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Very honored and blessed to have Hamburg join us And just by way of introduction Before we get into the febrigen. Yid Schwartz Yid Schwartz, in the year nineteen fifties, the year that the previous rebbe, Rebbe Rayaatz, the previous rebbe passed away, and one year later, nineteen fifty one, that's when the rebbe officially became rebbe. And when the rebbe officially became rebbe, he did so by saying a mimer, Kabbasi Lagani, and in this mimer he went through stories of all the rabbis, highlighting their avos Yisrael. And he mentioned about the Friederiker Rebbe that his avos Yisrael came even at his own personal expense, physically and spiritually. And so I want to share a story about the Friederiker Rebbe. Share a story about the Rebbe as well. That there was in Brownsville. If anyone knows Brooklyn well, Brownsville is a neighborhood next to Crown Heights. So it used to be once upon a time full of yidden. Now it's not so much.
And there was a rabbi there who was very well known to be extremely anti-Chabad. And he spoke disparagingly of the fridgerreber every single Shabbos. The one Shabbos, mitzvah, all of a sudden He starts singing phrases about the fridgerreber. No one can understand what was going on. What happened? What changed? So he explained that his brother Rachmaneslan. Was diagnosed with something very bad And he needed a lot of money to cover the treatments. Everyone's Holocaust survivors and coming off of the Great Depression couldn't turn to his community for money. He knows they don't have it, so he's desperate. So what did he do? He took an ad in a Yiddish Jewish paper called the Morgenerna. And the ad was four words. That's it, four words, and then his phone number. A Yid needs help. A Jew needs help, and he gave his phone number. He said only one person called him.
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It was the Rebbe himself who called me. He didn't ask me anything about myself. Whether I was Chabad or not made no difference, and he offered all the money. And there's a story. It reminds me of a story of the Rebbe that there was once a non-labachar chassid who came to the Rebbe And the Rebbe asked him for one of teaching a Torah from his Rebbe. And so he was thinking, and he his Rebbe that Shabbos had spoken about the sim of the Sach Chagiga, the famous Gemara that says Afilu Peshi Yisrael, even Sinners, yidden who do aviras—they're mallei bemitzvos kireim, and they're full of mitzvos, just like a pomegranate's full of seeds. He said, 'My rebbe asked the question: How could be if someone is poish yisro? There's someone achazal—they're calling them someone who their whole identity is someone who does aviras, someone who does sins. So then, how could we possibly say ha'itachin that we could say that they're mallei bemitzvos' They're full of mitzvos, just like a pomegranate is full of seeds.
So the rebbe said back to him, "I have the exact same question, just the opposite." If Chazal say that someone is Malay and be mitzvos, that they're full of mitzvos, how can we possibly say that they're pashiyisirah? So this was the cook. This was the outlook of the Rebbe. The Emes actually sees an amazing idea now. Parshas Beshalach, Shabbos Shirah. There's an amazing idea. When you look at the pesukim by Chrys Yamsuf, I'm Yisrael. They're about to cross the Yam Suf. Kadosh Baruch Hu tells Moshe to raise his arms. Moshe raises his arms. The sea splits. Vayivoi bnei Yisrael. Am I taking anything you're going to say? I'm wondering. Keep going. We're doing good. Should I whisper it to you? It's gonna be exactly what Kadosh Baruch Hu. I didn't look at this. No. And the pasuk says, Vayivoi bnei Yisrael. B'saiḥ ha'yam, b'saiḥ ba'yavasha b'saiḥ ha'yam.
That Bnei Yisrael traveled into the dry land in the desert, and then into the water. So they crossed the Yam Suf. And then again, of course, Baruch Hu tells Moshe to lift up his arms. He lifts up his arms. The water comes crashing down back to its normal state. The mitsmim are killed, and then again, the pasuk says Bnei Yisrael ba'yavo Bnei Yisrael. Whatever lesson is Bnei Yisrael halchu b'yam b'yavasha. That they went in the Abasha that was in the middle of the Yam. So why does it say the pasuk twice? So the Beremaim Chayim, who was one of the Talmidei Hamagid, Talmidim of the Magid Medrash And others as well, he brings a Medrash that's from the best to the best, my knowledge, it's an extinct Medrash, meaning it's a Medrash that's quoted in many places, but we don't have the actual copy of that Medrash.
And the Medrash says that there was not one But two Kriyas Yamsofs. Two kriyas yamsof. The medrash says The first kriyas yamsof is the kriyas yamsof we all know and love. It's one we're well aware of. What was the second kriyas yamsof? So after the Yidden left Mitzrayim Paro spoke live in Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people. Rashi says he spoke about Eretz Yisrael because Eretz Yisrael had left. The targum Yonasan says something different. The targum Yonasan says he spoke to Dus and Nevirah. So if Dus and Nevirah were in Mitzrayim. How do they show up at the end of this parsha? Let alone many more times throughout Torah. So that's what the Maggid says. That's who the second Kriyas Yamzuf was for. There were two Kriyas Yamzufs. One was for the Yidden. And one was for none other than Dassin and Aviram. Two people who don't look like tzaddikim. Look at them as rishonim.
Yet the Kodesh Baruch Hu is willing to make a Kriyas Yamzuf just for them. In this coming week As Hashem, or in no more than a week's time, will be Tubauf. And Tuva of Tuva Shvat Mishas Avi Shvat. It's actually this year coincides with the Sefer Rambam that the Rebbe instituted learning Mishpatar every single day. And for those who learn three chapters of Rambam every day, three chapters Mishpatar, you finish it every single year. This year finishes on Tuva Shvat. So it's well known what the Rambam paskens brings the halacha in Hilchos Gerushin that if you have a person who's Machayim Adin to give a get, you're allowed to attack them, you're allowed to be Ma'akenoisa, you can hit them. Until he says I want to give the gift How is this not a forced gift? The answer is the Rambam says every single yid be emes wants to do the ratzon Hashem.
So lechaim Teshuvah should give us the koach to always do the ratzon Hashem And not just to speak about Avi Zisrael, but to live Avi Zisrael. I want to say thank you, my new friend Rabbi Fordham, who invited me to come tonight to Tavren with the chevrah in the English. Division of Chabad of Neve Shemir. We split it exactly in the right way to make sure nobody's offended. Baruch Hashem. I don't know how you got to me. I think Lubavitcher is like I was from you. That makes more sense. I think Lubavitcher is like when they chop one, it's like oh, we got to let back, like he likes Kesidus, so we chop them in. I have no idea we're talking about. If you would have told me. In the '80s, when I was in 770 for Shabbos, I met the Rebbe when I was a little boy.
If you had told me on those Shabbosos that one day I would be farbringing with the chevrer over here on every single possible level, I don't think I would have believed it. I'll share with you. I did. I was lucky to meet the Rebbe on several occasions. Some beautiful stories with my family and the Rebbe. But I'll just share with you the first time. I think it was the first time I met the Rebbe when we would go to Crown Heights for Shabbos. So my father would always dress like he wasn't from So to see how many Lubavitchers would try to be makay of him over Shabbos. So that Shabbos he was wearing a cowboy hat. He wore a cowboy hat to seven seventy. And they put us. The Rebbe used to walk back to his office after davening. He used to walk back in the same way every single time, so they put the guests on the line where the Rebbe would walk. This way, when the sea split, you would be like on the goul of the Yam over there. You'd be like Mammash on the border. I was a little boy, and the Rebbe is walking by us.
