Yom Holedes - Part VII

00:00 The hemsech to the earlier installments regarding yom huledet, birthday, and its customs, aspects, and lessons, we continue now with installment number seven, discussing the joy plus the personal evaluation. The Rebbe's insights on one's focus on the yom huledet, the birthday. In a farbrengen of 11 Nisan Tov, Shin Lamid Gimel, nineteen seventy-three, the Rebbe said that a birthday marks the beginning of a new chapter in Tehillim. It is a time of hisbadedut, secluding oneself, as the Rebbe states in the Hayim Yeim on the eleventh of Nisan. And it is a time that a person evaluates and takes in account what he did in the past year as an individual. As we see in regards to Yom Kippur, that that is a day that the whole Am Yisroel evaluates and takes in account what they did throughout the year. In a farbrengen Shabbos Chukas Balak, Yud Beis Tammuz, Tov Shin Chaf Beis, nineteen sixty-two, the Rebbe said the following, "When a person is born, this is when his avoda, his service to the Creator begins. Refinement, exertion on the person's own initiative. This is a very unique quality. And for this, the neshamah descended in this world here in order that a person should be doing things on his own, initiating with his own keyach. Hashem is the essence of tov, good, goodness, and the nature of good is to do good things and to do good for others. If so, a Yid should have received all the revelations without expecting any exertion on his part. But

02:44 the reason for that is on the contrary, because Hashem is the essence of good, and the ultimate good is when it should not be something free, something unearned. Therefore, everything has to come through exertion, through the work of the person. And this is the great joy that takes place by a birth. Not only a joy for the parents, but also a joy for the child just born. Because although when he was in the womb of its mother, it had all the revelations very comfortably, but then there was nothing being initiated on the part of the person himself. He ate and he drank whatever his mother was eating and drinking, nothing of his own. But when he comes out into the world, the moment that he's born, this is when his avoda begins. And although the obligation of mitzvahs takes place years later when he's being raised, he reaches six, seven years old, and not in the moment that he's born. But at the moment that he's born, he is already eating and drinking and doing things for himself. Likewise, in a spiritual sense, that his avoda, the exertion initiated on his own already begins, and it develops over the years." In a sicha on the eighteenth of Elul, Tov Shin Mem Beis, nineteen eighty-two, the Rebbe said the following, "When we think of the birthday of a Jewish child, the question arises, why do we celebrate this occasion throughout a person's life and indeed beyond that? Physically, there is no change. The body is complete

04:55 for many weeks prior to birth, and spiritually, the fetus has seemingly only to lose from being born. A fetus prior to the moment of birth is considered his mother's thigh, halachically part of his mother. Only upon being separated is the newborn baby an independent entity. Here we have a most radical difference. One second before, there was only one entity, the mother. One second later, there are two separate beings present, the mother and the baby. Before birth, the baby indeed eats, bum-- but from what the mother eats. He drinks, but from what the mother drinks. And though he desperately needs his mother's care for many years after birth, it is as a separate being. This concept has application in a number of areas in halacha." This transformation is so radical that notwithstanding the trauma, both physically and spiritually of birth, the gaining of one's independence is such a joyous occasion that it is celebrated year after year. The blow from the angel on the mouth causing him to forget the entire Torah is more than worth the opportunity to learn the entire Torah with one's own power. The lesson for us in our daily lives is Rashi citing a verse in Chumash Dvarim states, The Torah should be considered new each and every day. Each day should be seen as an independent newborn entity, and all the accomplishments of the previous days should be seen as a fetus before birth. The newborn does not rely on his seemingly towering accomplishments prior to birth. He immediately begins

07:06 to assert his independence. So also in our daily service of Hashem. If we rely on yesterday's accomplishments, we will be eating as it were free bread. Every new day that is born in our lives must be asserted as an independent unit using past endeavors as a springboard to higher things. Man is born to labor. Each day must be developed. One cannot argue, I am versed in the entire Torah. I have accumulated great spiritual wealth. Now is the time for me to rest. The answer to this is emphatic. All that you have mentioned belongs to yesterday. Yesterday you put all your effort into it. But what about today? Today is a new era, an opportunity for new achievement. Will you accomplish the dictum, man is born to labor by resting on yesterday's accomplishments? No. Your past accomplishments are indeed yours, but they belong to the past. Now is the time to build anew. In the farbrengen of Yud Aleph Nisan Tov Shin Chof Beis, when the Rebbe became 60 years old, 1962, the Rebbe spoke about a yom haledes. And the Rebbe said, although it's a great simcha, but we're not exempt from saying tachnun, which means confession. And the Rebbe relates a vort that the previous Rebbe once said in regards to the question of the custom of Chassidim Chabad in regards to saying tachnun on a hilulah on the day of a yortzeit of one of the Rebbes. As the Tzemach Tzedek said, since a yom hahilulah, a yortzeit of a tzaddik is a

09:19 eis rotzon, it's an auspicious time, there is no better time to say tachnun and accomplish what tachnun can accomplish. Likewise, by every birthday, although the mazal, the fortune of the person is strong then, but the priority is to correct everything that needs correction and repair. And for this, we should utilize the strength of a mazal.