30 Letters 30 Days Final Class and 11 Nissan Birthday Farbrengen at the Ohel

Mazel tov to all of us for completing this auspicious accomplishment of preparing for the Rebbe's birthday by learning from the Rebbe's Torah and specifically learning from the Igros which is a very special kind of limud. We've spoken about it, those who have been tuning in throughout the past 30 days know that we've spoken about many times about some of the unique features of the Igros. And I won't review all of that. These classes are are on archive and you can watch them, rewatch them, you can go back. But I'll just say one point which is and I've said this before, but I'll say it again tonight. Everything that the Rebbe taught has practical application, everything. Even the deepest spiritual concept in a maamar that's talking about layers or levels of of of pre-creation, of Seder Hishtalshelus, before worlds exist, even that has some type of practical application for our lives if you're willing to think about it and and work at it. But when you learn the Igros where the Rebbe is writing to a real person about a real issue and giving insight it's so clear and obvious just how practical and real the Rebbe's worldview is. And at the same time absolutely spiritual and sublime and elevated. And I think in the egress you see the melding of those two things. Something that's eminently practical and at the same time absolutely otherworldly and eternal. And it's just an amazing gift to be able to tap into that. Especially like we've been doing on a regular basis for the past 30 days. Uh there's a booklet that you should have received, the special souvenir booklet which was printed on this occasion of Yud-Aleph Nissan. Tavshin Pay Bays, 120 years. And it contains within it in addition to the letter for tonight, letter number 30, it contains Michtavim Klaliim. How many are there? Five of them? There's five. Yeah, maybe you can count in the table of table of contents and let me I think there are five Michtavim Klaliim. Yeah? How many? Five? Yeah. So these are general letters. In addition to the letters that the Rebbe wrote to individuals, which we've been studying, the Rebbe would also write several times a year, usually in conjunction with an upcoming Yom Tov, something called a Michtav Klali. Which means uh a public letter. And these letters were addressed to all Jewish sons and daughters wherever they may be. So in this booklet you have five Michtavim Klaliim that the Rebbe wrote various different years on Yud-Aleph Nissan on the occasion of his birthday. And the Yud-Aleph Nissan Michtav Klali would always be Pesach themed for obvious reasons because of its proximity to Pesach. Before we learn tonight's letter, the 30th letter, I wanted to share with you something from a Michtav klali, but it's not one of the five that's printed here. So, it's a bonus. Now, you're going to get six miktavim klaliim. Okay. There's a letter miktav klali yud alef nisan taf shin chaf vav 1966. And that year was the 100th yahrtzeit of the Tzemach Tzedek. The third Chabad Rebbe, the grandson of the the Baal HaTanya, the Alter Rebbe. So, I'll tell you the general gist of the letter. And then I'll tell you how the Rebbe connects it to the Tzemach Tzedek and how I think it connects to a lot of what we've been doing over the past 30 days. So, in this letter, the Rebbe talks about the fact that the korban Pesach the Passover sacrifice, sacrificial offering has many rules, detailed rules and laws about how it is to be offered. And one of the details that the Torah includes is that the the sheep or goat has to be roasted with its head, its inwards, and its feet together over fire. Head, inwards, feet together over fire. And the Rebbe then proceeds to homiletically explain the symbolism of these three parts of the sacrificial animal's body. He says, "As we know that the sheep was the avodah zarah, was the uh the deity, the false god of the Egyptians, which is one of the reasons why it was chosen as the sacrifice. It was to show a rejection of Egyptian idolatry. And so too, every year when we commemorate and relive Pesach, we are again rejecting all false gods, all powers other than Hashem. But it's not enough to reject these false gods. We have to reject them in a specific way. Specific aspects of the false gods, the false powers. And they correspond to the head, the inwards, and the feet. What does that mean? It means some people are attracted to foreign ideologies. They find it intellectually compelling, maybe stimulating, um and although they may also learn Torah, but they learn other things as well to which they give credence, and and they go looking for the truth in those areas as well. That corresponds to the head. The aspect of foreign service that applies to the mind. Other people, they're they're they're not looking for that kind of of uh depth. But where is their weakness and what sort of tempts them to go away from Hashem? It's uh the inwards. The inwards correspond to sustenance, the digestive tract. That's where you absorb your nutrition. So that means money. Uh some people sell out because they uh, enjoy other ideologies and they want to organize their lives according to the values espoused in other ideologies. Those are the people who have a problem with the head. Then there people have a problem with the with the inwards, with the stomach. They sell out in a literal way. They sell out for good old-fashioned, uh, money. Cash is king. And they compromise their morals and principles for financial security or the false lure of financial security. And for other people it's the feet. What do What do the feet represent? The feet represent standing on top of someone or something. Dominance. Ruling over others, overpowering them. So in order to assert my power and my authority and to have this false feeling that I'm in control, I, uh, I start believing in powers other than Hashem that I think will give me the ability to exert my power over others. So those are different aspects of the lure of idolatry. And the lesson of the Korban