Tes & Yud Kislev: The Mitteler Rebbe

00:00 This year that we are focusing on today, the topic is the Mitteler Rebbe. Uh, this week, the ninth of Kislev, tenth of Kislev, mark three events in the Mitteler Rebbe's, uh, life. It's the birthdate of the Mitteler Rebbe, it's the, uh, hisstalkus of the Mitteler Rebbe, and it's the gul of the Mitteler Rebbe, the redemption, which, uh, where he was redeemed, uh, uh, actually the year before his passing. So we're gonna discuss first a little about his life events, and then different accomplishments, and then we'll discuss additional, uh, teachings of the Mitteler Rebbe. So we start with Tel Deisev. This is taken from the biography in the beginning of the Hayim Yaim, where the Rebbe, um, cites, uh, main points of communal events, um, communal activities of the Rebbeim, of each one in their lifetime. It's a very brief overview, but it gives insights what took place then. The Mitteler Rebbe was born on the ninth of Kislev, Tov Kuv Lamet Dalet, which is basically the year seventeen seventy-three, late seventeen seventy-three. He was named after the Mezlich Magut. The Mezlich Magut, the teacher of his father of the Alter Rebbe, was nostalgic a year earlier, and there was an implication that he should remember his name. And the Alter Rebbe named his child after his Rebbe, the Do-Do Ber, Do Ber, which is the name of the Mitteler Re-- the, which is the name of the Magut, or more specifically, it's Doi Ber. There's different ways how to write the name. In the year

01:57 Tov Kuv Mem Ches, which is seventeen eighty-eight, he got married. He got married to a daughter of a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe. This Hasid had, um, complications marrying off his children. He mo- He had a house of, Baruch Hashem, daughters, and he wasn't a, uh, well-to-do person. So therefore, people, Hasidim, felt that he won't be able to, uh, support them, et cetera. So he came to the Alter Rebbe, and he told the Alter Rebbe that people do not wanna make a shidduch with him. So the Alter Rebbe says, "I will make a shidduch with you." And the shidduch was with the Alter Rebbe's son, the Mitteler Rebbe. Of course, then everybody jumped on the wagon, and that's how he married off all his children. In the year Tov Kuv Nun Aleph, when he was sixteen, seventeen years old, he was appointed by his father to guide, to teach young Hasidim. Hasidim would come to him, he was then sixteen, seventeen years old. They came to him to ask him advice in different, um, matters, and the Mitteler Rebbe would answer them. The Mitteler Rebbe, as he was sixteen, seventeen, became sort of a mashpia to Hasidim, and he would answer questions they had. To the extent, as he was getting older, he was already delivering his own maymurim, his own discourses in the lifetime of his father, with the permission of the father, with the encouragement of his father. The- There's a story that's told beneath the Mitteler Rebbe, which is also a lesson

03:47 in life, that the Mitteler Rebbe was approached. Somebody knocked on the door of his room and wanted to speak to him, uh, consult with him, discuss, and the Mitteler Rebbe answered that the person you're looking for now is not here. He looks at the Mitteler Rebbe, and he, um, wonders, "What does this mean?" He sees the Mitteler Rebbe in front of him. So the Mitteler Rebbe tells him, "You're not looking for my flesh and bone, you're looking for my mind and heart, and my mind and heart is somewhere else now." Which means that you are coming to discuss something with me, and you hope to get my full attention, undivided attention. And Mitteler Rebbe says, "I am somewhere else now. My mind and heart is somewhere else. I can't really give you a sincere, uh, participation in this discussion and to be able to guide you." The Rebbe once used this story when the Rebbe came into a farbrengen. And the Rebbe looked at the Elam, this was in nineteen fifty-three, and the Rebbe said, told the whole story, and the Rebbe continued that it's Shabbes, it's Shabbes Mevorchim, it's Shabbes Mevorchim Simin, and the Rebbe says, "The people that are here now are not here." The Rebbe went on to explain that this is an auspicious time, et cetera. The lesson is also for us that sometimes when a person comes to another person, a friend, a friend of yours comes to you, wants to speak something over with you, wants to discuss something.

