is, is, is, is a, a bleakville genius, and the Talmud is simple and primitive. And the Rav has to encapsulate everything into a, a, a little seed of information, uh, a summary, which is transmitted to the Talmud, and then the Talmud, the student, goes and further develops it. And I feel that the same thing is, um, in, in one's approach to education. When I'm teaching a 15-year-old Chassidus, yes, he may not yet have reached the mature, thorough, comprehensive understanding of what-- of how vast and enormously awesome the Rebbe's Torah is. But what you are giving in that encapsulated way and in that seed way is you're giving the full-blown energy of what was given.

17:23 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

17:24 Speaker 1 How do you do that? And the answer is, it, uh, it, it's, it's with the, it's the energy. It's the-- I think it's the arum that's-- it's the arum that it's given over with. In other words, when the ch- when the k- when, when the Bocher is sitting in the class, we're not just-- I'm not just teaching him a question and an answer and a beer. This is Chassidus. This is, um, the Ma'ayanot. Now, when do you give the... This is the Rebbe, the... You give over the, the energy as well. Now, when do you highlight that energy? That's a lot the between the lines. That's the conversations that we have in class, and that's also Farbrengens.

18:02 Speaker 2 Right.

18:03 Speaker 1 Uh, primarily Farbrengens of where you speak about why we do what we're doing and what, what is the value of what we're learning? What is the difference of what we're learning, uh, th- than any other Chachmah study in the world? And, um, I find that- Um, you know, I, I, yeah, I teach different levels, different grades, different crowds as well. I teach in Beis Rivkah as well, and I-- in, in, in seminary, and I teach in all Torah, and there's different... I teach also in high school. There's different, you know, there's different levels of how you have to give it over, the content. But the zungen, what the common denominator is that what has to be given over is that this is divreillechem hayyim. Levitica getliche werter. This is anochi metzavcha hayyom, not kedutah yeshana like Rashi says. Yiddishkeit isn't an ancient old sto-- like the Rebbe says in Likutei Sichos in Eliyahu Kocham, an old story. It, Torah, Torah is chayyim, Torah heorah. It's a lesson, it's contemporary, it's relevant. You know, uh, Pelek Mem Zayen Tanya v'chol devarim is a nice Mishnah. The Rebb- the Rebbe in the Torah pesukim v'chol devarim that yatzias Mitzrayim is a, a pillar in Yiddishkeit. The Alter Rebbe adds the v'chol yom v'yom. Ki li yotza hayyom b'Mitzrayim. It's the, it's the relevance, it's the contemporariness that Y-Yiddishkeit, Torah, Chassidus, Emunah, Aibishter, Chassidishkeit, darkei Chassidus is all alive, is all relevant, is all applicable, and is all reachable, ki v'ki karev, for every single student on, on

19:42 Speaker 1 one level of, of, of intellect or another. But everyone's shayaach to be a Chassid. And a lot of what I have to do is role model that. Which means not just teach that, but you have to... W-what, what the impression that's given over, what leaves an impression on the Talmud or the Talmidah is that this is not a story from a book. You know, I'm not telling a Baal Shem Tov story from three hundred years ago. Yiddishkeit is alive, and it's, it's for me, and it's-- and, and I could be a Chassid.

20:15 Speaker 2 Right.

20:16 Speaker 1 And that's-

20:17 Speaker 2 So it sounds, uh, something very interesting that I got from what you're saying is that, that as much as it's our job to make the Chassidus relevant, obviously Torah and Yiddishkeit in general, and specifically Chassidus relevant for the Talmud, we're-- we also need to point out that that's exactly what Chassidus is doing in the first place. The Chassidus is making Torah and Yiddishkeit relevant for us. So in other words, we're-- the, the job that we have, the importance that we have, and, and this is a big theme in, in this podcast about, um, the relevance of Chassidus. In other words, the word Chassidus itself is already supposed to give over the relevance of, of Hashem and the relevance of Torah, Mitzvot, and Yiddishkeit. So now that, that itself, in other words, you're, you're, you're inherently working with something that's supposed to be relevant and now making it relevant, which of course, you know, differs, like you said, it differs from crowd to crowd and age and stage and all that. But you're dealing with something that's supposed to be relevant. And, and I, I, I think that that's actually, uh, a very important, uh, introductory thing. Which means that, um, you know, a question that comes up a lot is, um, of course, is, uh, is like how is all of Chassidus relevant? Especially if it's like, uh, you know, deeper stuff and Hachirah stuff, um, the Hachirah within Chassidus. And what you're saying is that number one, the Hakdoma, the yesod is that that

21:43 Speaker 2 is what Chassidus is. Chassidus is meant to be relevant. If Chassidus is gonna take you on a trip into deep into Sefer HaStalus and all the way up there, fine. You know, we have to figure out one way or another how it's relevant, and I, I'd love to hear from you if you wanna put in on that, on that specific topic, how, you know, you could take even deep haskala and, and show its relevance. But the yesod is that that's what all of Chassidus is. Like you, you said before about v'chol yom v'yom. The Alter Rebbe's putting that into words of the Mishnah, which is a very bold move because that is what Chassidus is gonna come to do. And Chassidus should be doing that in, in every pasuk and in every Mishnah-

22:18 Speaker 1 Right

22:18 Speaker 2 ... showing how it's v'chol yom v'yom. Um, so, so we're-- so in other words, we're not being doyek. A mashpia is not being doyek when he's coming to show you the relevance of Chassidus. The relevance of Chassidus means the relevance of relevance. Like that's, uh, that's what, that's what I'm picking up on some-- on, on what you're saying. Um, do you wanna, do you wanna share a little bit about this nekuda about, uh, what do you do when you're teaching deep haskala? Um, how, how does... So again, number one, m-more, maybe more of a general makiftica avir of how it's relevant, and then maybe also if you want to, g- like a specific topic or a specific b-- way how to bring out relevance of a, of, of, of the depth of Chassidus.

23:01 Speaker 1 So to answer that question, I'll-- It's-- Let, let me just first say, uh, you know, there is my own learning Chassidus, and then there is my teaching job.

23:12 Speaker 2 Oh.

23:13 Speaker 1 Now, what I'm doing in my teaching job is I'm teaching Tanya and Tanya is the relevant book.

23:20 Speaker 2 Right.

23:21 Speaker 1 I'm teaching, um, um... So for example, I'm learning in Tanya, let's say w- I was just the other week learning, uh, Tanya Pelek Mem kuf, you know, and it speaks about the mashal of the melech that comes down to the simpleton and schleps him out of the dumps and, and, and, and, and embraces him. And, and, and I remem-- A-at the end of the class, you know, I banged on the table. I said, "D-do you realize that this is supposed to give us a chayas in keeping mitzvahs?" And, and everyone got it. In other words, it-- there is direct relevance.

23:53 Speaker 2 Right.

23:53 Speaker 1 Um, I teach a Nun Alef and Nun Beis class in seminary, right? On Fridays, uh, Baruch Hashem, it's a tzlacha class of where we go over- ... you know, Mashi- the parshah of Chassidus and Mashiach. And a lot of it is so relevant because although it's high yesus and high Chassidus vocabulary, but it's all about, you know, essential theme, chibru yamin v'chayil. Bringing heaven and earth together, bringing ruchnius and gashmius together, bringing the Aibishter into the world. Um, these things are, are high power points in what Chassidus is all about and what the tachlis of kavana is all about. Um, so there's a lot of practicality. Another class I do, um, in seminary is a fabrengen class. That's a whole different, uh... In other words, not that I fabreng. I give over a fabrengen of the Rebbe. I chazer a fabrengen of the Rebbe. Um, this goes back to a conversation we had before about when I was in the system, one day I realized that the system wasn't necessarily gonna teach me everything I needed to know for life. I realized, I, I think it was when I was gonna be sent as a Talmid HaShliach, um, and I was going to Eretz Yisrael, and I was askingasking myself, "Well, if I'm the Rebbe Shliach going to Eretz Yisrael, do I know-- Am I well-versed in the Rebbe Sichos, Shlomo's Haret and Mi Yehudi," and, uh, you know what today every know- one knows listening to, uh, uh, the, the, the gems, uh,

25:28 Speaker 1 videos- Yeah ... about Eretz Yisrael and things like that. And I realized that, you know, don't wait to, you know, if I'm gonna walk out of this sy-sy-system saying, "Oh, my teachers did or didn't teach me something that I should have known," I'm gonna make it my business. So I went to the source. Who's the master teacher? Mmm, Mere- Merenu veRabeinu. Our Rebbe. And the Rebbe taught me everything. Um, all of the wisdom, obviously, that my teachers maybe helped me understand, but to know anything about life, and that's when I, you know, I made it my business to make myself an educate of the Rebbe, to make myself into the Rebbe's Talmid, that the Rebbe should have a-- have made an imprint in the way I think and the way I look at things. Mmm, based on the ival, kol hamelamed es ben chaveiro torah ke'ilo yoldah, that as the Rebbe said to the Talmidim, uh, in Tof Shen Yud Beis on Erev Yom Kippur, when he called them in for the first time, the students of Seven Seventy, to give them the, what became known as the Birchas HaBonim, he said, "Ir learn doch in the Rebbe's yeshiva, zeid doch dem Rebbe's kinder." Because you learn in the Rebbe's yeshiva, that makes you the Rebbe's children. So what does it mean, ruchniyus, like a child of the Rebbe? When you think the same way, when you're a brainchild, uh- Mm ... uh, of, of the Rebbe, and the Rebbe's Torah has contributed to form