Pesach is that we have to sacrifice all of them. We have to sacrifice all of them. And we have to burn them over the same fire. The fire of self-sacrifice, of mesiras nefesh, which really means surrendering that which is important to us. Doing what's important to Hashem, not what's important to us. Whether that means intellectually, the head, or financially, the inwards, or when it comes to power and relationships and trying to dominate others, the feet. And what we do as we take all of those aspects, head, inwards, and feet, and we transform them into tools to serve Hashem. So that all of these areas of life, instead of not only no longer being idolatrous, they actually become transformed to a form of of worship of Hashem. That means we use our minds to get closer to Hashem's Torah. And our inwards, our need to take care of our bodies and to have material possessions and to have a home and to have uh to have a place for our family to uh to gather and to to spend time together. All of those things can be sanctified. I know this this is a women's farbrengen. This is especially a pertinent theme when we speak about women as a keder habayis. This is the mainstay the mainstay or the foundation of the home. That more than a man, a woman's job is to sanctify the house so that the house is no longer just a house. It's also a home, a Jewish home, which means to imbue certain mundane things with sanctity. And uh and that represents the transformation of the inwards of the korban Pesach. And then there's the feet. The feet also have to be transformed. And that means that our striving for dominance or excellence has to be dedicated purely toward accomplishing holy objectives. Going out into the world and being proud Jews and standing up for what's right and never shrinking away from a just cause. So all of those aspects that were idolatrous have to be reclaimed, repurposed, and uh turned into pathways of connection to Hashem. Now, that's pretty thorough. That's pretty thorough. That's basically all the different aspects of life. And we're supposed to take all of it and put it on the fire of of sacrifice. And it's interesting, a fire. The Rebbe doesn't talk about it in this miktah of kallah, but elsewhere I said this that explains that the effect of a fire is that a fire transforms whatever it touches. It's not like uh you have two physical objects and they bump into each other or even maybe they're liquidy, so they they mix with each other. But fire when fire touches something whatever it touches, whatever grabs hold of, it consumes and then what happens to the thing that the fire consumes it turns that into more fire. So, when you have like fire and a log, you don't have a mixture of fire and log, you just have more fire. The log becomes fire. And that's the idea of self-sacrifice. The fire of self-sacrifice it touches all of the areas of your life and does not allow them to remain separate from Hashem. It turns them into more godly flame, which gives light and warmth. So, it's the transformation of all aspects of our lives. That's what it really represents. Now, here's the part where the Rebbe speaks about the Tzemach Tzedek. The Rebbe says on the occasion, this is I told you tough shin chof vov, 1966, the Rebbe says on the occasion of the 100th yahrtzeit of the Tzemach Tzedek that it is fitting to reflect upon the fact that the Tzemach Tzedek as a person embodied all of these virtues that we're describing. He embodied the perfection of all aspects of a human personality. As as symbolized by the whole gamut of head and inwards and feet, whatever a person could do, whatever talent a person could use, whatever accomplishment or endeavor that a person could be involved in and transform it and turn it into something holy, the Tzemach Tzedek did it. You name it, he did it. And and and the Rebbe uses a very interesting series of words. If I can remember it correctly, I'll try to convey it to you. The Rebbe says the Tzemach Tzedek was a tzaddik gaon choiker mekubal posek u'manhig. I believe I got all of them. I'll just try to translate that. Tzaddik A tzaddik means a perfectly righteous individual like we learn about in Tanya. Someone who's an absolute transparent conduit to God's will with no blockage, no ego, no ego edging God out. It's just letting God flow through. That's the tzaddik. Gaon means a genius. The Tzemach Tzedek was a genius. He was a talmid chacham extraordinaire. His breadth, his depth, his knowledge of all areas of Torah both nigleh and nistar was unparalleled. So, he was a genius. He wasn't just holy, he was brilliant as well. But that's not all. He was also What was the next one? It was a sad day gone. Hiker. Yeah, what's a hike? Very good. What's a hiker? Hiker is Malashin Hakira. Hakira is Jewish philosophy. The Tzemach Tzedek not only wrote Seder, he wrote Hakira in the style of the of the classic works of Jewish philosophy like the Kuzari or the Moreh Nevukhim. There's a safer from the Tzemach Tzedek called Derech Emunah, which is Hakira. So he was a hiker, but also Mekubal. Right? That was the next one. Mekubal, that means a Kabbalist. The Tzemach Tzedek wrote Kabbalah. He wrote the Biurei HaZohar. And in his Seder is infused references to Kabbalah. But that's not all. He was also a Posek. What's a Posek? He was someone who ruled on practical Halachic questions. In fact, the name that we referred to him by the Tzemach Tzedek, the Tzemach Tzedek is a is the name of his safer of Tshuvos of Halachic rulings. So he was not just uh he was not just an authority in the mystical or spiritual aspect of Torah, but in Halacha as well. There's a story that's told the Divrei Chaim, the Sanz Rav, was a Posek. He he wrote Tshuvos as well. There's there's a series of of uh books that are rabbinic responsa of the of the Divrei Chaim. In fact, that's what we call him the Divrei Chaim cuz that's what the Divrei Chaim is. Those those books. So the Sanz Rav, the Divrei Chaim, he he was known to have such a quick mind. He was such a genius that when he would get letters from other