Letters of the Rebbe: "Memories that Lead to Action" (Class 14)

Shuto, welcome to another week of 30 letters in 30 days. We're halfway through and uh I wanted to share some of the feedback. Really, really special, incredible feedback that we've been getting. And I want to encourage you that if you have feedback, go to 30letters30days.com and leave feedback there. But I just want to share some of the feedback that we've been getting. It's really special stuff. Um, one was a story I heard. Um, a woman was asked to give a a class and the hostess, the one whose house the class was in, said to her, "Why don't you give one of those letters from the booklet. And so she said, "Okay, why not?" And she randomly, everything's boskus, but she just said, "Okay, I'll pick a letter." And she picked um I think it was our third letter, the letter to uh Morai Rich from Melbourne about the school. Anyways, so this woman's teaching the class and all of a sudden the lady whose home the class is in starts to look very emotional and like hanging on every single word. And afterwards, the woman who is giving the class asks the woman who's hosting, "What's going on? I reacting very intensely." She said, "You don't understand. I'm involved in a school." and we brought in a very top-notch specialist and educator to come and revamp a bunch of stuff. And uh he keeps pushing that we need higher academic standards. And I want that. Of course, I want that. But at the same time, I want to make sure we're educating the whole student, not just the the academics, but the mid, the personality, the the the whole child. And you said something in that letter that the Rebbit told this person that we know that historically the role of a school was to educate children so that they would be knowledgeable. They they would be scholars. But today the role of a school is to keep them in the fold. Of course, it's nice to educate them to excel in academics as well, but the main fundamental purpose of the school is to keep them within Jewish life. She said, "I didn't know how to explain to this guy and every time I tried to open my mouth, I felt like I didn't have what to defend myself with. And now I have the letter from the Reb saying that the purpose of a school is not just academics. Academics are good, but the school is to keep children [snorts] connected to Yiddish kite." So, uh this was something that she was struggling for the right words and the right the right message and then boom, there it was for her at the right time in the right way. Okay, that was that was uh very moving for me. I should also mention some of the meetings that are happening around the groups that are gathering around all over the world. I think I've mentioned before the Melbourne group, they got together again this Shabas uh Metro Detroit had three gatherings, three different locations in the Detroit metropolitan area on Shabas with each group being facilitated by a different leader. In Baltimore, there was a group um there was one group on Shabas. No, there's going to be a group tomorrow on Sunday and then another group on Shabas. Uh also, I'm going to read some feedback here. Uh thank you for the 30 letters program. It has deepened my connection more and more with the Reba on so many levels. I wish the program would continue even after the Reb's 120th. Okay, here's another one. It's mamish beyond any learning initiative I've joined maybe in decades. Okay. Listening, enjoying, and sharing a gift not only for the Reb but for all of us. Here's another one. Uh I'm finding that learning these powerful letters every day changes your brain. That's the the best thing you could say because that's what I get from the letters. It doesn't I've said this before. The Reba doesn't tell you what to think. The teaches you how to think. It's it's a retraining of of your uh approach to everything in life. Somebody was just asking me today on Shabas. We had a Shabas guest and uh we were talking and he was saying, "Well, what do you do about the fact that you know sometimes the Rebel will say one thing to one person and another thing to another person and you know, how do you know which answer you should take to heart?" And I said, 'You know, first of all, we the Reba himself makes this disclaimer all the time that different people get different answers and there's no one-sizefits-all for everybody. But what I said to him is, to me, the egress are not about what the Reb said as much as how the Reb said it. For me, what I learned from the is not necessarily what the Rebba told this person and what the Reb told that person because it could be different for this person, that person, and another person. What I learned from the eager is how the Reb answers each person, the style, the the the approach, there's a certain logic, there's a certain way of thinking of processing information, and that's something you can apply to everything, even things that you didn't explicitly hear the Abba talk about. Okay. Um, wow, there's so much here to talk about, but I think we should jump into our letter for tonight. This is letter number 14. Letter number 14. Okay. No, I'm sorry. Tavis, Tinv, Brooklyn. This is the eighth day of the Hebrew month of Tavis. And the Reb addresses this to Sheris Bisari