Double Class | Letter #6 and #7 of Thirty Letters in Thirty Days 5786

Baruch Hashem. We have a double header. As the great Ernie Banks said, let's play two. It's a Chicago reference. Um So, we have letters six and seven tonight. As you know, 30 letters in 30 days, we're learning 30 letters each of the 30 days heading into Yud Aleph Nissan that is the Rebbe's birth day. We do this as a matana, as a birthday gift for the Rebbe, a gift of Torah. And what greater gift of Torah could there be than learning Torah of the Rebbe himself. Also, we give gifts of tzedakah. This is as the Rebbe himself asked. He said, he appreciates gifts of Torah and gifts of tzedakah. So, we're going to give a little tzedakah here, Colel Chabad Pushka app. You haven't downloaded this yet, I don't know what's going on with you. Come on. What? Why isn't it Okay, hold on. Hold on. Why isn't it shaking? Last night I was shaking, it was working. Oh, let me give a little bit more. There. Fun, fun. Okay, make sure to get your Colel Chabad Pushka app. Alrighty. >> [sighs] >> Just 1 second. I just want to check something. Just want to I might be at the wrong place. Just want to make sure I'm streaming in the right place. Are there people out there? Hello in TV land. Oh, okay, I see somebody's there. Shalom and toda. Okay, fine. We're We're there? I wasn't sure if people are there. Okay, oh, 27 watching now. Okay, fine. So, there are people here. Okay. I'm going to make a bracha baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihyeh bidvaro. Gatorade. Blue Gatorade. My 5-year-old think I'm reading from the chat. My 5-year-old thinks the Colel Chabad app is a game and just keeps giving to get the sounds. Yes, that's the gamification of tzedakah. Okay. Let's do it without further ado. Okay, got two letters. We got to move. We got to move. We got to move. Um Baruch Hashem Oh, and if you need to print out the letter or open up the letter on your desktop, just go to the the link in the description in the YouTube description. Baruch Hashem test kiss l'shana tizayin Brooklyn shalom u'bracha. Shalom u'bracha of course means that the Rebbe is writing to a man. It does not say the name of the recipient in here, but my sources tell me that it was Harav Gershon Chain of at that time Haifa. Later on, he lived in Yerushalayim. He was originally from Russia, but he uh was a rav in Haifa during those years. And apparently the yeshiva in Haifa, which this letter is about, existed for all of one year. And it closed, and the Rebbe was not happy about the closing of the Yeshiva. Uh I think in previous years, we just we discussed the murder of a bachur, a Yeshiva bachur, um Yisrael Debruskyn sheyibadel lechaim who was uh he was murdered by terrorists in in Kfar Chabad. I think we read the letter that the Rebbe wrote in the aftermath of that tragedy. So, the Debruskyn family lived in Haifa, and they had a shul, I think either in their house or next to their house. So, that's where the Haifa Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva was based. But, it only lasted a year. Apparently, it was very active, but they just had no money. In the In those days, there was just very very very little money, and that's why it shut down. The Rebbe was not happy about it. But, at any rate, this is as This is in the beginning of the school year, cuz this letter's from Tes Kislev. So, uh you know, they'd been open for a couple of months. Shalom Uv'racha. Ma she'heini kabalas michtavei me'erev Shabbos Kodesh b'cheisav edus hastolas Tomchei Temimim v'halimudim b'machanei ha'tohor. I'm uh verifying receipt of your letter from erev Shabbos where you write about launching the new Tomchei Temimim and that you started learning there. V'yidutzin she'hatzlichu b'inyan zeh. And uh God willing, you should succeed with this. V'al yedei zeh gam b'vatzas mayonos chutzah. And also through the Yeshiva, it should also bring to spreading out of the wellsprings to the outer reaches. She'hu m'inyanem de Yemaya ilen. This is one of the matters of today, meaning this is one of the hot issues of our times. Havatza Shemayounis. V's'chus kol ha misaskim b'higenda ein day byer. And there is no um measure for the to describe the merit of those who are involved in Havatza Shemayounis. Okay. So, the Rebbi is very happy, obviously, about Someone's asking in the chat, "Does a woman to a man also say brocha v'shalom?" Yes. Yeah, it goes both ways. Yeah. Um Okay. So, the Rebbi is happy about they they started the Yeshiva. M'zei movin gamken. Asher siyum mich tovei she mashik saftei a display plain Yeshiva mitades Chabad. Now, from this, it's also understood the conclusion of your letter where you write about a certain person. The Rebbi refers