2 Menachem Av - Prvious Rebbe begins visit to Eretz Yisroel - ב' מנחם אב - יום בו התחיל ביקור אדמו"ר מהריי"צ בארץ הקודש

00:00 Speaker 1 First, it's, it's interesting to note that the, that the Rebbe-- we're gonna be discussing the, um, the second day of Menachem Av in Hasidic history today, in Yemei Chabad. We know that the Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he was a very strong supporter of, of Eretz Israel, having people settle Eretz Israel, live in Eretz Israel. He sent personal emissaries to live in Eretz Israel. He settled-- he helped them. That was actually a Chabad tradition for all generations. There were early Hasidim that settled way back, even before that in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezritch's stu-students early on. But throughout the hi- the history of the Chabad Rebbes, they always would also support. In addition to one of-- In addition to having people live there, they would also send support. The Jewish people way back in Israel, and even today to a certain extent, did not have enough money to sustain themselves, and they always needed outside help, so they were always, uh, relying heavily. And the, the Rebbes were involved in collecting money for them. One of the organizations was Kollel Chabad, which is still very active today, which provides a lot of social and, uh, financial help for, for various situations, soup kitchens and et cetera, et cetera. Doing a lot of, you know, good work for, for the people of Israel. But the, the Rebbe himself never visited Israel. And the Rebbe was asked on various different occasions, you know, "If you love Israel so much, you're sending your

01:44 Speaker 1 emissaries to Israel to be there, how come you don't move to Israel yourself? How come you're, how come you're living in the diaspora?" And the Rebbe said... Come join us, Rabbi David. And the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said-

01:57 Speaker 2 Sit, sit

01:58 Speaker 1 ... uh, the Rebbe gave-- answered once with a metaphor. Um, I think the way the story goes is that the, um, General, uh, Sharon at the time, that was before he got into politics, um, and, uh, you know, now he's still-- I think he's in a vegetative state. Uh, and they're keeping him alive. But, um, at the time, he was a very decorated general, and he's won different-- the wars, like, in a very heroic way. And he asked the Rebbe sometimes, uh, he asked the-- sometime he asked the Rebbe-- Uh, the Rebbe was close with him. The Rebbe wrote him a long letter. He lost a son. Sharon lost a son through an accident, a tragic accident. You know, he-- there was a loaded gun in the house, and he sort of, uh, shot himself. So it was, uh, very tragic. And, um, he asked the Rebbe, and the Rebbe sent him a letter, and there was like a, a, a, a relationship built at the time. He'd come many times to the Rebbe. He would consult the Rebbe's opinion about various different things, military matters, matters of the, uh, state of Israel. He would discuss with the Rebbe a lot of times. So he asked the Rebbe, uh, "Why doesn't the Rebbe..." You know, the Rebbe is so concerned with, with Israel. The Rebbe is so knowledgeable with Israel. Uh, the Rebbe sends people to Israel. "Why doesn't the Rebbe himself go to Israel?" Being a military-minded person, he said to the Rebbe, he

03:26 Speaker 1 says, "Look, when I go to war, I don't send my soldiers to the war, and, you know, I follow them, but I go first, and I said to my soldiers," in Hebrew he says, "Acharai. Follow me," you know. "I'm the one. I go first." You know, we have it in the Chumash also, like Pharaoh was saying when he went to war and other places. He says, "Oh, I'm gonna go first. I'm not gonna, uh..." Or, "I'm gonna be with you," you know. So he says, "If you want to be successful," the, uh, Sharon said, "you gotta go first, and then everybody follow you rather than, uh, you know, having other people go and you staying behind." The Rebbe said to him, "That's a very legitimate question." But he says, "That's only true if you are, uh, at war on the land. But what happens if you're a captain of a boat?" The Rebbe says. "And, uh, you have, uh, your ship is sinking. So what should the captain of the boat do? Should he save himself first, get onto dry land, and then tell all the people, 'Follow me'? Or he should stay on the boat and make sure that everybody else is safe and sound, and then go out last?" Of course, the real dedicated and compassionate captain who's doing the right thing will first save all the other people, and only afterwards. He's more concerned about the people and their safety than his own personal safety. So he'll make sure that everybody reaches

