Kislev 5 in Chabad History

00:00 Doing for for Kislev. This is in the year . That was the, uh, the . The , you know, that means when people decide to make an engagement. The formal engagement is called a . People would actually write a document. Today it's not so popular to do it ahead of time. Today, most of the time we do it right at the time. Uh, we write the at the time of the day of the wedding. That's the way it's done today. The ketubah you're talking about? No, that's besides the ketubah. That's for the marriage. But we're talking about, uh, agreement to get married. It's an official engagement, so you write a document and the obligations of the two parties and the parents of the both parties to provide for the needs of the marriage and, uh, for the-- for-- that they'll see to it. And you know, it's a general agreement to get married, et cetera. Today it's mostly done at the day of the wedding, you know, done. But in the olden times, it was done earlier. Uh, by The Rebbe, The Rebbe, The Rebbe got married on the fourteenth day of Kislev. But the, uh, , um, those document was written on the third day of Kislev. They used to make a, a ceremony, a party, a, a celebration in honor with the . And, uh, that was The Rebbe's with the Rebbetzin, uh, Chaya Mushka, the middle daughter of the previous, uh, Lubavitch Rebbe, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak. That's the day which The Rebbe,

01:24 uh, became engaged officially. Uh, The Rebbe was actually engaged before, uh, when they left. This was in-- it took place in Riga, in, in, in, in Latvia. The Rebbe, uh, uh, actually was engaged, uh, sort of the agreement, the understanding was even back while in, in, in, in Russia, in Leningrad, in, uh... The Rebbe was-- became, uh, very close, and it was understood that he was going to marry her. But the official took place on the third day of Kislev. Uh, as I mentioned, uh, before, earlier, that when the previous Rebbe was going out and he had to provide a list of all the, uh, relatives who he wants to go along with him. So when it came to The Rebbe, he said The Rebbe's going along with him. He said, "Who-- what was his title? What's The Rebbe's relationship?" "He's the future son-in-law," he wrote on The Rebbe. So the government, they said over there, "Why do you need to take along a son-in-law from Russia? Why don't you-- you'll find a son-in-law over there. You'll find somebody else outside of Russia." The Rebbe said, "A son-in-law like this, I'm not gonna find anywhere." So he said that. So The Rebbe went along with him. So this was in . Um, um, in, uh... There's a letter that we're-- brings down over here in which The Rebbe's father, Reb Levi Yitzchok, uh, he, he was back in Russia, and unfortunately he couldn't travel because the government wouldn't allow people to travel, and it was,

02:58 you know, it was like a big prison over there in Russia. You know, you were limited to, uh, movement, you know, within, within it. And the, uh, Rebbe's father, uh, writes up-- the, the Rebbetzin writes, you know, about what took place, uh, that particular day when The Rebbe got married on the fourteenth of Kislev. But the, uh... This is a letter that The Rebbe's father, Reb Levi Yitzchok, wrote to The Rebbe, uh, in, uh, connection with his engagement to the, uh, to the Rebbetzin, to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. And he writes to him, uh, "My li-- my loving dear son, the Chassan, uh, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, sheyichye. And he wishes him mazel tov, uh, together with the, uh, with his kallah, with Chaya Mushka, uh, for-- on the occasion of their engagement, of the , uh, for mazel tov. And he, he blesses them with, uh, all kinds of blessings that it should be in a good and auspicious time, should be much success, much, much luck in both spiritually and, uh, physically. And this, uh, tying of the , those are the real-- the first sort of, uh, binding, uh, two people together should be a, a eternal bond, and Hashem should give this, uh, say that this, uh... Quoting various verses that this should be a good, a good connection. And the, the connection basically is when we connect in a way of Torah because it says that we connect to Hashem. And he blesses them that in the merit of our holy fathers

