Rabbi Yoel Kahan A"H - Part VI

00:00 The continuation to the earlier installments regarding an overview of Rabbi Yochonon's life, we now continue with installment number six, where we will discuss additional stories which he shared at his Shabbos table. One of the stories Rabbi Yochonon recalled that it was at a Farbrengen Simchas Torah by the Rebbe in the first years of the Nesi'os. And at the Farbrengen was Rabbi Yitzchok Dubov, who was a distinguished Hasid and Rav from Manchester, England, and he started to sing a nigun in Russian. And the meaning of the words were people are drinking and spending time or wasting time, he says, "But I don't drink and I'm not gonna waste time." The Rebbe, hearing this, became serious and said, "How could a Yid on Simchas Torah say that he doesn't drink?" And the Rebbe continued, "There is a question in the Talmud if dibur, if one word that a person has said earlier could be nullified, annulled by a word that he says later." But the Rebbe says the definite fact is that a deed definitely can annul something that a person said orally, verbally. And the Rebbe told Rabbi Yitzchok that he should immediately say l'chaim, which is a deed that annuls dibur, the words that the person said. Another, uh, story, it was Simchas Torah, one of the first years. Actually, it was found that it w- in the Sicha of תשע"ז, late 1955, in the, uh, Farbrengen of the second day Sukkot. And the Rebbe then said that delegates from all around the world, amongst

02:12 the Hasidim, should sing a nigun, a freilicher nigun. And b'meheila every one of the Hasidim from the various countries sang a nigun. And then this should be as a contest who is doing it more freilicher, more joyous. When they finished the nigunim, the Rebbe said that there is a word from one of the tzadikim from Pe'am that it says in Tehillim in, uh, chapter 126, "Higgdil Hashem lasos imanu hayyinu samechen" that we- when it will come to the ultimate redemption, and the Aibishter will do great things for the Jewish nation, so the other nations will ask why. So the answer will be the reason that Higgil Hashem lasos imanu is hayyinu samechen because we were joyous. The rachagav, one of the rides while driving with Rabbi Yochonon to Monsey, as we mentioned in an earlier installment, Rabbi Yochonon sang the nigun that Rabbi Yitzchok Dubov sang as he was a delegate from England, Manchester. A nigun without words, a very freilicher nigun. And the nigun goes as follows. It goes further, and this was a nigun that Rabbi Yochonon was very excited about, uh, mentioning and selecting this nigun from amongst other nigunim that were sung upon the Rebbe's request. In another, uh, story, Rabbi Yochonon said, "Beneger to making from a custom something permanent, though it was just temporary." So he said that in the Purim תשע"ז, in the Purim of 1957, they sang by the Rebbe a very hartzikken nigun, Shalom Nigun. And the Rebbe was very pleased with it, and he encouraged

04:51 the nigun very strongly. And therefore, a year later, they felt it's a favorite nigun by the Rebbe. When they began singing the nigun, and they sang later another nigun, so the Rebbe said the earlier nigun was a nigun from Taanis Esther, and now they should sing a nigun for Purim, which means a more joyous nigun. The in reference to this, Rabbi Yochonon related beneger to one of the Shules Farbrengens that the Rebbe instructed him that he should begin singing the nigunim of the Rabbeim. So he began singing the nigun Gimel Bavis, which is the Bashem Tev, a Maggid and Alte Rebbe. The Rebbe stopped him in the middle, and the Rebbe said, "The first Rebbe is Moshe Rabbeinu, so you should start the nigun Vayehi Beshur HaMelach." When it came to the next Farbrengen, someone, uh, advised Rabbi Yochonon that he should begin singing nigun Vayehi Beshur HaMelach. When Rabbi Yochonon wanted to begin the nigun, the Rebbe made with his hand like, "What is this about?" Another occasion, which Rosh Hashanah was on Friday, and since Rabbi Yochonon was told that we don't sing the Avinu Malkeinu because it's going into Shabbos, and we don't say Avinu Malkeinu Shabbos. So therefore, Rabbi Yochonon was discussing what nigun to sing. While he's discussing, the Rebbe himself began singing the nigun Keili Ata, which is one of the ten nigunim composed by the Alter Rebbe. A year later, Rabbi Yochonon says, "I made a foolish cheshbon, foolish calculation. If the Rebbe himself was singing this nigun

06:38 Keili Ata, so this is a directive for us to, to sing Keili Ata." So b'meheila on the next occasion, he began singing Keili Ata. The Rebbe said to him, "You became confused with Pesach," implying that on Pesach we recite Hallel quite often, including this verse, Keili Ata. The point which Rabbi Yochonon was teaching the bachurim was that although the Rebbe would instruct that they should sing a certain nigun at a certain time, it could have been a one-time directive. The Rebbe did not intend to make this nigun as a permanent custom for every year.