Chof Cheshvan: The Rebbe Rashab's Yom Holedes

00:00 The, uh, family members of The Rebbeim got married at a young age. So Memel, the Rebbe Rashab was born the twentieth of Cheshvan Taf Resch Chaf Alef, and almost fifteen years later, he, um, married his first cousin. The Rebbetzin Sterna Sara was actually less than a year older than him. She was born a year earlier, Te- Teves time. In Taf Resch Mem, the Rebbe Rashab became nineteen years old, and the Rebbe Maharash took him into the work, into the work of the public communal work, traveling to the government, making sure that there's no decrees issued, because a decree against the Jews in Russia meant a pogrom. It meant a loss of life, a loss of money, property, and it put everybody in danger. So therefore, the Rebbe Rashab, nineteen years old, is already being sent to Petersburg, although the Rebbe Rashab did not speak Russian, probably understood Russian, but there was someone that went with him, and he would direct that person what to say and, um, how to present it to the government. In Taf Resch Mem Gimel, it's late 1882, the Rebbe Maharash was nistalik. Rebbe Maharash was then fifty years old. He was nistalik, and the Rebbe Rashab accepted the leadership, the nasius. How old was the Rebbe Rashab? Almost twenty-two. He was the youngest to become Rebbe. He was twenty-two years old, Sivan month. There are different versions, although the Rebbe holds very clearly that since he said his first maamar then, his first discourse, that meant he accepted the leadership.

02:05 According to other stories, it comes out that, uh, it was like floating. It wasn't like a, you know, with the fullest measure. But Lipaio, the Rebbe says, "It's impossible. If he said a maamar, that means he's inaugurated." There was an older brother. The older brother did not wanna become Rebbe, the Razah, and, uh, the Rebbe Rashab also didn't want to become Rebbe. So it's told a certain story that they were once in the-- the Rebbe Rashab was in the train. There was a stranger that went over to the Rebbe Rashab. He had no idea who he's talking to. And he says to the Rebbe Rashab that, "I heard in Lubavitch there's a difference of opinion between two brothers, and they say that the younger brother, something special." So the Rebbe Rashab said he doesn't come to the older one. When he went off the train, this person saw a whole group of Hasidim waiting. He understood already that-- who he was speaking, speaking to. So the- basically, this is the, um, th- this is what took place then. This is in the 1880s. The Rebbe Rashab started to say maamarim, but as mentioned, when he got very sick, he actually then paused it, uh, stopped, uh, slowed down and needed to travel for healing purposes. He was sick with a serious illness. He wrote a tzava'ah, which is a will, that he wrote a whole booklet, How to Raise Their Few-Year-Old Child. Rebbe, the Friediker Rebbe was then three, four, or five years old at

03:41 that age, and it was ten years that the, the previous Rebbe did not see his father. In his first ten years of life, he did not see his father because he was traveling for health reasons out of town. He went to different places. There were times that he had permission to take along his child. He asked the teacher if he can take him along, and the teacher said yes, and he, uh, took him along to a certain resort area. This was all for health reasons. Rebbe Rashab was twenty-seven when he wrote The Tzava'ah, a booklet written with a lot of knowledge in Nigla, Hasidus, Kabbalah, Halakha, how to train to raise their, um, uh, child who was then very young. Taf Resch Nun Zayin, nine- eighteen ninety-seven. It was in the fifteenth of Elul, the middle of the wedding celebrations, the middle of the Sheva Brachos. The previous Rebbe's Sheva Brachos and the Rebbe Rashab announces a surprise announcement. He is going to found now a yeshiva. He is creating, establishing a yeshiva. The yeshiva will be for students, and the yeshiva began three days later on Chai Elul, 1897. The yeshiva did not have a name yet. It's called the Yeshivas Mes- Mesad, but it wasn't a name. A year and a month later, by Yaakov's, the next-- a year and a month later, the Rebbe Rashab is getting the seventh Yaakov. It begins with Temimim Shiur, and he announces the name of the yeshiva is Temimim. That's when he announced the name of