to him as plainy ben plainy. I don't know who it is. That he should learn Titus Chabad. Titus Chabad means Chassidus, but not just any Chassidus cuz um there are many different branches of Chassidus and different Chassidisha sforim that are not Chabad sforim, but then there's Titus Chabad, which is specifically the teachings of the Rebbeim of Chabad. So, I I'm making this up. I may be wrong, but it seems like maybe the Rebbi's la- language here is precise, meaning this person maybe is learning other Chassidus, but he's not learning Chabad Chassidus yet. And there's an opportunity to learn with this person Chabad Chassidus. M'kavehu and you, the letter writer, are hoping Limud to convey this to him, meaning to approach him about learning about siddhis. Uh after he gets out of the hospital. Okay, so you understand the scenario. There's someone in the hospital and he may be agreeable to learning siddhis Chabad, but the letter writer Rav Gershon Chain wants to wait until the guy gets out of the hospital. So, what do you think that the Rebbe's going to I want you to guess, please, without us reading further. Do you think that your Rebbe is going to let this guy in the hospital wait till he gets out of the hospital to start learning siddhis Chabad? No, you you didn't you you didn't expect that. Okay, so let's keep going. Ain need the ain I. This doesn't really doesn't make sense in my eyes. And the Rebbe actually gives three answers, three reasons why it's not a good idea to wait. Aleph. Matters of healing should be done sooner in order to facilitate sooner healing. See that? That's just so beautiful. You think you should wait until this guy is hospital and learn siddhis with him? But don't you realize learning siddhis with him will actually facilitate his healing? Why would you Why would you withhold that from him? That's precisely what he needs. Incredible. Okay. Base. In you shall tell me to tell you the flow. Learning Torah in general, meaning any Torah, not just siddhis, not just siddhis Chabad, but any but any Torah. How do you yama v'yama, every single day, flip the page, who daver a ovud is a matter which is lost. Meaning, if you don't learn, you lose that opportunity for learning. Even if you will make the next opportunity, even if you'll take the next opportunity to learn, the opportunity that was lost will never be regained. It's irretrievable. K'vin sh'tam mitada ain lo tashlumin, there's no way to make up for lost Torah study. Ki kol rega v'rega d'yaish k'satsmi, because every moment of it is inherently worthy. So, there's no such thing as, "Oh, I missed out some time of learning, but I've made it up." You can't make it up. You Okay, it's great that you learn Torah another time, but that doesn't make up for the time that was lost, because every moment is significant unto itself. And every moment is unique. And therefore, whatever moment of Torah that was lost, it will never be replaced by future moments of of of learning Torah. That's the second thing. Okay, so the first thing is, why would you withhold something that can help him heal faster? Second thing is, every moment of Torah is unique, and if you don't grab that opportunity, it can never be made up. Gimel, the third thing. Y'dua v'raym gam b'moches, it's known and we see it for ourselves. D'yema k'godelem m'galgelin schus l'yom zakai. The way that time works, that there are certain days of merit, special days that have special power, special energy. V'lochin b'may Kislev, so specially in the days of Kislev, they're called Kislev the chsidishe chodesh, cuz there's so many Yom Tovim. Chassidishe Yom Tovim in Kislev. The Yud Tes Kislev especially not just Kislev in general, the whole month is Chassidishe Chodesh, but you have Yud Kislev, which is the uh Yom HaGeulah of the Mitteler Rebbe, and Yud Tes Kislev, which is the Yom HaGeulah of the Alter Rebbe. It's also known as the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus, Chag HaChagim. Hatzlacha ba'avatzas minei gedulei Yisrael, so the success in spreading out the wellsprings is going to be greater. Meaning these are propitious days, there's a special energy, so ride the wave. Why would you put it off? What, you want to put it off after Kislev? You think it's going to be more successful if you wait until after the special energy passes? That's counterintuitive. I mean, it's not just counterintuitive, it's wrong. It's it's You have a special opportunity now. You're in Remember the date, when's the date of this letter? Date of this letter is Tes Kislev. Okay. So, you you're in the You're in the middle of special days right now. Well, don't don't don't wait. Don't put it off. Okay. Now, in continuation to that, Katz v'Negel is a gossa, ad