Rabbi YY Jacobson - Gimmel Tammuz Farbengen With the Jewish Community of Argentina

when I share with you a story that I observed with my own eyes I did not hear it from somebody else have seen it myself however I did not know the meaning of the story until decades later the year was 1989 it was simplest IRA I was a yeshiva student at the time living in the Brooklyn in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn I grew up in the environment of the Lubavitch area of blessed memory whose 26th yard site the Jewish world is commemorating this evening simplest IRA Tov Shannon or Schmitz Simlish minute cerustop tional that holiday the end of Sukkot 1989 I was a young boy at the time how old was I I think 16 years old probably 16 years old 16 or 17 years old and I was there in 770 there ever was dancing the Huq office the joy was extraordinary the inspiration the enthusiasm generally dancing hik office would there ever onsh Minnie at Sarat and simplest Torah was an unforgettable experience I still can feel the energy and the electricity II in fact it was astounding then he remains a standing now rebel was then in his high 80s he danced and danced and danced teenagers couldn't keep a lot killer couldn't maintain that momentum that energy that ecstasy the middle of the dancing a drew walked in and I saw it because it was very close to the place where I was his name was Rabbi Yaakov you who the head they used to call them JJ JJ had rabbi JJ heft was a very well-known witch figure and personality in New York a rabbi a teacher he had a radio show very well-known activist social activist head of an organization called n CF je the National Committee for the furtherance of Jewish education somebody who dedicated his life for the Jewish people and for Jewish education and he was a close costed and disciple of the RIBA in fact he founded a wonderful organization known as mitzvah sha which means Wednesday our Kris part of the ncf je which means there were hundreds of thousands of Jewish children and public schools all over the United States of America beginning with New York and the government gave permission that one hour a week if the parents allow these children can have religious education after school they call it the Wednesday called it the Wednesday our rabbi happened in the 1940s it was an idea of the previous Labov ature ever the sixth lubavitcher rebbe incredible idea to go to every single public school with our Jewish children and teach them Yiddish guide one hour a week at least to give them something and they would make a party and bring mash and they would sing songs and then be you and these children a basic love and enthusiasm and appreciation for Judaism the started in the early 1940s I once heard from the Russia Shiva of Baltimore naiis throat ah by Yaakov Weinberg a blessed memory it was a son allure of Ruderman he said that he used to be one of the boys he would help her by JJ has organized this Wednesday hour and it continued for decades and decades more than seven decades and it still continues Wednesday the yeshiva boys get on a book out on buses and go to these public schools this was rabbi JJ hats work under the guidance and mentorship of their ever and so it's 1989 rabbi heft at the time was 65 years old he walks into the Huq office he didn't live in britain kromaggs he lived in East Flatbush he was the rabbi of a synagogue so yeah it was a nice long walk and he comes in and he's standing parallel to the river and the river was looking at the crowd celebrating dancing they were singing a very Levesque very powerful and and joyous melody there were maybe 10,000 people or more in the room in the shul in the synagogue legally probably only 2,000 people are allowed there maybe two and a half thousand three thousand but there were ten thousand people or more the vapor the heat was rising there was steam everywhere it was so packed I can't even describe it in words I'm thinking about how packed it was you like smashed like literally like sardines if you would drop a needle it wouldn't fall down to the floor that's how packed that was nobody half walks in he goes to his place and suddenly I see I'm looking at the Rebbe and I see there ever does something that I have never seen him do he throws a kiss publicly in middle over the dancing he goes like this mom and he throws the kiss and I turn around to see who was there ever kissing and I see her by gently had just walked in the middle of the dancing and the ribosome he threw him discus it was very weird because Hassidim don't even shake the rubbers hand certainly their own Kissin and here the Rebbe on his own or for this gesture and rabbi hat wasn't like a family relative he was a closet he was a kebab whole city was a a follower a student of disciple of their eben the Rebbe is suddenly throwing him in front of everybody this huge kiss with such a big smile on their Eva's face I knew that there's something behind it I saw their ever for many years there had the smile to people here couraged people that would go like this he empowered people he spoke to people I never saw him throwing a kiss to anybody and my during my years I knew that there's something deeper to the story I didn't know what that year that year in