Sukos, Shmini Atzeres & Simchas Torah by The Rebbe

00:01 So we continue now, Be'ezras Hashem, with the, um, hemseh, with the, uh, con-- uh, earlier installments which we spoke about Elul, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and we begin now to speak about sukkas, uh, Shemini Atzeres Im Chas V'Shalom. The, um, Yom Tov of sukkah Shemini Atzeres Im Chas V'Shalom is actually, we can say, a month for itself in contents, in quality, in quantity. It's, uh, something which consists of many details. There is the Yom Tov of sukkas, there's Chal Hameid sukkas, then there's Shemini Atzeres Im Chas V'Shalom, which is actually even higher than, uh, any timeframe. It is something which is higher than the structure and limitation of time, especially as it was by the Rebbeh, uh, uh, in specifically the forty-eight hours of Shemini Atzeres Im Chas V'Shalom. When it get to the union of sukkas, so the Rebbe davened with the Elul, with the Minyan, all the thrillers of Yom Tov and Chal Hameid. And, um, and then in addition to that, there were also fabringens as we'll mention further. The first night, the Rebbe would come into ma'ariv. So generally, there are the first two days of Yom Tov. This year, we're gonna have actually three days because it goes right into Shabbos, um, which there's an additional mitzvah, which is Eilav Tafshilin to allow us to cook from Yom Tov to Shabbos. We make a special Eilav Tafshilin. And, um, then comes Chal Hameid, which is low-key in contrast to the days of Yom Tov, and then comes the last days,

02:02 which are Shemini Atzeres Im Chas V'Shalom. The first day is Yom Tov, and actually the first day of Yom Tov in the morning, speaking chronologically, what took place over the years, and later additional things came in which were even earlier than the first day of Yom Tov, the first morning of Yom Tov. The Rebbe actually in, um-- would give out his lulav to make a berakhah on the lulav, which literally what took place practically is, this is already in the, the Rebbe as a Rebbe. He would sit in a sukkah, and everyone would come in. They would make a berakhah on the lulav. The sukkah is the one that is built every year on the lawn of seven seventy, in front of seven seventy. And, um, the Rebbe would tell each one that this is on the condition as a gift on the condition to return. Uh, the reason for saying it is in order that when a person uses it, it should be considered his. So the Rebbe said, "I'm giving it to you on condition of return." And then the next one would go in, and it would be laying on the table. The Rebbe would be sitting and learning, and one after the other came in. There wasn't such a big crowd, so therefore the Rebbe managed from eight thirty in the morning till before ten, and then he went in for Shacharis. That wasn't a very big crowd. So in the, um, later years, which is in late 1961, approximately, the

03:50 Rebbe asked for Rabbi Harlech if he can come to his room. And the Rebbe said that since this is taking up time, the Chulu, the, you know, s- uh, attending to the lulav everyone, uh, therefore if it's possible that he can take it over. The Rebbe is gonna give him the lulav certain time in the morning, early morning, around eight, and, um, he will stand with the lulav. And when it comes to Chazarat Hashats, which means when the Chazan says Shemoneh Esreh, so they will all-- they, they will stop the line then because the Rebbe will need the lulav for Halul. He would bring it to the Rebbe, and after Musaf, he would again receive it from the Rebbe. He agreed and, um, that's what take- took place decades, actually from 1962 to 1992. Wow. Thirty years, he actually every, every sukkas he stood on his feet, Yom Tov, Chal Hameid. This is hours of standing. And he would supervise that the lulav should be handled right. There shouldn't be any, uh, any faulty way. Sometimes a person doesn't hold the Esrog right and it falls all off, and it did happen. It happened a few times that the Esrog fell by accident. Some people got very emotional, and the Rebbe needed to change for another Esrog, and the Rebbe had a reserve. Sometimes he would, uh, at one point, actually, he needed to use an Esrog, which was the Rebbetsin's. And therefore, after Musaf, when they came to ask the Rebbe again to continue,