to my relative miss or Mrs. Da Shalom. Again, it's how the Reb addresses a woman. Who is this relative of the Reb? Mrs. Da. This is Dvora Horinstein. Dvora, of course, is a good old Kabad name. The Alterba. The Balata had a daughter who was Merffish on his behalf. Um, this Mrs. Hornstein or Hornstein or however you want to pronounce it. Um her husband I should first mention his Yikos uh Rab Schlime was a cousin of Mandelhor and so that's his relationship with Bav. Now he was a bayid and in fact when he was nif there the reb went to his levia and actually escorted the leva as far as the bayer bish on the lower east side of Manhattan and there was act there's a there's a famous picture actually there of of the labavba with the bayana reb at the lava that's at rebmer's uh lava now vera has her own yikos she was a granddaughter of Ravitzk Mav. Now Ysef Yitzk you know is the name of the Rabb's father-in-law. How did the Rebayat get that name? He was named after his grandfather through his mother's side. See the the Fredb's father the rabb was a grandson of the Tamadic and the the Fredb's mother was also descended from the but whereas the father the was descended from the sadic through the marash who became the successor who became the labb after the so the Mother was descended from the Tamakadic through the fifth son. The Takadic had seven sons through the fifth son Ravitzk and the Fed was named after this Ravitzk. So this Va Hinsteain she was descended from the from Ravitzk Mav who was the fifth son of the Tamadic which made her a first cousin of the Fed. So, and and also a relative of the Reb. So, the Reb addresses her as my relative. Okay. Um, let's see the Reb's letter. It was very pleasing to me to receive your letter from the third day of the Hebrew month of Tavis and even more so to see the contents of the letter. In other words, it was nice just to get a letter from you. Even if I didn't even open it before I even opened it, it was just nice to get a letter from you. And then even more so, the bonus that was very nice. I really appreciated what you wrote. Okay. What did she write? [snorts] The Reb says right here, "Your memories from the old days the a memories about your mother and her spiritual uh call it her her character spiritual character or her uh a spiritual portrait and especially the way you described her davining the way that your mother dant. It is known the perspective of our very often and uh regularly often times thought is considered more powerful even than speech or action. Okay, a little basic Tanya here you know uh Tanya speaks about okay speaks about uh the three lavushima [snorts] the three ways in which the soul expresses itself. So uh these are behaviors these are behaviors these are ways to outwardly express what you have going on inside. Now action ma physical action you get up and you walk over to the pushka and you put the dollar in the pushka and give to daka right that's an obvious action then you have dbor dbor is a little bit more refined than action you're not getting up and going anywhere you're you're just saying words but dbor is also an action speech is reckoned like action there are mitzvah that that are based on oral articulation like u like saying schma or uh or or or but then there's something called makova which is even more rarified and more abstract even than speech and makava is always sort of like the [laughter] like among the three soul garments you always kind of look at it like is it a soul garment or is it not I mean it's all going on inside of your head is it really an activity is it really a behavior and says yes it is it is in fact the example of this is sakmite the the prohibition the last of the 10 the of the ten commandments because that's something that's actually a thought um don't covet is a thought. So that's like the the the archetype or the the paragon of uh thought being governed by by law. The point is [clears throat] that a lot of times makov thought gets a bad rap and you say like ah thought what's thought it's just a thought and the truth is as the rebba is about to explain here thought is a big deal um in fact if you learn the specifically debur which are two volumes of uh well they were printed it as two volumes uh of the firas throughout the years. The very first sika first fabangan is from uh I think it's 1933 in Ria and uh it's it's I think it might be 1932 or 33 I have to look it up but [snorts] it's it was after the fir left Soviet Russia where he he had to leave because of the persecution there. So the fir is fabanging in Ria Latvia and he's speaking about mealis which is a a saying of the sages it's actually it's a sanhedrin but the idea that thought is reckoned by as significant there are [clears throat] practical ramifications of thought so the vig is speaking about thought and thought is real and thought has an effect and [clears throat] he's encouraging use your imagination the power of imagin ination is is a real thing. And um one of the at the faban turns to and says it's very nice, but what is the person who's being thought about have benefit from it? Meaning it's nice for the thinker. It's nice. So the thinker is thinking and enjoying his own thoughts. But the person you're thinking about, how is he