16 of Adar - יום קבלת אדמו"ר הריי"צ אזרחות ארה"ב, טז אדר תש"ט

00:00 This is on the 16th day of Adar in the year Taf Shin Tes, that's 500 and... It's 709, 5,709. That's, um, that was in 1949. That was in 1949. That was the year before, uh, the previous Rebbe passed away. On the 16th day of Adar, just about a year afterwards, he passed away. That was the day that the Rebbe became an American citizen. Citizenships for the Rebbe was on the 16th day of Adar in Taf Shin Tes, uh, March 17th, 1949. Evacuation day. That was what? Evacuation day? That was the day the British left Boston. Now, but it's interesting, they made, they made an exception for the Rebbe. He didn't have to go there. They came. There was a delegation that came. A special, uh, legal delegation came to the Rebbe as representatives of the American government, and the Rebbe, uh, greeted them in his holy room. The Rebbe was dressed in his Shabbos garment. He wore his silk, and he had his shtreimel. The Rebbe had a shtreimel. Had his shtreimel, and in his right hand was actually the Rebbe, his son-in-law, and, um, he was the one that sort of, uh, was, um, um, I guess most familiar. Uh, he had the education. Uh, so the-- his son-in-law, the Rebbe, you know, so he was helping. English. Yeah. He sp- Yeah, that's right. He spoke, he spoke English and he could... You know, I'm not sure what the fluency of the previous Rebbe was in English. After greeting the, um, the delegation, the

01:54 Rebbe said like this, that I wanna say b- in connection with this standing, what this, what we're doing now, we find in the Midrash that when Abraham was commanded by, by God, leave leave your home, your place of birth, your father's home, and go to the land that I'm going to show you. So while he was traveling in these cities, Naram, Narayim, he saw that people were eating and drinking, looked like they were having a good time. So Abraham says, "Oh, I wish..." He says, uh, "I wouldn't have no part. This is just a very materialistic, uh, kinda life." He says, "I don't want a part in this land," he says. And then when he came to the Sodom and Sur that he saw that the people were busy over there in plowing the ground and, and, uh, getting the ground ready to sowing, he says, "I wish I'm gonna have a part in this land." And that was the land of Eretz Yisrael. And Hashem says, "I'm gonna give you that land." So the Rebbe says, similar in my situation, the Rebbe says, "I've traveled, and I've been, you know, bumped around from place to place." You know, all the travelings from Russia through Poland, through Latvia, through Europe, and through all over, constantly moving from one country to another country. So now by divine providence, I found the proper place from which I can, uh, lead the expansion and the spreading out of Judaism and spreading out the wellsprings, the teaching of Hasidus

03:47 here in America. And, um, the, um... The Rebbe actually, uh, uh, looked over, the Rebbe looked over these, this talk, uh, for the book they gave out in May Bereshit, which is the days of the beginning. They have it recorded there. After the, uh, previous Rebbe gave the talk, he signed all the paperwork, the, all the documents, and receiving this, uh, citizenship. And the Rebbe, uh, said goodbye, was very, in a very, uh, smiling and a very s- uh, special, uh, uh, warm way, and it, it, uh, it, it finished like one twenty-five. So they, they were a total... It says that they came in at what time? It w- went from one, uh, to one twenty-five, so it all lasted for a total of twenty, twenty-five minutes and, and, uh, signed it. And, uh, the Rebbe said that in tho- in those days in the Congress, they made a special law to allow for the Rebbe to get his, uh, citizenship in his own home. Oh, yeah. Uh, he says that- Is that in English? Yeah. Well, I'm not sure exactly about that. That, that I'm not sure. That I'm not sure. But he says, but the Rebbe's point was here that when a leader of a generation needs something, so then there are new laws put into the books in order to accommodate for, uh, for, for the Jewish leader. And this was a-- it was amazing for them to make a special rule because otherwise the Rebbe would have to go down.

05:26 Now, as far as knowing history and knowing the American, because I still remember when my parents went to get their citizenships, and I, I vaguely remember. I was very, very young at the time. And, um, I remember how much they, uh, were anxious and how much they were worried, you know, to study and have the right questions. And they asked them, who were the presidents and how many presidents and how many states there are in the United States and, you know, et cetera. All the, some of the details, uh, they just should have taken Marty along with them. It's a very simple- You know. Yeah, very good. It's a very simple thing, but, you know, to somebody that wasn't born here, it's something to learn. And these people also, like, and my parents, they've, they've gone through a lot of... Because when they left Russia, they left as Polish citizens, so they had to sort of study. They knew not a word of Polish. And they needed-- if they're gonna be greeted, and they're gonna s- somebody's gonna ask them something in Polish, they have to be able to answer. And if they know not answer. And they also-- they went through so much, you know, uh, worries, and these people were scared. You know, they, they just... So this was on top of that. You know, you're just on top of that. And when, when the Rebbe says that, you know, going through all these different stops and all these tzaris, and finally coming

06:44 to the resting place. You know, it was, it was, it was a tremendous blessing for them and for all Jewish people that were able to finally find a place that they can, uh, settle in peace and, you know, this blessed country of ours, Baruch Hashem, you know. And you know, I'm always reminded, you know, when people wanna complain about the United States of America, just try go in some other country for a little bit, and you'll try, and then you'll say that with all, with all of our problems, with all of our- It's still the best place in the world ... Yeah, still the best place in the world. And you- Best place And they don't wanna give up your tzaris for anybody else's tzaris. You know the- Saying how- Yeah ... it's so bad. You just have to say thank God for your troubles. If it's so bad here, why does everybody wanna come here- Yeah ... from all over the world? That's right. Yeah. That's- And when did this-- did the seventh Rebbe have to get a citizenship also? That's a good question. Yeah. He, I think- I'm sure he did. Yeah, sure he had to. But, um, I'm wondering if the Rebbe could have gotten that that same time as well. It just says that the-- No, it says just the Rebbe, previous Rebbe- Forty-six years. Forty-six years is huge Um, but maybe it could be, uh, by the Rebbe it's not- You have to get the green card ... known. That's

07:52 a very good question. Uh, maybe Google that- You don't have to ... maybe Google that question and see. That's the only- When did the Rebbe get a citizenship? I don't know ... advantage of being a citizen versus a non-citizen is the right to vote. You can vote, right. That's the only difference. In a green card, you get drafted. Oh, okay. Okay? Yeah, but when do you have a right to work? As soon as you get a green card. If you have a green card, you have every right of an American except you can't vote. Oh. And you won't be called for jury duty. Oh. Okay? But you can be drafted into the military. Ah. You get everything, and you still pay taxes. Oh. Well- But if you're a citizen, you can't be deported. Oh. When you have a green card, you can be deported. Uh-huh. Okay, so this consummates it. It's an extra step in the- Step in saying that you can- You're fully ... and you're not gonna, you're not gonna get de-