10 of Shvat - In 5710 passing of the pervious Rebbe. In 5711 the Rebbe officially accepts leadership

00:00 Speaker 1 Tenth of Shevat we're talking about, and now we're talking about the tenth of Shevat in Toshan Yud in, uh, seven ten, five thousand seven hundred and ten, that's nineteen fifty. Okay? That's Yud Shevat, nineteen fifty. So it's January twenty-eight, nineteen fifty. And at that day, the previous rebbe, uh, passed away, went up to the heavens. And you can imagine, uh, what a passing of such a illustrious and such a love, the beloved and leader and shepherd, and which so many hundreds and thousands revered and loved and, and cared for. And again, at the time, you know, people didn't know what is gonna happen, what is gonna happen to Chabad. The rebbe, who was a direct descendant, you know, from the rebbes, he was the sixth in the lien- in the chain of the rebbes, and people didn't know, "What, what's gonna happen now? What's gonna happen after the passing of the rebbe? Who's going to take over?" Fortunately, Hashem had a plan, as we're going to see a little bit later on. The rebbe became rebbe at that time after the passing of his father-in-law. As we've already spoken, the previous rebbe had- Yeah. Yeah, the previous rebbe, the, uh... We call-- Our rebbe, we call him the rebbe in the present. Okay? He's our rebbe till Mashiach comes because we don't have another rebbe. Right. And the-- his, uh, his father-in-law is called the previous rebbe, the pre- the previous rebbe. Now, the previous rebbe, um, was, uh, a person who had, if you

01:40 Speaker 1 wanted to say one thing about him, he had totally self-sacrificed himself for, for, for Judaism. First in the other country over there in, in Europe and Russia, and then later on in the United States. And he sort of was the force and the energy behind all this change and this whole environment, the whole landscape. In the United States and the world over, he came and his expression was that America is nisht andersh. In Yiddish, it means America is no different. Because people would say, "You know what works in the old country doesn't work in this country." People said that, "You know, you're wasting your time." They said that, "You, you have great ideas. You have a, a, a, a boiling warm Jewish heart, and you wanna do for Yiddishkeit, but this is not the place." And America at that time was thought to be a place where nothing can happen. You can't change. But he proved everybody wrong. And in his footsteps, many, many others followed, and we see what today we have, uh, after Eretz Yisroel, we have the greatest, uh, place of Torah and Yiddishkeit is in the United States. That's-- But it was totally different when he came here in nineteen forty. It was- The previous rebbe. Well, the previous rebbe. The war was raging in Europe at the time, and the Jewish people were devastated, decimated from all the tzoros and all the-- what's going on, the Holocaust and all the tzoros. And yet, the rebbe basically single-handedly, with the assistance

03:05 Speaker 1 of his son-in-law, with the, with the rebbe and then with the Hasidim, they changed things around, and they made things Yiddishkeit in this country. So it was only ten years after he came here, but he had suffered tremendously. He was the age of seventy at this time, and he'd suffered tremendously because, um, it took a toll on him in, in, in, in, in being in, in, in, in, uh, in Russia and being in the prisons over there and, and traveling and running from the world-- from the war. It was, uh... It had its effects on his health. He never went through the Holocaust. He actually escaped. He did in the beginning when they were bombarding the war. So he escaped right under the me- He went to Berlin, and then we learned that then he went to, to Latvia, and then he went to Riga, and then he actually came over to United. They say they just, they, they, they, they, they, they brought him out, you know, at last minute. You know, the last chance, they brought him out. And we, we read about it, uh, uh, how that took place a little bit. But, um, the inevitable, I guess, happened, uh, happened, and it was something which nobody believed would happen, and nobody wanted it to happen. But on the tenth day of Shevat in Toshan Yud passed on the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe. Now, here he quotes from the writings of one of the, uh, people that was there. He was a student

04:23 Speaker 1 in the yeshiva. And of course, in the writing we can get sort of a sense more than just, uh, a newspaper clipping or something, somebody from the outside describing. You can get a little bit more of a sense of what the feeling-- about what really took place during that time. So he says, this was, uh, the-- this was the reading. The Torah section was the portion of Bo, uh, of the, uh... That is the third section in the Parashat in the Book of Shemot, the Book of Exodus. It was that Friday night, and it was the night right before the tenth Shevat. Shabbos was Yud Shevat, tenth of Shevat. And the rebbe has published a ma'amar, a special booklet, which begins with the word bas elegani, which was the, uh, which was his to- which was in honor of his grandmother's and his mother's yahrtzeit. His grandmother, as we learned earlier, was on the tenth of Shevat, and his mother was on the thirteenth of Shevat. So he published a special Hasidic discourse for the people to study that day. So the people were studying the ma'amar over there, which has been published in honor of that day, of the Yud Shevat, for people to study. And somebody pointed out something very interesting in that ma'amar, because usually when you write with regards to the rebbe, you write-- you say shlita, which means whenever you mention the rebbe's name, you add a blessing. The blessing is abbreviated in the words shlita. Yeah, I've seen that.

06:01 Speaker 1 Which stands for abbreviation, Sheyichya Le'orech Yamim Tovim Aruchim. That he should live- Long lasting ... for long days, long good days in life. So you always add a blessing when you say the Rebbe's name, you say, "Shlita." Somebody important, you add the word Shita. Sheyichya Le'orech Yamim Tovim Aruchim. While they're alive. Yes. Yeah. So while in this case, the, um, Yud, long days, the Yud was missing somehow. So it, like, the days were missing. It was, it was, uh, seemed like a typo. It seemed like an error and a typo, but later on, they found out that it wasn't just a typo because he actually passed away on that day. He didn't have long days. Now, people, people at that time, came the time of the Yahrtzeit, and that was the minor sort of, that he published for that day. Uh, people, uh, were rushing to go to, um, to 770, which is the Lubavitch headquarters. Because, um, we know that in, uh, in, uh, the week is going to be the Yahrtzeit of, uh, of the Rebbetzin. That's gonna be on the thirteenth day of Shevat, it's gonna be the Yahrtzeit. Now, it is traditional to take Maftir, to get the Maftir, the last Aliyah on before the Yahrtzeit. Within the Torah reading, which one is the most important Aliyahs, there is also a debate, you know, whether it's Shishi, whether it's Chamishi, whether it's Shilishi, whether... You know, of course, you have the Kohen and Levi, that's reserved for the Kohen and Levi,

07:40 Speaker 1 but then you have the other ones. But the tradition is, and certainly by the Rebbes, the tradition was to get Maftir, to get the Haftarah, to get that before the Yahrtzeit. The- Who, the person that has- The Yahrtzeit. So it's traditional when you can, if you can read the Yahrtzeit. Or else you get a regular Aliyah, but you know, if you can, you do the, you do the, the Maftir, and then you do the Haftarah. Uh, now, uh, again, and there's various, you know, it has also the, the, the prophet part in it. Generally, the Haftarah, the Maftir is considered to be the last, the least of the Aliyahs. But in this case, it's considered to be most important before the, for the Yahrtzeit. Uh, it's also the last Torah reading of the morning right before the Yahrtzeit is going to be during that week. It's actually the very last one before you're going to do your Yahrtzeit. So people do get Maftir if they can on that, on that Shabbos. But that meant, it seems like here, that the previous Rebbe did not get Maftir every Shabbos. But, uh, the-- It seems like from the-- what I, what I read here is that, um, if it was a Shabbos before the Yahrtzeit, uh, he would get, he would get the Maftir. You know. Now, it also, you know, the, the, the, uh, previous Rebbe was wheelchair-bound, you know, already at that time. He was wheelchair-bound. That was one of the reasons, as you mentioned

09:01 Speaker 1 there sometime, that they bought 770. It had an elevator. It wasn't such a lot, but it had an elevator, so they could easily... You know, the shul was downstairs, and then they could easily go into the elevator and go to the next floor, where the- Was there a Shabbos elevator? Well, Shabbos probably went, went down. No, it wasn't a Shabbos elevator, no. At least they didn't have it then. It was a Shabbos elevator. Well- But I mean, uh, maybe one time he can go down, or they carry him down or something. I'm not sure exactly what would happen. Was there an elevator sometimes? I'm not-- Yeah, again, I'm not sure that... No, I don't know. I, I'm not sure whether, I'm not sure whether, uh, he was totally wheelchair-bound, or I'm not sure exactly. Uh, probably within the years. It wasn't, like, right away. So it was, uh, as, uh, years went on, he became, I guess, more, uh, his speech became blurred, and people couldn't really understand what he was saying. And, uh, only some people were able to really clearly understand him. Uh, yeah, he had a, uh, somewhat of a stroke or something. Uh, he was, uh, uh, not- Sounds like it, yeah. Yeah. He wasn't, uh, he wasn't, uh... In a way. But in any event, um, people did not, uh, expect the Rebbe would say Maftir. Um, and of course, when the Rebbe would say Maftir, uh, there would be a lot of pushings. Uh, my own personal experience is,