05:29 So there's two ways of doing. I mean, one is the not appropriate way, and you have it a lot also. People feel they don't wanna have their time taken, so they decide, let the person talk. Although the per- the, the first person who's, who's supposedly listening is actually in another world, is somewhere else, and let them vent out, let them air out. But in reality, there was no sincere, uh, uh, uh, involvement listening in sincerely to the friend's concern. So this is the lesson of the Mitteler Rebbe, that if a person's mind and heart is not available at the time, there is no point then to speak to that person. But to be honest and tell the person, "I am not here now. I'm not available. You, you can get me at a better time, and then I'll be able to be more involved with you." Cha- um, Taf Kassef Ayin Gimel, that's ei- uh, early 1813, Cheydish Teves, the Mitteler Rebbe takes over the leadership from his father. It was after the war with Napoleon and, um, the Alter Rebbe was-- um, sided with Napoleon that Napole- that the Russia should win the war. Russia did win the war. This was a nitzachon, a heavenly victory. It was a very fierce war. Russia lost a lot. There was also damage, property, uh, territory, uh, which they needed to rebuild, different cities, as we'll see further. The Mitteler Rebbe was then on a mission. The mission was to find a place where they will settle

07:12 after the war. The Alter Rebbe sent him on a mission, and he was in Kremenchuk, and the plan was that they will settle in Kremenchuk, which later became a Hasidishe city. But lo payoh, the, the Alter Rebbe himself did not w- uh, settle there. He was pashtik neshalek on the way, passed away on the way. And the Mitteler Rebbe got an offer to settle Lubavitch, and he got Lubavitch for a, as a gift. And a gift that they will rebuild it for him. And the, uh, Mitteler Rebbe settled Lubavitch in the year, um, 1814, Chayelel, and they were there for hundred and two years. The Rabbeim were there for a hundred and two years. The Rebbe Rashab left Lubavitch, the city of Lubavitch, in the year 1915, as we just had it in the month of Cheshvan. You may have heard about it, that the Rebbe Rashab then left Lubavitch and went on to Rostov because of World War I conditions, and his life was in danger. So therefore, there was a need to leave Lubavitch. In the year 1814, the Mitteler Rebbe sets up a board to help people settle back in the cities. In other words, they lost-- There was a lot of property damaged, damage, and therefore there was a need to settle, resettle them, and also give them a livelihood, which in a sense they became farmers. Many Hasidim became farmers working on land, and the Mitteler Rebbe visited them. At a certain point, the Mitteler Rebbe spent six months with

08:46 them in Kherson, which were basically different places of sources of parnassa for these Hasidim. In the year 1816, 1817, the Mitteler Rebbe sets up a settlement in Hebron. The settlement in Hebron basically was a settlement where Hasidim will, uh, live there. They moved from Tvas, some of them. They were asked by the Mitteler Rebbe to move from Tvas to Hebron, which this was a very big move. And many Hasidim went south, Hebron, and that's where a later o-a while, the Tzemach Tzedek also sent a group of Hasidim and who went to, to Hebron. And the Rebbetzin Menuchah Rochel joined them with her family, and that's where the-- one of the famous families, the Slonim family, is the family which settled in Hebron, and that's where generations of the families grew up. And some of them came later to Yerushalayim, or they came to, to, uh, other, to other countries. The Rebbetzin Menuchah Rochel was the daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. She went to Hebron based on the directive of the Tzemach Tzedek, who also gave instruction to you, to le- uh, move to Hebron. And the, the weather was not so good, and they needed to travel by boat. And the Rebbetzin Menuchah Rochel asked the Tzemach Tzedek how will she, uh, uh, manage with the weather, because it's gonna be raining a lot. Tzemach Tzedek told her, "You will walk between the drops." These words held true till the last day of her life. She would walk in the rain. People next to her

10:34 were soaked, not a drop of rain wa-rain went on her. It's a berakhah from Tzemach Tzedek. She lived till about eighty-nine. Actually, her name is Menuchah Rochel. Menuchah implies that this was in the time of the Alter Rebbe's geulah date. The Alter Rebbe was redeemed Yotzot Kislev, as we'll commemorate next week, next Shabbos. And when he heard that a granddaughter was born, he said, "Now we will have Menuchah." Menuchah, uh, peace, and so therefore they named her Menuchah Rochel. Rochel was a name after a daughter who passed away at a young age. In the year 1826, late 1826, the Mitteler Rebbe was arrested based on a libel, a libel which was made by two different parties, but they joined together. The two parties were basically... One were-- One was a very, uh, low class, a low life person who, as a, in reference back, that the Mitteler Rebbe made a board to raise money for people that should be able to settle after the war. One of the Hasidim who was in charge, his name was Rabbi Pinchas Reizes. Rabbi Pinchas Reizes was one of the Choizehjim. He would review the tatus of the, um, of the Al-Alter Rebbe. There's a whole story about him separately, but it's a inya for itself. And, uh, he had a-- He did not have any children, but he had a nephew, a Who was a very empty person, to put it mildly, and he was out for money. And as soon as his uncle, Rav Pinchas Reizes, passed

