The Sefer Torah To greet Moshiach Tzidkenu - Part III

00:00 Behemsach, in continuation to the earlier installments regarding the initiative of the previous Rebbe to write a Sefer Torah with which to greet Mashiach, we now continue with installment number three. In this installment, we will elaborate further on additional details which took place during the beginning era of the writing of the Sefer Torah in the year nineteen forty-two, nineteen forty-three. This series is based on the Rebbe's talks and writings, and also on an article in the monthly magazine, Chassidishe Der Her, and in the weekly magazine referred to as Yichasos. The previous Rebbe personally paid for all the actual costs of the Sefer Torah and the Sofer's salary. All contributions received towards the writing went to Merkos Linyoni Chinuch and Machne Israel, which are two organizations amongst additional ones under the auspices of the previous Rebbe. And then previous Rebbe's son-in-law, our Rebbe, was the one that was put in charge of these institutions. As soon as this momentous project was launched, the Rebbe, as chairman of Merkos Linyoni Chinuch and Machne Israel, this is Rebbe, the son-in-law of the previous Rebbe, immediately began promoting the new campaign on a very large scale, enlisting many Jews, including community leaders, to sign on as participants in the writing. The Torah was written in seven seventy in Rab Shmuel Levitan's room at the end of the hallway, the upstairs section of the shul, now used as the yichud room for weddings. Bacharim who learned in the yeshiva in those years recall that every Thursday night, they helped review columns

02:19 of the Sefer Torah, checking for accuracy. By the end of the next year, seven tav shin gimel, which is spring nineteen forty-three, everything until Parshah HaAzinu, this is right before the last portion in the Torah was written. For reasons unknown to us, it was not completed at that time. Five years later, in tav shin ches, nineteen forty-eight, the Rebbe, talking about our Rebbe, wrote to Rabben Zion Shem Tev that the Torah would likely be completed in the near future. But again, nothing actually happened. During these, during this period, Rabbi Leo Simpson, who was the secretary by the previous Rebbe, he was also a choizer, he would review discourses that the Rebbe Rashab delivered. So at that point, he composed a detailed program for a siyum Sefer Torah ceremony, scheduled for the twentieth of Cheshvan tav shin ches, which is late nineteen forty-seven. According to this plan, they would bring the Sefer Torah to the previous Rebbe's room and request permission to proceed with writing the final psukim, from where they planned to continue to the Rebbe's room downstairs. So this is, this the, who was then the son-in-law, our Rebbe, where the writing would take place, and then return to the previous Rebbe to fill in the last three words of the Sefer Torah, "Le'einei kol Yisroel," to be followed by a great and joyous celebration. However, this plan did not materialize. The reasons remain unknown, but the Chassidim always presumed that the previous Rebbe had simply not given any instructions regarding a siyum. And

04:26 so, the Sefer Torah remained waiting unfinished for over twenty years. We will now turn to sichas, talks that the Rebbe gave beginning in the second day of Iyar, which is the, marks the beginning of the writing the Sefer Torah in nineteen forty-two, and the Rebbe delivered this talk in nineteen fifty exactly. The Rebbe says that this day marks a very special event in a sinas keich, something that energizes yin. The previous Rebbe chose this day, Beis Iyar, Tiferes Yebbe Tiferes, as it is in it's the yom ha'ledes of the Rebbe Mahash, the previous Rebbe's grandfather. So the previous Rebbe chose this day to begin writing the Sefer Torah to greet Mashiach. And the Rebbe continues and mentions briefly that there is a letter from Beis Iyar tav shin beis from this very day, been a year to writing the Sefer Torah, and the Rebbe says, "I will release it, that it should be re-written over and publicized." And based on what is known, that every Yid has a letter in a Sefer Torah, as we see it also in the acronym of the word Yisroel. Yisroel is abbreviation, yas, shishim, ribui, es is Torah. There are six hundred thousand es is Torah. And therefore, Beis Ear, the beginning of the writing of the Sefer Torah, is considered as a birthday for a Yid, since it is when his letter is inscribed in the Sefer Torah. And simultaneously, it is the beginning of the Avdah of every Yid, service in a refreshed way, service to Hashem.

06:32 In 1951, Yut Shvat, when the Rebbe assumed leadership, the Nesius, the Rebbe begins speaking again about the Sefer Torah and says that in regards to the Mishkan, it says that Moshe Rabbeinu was able to do it on his own. On Derech Zeb and Agir to Rebbe Samikdash, it says David HaMelech could have done it on his own. But he wanted that everyone, the whole Jewish nation, should have the merit in participating in building the Beis HaMikdash. The Rebbe continues, likewise, by the previous Rebbe, his father-in-law, when he wrote the Sefer Torah to greet Mashiach, he said, I don't want to do it only for myself on my own, but I want that this should be a participation of the whole Jewish nation in order to give everyone the merit of participating in this Sefer Torah. And surely, in making a dwelling place for Hashem, everyone needs to participate. Everyone needs to do his part and fulfill his mission. And there's just a few more things to do for the final polishing. And when we conclude that, it will be fulfilled that all the negativity will buckle and the whole world will be elevated to a higher level in Kedusha. And the purpose of the creation will be fulfilled that this world will become a dwelling place for Hashem. We will, im Yirtzeh Hashem, continue in the next installment.