rabbis who would turn their difficult questions toward him, he would be reading the next letter while writing the answer to the previous letter. So, one time his sons observed that he was reading one letter and he was not writing while he was reading this letter, he wasn't writing an answer to the previous letter. And then when he was writing the answer to that letter, he wasn't looking at the next letter. He just did that one letter. So, they noticed the difference, so they asked him why, you know, why is this different? So, he said, "I'll tell you why. I normally do two letters at once and I'm still doing two letters at once. This letter I'm reading right now and responding to is a correspondence I'm having with the Labavitcher Rebbe, which meant his contemporary, the Tzemach Tzedek. And when the Tzemach Tzedek and I are corresponding in Halacha, on the face of it, it's a Halachic discussion, but every single word has to also be appropriate according to Kabbalah as well. So, really, it is two letters cuz when I'm writing the Tzemach Tzedek, one letter is two letters." So, he was he was the the Mekubal and he was the Posek. And then, of course, the last thing, he was a Manhig. A Manhig means a leader. And what's a leader that Rebbe says in in this in this letter? That he was somebody who dealt with people's day-to-day lives. He wasn't just somebody who coached them in their spiritual growth. He got involved in their material affairs and he was involved in establishing farming communities and getting Jews involved in agriculture so that they could have a livelihood that would be appropriate for them. And that's a Manhig. A Manhig, a leader, is somebody who actually gets involved in people's day-to-day lives. So, the Rebbe says, "Look at the Tzemach Tzedek. He had it all. He had every virtue, every talent that a human being could possibly have. Tzaddik, Gaon, Choiker, Mekubal, Posek, Manhig." And then what does the Rebbe say? See, the Rebbe could have left it at left it at that and said, "The Tzemach Tzedek is pretty impressive, huh?" Right? He could have said that. But that's not where the Rebbe leaves it. The Rebbe pushes it, pushes the envelope. What does the Rebbe say? The Rebbe said something nobody was thinking. Nobody was thinking that. The Rebbe says, "Now, who could ever try to emulate that?" Rebbe, I wasn't even thinking that. I was just impressed that the Tzemach Tzedek did it. I wasn't thinking that I should also do it. But then the Rebbe says, "Now, who among us could ever emulate that?" And yet, see, you see where the Rebbe is going. I just want to pause for a second this Michtav Klali. There's a Maimer, my favorite Maimer from the Rebbe, which is also Yud Aleph Nissan Maimer. The Maimer about the the the Nasi that's recited on Yud Aleph Nissan, which is the Nasi of of Asher. And over there the Rebbe is speaking about selflessness. And one of the ways the Rebbe brings out the idea of selflessness is based on a Medrash Eicha Rabbah on a Possuk from Eicha, "Chelki Havaya Omrah Nafshi." My soul proclaims that Hashem is my lot. Meaning, I have no other path in life. I have no other destiny. I am It's like I'm Bashert or it is Bashert that Hashem That's it. That's That's That's all there is for me. Hashem. And this is the This is the cry of every Jewish soul that I don't want anything else in the world. I just want Hashem. So, that's pretty lofty. It's pretty single-minded. It's pretty impressive. But that's That's what the Neshama is saying. Now, that's the Neshama, but how many of us experience that on a conscious level that our only desire is Hashem. And yet the Rebbe tells a story there to back up this point. And says, "You know, that once the Alter Rebbe was overheard speaking to Hashem. He was in the middle of a of a state of dveykus, like an alternate state or heightened state of consciousness. And he was speaking to Hashem. It's actually the Tzemach Tzedek who overheard him. And he was saying to Hashem, "Ich will nicht dein Gan Eden, ich will nicht dein Olam Haba, ich will mir nicht das dir allein. I don't want your paradise, I don't want your world to come. I just want you." Not looking for anything else. Not even things that you could give me. I just want the relationship. And that's incredibly lofty, and that's beautiful that the Alter Rebbe was on such a level. But if you know your Rebbe, what what what is your Rebbe going to do with that story? You think your Rebbe will use that story to impress you about the Alter Rebbe? And leave it at that? No, I'm asking. No. What's the Rebbe going to do with the story? He's going to apply it. He's going to apply it to whom? To you. That's right. So the Rebbe says, "Isn't this a great story about you?" Basically, in so many words. The Rebbe says, "That's really That's not just the Alter Rebbe, that's all of us. All of us say, "Chelke Elokei mima'al nafshi." And if you're not in tune with it on a conscious level, okay, so dig deeper. But deep down, that's you. That's all you want. You're also holding by the Alter Rebbe's level, "Ich will mir nicht das dir allein." I don't want anything else, I just want Hashem. Total selflessness. So, going back to the miktav klali of taf shin chavav, the Rebbe says, "The Tzemach Tzedek was the tzaddik, goan, choiker, mekabel, poisek, manhig. And who could aspire to such I guess you would call it a Renaissance man. Somebody who had it all. He had all the They say, "What do you get for the man who has everything?" Penicillin. Okay, that's a joke. Okay. All right, but he has everything. You get it? You get it? You get it? Yeah? Okay, fine. All right. All right. I had to tell one joke. Okay. All right. Now I'm yotzei the joke. Sorry, back to being serious. Anyways, the Tzemach Tzedek has it all. Who Who could emulate such a thing? And like I was saying before, it's like Rebbe, I wasn't thinking of emulating it. I was just impressed with the Tzemach Tzedek. Wasn't that enough? No, it's not enough. So the Rebbe says that the Tzemach Tzedek, being a Rebbe, has the power to give of himself and