Yud Shvat - The Hilulo of the Previous Rebbe

00:00 We find ourselves in Teshvat, the day which is Erev and prior to Yut Shvat, the tenth of Shvat, the Yemai Lula of the previous Rebbe. It was seventy-two years ago, on this day of Yut Shvat, which was then on a Shabbes, in the year Tav Shin Yud, nineteen fifty, that the previous Rebbe was Nistalik passed away. The previous Rebbe was born in the year Tav Reis Mem, eighteen eighty, and lived sixty-nine and a half years. In honor of his Yemai Lula, noting his leadership and activities, we will discuss various Sichas of the Rebbe where he elaborates about his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe. The first one is in a Sicha during the lifetime of the previous Rebbe on the twelfth of Tammuz Tav Shin Hei, nineteen forty-five. The Rebbe related the following. It was late nineteen twenty, right after my father-in-law assumed leadership after his father's hisdalkus. He was then stricken with typhus fever. Hasidim then turned to the Rogatchover, a table giant of the time, that shadam for the previous Rebbe's well-being. The Rogatchover then wrote a hichirah, an inquiry or a research, whether the assuming leadership is considered an addition in quantity in comparison to the earlier status of the person, or it marks a change in the essence of the person, thereby opening a new level or plane. And as his customary style was, he cited many sources in the Talmud for both perspectives. He concluded that it is a change in the essence of the person. And he added that when one

02:11 experiences a change in essence, there needs to be Libun. Libun means sort of cleansing, a removal of the earlier status, as we find by Moshe Rabbeinu, that before he became a leader of Am Yisrael, his first revelation of Hashem was by the Sneh, a fiery bu-bush. Likewise, by the Friediker Rebbe, that he experienced this illness, the typhus fever. And after that, the leadership continued in a greater measure. A second inyan that the Rebbe spoke in the nineteen forties, that when the previous Rebbe was arrested and imprisoned by the GePO, the Russian police, in nineteen twenty-seven, he was interrogated with intense pressure. At one point, he was asked how old he was, and he responded, "A hundred and fifty years." And he explained that he is a descendant in a chain of generations from the Alter Rebbe of Shneer Zamen of Liadi and is his successor. The third occasion, it was in nineteen forty-seven, the Rebbe visited Paris. This was in order to meet his mother, the Rebbetzin Chana, who just earlier left Russia. And the Rebbe went to Paris also to arrange all the papers which will enable the Rebbetzin to come to the United States. During his stay in Paris, which was for a few months, the Rebbe farbreng with Hasidim on Lag BaOmer. A Hasid asked the Rebbe that he request from his father-in-law that the government should rush the visas for the students of the yeshiva, this was regarding fifty students, to allow them to arrive in the United States. The Rebbe

04:33 responded as follows, "You are looking for protections, meaning through me to my father-in-law, the Rebbe. I will relate a story. This story implies that there's no need for someone to intervene and be a protection to request something from the previous Rebbe." The Rebbe continues and relates the story. It is known that once or twice a week, the nurse attending to my father-in-law would give him an injection since half of his body was paralyzed after his imprisonment in nineteen twenty-seven. She would generally come around three PM. This would take place in the presence of a family member. On Tes Kislev this year, this is late nineteen forty-six, she arrived and knocked on the do-door three times, but did not receive a response from my father-in-law. She entered the room and saw my father-in-law was sitting on his armchair. She greeted him, but he did not respond. When she approached him closer, she observed that his eyes were looking up, and he did not respond. She checked his pulse, and it was okay, but he still did not respond. The nurse panicked and ran to the Rebbetzin Nechama Dina, telling her that something happened. They entered the room, and they remained looking at the previous Rebbe. Trying to understand what's happening here. The rebbetzin, Nechama Dina, immediately ran to call the bacharim who at the time were on their lunch period. Two bacharim came up and the rebbetzin told them that it seems that my father-in-law is going to his mother, the rebbetzin, Sterna Sara, who was

06:32 nifter five years earlier, which means that she figured that he is near the yistalkus. The rebbe then related that his mother-in-law mentioned that since the rebbe who was telling the story was in the area, they should try to catch him, that he should return immediately. At that point, the rebbe continues, I had already left and when the bacharim reached me, I returned. I entered the room of my father-in-law and listened to what his lips were reciting and I heard that he was saying the shira of Kliyas Yamsuf, the song which was recited during the split of the Red Sea, which is actually this week's parasha, parasha Beshalach. My father-in-law was sitting and moving his feet in motion. When he concluded the shira, he began again and in the middle he said, Baruch Hashem mizadur gigangen, adur gigangen genuk. Thanks to Hashem, they passed, they passed enough. In a later hour, a telegram arrived from Przemysl in Poland, in which the rebbe speaks to the Chassidim in Paris, after you have passed, crossed the boundary, the border, you have informed, avarnu es hagvul, vanachnu nimtzoim bipshemesl. We crossed the border and we are in Przemysl, which means they were already out of danger. When they checked the time, they wrote the telegram and the time when my father-in-law was sitting in his room without any response, they discovered that it was exactly these two hours during which you were crossing the border. In those two hours, my father-in-law said the shira of Oz Yashir to the

08:34 end of the shira, ad yaver amcha Hashem, ad yaver am zukalisa. Till your nation, Hashem will pass, till your nation who you have attained. And he made an aliyah saneshoma and you were saved by this. We will, im yirtzeh Hashem, continue with additional insights from the rebbe in the next installment.