26:52 Speaker 1 and shape your worldview and the way you understand and look at things. Um, eh, so that had, that I-- In other words, that really motivated me to want to, to, to be thirsty, to want to know and learn the Rebbe's Torah. Now, within the Rebbe's Torah, Gufah there is the edited, printed version. That's like the Sichas and et cetera, and then there's the Mugga Dikim Hamorim, and that's formal learning. I guess this is a neshama thing, you know, because of my soul, my spirit, I gravitated a lot towards the Rebbe's farbrengens. The Rebbe's farbrengens were not just a class. It was an experience. It was an experience that swept you away into a, on the one hand, a very intellectual, informative, contentful world of sechel and of Torah. But at the same time, in Yiddish you say the broyz, the vibe, the shtum, the energy of the Rebbe as a man of Yisrael. Why did he sit there, teach us Torah for hours? It was about the bringing the Aibishter down into the world, to bring, share with us the Elokus Bepshites, to, for us to taste, to dip in a drop into this u-unlimited world of the Rebbe's wisdom and clarity on how to look at everything in creation and the world. I felt like that was... And, and the Rebbe did it also, you know, the Nigunim. The Nigunim and the Rebbe's farbrengens, it's not recess. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's when you sekacht ze hibber. The Nig- You know, it, it, it

28:47 Speaker 1 cooks inside you the messages that, that were shared. Um, the wide scope, you know, a Rashi, a Rambam, a Mayimer, a Mi Yehudi, a Shlomo Sarret, the Kviyus of the Shabbos. It really brought, brings you into a higher world view of, uh, a perspective on the world. And then it's always, you know, the Rebbe would, you know, when you walked in-- whenever you walk into a farbrengen, I, I walk in, like, on a empty tank. I'm, I'm empty, I'm thirsty. I, I wanna be filled, I wanna be enlightened, I wanna be inspired. When you get to the end of the farbrengen, you know, the Rebbe himself made it this way, that the end of the farbrengen was always a climax. At the end of the farbrengen, you know, in the old day by the big farbrengens, he would sing Shova L'chonafshi, or usually at the end of farbrengen, the Shé B'nabei HaMikdash, so then yet, yet, yekavo, of when everyone's minds and hearts were open. And by then, the Rebbe, you know, shtumed you up, and with that, you walked away. And when you walked out, whenever you walk away from the Rebbe's farbrengen, you walk out looking mileh mileh lemata on the world. You look at the world, and it's all small. It's all down there. And you, you, you have clarity, you have ambition, you have a goal. And I felt like this was, a lot of this, besides for, you know, just that informal school teaching, we learn text and we learn

30:09 Speaker 1 context. The Rebbe's farbrengens, uh, although, uh, the Lahak put out Torah Smanachem, which is true in a sense that every word the Rebbe ever said is Torah. But there was a lot more than just Torah. Right. As if to say, per se, as Torah meaning a Rashi or a Rambam that, that came out by the farbrengens. He, he cla- Y-you, you were uplifted. You-- There was clarity. What's a Yid? Who am I? What's the world? What's another Yid? You know, a-a-and purpose and so forth. And, uh, and I felt like this was n- in this system today, I, I, I, I feel very strongly that this is lacking. I mean, the klal of course w- you know, after Gemara Talmud Torah it's lacking. And, and, um, to be able to give over, and that farbrengen, that class, although the administration of the seminary is not so pleased that it's, there's no curriculum to it. But the Rebbe had no curriculum to his farbrengens. He, he, it was, you know, addressing Yonim and Torah and time, timely events. Uh, and I give, you know, and I, I'll listen to a, to a farbrengen, and the Rebbe's farbrengens, you know, you know, in, in the Yud's were six, seven, eight hours, and, uh, and in the Lameds, you know, in the Mem-Zad, the big farbrengens were, you know, four or five hours. And then you have the smaller farbrengens, and the Shabbos farbrengens, and the structure of the Shabbos. And to give this over, I, I, I

31:34 Speaker 1 see bemuchach that there's something very, very s- special in the receivance of these classes. Um, that that's when they go away saying, "Wow, I got a taste. I got a feel, uh, of it." Because I do it in a, in a very live way, in a, the oneich im etzvcha chayim, uh, what we said before, um, in that way. So to, to go back to your question, in general, the things that I'm teaching are-

32:02 Speaker 3 Right

32:02 Speaker 1 ... practically relevant. Now, if you wanna take me to a conversation- ... "Well, two, the shticklach and chassidus that are you learning Seder Stalslas or you're learning, uh, uh, Bas Elegani, uh, Eden Safa, Mailad and Kates. Uh, or you're learning, uh, Chassidus, Samach, Lamed, Nun, and Beis." So-

32:22 Speaker 3 Well, let me just interrupt for a second. I, I-

32:23 Speaker 1 Yeah. So, and this is gonna open another conversation for you.

32:25 Speaker 3 Right. And, and I think that's important 'cause a- as I finished asking the question before, I was thinking to myself, "Oh, I should have clarified that this shouldn't just be about how you teach it. It should be how a person can learn it." 'Cause this is what-- this is the struggle of, of Balabatim. This is the struggle. You know, you come in Shabbos morning, you open up a Torah or whatever. Even if you have more of a kviut and, and like, w- how, how do you, how do you relate to it? How do you, uh, not how do you relate to it, but how do you make sure that you're gonna relate to it? So, so I think that's perfect. Yeah. More about how you learn for yourself. Say what you were gonna say before. Forget the part that I threw in about the Balabatim.

33:01 Speaker 1 I have a brain. A person has a brain.

33:02 Speaker 3 Yeah.

33:08 Speaker 1 The most va- Reb Shlomo Cheim used to farbreng. The kop nisht falliden. The most valuable thing we have is our Chabad Shebe Nefesh. I heard from Baalei Teshuva that they said, you know, they came to the Rebbe, the hippies in the Lameds. They said what was, what was striking about the Rebbe's farbrengen was not just the Tzamah laChafshi and the soul-stirring songs, but there was meat, there was bread, there was content, there was substantial, solid understanding and learning. We're people. Although we have busy lives, and we have to make money, and we have distractions, and we have kids and families and... But we have brains. And primarily, the, and that's on a human level. On a, on a Torah level, Tanya Perek Dalet, Perek Heh, Yichud Nifla Sheein Yichud K'mayhu. The greatest unity with the Aibishter is when your brain understands and absorbs Chochmah SheYitarach, the Torah. When you learn Chassidus. Now, obviously, my, my premise, my background is that I was in yeshiva, I learned Chassidus. Uh, you know, when I was in Ulpan, you know, and I learned two-thirds of Samach. Well, fine, that's nice. You know, I was in seventy-seven. You learn to fifty Prakim in Ayin Beis. Obviously, what used to excite me was, um, what used to ex-- So let me just finish this, and then I'll say what used to excite me. Uh, learning. Learning itself, it for, for, for, for human beings that are cognitive beings, we are people that operate not by instinct but with brains. Learning

34:56 Speaker 1 is something that's supposed to talk to us.

34:59 Speaker 3 Yeah.

34:59 Speaker 1 Content is supposed to be something that talks to us naturally. And therefore, you know, I'm not talking about, you know, a bachur, you know, w- w- wait, wait, wait. I'm not talking about the, the distraction, you know, schlemazeling, wasting your time in, in, in yeshiva. You know, if we're talking about someone, you know, with self-respect, you wanna learn. You know, y- y- you know if you know something, you're worth something. If you know something, you're a mensch, right? Learning. Learning Chassidus. Chassidus is vast. Chassidus is s- is so reich. And I could, uh, I wanna speak a little bit about now about the what, what, what the part of Chassidus that I, that I really enjoy and learning and discovering on, on a, on a personal level. And that is the, the Seder Stalslas of the Ma'amadim of Chassidus of the Rebbeim. We all know the Alter Rebbe invented the seed concepts and ideas of Chassidus. Um, Alter Rebbe made up Chassidus Chabad. Of course, on the first page of Tanya, he said, "Melukot mipne svarim mipne sefilim," in a way of humility. But the Alter Rebbe made it up. Everything's in Tanya and then Likkutei Torah. The Mitteler Rebbe, uh, you know, fun a vort gemacht a kvort. The famous saying, you know, from one-- from a page in Likkutei Torah, there's a twenty-page, fifty-page, you know, Al, Al Totzer Es Yaveh, the Mitteler Rebbe said to Reb Akiveg, there's a, a hundred pages in print, in print of Mamoreh Admorim Tzoah. Um, the

36:23 Speaker 1 Tzemach Tzedek, the vastness of Torah. Now, I'm not, not a, not a, not a great talmid chacham. But a bisl here and there, you know, I can't get through the ayins of the Tzemach Tzedek of the, you know, the references. But there are Mamorim that are so-- There are. There are. And if you-- You need the Aznaim LaTorah, which means you need the how to get there, and I'll soon tell more about that. We know that the Rebbe on, on, on, on Mamorim of the Tzemach Tzedek, you know, had the Kollel Yungleit and the Bachurim of seven seventy make a Sefer HaLikkutim, which was also that we should have accessibility, and there should be user-friendliness, which we'll speak about soon, within Chassidus. Um- But, uh, um, the, the Rebbe Maharash, hem sheychem, of course, when we start talking about the Rebbe Rashab, the Rambam of Chassidus, the systematic clarity. You know, you put Chassidus in a box square. You know, it's, it-- you can learn it makes, you know, you learn Samach Vov. He took every concept in Chassidus that is randomly thrown around, and it's just in order. There's a narrative. There's-- it's consecutive. It's one. I remember the excitement I used to have after one Maamar of Samach Vov in the middle of the Chassidus hem shehecheides. What's coming next? You know, where is he going with this? Where does it, where does it contin- you know, what's the rest of the story? Um, the rou- the, the, the, the, the, the thoroughness