his qualities into all of us. He can put his qualities into us so that we can be like him. And the Rebbe then describes it with a beautiful, beautiful moshol, with a with a metaphor, which I just think is so stunning. The The The visual description and the parable and the the symbolism. And I'll tell you what it is. The Rebbe says that even a tiny droplet of water, picture a little tiny droplet of water. Somewhere, you know, think like maybe outside. Maybe it rained and there's a blade of grass that has a little drop of water hanging from it, maybe. But picture a droplet of water. Tiny little thing. That even a tiny droplet of water can reflect the entirety of the sun. Provided two conditions are met. That the water is clean. And that it's facing toward the sun. So too that I must say The Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe is like the sun. But in each one of us, even if we were were to say we're nothing, we're so tiny, we're so insignificant. Okay, you mean like a little drop of water? Yeah, like a drop Okay, good. Perfect drop of water. In the drop of water can be reflected the light of the sun. Provided two conditions are met. Remember what they were? I said it 30 seconds ago. One The water is clean. Two The The water's facing the sun. So what does that mean? The water is clean. That means to remove the ego. To remove any obstruction. Anything that would get in the way of the sunlight. Of the Tzemach Tzedek gone. Chaiker Mekubal. Posek Manhig. From shining straight at us. We got to remove any internal blockage. We have to leave our our silliness at the door. The stuff that seems important to us, but we know it's not authentic. We know it's not genuine. It's not our real selves. It's a false self. It's not a real self, it's a false self. And we got to let that fall away. I'll tell you one of my favorite stories about Yechidus. Baruch Hashem, we were in Yechidus earlier tonight. We went into the Ohel and that is Yechidus. I don't mean that metaphorically, by the way. I mean that on every single level, including halachically. Everyone knows the story about Rabbi Rabbi Feigelstock from Montreal. After Yud Shvat, after the passing of the Friediker Rebbe, he asked the Rebbe if he's allowed He was in town in New York. He was going back to Montreal. He wanted to know if he's allowed to go to the Ohel, meaning the Friediker Rebbe's Ohel, on Chol HaMoed. And he asked the Rebbe a question if he's allowed to go. And the Rebbe said, "If you're asking me, can you visit a Jewish cemetery on Chol HaMoed, on the intermediate days of the festival, you know You know the answer. That's That's not what we do. We don't do that. But if you're asking me if you can go into Yechidus like you did many times before with my father-in-law, and the only difference is that instead of going into his room in 770, now he's simply moved a few blocks away, that's what the Rebbe said it. He's moved a few blocks away, and you're going to the Ohel, and that is Yechidus, then of course you can go into Yechidus on Chol HaMoed. So, we were just in Yechidus a couple hours ago to bring good news to the Rebbe about our our our hachana and our matana, our preparation and present of learning these 30 letters. And uh we need to remember to be clean and pure and genuine and authentic and true. So, I'm going to tell you my favorite one of my favorite Yechidus stories. One of my Mashpia, one of my teachers back in Yeshiva, he told me when he was a little Bar Mitzvah bocher, it was still in the days when a Bar Mitzvah boy had Yechidus. That's like That's wild. Little 13-year-olds having Yechidus, but that's you know, he was That would Those Those were the days back then. So, he was about to go into Yechidus and he asked his Mashpia, who was Reb Yoel, Olov Hasholom, "When I go into Yechidus, how should I conduct myself?" And Reb Yoel said to him, "Forget it, I'll go instead of you." You know the sharp old Russian style, right? So, he says, "No, I'm just asking when I go into the Rebbe, how should I conduct myself?" So, he says again, "Yeah, yeah, forget it. I'll take your spot. I would like to go into Yechidus. I'll I'll go instead of you." The little 13-year-old's like, "No, I'm just asking when I go into Yechidus, how do I conduct myself?" And finally, Reb Yoel explains. He says, "Listen to me. God's Olam Hazeh is an alma d'shikra. That sentence, by the way, has three languages. He- Hebrew, Aramaic, and Yiddish. The entire world, the physical world, is a false world. And what's interesting to me, normally when we say that the physical world is a false world, what we mean is that things are not what they seem. Instead of seeing the d'var Hashem, which is mechaye and mehaveh, the nivra, we see the nivra. I'll say that in English. In this physical world, we see creations instead of creator. And that's a lie. That's not true. So, that's why this world's called a false world. But, that's not how Reb Yoel was explaining it to this little Bar Mitzvah boy. Actually, he was explaining it this world's a false world in context. I mean, he didn't say these words, but I'm elaborating that this world's a false world not just because things are not what they seem, but this world's a false world because we are not who we seem even to ourselves. That we walk around with a false concept of self. A self that we think is real, but it's not really us. We have this eternal neshama that existed long before embodiment, and in fact, long before the creation of the world. And it comes into the world, and all of a sudden the the body and the animal soul start to cover it up, and out of fear, and I understand why they you know, the the animal soul was given a job of survival and self-preservation. So, it's only doing what it thinks it needs to do to keep us safe, but it learns all these defense mechanisms and these and these adaptations in order to to keep itself feeling safe. And what happens is we lose connection to our authentic self, the neshama, which is saying "Helk Elokai min anashi." And and "Alma d'Shikra, this a false world. You