12:22 away, he immediately saw there was something happening with money. They raised money for, uh, for Yidden in different cities, and he immediately approached the Mitteler Rebbe, wants the money. The Mitteler Rebbe says, "This is not my money, not your money. This is money for people who are settling after the war, and they need to get back on their, on their feet." So he decided to forge the contract, what it says over there, how much money there was, and he added a zero or more. And in addition to that, from another angle, very strangely, there was also an appe- a, a libel, a libel from the Mitteler Rebbe's mother's family. They were not Chabad. They were very envious of the Mitteler Rebbe, and they put up a bilble, a libel which was false, that the Mitteler Rebbe conducts himself as a king godol, and that he's building a shul as big as the Beis Hamikdash, and he's rebelling against the tsar. So the first complaint was that he's raising money and sending the money to Turkey, to Eretz Yisrael, which was under Turkey, which was in opposition to Russia, working against the tsar. The second one was that he himself wants to be, be the king godol, which was mamash baseless. Mitteler Rebbe was arrested right after Sukkot, a day after... Is everybody following? A day after the, uh, the Sukkot, he was arrested. They-- Because of his health, he needed to travel slowly to Vitebsk. The Alter Rebbe was taken to Peterburg. The Mitteler Rebbe

13:57 was taken to Vitebsk, and he was slowly traveling, stopped every few cities, and wherever he stopped, he immediately went into the shul and said a ma'amar. And this went on for a few days, and eventually he, um, came to Vitebsk. Because of his health condition, they arranged that he should have his son with him and that he should have a bigger room in order that he should have more air circulating around him. He's bechal very weak, and, uh, his stalk- his stalkers was, his passing away was when he was fifty-four years old. Traveled a lot for health reasons, and, uh, this is something that took a toll, the, uh, arrest. Now, the Chassidim, the Mitteler Rebbe were very unusual Chassidim. They were Chassidim who, in a sense, their interest was, "We should have a Rebbe, and we should hear Chassidus." So the first-- one of the first requests that they had was to come to the Mitteler Rebbe to be able to hear Chassidus from him. They should give permission, the Mitteler Rebbe, to deliver Ma'amarim in school. The, um, the Professor Habenthal, who was very close with the government, and he was a very, uh, uh, respected person, and he also was very close with the Mitteler Rebbe, looked at them like wild. "You want the Mitteler Rebbe to say Ma'amarim in jail?" But he put it in the back of his mind, and the day came up, there was a meeting, and the Mitteler Rebbe's, uh, uh, uh, Chassidim's request was fulfilled. They

15:48 gave permission for the Mitteler Rebbe to say Chassidus for his Chassidim in jail. And they arranged that the Mitteler Rebbe should have a minyan three ti- three times a day. Every tefillah, twenty people, not more. That is six days, seven days a week. He was there for a month. More than, more than a month. And then, then Shabbos, fifty people for the ma'amar. The Mitteler Rebbe said a ma'amar every Shabbos. The ninth of Kislev was Shabbos. The Mitteler Rebbe got news. It's his yom ha'ledet, and it's his day of his stalkers a year later. He got news that he's free. He's released. He sat down, and he said a ma'amar, "Atah echad v'shimcha echad." In prison, there's the final ma'amar. In the middle of the ma'amar, the Mitteler Rebbe said, uh, "Pnu makom d'tatrei da." Make a space, make, uh, make way. My father is here. In other words, the Alter Rebbe spiritually came to the ma'amar, to the Mitteler Rebbe in jail. Sunday, the Mitteler Rebbe went back to Vitebsk, and that is a day that we don't say Tachnun, not Mincha Tes Kislev and not on Yud Kislev, which is through the day, the Shacharis and Mincha. So this is, uh, basically a day the Chassidim celebrate the Yom Ha'Gueleh of the Mitteler Rebbe. Sadly, the redemption date of the Mitteler Rebbe was cut short because the next year, when the Mitteler Rebbe was in Pstalik, it was a day before they needed to start to celebrate the first year of the redemption.

17:34 And it was cut short because of the stalkers. Chassidim forced themselves to, to re- ce-celebrate, and that's why there's a nigun that's sung by Chassidim, uh, the, the Rebbe geiz a freylekh zayn, that the Rebbe instructed to be joyous, because basically it was im- im- uh, forcing themselves, being that it's a day after the stalkers of the Mitteler Rebbe. Now we're going on further. There was another decree that took place a few, uh, actually a year later, and that was called the Kantonisten. Kantisten, Kantonisten was a decree that was made by the Russians against Jewish children. They slapped these Jewish children into the- Into the, uh, army, the Tsar's army. Seven, eight-year-old children were drafted for 30 years, 20, 30 years. Some of them jumped into lakes not to fall through the, uh, the, um, challenges that they will have, which one of them was the union of Chasidus or Chas V'Shalom, um, converting to, uh, uh, take- going away from Yiddishkeit, from Judaism. In addition to that, there were some that held out and there were some that never fell through, and today they are referred to as Kantistnin. Kantist- Kantistna basically a whole, uh, lineage of Yiden who's their... who their ancestors have been drafted into the army and they held out and later they have their, had their own shul. It's called Kantistnin. The Mitteler Rebbe then said a maimer bringing out the Mesiras Nefesh of what they accomplished, how they held out. Mitt- Tzemach Tzedek came also to visit them in