the summer in August and the 15th of of Rob I haven't among his projects he had still his children maintain a beautiful girls camp in the Catskill Mountains in New York called camp Pomona this is a camp that he founded under the leadership and guidance of the Rebbe and over the years since the 50s thousands and thousands and thousands of Jewish girls young girls went through the camp inspired educated and power to become proud Jewish humans Jewish mothers Jewish wives and Jewish patriarchs who create the continuity of Judaism it's a very very beautiful camp and it still exists my sisters went to camp emunah my nieces go to camp Ramona that year rabbi heft was in camp Emunah he made half dollar set and Ruby saw document held on to it and he passed away that year he passed away in May oh so very young man and based on his request his children buried him with the handkerchief so I thought oh my god is this deja vu all over again they read book through a kiss to Yankel have to Jade rabbi JJ and these were just my own musings and thoughts life went on this was 1989 25 years later 25 years later quarter of a century later I was simplest era in a Chabad House near Fort Lauderdale Florida with my friend rabbi penny and drew za and you know who else was dance obsessed IRA a daughter of rabbi JJ hat missus Abramowitz as we're going to dance with the sefer Torah I turned to her and I say do you remember the kiss they're ever through to your husband to your father she says of course I tell her I'll never forget and I wondered why did it ever throw a kiss to him and I guess it's because he passed away that year and their ever had maybe some feeling or hunch maybe this was their ever empowering him to be able to go to the next world and and achieve whatever his soul has to achieve you think that's what it is and misses Abramowitz the daughter of her by JJ happened says let me tell you the other part of the story and this is what she shared with me that night 25 years after the story happened she said you know my father lived in East Flatbush he had a synagogue you also know which I knew my father didn't sleep a lot but JJ was a workaholic he didn't stop he didn't sleep a lot after the meal on the last day of the holiday of succoth he sat down on the couch with a book with a safer to learn the middle of his learning he fell asleep and I was happy he dozed off for an hour half an hour two hours I was having my father's gonna get some well-deserved rest he woke up it was time to go pray Mincha the afternoon service and then my river the evening service and we did that and then my father said I want to go to 772 do the hoc office with the Rebbe I know I'm gonna come late because it was a long walk and he had to be in this community but I still want to go and she says I walked with my father from East Flatbush to Crown Heights to 770 to go dance with the ribbon on the way she sells me my father turns to me and says you know I had this strange dream I fell asleep on the couch and I had this incredibly strange dream I told my father what was the dream and my father tells me rabbi Hef tells me she says to me it might I met the Reba and I saw the rubber and I had this tremendous experience of love and affection and I felt this strong desire to go kiss forever but I know custom never kissed her ever it's not how they expressed love they expressed love through learning more davon amor doing more mitzvahs embracing more Jews bringing Redemption closer that's how they expressed love to the nepo it's not monkey business commitment dedication perseverance transcending your ego and doing what you have to do not through kissing but I couldn't help myself I wanted to kiss their ever but I'm not gonna go over and kiss him so I went over to the Rebbe and I said never do you give me permission to kiss you and I did not wait for his answer I went over and I gave their ever a kiss and then I woke up for my dream they're happy never gave me permission but I couldn't hold myself back I went over and I gave him a kiss she tells me this is what my father is telling me walking from East Flatbush to 770 on the night of similar story he walks into Sheol and their ever sees him and what does their ever do the rabbit throws him a kiss the Rebbe reciprocates the kiss she says after the Huck office we were eating the meal with my father and my father told he said my daughter I always knew that there ever knew what I'm thinking but I never knew that there ever also knew what I'm dreaming and I'll be honest with you I have sometimes a little cynicism inside of me one of my sins one of my flaws of many flaws so I thought you know maybe this is a little bit of an exam jaded story maybe the story was created after the kiss you know maybe after the kiss he had a dream so she tells me she sees that I'm a little cynical she says you know what don't believe me go over to my husband and asked my husband what was the conversation between my father and myself walking home walking from his flat burster 770 because my husband was walking nearby so I went away from her I went to her husband ripslinger labor Abramowitz kazantip slim a lame Abramowitz a friend of mine and I said what is your question many years ago in 1989 you walked with