05:29 the Rebbe says, "It's not mine. I can't give it out." Taf Shin Nun Beis, late 1991, when the Rebbe came to shul, the Rebbe asked Rabbi Harlech, "Where is this line forming? Where is, uh, the benching of the lulav taking place?" So he showed the Rebbe there in the back of the sukkah. The Rebbe started to follow him. The Rebbe followed him. He never expected what he saw the next few minutes. The Rebbe parked himself there, stayed there, remained there for the next seven hours. He was attending to people for the lulav, and the Rebbe was watching. And when people came in and didn't expect the Rebbe to be there, they got confused with the bracha, and the Rebbe would correct them. So the Rebbe, in addition to the Rebbe having a cellulitis, an infection on his foot, which mamish he should have been off his feet, he was standing for seven hours. At times, I remember when I walked in, the Rebbe's foot, one was raised over the chair, and he was like leaning on his knee. And listening to everyone making the bracha, seven hours. Shacharis began 3:00 PM. And when they asked the Rebbe, "When is Shacharis?" The Rebbe said, "When we'll be ready." This was the last sukkas before the stroke. So Hasidim saw, saw later, understood the Rebbe wanted to see everyone. And people came from Boro Park even. Hearing about it, it spread like wildfire, and seven hours the Rebbe... This was the first day sukkas. Okay. Now, the

07:21 seder of the lulav after, just to speak about the lulav itself, the Rebbe would give it out every day, Halameh also. Hoshanah Raba, the Rebbe would also send it out for the women, and they were-- they had the zechus to make a bracha on it, uh, uh, uh, Hoshanah Raba after Musaf, the, uh, on the Rebbe's lulav, and also to children. Another inyan which took place on sukkas was the second day sukkas the Rebbe would farbrengen. Where did the Rebbe farbreng? The Rebbe farbrenged in the big yard of Seven Seventy. Where you ha- you'll see, if you remember it from last year's one thing, it's the, a big yard which is in the back of Seven Seventy. That's where it's the public sukkah, and the Rebbe would farbreng. He would be sitting with his face to Eastern Parkway and with his back to the Tashlich, which is the back of the yard. There was a ha- table there. And Hasidim would be in front of the Rebbe, and the Rebbe would speak. I can tell you from experience, it was one of the most difficult farbrengens that we had because it was very hard to hear the Rebbe. It's not like you have a solid wall or a solid roo- ceiling. It was schach. So the voice became absorbed right away in the schach, and that's why there was so much pushing. In addition, that we didn't have n- have enough space in the sukkah. Sukkah was not as big as the shul. The Rebbe

08:51 continued farbrengen in the sukkah on the second day sukkas from 1950 till 1970. Not even '70, uh, uh, '69. Someone got hurt in the sukkah. Uh, uh, when he was pushing, there was a table that fell, and the Rebbe said he's no longer farbrengen in the sukkah. He's not taking responsibility, and it's over. So the Rebbe then stopped farbrengen in the sukkah. But instead, in the later years, what the Rebbe did was, Rebbe did, uh, a farbrengen the night before Erev Sukkot. It's called the Yud Gimmel Tishrei farbrengen, which is the day of lulav Rebbe Maharash. And that was like a sort of a compensation for the sukkas farbrengen. There was no kisule bracha then. Second day sukkas when Rebbe washed and he benched and he davened Maariv and he made Havdalah, so there was kisule bracha. But that farbrengen, Yud Gimmel Tishrei was a regular farbrengen. There was no-- didn't wash for the seder. So me'la we lost out the kisule bracha, but the farbrengen still was there with the ma'amar, the sukkas ma'amar, and sukkas sichas, et cetera. This is in regards to the first day sukkas. Now, in the year late 1953, that's, um, 70 years ago, this past Yisrael, the Rebbe came out with Mivtza Lulav, the campaign to go over to all the different areas where Yidden are and to bench lulav with them, those that did not have a chance to bench lulav. Where did we have to look for them? Not far. You went out on Eastern Parkway,

10:31 everything was Yidden. The whole neighborhood was all Yidden. And there were many Yidden who were not affiliated with shuls. They would sit outside. Either they were from-- they, they survived World War II or heimische Yidden. Didn't get a chance to bench lulav. So we walked through the benches of Eastern Parkway up to the park. Hundreds of people benched lulav. You didn't, you didn't need to go too far. Later years, it became more aggressive that they went to hospitals, nursing homes, jails, um, parks, different places meeting people. So this is Mivtza Lulav, one of the first mivtzaim from the Rebbe. Mivtza Lulav, Mivtza Shofar, and Mivtza Matzah to make sure everybody has matzah shmura for Pesach, the basics. Um, and this happened-- this took place thirteen years before Mivtza Film. People figure Mivtza Film is the first mivtza. Yes, it is called Mivtza, although the Rebbe didn't name it Mivtza at the ti- in the time of its founding. But the first three are those that the Rebbe started with. Maybe wasn't such a commotion because it wasn't like the later years, but, uh, the Rebbe would mention it even in the later years. Mivtza Lulav, Shofar, and, uh, Matzah. Now we go on to... If, for example, like this upcoming year, the second day sukkas was Friday, what did the Rebbe do? The Rebbe washed, did not continue after sunset There is a halacha that says if you want to continue the seudah after sunset, you cover the challah, you make kiddush, and it allows