benefiting from that? And the fid looks at this who just asked this question and says no. And where were you last sukus? Meaning to say this who asked the question was stuck behind the iron curtain was in the Soviet Union just a year prior. And the federa was telling him it was because I was thinking about you that you're now here in Latvia with me. So ask you're asking me what benefit is thinking? Thinking can do a lot. There's a yim from which uh speaks about the power of it says they're that just like when you stare at somebody they turn around. So too if you think about somebody it has an effect on them. So thinking is a real thing and this is what the Reb says here thinking is powerful. So in context of the response here to uh to the Reb's uh relative Mrs. Da Lea Hensteain what is the Reb saying? He's saying it's nice that you are nostalgizing, that you're reminiscing about your mother, that the thoughts, the thinking about your mother is itself something significant. And now here's something very interesting. The Reb says, as is the case with many things, even secular wisdom has come in recent years to concur with this, to support this, to corroborate this idea. It's a very interesting concept right there that that I was saying that the idea that Makovalis that thought has a real power this is an old concept. This goes back to the Gamora. But even secular wisdom today, this is 1955, corroborates this idea. Okay. Now, here's the flip. [laughter] And in so many egress, I think probably every letter, there's a flip. The flip is where you know the the guy who calls up a shul and the receptionist answers and says, "Yes, hello." And the guy says, "I'm looking for a one-armed rabbi." The receptionist says, "You're looking for what?" The guy says, "You heard me. I'm looking for a one-armed rabbi." Receptionist says, "Why are you looking for a one-armed rabbi?" And the guy in the other line says, 'Because the rabbi I have now, every time I ask him a question, he answers. But a second later, he says, 'But on the other hand, so I'm looking for a one-armed rabbi. Someone's just going to give me one answer and not tell me the other side of the coin. That's a joke. And we say two Jews, three opinions, and all that stuff. But you want to know something? All tora contains paradox. mits the infinity of Hashem's wisdom and Hashem being no he's completely above and transcendent of any limitations and that's why in the words of my ancestor the Maggala that is Roshavis Shama that the divergence of opinions in is not a bug it's a feature I'll repeat that the divergence of opinions in is not a bug gets a feature. I think if I can editorialize for one moment here, unfortunately today, and I blame this on the internet algorithms, we are so extremist today in our thinking. We want black and white, us and them. Tell me which side of the issue we're on and that's it. Go team go. And there's no nuance. Is all about nuance. is all about understanding both perspectives and really to get the full truth thems from the beginning to the middle to the end. The word emis is the first letter and the last letter of olive base and the center letter of olive base. To get the whole truth, you need contradiction. If it's not paradox, it's not. So every egress has to me at least I think a paradox that pushes us out of black and white extremist thinking and shows us that we can have our cake and eat it too. to put it in the positive sense. So the deba just got finished saying thought is powerful. Thought is great. Tada says thought is powerful and great. And now even secular wisdom supports this idea that thought is great. And now what what's the going to say? [laughter] What do you think the is going to say? But on the other hand can't just be thought. There's got to be action. But the debate doesn't have to negate thought in order to throw in a mention about action. To the contrary, a true paradox is not a contradiction. A true paradox is something that seems like a contradiction at the outset, but upon further deeper examination, you realize it's a deeper truth which encompasses opposites. So we don't have to negate. We don't have to take thought and throw it under the bus in order to build up misa and action to the country. You're going to see what the dev is going to do. was going to say, but here's the deal. Thought has to fuel action. So, I love the fact you have these beautiful zikes, these memories of how your mother used to davin, but it can't just be thoughts. It can't just be Jewish nostalgia. It's got to get turned into fuel for Jewish action. Okay, let's watch this. Here's the flip. Hello. But on the other hand, [snorts] since the whole point of a person is action, you got to draw down the thought and connect it to the action. The [snorts] And by the way, who's the deba writing to? This is an observantic woman. This isn't a non-observant person that the Debb is trying to convince to start lighting chabas candles. So I I I just want to mention that because when the Reba says action, you might think the Eb is speaking to people who are not yet observant. So they need to be told, you know, you Yiddish kite can't just be uh Yiddish humor and matzah balls. Come on. It can't just be Jewish nostalgia. You got to put to action