37:42 Speaker 1 of understanding of a scholar, um, in, in Seder Shtalsles. You know, often discussing a concept the way it's in Atilas, and the way it is in Alef Mem Heh than Atilas. You know, Aach and Kav. And then in Lifnei Atzilut. And, you know, the structure in so many Inyonim. Um, learning is so, uh, the Friediker Rebbe, the Hafshata, you know. I'm not talking about the Ha'avodah DeCamorim. But, you know, uh, went through, you know, certain hem shechem of the Friediker, hem shechem Rashash HaTzadik Dalet. You know, the most eideleh, the most, you know, delicate, nuanced gribbling in a vort from... That was the, you know, a yasod from, from his father's Chassidus, and then taking it into Hafshata. It's, it's phenomenal, uh, when you learn it. And of c- now, what-- where I usually start, and let's, let's, let's get back to Hess Cassus, is I, I usually started from the Rebbe's Ma'amorim. In other words, what, what, what happens is a lot. That, you know, as a youngster, you open up the Rebbe's Ma'amorim and it, it seems unclear. It seems not spelled out, you know. Sometimes, you know, the Friediker Rebbe's Ha'avodah DeCamorim sounds much more juicy to read. Especially, you know, you had Ma'amorim in the mems. The Rebbe Shabbos would say, and the kuda from Teres Heichal. When I used-- as within learning, and I, I did this ex-extensively in certain, you know, tfufos of my life, of when I was learning something, learning the Rebbe's Ma'amorim and then lear- going

39:13 Speaker 1 back. Going back to what it's meiused on, and it, it's pashut fascinating. If I'll give briefly on that.

39:20 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

39:20 Speaker 1 Um, the Rebbe's Ma'amorim. The Rebbe, throughout the Rebbe's, uh, 40 years, um, 38 years, the Rebbe stopped saying Ma'amorim in the last few years. Um, the Rebbe went through all the Rabbeim. The first 15 years-

39:37 Speaker 3 Right

39:37 Speaker 1 ...more or less what I'm saying now. This is not accurate, but more or less, um, the Rebbe said every big farbrengen started with a sicha of the Friediker Rebbe. But besides that, we're talking about Ma'amorim. Um, uh, the Rebbe was saying a lot of Ayin Beis and Ayin Ches, Ayin Tes, the Rebbe Rashab. Now, don't forget, Ayin Beis wasn't printed.

39:56 Speaker 3 Right.

39:56 Speaker 1 Nobody knew what the Rebbe was saying. Rabbi Simpson, alav ha-shalom, and Rabbi Jacobson, alav ha-shalom, was sitting with Shmuel Witten. They, oh, they were jumping up and down when the Rebbe said, um, "I re-" They remembered it from the Ayins in Lubavitch. It was like... But there wasn't a tran-- They, they-- If they had ha'anacha, they didn't have ha'anacha. The Rebbe had an Ayin Beis. I had an uncle, great uncle, which contributed to a lot of my, um, knowledge and interest and excitement in learning Chassidus. His name was Rabbi Lechitrik, alav ha-shalom. He was Mareches Eitz Chassidim, which means if you open a look at the Tader, the back half of the book is, is, is, is, is Maramukhevis.

40:30 Speaker 3 Right.

40:30 Speaker 1 And, uh, uh, Rabbi Chitrik, alav ha-shalom, was commissioned by the Rebbe to do that. He started with index cards. There was no computers in those days. Um, and he worked in the Rebbe's library. And as a bocher, I hung out with him a lot, and he took me to the Rebbe's library, and he showed me Bichlach of Chassidus, Kev, Kesav, Yad, Kedes. What does it mean a boygen of the Tzemach Tzedek and, and these things. And I saw them real life, and he gave me a lot of background. The printing, Bichofski, all the, you know, a lot of history about Chassidus and its development, you know. I remember I told him I'm a big bocher in all the Tader zal, learning Samach Vov by Nachman Shpira, and he's like, "Well, does gelern de Vayakhel HaGadol. Like, you, you know the Mitteler Rebbe's Maamar that it's based on? Like, you read that?" Y-yeah. "I'm learning, uh, HaCheydesh VaYeilech, ba- What's eilen sof?" "You learned, uh, Lavanin in eilen sof tav kev Samach Beis." Like, he gave me that, that, those, that, that ma- that he directed me to understand the Seder Shtalsles of the delivery of Chassidus. Um, what I do wanna, uh, uh, what I do wanna highlight is, uh, just one thing. I ca- There's lots and lots of examples, um, for, for, for where, you know, I saw, um... I'll give two examples of where I saw the Rebbe koching in the previous Rabbeim of Chassidus and, and how it became a koach

41:44 Speaker 1 by the Rebbe. One thing is, um, the, uh, Ateres. Taf Resh Ayin Tes I mentioned before. It's a fascinating year, which means like this, briefly. Most of the years of the Rebbe Rashab, the Rebbe Rashab said hem sheychem, which means the first three Rabbeim of Chabad, the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek spoke on Parsha, right? And that's why Chassidus is scattered and it's all over the place. Where's the topic? Because it, there's no other way. W-where's this? There's a look at the Tader Bachukei Soher. Where's the look at the Tader Beracha? W-w-wait. It says it all over the place. The Rebbe Rashab started to make-- The Rebbe Maharash started the hem sheychem of the Rebbe Rashab, in other words, the hem sheychem. Now, most of the years of the Rebbe Rashab are hem sheychem. The big ones, you know, you have Rashash, uh, you have, uh, the, the known ones. You know what they learn in the system, RaNat. And you have, uh, Rashash Samech Dalet, Samech Chaf, Samech Dalet, Samech He. The big one is Samech Vov that goes through Samech Ches. Then you have Eter, and then you have Ayin Beis all the way through. The last two years, I'm not talking about Taf Resh Peh, which is a different thing. But the two years, Ayin Ches and Ayin, uh, Ateres, um, in Rostov. The Rebbe Rashab said Chassidus on the Parsha.

42:50 Speaker 3 Hmm.

42:51 Speaker 1 Not like the hem sheychem. And it's a, it's very, very mature. I, I don't know how to say this, and if I can say this respectfully, properly. It is- You had to know the Hem Shechem in order to know. He references briefly in those last few years. It's almost like in our language, the Nan Alf Nan Beis of the, of the Rebbe.

43:11 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

43:11 Speaker 1 What was the one of the most frequent statements of the Rebbe in Nan Alf Nan Beis?

43:15 Speaker 3 Hmm.

43:15 Speaker 1 "Ki meduber kam apamim," which means that what I'm saying now as a bullet point, which the, the-- that's how the Rebbe spoke in the later years. I-i-is based on, and you had to know, and was elaborated, and was i-in, in its, in its, in unpacked way in the years before, and it's very similar like that in the Rebbe Rashab. And the year of our Ateres is poshet almost every week, a maimer of the Chassidushe Parshah. That means taking a lot from, you know, Teruah, Likutei Torah, and Toires Chaim, and then-- and saying it in a Rebbe Rashab, uh, way of clarity. And the Rebbe said so many ma'amarim, so many ma'amarim in the early years, and also later in the months also on Ateres.

43:57 Speaker 3 Hmm.

43:57 Speaker 1 Um, and it's just, it was just fascinating for me, and, and it was, it was two or three years in, when I, in my, when I was, uh, uh, a while ago, when I was poshet learning through, um, you know, someti- if I started from the Rebbe's maimer and found the Rebbe Rashab's maimer, I started from the Rebbe Rashab's maimer, whichever way it was. But learning a maimer the way the Rebbe Rash writes it, the way the Rebbe Rashab writes it, the way the Friediker Rebbe writes it, and the way the Rebbe said it over and a few times and in different places, was very, very revealing and rewarding for me to be able to see the nuances of the different Rabbeim, the, the, the crux of the theme that the Rebbe brought out. Um, that's one mashal. One more thing. I know I'm going on a bit. Um, one more thing, and this is just something very valuable, uh, is the maimer that the Rebbe Rashab said by the Rebbe's bar mitzvah. The Rebbe was bar mitzvahed Yud Aleph Nissan Taf Resh Ayin Heh. The Rebbe was, uh, not in Lubavitch.

44:53 Speaker 3 Right.

44:53 Speaker 1 Okay? He was in Yekatirinislav. And the Rebbe's bar mitzvah was on a Friday, Yud Aleph Nissan Taf Resh Ayin Heh. That Shabbos, Shabbos HaGadol, Taf Resh Ayin Heh, and the Rebbe Rashab said a maimer. There's a maimer Tzavasa, and then there's a maimer Matzu, and then Shevi'i shel Pesach, the maimer VeYehi Onen VaYehi Shech.

45:09 Speaker 3 Is this part of the Hem Shah?

45:11 Speaker 1 It's in-

45:11 Speaker 3 Of, of Ayin Beis.

45:12 Speaker 1 It's in Ayin Heh. It's in Ayin Beis.

45:13 Speaker 3 Yeah.

