The Rebbe participating in 3 Brisos

00:01 The hemsech to this Shabbos Parshas Lech Lecha and beginning of Parshas Vayeira, which discuss the Bris of Avraham Avinu and the aftermath, we will discuss Bris in which the Rebbe participated as a Sandek or a Kvater. In the Tofris Chassids in the 1930s, the Rebbe and the Rebbetsin were Kvater at the Bris of Rabbi Asher Haber in Paris. In Tov Shen Vov, 1946, the Rebbe was Sandek at the Bris of Rabbi Sholom Ber Hecht. It was understood that this was a compensation because when Rabbi Yankel Hecht and his wife, may she be well, got married in Tov Shen Hei in 1945, the Rebbe was not able to attend the wedding as he was a novel for his father, who was Nistalik Chof Melachem Tov Shen Dalet, summer 1944. He was in the year of Avelus and the Rebbe did not attend Simchas. After the Rebbe accepted the Nesiys, the Rebbe attended three Bris at which he was honored with Sandekois being the Sandek. The three families who merited this Hus, one of the first, Rabbi Yosef Melachem Mendel Tenebaum. It was at the Bris of his son, Rabbi Yitzchak Tenebaum, on the 7th of Adar Sheni, Tov Shen Yud Alef, 1951. Rabbi Yitzchak resides in Crown Heights and owns the Pesach Matzah Bakery from where the Rebbe would buy Matzah every year. The second family is of Rabbi Avram Yitzchak Hakein Rosenfeld. It was at the Bris of his son, Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld, on the 24th of Iyar, Tov Shen Yud Alef, who resides in

02:11 Tzfas, Eretz Yisroel, and heads a girls' seminary. The third family was Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Chitrik at the Bris of his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Chitrik, on Rishhedish Kislev Tov Shen Yud Beis, late 1951. After the conclusion of the Bris, respectively, the Rebbe spoke a Sicha on the topic of Bris. At the conclusion, the Rebbe handed the father of the child $5, and he said that the previous Rebbe gave a deposit of 20 Zlatas, this is a certain monetary sum, towards Yeshiva tuition. The Rebbe added that its value in the United States at the time was $5. And the Rebbe also mentioned that if it is not exactly that, they should make sure that it should be that total. Im Yirtzeh Hashem, in the next installment, we'll discuss more details. The hemsech to the earlier installment about the Rebbe attending Bris, we continue now with installment number two. First, we need to add an additional fact. We mentioned in the earlier installment in regard to the three families that the Rebbe participated in a Bris of that family. One also refer to the family Chitrik, as mentioned earlier. The Bris was of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Chitrik, who heads the girls' seminary in Tzfas in Eretz Yisroel. Now to discuss some additional details of the three Bris that we mentioned earlier. The Tenebaum Bris, the Rebbe came to their house on Park Place between Ralph and Howard Avenue. At the Bris, the Rebbe spoke a Sicha and elaborated on certain aspects of Bris, including the qualitative aspect

04:32 of Bris in comparison to Shabbos. The Rebbe also discussed many minhagim of the previous Rebbe at a Bris, which the Rebbe observed in the 1930s. In addition, the Rebbe also gave the father, Rabbi Tenebaum, a Sidder Teyre Eir, adding that bashgacha protis, this Sidder was published today. When the child grows up and goes to Yeshiva, he should learn Aleph Beis and Ivra Hebrew reading in this Sidder. The second family, the Rosenfeld Bris, the Rebbe traveled to Borough Park to the shul of Rabbi El Eliyahu Simson, who was the grandfather of the child. When the Rebbe entered and saw the shul layout, he commented that in this shul, everyone or most are seated by the Mizrach wall. The layout of the shul is that the Mizrach is a long Mizrach. Mizrach wall is generally an honorable place in shul. The Rebbe's point was that in this shul, all or most are seated in Mizrach. The Rebbe spoke about the aspect of Bris and its continuous effect on the person. This Sicha was later edited by the Rebbe and included in the third volume of Lekutei Sichas. The Rebbe also connected the concept of Bris with the contents of a Shvuas Maimer of the previous Rebbe that was just being published At the time, and the Rebbe concluded with strengthening these kasher to the previous Rebbe. The Rebbe gave a special bracha for the newborn who was a keyan that he should merit to serve in the Beis Hamikdash. At the Chitrik Bris, the Rebbe came to

06:27 their house at Kingston and Empire. After the Bris, the Rebbe asked Rav Ashkenazi, or Rav Meir Ashkenazi, who was also a Rav in Shanghai during the war years, and earlier yet from the 1920s, he should pasken if to begin the suda immediately after the Bris or to daven Mincha first. He pasken to proceed immediately to the suda. During the suda, the Rebbe spoke about the uniqueness of a Bris, how it is connected with the King Godol entering the Holy of Holies, Kadesh HaKadoshim, and how a Bris and Kadesh HaKadoshim are connected with the number eight. A Bris is on the eighth day, and the King Godol wears eight garments when entering the Kadesh HaKadoshim. The Rebbe related also to the name Yosef, referring to the previous Rebbe after whom the child is named and the Aveda of the Friedrich Rebbe. Part of the Sicha was edited by the Rebbe in a later time and included in the Kute Sichas Volume 3. To conclude with an additional fact, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Garelik shared with me an interesting fact that when he was born, the Rebbe sent five dollars to his parents, Rabbi Gershom Mendel Garelik, may he have a refuah shlema, and his wife schluchim to Italy. This was a deposit towards, I believe, Yitzhak's yeshiva tuition. The hemshech of the earlier installments about the Rebbe being the Sandek at three brisen in the early years of his nasius, I want to add clarity to what was mentioned in the second installment. Number one, at the

08:30 Tenabam Bris, the Rebbe gave the father of the child a siddur Tehillas Hashem, which arrived from print on that day, that the child should learn from it Aleph Beis and Ivra. Number two, it was mentioned that the Rebbe explained that the number eight is signified by bris since it is on day number eight since the birth of the child. And a second point that the entry of the King Gogol to Kadesh HaKadoshim is connected with the eight bigodim, the eight garments that the King Gogol wore. The Rebbe elaborated that although while the King Gogol would go on Yom Kippur into Kadesh HaKadoshim, the King Gogol only wore four bigodim, four garments. Yet this was accomplished with the keyach of all eight bigodim, the significance of the qualitative number eight. That even Yom Kippur, there was an impact of the Shemei Nebgodim that gave him the keyach, the spiritual strength to enter the Kadesh HaKadoshim.