3 Stories of the Lubavitcher Rebbe - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

so [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Music] I [Music] okay [Music] you know Oh [Music] I want to share with you today a very special story the story was told by the rabbi of a city called Elizabeth in New Jersey his name was heard of pinches tights rabbi penises tights of blessed memory who was a great Talmud Holcomb a great rabbi a well-known leader here in America now today people make trips from America to Russia from Russia to America very frequently but for many many years you know there was what they used to call the Iron Curtain between Russia and the rest of the world it was very difficult to travel back and forth people who lived in Russia usually could not get out and if he wanted to make a visit it was a very complicated procedure communism then was very powerful and the communist regime in the Soviet Union had a held its citizens in a very very tough grip and to visit could be very dangerous one of the people who visited Russia and those difficult years was rabbi tights rabbi tights knew that Labov ik Chabad has an underground network in russia already from the days as you know of the revered ayats' and then continued by the river there were underground secrets schools yeshivas hedorium mikvahs soles varam get-togethers for Brennan's all and secrets and their ever had secret communication with many of his people in Russia although it was kept completely confidential because of any information would be exposed the people could be severely punished even the letters were masked the title that they used to use when they wanted to write a letter to the rabbit was ADA to the grandfather so that when the government the censors would read their letters it was written to the Zaid that to the grandfather so they didn't have a suspicion that it's being written to Arriba and nevermind snare s'en who were not looked at very positively in Russia because of all the problems the feed that could ever gave them and there was nothing involved in spreading either Skype and religion which was forbidden in communist Russia so before I buy tights would go to Russia he would always go into there ever and receive from him requests or suggestions or instructions what to do who to visit what to bring to the country rabbi tights was not a hustled not a host at all but he was a close friend to the river and he tried to help any way he can the Russian Jews and in this case the Habad Hassidim in Russia once before such a journey he went in to the devas room and he informed the Reber that he is soon going to travel to Russia and they spoke about different plans and different suggestions and then the rebus said to him I want to ask you for a favor the rabbit took a Latonya and says please shear this Tonya with the Hasidim that you will meet in Russia and tell them that this Tonya I sent with you rabbi tight said with pleasure no problem he takes the tanya when he opens the Tanya he sees that they're ever actually wrote his name on his Tanya it was his personal tanya that he was learning from a few days later he calls up rabbi kondakov rabbi hiyya Mordecai Isaac Roddick of all of our solemn was a personal secretary of there ever and he tells her about how to cough please tell their ever that I apologize but I can't take the time you know why the experts that goes through everything I take to Russia to make sure it's kosher looked at the tanya and when he opened it he said rabbi tights don't take this book I said why he says the Russians are going to open it they're going to see it says Missy Frey and the rebels name and his last name shnayerson the schneerson's are persona non grata and Russia they are not welcome there they are considered to be great troublemakers the freed the Kariba was arrested the snare sins are people that are illegal in Russia and by you carrying a book from Schneerson you can be arrested you can be investigated you can be punished I don't know what can happen to you who knows don't take this book so he caused this to Rabbi Chanukah if I had the cuff tells me by tights he says rabbi tights do you think the Rebbe knows about the situation in Russia he says I know he knows about the situation in Russia he grew up in Russia do you think he knows about what the Russians are capable of doing to the schneerson's I think he knows about it he knows what they did to his father rip let's go what they did to his father-in-law what they did to many other schneerson's what they did to many the Sydenham of the geneticists so rabbi tights do you think the rapper would ask you to do something that would endanger your own life he would give you something knowing that you can end up in prison or you can end up with many difficulties and challenges you would think he would want to put you through this rabbi tight says obviously not so everybody had the cuff says trust trust him that he doesn't want you to suffer rabbi tights although not being a constant can accept the logic of rabbi had becomes argument and he said okay I'm going to take the time he takes the tanja he travels to the Soviet Union and you have to realize how meetings took place you couldn't sit down with somebody in Sheol and say hey how are you Shalom alaikum alaikum sulla because there were spies everywhere every official shoulder response so basically ensure as you were walking and you saw somebody and nobody was looking you had to whisper I'll meet you Tuesday seven o'clock in the morning in the park and then you both went 7 o'clock in the morning to the park and first you were a half a mile away and then you got closer and you looked a hundred times every minute if there's a car if there's a person and then you sat down on a bench for a few minutes and you spoke and you left that's how meetings were arranged because of the intense danger anybody who came from America they were suspicious they would follow him and if he was meeting people those people were under suspicion and they could suffer terribly afterwards rabbi tights comes to Russia in the first city he visited whether it was Moscow or another city he went to the shul he met Habad Hassidim and he arranged with them in a very secret almost sign language communication