12:16 you to continue the seudah. It's called . The Rebbe never did it himself. At times he allowed it by the farbrengen, and at times later he phased it out completely. One of the reasons was that people are not aware of the halacha. Uh, one of the questions is, could they make kiddush with their family after they hear kiddush in there? So the Rebbe says you could, but the Rebbe saw that people are not really, uh, focused exactly with all and, and alert to all the details. So this is one of the reasons I think that the Rebbe stopped it. Um, so therefore, the farbrengen had to stop because in order to bench, you can't, you can't extend the seudah without eating for a few s- hours. So you needed to bench right after-- within a certain time after eating. So in the earlier years, the Rebbe would give Kehillat Yaakov Friday night, but the later the Rebbe saw there was an issue with it. What was the issue? The issue was that it is after benching, it is before Kabbalat Shabbos, before kiddush, and if people are gonna drink the wine, it, it just doesn't seem right. So the Rebbe later years in nineteen sixty-one, late sixty, uh, uh, wary of the English years, it's taf shin chaf alef. The Rebbe then announced that the Kehillat Yaakov will be distributed the next day after the Shabbos Chalamed Sukkot farbrengen. Like Rosh Hashanah Friday, which we have this upcoming year, the same thing is, and the

13:46 same thing Simchat Torah. So this is a thing that took place then, uh, the Shabbos afternoon after the farbrengen about four thirty afternoon, a line formed for the Kehillat Yaakov of the wine of the earlier evening. Now we go on to Chalamed. Chalamed was basically is the time of Simchat Beit HaShoevah. And the Rebbe would farbreng with the Tomdei HaYeshiva. Which yeshiva? All yeshivas. Not even Lib-- um, a lot-- most of them, a lot of them, not Lubavitch. There was a Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, other yeshivas, they would come to seven seventy. The Rebbe would speak in Yiddish learning, and then the Rebbe should be Chassidus . And there's a certain time the Rebbe said that everybody understands what I'm getting to, there's a need to learn Chassidus. This was a, uh, comment the Rebbe once made about farbrengen. So basically, the Rebbe would farbreng for hours. It's called the Simchat Beit HaShoevah farbrengen that went on for about about twenty-two years. And then the Rebbe stopped it. Others say it was because the Rebbe's mother was nifter and he was over that year. Whatever. There were different inyanim were cited, and the Rebbe stopped farbrengen Simchat Beit HaShoevah. So the second day, Sukkot farbrengen stopped, the Beit HaShoevah stopped, a difference of six years. This one stopped in, in late sixty-three. This one stopped in late sixty-nine. Okay. Now we're gonna go back to the first day Sukkot. What happened in the later years? It was Snag Hakal, taf shin mem alef, late nineteen eighty.

15:42 It was a very big year by the Rebbe. They had a platform, a bimah that stood all-- The, the Rebbe bachal did not stand on a platform all year. The, the, the Rebbe davened on regular floor level. Later years, they made a platform for Yomim Noraim, and later years it stayed all year. So basically, the, the, uh, Tishrei that year was a very big year, Hakal. It's a big crowd that came in. And, um, the Rebbe then surprisingly, surprised at Elam, and right after Ma'ariv, the Rebbe started to speak. First night, Yom Tov, he started to speak a sicha. And that's how the Rebbe continued the next night and the next night. It went on all, all the nights until the late night preceding Rosh Hashanah Rabbah. And it continued for twelve years until Chazai Nader. That is when it continued up to. What was the contents of the sicha? Where did the Rebbe stand? The Rebbe stood by his place where he would daven, turned around to the crowd. Of course, there's no microphone. Pushing was immense. The first night was a total surprise. Nobody even expected anything, so people rushed to the front. Um, and the Rebbe spoke about the ushpizin, the guests that come and who speaks that night. They all come all nights. It's just that every night one of them speaks, as the Zohar says, and the Rebbe connected it with the Chassidus ushpizin. The Rebbe connected it with the Shiur Chumash of the day and Simchat Yom Tov and