19:21 the barracks and delivered ma'amarim for them. And this brought the Mitteler Rebbe to come to Haditch, to the, uh, eyl of the Alter Rebbe, who was mehespallel for them. When he came out, he said, "My father exempt me from the mesirus." The leadership, Chassidim had no idea what it meant, or they actually did have an idea because they asked. They asked the Mitteler Rebbe, "Who's, who's, who's the successor?" So the Mitteler Rebbe said that Tzemach Tzedek my son-in-law. The Mitteler Rebbe on the way back to Lubavitch got very sick. He could not make it back to Lubavitch. He was nesualek in the city Nezin, and this is where his sacred tiyan hakodosh is, in Nezin, where many Chassidim visit in, especially this week, which is Tes and Yud Kislev. Mitteler Rebbe lived fifty-four years. He was born and he was nesualek on the very same day, Tes Kislev. What we find by tzadikim, as we'll mention further. The Mitteler Rebbe wrote ma'amar Chassidus. He would deliver many ma'amarim and would deliver long ma'amarim. There's a maimer that the Mitteler Rebbe delivered. There, there were times that the Mitteler Rebbe would say ma'amarim for sixteen, seventeen hours. A Chassidim would there. He also wrote Halakhic, uh, on Halakhic topics, on Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha'ezer, and on, uh, Tehillat Eretz, Piskei Teshuvot, which is also published today. Temunase. The Rebbe, the Rebbe says we find there something very unusual when we get to the Mitteler Rebbe that we don't find by any Rebbe. From every Rebbe we

21:08 have an image, we have a picture of him, a photo of him. Besides the Mitteler Rebbe that there's nothing left. So the Rebbe says, "How is it possible that we should be able to study something and picture that he is in front of us while we have no idea what he looks like?" So, uh, uh, in theory, it, it in a sense limits our connection to the Mitteler Rebbe. So the Rebbe explains in the last paragraph on the right column, "Va'abir bazeh yodua maimen atza." This is where we're up to, the last column, the right column, the last paragraph. "Va'abir bazeh yodua maimen atza," that through learning Torah we accomplish es iatam lechim. We connect with the Aibishter himself. And the, the reason is because the Aibishter has enclosed himself in Torah, which means that the Aibishter has brought himself into Torah and therefore through limud haTorah we are connecting with his essence. So the Rebbe continues in, in the second para-- uh, column. "Umekrivnesh she-shetzadikim," since tzadikim are similar to their creator, therefore we can say the same thing by the Mitteler Rebbe. That in the same w- sense that when we say by the Aibishter, by the Almighty, we're learning his Torah, we're connecting with him, although we don't have any image from him. Ein le-guf, ein le-musaguf. Likewise, by the Mitteler Rebbe, although we don't have an image of him, we can still connect with him because we are connecting with his Torah, and he enclosed himself in his Torah. The same

22:42 way that we don't have an image of the Aibishter. It's a very interesting, brilliant answer. Now we go on to the second paragraph in the second column about the Mitteler Rebbe's kapelye. Process. By the Mitteler Rebbe's time, there was a kapelye that was founded. Chassidim would play nigunim, musical instruments, and they would sing for the Mitteler Rebbe. It had nothing to do with the Mitteler Rebbe s- himself. He did not initiate it. He did not, he did not compose nigunim. It was something to keep the Mitteler Rebbe from expi- expiration, because the Mitteler Rebbe, mid his meditation, he would sometimes delve into something that he could have had the union of Yitzias HaNeshama, and therefore, there was a need to bring down the, the Mitteler... to, to keep the Mitteler Rebbe neshama b'guf, and thi-this was through certain nigunim, especially those who are referred to as Rotziv Ashuv. Nigunim like Rotziv Ashuv. For example, the nigunim that we have today from the Mitteler Rebbe's kapelye is the Duchaning that's sung in, by Duchaning. Is, uh, Rotziv, it's called Rotziv Ashuv. There's the Mitteler Rebbe's kapelye, which is the famous nigun, the four stanzas, which is sung, uh, many times also on the first Lubavitch records. In in addition to that, we have nigunim of the Mitteler Rebbe's Chassidim. There's Joritze and Noavdo. So these are nigunim that made it to us. Probably there were more nigunim. So Mitteler Chassidim are very typical Chassidim of their whole life was Chassidus. A chasid of the Mitteler Rebbe

