CONTENTS

28
FEATURED ARTICLES

WEEKLY COLUMNS

4 Dvar Malchus
43 Parsha Thought
55 Tzivos Hashem

IN THE PRESENCE
OF THE REBBE
Sholom Ber Crombie

G-DS
12 ACCEPTING
KINGSHIP WITH JOY
HASHEM
18 HONOR
WITH YOUR T'FILLA
Mordechai Segal

I RETURN IN
22 AND
PEACE TO MY FATHERS
HOUSE 770

Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz ah

ARMOR FOR
28 SPIRITUAL
EVERY JEWISH SOLDIER
Nosson Avrohom

REBBES FRIEND
38 THE
Refael Dinari
MONEY FOR THE MOSDOS
46 THE
IS ALREADY IN THE BANK!
Avrohom Rainitz

50

PROPHECY I
50 THE
BROADCASTED CAME TRUE!

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2014-09-16 1:38:04 AM

DVAR MALCHUS

WE FOLLOW THEIR
LEAD AND PROCLAIM:

MENACHEM
IS HIS NAME
Of course, we (Chassidim) follow their
lead (with respect to our Rebbes and
Nsiim. * There are those who say that
Menachem is the name of Moshiach,
as it is said, because the comforter
(menachem) is distant from me, even
he that should revive my soul. * From
Chapter Seven of Rabbi Shloma Majeskis
Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the
compilers emphasis.)
Translated by Boruch Merkur

ATTAINING THE HOLINESS

OF THE ALM-GHTY HIMSELF
8. [] Parshas Acharei
contains the commandment and
warning that there should not be
a ratzo a yearning to cleave
to G-d through spirituality
without a shov a return to
the mission of perfecting the
physical world, making it a
dwelling place for G-d through
Torah and Mitzvos. (The
result of having a ratzo without
a shov and its shortcomings is
illustrated in Parshas Acharei
with the description of the klos
hanefesh, the soul expiration,
of the two children of Aharon,

in their approach before G-d

and they died.) Rather, there
must specifically be a ratzo with
a shov [which is the sustainable
approach to spirituality and
one that is in line with the
Supernal Will of perfecting
the world. This approach
diminishes or negates the risk
of their being klos hanefesh,
emphasizing the importance
of there being ongoing life in
the physical world] specifically
as souls (which are inherently
predisposed
towards
ratzo)
within bodies
(which are
predisposed towards shov). The
ratzo and shov must be united,
resulting in Supernal revelations

being drawn down and revealed

within keilim, the means to
channel and contain these
revelations.
Parenthetically, this union
of body and soul finds further
expression in the eternal life of
the Future Era. (What is unique
about the present times, our
generation, is that there will
be no interruption [no death
separating the finite life of this
world from the everlasting life
of the World to Come]). Indeed,
the life of the Future Era is
specifically physical life, but a
manner of life whereby the soul is
nourished by the body [reversing
the current dynamic whereby
spirituality is supreme, and the
body receives nourishment from
the soul].
The union between ratzo and
shov, G-dliness being manifest
within keilim, is accomplished in
virtue of a lofty level of G-dliness
that transcends the two,* a
state of sanctity described in
Parshas Kdoshim. There the
Torah enjoins the Jewish people
with the commandment to (and
capacity for) Be holy for I [G-d]
am holy. That is, the status and
condition of the Jewish people,
as they exist in the physical world
where the commandment of

4 Erev Rosh HaShana 5775

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Be holy, be distinguished
(Rashi on the verse), can apply
is one of sanctity (Be holy).
Here in the physical world, Jews
have the capacity to even attain
the ultimate sanctity, the holiness
of the Alm-ghty Himself, as our
Sages teach, Yachol kamoni?
[according to the simple reading
this means] You might think
that the intent here is that you
[the Jewish people] are being
commanded to be as holy as Me
[i.e., G-d himself]. Thus, the
Torah teaches, for I am holy
[Divine sanctity is reserved for
G-d alone] [but] according to
the interpretation of Chassidus,
this teaching is stated in the
affirmative: Yachol kamoni
You are able to be as holy as Me
[i.e., G-d himself]. That is, each
and every Jew is able, capable
of being, as Me, like G-d
Himself (as it were), attaining
the Divine sanctity of (for) I am
holy.

MOSHIACH:
YEARNING FOR GEULA
WITH BATED BREATH
The concept of holiness
being manifest specifically in
the physical realm is further
emphasized in the name of
Moshiach (the redeemer), who
is called metzora leper
the Metzora of the House of
Rebbi, who sits among the
impoverished, who suffer from
afflictions, those who are
stricken with leprosy and he
too [Moshiach] is a leper. That
is, Moshiach is present in the
world, in the time and place
of exile, and there, amidst the
condition of exile, he suffers
the afflictions of exile (as the
Gemara continues, Says Rav:
If Moshiach is among the living,
he is, for example, Rabbeinu
HaKadosh If Moshiach
is among those who are

presently alive, it is certainly

Rabbeinu HaKadosh,** for he
[Rabbeinu HaKadosh] suffers
from afflictions and is entirely
pious.***) And Moshiach peers
out in anticipation, looking with
bated breath and with yearning
eyes for the revelation (from the
concealment of the time and
condition of exile). Indeed, in
accordance with the ruling of
Rambam, a king will rise up
from the Davidic dynasty, etc., it
is the role of Melech HaMoshiach
to redeem the Jewish people
with the true and complete
redemption, which will never be
followed by another exile.

nevertheless, he suffered
affliction, the ailments of exile.
The same is true of Moshiach
(whose name is the leper of
the House of Rebbi): although
Moshiach attains the ultimate
state of perfection, he suffers
and is stricken with pain over the
illness of exile (as above sif 2).

WHAT IS THE FASTEST

WAY TO BRING MOSHIACH?
In light of the above, this is the
meaning of Rebbis statement,
Which is the proper course
that a man should choose? That
which is an honor for him and
which elicits honor from his
fellow man:

This union of body and soul finds further

expression in the eternal life of the Future Era.
(What is unique about the present times, our generation,
is that there will be no interruption [no death separating
the finite life of this world from the everlasting life of the
World to Come]).

MOSHIACH: PERFECT BUT

SUFFERING
9. The aforementioned is
also connected with the second
chapter of Avos (which is being
studied this Shabbos Kodesh),
which begins with Rebbi states:
Which is the proper course that a
man should choose? That which
is an honor for him and which
elicits honor from his fellow
man. []
(In his time) it was said of
Rebbi (Rabbeinu HaKadosh)
that If Moshiach is from among
those who are presently alive, it is
certainly Rabbeinu HaKadosh,
for he suffers from afflictions and
is entirely pious. Although he
was entirely pious for he had
completed his service of G-d****

A man refers to this

man (who is it at a level
of
greatnessperfection
in
everything) whose deeds are
wholesome and has rectified
everythingonly the extraneous
aspects, at the hem of his
garments, remain to be refined,
etc.. His superficial inadequacies
are solely on account of the exile,
which was the case with Rebbi
[who suffered and was stricken
with ailments]. In this generation
the final generation of exile,
the Heels of Moshiach, when all
matters (the avoda that had to
be done throughout the duration
of exile) have already been
completed and perfected all the
Jewish people are at this level of
near perfection.
The question is: Since we
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have already completed our
deeds and our service throughout
the duration of exile, what is
the proper course (the easiest
and quickest path among all
the pathways of Torah) that a
man (all the Jewish people as
a whole) should choose. What
path should a man, who has
completed [all] matters of avoda,
choose in order to bring about
the revelation and the advent of
Moshiach?*****
The answer to this question is:
That which is an honor (Tiferes)
for him and which elicits honor
(Tiferes) from his fellow man:
Tiferes refers to Torah
(Tiferes that refers to the
Giving of the Torah), which,
on account of its tremendous
virtue and power, can join
the two movements of ratzo
(drawing close and cleaving to
the Alm-ghty, Tiferes loseha)
and shov (drawing down below,
Tiferes lo min haadam), so
that the Supernal revelations are
drawn down and revealed within
keilim (as above sif 6). In so
doing, the true concept of exile
(Supernal revelations) is revealed
in a manner that rules out the
concept of exile in the simple,
literal sense, a redemption that is
never followed by exile (as above
sif 7 and sif 8).
(From the address of Shabbos
Parshas Tazria-Metzora, 6 Iyar;

Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 496-498)

NOTES:
*Footnote 61: by there first being the
bittul of shov, as above sif 6.
**Footnote 67: There (at the
beginning of the sugia): Those
of the School of Rebbi Shilo said
that Shilo is the name of Moshiach,
as it is said, until Shilo arrives;
those of the School of Rebbi Yanai
said that the name of Moshiach is
Yinon (like Yanai each would find
a Scriptural source for his name
commentary of Rashi there. Note
the inference derived from Rashis
specific wording, each would find
a Scriptural source for his name
and not that the disciples would
propose that Moshiachs name is
the same as that of their master), as
it is said, May his name be eternal;
before the sun, his name is Yinon;
the School of Chanina said that
Chanina is the name of Moshiach, as
it is said, for as much as I will show
you no favor (chanina); there are
those who say that Menachem ben
Chizkiya is the name of Moshiach
(so it is in our versions of the text,
but the Yerushalmi and Eicha Rabba
render it simply as Menachem
[omitting ben Chizkiya] ), as
it is said, because the comforter
(menachem) is distant from me, even
he that should revive my soul. See
also Yerushalmi Brachos 2:4, Eicha
Rabba 1:51. Also see Likkutei Levi
Yitzchok al Maamarei Chazal, pg.
106, that all opinions are true, and
both these and these are words of

the living G-d. See there.

Of course, we (Chassidim) follow
their lead (with respect to our Rebbes
and Nsiim, especially my revered
father in-law, the Rebbe, leader of
the generation): Yosef is the name
of Moshiach, as it is said, The L-rd
will set His hand again the second
time (yosif Adni sheinis yado)to
recover the remnant of the Jewish
people, etc.; Yitzchok is the name
of Moshiach, as it is said, Then He
shall fill our mouths with laughter
(schok pinu).
***Footnote 68: Commentary of
Rashi on the Gemara. For this reason
Moshiach is referred to as The leper
of the House of Rebbi, referring to
Rabbeinu HaKadosh, who is called
Rebbi for he [Moshiach] suffers
afflictions and ailments like him
[like Rebbi] (Chiddushei Agados
Maharsha ibid).
****Footnote 73: following the
interpretation of tzaddik gamor a
complete tzaddik as in the phrase,
a vessel whose work upon it has
been completed (Likkutei Torah
Drushei Sukkos 81a).
*****Footnote 74: beginning with the
revelation and advent of Moshiach
within each and every Jew, as is
known, the verse, A star will shoot
forth from Yaakov, etc., refers to
Melech HaMoshiach (Yerushalmi
Maaser Sheini 4:6), insofar as each
Jew possesses within a spark of the
soul of Moshiach (Maor Einayim,
Parshas Pinchas, end).

6 Erev Rosh HaShana 5775

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Continued from page 21

THE ESSENCE OF A
LUBAVITCHER CHAZAN
Baalei tfilla must constantly
have the principle, know before
whom you stand, in mind.
The davening must be genuine,
pure, and not something used
to display ones beautiful voice.
It is permissible to impress the
balabatim who come to the
Chabad house, in order to get
them to want to come back
again, but you need to constantly
remember that this is not a
concert, but know before whom
you stand in the most serious
way. Even if I trill, its because
I want to fulfill honor Hashem
with your throat and not in

order to show off my chazanus it more interesting. Occasionally,

abilities.
at weddings, I include a chazanus
Speaking of chazanus, R piece by request of the chassan or
Zucker personally connects most the family.
Apropos of weddings, I am
to Chazan Yossele Rosenblatt
who was a Chassidic chazan. really happy with the trend of
The Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe young people asking that I sing
said about him that you hear only Chabad niggunim at their
the meaning of the words in his weddings, or at least most of
the songs. It makes the wedding
davening.
Although he also sings, even more Chassidish especially when
this
most significant event is

 Express
Express
service
more than he does chazanus,
R service
one
in
which we pray for an
Berel Zucker likes his role Fully
as
a Computerized
Fully
Computerized
everlasting
edifice.
baal tfilla more.
What does R
Berel
Zucker
Chazanus is very deep, and
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Issue 943

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INTERVIEW

IN THE PRESENCE

OF THE REBBE
R Zalman Notik, mashpia for Anash in
Yerushalayim and Yeshivos Tomchei Tmimim,
talks about traveling to the Rebbe, particularly
at this time of the year, how to prepare for the
trip, and what chiddush there is in the seventh
generation. * A holiday interview.
By Sholom Ber Crombie

ast year, R Notik won

a raffle of six tickets to
the Rebbe for him and
his family to serve as the
representatives of all those who
participated in the lottery. I asked
him:
How does it feel to have
won?
On the one hand, I am thrilled
about this trip to the Rebbe.
On the other hand, I feel a very
heavy sense of responsibility,
because if you go to the Rebbe
as a representative, your behavior
has to be altogether different.
There is also the feeling of who
am I that I merited to come with
my family to the Rebbe? This is
a question whose answer is, Ata
yodeia rozei olam [You know
the secrets of the world], since
there is no explanation for why
so-and-so won the raffle and was
chosen to be the shliach tzibbur
to travel to the Rebbe.
Along with the responsibility

there is the conferring of

strength, because all those who
partook in the raffle are partners
in your trip and the merit of
them all provides the strength to
prepare properly.
What practical difference is
there when going to the Rebbe
as a representative?
Winning the raffle means: 1)
that preparing for the trip is on a
completely different level. This is
because its not the preparation
of a private person making a trip
but the preparation for all the
people that I represent. On my
shoulders rests the responsibility
for all the people who I represent,
so that I represent them properly
to the Rebbe. 2) In addition to
the preparation being altogether
different, being at the Rebbe
requires that every moment you
are there you need to think what
exactly is it that you are doing as
the shliach tzibbur or, conversely,
what you should not be doing.

You need to be completely

immersed in using the actual
time and the quality of the time in
a completely different way.
How does one translate the
special feeling of Tishrei into
actual avoda?
You need to constantly
channel the inspiration into
action and not suffice merely
with feelings and experiences.
In order to fully grasp the
inspiration of Tishrei, the avoda
needs to consist of Torah, Tfilla
and Chesed, and the avoda needs
to be in a manner of relating it to
your personal situation.
With Torah, that means an
additional chayus in the Rebbes
teachings, especially in inyanei
Moshiach and Geula which is the
main thing that the Rebbe says
our koch should be in now.
With Avoda, we need to try
and think Chassidus every day,
for at least two minutes before
davening, in terms of what

8 Erev Rosh HaShana 5775

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Issue 943

943_bm_eng.indd 9

2014-09-16 1:38:06 AM

Interview
relevance does this have to you
personally and to think specifically
in the Rebbes teachings.
With Chesed-Tzdaka, the avoda
is to be devoted to bringing merit
to others especially in connecting
people to the Rebbe and his
teachings.
What does preparing for a trip
to the Rebbe nowadays consist
of when we dont see the Rebbe
and yet we go with emuna and
enormous anticipation to bask in
his presence?
The
preparations
nowadays
require a kind of meditation that we
didnt have before Gimmel Tammuz.
Now, in addition to preparing, we
also need a lot of emuna and thinking
about the Rebbe being here, and that
every Chassid is going mainly to be
seen. In the past, we went to see
the Rebbe while today, sadly, the
trip is for the Rebbe to look at you.
This looking is what peels away the
klipa and reveals the yechida of the
nefesh and accomplishes a spiritual
awakening. As we know, the gaze of
the Rebbe strips away the chitzonius
and reveals the pnimius.
Although the Rebbe looks at you
wherever you are, obviously being in
the Rebbes Dalet Amos is not the
same as being in your usual location.
Its like Hashems gaze outside the
Beis HaMikdash is not the same as it
is in the Beis HaMikdash.
When you talk about the
Rebbes gaze and its impact, can
you explain how this is practically
expressed in a Jews avoda?
When I was on Kvutza by
the Rebbe we all experienced the
heartwarming sight of all kinds of
Jews, rabbanim and those with long
hair, standing on line on Sunday,
like sheep before the shepherd.
Someone in Crown Heights set
up a tfillin stand to enable those
who came to get a bracha to do this
mitzva. One stand was set up on the
way out of Gan Eden HaTachton
in the spot where they would park

the Rebbes car, and which enabled

those who had already seen the
Rebbe to do the mitzva. The other
stand was mobile and moved up
and down the long line of people
who stood there in the heat and the
cold, waiting to receive a dollar and
a bracha from the Rebbe.
Interestingly, there were people
who stood there for hours, with
nothing to do, who were not willing
to put on tfillin, but when they
came out after seeing the Rebbe
there was no such thing as someone
refusing to put on tfillin. You might
think that at that point he would be
anxious to return home after such a
long wait, but the only explanation
is that seeing the Rebbe peels away
the outer klipa from us and exposes
the yechida of the nefesh. This has
an effect on our thought, speech and
action.
In Chassidus it explains that
two people in history had a unique
power of vision: Moshe Rabbeinu
and lhavdil, Bilam HaRasha. Bilam
saw a man in a sirtuk and gartel
with a Moshiach pin standing and
davening and enthusiastically doing
mivtzaim, completely immersed
in avodas Hashem, but he saw the
hidden evil which lies within every
one of us. With his gaze he brought
the hidden evil to the fore (as in
the Rebbes explanation that even
Yochanan the high priest who served
in this position for eighty years, had
hidden evil which ultimately came to
the fore).
Moshe saw a Jew whose outside
did not attest that he belonged to the
Jewish people, but with his positive
gaze he saw the yechida of his soul
with its yearning to be incorporated
in its source. This positive gaze
exposed the yechida of the persons
soul so that it came to the fore,
going past all the outer behavioral
levels of the soul of thought, speech
and action.
So too, when we go to the Rebbe,
although we cannot see him, we

stand facing him and we are seen.

