Mishnayos and Audio: The Importance of Learning Mishnayos on Chof Beis Shvat

In honor of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka’s yahrtzeit, Yagdil Torah has released a pamphlet which includes full mishnayos for those who wish to learn it, expanded quotations on women’s part in Torah learning, and a short sicha from the Rebbe.

On the night of Chof Beis Shevat 5752 (1992), two bochurim in Crown Heights decided to publish a kovetz with the mishnayos for the name of the Rebbetzin for Chassidim to be able to use on the day of the yartzeit.

Pressed for time, the bochurim hurriedly took a copy of the kovetz that had been published the previous year, and printed photocopies of it, updating the date to 5752.

On the morning of Chof Beis Shevat the bochurim handed in a copy of the kovetz to the Rebbe’s secretariat. A short time later the secretary came looking for them with a message from the Rebbe: the mistake on the cover should be corrected. It turned out that of the three times the year was indicated on the cover, the bochurim had overlooked one of them and failed to update it from 5751 to 5752.

By this point it was too late to reprint the kovetz, so the decision was made to satisfy the Rebbe’s request by producing just one or two copies with the corrected date.

Years later, a photocopy of the Rebbe’s handwritten response to the kovetz came to light. The Rebbe had circled the mistake in the date and written: ‘correct this with a rubber stamp,’ and ‘express’, to indicate the urgency of the matter.

The attention the Rebbe paid to the kovetz and its corrections — even giving practical instructions about how to rectify the mistakes — seem to show that the Rebbe attached importance to its publication and derived satisfaction from its use.