05:45 the yeshiva. This was late 1898. In Taf Resch Ayin Alef, late 1910, the Rebbe Rashab found the Yeshivas Cheverim called Taidas Emes. For those of you who are familiar, it's a, it's a very known yeshiva in Yerushalayim. It started in Hebron. It later moved to Yerushalayim because of conditions. And in fact, the Rebbe-- the previous Rebbe actually, um, visited the yeshiva when he was in Eretz Yisrael, and he said, a ma'amar, a discourse, Metzora Tishabov in the yeshiva Tehilat HaShammais in Yerushalayim. The Yem Yitzjan Chesed, according to one opinion, it is tonight. Tonight, tomorrow, in the year nineteen fifteen, late nineteen fifteen, the Rebbe Rashab leaves Lubavitch against his will. It was World War I. The Rebbe Rashab was then in a match of that he needed to leave because all the Jewish leaders were in danger then. And he went further into, to, to came to Rostov, took about a week, ten days, and that's where the Rebbe Rashab stayed until his his talukus four years later. About four, four and a half years later. The, um, moving from Lubavitch was a very uncomfortable thing for the Rebbe Rashab. This was the place where his ancestors lived for a hundred and two years. From the Mitteler Rebbe, as we mentioned in last week's year about Lubavitch. So from the Mitteler Rebbe till the, um, actually the, the, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, Rebbe Rashab, and the Friediker Rebbe, all of them lived in Lubavitch. Some were born in Lubavitch. Rebbe Maharash, Rebbe Rashab,

07:41 and the previous Rebbe were born in Lubavitch. So this was a very sentimental, very, uh, special place by the Rebbeim. And the Rebbe Rashab, poshit, did not wanna leave, but he had no choice. He was standing on a wagon which was right by Lubavitch, and a Hasid told him, "Rebbe, we should be able to see each other again." And the Rebbe Rashab says, "Batzem, I don't even wanna leave." It was just that the women, the wife, the daughter, the, uh, the, the daughter-in-laws, everybody was pushing because of the danger that there's a must to leave Lubavitch. So the Rebbe Rashab then left Lubavitch. He stopped his-- abruptly, he stopped all the discourses, which we'll mention further, a discourse that went on... I mean, a series of discourses that went on for three and a half years. He stopped it at Shabbos Vayeira, which is actually like this week's parsha, and he started to say different ma'amarim in Rostov. He felt it was a different-- It's not Lubavitch, so they changed the, the course of the ma'amarim. Okay, now we're going on further. After that kufah, he comes to Rostov. In the year Taf Resh Ayin Vav, the Rebbe Rashab sends a, um, bocher, a student, a few students to Georgia, Georgia to make yeshivas there, to make mikvehs, to make chadarim. And that is basically what they were doing, and they really upgraded the, the, the community, and they became very close with these Hasidim. And the later years, fifty years later, when they came

09:22 out of Russia, they met these Hasidim who were already living in Crown Heights. In fact, one of them was an older Hasid, very famous Hasid. His name was Rab Shmuel Evitin. And the Rebbe told him in nineteen sixty... late sixty-five, forget about the English, chaviv. The Rebbe told him that next year that you're gonna see your people from then. He looked at the Rebbe, didn't know what to do. He's not gonna disagree with the Rebbe. On the other hand, he had no idea how this is gonna happen. Middle of the sixties coming out of Russia, very few people came out. A year later, they came out, exactly. And the Rebbe send him to his room. The Rebbe send him to Rab Shmuel's room, which was a small room. Today, it's used for the yichud of chassan kallah after a chuppah. That's where Rabbi Shmuel would li- would live, uh, stay, and talk about Lamaska and the fabreng. Uh, after fifty years, they met, and, uh, they used to call him Chacham Shmuel. In Georgia, that's what they call him, Chacham Shmuel. So this was a historic union that he was one of the shluchim in nineteen fifteen, and this is nineteen sixty-five. In Taf Resh Peh. Taf Resh Peh is, uh, nineteen twenty, the night before Beis Nissan, Metzora Shabbos, three thirty AM, the Rebbe Rashab was nistalek. According to one opinion, it was typhus. It was, uh, others called it the Spanish flu. It was something that thousands of people died then, nineteen twenty,