The Rebbe gazes upon us and
removes the outer klipos from us,
revealing the yechida within. The
gaze of Moshiach affects us all.
At the same time, this does
not exempt us from doing our
own avoda. We are not Poilishe
Chassidim who rely on the holiness
of the tzaddik to elevate us. The
bachurim as well as the girls need
to stick to the learning schedule
arranged by the Hachnasas Orchim
organization and use every minute
for tfilla and Torah, thus becoming
receptive to the Rebbes gaze.
In addition to keeping to the
sdarim and using every moment
for kdusha and yiras Shamayim,
we always need to look around and
see whether anyone needs help. As
brothers and as one family we need
to stretch out a hand and support
one another. This, above all else,
makes us into a vessel for all the
brachos and hashpaos.
In our generation we see
great interest in going to the
Rebbe. Is there a chiddush here,
something we did not see in earlier
generations?
Traveling to the Rebbe was
always a foundation in the darkei
hachassidus. The spiritual elevation
as well as the divrei Torah and
Chassidus that the Chassid absorbed
from the Rebbe lit up his soul and
the souls of his household for the
rest of the year. When a Chassid
returned from the Rebbe, the entire
family was uplifted and was included
in the Chassidishe hergeshim that he
absorbed.
Thats the way it always was.
In our generation, the seventh, the
chiddush is that not only the father
serves as the channel to convey the
inspiration to the rest of the family,
but other family members go too.
The wife and children might also
go to the Rebbe and bring home the
Shchina from the beis midrash of
Nasi Doreinu.

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In more recent years, when

the light of the Geula is shining
ever more brightly, a special
emphasis has been placed on
the bachurim, the Chayolei
Beis Dovid (and the Achos
HaTmimim) going, and they are
the ones who bring the kdusha
home to their parents, fulfilling
the prophecy, and returning
the hearts of the fathers through
the children. They bring the
atmosphere of Tishrei with the
Rebbe home for the rest of the
year.
What about now, as we
anticipate
the
immediate
hisgalus of the Rebbe?
In the last twenty years in
which we have not seen the Rebbe
and we dont hear his sichos,
the number of people going to
Beis Rabbeinu ShBBavel hasnt
diminished; it has grown. How is
it that families that struggle daily
and dont have enough money
to cover the months expenses,
spend what they dont have
and wander around 770 for an
entire month, not seeing and not
hearing, and sometimes not even
being able to daven in peace as
they are used to the rest of the
year back home? Social pressure
is not a factor when speaking
about such an extended period
of time. And the incredible thing
is that when these bachurim
and girls return home after
Tishrei, they create a Chassidishe
environment with all the spiritual
energy they got in 770.
Those who want to see
miracles should look at this
miracle which takes place, before
our eyes, every year. We just need
to open our eyes to see it...
Every Chassid who comes to
770 and sees the bachurim who
came from Eretz Yisroel and
other countries, knowing that
their coming has no rational
basis, knows that the Rebbe

brought them to him. The Rebbe

is the one who generates that
feeling in our hearts to come to
him. He is the magnet who
draws us to the place of the
future Mikdash, and he is also
the one who creates the financial
miracle that takes place every
year in which all the tickets are
paid for.
At the same time, we want to
see the Rebbe encouraging the
singing of the March on Motzaei
Yom Kippur. We want to see the
Rebbe giving out lekach, kos shel
bracha, etc. We want to see the
Rebbe.
In previous generations, the

I would say that the difference

between the inner shift when you
are not by the Rebbe to when
you are by the Rebbe is like the
difference between tshuva tataa
and tshuva ilaa.
When you are not by the
Rebbe, the month of Tishrei
mainly engenders the shame for
all the wrong things we did all
year and it arouses a genuine
feeling of remorse. When youre
by the Rebbe, the emphasis is not
so much on digging into the past,
even though the shame is greater;
rather, the desire to connect with
the source of our soul, to the
Rebbe who is the root soul of

When youre by the Rebbe, the emphasis is not

so much on digging into the past, even though
the shame is greater; rather, the desire to connect with
the source of our soul, to the Rebbe who is the root soul
of every individual, causes one to be drawn like a spark
to a flame.

emphasis was on being with the

Rebbe for Rosh HaShana, while
in the seventh generation the
emphasis is more on SukkosSimchas Torah. Why is that?
By Chassidim there is a
feeling for the Rebbes inyanim,
and Simchas Torah is the Rebbes
day since its his ushpizin. This is
why Chassidim want to be with
the Rebbe on this day.
Aside from that, in earlier
generations, right after Rosh
HaShana began the avoda of
and Yaakov went on his way,
while the Rebbe expanded this
to Yom Kippur, Sukkos, and
Simchas Torah until 7 Cheshvan.
The month of Tishrei is the
avoda of tshuva. How does one
implement the avoda of tshuva
for the entire month with the
Rebbe?

every individual, causes one to

be drawn like a spark to a flame.
So the cleaving with G-dliness
is not with a feeling of pain and
distance because of the shame,
but with a feeling of closeness,
that the Rebbe is looking at us
and awakening the essence of our
souls.
On the one hand, Tishrei
with the Rebbe makes us feel
ashamed as a result of the very
fact that the Rebbe is looking at
us, but that same gaze arouses
the soul, for the root of the soul
of every Chassid is connected
with the root of the Rebbes soul
which includes all souls. When
the neshama is in the presence
of the Nasi Hador it is aroused
to G-dliness. Just being by the
Rebbe arouses the soul and
reveals our desire to approach
G-dliness.
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ROSH HASHANA

ACCEPTING G-DS

KINGSHIP
WITH JOY
A compilation of short stories and sayings about
Rosh Hashana.

a spiritual accounting without

any excuses and seeking to justify
yourself.
(Maamer Ani LDodi 5700)

SEE AND GRAB

ONE HOUR

The Rebbe Rashab would

caution that on Rosh Hashana
in particular they should arouse
heavenly mercy with tears and
inner arousal, for rectification of
middos and proper conduct with
Chassidic middos.
One time, related the Rebbe
Rayatz, I went to my father on
the second day of Rosh Hashana
before the maamer (it was one of
the set times I would go and see
him) and my father said to me,
See and grab. Another twentytwo minutes remain until sunset.
On that occasion, he left
later to say the maamer.

It is brought in the Zohar

that the avoda of tshuva is in
one hour and one moment.
According to this, we can explain
the Mishna in Avos which says,
Better is one hour of tshuva
etc. that it means one turn
toward tshuva (shaa from the
root and to Kayin and his gift
He did not turn).

A JEWISH SIGH
The Rebbe Maharash said:
When a Jew sighs or cries
on Rosh Hashana for not having
it good materially, in health or
livelihood, this is tshuva ilaa
(higher tshuva).

(Seifer HaSichos 5750)

A CRAFTSMANS
EXAMINATION
When a craftsman needs to
fix a vessel, he first examines it
to find out which part he needs
to remove entirely and replace
and which can be fixed. There are
parts that dont need fixing at all;
just cleaning and washing.
The same is true for spiritual
avoda. Before starting the avoda
of rectifying oneself, you need to
examine your situation and make

THILLIM AND TEARS

The Tzemach Tzedek said on
Erev Rosh Hashana:
I once met with Jewish
soldiers who told me that they
would recite Thillim while they
polished their buttons. Buttons
are polished with sand and water.
Sand is the letters of Thillim and
water is cleansing tears. Each of
us needs to cleanse himself by
saying Thillim with tears from
the depths of the heart and at the
same time, with joy of the soul.
(Seifer HaSichos 5705)

A PURE HEART
AND CLEAN CLOTHES
Erev Rosh Hashana we
need to prepare to accept our
Father, our King. A father
loves a pure heart; a king loves
clean garments. The avoda of
Rosh Hashana is to purify the
heart (i.e. the inner emotions)

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and clean ones garments (i.e.

thought, speech and action).
(Seifer HaSichos 5705)

WHAT IS THE MAIN

AVODA?
The main avoda of Rosh
Hashana is to accept the yoke
of the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, the avoda of the day,
even by great people of stature,
is an avoda that seems simple
saying Thillim, sleeping less,
taking great care not to speak
idly, like a servant occupied with
the joy of welcoming his father
whom he has not seen for an
entire year.
(Igros Kodesh Admur Rayatz)

A LESSON
FROM THE FIELDS
One year during Elul the
Rebbe Rashab went with his son,
Rayatz, for a walk out of the city.
At a certain point he said to his
son, A walk provides serenity
for the soul. Wherever you look,
you see the mercy poured upon
creation. The fields and trees are
dry. Here and there are wind-

The judgment of Rosh Hashana does not compare

to the judgment of a person after 120 years. In
the world of truth, you can no longer do tshuva, but at
the judgment of Rosh Hashana tshuva is effective and
Hashem is ready to accept those who return on this day.

blown fields. All of creation

yearns for new life. It all reminds
us to do tshuva, that a person
needs to prepare himself to ask
for forgiveness in anticipation
of the coronation of the King of
kings, Hashem.

BEARS INIQUITY AND

PASSES OVER WILLFUL SIN
Who is like You E-l, who
bears iniquity and passes over
willful sin. When Hashem
bears iniquity meaning that
He (nosei) raises and brings up
the sin to castigate the sinner,
this is a sign that He passes over
willful sin that He wants to get
past and cleanse the willful sin.
What is this compared to? To
two people who quarrel and when
they decide to make up each one
castigates the other in order

to clarify who wronged who.

However, if they do not want to
be appeased one does not raise
up the iniquity of the other to
reprove him for wronging him.
(Kesser Shem Tov)

TSHUVA IS EFFECTIVE
The judgment of Rosh
Hashana does not compare to the
judgment of a person after 120
years. In the world of truth, you
can no longer do tshuva, but at
the judgment of Rosh Hashana
tshuva is effective and Hashem is
ready to accept those who return
on this day.
(Seifer HaMaamarim Kuntreisim)

A SIMPLE INSTRUMENT
The mitzva of the day of Rosh
Hashana is to blow the shofar.

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Rosh Hashana
There is no orchestra, just one
instrument and even that is not a
sophisticated one which produces
wondrous musical compositions
but a simple animal horn and
all sounds are kosher with the
shofar.
From here we learn that on
Rosh Hashana our attention
ought to be primarily on the
individual, on the person himself,
with an emphasis on bringing
holiness and spirituality into even
the simplest and most ordinary
things of daily life.
(Likkutei Sichos)

HOW DO WE IMPLEMENT
THE GREAT SHOFAR?
Based on the idea that a
person is where his thoughts are,
since while hearing the shofar his
thoughts are about hearing the
great shofar (as expressed in
the recitation of the verse blow
the great shofar), then he is
hearing the sound of the shofar in
his thoughts, the great shofar
of the future Geula.
In order to make this great
shofar become something that
actually is heard, since action
is the main thing, obviously we
need to increase those activities
that hasten the revelations of
the future when the promise will
literally be fulfilled, and it will be
on that day, a great shofar will be
blown.
(Sicha of second day Rosh Hashana
5742)

THE FIRST YEAR

On Rosh Hashana 5681,
the first Rosh Hashana after the
passing of the Rebbe Rashab and
the first for his son, Rayatz, as
Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz refused
to blow the shofar as his father
had done.
However,
his
mother

Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah begged

him to do so, saying that she
wanted to hear the blowing of
the shofar from him. The Rebbe
Rayatz said the brachos before
the blowing, blew one tkia and
gave the shofar to one of the
Chassidim for him to finish the
series of tkios. Thus he fulfilled
the obligation of kibud eim while
also doing what he wanted.
(Yemei BReishis)

SERVICE OF THE HEART

WITH TASHRAK
In Chassidus it explains the
three sounds of the shofar in
mans avoda:
Tkia a person needs litkoa,
to strongly implant himself in
avodas Hashem.
Shvarim a person needs to
break his heart when he recalls
his sins, lev nishbar.
Trua from the root
teroeim bshevet barzel (you
shall break them with an iron
rod), to break the large pieces
into tiny bits.
The breaking into large pieces
is the removal and nullification
of gross evil in the soul. The
breaking into tiny bits is the
nullification of subtle evil which
is even harder.
(Farbrengen Parshas Balak 5743)

PIDYONOS AT THE TKIOS

The Rebbe would blow the
shofar himself. During the tkios,
big bundles were placed on the
Bima which apparently contained
some of the pidyonei nefesh that
were submitted before Yom Tov.

INNOCENT CRIES
The Baal Shem Tov would
blow the shofar in the presence of
his disciples. One time, he asked
his great disciple, the author

of the Toldos, to blow for the

disciples while he blew for the
simple people and children who
cried out with the full intensity
of their souls: Our Father in
heaven, please have mercy! And
this accomplished more than
anything to nullify the dinim
strict judgments.
(Seifer HaSichos 5705)

HAMELECH
The Rebbe Rayatz said, One
should treasure every bit of
piyut (liturgical poem) in which
HaMelech is mentioned, for on
Rosh Hashana we draw down the
Kesser Malchus.
(Sicha of Simchas Torah 5699)

HISKASHRUS HISACHDUS
What is the difference
between crowning the king and
bowing to the king?
Coronation
indicates
a
persons subservience to the
kings command, whatever he
might command (the revealed
expressions of the king). Bowing
shows subservience of the
essence of man to the kings
essence.
Coronation = hiskashrus
(connection)
Bowing
=
hisachdus
(unification).
(Seifer HaSichos 5705)

WITH DESIRE AND JOY

Although accepting G-ds
malchus (kingship) on Rosh
Hashana is through kabbalas
ol (accepting the yoke), the
manner in which the malchus is
accepted ought to be with joy. A
Jew needs to feel that the yoke is
not a burden. As it was when the
sea split, when the Jewish people
accepted the yoke of heaven with
song and joy, when they said,
May Hashem reign forever and

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ever, and as we say in davening,

Who transported His children
between the split parts of Yam
Suf and Whose kingdom they
accepted willingly upon them.
Every Rosh Hashana we
need to accept the ol malchus
Shamayim (yoke of Hashems
sovereignty) again, with greater
desire, for there is desire
(rational will) and there is desire
(transcendent will).

of Hashems sovereignty) that we

have every day, especially during
the recitation of Shma, is only
a beginning and foundation for
mans conduct throughout that
day. The kabbalas ol malchus
Shamayim of Rosh Hashana is
the very substance and content of
the entire day.

(Yahel Or)

Coronation of Hashem as
king brings joy to a person
since there is no greater joy than
Hashem accepting the kingship.
But the joy is still concealed. It

KABBALAS OL
Kabbalas
ol
malchus
Shamayim (accepting the yoke

(Likkutei Sichos)

CONCEALED JOY

is revealed only on Sukkos. As

Chassidus explains on the verse,
bakeseh lyom chageinu that
those things which are concealed
on Rosh Hashana are revealed on
Sukkos. (An allusion to this: the
first day of Rosh Hashana always
falls on the same day of the week
as Sukkos).
An analogy for this is the
coronation of a human king,
where the coronation and feast
take place at different times.
During the coronation, the king
is crowned, people bow to him,
and they accept the yoke of his
kingship. That is not the right
time for feasting and rejoicing.

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Rosh Hashana
Only later on, at another time,
is the coronation feast held with
great and open joy.
(Sicha of the first night of Sukkos
5745)

WHEN COMING TO HIS

FOUR CUBITS
There are those who come to
the four cubits of Nasi Doreinu
for Rosh Hashana, especially
when this place is where the
Rebbe, my father-in-law, Nasi
Doreinu lived and was involved
in Torah, Avoda and Gmilus
Chassadim for ten years of his
life in this world.
Therefore, when everyone
gathers together in this place and
they daven and learn divrei Torah
etc. this is part of our general
deeds and works that bring about
the true and complete Geula.
(Farbrengen of the second day of
Rosh Hashana 5742)

A SWEET HEAD OF THE

YEAR
The Alter Rebbe said:
When you learn and pray
with concentration during the six
days of the week, then it is Erev
(from the word Arev-sweet)
Shabbos, the Shabbos is sweet.
When you spend the month of
Elul and the days of Slichos as

you should, then it is Erev Rosh

Hashana (lit.) the year has a
sweet head.

THERE MUST BE A GOOD

INSCRIPTION AND SEALING
R Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev
said about the ksiva vachasima
(inscription and sealing) of Rosh
Hashana that since it is forbidden
to write on Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur, if the writing is for
good there is a heter (allowance)
for pikuach nefesh (danger to
life); but if not, it is forbidden.
So there must be a good
inscription
and
sealing.
The inscription and sealing
begin today, for through the
preparations and arousal from
below for forty days, we draw
down the arousal from above
that it will be a good inscription
and sealing in the book of the
righteous for immediate good
life.
(Sicha of 20 Av 5714)

ASHREI HAAM
The senior Chabad Chassidim
in Liozna would often retell the
words of the Alter Rebbe when
he came to them for the first
time from Mezritch. The Rebbe
repeated divrei Torah that the
holy Baal Shem Tov said, as he

heard it from the Maggid of

Mezritch.
Ashrei haam yodei terua
praise and thanks to Hashem
that all the Jewish people, with
no difference between the Torah
geniuses and those who learn
Midrash, an Ein Yaakov Jew
or a Thillim Jew all know
the trumpeting of war with the
animal soul and they have an
inner feel for the expressions of
the G-dly soul.

