Sukos, Shmini Atzeres & Simchas Torah by the Rebbe

00:01 The day after Yom Kippur is referred to Beshem Hashem, in the name of Hashem, and it is basically a, uh, very spiritual day. It is a day that we come out from Yom Kippur and it's considered a pure day, a day that the Talmud mentions that there was a certain sage who would bring a sacrifice for almost every day in the year. Maybe he sinned, but for this day he didn't bring. He says the impression of Yom Kippur is still left, uh, and remained on the day of the eleventh of Tishrei, which is referred to Beshem Hashem, Hashem's name. The four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot corresponds, reflects to the four letters of the same Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. That's name, Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei, the four letters, so that actually reflects the, uh, essence of Hashem's name. The Rebbe would go to the 11 in one of the days, at least one of the days be-between Kippur and Sukkot. Uh, one of the days that the Rebbe went every year was the thirteenth of Tishrei, which is basically the day of the Yamim Noraim. Today is the Yamim Noraim, the anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Maharash was nistalek in the year, um, late 1882, um, which is Taf Resh Men Gimel, so it's over a hundred and forty years. And this is, um, today is the day he was the fourth Rebbe of Chabad, and he's known as the Ba'al HaMa'amar, the famous piskan that he would say, "V'chatichila Araba." That when a person

01:50 needs to overcome a certain challenge, he doesn't start from under and then goes over, but he originally starts from over, uh, at the outstart to aim for the high. The Rebbe in later years, when the Rebbe became seventy, it was already in the, um... So in the next half a year later, the Rebbe began to farbrengen every year on the evening of Yud Gimmel Tishrei, tonight. The night before Erev Sukkot, the Rebbe would farbrengen. Um, every year he would say a Ma'amar. The Ma'amar, the discourse would be based on the Ma'amar of the Rebbe Maharash, speaking about the four, specifically the four different minim that we take for Sukkot, and also the sukkah itself. And he would speak sichas. Uh, he would, uh, uh, there were directives in regards to going, visiting Yidden in different places, in different cities, different suburbs, to bring the joy there for them, the simchas Beis HaShoeiva. Okay, going on further. The, um, Yud Gimmel Tishrei is the date that the Rebbe would farbrengen, and this went on from 1972, late '72, till 1987, 80... late '87. Rebbe farbrengen year after year on this day. This was a very special day by the Rebbe, and this was the springboard, the start of, of ushering in the Yom Tov of Sukkot, what Sukkot represents, and how the Rebbe explained it in many different ways in Ma'amarim, in Sichas, et cetera. When it get to Erev Sukkot, it was a busy day by the Rebbe. Number one, there were different groups of

03:48 Yidden who would bring the Rebbe Esrogim. They would bring an Esrog from Italy, which is traditionally Chabad, is, uh, takes davka from Calabria, davka from Italy. Um, this is traditionally traced back to the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe once said, and the Rebbe Rashab repeated it every year on the first night of Sukkot, that when the told, when the Almighty told Moshe Rabbeinu to put together, "U'kakhtem lachem pri etz hadar," you should take an Esrog, a lulav, uh, hadasim, arovos, which are willows. And he says they sent shluchim, shluchim with clouds to Italy, to, uh, Calabria. And that's why it's traditional by us that from year to year, all the Rebbeim, up till the Rebbe pasht, would always prefer from Italy. The Rebbe also would receive Esrogim from Eretz Yisrael. The Esrogim from Eretz Yisrael, the Rebbe would, um, use, but not for the beracha, but only for lanuyim. In other words, the Rebbe would shake the lulav from Italy, Calabria, and also the lulav from, uh, Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael he would only shake. the, uh, lulav of, uh, the Esrog of, uh, Italy, the Rebbe would make the beracha on it, uh, with the the beracha, and would shake the lulav, the, uh, do the lanuyim with the lulav on their Esrog. Uh, this was customary, it seems like also by the previous Rebbe, and the Rebbe kept it up. Um, there was basically one inyan beneger to the groups of Chassidim who brought the Rebbe Esrogim. A second inyan which took place