17:26 speaking about the inyan of Simcha. Rejoicing, the inyan of Simcha. it was in the late nineteen-thirties. There was a Yid called Rabbi Yankel Katz, a very famous Chassid from Chicago. He already met the Friediker Rebbe in nineteen thirty when the Friediker Rebbe was here on the first visit. And he asked the Friediker Rebbe, "What do Chassidim Chabad do about, uh, ushpizin? What's our custom?" So the Friediker Rebbe says, "We have our ushpizin. We have the Chassidus ushpizin." And the Friediker Rebbe pointed, "Here is the-- sits the Baal Shem Tov, here sits the Maggid, here sits the Alter Rebbe," mentioned to his father. His father being HaSha"a Rebbe. The Rebbe added in later years the previous Rebbe for Shemini Atzeret, and Chassidim, our Chassidim of our generation added also the The Rebbe himself, Simchas Torah. As we saw by the Rebbe, the Simchas Torah is a very unique day by the Rebbe. Without limitations, the Simcha was without limitations. Nobody was able to keep up with the Rebbe when it came to the dancing and the clapping. This is like They say that before the Nissios even, the Rebbe danced the whole night. And it was once that they said from upstairs, from the Friediker Rebbe's apartment, that, uh, it may disturb the Friediker Rebbe's rest. So the Rebbe, because of the commotion, the Rebbe took off his shoes and danced without the shoes. in the late '40s, . So basically, um, the farbrengen of Beis HaShoeiva, the Rebbe farbrenged also before the nissios. This is

19:06 one of the things the Rebbe farbrenged the occasions even before he became Rebbe in late 1941. The Rebbe already farbrenged with bachurim. There were a few farbrengens that Rebbe farbrenged before the nissios. Let's not forget the one important one is the Shabbos Mevorchim of every month. The Rebbe farbrenged every month for t-ten years, that's 120, till about 125, uh, uh, Shabbosim. 12 years, 10 times 12 is 120. There's a few leap years, so I would say about 125. Where are they? Sadly, disappointedly, we don't have them. They never reached us besides a few that the Rebbe himself wrote up. Um, going on now to speaking about the ushpizin and the Rebbe connected ushpizin. One year the Rebbe spoke the opposites, how they're opposite to each other. It was like the Re-- uh, over the years, the Rebbe gave us a treasure, ocean of, of, of, uh, insights on this inyan of the ushpizin. Although the Rebbe also on the farbrengens, when he farbrenged the second day sukkos, he would also mention here. But this was like night after night, year after year. It went on for 12 years to, uh, right before Chavzei HaRebbe. When the Rebbe started to speak very much about the inyan of Simcha, bachurim felt that the Rebbe feels it's not enough the Simcha people are sitting huddled by a table, but the Rebbe wants to break through the limitations. And it was then that a few older chassidim were walking through on Kingston, Montgomery, decided to start dancing in the

21:01 street. And then bachurim came and started to dance, and that's where we have today the Beis HaShoeiva which was formed in which is late 1980. Not, not 70 years ago, but 1980. The reason I'm saying it is because the others are saying, "Oh, the Rebbe was here, the Rebbe danced." It's all baseless. The Rebbe was never there. He may have seen pictures, I'm sure he saw pictures, the Chabad made. But the Rebbe did-- it started then, and when the Rebbe heard about it, the Rebbe was very pleased and spoke about it and was . The Rebbe spoke about how dancing in the street connects the street with the Simcha, that the street also starts dancing. At one point, the Rebbe says they grabbed the police and pull him onto the dance also. It was a very, very special occasion. The Rebbe was very, very pleased with it. And this went on night after night to about 5:00 in the morning when they would, uh, open the traffic again for, uh, the cars, the rush hour, whatever it's called, and, uh, that's when the, the people went off the street. But this is night after night. This is not a easy job. Okay, now we go on. We spoke about, uh, Simchas Beis HaShoeiva, where the Rebbe would speak about, uh, the joy that took place in the Beis Hamikdash. Now we come on to the last two days, which in a sense it's hard to sitting here now in 2024 and speaking about the Rebbe's

22:40 Simchas Shmini Atzeres, Simchas Torah it was higher than time. It was literally higher than time. Just to give it over in, uh, the, the facts. Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah were two days, 48 hours, which the Rebbe himself was dancing and singing and clapping by the Ark office. A lot of energy. a lot of energy. The Rebbe sweating. It was-- it's a big crowd, uh, full. Everybody was there ready for Simchas Torah. Everybody came in by then. And, uh, there were times that they needed to have a certain blower that the air conditioner should really kick in, and there was like a certain blower that they had from outside, like a machine that should, uh, kick. And, and many times they saw after, uh, after Ark office, after the Ark office, they would see, uh, the steam coming up from the... from everything happening in shul. Um, people were standing on bleachers. People were standing on, on tables. Uh, there was one guy who went up on a beam. Uh, it was, uh... I'm talking about a beam with a fan clapping, and he was almost caught in the... Uh, it was, uh... The women also want to see. So if somebody block, they started to scream . There's the women shul. So the general schedule was that Rebbe would come into Ma'ariv, the time of Ma'ariv, regular time, and then after Ma'ariv they would make the Kaddish, say the Kaddish, and that's it. The Aleinu and the Ark office before Aleinu was not-- was