AND IF AS SLAVES
One year, after the davening
on Rosh Hashana, the Tzemach
Tzedek said:
In the prayers of the day we
say, If we are like children, have
mercy as a father has mercy on
his children, and if we are like
slaves, then our eyes look up to
You. The question is, it would
have been more fitting to say the
reverse if we are like children,
then our eyes look up to You, and
if we are like slaves, then have
mercy?
Chazal say whoever who
acquires a Hebrew slave its as
though he acquired a master over
himself, and therefore, if we
are like slaves we are all the
more certain that You will grant
us grace.
(Shmuos VSippurim)

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16 Erev Rosh HaShana 5775

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ubhcr ,pue

Kupas Rabbeinu

jhanv lkn r"unst e"f ,uthab ,j,

Lubavitch
(718) 467-2500

P.O.B. 288 Brooklyn, New York 11225

(718) 756-3337

URG
REQ ENT
UES
T!
HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES ANXIOUSLY LOOKING
FORWARD FOR YOUR GENEROUS ASSISTANCE!
Boruch Hashem, Elul 5770
5774

To every member of the Lubavitcher community:

During this month of preparation for Rosh Hashonoh, the head of the New Year, we fondly recall our
Rebbes words that this is an especially auspicious time for strengthening our deep bond of
Hiskashrus with the Rosh Bnei Yisroel, the head of the Jewish people and leader of the generation.
Our Rebbeim explain that an important way to strengthen Hiskashrus is by participating in

the Rebbes activities and concerns, consequently, by supporting an organization that

brings together a number of these activities, the Hiskashrus is greater and stronger. Such

an organization is Kupas Rabbeinu, which seeks to continue many of the Rebbes activities and concerns without change from the way he would conduct them himself.

Every year at this time, the Rebbe would call upon us to contribute generously to help needy families
with their extra expenses for the coming months many Yomim Tovim. This also coincides with the special emphasis during this month of giving extra Tzedokah, (indicated in the Hebrew letters of the word
Elul, as explained in many Sichos etc.), as a vital way of preparing ourselves for the new year and
arousing Divine mercy upon us. See sicho in the Hebrew text of this letter.
We therefore appeal to every individual man and woman to contribute generously to Kupas
Rabbeinu, enabling us to fulfill the Rebbes desire to help all those who anxiously await our
help. The greater your contribution, the more we can accomplish.
Please do not forsake them!
Your generous contribution to Kupas Rabbeinu will be the appropriate vessel for receiving the abundant blessings of the Rebbe, who is its Nasi, that you may be blessed with a Ksiva Vachasima Tova
for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually. May it help to bring the full revelation of Moshiach
- our Rebbe - immediately now!
Wishing you a Ksiva Vachasima Tova for a good and sweet year,

In the name of Vaad Kupas Rabbeinu

Rabbi Sholom Mendel Simpson

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner

P.S. Of course, you may send to Kupas Rabbeinu all contributions that you would send to the Rebbe; all
will be devoted to the activities to which the Rebbe would devote them.
You may also send Maimad, Keren-Hashono (this coming year 5771
- 385
5775
354 days), Vov Tishrei, Yud Gimmel
Tishrei Magbis etc. to Kupas Rabbeinu.
P.S. Please send all correspondence only to the following address.
KUPAS RABBEINU / P.O.B. 288 / BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11225
Eretz Yisroel address: KEREN KUPAS ADMU"R / P.O.B. 1247 / KIRYAT MALACHI / ISRAEL

943_bm_eng.indd 17

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FEATURE

HONOR
HASHEM

WITH YOUR
TFILLA
R Berel Zucker, one of the leading baalei
tfilla in Chabad, tells Beis Moshiach how
he got to the wondrous world of tfilla. *
Presented for the Yomim Noraim.

By Mordechai Segal

t would be fair to say that R Berel Zucker

owes his musical career to the Rebbes
chazan, R Moshe Teleshevsky ah.
Fifteen years ago, Berel was an 18 year
old bachur. He had come to learn in Yeshivas
Chovevei Torah in Crown Heights and he
wanted to develop the field he loved, that of
singing and chazanus. He was prepared to
invest years of effort in studying it, but was
afraid that the hanhala would not approve.
Fortunately, the precedent of R
Teleshevsky helped him. You previously
published an interview in Beis Moshiach with
R Moshe and he said that the hanhala of
the yeshiva did not allow him to take voice
lessons, but the Rebbe Rayatz asked them

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to give him their approval which

of course, was given. Fifty years
later, it seems this was the reason
they let me do it too, says R
Zucker.
Right before the Yomim
Noraim, when chazanim use
their voices to praise Hashem
and to plead for a good new
year, we spoke with R Zucker.
He is considered one of the best
Chabad chazanim. You can also
see him performing nearly every
night at weddings, Lubavitcher
and others.
Berel even gave us some tips
for aspiring chazanim who are
planning on going before the
amud on Rosh HaShana and
Yom Kippur.

INTERNSHIP
IN KFAR CHABAD
His musical career began
when he was very young.
I was born in Detroit to a
family of shluchim. My father, R
Tzvi, was the unofficial chazan
in the shul that we davened
in. We are descendants of the
Lubavitcher Reitzes family and as
such, we are musical. There are
a number of baalei tfilla in the
extended Reitzes family.
At a certain point, in the 90s,
they made aliya and his father
was the chazan in the central shul
in Kfar Chabad.
We boys were in his choir.
Many residents of the Kfar
remember this.
Today, only he and two of his
brothers work in this line. The
others just do it as a hobby. At
that time, R Berel was a member
of the Tzivos Hashem choir of the
Toras Emes elementary school in
Yerushalayim and gained a lot of
experience.
In those days, it was a
serious choir that appeared often
at siyumei haRambam and other

big events and I was one of the

soloists.
He was a soloist for a long
time, starting from age 14, when
he learned in yeshiva in Kfar
Chabad.
I would appear with the
Marantz brothers band nearly
every night, after yeshiva.
Sometimes, they let me perform
instead of attending the night
learning in the yeshiva.
At age 16, he went to Tomchei
Tmimim in Kiryat Gat and
performed less often, because of
the distance between Kiryat Gat
and Kfar Chabad. The trip took
too much time and the hanhala
did not allow me to travel a lot in
order to perform.
At the age of 18 he returned
to the US and wanted to
take evening classes at YU.
The hanhala at 770 gave him
permission to go every night for
voice lessons and that is what he
did. Even he did not dream that
these lessons would go on for
eight years.
At YU there is a division of
the school for Jewish music. I
studied chazanus, music and
voice development there. I also
began serving as a chazan on the
Yomim Noraim and Shabbos.
Every Tishrei I daven for the
amud.
Today, he is a chazan at the
Chabad house in Boston which
is directed by the shliach, R
Spalter.
There are hundreds of
mispalelim.
The rest of the year he divides
his time between studying voice
and his work as a singer and
chazan.

TO STUDY
MEANS TO INVEST
You might be wondering what
is there to study for so long. The

world of chazanus and singing is

complicated and requires hours
of study.
There are so many details.
You learn how to sing the nusach
of the tfillos on Rosh HaShana,
you even learn their historical
background, the meaning of the
nusach, etc. When people know
the meaning of the words, and
the sources of the tfillos, the
tfilla is different, like Unesaneh
Tokef which was composed with
blood. Additionally, you need to
learn notes and musical theory,
to play the piano in order to
fine tune (pun intended) your
musical gift and of course,
voice development. It is very
complicated and demands a lot of
time.
As someone expert in the
history of every tfilla and niggun,
he tells us about some of them.
For those who do not live in the
world of baalei tfilla, these are
revelations.
The nusach of the Ashkenaz
communities was transmitted
from generation to generation for
hundreds of years and more and
is referred to as Skarbova. That
is a colloquial form of the Latin
word sacred. A large part of this
nusach was created by Maharil
(1365-1427) and some parts are
even older. It is very important to
preserve the nuschaos and there
are places where it is forbidden
to change the tune such as
Kol
Nidrei,
VHaKohanim,
HaMelech, the Kaddish of
Musaf on Rosh HaShana and
Yom Kippur, Kaddish of Nila,
Mi Yanuach UMi Yanua, Aleinu
in chazaras hashatz, and more.
During the year also there are
tfillos whose tune we do not
change like the Kaddish of
Tfillas Tal and Geshem, Brshus
Morai VRabbosai of Simchas
Torah, etc.
According to R Zucker, If

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Feature

THE TRADITION OF THE NUSACH OF THE YOMIM NORAIM IN LUBAVITCH

By the Rebbe Maharash, there was a chazan named
R Isser. R Isser was a man of elevated stature, G-d
fearing, and a scholar. The Rebbe said about him:
Isser has an iron head. He can learn for eight hours
without a break. After Maariv, he would lie down and
sleep. He would get up at two in the morning and
learn till dawn.
Isser had a special nusach for the tfillos of the
Yomim Noraim, mainly for the avoda of Yom Kippur.
When he began the avoda, he would announce, Ata,
unlike the chazanim who start the avoda with Ata
Konanta.
At the recitation of korim in the sections
beginning VhaKohanim, he had a movement that
according to tradition they sang it this way in the Beis
HaMikdash. When Isser the chazan sang korim
there wasnt a dry eye in the shul.
In Lubavitch there was a man named Bere
Avrohomkes, a strong individual who said: I wont
cry at Isser the chazans korim. When he went to the
Rebbe Maharashs beis midrash to hear the avoda of
Yom Kippur from Isser the chazan, he stood near the
sink. When Isser began to sing VhaKohanim, with
great fervor, Bere Avrohomkes began to tremble and
sob until he had to grasp the sink so he would not fall.
The Rebbe Rashab said that it wasnt so much from
Issers singing as much as it was his fathers kavana
(except that they also needed the voice and singing of
the chazan).
***
The Rebbe Rayatz heard from his grandmother,
Rebbetzin Rivka, that one time, on Yom Kippur, during
the recitation of the avoda, lightning struck a house in
Lubavitch and a fire broke out. There was panic in the
beis midrash because people did not know where the
fire had broken out and seeing the flames and smoke,
they thought that the fire also surrounded the shul.
Nearly all of them ran outside. Due to the panicked
a chazan uses a Chabad niggun
for any of these selections, he
is ruining it; not improving. Of
course, in other parts of the
davening, Chabad niggunim are
fine, obviously fitting them to the
tochen sad, happy, etc.
The tunes, says R Zucker, fit
the words of the tfilla: On Rosh
HaShana there are Malchuyos,

running and the pushing, a woman fell in the womens

section and broke her leg. Downstairs in the beis
midrash very few people remained. They stood next
to the Rebbe Maharash, for they saw that the Rebbe
was still sitting there. Isser the chazans fervor from
the recitation of the avoda was so great that he did not
hear any of the noise and commotion and davened the
avoda and korim as always, without an interruption.
***
In another place the Rebbe Rayatz relates: R Isser
would daven the avoda of Yom Kippur with sweetness
and dveikus and when he would say VhaKohanim,
tears and beads of sweat would roll down his face.
The Rebbe Maharash would daven on Yom Kippur
in his room next to the beis midrash, but when the
chazan said VhaKohanim, he would enter the beis
midrash and help out with the traditional Skarbova
niggun.
The Rebbe Rashab would stand during the
avoda and help the chazan sing. When he said
VhaKohanim they heard every word individually.
Sometimes, he would pause between the word
mefurash and yotzei and sometimes he said them
together. When he said the avoda, tears fell to the floor
from his eyes.

THE CONTINUATION OF THE TRADITION

The last time R Isser was in Lubavitch was in
5653/1892. After R Isser, the chazan in Lubavitch was
R Reuven Varbaichik and then R Yechiel Halperin. R
Yechiel was a chazan for many years in the big shul in
Moscow. In 5644, the Rebbe Rashab went to Moscow
and R Yechiel was his attendant. That is when the
Rebbe taught R Yechiel the Skarbova nusach for
the Yomim Noraim davening: Aleinu, VhaKohanim,
Ata Konanta, Selach Lanu, Ki Anu Amecha, and the
breaks in VKach Haya Moneh Achas etc.

Zichronos
and
Shofaros.
Malchuyos are done one way,
Zichronos in more of a minor
range and Shofaros in major,
which especially fit the words.
R Zucker explains, I
dont know of anything the
Rebbe said about the nuschaos
of tfilla, but in the davening
on Rosh HaShana and Yom

Kippur, as they are sung in

Lubavitcher shuls, there are many
Chabad niggunim. I personally
recommend that every chazan
listen and review the Niggun
Dveikus for Rosh HaShana, one
of the ten niggunim of the Alter
Rebbe, because the moment you
sing and live the tfilla with that
niggun, it will take a different

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cast. It is important that people

know that this is a niggun that
the Rebbeim sang to themselves
a lot during the Yomim Noraim,
and it is a general movement
that can be adapted to just about
every section.

TIPS FOR BAALEI TEFILLA

There are so many tips that I
cant go through all of them, he
said with a smile. But I will tell
chazanim what it pays to watch
out for before Rosh HaShana.
I would divide it into eating,
drinking, sleeping, each being an
important category.
Lets start with eating. There
are things that chazanim should
not eat all year, all the more so
before Rosh HaShana. It says in
Shulchan Aruch not to eat nuts
on Rosh HaShana because they
increase coughing and phlegm.
In addition, there are foods and
drinks that are not good to have
like coffee, cola, tea, anything
with caffeine and alcohol, even
though we say many lchaims.
All these items dry the vocal
cords which prevent them from
working optimally.
If someone is hoarse, he
should not eat things which
make it worse like orange
juice, tomatoes, spicy things,
alcohol and coffee. The acid
they produce rises and affects
the vocal cords. Likewise, refrain
from dairy foods because they
increase phlegm in many people.
Another no-no pertains to
Yom Kippur. Before Yom Kippur,
dont eat a lot. Firstly, it doesnt
help much. Secondly, it increases
the pressure on the stomach
and the chazan cant breathe. In
general, someone who suffers
from hoarseness and eats a lot
makes the condition worse.
Rather than stuffing in more
food, youd be better off using
vitamin supplements.

As for tips for drinking: A

chazan or singer has to drink
more than others because the
vocal cords must always be
moist. If an average person needs
to drink 6 cups a day, then a
chazan or singer needs to drink
much more, water being the most
preferable. Another important
point, dont start drinking the
day before Yom Kippur. Start a
week before, because it takes the
body time to get used to changes
and to maintain moist vocal cords
and get through Yom Kippur
without water in the easiest way.
Drinking a gallon of water Erev
the fast wont help.
As for sleeping: Whoever
wants to be a chazan needs
to sleep a lot, at least eight

The davening must be genuine, pure, and not

something used to display ones beautiful voice.
It is permissible to impress the balabatim who come to
the Chabad house, in order to get them to want to come
back again, but you need to constantly remember that
this is not a concert. Even if I trill, its because I want to
fulfill honor Hashem with your throat and not in order to
show off my chazanus abilities.

consecutive hours. It is like

steroids for the voice; the more
you sleep, the better the voice.
Speaking about sleeping, its a
good idea to get up about three
hours before the davening,
because it takes the voice time
to recover from sleeping and get
back to itself. Its not a good idea
to get up and sing right away.
This young, talented chazan
also has some spiritual tips:
There is a horaa from the
Rebbe that a Chabad chazan
who davens in a shul of another
group, needs to daven their way.
The Rebbe also instructed that in
such a case, the chazan should

refrain from wearing a tallis the

night of Rosh HaShana but if
he has no choice, he should not
wear it over his head because in
Kabbala it says this is dangerous.
As for repeating words, we know
that where one is not permitted
to interrupt we dont repeat
words, but there are places
where, according to halacha, it
is permissible, and you can be
lenient with this if you know that
the congregation will be inspired,
not just for vocal gymnastics, and
yet, the Rebbe Rashab was not
pleased with this.
Continued on page 7
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STORIES

AND I RETURN
IN PEACE TO
MY FATHERS
HOUSE 770
About shluchim and their yearning for their home base, the place of the
meshaleiach, 770. * Although in most cases the Rebbe discouraged the
Shluchim from leaving their flocks during the High Holiday season, a time
when other Chassidim, young and old, converge on 770 from all parts of
the world, their minds and hearts are with the Rebbe in 770.
By Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz ah
Former shliach in Beit Shaan

n a sicha the Rebbe said on

Shabbos Parshas VaYeitzei
5748, he emphasizes that
when Yaakov left for Charan,
Hashem promised him, and I
will bring you back to this land,
in response to Yaakovs request,
and I return safely to my fathers
house.
Although at first glance,
says the Rebbe, this seems
strange, because why should he
be thinking of returning as he
is setting out, but upon further
reflection, this is the way it should
be. At the start of a shlichus, you
need to know that the point is not
to remain in Charan, G-d forbid,

but to complete the mission and

return home, to Yitzchok and
Rivka. This is true for all shlichus
in galus; the point is to complete
the avoda and have the Geula.
In this column, well hear
stories from a slightly different
perspective than usual. It will be
less about the shluchims work
and more about their ties and
yearning for home, the place of
the meshaleiach.

A GENERAL-SPECIFIC
BRACHA ON MOTZAEI
ROSH HASHANA
At a family event I met an

old friend, a shliach in Kiryat

Tivon, R Gidi Sharon. R Sharon
reminded me of something
moving and special that occurred
on Motzaei Rosh Hashana 5747.
That year, both he and I wanted
to spend Rosh Hashana with
the Rebbe. Both of us, each for
his own reasons, had to return
home immediately afterward, he
to Kiryat Tivon and me to Beit
Shaan.
We spent Rosh Hashana
with the Rebbe and heard Maftir
from the Rebbe, the tkios, the
farbrengens, and of course,
we received kos shel bracha on
Motzaei Rosh Hashana. Even

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after we received our kos shel

bracha, we lingered, crowded
among the Chassidim, watching
the scene and unable to take our
eyes off of it.
Then, with the conclusion
of kos shel bracha, the Rebbe
loudly announced, and Yaakov
went on his way to carry out the
shlichus with success until the
coming of Moshiach Tzidkeinu.
Anyone familiar with the
protocol knows that the Rebbe
says something like this only
on Motzaei Simchas Torah and
on Motzaei Shabbos BReishis
(sometimes also on Motzaei
Yom Kippur) but Motzaei Rosh
Hashana? This is the time when
more and more people head to
770 who is thinking of leaving?
Just us two, R Gidi Sharon and
me. We felt then, as we do now,
that the Rebbe was giving us a
personal bracha as we went back
to our shlichus on Motzaei Rosh
Hashana.