05:44 Erev Sukkot was that the Rebbe distributed Esrogim to a group of Chassidim which the Rebbe listed them, uh, mainly, um, had shluchim in different countries. Certain rabbonim that came from Eretz Yisrael as orchim. There were about fifteen people on the list that they would receive from the Rebbe the following: lulav, esrog- And hadasim. I'm not sure about aroves. There are videos today and pictures how they're all laid out on the table in the Rebbe's hallway upstairs. The Rebbe would have a list. He would-- Many times you saw the Rebbe wearing glasses at that time, and he was just checking over the list, and whoever came in were basically mentioned on the list that they were notified by the secretariat that they should come in to pick up their lulav because the Rebbe is giving it to them as a gift. So it's basically something that these fifteen chassidim were zecher, they merited to receive from the Rebbe, and then the Rebbe would give them a berachah. Let's say each one that went in, number one, he needed to choose for himself. The Rebbe didn't just put down one esrog, one lulav, one hadasim. He needed-- they needed to choose for themselves, each one individually. And the Rebbe was watching how these chassidim are choosing for themselves. And it's not an easy thing to choose an esrog in front of the Rebbe or choose a lulav. It's not an easy thing. It wasn't comfortable then. Although they trusted the Rebbe that the Rebbe already chose this

07:13 whole, uh, package of lulavim, esrogim, et cetera, but nevertheless, they needed to do their job. And as, as they would walk out with all the different minim, the Rebbe would give them a berachah, that they should be mamsich all the am suchas, they should draw down all the inyanim that these inyanim need to accomplish, the blessings that these inyanim need to accomplish. And this is basically what took place Erev Sukkot. The Rebbe would also give a general berachah to those who brought the esrogim, um, a berachah to the kvutza, to the delegation. In addition also to the delegation of those who brought from Eretz Yisrael. So it's the ones that from... Ba-ba- basically the ones from Eretz Yisrael, they're the ones that would receive a berachah poshet for their bringing the esrogim. The Rebbe would be very particular to pay for the esrog before Yom Tov. Although generally by the previous Rebbe, it wasn't always before Yom Tov. Many times he paid after Yom Tov. There was an older chassid, later he was an older chassid. When he was younger, he would travel to Italy in the nineteen-forties, Rabbi Saul Jacobson, and he would bring an esrog for Friediker Rebbe. And the Rebbe says that Friediker Rebbe left Africa not necessarily paid mamash on, uh, and before Yom Tov. Why, why is this point made? The Rebbe says because it says by an esrog that you have to own it. So since you have to own it, you have to pay for it. So therefore,

08:52 the Rebbe was particular to pay before. All the Rebbe was particular to pay for everything, right, right, uh, COD. But in came the Friediker Rebbe, the Rebbe says, comes out that halacha, it doesn't really minimize it in any way, and a person could pay even after, and it's considered his. Because by esrog it says, "Ulkachtem lachem", you should take, it should become your property. The way it becomes your property is when you actually own it. Now going on to the days of sukkot. The days of sukkot by the Rebbe, there were two different groups of days. They're the first days of sukkot, the last days of sukkot. The first days of sukkot had different events happening over the years, and amongst them there was also farbrengen and other things happening. So I'll speak first in regards to the earlier years, what took place by the Rebbe and things that stopped later and the Rebbe put in other things, uh, included other things that the Rebbe established in later years. In general, there was a big sukkah, which is still built in seven seventy, for the elom, for the crowd, in order to be able to eat there, guests. In addition to that, the sukkah was also for the Rebbe to be able to farbreng. The Rebbe farbrenged in the sukkah on the second day sukkot, so therefore, there was a need to make a big sukkah. There were many minyanim that davened there later because it was more spacious, and a lot of benches were