real, real mitzvah observance. You might think that's something that you know that I would just tell somebody who's what we used to call the cardiac Jews. The ones who say I'm Jewish in my heart. Did you put on filling? No, it's okay. I'm Jewish in my heart. So, we used to call it the cardiac Jews. But, uh you might think the Eb is only speaking to that crowd. The Eb is speaking to a fully observantic woman, his relative. Everyone can use an encouraging word about more action and more action and more action. That's what the soul came to this world for. Why do you think the soul had to be disturbed to come out of heaven from its bliss and be plunged down into a body with an animal soul as a nextoor neighbor and all all that inconvenience for what? Obviously the point is to use that body and to use our our uh environment our physical the physical world around us to do actions. This is this is the time meaning physical embodiment is the time for physical action. Okay. Now if it's true about everyone and it is true about everyone that they can be an influence to some to on their immediate environment and to some extent even far away from them as long as you put forth the adequate effort. Okay, so that's a an axiom that everybody can be an influencer, everybody can have an effect on their media environment and to some extent even [snorts] far away from them as long as they put forth effort. So therefore, how much more so this is true. somebody when we're speaking about somebody like you, my cousin, who is descended from those people, he's talking about who are, and this is interesting, the term the Reb uses to describe his cousin's holy ancestors. He calls them the together with that. You see, you have both there. Anu, people of means spirit, the emotional or the spiritual. And then people who are strong in their action. So there you have again the thought and the action certainly you have inherited their capacities. It's interesting. We had that letter out of Shabas to the Kutus Sniders to the young ladies and the Reb was telling them about the what I called the the epigenetics that you got your parents courage. So the Reb is saying this to his cousin uh Mrs. Henstein that you and you inherited this this strength from the that you're descended from. Okay. This is also now that goes back to the idea of memory of thought that when you have thoughts thoughts have the power to awaken that inheritance that holy inheritance that that DNA and [snorts] trigger it into an active state. So again, Debb is going back to memory, back to the idea of thought, but coupling it with action and saying, look, the memories are good in as much as what they trigger this latent spiritual inheritance you have and make it come out, which means into action. Okay. Zoom. And at that propitious time, meaning when you're reminiscing and you're getting your getting your spiritual DNA working. [snorts] You got to use it out. You got to cash it in on actual stuff, on action. [snorts] This is powerful right here. When you do that, when you actually cash it in and use it for some type of activity, that is a rectification of those those spiritual powers that you were given. It's also your personal. It completes and rectifies you. And it also creates an aliyah ascent after ascent, meaning they've already ascended, but now they're going to ascend even more for your parents and your parents' parents. See here what the Reb is saying that when you when you reminisce and it causes you to take that excitement and put it into action, then what happens is it is a tikun for those that you have. Otherwise, they're squandered. Those potentials are squandered. But when you actually use them out for some type of action now it's a tikun for those it's a tikun for yourself and also that I mentioned very fulfilling for yourself and it's an aliyah for your ancestors who gave you these k. So think about that when you reminisce and you think about them and it moves you to action but only if it translates to action it's [snorts] good for you it's good for them just such a beautiful description. Okay, now here's another concept and I wish I had another half an hour. You know, a lot of people have complained that we don't have enough time to cover these letters deeply enough and I agree because technically I'm supposed to be done in 3 minutes and I could go for at least 30 just with this paragraph. Don't dismiss small things. If a tiny little thing, tell me what that is speaking about. If a tiny little thing could destroy an entire metropolis and all of its population, what's the speaking about? The atom bomb. It's 1955. By the way, there's a a fabangan from Porm Tiny where the Reb speaks at length about this idea about the atomic reaction. A tiny tiny the tiniest little piece of matter starts a chain reaction which could go forbid wipe out an entire metropolis. So if that exists in the midperonis in the negative attribute, how much more so in the positive? So that Ebba says, "Don't turn your nose up at small things because really there's nothing small." Because even you see now that a tiny little atom can unleash this massive power. And if that's true with negative things, how much more so is it true with positive things? Okay, so uh let's continue. The good attribute is disproportionately greater than the negative. So therefore, something that to our physical eyes or to our limited human intellect appears to be trivial. That little thing could actually be the thing that quote unquote justifies a whole life of 70 80 years. 