05:00 Speaker 1 safety, and only then will he think about himself. And the Rebbe says that the Jewry in, uh, the United States and the Jewry all over the world is like on a sinking boat. The amount of assimilation, the amount of ignorance, the amount of lack of, of knowledge and, and, and not being involved in Jewish life is like a sinking boat. So the Rebbe says it's his mission, it's his responsibility to save the sinking boat and save the Jews and bring them into safety. And the most effective way that the Rebbe was able to accomplish that, it wasn't his own enjoyment, his own safety living in Israel, which is a place where the Rebbe would wanna be by himself personally, and-- but rather to make sure that everybody else is safe and sound. And the Rebbe said, uh, many times when people said, "At least the Rebbe should come for a visit," and they said the Rebbe's gonna get a great honor, you know. It's gonna... And the Rebbe, besides Halakhic issues, the Rebbe had, uh, the Rebbe would mention that- It's a big problem. Once you go to Israel, you may not be allowed to leave Israel because the, uh, you need a real good reason to leave Israel. It's one thing if you didn't get there. And, uh, no one like the Rebbe himself loved and wanted to be in Israel and would have a real appreciation for the holiness of Israel, for the special sanctity, for the special elevated level of closeness to

06:28 Speaker 1 Hashem. The Rebbe is-- was the maven. He was the real, uh, under-- person who can understand all that. As much as we say the Rebbe should be in Israel, you know, it would be nice for him to go to Israel, the Rebbe himself wanted more than anything else to be there for his own, you know, selfish reason. But just like the Rebbe gave up everything, you know, the Rebbe could have sat and studied and written and only that. And, you know, the Rebbe's brilliance and the Rebbe's knowledge in every part of Torah would have enlightened, you know, scholars for generations to come. He was great, the, the greatest. And yet the Rebbe took off a lot of time from his own study and from his own service to Hashem just to help the people out there, to make sure that a little child in some far corner, uh, of the world has a breakfast to eat, you know, something like that. You know, those-- He, he was concerned and he gave up of himself. So not going to Israel was something which the Rebbe sacrificed. Of course, probably he would love to do that on his own, but he just couldn't do it because of his responsibility. And by the way, the Rebbe never took vacations. Like in the-- We say the Rebbe never took a vacation a day in his-- another day in his life. It wasn't such a thing as a vacation. Uh, um, somebody once told me that, um, you know, the

07:59 Speaker 1 Rebbe's time was so, you know, was so precious. He was so tight on time. It was the Rebbe's most important commodity. Uh, somebody once asked the Rebbe to, to go and, uh, visit a camp or something, whatever it was, to, to, to go. And the Rebbe opened up his drawer, and he showed him that there is some-- he prepared something to publish. Uh, and the Rebbe says, "It's-- I need about an hour or two just to finish up the, uh, the work so I can publish this. It's ready already. It just needs, needs my attention. You know, an hour or two." He says, "It's been..." I'm not sure exactly what it was. "It's been several months or several years I've been looking for that hour or two so that I can finish this." So you see how the Rebbe's time was precious. It was-- There was no such thing as a vacation. Nothing, uh... Always, always. So the Rebbe didn't go just for an hour, uh, understanding of a vacation, a break, or something like that. That wasn't in the Rebbe's, uh, agenda. It wasn't in his, uh, uh, i-ideas. The Rebbe worked constantly. But today I want to discuss a little bit the previous Rebbe. That was his father-in-law, did visit a short visit to Israel. Actually, he had, like, about a two, two-week visit in Israel. And his visit began on the second day of, of... Second day of of? And, um, what the-- why did the Rebbe go to visit Israel? What

09:30 Speaker 1 was the purpose? What was the, uh, idea at that time? Now, as you may know, that in nineteen twenty-seven, um, uh, the Rebbe was arrested and miraculously he was freed. And there was no opportunity to continue living in, in Russia because they were just, you know, on top of the Rebbe. The Rebbe was arrested. They were going to arrest him again, and there was nothing that could, that, that could really be done. The only thing that the Rebbe could do is leave Russia at the time. And the Rebbe was also-- When you talk about the previous Rebbe, he was very, very upset about it, leaving his Hasidim, leaving the other people behind. But there was no choice in the matter. So the Rebbe left, uh, Russia, and eventually, you know, he, he was looking for a place to settle. You know, after many years in, uh, in nineteen forty, he moved to the United States. But in between, uh, nineteen twenty-seven, when he went out in nineteen twenty-eight, uh, the Rebbe was looking and was-- different areas trying to resettle. And eventually, like I said, he settled in the United States. But in the meantime, in nineteen twenty-nine, in the year taf resh peh tes, on the second day of Menachem Av, he, uh, visited Israel, um, for two weeks. Now, the Rebbe writes why is he going to visit to Israel. So he says, "Because I've been accustomed in the place where I was born," which is basically in the Soviet Union, "uh, I