24:24 was once walking the street and there was a pothole, and a pothole we're talking about in the time of the Mitteler Rebbe, he couldn't get out. He couldn't come out. He's waiting, waiting till somebody passes the street. A kapelye, he reminds himself he has a bleetel Chassidus, a page of Chassidus in his pocket. He decide himself, "Sit down and learn." That was the... Their whole union was Chassidus. As mentioned earlier, the Mitteler Rebbe would speak for hours and then they would go home to eat Chassidus Yom Tov. Mitteler Rebbe once said three ma'amarim, so the Rebbe also that same Shabbos, Yud Kislev, said once three ma'amarim. This happened sixty-two years ago. The Mitteler Rebbe wrote many ma'a- sefarim and they were published in his lifetime. We do not find by any of the Rabbeim that they published their sefarim in their lifetime besides the Mitteler Rebbe. I'm talking about plural, sefarim. Alter Rebbe published the Tanya. He published the, uh, Kuntras Birchas HaMinim. He published the Kuntras Sichos LaMe'oreh. But he did not, uh, uh, uh, publish all his sefarim. All... He did not write his, his Ma'amarim, he didn't publish it. By the Mitteler Rebbe we find it, and by the Rebbe, that they published their sefarim, publish-- constantly published, what the Rebbe says this shows on the union of spreading the wellsprings of chassidus. His sefarim include Pnimias HaTorah and Likkutei Torah, which means the two levels of Torah, the inner light of Torah and the chitzenis, the, uh, external part of Torah.

26:03 We go on now to the three inyonim that the Mitteler Rebbe, um, wrote, three topics, which are the three pillars on which the world stands. The first is the Iniyan Torah. In Torah, there are two levels. There's the inner part of Torah, which is basically the Iniyan of Chassidus, the Iniyan of, uh, Pnimias HaTorah, which is the light of Torah, and it focuses on godliness in the creation, on the topics which are beyond, uh, regular understanding, unless a person studies it well, delves into it, because it is a higher standard than the standard of nature, the standard of world. It is basically godliness which is on a higher level. Going on to page two, then the Mitteler Rebbe explains that in Torah itself, we also have that. In the revealed part of Torah, we also have this Iniyan that there are certain people, when they learn Torah at a higher standard, like Rav Shimon ben Yochai, Rav Akiva, and Hillah HaZaken, because they're learning for the sake of Torah, they are also connecting with a higher level in Torah. Now we go on to the Iniyan of Tefila. What is the Iniyan of Tefila? Tefila, basically, the Mitteler Rebbe gives a whole insight in it based on the Alter Rebbe's Maamar. The Mitteler Rebbe explains that the Iniyan of Tefila is compared to the spinal cord of a person. The spinal cord of a person is basically not one of the two hundred and forty-eight organs. It is not considered like one of the two

27:41 hundred and forty-eight organs. The Cheyd, it's, it's a wonder. How is it not? It's such a major part in the body, and it's a, a, a, a major factor in the body, one of the major, mo-most important factors in the body. Nevertheless, it's not considered an organ for itself. So the Alter Rebbe explains, and the Mitteler Rebbe elaborates on it be'al pi ha'peh, that although it is not one of the two hundred and forty-eight organs of the three hundred and sixty-five veins, nevertheless, it gives energy and it keeps the person, the, the posture of the person in position. Because the spinal cord is connected with the nerve system, and in addition to that, it's also connected with the ribs, and the melee is basically the posture of the person is dependent on this, on the spinal cord. What does this mean in a spiritual sense? In a spiritual sense, there are mitzvahs which are compared to the organs of a person, two hundred and forty-eight organs and three hundred and sixty-five veins, which is basically the two inyonim. One is the Iniyan of the, the mitzvahs that we need to do and the mitzvahs that we are prohibited from doing, mitzvahs lo ta'aseh. Likewise, the Iniyan of the spinal cord is that Tefila is basically Tefila davening, connecting with Hashem. And that is the highest, the energy of the whole day. In order that a person should daven, and we should be able to fulfill mitzvahs with a special chayas, it is the beginning of

29:19 the day, the davening that takes place in the beginning of the day. And person davens with feeling, with liveliness, this is what gives chayas the whole day. Therefore, it's compared to a spinal cord that energizes the body of the person. And now we go on to the third paragraph, which I'll read that in inside because it's a very, very painful Iniyan for the Mitteler Rebbe, and it was painful for all the Rabbeim. This Iniyan of talking by davening. The Mitteler Rebbe writes as follows, third paragraph: "Le'cheim le'diah mishmi," to notify in my name, "to every city and minyan, the close ones and the f- distant ones, that they should make a strong resolution, shelo y'dabru beis hatefila," that they will not speak during davening. "M'shor sh'yamed hasas lefni hateiva." When the chazan begins davening, there shouldn't be any talking. "V'ya'asu ish mashgiach ne'emaruch." They should make someone who... A supervisor who should be a, a trustworthy person that will not show favoritism to anybody. "Ki leini tan lichtav gegul agmas nefesh." I can't describe, the Mitteler Rebbe says, the agmas nefesh, the agony that I'm suffering from seeing the lawlessness. "Haperetz hapartzu ha'am ish ish." That everybody's breaking the law by talking in middle of davening. "And lesheines tahalach baris." The tongues are walking around. "Devarah isu vedvarim lamavkak." Speaking about nonsense. "Ube-ishki ohelem v'davka matters that relate to world," which have nothing to do with davening. "V'davka." And exclusively, when does that take place? When the chazan is davening, young and old alike walk