24:26 postponed till nine o'clock. The first night of Shmini Atzeres, nine o'clock was Al HaTorah. The Rebbe came into Al HaTorah and the, um, Al, Al, Al HaTorah took about an hour and a half with Ark office. Relatively short. In other words, if it were the reason that there was a break between Ma'ariv and Al HaTorah was in order that people should be able to make Kiddish. Some people went to other shtieblach, other shuls, and they made Kiddish there, and then they were able to come to Al HaTorah. Some people didn't make Kiddish till about 10:45. But it was a relatively short evening. There was no taluda that night going in other shuls because other communities, they don't make Ark office the first night, only the night. So therefore, Chabad didn't really go out to different communities, although there were Hasidisha communities, but a lot of communities because they don't make Hakafos but only Simchas Torah night, evening, so therefore there was no, uh, uh, Talucha and they were actually off duty, didn't have to work that night. So there was basically an hour and a half. Now by this Hakafos, although it seems to be very smooth, very simple, Atcharetha, the Rebbe was, uh, honored with the first whole-- the first time Atcharetha, and for the second and third, the Rebbe would only be-- uh, uh, say the first and last pasuk, verse of Atcharetha. And they would honor others to say a pasuk. So this is what went on by Atcharetha, the three Atcharethas.

26:12 And after every Atcharetha, the Rebbe would turn around and begin singing a nigun. The Rebbe himself would turn to the Elul and begin singing a nigun and would conduct with the nigun louder and louder, and there were specific nigunim that the Rebbe chose on a ste- on a steady basis. From year to year already, they were known to be these nigunim. Um, once the-- his father's nigun is one of them, Shehecheyanu. There are a few nigunim that the Rebbe-- and also Lubavitch nigunim that the Rebbe chose. V'hakol Nihyeh B'reshit. But I think V'hakol Nihyeh B'reshit could have been that they chose by Hakafos. Then they were-- the Hakafos began. The Rebbe received the first Hakafa, the first Sefer Torah or the first Hakafa, and a group of distinguished Hasidim went with the Rebbe's Hakafa. The Rashag, the Rebbe's brother-in-law, also received the Sefer Torah, and they re-- and the Hasidim received the Sefer Torah. And the Hako- the bimah was in middle of the shul, and they s- they circled the bimah once, and then the Rebbe gave the siddur to-- someone who the Rebbe would give the siddur to while he's holding Sefer Torah. The Rebbe would put his hand on the Rashag's shoulder, and they would start dancing. The Rebbe danced with his brother-in-law. This is, uh, this was the highlight of the year, in addition to Tekios. The Rebbe would be serious, looking around. There were times that I remember the Rebbe like not stop, but focused on a certain group. Before

27:49 he-- before turning, the Rebbe like focused and made with his head very strong that to that group. Um, and the Rebbe, if-- it's, it's According to nature, you can't even understand it. Because it was after Simchas Torah at a certain point, somebody went into Yechidus, private audience with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe said, "I saw your son by Tekios, and I saw your son by Hakafos. Once he wore glasses, once he didn't wear glasses." Can you picture what's going on? You have thousands of people, and the Rebbe has a focus on that specific, uh, Bachur. The dancing will go on for a while, and after that, the Rebbe would stop. He would hold onto the Rashag to see that he's composed, that he's all right. He was older than the Rebbe, and he had a few issues in health. And the Rebbe want to make sure he's not dizzy or anything. And then once he's stable, the Rebbe then went back to his place, gave back the Sefer Torah. Now this Sefer Torah was given to the Rebbe these weeks, Elul nineteen fifty-four. Seventy years ago, the Rebbe got this Sefer Torah as a gift. The Sefer Torah comes from a family of two big Yidden, great Yidden who were in the time of the Alter Rebbe. They're called Shapiro, HaCham Shapiro, Slavita. They were printers from-- publishers from Slavita Press, and they wrote the Sefer-- it's a very, very special Sefer Torah. Somebody, a Hasid of the Rebbe's, Harav Meshulam Ashkenazi Z"L, bought this