And the Rebbe sees my father wearing his cowboy hat, and he goes like this: he does it twice. He did the Rebbe move twice. So my father turned to my cousin, and he goes, "I think I just got ejected from the game." I think that was the first time I met the Rebbe. To think that a boy who grew up in five towns in a miznagdashi yeshiva would be in Eretz Yisrael, fabreging with the chevra on Yud Shvat—I think everybody would have said that that's a miraculous event in and of itself. The Rebbeinu Shlom had fascinating plans. It's certainly good to be here with the chevra. I didn't ask Hirschel's for this, and now that my fourth stepdad, I guess I don't have to ask Hirschel's for this. But I just want to dedicate this shmuu, the shir, whatever we're calling it, the svarbrenyan, To three people, all from one family: Avram Hershakayin ben Rachel Bluma Sossi Asara bas Marmol, Yitzchak Arna Kayin ben Leah Rivka. And you'll see why it's chashuv dafkav these three people at the end of the shir.
We're already holding by the auras of Bishalach So to say over some Torah from the Rebbe in Parshas Bishalach Maybe we'll split it into two parts. We'll say one shtikal Torah, we'll leave it off with a question. Maybe we'll sing a little bit more, and then we'll say the second part. So Pasuk in this week's Parshas Vayimra Moshe Laam Moshe Rabbeinu said to kal Yisrael, "al tiro" Don't be afraid. Stand firm. See the Yeshua that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to bring for you today. Today is the last day that you're going to see Mitzrayim forever. There is a big shaila in halacha: if you're allowed to live in Mitzrayim, even visit Mitzrayim. The Rambam, the Ramban, and many others lived in Eretz Yisrael. The Gemara already talks about people living in Eretz Yisrael. What exactly was their hetter to live in Eretz Yisrael? It sounds like you're never coming back to Eretz Yisrael. Hashem yilachem lachem va'atem tacharish. Kadosh Baruch Hu will fight for you. You be quiet.
There's an amazing medrash. This mimer from the Rebbe is pretty famous. We're about to say over. There's an amazing medrash. There were four camps. Four responses as to what Klal Yisrael should do when they were standing at the banks of the Yam Suf. The first camp said, "It's a mass suicide event." We'll jump into the sea and we'll kill ourselves. He had the Mitzrayim coming after them. They were the superior army. We're going to have a mass suicide. The second camp said, 'The Medrash is: Let's return to Mitzrayim, surrender.' Survived in Mitzrayim for two hundred and ten years. We will survive longer. The third camp said, "If we're going to go down, let's go down fighting" To the last man. Whatever happens, happens. But at least this way, we'll exact our toll. And the fourth camp From camp, said, "Let's dive into Hakadosh Baruch Hu." To all of these four camps, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a response.
His yatsuvu uru'u as Yeshua Hashem. To those that said Let's have a mass suicide. Let's jump into the sea," Hakadosh Baruch Hu says,"His yatsuvu. Stand firm. Don't kill yourselves. You'll see, Yeshua Hashem is coming. To those that said, 'Let's surrender and go back to Mitzrayim' Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, 'Ki asher isam itz Mitzrayim ayom lo sosi v'lo roisam oyd adayvam. You're never going back to Mitzrayim. It's the end of Mitzrayim. You're never going back to Mitzrayim.' To those that said, "Let's fight" Hashem Yilachem Lachem You are not fighting. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is fighting for you. And to those that said, "Let's daven" Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "vaatem tacharishon." Quiet. This is not the time for davening. Rather, what should you do? Why are you calling out to me? Walk into the sea. You'll see what's going to happen. Is a shayla. If you think about it, This teretz that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives of Daberel b'nei Yisrael v'isso sounds very similar to the one that says, 'Let's just jump into the sea and commit suicide.'
It sounds like the same exact thing. What's the difference between the first group that says, 'Let's jump into the sea'? Mustama, what would have happened if they jumped into the sea? Mustama, the sea would have split. So they said, 'Let's jump into the sea to kill ourselves.' They would have jumped into the sea to kill themselves, but Mista, it wouldn't have happened. The Kodesh Baruch Hu would have made an ace, and in the end, that's exactly what Kodesh Baruch Hu tells them to do. What's the chiluk between these two things? The Rebbe said as follows And this really encapsulates in so many ways the Rebbe's hashkafa in terms of how we should see the world in modern times. All four of these voices very much apply to us in our times, in our way. When you look at the world, you'll see that people have these four responses to how to engage in the world. Because to some degree We're all finding ourselves on the precipice of the Yam, feeling like the Mitzrim are coming and feeling, in a certain sense, trapped.
Chaliz, what do we do? Aiyed has an avoda in this world. To be mashpiya on the world We are here, like it says in Tanya. To make for Hakadosh Baruch Hu a dira b'tachtonim. That's why we're here. That's the tafkid of every yid in this world, to transform this world, to impact this world, and to turn it into a dira b'tachtonim. That's the reason a yid exists. There are those that say that in today's modern times It's not shaykh It's not shaykh. To try to be mashpia on this sick, distorted world It's not Shaykh to do. And these people, they're very frum. And they say, "Let's throw ourselves into the sea." Let's throw ourselves into the sea. What do they mean by that? What they mean is Let's build enormous walls. Let's close ourselves in. Let's abdicate our mission of trying to be mashpia on the world. It's too dark.
The danger is too great. So let's close ourselves off. We'll go to yeshiva, shul, and mikvah, and we'll do chesed within our community. But the moment anybody attempts to look beyond the coastline of their own yeshiva, of their own community, you're already in tremendous danger. So let's abdicate our mission. Let's jump into the sea. We have no shyches to this world of trying to reach out to find other yidden to go other places. This is not what we do. Let's protect ourselves. And the truth is There is time for such a thought. The world is a dangerous place, and there is a value, in a certain sense, in protecting oneself. But to that, Hakadosh Baruch Hu responds and says, 'Hissya tzivu uro'u es yosru es Hashem.' Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't close up and protect yourself against the world. Don't abdicate the mission for which I created you, but there is a real mahalach like that in the world. We see that some yidden are taking that approach, and even we, to a certain degree, take that approach. But that cannot be the approach that a yid takes.
Then there's a second approach. The second approach we'll call the approach of submission. Return to Mitzrayim. Einichanami We have a hashkafa, we have a theology of Let's build for Hakadosh Baruch Hu a dear Rebbechtime But it's a very hard thing to do. I once heard it from a certain mashpia. He said it like this: 'It's hard to teach the world that there's a God when the world is trying to kill you. It's a hard thing to do.' Imagine a Rebbe in yeshiva. Again, you have a rambunctious Talmud. Say that you could try to reach that rambunctious Talmud. Chutzpah the Talmud. You could try to reach a chutzpah the Talmud. But if the Talmud is trying to murder you, it's a very hard thing. Now we have several educators in the room. It's a very hard thing to be mashpia on a Talmud who's trying to murder you. We say there's other things we could do. We're not saying that we don't have a mission of transforming the world. L'maisa, I can't do it. It's too hard. Let's live in Mitzrayim. What does live in Mitzrayim mean? Live in Mitzrayim means we'll daven with a minyan three times a day. Live in Mitzrayim means we'll set up yeshivas. Live in Mitzrayim means we'll go to mikvah.