10:18 Speaker 1 uh, the Rebbe, our Rebbe, he would say Maftir every Shabbos. The Rebbe's Aliyah was always Maftir. He got the Maftir. Uh, the only time- There was a lot of pushing. The only, uh- Pushing. Yeah. So what I'm gonna tell you now. When I-- When, when we would-- Of course, we would wanna hear the Rebbe recite the Maftir. Uh, the Rebbe didn't scream. It was a huge shul. The Rebbe said it softly, but he said it, you know, he said it- No microphone ... loud enough. No microphone, of course. No microphone. Yeah, no. No megaphone. Uh, no megaphone, okay. And the-- so all the, especially the students of the Yeshiva or those who wished, would gather around the bima, uh, and, and try to listen. But there was a lot of us that would try and listen. So, already it was my place, your place. You know, I stood there last week, and I'm standing there this week, and this is my Makom Kavu, my set place. And that was one of the activities of the Shabbos. We got our exercise. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, you know, we, we, we wanted- But you know, people will have a hard time understanding it, maybe who are not used to it. Traveling. But this gave, but this gave, this gave us young people such energy and such fervor because we had something to, that we loved, that we would-- we had to put our interest. You know, young people are like a fire, and you can have a

11:41 Speaker 1 fire burn down the city if you don't control it. But if you put the fire in the fireplace or you put it under a pot and you cook it, you can do tremendous things. So young people, if they have a lot, they have energy and they have extra, I guess they're hyper a little bit, that they have-- they wanna do things, and they wanna accomplish things. So that's why if you don't- Direct them, you don't put it in the right direction, they go, they, they, they, they start, you know- Crazy things ... crazy things. Drugs and other stuff, you know. They just- Oh. Uh, they, they go, you know, in other meshugas, as we know, you know. They get addicted to stuff. And that's all why, because they don't have where to... an outlet for their energy. Right. But we grew up, we had tremendous outlets for our energy, you know. We used to, you know, have what motivated us, you know. And while other kids were collecting, like, baseball cards or collecting coins or things like that, we would collect Rebbe pictures. We would collect the Rebbe's talks. You know, in my days, they didn't have available like today. Today, everything is available, and everything is available on the Internet, and, you know, there's nothing that you don't have, you know. Every- everybody has everything. But in my days, you know, we were fighting to, to, to read a Rebbe's letter. It wasn't available. So, I brought a typewriter. I used to type it

12:56 Speaker 1 myself, and I used to share with my friends, and we would collect, and they would switch a letter that they have with me, you know. We, uh, give them. Things were... That was our valuable. But you know what? I- in the, in retrospect, that gave us such interest, out of interest, that we were able to put our energies in this place, and it kept us out of trouble, I think. It kept us out of trouble because we, we, we had something. So one of the things was we used to stand and listen to the Rebbe's farbrengen, to Rebbe's farbrengen. Even the maftir, we would stand over there and, you know. There were some big guys over there. We were little guys, and we were mimicking, you know, the, uh, the older guys and, you know, we insisted on having our place, and we would squish, and you'd come out of there totally farshvitst, totally sweated up. But it was, it was-- We loved it. We loved it. We lived with it. That was, that was life. And we, we couldn't imagine life without it because when we would go, like, to another shul sometime for some chasidura, and we would see the people, you know, just go home to their meal, we would feel so bad for them. There was no energy. Yeah. We said, "Well, how do you celebrate a Yom Tov? I mean, do you mean- No spirit. No-- Yeah. Do you mean you just finish davening, you go home, you eat, and

14:09 Speaker 1 you go to sleep? I mean, come on. Where's the farbrengen? Where's the singing? Where's the dancing? Where's the pushing? Where's the, where's the energy? Where's the... Ah. This was something we looked up to. We had so much fun or, I mean, spiritual fun. This was like... In any event, so, uh, we got off track a little bit over here. But over here, um, people were, uh, were- Those were your wild days. Those are called wild days. Can you imagine? Now they're wild. Yeah, that was wild days- ... but you know, those were the real days, you know. I mean, it's, uh... Well, uh, guess on whose perspective, I guess. Right. So in those days, instead of having all this hair here, you had a ponytail in the back, right? Yeah, yeah. That's what they do, you know. Or have every part of your body pierced or whatever, you know, or tattooed or... Right. We didn't have any of that stuff, you know. Yeah. It wasn't, it wasn't even a... Actually, it wasn't in the fashion then at all. Even- At all ... they're, they're coming up with more crazy as time goes on. Ponytails. What? Yeah, ponytails. Ponytails. Yeah. Yeah. The hippies. It was more like hippie kind, yeah. They had hair then. They were- Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So but in any event, um, what happened was this person says that the... There was a Black, uh, uh, letter carrier. And while the people were standing on the corner over there, he tells them, you

15:31 Speaker 1 know, this is what happened. He's telling them that in seven seventy that the Rebbe passed away. Mm-hmm. And they refused to believe him. The people didn't believe. They said that they really believed that the Rebbe is going to lead them to Mashiach. He's going to take us to Mashiach. They're talking about previous Rebbe. Previous Rebbe, right. You know, we felt the same way about the Rebbe, you know. It was the... And, uh, everybody thought that he must be, uh, this, this, this, this letter carrier must be some meshuggener. How could he even say something like that? They, they, they... However, something started to feel no good, you know. He's relating. This, this, this guy's relating that... How is it possible, you know? In any event, it came to seven seventy, and the shul was empty, and there was just somebody saying tehilim in the corridor. And we're asking, "What's going on?" They say, "Go to the mikvah," they told him. You know, "Don't, you know, don't, don't waste time." Now, the Shabbos morning, everybody goes to the mikvah. And we still can't believe, uh, what... You know, it's stunning. And, um- Mm-hmm ... on the way to the mikvah, you know, he says that we hear the bitter truth that we've ever heard during our lifetime. And in the mikvah, the son-in-law of the Rebbe, which is the Rebbe, was there. And we're not sure, does he know or doesn't know? They weren't sure. But the Rebbe said that the mikvah will be open all

17:00 Speaker 1 day, so they already knew that something is like this. But when someone dies, you're supposed to- The people, yeah, to be, to be in the vicinity ... to go for Shabbos. Yeah. Oh, really? Over here, unfortunately, we don't have a mikveh on Shabbos. It doesn't... Yeah, I know. Yeah, but... Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And when someone dies, they keep it open or...? No. The, the reason is because people in the vicinity, because people would, would try to, uh, to touch the coffin or to do something- Oh, yeah ... you know. That would be- Impure ... yeah. But also the Rebbe's, uh, yeah, the Rebbe's, uh, presence. You know, people wanted to be, uh, in the, the mikvah. Those who are, those who are to come into the Rebbe's place should be, uh, gone to the mikvah. Sure. People did not, uh, go into, um, into the Rebbe's room or into any place that was considered to be a special place of prayer or where a great tzadik is without going to the mikvah. And, you know, went-- came back quickly to seven seventy and went up to say tehilim upstairs. That where was the roo- the living quarters of the previous Rebbe. And many people already, students were there. Everybody is red-eyed and cr- was crying. The heart is Is rushing and, uh, you know, one thought after the other. This is just his description. You know, everybody is, is coming together. Everybody's crying and loudly, and everybody's pushing in the corridor. And the, uh, bedroom

