123 - Tishrei 23 in Chabad History

00:00 Speaker 1 This is the Yom Chabad for the twenty third day of, uh, Tishrei, which is Simchas Torah. Um, and, uh, this is in the year Tof Shin Bes, nineteen forty-two. As you know, those were the years of the war. The war was in the real, um, uh, height of it, and there was so much devastation.

00:21 Speaker 2 Not yet, but it was-

00:22 Speaker 1 Uh, the, the-

00:23 Speaker 2 It was a transformation in America that-

00:25 Speaker 1 That went on the, uh, nineteen forty-two. Yeah.

00:28 Speaker 2 We actually weren't in battle yet.

00:30 Speaker 1 Yeah. But I was talking about the Jewish people were-

00:33 Speaker 2 Oh, in Europe

00:33 Speaker 1 ... suffering in Europe and the, the, the, uh-

00:37 Speaker 2 There was no war in Europe.

00:38 Speaker 1 Yeah. And it was, uh, a very difficult time for the Jewish people. And it's amazing, you know, how the previous Rebbe, who was at that time in the United States, uh, how he was, uh, sort of encouraging and trying to, uh, do what he can on the, uh, on all levels to, um, keep, uh, the Jewish people as a whole, um, uh, to, uh, you know, turn to Hashem, to, to try to, uh, offset all the terrible things that are going there, at least through spiritual ways, also trying to do some different things. And, you know, people were devastated, people were, were shattered, people were, uh, beliefs were, you know, uh, people stopped believing. At that time, the Rebbe came out, uh, with a very special announcement that he's going to start a Sefer Torah, the writing of a new Torah scroll, which will be the one which, which we will greet Mashiach Tzidkeinu. The Rebbe anticipation for Mashiach and the writing the Torah to go about and greet Mashiach was initiated on Simchas Torah in the year Tof Shin Bes in nineteen forty-two. Just so you know, it took many years. It wasn't till, uh, till nineteen seventy. It was in nineteen seventy that this Torah was completed. It took almost thirty years, uh, twenty-eight years. It was on Yuh Shvat Tof Shin Lamed, on the tenth day of Shvat, which was the year that the, um... This was twenty years after the Rebbe's leadership. The Rebbe became-

02:37 Speaker 2 Twenty.

02:38 Speaker 1 In nineteen fifty-

02:40 Speaker 2 Fifty, yeah

02:40 Speaker 1 ... the Rebbe became Rebbe after the passing. Actually, the passing of the previous Rebbe was in the tenth of Shvat in nineteen fifty. The Rebbe officially accepted the, uh, leadership in nineteen fifty-one, although, uh, it really began already as soon as the passing of the previous Rebbe. But nevertheless, that Sefer Torah was sitting there, uh, unfinished for all these years. But the-- What the Rebbe said at the time, what the previous Rebbe said at the time, that with Hashem's help and in the merit of my holy fathers of blessed memory, I have the great privilege that I have this idea, so that bli neder, without a vow, he says, for the benefit and for the privilege of the Jewish community at large, all of the Jewish people, to write a special Sefer Torah with which to greet Mashiach Tzidkeinu, to greet Mashiach. And we will use that, Kabbalah's principle, we'll use that to actually go out and greet Mashiach. In a letter that he writes on the twenty-fourth day of Teves, the previous Rebbe writes that while we were sitting at a Yom Tov meal during this, during, uh, uh, the days of Sukkot, in the presence of our friends, some of the group of the Hasidim, may they live, we spoke about the terrible woa-woes and the problems that we have from the called Cheveley Mashiach, the pains at the end of the, uh, exile, uh, known as the Cheveley Mashiach, the woes, very painful times that come, uh, before Mashiach comes, and then

04:33 Speaker 1 that Mashiach is coming very soon. And within those talks, I had said that it entered my mind to write with God's help a special specific Torah for re-greeting Mashiach Tzidkeinu very, very soon. Because of love for all Jewish people, anyone who wishes to participate by writing letters has the right to do so.

05:08 Speaker 2 This was nineteen fifty-one?

05:09 Speaker 1 No, this was in nineteen forty-two that the Rebbe is writing that. That's in nineteen forty-two. Uh-

05:16 Speaker 2 In Europe.

05:17 Speaker 1 Uh, no, this was in the United States. The United States. What is it?

05:21 Speaker 2 Why did it take him so long to write that?

05:23 Speaker 1 Why did it take all these years? No, they didn't take... Okay, so it didn't take so long to write it. They sort of neglected because unfortunately, I guess, I'm not sure, uh, you know, Mashiach didn't come right away, so then they real-

05:36 Speaker 2 So there was no rush to finish.

05:37 Speaker 1 So they're waiting. But then the Rebbe said, "No, no, no. We have to finish the Sefer Torah." And the Rebbe initiated. And then in nineteen seventy, like I said, in Tof Shin Yuh, in Yuh Shvat Tof Shin Yuh they completed... It was a whole big, um, um, gathering, and the Rebbe put the crown on the Torah, and they had a big festivities, and, uh, it was a very major, uh, major event, uh, that took place. And, uh, again, you know, we were pushing very hard. The Rebbe was pushing very hard for Mashiach to come, working very hard, doing what we can to actually bring down Mashiach and, uh, in, in, in, in the actual, this world, and take us out of Galus. But the Rebbe allowed everybody. He didn't just write it himself. He allowed everybody to participate. And then it was done. The Rebbe talked about that they didn't finish it, and then the Rebbe went and finished it. Uh, they were supposed to start on the twentieth day of Cheshvan, which is the birthday of the Rebbe Ma-- Rashab. Uh, that's the previous Rebbe's father. Uh, but, uh, it ended up, uh, being, uh, started off on Bes Iyar, which is the birthday of the Rebbe Maharash. Uh, so that did not, uh, take place. And, uh, uh, and at that point, there was a continuous celebration, and we'll, we'll continue to read about it later on.