Kislev 1 in Chabad History

00:00 Speaker 1 So Rosh Chodesh Kislev, we're gonna talk about two things today. Um, of course, we have the Rosh Chodesh Kislev, which is the grand celebration. We'll talk about it in a minute. And, uh, but first, we'll talk about Rosh Chodesh Kislev, Taf Resh Nun Ches. And okay, so now we're talking about, uh, one hundred and, um, I guess one hundred and six years ago. Uh, this is the, uh, birthday of Rav Shmaryahu Gurary. We discussed a little bit about him the other day. Uh, that's the-- known as the Rashag. Rashag, Rav Shmaryahu, it's abbreviation. It's easier to remember Sh-Sh-Shmaryahu Gurary. Um, it's interesting, sometimes the abbreviation of their names, sometimes they put the last name as part of the abbreviation, sometimes just the first names, uh, whatever fits, you know. I don't know exactly. There must be some, uh, mystical, uh, mystical, uh, reasons for it. But in any event, uh, he was born on this day, um, and, uh, he eventually became the son-in-law of the previous Rebbe. As mentioned many times, the previous Rebbe had three daughters, and the older one was Rebbe Gurary. The middle one, Chaya Mushka, uh, hi-his, his wife's name was Chana, Rebbetzin Chana. That was the oldest daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. Then there was the, uh, of course, the Rebbe's wife was Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, and she married the Rebbe. And then the other, you know, couple, as we learned, they unfortunately, they perished during the Holocaust. And the, uh, and, and, you know, I've heard also the

01:27 Speaker 1 Rebbe say that, you know, people were complaining about the Holocaust, this and that. And Rebbe said, "Well, nobody, uh, can say, you know, you know, I personally suffered, my family and everything else." Many members of the Rebbe's family and close people, you know, perished. So I mean, the Rebbe didn't want, you know, people to use that as an excuse, uh, not to, uh, do Torah and mitzvahs because, you know, people are saying it was the Holocaust. But anyway, that's not what we're discussing about today. Um, he, um, he was born shortly after they founded the Yeshivat Tomchei Temimim. And he comes from a very wealthy family. The Gurary family were a very known, uh, wealthy family. His, uh, father was Rabbi Nachum Mendel Gurary, and, um, he was, uh, from the, uh, Portn Chassidim of the Rebbe Rashab. He was educated in the Yeshivat Tomchei Temimim. And in the year Taf Resh Peh Alef, uh, so that was shortly after the Rebbe, um, went out of, uh, of Russia. You know, that, that's the, uh, um, um... That time, um, a couple of years after going out of, of Russia, uh, he got married. Uh, no, no. What am I talking about? This was, uh, this was earlier. This was before. This was in the, in the nineteen twenties, uh, right in the beginning. In the nineteen twenties-

03:02 Speaker 2 Before the revolution.

03:03 Speaker 1 He got married. The, the Rebbe got married, uh, later on, but he, he got married in, in, in, in, in, in Russia in Taf Resh Peh Alef. And his father-in-law, which is the previous Rebbe, made him part of the, uh, Chabad leadership over there to head, uh... He became the head of the Chabad yeshivas called the Tomchei Temimim. That was his, his job. Okay, so that-- his, uh, his birthday is on Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Now, Rosh Chodesh Kislev, uh, we're talking about now in the year Taf Shin, uh, Lamed Ches. Uh, Taf Shin Lamed Ches is more recent. This is, uh, related to the Rebbe, uh, during, um, Shemini Atzeret. Now, the Rebbe's, uh, work and the Rebbe's, uh, teachings and efforts, you know, go beyond anything that anybody can describe. But when it came the month of Tishrei, uh, that was the first month of the year, uh, with Simchas Torah, Shemini Atzeret, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Uh, first of all, there were tons and tons of guests that used to come to the Rebbe on a regular basis to be with the Rebbe during the high, during the high holidays and during Simchas Torah. And, you know, especially Simchas Torah and this-- Sukkot in general, Simchas Torah was sort of a very joyous, and in the Rebbe's, uh, presence, it was just, uh, unbelievable. The energy, the spiritual levels, the, the, the camaraderie, the Hasidim and, and the Rebbe, it was like, uh, something that you had to experience if you-- uh, it's