that at this and this day at this in this hour he wants to meet them in this in this place and so at that particular hour a group of Robotnik's living in the Soviet Union came and Metin and after validating and confirming that no strange I was observing them they finally met in this park in a remote location where nobody can see them for a few minutes rabbi tights turns to them and he says before I came here I was by the nether and he asked me to share something with you and rabbi tights pink Southie Tonia and he says they never asked me to share this safer with you they looked at the Tonia it's hard for us today to understand their response but if you know a little bit about how life then was in Russia and how cutoff they were you could understand it one of them tells them rabbi tights they never actually touched touched this tania medina hey Luca hence he touched us Konya with his holy hands there are my tights us not only did he touch titania with his hands but this is his old tania he opens up the tonya shows them his name and he gave it to me and asked me to share this tonya with you and say that it's from him and the person says i did not go to the mikveh today I'm not going to touch the time but somebody else with great trepidation took the tania and for a bite it--so was not a constant he said himself it was very strange Tania is a holy book it's a great safer but why the trepidation why the year why the war and one of them took the Tanya with so much respect and reverence and slowly began to open its pages as though he just encountered a sacred object that he was waiting to talk entire life and he and the others started to turn to pick the pages page after page after page and then one of them stopped stopped and started to read lines to a particular page and became pale and very very emotional rabbi tight says vas vas what and there cuz it says look I can H on this pages I can H you know where the Canadians akan H is a fold you know sometimes in a safe for you have a page that's folded in Yiddish this is called a connect or in English a fold one of the pages was folded a can H so rabbi tight says ok I can a you know people that use farm a lot right sometimes they want to hold the place so they make a connection they make a fold that could come back there or if the user if he just from frequent using sometimes the page is banned or fault the person is no you're not understand this is a fold because here is the answer from there ever which is what answer from than ever and the man tells them as you know a little while ago we heard the news that the government is accepting some requests of citizens for visas and passports and permission to leave the country and with the question was should we apply for these visas because it's very risky in Russia you can apply and strike lucky and leave you can apply and then you're accused of being a country devil at see an air of being somebody who's opposed to the government somebody who hates Russia somebody who wants to leave and you could be sent to Siberia for applying for a visa so we did not know should we apply should we not apply so we wrote a letter to their ever but there was no way you could send such a letter to New York should I apply for a visa to leave Russia so what did we do we wrote a letter and we put it into a time yet here in this tonya is the answer look the pages folded rabbi tight says we're is there an answer he says read what it says in the tonya that page in tonya it said that when you confront every person has in him negativity every human being has in him or her I hate Sahara every person in him or her has sometimes darkness and when you see it coming out what do you have to do you have to run away as fast as possible run run as fast as you can because it said this is the answer when you see evil is here and you could run run I have to apply for a visa rabbi tights was very very suspicious he's thinking to himself this man is going to put himself in danger and apply for a visa to leave Russia because it says in Tonya that you have to run away from evil and there's a fold on the page he couldn't accept it on the other hand I'll speak loud on the other hand on the other hand to tell the Jew not to apply for the visa how can he take responsibility maybe this Jew will get out and as a result of his suggestion that Duke drew will remain stuck in Russia so he decided as the Gemara often says share Val pasa other if better I'll be passive I won't do anything I won't say anything he bids them farewell he takes the Tanya and he goes on to the next city in the next city he once again meets a group of Habad Hassidim he arranges for a meeting with them in the park at a particular day in a particular hour and the story repeats itself what nobody is looking they sit down he takes out a time he says I was by the red band he gave me something special for you they can't believe that if there ever is Tanya one of them says I wasn't in the mixer I can't touch it somebody finally takes it starts turning the pages goes further in the Tanya with tremendous year us our coverage tremendous respect and suddenly the man stops shorts and again he's very very emotional rough tight says the secure Shan that man says look there Eva's answer to me what answer he points to the page he says I can age he went to another page and Tanya that had a second fault of Titus thinking himself oh my god what's going on it what answer and the man says the same story as you know now people are applying the question was to apply not to apply I knew I can't send a letter to you New York I put a question in the Tonya and here is the answer you say it's the rebus Tanya here is the fault what does it say there on that page and Tanya in that page and tangy it says that in life sometimes you can take the negativity the darkness the ate Sahara the evil that's in you and transform it into goodness you can change it around and use it for the good some things in your life you have to run away from some things in your life you could transform and use for good because even the greatest darkness that you have in your life hasn't it a spark of goodness and you could turn it around ah this is my answer there ever is saying that somehow I have to remain here and