45:13 Speaker 1 But it starts a whole new theme.

45:15 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

45:15 Speaker 1 And what's the theme? Mashiach.

45:17 Speaker 3 Wow.

45:19 Speaker 1 And what's it about Mashiach? The whole idea that lifting out Tzimtzum was Elokus Bibshitus, and after the Tzimtzum came Olamos Bibshitus. And when Mashiach's gonna come, the world's gonna become a place where godliness is revealed. And the million-dollar question is, how? If we're-- if ma nosha, God created the world as a place of darkness, so what, w-what happens that the world can become a place where godliness can be revealed? How does that work? And the answer is, Aveida. It's fascinating. The Rebbe said over this maimer, the VeYehi Onen, thirty-fi- thirty-five years later. Uh, Taf Shin Tes Vav is-

45:58 Speaker 3 Forty. Forty

45:58 Speaker 1 ... sorry, forty years later, and Taf Shin Chaf Heh, fifty years later, on Achad shel Pesach.

46:03 Speaker 3 Hmm.

46:05 Speaker 1 And it's in Likutei Sichos, uh, in, in various places. But it-- and it's printed in Mug-- in Mulukei Tes Venach Chaf Heh, uh, which is merged with, with Venach Taf Shin Tes. But this idea of, um, saying that the Rebbe Koch zich in those ma'amarim in Ayin Beis. I remember my great uncle told me, uh, Chidrik, that he saw once the Rebbe's Ayin Beis. The Rebbe's Ayin Beis, heys this before Lamed Heh, when it was printed, which is a whole story for itself. The Rebbe got from the Friedik-- the Rebbe in the 1930s. We know that the Rebbe was, you know, you know, slowly getting into the Friediker Rebbe stuff, and the Rebbe took the Ayin Beis, the Guf Ksav Kedei HaFriedi- of the Rebbe Rashab. And the Rebbe took it to, this is in the ni- in the mid-1930s, to a photocopying machine, which is not like today, you have a photocopy machine. It was b- probably a massive, uh, thing that was like pictures, and the Rebbe had pictures made himself, pictures of the whole Ayin Beis.

47:01 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

47:01 Speaker 1 And I heard from my great uncle that saw that the Rebbe's Ayin Beis was crumpled. He probably saw it in the Rebbe's room, probably after the 1000 Mesubim, but it was crumpled up, like it was used, it was learned, it was, um-

47:13 Speaker 3 Wow. Okay, so all this so all this, I mean, th-this is fascinating for itself. This, this should, uh, this... I-I'm sure, I'm sure you give these classes to, you know, to your students. It's history, whatever. Yeah, but I'm saying this is-

47:26 Speaker 1 I'm just answering the question-

47:27 Speaker 3 Oh, so right. So-

47:27 Speaker 1 You know, what gets me going in learning Chassidus? I mean-

47:30 Speaker 3 Right. So that's, um-

47:31 Speaker 1 This is Chassidus, this is the Reb, this is life, this is our minds, this is our... Learning Chassidus is, is keym chayeinu.

47:40 Speaker 3 Right. So in other words, uh, that, that's, besid-besides for the absolute Gashmakah. Yeah, yeah.

47:46 Speaker 1 I just thought of one more Nekudah, and I know I'm, I'm going a bit extensive.

47:49 Speaker 3 Yes.

47:49 Speaker 1 But I, I, I just thought of this Nekudah, and this is a Nekudah that I personally gets me going. It gets me very excited, and that is the concept of, which in today's generation we don't have much of, the concept of Nesinas HaTorah, the delivery of a maimer Chassidus k'nesinos Hamidina. Today, how do we learn Chassidus? We're listening to, we're listening to a podcast. We're listening to a class of a rabbi and, uh, who's giving in a delivery. The way Chassidus was given to the world for over 200 years was that a Rebbe said Chassidus. And when a Rebbe said Chassidus, it was like Reb Bil Paracher said the famous words, you know, after the, after the maimer, he argued Pshat with the Tzemach Tzedek. He argued with the Tzemach Tzedek. He answer-- he said, and the Rebbe said this story over a number of times, "When a Rebbe's saying a maimer, it's, it's Shechinah midibaras mitech kareina. It's, it's the Aibishter talking from his throat. He is now a vehicle to the, the, the delivery and the giving and the revelation of Torah." I find in my personal life that something that really, really, really, uh, talks to me, to my neshamah, is listening to a maimer being said by the Rebbe. I don't know how to make this popular. I, I, in other words, I'm not saying this necessarily, uh, how people could do this.

49:25 Speaker 3 Right.

49:25 Speaker 1 I don't know, you know, how out there this could be pra-- but I just wanna share this. We know that the Rebbe became Rebbe Yud Shvat. Taf Shin Yud Aleph, the officiality of it was, uh, Nemtsov jumped on the table and said, "The reyte is good, but we need a maimer." And the Rebbe started, "Bo, silagan." That's the Rebbe. Now, obviously, Reb Yael always used to say that the ma'amarim, the Rebbe guarded and kept the language and the scripts of Rabbi Seini Hanasiyeinu B'foim. In the Sichas, the Rebbe expressed himself more-

50:02 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm

50:02 Speaker 1 ... in a certain way, and that, there's truth to that. At the same time, the, the, the crown jewel that was transmitted, the Divrei Lekim Chaim, the delivery of a maimer Chassidus is something that we, we lack a bit today. If you read what did our ancestors, what did Chassidim do in the times of Tzemach Tzedek, you know, our Shadar would co- the Mitteler Rebbe Institute, that every Chassid that came home-

50:25 Speaker 3 Right

50:25 Speaker 1 ... from Lubavitch, chazar the Maamer. And when he chazar the Maamer, everyone stood there and sat there and listened because now he's saying the words that were given at Har Sinai, by the, that were given by the Rebbe. Chassidim came to Rebbe, oh, you, you know, there's yechidus, there's writing to the Rebbe, there's the Megaleh Nigleh L'vavah, you know, there's this sharing with the Rebbe struggles, then the direction of avodas Hashem, then there is the Rebbe saying Chassidus. And I could talk a lot about this, but I just wanna say in, in a practical, in a practical way, um, I find myself that what really stirs me up is listening to a Maamer or watching, uh, whether it's on a video, um, and preferably if I know, you know, the mamor- the Maamer that it's based on noch besser. But, uh, listening to a Maamer of the Rebbe, um, as he says it. Now, later on you need to understand. And by the way, that's what happened by the Farbrengen also. Did everyone understand everything? You know, there's, you could have maybe missed a word, you could have not had clarity of what the inyan, you could have missed it. But when the Rebbe says Chassidus, and when he's saying the words, "Yarda neshama lamata," and the Rebbe's saying it with his language, that, that really touches my neshama-

51:38 Speaker 3 Right

51:38 Speaker 1 ... and I really feel it. Um, there are times when I, when I, when I intentionally listen to a Maamer. Um, again, I, I wasn't mechablist from anyone, but just an example of this, every Rosh Chodesh I listen to the 40-minute recording of Basse LeGa'an Yitav Sheini D'Aleph every year again and again. Every Yod Aleph Nissan, I listen to the BeYom Hashtei Asar Yom. Just listen to the tape and just listen to the Rebbe say the Maamer. And it's, it's more than just I learned it or I'm fluent in it. It's engraved. It penetrates in me. When I hear the Rebbe cry Yod Aleph Nissan, or if I listen to a Maamer Yitis Kislev or any, or anyb- or the intro to any Basse LeGa'an. You know, every Rosh Chodesh the Rebbe-

52:29 Speaker 3 Right

52:30 Speaker 1 ... you know, the first five minutes of the Maamer is all-

52:32 Speaker 3 Catching up

52:33 Speaker 1 ... you know, the re- the, the, the review.

52:35 Speaker 3 Right.

52:35 Speaker 1 The just listening. You know, the just saying over the words. The, it, it's more than just study knowledge. This is, uh, the Rebbe pumping a lokus into our neshama, i- if, for lack of better words. Um, and a Chassid has to have that state of Kabbalah. There's a fantastic letter in a Talmid. A letter of the Friediker Rebbe printed in a Talmid about the two stages of learning Chassidus. The first stage is Kabbalah, receiving the words of the Rebbe, rem- memorizing them, drilling them into your head, then starts learning.

53:24 Speaker 3 Hmm. Wow.

53:26 Speaker 1 In other words like this, what we're doing a lot today is the learning part, but the recei- standing at Har Sinai, do we have that? Do we have that aspect in our lives as Chassidim? When you stand with a gartel and you concentrate and you listen. You know, if you speak to the Choizeh, yeah, Simon Jacobson, you know, they s- they'll tell you there was a whole art of absorbing-

53:56 Speaker 3 Right

53:56 Speaker 1 ... before transcribing and before studying was receiving. And I do that with myself sometimes, and it's very, very... It's very impactful. Um-

54:11 Speaker 3 So y-

54:12 Speaker 1 Herena Maamer from Rebbe. Um-

54:14 Speaker 3 Th- this, this letter of the Friediker Rebbe, the Chayyei Adam V'artez davka Chassidus, in other words-

54:19 Speaker 1 Absolutely.

54:20 Speaker 3 Right. Yeah.

54:20 Speaker 1 In other words, the Friediker describes-

54:21 Speaker 3 Because Chassidus has that-

54:22 Speaker 1 One time, two times, three times, you chazar it over, and you're medayek in every nuance, every kof, every koneich, every... It's about klita.