But the reality is, I have to lower my expectations. It's not shyach for me to try to change Mitzrayim. You don't understand the paros that are in the world today. There's many paros in the world today. Everywhere we look, there's different paros. There's paros on social media, the hashkafas that the children are being indoctrinated with today. It's not impossible to reach them. So let's lower our expectations. To say there, we won't try to change the world, but we could at least do what we can. To say that I'm going to transform the world, that I'm going to turn Mitzrayim on its head and make Mitzrayim something that it's not—that's not the way we live. We live in a state of Mitzrayim. That's the second kid. And to that, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "No, you're never going back to Mitzrayim." There is no reality where a yid says, 'I'm lowering my expectations, the expectations, the ambitions.' The orientation of the yid must be that we are here to turn the world over.
That we're here to make a mappecha in the entire world. So that's also not our approach. Even though there are times where we might feel like lowering your expectations And maybe there are times even when it's an appropriate thing. I'm not going to be able to do everything all at once. These things take time. But for that to be our hashkafa, the Rebbe says that's not our hashkafa. Then there's the real frumus. The real frummers say, "Let's fight" Let's fight. Big kanoim Big kanoim Lining up on the streets, kol mined vayim. They're here to burn the world down. They say they don't care what happens. We're going to go down fighting. We see such people today. Well-intentioned, no doubt. And there's certainly a time to stand up and say "Mil Hashem elai." We draw a line and we go to fight. There's no doubt that there is such a movement.
But for that to be our orientation To fight against everything in the world, no matter what's happening There you see these people—they're in a stance; they're mamish, looking to take others down. Any threat that comes their way, they're looking for a fight. It doesn't mean, by the way, that they don't find the good fight to fight. There's certainly good fights to fight. I'm not here to say what's a good fight and what's not a good fight. There's certainly things worth fighting for. But to be a person who He walks out into the world with his hands up, guns ablazing, ready to take down anybody that stands in his way. You're talking before about the approach of Avi Yisrael Male B'Mitzvos Krimon But Zarenu. Not everybody has that hashkafa. Not everybody knows how to see another yid and see their beauty. Some people, all they can see is the The fact that some yidden appear to be in a state where they're not so malib mitzvos. These people mamish come out fighting. They're ready to make demonstrations. They're ready to burn garbages and kuminei dvayim. We don't need to get into it. It's not the time.
There are certain people. They're ready to watch the world burn, as they say. But this cannot be our approach. This cannot be our approach. That's not Hashem yilachen lachem. This is not the way a yid walks into the world. A yid doesn't walk into the world. Ready to knock others down And then there's maybe even frummer than that. There's the mespalim, the daveners. The daveners also, in a certain sense, throw their hands up and say "Who, who are we? Who are we? For me to make an impact on the world, it's not shaykh. I'm a human being, flesh and blood. It's not shaykh for me to overcome the entire world and for me to really make an impact. It's not shyek to do that. Who am I to do such a thing? In fact, they might even say these spiritualists. They might say, "Gaiva" It's gaiva. Who are you, a twenty year old kid?
We think sometimes. We meet the shluchim of the rebbe. We think we met them sometimes when they were in their thirties and forties and fifties. People that mamish made a big ma'pecha in the world, and we think say that they must have come when they were already adults. It's not true. Many of them came when they were children. They came when they were mamish kids, twenty years old, little babies, and they were thrown into these communities. And the rebbe said, "No, go make an impact." What did these kids know? And by the way, this is in the days before. Today, if you're a levavitcher shliach So the sefer is like a known thing. It wasn't a known thing when the frid tagrebe started sending out shluchim. It certainly wasn't a known thing when the rebbe expanded on the frid tagrebe's vision of sending these kids out all over the place. And by the way, it was very controversial at the time. It was very controversial. You're going to send these kids out, and they're going. You're going to send them to Sri Lanka. You're going to send them to Taiwan, and these people are going to actually have an impact. They were a big dilemma that criticized the Rebbe for. They even said, I don't want to use this word, but they said they used that word about the Rebbe. He was a machugner.
You're sending these kids out today. It's basically like if you go anywhere, your first phone call is to Labavitch. After all, how are you going to find kosher food when you're going on vacation? But today, it's pretty understood. The notion of being a shliach is an understood thing. But at the time, to go send people out, that's a crazy thing. Daven, you're not a person that could change the world. Daven, the Rebbeinu Shlom will change the rumors. They say Daven, and it's not your job. Let the Rebbeinu Shlom do this job. And to that, the Rebbeinu Shlom says, "No." Be quiet. It's not the time for your tefilas. Rather, what's Rebbeinu Shlom's answer? Daber el bnei Yisrael vayisol. Just do the next mitzvah. Just do the next mitzvah. You keep going. I don't know how it's going to work. That's not your responsibility. You have to keep going.
And this is the fundamental difference between the people that wanted to commit mass suicide and the Rebbeinu Shlom's answer of Daber el bnei Yisrael vayisol. Those people that wanted to commit suicide wanted to abdicate the mission of Dirbe b'Tachtayim and close themselves up. Their focus wasn't on impacting the world. In achanami, maybe they would have jumped into the sea and maybe they would have saved themselves by jumping into the sea. But for them, the sea doesn't split. For them, they jump in and are safely ensconced in the sea itself. That's their mission. They're safely ensconced in the sea. But for Nachshon Ben Amminadav And for all of us, it's Daber El Bnei Yisrael VeYisov. You go, and you're going to see unbelievable miracles are going to happen. Safe passage across the sea. You don't need to abdicate your mission of dirbatachtain. It's a beautiful Torah from the Rebbe in so many ways.
It really is. For those that study Chassidus, you know that you can draw a straight line, and I'm not sure that you can say this about every single sect in Klal Yisrael. You can draw a straight line from the Torah to the Ma'ase. When it comes to Chabad Chassidus, you can draw a straight line from the Torah to the Meis. You see how the Torah lived itself in action. A lot of times, it's for those that learn both the Torah of the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe. So you can almost see over the course of seven generations of Chabad how these initial kernels of idea and Tanya. Played themselves out over time, ultimately coming into its richest, fullest expression in the world of action. Seven generations later There's no question in my mind that when the outer rebbe said that whole Torah of Dir BeTachtanim That the natural progression of that, of course, it wasn't seen until the free of the rebbe and then expanded upon by the rebbe. But there's no question in my mind that when the outer rebbe said Dir BeTachtanim, this is exactly what he meant. Mam is exactly what he meant—that there should be shluchim all over the world.
