The Children (Part IV): Letter from the Rebbe to the Children

00:00 The Hemsek in reference to the earlier installment, we continue now with installment number four, discussing the campaign, quote, return the hearts of fathers through children, unquote. The Inyan of Tzivos Hashem. In this installment, we will cite the Rebbe's letter to the children, to whom the Rebbe wrote a special letter, Chalametz Sukkes, Tovshin Memaleph, late 1980. As it is translated in English, the letter is as follows. To all Jewish children of pre-bar and bas mitzvah age, Hashem bless you all. Greeting and blessing. You surely know that we are now in a special year called the year of Hakel, year of assembly. This was the year Tovshin Memaleph, and it takes place following the sabbatical year, which is every seven years. During the time when the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim was in existence, it was in this year and precisely in these first days of Chalametz Sukkes that the special mitzvah, commandment of Hashem, of Hakel, was carried out. All Yidden, men, women, and children, even the very young ones, were assembled in the Beis Hamikdash, where the king read before them portions from the Torah. And everybody listened very attentively and learned to keep and do all that is written in the Torah throughout their entire life. You surely know, the Rebbe continues, that the Torah requires us, all of Am Yisrael, to observe the anniversaries of important happenings in the history of our Jewish people, and to think deeply about these events and to relive them as though we were there in person, in order

02:15 to learn from them the proper lessons and to apply them in our personal lives, in our daily life, here and now. For example, when our very first festival Pesach on the 15th of Nisan comes around, the uppermost thought in our mind is how Hashem took us out from the Golus, the exile and slavery of Egypt, and made us free to serve Him and fulfill His mitzvahs. Similarly, when the days of Hakel come around once in seven years, every one of us, including the very small children, must become deeply mindful that our homes and every Bayis Yehudi Jewish home, also the Jewish school that houses the children and their classmates, should be pure and holy like being in the Beis Hamikdash, and that in every Yid, young and old, there is a king that rules and directs his daily activities. This being our Emunah belief in Hashem with which we begin our everyday life. As all of us, including the tiny tots, say immediately upon rising in the morning, May dan ni, I give thanks to you, living and eternal king. We must listen attentively with obedience and devotion to this quote-unquote king in us in order to make sure that everything we do is in keeping with what is written in his Torah. Everyone should also be involved in Hakel starting now and continuing through the year on suitable occasions, and particularly Shabbos, to get together for the purpose of learning a portion of Torah or a Torah subject, and encouraging each other in the

04:21 doing of mitzvahs all the better. The Rebbe begins concluding the letter, in order that all this should be with still greater hatslacha, it would be a good idea for those who can participate more often in such gatherings to form a kohal, a permanent group or unit, under the same name everywhere, Tzivas Hashem, Hashem's army, to which every Yid already belongs from childhood, all the better to carry out the divine order, fill the earth and master her, mastering all that is around him by filling the environment with true light, the light of Torah mitzvahs, so that everyone will see and know that the whole world is Hashem's. Wishing you much hatslacha in all the above and a joyful Yom Tov, and that the entire year should be a good and sweet year. On that same Chalametz Sukkes, a rally took place, specifically on the fifth day of Sukkes. The children recited the twelve verses of the Torah and sayings of our sages, which the Rebbe introduced in spring of Tovshin Lamed Vav, 1976. These children were delegates from all over the world. While they announced the psukim, the Rebbe quite often smiled. The Rebbe began his talk to the children. The letter distributed beforehand describes the unique significance of the present year, the year of Hakel. During this sicha, the Rebbe reiterated what he wrote in the above letter. Thus, even the very young are part of Hashem's army. They are Hashem's soldiers, and Hashem relies upon them to wage wars against other influences. They thereby

06:40 show that Hashem is the creator of the heavens and the earth and their only master. When the Yetzirah, the evil inclination, tries to disturb their progress, a Jewish child should know that he is a member of Hashem's Tzivas Hashem and can successfully wage war against the Yetzirah. Since they are in Hashem's army, they need only want to observe what the Torah says, and they will be able to do so. They will surely desire to succeed in all aspects of behavior, thought, speech, and action. The child will always be conscious that he is a soldier in Hashem's army with an awareness which will motivate him to behave in a manner befitting such a soldier every day. Im Yirtza Hashem, in the next installment, we will continue on this topic.