can walk around fooling yourself about who you really are." So, the Rebbe says to him, "The whole world is a false world. And in this false world, there's one dalet amot shel emet. There's one four cubits of truth. One little place of truth. Meaning to say, there's one place where you are true, where you are really you. Where you are the real you. And in the place where you are finally the real you, you are asking me to tell you how you should behave? That's why I said, I'll go in for you. I'll go instead of you. So, we need to get rid of the blockage. The defense mechanisms and the adaptations that we picked up that we think we need in order to keep ourselves safe, and we have to realize Hashem is keeping us safe and we can return to our our authentic selves. So, that's the first thing that the little droplet of water has to be clean. And the other thing is it has to be pointed toward the sun. What does it mean to point ourselves toward the sun so that we can reflect the sun? Well, one great example is just to plug into something that the Rebbe is teaching and to do it on a regular basis and to allow that to mold our thoughts. And by the way, one way to check in every day, I've mentioned it many times during the 30 days, I've mentioned Hayom Yom, but just learning Hayom Yom every day is a way of facing toward the sun so that you can reflect the sun. Learning Hayom Yom, I say learning because even though it's 30 seconds, but it it's worthy of study and reflection and contemplation, and it'll change your thinking. You think that the egress changed your thinking? Go go study Hayom Yom properly. That'll really do brain surgery. Everything the Rebbe taught is brain surgery if you learn it properly. But we need to face the sun, and that means to learn the Rebbe's Torah. And it also means to know the address. This address. We're a block from the aisle right now, so in just in case people are watching and where is this? I don't recognize this. I will tell you where we are. Baruch Hashem. We are We are at a very lovely facility, literally one block from the oil, which is uh which was uh established and is managed by my dear friend Rabbi Elkanah Shmotkin from JEM, and I've used this facility half a dozen times at least to do events over here, and it's an incredible venue for this type of thing, for learning, for people visiting the oil, for uh for simchas that take place nearby the oil, and I encourage everybody to look into and avail themselves of this resource. It's a really unique resource. At any rate, facing the sun means to check in with the Rebbe's Torah on a regular basis, to make sure our thinking is calibrated in a way that's aligned with the Rebbe's worldview. It also means to show up when you've got something to share that's heavy on your heart, or when you have good news, even better. This is the address. This is the place to come, and you then that that way you keep your little droplet of water facing toward the sun, and then you become a reflection of the sun. And like the Rebbe said so many times, shliach shel adam k'mo I say, mamesh. The Rebbe wanted that every man, woman, and child should be like him. I feel very bad for those people who misunderstand the Rebbe-Chassid relationship as something akin to hero worship. The Rebbe didn't want that we should look at him, to objectify him. The Rebbe wanted us to represent him. That's what the dollars were. Everyone who came by for dollars, what was the purpose of the dollar? I know it's also a a memento and a keepsake, but the the point of the dollar, the way the Rebbe said it, was to make you a shliach shel mitzvah. Immediately when he's giving you the dollar, he's giving you a job. He's deputizing you and charging you with a duty. And it's not just enough to do the Rebbe's work. The Rebbe spent thousands of hours of his holy time teaching us how to think according to his world view. There's the head, the inwards, and the feet. They all have to be aligned to our Rebbe. And and when they are, then the chossid becomes an intact and complete and wholesome reflection of the greatness of the tzaddik. And that's why I truly believe today is not just the Rebbe's birthday. Today is our birthday. What's a birthday? A birthday is the day that we check in again with our mission. So, if the Rebbe's holy soul came to this world for a mission that is connected to all of our missions because the Rebbe didn't come for himself. The Rebbe came for the generation. So, this isn't just the Rebbe's personal birthday. This is collectively all of our birthdays. It's a day for all of us to recalibrate and to check back in with our mission and our purpose. And uh It's enough already of concealing and downplaying our own greatness. We need to show the world what we're capable of. Okay, let's learn tonight's letter, the 30th letter. Where is it? At the beginning of the Okay. Everyone's ready? Okay. Baruch Hashem kuf tes adar tav shin tes vav Brooklyn. This letter is from kuf tes adar. Getting closer to to now to the date right now. And the fact that I was going to mention Pesach in the letter. Havosek v'chasid Yisrael Akim nichbad v'na'aleh chulu mareinu harav Mordechai shiyichyeh shalom uvrocho. Who is this Mordechai? This is Mordechai Segal who lived in Paris. And the Rebbe is going to speak to him about his activities in Paris. Specifically in connection with Beis Rivkah in Paris. Or actually not in Paris, but where is it? Where's the Beis Rivkah? The Well, how do you say it? Yeah? Okay. That's the best I'm going to be able to muster. That's about as close as I'll be able to get. Okay. Ich bin geven tzufrieden. This is in Yiddish. I was happy tzubakumen a yediyah vegen eich to hear about you. Durach harav hachosid Yisrael Akim nichbad v'na'aleh oisek b'tzarchei tzibur mareinu harav Yosef Yehudah shiyichyeh Chain. I got regards from you and a report about you from the chosid Yosef Yehudah Chain. That's the son of Meir Simcha Chain from I believe from Nevel. Old time Chabad family. He was also in Paris. So, this Reb Mordechai Segal had crossed