obonus tichyeh. I was a little bit perplexed about the wording you used about your wife. >> [snorts] >> Uh Gershon Chaim was married to a cousin of Rebbetzin Chana. So, the Rebbe I mean, the Rebbetzin Chana is the Rebbe's mother. So, uh the Rebbe shares ancestry with the letter Rebbe's wife. And the Rebbe will refer to this momentarily. At any rate, I was a little bit perplexed by the wording he used when he referred to your wife. You said, what words did you say? You said, she he mafteacha lazer be'ezras Hashem Yisbarach. She promises to help with Hashem's help. Now, I personally don't think there's anything wrong with that. I was fine with it. She promises to help with Hashem's help. But, the Rebbe didn't like it. The Rebbe felt it was kind of lukewarm. That's exactly what the Rebbe says. Nusach posher u've'yoser. That's That's an exceedingly posher is like lukewarm, room temperature. That is a very like unenthusiastic response. She promises to help with Hashem's help. Like, don't put it off on Hashem. >> [laughter] >> Like, you you got to do it. You got to want this. You got to own it. >> [gasps] >> Watch this. U've'frat k'shemevin cheshbon tzur machatzavta. Especially if you take into account the rock from which she was hewn. It's an expression meaning her origins. I told you she was related to the Rebbe's mother's family. So, she's got illustrious lineage. So, if you take into account that this woman is coming from illustrious lineage, and then she's saying, "Yeah, you know, yeah." Yeah, of course, yeah, I'll help. With Hashem's help. Like, the Rebbe is saying, I >> [snorts] >> It's not It's not the type of vociferous response that I was hoping for. Hashbasha ois itzricha l'kabel. Also, you have to take into account that Rebbe says another thing. First of all, take into account her lineage. Also, another thing to take into account hashbasha. This is that I've been like hinting to something also, I think. Also, take into account the influence that she surely received from her husband who is an alumnus of Timchei Temimim. Meaning to say that I was saying to to to to the letter writer Oh, by the way, this is Gershon Hecht who was not only a student of Timchei Temimim Timchei Temimim Lubavitcher Yeshiva, but he was a mashgiach. He was part of the administration for a time. So, the Rebbe says, "Certainly, that your wife, not only she comes from this illustrious lineage, but also look who her husband is. Certainly, you, her husband, have influenced her. So, I really would have expected a much more enthusiastic response." Now, I don't know what this thing is, by the way, that that I was asking her to help with. Maybe it's with the Yeshiva. Maybe it's something different. I'm not sure. But, the point is the Rebbe is like Um well, the Rebbe said I was perplexed. I was surprised by the lukewarm response. Okay, I will cave in Shulchan Aruch Azal Lemaan Dishika Maaseh, but since our sages say that the main thing is not the study, but the deed How do you say Nila Kavei Shiko Lana Yi I hope that none of the above will hinder the practical fulfillment of all that must be done, doing everything necessary in practice to reduce all obstacles. In other words, the Rebbe was saying like this Your response was not so exciting. But, the main thing is the action. So, you know what? At the end of the day, if you get the action done, I guess it doesn't matter so much if your verbal expression wasn't as passionate as it could have been. But that's sort of you know, the Rebbe making it very clear that I mean, to my estimation, hey, your response left a lot to be to to be desired. I'm hoping when it comes to the practical fulfillment of it that uh the lack of excitement in the response will not be reflected in how you carry it out in practical deed. Yeah. >> [sighs] >> Bavada in Yeah. Bavada in Notsel Yem Yutas Kislev Venera Hamishi de Chanukah be Myuchad Bashem Yisborach Yatzliach Uvechol uh Certainly you'll make full use of Yutas Kislev and also the fifth night of Chanukah. The fifth night of Chanukah is a special night of Chanukah where the majority the first night of the of the of Chanukah when the majority of the menorah is lit. It's a spiritually powerful day. So, the Rebbe tells the letter writer, I am expecting that you'll use out the power of both of those days. Be Birkas Chag HaGeulah with the blessing of the festival of redemption, which we mentioned before is Yud Kislev and Yutas Kislev are both Chag HaGeulah. I want to also mention, by the way, as long as we're reading this letter, Rashkacha Protis um this Gershon Chaim had no children but he wrote a safer which was very recently published. I don't know the whole story behind it, but I did notice that very