Although at first glance this seems strange,

because why should he be thinking of returning
as he is just setting out, upon further reflection, this is
the way it should be. At the start of a shlichus you need
to know that the point is not to remain in Charan, G-d
forbid, but to complete the mission and return home, to
Yitzchok and Rivka.
KOS SHEL BRACHA ON
MOTZAEI SHABBOS
BREISHIS

Another story, different but

similar, is told by the shliach in
Dimona, R Yisroel Gliss. R Gliss
begins his story in Tishrei 5742
and takes us with his story
throughout all the Tishreis
until the surprising end of the
story in Tishrei 5750.
The first time I went to the
Rebbe was for Tishrei 5742.
Many years of anticipation and
preparation and years of effort
for this trip came to a climax

when I finally went to the Rebbe.

For the first time in my life I saw,
understood and fell in love with
all the events that take place in
Tishrei by the Rebbe.
For Tishrei 5743, I wanted
to go back to the Rebbe but it
was very hard. The army told me
that I could go abroad only once
in three years and I had gone
the year before. Only after much
effort, including the intervention
by R Shlomke Maidanchek and
his direct plea to the Defense
Minister at the time, Ariel
Sharon, did I get permission to
leave the country. That fantastic

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Stories

EVERY SHLIACH HAS A SHARE

About thirty years ago, when I was learning in yeshiva in Kfar Chabad,
the hanhala of the yeshiva sent a letter to the Rebbe which said that during
the upcoming Elul zman the yeshiva would start learning Bava Metzia.
The Rebbe sent a telegram in response, I dont remember the exact
wording, but there was a bracha for success in the learning and the Rebbe
added, and it is known the explanation in Kabbala and Chassidus about the
Mishna, Shnayim ochazin.
The hanhala of the yeshiva photocopied the Rebbes answer and hung it
up on the main pillar in the zal of the yeshiva. A special farbrengen was also
arranged and the mashpiim explained the Chassidic explanation of Shnayim
ochazin. As far I remember, it was explained that just like two people who
grasp a tallis, in the literal sense a tallis made of physical wool, so too in
Gan Eden there are two souls who, in a joint effort, caused a third neshama
to become closer to Hashem etc. and now, the two souls grasp the mitzva
and each one claims, Its all mine.
When the Shluchim all travel back home to the Rebbe for the Kinus
HaShluchim this occurs over and over and I will just bring a few examples:
The shliach from Maaleh Efraim meets the shliach from Beit Shaan.
Nu, how is the Raskin family we sent you?
Dont ask, says the shliach from Beit Shaan. The husband is already
growing a full beard, the wife bought a wig, they attend all the shiurim,
tfillos and farbrengens.
The family had met Chabad in Maaleh Efraim, had deepened the
connection when they moved to Beit Shaan, and by the time the family moved
to Kfar Saba the wife was working as a preschool teacher in the Chabad
school, the children attended the Chabad schools, and the continuation of
the story will be told among the shluchim at future Kinusim.
And how is Mishel Gelbstein? asks the shliach from Beit Shemesh of
the shliach in Beit Shaan.
I want you to know, adds the shliach from Beit Shemesh, that Mishel
is a very serious bachur. By us he learned Samech-Vav. You should know
who youre dealing with.
And when the shliach from Beit Shaan meets the shliach in Rosh Pina, he
taps him on the shoulder and says, What a serious bachur Ofer is! How did
you manage to instill in him such a deep feeling for Chabad customs?
And when he meets the shliach from India, they have a lot to discuss.
Whats with Tzivia? By us in India she did not miss a shiur. You must
get her to Machon Alte.
Dozens if not hundreds of these conversations take place among shluchim
with each one continuing the work on the tallis that his colleague started
to weave and we have two grasping the tallis multiplied by thousands and
tens of thousands of tallisos that are woven by the shluchim around the
world. Together, they all grasp the tallisos with just one little change. Its not
all mine but all belong to the Rebbe.
Whats mine and yours is the Rebbes.
Tishrei justified all the efforts
that I made.

In 5744 there were new

difficulties. I was on Kvutza

when
the
army
suddenly
informed me that I did not have
permission for an entire year,
just three months. Once again,
efforts were made, and there was
intervention and tension until
finally, with the help of R Yaakov
Landau and his speaking to
Justice Minister, Moshe Nissim,
we got permission for me to be
by the Rebbe for the entire year.
That is how I was able to spend
Tishrei 5745 with the Rebbe
because that was the end of the
year on Kvutza.
After Kvutza and a year on
shlichus in the yeshiva in Kfar
Chabad, Hashem helped and I
went to the Rebbe for Tishrei
5746. Then I stayed on for a few
more wonderful months in 770, I
became engaged, I married, and I
went on shlichus to Dimona in Av
5746. Now I realized that I would
not be able to be by the Rebbe (at
all) for the entire Tishrei because
there was a lot to do on shlichus
during this month. But my
Chassidic conscience cried out,
at least be by the Rebbe for Rosh
Hashana. So I went to the Rebbe
for Rosh Hashana 5747.
In 5748 and 5749 I also went
to the Rebbe for Rosh Hashana,
each time with good reasons. On
all the other holidays like Sukkos,
Pesach or Shavuos, there is a lot
of work to be done but on Rosh
Hashana there is nothing special.
There is no hospital or senior
citizens home where the shofar
needs to be blown, the people
are, for the most part, traditional
and nearly all of them go to shul
to hear the shofar. That is my
time to be with the Rebbe.
I could not go for Rosh
Hashana 5750 because our
daughter was born and we know
the story of the Alter Rebbe
who went in the middle of the
davening on Yom Kippur to help
a woman who had just given

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Shofar blowing with the Rebbe

birth. So I stayed in Eretz Yisroel

in order to help someone who
had just given birth. However,
my longing for the Rebbe did not
take that into account and I still
badly wanted to go. Of course,
I did not go for Sukkos but I
began to dream about getting
there for Motzaei Simchas Torah,
at least getting kos shel bracha
from the Rebbe. I began to dream
of leaving the country when Yom
Tov was over for us (a day before
the Diaspora) and arriving at 770
just when the Rebbe was giving
out kos shel bracha.
After a brief consultation
with a rav, along with inquiries
about flight schedules, I saw that
this dream would not materialize.
But the fire of Chassidus as well
as the eight consecutive years
that I had gone for Tishrei, or
at least part of it, gave me no
rest. I remembered from earlier

years that there were shluchim

in the US who were unable to
leave their communities for
Sukkos and Simchas Torah
and who went to the Rebbe for
Shabbos BReishis. So I ordered
a ticket and went to the Rebbe for
Shabbos BReishis.
Then a most amazing thing
happened which occurred maybe
twice throughout the Rebbes
nesius. While I celebrated being
at the Rebbe, on the one hand I
was sorry that I had been unable
to come for any of the holidays,
but on the other hand I consoled
myself that at least I was there for
Shabbos BReishis which was still
considered within the days of the
month of Tishrei. Just one thing
bothered me, that I had not been
at the distribution of kos shel
bracha.
To the surprise of all, the

farbrengen with the Rebbe began

at 1:30 in the afternoon and in
the middle of the farbrengen, the
Rebbe announced would you
believe that that evening, before
sunset, there would be another
farbrengen at the end of which
the Rebbe would give out kos
shel bracha.
As I said, this happened
maybe once in the 50s (when
Shabbos BReishis did not
immediately follow Simchas
Torah and nevertheless there
was the distribution of kos shel
bracha) and once in 5750. I was
absolutely thrilled. I thought, the
Rebbe is aware of my longings
for him and the Rebbe did this
special kindness for me, kos
shel bracha on Motzaei Shabbos
BReishis for one little shliach
in Dimona who could not come
earlier.

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THOUGHT

A TIME FOR
EVERYTHING
A point from the weekly Dvar Malchus with
a relevant message. * How are we supposed
to look at what might seem to us as a random
confluence of events in time and find the
connection to the weekly sidra?

ast
week,
Shabbos
Parshas Ki Savo, I
attended a family sheva
brachos. One of the
speakers, when given the honor to
speak, offered up his blessings to
the chassan with the following vort:
You just left yeshiva (Ki Seitzei)
and entered this world (Ki Savo)
and now everything depends only
on you (how you establish yourself
Nitzavim) and if it is as it ought
to be then (VaYeilech), and also
do not forget the opinion of the
shlucha who also has what to say
about matters of the house and
shlichus (Haazinu), then surely
VZos HaBracha The speaker
concluded with mazal tov wishes,
and blessings for a good and happy
life and may the redeemer come to
Tziyon.
Shabbos Parshas NetzavimVaYeilech (or Erev Shabbos for
the diligent ones among us who
take a peek at the magazine)
is the time to contemplate
something most amazing.
Over the years, the Rebbe
introduced many new things,
some of which had existed but

were neglected, and some which

never existed before in or out
of Lubavitch. Without much
effort we notice that most of
the chiddushim of the seventh
generation
come
gradually.
Whether its an idea that becomes
progressively clearer to the
Chassidim as far as the direction
the Rebbe wants us to take or
whether its a demand to carry it
out and publicize it to the world.
One of the chiddushim has
to do with the way of learning.
Much has been written about this
already and this is definitely not
the purpose of this little column,
for even if I wanted to, I could
not express the magnitude of the
phenomenon.
We will examine just one point
which we see in the sichos and
maamarim and most especially in
the sichos of the Dvar Malchus
and which stands out in the
Dvar Malchus of this week. The
dates and the timely contexts (to
be more precise the hashgacha
pratis): Being as we are on
Shabbos Parshas , Standing
on , In conjunction with

, Following , Before
, Within three days of ,
In the year , and many more
such expressions that mark the
date and significance of the day.
This
chiddush
came
gradually. In the early years there
was also reference to the date and
time but it wasnt emphasized
often and you can readily find a
sicha without any mention at all
of a date and holiday.
As opposed to in our
generation, it is rare for a sicha
not to be connected with a date,
time and place. Usually they are
all intertwined.
It became so much a part
of the culture that it became
an integral part of Chassidic
speech. Every speaker, whether
one of the famous ones whose
name precedes them or the kind
who actually writes better than
he speaks, all try to mention
something in connection with the
time of the year.
As far as we know, there is
no written source with a clear
explanation for this, and we do
not pride ourselves on knowing
the Rebbes intentions. But it
seems obvious that this pertains
to the generation of Geula and
the closer we get to the Geula the
more it is emphasized.
When we examine what the
Rebbe wants when he speaks
about the date and connects
them to the parsha, as well as

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to the events that occurred that

week and the day of the week
and the date in the month
The common denominator is
the focus on hashgacha pratis.
Everything is precise and nothing
is by accident.
That is how we live the
Geula! We see in every detail
how it is connected to G-dliness.
Even something seemingly trivial
like how something falls out,
is not insignificant. It means
accustoming ourselves to living
and enlivening every moment
with its G-dly light. It means,
learning to say about everything,
Wow, what hashgacha pratis!
As someone in Kfar Chabad
related, every time his son falls he

Continued from page 42

I was unable to draw these
things forth from him, he being
a very introverted, quiet person,
but at the same time, it was
apparent that these things were
engraved in his mind, so that
there was also the advantage of
the engraving of words of Torah
in the brain as is explained in
Likkutei Torah, Vhadarta
Pnei Zakein.
Regarding all the matters
following the conclusion of
the burial, surely the Rebbe

It means learning to say about everything,

Wow, what hashgacha pratis! As someone in
Kfar Chabad related, every time his son falls he gets up
and says, Wow, what a miracle!

gets up and says, Wow, what a

miracle!
In the Dvar Malchus we
sometimes find an entire section
or two or three which focus on
this point alone, the dates and
how things fell out. This week, in
the sicha of Netzavim-VaYeilech,
the entire focus is on the allusions
brought in earlier sources relating
to the day that Rosh Hashana fell
out that year, and for an entire

sicha the Rebbe goes on and

on to show how everything ties
together and is precise, and how
it is all hashgacha pratis.
In short, the time has come
for us to be connected strongly to
the Rebbe MHM and to connect
with him on every date, with
every event, and everything no
matter how small which occurs,
because everything is really
connected!

nishmaso Eden [Rashab] took

care of him so that all matters
are khalacha and even more
so etc.
[The Rebbe paused and then
said] If Poilishe Chassidim
heard things in this vein, they
would already make from it...
But regarding matters that
preceded the conclusion of the
burial therefore, since in his
pnimius he was a Chassidishe
Yid, lchaim should be said for
him as we say for Chassidim
(unlike
what
the
world
does whose custom is to say

lzecher nishmaso but) lilui

nishmaso.
Surely this will also be a
nachas-ruach for the Rebbe
nishmaso Eden [Rashab].
Nearly thirty years after his
passing, R Senders only nephew,
Mr. Boruch Gorlin, passed by the
Rebbe for dollars. The Rebbe
reminded him, In another two
weeks will be the yahrtzait of
your uncle, R Sender, probably
so that this lone Jew who was
so devoted to Beis Rebbi would
merit a Kaddish on his yahrtzait.




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SHLICHUS

SPIRITUAL
ARMOR FOR
EVERY JEWISH
SOLDIER

Many Israeli soldiers in the recent war were inspired to put on tfillin every
day. The problem is that many of them cannot buy their own tfillin. * The
one who came to their aid is the shliach in Chevron, R Yossi Nachshon
who found himself running an organization Tfillin LChayal. * Every day
he sees miracles in his fundraising efforts and he has moving stories that
testify to the extent of the awakening of the hearts of the Jewish people.
By Nosson Avrohom

dream about tfillin at

night. I dream about
being able to reach
every soldier who
wants to start putting on tfillin. It
makes no difference where he is, on
an isolated outpost, a secret base
somewhere, or in Tel Aviv. That is
how R Yossi Nachshon sums it up,
but it is with this sentiment that we
will begin.
Along
with
the
usual
activities of a Chabad house

which he runs in the Ramat

Mamrei
neighborhood,
and
intensive mivtzaim with residents
and soldiers throughout the
neighborhood and in nearby
yishuvim, R Nachshon came up
with another project. He gives
this project a lot of his time,
sweat, and sometimes tears.
Tfillin LChayal is the name of
the project in which pairs of
tfillin are given to Israeli soldiers
and various members of security

forces who commit to putting

them on daily.
Nearly every month R
Nachshon visits bases and
outposts where he insists on
giving each soldier his tfillin
personally. If you know R
Nachshon, you know that he
isnt the type to wear his heart
on his sleeve, but even he could
not restrain his emotions two
weeks ago when he arrived at a
gathering of Golani fighters in

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order to give tfillin to one of the

soldiers, a baal tshuva.
One day, I got a voicemail
from a soldier who fought in
Gaza who wanted new tfillin.
His tfillin had gotten wet during
the fighting and were ruined and
he had been using someone elses
tfillin. He and his commander
made great efforts to obtain
replacement tfillin for him but
were unsuccessful. Then they
called me. This soldiers story

moved me. One of our regular

donors donated a pair of tfillin
and I went to personally deliver
them to that soldier.
When the soldier heard
that his tfillin were on their
way to him, he was thrilled. We
arranged a place and time and I
went to one of the staging areas
that was located on the Gaza
border. At one of the junctions I
was escorted by a military jeep,
which brought me to the place.

What a sight! Smoke billowed

from every corner, the noise of
mortars was deafening, and a
military half-track came toward
us from which a few dusty
soldiers emerged singing Siu
Sharim
Rosheichem.
The
soldier received the tfillin from
me and burst into tears. Within
moments we were dancing in a
circle. There wasnt a dry eye
there.
This scene is one of many that
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Shlichus
have taken place in recent weeks.
In the last seven years, since the
organization was founded, it is
estimated that R Nachshon has
distributed close to 1500 pairs of
tfillin. Each soldier who receives
a pair is listed in a special registry
including his rank and the name
of the unit he serves in.
The donations are collected
from wealthy Jews in France and
the United States and plenty is
also raised from regular people
who see it as their privilege to
take part in this operation. In
recent weeks, due to the war,
the activities of the organization
have expanded significantly and
hundreds of pairs of tfillin were

What a sight! Smoke billowed from every

corner, the noise of mortars was deafening,
and a military half-track came toward us from which
a few dusty soldiers emerged singing Siu Sharim
Rosheichem. The soldier received the tfillin from me
and burst into tears. Within moments we were dancing
in a circle. There wasnt a dry eye there.
given to soldiers who promised to
use them every day.
How and when did this idea
come to you?
It began seven years ago by
divine providence. One of the
main elements in our outreach
work is shiurim in Chassidus
in yishuvim near Chevron and
in Chevron itself. Every week I
would go to one of the yishuvim
in the area where I had a chavrusa
with one of the members, who
worked for the Mossad. One
day, he called me and said, Im
in jail. I was shocked. Why was
he in jail? Then he explained to
me that he was in the process of
getting divorced for many years
and since he refused to give a get,
he was put in jail.

Youve got to help me,

he said. I responded that if his
connections didnt help him,
then certainly my connections
wouldnt help, but he wanted a
different kind of help. He said he
was in a cell with a young man
who was becoming interested
in Judaism and he decided he
wants to commit to putting on
tfillin every day. But he wasnt
able to buy a pair himself. He
asked me whether I know of
any organization or person who
would buy tfillin for this guy.
I promised to look into it
and I called a friend of ours in
France, R Eliyahu Zikri of Lyon,
and asked whether he could help.
Zikri was so happy to help that
he said he would provide not
just one pair of tfillin, but five.

