Yom Holedes - Part XIII

00:00 The hemsech to the earlier installments regarding the yom haledet's birthday, its aspects, and lessons, we now continue with installment number thirteen. And as we are, Be'ezras Hashem, concluding the yom haledet series, we will now discuss the Rebbe's yom haledet, the birthday of the Rebbe in the 1940s, plus an unusual directive in the early years of the Rebbe's Neseus leadership. Firstly, it was after Gimel Tammuz when the Rebbe's manuscripts from the 1920s through the 1940s were discovered. Amongst the hundreds of documented pages which the Rebbe wrote for himself in shorthand, either of what he addressed in public or letters to individuals who inquired about a difficult question in the Talmud, etc., it was discovered that the Rebbe also wrote on the topic of yom haledet. In this reshimah, the Rebbe refers to numerous sources in the Talmud, etc., about the significance of a yom haledet, a birthday. This appears in the seventh booklet of the reshimah series on page seventy-eight and on. In addition, an interesting observation. When one researches the letters written on the very day of the Rebbe's yom haledet, the eleventh of Nisan, one may be surprised to learn that there are almost no letters existing in the ten years between 1940 and 1950 for this date, the eleventh of Nisan, with the exception of two letters. These two letters were written in the year Tov Shin Vav, 1946, and are published in the Rebbe's Igress Letters, Volume 2, page 124 and on. Interestingly, the topic in one letter, the Rebbe is writing

02:26 to verify about a sefer Torah which was written in honor of the previous Rebbe's birth. The second letter was written to one who helped obtain a certificate for the Rebbe's mother, the Rebbe's Chana, and eventually enabling that she should be able to arrive from France to the United States. This actually took place on the 28th of Sivan, Tov Shin Zayin, 1947, when the Rebbe and his mother arrived in the United States. We can possibly explain that the reason for such few letters on the 11th of Nisan is as the Rebbe cites in the HaYom Yom on his yom haledet, the 11th of Nisan. On one's birthday, one should spend some time in seclusion, bringing to mind recollections from the past and pondering over them. As to those of his bygone actions that call for rectification or repentance, one should repent and rectify them. We can possibly say that therefore, understandably, the Rebbe was busy in his aveda on this very special day of his. On Yud Aleph Nisan, the 11th of Nisan in the year Tov Shin Zayin, 1947, the Rebbe was then in Paris to greet his mother and take care of papers, and eventually, as mentioned earlier, on the 28th of Sivan, the Rebbe and his mother arrived in the United States. The Rebbetsin Chana, the Rebbe's mother, mentioned then to Chassidim, this evening is my son's yom haledet. If you will ask him, he will fabreng with you. And upon the request of Chassidim, the Rebbe fabrenged with them. As we discussed

04:49 on the 11th of Nisan this year, audio number 686. In the year Tov Shin Yud, 1950, Rab Shmuel Levitan, one of the distinguished older Chassidim, asked the Rebbe if he was planning to visit the eil, the resting place of the previous Rebbe, on Beis Nisan, the 2nd of Nisan, as it was the hilula yartzight of the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe told him that he's planning to go in 10 days after that, referring to the 11th of Nisan. Rab Shmuel was not familiar exactly with that date. He asked the Rebbe, what is in 10 days? The Rebbe answered, a personal matter. After the Rebbe assumed the Neseus leadership, he would travel to the eil every year on his yom haledet Yud Aleph Nisan. Interesting to note that in the early years, occasionally, the Rebbe advised some individuals who notified the Rebbe about their yom haledet that they should visit the eil on the day of their yom haledet. As mentioned in the earlier installment, that over the years, the Rebbe extended himself to accept bocherim, students, for yechidus on an annual basis in honor of their upcoming yom haledet. The Rebbe, in Mesicha Shabbos Breshis Tov Shin Lamed Heh, late 1974, elaborated on this as follows. The Rebbe said there is a custom whereas one can enter in yechidus in person and receive, he was referring to brachos. This was indeed something new which did not take place earlier. The Rebbe's referring to the earlier rabbeim. And the Rebbe explained that the perspective was that it

07:04 will accomplish great things for the individuals. For a background of yechidus for one whose yom haledet was approaching, you can hear it on the audio number 29. With this installment, number 13, we conclude, Be'ezras Hashem, the yom haledet series.