recently the safer was published. I'm putting it in the chat, the link to Kahos. Okay, so in the chat there you see the link to buy the safer from uh from Kahos. It's called Ole Gershon. And I think it literally just came out like a few months ago. Torah writings of Rav Gershon Chaim published from his personal notebooks recorded over many years encompass a wide range of subjects Halacha Chidusim on and Gemara and Rambam. Original insights on the parsha, shabbos and festivals as well as rabbinic responsa. About the author Rav Gershon Chaim 1886 through through 1978 was a distinguished Torah scholar who served as a Mashgiach in Temchei Tmimim Lubavitch. He later served as the rabbi of Alexandria, Ukraine where he also headed the local Temchei Tmimim. After moving to Eretz Yisrael he became a member of the rabbinic court in Haifa. Oh, that's right. I want to add a biographical note. When he was in Haifa, I mentioned that he was in Haifa, he received Smicha from Rav Kook who told him to serve as a member of the Beis Din of the rabbinical court. Yeah, and then later on he moved to Yerushalayim. Okay. Very good. So, you have the link there. Does the link send to tonight's letter or last letter? What link? The link that I just posted in the chat? That's to buy the safer Ole Gershon. Are you talking about the link in the description? PDF of the letter. Did it go to the wrong Oh, I'm sorry. The link is to to last night's letter. That's Okay. Well, thank you for pointing that out. I'll get you the link to tonight's letter right now. Um hold on a second. Here's tonight's letter. I'll put it in the chat. Boom. Just put it in the chat. And I will uh I don't think I can Can I update it while it's streaming? Hold on. Let me uh put the correct link. Okay, I just changed the link. So, how about this? Refresh your page. This would actually be interesting to me. Refresh your page that you're watching me on right now and see if the link in the description updated to tonight's letter. Okay? Let me know if it worked. All right. Did it work? Anyone want to tell me if it worked? Not really seeing anything in the chat. Okay, you'll let me know in the chat if it worked. All right, let's do our second letter. Baruch Hashem, a double header, as I said, Thursday nights. Lach Mishnah, so to speak. All right. So, here we go. Letter number seven. Um Yeah, letter number seven. Nobody's telling me yet in the chat if it worked with the replacing the link, updating the link. Please let me know. Okay. Baruch Hashem Yud Kislev Tav Shin Tet Zayin, Brooklyn, Shalom U'Bracha. Again, written to a man. Or shall I say a boy? It is a boy. Last night I was talking about that I been writing to a single girl. And there was a whole question should I refer to her as a girl or as a woman because she she's not like a little girl. And I said I would refer to a Yeshiva bocher as a boy. So I just want to make sure I'm not a hypocrite over here. Yes, this is a Yeshiva bocher and I'm going to refer to him as a boy and I don't think it's awkward at all. Anyways, I don't know the age of this Yeshiva bocher. Is he a Yeshiva bocher? Um he could be a teenager, he could be in his 20s. I've no idea how old he is. All I know is he's writing to the leader of the Jewish people and getting a fairly detailed response about his personal issues, which again is mind-blowing. Some Yeshiva bocher is writing to the Rebbe about stuff that honestly he could speak to his Rosh Yeshiva, he could speak to his Mashpia. And he's writing to the Rebbe and he's getting a response. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Let's go. You write in your letter that although you've been for a year in 10 K's 10 K's is the the Lubavitch Yeshiva. You've been learning in Lubavitch for over a year, you don't feel and I'm going to emphasize that word ain't a magish, you don't feel cuz that's an important point. You don't feel that you've changed. Basically this guy writes to the Rebbe and he says this kid [laughter] this kid writes to the Rebbe and says "I've been learning in your Yeshiva for a year and I I don't really feel like I've changed." Probably he was saying he wants to do, you know, jump ship and go to some other Yeshiva. I've seen letters like that where people maybe didn't come from a Lubavitcher background and so they weren't fully committed yet to Lubavitch, so they were sort of Yeshiva hopping still. I've seen such letters. Not clear that that's what this guy is saying, but certainly possible. Anyway, he's complaining to the Rebbe, "I'm I'm in Lubavitch for a year and I and I didn't change." Okay. "I don't feel I don't feel that I changed." All right. >> [laughter] >> So the Rebbe says, "First of all, your opinion is the last