29:26 Sefer Torah for the Rebbe for big, big money. I never heard a price, but it was big money. A-and he, uh, a-a-and, uh, uh, not only big money for nineteen fifty-four, it was big money even for later. Just to make sure When the Rebbe would go to the Hakafos and come back from Hakafos, there were people who wished the Rebbe Broches that, uh, the Re- the Rebbe-- we should have the next year again, and the Rebbe would say, "Amen ga matan". Same to you. This was something that went on year to year. Now, this area where the Rebbe dance was called a Hess. Like a Hess is open from one side, likewise, this was open from one side. It was surrounded from three lines of tables. One side was open to go in. There was one time that it was closed from all sides. And when the Rebbe came, the Rebbe gave someone, I think the Sefer Torah, and he sat down on the table and like crossed over into the, into the opening . There was one ma- a story that happened. I don't know if it happened, um... It probably happened the second night, um, uh, uh, of Simchas Torah, the seis- this, uh, Mitzoish Min Yotzeretz. But there were stories that happened that first night. There was a story that happened, it was in the time of the War of Yom Kippur fifty years ago. So maybe fifty-one almost. And the Rebbe then- Instead of the, the people who are being honored

31:11 for Hakafos, so usually they call the group from France, a group from Echisrol. The Rebbe wanted to honor all these guests. And then the second night, the people came from the Israeli council. The Rebbe honored them with Hakafa. Uh, by then it was like the second day. It was already after Yom Tov, so they came with a bus. The Rebbe honored them. So what happened was that there were times that the Rebbe himself asked a certain group to go, and then the Rebbe took a seder, and he started to sing a tune, uh, sometimes a tune that we knew on certain words. Uh, and I think it was Taka. I, actually, I checked it last night. Somebody asked me, so I, I... It refreshed my memory. The, um, the Rebbe was singing with the tune of Haderez Bamuna. He was singing what we say before the Chadedi, uh, about the Ebbes that breaking the enemies by Yakidim, Kemei Eigel, Kemei-- Kesidian. It was a very, very strong, strong psukim, and the Rebbe was like, with a tune, the Rebbe was singing these psukim. This was right in the middle of the War of Yom Kippur. War of Yom Kippur went on for a few weeks. I think it was the second night the Rebbe asked the French guests should go for a Hakafa. They should all... And when the Rebbe heard that they're all in there already with the sefetadas in the Hes, the Rebbe took the seder, and he started to sing Haderez Bamuna

32:44 with the French anthem. Nobody had any idea singing besides the French, and the French were also in the fr-sense-- They were frozen in the beginning because they couldn't believe it. They needed to really orient themselves to figure out what the Rebbe was doing here. The Rebbe was singing Haderez Bamuna with the French anthem. As soon as they figured it out, they started to jump to the sky. It's their anthem, their French anthem. And, um, later by Erev Habrengen, the Rebbe said that this is the Inyan of Birur in the same sense that Napoleon's march was elevated by the Alter Rebbe. Uh, so the Rebbe says this is the Inyan of a Birur, and, uh, that year, there were many, many Baalshuvas in France. And this was a Hemsek from this Nigin. Rabbi Azimov was in charge, and Rabbi Pasta advised it separately. Uh, and each one had their group, and when each-- either one would come to a Fabregen in a later time in the year, the Rebbe would ask them to sing Haderez Bamuna, the French one. So basically, this is where the French, the Nigin, Haderez Bamuna with the French anthem came. The Rebbe sang it by Et Hakafos. And, uh, and the Rebbe, uh, uh, later said that the, the intention is not that it should be sung in Brooklyn, but it should be sung where it needs to be sung to accomplish Baalschuva. Hundreds of Baalschuvas, if not more, were came that year. Rabbi Azimov says this was a very big

34:19 succe-successful year in, in Hafatza, in Yah- Yahadus, v'cholom. The second night, um, Simchas-- was Simchas Seder, which is basically the people already can sit in the shul and say l'chaim. And of course, many people make Kiddush, make Kiddush on mashke, make Kiddush on wine. And there were people that approached the Rebbe, asked questions. Some questions were not really so phenomenal, uh, deep questions. But, uh, somebody asked that this and this person is drinking mashke, and the strength of the mashke is eighty-six proof. So he asked the Rebbe, "What does this mean in Avodah Shasha? What does it mean in Ruch Nisah?" So the Rebbe said eighty-six is the numerical value of Sheim Malachim. Then he points another person is drinking ninety-six proof, which is very, very powerful. It's ninety, ninety-six is, is almost all alcohol. So the Rebbe said that ninety-six is b'gimatria, Sheim Keil and Sheim Adna, the numerical value of thirty-one, Sheim Keil, and Adna is sixty-five. Together it's ninety-six. Which basically what it teaches us is, it's not Stama Vertel, the, uh, humorous Rebbe. It is a Inyan that the Rebbe is pointing to that everything that's happening in the world has a root in Kedusha. Although the person in Moscow or wherever he did this, distilled vodka, uh, did not-- he was not aware of it and not necessarily had any special intentions connected with that, but nevertheless, it has a status in Kedusha. This is, uh, b'negiata... Well, a person asked a question. There's another person standing at the entrance