04:40 Speaker 1 kinda hard to describe what it was. It was just, uh, an unbelievable, uh, um, you know, experience. You know, every year coming the holidays, you know, from the time the guests used to start coming, arriving, until the time that they left. And, and the Rebbe worked doubly or triply as hard. You know, first of all, there is all the, um, holidays, the high holidays. They take up, you know, a lot of, a lot of effort. And, you know, somebody who really serves Hashem, uh, works harder than the ordinary, uh, person. But the Rebbe, on top of that, would do, you know, and would stand for hours in line, you know, before Rosh Hashanah. He would accept, uh, notes from the people that would-- for prayers, for blessings. Um, and, you know, for Sukkot, he would, uh, distribute Lekach for the people that were standing. And there's rows would go for endless amount of rows and rows and rows, lines that people would wait for hours to get a turn to go to the Rebbe. And it was just a very, very intense, intense, intense time. And then all the Chabadniks, because of all the holidays, there was a lot of gatherings. There was a lot of times the Rebbe would speak to the people when... You know, to us students, I was a student at the time, uh, at that time, and this was in, like I said, in, in Taf Shin Lamed Ches. So this takes us back, um- Close almost, uh, forty. What

06:08 Speaker 1 is it? Uh, lamed heh. Uh, . Uh, almost not, not quite forty years ago, but, uh-

06:16 Speaker 3 Thirty-eight

06:17 Speaker 1 ... thirty, uh, yes, samech heh. No, no, no. This is in lamed heh. And, uh, so lamed heh, um, you know, ayin heh, it's short of forty years. It's, uh, forty-four year, forty-six years. Uh, um, it was, uh, forty years ago. At that time- Yeah. Um, but to us students, you know, w-we didn't see the Rebbe as a human. We didn't look at the Rebbe as a human being because the Rebbe was never tired. He was never-- The energy was endless, and there was-- the teaching was endless. The, the, the, the, uh, celebration was endless. The, the continuous efforts were endless. And, you know, we, we, we didn't see in front of us a human being because nobody, nobody would ever imagine that somebody never tired. You never saw a yawn. You never saw an expression of, of exhaustion. You know, the Rebbe would sit for hours for break, do the work. And to us, the Rebbe wasn't connected to this physical world the way we understand it. And, and that's the way we perceive the Rebbe, and that's the way it was on the day to day. That's what his activities was. So we were standing in the shul on the Shmini Atzeres, and this was like the climax of the holiday. Uh, that's, you know, Chabad, we do two-- Well, we celebrate the night of Shmini Atzeres and the night of Simchat Torah, both nights. So this was the first night of Shmini Atzeres, and you know, there's pyramids, and there is, uh--

07:53 Speaker 1 You know, they brought about, um, a high platform for the Rebbe to stand because people would actually-- the Rebbe reluctantly sort of agree to it because people would kill each other to, to get a glimpse of the Rebbe and to, you know, be in the Rebbe's presence. So the Rebbe sort of reluctantly agreed but the Rebbe would stand on a high platform so that people can, can see. And the Rebbe would also have sometimes guests come from, uh, the Israeli consulate and, you know, some of the famous, uh-- If you've heard Bibi Netanyahu has said what Rebbe has told him, that also went, uh, it must, must have been the second day of Simchat Torah night. But also Shmini Atzeres night was a, was a time that, um, was a very special, you know, spiritual time, and nobody would expect anything but, you know, to continue the celebration. But then all of a sudden, uh, for us, we were standing in there. They started saying, "Everybody get out of the shul," you know, and, and the Rebbe started feeling, not feeling well, you know. And, you know, eventually the Rebbe... And it's, it's just like people can't believe how the Rebbe, you know-- Later on, the medical, the doctor said there was a, a severe heart attack at the time, but the Rebbe continued to do the Hakafot to finish the, the order. And it was, um, uh, and Rebbe was, was confined to his room. I mean, there was a lot of-- They brought

09:24 Speaker 1 down doctors from Boston. There came specialists and, um, and the Rebbe refused to be taken to the hospital. The Rebbe said that everything that could be done in the hospital could be done in the office today. And they, they brought like the most modern equipment that they bring on the-- to, to the field and the army and other things that they have just-- And they brought everything, you know, in front of, in front of seven seventy. There was a time during, during that first, the beginning, there was a time, I mean, where the Rebbe wasn't conscious, and there was a whole debate, uh, whether they should-- Because the doctor said that, you know, you need to be in a hospital. You can't stay in the Rebbe's room. You can't do. I mean, you can do a lot, but the care that the Rebbe would get in the hospital is beyond what you can get in the room. And there was a whole big debate, what do you do? The Rebbe said no. At that point, the Rebbe wasn't conscious. But, uh, the Rebbe said not to take him, and they knew, um, that, um... And they went and asked the Rebbe's wife, the Rebbetzin, they asked her what they should do. And in the end, they resolved that no, that's the Rebbe's wishes. We'll go along with the Rebbe's wishes. I mean, you can imagine you have to make such a decision. I mean, God forbid if it goes the wrong way, and you make

