Breathing Meditation: Would the Rebbe support it? Gimmel Tammuz Personal experiences - RC Dalfin

so today is giml Tas today is the yard site of the of the it's 30 years since it's passing so I want to uh share with you Rabin of the way the rebba raised us as children teenagers and then adults young adults older adults just to bring you back a little bit in time so when I was probably six S 8 years old we lived in a neighborhood adjacent to Crown Heights which is called East Flatbush East Flatbush during the 50s was a very Jewish neighborhood there were many many Orthodox shoes and many Jews of all Persuasions but there was a heavy emphasis on Orthodox Jews Jews who you know consider themselves Orthodox and because of that there was shoes yeshivas girl schools it was saturated and it was a very very uh safe place that that all changed in the 60s where America experienced difficult times in all neighborhoods from Chicago in all cities from Chicago to Los Angeles to New York to Philly to St Louis all over and because of that it caused as only us Jews know very well to run to run where you're running we don't know where we're running but one thing is for sure we can't stay here and I can understand it because as a child I have uh probably what psychologists would call today Trauma from the fear that that I witnessed and felt walking in my neighborhood to the point that in 1969 my sister and I were walking back from a candy store or some kind of little store and we were mugged we were held up not by gun not by knife but either a big stick or a big piece of iron I don't remember but it left an indelible impression on me to the point when that when I was in eighth grade in 1974 I believe the the talk we all had to give a talk and I and I and my talk was about the memories and the lessons that I took from that mugging incident that's how that's how impressionable that that that was and it wasn't um it wasn't a happy uh memory it was um it was a very scary one um I would always you know during those years look behind my back and who is walking behind me I still recall my aunt who lived my my mother's aunt who lived um nearby and we had to go to visit her and it was literally like 5 minutes by walk 10 minutes by walk and uh we were scared to go walk that way and we drove that way and I had this memory it was light it was it was still light outside but I remember these what I considered flashing neon yellows lights I felt like was I was in a war zone and so it was a very very scary time in in in in inner cities at that time and what happened then was that everyone left all the Jewish people left East Flatbush and they moved many of them moved to burrow Park where I live now because it was a safe haven and the reason for that is not because of the Jews but because of the Italians because with the Italians if they don't want someone to move in a neighborhood and you mess with them the next the first thing you know your tires get slashed the next thing is your windows are broken and the next the Third thing is they break your arms and the fourth thing is you end up in a white bag in in a white bag and uh they mean business that way and they also identified very nicely with the Jewish people because we share values for example family food so the Italians and and and the Jews we we got along although you know we had skirmishes and sometimes it it involved knives and fighting you know we we had that too in borrow Park flatb but by and large there was an understanding so when Jews moved into burrow Park and really populated it you still had the mafioso there I we had mafia families on my block um the house when we had Co and we DED in someone's backyard I was told that that was a mafioso house you know and they would have these Grand parties in the back on a Sunday or July 4th and you know with beer and and and women and men you know was it was happening and you didn't say a word and nearby B Park is benzen Hurst which again is um even till today they say still mafia families though they live there so you know but that kept the neighborhood the way it was and it is today that's the only reason B Park never became uh a neighborhood other than um you know Jew Jewish people and Italians today Italians aren't there they sold out to the Jews they they made their big money you know their good money and um they moved to the to New Jersey they moved to Staten Island to Long Island you know anyway why am I saying this but growing up in in East Flatbush it was walking distance to Crown Heights and my father may he be well God willing will become 87 in September and who walks every day for an hour and is the life of the party in 770 at the first minion at 7 clock if you want to have some fun and enjoy a slow doing enjin my father's minion he can been heard from one end of the 770 to the other end and the guys love it so he would take me to faans and I didn't want to go I was uh rather lazy you know I didn't want to walk and um he applied um his hand to my back side and he said move and I have witnessed to this uh someone who um sword from across the street and he remembers it you know till today and he told me I remember the way you would sit in the floor and you wouldn't want to move and your father said if you don't get up you're getting a patch and uh I didn't get up and I got the patch and I started to walk when we came to the faang to 770 you know there was uh there weren't thousands of people at the time this is shabas talking about chabas but there were hundreds of people and my father wanted this his little boy to see the rebba so he picked me up and he gave me to one of his friends who was on the bleachers in 770 the back wall were like three four rows of bleachers mostly young young Stu students who were standing there cuz the the married Elder men would sit in Bros in front of the de in which the rebba spoke at and