54:34 Speaker 3 Right.

54:34 Speaker 1 Klita means absorbing. Then st- and the Friediker Rebbe's saying, "And that's not the mitzvah of studying Chassidus." The mitzvah of Da'as Elokei Avicha starts after that.

54:44 Speaker 3 Right.

54:45 Speaker 1 Once you know the Maamer, then starts your brain working to understand and make sense of, critic, challenge, prove, ask, compare. The whole idea of bina-

55:00 Speaker 3 Right

55:00 Speaker 1 ... comes after the nekuda of chachma. The chachma comes from above. You hear the Maamer, then starts bina. I start trying to understand with my own brain. And when my own brain figures it out, then I fulfilled the mitzvah of, the mitzvah of knowing Hashem.

55:17 Speaker 3 Right.

55:17 Speaker 1 Right? Which just like putting on tefillin writes the Friediker Rebbe, your physical muscle has to feel the weight of the, the weight and the tightness of the strap of the tefillin. The brain has to comprehend the concept of Elokus in order to fulfill the mitzvah of Da'as Elokei Avicha, and that only happens after the Kabbalah and the klita of when Chassidim hear a Maamer.

55:42 Speaker 3 Right. No, but I think it's, uh, uh, what I'm asking is about davka Chassidus 'cause you could say like, oh, the same thing as when you're learning Gemara. Like first you have to just hear the words of the Gemara and then, uh, and then you start understanding. And obviously-

55:53 Speaker 1 There's truth to that

55:53 Speaker 3 ... yeah, obviously there's truth to that, but I think w- it sounds like what you're saying is that this is-- and, and you're saying that the Friediker Rebbe writes this specifically about Chassidus in this letter?

56:01 Speaker 1 Yeah.

56:01 Speaker 3 Yeah. It's-- I mean, it sounds like based on what you're saying about because Chassidus is not-- it is inherently the divrei luchaim. It's the, the Matan Torah, therefore, there needs to be a much more-- a much stronger emphasis on that part versus just as a regular sechel of learning anything where you first have just give yourself over to the, uh, to the Ois.

56:19 Speaker 1 Divrei harav.

56:20 Speaker 3 Right. In other words, there's Chochmah as, I mean, it says but there's Chochmah as the first step of sechel, and then there's Chochmah as the bitul to the-- to kesar, you know, the, the bitul to, to Shalom Eyla. BeChassidus, uh, so even in Gemara, there's that Chochmah element, of course. But with Chassidus that you're saying that's the-- that's much more of an ikar because of what Chassidus is. Okay. So, so to, uh, to, to circle back for a second, the, uh, not to wrap it up, but to circle back for a second. So again, so I asked you about, about the relevance of Chassidus, like when you learn deeper in Chassidus and, and you, and you, uh, explained it like, you know, let's, let's focus on when you learn for yourself. And so, so besides for the fascinating history and, and, and the, the formula, if you would say, of h- of y-you describing how you learn, um, the-- it sounds like the direct answer. I wanna just focus on this for clarity. This sounds like the direct answer for you, and I think-- I appreciate what you said before that, like, you know, you're not trying to, uh, uh, proselytize this onto everyone and, you know, how this is shaiach for everyone. But for you, it's just the learning itself. It's just the learning the Divrei HaRav itself that is the most relevant because that is the life. That is the-

57:26 Speaker 1 I said two things. The-- Right? Be-before I was speaking about the l-learning Chassidus as an, an engagement of intellect, and then I spoke about this, this idea of the speciality of, of, of, of receiving-

57:39 Speaker 3 Right

57:39 Speaker 1 ... from the Rebbe.

57:40 Speaker 3 Right. But both of those are answers to what ma-- how you feel it's relevance.

57:44 Speaker 1 No, Chassidus-

57:44 Speaker 3 You feel relevance on a sechel dikah level, right? We're human-- Like you said, we're human beings. We, we, we understand for a living. And, uh, and then, and then the life that the, that, that listening to the Meimar brings out and farkert. Dafka-- Uh, not Dafka, but for sure, even when it's something that not only is a tifer Yomi, but sometimes, like you said, something it's very hard to even understand what the Rebbe is saying when you're just listening to the, to the words of the Meimar. Um, you have to learn it after. Um, yeah, that's, that's, that's... It's very geshmak. And, and I, and I-- Of course, there's a lot of like, you know, there's a lot of it's a big topic nowadays about, you know, the relevance of Chassidus for everyone and, uh, how Chassidus has all the answers. Uh, this, this cliche that, you know, that, that's passed around. Um, and, and there always needs to be this, this Yomi of appreciating the gift that we have in a, in a, like Chochmah, the bitul to the Meimar. Um, I wa-- Yeah. Sorry. I wanted to, um, let you... You mentioned, uh, Yitzvat. Uh, Basil Gani is one of those examples of Arzei Lefalim Kitz, and we are before Yitzvat. And what, what's geshmak about Yitzvat is, you know, a tip for, for, for podcasting is that you don't-- they say not to, not to, uh, time your-- not to, um, put yourself in a certain time, right? You don't say like,

58:57 Speaker 3 "Oh, let's talk about this concept 'cause it's relevant right now," 'cause, you know, someone wants to listen to this a later time. What's geshmak about Yitzvat is that Yitzvat's always relevant 'cause it's Darshvi.

59:05 Speaker 1 Right.

59:06 Speaker 3 So any time of the year that you're in, you're in Darshvi, and Yitzvat and Basil Gani is the cornerstone of that, and especially, I'll say, especially now that we are right before Yitzvat, um, let's, let's spend a little bit of time on that. Um, w-- the, the-- how that-- how everything we spoke of, uh, I see, I see a lot of connections already of the, the life of the Rebbe in the Meimarim and the, the, the hiskasdus that you get just from listening to the Rebbe's Oisios. And like you said before, that that, uh, was officially the beginning of the Rebbe's Nasius officially when the Rebbe s-started Basil Gani. So how do we-- How, how, how do we connect to all that? In other words, I, I, I, I, uh, I was thinking about this myself a few days ago, that in a way, Dafka, because Basil Gani is so enormous and is so, um, and is so important, I feel for myself sometimes that I get lost in that, in that enormity. Like, it's, it's like, it's like I need to-- it needs to be relevant, so what's the relevance? In other words, like, because it's so enormous, where do you even start? Like, where do you even begin? Um, the, the, I mean, I mean Basil Gani as a Meimar, and I mean Basil Gani as the, as the, as the Oisios of, of the marching orders of Darshvi. And of course, we know it's, you know, it's the B'tachonim, and it's a

1:00:23 Speaker 3 Kirshonim B'tachonim Hason. It's, uh, you know, Shvi L'rishon, and it's all these things from Yud Aleph, and then of course from all the years. And maybe because, and personally, maybe because I heard it so many times, it's almost like, right, so, so what, what really is it all about? Like, like how, how do you translate that into, into day-to-day relevance and importance? And not that it's not relevant. Chas v'Shalom, it's so relevant. But, like, maybe, maybe, uh, maybe I could use some clarity of, um, of focusing on what, what is the Rebbe trying to do here in, in Basil Gani? And, and therefore, how do we live Yitzvat? How do we prepare for Yitzvat? And then how do we experience Yitzvat? And of course, to experience it means that we prepare for it. So, uh, I'll, I'll hit you on that.

1:01:04 Speaker 1 So, of course, you know, when we speak about Basil Gani, there's a lot of, like you said, very, very general central themes. Of course, every year has its unique, you know, Pelek and the Meimarim of that year. But I think there are, you know, very j-- if we-- Like you said, there's a, there's a few very, very, very, very key points that really can drive-- dr- are supposed to drive you as a l- a person, as a Lubavitcher Chassid every day. You know, when we say the things, you know, we say the word Darshvi, Shvi L'rishon. You know, the different sentiments of the way the Rebbe said it. The, the Right You know, we're not like Avraham. We're not like Rabbi Akiva, which is looking for beser nefesh. We're, we're Avraham. We want the world to know kel olam, and we're gonna do whatever it takes. The idea of shtus dikdusha. Um, you know, the whole approach of shlichas mevtzoyim, shtus dikdusha, lamaila matan vedas. I mean, these are so central in our-- What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a certain inyan in the Hemshacha Elula in the Basili Ganes, and I think I'm gonna develop it with this because this is really a hemshech to what we were saying before. From Perek Yidlef in the Hemshach, he brings the moshel of bizbaz ha'etrers. The moshel of bizbaz ha'etrers, as we all know, there's a king, and the king has treasures, and the treasures go back all the way generations. And

1:03:00 Speaker 1 no-- not just these treasures are not used, that no one gets to see them even. And then when it comes a war, so if he's fighting a, a war just for the, you know, because then he makes a calculation, how much should I invest? How much am I gonna gain? When there's an enemy that wants to annihilate and get rid of the king, the king realizes that it's either, either we're gonna win or I'm gonna lose. And what it takes to win is if I need to, then the king splurges, he's mevazvez the etres. And he takes all the etres, sha'otzer aveisev, and he gives them out, and therefore the general, therefore the generals to give to the, the pkide achayal, to give the anshe achayal to win the milchama. And I think this is a very central theme. You know, it's, it's, it's also a fascinating thing to know. There are two dates that we mark the Rebbe becoming Rebbe almost. It's Yud Shvat and Yud Dalet Kislev, the Rebbe's chasuna, which he said the tog was of Hamuda Mir Mit Aykh. And it's fascinating to note that the moshel of bizbaz ha'etrers, which comes from Teires Chaim, Beshalach, the Mitler Rebbe's Maimon in Beshalach, was said by the Friediker Rebbe, by the Rebbes in the Maimon, Abba Rebbe She Yud Tes Kislev Peites and the Rebbe Sheva Brachos, and for Yud Shvat, which means on both of those occasions-

1:04:20 Speaker 3 Mm. Sure.