31:01 and, and whisper to each other. "V'yachdav yislach Hashem bepirko se'el." And then the Mitteler Rebbe says, "Hayishma Hashem l'tefila she'eires al nimtzach hu?" Would the Aibishter listen to such a prayer? Have mercy on your souls. My beloved, my brother, my friends. Feel ashamed from your, uh, uh, deeds. This is one letter. Mitre Rebbe doesn't rely on that alone. Three pa-- two pages further, there's another letter. Mitre Rebbe writes, "You should repent." "Truly and with a full heart." "To be with a sidder." "To daven in a sidder an hour or more." He shouldn't... The person shouldn't feel that they fulfill it, that they're quickly. He does not know what he's saying. He just put his lips. He's just saying, and he's relying that he know... that he's gonna daven that way without even thinking what he's, he's, he's be-saying. With his lips, he's moving quiet... It's moving quietly. His voice is not sound. When a person davens loud, it is something that brings the, that brings the person to special meditation, that a person could focus when a person davens loud. He can think what he's saying, and it also awakens, inspires the person. He should not think about those mocker, those who, um, doing mockery, laughing at him and walking back and forth, pacing back and forth. Mitre Rebbe says it's not a way of davening. Pacing is not a way of davening. As the Mitre Rebbe says, it was already... there was already an inspiration to be this kind of davening, walking back and

33:02 forth. Everyone should stand on his place. He should have in mind, in his intention, with his mind and his heart in the, in focus on the words that are coming out from the wall of his heart, davening loudly till which is davened quietly. Okay, now we're going on to the second column, mitzvahs. Through mitzvahs we are of the In other words, when a person does a mitzvah, there's, there is two factors in the mitzvah as we'll still mention. One of them is basically, primarily the of the A mitzvah means the wants this specific union. But mainly what are you connecting with? You are connecting with the who is the source of this will and commandment. A second union for mitzvah is also timing mitzvahs, the reasons for the mitzvahs, the insights of the mitzvah. What does a mitzvah accomplish? For example, in mitzvahs we have two parts. We have the first part different, they're different to so there's two parts over here. There's there is one general that is mentioned in every that we make before a mitzvah. He has sanctified us with his commandments and he's in-- has, has commanded us, and then we conclude the with a specific mitzvah. So actually, the reason for that is because every mitzvah has in itself two things. It is the will of but in addition to that, there is a specific mitzvah that contributes to the and it is different than another mitzvah that contributes to the . These are all separate mitzvahs. Each mitzvah has

35:05 her and our also to understand the mitzvah explains every mitzvah, what the spiritual aspects of the mitzvah is. So this is what the Mitre Rebbe says. In a mitzvah, there's the decree. The decree is Hashem has instructed us to do that. In addition to that, there is also the reason of the mitzvah, which means the appreciation that the mind, intelle-in, the intellect of the person could also understand it. But the first thing that needs to be is that a person has to know it's of the He has sanctified us, something that's higher than our understanding. Now we go on to the next, uh, paragraph, pisgam of the Mitre Rebbe. The Mitre Rebbe once said, for those that learn every day, you will see it on the twentieth of Teves, that when two sit and learn together, it is two and one . Two godly souls and one natural soul. The famous question that comes up to those who delve into it is why does the Mitre Rebbe use the lotion or, or why does the Rebbe select a pisgam about natural soul? The teachings of Chabad is about the godly soul and the animal soul. The animal soul, not the, not the natural soul. Natural soul is something that's used by the Rambam, by other, um, Jewish philosophers. We're talking about, m-m, animal soul, this is Chabad speaks about it. There's nefesh elokis, nefesh habamis. So why is it that here the Rebbe selected in that it's a natural soul? Especially we find ourself now