18:26 Speaker 1 is, is open, and you can quite clearly see under a sheet is the body, um, which the, the, the previous Rebbe was there. Uh, there was Dr. Zelikson. I grew up with him also. He was a, a doctor, a medical doctor, a regular doctor. He was the sort of the in-house- Chabad doctor ... doctor, Cha- Chabad doctor. He handled everything from-- He was an old-fashioned doctor. He comes from also from a Hasidic family, and he was an old-fashioned kinda doctor, and he would cover... You know, I would go to him with my ear infections. My mother would take him. He was a pediatrician, an adult doctor, a specialist. He was everything. He was like the one- The whole one In, in those days, they didn't have like today's-- everything's so organized like, uh, the children's doctor, this doctor. There was a- Specialist. He was a Yeah, a family doctor, a family doctor. He handled, he handled everything. You know, he handled everything in the, um- He used to come to the house. He used to come to the house if he had to. He should probably Yeah, but he had-- He-- This guy who had a, a tremendous good heart. He was like a-- But his wife protected him. She was, she was like, you know, a- Tough lady ... tough lady. Oh, she put the gate up. She was like the gatekeeper, and she made sure that, that he, that, you know, that he get paid something for his work and that he, uh,

19:43 Speaker 1 did what he had to. And when you called him, you could never talk directly. She was his secretary, and she was his- How was a doctor like that? And she, she made sure that-- I, you know-- That was actually for all of our benefits because people would've- Taken ... probably taken advantage of him, that he wouldn't be able to do it. He'd lose his health. Yeah, but, but she was known as a, as a . Put it this way, you know. It was-- We all know. But in any event, um, he said that at eight o'clock he got a phone call to come quickly, and I guess he answered his phone on Shabbos. He was a doctor, an emergency. So he, he got and he came, and he already saw that the Rebbe was already the beginning of the Gesitzah convulsion. He was already, uh, passing. And, um, he tried to give two, uh, injections, strong injections to revive, but he says very hard breathing. And, um, the police brought a breathing, uh, thing to try to help, uh- Oxygen ... oxygen, yeah. Oxygen. And, um, he says at, uh, eight o'clock, seven minutes after eight- Mm-hmm ... his soul, uh, went up to the heavens. And- This was on Shabbat ... uh, this was on Shabbat. On Sunday, the eleventh day of Shevat, the, uh, funeral took place at twelve thirty in the afternoon. Okay. And they, uh, took the, um, the coffin from the, uh, room, uh, from the bedroom through the room,

21:11 Speaker 1 uh, of the rebbetzin, and they went down the stairs. You know, I didn't show you that. Yeah. Remember we went to look to the Rebbe's room? Yeah. One of those stairs? Those are the stairs. People said we were getting crushed. Yep, yep. Yep. We were getting crushed. That's right, yeah. We were getting crushed. And then we went through- The crowd up there was unbelievable. It was. For just a regular day. Yeah. It was dominating. Yeah, it was a- In the Rebbe's office was- All the praying ... there. Yeah. They were on the stairs and in the hallway. He was-- He thought that was squishy. That was nothing. That was like comfortable, you know. I'm like you- He didn't see what it means to be squished. So anyways, we went out. They went out through the main entrance of Seven seventy to the street. They went out through the main entrance and, you know, now they-- people can see the, the, the coffin, and on top of it was his, uh, black coat, Shabbos coat. And it was-- He says the pushing were just terrible. It was each one wanted to touch, wanted to at least touch the urn. And people fainted, and somebody got a heart attack over there. You know, it was the... But the coffin stood in place. It couldn't move. It couldn't go. It just was stuck. Where were they interring him? Um, they tried to make in the Ohel Montefiore. So they tried to make a, a seder over there, but

22:23 Speaker 1 they couldn't do anything. So eventually, I guess they, they, they, they brought- Finally got through ... they finally got through. They- They had the police ... they brought the, uh, the coffin inside to the, uh, hearse or the car, whatever they had over there. And they passed the Lubavitch Yeshiva's at that time was on Bedford and Dean. That's-- That was the Lubavitch Yeshiva. That was the place where they would study. Uh, that's-- You know, Bedford is a couple of blocks up, uh, going, uh, towards- That's like a corner there, right? No, no. It's Brooklyn, New York, Nostrand, Rogers, then goes Bedford. Okay? So Bedford. And then after Bedford, it goes, it goes Lincoln, St. John's, and then finally comes to Dean. It was at Bedford and Dean. It's, it's-- The neighborhood became pretty bad. Actually, it's turning a little bit, you know, like everything else. But it was a dangerous neighborhood, and eventually they moved from there. They moved to Ocean Parkway into Flatbush, and then-- now, then they moved back to Crown Heights. But I'm saying, they still have something in all pla- places. But the Bedford and Dean, uh, I remember they had riots over there, and they had the, you know, fights with the, with the, with the, the Jews and the Blacks. It was always-- It was, it was a lot of trouble. Um, a matter of fact, I recently read-- I remember the, I remember the article we read that there was a, was an attack from the kids. They

23:36 Speaker 1 came into the school building, and the rabbis had to fight off some of these, uh, these Black teenagers who were fighting with knives and everything else. It was like a very dangerous situation. Recently? No. This goes back in the nineteen, nineteen sixties. Oh. Oh. Early, ear- early nineteen sixties. I think nineteen-- Martin Luther King, nineteen sixty-three, sixty-two. It was- There was riots in Brooklyn too ... it was right-- And it was terrible because also there was, uh, you know, even in the neighborhoods, you know, was, was, was, was, was, was very, very bad. You know, we, we, where we grew up, you know, it was, it was pretty bad. We were scared. It-- Everything changed around, Baruch Hashem, for the better. I mean, there's still now they're suffering with this, this whole new thing. I don't know if you heard this, this knockout game. Yes. This is a whole thing, a knockout game. This is a terrible thing. Sucker punch. They, yeah, they, they- Gangs of kids. Yeah. Against- Sucker punch, knockout ... against-- Yeah. And they call it the knockout game. They knockout, they knockout the Jews, you know. And so- Not just Jews. They do it to everybody. Yeah. But so they're-- But some Jews have been the victims of, uh, that in the, in the- In the Crown Heights ... Jewish community, the Crown Heights, in Borough Park even, and, you know, in other places. Yeah. Near Borough Park. All over America. Yeah. So, um, actually I saw yesterday that this Dinkins,

24:47 Speaker 1 uh, got involved saying that they shouldn't, uh- Okay, so remember Yeah. I just, I saw yesterday. They had, uh, plays a clip, uh, that shows it. So he came out and said they shouldn't do it. They shouldn't do it. Yeah, you know, but it's- You know, the right thing ... a little-- So, okay, let's just finish this, this piece for today. We'll leave another piece for tomorrow. When did they appoint the, the, the Rebbe? Oh, that's gonna be the-- Hold on. Let's just finish this. Uh, okay, so now, um, again, from Bedford, from Bedford and Dean, they took the Rebbe to the, um, to the cemetery in, um, in, uh- Where was that? ... Springfield, in Long Island, in, in, in, uh-- They call it in, uh, Queens over there. They call it... No, it has a name over there. I forgot, um, forgot. There's a section within Queens they call it. Uh, I forgot what it's called. Uh, uh- Is it Montefiore? Uh, yeah, it's old Montefiore over there, but it's called, um... All right, whatever, I'll remember later. Um, and now-- And then they brought the-- I guess they lowered the coffin. And- Where? Where? Where? At that point, he says in the old Montefiore over there. In Queens. In Queens, yeah. Is that where he's buried? Yeah. Yeah. And then he, um, um, you know, at that point already, everybody was stoned. Like, you know, no crying then. Everybody was just, like, very... And, um, about three-quarters of an hour, it was

25:57 Speaker 1 covered, and people went back to Seven Seventy to sit shiva. And, um, it was again shiva. I mean, everybody can sit shiva, and I'm not sure exactly, um, who officially. I'm assuming that the Rebbe sat shiva. His family. The Rebbe, his-- the Rebbe's wife and, uh- The son and his wife ... sure, the-- And, uh, yeah. The, the-- Those who are obligated from the Torah to sit shiva- No, no, no, no ... as far as family goes- But the Rebbe didn't ... is, but then you have all the Hasidim, which are Rebbe's family, so. Yeah, technically- So everybody's sitting shiva. But the, but the son-in-law, the, the Rebbe really didn't have to. No. No. No. No. He didn't-- Not from the perspective of- Technically ... of Halakha. Right. Of a, a direct family that knows him. All right. Okay. Safe trip. Okay. Okay. See you next time. Are you leaving today? So this is, uh, this one then, you know, people were, you know, uh, he finishes. You know, people were turning to the Rebbe, the empty chair there, and nobody would believe. This took place in nineteen fifty. Now, as soon as that, the people knew. People knew that the Rebbe- The son-in-law ... that the son-in-law Rebbe. But the Rebbe never showed who he really is. There was glimpses, and there was a lot of glimpses, and there was more than glimpses. And people are smart. People can figure out and see who's- Who was next ... who's, who's, who's who. But it