your father mummy's flag was evidently what was the conversation about he's all we had a dream and he tells me a hole straight with the dream that he heard from his father-in-law then and he says and you know we heard this story before the kiss we heard it on the way this is not a story that we heard from him after they're ever kissed he walks into shul and they their birth rose back the kiss for me this was such a moving story because I described the powerful relationship between a hostage and Ariba between a true disciple a true student and his master his teacher there is the relationship that comes through learning one's teachings which is the core of a relationship there is the relationship that comes to following the paths the directives the instructions the marching orders of the Rebbe to change the world and bring mashiac for the world and there's the relationship that is experienced in our heart perfection the profound love and dedication that a hostage a Jew a disciple of pupil any Jew has to there ever yushik a meme in a shaky spiel he told him they death of million we saying should I shoot him the song of songs I want the kiss on your mouth because your love is better than wine and Rashi says what's this kiss Raschi this kisses that when Messiah comes Hashem is going to reveal to us the secrets of Terra so tomorrow mr. Clooney Sarah that's the kiss of the reborn a shillelagh tsadikim diamond the boy of the mattresses said they can reflect their Creator we kiss Hashem through learning his Tyra because the Tyra is the plumies it's the internal breath wisdom consciousness so to speak of the reboiler salam of God Almighty when I learned Tyra I'm kissing the reminder shillelagh and not now if sheik service you have is the camera says are noisy the first words of the ten commandments is our non now cheeks obvious Elvis you learnt it not long ago in that fiery Shabbos Cove Dalit shop is 104 God says I have inscribed and engraved my soul into Tyra so when i learning tinnitus learning text not just learning nice ideas or laws or our huh I'm actually kissing Asha I'm embracing her Shimon I'm kissing Russia similarly without Santa cuts avec who's completely dedicated to God his soul which is one with God and subservient to God and a conduit for Asha is embedded in the tire and when I learned his time I learned his teachings it's a kiss and the relationship of love is deep and potent but for me this not only wasn't only a story about the rabbi hat by JJ asked a beautiful and moving story and we think it really captures one of the most fundamental teachings of the Reber and tonight is of course a night to focus on the thought the insight the perspectives that tired of the teachings of the Lubavitch remember there was a common theme that pervades all over the cities all of the teachings of their ever I had the privilege last year's to be one of the wiser and one over the oral scribes memorizing and transcribing transcribing many talks of the read but there was a common theme that pervaded so many of the teachings there were many common themes but I'm focusing now on one common theme and that is the red bar always accentuated in every aspect of Tara the love he wanted Jews to know how much Hashem loves them he would always quote the words of the Baal Shem Tov then Hashem God loves every single Jew more than a father and a mother love an only child who was born when they were much older and they didn't expect to have a child won't can appreciate the intense infinite limitless love that such parents have to a child and that while Shem Tov said that is only a metaphor and it pales in comparison to the limitless love that God possesses towards every Jew desire says in Schmeisser of Shimon says that if a person would know how much God loves him or her this person would pursue Hashem faster and with more ferociousness and might than a lioness pursues her prey have you ever seen how a lioness pursues her prey you know you don't want to get in between the lioness and the prey because the eagerness the enthusiasm the passion the fervor the determination of that lioness the queen of the jungle to get her prey to feed her cubs there's one that you really don't want to get them between says Redemption man if a drew would know how much God loves him or her we would pursue we would run we were chasin faster with more alacrity with more mite with more enthusiasm in the lioness chases her prey and for the rabbit this wasn't just a statement of the Baal Shem Tov or a statement in Zion or a verse in Milwaukee a half the Eskimo mirages sham I love you or in the blessings before schmeyer Abbas Elam were a ver a ver Alba soil Amalfitano hashem elokenu a boy her mom you shall be a ver or burn em out and watch them allocation will believe her t stroller may have a semester the various verses in the tongue describing God's love to his people they Rastatt Lila eylem I will betroth view for eternity and the many statements of the sages but for their ever this was a vibrant living reality which he found and he saw in every nook and cranny and nuance in every Mitzvah in every page of the Talmud every page of Meldrick in every page of how lhasa in every piece of her album in every piece of Kabbalah and