Bayis - A person's Home - Part 2

00:01 The hemsech to the earlier installment on the concept of a home, a bayis, a bayis Yehudi, a Yiddish home. We continue now with installment number two, where we will refer to a sicha of the Rebbe, which he delivered during the farbrengen of Acharen shel Pesach, Tof Shin Yud Zayin, 1957. In the sicha, the Rebbe relates a story about the distinguished Chasid, Rab Shmuel Munkes, and he derives a lesson in Avodas Hashem in one's personal service to the Creator. This sicha was translated into English by the popular author, Rab Sholom Ber Avtzon, and included in his book on the biography of Rab Shmuel Munkes. In addition, a few details are translated here from the original text of the sicha. And the sicha goes as follows. When Rab Shmuel Munkes was a young man, he heard of the greatness of the Maggid of the Ozner, the Alter Rebbe, and he decided to go to the Ozner in order to become his Chasid. He arrived in the middle of a bitter wintry night. It was too late to go knocking on doors to find out where the Alter Rebbe lived. No doubt the Rebbe is still up learning, he thought. I will look around for a house where the candles are still burning. After wandering through the streets for a while, he soon discovered the house he was looking for. Boldly, he knocked at the door. Everyone must have been asleep, for the Alter Rebbe himself appeared. What do you want? The Rebbe asked. I wish to warm

01:55 up and to sleep here, Rab Shmuel replied. Surely there are other houses where you can go to warm yourself and rest, said the Rebbe. Isn't this also a Jewish house? Asked Rab Shmuel, as if asking by way of a hint, do I have to force my way in? If you force your way in, the goy will chase you out, the Alter Rebbe answered. Oy Rebbe, Rab Shmuel cried, my goy is much stronger. The Alter Rebbe smiled and escorted him in. And so the extraordinary and close relationship between Rebbe and Chasid began. It is an amusing story, very unusual and witty. But what does it mean? And why did the Rebbeim repeat it to us? Why was the Alter Rebbe, whose meticulous attention to every detail of halacha is exemplary, appeared to be so inhospitable to a stranger in the middle of the night? Is not welcoming guests greater than receiving the divine presence, the Shechinah? It is unthinkable that the Alter Rebbe was being rude, nor can we dare to imagine that he was just playing with Rab Shmuel or saying dwalim betailim empty words. The following explanation has been offered by the Rebbe in a farbrengen. When Rab Shmuel was outside in the dark, he felt that this surely represented a spiritual darkness in which he found himself. Therefore, he sought a place of refuge, a Jewish home in which he would find light. And so he came to the house of the Alter Rebbe. As soon as the Rebbe opened the door, he

04:01 recognized Rab Shmuel's great spiritual potential and that he had already embarked on a lofty spiritual journey of self-improvement. From the Alter Rebbe's first words, he set about helping Rab Shmuel to achieve his goal. The Rebbe in the Sicha continues and says that even when a person has already reached a Jewish home from where light comes out, a person should not assume that he can already enter into the house as he is with his coarseness that comes as a result of his body and his animal soul and to expect that they'll even give him a thank you for coming in. But the first thing that he's being asked is what is the reason for his coming? What is he looking for? What is he requesting? And the Rebbe elaborates, because of the darkness and the coarseness, a person could at times not know that he needs to search and find something which is significant for himself and surely does not know what to search and look for. And therefore he needs to be inspired, awakened. And that is by asking him, what are you looking for? What do you need? Al derech like we find in the Haggadah shel Pesach, v'she'eini yadea li shel at sachlei. That the child amongst the four sons sitting at the Seder of Pesach and he can't even ask anything. So you need to open up his mouth. Although he himself is not chayav to ask anything, but we need to open up his mouth to awaken him, to inspire him

06:14 that he should know what to ask. And this question awakens in the person the response that since he finds himself in the dark, he finds himself in a very tiresome, very low level in spirituality. He wants to go into a Jewish home to stay overnight. And he says, I don't need anything. I don't need Elam Haba. I don't need Gan Eden. I don't need the reward of the 310 worlds. What I need is one thing. Achah sha'alti, my request is from Hashem, shivti b'veis Hashem. I should be able to sit in the house of Hashem. They should allow me to enter the house which is a bayis Yehudi, a Jewish home which is a dwelling place for Hashem. We will im yirtza Hashem continue in the next installment.