27:15 Speaker 1 wasn't quite there. The Rebbe didn't want it. The Rebbe was totally... You know, it's-- It wasn't like sometimes, you know, we pretend, you know, like saying, you know, there's an expression, you know. You do want it. You do want it, you know. I want people to think that I don't want it, and then I'm g- I really do want it. He was humble in the fact that he couldn't replace his father-in-law. The Rebbe, the Rebbe says, the Rebbe says somewhere in, in, um, in, in, in one of the decisions, the Rebbe says, it says the face of the generation is like the face of the dog. Something like that. What does it mean? What is-- What is-- How is he comparing our generation to a dog? He says a dog runs ahead of his master, but he's always turning his head making sure that the master is following. That's true. What? He does that. Yeah. They, they go ahead, but they wanna make sure that you're, you're following them. How's that? Yeah. So the Rebbe said that there is a, um, statement in the ethics of our father in the... It says there that one who runs away from honor, he says the honor follows him. If you run away... If you run after honor, the honor runs away. You can't catch up with it. Right. But if you run away from honor, the honor follows you. So the Rebbe said, "But there's some people that are running away from honor, and they're turning their

28:31 Speaker 1 backs to make sure that - It's coming. It's coming ... that it's coming." Yeah. He said, "That means it's like a dog. Like the dog goes ahead, and he wants to make sure his master is coming. So they're not really running away." That's right. But the Rebbe, with all of his being, was a total Hasid of the previous Rebbe. He was totally into-- The previous Rebbe was everything to him. And as much as we think that we are Hasid, that we're followers, that we are, we have even no, uh, no comparison to the Rebbe's self-negation, Rebbe's total devotion and, uh, selfless himself to the previous Rebbe. So the Rebbe didn't want to take this. The Rebbe really didn't wanna take it, and the Rebbe didn't think that he can take it. And eventually, it took a year, as we'll read, read about it next time. Uh, it took a year for the Rebbe to finally assume that, uh, mantle of leadership and, and, and, and finally go ahead and take it. But for that, we'll wait till next time. Okay, so we're continuing on Yitzchak, and this is in Yitzchak Taf Shin, uh, Yud. Now Yud, Yud Alef, this is nineteen fifty or, uh, nineteen- Fifty-one ... fifty-one. Now if you wanna say that as soon as the previous Rebbe passed away, the Rebbe became Rebbe, even though not officially, so it was in nineteen fifty. If you're looking officially, well, we'll see in a minute, in nineteen fifty-one. Now, as you know, as we

29:56 Speaker 1 discussed many times, that, uh, the previous Rebbe had three daughters. Uh, one of them was married to Menachem Mendel, called Hardenstein, and he passed away, unfortunately, during the, uh, terror in Europe in the-- by the Nazis, and he was in the gas chambers. So he-- So that, that was, uh, that was sad, and that was the, the story with that family, with the Hardenstein family. Then there were two families that were-- lived eventually with the Rebbe in, uh, with the previous Rebbe in the United States. That was his older daughter, the Rebbetzin Chana. She was married to Rebbe Gurary. That was the older daughter of the, uh, previous Lubavitch Rebbe. And then there was the second daughter, which was Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, which was the wife of the Rebbe. And they were both, uh, involved in the work of the previous Rebbe. The previous Rebbe appointed his older son-in-law, Rabbi Gurary, uh, co-known as the Rashag, Shmaryahu Gurary, as the head of the Lubavitch Yeshivas. And he would, you know, he l-led those yeshivas. He was a, uh, tremendous fundraiser, uh, to support those yeshivas. And we have to realize that, you know, in those days, um- Sending kids to yeshivas was not something that everybody did. Uh, even today, some don't do it, but at that time it was, uh... People were concerned. They wanted the kids to be, uh, educated, and they didn't think that the, uh, yeshivas will educate them as well as they can get the secular studies. And also, yeshivas

31:27 Speaker 1 cost money, and there was a lot of people who didn't have money. Uh, some people don't have money today too, but there was a lot more people who didn't have money then. And it was very important to allow kids to go to yeshiva. And, uh, Lubavitch Yeshiva basically took in any family who wanted to give the chi-child an education, uh, money or no money, uh, or whatever you give. They would just take them in, and then they'd worry about money later. And it was never such a good scene because the teachers need to get paid. You have to pay the things, and there was always-- the heads of the schools were always struggling very hard to maintain this. But it was-- it's, it's, it's unbelievable. You see hundreds and hundreds of families today who are a result. They're religious, and they are Jewish, and they are, uh, Hasidish because of them allowing, you know... In my personal life also, my wife is one of those people whose family, whose parents came from Europe. They weren't Chabad, uh, and-- but they came to, to, to, to Brooklyn, and they were looking for a yeshiva to send their kids. They wanted to send them to a frum place, but most places were just too expensive and, uh, or, uh, they didn't take them. So the, the place you can either haggle or bargain or get it for free, whatever it was, was the Lubavitch Yeshiva. And, uh, um, you know, so I'm just saying, he was the

32:44 Speaker 1 head of that yeshiva. He was a tremendous fundraiser in those days, but still, they were struggling all the time. Never heard of a yeshiva to, uh, have enough money to cover its budget. Um, and the Rebbe said many times that, uh, a successful organization has-- the greater the deficit, the more success your organization is. That means that you're doing things, and therefore, there is always, uh, going-- things going on. But in any event, after the passing of the previous Rebbe... And the Rebbe himself was involved in his father-in-law's work as well. He added the other works, the publishing and the, uh, Machneh Israel, the Merkaz LeHoinu, and the Kahas. These were three, uh, main, uh, organization which did all the-- their Rebbe's work, the outreach work and the publishing work and the, all the, uh, Chabad, uh, learning and, and publishings and every, all the, all these things. The Rebbe was the head of that. But with the passing of the previous Rebbe, uh, now you have two, uh, son-in-laws. Okay, so at least there were son-in-laws. Now, who's going to be the Rebbe? Now, the Hasidim all knew that, uh, A, that the Rebbe is the one that is fit to be the Rebbe, and oh, B, that Rabbi Gurary may be a very great, nice, important person, but he's not a Rebbe. You know, he's not a Rebbe. But it wasn't, you know, for people that were just looking at facts without two son-in-laws, one older, one younger, it wasn't so clear. And

34:19 Speaker 1 because it wasn't so clear, uh, there, there, there was, I guess, others who, you know, wanted to do it the other way or whatever. But the Rebbe did not officially, uh, accept the, um, the mantle of leadership becoming Rebbe. And they pressured the Rebbe, they pushed the Rebbe, they asked the Rebbe. Now, there were certain things that the Rebbe began to, you know, in his capacity, first of all, in as far as learning, revealing, writing letters about how to celebrate the yortsayt. The Rebbe's knowledge and learning was phenomenal. I mean, this makes the people great, was their unbelievable intellect and knowledge and devotion to the Torah, uh, so it's not matched by anyone. So the Rebbe did sort of unofficially begin to, uh, advise, but he refused to recognize the, um, the leadership as he's the Rebbe. But in nineteen-- finally in nineteen fifty-one, one year later, uh, we're gonna talk about that today. That's in the nineteen fifty-one on the tenth day of Shevat. Um, so that was January seventeenth in nineteen fifty-one. Uh, and following is a description over here from one of the, again, diaries of one of the students of the yeshiva. And he says that, um, in the Shabbos, the Rebbe himself actually prayed and davened for his father-in-law. There were no sons there, so the son-in-laws took over. I'm not sure exactly, uh, what the Rabbi Gurary did, but the Rebbe did daven. And on the Shabbos that preceded Yahr Shevat, uh, they davened in the room of upstairs