paths with uh Reb Yeshaya Yehuda Chain there in Paris. Welche schreibt mir euch wegen einer aktiven Anteil in zu bereitenden Purim Abend. He wrote to me, and he told me about your participation in preparing the Purim event. Remember, the the letter here is written chof tes adar. So, we're talking about 2 weeks after Purim. So, it must have been sometime after Purim. Reb Chain wrote to the Rebbe and reported that Rabbi Segal had helped out. How did he help out? Not sure. Welche ist vorgestellt geworden durch Talmideis von Beis Rivkah zu Chiyana. And this particular Purim event was put on by the students of Beis Rivkah in yeah. Um I'll just tell you a little bit of the history there. Beis Rivkah in general, the network of Beis Rivkah, was started by the Friediker Rebbe in taf shin beis. And this particular branch of Beis Rivkah was started in taf shin zayin, 1947. I'm sure many people know that the Rebbe lived in Paris. We have one of the students here? Oh, right here? From here? So, you can verify if all this is uh accurate. So, uh when the Rebbe the Rebbe had lived in Paris, but then after the Rebbe came to America, he went back to France after the war to bring back his mother, Rebbetzin Chana. That was in 1947. So, during that trip, when the Rebbe was in Paris, the Rebbe got a few things done, and one of them was founding a new Beis Rivkah there in France. So, that's the school. This is the the This is the school the Rebbe himself founded when he was in Paris to get his mother and to bring her back to New York. Now, if it's true that in all places and all times, it's a mitzvah to publicize those who do a mitzvah, does that sound familiar, by the way? Yes. When did you hear it? Last night, that's right. I mentioned it last night. The Rebbe didn't say it last night in the letter to Do you remember who the letter who the letter was to last night? Kramer, very good. Very good. All right. Give her an extra raffle ticket. Did they do the drawing yet for the Yeah, somebody won? A set of Igros? I don't know, do they know on YouTube that somebody won a set of Igros? Yeah? It was a whole set, right? Baruch Hashem. I said a whole set, so I was hoping I didn't over promise over here. Okay. Um Yeah, so the Rebbe mentioned last night to uh Chazak Kramer that it's a good thing that he's being honored for his work, because when you honor people for their work, it encourages other people to also want to do that kind of work. So, the Rebbe says here clearly, and I I Okay, now you want to really impress me? Mitzvah of ice and ace of mitzvah. Who said that originally? Anyone remember? Who? The Rashba. Very good. You knew it. It was on the tip of your tongue. That's right. So, the Rebbe says it here. In all times and places, it was a it was a good thing to publicize those who are doing good work. Und nutzen dem Indian von Kinas Sofrim Tarbe Chochma. And also, parallel concept. And we've had this before. Do you remember, by the way, which letter? Now you got to remember. Uh was it that wasn't the first letter. Where did the Rebbe speak about Kinas Sofrim Tarbe Chochma? Do you remember the letter? What if I tell you it was the letter of the night going into Purim? Do you remember? To Rabbi Schusterman from Chicago. And the Rebbe said it's good to use a little Kinas Sofrim Tarbe Chochma, a little competition among the children. Yeah, the kids, the youth. So, the Rebbe mentions that again. That it is a good thing to spotlight people who are doing good things. And it's a good thing to cause a little healthy competition about good things. And that was always true in all times and all places. Al Achas Kama de Kama. In unzer der ol ave yosom. In our orphaned generation. So, some people might think if we're an orphaned generation, you know, maybe we're too weak. Maybe we can't handle competition. Maybe we can't handle uh you know, racing with other people. But actually, the Rebbe says the opposite because we need more motivation, so we got to use any tool at our disposal, and uh there's absolutely no problem of, you know, getting the parlor meeting of the rich guys, and you get one guy to stand up and say he's going to give uh $10,000, and all the other rich guys want to compete with him cuz they don't want to be shown up. It becomes like an ego thing. At least with men it works. And then, you tell the first guy, really he didn't even have to pay, and it was just looking I'm joking. No, they all But, kinas sofrim tarbut chachmim is a good thing. Psychologically, it works. That's human nature. It was always a good thing, and especially in our generation, where we need to muster up more motivation for building the good things, it's a it's a good tool to use. Okay, so the Rebbe says that actually clear. He says, "As medaref onnemen alle mittlen." We have to use all the means, all of the methods, zu farstarken un farshpreiten Yiddishkeit brochi sora sava. Any method that we have to spread, to strengthen and spread real authentic Judaism. Un vas mehr breitere kreizen un spezial zu ausnutzen auf dem dies many rotzen. So, we have to spread Yiddishkeit, strengthen Yiddishkeit in more and more communities, more segments of Klal Yisrael. And especially, says the Rebbe, to use out the special times. What are the special times? The Rebbe's going to say one moment here. Vos denst mol is yeder zach for power. And uh especially on Shabbos and Yom Tov and those days where the observance of those special days is really connected to the home. So, it's important idea here what the Rebbe's saying that comes to a Shabbos or a Yom Tov. I know Pesach's coming. By the way, did you guys realize Pesach's coming? The only reason I'm not bothered by the doors cuz I know everyone who walks out the doors is going to clean. So, I'm like, "Okay, let them clean. Your loss you want to go clean. Okay." Uh I think I heard Where was it that they raffled off anyone who would come learn the letters? They raffled off some cleaning help. Where was it? What town? Pittsburgh. Okay, kudos to Pittsburgh. They raffled off cleaning How much cleaning