10:30 moved out from the shul into the sukkah. That took place over the years. And then came the second day sukkot, the Rebbe would farbreng. The Rebbe would actually come into the sukkah, wash his hands for hametzi, he would sit down, he would farbreng for a few hours. It was the end of the second day, like this year, it'd be Sunday evening, Sunday sunset time. The Rebbe would be sitting facing Eastern Parkway, with the back to the taslech, facing Eastern Parkway, and the whole elom was facing the Rebbe. So the Rebbe was by the end of the sukkah, as far as it can go, and that was where the Rebbe's platform was. And the Rebbe came in, he washed, he delivered a maamar, a discourse, and he delivered a few sichas. Then the Rebbe benched, the Rebbe davened maariv, made havdalah. The Rebbe himself made havdalah, and then the Rebbe distributed kos eloke. Kos eloke is basically from the wine on which he benched and he made havdalah. So there was lines of people. It was, uh, uh... This was, this, this was the actually the second kos eloke in the year. The first one was the end of Rosh Hashanah. The issue that was taking place in the sukkah, and for that very reason the Rebbe stopped farbrenging in the sukkah after twenty years, was because there was a lot of pushing. The reason there was pushing were two reasons. Number one, the space. It's not as big as a shul. Number two, it was

12:16 hard to hear the Rebbe because when a person is talking in the sukkah, the schach absorbs the f- the voice, but the, the sound, but you can't hear. It's very hard to hear, uh, uh, from a distance. In shul, at least there is a, uh, echo, there is something from the walls that, uh, helps, helps us hearing the Rebbe. Here, it wasn't sayech. It was ve- unless somebody stood very close. The meilah, well, it was in such a situation, there was a need for, uh, pushing. I mean, naturally, everybody wanted to hear, everybody wanted to see. HaChapanim, it was in Taf Shin Lamed, late 1969. There was a table that fell then as a result of, uh, pushing, a result of singing, whatever it was, fell on someone and got very hurt. And the Rebbe said after that, he's no longer farbrengen in the sukkah because it is dangerous. And, uh, from then on, the Rebbe never farbrenged with Hasidim in the sukkah. We're going on now to later years, what took place Sukkot, the first day Sukkot. In later years, the first day Sukkot, after the Rebbe stopped the farbrengen, about ten years later, it was a year of Hakhel, Taf Shin Mem Alef, late 1980, and the Rebbe then, uh, started to speak Sichas every night after Ma'ariv. I remember the first night, this was forty-two years ago, forty-three years ago. It was a total surprise. Everybody was-- worked the whole day with the sukkot, with the grape, preparing for the Yom Tov.

14:02 All of a sudden, the Rebbe speaking. The whole place ran to the front in the shul to, to-- after Ma'ariv, the first night, nobody expected it. One night, a second night, a third night, kept on for twelve years. Every year, the Rebbe spoke every night of, of Sukkot until, um, Hisbodedut Rebbe. What did the Rebbe speak about? The Rebbe spoke about the ushpizin. Ushpizin are the guests who come into the sukkah, the guests who are mentioned in the Zohar, and the guests who are the Hasidishas guest. We have the seven guests who are in the Zohar, Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov, Meisha, Aharon, Yosef, David. Then we have the Hasidisha guests who are the Baal Shem Tov, Maggid, the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, Tzemach Tzedek, Rebbe Maharash, the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe Rashab is Hisbodedut Rebbe, the seventh, and the Friediker Rebbe was the one who gave it over to us. So this is where it stopped. The Rebbe in later years continued that Shemini Atzeres is the Friediker Rebbe's day. And Hasidim of our generation would say that, and still say it, that Simchat Torah is the Rebbe's day. We saw the revelation of the Rebbe then, the Simcha, the joy, the, i-it was like higher than limitation, was Simchat Torah. Now, the Sichas that the Rebbe gave after Ma'ariv were not recorded, of course, because it was Yom Tov. Sometimes it could have been two nights, and then the third night, as after Yom Tov, we can record it. Sometimes when Sukkot fell out