36:04 Speaker 1 in the-- where the previous Rebbe over here, where he-- in his apartment. Uh, that was still the year of mourning, so they davened up, up, up, up there. But in the maftir on the lower was, uh, was the Rebbe. And the Rebbe was crying, uh, a lot during, um, during the reading of the Haftarah. Generally, as I mentioned yesterday, uh, during the Torah reading and the Haftarah, we would stand when the Rebbe would, uh, do the maftir. And many times it was very, very emotional. You can-- The Rebbe lived by the words that he was saying, and he was very emotional. It was very touching in a lot of, in a lot of times. But in this-- during that particular maftir, the Rebbe, uh, you know, cried a lot, especially during the, uh, statement that says over there, "Al tirah v'di Yaakov, Don't be afraid, my servant, Jacob." Um, and also when he was saying the, the blessings after the Haftarah, you say, "Ki b'shem Kot sh'chanish bat olei sh'lei yich baner olei lemvo." This is Uh, the blessing that you're saying to King David and, uh, that Hashem had promised him by his holy name that, uh, he actually gave him a shevuha, an oath, that his lamp will never be extinguished, uh, it will always continue to, to light. And during those words, the Rebbe was very emotional, very crying that during the night and the day of Yuchvat, the Rebbe wore his Shabbos garments. Now, it's kinda hard sometimes to tell because

37:43 Speaker 1 it's a long, a long, uh, jacket or as we call a kapota or a sirtuk, we call that, the long, long jacket. Now, there is the Shabbos one, and there's the, the weekday one. Now, how do you distinguish between the Shabbos and the weekday one? By the Rebbe, you will be able to distinguish. The Shabbos one was made out of silk. You can see it's a shiny kind of, uh, so that was supposed to be a Shabbos garment. The weekday one was made out of wool, it was a regular. Uh, that particular Shabbos, the Shabbos that preceded the, uh, Yortsite, um, the, um, the Rebbe wore his, um, uh, his Shabbos garments, uh, that time. Um, the, um, what the-- Um, that was, uh, it was the Wednesday was the Shabbos. The Yuchvat was on Wednesday that year. That's when it comes out. Okay. So now, what the people do, Hasidim write what they call a pan. A pan is pei nun. That stands for Pideon Nefesh. Pideon Nefesh literally means redemption of the soul. When you go to the Ohel today, you write a pan. You write a Pideon Nefesh. That's the note. On the top, you just write the letters Pei and Nun. That stands for the word Pideon Nefesh. That's the note that you give to a Rebbe to, uh, pray for you and to, um, ask for, um, I guess for spiritual and for, for guidance and for help. So Hasidim give the Rebbe a pan. That's the tradition. So all

39:17 Speaker 1 the people wrote a pan and gave it to the Rebbe, and everybody went to the holy Ohel, to the cemetery, to went to the Ohel. Now, before they went to the Ohel, there's also what's called a pan klali. That is a general Pideon Nefesh, and that's besides an individual, everybody signs their name on a general in which there is as a community, the people, uh, are praying together. They're asking-- That's called a pan klali. And they read this in the Bes Medrash of the Rebbe that, um, and in that pan, they wrote that all of the Chabad community in all over the world are asking from the previous Rebbe, 'cause you're writing a pan to the previous Rebbe, you're going to the Ohel, that the Rebbe should accept the leadership upon himself. So they're asking the previous Rebbe to influence the Rebbe that he should accept, that he should become Rebbe. But he was- And they gave this- He passed away already. He passed away, but they gave it to the Rebbe to be read at the- The Ohel ... at the Ohel, because what the Rebbe would do, if you send the Reb- Rebbe a note, in m- most cases or in all cases, the Rebbe would always say, "I will take it with me to the Ohel, and I'll read it at the gravesite of my father-in-law." This was the Rebbe's standard lesson. Ask it Al Hatziyon. That means I will remind you on the Tziyon. The Rebbe continue a continuation. He didn't

40:54 Speaker 1 think that he's gonna give the blessings himself. He would spend, uh, hours upon hours upon hours praying for the people at the gravesite. That's a lot of, that's a lot of pans. A lot of pans. That's right. You should see on Rosh Hashanah, people also have a tradition to give the Rebbe a pan. And during Tekiyah, the Rebbe prays for that, and he puts the pans. There were bags and bags and bags, like everybody's pans, and the, the Rebbe would put his talus over all the pans during the prayers for all the- But he can't read every one. Every one of them. No, it's impossible. Well, the Rebbe would read it. The Rebbe said he would mention it. I mean, I-- With the Rebbe, the Rebbe said the, the truth. I mean, the Rebbe read each one. He did? He did. He did read each one. He put his talus over them. The Rebbe, the Rebbe read each one of them. The Rebbe did read. Covered them all. The Rebbe, by the way, was a, a very fast reader. You see, the Rebbe would- I don't care how fast you are. When you would bring it-- When you'd read-- When you'd bring in the Rebbe, uh, letters, the Rebbe would almost read it like with his hands. You know, he would like move it and say the... And the Rebbe would, um, when you'd walk into the Yechidus, sometimes the Rebbe, what the Rebbe do, he would read your note. He'd have a pencil, and

41:59 Speaker 1 he'd mark as he was reading. He'd mark it, so that he'd go back to that point what he wanted to comment on. So he'd, he'd, he'd mark it, and then he'd read through the whole letter. He'd read through the whole letter, and then he'd, he'd, he'd, he'd comment, he'd respond. But in any ways, um, they gave this pan, they gave it to the Rebbe. And in the beginning, he refused to read it. But later on, he cried bitterly, and he read. He did read the pan. Uh, after Maariv, they made an announcement that the Rebbe is going to get together. They're gonna make a farbrengen in honor of the Yuchvat. And eight o'clock is gonna be the farbrengen. That's-- Farbrengen is a name for the get-together with the Hasidim, with the Rebbe. Sometimes farbrengen could be just Hasidim, but in this case, the Rebbe will farbreng a isvatus. That's called a farbrengen in Yiddish, meaning a get-together with the Rebbe in this case. So the Bes Medrash was full with lots of people, even with non-Chabadniks. You know, people came to see what's gonna, what's gonna happen over here. So a little bit after eight o'clock, the Rebbe went in and he's opened up, you know. He started the farbrengen by saying that quote of the Talmud that says, "When you come to a city, you must follow the- Customs of the city. So over here, people- Yeah ... make declarations. So he says, "Oh, we have to make some declarations." You know, wanting some

43:31 Speaker 1 declarations. So he says the three things, the Rebbe says, love of Hashem, love of, uh, God, love of the Torah, and love of another Jew. These are the declarations. These are all one, and you cannot separate between them. It's like one unit, one essence, and if you hold onto one, you hold down the whole thing. After that, one of the elder Hasidim got up, and he said to the Rebbe in a loud voice, he says, "These talks are beautiful," he says, "but the community wants the Rebbe to give a ma'amar." A ma'amar is a Hasidic discourse. That would sort of establish that the Rebbe has become Rebbe because if he gives a ma'amar, he gives a, the Hasidic discourse, that would be the sign. Go back into it. Yeah. Well- That's the ultimate ... uh, this was at 10:40. Um, the Rebbe began the fir- very first ma'amar that he gave, which began with the words of the ma'amar that the previous Rebbe gave out with the words Right ... people that wanna be there are not fit, you know? And it's unfortunate we got a lot of those. But, uh, um, you know, it says even like the high priests in the... after Shiva, they would, they would switch every year, the high priests, because they would buy the priesthood with money. People would, would purchase it, the one who gave more money. And then what happens is- Right ... they would switch because they wouldn't live to next year. Because it says if

49:55 Speaker 1 you weren't a tzadik and you went in there, then you would die before the year was up. But let's continue. We have one more piece over here for the Yut Shvat, which is the Yut Shvat Tosh Ulamid. Uh, we talked about it. This was in 1970. Um, we talked about Tes Shvat. We talked about the Siyum Sefer Torah. That was in the ninth day of Shvat. Remember, that was on But in this, uh, at the Shabbos was actually Yut Shvat. Um, now, um, I believe that this must have been, of course, this must have been Motzaei Shabbos. I'm saying-- Look. Okay, in any event, um, that was apparently the Farbrengen then was Motzaei Shabbos. There w- there was a Farbrengen on Shabbos too because it was Saturday night. That was the first time in which a, uh, live broadcast of the Rebbe's Farbrengen was broadcast to the entire world. Um, the Farbrengen was Motzaei Shabbos, and on Friday in seven seventy, as we learned earlier, was the Siyum Sefer Torah to receive Mashiach as we, as we had learned earlier. But the, uh, broadcast was then. Now, I remember, uh, when we were stu- studying in Israel, that was, uh, a couple of years after this, five years after this. Uh, at that time it was already established, you know, the hookups, uh, of course, from the weekday Farbrengens. They called it a hookup, meaning that you would hear it over the telephone. Eventually, it went to cable TV, and I guess- Satellite ... they