Jewish spirituality there ever once said something fascinating enough a bring in one of the greatest luminaries in Jewish history was a man known as a Rubino Garin Mahakala rabbi garam the light of the Exile the luminary of the exile he lived in Mainz in Germany in the 10th century an 11th century and is considered one of the great fathers and patriarchs of Ashkenazi Jewry of German jury in the early medieval ages and Abednego Shem has the special title in Jewish history Moyer hog oiler the light of the Goyle of eggs on their ever asked why debilitation you had personalities like Rashi certainly the light of the eggs all Rashi is an acronym Robin shall you strong Rashi remains the Rebbe and the Rebbe of the Jewish people young and all the like the bureau child learns with Rashi as his wrapper and the 95 year old great scholar learns with Rashi Rashi is his Reba you had a personality like the Rambam yet people like her of high god if shreyer gone you had personalities like the rajma like their Ambon they ran the author of toward the author of Shannara great luminaries who illuminated the Exile but only one person gets this title marighella why a still about mature ever the drab a new garish emeritus title interesting question the answer was fascinating Rubino Gershwin instituted many different traditions and customs in the life of Ashkenazi Jewry two very famous ones are he probate polygamy biblically even though it's not encouraged but if the woman agrees if it's with her consent the person could marry more than one wife there were always more women than men so this allowed a woman in a time when women had unfortunately very little security and women were seen by other cultures and other nations literally as property and if they weren't taken care of by a father by a husband they can die from hunger so the Torah allowed if the woman agrees because you can't tell woman without her own consent that she can she you can make him a chicken chicken that she could be married to a man who has a second wife Rubino Gershon prohibited that he made a favour mcgann stood a ban against it for a thousand years which by the way it was 948 10th century and it's continued until 1948 you all know 94 is the year when Israel was established but of course the rabbi's decided to kids deal with for another thousand years there's enough stress with marriages between one husband and wife I don't think anybody needs to bring back polygamy into the Jewish world so Rubino garepe made that institution no polygamy no two wives you marry one wife and you work it out and a happy life together God willing he made another picanha mother tradition other famous institution in Jewish life you cannot divorce your wife without her consent biblically the Torah trusted people and believed they could live up to their most idealistic greatest divine potential and sometimes the rabbis and the sages had to insert different limitations realizing that people are manipulating the biblical system so the biblical system was that if a man wants to get divorced he can divorce his wife even without her consent Romania garam realized that this is not the way to do it because the Torah speaks about men who are real men if a man is a real man okay but if men are not real men if they're not living up to what a man really is and what a husband really is remain engaged said there's no such a thing you want to get divorced we have to hear what your wife has to say if the wife doesn't agree you can't just divorce your wife these are the two famous institutions Aravena gash settler Babbage her ever every law that is established down here on earth is also a law that is established in heaven the Talmud says and the Midrash says that every mitzvah that a Shem tells us to do he also does himself so regression made these two institutions it wasn't only institutions about men and women down here it's also a heavenly institution that so to speak obliges God Himself said the Lubavitcher ever in the tenth century the time of Revenue garum asking now surgery was suffering already for hundreds of years from the horrific persecution of the church this was close to a thousand years after the destruction of the Second Temple Jews have been in exile for close to a millennium and Europe was dominated by the Pope by the church and they used this against the Jewish people to prove to them that they are not the chosen people anymore because God has rejected them look they showed the Jews look how downtrodden you are look how dejected you are you are victims you are at the mercy of the church and this demoralized the Jewish people that depleted their energy had rained them from their enthusiasm and from their passion and the main arguments of the church was at Sinai God married you that's true God married you but then he got divorced he divorced you you're not chosen people anymore God didn't like you he didn't like his spouse he didn't like how you behaved especially he didn't like the fact that you rejected the Christian so-called yeah whom they call his child so God now decided you're not anymore his wife and what did he do he divorced you rob a new garum said you can divorce your wife without her consent and if you can divorce your wife without her consent