Then I had to figure out how to

get tfillin into the prison. After
some investigating I went to the
offices of Yad LAsir which brings
Jewish material into prisons and
arranges shiurim. The person
on the line heard that we have
five pairs of tfillin and said he
had seven facilities in the center
of the country and if we wanted
to bring in tfillin we had to get
another two pairs so each facility
would have one.
I was taken aback by his
reaction. I am used to people
saying thank you when given
something. I called back R Zikri
who got R Shmuel Gurewitz,
the shliach in Lyon, involved and
he decided to finance the other
two pairs of tfillin. R Gurewitz
arrived in Eretz Yisroel with a
retinue of donors to distribute
the tfillin. One of the prison
wardens showed us around to all
the various prison facilities. We
met the people and emotions ran
high.
Word had gotten out and
a few months later we got more
requests, mainly from the army.
As soon as we successfully
obtained another donation of
tfillin and gave them to soldiers,
our name was passed around
and we began receiving many
calls from other army units and
the police. It seems our info was
posted on military and police
forums and any request for tfillin
is forwarded to us.
How do soldiers make
the connection with your
organization?
A soldier tells his unit rabbi
that he wants tfillin. It doesnt
happen overnight. Its a process.
The commander sees that the
soldier is sincerely moving closer
to Jewish practice and he conveys
the request to us. We get many
requests from shluchim and
Chabad houses from around

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the country too. Just two days

ago I got a request from one of
the shluchim in Dimona, R Uri
Shachar, and we got beautiful
tfillin for a soldier who got
involved through their activities.
The organization kind of just
happened, without being planned.
We did not start out with a plan
and goals about how to get tfillin
and how to reach people. The
reality is what dictated the rate at
which things happened because
when a soldier asks for tfillin,
you cannot refuse him. Since the
project got off the ground there is
not a month that goes by without
requests. After we make inquiries
about the level of seriousness, we
try to respond.

THE HEART OF
ISRAEL IS AWAKE
Tfillin LChayal has many
more people working for it than
just R Yossi Nachshon. In recent
weeks alone, a number of activists
have joined, many of them not
even Lubavitchers, but they see
the great importance of this
project. One of the main players
is R Yitzchok C, a Litvishe fellow
from Bnei Brak who wishes to
remain anonymous.
I prefer that all my work
be solely for the sake of heaven
and that is why I dont want my
involvement to be known.
How did you get connected
with R Yossi Nachshon?
In the middle of the recent
war, I gave a ride to an important
lecturer from a famous Litvishe
kiruv organization. On the way,
she told me that one of her
mekuravos called her, a university
student, and she said that she
heard an incredible story from
her cousin, a famous producer
from Tel Aviv. Her cousin had
arranged a group of Tel Avivian
performers, actors and singers,

A ceremony at which tfillin were given out to soldiers

The soldiers have their picture taken with the tfillin that they got

who went to boost morale among

the Golani soldiers and the
engineering corps at the staging
areas near the border.
At the end of the show, as
a gesture of good will to the

soldiers, one of the performers

asked the soldiers, Next time
we come, what would you like
us to bring you? He expected
them to ask for other forms of
entertainment or for famous
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Shlichus
actors. He wasnt anticipating the
answer he got. We soldiers who
were in battle and committed to
put on tfillin every day, want fifty
pairs of tfillin! He was left openmouthed.
That producer, whose name
we know, is a member of the
leftist elite in Eretz Yisroel with
radically Left views. She told
her cousin who was taking an
interest in Judaism and said she
was still in shock. These were not
religious soldiers, which is why
she didnt dream this is what they
would be asking for. Still, their
request was on her mind and she
asked her cousin to find someone
who could help fulfill the soldiers
request.

getting even more involved in

Jewish practice since we know
one mitzva brings another
mitzva.
I asked the lecturer for the
number of the student and she
connected me to the cousin, the
producer. It was important to
me to hear the story firsthand.
Later on, I called a good
friend, someone who runs a
medical chesed organization
in
Yerushalayim
who
has
connections with some people in
the army. He made inquiries for
me about those units. I wanted to
make sure that the soldiers who
would receive the tfillin would
use them and not stick them
away in the closet. After several

They went through several hours of terror but

miraculously, the boy regained consciousness
and was fine. She told me that she realized what the
Rebbes bracha about tfillin was about, for tfillin
subordinate the mind (brain); the Rebbe had preceded
the blow with the cure.

The student did not know

who could help and she asked
the kiruv lecturer. The lecturer
also did not know how to help
and she told her driver, Yitzchok
C. Yitzchok was touched by the
story. He had learned in Litvishe
yeshivos and had only a passing
acquaintance with Chabad. He
says he never heard of Mivtza
Tfillin and he did not think he
had to worry about Jews who
were distant from his world, but
this request touched him.
He wondered what to do.
Here there were fifty men who
wanted to put on tfillin every
day; they had to be helped. It
was clear to him that putting on
tfillin daily would lead, at least
for some of the soldiers, toward

hours of inquiries, he got back

to me and said he heard about a
tremendous spiritual awakening
among the soldiers who were
fighting and he decided that he
also wanted to help.
Yitzchok got fully involved in
the project. It was the day before
Tisha BAv. He decided to start
with something small. He put
an announcement on a social
network which said:
Shalom Am Yisroel! I
received a request from the rabbi
of a unit whose soldiers fought
in Gaza and stared death in the
face. These guys are secular who
never put on tfillin and they
want to commit to putting on
tfillin! I got tfillin at cost price,
at no profit, for 900 shekels. Im

talking about 50 pairs of tfillin.

The first pair is on me. Whoever
wants to join, and thus have a
share in all the merits for all time,
and commit to undertake even in
installments the cost of a pair of
tfillin or part of one, should call
this number Please forward
this to all groups or individuals
and share this message.
Within ten minutes he had
four pairs of tfillin donated.
An hour after posting that, my
cellphone was in constant use
with endless call waiting signals.
One call came in after another
and I did not even have to wait
for the phone to ring. When I
went to shul in the morning,
I went up to the bima and
told everyone the story. Some
goodhearted people donated
another four pairs of tfillin.
Five hours later we already had
19 pairs of tfillin. At this point,
contact was made with R Yossi
Nachshon, an incredible person,
a shliach of the Rebbe who works
with great mesirus nefesh.
Through him, I got another
25 pairs of tfillin and when the
fast was over, I already had 44
pairs of tfillin. It was amazing
to see how the Jewish people
mobilized en masse. Irreligious
female students donated their
pocket money. People who do not
have money to pay for bread and
milk at the grocery store, jumped
at the chance to participate. Poor
and rich alike donated tfillin.
People were shocked by the
low price that I had gotten for
the tfillin, but that is thanks to a
good friend who sells tfillin and
gave me tfillin that costs double
in the stores. As soon as the fast
was over, this friend rounded
up the employees at the tfillin
factory and urged them to go
to work to make the tfillin we
had ordered. When we had the
amount of money we needed,

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we did not have to wait even one

extra day.
We arranged the distribution
of the tfillin with R Nachshon
who knows the protocol and has
connections with commanders.
That Leftist producer who
emphasized to us that she is not
a believer, came once again to
the staging area of the Golani
soldiers and the engineering
corps, this time not to bring
them joy with performances and
singing, but to personally join
R Nachshon in the distribution
of tfillin to the soldiers. R
Nachshon introduced her to his
wife who invited her on a visit to
the Meoras HaMachpeila. The
producer came and was excited
about it and has since arranged
an organized tour of a group of
famous personalities.
People contacted me and
till today continue to contact me
to be part of this big mitzva and
they come from all segments of
the population, religious and
irreligious. A student called me
and said she could only donate
200 shekels. I told her, If its not
a bother, publicize it, however
you can. Thanks to her publicity
with her friends at the university,
we got approximately another ten
pairs of tfillin!
A woman called me who
was interested in donating
300 shekels in installments. I
suggested that she spread out
the installments through direct
deposit or checks but she refused.
I want to travel each time and
bring you the payment myself,
she said. It was moving to see
how Am Yisroel in all its shades
has taken such a great interest in
this.

THE REBBE SENDS HELP

FOR MIVTZA TEFILLIN
In the last two months, as

R Yossi Nachshon (left) with the Meoras HaMachpeila behind him

Soldiers joyously receiving their tfillin

he got involved, Yitzchok has

experienced some remarkable
stories. He chose three special
ones to share with us.
A young woman from the
Nachlaot
neighborhood
in
Yerushalayim called me. She
identified herself as belonging to
the religious-Zionist movement
while also being very interested
in Chabad. She said she wrote
to the Rebbe about something
that was on her mind and put

her letter into a volume of Igros

Kodesh. The answer she opened
to was about the importance of
the mitzva of tfillin. The next
day she wrote another letter and
put it into the Igros Kodesh and
again opened to a letter about the
importance of tfillin. She found
it surprising since shes a woman
and what does she have to do
with tfillin?
The following day she was
walking on King George on

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Shlichus

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

In recent months, R Nachshon has found
himself collaborating with those whom he may not
have collaborated with in normal times; its all for
the lofty goal of purchasing tfillin for soldiers.
A few weeks ago, a Litvishe rosh yeshiva in
Bnei Brak joined him. One of the rosh yeshivas
supporters donated pairs of tfillin and schlepped
him along to the distribution at an army base.
According to R Nachshon, if those close to this
rabbi from an extreme group knew where he was,
they would definitely have attacked him, and it
was for this very reason that he was moved to see
how emotional the rosh yeshiva was by the sight of
soldiers who were excited about their tfillin.
The rosh yeshiva spoke to the soldiers about the
importance of putting on tfillin and about G-ds
joy in that IDF soldiers are committing to putting
on tfillin. In a personal conversation, he told one
soldier emotionally, I envy you that you are doing
this of your own free choice. For me it was a given
that I would put on tfillin when I became bar mitzva,
while with you its of your own free will.
R Nachshon also related this interesting episode:
During a ceremony in which we gave out tfillin at
the Yehuda regional brigade base, the base chaplain,
R Lior Binyamin, said, You want to know how I
became a baal tshuva? When I was a boy I saw a
group of kids on the street with a religious young
man shouting at them, Who are we?
And they shouted, Tzivos Hashem!
And what is our job?
To fight!
With whom?
The yetzer hara!
And what will we hasten?
The Geula!
I was excited. There is a war here; it sounded
interesting. I joined them and asked questions and in
the end, I did a complete return. Do you know who
that bachur was who said psukim with the children?
Today he is R Noam Dekel, the Lubavitcher Rebbes
shliach to Yokneam.
Concluded, R Nachshon: You can never know
what anything, as small as it might be, might lead
to. That was powerful. My heart fills with a powerful
love for the Rebbe. What power the Rebbe has!
As much as I think about it, I dont understand it.
Ashreinu!

her way to shul when she saw one of the hilltop kids
wearing tfillin. A few hours later, the rav in his speech
at shul spoke about the importance of tfillin. She
realized that she was being sent a message. When she
opened her cell phone on Motzaei Shabbos, she saw
our text message about the tfillin for the soldiers. She
immediately called to donate a pair. She said that she
felt that the Rebbe was telling her that the vessel that
would help her to receive the blessing she wanted was
buying tfillin for a soldier.
Another story with a clear answer in the Igros
Kodesh goes like this:
One day, a Lubavitcher woman from the north
called me and said she wanted to donate a pair of
tfillin. She said that she sent her two children to
Chabads summer camp and was nervous because of
the war. She asked the Rebbe for a bracha through the
Igros Kodesh and opened volume 16 to letter #5832
which says: tfillin is a matter of subordinating the
heart and mind
A few minutes after opening to this answer, while
she was still trying to figure out what connection tfillin
had to her, she got our message on her phone and she
understood the connection. She called me and said she
wanted to make a deposit for one pair of tfillin. A few
days later she called to ask if the money had gone in.
I checked and said it had not. It turned out that she
had mistakenly deposited it into another account. Ask
the bank to withdraw the amount that was mistakenly
deposited into that mans account and then transfer
it to us, I advised her, but she refused. I will deposit
it again now and only after that will I take care of the
mistaken deposit, she said, surprising me.
A few days ago, I called her to ask whether I could
publicize her story and I heard the amazing sequel to
her story. She was very emotional when she told me
the following details. She said that right after she
deposited the money, she received a phone call from
the coordinator of the camp where her children were.
One of her children had nearly drowned in the pool
and had swallowed a lot of water. He was in the ICU
and they were afraid that his brain had been adversely
affected by the lack of oxygen.
They went through several hours of terror but
miraculously, the boy regained consciousness and was
fine. She told me that she realized what the Rebbes
bracha about tfillin was about, for tfillin subordinate
the mind (brain); the Rebbe had preceded the blow
with the cure.
A third story which is both amazing and moving is
as follows:
A religious young woman from Ramot in
Yerushalayim called me and said she wanted to hear

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about our project. I offered

to send her pictures but she
said she worked for a long
time in a telemarketing
company and she did
not believe photos and
approbations. I told her
that every cent went toward
buying tfillin and neither
I nor R Nachshon took a
cent for ourselves. She was
excited to hear this and
donated a pair of tfillin.
When I expressed surprise
over a young woman
donating a pair of tfillin
she told me an astonishing
story.
She has a relative who
became a vegetarian as a
result of which he stopped
putting on tfillin, since
tfillin are made from the
skin of an animal that
was put through torture
(as if) in the slaughtering
process. She was greatly
bothered by the spiritual
deterioration of this relative and
made a deal with him. She would
become a vegetarian even though
she didnt believe in it, and he
would continue to put on tfillin
every day. She said that after
a short while she began feeling
weak due to her new diet and
eating on Shabbos and at family
gatherings was very problematic.
But she decided to be moser
nefesh just so that her relative
would continue putting on tfillin.
When
she
saw
our
advertising, she was happy to
enable another Jew to put on
tfillin.
You yourself were able,
in the last few weeks, to get
dozens of pairs of tfillin and
you are just one person. How
do you manage to raise so much
money?
Siyata dShmaya, there is no
other explanation. Just recently,

we got a request for ten pairs

of tfillin from the naval unit
Shayetet 3 for the members of
their unit. With great effort I got
four pairs. I called a friend, the
director of a certain organization
in Bnei Brak whom I knew had a
connection with wealthy people. I
asked for his help, but he begged
off. That day, I was at my fatherin-laws house where he was
sitting Shiva. I told the people
gathered there that I had to raise
money for tfillin. Where are you
going to get it from at this time?
they challenged me. But I was
sure I would be successful. How?
I still did not know.
I went to a few wealthy
people in Bnei Brak but did
not get much, just a few dozen
shekels. I looked heavenward and
asked for siyata dShmaya. I went
back to my father-in-laws house
and began to cry. Think about
it, there are ten soldiers who put
their lives in danger for us and

want to put on tfillin and

we cant provide them with
what they want.
Suddenly I got a
message from the rabbi
I had spoken to in the
morning and he said that
his
wealthy
supporter
from the US was coming
to celebrate his sons bar
mitzva in Eretz Yisroel. He
was willing to donate thirty
pairs of tfillin.
When is he coming?
I asked.
In
another
two
weeks, he said.
I
thanked
him
profusely but explained
that I needed another six
pairs by the morning. I
cannot give tfillin to just
four out of the ten and tell
the other six to wait. He
promised to get back to
me. A few minutes went
by and he called me back.
Another wealthy backer of his
had made a donation of six pairs
of tfillin. I was ecstatic. This is
the way it goes nearly every time;
when there is a need, Hashem
makes sure it comes.

TFILLIN ARE
A SERIOUS MATTER
We went back to R Nachshon
and asked him:
How do you know that
those soldiers will put on
tfillin every day and it wasnt
just a momentary feeling of
inspiration?
I meet a lot of soldiers,
some of them after theyve been
released, who come to Chevron
for Reserves. They tell me
about the tfillin that they take
everywhere.
We do all we can to verify
through the commanders and
chaplains that they are serious,
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Shlichus

The half-tracks and tanks in the last operation

turned into shtiblach and many irreligious
soldiers completed minyanim and davened for the first
time in their lives.
but we dont rely on that
completely. This is why it is
important to us to go personally
to each soldier who gets tfillin.
This month we gave out eight
pairs of tfillin to members of the
Yehuda regional brigade at a cost
of 5000 shekels each. Soldiers
understand that it is expensive
and valuable and that we give it
only to someone who really wants
it.
Why tfillin and not some
other mitzva?
We work with soldiers who
endanger their lives every day,
every hour. We bring them cake
and nosh, but there are other
organizations that do that too.
We are shluchim of the Rebbe
who stressed the verse about
tfillin on the head, and they will
fear you. We feel that we are
providing spiritual armor to the
soldiers.
I am always feeling that we
are not doing enough. Nearly
every day we get requests from
soldiers from various units and
we dont always succeed in
reaching them all. We try to find
solutions, but they are never
complete. My dream is that a
rich person reading this article
will realize the enormous value
of this project and will make an
ongoing donation of at least 100

tfillin a month; that would be

fantastic.
How does all this connect to
the Rebbes prophecy of hinei,
hinei Moshiach ba?
There is a tremendous
feeling of inspiration amongst
the soldiers. Previously, actors,
singers and military choirs would
visit the soldiers. Today, the ones
who go are activists like us who
give out tzitzis and tfillin to the
soldiers and its not happening in
a vacuum; the soldiers themselves
are asking their commanders for

this.
The half-tracks and tanks
in the last operation turned into
shtiblach and many irreligious
soldiers completed minyanim and
davened for the first time in their
lives.
A few days ago, we went to a
parachutist base to give tfillin to
some soldiers. There were dozens
of minyanim for davening! The
rabbi at the base told us that a
high percentage of the soldiers,
about 80%, from elite combat
units are comprised of religious
soldiers or those who have gotten
stronger in their Judaism. In
recent years, we have visited the
most secret units in the army.
You see soldiers who talk about
emuna with Jewish pride. That is
Geula!