I remember I remember being picked up I remember like now and my father's friend took me and said that's the rebba that's the rebba and that was about you know 7 years old 6 years old 8 years old they can't you know so so the Reba had a way that that because of our parents and grandparents who you know came from from the Holocaust came from Stalin came from an America that was you know that wasn't really uh living with Judaism with with yish kite on the highest level so the the turning point in the 1950s it was just after Holocaust right the previous re passes away in 1950 the Holocaust ends in 1945 the rebba becomes the rebba then a year later in 1951 he accepts the leadership he's a young man he's energetic he's smart he's an engineer he knows science he knows math he knows Shakespeare and he knows tah he knows all of T he learns gab and he starts he starts responding to people's letters extensively and he is up three nights a week Sunday night Tuesday night and Thursday night all night if need be all night seeing people called Yas private audiences this riveted the Jewish World at the time because he was a phenomenon you know his father-in-law was a Jew who suffered through Stalin and through the Holocaust he was saved miraculously he was he he had illness um he came to America in 1940 he came as a as a shattered man if you take a look at the videos of him coming in 1929 for a visit to America for a year approximately traveling around to St Louis and to Detroit and to Baltimore and all over raising funds for laich and for the Jews in Russia and the yeshivas and all that and encouraging people to strengthen the yish guy and you compare him then to the way he was in 1940 when he came it's two different people two different you just just look at the one he's he's he's he's tall he's strong he he he could see a man the other one he's needs help to walk and he's basically confined to a wheelchair but but that that contributed to the impact that he made on Jews during and post Holocaust because the the Jew was decimated the Jew was destroyed especially the Orthodox Jew was destroyed and he gave them hope because he showed that even though he himself in a sense is destroyed he keeps on going and he went on for 10 years and he created three organizations and he took his two son-in-laws and he made them you know of this department and that department and they really helped rebuild yish kite not only but yish kite and the same was done by the way by some others but the previous Reb was a was a re was aidic leader so his leadership consisted of Old Country kism and when one went to him one was touched that way so for example right he he was drawn to the previous learned byon Cutler that who started BMG Lakewood the Yesa and although he he learned from him his his talut and he exell but he emotionally he left that what did he leave it to he left it for the previous rebba out of all the rebas that he knew and knew everyone that was around at the time it was the that he identified with and that's why he became a the emotional uh the emotional potency of the previous Reb was very powerful his you not just a strial but the tall one and and the black gray of of his beard I everything together you were looking at an angel and that was very very very impactful on that generation it reminded them of the rebes in Poland in Hungary in Russia it reminded them of their zes so the re is a young man with a black beard and it's initially it's rolled up wears a tie you know the previous also wor TI but I'm saying you know and he's an unknown figure because the was never allowed person he was always to himself he did things behind the scenes so it was during the 1950s when the the world and the kabad world and got to know who he was until then he was an unknown again a few people here knew him a few people but and they were blown away they they found this Jewel in a closet who's come out of the closet and when he opens his mouth it's it's Pearls of Wisdom and not only is intellectually Pearls of Wisdom but when he spoke in those 10 years it was after his father-in was passing he he was devastated and he was emotional and he shared that and people saw that this young kind of in intellect who was in Berlin in 20 in 1929 in 3031 with Rabbi salving and Rabbi hutner and and and and S and um from jts new the the other the one comes from the AP I forget forget his name now anyway is is is a very very uh very deep person and a very emotional person in the sense of he's not just this cold intellect he has deep feelings and he shared them at the faans when he spoke and he opened up for us how to view what a sadic is how to continue the life of a sadic after the sad passes away so today's giml tamas it's 30 years I made a few clips and I I really believe what I said you can either celebrate death or you can celebrate life and this is true for each and every one of us on the yard sites that we have in our life a parent a relative a friend what what do you emphasize do you emphasize the the kind of the death the negative they're gone goodbye or do you see the life today in those same people and theb spoke many times that on one hand we say Kadesh and I did say Kadesh for the Reb today the little like could do and we give s for the soul and we make AA like we're doing now and we we we share with others right with family very important to tell your family about this great sadic who Y is the day we do all that but that's not enough we need to emphasize the continuation of the life of a sadik in our life and if we cannot find that continuation then we need to explore deeper right so and and I'm not saying this because I have no other choice like okay if you don't say this what else are you going to do your Reber passed away 30 years ago and you guys haven't chosen another Reber so you're stuck right that is a narrow minded a very narrow-minded