this is a mitzvah also on God God cannot divorce the Jewish people without their consent ooh so the Christian said ok he didn't divorce you he just got himself a second wife you could be the first wife you know the wife he's not really interested in me got himself a second wife Abednego says sorry God there's no marrying two women you married her this is your wife for eternity you can't divorce her without her consent said the rebbe reb a negation was not just a rabbi a sage a Talmudic scholar who introduced a new institution into Jewish law the institutions and Jewish law reflected a metaphysical renewal of the covenant between God and the Jewish people Robyn oh gosh if these laws infuse the Jewish people with a new spirit with a new sense of belonging with a new sense of purpose a B negation didn't only Institute concrete laws and how lost in Jewish law but this was symbolic of his contribution to the Jewish world he taught the Jewish people that the same relationship they had with Asham at Sinai remains intact the same love and the same connection and the same intimacy and the same powerful bond between God and every single Jew remains untarnished unscathed indestructible the relationship is eternal and timeless and no sin and no exile and no persecution can cancel it and decimate it and destroy it the relationship is as powerful as ever there are half the Eskimo mirages them I Love You God says which was said by the last prophet Malachi afterwards there's no prophecy anymore so he's man on a war Esther well my lastly is the last prophet of the 24 books of tonight and in that last prophecy God tells us the Jews I love you and the half the Eskimo mirages my you miss Yaakov have been against who taught the Jewish people this will never ever cease that's why he's called Meyer hog oiler the light of the exile because he infused the Jewish people with a new light and a new enthusiasm and I think to myself that in many ways after the Holocaust the Holocaust the greatest black hole in human history and in Jewish history Jews asked themselves justifiably the question does God still love us do we have the real future can we really look at ourselves in the mirror and say we are the am Hashem we are that nation that God chose after the heart anima Kalam pathos honor at CSUN Bono very month anima call all the shyness you have chosen us you have loved us you have elevated us you wanted us to change the world is this really true after Auschwitz and Dachau trebling can Bergen Belsen existentially and psychologically when Jews faced a de torment that agony the turmoil the suffering and the sheer amount of pain and death that each of them observed including the lubavitcher rebbe with members of his own families brother was shot as where a mother was shot uncles aunts relative sister-in-law brother and were murdered by the Germans besides this terrible suffering of his own family himself and his father especially under Stalin the Communists in the cursed Soviet Union his father himself was arrested and tortured and sent to Kazakhstan where he died in exile in in Kazakhstan in nomicon 1944 middle of the war there ever himself endured what that whole generation endured or so many of that generation endureth and Jews asked themselves the question is there a real future is there real hope can we really be positive can we really believe in this type of love I mean come on history is telling us thing else let's remember that the suffering that the Jewish people experienced in the last century the 20th century is mine staggering before the Second World War I mean on the Tsarist Russia and then the first world war and then the Civil War the Bolshevik Revolution and that's just in Eastern Europe with Arab that lived there ever was born in Ukraine in 1902 and other parts of the world both on a spiritual level mass assimilation and on a physical level the suffering in the persecution before the Holocaust what Stalin and Lenin and Trotsky and the Soviet communist regime did for the Jews in Russian for so many other millions of people and then came Hitler there ever was living in Germany when Hitler came to power 1933 January Adolf Hitler Gamache of mine was appointed was elected as the Chancellor of Germany that's when their ever left Germany and he relocated to Paris until 1941 when the Germans invaded Paris France and their ever escaped that ultimately made it to Lisbon and he got the boat to the United States of America came in June 1941 observing this bloodshed the rivers of Jewish blood flowing through Europe literally every same ember I visited Poland a few years ago with a huge group of students from different campuses in the United States of America you know and at some point I showed them I said you know every cent of the inch of soil here is a saturated with Jewish blood and Jewish sweat and Jewish tears and the question that Jews asked consciously and subconsciously with a voice that was hurt and an inner voice with desire calls : a model is Tama is are we still that same people are we the people who God loved us who God entrusted with a mission to change the world and bring the world to redemption to mushiya are we the same people and I think this was one of the great contributions of