10:54 nineteen twenty-one. And actually, a hundred years later, we had the COVID, which reminded people about this, uh, flu that took pl-- Spanish flu that took place a hundred years earlier. Now we're going on with the second paragraph. What did the Rebbe Rashab, what kind of ma'amarim did he deliver? What kind of hamshachim, which means series of ma'amarim, did he, um, um, ex-- elaborate on, I mean, and, and deliver actually? So in Taf Resh Nun Tes, eighteen ninety-nine or late nineteen-- eighteen ninety-eight, he began saying hamshachim in a, in a, um, with a steadier pace. In other words, a hamshach means he begins one ma'amar, he asks questions, he does not answer the questions on that ma'amar. The next location, there's another ma'amar. He asks new questions, begins explaining and refers back to where he left off on the previous one, and that can go on for weeks, months, and years. And by the end of the weeks, months or years, he will answer the questions of the first ma'amar. Okay, so we have one is in eighteen ninety-nine, that was a maimer. Uh, they were small They were actually small. Uh, uh, one of them was six, seven maimerim, another one was three maimerim was, uh, which is actually what the bachurim begin learning by eighteen years old was this is the called eighteen ninety-nine. Now, the next one, which was a famous one, was . is in the year nineteen oh six. The Rebbe Rashab delivered a series of sixty-one maimerim through that year

12:41 and continued occasionally in the next two years. This is which was known as a year of a , a year of that there's supposed to be the destin-- The, the-- That year was designated by a year of , redemption, and therefore the Rebbe Rashab then said that very, very brought it down, uh, and explained it. The Rebbe Rashab was known as the Rambam of Hasidism. The Rambam, Maimonides. One of the things that we find by, by the Rambam is that the Rambam would simplify his, his , especially the, the code of the law was written in a very simplified manner as the Rambam writes that children as adults will be able to understand it, and therefore, i-it is something which relates to all. He brings examples. Likewise, the Rebbe Rashab. The Rebbe Rashab's language style, very simplified manner, explains concepts, uh, uh, in basic or more than basic . And then as the years move on, he begins going deeper and deeper. And basically this, this series of maimerim, the different series of maimerim, they were the deeper maimerim. When it came to it was deeper than re- just saying one single maimer. So was one that continued for about a year, uh, plus. In nineteen twelve, , the first night the Rebbe Rashab began a maimer which nobody had any idea how far this is gonna go. A maimer which is when they start to say that maimer went, their went from till . From nineteen twelve to late nineteen fifteen. A hundred and

14:53 forty-four maimerim. Same style. Asked a question, the first one didn't answer, and that's how it went from one to another. When he left Lubavitch, as I mentioned earlier, he abruptly left the, um... He left, uh, uh, uh, uh, the, the stopped in the middle of the did not continue. Although he didn't even finish the He just kept on writing the next two years, but he started to say simpler maimerim because Hasidim in Rostov was-- were different. It's not the light of Lubavitch. Now, over the years, the Rebbe published these maimerim. The Rebbe published them one by one of these The first one he began publishing as a book was the the series of nineteen oh six. He waited a few years. Either he waited or for other reasons. Later years, in the late seventies, he began publishing other maimerim which were, uh, uh, year by year. Nineteen eighteen, nineteen nineteen, nineteen twenty, nineteen-- eighteen ninety-four. Different, different years, different occasions. Then came at a certain point within all this, came a which is a very big surprise for us then, and the Rebbe said then, it was in late nineteen seventy-six, the Rebbe said, "I have a . I have a seri-series of maimerim, the a hundred and forty-four maimerim." The Rebbe had it in manuscript form, the Rebbe Rashab's handwriting. The Rebbe says, "I have it by me years, and I feel that I'm depriving the Hasidim." And therefore, the Rebbe says he would like to publish it, but the Rebbe continues, he's afraid