opinion here that matters." And the Rebbe doesn't say it doesn't say it dismissively. It's not supposed to be like curt. We know that a person is not allowed to give testimony about himself. Why? He caught of who ate lots of my he's considered a relative to himself. A relative can't testify about a relative. Well, you're who are you more related to than your own very own self? >> [snorts] >> So just like in the literal sense in Halachic terms, a person is who gives testimony about himself, his his testimony is is invalid. Whether it's to exonerate or to uh to convict, either way. So too regarding matters of the heart, duties of the heart. Meaning to say, you are not able to give an objective evaluation of your growth. You're just not capable of doing it. You are too close to yourself. This is nothing more in my opinion than the uh tricks of the evil inclination who wants to confuse you and to prevent you from ascending on the path to the house of God and he's using various different uh ruses, tricks. And although that I have to concede, it is very possible maybe that you could have changed more than you did change. I'll concede that. But God forbid to say, you didn't change at all in 12 months. And as we say, the Torah says, "Distance yourself from falsehood." Like yeah, is it possible you could change more? Yeah, sure. But to say nothing happened, come on. That's clearly untrue. You're not allowed to say things that are not true. You have to stay far away from things that are untrue. However, see this is you got to slow down here. Okay, I'm slowing myself down. The Rebbe just told him, first of all, you're not in a position to objectively evaluate yourself. Not nothing personal against you. It's just that's the nature of human beings. Okay. Um secondly, it's impossible that you didn't change during 12 months. I'm sure that you did. The Rebbe could have ended there and just said, you know, stop stop with your nonsense. I mean, not everyone said it that type of way, but you know, basically the Rebbe just told him that it's not true. Your complaint is not true. But the Rebbe doesn't end there. See, to me this is fascinating that the Rebbe can negate somebody's premise, completely negate their premise, and at the same time, like in the very next paragraph, come down to their level and meet them where they are and and and deal with them almost like in a in a like a like a it's certainly nurturing. I I almost want to say like in a in a mother in a like a mothering type of like maternal loving way. Um and both of them are happening in one letter. On one hand, the Rebbe is saying, I negate your entire premise. Like this is this is not possible. First of all, you're not in a position to be objective. Second of all, it's not possible that you haven't changed. And then in the very next line, the Rebbe says, "By the way, okay, I'm hearing that you would like to feel more the change. Okay, fine. So, after the Rebbe just said that that's After the Rebbe basically just refuted the whole his whole position, then the Rebbe is like, "Okay, and by the way, you want to feel that you changed? Okay, I'll help you with that. I'll help you with it. I just told you that you what you're saying is completely wrong. But you know what? After I said that, now I'm going to come down to your level and I'm going to help you. I'm going to speak your language. This is what you want. You You to feel that you changed? Okay, fine. No problem. I'm going to help you with that, too. Yeah, to me that's just beautiful. Um So, in order Kodesha Yaskol Hagash Begola Yasa Shina, in order that you should begin, this is important, to feel Begola means in a revealed way. Meaning, maybe you're already feeling it, but it's just so subtle that you're unaware of it. But, if you want to be aware of it, you want to feel it on a conscious level, so I'm going to give you some advice. But, then watch what the Rebbe does cuz it's so nuanced. It's just so rich. In the parenthesis there, it says, "Af Shalach Inna Muvan Hatzoirech Beher Gestafka." Even though I don't understand why it's necessary to feel it, specifically to feel it. You see, >> [snorts] >> this You could read this as dismissive. I I read it as liberating. You could read it as dismissive. Like, you want to feel? Well, who says you have to feel? I read it as liberating. The Rebbe is saying to him, "You have this presupposition that if you're not feeling it, then it doesn't count. And I'm telling you, who says you have to feel it? Who says that you have to feel it? I'm telling you that you're changing. Okay, you don't feel it? All right. First of all, I'll help you to feel it, also. I'm going to give you some advice how to feel it. But, even if you