15:44 Wednesday night, so there was a Thursday, there was a Friday, and there w- there was a Wednesday night, a Thursday night, and a Friday night. Three nights of Sichas that you couldn't write. So he was constantly reviewing it. Reviewing it till we wrote down. After Shabbos, everybody was responsible, sat down and wrote it down. So-- And it was, it was sometimes difficult because the Sichas were about forty minutes long, and there were many loose words, single words, few words here, there, that sometimes a person lost the connection. What is the connection with before or after? And even sometimes lost tab of those few words because it just fell out of mind. But everybody was mobilized for that. Many, many people who also contributed, and, uh, they were written up as much as possible, as, as good as possible. Okay, this is all the first day's Sukkot. Now, something that this year we are at the seventieth anniversary is Mivtza Lulav. The Rebbe, through Rebbe Chadikoff, initiated a new campaign, Mivtza Lulav, to allow, to enable people who did not have the opportunity to make a berakhah on the lulav and the minim, to go out in the streets and speak, speak with these people. These people were sitting on Eastern Parkway, all Yidden. The whole neighborhood was all Yidden, up till Atlantic Avenue. You can walk in any direction in the middle of the night, and you didn't have what to be concerned about. Not even a, a first thought of what to be concerned

17:23 about. It was all Yidden, and memaleh, these Yidden, older, old-timers would sit on the, on the benches, and it was full, full. Women would drive the, the babies on, in Eastern Parkway with the carriages from Rochester till the park. Everything was mameh. This was till the mid-sixties. So Chapanim, many people benched lulav thanks to the Rebbe's campaign. And later, now, I mean, it's still going, and every year it's being, uh, being stated again and, uh, repeated, uh, reaching out to people, reaching out to people in the streets, reaching out to people in the parks, in hospitals, in prisons, uh, uh, giving them the opportunity to make a berakhah on the lulav and the minim. This is basically what took place in the first days by the Rebbe over the years. Now we go on to Halameid Chol Hamoed basically was a low-key time. There wasn't any f- there weren't any farbrengens Chol Hamoed. Um, but there was one day that the Rebbe would farbrengen every year up till Tav Shin Chaf Dalet, late nineteen sixty-three. The farbrengen was called Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. The Rebbe would farbrengen in the sukkah. He did not wash, but he farbrenged after ma'ariv, and the farbrengen went on for hours. This farbrengen was unique also because many talmidim, students of non-Lubavitcher schools, would come to this farbrengen. They lived in the area. They didn't have any yeshiva, and they heard there's a farbrengen, a mesiba, a party, a, a gathering, so they would come. Now that's when the Rebbe would

19:11 many times give over messages that also were relevant for them, and especially during Sichas Vacholo, the Rebbe would, would mention things which relate to them. And as mentioned, that stopped, um, Tav Shin Chaf Dalet, which is late nineteen sixty-three. The next year, officially, I mean, uh, I mean, officially the reason is the next year the Rebbe became an oval for his mother. The Rebbe's chanah was niftar then, the next year of Av Tishrei, and therefore the Rebbe stopped the farbrengens of Beis HaShoeiva, and that was it. He never resumed again a year later. That's how it remained, that farbrengen fell out of the calendar. In total, the Rebbe farbrenged... Actually, this farbrengen began, historically speaking, from the first year that the Rebbe was here in the United States, late nineteen forty-one. The Rebbe already farbrengen. This was a farbrengen that the Rebbe would farbrengen with the talmidai yeshiva, the students, already from nineteen forty-one. That's about eight, nine years before the Rebbe assumed leadership. This was a farbrengen, this and Shabbos Mevorchim, which was a, a, uh, request from the previous Rebbe. The Rebbe did already before the nesius. The later years, as mentioned, the Rebbe would urge that people should travel to different places to be mesameach Yidden, bring joy to people who are in small communities, in small subur-suburbs, in, uh, b-cities around New York. Sometimes upstate New York, like to go to Buffalo, for example, or to, or to Albany, which is a good three, four-hour drive. There was one year the