help was it? 2 hours? Okay, that's pretty good. All right. You'll take it. Yeah. Okay, so Pesach's coming. And Pesach is a is a Yom Tov. It's a special time and it's an opportunity for you to make a big impression on your kids. You know what kind of impression I'm talking about. To scream at them and traumatize them and tell them "Why did you get the matzah crumbs in the in the water glass?" No, I mean to make a special impression on them. Any positive emotional association that they can have with Yiddishkeit on a regular day that I've been saying it's even more enhanced on a special day. So, we got to use it. We got to cash it in. Okay, and I'm sure everyone here would have anyway, but it's nice that when you do it, you can think, "Oh, I'm doing something that I've been said to do." And then you'll feel more connected when you're doing it, which you would have done anyway. Okay. Especially in this time that I've been writing in 1955. Right after the Holocaust. And by the way in that first class of Base Rivka in France predominantly those families were families of Holocaust survivors. So, the Rebbe is writing and saying especially in our generation where we have to make up for all the good that would have been done by those who were martyred. And that is still true, by the way. How many more Jews would there be today? It's not just 6 million. It's in a generation how many You know how quickly a a family can grow. So, it wasn't just those lives. It was their children and by now their grandchildren. And so, those of us who are here, we have to do double and triple and quadruple work. even more so even more so what we just said, but now even more so when we are talking about children that we have a responsibility. When it comes to children, we have to really double and redouble all of our efforts. We have to give them the strength to stand up to the not good winds, the influences, which are blowing in the street and trying to make their way into the homes of Jewish children. The Rebbi was speaking about in 1955 about the unwholesome influences which are blowing in the street, so to speak, and making their way inside of the homes of Jewish children. If that was true in 1955, think about in 2022. And what does the Rebbi say? We have to strengthen our children. We have to strengthen them they should be impervious to those influences. Un special is grace this akana. From the shortest wind in. Now the Rebbi speaks about a particular clipper. The shortest wind in, the compromise winds, the winds of compromise. The winds of take it easy. Why do you have to be so intense all the time? Was they is organ as it marked need ice as men is need a soy can no stick. You don't have to be such a zealot. Why do you have to be such a zealot? Why do you have to be overboard? There's a story that uh Hillel Paritcher wanted the siddur in dark. He wanted the siddur that had siddus perushim of siddus in it. So, the way that book worked is in the middle of the book, in the middle column, you had the actual nusach atfilah, the words that you daven with, and then in the margins on the sides, there was the commentary. Of Sefas explaining the deeper mystical meaning of of the words of Tfila. So, printing was very expensive and therefore books printed books were very rare. And not not everyone could get their hands on this book. And he found out that there was an old lady in town who had a copy of this book. Some Some old Bobby was davening from this book. It was her her little siddur that she loved and it was very well used and broken in. So, he went to her with a brand new siddur. And he said to her, "Let's trade. I'll take your old tattered siddur. And I'm going to give you a brand new siddur." And she said, "No way. I'm not going to give it up." And he said, "Well, why not? The siddur I'm going to give you is perfect for you because it just has davening on it. So, just a regular siddur with no other words. Not like the siddur that you're using right now where it's got the words of davening, but all around it has the words of Sefas which you don't need that. That's a distraction. Just a bunch of busy stuff on the page." And she was a simple woman. She didn't She couldn't learn the Sefas on the page. That was true. He wasn't making a wrong assumption. She couldn't learn the Sefadic explanations that were on the page. So, he said, "I'm going to give you a more efficient siddur for your use. It just has the words of Tfila on the page and no Sefas around it." And he says, "Look. Look at your siddur. It's all worn out. All the edges of the pages are rubbed off. And this brand new siddur, it's crisp and clean and it's got complete pages." She said, "Yes, and that's exactly why I won't give you my siddur." She said, "Because your siddur has the words of Tfila all the way to the edges. And when the that one will rub out, I'll lose the words of davening, but the siddur I have right now has siddurs around the davening, so even when the edges wear away, I'll always have the davening there preserved in the middle. So, what's the vart? That sometimes you say, "Come on, we don't have to be so extreme. We don't have to do extra. You don't have to be so extra, right?" And the thing is yeah, that's technically true if you live in a vacuum and you're not exposed to any influences and there's no such thing as inertia or slowing down or being distracted, then I guess you can if you really want, you can walk right to the edge of the subway and wait for the car to come by and you know, it'll be you know, you don't What do I need to pay attention to the yellow line? I'll walk right to the edge. Sometimes you need to have a a little extra buffer even if it seems extreme to others. But that's how you preserve the stuff that are really, really non-negotiable. But if you only preserve what's non-negotiable and you forget about the rest, then even the non-negotiable stuff becomes jeopardized. And that's what the Rebbe says clearly right here. Let's look back inside. So, he speaks about the p'shat of int Where are we up to? Yeah. The