But I have a question. I have a question. It's a Mordechai Berg question. I'm not sure it's a good question, but it's a Mordechai Berg question. Where's the confidence from? Where's the confidence for a person to stand at the banks of the Yam Suf and to be able to say Daber El Bnei Yisrael Vayiso? How do you know? Because Taka, I think the criticisms In a certain sense, logically It could be. I don't want to say anything to be mezazel chas v'shalom. But it could be that the criticisms of this approach of Dabriel bnei Yisroel vayisso were more compelling than the inspirational approach of Dabriel bnei Yisroel vayisso. As if, if it was me, ani akatan. And somebody comes to me and they say, "David, El Bnei Yisrael vayiso." It's a very nice thing to say. It's a very nice thing to say. But lemaiz, the danger is very real.
I probably, if it was me, in the forties and the fifties and the sixties, and these things were being developed, would have found myself in any one of the other camps. And we have to see that those camps, in many ways, have had their successes. There's no doubt about it. If you go into certain communities that built enormous walls with big posters on their walls, don't let anybody in and don't let anything out. Just do your own thing. In many ways, those communities have had tremendous success—not in building dery butachtainim—they've had tremendous success in maintaining a real, passionate observance of yiddishkeit. Could be that would have been in an approach I would have logically admired. You look at those that lowered their expectations. That makes sense too. They're not saying not to be frum. Minyan three times a day, learning. What am I supposed to do here?
To say that I'm going to turn the entire world over again? I would have for sure been the kid if I was there at that Faberheim when the Rebbe was screaming to mamish make a batecha in the entire world. For sure, I would have been caught up in the enthusiasm of it, the inspiration of it, and the charisma of it. But really Really, you want me to turn this world over? It sounds a little bit. I Chassid Shalom. I don't mean to say like this. It doesn't sound exactly rational. Also, isn't the Allah that you're not supposed to rely on? Could be. That's a good argument also. Could be. There's a good argument like that also. It certainly. I can understand and appreciate those that want to fight. I have something that I believe in, and I'm going to war with the world. I can get behind that.
There are times when we do fight. Today it's hard to know exactly where to draw those lines, but certainly there are times where a yid has to stand up and say Mila Shemayli. I could, and we see the success of those communities also. Again, not in diru but tachkayim, not on that level, but in terms of maintaining their community, it's very. Again, there's a certain excitement that comes with being a fighter. It's easy, in a certain sense, to raise a child to be a fighter. All you have to do is scream loud enough every single day that this usher. You'll galvanize people to get very excited about doing these fights. I can understand that. I can appreciate that. And certainly to Daven Certainly to Daven. That's also a very logical approach. I am flesh and blood. This world is flesh and blood. A material person cannot make an impact on a material world.
Let's Daven to the Rebbeinu Sholm. It's the Rebbeinu Sholm's problem. You started this. The Rebbeinu Sholm is the one that created the world. Let the Rebbeinu Sholm finish it. All of those approaches, in a certain sense, are more logical at first glance than the approach of Dabriel bnei Yisrael vayisov. And yet There's no doubt that the Rebbe was right. There's no doubt that Dabriel bnei Yisrael vayisov worked. It continues to work. I remember when the Rebbe passed away. I was still young, but I remember when the Rebbe passed away. Everybody predicted the show's over. Everybody said, "That's it. That's it. There's no more. There's no more chabad chassidus." The rebbe was such a charismatic person. The chassidim were so buckled to the rebbe. They had no. They and by the way, nobody outside of the world of Crown Heights believed that there was going to be labavichers in twenty years or in thirty years or in forty years. Nobody thought that there would be the explosion of shluchim all over the world. Nobody thought that there was going to be this level of afatza of the rebbe's Torah and chassidus in general.
Today, a person cannot walk into a beis medrash without encountering chassidish asfarim. Tanya has become ubiquitous. Wherever you go, you find people learning Tanya. Nobody predicted this, and today could be that in certain sects, the world of Lubavitch is still controversial, and yet it's controversial until you find yourself on a plane making an emergency landing in Greece an hour before Shabbos, and you have nowhere else to turn. And at the end of that Shabbos, it's not controversial anymore. I remember several years ago I was on a plane. I don't remember who the shliach's name was, but he had a very cool shliachus. His shliachus was that he took all the people from the Israeli army that were amputees. All the people that had lost limbs. He was the shliach of this rehab center. And he was the one being with them in this rehab center, and I'm on a plane going to America.
And one of them was in my seat. One of these chavra was in my seat And I say this nicely, I'm like a nasty flyer. I fly a lot and am not interested in being kind to the person next to me. There are certain people that get on a plane and sit down. They just want to be friends with the person sitting next to you. I get on a plane. I want to go to sleep. I'm very morbid. A window seat. I'm fast asleep. I have work to do the next day. These trips are very hassle. I have no interest in being kind to anybody. It's sort of my own midos. And I get to the seat and somebody's in my seat. And this person says to me, "Would you mind if I just took the window seat?" This is a very big ask. You want me to sit in the ILC, like it's not a middle seat, okay? But it's an ILC. In my world, I'd much rather ask you to get up for me to go to the bathroom than for you to ask me to get up for you to go to the bathroom. And I have nowhere to lean.
And I'm about to say to this guy, there's no chance this is happening. Miss Labavitcher behind me just taps me on the shoulder, and he says to me I just want to explain to you this whole chaver, this section of the plane, they're all amputees from various wars. And I'm taking them to Disney World as the Chabad shliach of this rehab. I'm like, come on, man! I really wanted that window seat. You gotta make me feel bad about myself. Now I'm surrounded by the biggest tzaddikim. I always look when I'm on a plane. I always look to see. Who else is on the plane? The Rebbeinu is not going to take down the plane if there are certain other big people on the plane. That's I'm flying with Rav Asher Weiss. I'm pretty okay. I fly with certain Rashi yeshiva. This time of year when all the yeshivas are going to America to do b'chinas, I certainly know I'm okay because if the plane goes down, like half the yeshivas in Eretz Yisrael are going down. There's a big schostayra on that plane ride. I had no doubt we were going to be okay.
I was so jealous. I was so jealous. Here is a man who's mamish spending his life Going around learning tarot with these guys, not necessarily dati people. And what's the mitzvah for them? Mitzvah is like we're going to Disney World, and he's taking them on a whole trip and he's fundraising. By the end of the plane ride, I made a donation. Ended up paying for it. I lost my seat and paid for it. Let me just ask the question: Where did the Rebbe know this from? The Rebbe knew. Everybody else in the world disagreed. How did the Rebbe know Dabriel Bnei Yisrael? How did he know that it would work? Because it worked. It worked. You see, I think I read. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think I read that this past year Over a hundred thousand people attended Pesach Seder at Chabad worldwide.
Over a hundred thousand people—that's a crazy number. And somebody else said a not nice thing, how many people attended Starim in the more Litvish world. Besides that, overall, we don't feel like whatever. You know what I'm saying? It's achdis and klayusro, but it's a hundred thousand people from India alone. I heard that it was an enormous seder, all these backpackers going through India. How did he know? And when there was that fight a couple years ago, I'm sure some of the chaver remember. But in Tel Aviv, they wanted to make a law that minors couldn't put on tefillin with the shluchim that were out there putting tefillin. And what was the impact? The impact is that people are going to go, taka. We have to make sure that the labavishers don't push liach on these thirteen or fourteen year old kids. It was fakir. It was thousands of people, not necessarily observant.