20:58 Rebbe said that they should take along a delegate from Eretz Yisroel and a delegate from Russia, that the Yidden who are sitting there and living there should see what it looks like a Yid that just came out of Russia and a Yid who's from Eretz Yisroel. The melee to represent all the different communities, all the different backgrounds. As mentioned that from in Tav Shin Mey Alef, the Rebbe started, uh, to speak every night of sukkos, so that continued in Chol Hamoed also. So it went on till Hoshana Rabbah every year for twelve years, late nineteen eighty to late nineteen ninety-one. This was the seder. He would speak sichas every night. There was one year the Rebbe, many years that he described the connection between the Reguel Ushpizin and Ushpizin of the Ze'ir and, uh, one from Chassidus. There were oth-other years that he spoke about the opposites between them. There was one year the Rebbe chose to speak how the opposites between the two in their personal life. Avraham and the Ba'al Shem Tov, Yitzchak and the Maggid, Yankiv and the Alter Rebbe. So the Rebbe really brought out in a very interesting, colorful way the different aspects of the Ushpizin, how they are compared to each other and how they're opposites of each other. The Rebbe would connect it with the Chum-- Shir Chumash of the day, uh, of sukkos. The Rebbe would connect with a vort from the Ushpizin, not just comparing to the Ushpi-- the, the Chassidish Ushpizin and the Ze'ir, but

22:42 a vort of the Ushpizin on sukkos, a word from the Ushpizin, from the Maggid, vacholo, et cetera. And later years, the Rebbe started to discuss, connect it also with the Rambam that we're learning that day. That began in eighty-four. So three years later, already, four years that they started to-- The, the Rebbe made mention of the Rambam and connecting it all together as one. So this was basically a sicha which went for about forty minutes, maybe sometimes less, and the Rebbe would be standing at his place after ma'ariv, facing the Elul, and that's something that repeated itself every night for twelve years. Now, in the evenings of Tav Shin Mey Alef, that first time it began, which is late nineteen eighty, the Rebbe then spoke about the yingen of joy, and that the joy is not enough, it's limited, but it has to overpour. It has to pour over all the boundaries. And that is when a few older Chassidim were walking the street, and they decided to start dancing in the street. Like Simchas Torah, we see sometimes Chassidim dancing to the Rebbe. Beis HaShoeiva, we didn't see it. They started to dance in the street, and then Bochurim came also. They felt farbrengens inside is, is not what the Rebbe wants. The Rebbe wants the streets. And that's where the Simchas Beis HaShoeiva on Kingston and Montgomery started. It started forty-three years ago. On that corner, that's where the older Chassidim were dancing, and later it, uh, it, it, it involved everybody, the

24:31 whole community, and now you have already also people coming from other communities. When the Rebbe heard that they're dancing in the street, the Rebbe was very pleased with it. The Rebbe made mention of it by farbrengen, and they dance then to make sure that the street dances along. And the Rebbe says to make sure the police dance with them. It was a, it was very, very strong words about the yingen of the, the, the dancing. The Rebbe was very pleased with it. This was like higher than all limitations. Even the night that we say Tehillim, Hoshana Rabbah, the Rebbe said at least, since there's no time, we have to say Hamizdvarem, we say Tehillim. That was at least eighteen minutes. Hilch mil, to dance eighteen minutes and finished. the eighteen minutes usually was in front of seven seventy, but in later years they started to do it at Montgomery till twelve o'clock at night, uh, in the morning, to twelve thirty, and that's when they go to seven seventy. Now we go on to Hoshana Rabbah. Hoshana Rabbah is the final day. It's called Gmar Simat Eva. This is basically why it's called the final seal, a final, uh, day for the s- for the ins-- sealing for a good year, a good and sweet year. And therefore, there are many Tefillahs, many prayers then. We have seven Hoshana's. We walk around seven times the bimah. And then there is, uh, a lot of Tefillahs to say, additional prayers. And then in addition to that,