10:48 Speaker 1 that decision, you know what I mean? But they had to make the decision and say that if the Rebbe gives blessings to everybody else, and the Rebbe says that this is what he wants to do. Um, and the Rebbe actually in his, in his letters, the Rebbe sometimes when they ask the Rebbe medical questions, just the Rebbe's view in general was that you should put the person who is sick in a situation where he should be also emotionally satisfied. 'Cause if you put a person in a situation, that can have a negative effect also on your health. If you are unhappy, let's say, with your situation or things like that, uh, then you might-- it might affect you negatively also medically. So they ruled at the end-- Again, this has been written up. I'm just talking about from memory a little bit that I remember. And they had taken, uh, they left the Rebbe, and Baruch Hashem, miraculous, miracles of miracles, uh, the Rebbe already, um, was able to give a talk from his room, and you can hear the first talk Rebbe gave. And what they did was the doctor was monitoring the Rebbe in his room, and the people down in the big, uh, synagogue downstairs heard through via hookup, heard the Rebbe's talking, and the Rebbe continued to talk that way and, uh, and you know, Baruch Hashem, after that, he kept on improving and improving and... But the Rebbe was still confined To the, um, to the, uh, room over there,

12:17 Speaker 1 that's where the Rebbe stayed for during the Hog while he was recuperating. And finally, on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, so, you know, that was on the first day of Kislev, is when the Rebbe first went home. Now, you know, the ruling is that, uh, when a person is not well and he recovers, uh, then when he finally recovers, that's when you make the blessing of Hagomel. You know, you thank Hashem for, uh, granting you, for helping you, and, uh... But usually that's not made while you're still, uh, not well. That's done when you have already fully recuperated. Uh, so the fact that the Rebbe went home on Rosh Chodesh Kislev was sort of the day-- That was the day of the Rebbe's recuperation. That was the day that he, he, he went... he came back. Now, let-- Don't think that the Rebbe slowed down. The doctor's advice was that the Rebbe should slow down a little bit of his activities, but the Rebbe continued with more intensity from that point and on for many, many years, uh, to continue to lead the Chabad community and to teach Torah and to, uh, give over. And people tried sometimes, you know... There's always a conflict between the pragmatists, you know, people who are very practical, and they say, "Well, we gotta protect the Rebbe's health, you know. It's not, uh, uh... With all, uh, Rebbe's spiritual standing, he's still-- God placed him in a physical body, and therefore, there are certain things that one should be care-- uh,

13:54 Speaker 1 taken care of." So the people were, um, trying to re-re-reduce some of the Rebbe's burden. So, like, when people would go, the Rebbe would distribute dollars or the Rebbe would distribute other things for the people. So some people said, "No, don't, don't, don't go to, to the line because the Rebbe's gonna have to stand that many more hours on his feet and that many more, uh, exert himself," they said. A-and, and occasionally, the Rebbe would get wind of that, you know, like they would do, and the Rebbe objected. The Rebbe says, "These things add to my strength. They add to my energy. You know, this is something which gives me, uh, chayas." The Rebbe objected to anybody disturbing anybody. Still, there were some that were of the opinion that not to, uh, overdo it, you know, with, uh, notwithstanding the Rebbe's wishes. So it was like a, a balance between trying to, um, you know, do-- You know, everybody wanted to do what's right. You know, of course, you know, you have-- you had different people. Like my own father, Al mashalom, he was like-- he was a more, uh, reserved kind of a person. He, he didn't like to, like, sort of what he would say, bother the Rebbe with, with, with mundane things or, you know... He would choose very carefully what he would write or what he would say or what he would, you know, get the Rebbe's involved. But then you had other people who would, you know, every time they,

15:23 Speaker 1 they crossed the street, they would write the Rebbe a note, you know, that the car shouldn't hit them or something, you know. Uh, I'm not... I'm saying... But there was, you know, people had different feelings, you know. Then, uh, the Rebbe was always very happy when people wrote to him, you know, good, good things. You know, uh, how success, you know, that how many, uh, uh, Yidden they were able-- Jews they were able to bring closer to Yiddishkeit, how many influences and about great things, you know, that they accomplished. The Rebbe would love to hear that. Those were good things. But of course, you know, like I mentioned in the previous time, a lot of times people would be very quick to write the Rebbe a problem, you know, when they have a medical problem, and they're not very quick to tell the Rebbe that, you know, the good news. But when you write to the Rebbe, um, he wasn't just, uh, you know, just writing. It's like, uh... The Rebbe would take everybody's request very seriously, and he would pray for everybody. He would take it to the Ohel, and it took a part of the Rebbe's life into every letter that the Rebbe got and responded to. So this was, uh, one of the things. But Rosh Chodesh Kislev that year was sort of established as the day of, uh, the Rebbe's celebration. As you know, we mentioned, you know, the, uh, previous Rebbeim, uh, Rebbes each had special days in which they

