Weekly Story: Continuing the Farbrengen
by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon
Quite often in a farbrengen the Rebbe mentions that Shabbos is the culmination of the entire week, and therefore he continued discussing the concept which he had said in the farbrengen that week. As a continuation to the thoughts that I posted last week for Yud Tes Kislev, (which was only posted on Yud Tes Kislev) I will add another thought that I mentioned during farbrengens celebrating this momentous day, and heard from others some additional thoughts on it as well.
As always your feedback is greatly welcomed and appreciated.
As is well known while the Rebbe Rashab said a maamar before kabbalas shabbos quite often, he farbrenged with chassidim three times a year: Simchas Torah, Yud Tes Kislev and Purim. On other occasions, he sometimes joined a farbrengen that was going on in his sons’ apartment and a select group of chassidim.
However, due to his health issues, he wasn’t always able to be in Lubavitch on these days. So when the chassidim knew that the Rebbe would be away, some of them would travel to the city he was in to participate in the farbrengen. However, when they thought that he would be in Lubavitch, numerous individuals and groups came from towns and villages, near and far. After all, each one of these three days are special days, and to be able to spend the day in the Rebbe’s presence, enhances the commemorations of the day.
In the year 5662(1902), the Rebbe Rashab was in Moscow for an extended time until he finally resolved the situation and received a guarantee from the ministers and government officials that there will be a swift response in case there will be another pogrom against Jews. Being that it was ‘resolved’ the chassidim thought that the Rebbe will return to Lubavitch for Yud Tes Kislev and will farbreng, so many of them traveled to Lubavitch.
When they arrived in Lubavitch they found out that the Rebbe had decided to remain in Moscow as he wanted to prevent the pogroms from happening in the first place. This was a tremendous letdown for them, but then they heard that the Rebbe had sent a letter to his son, as his participation in the farbrengen, which he was to read in public and that elevated everyone’s spirit.
In 5703 the Frierdiker Rebbe instructed our Rebbe to publish a booklet with a saying or thought for each day, and five months later the Rebbe published his Sefer Hayom Yom. As an introduction to Hayom Yom, the Rebbe quotes the above-mentioned letter of the Rebbe Rashab, where he writes that Yud Tes Kislev is Rosh Hashanah for Chassidus.
Reading that letter, something glaring stands out. Not once is it mentioned that this is the day the Alter Rebbe was released from his imprisonment, and that is what we are celebrating. Rather the Rebbe Rashab writes “It is the day that our souls were redeemed and the light and vitality of our souls were given to us.”
In other words, we are not (merely) commemorating the Alter Rebbes release 223 years ago, which is worthy to celebrate, but we are celebrating something much more; we are celebrating something personal, something that happened or is happening to us right now.
This is the day that our souls are being redeemed and the light and vitality of our souls are being given to us.
This is saying, that we are being given the tools to unshackle ourselves from the darkness of the exile and the powerful influence the Satan/Yetzer Hora might otherwise have on us.
I heard someone express this thought in the following manner. In the song that Moshe Raibeinu and the Jews said when they walked through the sea, they exclaimed “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him, and He is the G-d of my fathers and I will exalt Him.”
Some commentaries explain that in essence the first part of this saying is being repeated to emphasize it and that is the style of a poet to repeat himself. However, others say while this is true, there is what to learn from the wording chosen to express this sentiment.
At the beginning of the possuk Moshe said This is my G-d and I will glorify Him. The Hebrew word for glorifying Him is v’anveyhu, which can be divided into two words, ani vihoo, which means I am with Him. This is imparting the sentiment that when a person feels, He is my G-d, then that person is connected to Him.
If however a persons’ approach is that this miracle happened to my ancestors, but it has no or very little relevance to my life, so then I will sing His praise and express my astonishment at how He did it and how great of a feat it was for my ancestors in those days, but I don’t see how relevant it is to me.
Therefore the Rebbe Rashab stressed in that letter, this fact that the Alter Rebbe [was released and] began expounding with greater clarity the teachings of Chassidus is not something that occurred years ago but is something that is happening now to us!
We are the beneficiaries of it and it is a precious gift that Hashem is presently granting us to enable us to free ourselves from our bondage to materialism and is an illuminating light that gives us the vitality to enable us to connect and be one with Hashem.
May we all appreciate the teachings of the Rebbeim and commit ourselves to add in the learning of Chassidus, both in quantity (time) as well as in quality, (striving to gain a clearer understanding of what we learned.
Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com
This weeks’ post is in honor of the birth of our granddaughter Chana bas Cheyena and Yehudah Leib, l’arichus yomim v’shonim Tovos and may her parents raise her l’chuppa, l’Torah and naasim tovim.