36:18 to the Hes going into the Hakafos, and he was from Berlin, not Chabad at the time. It was 1980, late '79. It was around that time, and the Rebbe said to him, "You should see to make Berlin Lubavitch." To convert Berlin to Lubavitch. The Rebbe went to Hakafos. He came back to Hakafos. It was about ten minutes later. The Rebbe tells him, "Ten minutes have passed. What did you do?" In other words, what the Rebbe wanted is that he should already start thinking plans how-- what he can do to spread Yiddishkeit, to see this. The next morning, this guy didn't, uh, didn't move away. He stood again there. The Rebbe again walks over to him. "Twelve hours have passed. What did you do?" So after Yom Tov, he went into Yechidus to the Rebbe. The Rebbe gave him a whole list of different, uh, missions, tasks, and he actually laid the foundation for the shluchim later to arrive in Berlin. A few years ago, he passed away, and there was a very nice write-up about him. He was a, uh, very dedicated to the Rebbe Simionim, and the pastors, he became a Hasid. So until then it was . Now in the early '80s, I remember this once the Rebbe walked out of a Hakafos. It must have been '82, '83. And in Engl- in Yiddish, it's probably . The Rebbe usually would announce good three times Gut Yom Tov. Here, the Rebbe announced three times first. The-- I mean, not know first, but he

38:08 mentioned also . means that the should end. The Rebbe said it three times. We never had that before or after. Three times . Then three times Gut Yom Tov. The Rebbe walked out with a nigun. The Rebbe would always start with a nigun. This is basically, uh, was a simchas Torah one of the years. There were times that the Rebbe spoke between the Hakafos. Randomly, not every Hakafa, the Rebbe walked over to the end of his bimah, looking to the elam in the direction of, uh, you know, in the back of him, to, uh, to the-- He was Mizrach. The Rebbe was looking to the we- to the Ma'arav, and he began speaking a sicha. It was very hard to hear because there was a big commotion. The commotion was so big that although the Rebbe was in shul and everything, for whatever strange reason, I can't understand what people were thinking. But there was one time that the Rebbe said if it doesn't get quiet, he's gonna return to his room, make Hakafos with a minyan upstairs in his room. Um, . Okay. Now, if there was- Mm-hmm ... um, a simchas Torah, generally, um, in the morning-- Uh, uh, uh, uh, sorry, not the morning, when it was the second night was a big, a full nighter. A all-nighter, they call it. The Rebbe would come in to farbrengen eight thirty after Ma'arav. Instead of Hakafos nine, he would be farbrengen till about twelve. No ma'amar, just sichas. And then the Rebbe would

39:50 may have-- they would have a break, and the Rebbe would come at one o'clock AM to Hakafos, after Hallel. And about three thirty, we went home to eat Seudas Yom Tov, three thirty AM. My wife once invited someone, a journalist, and we figured that the, uh, uh... She said, "When is the meal?" I told her, "Three AM." So she says, "AM or PM?" She said, "AM." She didn't show up. She thought we made a mistake. And what happened was she came PM, and again, we were coming from shul, so it was-- You couldn't, you couldn't communicate. It was like Lubavitch was at like higher than time then. Those two days was like higher than any scheduled time. Five o'clock in the morning, after the Rebbe ate upstairs the first twenty years. So for about ten years, the Rebbe would come down and teach a new nigun, a nigun that the Rebbe's taught. We have ten nigunim from the Rebbe that the Rebbe taught Chassidim, and these are nigunim the Chassidim sing. If it's um, mamish, a-a-a welt with nigunim from the Rebbe that we have, uh, from those year, from th-those occasions. And that went on till taf shin chaf daled, actually late 1963, and after that, the Rebbe stopped. The Rebbe also said, "We all know what's gonna be next year." And next year, the Rebbe's son, Chana, was niftar. So also, they said this was also something that stopped it. Um, now what time was Shacharis? Because when the Rebbe was coming in