They came out to the streets of Tel Aviv, and they were davka. There were lines of people putting on tefillin. And it was unbelievable. Ad kedekach, I won't say who, but a very, very choshev a litzbisherav wrote an article in a certain blog saying Chabad got it right. Chabad got it right. He said the entire time we were trying to be mekarv these people to keep Shabbos, to make brachos, to put on tefillin. He said they were just there saying Avos Yisrael. And the payoff was enormous because when they tried to pass that law, the entire community came out and showed how much they loved all these Lubavitchers. So he says we got it wrong and they got it right. How did the Rebbe know? How did the Rebbe know that in Bondi Beach the response after that horrific attack was going to be literally thousands of people coming to the beach to put on tefillah? I remember as a kid people making fun of it.
It's time you're putting on tefillah. Is anyone really having any kavanah? Maybe they're having inappropriate kavanahs. You're like. Rapping, by the way, these guys. If you ever see the videos of these Lebavitchers putting Tefillin on a guy who's running out of the subway, and they're running along with him. I don't know what yoga moves they're practicing, and Lebavitcher Chadarim, kids growing up, but it's unbelievable how fast they wrap Tefillin on these guys. And these videos go viral. You have Dave Portnoy wraps Tefillin, and every kid is forwarding that video on WhatsApp. How did the Rebbe know the Rebbe? Goes as follows: They avo bnei Yisrael b'taychayam by abasha. That klal Yisrael, when they actually went in to the Yam Suf So the Torah describes it. They went b'taychayam by abasha. They went into the sea, but on dry land. What does this mean? What's the significance of this?
Medrash says as follows: We are what's called an olam katta. Everything that exists in the world exists within us. There's two states of being. One state of being is called the abasha, the land. Another state of being is called to be someone who's a yam-oriented person, a mayim-oriented person. What's the difference between these two approaches? To be someone that lives on land, which is basically the state of humanity today. As we recognize that the Maisa were being sustained by the land But it's easy for us because we live above land. It's easy for us to become detached from the land. In fact, that's basically what we've done today. We've basically created a reality where everything is synthetic. The world is in a movement right now to try to move back to healthy eating. Today, I was told by a certain Rav in the OU. There's so many chemicals that are being used today in making the food that the biggest avoda right now in kashrus is to determine the kashrus of chemicals. The food is much less of a problem, but there's so much synthetic material in the food itself. You have to know what the halacha is of all that synthetic material. It's very easy for a person to detach themselves from the land. We don't live in the land.
Maseiin came when it comes to a fish. The nature of a fish is that, if they're out of the water, it's only for a moment. Most aquatic creatures spend their entire lives in the water. Because to be an aquatic creature is to identify with water as not only the source of life but life itself. There's no chilik. The fish cannot imagine himself being out of water. When a fish comes out of water, the moment they're coming out of the water, they're thrashing. Because they understand that to be out of the water is equivalent to death. Even in halacha, we see that this is the case. A person goes to mikvah So there's not allowed to be any chatzitza. But let's say the body of a fish attaches itself to a person while they're going to mikvah. What's the halacha? Did they go to mikvah or not?
Halacha is they went to mikvah because the body of a fish is not considered a chatzitza. It's considered like the water itself. Meaning they understand because this is their hikashrus to water as life itself. There's no chiluk between them and the water. To be a person that lives on land is basically to be a person who lives with the perspective of I exist. Detached from the Rebbeinu Shlom. I am like the pasuk says about Paro, liyahariva ani asisani. I'm the river. I made it Rebbeinu Shlom to be. To think that the Rebbeinu Shalom is the one that's giving me chayus in every single moment, that every single circumstance of my life, Hashgacha Pratis, Hakadosh Baruch Hu created that circumstance just for me in this moment—that's not the way we live our lives. Lameisa, a person lives in this world, and to a certain degree, we're driven by ego.
To be someone who lives by Yam To be someone who lives by Yam is the b'chena of Moshe Avin. That's why Meishabino was described as Kemen Amayim Mishisir. There's a big kasha that many of us had. Meishabino had other names, names that Amram and Yochaveh gave him. That he should be named by Basia is already like a very interesting thing. Again, if you're not going into the Kabbalah, that Basia was really Chava and that Meishabino was really other Marishon. That's why. He was that chilek. The Arizal says that Moshe Rabbeinu was the chilek of Adam Rishon that already did tshuva. That's why Adam Rishon, the Gemara says, did tshuva for one hundred and eighty years, and Moshe Rabbeinu came onto the scene one hundred and eighty years into Galus Mitzrayim, and that Chava really was a gilgal of. Basi was really a gilgal of Chava, and that's why when Chava gave to Adam Rishon to eat, she was masakin the chait of what she did by reaching out and pulling. And pulling Adomarishon back in, pulling Moshe Rabbeinu back in. That's why it says that Tishla has Amasa, Amasa is begematria Mavas. That's why the Medrash says that Basia didn't die after she did that because the Chet of Adomarishon was gaerimisa in the world. Once there was no, once she was misak in the Chet of Adom and Chavah, then she wasn't shy of that misa, so Basia didn't die.
And Paro is the Nachash Karmani. That's why the Navi says that he's Tanimagadol, he's mamish the equivalent of the Nachash Karmani. But if you don't get into all the Kabbalah of it If you don't Let's just say. It's a very strange thing that the daughter of Paro is named Moshe Rabenu. So it must be that this name of Kimeh Amayim Mishisu is saying something fundamental about the nature of Moshe Rabenu. What is it? Moshe Rabenu is the bechina of recognizing that all of his chayus is ach virach from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That everything ain't od mavaldo. There is nothing else outside of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's what makes Moshe Rabenu anav mikolad. He's one of Mikol Adam because he's constantly aware of the presence of the Rebbeinu Shlom being mechaya every single moment into existence. That without the Rebbeinu Shlom, the entire thing wouldn't just disappear in this moment, but it would be as if it never existed.
The Rebbe says this is what makes Moshe Rabbeinu one of Mikol Adam. He's totally God conscious. This is why Moshe Rabbeinu was zeiched, the Shechina being in the Beres P'tach Grah. A person who lives in that way of a total bittul to the rebanish shalom So there is no yeshuos, there is no meishar abenu that's speaking. When meishar abenu is speaking, the rebanish shalom is speaking. It's mamish the same thing. That's why the gemara talks about how when the neshama of meishar abenu was being called back to Shamayim, the neshama of meishar abenu saw no reason to go, even when the malacham av said, 'There's a space under the kisei covered for you,' and the neshama said, 'Okay.' No, it's not interesting to me to be in a space under the kiseh akav. But I'm already in Moshe Rabbeinu's body. Moshe Rabbeinu's body was so rectified; there was such a teak on there. There was no chiluk between the kiseh akav and Moshe Rabbeinu's body. Meilu the neshama saw no reason to leave until Mamish the Malchamav said, 'we're getting out of here anyway.'