transform my situation to the best of my ability into a positive experience not to run away to remain in Russia and ref tights is thinking to himself this Jew is not going to apply for a visa based on a fold on a page that there ever probably made maybe 10 years ago when he was learning to Tanya how can how can how can he think this way he wants to tell them no no but again how can he take responsibility and what if he applies for a visa and gets arrested again he says nothing but he's thinking to himself you know this is mamas great because if you learn Tanya you know half of the time you basically says run away from evil and the other half of Tanya says transform it so half of the time you says get out of Russia and the other half of Tanya says stay in Russia you know this is awesome but he's quiet he keeps his thoughts to himself closes the Tanya and when he closes the Tanya he says goodbye to them or leaves them to Tanya or goes to another city he concludes his visit a few weeks later returns to the United States as always he comes to New York he pays a second visit by the rabbit to give a report he's in their embassy room and he sheers everything that occurred in Russia he decides to himself that he's not going to talk to the rapper about what happened with Italian but very painful for him and he felt that there ever is going to be very sad to know that because of the folds on the pages these Jews decided to apply for a visa not to apply for a visa that ever carries enough responsibility on his shoulders why burden him with these responsibilities that he might feel guilty or he might feel upset or he might feel agitated about that they're making such major decisions based on the connect based on the fold so he decides not to bring up the topic in middle of the conversation he sees that there ever is looking to hear something he doesn't know what he's quiet finally after they discussed everything that ever turns to him politely and he says did you have a chance to think the tongue is there talking it at conversing in Yiddish so he says yes did you have a chance to give it over to the custom in the different cities that you visit he says yes the comes in Yemen is a cute visit I'm Tonya I show that the Tonya and then ever looks at him and asks this question the Yiddish he says the Canadian Poppins egg is there did they see the connection that they see the falls on the pages and that's moment rabbi tights who shared a story said that moment he understood something of the relationship between a closet and Arab because sometimes air ever communicates in words sometimes Arabic communicates in writing sometimes their ever communicates through eyes sometimes that ever communicates with a gesture of his arm or hand and sometimes that ever communicates through a connect through a Fault in the page [Music] Hey [Music] ah [Music] yeah [Music] Hey [Music] say dad [Music] haha you know dear boys I want to share with you another very special story today is a day when we're focusing on what the rabbit taught you and me and all of us about our life about our existence about ourselves about our responsibilities about our gifts about our privileges and we don't have to look for a fold in a page but rather I sat in your place here for many many many many years when I was your age and a lot younger and had the privilege of hearing and being at many rallies many Kinison in which there ever stood right here and addressed all the children and what did he say he said many things but I want to focus on a few messages that you can take away and you will take away for yourselves in your own heart and your own soul number one I don't know if I could say this eloquently enough but the love and the trust and the belief that there ever had in you in children was undescribable you know lots of people as you know are annoyed by you fight children right you ever hear somebody say quiet quiet we need quiet in the room go play in another room you ever heard that go play in another room go to the basement go outside you bike the rabba mamas loved you he loved children he loved children with every fiber of his being he loved children he believed in children he loved spending time with children and he was happy around children and being with children because he believed so much in young people in young boys in young girls not only that usually when you want to create an army who do you create an army from you create an army from tall strong trained soldiers when they never wanted to create an army who did he choose he could have chosen forty-year-old alta whatever the word is or 30 year old or 20 year old guys who did he choose who do you create an army he chose sip assertion he said who are the main fighters in our Sam's Army he created an army out of young boys young Jewish men and young Jewish woman in Gotham a the muck unbelievable why why did he create an army from you heading out an army from you because he felt very strongly and knew very strongly that if you want the war to be won if you want the battle to succeed if you want to bring our sin back into this world and bring Redemption to the world you need a good army you need an army that you can trust who can you really trust you can trust you and you and you and you you can trust so here's the story but the story needs a little introduction the story is about a man named Joseph Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila served as a soldier in the Israeli army one day in the early 1970s he's patrolling the Golan Heights the Golan Heights Rebecca Gallen Israel took back from Syria in 1967 during the six-day war Israel liberated yerushalayim many other territories including the Golan Heights in the North America straw which was under Syrian control until today there are many beautiful Jewish cities settlements he Shubham and cities in the Golan I've been there many times and this soldier Yosef kabilov was patrolling and unfortunately he went on as jeep went on to a mine it exploded he was hospitalized this was around the time of the Kippur War it happened the sergeant was saying we need all our men [Music] [Applause] I should have at love [Music] yato my son [Music] bizarre you'll be protected [Music] well from all those young muscles from all those