ADD IN ACTS OF GOODNESS & KINDNESS

TO BRING MOSHIACH NOW!

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PROFILE

THE
REBBES
FRIEND
Since this column was initiated, in which we tell
of a Chassid who passed away in connection
with his yahrtzait, we have written about many
Chassidim. This week, we have the privilege of
writing about R Sender Reinin, a Chassid whom
the Rebbe himself mentioned and asked that
his yahrtzait not be forgotten. * About a quiet
Jew who was all alone, who was a friend of Beis
Rebbi by three of the Rebbeim, and who even
lived in the Rebbes house for a short period.
By Refael Dinari

he Chassid, R Chaim
Avrohom
Alexander
Sender Yitzchok Reinin,
or R Sender as everyone
knew him, was a modest Chassid,
someone who served Hashem with
all his heart and soul but in a way
that nobody knew about.
R Sender was born in Russia
around the year 5650. While still
a young man the Rebbe Rashab
was greatly mekarev him. He
would sit in the Rebbes room

and the Rebbe would tell him

many things which he wrote
down and kept in a special box.
He also did things on behalf of
Beis Rebbi such as traveling and
exerting himself to bring the
Rebbe a beautiful esrog.
One year, R Sender arrived
from Italy with a beautiful
Calabrian esrog. It was almost
Yom Tov, the 13th of Tishrei.
When he walked into shul, he
found the Rebbe Rashab standing

as the chazan in honor of his

fathers yahrtzait. R Sender did
not wait even a moment. He
went over and put the esrog on
the lectern so the Rebbe would
rejoice at the sight of it.
When he was ready for a
shidduch and someone (some
say it was the Rebbe himself)
suggested the daughter of R
Shneur Zalman Seligson, the
Rebbe told him, With this
person you can live a refined life.

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that they exert pressure on the

Russian government to release
the Rebbe. Boruch Hashem, he
was very successful and this was
one of the things that hastened
the Rebbes release.
In the 1930s R Sender
lived in France and was the
Rebbes shliach regarding various
matters, working for his brethren
imprisoned in Russian jails,
whether in actual prison or just
in the largest prison in history
which was the Soviet Union.
When Rashag went to Paris
in 5689/1929 on an assignment
from the Rebbe, to alert the
Jewish communities there on
behalf of the Jews in Russia, R
Sender was involved. Rashag and
his staff met with rabbanim and
community leaders and the visit
ended very successfully.
In the Rebbe Rayatzs letters
that were printed we find a
number of letters in which the
Rebbe tells him to visit so-andso in order to convey his views
regarding a certain question that
that person had asked the Rebbe.

A SCIENCE
LECTURE IN A SHUL?!

R Sender lived on the third floor of the Rebbes house

on President Street for three weeks.

After the passing of the Rebbe

Rashab, R Sender became the
devoted Chassid of his son and
successor, the Rebbe Rayatz
and was a ben bayis of his.
For a period of time he lived in
Germany and was a member of
a committee to whom donations
were sent from abroad to
maintain mikvaos in communist
Russia.
When the Rebbe was arrested,
R Sender worked devotedly

to rescue him. In those days,

the communists tried to obtain
international
recognition,
economic and military, for the
new government that they had
established a few years earlier,
after the revolution. One of the
governments that the Soviet
government tried to establish
ties with was Germany, where
R Sender had some high
government connections. He
spoke to them and suggested

A unique chapter in his life

was his activist work to spread
the wellsprings of Torah and
Chassidus in Paris, the city which
most symbolized the pleasures
and excesses of the free world.
After World War I, many
people flocked to Paris from
Eastern Europe including many
refugees who fled Russia due to
the suffering endured following
the revolution. Most of the
immigrants
were
smalltime
businessmen and craftsmen but
there were also a sizable number
of industrialists who developed
new products in France and did
very well financially.
Many
intellectuals
also

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Profile
gathered in Paris, particularly
Jewish students who were
unable to study in the countries
they came from, most of them
attending schools of medicine
and philosophy.
Surprisingly, many who were
distant from Judaism in their
home countries became interested
in their heritage in France under
the influence of the conservative
atmosphere that prevailed there.
Contrariwise, those young people
who
successfully
integrated
into the local populace began to
assimilate.
At this time, the Rebbe
Rayatz began working intensively
from where he lived in Riga, to

5692/1932, the Rebbe wrote

him that it would be very good if
they carried out R Hillels plan
to convene youth in the home
of Mr. Weill the younger and
to talk to them about Chassidus,
and to farbreng in the Mizrachi
shul. In short: Whatever you
can do to expand things, its all
good.
About a month later, the
Rebbe wrote to R Sender about
the job for Greenberg, which
enabled him to remain in Paris,
which in any case was beneficial,
boruch Hashem, and surely they
will continue working in this and
see to bring it to fruition. (In this
same letter the Rebbe told him
that he had received a letter from

I didnt know how to react. I didnt want to

say what was on my mind for it isnt pleasant
to rebuke someone to their face. Different ideas went
through my mind until I was reminded of that special
niggun and began to sing it.
strengthen Judaism in various
countries
including
France.
However in this country there
was a special effort made in
spreading the wellsprings of
Chassidus and the study of
Chassidus.
The two people who were
the core activists in this field
were the shadar, R Shimon Leib
Greenberg ah, and the askan
and wealthy individual, R Hillel
Zlatopolsky ah. The former was
a talmid of Tomchei Tmimim in
Lubavitch and the latter was the
son of the Chassid, R Zalman
Zlatopolsky of Kremenchug.
R Sender, who was one
of the few Chassidim in the
city, was mobilized to help and
the Rebbe transmitted to him
many instructions that had to
do with the aforementioned
two Chassidim. In Adar II

R Greenberg in which he reports

about what took place on Beis
Nissan, and that he also received
two interesting letters from R
H.Z. with rich content regarding
ideas for spreading Chassidus.)
Another interesting letter is
from the summer of 5692 when
the Rebbe wrote to R Sender
about the idea of Mr. Kreinis, that
a relative of the Rebbe, Professor
Fishel
Schneersohn,
should
give lectures about Chassidus,
academic type lectures.
The Rebbe acceded to the
suggestion in principle, but
demanded that lectures such
as these only be delivered
in private homes and not in
shul. In shul, someone like R
Greenberg needed to speak,
who said Chassidus as is and
not an academic lecture about
Chassidus

ONE FRIENDSHIP
DRAWS ANOTHER
At this time, our Rebbe
and Rebbetzin lived in France.
R Senders wife who knew
the Rebbetzin from childhood
would meet with her often. The
relationship between the women
fostered a relationship between
their husbands. R Sender would
often visit the Rebbe. He said
years later that every time he went
to the Rebbes home he found the
Rebbe sitting and learning.
When
a
committee
representing the various Jewish
communities was founded in
Paris and there were those
who wanted the Rebbe as rav,
R Sender wrote to the Rebbe
Rayatz and told him about the
suggestion and that the members
of the committee greatly desired
having the Rebbe as the rav. The
Rebbe Rayatz asked his son-inlaw to consider the idea again.
One time, R Sender went to
the Rebbes home and found the
Rebbe immersed in the seifer
Avodas HaLevi of R Aharon
Strashele. The Rebbe commented
to him, This is a deep seifer.
We can see how strong their
friendship was from a letter
that the Rebbe wrote on 28
Tishrei 5700/1939 to R Yisroel
Jacobson in the US. The letter
was about how to rescue the
Rebbe Rayatz from besieged
Warsaw. In the letter in which
the Rebbe wrote the names and
birthdays of the Rebbe Rayatzs
children, he added a few lines,
also in French:
I also have a personal favor
to ask of you for a dear friend of
our family, Mr. Alexander Reinin
who lives in Paris. Please arrange
an affidavit for him and his
wife, Sylvia. They have enough
money that they would not need
financial assistance.

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After the Rebbe Rayatz

arrived in the US and began
working on rescuing his daughter
and son-in-law, R Sender was
one of his contact people. He
was sent coded letters regarding
rescue efforts and he responded
to them.
When
they
arrived
in
America, R Sender stopped
visiting the home of the Ramash
as the Rebbe was called then. The
Rebbe once asked him about this,
Why dont we see you?
Over here, you are the
Rebbes son-in-law, said R
Sender, meaning that when he
was together with his fatherin-law, he deserved a different
relationship than in Paris where
they had been two individual
Chassidim.

THE HEALING ALIYA

During his first years in the
US, he suffered terribly from a
stomach ailment. His brother-inlaw, Dr. Avrohom Seligson, who
examined him, diagnosed his
condition as fatal. His condition
deteriorated until the doctors
gave up on him and told him they
could not help him.
R Sender had yechidus and
informed the Rebbe Rayatz of his
difficult situation as he reported
what the doctors said.
The
doctors
are
not
balabatim
to
make
that
declaration, said the Rebbe.
Every year you must get the
aliya which ends with the verse,
I am G-d your healer, and
Hashem will send you a complete
recovery.
R Sender recovered and from
then until his death he made sure
to get the aliya for Shiras HaYam
(the Song of the Sea), the fourth
aliya in Parshas BShalach, which
ends with the verse about healing.
The friendship and closeness

Every year you must get the aliya which ends

with the verse, I am G-d your healer, and
Hashem will send you a complete recovery.

with Beis Rebbi continued even

after he arrived in the US. R
Sender was invited to eat with the
Rebbe Rayatz on holidays and
Shabbos. Even after the people
at the table finished eating, the
Rebbe made sure not to have
the plates removed until after R
Sender also finished eating.

THE REBBES CONCERN

FOR A LONE JEW
In 5712, R Senders wife,
Ita Tzivia, became very sick and
she passed away on 22 Cheshvan
5713. The Rebbe went to R
Senders house to be menachem
avel.
On the following Shabbos,
the Rebbe said to R Sender
at the farbrengen, When the
rebbetzin of the Tzemach Tzedek
passed away, he was in a state of
great bitterness etc., until one of
the close Chassidim said to him,
Rebbe, we heard explicitly from

you that regarding the verse, see

life with the woman that you love
Torah hi, [i.e. it is referring
to the study of Torah] and the
Tzemach Tzedek said: You
revived me.
Even though this is a famous
statement of Chazal and surely
the Tzemach Tzedek knew it for
he was knowledgeable in Shas
etc., still, when someone else said
it, it helped.
The Rebbe made sure that R
Sender would not remain alone
at home and said arrangements
should be made for two bachurim
to sleep at his house. One of the
bachurim who slept with him
described him briefly, A straight
thinker, of good character,
modest in his ways with
wondrous exactitude, interested
himself in every subject in all its
details. On certain subjects he
would offer criticism.
R Sender got up every night
in the middle of the night to

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said he would speak to those in
charge of singing at farbrengens.
At the 12 Tammuz 5718
farbrengen, the Rebbe said the
Strasheler niggun should be sung
and when they began to sing it,
the Rebbe turned to R Sender
and said, R Sender, you asked
for a Strasheler niggun.

THE TRAGIC OUTCOME

OF THE LOSS OF THE
PACKAGE
The Rebbe farbrenging in the early years

learn Likkutei Torah or Derech

Mitzvosecha. On Yom Kippur
he would stand throughout the
davening every year.
In 5717 he had to leave the
house he was living in. The
Rebbetzin invited him to come
and live in their house but he
declined. He finally agreed and
lived on the third floor of the
Rebbes home on President
Street. After three weeks he left.

THE BELOVED NIGGUN

The close relationship and
friendship with the Rebbe
continued until R Sender passed
away. One time, R Sender told
the Rebbe that he especially liked
the Strasheler niggun and he told
the Rebbe the following story:
When I was a boy, a yeshiva
bachur came to our house who
had evaded serving in the Russian
army. He stayed with us for a
while since he couldnt remain
in his own home or anywhere
else they would think to look for
him. He was older than me but
he was very friendly to me and
we became friends. He taught me
a niggun that he heard from his
Rebbe, the niggun of R Aharon
Strasheler.
The bachur soon discovered

that the military police were after

him even in his hiding place in
our home. He had to run away
and leave the country. After much
wandering and difficulties, he
ended up in Argentina where he
went into business and became
very rich. He married and had
a family and he donated a lot
of money to yeshivos Tomchei
Tmimim.
Many years went by until we
met again. When I saw him, my
heart sank. You could no longer
see that he had been a yeshiva
bachur. It was apparent that he
had gone off the derech and was
no longer religious. I didnt know
how to react. I didnt want to say
what was on my mind for it isnt
pleasant to rebuke someone to
their face. Different ideas went
through my mind until I was
reminded of that special niggun
and began to sing it.
Oy, exclaimed the former
yeshiva bachur. Thats my
Rebbes niggun! He began
to pace the room until he left
without saying a word.
When R Sender finished
telling this to the Rebbe, he
asked, Until today, I have a
fondness for that niggun. Why
arent R Aharons niggunim
sung at farbrengens? The Rebbe

Whenever R Sender came

and went, he held a small bundle
which contained, among other
things, a journal of things he
had heard in yechidus from the
Rebbe Rashab, which no one else
had ever laid eyes on. He did not
allow anyone to see this journal,
even the Rebbe, as the Rebbe
himself said in a sicha following
R Senders passing.
At the end of 5718, he lost
the bundle. His sorrow was so
great that he fell sick and never
recovered. He passed away on
24 Elul. The Rebbe said it was
apparently due to the heartbreak
over the loss of the bundle.
On
Shabbos
Parshas
Netzavim-VaYeilech, the Rebbe
said a short sicha lilui nishmaso:
Among
the
undesirable
things that need to be corrected
before Rosh HaShana, there
was something that occurred
this week, in connection with
the passing of R Sender
Reinin, who was not eulogized
khalacha (as the Gemara puts
it).
R Sender, due to his age did
not learn in Tomchei Tmimim,
but still in his youth he merited
powerful kiruvim from the
Rebbe Rashab. He often spent a
lot of time in his room and heard
a number of things from him.
Continued on page 27

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PARSHA THOUGHT

ULTIMATE
LIFE AND
GOODNESS
By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg

AN END OF YEAR MESSAGE

In this, the last parsha we will
read before reaching the New
Year, 5775, Moses exhorts the
Jewish people:
See, I have set before you
this day, life and good, and death
and evil.
The Hebrew text suggests a
question here that deserves our
consideration. The word es is
repeated with each of these four
key words. In line with Rashis
commentary on an earlier verse,
the word es, which is usually left
untranslated in English, actually
means with. For example,
the very first verse of the Torah
states, In the beginning G-d
created heaven and earth. The
original text appends the word
es to both heaven and earth. This
prompted Rashi to explain that
the Torah actually states In the
beginning G-d created subsidiary
creations with the earth and all
the hosts of the heaven with the
heaven.
In light of the interpretation
of es as with, we must try to
understand the significance of
the Torahs use of that word in
conjunction with life good
death and evil. The Torah is
not just referring to life, good,

death and evil in their own

right but also to their ancillary
components. What does this
mean and what are they? And
why was Moses so emphatic
that we see these secondary
characteristics?
To better understand these
auxiliary aspects and how they
apply to us, we must first seek
a fuller understanding of the
original concepts of life, good,
death and evil.

THE WONDERS OF LIFE

We live in a paradoxical
age. We stand on the cusp
of the Messianic Age, which
will usher in a new dimension
of and appreciation for life.
At the same time, the very
institution of life has never
before been more simultaneously
pronounced, challenged and
undermined.
While
medical
technology has made the most
incredible advances in saving
and prolonging life, society has
experienced its utter devaluation.
One illustration of this
phenomenon can be seen in the
fact that, not so long ago, the
greatest blessing one could give
another was to live to 120. Today
many people shudder at the

prospect of living that long.

The
reason
for
this
phenomenon is our proximity
to the Messianic Age, when life
will reach its zenitheternal
life! One of the 13 Principles of
Faith articulated by Maimonides,
based on the Torahs explicit
statements, is belief in the
Resurrection of the Dead after
the onset of the Messianic Age.
The prophet Isaiah declared of
that moment: He will swallow
up death forever; and the L-rd
G-d will wipe away tears from off
all faces.(25:8)
Since G-d, in His infinite
kindness, does not want to shock
or overwhelm us, He has given us
a taste of these future changes.
We are therefore witness to new
technologies, such as cloning,
the growing medical use of stem
cells, etc., to demonstrate that
the world is about to experience
an explosion of life.
However, we are still in the
period of Galus. The forces
of darkness have yet to be
vanquished and all positive
phenomena are countered by
a backlash of parallel negative
energy. The explosion and
proliferation of life that we now
witness is therefore met with an
irrational assault on life at both
ends of the life-spectrum.
Many have pointed out the

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We live in a paradoxical age. We stand on the

cusp of the Messianic Age, which will usher in
a new dimension of and appreciation for life. At the
same time, the very institution of life has never before
been more simultaneously pronounced, challenged and
undermined. While medical technology has made the
most incredible advances in saving and prolonging life,
society has experienced its utter devaluation.
irony of a hospital spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars
to save the life of a preemie
in one room, while destroying
another preemie elsewhere in the
same hospital.
Economic considerations and
the slippery issue of quality of
life have, among other reasons,
dramatically changed the secular
attitude toward the remaining
value of human life at its end.
Judaism has always viewed
life as possessing an intrinsic
value. Each life is an expression
of the Divine presence in our
world. Who knows what value
a life has, even one that appears
unable to contribute to society?
In Judaism, next to G-d, the
Source of all life, life itself is the
most sacred of institutions.
How can we dispel the notion
that life itself is not valued when
we lack financial resources and
are living with an apparently
degraded quality of life? Our
Sages (Talmud, Taanis 8b)
showed us the way when they
declared: The One who gives
life, gives sustenance.
We can now understand why
the Torah adds the preposition es
to the word for life. Not only does
G-d give us life in its raw and
unembellished state, G-d also
gives us all the appurtenances to
life.