their burn he was a modular perpetuating and teaching that message of Romania Garcia man opposed Holocaust era in ben-gurion and hi I'm Weitzman and other Zionists went to rebuild a Jewish state we just heard a few minutes ago from Benjamin Netanyahu and President Rivlin the Lubavitcher ever was determined to rebuild the Jewish soul Jewish consciousness Jewish pride Jewish dignity their ever wanted to inculcate in the heart of every Jewish child acid guts as I need Sukesh matters I need to be a Jew as a privilege the words are a new motto volcano oh man I am going away no oh my offer Eurasia say no for there ever became marching orders of the Jewish people you can celebrate Jewish life no the Jewish mission has not seized the Jewish purpose has not been obliterated yes we have endured unfathomable unfathomable pain we may never understand the mystery why the magnitude of it is beyond human comprehension as he would say how can a finite brave even think it can appreciate an infinite God yes the tragedies have created deep uncertainty and existential pain and suffering for so money so many and for so many years your ever served as a father figure and a mother figure for so many survivors both of Hitler's Holocaust and of Stalin's Holocaust in the Soviet Union Jews of all ages and demographics religious and secular and right wing and left wing would come and they found in him the empathy and the love and the affection I've heard this for many survivors over the years together with all of that they're a bit inculcated in the hearts of every single one of his students and disciples and admirers and any Jew he came at the con act the enthusiasm the inspiration and the conviction that God loves you infinitely and God empowers you infinitely and that our future is bright and hopeful and that the mission that God has given us at Sinai to transform the landscape of planet Earth and that each of us must become an ambassador of love and light and hope and healing and authenticity and wisdom and redemption not only is still intact but it grows and increases from day to day this was the optimism and the joy and the simcha Sahai and the joy of life the Rebbe be brought into the Jewish world through his singing and through his smile through his dancing and through his teachings through his talks and through a celebration through his thousands and thousands of letters and addresses his relationship and contact with people individually and collectively it's one of the great themes that pervades all of his cities all of his talks you come out from his talks and you feel proud to be a Jew you sends the love embedded in every word of Torah and every story of commish in every Mitzvah and even the negative stories even the stories that seem so bleak and pessimistic somehow there have been his own inimitable genius managed to excavate the inner inner love and possibility that lay there and as we continue I want to take a break and sing one of the songs that they're ever really loved and cherished and brought out so much this attitude this emotion that Menachem Feldman Sydney can you give us the car Shem car CC Ali voice Shalom which means in you God I find refuge I will never be humiliated and ashamed the car simcha CCL eventually island [Music] if he doesn't sing I'm gonna have to sing I'll sing eventually and mamakara shank OCC I'll a very surely I love Hashem for CC I'll eventually love the harsh uncle si si Alli you sure [Music] beautiful thank you thank you that Menachem share with you a story beautiful story Elie Wiesel professor Elie Wiesel many of you have heard him he's been to Argentina he was the very well-known Holocaust survivor who was also the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1985 I believe and Elie Wiesel came from sigit see get hungry his family came from Visiona to Hassidim and in the holocaust he lost his father he lost his mother he lost some of his siblings he was in Auschwitz he was a booking vault and he emerged a lone survivor very few of his family survived he became a journalist he became a writer he became a lecturer he was a personal friend of my father my late father because they both worked in journalism and they were very close for many years they had a very close relationship and my father shared with me what he heard from Elie Wiesel that Wiesel did not want to get married he felt that it was inappropriate for himself to bear how can he marry and bring children to the world he said when he saw what the world did to so many Jewish children he had this famous expression in Yiddish a book on devel Turkish vegan and the world was silent later it became the book night in English but in Yiddish did title was and the world was silent one and a half million children sent the gas chambers he felt it was unjust it was immoral for him to bring new Jewish children into the world if this is what the world is capable of why would he subject a new generation of Jews to unthinkable Horrors and dread and terror and he really didn't want to get married and you know who convinced him to get married did ever dare ever had long conversations with Elie Wiesel late hours till the wee hours in the morning as far as I know I think one of the longest letters there ever ever