41:27 to teach the new nigun, the Rebbe was distributing mashke to people who are making a resolution to increase in lima d'Chassidus. Then the Rebbe saw that it's becoming already a little very, uh, uh, uh, not really reliable and structured. There were kids going over. So then the Rebbe-- So that's also one of the things why the Rebbe stopped with the nigun. But Shacharis was, the Rebbe went home to six o'clock in the morning. Shacharis was ten AM. Ten AM. When I was a young child, I was able to count how many people were in shul. The shul then was a third of the size, the structure of today. A third, the shul was just one sliver of what, what's today. So one part of it. So this is basically what took place. Now Hakafos was in the morning again. The Rebbe many times str-- When he came into, uh, to Shacharis, the Rebbe immediately turned around to the crowd. This was something that I saw as a bocher. I got married, I told my wife, "Be there ten o'clock, you're gonna see something." And the Rebbe came, came in, turned around with his tallis, started to sing his father's nigun every year like a clock. And there weren't too many people around. And, um, sometimes his tallis would almost slip down. The Rebbe would immediately grab it, and they would start Shacharis. Another nigun that the Rebbe appointed to was the nigun , which was in B-Brich Shmei. The Rebbe wanted very much that nigun.

42:59 That was the season, Shabbos Challah Meitzukos. The last day, Sukkot was, uh, the Rebbe wanted that nigun very much, and they sang it. There's one time the chazan is already saying Shema Yisrael. He's already holding his etha, saying Shema Yisrael And, uh, he skipped the Anavda. He didn't start singing. The Rebbe made with his hand, he started to sing Shmai. The Rebbe started to sing Anavda. When they didn't sing it once, take another Sefirei Torah, the Rebbe started to sing it when they returned the Sefirei Torah after Kriyas HaTorah. Now we go on to Musaf. Because the Shacharis was such a long Shacharis with Al HaTorah and everything included, we are duchaning by Shacharis. What happened was the, um, davening finished 2:30. 2:30 Shacharis and Musaf of Simchas Torah morning finished because of all the Aliyas everybody gets, and the Hakafos, and the Al HaTorah. So 2:30 was almost like, almost like a Rosh Hashanah davening. The Rebbe would then come, go home, come back for Mincha, and, um, then the Farbrengen began. The Farbrengen of Simchas Torah was a six-hour Farbrengen. Six hours means to say from 6:00 to 12:00 averagely. After that, the Rebbe benched, Davened Ma'ariv, made Havdalah, and distributed Kesher Brocha again. The Kesher Brocha line at that point of Yom Tov was already three and a half hours. So the Rebbe came down, he was downstairs 10 hours. This is after dancing and singing for two days, Hakafos, and guess what? The calendar setting of this year, Simchas Torah is

44:53 Friday. We had one Farbrengen Thursday night before Hakafos, the usual. We had another Farbrengen Friday, which is officially Simchas Torah. So before li- candle lighting, the Rebbe Farbrenged for a short time. He did not eat after sunset, as we mentioned earlier. Shabbos, there was a Farbrengen 1:30. Shabbos Mevarchim Cheshvan. Six o'clock, another Farbrengen to fill in for the Farbrengen of Friday. Should be six o- so there were four Farbrengens in two days. The people who were responsible to review, to record the Farbrengens, to write them, were climbing walls. I mean, I wrote for myself what I, what I remember, but they were, they, they, they didn't know what went in this one. Sometimes a loose word, they didn't know when the Rebbe mentioned it. I remember, it's a very interesting experience. It was fifty years ago. Fifty-one years ago, it was Friday evening. It was after two Farbrengens and the Rebbe's another two the next day. It was Friday evening after davening Kabbalah Shabbos, and somebody said to me, "You wanna see something interesting? Look into the Rebbe's room." The window was open. The shade was either o- up or was moving around because of the wind. Look at the Rebbe, he's sitting and learning. You would never think he's the person that, uh... The person exhausted, sitting and learning like assumingly it's not him, it's a different person. I mean, the Rebbe possibly used every moment. This was Simchas Torah, Suk... I mean, Atzeret Simchas Torah took place by the Rebbe, and it was

46:36 something the next day the Rebbe went to the AL, and this is, this was the, uh, assets for the whole year. And as the Rebbe once mentioned that, uh, you-- that Rosh Hashanah is taking upon myself the yoke of Hashem's kingdom. Yom Kippur is yirah shamayim, fear of Hashem. Sukkot is the rejoicing, we're doing a mitzvah. Simchas Torah is rejoicing with Torah. And all this, the Rebbe gave us this as a market, the previous Rebbe said, and we, we gain from this market, we shop, we pick everything up, as they say in, in a mall, and then we unpack it throughout the year. So this is something that we get energy and we should, we should just be able to fulfill it.