But the neshama could not logically be convinced to move because there was no yashas. There was no Moshe Rabbeinu and Hashem. All there was Hakadosh Baruch. This is what it means to be min hamayim. This is the bracha that Yaakov Avinu gave to Menashe and Avraham. Vayidgu laroiv bekeret haaretz. Vayidgu from the Russian of dag to swarm like fish Where bekeret haaretz to take that bchinah of mayim of total hiskashros total his batlas to the Rabbanim Shlomo But to live on the land. That was the bracha that Yaakov Avinu gave to take that vision. There is a rabbanis shalom in this world. Ain od malvado mamish. And to bring that the keriv ha'arutz. This was the b'chena that Klal Yisrael had reached. That were at once in this state of total God consciousness. We were mamish living in the yam, and yet were on the avosha.
But still, we could ask. Still, we could ask. Why is that? Why is that so special? Why is that the goal that I should live b'taychayam by abasha? Why isn't it enough to live b'taychayam? Why do I need to take b'taychayam and then live by abasha? Why can't I just live on a mountaintop in Tibet, totally God conscious, totally aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in my life and not do anything else? Why do I have to now go onto the dry land? Because that's clearly what the pasuk is emphasizing. It's not enough to be b'taychayam. It could be that Rebbeinu Shlom made a nase that we walked through the Yam and we became aquatic creatures. It could be that there was such a mila. Maybe we would have grown gills. It could see a magush like that. We grew gills and we walked through. But that's not what the pasuk says.
It's b'toychayam by abasha. There's clearly an emphasis on the fact that we were by abasha. The yidgul arrived, but the karafer arrived. There's no vision here of a Yidgul Arav without artists. What exactly are we learning over here? I want to share with you what I think really makes Chabad Torah so special. What I think the Friedecker Rebbe knew, and what the Rebbe knew And what they transmitted to us, and how it impacts our obligation today. Not only do I want to share with you. The Torah, but at the end of this Torah, you're going to see. I'm going to share with you a story. This is the story. The reason I'm giving over this Torah And it's the reason why, at the very beginning of the She'er, I dedicated the She'er to those three Rifuishalims. But it's a little bit deep. It's a little bit deep. So I hope you'll come with me on this, because it's not so easy.
When the Rebbe was Makabel. Responsibility when he became the nasi on Yud Shvat, which was the yard side of the Friederker Rebbe. The Friederker Rebbe had finished with this mimer, his famous mimer of Basi Lagan. And in the most poetic Gorgeous, beautiful way The Rebbe picked up a year later on the yard side of the Friederker Rebbe. Where the Friederker Rebbe left off. Which, in so many ways, I think a person, if they wanted, could probably write a book on just what that one move meant. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the Rebbe made that decision. When the Rebbe made the decision, because it's really everything. If you really understand what the Rebbe said when he said his expression of Bashi Lagani as the hemshchik of what the Friedecker Rebbe did, the decision was not only poetic; it was brilliant.
To see himself as the hemshchik of all the six dares that came beforehand I'm sure many of you. I hope you had the opportunity to learn chassidus before them, and I'm confident that bashi legani would be the beginning of what we would teach. In that mimer The rebbe said as follows: The medrash in Shir Ashirim. Says Iker Shchina b'Tachtonim. Iker Shchina b'Tachtonim. Shaila is what does Iker Shchina mean, and what does Tachtonim mean? So Iker Shchina means, again, I'm cutting to the chase. It's certainly much longer than this, and it's much more complicated than this. But Iker Shchina means the Atzmos of Hashem The divine essence of the Rebbeinu Sholom. The most essential aspect of Hakadosh Baruch Hu prior to any decision to create the world, prior to any notion of tzimtzum, just atzmos itself, Hashem's essence. That's what ikur shchina means. There are different levels of shchina, but ikur shchina means the essence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself.
Tachteinim means our material world. That's what tachteinim means. Our material world. Again, I'm not going through all the riyas of how. How the Rebbe works it out, but that's what Tachtayim means. Tachtayim means the material world. When Adam and Eve sinned That separated Ekor Shchina from Tachtayim And there were seven sins that took the Shchina upwards. And then from Avram Avinu to Moshe Abinu, the Shchina was brought back down until the seventh level, which is when Moshe Abinu was Makabel the Teyr. It restores Ekor Shchina to Tachtayim. It restores Atzmos. To tachtonim is a very difficult thing to understand over here, which is basically like this: How could it be that atzmos, the essence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu Is it naturally found in tachtonim? It sounds like from the Medrash that the most natural place for ichur shrina is in tachtonim. Adam Rishon's sin begins the process of ascent of the Shechina removing itself from Tachtonim, but fundamentally, Iker Shechina is found in Tachtonim.
This is an unbelievable thing to think about—that the essence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not found in the Oyla Masal Yainim. But the Iker Shechina is found in Tachtonim. This is a revolutionary idea when you start to think about it, and it changes the orientation. When a person really understands this idea, you'll see that it changes the entire orientation of where and how a person serves the Rebbeinu Shlomo. It's certainly true that without understanding this mimer of Basu LeGani, you don't understand how Chabad became the way it became. If you understand this one move You'll understand everything that flows from it. How could it be that Iker Shchin is betachtain? To understand this, let's dive a little bit deeper into Chassidus. There's something called atzmos, and there's something called giluyim. There's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence, and then there's Hakadosh Baruch Hu in a revealed state.
A giluy basically means an aspect of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that is revealed. And the elamim say elyainim, like it says in Tanya There are malachim that live on those spiritual planes, and they are very aware of the revelation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that exists on those spiritual planes. So we would think that in a state of gilui, they see Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But the emes is, and this is the tifkay A gilui in a certain way is really a concealment of Hashem. Even though it's a revelation of Hashem, it's a concealment of Hashem. Why? Because in order to reveal Hakadosh Baruch Hu on that spiritual plane, there has to be a symptom. There has to be a contraction, a uretha of that R. So the original pristine R of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in order for it to be revealed on that spiritual plane, so that whatever spiritual creatures live on that spiritual plane could receive that R, has to have a symptom. All the lights that are here in this room are undergoing a symptom, which is how we're able to sit in this room without any of the cover, without any of the contraction, without any of the urea. That would be very uncomfortable to sit in this room.
So we're mitzamsame that R in order that we could see this R. There's a paradox here, which is that the giloi In a certain sense, it is really the concealment. The giloi is the hester. So when we look at the spiritual worlds where Hakadosh Baruch Hu is revealed Those are really you read those of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's are. Those are symptom of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's are. So from that perspective Because these spiritual planes represent a descent They cannot be the objective of creation. The objective of creation cannot be found in a place where Hakadosh Baruch Hu is concealed. That wouldn't make any sense. But if that's the case Then how can our world of tachtonim How can our world be the place where Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be revealed? In other words, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu says in the aylamay se elyainim
Where my or has a revelation, but that represents a yirida that represents a symptom, I don't want to be found there. And Kalvachaimer, our world, which is the ultimate tachkainim, the ultimate low material world, which doesn't have any giloi, how could that be the place where Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "I want to have giloi with tachkainim"? The place where there's no revelation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. In order to understand this, we need to understand a Torah from the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said at the end of his life Very radical idea. Why the Alter Rebbe only said it at the end of his life is also a big conversation, but not for now. The Alter Rebbe said at the end of his life as follows: There's something called the Seder Histalshlus. Seder Histalshlus means the symptom of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's R, the contraction of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light.