wrote was to Elie Wiesel in 1965 trying to convince him to get married I think it's a seven-page letter that ever did not write such long letters two pages three pages was considered a long letter but this is a seven-page letter convincing professor IWI's l to get married and you know what happened he got married in 1971 he married his wife Marian and a year later he became the father the proud father of a young Jewish boy who he named Elisha after his own father who perished in the Holocaust and I know this cuz Elie Wiesel once told me he said my son and you were born not far apart in 1972 and I came to your bris and your father came to my son's bris and the rebus sent him a beautiful bouquet of flowers for his sons bris and I believe also a beautiful bouquet of flowers for his wedding once Elie Wiesel shared he was sitting with the ribbon and their ever asked him what he would like they're ever offered to give Rosella gift he said I want to give you something what would you like a Nellie Wiesel turned to the Lubavitch Arab and he asked for something very very unique he said Labov ature ever can you teach me how to cry again and those of you who are children of Holocaust survivors or grandchildren or friends of survivors or maybe survivors yourself know how profound that request is because so many survivors face so much trauma and pain they could not cry any longer as a Jew once told me he said we knew that if we would start crying we would never stop so we shut off the faucet of Tears but the problem is to shut off one faucet you have to shut off all the faucets and sometimes all emotions get affected but the pain was so deep many of them could not cry anymore the wellspring the the fountain of Tears just dried up so Elie Wiesel asks the lebara chair ever he says teach me how to cry again and the Reber with the profoundest compassion and his angelic beautiful loving blue eyes gazed at the painful eyes of Elie Wiesel who was seeing the worst of humanity and he looked at him and he said your belly ezza I would love to teach you how to cry but that's not enough I'm going to teach you how to laugh I want to teach you how to sing and I want to teach you how to dance and this my friends there ever did he taught Elie Wiesel to cry he taught professor of ezel to sing I heard him sing quite a few times and he even taught him to dance and not just fairly Rahzel the rabbit taught a generation of broken and downtrodden Jews had a cry had a feel pain had a sink and most importantly had a dance growing up in the shadow of their Ebba I always marveled how he could cry here's a man in the 70s in his 80s in his early 90s sitting in front of thousands of people and he can just burst out sobbing I still remember one simplest era there ever spoke about moisture breaking the law as the tablets the cause of his love to the Jewish people and the Redbird broke out in tears he was crying for close to a half an hour but not just crying sobbing no self-consciousness no consideration like where I am and who's looking there ever just wept and he wept and wept and then there ever would sing we grew up there ever singing and there ever dancing did ever didn't only dance when he danced you felt that all of Earth uplifted in the rebus dance heaven was coming down to earth and earth was coming up to heaven when I watched a rabbit dance for hours I felt that his dancing was one that empowered not only himself but empowered every Jew that was present in the room to be able to celebrate life to be able to look at life from the lenses of infinite love to be able to see yourself not as a victim in a long tragic Greek mythical story but to see yourself as an indispensable note in God's cosmic symphony as somebody who's aligned with infinity somebody who has the power to take a world of tragedy and infuse it with meaning and purpose and joy and love and affection this theory be tried to do with every person he came in count in every one of his speeches and sermons and presentations and teachings both writing and verbally and it was not because Deborah was oblivious to tragedy or pain his own life was not an easy life to put it mildly but their ever truly believed that good will triumph over evil joy can triumph over sadness confidence can triumph over insecurity love can triumph over hate resilience can triumph over abuse that if the world was conceived in love by a loving God ultimately as he would often say the powers of good are eternal and the powers of evil are transient superficial and temporary because their entire purpose is simply to help us flex our muscles and challenge us to be able to vanquish the negativity and the toxicity inside of us and around us that philosophy and perspective is not always easy to internalize but there ever was adamant that this is how the Jewish people can live and ought to live when you face the crisis in life an obstacle in life he always taught every obstacle is a challenge and every challenge is an opportunity an opportunity for deeper awareness an opportunity for deeper growth an opportunity to maximize your ultimate potentials it doesn't mean it's easy it doesn't mean you invite a challenge into your life of course not but what it does mean is look at life from a