51:34 Speaker 1 never made it. And with satellite and the-- they had also the Hanukkah lighting all over the world. Right. Shoot back to seven seventy, but it still didn't get to the internet age . I mean, so they didn't have- They would avoid a lot of, uh, a lot of hassles, you know. Everybody would have their own . I think some people- I don't know. But, but the fact is that you always had the time issue over here. So like when we were in Israel, the Farbrengen usually started at nine thirty. That was the time that the gathering started. And, um, in Israel, being six or seven hours later, it would be like two thirty in the morning- Two thirty ... three o'clock in the morning. So I remember it was, you know, those in Australia, because I know my son now in Australia, over there it's sixteen hours ahead, so over there it would be like the middle of the day, right in like smack the best time of the day. But for us, it was a challenge to, to get up in the morning and, and stay up because the Rebbe was Farbrengen for five, six hours. So that means, you know, you get up at three o'clock till nine o'clock, you know, and then, you know, that was, uh- I see ... and have to listen. What? He spoke for five or six hours. Five, six hours, yeah. Straight. No. He, uh, he would speak and then they would interrupt. They would sing some

52:45 Speaker 1 Hasidic melodies. Oh, okay. Some people, you know, they would... No. It would, it would, uh, it would be, uh, on average talk would be a half an hour or something like that. Something half an hour, forty minutes, thirty-five minutes. That would be an average talk, and then there would be a break and another talk and another break, you know. That was- And that would be nine thirty at night. It starts nine thirty at night. And then people kind of go, they have for six hours, they go to work the next morning. Yeah, but that wasn't a problem. What he didn't know- It was a problem ... and who worked, though . That's it . There are, there are a lot of lady gaves over there . Oh . No, no, but everybody-- See, that's the, that's the thing that you know, you know, what, what you gotta do. You're, what is expected- How often did he have them? Well, on every Hasidic holiday. Well, so- Uh ... there, there was, uh, you know, at least, you know, depending on the like in Russian Tishrei, there was more during the month of Tishrei, and sometimes it was less. But you had an average of one, two, three, one or two a year, a month. Uh, I mean, not every month like you have your Tes Kislev then. I mean, those were the big ones. Right. But then there were other occasions. Is he-- This is a silly question, but did he use notes or he spoke

53:52 Speaker 1 on- Never. Never used notes. That's the true- Never used notes. That's- Never used notes. He just spoke the, you know, it was like it was- Just free flow. Yeah, it was, uh, I, I mean, later on, I remember at the end of the years, the Rebbe would maybe put in his sitter. Notes. I think he did put in his sitter like, uh- The notes ... not, not to, maybe not to forget something or that he wanted to say. I think maybe at the end. Again, I'm not, I'm not one of those. You know, there used to be such students that would follow the Rebbe's every- Every footstep ... then I would be able to tell you a lot more. Yeah. Unfortunately, I was one of the most, you know, that was- You know, I was just an average guy out there. I didn't, uh... I, I don't know, but, you know, people know- You were in the inner circle. Uh, you know, to the extent, you know. Some people, that was their, uh- Follow ... that was their, their, their koch, you know. That was their whole thing. They wanted to know. And they'll tell you they knew every movement, every maneuver was, was in place. But that's, uh- I think we've talked about that. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead. Rebbe, the Rebbe's knowledge, I mean, it's kinda hard to describe this because we don't think in those terms. But, um, if you learn, the more you learn, the more you realize that, you know, the

55:03 Speaker 1 Rebbe's knowledge and, and, and, and expertise were just so above and beyond. He didn't, he didn't need notes. He just knew. He just knew everything was like, it was like a photographic memory. Everything was right in front of him, and he could, you know, just- He was in yeshiva- He'd tell you ... as a boy, too, right? He basically was a cheder, but he, he outgrew. He learned with his father. He learned on his own, basically. Um, he didn't- He didn't- He didn't really learn with other people much. He was just way ahead, you know. He was just brilliant. But after his bar mitzvah, he was, he in yeshiva the whole time. No, no, no. He- No, he was... No, he learned, he learned over there in the, in the Beis Midrash over there. I'm not sure ex-exactly. We have to look that up and see exactly. But he, he, he basically learned, you know, on his own, not with any havrusa, uh, like, uh, that I, at least that I know of, that I've heard of. You know, he, uh- He never pursued any kind of career, any- Yeah, he did. He went to college. They decided that the Rebbe should go to college because of his capabilities and talents, so Uh, they did send him to, uh, first to Berlin, and then, uh- To Berlin ... to Sorbonne, and then, and then, I mean, and to, uh- This is the Rebbe you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. He had electric- Talking about our Rebbe.

56:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. He had, he had a college degree. Yeah. He had an electrical engineering. Yeah.

56:19 Speaker 2 Um, in 1951 when he took the mantle-

56:21 Speaker 1 No, of course

56:21 Speaker 2 ... were most of his followers Holocaust survivors that had come to America with the second-

56:27 Speaker 1 Oh, all the Chabad, the Chabad group, all, all of the Chabad groups. Um, I mean, everybody who belonged to Chabad, the previous Rebbe, basically most of them tried to-

56:35 Speaker 2 And Ame- and there were American-born people that also were part of the whole-

56:39 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah

56:41 Speaker 2 ... um. And did Rabbi Gurary stay active after-

56:44 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. It was a little, a little bit maybe a touch of that, but then he, he was totally- When they all lived in New York

56:51 Speaker 2 ... on board.

56:52 Speaker 1 Accepted, totally on board, accepted the Rebbe, and he, he, he, he had no problem. Oh. His son is a different story, as we've read. But his son is a different story.

56:59 Speaker 2 Yeah.

56:59 Speaker 1 But that wa- that was his position.

57:01 Speaker 2 Yeah.

57:02 Speaker 1 Okay. A couple more seconds. Let's talk about the Merkabah on the ninth day of Shevat in the year Tof Shin Lamed. Um, you know, a lot of times we talk about events and that we commemorate and we celebrate, but we talk to them, we talk about them as distant events, you know, from a long time ago. But this event I experienced, I was there and I experienced it. You know, as we were discussing, it's very hard to describe the feelings, the way we felt at the time and, uh, towards the Rebbe, our excitement, our enthusiasm, our being privileged. We felt the luckiest people on earth to be connected, you know, with the Rebbe, to hear the Rebbe's teaching, to be in the Rebbe's presence, and it meant everything to us. And as we were talking about the, the way we would even find out a lot of times when there was a surprise get-together the Rebbe would for bring. There was these beepers and the phone calls and the, and then the hookups and the cables and the, all the different kinds of, of communications not to miss even one word or one minute of the Rebbe's presence and how everybody would be running in the streets as we found out about the Rebbe talking, and we didn't know about it. We were in yeshiva. And you know, I, I was, uh, this time when this took place in the 10th Shevat, Tof Shin Lamed, uh, that's the ninth day of Shevat in seven... 5730.

58:38 Speaker 1 It is December 14th, 1969. You were very young. I was 13 years old at the time. Oh. Okay? Gives away my age. Yeah. Okay. So I was 13 years old. I was 13 years old at the time, and I actually was fully engaged. Matter of fact, uh, it's hard, it's impossible to really describe, but I have my brother who's two years older than myself. Our yeshiva where we learned was just about a block away, a block and a half, half a block away, a block from our home where we lived. And for lunch sometimes, you know, we'd go home and then afterwards, so I'd walk with my brother together. Now, my brother, Baruch Hashem, he live and be well, and he's, uh... but he's, uh, uh, very serious, and he's a very, um, uh, God-fearing, and he davens every day. He still does that, you know, after so many years. He's two years older than me. But he was also very serious as a student. I was a little bit more, you know, on the, uh, uh, side of, you know, running around a little bit. I wasn't that... No, I was a pretty good student also, not to knock myself, but I wasn't as serious him. And then I remember on this particular date, and this was, as we said, in 1969, uh, on the day before this ninth of Shevat, I was walking with my brother to, to the yeshiva at the time, and my brother says to me, you know, they called

1:00:07 Speaker 1 me Yiddish, they called me Hershel. He says, "Hershel, I wanna tell you, now is the time," he says, "Do Teshuvah." He says, "Repent." He says, "Because Mashiach is coming," he says. That's, you know, that was, he says. And I, you know, being the skeptic, I said to him, you know, to the first I said, "And what happens if he doesn't come?" I said, you know, I mean we're b- "No, no," he says, "There is no question that for sure." But I said to him at the time, I said, "But if I'm gonna be so sure, and if he doesn't come, then I'll be very disappointed." He says, "No, no, no, don't worry about that." And you know, he gave me a whole big explanation. But whatever the case was, we were on a, a very high level. Just I'm saying this story just to say, because what happened was on that day, on the next, on the 10th of Shevat, which was one day later, was the 20th Yahrtzeit of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe's passing. He passed away in 1950, okay? And this is going to be 20 years later. Now, 1970, uh, I'm not sure, but it probably was the end. Probably this was, uh... Did you say 1969? This must have been in 1970 then. Doesn't really... Beginning. Which, which date was it?