ETERNAL LIFE VERSUS

TEMPORAL LIFE
We can understand the
difference between life and the
accessories to life on another
level. True life is eternal life.
When G-d created Adam and Eve
He intended them to live forever.
It was only after they partook of
the forbidden Tree of Knowledge
that death entered into the world.
Thus, life in its original state is
eternal life. However, even the
lesser temporal life we experience
today is inherently valuable. Thus
the es or the temporal aspect
of life is also a Divine gift to
prepare us for the eternal life of
the future. By introducing the
enduring values of Torah, life
today also enjoys the status of
true life.
An
illustration
of
this
point can be found in the laws
about saving lives on Shabbos.
According to the Talmud, saving
a life overrides the Shabbos
restrictions even if the person in
peril has only a few more hours
to live. One may violate the
Shabbos prohibitions even for the
secondary aspects the es
of life.

INTRINSIC AND RELATIVE

GOOD
There is intrinsic good and
there is relative good. Since the

sin of Adam and Eve all good

contains an element of evil. In
the Messianic Age, however, the
evil will be expelled and good
will be restored to its original
unadulterated state.
One might be tempted
to discount the value of the
necessarily adulterated good we
do now. To dispel any notion
that the good we can do today
is not worthwhile, our Sages tell
us, one should always engage
in doing good even if it is for
ulterior motives. The rationale
for this is: from within the
ulterior motive one will eventually
do it for the pure motive.
Chassidic thought explains
that this point of view is not just
a concession to our weaknesses
and baser instincts. It is also not
tolerated because of the rationale
that the end (of doing it
altruistically) justifies the means
(doing good for selfish reasons).
Rather, even the compromised
good of today is intrinsically
worthwhile.
As
Chassidus
emphasizes by using the word
within, the ulterior motive
cloaks a fundamentally positive
motive. Deep down, the person
is motivated by a pure and holy
desire to do unmitigated good. It
just takes time and effort to allow
that inner purity and good to rise
to the surface and dominate the
shallow ulterior motives.
This now explains why the
Torah adds the word es with
respect to the term good. It
is to disabuse the idea that true
good is elusive. Even now we can
latch on to the auxiliary level of
good (es) because it carries the
seeds of genuine good within it
and is the catalyst to bring about
the ultimate good of the future.

VIRTUAL DEATH
Death can also be understood
as existing on two planes. To cite

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a few examples: The Talmud and

Zohar both state that sleep is
one-sixtieth of death. The heel
is referred to as the Angel of
Death of our body because of
its very limited amount of life.
According to the Zohar, when
one has fallen from his spiritual
level it is as though he had died.
According to the Talmud, a
poor person is considered to be
like a dead person. The simple
understanding of this radical
statement is to impress upon us
the urgency in helping the poor;
it is as if we brought him back
to life. These are all ancillary or
virtual forms of death.
To dispel the notion that the
comparison of all of the above
to death is sheer hyperbole, the
Torah adds the preposition es,
strongly suggesting that even the
virtual forms of death derive
from the same source.
Thus, when we awaken every
morning and recite the Modeh
Ani in which we thank G-d for
bringing us back to life, we are
reminded of the Resurrection
of the Dead. However, it is not
just a remote reminder. This
daily revival carries the seeds of,

introduces us to and prepares us

for, that ultimate revival.
Similarly, when we help
a virtually dead destitute
person, we should not dismiss
the comparison to bringing
someone back from the dead. By
adding the word es to the word
death, the Torah instructs us that
when we help the destitute it is
tantamount to actually bringing
them back to life.

EVIL AND ITS HANDLES

Our Sages declared in Ethics
of the Fathers: Reflect on three
things and you will not come to
the handles of sin. It does not
say and you will not sin but
you will not come to the handles
of sin. What is the difference?
The Rebbe explains that the
desire for sin can be preceded
by the desire and passion for
permissible things. However,
once a person is driven by desire
he or she can easily slide down
a slippery slope into forbidden
territory.
The Rebbe then interprets
the words reflect on three
things as a reference to the

third and final Redemption and

the rebuilding of the third Beis
HaMikdash. In that era, material
delights will be as abundant (and
therefore as meaningless) as the
dust of the earth. Knowing this
will distract us from the pursuit
of and obsession with material
pleasuresthe handles of sin.
Thus when the Torah attaches
the word es to evil it intimates that
we should not only avoid actual
evil, but also anticipate our future
Messianic Age mindset and desist
from the preoccupation with
material things that can facilitate
a slide into sin.
As we stand on the threshold
of a New Year and of the
imminent Redemption we should
focus our attention on cultivating
life and goodness in all of their
forms no matter how they may
pale compared to the life and
good of the future. Similarly, we
must remove all forms of death
and evil in preparation for the
future, when only unmitigated
life and goodness will endure.
May we all be inscribed and
sealed for a good and sweet
New Year; a year, too, of total
Redemption.

LIVE SHIURIM 0NLINE

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CHITAS
INYONEI GEULA
& MOSHIACH
RAMBAM
SHIURIM IN LIKUTEI
SICHOS KODESH

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PROFILE

THE MONEY FOR

THE MOSDOS IS

ALREADY IN
THE BANK!
From the life of R Yehoshua Shneur Zalman Serebryanski ah
Prepared for publication by Avrohom Rainitz

n R Zalmans letter from 11

Av, he wrote to the Rebbe
at length about his two
meetings with Mrs. Hertz.
She slowly became amenable to
R Zalmans position, but still was
unwilling for the girls school to
belong entirely to Chabad.
In their first meeting, when
R Zalman suggested that she be
the principal and teacher in the
school which would be entirely
on Chabad property and under
his exclusive responsibility, she
rejected the idea. A few days
later though, R Zalman received
a message from her family that
they were willing to discuss it.

THE DOCTOR RECOMMENDS:

REDUCE THE LOAD
In Australia, the month of

Av is in the middle of the winter

and Mrs. Hertz came down
with a severe cold. Her doctor
said that her illness came from
being overburdened with work
and that for the good of her
health she needed to reduce her
responsibilities. This made her
have second thoughts about
R Zalmans offer, and at their
second meeting she agreed to
work in partial cooperation with
the yeshiva, i.e. the school would
belong to her, and the yeshiva
would pay her for each girl, but
the yeshiva would establish the
curriculum. The name of the
school, she suggested, should be
a combination: Hertzs preschool
and school and a school for girls
under the Chabad yeshiva.
R Zalman, of course, did not
agree and only said that he would

consult with Anash, but obviously

the idea was rejected. He also
planned on writing about this to
the Rebbe.
Then R Zalman received
another phone call from the
Hertz family and was informed
that she was willing to concede in
some other areas. Once again, it
was her doctor who urged her to
reduce her workload even more,
for her health.
This time, she agreed that
the Chabad mosad would be
the only one responsible for
the girls school but on two
conditions: 1) that she could
continue running the preschool
in her house privately with no
connection to the yeshiva, and
2) that the learning take place in
the classrooms that she built in

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her house and the Chabad mosad

would pay for them.
The latter suggestion was
quite reasonable and had a great
advantage in that it would not be
necessary to arrange an entire
school building, administration
and secretaries, because Mrs.
Hertz had already arranged
it all and she was willing to
put the entire administrative
infrastructure at their disposal. In
addition, Mrs. Hertz had already
hired suitable teachers which was
very hard to do in Melbourne in
those days.
However, there were some
problems with this plan. First, if
the learning would take place in
her home, the ability to supervise
the curriculum would be limited,
and when it would be necessary
to change something, it would
run into difficulties. Second,
with the money that Mrs. Hertz
wanted as rent for the classrooms
for two years, they could build
classrooms in the yeshivas yard,
which would forever remain in

the yeshivas possession. Third,

if the school was successful,
Mrs. Hertz was liable to think
that it was all thanks to her
and she could run the school
independently, and then she
would drop their agreement and
run the school herself with all the
students in her house.
R Zalman reported all this
to the Rebbe. Regarding the fear
that Mrs. Hertz would drop the
agreement after a few years, he
wrote that he thought they should
have her sign a contract which
said that in the event that she did
not want to continue with their
agreement, the school would be
transferred to Chabad and she
would not have the right to open
a girls school for eight years.
R Zalman wrote that if the
Rebbe thought they had to open
the school on the yeshivas
property, it would be possible
to build a few classrooms in the
yard and to put up a fence that
would completely separate the
boys and the girls. The entrance

would also be separate, either

from the side or from the back.
This would work for the first year
or two. After that, they would
need the space for the boys
school which was growing, and
the girls school would grow too
and it would become necessary to
build a separate building for the
girls.

THE REBBE: YOU HAVE THE

KOCHOS AND THE MONEY
Regarding all his questions
and uncertainty, the Rebbe
responded in paragraphs four
through seven in a detailed letter
to askanei Anash in Melbourne,
dated 18 Av 5716:
Paragraph 4 said, obviously
they could not partner with a
private person. The Rebbe said
the school for girls should not
be in a private home. A separate
entrance as well as a fence should
be built at the yeshiva so the
girls could start out in the same
building as Yeshivas Oholei Yosef
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Profile

In concluding the letter, the Rebbe said that

not only were they given the kochos but they
also had the requisite funds in the bank except that it
wasnt in the yeshivas bank account but in the account
of the wealthy person whose job it was to donate it to
the yeshiva and who was only given the money to hold
in escrow for the yeshiva.
Yitzchok. The Rebbe viewed this
as temporary, for even building
a fence was not optimal and he
hoped that the number of male
students would increase so they
would fill the building.
Paragraph 5 said that it was
also obvious that a private home
should not contain both a private
school as well as classes of the
yeshiva. The Rebbe did allow for
the possibility of this arrangement
on a temporary basis if at least
the oldest class would be in the
yeshiva building.
Paragraph 6 said that the
main thing was to explain to
her that since she sees that she
does not have the strength to
run a girls school, she should
recognize the great privilege
she was given from above to be
one of the heads of the hanhala
of the Chabad girls school and
she should throw herself into
it. This would be good for her,
from the perspective of finances
and the growth of the preschool,
and mainly in preserving the
spirit of yiras Shamayim and
loyalty to Torah in the chinuch
of the children, from the oldest
class to the preschool, because
a communal entity could better
supervise than an individual. The
Rebbe hoped they would find the
right words to explain this to her
and she would understand the
divine hint.
Paragraph 7 said that if
she absolutely refused, then

they could grudgingly agree

to the possibility mentioned in
paragraph 5, but then there had
to be a guarantee along the lines
of what R Zalman had written
in his letter. The Rebbe said it
was difficult from afar to get into
detail about this because a lot
depended on the personality of
the woman, the conditions in that
country, etc.
In concluding this letter,
the Rebbe encouraged askanei
Chabad and said that not only
were they given the kochos
but they also had the requisite
funds in the bank except that
it wasnt in the yeshivas bank
account but in the account of the
wealthy person whose job it was
to donate it to the yeshiva, and
who was only given the money
to hold in escrow for the yeshiva.
When he would be explained how
important it is to support the
yeshiva, he would immediately
transfer the money from his
account to the yeshivas account.
In accordance with what
the Rebbe wrote in his letter
to askanei Anash, R Zalman
spoke to Mrs. Hertz and tried
to convince her to agree to run
the girls school in the yeshivas
building. Mrs. Hertz refused
since her youngest son wasnt
old enough for school and she
did not want to leave him with
a babysitter all day. She also
said that if she had to be at the
school, she would not be able to
supervise the preschool in her

home. Even when the idea that

the Rebbe mentioned in the letter
was raised, that only the oldest
class would be in the yeshiva
building, she said she could not
take responsibility for students in
the oldest class since she would
be home all day and could not
visit the yeshiva building.
R Zalman made his final
offer that both the preschool
and the school would be run
from her home, but it would be
under the yeshivas auspices and
Mrs. Hertz would be completely
devoted to the yeshivas matters
without any private enterprises
on the side.
As the Rebbe said to do, R
Zalman mentioned what the
doctor said on a number of
occasions, that she could not
undertake the burden of running
the mosad. If she would accept
his offer, she could run it without
the financial burden and she
would be respected for running
the Chabad school which was
associated with the Lubavitcher
Rebbe.

FUNDRAISING
One of the most difficult
things R Zalman had to deal with
was fundraising for the mosdos.
Although the Rebbe had promised
to pay all the expenses of the
first two months, the continued
maintenance and development
of the school required a lot of
money, especially if they were
going to buy and build a new
building for the girls.
In the same letter of 11 Av,
R Zalman reported that Anash
were beginning to get involved
in fundraising for the new school
and he expressed his hopes that
R Moshe Zalman Feiglin would
donate 1000 pounds in addition
to his usual contributions that
totaled 1000 pounds. He wrote
that he planned on traveling

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to Sydney to fundraise where

he hoped to raise another 1000
pounds, and together with what
Anash would raise in Melbourne,
they could start building the girls
school.

THE REBBE SPEAKS ABOUT

CHINUCH FOR GIRLS IN
AUSTRALIA
In the third paragraph of the
Rebbes letter mentioned above, the
Rebbe referred to R Moshe Zalman
Feiglins donation and wrote that
when he met with him together
with his son and daughter-in-law,
the need for a girls school was one
of the main points that the Rebbe
raised in their conversation.
Two days after writing the letter
to askanei Anash, on Shabbos, 20
Av, R Moshe and R Dovid Feiglin
attended the farbrengen that the
Rebbe held to mark his fathers
passing. At this farbrengen, the
Rebbe said a special sicha about
the importance of founding a girls
school in Melbourne.
The Rebbe began by talking
about the influence women have
on building a Jewish home and
said that this is the reason why the
Rebbe Rayatz did a lot for girls
education, because in order for
there to be Jewish women, there
first needs to be Jewish girls, and
in order for there to be Jewish girls,
there needs to be chinuch for girls.
When they will properly address the
chinuch of girls, they will be able
to say to Moshiach, who stands
behind our wall, he is ready to
come already but is waiting for the
Tzivos Hashem to stand and be
ready for his coming see what
I have raised, we have established
for you Tzivos Hashem, Jewish
boys and girls, as Hashem desires,
Jews who are healthy spiritually
and consequently healthy physically
and then Moshiach will lead them
to a good and spacious land in the

complete Geula.
After this introduction, the
Rebbe began talking directly about
Australia:
The Rebbe, my father-inlaw, founded a mosad for boys in
Australia and through the divine
mercies aroused by him, the mosad
is being run with outstanding
success by R Moshe Zalman and
his son, R Dovid and the entire
Feiglin family, who play a leading
role.
Since the education of girls
is no less important than the
education of boys and is even more
important, they will start a school
for girls and the Feiglin family
will play a leading role. There will
surely not be any financial obstacles
for we have already concluded that
Mine [G-d] is the silver and Mine
is the gold.
Then they will say to Moshiach
that he can come already for
even in Australia there is already
a school for girls; Beis Rivka and
Beis Sarah, so Moshiach can
come already and take the Tzivos
Hashem to a good and spacious
land.
The Rebbe concluded, Since
they just laid the cornerstone
for Beis Rivka and Beis Sarah in
Australia, the entire assemblage
should wish them mazal tov.

WELCOME THE FEIGLIN

FAMILY WHEN THEY COME
Ten days later, R Zalman
received another letter from the
Rebbes secretary, R Quint, which
expressed the hope that after
the Feiglin familys stay in Beis
Chayeinu, including attending the
farbrengen, they would be even
more inspired to help Chabad
matters. But to ensure that the
inspiration would be translated into
practical terms, every effort should
be made to meet them immediately
upon their return to Australia. A

farbrengen/kabbalas panim should

be made for them and they should
be asked to repeat what they heard
in 770. That would be a golden
opportunity to re-inspire them
about what the Rebbe told them in
yechidus.

IT IS ESSENTIAL TO
IMMEDIATELY START A
CHABAD GIRLS SCHOOL
R Zalman also received a copy
of the letter that the Rebbe sent
that same day to R Yaakov Eliezer
Hertzog who was a maggid shiur
in the yeshiva. The letter spoke
about the fact that a lot of work
was still needed to develop and
expand the yeshiva and the need to
act immediately as the opportunity
may not present itself at a later
time. This was especially the case
regarding the need to establish a
girls school. Therefore, the Rebbe
concluded, it was his view that R
Hertzog and all of Anash had to
throw themselves into this work
and that they would surely see
great success.
The next day, the first day
of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5716, the
Rebbe sent another letter, this one
to R Menachem Mendel New who
was a member of the hanhala of
the yeshiva, in which the Rebbe
mentioned that in the conversation
with the Feiglins they had indicated
that his involvement in the
proposed girls school would be of
great benefit. The Rebbe went on
to express the hope that he would
do so on his own, and that he was
only writing to him to encourage
an increase in both quantity and
quality in the above as well as in all
matters of Anash. Additionally, the
Rebbe emphasized that investing
personal effort had a far greater
impact than just money alone, and
that since they had already passed
the initial phase of all beginnings
are difficult, things should go
more easily than in the past.
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FEATURE

THE PROPHECY
I BROADCASTED

CAME TRUE!
Shabtai Bibi was on Kol Yisroel for decades,
first as a technician and then in an impressive
series of positions until he became manager
of Moreshet which broadcasts religious
programming. * He first became acquainted with
Chabad on the Beirut-Damascus highway in the
Lebanon War where he met Chabad Tankistin
and conducted his first broadcast. * In this
interview with Beis Moshiach, Bibi tells of his
special relationship with Chabad over the years
By Shneur Zalman Berger

CHABAD 2 HERE
Shabtai Bibi, a man of
average height, simply dressed,
wears a knitted yarmulke and is
a straight talker. He welcomed
me at the entrance to the
central broadcasting network in
Yerushalayim.
When we sat down and began
to talk about the early days, he
showed me an unusual item from
his archives.
This is a recording of a live
report that I had from a Chabad

tank operating in the Lebanon

War in the middle of a Katyusha
attack. I was sent as a technician
for Kol Yisroel but I also ended
up broadcasting segments from
the front lines with a religious
slant to them.
Bibi put the cassette into
the machine and I heard the
following:
Chabad 2 here. Chabad 2
here. We are on the DamascusBeirut
highway.
We
are
approaching the roadblock and

are planning to turn around.