16:51 to do it unless Hasidim will join him. The reason the Rebbe was afraid to do it, the Rebbe didn't explain why, but basically the Rebbe Rashab did not publish it, the previous Rebbe did not publish it, and the Rebbe felt he didn't wanna take it upon himself, this responsibility. But on the other hand, the Rebbe wanted to publish it, and the Rebbe's vision was already in nineteen forty-two when the Rebbe took over Kehos, when he was in charge of Kehos. What did the Rebbe write then? "We hope that in the years-- near future, we will be able to publish the nineteen oh six one, uh, This was something nobody ever dreamed of, nobody discussed it, nobody knew anything about out of the blue, and it took thirty-five years till it happened. Now, what did the Rebbe ask Hasidim should do? The Rebbe says, "Everyone should symbolically participate with one dollar, and that will give me, uh, the impression that Hasidim are in with me." As soon as the Rebbe put in the first dollar, everybody send up dollars to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe went to publish it. The Rebbe did not want anybody's name on it. Nobody should carry responsibility. And the Rebbe gave dates when it should be done. The first one is for Yu Shvat. We're talking about Yu Tes Kislev, so Yu Shvat. Second one, Purim. The third one, Beis Nissan, which marks the yahrtzeit, the hillulah of the Rebbe Rashab. Well, as you see the three dates, one is near

18:33 the other, and it's big Zevachim, so there was a rush. Where there's a rush, there's also typos. So the first edition really had a lot of typos, but later, the second edition, they put in the list of corrections, everything that needs to go in, and it was republished again fourteen years later. To date, we have the merit that most, if not all, I mean, there could be a few still at large, Mayim, discour- discourses of the Rebbe Rashab are published. The Rebbe Rashab said in his lifetime, one thousand one hundred and seventy-three Mayim. Eleven seventy-three Mayim in the thirty-seven years of his, of the Nasius. Okay, now we go on to the next column. The Rebbe Rashab wrote booklets, uh, for that of the yeshiva in their davening learning, and the booklets, uh, ch-chronologically came out. One of them came out in the year nineteen hundred, how to daven. In nineteen oh four, how to learn. And in nineteen ten, how to refine one's characteristics. So basically, they were basic made for the yeshiva wh-which was founded earlier, uh, more recent, like in nine-- eighteen ninety-seven, late eighteen ninety-seven. And mainly the Rebbe Rashab was catering. Of course, it's raising a generation with these with these series of Mayim, um, uplifting them. Now we go on to davening. A very interesting Inyan. The Rebbe Rashab writes, "How does one prepare for davening?" The Rebbe Rashab... I'm asking everybody, please put away your phones. This is something which is to davening. Let's see it. The Rebbe

20:24 Rashab himself tells us what to do. Practical things. Number one, a person should remove from their mind all the distractions that distract the person before he gets to daven. How does he do that? And that is by making a resolution and focusing on the fact that he is doing now a it's something that relates to the life of my soul. And therefore, he needs to make sure that there's nothing in the way. Everything should be put aside. A second thing is to think before davening something Yechidus, even a short concept, but something Yechidus, uh, uh, before davening. A third, uh, uh, aspect the Rebbe Rashab writes is that a person should feel a certain humility, a certain humbleness, being that there could have been times or there were times that a person has distanced himself from the Almighty by doing things which are inappropriate, which actually, this is something it says in Shulchan Aruch, that a person should think about the loneliness of oneself as a result of doing something wrong. And finally, dalet is the individual preparation for Shemoneh Esreh to know for whom you are standing. You are standing for the King of Kings. Interesting to note that this is not just a little detail. According to Halakha, a person daven Shemoneh Esreh, they daven tefillah samidnah, and they're not thinking for whom they're standing. They can think about the pietut hamildah, everything. They were not yet, uh, Shemoneh Esreh. They didn't fulfill Shemoneh Esreh because basically, the main objective of the tefillah