men is given a molecha zeiten. Oh, yeah. So, the taina is you don't have to be so zealous like we used to be in the old days. And then what happens on in a kurzer zeit a room zoch men shoin as as macht nit ois as men is nit as oi yiddishlich vi a mol. First, he comes and says you don't have to be such a zealot. But then after you budge and you compromise on that, he says, "You don't have to be so religious either." Meaning even the regular stuff. Und self call self ways man need wool up shell and zig. Pretty soon you get to a point where you don't know how to stop. Your standards start eroding and you get to a point where it's spiraling out of control, God forbid. So, the Rebbe says, "When we educate the children, we have to educate them that we don't make compromises. Yeah, we have to do things that are a little bit crazy from time to time." Yeah, that's part of our life. Yeah, we do take precautions and we do go the extra mile and yeah, that's part of being a Hasid. Now, I should note it's okay to tell your children what's extra. You don't have to lie to them and tell them that that it's should as a deed and that it's halacha. You can tell them it's extra. But, you should also tell them that as Hasidim, we are mahadir. And we are machmir. And we do do more. And we are more meticulous. And we are more stringent. And we don't compromise. Und der Rebbe is a Lubavitcher chinuch. Listen to this. The Rebbe just said it's so important that the children are strengthened in a way that makes them resistant to the negative influences out there in the street. And especially the influences that tell them to chill and to take it easy and to compromise. And therefore, what's the antidote? What's the answer to that? A Lubavitcher chinuch. That's what the Rebbe says. Maybe it'll tell us something about what a Lubavitcher chinuch is. I think you could extrapolate from there what the Rebbe is saying. What's a Lubavitcher chinuch? You're learning the same Chumash, you're learning the same Rashi. What's what's unique about it? What's unique is it's a chinuch that strengthens children to be able to resist these influences, especially the influences that are insidious in in the way they slowly erode our standards through compromise. Okay. And there you have it, it's a Lubavitcher chinuch. Was farbindt dem deyer mit dem over. Very poetic, I think. The Lubavitcher chinuch connects the generation, this generation, with the past. When er klert ze I mean it's an interesting answer to people who like to say we're more modern chassidim. Okay. I I don't know if the Rebbe would agree with that description, right? A Lubavitcher chinuch is one that connects this generation to the past. When er klert ze as ze zaynen bnei bneis Avrohom, Yitzchak, Yankev, Sora, Rivka, Rochel, Leah. And it explains to the children, do you know who you are? You are the children of the offices and the imahos. That's what it means to connect the present generation to the past. Not just that they should learn about who the greats of the past were, but they should understand that that informs their identity today. In other words, don't just tell them there was someone called Avrohom, there was someone called Sora. Tell the kid, you know who you are? You are the child of Avrohom and Sora. That's what it means to connect the present to the past. I think sometimes we do one without the other or the other without the one. You have to have both. You have to have both. And that means when you talk about the office and the amorous, you're mind the child what it has to do with them. This is you. This is your DNA. And you are connected in a unbroken golden chain to these greats. The descendants of the office and the amorous must follow in that path. As it is stated to us in our title which the Rebbe calls title of life. Not just a living title, but a title of life. We've spoken about that before. That in the Rebbe's worldview, there's no conflict between practicality and spirituality. The same Abishter who gave us title and its methods created this world. And the physical world cannot be in contradiction to the will of the giver of the title. And to the contrary, one only complements the other. That when we do our Hashem's will, we're also more successful in this world. So, that's what it means That's what it means title of life. A title of life. That is the only way that we can ensure that we will propagate a good outstanding blessed generation. We have to tell them who they are and how they are connected to to the past. How they are a continuation of the past. Now the Rebbe is speaking to back to the letter writer, Reb Mordechai Reb Segal, and saying to him again, I don't know what help he gave to Beis Rivka, but apparently he was involved. Maybe he sponsored it, maybe he set up the chairs. I have no idea what he did. But the Rebbe says the merit of anyone who helps out with that Each person helps in his own way. Like I said, I don't know if he paid for it or he set up the chairs, but everyone helps in his way, meaning using your special talents and opportunities and resources. But the Rebbe says "Meglichkeiten", meaning whatever possibilities you have to look. Some people have different opportunities, different connections, different resources. Whatever it might be, but everyone has to figure out what they bring to the table and can offer to help in this area of educating the next generation in the way that was just described. And so this merit that the Rebbe says "Zol baistein yeddin fun zei" "In dem vos er bedarf mit zein family shichyu", this merit will stand you in good stead to have everything that you need, you and your family, may they be well. "Bivrachah lechag ha Pesach kasher vesameach" with a blessing for a kosher and happy Passover. And here the signature "B'shem kvod kdushas Admor shlita mazkir", it was signed by the secretariat. And that is our 30th letter. And I will not tell you what I told the Rebbe when I was in the oil a few hours ago, but it had something to do with the continuation of this course. Okay. Mazel tov again.