view of the whole situation I I think you know you guys know from being exposed to myself and to other katnik like rabbi l in in in in Florida last night with M attended a faan I think you see that these kabad rabbis and schim and and are pretty smart you know I mean they're not stupid and if they felt that this system is not working and uh we need a new to appoint a new reie a new rebba they would do that in other words what I'm saying like this not withstanding the fact that there's a tradition of kabad and after the re passed away I went over to one of my teachers and mentors and I asked him what now and the first thing he said to me is there is a tradition in ouris in our group there's a tradition that mashia will come when there is no living re now a tradition you know tradition tradition you know go find the tradition but that's that's the M that gave over and I'm giving it over to you why that is I don't know but what I do know is that I need to do whatever I can to be part of this tradition in other words and I saw this with the rebba and I heard it myself for 30 40 years of my life I heard him talk about mashiach demand mashiach give ideas to bring mashiach it was it there's no question about it to the point where some have taking it in certain ways that the average person the average Orthodox Jew doesn't relate to and uh thinks it's mishas but nevertheless and by the way that's with everything you know with everything that you you you believe in and you encourage and you talk about someone's going to take it to left field someone's going to take it to right field you can't stop people in fact I'm doing an interview with someone about a book that just came out which I've done a few clips about and I'm going to do an interview with the co-author on Wednesday God willing and it should be very interesting where people must understand that we have free will and when you have free will you could do all kinds of things and no one can stop you at least not in this country because there's free you know we're in democracy okay and we have to be smart enough and eloquent enough and sincere enough to give over the the message and and hope and pray and we say this every morning in the ding the blessings in the morning we say there should be no that's not the exact language there should be no obstacle that my words and my actions bring to others because people take people's words and ideas and they just and that's by the way what happened with the students of Raba we just finished the each one felt their Rabbi meant this and the other one felt he meant this and they fought like cats and dogs instead of saying you know what the rabbi our Rabbi our teacher has room for both so going back to the Reb the the the osmosis of just walking in to 770 at of faan from the 60s that I started to attend through the early 90s um it was elect electrifying it was it was contagious why because you had hundreds to thousands of people sitting together singing together saying together and listening to words of Torah of a of an individual who was gifted and was given by Hashem uh a soul a that purpose was to elevate each and every one of us so that we not he he doesn't do it for you we have the tools to to to take it to the next level so this is in brief the the the what I saw what I experienced and just give a few examples so in 19 1980 I had been a a counselor in a kabad camp in Sim Monica California Sim Monica is near Venice Beach so I had a group of boys and after it was a day camp so after camp we were we would try to visit the parents at home home and to talk to them about yish and and the ultimate was to try to get them to agreed to send their children to Yeshiva the following year right this was in the summer and this wasn't easy cuz public school you know is free tuition and Yeshiva you have to pay and as we all know how much it cost I mean today those days it wasn't as much as it is today but it's still cost anyway so I remember I I I I identified with one of my campers and I convinced them that for his bar mitzvah he should come to New York with his parents or grandparents and I'll arrange for them to meet oneon-one with the Reba and I'll and I'll be The Interpreter cu the Reba although he spoke English at times he he go into Yiddish and it was good for someone to be there to kind of bridge the two the the and that's what happened they flew in from Los Angeles I brought them in and really all I did was I was an interpreter but you know more than interpreter I was like you know connecting the rebbit to to the grandparents came and B mitz boy it was very brief we were in that room of the rebba privately probably 2 minutes 3 minutes not very long you know and the the way the rebba spoke to the bar mitzah boy and to his grandparents in English in his broken English and then he gave them a dollar for Seda it's my recollection and then we all I told them that when you walk out you walk out with your not your back not towards the rebit it's not respectful but towards the door and then you go out and I started to do that and I the rebit called me and he gave me a dollar two and I remember that like thinking like my job was only a bridge I wasn't really supposed to be there it was their private audience it was a blessing that the Reb was giving to the bar mitzvah boy for his bar mitzvah the sensitivity that you know I'm giving them a dollar for Seda and I wouldn't be giving you he wouldn't have that be he wouldn't allow that and he he gave me a dollar to I'm just you know I want to show you how you know basic menite was included in his Holiness okay another example there is a video it's out there somewhere the rebba is walking out of the sh 770 after a prayer after a daving and when he comes down from his Podium he comes down he noticed some paper garbage whatever on the floor something and he became very Stern and he