1:04:21 Speaker 1 The, the, the message was bizbaz ha'etrers. Rebbe's wedding on Yud Shvat. Bizbaz ha'etrers. Now, if we speak about this, there's a sicha that's not so well-known. It was Purim Taf Shin Chaf Gimel, a long sicha. I don't remember now, an hour-long sicha. I don't remember now. Long, forty minute, whatever it was. And the Rebbe spoke about-- It was actually not such a, not such a Purim vibe. It wasn't such a happy mood. The Rebbe was speaking about lost opportunities. And it was a long, long arichas. One of the strong points that the Rebbe was speaking about is that we have today the printing and the ability to publish and disseminate. You know, this is going back nineteen sixty-three. I mean, we- today we're a hundred steps ahead, and that we're not using every opportunity. We're not utilizing it. You know, we know, we know what a shturum the Rebbe made. You know, Tanya on the radio, you know, these little things, disseminating Chassidus. And the end of the sicha, the Rebbe said the words, "Kol dodi lefichan pischi li." Those words from Shir Hashirim, and the Rebbe began to cry. At the end of the sicha, Reishi nimle tol kvutzoi sei resisi loilo. The Rebbe said that the Aibishter klapt bamtir and betzach. He's knocking on our doors, and he's begging us, "Seize the moment. Use the opportunities. Do what you can. Do everything." Here we're in a new world, you know, post-Holocaust. Spread Yiddishkeit, spread Chassidus, and we're all sufficing with a, you know,

1:05:53 Speaker 1 a good shluf on the couch. And the idea that the Rebbe was mevazvez the etres. Just let's speak in simple terms. Until the Rebbe came to America, what of Chassidus was available in print? You had a Tanya and a Terer, Likud Etere printed by the Tzemach Tzedek. You had a Terach Matissecha printed by one of the Kopes Chassidim, and you had a few sefarim of the Mitler Rebbe, a Sha'ar Yerir, a Nehem Rabina, a Derech Chayim, whatever it was. How did Chassidim learn Chassidus back in Russia? They learned from Ksovim. They learned from Shmuel Schreiber's Ksav. You know, from the photocopy machine in Lubavitch was called Shmuel Sefer, and he scribbled Mamorem, and you paid a few kopkes, and you got a copy. And this is how Chassidim learned Chassidus. The Rebbe came to America. The Friediker Rebbe appointed him in charge of Kahos, and the Rebbe started printing Chassidus. The Rebbe had no money in the early years, okay? The Rebbe started off with the Hemshachim of the Reb Maharash, Vehechem Lamed Aleph, you know. The Rebbe writes in the Pesach Dover that he's looking for the means of how to get this done. But the Rebbe had a big idea. Through the years, the Rebbe pumped out what today, when you walk into Kahos on Eight Davis, and you got a shelf of the Alter Rebbe, and a shelf of the Mitler Rebbe, and two shelves of the Tzemach Tzedek, 'cause the Rebbe made the Sefer Likud, a shelf of the Reb Maharash,

1:07:09 Speaker 1 a shelf of the Rebbe Rashab, a shelf of the Friediker Rebbe, and th-- many shelves of the... This didn't exist seventy years ago. The Rebbe had teams of people working on Marom Makomis. You know, if I get today's on Zezan Gazon, you know, Gavril Shapiro and Zisel Karski and Eli Matzol, the chevre that are working in the Rebbe's library and all this. To make sure that at some point, first of all, the concept of making Chassidus Ois U'Mero Boys. It used to be the old bubble jet, the Rashi Ois that you got an eye, you got a headache from reading, you know, Derech Chayim for too long. Y-y-you can't read a paragraph 'cause you couldn't read it. And the Rebbe said it's gotta be Ois U'Mero Boys. The whole concept of Marom Makomis, the sales in Kahos, which cost the Rebbe a deficit. You know, the Rebbe would tease by fabriking once in Lamed Aleph, "The Rebbe Chad Hakov, my-- you know, he's gonna have an issue with this, but we're making a sale in Kahos, and you're gonna be able to buy the Kuntras and buy the Maimer and learn it and live it." The Rebbe made the, the, the, the bizbaz ha'etrers. Everyone knows, you know, the moshel of the, the Alter Rebbe to Opshray and the Kitrug of Reb Pinchas Koritzer, of the son of the king that was sick, and the doctor said that if you take the crown jewel, you grind it up, you mix it with water, and you

1:08:19 Speaker 1 pour it on his closed lips, maybe a drop will go in and revive him. The Rebbe poured on us, showered on us. Sh- the Rebbe poured on us Ɣbidat Chassidus. There was in the ma'amar, Basse LeGani tof shin lamed. Not the Motzaei Shabbos to farbrengen, but Shabbos on the afternoon when the Rebbe was twenty years, a milestone, the Rebbe finished the Sefer HaMa'amarim that Friday. That ma'amar, towards the end of the ma'amar, the Rebbe made-- the Rebbe said, "Megisht u'megisht." And he made with his hand, you know, the Rebbe's hand by the, um, by the ma'amar. "Megisht u'megisht." We're pouring, uh, kochas, resources, opportunities, and material for us to get the job done. And like in the Moshel of the Bizbuza Eitzas, where, where it says that the Pekidei Ha are the generals, but it's supposed to be given to the Anshei Ha. Anshei Ha is all of us. Little people, foot soldiers, but we're the ones getting job done on the ground. And here's the thing. The Bizbuza Eitzas that we have today, I spoke about that was what the Rebbe did Bizbuza Eitzas. And what we, what-- It's gone to the f- to the next stage, to the next level, what we have today. Chassidus, the user-friendliness of Chassidus today, the, the, the, um, approachableness of Chassidus, the, the availability of Chassidus today. There's so many classes, Hebrew and in every language, for different levels of people. There's material, you know, the Chassidus Movaris. And just t-talk about, you know, Sichas in English,

1:09:51 Speaker 1 what they're doing, revolutionizing right now. Um, you know, p-pumping it out there for the masses. The world-- This is mol ha'aretz de'ah in a time when leirav lelechem veleitzom lamayim, where the world is... You know, anyone who's, who's, who's searching for something, sick and tired of the shallow pustkeit of, of, of, of, of social media and of the Danushkeit of today. And to-- And the, the Dvar Hashem, which is, is just spewing out there, and it's our task to keep it going. And that's exactly what I do for a living. To make ha'olam ha'zeh lamalkhu Mashiach. To make the mol ha'aretz de'ah Hashem. So this is, this is, in other words, this is the Bizbuza Eitzras. The fact that today we have the videos, the tapes of the Rebbe, the, the, all, the, the, the, the Sichas Kodesh, the Toras Menachem, the Igris, the English letters, the Lekutei Sichos, the, the, the abundance, the flood. And of course, the, the, the flip side is that, you know, Amalek Hatzai, a kuntres came out, you sat and learned it. Today, you know, I, I press-- I sit on my, on the couch with my feet up on Haytafus and go online and order. Click of a button, it comes for a couple hundred bucks, comes a shipment to your house. Bookshelves are swamped, and it's like a nice din of gen-- uh, decoration. You, you open the Sefer, you know. Take a drop, and it should go in. And if it goes in, it will revive,

1:11:16 Speaker 1 and it will, and it will give life. And today we have to s- recognize and celebrate the Bizbuza Eitzras that we have, that we know, that the Mashgiach HaPratis, with all the hisgabrus ha'chesed and the challenges that are unprecedented that we have today, we also are to know and to re-realize that they're there for us to use, that-- to use. That we have the resource, we have the material, and it needs to be-- we need to use it. We need a drink. Famous moshel that, uh, they used to say Bachsin, Bachsin farbrengen. There was once a little birdie, uh, tweet-tweet, "Aibishter, I'm thirsty." Said Aibishter bring a gust of wind and blows it to the riverbank. The birdie turns, "Hashem, I'm thirsty." Aibishter said, "That, that much I can't do. I blew you to the river. Now all you need to do is bend down and drink." Well, that's what we need to do. And when we drink, it will quench our thirst and revive us.

1:12:14 Speaker 3 L'chaim. But, uh, okay. So, so you, you, you tie straight to Bizbuza Eitzras. Um, and, and it's true. And, and we need to, uh, we need to think about that and, and appreciate what we have. In, on, on-- Uh, but we could talk about, of course, you know, Basse LeGa-- uh, Yom Tovim, you know, you wanna prepare for Yom Tovim and you wanna connect. And of course, this is absolutely one way to connect. Um, learning the Rebbe's Torah and, and Fekert, learning the Rebbe's Torah in a way that you brought out throughout this entire conversation of, of really living the Rebbe's Torah, not just learning the Rebbe's Torah. Um, you said, you mentioned before about Toras Menachem, right? That, uh, you know, the word Torah, right? Like, I'm thinking like maybe you would have named it Chayim Menachem or something like, uh, Ohel Menachem or something. But, uh-

1:13:00 Speaker 1 But there's truth to it.

1:13:01 Speaker 3 Right. Yeah.