37:03 eighty years since the was written, published by the Rebbe, almost finishing the year, going into the eighty-first year. So the question is why nefesh hativus? So the answer is you see it right from the date. What is the date for the ? What is ? The of the Rambam. Comes the Rebbe and hosts selects a pisgam, which is exactly the shita, the perspective of the Ramam, the way the Ramam described the animal soul. The Ra- Ramam describes it and that it's considered a natural soul, and that is why the Rebbe uses the lashon hatifis. Even more yet, I think this pisgam is taken from a letter of the Friediker Rebbe, where the Friediker Rebbe uses both descriptions, animal soul and natural soul, and the Rebbe omits the animal soul description and just uses natural soul. The pastas, here we see how everything of our yemiem is measured and accurate, b'tachas, to a thousand percent if not more. That every, uh... how the Rebbe selected for a certain day, something within the framework of that day, what that day represents, and therefore also the teaching for that day. Now we're going on to quotations from the Rabbeim, how the Rabbeim discussed, ex- uh, uh, spoke about the Mitteler Rebbe. What they said about the Mitteler Rebbe? The Tsamach Tzedek, his son-in-law and his nephew, said about the Mitteler Rebbe, if they would cut a finger by him, it would not be blood, but Chasidus. The Mitteler Rebbe lived with Chasidus. His whole life was Chasidus, to

38:45 the extent that even his last night, v'al madam, he was already... he looked mamash like he's already, uh, by the istalkus. That one doctor said to another, "Give him permission to, uh, speak." They whispered into his ear. He immediately sat up, gained color, and began speaking for hours. Hours. At one point, he said that, uh, he wants to speak about the Keitz. Mamash about the Keitz begulah. So when he started to speak about it, Chasidim around him pushed and hat, one of them fell on the Mitteler Rebbe. Mitteler Rebbe says this was a remez me'omayla, a sign me'omayla that he should stop talking about it. Instead, the Mitteler Rebbe began a ma'amar, which was with a... a ma'amar which began with... He, he then began the ma'amar ki im cha mecheir chayim, and he was nistalik by the word chayim, and this is what we're speaking now about the Tsamach Tzedek as we'll see further. That in addition, that his whole life was Chasidus, not dinin of blood. Uh, Al Derach Eretz and Tsamach Tzedek said that from the time of the passing of the Rashbi till the time of t- the Mitteler Rebbe, he did not see such a istalkus which took place. That they both were nistalik by the word chayim, life. Rab Shimon ben Yochai was nistalik by the words ki shom tziva Hashem es habrocha chayim. The Mitteler Rebbe was nistalik by the pasuk ki im cha mecheir chayim. Again, the word life. The Rebbe Rashab said, "Lidaiti," in my opinion,

40:29 the Rebbe Rashab says, what it says, Benigeger to Moshe Rabbeinu, that he is the middle one. Eimet bein Hashem u'veinecha. I'm standing between Hashem and you. Moshe Rabbeinu was the middle man, so the Rebbe Rashab says this was the Mitteler Rebbe. This is another biur why he's called Mitteler, the middle one. It was the mid... The, the Mitteler Rebbe was the one who connected Chasidim with the Aibishter through his Chasidus. So the Tsama- the Rebbe Rashab says, "What the Mitteler Rebbe gave Chasidim, nobody gave." The Chasidus that the Mitteler Rebbe gave, that we have ma'amarim today from the Mitteler Rebbe. There's one ma'amar forty pages. Forty pages. The Rabbeim would say that to learn a ma'amar from the Mitteler Rebbe, you need either a summer day or a winter night. Mitteler Rebbe would speak for hours, as mentioned earlier, and, um, Chasidim were there. Chasidim would chazer over. They would chazer over the ma'amar together with the Torat with everything medayk and every, every halakha knew of the Mitteler Rebbe. The Friediker Rebbe says that the Mitteler Rebbe demanded from yungerleit they should understand in kesser like they understand their own five fingers. The same way that a person, how much a person understands biology of their own five fingers, all the details. But basically in the same sense that a person understands physic- the physical fingers, five fingers, in the same sense a person should delve into the attribute of kesser and understand it like it is something that is part of their life.

42:04 The Rebbe said, by the Mitteler Rebbe we find bemuchach, going on to page three, that the Aibishter fulfills the years of tzadikim to the day, from day to day. They're born on a specific day, nistalik exactly on that very same day years later, and that shows the ma'aya of tzadikim, the un- unique quality of a tzadik, that the Aibishter calculates complete years exactly to the day. We find it by Moshe Rabbeinu. Al Derach Eretz we find by the Mitteler Rebbe, he was born on tenth Kislev, and he was nistalik on that very same day, um, uh, uh, fifty-four years later. Minhogim of the Rabbeim in regard to Kislev. The Rebbe Mahrash would say a ma'amar yud K- Yud Kislev, which is basically the day of his redemption. In Taf Resh Mem, that's late 1879, the Rebbe Mahrash would bring twice, the night before Yud Kislev and on the day itself. And the Rebbe Mahrash says, "Tonight, the one who commemorates is the eynikl. Tomorrow, the one who commemorates is der eynikl." The means his wife- The Rebbetzin. Lashon nekheivah, female. Der, which means er, that's the, that's the Reb Maharash himself. So he's saying tomorrow he is gonna farbreng. But tonight, di eynikle, is that the Reb Maharash's wife, because she's also a descendant, direct descendant from the Mitteler Rebbe. So this, she was farbrenging the night before with her people, and then the Reb Maharash would farbreng in the daytime. So that's the lashon, der or the di. The, the basic in Yiddish is,