70 80 years that I'm singing it to jog your memory. That's also nostalgia. If you if you by the way singing guy you saw camp songs has to bring to action. That's what I'm really trying to say over here. Okay. Nostalgia is great when it brings to action. The smell of your grandmother's chicken soup is beautiful when it leads to action. Okay. Listen to what the deba says here. We all know that saying for 70 80 years, right? It's a hayim. Actually, you know which hayim it is? Hey. Interesting. Hey. the the hayim is the balm of saying that an ashama could come down to the world and live in in this world for 70 or 80 years just for one thing to do a favor for another Jew. And uh it's interesting here the way that Eba gives just a couple extra words here in this letter beyond the known saying of the balv. But the couple extra words that adds here totally changes my understanding of what that saying of the balv means. Watch here. So the says sometimes one little thing could justify your whole 70 80 year lifespan. [snorts] And here's the couple extra words. Flip the page and fill them all entirely with meaning. See, it's not just so you spent 70 80 years and now with modern medicine, lifespans are much longer than that. I don't want to freak anyone out with the 78 years. Today, Bashem, they say that people are going to live to 120 very soon. Okay. Um, it's not just that one little thing justifies the whole lifespan. And that means So I'm sitting around here on the bench saying, "Coach, put me in. Coach, put me in." And then they put me in for one second and I shoot the buzzer beater shot. Hooray. Okay. But the rest of your time, you're just sitting on the bench. Okay. But I came when the when they needed me on the floor, I came out for the one second of actual playing time I got. That was good playing time. The rest of the time I was sitting on the bench. No. No. The Reb adds these words here, that one little thing. And I think this is also connected to the the the the reference to the atomic reaction that the Reba made in this same paragraph here. It's not just the atom. It's how the atom initiates a chain reaction. So it's not just that one moment that was meaningful, but when that moment occurs, it spreads its meaning out and fills the entire lifespan with that meaning. So it's not like you were sitting around passive doing nothing until that one moment that you came to the world for it. No, no, it's that moment is the crowning moment that imparts meaning by extension to the entire context of your life. everything that led up to that moment and everything that that moment leads up to. Now, if that's not mind-blowing enough, if that's not mind-blowing enough, we spoke about in the previous letter the intergenerational aspect of things. And the Reba is hinting to it here, not hinting to the Reb is saying explicitly here about the intergenerational stuff. And the Reba said that you're giving when you use your nostalgia about your holy uh forebears and you translate it into action, you're not just giving yourself a tick, you're giving them an aliyah as well. Leba is going to say it even more explicitly. How that small even that very small thing that you do not only fills your entire life with meaning. Not just your lifetime, but [snorts] lifetimes plural because it reaches back through history. Think about that. It's not just every moment that you lived that led up to that seemingly small moment of atomic reaction. It's all the lifetimes of all your ancestors that added up to get to this point for you to do this one little thing little I put in quotes thing because it's not little at all. It's filling your entire life within and all the lifetimes of your ancestors. Powerful. Okay, let's let's look here. Now the Reb actually quotes the saying of the like I said that's the hemium of with this this fulfills the purpose of your souls coming down to this world. [snorts] And it fulfills the purpose of the descent of the sparks of your ancestors who came down with you in you. Think about that. That little thing that you did when that thought turned into action and moved you to do something, put the penny in the pushka, whatever it was that seemed tiny and trivial, that not only filled your entire life within and the purpose for which your soul came down to this earth, but also the sparks of your ancestors who came down with you. And it all happened in a tiny quote unquote tiny action. This is just too much. I mean, just every every line is another mind-blowing concept. All right, we still have half a letter to go. Now, the Reb explains another paradox of Judaism. What's the deal with dvening? Is dvening relating the praise of Hashem or is Davening asking for what I need? [laughter] They seem very very opposite if not mutually exclusive. By the way, this is the famous the Reb said involved and on and his mother's yard's mother who was named Kana as well. It's a famous it's in but the there speaks about the the paradox especially on