26:03 we have also, um, uh, Hoshana's, clapping the Ha- the Hoshana's. Hoshana's, it's a very auspicious day. It's the final seal of Yom Kippur is done. After Davening with the Rebbe finished about twelve o'clock, the Rebbe would distribute Lekach for those who did not receive on Erev Yom Kippur. Basically, guests who have arrived after Yom Kippur, they would receive Lekach on Hoshana Rabbah. The Rebbe would give each one a berachah like he gave Erev Yom Kippur. He would say, "Shana Hataivah Umesuka," a good and sweet year. Here, the Rebbe would say, um, I think it was, uh, I was never on that line, but, uh, pastors, he would say, "Gmar Simat Eva" or something like that. What happened weiter, this went on for hours, then the women went. And sometimes it took away time from the Rebbe going home to eat because it was the Sudde Hoshana Rabbah, the line was big, and eventually they gave the, um, the, the line stopped and the Rebbe went home, then he came back for Yom Tov, for Shemini Atzeres and Simchat Torah. Speaking about the Inyan of Hoshana Rabbah brings to mind something else which actually began on Sukkot itself, and that is the first day Sukkot, already from the beginning years of the Rebbe's Chassidus, the Rebbe would give out his lulav that people can make a berachah on the lulav on the Daled Minim. Uh, the Rebbe himself would sit in the sukkah, his private sukkah which was, which was and is built every year, actually

27:41 was built this year already in front of seven seventy. The Rebbe would sit, watch everybody come in, and would say to each one, "Matana L'ma Al As L'hachzir". It's a gift for-- on the condition to give back because whatev- it's not that you're taking from the Rebbe, uh, you're using the Rebbe's, because then you're not yetz ha-lachem, it has to be yours. That's why the Rebbe would say, "I'm giving it to you for a gift on the condition that you return it." Okay. Went on for years until late nineteen sixty-one. It was then Rabbi, the Rabbi Harlich, alav hashalom, he just passed away summer. He was called into the Rebbe, and the Rebbe told him, "I'm gonna ask you if you could take care of it so it'll spare me time, and I won't have to sit and wait till the line goes through." Those years it wasn't such a big line, but still, the Rebbe's time. So he would stand at the, uh, in the big sukkah, and everyone would pass by and would make a berachah on the lulav. He would stand till the time that the Rebbe reached Chazaras Hashatz, that the chazan is already by Shacharit repeating the Shemoneh Esreh, which meant that the Rebbe is soon gonna need his lulav. So he immediately then went into seven seventy downstairs and brought the Rebbe the lulav while it's in middle of Chazaras Hashatz while the chazan is davening. The Rebbe immediately would look at the point of the lulav. He would

29:11 look at the esrog, if everything is intact, and, uh, he would put it down, and then, um, Hallel would begin. And after Shacharit, Mussaf, the Rebbe would again give out his lulav. The same thing took place Hoshana Rabbah by the women. The women had zechus to bench on the Rebbe's lulav that day, Hoshana Rabbah, and there was a line for that, and there was a line for Lekach as mentioned. Okay, now we're going on to Shemini Atzeres and Simchat Torah and how much we will talk about it, it would be insufficient, especially to describe what we saw and what we heard in words. It was actually higher than time, and it was higher than limitations. The forty-eight hours, what we saw by the Rebbe, what, what was taking place was something unusual. It was revelations that gave Chassidim a koach for the whole year. And it is something which is being recalled by certain Chassidim. Some Chassidim remember the earlier years, some remember the later years. What I remember, which I mamash was watching from close, was actually already from the early seventies. The early seven-- actually from before, but this is when there were many giluyim that remained with us in memory. Tisch Reb Lamed Heh is fifty years ago. It was then that the Yom Kippur War broke out, and it was then that the Rebbe by Hakafos, one of the Hakafos in one of the evenings, the Rebbe took out a siddur. He started to sing the Adires Bamunah with the French