22:07 is to know for whom you're standing. And then the Rebbe Rashab continues, "One thing which is equal for all, that everyone needs to take upon themselves the yoke of Hashem's kingdom to know in their soul that they have a master, and that is Hashem Eleinu, who designated his royalty on everyone individually. And therefore, a person needs to take-- accept upon him oneself the yoke of Hashem's kingdom to be an eved, a tro-- trustw-- uh, trustworthy servant to him and to fulfill his will in Torah and mitzvahs, in keeping away from evil things and doing positive things, and in all the inyanim that were passed on to us from older generations." Then the Rebbe Rashab writes something which could be helpful in life, not only could be, but it's definitely helpful in life, and could sometimes protect a person from, uh, doing wrong things. The last paragraph on the page, a person should examine himself in every characteristic of his and in all his physical matters, that it should be in a very settled mind according to Torah. In other words, the decisions that he makes should be the guidelines should be Torah. And then the Rebbe Rashab continues, "He should not do something without thinking." He shouldn't do something without thinking because that we know on our own. He can sometimes fall on his head. But to check, to monitor, to supervise every one of his details and every evil thing that he did because of a, a negative characteristic should be engraved in his

23:54 mind, felt, and it should bother him. It should bother him why he did that thing, and that he will not do it again. He won't repeat it, Hashem Yishar. And he should threaten himself to correct it, and the Habais Heite will give him a new opening in the-- to illuminate his mind and heart with the Torah and Avodah Hashem. So this is basically a very interesting advice in life that a person should not do something without thinking. Whatever it is, it should be, uh, uh, to stop a moment and think. Now we're going on to the Inyan of celebrating the Yemai Ledet. Every year, the Rebbe Rashab would celebrate his Yemai Ledet by saying a Maimer Chidush. He would deliver a Maimer, a Has-- a, a discourse, and the discourse would be, if it was, um, Shabbos, it would be in public. If it would be in the middle of the week, it would be private. Who did he say it for? His son. That was the custom by the Rebbe Rashab all the years. So the last Yemai Ledet of his, Va'al Madain, we're up to page two on the se-- on the first column, second paragraph. The, the last Yemai Ledet in this world, it was six in the evening, which is, uh, the new day. Like between 5:00 and 6:00 hour, which is ushering in the new day. So bemeheilah, this was Chof Ches van. The Rebbe Friediker writes, "I entered my father's room to wish him mazel tov for his birthday,

25:33 his yom ha'ledet. Yom haboer vasach, the illuminating, the shining and meritable day, his birthday, and to rejoice with him as customary all the years. Every year. My pain is great because I see that his face is... looks upset." Agunim, agmas nefesh, agony. He-- There's something going on that he is poshit, uh, upset about. "When I told my father that when it comes to a joyous time like this, a person has to remove ev- uh, uh, from his mind everything that causes pain and agony. My father confirmed it and he said, 'Yes, every joyous matter, occasion, that has a foundation in Torah and avodas Hashem, a person could accomplish yeshuas letivus ha'rabim. He can accomplish salvation letivus for the benefit of the public.' " Should have rachmanus. The Rebbe Rashab is saying here, if we break it down, three things in one sentence and three major points of a yom ha'ledet. One, that it's a davar simcha. It's a joyous occasion, number one. Number two, it has a foundation in Torah and avodas Hashem. Number three, the potential that one could accomplish is yeshuas for the benefit of the public. And then the Rebbe Rashab says, "Since you can accomplish the yeshuas for the benefit of the public..." So the Rebe-- what does the Rebbe Rashab say? Should have rachmanus, 'cause that was the day of his yom ha'ledet. Use the occasion. A, a, an amazing statement that he made to a Hasid during Purim farbrengen in 1903 in Wien, or as they call it in

27:23 English, in Vienna. The Rebbe once told someone who came from Vienna that they should write, spell their name, the, the name of the city, Wien. Vav, vav, yud lamed. And the Rebbe says why? Because the gematria, the numerical value of the word Wien is seventy-two, which is gematria chesed. Positivity. Okay, is bei a farbrengen at a farbrengen, uh, in Wien, 1903. It was late at night and we were all mevusimdik. Mevusimdik means they drank a lot. It's Purim. One of our nash said, "Rebbe, how do we become higher? How do we get uplifted? How do we reach higher?" And he cried very much. Rebbe Rashab told him, "Come into my wagon, you will be uplifted." I'll say it first in Yiddish. This is where the whole richness is. "My wagon is my wagon is soaked in tears and sweat from avoda, avoda, avodas halev, avoda in the heart, and is decorated with the deepest concepts, deep concepts in chassidus, philosophical concepts in chassidus." Godly concepts, basically. So one of the... another chassid says, "Rebbe, where are the steps to go into your wagon?" Hearing this, he knows he has to make some kind of a preparation. He can't just jump in. So the next column, Rebbe Rashab continues, "Yes, without steps you cannot go out of your lowliness, and without steps you cannot go up to the higher. To go out from the lowliness and to reach the higher, there are in total four steps. Two to go out from the lowliness and two to