and reab Groner the re secretary one of the secretaries would walk always behind him and he turned around to him and he like what's going on he says it's a sh and when you look at it when you look at it initially say wow the rabit got angry whether he got angry or not it's Justified because you're not supposed to have garbage on the floor in a shoe and and unless he made an emphatic point it would happen again and the proof is it happened again and it obviously it wasn't enough but at least they were more careful and I how do I know cuz I remember many times afterwards before he would come in and out of Sho they would clean they would like make sure there's no noticeable papers on the floor so it's what's holy about this the answer is it doesn't have to be holy it has to be men it has to be it has to be right so I learned this I learned this as well observing him another example and I've told you some of these things over the years but just to there was a a coach or for the Harlem glob Trotters those that remember them right and and he was some kind of coach or maybe he was he was somehow involved his name was Abe Sachs Abe saxs grew up not knowing about Judaism and he he got got in touch with kabad kabad got in touch with him and he started to put Onin and Maza and I remember he had in his trunk he had puskas and Bas because he traveled around and the rebel was in the 70s spoke about every Jew having a bza and a pushka and he was a simple Jew and I remember one midweek Min prayer afternoon prayer and ab was saying kades and I stood right behind him and the rebba stood by his table and for the last kades the re s was already closed and he was piercing looking at Abe say say kades and it was so it was so powerful and it was so loving it was so uplifting to a Jew who didn't have a chance to learn in AER in a Yeshiva as a boy but and as he got older he identified with god with Torah with Jews and he emotionally connected he's the one that you see sometimes in the videos gets up from his seat during a faing and goes like this like he's cheering on the team you know like you you had to see it I mean I was there fact I stood I stood right a few behind him and and and the rebba loved it and when the rebba saw Abe going like this the re started to to clap to Abe and the whole place went Bonkers it was so so beautiful so deep so so sentimental these things you you when you were observe and you pay attention you see that this type of a person is not just a great Rabbi and not just a rashash Shiva the head of a Yeshiva Academy and not just a scholar but he has a larger vision of the bigger picture for the Jewish people and and that and that is what caused so many of his students myself included to do what he said he wants of us to reach out and go out you know most most kabad rabbis or many kabad rabbis can sit in Lakewood or in pavich or in Jerusalem and in a Coale and give a sheer and be part of that world believe me but in instead they dedicated themselves to bring Jews back to the fold and to teach Torah why because that's what the rebba wanted and why did the rebba want that because this is what the world needs now in in other words the assimilation is so great just yesterday here was talking to someone and you know and he said you know like things are so out of control things are so out of control okay what's the answer to cry about it or to do something about it let's do something about it let us stem the tide of assimilation let us do it through bringing in light positivity okay Chicken Soup for the college student because they're no longer interested is there a god or no God KAS shom and reconcile the existence of God they're interested in girls money and good food that's what they're interested in so you got to talk their language you provide all three at house and you got four or 500 peoples for a Friday night meal University Tallahasse is Tallahasse or Gainesville Florida has right someone was there someone he told me yesterday I was there Friday night hundreds of students for shabas meal Shabbat meal not orthodox but there's a home for them to to celebrate their jewishness the devil wanted this this is what he wanted this is what he wanted now at the same time he wants what we're doing now to learn seriously and toin for us this is what he wants so the whole idea of of a re and celebrating his life on the 30th yard side is making a resolution every one of us to ourselves sometime today in addition to writing what's called a pigeon neish if you haven't done so it's not yet over you write a letter it's called a pan a pigon neish you write for yourself and your wife and your children and your friends the names in Hebrew or in English for whatever you need health paros whatever of course shom true shom and and but in addition to that you need to consider some resolution because the resolution grounds the thought and emotion into something practical otherwise it remains theoretical it me remains you know ethereal and but it's it's like it's in yish there a good word it says understands that he see him smiling L it's air L is air means business like it's a bunch of bunch of hawash okay it's nonsense it's it's like in Russian the re would always say means the a to the wood can have you can hold an axe here you have a tree here and you don't go like that with the axe to the wood the tree remains a tree and the axe remains an axe you got to go like that a resolution don't take larger resolutions big resolutions cuz it's worth zero zil take something small that you haven't done yet whether it be in a Jewish custom or a Mitzvah or or or helping someone what whatever whatever it is and track it month by month how you're doing in this resolution if it could be something that the spoke about for example the seven universal laws you don't have that in AR Ro so easily but you know Mark and I and those that live