young muscles that were drafted to war visit Joseph this Joseph was wounded badly taken to the hospital and when he woke up one morning in his hospital bed it was the Rambam Hospital in the city of Haifa he remembered nothing of the circumstances that brought him into the hospital all he felt was excruciating pain in his legs but the discovery that followed was far more horrendous horrendous than the pain he lifted up his sheets and he realized that both of his legs had been amputated the right leg at the knee and the left one at the mid thigh what happened he was serving in the army went on to the mine his legs were so crushed as a result of the explosion the doctors tragically had no alternative and in order to save his life had to amputate the legs the period that followed was terribly devastating he made it home but he could not move he could not function as an ordinary person his parents were broken his mother would cry all day his father was just silent the friends that came to visit him didn't know what to tell him so they came they sat they looked in all directions you know when you're uncomfortable with somebody they looked in all directions but they couldn't look him in the eyes and at the first opportunity they had they stood up and they said goodbye and they left he felt a lot of anger not just because of his situation but anger towards the country that the country that he sacrificed his life for could not help him during this time when he needed so much help his own family his own friends his own country could not do anything for him emotionally his life became a bitter cynical and negative experience a few years later it was the summer of tough salaamed love 1976 a group of wounded soldiers of sahal came for a visit here to America the army sponsored a fun tour for them and one of them one of the people organizing the tour suggested that as they come to New York one of the places they should come visit is right here this shul and in the summer the of Duff's & Lomb evolve around a hundred and fifty wounded soldiers in wheelchairs came down here downstairs at seven seventy they closed up the shul and the wheelchairs lined up the whole that side of the shul and their ever came down to greet them and to speak to them their ever set up there on the stage the wheelchairs were set up they never spoke to them in Hebrew and he started by apologizing he said I'm going to speak Hebrew waha vada Ashkenazi's like an Ashkenazi with an Ashkenazic accent so you'll forgive me I'm not going to speak with a Sephardic accent because I'm not accustomed to it I'm accustomed to one Ashkenazic accent you know the difference an Ashkenazic accent will be a NEMA debate at shava shava aspired inimitable akov and so many differences in accent pronunciation he spoke to them and one of the things that ever said then was that by a Jew the goof the body is very very important but the goof is always an extension of the neshamah the most important thing you have to know is that you have a soul and the body is here to help and serve than the sum of the soul so the body is here for the soul the soul is not here for the body and therefore even when the body has limitations and their bodies of course were badly wounded you have to know that the soul is as powerful as ever and therefore the limitations of the body cannot stop you from fulfilling what you are capable of fulfilling in this world and to the contrary because you're missing some possibilities in your body it means that Hashem is giving you a lot extra in your neshama to compensate for the challenges you have in your body and therefore he says as a good Jew we mix into other people's business I'm sure some of your friends tell you sometimes don't mix into my business so their ever said I'm a good Jew I'm going to mix into your business the name that Israel gives these soldiers is you know the name in Hebrew now hey sir how naje means the invalids people that have physical limitations they can't walk they're missing limbs they're wounded they're in wheelchairs they're called Nikita how the invalids of shouts waha Denali Israel he said I suggest changing the name you're not invalids of - how the name has to be Matsuya nades aha Mitsuo natal means the exceptional of Siham it's not just to make you feel good you know we're gonna be nice your grades but it's true because as we said if you're missing something in the body it means that you were given special power in your soul in your Rubeus and your spiritual essence far greater than any other ordinary person who is fully healthy in their body and therefore it's a very real moment so you're Nate's aha he spoke more and then he said I want to ask you permission to go over to each of you and give you a dollar to give for sadaqa and when they never finished a sinner usually people came up to their effort to receive a dollar here he came down the steps and in a very special moment he walked over to every single wheelchair and he looked every soldier in the eyes and he gave him a dollar to give fit sadaqa and he said something to every single woman initially people thought he said the same thing to everybody but later we found out that he said something different to everyone one of the soldiers sitting there was whom our friend Yosef Yosef was obviously wheelchair-bound bitter angry upset cynical already a long time as I described above and then the repetame over to him and the rebus shook hands with every one of the soldiers and the rabbit took the hands of Yosef and he placed them in his own holy palms and he held it tightly and warmly he looked him in the eyes and said two words what were the two words the two words were thank you thank you or as we say in Hebrew tada toda raba thank you very much this was a thank you for what he did for the Jewish people it was a thank you for the sacrifice he made for Aaron C slow and for AM you strong and Yosef said that's what I was waiting for I was waiting for somebody to look me in the eyes and just say thank you thank you for what you have given thank you for your sacrifice he cheered the story a few years ago he said that thanks you took me back home to Israel and gave me a new lease on life he's now a very successful real-estate developer and every morning