43:56 uh, that's the difference between female and male. The Reb Maharash on 10 Kislev would say the last Kaddish of every tefillah. Although he was a great-grandson of the Mitteler Rebbe, he would commemorate it by saying the last Kaddish of every one of the three tefillahs of 10 Kislev. The night, Ma'ariv, Shacharis, and Mincha. On one occasion, the Reb Maharash said, "They should learn Mishnayos which begins with the letters of the Mitteler Rebbe." Mitteler Rebbe is daled, vav, beis, ayin, reish, five letters. Five letters means five chapters of Mishnayos. One that starts with a daled, with a vav, with a beis, ayin, and reish. Okay, the Mitteler Rebbe was named after the Maggid. The Maggid was referred to as Dov Ber. But l'peel, the, um, Rabbeim, when they published his sefarim, they wrote Dov Ber. And he also would sign his name Dov Ber, many official papers. The Reb Maharash is named after the Mitteler Rebbe, is also Dov Ber. Not, although people refer to as Dov Ber, but Dov Ber are two different names, I mean two different parts. Ma she inkenn Dov Ber is basically one name, that Dov Ber becomes one. So to learn the Mishnayos of the Mitteler Rebbe. And the Reb Maharash continued and said, "The Mitteler Rebbe does not need our Mishnayos, but we need to want to learn Mishnayos for him." In other words, the Mitteler Rebbe's neshamah does not need us to learn Mishnayos to accomplish an aliyah for him. He manages on his own. The Reb Maharash

45:40 took out money, they should buy mashke to farbreng. Now, on 10 Tevet Kislev, the 10th of Kislev is documented as Chag Hageulah. The Mitteler Rebbe was freed from imprisonment in Vitebsk in the year taf kuf pei zayin, which is e- late 1826. It's a joyous day for an lash. We do not say Tachnun. And it's customary to make a big farbrengen. People might ask a question, or people might not even realize it's a Yom Tov. Yud Tes Kislev is loud, and may leivane knows about it. What happened with Tes Kislev with Yud Kislev? So the Rebbe explains the reason that it did not get off the ground possibly is, as we mentioned earlier, that the Mitteler Rebbe was nesitalek a year after his geulah. They didn't ge- even get a chance to celebrate the first geulah. A day before the anniversary, the first anniversary, he was nesitalek. So bemeheilah, i- i- it nev- never got off the ground. So even in later years, the Rab- we don't find by the Rabbeim a full celebration, mamash with a, a loud celebration like Yud Tes Kislev. The Reb Maharash in the night of Yud Kislev would visit his mother, as mentioned earlier, the Rebbetzin Rivke, who was a descendant of the Mitteler Rebbe. He would ask her different questions. She had a phenomenal memory, and she would share a lot with the Friediker Rebbe, her grandson. Friediker would write books, notes what he heard from his grandmother, stories about the Rabbeim, stories about the Reb Maharash's birth.

47:13 This was all done by the Rebbetzin Rivke. The Rebbetzin Rivke was the one that actually always, uh, partially told him zechraynus. And the bochurim would be there, the Reb Maharash would ask questions, and the farbrengen was a short farbrengen. Another inyan that's mentioned Yud Kislev is that Yud Kislev is considered the birth of a Hasid. Yud Tes Kislev is considered the bris. What a bris means in the spiritual sense means circumcising the heart, revealing and refining the heart and its character traits, that a person should also be devoted to another Yid, doing a favor another Yid, which this is basically what it means, a good heart. Heart which was circumcised, that there's nothing stopping one person from being open and relating to another person. In addition to that, a bris is something which is eternal, a connection with the . That is the inyan of a bris, and that was by Avraham Avinu one and only mitzvah b'gas miyas that later was an introduction to the mitzvos that we received after Matan Torah, that we can take something physical, convert it into something spiritual. So me'ilah, this is basically the significance that already from Yud Kislev, we already begin the chitashe yamim tovim, although already in our generation we began from Rosh Chodesh Kislev, being that this was the day that the Rebbe went home after forty days being in his room after the heart attack from late 1977. So hakol panim, this is an, uh, uh, overview b'negiah to the Mitteler Rebbe. We conclude

48:52 with that they should awaken and, and rejoice those who are dwelling in the dust, and he amongst them in their lead.