don't feel it, that's okay. You don't have to feel it. It also reminds me something the Rebbe said, I think it was a Yahrtzeit Farbrengen. He said in the name of the Friediker Rebbe, his father-in-law, that you only feel a body part that's sick. When a body part is healthy, you're not aware of it. When you feel it, that's dysfunctional. So, the Friediker [laughter] Rebbe says, "That's what is the sickness of of self-awareness, of arrogance. You feel your entire existence. You're aware of your your ego. So, that's that's that's not healthy. What's healthy? Healthy is you're not even aware of yourself. You're just in the zone, in the flow state, right? You just channeling Hashem's will, and you're not even thinking about it. Acting as a an extension of the divine will. But at any rate, so the Rebbi says, "Damn, who says you got to feel it? Like, don't worry about feeling." And yet, at the in the very same breath the Rebbi was saying, "And by the way, and if you want to feel it, I'm going to help you with with some uh practical tips for feeling it. Okay, so let's let's look here. Uh vai iker sheashna b'chol avshutei l'mal yusa. But the main thing is um to maximize as much as possible all of the the positive growth. So, here it is. Yehei azar b'tvilas Ezra. You should be scrupulous about tvilas Ezra. Tvilas Ezra was a an enactment of Ezra, Ezra HaSofer, the leader of the Jewish people after the the Babylonian exile, who led the Jewish Jewish people to reestablish the the Jewish people in the Holy Land in the period known as the the Second Commonwealth. And Ezra enacted a law for men to toivel in a mikvah um after a seminal emission that later was not enforced halachically because it was uh what we call a gzeiras Shmuel Sheini l'vei Yochai lamed bais that the majority of the community was not able to keep it up. So, halakhically it's not required, but till today many people, especially Hasidim, are careful about it. So, the Rebbe said one thing, if you do want to start feeling the change, even though I'm not certain that feeling the change is the most important thing, but if you want to feel it, then be careful about tevilas Ezra, about going to mikvah. Yiten b'chol yom kodem matfila is a prutah l'tzedakah every weekday, non-Shabbos and non-Yom Tov day, you should give a little bit a little bit of money to Rebbe calls it a prutah, you know, obviously it doesn't literally mean a prutah, that's a Talmudic currency. But, you know, it means a tiny a little bit. A little a little bit a little bit a little bit of money to tzedakah before every day. Uh the It doesn't say when to do it, just every day. The yiyum p'nimius ha'Torah kodem matfila, you should learn Chassidus before davening. B'meilah tiskaveh she'yehei tfilaso then automatically your davening will be more readily received. Sh'shakol b'kavanas shel adam she'heim yud-beis amitzayos hu k'neged chochmah, binah, v'daas. And why is it important that your tfila be received? Cuz the first of the 12 middle prayers, you know, the Shmoneh Esrei the 18 prayer Well, it's now it's 19 cuz I mean, they got a little added Well, she'neim, but the 18 benedictions. So, you have the three first ones and the three end ones, but then you have the 12 middle ones that are for different needs. The first of the 12 that is uh is for daas, discernment. Discernment means the ability to not just to know, it doesn't mean information, but to know, to really know, to be tuned in. So, you want to be aware of your growth? Okay, so, davening for for das, for discernment, awareness. And if you want your feel uh to be received, so, learn consider this before you davening. The Yeah, the day of and if you have obtained das, knowledge, discernment, what else do you lack? Then you have everything. Then you have everything. The bracha shilmed us Hashem basmada uviskida, b'techeles shamayim. Beautiful bracha here. With a blessing that you should learn Hashem's Torah diligently and with perseverance and amidst fear of heaven. Ulekiyim hamitzvos behidur, and you should perform mitzvahs in a in a beautiful way. Uvsuros tovos b'chol ha'omer, and that you should be able to report good news in all of the above. Beautiful letter. >> [sighs] [gasps] >> Baruch Hashem. Okay, so, we did it. We learned two letters tonight. We purposely chose a little bit on the shorter side, so that we'd be able to get it in without keeping you up too late. I personally still have three prakim of Rambam to learn. I think we're starting Hilchos Brachos. We finished tzitzis yesterday, so, uh Yeah, I don't mind to sign off and go learn Rambam now. But, thank you for joining us and we'll see you motzei Shabbos. Thank you very much for uh being part of this journey. Baruch Hashem.