30:58 anthem. The Rebbe asked the, the, the French national anthem. The, the, the Rebbe asked if to give a Hakafah, to be Mechabed a certain Hakafah for the Orim from France. And then the Rebbe asked, "Are they all there?" "Yeah." The Rebbe took the Seder, and he started-- took the, took it close to the end of the Bima, and he started to, um, sing HaDerech Z'muah with the French anthem. People from here, people from other countries had no idea what was going on. Even the ones coming from France didn't chapu what was going on till it, till it dawned on them, maybe someone, one told another, they started to jump to, to the sky. It's like they never heard this. The Rebbe singing their French anthem, HaDerech Z'muah. A kapoim, this was one of the Giluyim revelations fifty years ago, taf shin lamed daled. And this was on top of the, the war that the Rebbe spoke about Simcha joy. The Rebbe already predicted the war four months earlier and did all kinds of things to avoid the war through the children being, uh, nullifying all the decrees. And then came 12 Tishrei, the Rebbe made a Siyum in honor of the yahrtzeit, and he chose a tractate which he started to explain why he chose that tractate. A few reasons he gave. Masechta Challah. Then came the war, Syria and Egypt, both of them together. And then came the Farbrengen Yud Gimmel Tishrei. And the Rebbe is speaking that beemes he pra-- he-- it's like

32:43 somebody, it's in the Rebbe's modesty, somebody prophesizing without knowing what he's saying. This is a choice of Hasidim. We don't have to trust it. The Rebbe knew well what was going on. And the Rebbe then said, "Masgocha Protis, the conclusion of that tractate Challah speaks about Mitzrayim and about Syria." So the Rebbe originally already everything was structured. So generally, the first night, Shemini Atzeres every year, they would have Ma'ariv in, on time, like at seven o'clock whenever, and then about nine o'clock would be HaTorah. The Rebbe would come into HaTorah, the Hakafos, seven Hakafos. The Rebbe would receive the first Hakafa and the seventh Hakafa. Sefer Torah, he would dance with his brother-in-law, the Rashag, Shmarya Goraria. And then after that, about a quarter to eleven, the Elam went home. Some people already made Kiddush between Ma'ariv and HaTorah, and some made Kiddush after, they just stood after. The second day, I mean, the second evening, uh, was basically the big night. Today, they call it all-nighter. Some in a few years, they'll have a new word for it in the American lexicon language. A kapoim, the, um, it was basically a all-nighter. But just to mention something before, in the morning, Shemini Atzeres in the morning the- there's Yizkor. Yizkor is basically for someone that, uh, is... In other words, let's put it the positive. Those that have both parents don't say Yizkor. But those that don't need to go out. The Rebbe waited till they actually closed the door behind them. They put

34:30 a towel, they put a this, they put a that. The Rebbe didn't go for it. The Rebbe was watching. I remember one year, I, I, I witnessed it. They're watching till they close the door behind them, then the Rebbe began saying Yizkor, turned to the Seder. It was like a special... There was a very particular, not even to put something between, but just to close the door behind them, where a person should not be in Shul when Yizkor is said if a person has both parents. The second night was the big night. The Rebbe would have Ma'ariv about seven. About eight thirty or nine, there were different settings, different years. The Rebbe Farbreng. This Farbrengen was a warm-up for Hakafos. So you have like this, nine o'clock, all the Shuls in Crown Heights already made Hakafos. The only one that didn't make Hakafos is the Rebbe. When was Hakafos? You'll see, you'll see further. The Rebbe Farbreng to twelve AM. Then there was a break, an intermission to change the soul from Farbrengen mode to a Hakafos mode. It's like ten miracles in the Beis Hamikdash what took place there. It was very... I mean, you have thousands of people roaming around, benches are flying everywhere. It, it was mamish, it was sakones. Okay, Rebbe should go for later, they start to lock the shul, and people got food outside. It was in later years. In the early years, we didn't have any food. From seven in the evening in a flatbush shul, made Kiddush