(Bibi): We are on the BeirutDamascus highway. I landed
here in the middle of a heavy
artillery attack when terrorists
in west Beirut shelled our forces
and spit forth fire and barrages
of Katyushas. Among the military
vehicles and the dusty tanks of
our forces I found a colorful
tank, a Chabad tank, which
infused bitachon in our forces at
the height of the shelling.
(Tankist): My name is

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Mr. Bibi broadcasting one of his programs on Kol Yisroel

Yedidya and Im from Kfar

Chabad. I volunteered to go in
this tank. You will surely want to
know what this tank is for and
when we began with the tanks.
The truth is that I am not a real
tank operator. Im an engineer,
but Im still on a tank. This tank
is a sort of caravan equipped
with sifrei kodesh, Jewish items,
tfillin and mezuzos. In the back
is a special area for shiurim in
the event that we want to have a
spontaneous shiur.
We have everything we
need so we can live a long time

on the tank. The idea to call it

a tank comes from the Rebbe
himself. The Rebbe said that in
order to conquer a desert you
need a vehicle which is mobile in
the desert. There are four tanks
like this one in Eretz Yisroel.
Our headquarters are in Natzrat
Ilit and our director is R Dovid
Nachshon who brings the tanks
to this country and finances
and plans all of these wonderful
activities.
We work on a voluntary
basis which makes things easier.
(Bibi): I see that in your

tank there is an office where you

write duchot (reports). Can you
explain that?
(Yedidya): Yes, the Rebbe
initiated all this and he is the
one who urges us to do these
activities. Just like the general
needs to know what is going on
in the field, the Rebbe needs to
know what is going in his army.
Every week we send the Rebbe a
report of all of our activities, as
much as we can write. The main
thing we write to the Rebbe is
that the soldiers that we meet
want to know why the Rebbe

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Feature

One of the Chabadnikim asked him to put on

tfillin and he responded scornfully, Bug off with
that nonsense. A moment later a massive Katyusha attack
began. It was terrifying. Missiles landed in all directions
and we lay on the ground and prayed for a miracle. The
radio manager also lay there with his hands over his head,
waiting for a lull. When the barrage stopped, he got up,
immediately went over to the Chabadnikim and asked,
Where are the tfillin?
does not come here. The Rebbe
has his reasons and he knows
where he needs to be, but we ask
him: Come here, bring Moshiach
here, and we wont need to suffer
these wars and tribulations.
(A Tankist asks a passing
soldier): Do you want to put on
tfillin?
Yes.
Say the bracha.
The soldier says the bracha
and Shma.
Chabad 2 here. Chabad 4
where are you exactly?
Chabad 4: I am at the
forward-most
position
near
Beirut. We are putting tfillin on
with the guys and registering
them for a letter in a Torah.
They are happy, we are providing
vodka, and its lively here.
Chabad 2: How did the guys
receive you, nicely or were there
problems?
Chabad 4: They were happy
and really amazed that we came
here, especially now in the middle
of shelling. Oh, one just landed
right near us. A mortar fell fifteen
meters away. Boruch Hashem,
miraculously nothing happened.
(Bibi): Whats your name,
soldier?
Motti Gotzel.
What are you doing on a
Chabad tank?

I put on tfillin this morning

and I see that it helps. We are
in the area that is being shelled.
There is a lot of shelling here (as
we spoke we could hear shells
exploding). I put on tfillin and
believe in it.
Yashar koach, and tizkeh
lmitzvot.
(Bibi): Hey soldier, whats
your name?
Yossi Karadi from Moshav
Ezrikam.
Yossi, what are you doing on
a Chabad tank?
I put on tfillin and believe
with
complete
faith
that
everything we are doing is a
mitzva.
What makes you put on
tfillin davka here near Beirut?
The truth is that its good
they came here. They helped us a
lot and we believe in this.
Chabad 2: Chabad 4 do
you hear? Have you done your
activities at your posts?
Chabad 4: Boruch Hashem,
we finished everything. Okay,
continue on here, see you.
Chabad 2: Kol tuv, see you.
The broadcast from Beirut
ended and we returned to Bibis
office. He began telling me
about his special connection with
Chabad.

PUTTING ON TFILLIN
UNDER FIRE
That encounter was my first
connection with Chabad. It began
in Beirut when I went there as
a technician for Kol Yisroel. We
had a radio station there from
where we broadcast segments
with updates about the war. I
was also involved in doing some
light editing for the program that
broadcast regards from soldiers
stationed at the front line.
Then, during the war, I
saw Chabads work from up
close as it took place on various
fronts with the soldiers. The
Chabadnikim came with their
tanks, dressed in civilian clothes.
I felt great admiration for them.
I thought, they are coming here
of their own volition despite the
danger. I watched the reactions
of the soldiers and most of them
were pleased that they came.
One time, one of the radio
managers came. One of the
Chabadnikim asked him to put
on tfillin and he responded
scornfully, Bug off with that
nonsense.
A moment later a massive
Katyusha attack began. It was
terrifying. Missiles landed in
all directions and we lay on the
ground and prayed for a miracle.
The radio manager also lay there
with his hands over his head,
waiting for a lull.
When the barrage stopped,
he got up, immediately went over
to the Chabadnikim and said,
Where are the tfillin? Short
and to the point.
During the war, I was asked
by Avrohom Doron, then the
editor in the religious section of
Reshet Beit, to send him a piece
describing Chabads activities
on the front. I prepared a nice
segment and the response was
tremendous.

HaShana 5775
5775
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Apparently, his work was

properly appreciated at Kol
Yisroel.

MORE OF A BOND
The appreciation for Shabtai
Bibis work was not merely
expressed in the form of praise.
He eventually became the editor
and broadcaster in the religious
department of Reshet Beit. He
had become known because of
his popular program of Chassidic
music. Back then, there was
no Arutz Sheva and no other
religious channels, so it was the
most popular program in the
religious sector. His program had
listeners not only in Eretz Yisroel
but in other countries too.
Something that moved me
during this point in my career
was two letters that I received
from behind the Iron Curtain
from two young men who said
how special it makes them feel
when they listen to this radio
program with songs from verses
from Tanach and maamarei
Chazal.
Bibis
connection
with
Chabad became stronger over the
years. As a journalist, he attended
Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengens that
took place in Kfar Chabad and
in the Tzemach Tzedek shul in
the Old City of Yerushalayim. R
Adin Even-Yisroel (Steinsaltz)
gave shiurim in Chassidus back
then on the radio and during the
taping sessions he met with R
Steinsaltz a number of times.
During
holidays,
Bibi
was impressed by Chabads
work among the people at the
broadcasting network. Chabad,
led by R Berke Wolf, would come
to the broadcasting building in
Yerushalayim every Chanuka,
and light the menorah in every
room and office. For Purim they
gave out mishloach manos, for
Pesach they gave out matza,

etc. This outreach work made

a tremendous impression on
me. They came and with a smile
helped everyone feel the joy of
the holiday.

THE REBBES PROPHECY

CAME TRUE
After getting to know Chabad,
Bibi decided to dedicate a special
program to Chabads work in
the Soviet Union before the fall
of communism. In this program,
activists who had helped spread
Torah and Judaism among Soviet
Jewry told about their work.
After the green light from
the radio management, I asked
four Chassidim who had worked
behind the Iron Curtain to come
on the show. They said they
needed the Rebbes approval first.
I took the opportunity to ask for
a bracha for my mother who was
sick. A short while later I received
a bracha for both requests.
Bibi gave me the opening
script for the show:

In the Soviet Union of

5744 there are signs of Jewish
revival. Thousands of Jews
who were disconnected from
Judaism and were assimilated
among the gentiles suddenly
are discovering their Judaism.
Lately, Jewish life in Russia is
beginning to revive more and
more. Jewish items are brought
into the Soviet Union, things like:
Siddurim, Chumashim, mezuzos,
talleisim, and even a Shas and
sifrei poskim. A lulav and esrog,
wine for Kiddush, and matzos
for Pesach also arrive for Soviet
Jews.
If the tshuva movement
worldwide is growing, in the
Soviet Union it is that much
more significant. Among the
returnees to Judaism are those
who never got a taste of it
previously, since they were not
given the opportunity and knew
nothing about it.
The ones leading this
movement are Chabad who are
doing amazing work in Russia
under the Rebbes orders and
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Parsha Thought
with great personal sacrifice.
So weve invited to the studio
four people from Chabad who
came from the Soviet Union and
coordinate the activities there.
They are Professor Yirmiyahu
Branover, R Notke Berkahan,
R Betzalel Shiff, and R Shaya
Gisser.
Bibi: The first speaker was
Prof Branover. When I listened
to what he had to say, I was
shocked. He said that the Rebbe
recently told him to build a
neighborhood in Yerushalayim
for scientists who will immigrate
here soon from the Soviet Union.
As he spoke, I was reminded
that a few weeks earlier I had
heard harsh words from a senior
Intelligence person in the US,
an expert on Soviet matters.
She assessed the situation in the
Soviet Union as one that would
get worse, and now I was hearing
Prof Branover repeat what the
Rebbe said that soon the Soviet
Union would crumble and the
Jews would make aliya.
When he finished speaking,
I couldnt restrain myself and
I said, The Rebbe said to build
a neighborhood for Russian
scientists but everything is closed.
There is no aliya at all. What are
you talking about!? But he calmly
repeated the prophecy.
He said it so matter-offactly and that is why I found
myself suddenly accepting it. I
believed in the Rebbe. I knew

that he had special abilities. I am

not a Chassid and so my nature
was such that I felt torn between
the Rebbes prophecy and the
assessment of the American
expert.
A few years passed until
perestroika began and then a
wave of aliya that still hasnt
ended. I told whoever was willing
to listen The Rebbes prophecy
that I broadcast on Kol Yisroel
came true!

A BRACHA AT A YUD-TES
KISLEV FARBRENGEN
From his job as editor in the
religious department of Reshet
Beit, Shabtai Bibi switched
to a position as editor for the
religious program on Reshet Alef.
His popular programs, Kabbalas
Shabbat and Melaveh Malka,
earned him many listeners from
all over the country. Many people
who were not religious were
inspired by his programs.
A resident of a kibbutz in the
north of the country once called
and asked to watch the Kabbalat
Shabbat program. When she
arrived I could not conceal my
surprise. Why did she have to
travel for hours in order to watch
how we do the broadcast? In
tears, she said that when she
heard the program she was
reminded of her parents home in
Poland, I see my mother lighting
the Shabbos candles.

In Crown Heights area: 1640/1700AM

USA phone: 718 557 7701

Although Shabtai Bibi does

not affiliate with one group or
another (Ive gone in the ways
of the Torah and halacha without
belonging to any group), and
this is how he raised his children,
three out of his four sons became
Chassidim and one of them
belongs to Merkaz HaRav. One
of the sons became a Lubavitcher
Chassid.
My son invited me to join
the Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen
that took place in his yeshiva in
Katamon. Back then, there were
intense discussions about my
continuing to work for Reshet
Alef. At that farbrengen, I met the
rosh yeshiva, R Tamir Kastiel,
for the first time. When I told
him that I didnt know about
my future in radio he blessed me
that I should ascend higher and
higher.
The bracha which was said
at a Chassidishe farbrengen
came true and within a few days
I was told about a new position
as manager of radio Moreshet.
It was started for the purpose
of broadcasting programs of
tradition and religion for the
Jewish people.
Many
programs
were
introduced into the broadcasting
lineup including shiurim from
well-known rabbanim. One of
the programs was on the learning
of Chassidus and given by R
Tamir Kastel.

worldwide, online: www.RadioMoshiach.org

In Israel (Nechayeg Venishmah): 08-9493-770 (press 1 # / 9 # / 3 #)

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TZIVOS HASHEM

THE M YSTERY

OF THE MISSING PAPER

By D. Chaim
Where did I put it? I
must remember It was the
somewhat hoarse voice of old
Sholom. With one hand he
adjusted his glasses on his nose
and with his other hand he
rearranged the string that tied
the glasses around his neck.
Where can that paper be?
he asked himself over and over.

He emptied his right pocket

and quickly picked up the
bunch of papers that slowly
drifted to the floor. No, its
not this and not this either
No, the paper is not here.
I dont understand it, he
mumbled. If its not in the left
pocket and not in the right,
not in the shirt and not in my
back pocket, where can it be?
It has simply disappeared!
As he searched, we stood
there, Shmuli and me, in the
doorway of the print shop.
We watched Sholom looking
desperately for the missing
paper and our curiosity was
aroused.
What did he prepare for
us this time? I whispered to
Shmuli.
doesnt
paper
The
with
do
necessarily have to
us, said Shmuli, cooling off
my enthusiasm.

I will have to sit down and

try to remember where I last
saw it, concluded Sholom. He
turned around and noticed
us. He wasnt surprised to see
us at the print shop again
without prior notice. Since my
bar mitzva invitations were
printed by him, he became
our loyal friend, amazingly.
Now, noticing us, he stopped
his search for the paper and
greeted us warmly.
Bruchim habaim, my old
friends, he called out with a
big smile which we saw more
regularly on his face lately.
Hello to you too, I
said and then immediately
that
see
We
continued,
it
Is
ing.
someth
lost
youve
impor tant?
You guessed right. I lost
a certain paper and its very
impor tant.
sad
Sholoms
From
that
tood
unders
we
expression
the paper that he lost was
very impor tant to him. We
tried helping him look for the
lost paper while trying to guess
what could be so impor tant
about this paper.
Its only a piece of paper.
How impor tant can it be? I
wondered.

Maybe its very old and

worth a lot of money,
suggested Shmuli.
I immediately agreed with
him. Youre right. Maybe it
contains divrei Torah written
by one of the tzaddikim of
A
generation.
previous
a
handwritten paper like that
doubles and triples the value of
the writing.
When Sholom saw we
were continuing to look for
the paper, he went back to
supervising the work going on
in his print shop. Shimi! What
happened? we heard him say
to one of the workers. Why
arent you taking care of the
problem with the laminating
machine?
Nothing happened except
that I discovered the reason
for the problem, declared

Shimi.
Really? Why is it stuck?
No big deal. Just some
old paper that landed in the
wrong place, said Shimi.
An old paper? I exclaimed.
Maybe thats the paper we
are looking for!
Hes right! Quickly give me
the paper that you found!
said Sholom excitedly.
Shmuli and I breathed a

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Tzivos Hashem

sigh of relief when we saw

the lost paper in the slightly
trembling hands of Sholom.
of
thousands
of
Tens
shekels were saved at the
last moment, I whispered to
Shmuli.
Then we heard Sholom
excitedly say to Shimi. I
am so grateful to you; ask
me whatever you want in
connection with your job.
Shimis face glowed and he
said, For a long time now Ive
wanted to leave half an hour
early. Would you allow that?
Of course, Shimi! Sholom
took a sip from the cup of
water I gave him and then
said, I dont understand you,
Shimi. You could have
asked me to appoint
you in charge of the
orders here at the print
shop and you could
have asked to work
from home and to get
a larger salary. Too bad,
you lost out.
Sholom glanced at
the paper he held once
or twice and then said
to us, You no doubt
want to know what is
so impor tant about this
paper. Rosh Hashana is
fast approaching and
on the Yom HaDin
we ask and pray for
the impor tant things
that we need. On this
paper, throughout the
year, I wrote down the
things that I need. If I
did not find this paper,
I would not remember
what to pray for on

What do you mean?

the Yom HaDin.
a puzzled Sholom.
asked
Shmuli and I exchanged
and
bit
a
thought
I
looks and the thought went
good
a
with
up
through our minds, Oh, then came
Jewish
not something worth tens of comparison. Imagine a
lived
who
ie
Shlom
thousands of shkalim, just a boy named
times
lt
difficu
the
in one of
plain piece of paper.
in our long galus. By mistake,
I
said,
I
But Sholom,
Shlomie did something to
dont understand you. Is that
anger the goyim and they
what youre thinking about?
sentenced him to death.
Without it, you would not have
Sholom listened to me
known what to pray for?!
sly and wondered what
curiou
Sholom did not understand
at.
getting
was
I
what I was saying. What do
At the last moment,
you mean? Didnt I explain it
they brought him before the
already?
for him to approve the
Yes, you did but Ive king
sentence and the king says to
noticed that you are doing
him, Do you have a request to
exactly the same thing as
make of me? What will the boy
Shimi.
ask for? Of course he will
not ask for a candy or a
toy, he will ask for his life!
Do you understand? When
we stand in judgment
before Hashem, the only
thing that ought to fill
our minds and hearts is
that this judgment must
lead to one and only one
result: that we get out of
this galus and have the
complete Geula.
all
way,
that
In
sorrows will cease, bad will
be transformed to good,
and this state the world
is in, in which G-dliness
is hidden will be changed
for its true state in which
the world is a home for
Hashem. Do you agree with
me?
you
right
How
in
Sholom
d
are, nodde
to
need
We
agreement.
ask for the Geula!

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