That ultimately becomes the world. The Alter Rebbe said, Symptom only applies to the Eilam HaSe'aliyinim, the refraction of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light. It's only for the Eilam HaSe'aliyinim. Our material world. Does not come from the seder histaalshlus. Rather, our material world is rooted in atzmaut itself. That our material world comes directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence, not from the refraction of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light. Why? It goes like this. No matter how many times I refract Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light. It cannot become the material world. In the same way that La Marshal. Let's say I was making a statue. So I have a block of marble in front of me. No matter how many times I chisel away at that marble, it will never become a fruit. It's not possible for it to become a fruit because it's not the substance. The spiritual worlds are spiritual. Spiritual, by its definition, cannot become physical.
So no matter how many times you refract the spiritual world, it will never result in the material world, which leaves us with a tremendous question: Where does the material world come from? Because if the material world does not come from the symptom of Akavish Baruch Hu's R, because no matter how many times I refract the spiritual world, it will never become physical. How does the physical world come into being? Says the Alter Rebbe as follows: Atzmos. It is beyond all categories. There's nothing we could say about Atzmos. Atzmos doesn't have anything that you can't say about Atzmos that it's finite. You can't say about Atzmos that it's infinite. You can't even say about Atzmos that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a creator. Atzmos is beyond all categories. If Atzmos is beyond all categories, that means that Atzmos is even beyond the categories of Yesh and Ayin.
It's even beyond the category of spiritual and material. From the perspective of Atzmos. Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists. In what way? It's impossible to know. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists. Atzmos exists. With this in mind, we understand what it means that our material world was created. Yesh meayin, something from nothing. How could something come from nothing? The only way that something could come from nothing is if we go beyond all created categories. To Atzmos, there's no such thing as something and nothing. All there is the Rav Nachshon's essence. So our material world, and this is the big move. If you understand this, you understand everything. Our material world is rooted in Hashem's atzmos, which means that our world doesn't have giluyim. There is no refraction of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's light. When you look at our material world and you see none of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you should know it's because it's rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos.
Meaning dafka in our material world. Is where Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos is found, not in the Eilam HaSael Yonim. That's why the Eilam HaSael Yonim are not interesting to us. It's not interesting to go to a mountaintop in Tibet and meditate all day and ascend to the higher worlds. It's not interesting to us because that's maybe where you're going to find Hakadosh Baruch Hu in a state of giloy. But we're not interested in Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the state of giloy. We're interested in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos. It's like the equivalent. I'm not interested in anything about my wife. I'm interested in my wife. I'm interested in my wife because I'm interested in my wife. I want to know things about her. But the yachas is between me and her, not the things about her. That's why, in an unhealthy relationship, I'm not in a relationship with my wife. I'm in a relationship with things about my wife. If the chasru shel and those things fall away, then what yachas do I have to my wife anymore?
But if you're interested in your wife, then beseder about up down lomoshaneh. Sometimes the marriage is better. Sometimes the marriage is worse. I'm interested in you. This answers a very big kasha. Why does our world appear as if it's totally divorced from the Rebbeinu Shlom? If what we're saying is true, that our world is rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos, I know this is heavy on the Chasidus, but it's worth it. If our world is rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos, how come our world is so distant from Hashem? How come when you look at our world, it's like paro aniva afsiot? It's just me. The world doesn't proclaim itself to have a creator, despite all of the proofs of Hashem. You look at a table, you don't see God. You look at a cup of water, you don't see God. How come? The teretz is this world bears the mark of its maker.
This world, because it's rooted in Hashem's atzmos, acts just like Hashem acts. Since Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "I am the Yeshua Amiti, I am the true existence. So our world" Which is rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's atzmos, it does exactly like its maker. It says, "I am the true existence." So when we look at our world and we don't see anything that's godly about our world, you should know that's not a flaw. That is the Rebbeinu Shlomo speaking. That's the Rebbeinu Shlomo saying, "I exist." So the world, which is rooted in Him, says, "I exist." So there's an unbelievable irony when a person gets up and they say they proclaim their own existence. They proclaim their own ego. A yid has to look at that and go, "That's the Rebbeinu Shalom." That's the Rebbeinu Shalom. That was this week's parsha. Kol d'var who says bo el paro, even bo el paro lech el paro.
Kol D'var who says when you look at Paro, you don't see me. Paro says Lea Ariva Ani Asi Soni. It's my river. I made the river. I am my own creator. Comes along. Al Kiddush Baruch Hu, and he tells my Shabenu Bo El Paro. You should know in the space of that ego, that's me. Why do you think Paro has that ego to begin with? Paro has that ego because he's acting just like me. Our physical world appears to hide Al Kiddush Baruch Hu because it's rooted in Al Kiddush Baruch Hu's atzmos. Which means as follows: this world is deeply misunderstood Deeply misunderstood. When the Mishnah Avos says Ha'olam Hazedayim le'Prosdar That our world is compared to a hallway Haskin Atzmon Chav Prosdar, that they should Tikkunis le'Traklit, prepare yourself in the hallway in order to go into the palace. We make a mistake, and we think, and the Rebbe corrected us. But for generations, we made a mistake and thought this world is a hallway. It's not the Iker.
The Iker thing is to get to the palace. Why would I want to spend my time in the hallway? The Rebbe totally changed the way we understood this Mishnah. The hallway is the palace. You have to draw from Oyelam Haba into this world. This world is the hallway which just gets you to the trackland. This world is the palace. This hallway is the palace. These big drushes. I'm not going to get into these big drushes right now, but it's the only thing that makes sense. To say that this world is the Yeshua Amiti, that this world is rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Atzmos, it's not where you're trying to get to. It's right now in this moment, rooted in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence. This is Tachtayim. This is what Tachtayim really is. Tachtayim is the Rebbeim Yisraelim's Atzmos. What's the Nafgamina? The Nafgamina is where you want to be?
B'tochayam Or b'tochayam by Yabasha. If you want to be b'tochayam If you want to be in that state of Moshe Rabbeinu and you just want to be ensconced in the spiritual world You don't understand what Yabasha really is. You don't understand dry land. A person says, 'Why in the world would I want to be on dry land? Why would I ever want to be an egomaniac thinking that I could be divorced from Chaius itself?' Why would I ever want to live like that? Because that's where Atzmos is. I want to have the clarity of Moshe Rabbeinu, the Anivus of Moshe Rabbeinu, that comes from the Yam, totally ensconced in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Chaius. But I don't want to see that in the Yam because in the Yam it's obvious. But I want to take that and draw it. Kimein Amaya Mishisio. I want to draw that into Yabasha.
I want to go into the places that are the least godly places because dafka in the least godly places is where we find the kodesh baruch hu. It's not a joke when we say geula minus the aleph is gola. Golas and geula are the zelbazach. They're the same exact thing. If you think that golas and geula are two separate movements, then you don't understand what golas is. Gallus is a heichatim to the geula. It's the same thing. Gallus is the rebbeinu shalom waiting to be discovered. Dafke in gallus, dafke in the place of the ego. That's exactly where you find the rebbeinu shalom. Don't be afraid to go there. Don't be afraid to go into gallus. Gallus is not a punishment. That's why, well before Klali Yisrael sent, Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Avraham Avinu by the bris mina bizarim, you're going into gallus. Why am I going into gallus? Because that's where atzmos is found.