04:35 or the Rebbes of the, um, of all the generations, that the, um, wedding should take place in a, in a good and an auspicious, successful time of mazel tov, eternal home, uh, voice of happiness and joy, and the, the , all the different blessings. And he says, "Your parents should have a lot of delight, a lot of naches, and, uh, uh, with a generation to follow and all the blessed with the writings of The Rebbe." This is . The Rebbe's, um, father's emotional, uh, comes out a lot in the letters that were saved by the, by The Rebbe, and then later on they were published. Uh, um, there is, you know, uh, lots of discussions that The Rebbe's father had with The Rebbe in the Kabbalah, which even people that go through yeshiva, spend many years learning, have no clue, you know, understanding. Too deep. I mean, deep and Kabbalah, and it's brilliant, and it, it's just very, very... You know, you have to take with a magnifying glass, read every word, understand, articulate, look up. I mean, they go through all the Talmud, all the Kabbalah, all the Midrash, everything, like in lines like- This is The Rebbe and his father. The Rebbe and his father. And, um, but you see The Rebbe's father's prayers and, and blessings for The Rebbe, you know, for children, for other things. You know, The Rebbe didn't marry to have any physical children. And his, his, his letters are full with those, uh, words. I mean, the- The,

06:09 um, the Rebbe's father and mother were in a lot of pain not being able to participate in his wedding. Um, his father unfortunately passed away. I mean, the Rebbe said, got up- So his father was- The Rebbe's like passed away over there. No, he, uh, he was in exile, actually. He passed away over there while he was there in, uh, in Almati, in Almaty because the, um... 'Cause also his health gave in, you know. He wasn't that old, but, uh, his health gave in. He had a lot of tourists, you know. He also had, uh- Was the Rebbe's father- He had disease ... a Rebbe? No. Was he the-- had anything to do with Chabad, Chabad, do you- He was a Hasid, but he was not, not really. But he was a direct descendant, as we spoke- Right ... from the Tzemach Tzedek. Right. The oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek, Reb Boruch Shalom, was the great-- was his great-grandfather. Father, the Rebbe. Yeah. And the Rebbe was, uh, this grandfather's grandfather was Reb Boruch Shalom. But why didn't the Rebbe's father become a Rebbe? No, he wasn't directly. He was from another son because the Reb Boruch Shalom did not-- He remained, he did not wanna accept leadership. He did not become a Rebbe. Right. Uh, the Re- the Rebbe became the Rebbe Mahash. That was the youngest of the sons of the, of the Tzemach Tzedek, who became the Rebbe. I mean, that's the way the Hamish wanted it, you know. That's the

07:16 way Hamish wanted it, and that's the way it w- w- meant to be. I mean, who are we to ask, uh, you know, to understand these things? But it's, uh, the Rebbe, you know, of course, uh, as a, um, as a Rebbe of Chabad, you know, his, his, his direct lineage goes with the Rebbeim. But the Rebbe has, um, this awesome, uh, respect and regard and, uh, of, of the teaching of his father. He's not being a Chabad Rebbe- Right ... uh, his father. But, uh, the Rebbe would, um, sit by, by the ta- by the fabrangen and take a piece of his father's interpretation of the Tanya, his father's interpretation of the Zohar, his father interpretation on the Talmud. The, the Rebbe would take a piece of the different works of his father and articulate it and bring it out. The Rebbe would, you know, you know, explain it to the simple folks sort of, uh, to us, take and apply it, and he'd ask. He would just take it apart, and the Rebbe, uh, you know, of course, had the greatest respect. Sometimes, um, you know, there was like a, a conflict between, let's say, you know, how something tradition was done at his house, um, in the Rebbe's house, his father did, and the tradition of Chabad. Of course, the Rebbe usually goes by the tradition of Chabad, but there's like certain things, uh, sometimes in which the Rebbe, uh, would, uh, would do in a, in a way like what he

08:47 learned from home. I mean, there's a, a, a subject for another, um, for another time. You know, there's people that research this and know these things a lot better than I do. I mean, I'm just, uh, uh, learning a little bit. Okay.