29:22 reach higher." "The first two steps to go out from the low- from the lower level, one, a person should think about every physical thing that they desire." Persons walking on the street, they see something they like. Store window, they see something. A store front, they want something. The Rebbe sa- the Rebbe Rashab says, "Make an evaluation. What is the benefit of it and what's the purpose of it? And to use it only for that purpose and benefit." In other words, not just to have... take it because you want a pleasure. "Oh, I like it, it's a good toy." For h- to use it for a legitimate purpose. For a techem. A techem, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, ikri. Beis, the second inyon is making a shehecheyanu to think every day, fifteen minutes a day chassidus. To think about a topic fifteen minutes a day chassidus. The Friediker told it to us in 1940. Uh, some, uh, seems like it was the earlier season when he came into the United States, and it's published in the Sefer, Sefer HaSichos. Okay, now we go on to Chof Ches van. The Rebbe makes a point, and the Rebbe wonders how come nobody caught up to it. Chof Ches van is the fiftieth day in the year. This Shabbos is fifty days since Rosh Hashanah. Chof is connected with Chesed. Chof is the abbreviation Chesed. The Rebbe Rashab was born in Taf Res Chof Alef which is the Aramaic word, you turn it around, Kislev. Kislev is the inyon

31:08 of Chesed. Um, and twenty-- fifty show one kesef. Sha'an noon is kesef. So the Rebbe says this is the connection between Khof Chesvan and the fiftieth day. Shnas Kislev, the Rebbe Rashab was born Khof Chesvan Taf Resh Khof Alef. That's eight-- late eighteen sixty. There are two khofs. There's Khof Chesvan and there's Taf Resh Khof Alef, which is also Kislev. Now, going to the last part of the Shiur, which is the page three. This first paragraph after the three stars. There's an interesting story that happened. The Friediker had a vision. It was here in the United States, late nineteen forty-four, middle of the war. He says, "Today," the Friediker Rebbe says, "is the birthday of my father. He was born on a Monday." That, that year was also Monday, nineteen forty-four. The twentieth of Chesvan, which is Taf Resh Khof Alef, nine in the morning, nine AM. "In my dream, I see a vision of my father dressed in Shabbos garments and with a very joyous face, illuminated face. And he said to me, 'In these twenty-four hours, when I reached the age of eighty-four,'" it's after this talos twenty-four years, "'since the descent of my soul into this low world, I will have nice guests here. And as they say there is, that all the Rabbeim will say a ma'amar on this kapitel.'" Kapitel, the kapitel Peh Dalet, which is what he's just finishing now. In other words, the Rebbe Rashab, even after this talos, there is an increase in age and there's an

32:48 increase in yom of Torah. So that's the point the Rebbe is making here, that we see that even after this talos, there's an ingan of learning and hearing things from the nesiam. That the Rabbeim came to the Rebbe Rashab and recovered his Yomim Leilaim. Each one of them said a ma'amar on, uh, on the kapitel Peh Dalet. The posek . From this, and then a hagav, this is the source. I just realized now. This is the mokar that the Rebbe in his Yomim-- in, in the Yomim Leilaim of the previous Rebbe, would say a ma'amar and explain a posek of his new kapitel. Sixties, seventies, eighties, up till a hundred years. The Rebbe would mention Yud Beis Tammuz, that he just entered a new year. The Rebbe would elaborate on the kapitel Tehillim, on a posek of the-- of, uh, corresponding to the new age number of the previous Rebbe.