Bayis - A person's Home - Part 16

00:01 Behemesach, in continuation to the earlier installments, beenigeah to a Bayis Yehudi, a Jewish home. We now continue with installment number sixteen, discussing the Rebbe's insights on spending of money without a limit or structure on home luxuries. The sichas that we're gonna be mentioning were delivered by the Rebbe, one was on Simchas Torah, taf shin chaf beis, late 1961. And the second talk the Rebbe gave Shabbos Parsha Beshalach, which is Yitzvat, taf shin chaf daled, 1964. And occasionally in those years, the Rebbe mentioned it on additional occasions. In the sicha of Yom Simchas Torah, taf shin chaf beis, the Rebbe related a story beenigeah to the Rebbetsin of the Rebbe Maharash that she gave away her jewelry for a certain purpose, a meaningful purpose of tzedakah. And the Rebbe then said that this is also a lesson for our generation, that there are women who press their husbands that they should work longer and invest more in parnasah in order that the hanhog in the house, the conduct in the house should be in a very broad manner with jewelry, et cetera. To the extent as it became the say that in America, which America is a country that has a lot of strange new ideas, that in addition to the need of furniture, that they should be in a way of hidur, in a very elegant way, s-stating that this is something that pertains to the completeness of the person. Because our sages tell us a person that does not have a house is not

02:21 a person. The male, they talk themselves into it that if, God forbid, there will be some kind of elegance missing, lacking in the furniture of the house, then this will be also lacking in the completion of the person to the extent that even the floor of the house cannot be showing the wood from which the floor is made. But behachrach, it must be that the floor should be covered with a carpet. And not only that, but the carpet has to be so big that it should go from wall to wall. This is when the style began of wall-to-wall carpeting. And not from a few pieces, God forbid, the Rebbe says, but from one piece, from one piece of material from wall to wall, although this will cost a lot more. And the Rebbe says, "What are we discussing here? We're discussing the floor of the house on which the feet step and walk through. This is not something that relates to the intellect and the mind. It doesn't relate to the emotions and the heart. It's just relating to the legs, the feet that are walking through the various rooms. And beenigeah to the legs walking through, it is not something that has a substantial benefit for the feet. Nobody benefits from it, not the wife, not the husband. It is only to be able to show off and show the pride for the neighbor and friend that I have in my house a wall-to-wall carpet." And for this purpose, money that could have been

04:12 given for tzedakah, for charity, instead the money is given for these purposes of luxuries, and the husband is pressured that he should exert himself more in his job, and he should spend more time working, time and hours that he could have dedicated to the study of Torah. And the Rebbe says this also, the trend has entered also in the houses of Hasidim. And it was to show off, look, I have something that not too many people have. Then the Rebbe continues, "When people know that the ultimate purpose of the creation is serving Hashem, and I was created only to serve my creator, this needs to inspire the feeling in the person that it doesn't matter if there is an additional carpet or one carpet less, the priority is that the husband could sit and learn. But when it comes to an actual practice and people remind themselves about their neighbor and friend, they lose themselves completely." And the Rebbe says that basically this relates mostly by husbands that don't have their own independent opinion, but originally they were relying on the wisdom of their mother. And after they got married, they are relying on the wisdom of their wife. And then the Rebbe continues and smiled that there are people here that don't even know what a Hollywood kitchen means. The Aibishter should help them that they shouldn't know about it till a hundred and twenty years. Now we go on to a sicha for Shabbos Parsha Beshalach, 5735, 1964, as mentioned, where the Rebbe

06:26 specified more, uh, the focus on Hollywood kitchen. The Rebbe says in the kitchen where the cooking is taking place, there's different smells or different odors from the different things that are in the, in the kitchen. Sometimes there's also bad odors, as we find also בְּנִגֶד to the Beis Hamikdash, בְּנִגֶד to the temple, that because of the ריח, the smell of the sacrifices, therefore there was a need to use a sense in order to improve, enhance the smell in the Beis Hamikdash. The Rebbe says the סדר הדברים in Hollywood, which is a city and a major city in the United States, בְּנִגֶד to עניינים which are the opposite of kedusha, is designated as such that all the vessels that are in the kitchen, also vessels that are used to clean up things that need to be removed, need to be very enhanced, very elegant, and with the same color. And the Rebbe says this is exactly the opposite of what was in the Beis Hamikdash, that in the Beis Hamikdash all the כלים were golden vessels because there is no place for poverty in a place of richness. And the Rebbe says, במילא because of this purpose, to be able to show off that they have a carpet and they have a kitchen, one of the most beautiful kitchens in the whole neighborhood, a lot of money is spent, a lot more than what is given for צדקה. And sometimes they even have to borrow money, big amounts, and they then become indebted. עבד לעוה לשימלבא,

08:18 a person that borrows becomes a sort of a servant to the one that gave him the money, and he doesn't have any time to set up for תורה, to study of תורה, since he's busy constantly with either how he should be able to pay up his debt or to take a new loan. The Rebbe from this also continued in regards to money that is spent for weddings, that the חתן and כלה are also included in the planning in regards to the garments, in regards to the furniture, and to decide what kind of soup they will serve at the meal. The Rebbe says in a time which is a very special time for חתן and כלה, and that they need to prepare in a very auspicious way for the wedding and not think about these things. And the Rebbe continues and concludes that v'yehi ratzon, that the words that are being said here should have an impact and impression on me and on the listeners. Just to add, everything that the Rebbe asks from Chassidim is what he himself practiced. It is known very well that by the Rebbe in the house everything was simple. There were appliances there that were decades old. In fact, there was one time that one of the knobs of the gas range broke and they needed to replace it, and they asked the company and the company said, "It's out. We don't make this anymore. We don't make this make. It's out of style." And this is basically what the

10:20 Rebbe wants, that the focus of the priority in life should be in עניינים of תורה, in עניינים of צדקה, and et cetera.