36:01 there, came to the Rebbe's Farbrengen. From Farbrengen, we went to Hakafos. Hakafos was one in the morning. About two thirty, three o'clock, we came home. That's when we ate Seudas Yom Tov, three AM. My wife once invited someone, a journalist, to come three AM. She asked her, "Three o'clock, three, uh, three AM, PM?" "No, three AM." She didn't show up. She thought perhaps it were, were wild. A kapoim, it could be, I think that we think she came the next day, which also we were in Shul. In reality, Simchas Torah is really not a day for, uh cholayvim. There were many different things happening. Uh, um, one Far-Farbrengen, the Rebbe once before Hakafos said that Yidden should bench each other Birchas Kohanim during the intermission. We see each other, Birchas Kohanim. Everybody, not just Kohanim. Everybody should bench each other. So v'chalhan, chevre were going to each other. It's one year that, um- There's one time they asked the Rebbe, they were like implying that the Rebbe should announce the Elam should walk out from shul in order to make order in shul. The Rebbe says, "I never send a Yid out of shul." He didn't wanna do it, so it was left for the Gabboim to do. The Hakafas, everything went, uh, again with the Rashag, the Rebbe's brother-in-law, and there were many revelations. People spoke to the Rebbe, like people who had a kiddush from the Rebbe, asked questions. People said l'chaim. The second night you can already eaten in the shul and,

37:43 uh, there was one person said to the Rebbe that this person is drinking mashke, uh, 86 proof. So he asked the Rebbe, what does it symbolize it in, in, in, uh, spiritually? So the Rebbe said that it's the Gematria, the numerical value of the word Shem Elokim, which means HaTeva. And then he tells the Rebbe, "This person is drinking 96 proof," which is mamash, the most extreme. So the Rebbe says 96 is the numerical value of Shem Kale and Shem Adne. Thirty-one and 65 is 96, which means to say that Lav Davka, the one who made the vodka in, in Russia, knew what he was doing with these kavonas. But basically, the Rebbe shora everything is... But this was an occasion by Hakafas. There was a person who was there from Berlin. The Rebbe went to Hakafas, and the Rebbe said, "You should make Berlin Lubavitch." Ten minutes later, the Rebbe comes back after Hakafas, and this guy is still standing there on the entrance of the ges area, and the Rebbe says, "Ten minutes have passed. What did you do about it?" The next morning, he's still stand- he's standing there again. The Rebbe says, "Twelve hours have passed. What did you do about it?" Then now fourteen hours. The word is he went and laid into Yechidus. He was not Lubavitch, but he did a lot pasht for the Rebbe, and, uh, he passed away a few years ago, but he was a pasht kiruvim that the Rebbe gave him. The dancing by

39:19 HaTorah, so when the Rebbe after every HaTorah, so the Rebbe would begin singing a niggun. The Rebbe would mamash be hopping on his feet. Sometimes the clapping, the, the energy of the Rebbe. The Rebbe should be sweating. There was air conditioner, but, uh, it was, it was a mist sometimes, especially mist coming up from the whole Elam that we were able to see from that room. They once had a big, uh, uh, pressure thing to go in to blow in air into seven-seven D. So the Rebbe once went out from Hakafas and the Rebbe said, "Daloi galus." The Rebbe says, "Galus should finish." The Rebbe said it three times. And then the Rebbe said, "Daloi," um, um, "Good Yom Tov" three times. It was a one year the Rebbe said, "Daloi galus," three times. The Rebbe then the next day, morning again Hakafas and again people, some people spoke with the Rebbe. The Rebbe encouraged the same to make kiddush in shul, some on mashke. And then at the end of the Yom Tov, close the end of the Yom Tov, the Rebbe would come in to wash for a farbrengen, a six-hour farbrengen. Six hours and then kisul bracha another three hours. So the Rebbe came down for about ten hours. This is after two days dancing and singing and clapping. And a Yid in the seventies and eighties, this is place it was pasht l'maala matava. We saw on the Rebbe's face at the end of the Simchas Torah, you saw it on

40:44 the video, so pasht it was pasht like completely drained. And, uh, then, then, then the Rebbe, the Rebbe meschich refreshed himself in a, in a small way. The next day, the Rebbe went to Deiyov, but this was basically a glimpse, a taste of what Simchas Torah meant by the Rebbe. The Rebbe says a health and that we should see it this year.