1:13:02 Speaker 1 Every word of the Rebbe's-

1:13:02 Speaker 3 Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. Not, uh, Torah, Torah Moshiach Torah. Torah is, is not just sechel, right? Of course. But the point is that, of course, this is one way and, you know, maybe you could even say the way of Hashkachas, right? The Yamim of Chavdal Nissan of, uh, that Hashkachas is by Limu Torah. Um, but, but specifically-- Like, not specifically, but the Rebbe-- There was also, there was also a mission statement. There was also like Devar Shevi of Ikker Shirim Utechatin Heysah, of Shtos D'Kedoshah, of Itzhapcha. Um, Hofatsa Samayanis, not just of your learning it, which-- And, and, and we know Hofatsa Samayanis begins by yourself. There is the Hofatsa within yourself, of course. But the Rebbe's-- It would be hard to say that the Rebbe's mission statement was just to learn Chassidus. So how the, how would you connect this concept of learning Chassidus and learning Chassidus in a way that it overfloods yourself with... Uh, again, I, I think that if a person would go into Yeshivas with a, with a acharon, with a achaton, with a mindset of like, "Let's start taking Rebbe's Torah seriously in a way of learning it and living it," Ma Tavim Hanoim and Dayenu and, uh... But, but is there a step further? Is there a way that this relates also to the entirety of a person's life, to the entirety of the world? Which, which the Rebbe had that vision. The Rebbe was going to bring Moshiach to the whole world, not just to teach

1:14:29 Speaker 3 more Chassidus and to teach Chassidus in a way that's more available. So coming to Yeshivas and trying to tap into what the Rebbe wants with their Shevi, 'cause that's really what it was about. Of course, it started by seeing a ma'amar, but the ma'amar was about what our mission was. How, how does that relate? How does that, um... How do you take this Reichkeit of Chassidus and translate it into the rest of your life, the rest of your day, the rest of the world, the rest of your-- Meaning, of course, the Hofatsa, the act of Hofatsa, but the rest of your viewpoint of the world, which ties back to BeEzam what, what we're trying to do here, the relevance of learning Chassidus. And again, not to say, Chas v'Shalom, that learning Chassidus itself is not relevant. We, we-- I think we discussed that. But how does that go even a step further to how Chassidusimpacts you? You're not learning Chassidus twenty-four hour, maybe you are. But most of us are not learning Chassidus twenty-four hours a day, and maybe not even two hours a day. Okay? Um, so how do y- what's that ex- what's that next step of, of taking whatever time you have and whatever, uh, um, energy you have to learn Chassidus and impacting it with the rest of your day, with the rest of your life?

1:15:36 Speaker 4 Okay. Let me ask you a question. If I were to ask you a question, what are the most two frequent directives of the Rebbe in the entire set of Igris Kodesh? What would you say?

1:15:49 Speaker 3 Oh, like instructions?

1:15:50 Speaker 4 Instructions.

1:15:50 Speaker 3 Oh, okay. Chitas.

1:15:52 Speaker 4 Chitas.

1:15:52 Speaker 3 Yeah. And-

1:15:55 Speaker 4 And

1:15:55 Speaker 3 ... Habya Chassidus me'onas.

1:15:56 Speaker 4 Learning Chassidus.

1:15:57 Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Learning Chassidus. Exactly.

1:15:59 Speaker 4 Okay. So l- let's start from there. In other words, what I wanna say is I'm gonna talk about, as you described, a-and I'm gonna base my answer first how it impacts me, and then from me to my surrounding life and the world around me.

1:16:13 Speaker 3 Correct.

1:16:14 Speaker 4 So let's start from me, and let's, let's talk now much more practical than we've been talking before. We said, you know, learning Chassidus, learning Chitas. There, there has to be a staple by ev- um, a staple bare minimum by every single Lubavitcher Chassid. The concept of, like we say, learning Chassidus, learning Chitas, which means it's just like a Yid obligated to learn Torah. You know, without Torah, mitzvah, you know, a little bit of Torah. What I found, um, you know, with oneself is that one has to make, I'll call it like a Rebbe moment in your day or, uh, you know, the moment, you know, when you plug in. Okay? Now this can be in, in, in, in, in various ca- you know, there's, there's the Gesher Haim and there's the Baal HaSulam. But really for everyone and anyone, everyone is able to and must have, you know, that, that, that breath of fresh air. The... I find, for example, for myself, and I'll just share a few, you know, basic things. Not when I'm listening to a long farbrengen, but on a regular day, and I'm busy and this, that, and the other. Before I go to sleep at night, I've got the, uh, Rebbe ResponsA app on my phone, and I'll randomly open up an English letter, the Rebbe, about any topic or any person in life and read it and fall asleep with it. It's a moment of plugging in, right? You know, the, the, the best thing you'll do with five

1:17:49 Speaker 4 bucks is, is, is, is, is subscribe to Jem and, and, and watch The Living Torah. It's a message. Now, obviously, we live in a world where we see things and we move on fast. But the Rebbe isn't-- But th-this is truth, and it can-- To, to have those moments, to have that time when you recharge, um, I don't know how to, you know, in practical ways. I'll, I'll, again, I'll throw out what I do. I, I don't think this is a

1:18:19 Speaker 3 Right.

1:18:19 Speaker 4 ... at all an

1:18:20 Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah.

1:18:21 Speaker 4 But I, I, I listen to Hazora.

1:18:24 Speaker 3 Hmm.

1:18:25 Speaker 4 When I say Hazora, I mean Rabbi Yilkan would, Motzei Shabbos, would say over the Rebbe's farbrengen, and the David Feldman in Hebrew and Simon Jacobson in Yiddish would write down the Rebbe's farbrengen. Um, and then on Sunday, after a Shabbos day farbrengen, throughout all the mems, we have tapes from Mem-Alef until Mem-Het. We have ten years of tapes of WLCC, Chaim Baruch Halvstein, and Snachner and some whatever. You know, they had-- Rabbi would sit upstairs, and they would get him a coffee, and he would sit there, and he would say into the mic, which went on the phone to any, all of Chabad center, went on tape. Uh, whoever wanted to listen in or buy the tape of the content of what the Rebbe had spoken on Shabbos. And on Sunday afternoon, he would say it. And I'd listen to Hazora very often on a Friday afternoon, um, setting the table, doing the dishes, cl- cleaning up for Shabbos. I'll listen to Hazora. Now, for the, for the crowd that I'm talking to, I don't believe this is, uh, so practical, but you should know, and this is something that I would highly want to advocate, and that is there's a Yid in Crown Heights, he's a

1:19:32 Speaker 3 Right

1:19:34 Speaker 4 ... and, um, we have ten years of tapes of him saying Hazora. Motzei Shabbos, the crowd of Baal Teshuvas in Crown Heights that were sitting, attending by the farbrengen and didn't understand fully the content that was going on. They were there for the vibe, the spirit, the nigunim, saying l'chaim to the Rebbe. There's no question. Um, but many, there was always a crowd, Motzei Shabbos, that would come at a shul. I think it was on, uh, on Presidents Connected, I'm thinking, over there. I'm not sure, but he would go to a shul in Crown Heights, and Motzei Shabbos, we have tapes. It's about an hour long, forty minutes, fifty minutes, an hour long of where he would rattle out the content, the highlights, the key themes, the message, the, you know, the intro sichas, then sometimes give over what was the Reimei's if it was too difficult not. But then he would give over the question and the answer on the Rashi, the question and the answer on the Zohar, the Pekeodav, whatever it was, and give over the, the, the sentiments if there were a and something, and gave over basic content of the farbrengen.

1:20:33 Speaker 3 Right.

1:20:33 Speaker 4 He starts off-

1:20:33 Speaker 3 It was released, I think, recently on the-

1:20:35 Speaker 4 A few years ago

1:20:36 Speaker 3 ... yeah, some Spotify playlist.

1:20:37 Speaker 4 Zeidim put it out.

1:20:37 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:20:38 Speaker 4 And it is a treasure. He starts off like this. "The Rebbe began the farbrengen this afternoon," and he starts to say that this Shabbos is-- And he speaks in a clear, slow, very-

1:20:51 Speaker 3 Yeah

1:20:51 Speaker 4 ... you know, articulate, uh, English. And it is a treasure. I personally, you know, have a hard time learning from clichani and clich-clichy, you know, people. I'm not, I'm not saying any of this, this And there, there's treasures out there, you know, Project Likutey Sichos, Maggid Shiurim, and then, and then many, many Maggid Shiurim and, and many people are doing a great job and doing a very good job explaining and clarifying. I always wanted to hear the Chabadnik, you know, the, the, the pot on the fire, either the Rebbe or the video or the tape, or if you can't because Shabbos, um, I find even that the Chazoras are more beneficial for me than even the Hanochos. That means I'd rather listen to the Beis Din than read the Hebrew transcript from, from, from Teves Menachem, from David Feldman because it, it's just more alive. Often you're gonna get expressions not alway-- You know, there's always omitting, you know, he'll miss a word here, he'll miss a word in the Hanocha, he'll change around an order in the Hanocha. I, I just like to hear the, the, the, the, the... Sometimes I scribble down notes whilst I'm listening. If I'm doing, uh, if I'm doing the housework of Erev Shabbos or Motza'ei Shabbos, then I'm not writing notes, but I'm listening. And I just get the fabregen. And I'm just-- Where were we talking about? I, uh, I'm just keep going on the sa- In other words, that's moments when I, you know, I, um,