If you just live in Giluyim, you're only living in refracted R Davka in Gullis. That's where Atzmus is. The whole Avoda is to bring that Aleph out in Gullis, to reveal that Gullis and Geula are the same thing. It's not that I leave Gullis and I go to Geula. When I discover the inner nature of Gullis, that is Geula. It's the same exact thing. Which means that our job is not to transform the world into something that it's not. It's to reveal what it actually is. So this is how we stay hopeful Because when the entire world is screaming, you know how dangerous the world is. Close up shop Build very big walls. Don't let anything in. Don't let anyone out. When some people say surrender, submit, lamaisa, the world is what it is. Other people say we got to fight the world. Other people say we have to daven. All of those approaches, on some level, are a failure to understand what the world actually is. What you think is the danger—that's where the rebbeinu shalom is found. So dabrul bnei yisrael vayiso—it's the only possible answer. That's what gave the rebbe this unbelievable confidence, because the rebbe understood something we didn't get.
He understood the nature of the world. He wasn't afraid of the world, because in the place of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's absence, that's dafka where you find the rebbeinu shalom. It's dafka in the mundane spaces of the world that you have the opportunity to elevate the world. In those places where the world mamish feels like everything is about to fall apart, and I'm stuck between the yam and the mitzrim that are coming Perfect. Dabriel bnei Yisrael vayiso. This is the work. Just do another mitzvah. How do I know it's going to work? Because that's the nature of the world. The world is yearning more than we can possibly understand. The world is yearning to reveal itself. It doesn't want to be the way that it is. The world knows better than we know that it's yearning for the Rebbeinu Shalom to reveal itself because it's the nature of the world. It's like the addict that hits rock bottom. The Nefesh LeKiss always wanted the addict to go to rehab.
It's when the Nefesh Abahamis says, "I want to go to rehab." Now you know the true nature of the Nefesh Abahamis because the Nefesh Abahamis is miserable behaving the way it's behaving. It doesn't want to do that anymore. It's sick of itself because it knows that it's rooted in the Hakadosh Baruch Hu's Atzmos. In 1940 The Fyodor Dzyuba arrived on the shores of America Physically a broken man. He was tortured by the Russians. And he fought the Russians like crazy. I think anybody else in the world would have given up on the conditions that Fyodor Dzyuba faced. Any one of us would have given up. He was imprisoned. He was sentenced to death. It was a miraculous way that he recovered and was able to be released. And ultimately, running away from the Nazis, he landed on the shores of America in the spring of 1940 in a wheelchair. He was a broken man.
Everybody said America is a Trefa Medina. The Trefa Medina. Non c'è modo di servire Hakadosh Baruch Hu in America. And when the Friederikerba arrived on the shores of America, he said, "America's nishd andrish." America is not different. How do you know that America is nisht andersh? Everybody in the entire world was saying America is a treifa medina. If you say America is a treifa medina, what's the fridah kerabba going to say? That's dafka where we're going to find. It's nisht andersh. It doesn't matter if you're in Russia, Poland, or Ukraine. Adrabu. We see now that the world is having this unbelievable afazza. That now we're going to Australia. Now we're going to France, and now we're going to America, and now we're going to South America. We're going to Canada. There has to be the Safat, so that's after where we're going to find the Ganishah. And the Friedecker Rebbe said, 'Daber el bnei Yisrael vayiso.'
Now, what I'm about to tell you, I did not know until Friday when the Friedecker Rebbe landed on the shores of America. At the pier to greet him was a young Eighteen-year-old man whose name was Shalom Ber. There was also a young girl at the pier whose name was Miriam. On the day that the Alter Rebbe, the Friedecker Rebbe said, 'Da'aber el bnei Yisrael vayisow,' in America's Nishdandish He also started a yeshiva. Started yeshiva the first day that he was in America. That's pretty incredible. Today, if a person wants to start a yeshiva, they first have to fundraise millions of dollars to get it started. The fridah karev said, "Dabriel bnei Israel." So we're starting a yeshiva. This boy Shalom Ber was so inspired that he joined the yeshiva on that day. He was one of the first bachurim to join the yeshiva. This girl Miriam, who was there She was so inspired. She said, "I'm going to be the fridah karev shlucha."
"Whatever the fridah karev wants from me, I'm in." She was so inspired by the fridah karev. Two years later This young bachur Shalom Ber was sent. To Newark, New Jersey, to start a yeshiva. He and Miriam ultimately became married. This is Rishalom Ber Gordon and his wife, Rabbitson Miriam Gordon. And they went to Newark, New Jersey. And that's where they met my family. Who was located in Newark, New Jersey. My uncle Saul His family, his father Became close with the Gordons, even though my uncle Saul wasn't from. They became close with the Gordons. And his son Saul's son Allen Who is now Avram Hirsch Hakayin Ben Rachel Bluma, who should be zaychad to Ravushleima He became from through the Gordons. His daughter Sossia Saro Bas Marmol should also have a refuah shleima. And his grandson Yitzchak Arnaquayin Ben Leirivko, who also needs a serious refuah shleima.
They're off from today because they're free at the Kerebbe. Came to the shores of America and said America is Nes Chanderstabriel Ben Yisrael Veisrael. My mother came from because of her cousin Alan. And she went to the Gordons. She went to the Gordon Meshechba in Crown Heights for her first Shabbos when she met the Rebbe when she was fourteen years old. This is not hashkafa. If a person learns the Torah of Chabad and thinks that they're learning a hashkafa, then they're fundamentally missing the point. It wasn't a hashkafa. It's a way of life. Dabral bnei Yisrael vayisow was a way of life. When the frid de kerebu washed up on the shores of America, a physically broken man, he said Dafke here. And when Rabbi and Rebbetzin Gordon met him at the pier And were inspired by his message, they took on that lifestyle of America's nishtandrish, Dafke here, Dabral bnei Yisrael vayisow.
And because they did that, my family is from today, and I'm here today. And imagine if somebody had said Let's just build walls. Let's just protect ourselves. Imagine if somebody would have said, "Beseder, we can do our best, but Loisad Smitzrayim." Imagine if somebody had gone to war with the world in that moment. Imagine if somebody had just davened Which is not Chassidish to be mezahusel in tefillah. But unless you go to Newark, New Jersey, and find that yid, my family wouldn't be here, and I certainly wouldn't be here. So it's a big schuz to be bringing you on Yud Shvat in the schuz of the free at the Rebbe. In the schuz of the Rebbe who took this mission of b'toychayam by Abasha that atzmos is found dafka and tachtanim. We should be zeicha to unbelievable hafatzah. We should be zeicher to see all the mayanus of the Torah of the Balshem of the Torah of Chabad Chassidus continue to spread throughout the entire world, and we should be zeicher to greet Mashiach Tzvukenu right now.
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