1:01:26 Speaker 2 You said it was the following year would've been the 20th anniversary.

1:01:29 Speaker 1 No. That- Okay. You said- That was, uh-

1:01:31 Speaker 2 Next day

1:01:31 Speaker 1 ... well, you know what it is- 20th ... it was 5730, but in the English it was December- December ... but that year could've been- Almost. Just about... Yeah, yeah. Could've been- That's right. Exactly. Yeah. So it was just right going in. So beginning the date in '50- Yeah. It was right- ... then it was- Okay. It was the end of December, so it was 19... Okay. But it was 20 years later. And, um, actually what the Rebbe would do, uh, every year for the 20 years, there was a discourse, a maamer, that the previous Rebbe has published to actually commemorate his grandmother who passed away On the tenth day of Shevat. And that had 20 chapters in it, and every year after the passing of the previous Rebbe, the Rebbe would explain one chapter. And actually, all the chapters finished, and the Rebbe always considered the previous Rebbe continuously being, continuously being the Rebbe. So he published it, the Rebbe would explain that, and basically, the Rebbe finished explaining it. The Rebbe, actually, in one of the talks that the Rebbe gave, we talk about the leader of Shimshon, HaGibbor. You know, you ever heard Samson, the-

1:02:40 Speaker 2 Samson

1:02:40 Speaker 1 ... Samson the, the, the, the mighty, the strong.

1:02:42 Speaker 2 Right.

1:02:43 Speaker 1 So s- it says in one place in the... This is the Rebbe was speaking about it also during that time. Uh, in one place it says that Samson the Strong ruled the Jewish people for twenty years. Then in another place it says that he ruled for forty years. So-

1:02:59 Speaker 2 Twenty and forty

1:03:00 Speaker 1 ... is twenty and forty, how does it come to twenty and forty? So it explains, our sages explain what it means is that even twenty years after his passing, his leadership was still as current as it's considered that he was leader for the twenty years. And the build-up was that for twenty years, the Rebbe's leadership is still here, and now Mashiach has to come. And that was the, that was sort of the, the build-up. But in any event, there was a, uh, a Torah that was completed on this day, on the ninth of Shevat in that year, in the year of Taf Shin Mem Het. There was a Torah that was completed. Now, in the year, uh, in 1942, and we went through that in earlier, during the, um, uh, uh, Yom Tov, uh, the, uh, the Rebbe announced that he has in mind to write a Torah, and with that Torah, they were going to go to greet Mashiach. So it was a special Torah, which is going to be done to greet Mashiach with that Torah. And, um, that was during Simchas Torah and, uh, during that time that he announced that. And they actually began to write it that year in Taf Shin Beis, on the second day of Iyar, they began to write it at that time. However, for various different reasons, they never completed that Torah. That Torah remained, they started it. So they started it in 1942, and they never, uh, they never finished it. So whatever, you know,

1:04:41 Speaker 1 but this was now, as it was coming up to twenty years after the previous Rebbe, uh, the Rebbe announced, uh, that he will, um... This was on the third day of Shevat that year. Shevat three, the Rebbe announced that he is going to complete writing the Sefer Torah in the next few days. And the Rebbe said, and this is quoting the Rebbe at that time, he says, "We-- It was important that we finish to write the Torah that my father-in-law, the Rebbe..." The Rebbe used to refer always, "My father-in-law, the Rebbe." That's the way the Rebbe used to refer to his father-in-law. He says, "My father-in-law, the Rebbe, began to write, should be within the period of twenty years of his passing, as is brought down in the Jerusalem Talmud," that quoted before, "with regards to Samson, that in one verse it says that he was a-- ruled for forty years. In another one it says he ruled for twenty years. And that teaches us that the Pelistim," those were the people that he beat, that were warring against the Jewish people, "they were afraid for him for twenty years after his death, just as they were afraid for twenty years during his lifetime," it says. And therefore, so the Rebbe says that they're gonna have the seal, the completion of the Torah reading after midday on, uh, which is as close to the tenth of Shevat as possible, which came out on Shabbos. Just as the year when the previous Rebbe passed away, he

1:06:18 Speaker 1 passed away, it was on a Shabbos. So this has to be on Friday, it has to take place Friday afternoon, because Friday afternoon is almost Shabbos. But of course, you can't do it on Shabbos, so we're gonna do it Friday afternoon. So, and this was so unusual for the Rebbe to make a get-together. Every Shabbos everybody's busy preparing for Shabbos. Rebbe made a fabrangen, made a gathering together, and everybody... And there's a lot of pictures over there. Now this is somewhat that took place over there at the time that, uh, there was lots of speculation. You know what I mean? People were anticipating, you know, tremendous things, finishing the Sefer Torah, to greet Mashiach. You know, this was a, a charge as you can imagine, a time that, you know, was just amazing. And that time, um, after the-- was the, uh, they, they completed writing the Torah. What happened was, the way it worked is, first of all, remember this is already a very short Friday, because we're talking about in the middle of the winter. It's a very short Friday, till two thirty in the afternoon is, is just an hour and a half, two hours away from Shabbos. I'm not sure exactly, but it's very short, very short before Shabbos. So two thirty, uh, Rebbe Eliyahu Simpson, he was the, um, uh, one of the attendants by the Friediker Rebbe, a choizer, and he was one of the elder Chassidim. He was seen carrying the Sefer Torah. Also, my sister married his

1:07:37 Speaker 1 grandson.

1:07:38 Speaker 2 Oh.

1:07:39 Speaker 1 So that's also family, family relation over there. So he was carrying the Sefer Torah, and the Rebbe was walking behind him. He was walk-- carrying the Torah, the Rebbe's walking behind him, and the Rebbe had a box. Now, nobody knew what's in that box, and people were speculating, "What's in that box?" People had all kinds of silly ideas, you know, "What does the Rebbe have in the box?" Some people even thought that it was a shtreimel in there. Or some, you know. I'm just giving you over some of the silly- Nobody, uh, nobody knew. It was like top secret. I mean, at least I'm not sure, but to me as a student we didn't know. The Rebbe's carrying a box.

1:08:19 Speaker 2 He never carried a box.

1:08:20 Speaker 1 Never, never carried a box. There's a big box that he's carrying. So afterwards, so what happens, uh, the Rebbe sat down at his place, and you asked before, the Rebbe would have the big, uh, table, a huge table running across where he would sit at, and then there were lines and lines in front of him and all, all around, platforms erected, you know, for people to stand on, one on top of, one on top of the other. All, all, every space vertically, horizontally was taken Up and bottom, and you know, all, everything was taken. And so the Rebbe sat down, and they put down next to the Rebbe the Torah. They put down, and, um, also I guess they-- I'm not sure if they put the box or whether they... I think the box, if I remember correctly, the box was placed on the table as well. I, I'm not sure. I think the box was placed on, on the table as well. And the Rebbe began, gave a short talk about the connection between afternoon Friday Shabbos, Erev Shabbos, to the completion of Sefer Torah to greet Mashiach Tzidkeinu. Afterwards, the Rebbe instructed another elder Chassid. His name was Reb Shmuel Levitan. He was one of the mashpiyim, and he was a, a very profound, a very intelli- you know, a great Chassid, a very smart... He knows a lot of, uh, uh... His wife was left back. He was by himself. His wife was left back in Russia, and he was all by

1:09:49 Speaker 1 himself, and he was, uh, he lived, he lived in actually for a while in seven seventy over there. It was his-- He had a room over there. There were many, uh, many stories about him, but that's another, another time, and, uh, the one thing the Rebbe said about him is that when he came out of, uh, prison, he, he came to the, uh, uh, to the Rebbe and, uh, he, he couldn't remember, he said, how to say a berakhah, uh, in the morning blessings, whether you say, um, um... It was either Hanoisen layoif koyach or hanoisen la'oyef koyach. Of course the word is l-layoif, but he wasn't sure. But he said of all the happenings that happened in prison, when the Rebbe asked him, he didn't remember anything.

