Reb Yisroel Arye Leib Schneerson (5712-5782/1952-2022) - 70 Years

00:00 As we find ourselves in Yud Gimmel Iyar, which is the yartzeit of the Rebbe's youngest brother, Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib. He was born in Nikolaev in the year 1909, and then was raised by his parents, Orav Rabbi Levi Yitzchok and Rebbetzin Chana. And after that, he started to do different activities in Russia. One of them was to set up a Tiferes Bachurim, sort of a kalo, for people that are working through the day. And this gave them a certain time slot that they're able to sit and learn every day. After a certain time, he traveled to Germany. From Germany, he went to Eretz Yisroel, where he settled. And in the later years, he divided his time between Eretz Yisroel and Liverpool, England, where he was also a professor in math, very high level of math. He had theories in yonim that he wrote, which later reached the Rebbe, as we'll mention further. Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib was a maskil gadol bechsidus, very deep thinker in chsidus. He would be able to sit a whole night, discuss the world of atzilut without mentioning it by its name. Discussing it, explaining it, that people around him who were not so well-versed in the deep concepts of chsidus were able to understand it, which this shows how deep he understood the concepts in chsidus. The Rebbe Rashab once told the Friediker Rebbe in the year Tafresh Peites, as it is recorded in the Rebbe's Reshimas, when Friediker Rebbe saw the Rebbe Rashab in a cholent, and the Rebbe

02:01 Rashab asked, who is it, pointing at the Rebbe's brother, and then he said, ah, ich kenem, I know him. Yud Gimmel Iyar Tafsh in Yud Beis, 1952, Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib was nifter. It was after a heart attack, 43 years old. The Rebbe's mother and Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib's mother lived here in the United States, and the Rebbe made sure that his mother should not receive this news. No one should share it with her, no one should discuss it in any way, to the extent that when the Rebbe wrote a letter to someone at Yisroel, he asked to relay there that people should not discuss it with his mother. And during the shiva, as the Rebbe did throughout the year, he visited his mother, spent time with her, and then went back to his room where the Rebbe sat shiva. The Rebbe also wrote letters or added something at the end of a letter in the handwriting of his brother, and this went through England, and from England the family sent it to the Rebbetsin Chana in the United States, that the Rebbetsin should figure that her son is still alive. In Tafsh in Lamed Gimel, there was a yechidus with Rabbi Cheskul Besser, and he had some connection, knowledge about the Rebbe's brother. And in the middle of the yechidus, the Rebbe's face became serious, and the Rebbe told him, you knew my brother well. Maybe you can tell me something about him. And Rabbi Cheskul Besser, alav ha-shalom, says that all these years

03:59 the Rebbe did not mention a word about this. But after the ptira, there was the first time that the Rebbe asked Rabbi Cheskul that he should give over something, a word from him. I started to talk, he says, and the Rebbe listened. Most of the time the Rebbe remained silent. One time the Rebbe said, they tell me that he had a good head, a gevaldike kop. An amazing head. This is what the Rebbe quoted Rabbi Cheskul Besser, what he heard from people. In Tafsh in Lamed Hey, it was at that time that the Rebbe handed over the writings of his brother in the field of math to Professor Rosenblum, who was a professor who lectured at a New York university. The Rebbe said to him like this, I had a young brother that was nifter more than 10 years ago. It's interesting that a chagav, just a comment that I heard from others, l'chaira, the Rebbe's brother in Tafsh in Lamed Hey, 1975, was not around already for about 22 years. The Rebbe mentioned 10 years because officially the Rebbetsin Chana was never told and she was nifter 10 years earlier. So b'meila it was never official. And then the Rebbe says this is the only thing, the writings in math, that's left from him. He was an independent person. He did not want to look in other things. He wrote everything on his own. And after that he would look in the references if somebody else also explained this topic. He was a big

05:45 hanoy, more than usual for his own independence, doing everything by himself, working everything out solely on his own. And therefore, because of this reason, he did not add any footnotes before he finished everything. I will be very happy if there's a possibility to publish this. And if there is a need to edit it in order to complete it, I will be overjoyed to pay anyone for their time if you will supervise it and assure that everything was done in the most efficient way. Going on now b'negir to the anhogis of the Rebbe b'negir to Yud Gimel Iyar. Every year, the Rebbe would say all the kadeshim of the three tefillahs, Ma'ariv, Shacharis, and Mincha. The Rebbe did not daven for the Yomit. The Rebbe paid someone to daven for the Yomit. Originally, it was Rav Zalman Duchman. And this was the custom of the Rebbe all the years. When Yud Gimel Iyar was on Shabbos, in the later years, there were fabrengens on this day. And there was also a maimach siddis. An exception that took place, Shabbos Parshas Achari Kedeshim Yud Gimel Iyar Tovshin Chof Aleph, that's 1961. It was actually in the lifetime of the Rebbe Tzachana. Shabbos morning, the Rebbe came to shul before davening. The Rebbe called in a minyan, and he said a maimer in his room before Shacharis. The maimer was edited many years later. In Tovshin Mem Hey, in 1985 and on, we find sichas from the Rebbe, how the Rebbe elaborates b'negir to his brother. It is

07:47 a fabrenga that took place on Shabbos Yud Gimel Iyar. The Rebbe elaborates on the name of his brother, the three names, Yisroel Aryeleib, what they signify in Avedas Hashem, which is basically Yisroel souls that live every yid. The root of the neshamah, which is equal by all, and then as it descends into the guf and nefesh habamis. Just to mention briefly, Yisroel is an acronym, Yashishim Ribi Eishes Leteira. There are 600,000 letters to the teira. This expresses the connection of every yid to teira. Aryeh means lion. It shows on the strong, intense aveda, strong like a lion, the aveda that a yid does for Hashem. And then comes Leib. Leib is a Yiddish name, not Hebrew, but Yiddish, which shows that it comes down. This intensity permeates the person, not only in inyonim of kedusha and kedusha matters, but also in worldly matters. A person is permeated with the intensity of his neshamah. In Tovshin Lamed Aleph, which is a newly found sicha a few years ago, Achari Kedayshim, the Rebbe says the inyon of a yortzeit shows the progress of the neshamah, that it elevates to a very high level, completely beyond, removed from the earlier standards. Because it comes as a result of the descent of the neshamah in this world. So through her aveda, she becomes a mahalach, progresses to a very high level, especially through the aveda inyonim that are accomplished in a yortzeit. And the Rebbe mentions namely l'chayim tikkun, as it is customary by Peleh Shachsidim to say l'chayim

09:42 on a yortzeit, ube'iker, and primarily through teira and tzadeka, as it is customary in Chabad. And since the aliyah is accomplished through the aveda in this physical world, the mele, the neshamah also accomplishes by the people that are found in this physical world, that the neshamah becomes an advocate on their behalf. Ubefrat, here the Rebbe refers to his brother, the mele of the neshamah, that it stems from very great ancestors, and the merit of the parents and the grandparents, v'chulu. Concluding with a response that the Rebbe gave in regards to activities that were done on behalf of the yortzeit in Tzvas. So the Rebbe writes, v'yehi rotzem, it should be the will of Hashem, that all the tefillahs, b'sechechet tefillahs kol b'nei Yisrael, that all the tefillahs that were said amongst the tefillahs of kol b'nei Yisrael should be accepted and accomplish what they need to accomplish. To clarify some details that were mentioned somewhat earlier, which were later verified, Rabbi Yisroel Aryelei, balavasalom, was born on Chof Aleph Iyar, Taf Resh Samach Vav, which is 1906. And he was born in Ukraine.