is it about that we're saying it's you you you hashem you're the ruler you're so great or is it about uh like is it about hold on a second I'm worried about me what's going to happen to me am I going to be healthy am I going to be happy am I going to have and the deals with that paradox over there but here very deals with the same paradox what's up with prayer. Is it about talking about Hashem or is it about talking about what I need? And the Reb explains it very simple. When you're at the state of absolute union with Hashem, if you're domining right, you know the is a state of absolute union with Hashem where seemingly there's no ego left. The ego, the ego, the edging got out. That's all gone. And you're just dovok. You're just clinging to Hashem. And the paradox is at that moment. You say, "Hashem, bless us. Bless my bless my my wheat that's growing in the field." Hold on a sec. Are you being SPIRITUAL AT THIS MOMENT? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT WHEAT IN THE FIELD? Very strange. But here's the explanation. Because by gathering in this grain, of a you're going to take that wheat and you're going to make for him for Hashem a dwelling place in this world which is Hashem's deepest desire. So we come full circle when you get so selfless that you've shed all of your material concerns and you don't care about this world anymore. You just want Hashem and you get to that point. You come full circle cuz I only want what you want Hashem. If I only want what you say, you want to know my deepest desire. I want the physical world to reveal my infinity. get back down there and sanctify your material possessions and [snorts] take that grain and bring it home and and and and you're going to sell it and you make money from it and you give saddaka with it and you're going to support a Jewish family with it and some of the grain maybe you're going to eat it and you're going to have kala for shabas and you make a braha on it. Sanctify the physical. So when you get so spiritual you come back to the material and that's the paradox the says now we went to a whole new level not only this small thing this small action this nuclear reaction can fill your life with token and not only it fills all of your ancestors lives within [snorts] but it fulfills the entire purpose of creation of through one little daily pedestrian mundane action that you are ready to discount and say what is it just make on on a cracker. Yeah. And that braha you make on the cracker could fill your whole life within your ancestors sparks within you fill them within give them an aliyah and fulfill the entire purpose for which the infinite one created this world and you are going to [laughter] call it small nothing small about that okay now let's get back to those ziki those memories Certainly you know that my father-in-law was very interested in people writing memoirs in general and even more specific specifically relatives of the Rebeam writing family memoirs. For sure, you are also going to do this. Seems like maybe just in passing, she mentioned some memories she had of her mother. As you're going to see the practical request that she wrote to the Reba for was she was asking the Reba to send her a letter that the Reba had in his possession from her mother. And she she described her mother in the letter and some of her mother's qualities like the way she used to davin. But the Reba [laughter] in his signature style says, "I like those about your mother. You going to write that up? You going to make a book? Are we going to we're going to see something? Maybe some articles?" The Reb [snorts] says, "I want you to write more about it." Uh and especially it's important to be detailed. You should be detailed about it. This should be you should do this all in good health your good health and your husband's good health. We mentioned her husband [snorts] and should all be in good standing in honor and blessing your relative. And then the post script, this is seemingly what she wrote to the before according to her request. I've returned to you here, the letter of your mother. So I don't know if that was a letter that her mother wrote to the Reb or maybe it was a letter that she wrote to the I I don't know. I don't want to try to guess. The Reba says, "I'm returning to you the letter that and could it be a letter that I don't know that her mother wrote to somebody else entirely." What whatever it was the Reba was in possession of a letter that her mother wrote and the Reb is returning to her her mother's letter. And you see the Reb could have just written again the PS could have been the whole letter. Oh, uh, you want your mother's letter? Here's your mother's letter. But what did the Reb do? He turned it into an opportunity to speak to her about the power of nostalgia. Yeah. But then on the other hand, how nostalgia has to translate into practical action, how that affects you, your whole life, your ancestors lives, and the purpose for the entire creation. And then encourage her to write up some more memoirs. Another incredible letter. Thank you for joining me and I apologize for going over time, but I promise you I have another half an hour of stuff written in my notes here I wanted to say and I'm holding back. Okay, good night.