1:10:36 Speaker 2 Got it.

1:10:36 Speaker 1 The only thing he remembered is he wasn't sure-

1:10:39 Speaker 2 Oh

1:10:39 Speaker 1 ... how to say the berakhah of, of, of, of the birkas hashachar. But in any event, um-

1:10:45 Speaker 2 What does that mean in English?

1:10:47 Speaker 1 One who gives the... one who's tired. Uh-

1:10:49 Speaker 2 Oh.

1:10:49 Speaker 1 But yoif- Yeah. Yoif and oyif, they could both mean. Yoif can mean tired. Oyif can mean tired. So he wasn't sure. The yud comes before the ayin. But the Rebbe, we spoke about how he could only remember the one issue of all of his imprisonment. When the Rebbe asked him to say something, it was what the berakhah is that's speaking about his greatness. But in any event, the Rebbe told him to say the twentieth... The Reb Shmuel Levitan, the Rebbe told him to say the twentieth chapter of Tehillim verse for verse. Everybody said along. Everybody-- The Rebbe got up while they were saying. After they finished the pesukim, the verses, the Rebbe sat back down in his place, and then they sang all the songs of all the Rebbes. In general, there's a tradition whenever you wanna sort of invite, uh, spiritually some of the people of the past to come, you sing a song that they authored or that is connected with them, and that's the way to bring them down. That's why by a chasuna sometimes they sing all the different songs. And on special occasions, you know, the Rebbe would sing the songs of all the Rebbes. So the Rebbe sang the songs with-- they sang the songs of all the Rebbes. And then there was the sofer. His name was Shmarya Spector. He started to finish. He wrote the last words. After he, uh, finished writing, they announced the verses Va'era el Esov, and the Rebbe was honored with the first

1:12:06 Speaker 1 and last verse. And then representatives from the entire world were honored to give, to say the verse for verse, all of the verses. Now, after they tied the Torah, they, uh, made the glilah for the Torah. The Rebbe put on... Now it came out from the box. It was a crown.

1:12:25 Speaker 2 That's what I thought.

1:12:26 Speaker 1 A beautiful crown.

1:12:26 Speaker 2 Oh.

1:12:26 Speaker 1 It was a Kessel Torah. They had a beautiful crown over there. And the crown, you have a lot of pa-pa, uh, pictures. It was a gold, gold with a lot of gold in there.

1:12:35 Speaker 2 Gold. Oh.

1:12:35 Speaker 1 It's a very expensive, uh, crown.

1:12:37 Speaker 2 Usually it's-

1:12:38 Speaker 1 And the Rebbe himself, you can see the pictures. There's a lot of pictures of that time. The Rebbe putting on. Rebbe's face looks like in, like on fire. This is, uh... Um, and then the Rebbe took, took the Sefer Torah in his hands, and underneath the canopy, they led the, uh, Torah while they had lights burning to the Aron Kodesh. And after the bringing the Torah to the Aron Kodesh, the Rebbe went back to his place. He made the berakhah shehecheyanu out loud. Shehecheyanu. He ate also a new fruit. I guess just to make sure according to all opinions, uh, ate a new fruit. And then the Rebbe said a Hassidic discourse which began with the words to understand the idea of writing a Sefer Torah, and he completed with a small, with a s- a small, uh, sicha, a small talk after that. So again, this was like a, like an unbelievable, uh, really occurrence that happens like once in a lifetime. And if you are there, then you actually feel it, and it, it really felt very charged, and it lasted for, for a long time. Should we-

1:13:48 Speaker 2 That Torah was originally started to be written in Europe, nineteen twenty-two.

1:13:51 Speaker 1 No. No.

1:13:52 Speaker 2 No, it was America. It was, uh, it was started to be written here.

1:13:53 Speaker 1 No, in America already. In America.

1:13:54 Speaker 2 Oh, okay.

1:13:54 Speaker 1 Actually, the Rebbe was-

1:13:56 Speaker 2 But here comes-

1:13:56 Speaker 1 The Rebbe, the previous Rebbe was very strongly-

1:13:58 Speaker 2 In nineteen forty, yeah

1:13:59 Speaker 1 ... very strongly, uh, encouraging people to, uh, to turn to Hashem and repent and have people because the, the war was, was, was-- while it was going on terrible, uh, in, in, in, in, uh, in, in Europe, uh, we know there is something which is called the woes of Mashiach, the Chevei HaMashiach. The previous Rebbe, uh, said that these tzoros, these troubles that the Jewish people are facing are the woes of Mashiach, and that Mashiach has to come after this. This is like so terrible that these are the woes of Mashiach. And he was trying to do and to awake people and to arouse people to do teshuva. I mean, it wasn't meant to happen yet at that time. You know, we're still waiting for it to happen. But the, the, the, the time and the, and the effort that the previous Rebbe put in into, uh, you know, taking this time and trying to get people to stay, hold on, and not to, and not to give up and not to throw in the towel and try to, uh, uh, maintain and strengthen Yiddishkeit, and it was a whole different story. You know, the American Jewry was also pretty much apathetic to a great extent of what's going on over there in Europe.

1:15:14 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

1:15:14 Speaker 1 And they Some they didn't know, and some they didn't wanna know, and it didn't affect them so much. I mean, there were, but, uh, they-

1:15:21 Speaker 2 They didn't believe it was happening.

1:15:22 Speaker 1 Or they didn't believe or they weren't organized enough to, to, to, to go ahead and, and really do something about it.

1:15:29 Speaker 2 Well, there was this fellow named, um, uh, Hillel Kook. He was really-- He was the nephew of, of, you know, Kook-

1:15:38 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah

1:15:39 Speaker 2 ... the first Levi.

1:15:39 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:15:39 Speaker 2 He came to United States. He changed his name to more, I think, Peter Berg or something like that.

1:15:44 Speaker 3 Yes.

1:15:45 Speaker 2 You know the story?

1:15:45 Speaker 3 Yes.

1:15:46 Speaker 1 Yeah.

1:15:46 Speaker 3 The Bergman Society, the Bergman Group-

1:15:48 Speaker 1 Yeah

1:15:48 Speaker 3 ... he had, uh, influence into the American government.

1:15:52 Speaker 2 Yeah, he tried to, like, uh, like, uh, Martin Luther King, a march to Washington. The only Jews he had to march with him to tell about the Holocaust going on-

1:16:00 Speaker 1 Were the, were the Rabbis, were the Rabbi, were the Rabbis, all the Rabbis.

1:16:04 Speaker 3 Yeah.

1:16:04 Speaker 1 All the Rabbis and-

1:16:05 Speaker 2 He couldn't get any, um, of more liberal Jews-

1:16:06 Speaker 3 No

1:16:06 Speaker 2 ... to march at all.

1:16:07 Speaker 1 Yeah. And it was... It's, uh, it's very sad. I mean, I think that things have changed over the years now. I think there's more of awareness, and there's more of a conscience, uh-

1:16:17 Speaker 2 Yes

1:16:17 Speaker 1 ... of world Jewry, you know, for-

1:16:18 Speaker 2 Yeah, I think so

1:16:19 Speaker 1 ... although, you know, there's so many-

1:16:21 Speaker 2 That's a gift from Broncha

1:16:22 Speaker 1 ... Jews, li-liberals that are actually turning against, uh, the Jewish causes-

1:16:26 Speaker 3 Right

1:16:26 Speaker 1 ... and against Israel.

1:16:27 Speaker 2 Yeah.

1:16:28 Speaker 1 Okay. But okay-

1:16:28 Speaker 2 Mm

1:16:28 Speaker 1 ... so that, that takes care of this. That was the tenth Shvat. And of course, the, the next entry is going to be about the tenth of Shvat, which was actually Yartzeit, uh, which we'll do next time.