11:11 Speaker 1 would visit from time to time in the holy resting places of our holy fathers." Very connection to the different Rebbes that preceded him. And the Rebbe's always considered himself not as independent, but rather as a link in the chain of all the Rebbes of bringing down all the blessings to all the, all the people. And what the Rebbe would do, he said, "I would always go and I'd visit and I would pray. I would, uh, arouse the great mercy, uh, for us, for our students, for all, all general, you know, Hasidim amongst all Klal Yisrael. I would ask, I would pray with heartfelt prayers for all of them." However, being outside now of Russia, of course, he could not go back to, uh... There's no opportunity to go back to be together with the Hasidim over there in Russia. So at least the Rebbe says, I decided I want to go to the land of Israel and I want to play at the holy grave sites, which are in Hebron, Jerusalem. He wants to go visit the different areas in Israel to be able to pray at the grave sites. And the Rebbe took along with him for this trip his son-in-law. That's not the Rebbe. That's the older son-in-law. That was Rabbi Gurari. And the Rebbe said that on Tuesday, which was the 22nd day of Tammuz, they're going to go by way of Brandizy. Where's Brandizy? Anybody know? I don't know where that is. Where is Brandizy? It says here I'm not sure.

12:53 Speaker 1 And they're going on the boat, which was going to dock on Sunday. He's going to go through that. Then he's going onto the boat, and that boat is going to go to Alexandria. It's going to go in Egypt. That's where it's going to dock over there. He says he plans to spend about two weeks in Israel. That's where the time is spent. While the previous Rebbe was in Israel, he visited Jerusalem, Afula, and Tiberias, in Zefat, in Meiron, in Hebron, Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, and Petach Tikva. And there's already a great length, the description as it's described. There's a book in the fourth volume that describes the visit of the life of the previous Rebbe over there. It's at great detail. But here he brings down a short description to fill in sort of some details. This was in Hebron. We know this was actually in Hebron. It was a very, very difficult time right at following this. The Jewish people basically with the Arabs lived side by side, and they were okay most of the time. And the Jewish people, some of them were very, very influential, as you're going to see. But then they were incited by some clergy over there, and there was a terrible pogrom when they killed many, many of the Jews that lived in Hebron. They basically devastated the entire Hebron community, the Jewish people that lived in Hebron. There was a yeshiva there. So this was in the month of Menachem Av in the year Taf Resh Peh

14:36 Speaker 1 Tes in 1929. This took place a few weeks before the terrible pogrom and the slaughtering of the Jewish, innocent Jewish people, men, women, and children in that year. The Rebbe, you know, the Rebbe, his name was Reb Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. That was his name, the previous Rebbe, a blessed memory. So he came. And then you had one of the people who subsequently was killed. He was like the, also the head of the community here. His name was Reb Eliezer Don Slonim. They were actually descendants of the Mitler Rebbe's family that they lived in Hebron. And he was a banker over there. He was a very successful, very wealthy. He was a banker over there. And he took upon himself to arrange the Rebbe's visit over there in the Maarat HaMachpelah and also in the other holy places. It was not so easy to get in because that wasn't under the control of the Jewish people. The Maarat HaMachpelah was at that time was under the control of the Arabs. They were in charge. There was a kind of a, you know, the Muslim house of prayer was over there. And that stands directly on the Maarat HaMachpelah. And Jews as well as Christians are not permitted to enter there because they're considered to be impure. So they're not allowed in there. But he was able to sort of, this Eliezer, you know, he, the banker, he was able to somehow convince. He used all of his connections with the Arabs and those ruling Hebron. And

16:28 Speaker 1 they got a special permission to enter into the building and into the mosque. That was for the Rebbe and for three people that went along with the Rebbe. So when the Rebbe went out and he came to Hebron, he says all the people of Hebron came to greet the Rebbe. And when we left the hotel, so all the group of Jews and many of the students of the yeshiva in Hebron were all going towards the old city in where the Maarat HaMachpelah is. And they didn't go through, he says, the marketplace, which all they used an outer direction over there. And the plan was that they're going to go in through the Yaakov gate. I guess they have the spots where Jacob is buried. And then they have the gate where the entrance where Abraham is buried. So the plan was they're going to go via the gate of Jacob. Normally that was totally prohibited, totally out of touch. Jews weren't allowed to go there at all. And they would go out from the Abraham gate, which was okay there. And they were up, you know, there's like seven steps where was the maximum where the Jewish people were allowed to go to a certain level that they can go. And he says that, you know, at that point they were taken up with a lot of, you know, honor, with a lot of fanfare. And he says basically, you know, they're explaining the whole thing. He says the Rebbe walked through there and he

18:06 Speaker 1 was like totally involved in his thoughts. And not a word was uttered during the whole time. It was not a word was uttered. The Rebbe went and then, you know, prayed over there. And that's how the visit went on. Then the Rebbe continued to the other places and met with some of the great people. And unfortunately after that, shortly thereafter, there was the terrible, that terrible tragedy, the pogrom that we said. So that's another date in the Chabad. The second day of Av, Menachem Av, is the date in which the Rebbe came to Israel. And then he spent, and to look into more details for the specifics, you know, the time that he spent over there.