when I wake up he says and I take a look at my body and sometimes I feel that my life is over my life is lost I'm incapable of doing what a regular person should be able to do I remember the gaze and I remember the thank you and that gives me a new vitality a new highest a new inspiration to move on I tell you this story for two reasons first of all I want you to learn how to say thank you in your life don't be afraid I want you to learn how to turn to somebody look them in their eyes and say thank you and by the way that could be even your teacher especially especially as the year is coming to an end and it can even be your mother and your father and it can even be somebody you don't know well and when you say thank you don't look away but I want to say something else I want to say something else I want to say to you thank you [Applause] I want to say to each and every one of you sitting here and to each of every one of you hearing these words or that we'll hear these words I want to say to you thank you for for for being who you are for being on the front lines of the war as the foot soldiers in the front lines of the civil session to defeat the eight Sahara and to defeat the darkness in the world I want to say thank you that after all these years you make a lot of sacrifices to live up to the calling of every Jewish child as Hashem is personal ambassadors and soldiers to the world keep it up and thank you I either [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I yeah yeah yeah [Music] Hey [Music] yeah yeah Hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey [Music] Hey in these precious moments I have to tell you one more story I love this story and I think you might oh so once once listen to this and I'm going to need your help in some information here are there is there anybody here in the crowd any of you who know how to paint paint pictures and the artists okay how about is there anybody here who knows how to take pictures okay now listen ah III know neither I'm not a photographer and I'm not an artist at least not when it comes to pictures so I'm going to need your help in this story so there was once a young man a little older than you a little older a young teenager who went in who went in for a new tendency went in to visit the revenant and he asked a never a question and the question was why is he orphan so not in the mood of doing the right thing why can't they always be in the mood of doing the right thing somebody asks me for a favor I'm not in the mood of doing it Hashem wants me to talk to him davin have a relationship with them I'm not in the mood learning I'm not in the mood doing omits why can I always be in the mood it's a good question right so they're ever told them this is the difference between my love him and people angels Malaka always want to do the best thing a person has a war going on we have different sides we have different moods sometimes I wake up on my right side sometimes I wake up on my left side sometimes my Yeats at times speak something Sarris speaks sometimes my selfish side speaks and sometimes my godly side speaks sometimes my brain speaks and sometimes my heart speaks we have lots of people talking in us and the power of a person is to make decisions to make decisions so the boy asked there ever wouldn't I shall be much happier if he would have created us like angels so to never ask the boy what do you do as a hobby after school he said I draw pictures I want to be an artist so he says I have a question do you know any great artists and he named off some of the great artists he says that if you go into a art gallery and you buy an original painting of a great artist a popular world-renowned artist how much does it cost and the boy said it could cost three million dollars or whatever the number he gave so they never said I have a question if you were to take a camera and go to that place read through the painting let's say he draws the painting of children playing by the sand near a beach and the Sun is setting and you went that you took a picture of the same scene how much would that picture cost he said thirty-five cents it's called a postcards so they're bears now I have a question which is more accurate the photo or the painting very well thank you the photo she said it's not fear the photo is more accurate than it costs thirty five cents and the painting is less accurate and it costs three million dollars who is you sure Wiz justice so the boy looked at the data and says come on let me explain this to you and he explains that ever to the Rebbe to the difference he says what's a picture a picture is dead you take a camera today it's a digital then there was a regular camera with you don't even know all of our solemn you had to deposit you had to develop with films in a darkroom it's a chronal of raha you take a picture and what is it you have it's accurate but it's dead so it's 35 cents a painting is not just a picture the artist looks at it and then he experiences it in his mind and his soul and then he has the push of taking the live experience in and putting it on cannabis and he puts his whole soul and heart and genius into it you have there is cruelty his depth his ability is art capacity that cost three million dollars there ever smiled and said and that's the difference between angels and people an angel always does the right thing he always does the thing everything accurately he's like Hashem's photo a person is a Shems art we don't do it accurately we don't always get it right but we have to put our heart into it we have to make choices our soul is there our passion is there our heart is there we have to choose we sometimes have to struggle Hashem looks at your life this is a piece of art it's worth three million and far more so Candela I want to conclude and tell you this and that is if there's one great message the rabbit taught always was see your life as a piece of art and see every moment of your life as a piece of art don't be perfect but put your soul into your life put your heart into your because your life is a gift of arts and every decision you make is a gift of art to Hashem a gift of art that will light up the world with your arts and bring the ghoulish leymah to our world thank you very much [Music]