15 of Tamuz - The previous Rebbe came home from exile in 5687

00:00 Speaker 1 Fifteenth day, Yemei Chabad, in the days of Chabad. This is on the fifteenth day of Tammuz in the year nineteen twenty-seven, or Taf Reish Pe Zayin. So in that day, at, on the fifteenth day of Tammuz, is when the previous Rebbe arrived to his home in Leningrad. Today, it's called, uh, Petersburg. Um, he, uh, arrived home to Petersburg, and this was after he was freed of being exiled by the Russian government to, uh, the city called the Kastramá. So he came home on the fifteenth day of Tammuz. Um, that was on a Friday, and on that Shabbos, which was the portion of Pinchas, they read in the Torah. This was, like, the portion of this week, it would be Pinchas. So he went up to the Torah, and he also made the blessing of Hagomel. Hagomel is a special blessing when a person gives thanks to, to God for special kindness to oneself. If a person gets freed from prison, or if a person gets healed of a sickness. You know, we do it also if a person flies overseas, and you go pass over water, you go on a boat, or you even by flying. We, uh, some, some, not everybody, but it's now a tradition we would say a special thank you to Hashem because that's considered that you were in a dangerous, uh, situation. So in this case, since he was freed and that God made the kindness, he made the blessing in the Torah on that Shabbos, the blessing of Hagomel.

01:42 Speaker 1 And they had a, a Kiddush, you know, Shabbos, and he gave over a hit'al, a maimar, uh, discourse, which began with the words of Baruch Hagomel. This was Friday night in the meal. He s- gave over a discourse, uh, Torah talk on the, on the verse which is Baruch Hagomel, which means you're blessing the one who, who did, who did kindness to you. And the next day, which is during the Shabbos meal, he gave a, another talk. He said that this meal is considered a meal of thanksgiving. It's called the Seudat Hodah. When a person, again, uh, not only do you make the blessing, but usually people would invite other people, and he would make a special meal and give thanks and praise to Hashem for-

02:37 Speaker 2 Is that the third meal?

02:39 Speaker 1 Ah?

02:39 Speaker 2 Is that the third meal?

02:39 Speaker 1 No, uh, well, in, no, that-- in this case, it wasn't any of the meals, but he said this, this particular case looks like it was talking about the day meal, not the third meal. But he said he designated that meal as the meal of thanksgiving in which he's giving thanks to Hashem. And he also related that when the Alter Rebbe, the Schneur Zalman, was-- came back from his incarceration, uh, so at that time, he said a special discourse which began with the words, "Zui Dechem Kodesh." And the Rebbe said, "I will, too, give over a talk that begins with those same words," and he said the maimar, "Zui Dechem Kodesh." Now, the previous Rebbe only stayed for a few days in Leningrad because the Yevsekctiya and the, uh, G- Gapoh, that's the KGB in those days. Uh, that was the Jewish party that was a communist Jewish party, and they were the ones that actually caused most of the trouble because the, uh, regular communist Goyim didn't know that much which goes on by the Jewish people, so they couldn't really, uh, abuse them that much. It was the Yevsekctiya, which is the Jewish party, the part of the Communist Party, who were, uh, some of them were former people that were religious. Some of them, uh, but they were Jewish people, so they knew, and they were able to cause and abuse the, the religious people even more. So the Yevsekctiya, and they were authorized, you know, by the government, and they were doing

04:15 Speaker 1 a lot of damage. So they threatened, and they did not stop. And, you know, even though the Rebbe came back, and they threatened that they're going to re-arrest him, and they were very, very upset that it's... How could this happen that the, a rabbi who is, uh, counter-revolutionary, as they'd call the, the Rebbe, who goes against the, uh, Soviet empire. How could it be that he should be victorious? You know, they put him away, and now he's coming back. And there's really no choice, so the, uh, the previous Rebbe, uh, moved from Leningrad, from Leningrad, and then he settled in a village, uh, called Malakhovka, which is next to Moscow. It is near Moscow. It is near Moscow over there, and that's where he was there in the interim until eventually, as he actually ended up leaving Russia, uh, soon thereafter, and not a few months later, he actually left totally Russia. So that all happened. Coming to Leningrad was on the fifteenth day of Av.