outside you know we have non-jews and and Mark in particular you know deals with a lot of non-jews okay the concept of belief in God not telling you you're a Muslim be a Muslim you're a Christian be a Christian but you know let's let's heighten it let's go one level higher you know and again you don't have to be dogmatic you know you slip it in to the right and to the left there are things that the rabba spoke about and he spoke SP about that in the 1980s talk about the idea of he spoke about energy conservation you know there are things you look into his talks in the 80s in particular the public faans when it was uh televised cable TV and also on on the radio he spoke usually one long talk about a universal thing well let's let's talk about 1979 he spoke about Transcendental Meditation that was very big in the 70s which I'm sure some of you know hillo is not here today but hillo knows very well about this and the rebba wrote to Dr Abraham torski and to Dr Judah Landis of paloalto and others encouraging them to create a kosher Jewish meditation Mantra you know whatever TM Bosher and Dr Landis a blessed memory who I brought twice to Marin County to do a session tried this never really took off but the point is there are people today uh who are now as you know are into breathing meditation I just made a clip about this yesterday and I'm going to send it out very soon people are into breathing breathing meditation I mean this is something I don't know if we're aware of because we're a little older with our white beards and you know white hair and all that but this is now very popular uh medicinal PL plants um of CBD and other things has has made a comeback um you know losen genics uh there's things happening now out there and the young people are once again experimenting in a different way maybe than the 60s with LSD and things but does Toto have something to say about that does have something to say about does the Reb have something to say about it okay I believe it does so it's it's good for those that who know about this who are trained and to to open up and to share and to and to create because if you see the world is going in that direction more young people are going that direction you want it to be healthy yesterday a kadik fine kadik you told me that he you know he he learn he read a book from a yogi on on breathing I forget the name of the book now and it's helped him so much in his sanity uh you know he had issues with you know alcohol and drugs and and and he's cleaned himself up and the breathing has helped him I said God bless you but I said at the same time the whole idea of God says I blew within Adam in his nostrils a soul so where did this breathing come from Genesis bous okay now we need to you know tweak it tweak it today if you don't tweak it it's boring okay we'll tweak it the re encourage this all in a Kosher Way the whole idea of social media the whole idea of communication satellites and internet right many in the Orthodox Community shun it you're bringing it's idolatry and all of that from what we could see with the rebba he didn't have that attitude he definitely had the attitude it has to be guided and and you have to you know watch it and be careful and use it for the right things but to say that something is inherently evil when it could be used as a vessel to communicate godliness and Torah he didn't have that approach when when when when Rabbi Weinberg started to teach Tanya on on the airwaves on the radio there was criticism from the SRA community the other communities you know this is disgusting Tanya such a holy book on the tra Airways where you hear rock and roll and disgusting things and then I spoke about it in 1964 66 and throughout the and he said here we have a new vessel to communicate communicate Torah the fact that other people use it for foolishness and things that are forbidden and and not good and disgusting what can I do about it that's you know therefore you know live in your cave you know don't go outside because it's 95 to 100 degrees now all over the country right and American and and and and and all right don't walk outside cuz people are 34s undressed what's the answer walk in an area where you don't see as much of that turn your head around whatever but you need to live you know and don't yeah don't park yourself walking on beaches when when everything's exposed over there if if you if you if you have that fear of God and you don't want your eyes to see don't go to a beach when it's 100° go when it's 30° or 40° 50° you know use your brains use your brains and this is the so I just wanted to take a few minutes today to faing a little bit and talk about it and he should continue being Masia on on on the world only good things and that's the meaning that he's a alive more than dead and that it's about life not about death that's what it means and I think that you guys can can say more than I can coming from where you're coming from and and being together and learning together weekly and having your families and growing in yish kite that that's that's that's what the Reb is all about the continuation of the Jewish people people it's not about vood of worship KAS not about worshiping a person that's all nonsense anyone says that is a fool it's about celebrating an individual who gives to the world so much today not gave gives from on high we celebrate a yide we light a yite candle we say mishas for the Reb's words of his the letters of his name we do all the minog which I really encourage you to read up on today and when you're having your dinner with your family share with your children and grandchildren about this and again the purpose of which is to be better yeen to be better mentioned to be the best we could be so you should only have SIM tomorrow we'll continue learning T and Z to everyone Shalom bye than b you're welcome you're welcome take care