16:41 Speaker 1 celebrated their days of freedom, things like that. But by the Rebbe, you know, of course, we live in the United States. There was no issue with, uh, uh, going to jail for learning Torah or doing mitzvahs. Uh, nobody objected to that. You know, you can do as much as you want. So, uh, over here, this challenge was sort of considered a challenge because all the time when a Rebbe was imprisoned, it was always taken as a spiritual, uh, decree, something in above, which a lot of times we know exactly. It's been interpreted later on that there was a, a, uh, decree and there was a criticism against the Rebbe for spreading out too much Hasidism, for doing too much things. The world isn't re-- isn't worthy yet of it. So that was sort of an expression of trying to stop the Rebbe, the criticism. And then the freedom was interpreted later on as the approval from above. No, no, no. Go ahead and do it even more. That's the way it was interpreted. In a similar way, it's been interpreted for the Rebbe's, uh, the Rebbe's world, uh, changing the landscape of the whole world, and the Rebbe's way was sort of maybe it was a criticism of above. So maybe there was a, uh, a situation in which they said, "You know, the Rebbe can't continue doing it that way." And the fact that the Rebbe fully recuperated, Baruch Hashem, and was able to continue was taken as a sign, it looks like by

18:05 Speaker 1 the Rebbe as well, that to go ahead and do with more force, because that's the approval, that we want the approval that, no, it's okay, and it's actually not only okay, but we should be even doing more, and they continue to do in a very, uh, strong and a very powerful way. Rosh Chodesh Kislev became the sort of the Rebbe's personal holiday, and now, you know, once a year we have all the shluchim, the Rebbe's emissaries, uh, all over the world get together. Now, the Rebbe essentially-- we can all be a shaliach. A shaliach is a very great, uh, status. A shaliach means, uh, an agent or an emissary from the Rebbe. Anybody who listens to the Rebbe and does what the Rebbe wants him to do, and especially to influence others in the positive, is a shaliach in a way. But then you have the official quote-unquote, "We're on the roster of shluchim." They are like the officially sanctioned shluchim, which were very de-very dear to the Rebbe. Like the Rebbe, you know, I don't know if you ever-- There is a book called The Sefer HaShluchim, a couple of books, which the Rebbe instructed that they take pictures of all the Chabad houses and of all the shluchim and put them in. And the Rebbe would keep on his desk all the time the books of the shluchim. That was, like, kept very, very close. It was very, very dear to the Rebbe. And this was something that the Rebbe sort of used

19:33 Speaker 1 to influence the whole world. He used basically the shluchim. And therefore it was, uh, instituted that the day that the international convention, when all the shluchim from all over the world get together at the headquarters, the Rebbe would address it, that was the highlight of the convention, would be on Rosh Chodesh Kislev, would be the Shabbos in the... You know, it's not always in exactly in the Shabbos, but then everybody gets together and we continue that tradition. You know, I mean, that tradition is continues till today, that Rosh Chodesh Kislev-

20:04 Speaker 4 So a lot of shluchim today.

20:06 Speaker 1 Yeah, I think the number of men accounts more than four thousand now, I mean, on the official list. And then there's probably some a lot more that are not on the official list. But whatever the case is, yes, there's a lot and there is... I think, I think the beauty is that you have covered all, the whole width and length of the Jewish landscape, because you have people in remote areas, you have an... in remote areas, both physically and also spiritually, in areas where there's no Yiddishkeit whatsoever. And you also have in the highest levels, you know, you have, uh, great scholars and the greatest, uh, uh, you know, tzadikim and everything else there. And covering from all, all across the board, across everything, bringing, uh, a message of, of hope, a message of inspiration, a connection to Yiddishkeit, connection to Torah, connection to Chassidus, to, uh, bring Mashiach. I mean, this is what the Rebbe wanted and worked for and labored, uh, so much in the... his sichas and his talks and all of his activities were permeated with that one yearning as the Rebbe expressed that even as a child, he had the imagination of the world being in its beauty when Mashiach will come and everything will come to its glory, the world will be a, a good place, uh, come to its sort of wholesome completion. So that's what we're still working on and you know, we hope and we pray, you know, that, uh, Hashem will send us His, His

21:46 Speaker 1 blessings. So Rosh Chodesh Kislev is therefore, uh, uh, celebrated. Now, you know, sometimes there would be an issue, you say Tachanan or not, but Rosh Chodesh Kislev is Rosh Chodesh. You don't say Tachanan anyways, and you say Halil anyways. So it's, uh, it, it works out okay that you actually say Halil and you actually, uh, um, you know, don't say the Tachanan. You actually celebrate it because it's, uh, Rosh Chodesh. And, uh, so that's what, that's, uh, that-that's what Rosh Chodesh Kislev is.