1:22:12 Speaker 4 let's just talk about learning a Kviyus for a second. Th-this year, I'm following Tofshin Mem Beis. I always learn. I've been all the years, uh, you know, there were years I took an Hachlata to learn, you know, on a Simchas Torah, take Hachlata. This year, I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna chaz. And I went through years of the Rebbe, Mamorim and Sichos, Lamed and Mem. Different times, different, different years. Tkufos of when I've been heavily immersed in the Rebbe's teachings, and it's contemporary for me. Now, it's not mamash the same, obviously, and we're in there, you know. It's hard for me, you know, you know, you hear Tofshin Lamed Aleph, the Yom Kippur War, and it's hard to re- you know, relate to it. But there's alway-- First of all, you get the energy and, and you can translate it into the contemporary life. And then there is the Parshat HaTzedakah. Uh, now I'm listening to Mem Beis. Just yesterday, I listened to the Yechi Dus of the Rebbe to Pinchas Menachem Alter, uh, Ger, the Ger Rebbe, Chassidus Shiva, whatever way, and the, and the conversation of the Rebbe with him. It's just a macha, a forty-minute Yechi Dus. You know, the Rebbe's, you know, telling him to fundraise in America. You know, he was telling the Rebbe, Moshiach, uh, it's a Moshiach. The Rebbe told him to fundraise in, in America. So he said, "I'm uncomfortable. I'm not a fundraiser." The Rebbe told him it's, uh, "You think you're doing it for your own

1:23:23 Speaker 4 business? You do it for the American Gvirim, the schwerige halten. Friediker Rebbe held that you have to be mezakah the American Gvirim with giving tzedakah." The Rebbe said, "I'm biased 'cause I'm kochin a biz of Moshiach. I want Moshiach to come, and meshavah with tzedakah. Tzedakah's gonna make Moshiach come." So he said to the Rebbe something like that, uh, um, "Moshiach doesn't come on a Friday." I guess it was a Thursday night because Balabostas are busy preparing for Shabbos. So the Rebbe said, "But yiddish of Balabostas are gonna forgive Moshiach. Let him just come." They're busy making the kugel, the Rebbe said, yeah. It's just to, to-- I, you know, I'm living, I'm, uh, since, since, uh, since last year, I'm doing Mem Aleph, Mem Beis. The, the koch in Eys Pesefetayre, I mean, this cha- this just, just recently, when any time I go to, I'm, I'm in Trader Joe's and I meet a Jew, and it's day, night, I can't do tefillin, whatever, I don't have, whatever the case is. I c- I signed up a guy for Eys Pesefetayre. Why? Because that's what I'm listening to-

1:24:13 Speaker 3 Wow

1:24:13 Speaker 4 ...in, in, in the Sichos. Besides, I'm not talking about the Rashi and the, and the Zeyer and the Meimer and the Koch of, uh, you know, Kislev or Hanukkah, whatever, which is so much life. L-l-learn and live with a Kviyus. And again, you could do this, this is not two hours a day. This is once a week before Shabbos or Motza'ei Shabbos. What do you do Motza'ei Shabbos? Everyone runs to their phones to check the news. I check the news of seven seventy. It's forty years ago. Hey, it is Nitzchi. Aneichim etzav chayim. I don't care that it was forty years ago. For me, the Rebbe's talking right now.

1:24:47 Speaker 3 Right.

1:24:48 Speaker 4 And I'm listening. Go back to what I said before, the Kabbalah.

1:24:50 Speaker 3 Right.

1:24:50 Speaker 4 I'm listening. I'm absorbing. So l-let me go back to your question. That was a lot, you know, and I'm, I highly encou- suggest this. Uh, it's chazorainenglish.org. I don't know if it's YouTube, Spotify.

1:25:05 Speaker 3 Yeah, you can find us, yeah.

1:25:06 Speaker 4 You find, uh, Zev Katz.

1:25:07 Speaker 3 Right.

1:25:08 Speaker 4 Chazora, you have ten years from Mem Aleph until Mem Ches. Uh, you know, all the Mems, just pick a year, a Shabbos day kiev habregen, press play, and you just, you just Motza'ei Shabbos in the fabregen. It's just so-

1:25:22 Speaker 3 Right

1:25:22 Speaker 4 ...uh, and it's, and it's, and it's-

1:25:24 Speaker 3 They're not that long either.

1:25:25 Speaker 4 No, they're not.

1:25:25 Speaker 3 Usually like an hour, yeah.

1:25:26 Speaker 4 Forty minutes, fifty minutes.

1:25:26 Speaker 3 Under an hour.

1:25:27 Speaker 4 And it's clear, understandable English. Um, but let's go back. That was all what it pours into me. But then there is how it shines off me and reflects from me and pours, uh, spills into the world around me. And the, like you said before, with Devar Shvi, at the end of the day, yefutzo menei secha is to chutzo. Now, you know, within Lubavitch and within the Lubavitch community, we like saying that the chutzo is our own brains and our own nefshabamis, and there's truth to that. But the end of the day is we are the earnest hatichalah goyim. We are the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the ambassador of the Rebbe and of the Aibishter and Chassidus in this world. People point fingers at us, especially when we talk about current events and shluchim and, and way that goes, uh, and, and, uh, people know Lubavitch and people know. And wherever you go and whatever you're doing, you are a, you are a, you are a walking the zareh bechaim, the walking and talking Lubavitcher, right? That, like I said before, if you go shopping or if you go... Let's talk about first our immediate families. When we spill this out within, in, in our, by our Shabbos table or to our kids, um, you know, this year's, uh, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the fifty years from the Shnas Hachinuch, and the Rebbe made the Torah Psukim, and there's a lot of talk about, you know, that us

1:26:55 Speaker 4 as Lubavitchers, instead of shopping around for other methods in Chinuch, to really go back to basics, to our core formula, what the Rebbe gave us, and it's so powerful. It really is powerful. You know, the Psukim, the Torah Psukim's messages in our children's, uh, uh, psyche and in, in their lives and bringing it up. Um, as a Chassid, if this is gonna, if this is who you are, then this is what's-- If this is what I'm absorbing, this is what's gonna spill out of me. And if I'm with my kids or if I'm in Trader Joe's, or if I do go somewhere exotic and, and I'm on the plane, and I don't have that, you know, that, that, that The The, the, the, you know, the, the, the, the, the lack of pride in hiding under my blanket and being a chicken for being Frum or being a Chassid, but walk around with stoltz, with pride, with my head held up high. I'm a cha-- I'm not perfect, and we all have what to improve and-- But, but we have the, the, the, this gift. We have the wisdom for the world. We have the, you know, the-- And, and to-- And, and you can tell this to any goy, Lavdil, and to any Jew that you meet. It, it's, it's, it's a mission. It's a, it's a we're on a mission. We, we, we, we live our lives as shluchim in whatever our Pel Mamash V'Hashlichus is.

1:28:19 Speaker 3 Right. So you're saying it starts from the, the learning the messages and learning and absorbing the Rebbe's viewpoint, and then automatically-- And, and, and, and I think what you said is important of, uh, you know, this is this is part of Basr Elgan is about Makif. But, like, it's-- it is a little bit Makif what we are saying. Like, you know, the general living with Rebbe's, uh, um, perspective. But then you mentioned about that there's concrete steps, concrete plug-ins that are-

1:28:48 Speaker 4 Think Rebbe moments.

1:28:49 Speaker 3 Right, Rebbe moments. And I think what-- I, I don't, I don't know if you, if you spelled that what you want to say about Chitas, about, um, from Igress, like the Rebbe's two directors of Chitas and Yechidus. There's like Rebbe moments that are simple and, and straightforward, and you can't, uh, fool around. You know, you can't convince yourself otherwise, Chitas, Rambam, et cetera.

1:29:08 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

1:29:09 Speaker 3 And then you're saying there's also the, the, the Kviussin and maybe a little bit extra kilu, but it's not extra because it's a, it's a staple. Like you said, it's a, it's a, a time that needs to be set of, of plugging into the Rebbe's vision, plugging into Rebbe's, uh, mission. Um, I think this goes back to what-- Oh, oh, and then, uh, that applies-- that spills out forward in, in, into your own life and to the way you react with the wor- interact with the world. Uh, I think this goes back to what you were saying before about, um, does

1:30:48 Speaker 4 The Pasuk says, "Toevayen hu yevirech ki nosen milach moi ladal."

1:30:53 Speaker 3 Right.

1:30:54 Speaker 4 The, the-- Moshe Rabbeinu, that Moshe Rabbeinu was given the Torah by the Aibishter, and he was noig Toevayen, and he gave his bread to the pauper.

1:31:02 Speaker 3 Right.

1:31:02 Speaker 4 The Rebbe said this, uh, to the Bochurim, the last, uh, Berich Savonim, Erev Yom Kippur Tav Shana Beis, that ki nosen milach moi ladal. I find his Kashrus is, is very interestingly personal. You know, one person is gonna relate with Igress. One person is gonna relate by going to the oil regularly. One person is gonna relate with Project Lukot Sikhas. One person is going to relate, you know, the gem clips. One person is gonna r- have a Havruta. A Havruta is gonna work for them. Once a week, they learn the Pasuk Sikha, Lukot Sikhas, back to basic, you know. They learn Lukot Sikhas ... Amen.

1:33:22 Speaker 3 Chaim.

1:33:23 Speaker 4 Chaim.

1:33:23 Speaker 3 Amen. Chaim.