positive perspective look at yourself from a positive perspective in every encounter and experience you have to be able to see the love even if it is so concealed and as guys by layers of negativity and mistrust in 1986 there was a young man who was suffering from homosexual tendencies and in desperation and agony he wrote a letter to their ever what he should do they never wrote him back a three-page letter I have a copy of the letter I got it years later Doretta then spoke about it that year on Purim I didn't know then about letter I was there when there ever spoke about it but years later I obtained a copy of the rebus letter to this young man it's a beautiful beautiful letter first of all there's no judgmentalism it's full of empathy full of love full of understanding the rebel was probably one of the least judgmental people you could have encountered not because he didn't have convictions oh did he have conviction the rebus fear of gods is yours sha Mayan his commitment to Tyra was limitless I can't even describe it in words but because he was so fearful of God in a good way because he was so in love with God therefore he didn't have to be judgemental because he saw the godliness in people and he saw the beauty in people and he always tried to accentuate it in people so with the rebel you felt comfortable to say everything I was always astounded by the fact you know it is you come to a big rabbi a big save to certain things you don't talk about no one embarrassed yourself right people like to talk about nice things but with the Rebbe I felt people didn't have this issue you could go into there but people are going to minutes five minutes and share everything nothing they wouldn't share why not so I once heard from slimeball a cowboy remember the composer Schlemmer lecomba and he said because when people came to their ever they felt that he knows it already he knows it what are you gonna hide he knows everything you could you could spill the beans it was an interesting observation from richlum Allah but I think there was also something more to that than that when you spoke to there ever you felt that nothing that you would tell him would diminish his love towards you and his risk for you there was nothing you can tell him that would shock him to the point where you would say get out of my home and he would start looking at you with disdain with a negative attitude we're afraid to open up to people because how are you gonna look at me you're gonna judge me it's so hard to be vulnerable and to remove all my clothes and to really lay my soul beer but what happens if I know that in your presence I can think out loud and I could be as authentic as my truth is because nothing I say will compromise and diminish and tarnish your absolute loyalty to me love towards me and dedication to me then I could say everything that's how people felt with their Ebba he was very non-judgmental even if he would disagree and even if he would share with you in very emphatic terms what his opinion is and what his viewers and you I saw this in this letter in 1986 to this boy the boy asked her ever why would God do this to me why do I have to deal with these types of deviant tendencies and desire for an alternative lifestyle our relationships which are forbidden which are considered immoral in the Torah and of course the dead brushers them that our struggle is not struggle is not sin the physical relationship is wrong but the struggle that a person has is not his or her choice you never blame a person for their struggles and you never judge a person for their struggles on the country you have to display extraordinary empathy but then the Redbird dress is one point it startled me and it stills inspires me today years after I've seen the letter because for me it was a paradigm but really in it it it helped shape my worldview of how to communicate to people because I have now the privilege pree corona to travel to communities all over the world I had the privilege of travelling to hundreds of communities over two decades including bonus iris in other parts of Argentina and South America communicating to crowds and this one line one paragraph affected me very profoundly and I'll tell you what the Rebbe has said I'm paraphrasing get him explaining it in my words the way I understood it I'm not saying I'm not repeating the letter verbatim the boy says why do I have to deal with this the rebus says I don't know nobody knows the reason for challenges that God gives a person why does your soul have to endure these challenges nobody knows he says I also don't know but then do about your ever says I want to add one point and it may apply to your life he doesn't say with certainty but he says this may apply to your life and here's what the rebus shared with a young man struggling with something very real and very profound this is back in 86 this is not 2020 this is in 86 Yaiba says as follows sometimes a person has the power to change the world a person has the power to have a tremendous impact on society and become a source of extraordinary blessings but that power is very deep and it's embedded in the sub sellers of their psyche and they don't have access to it they don't even know about it they're not cognizant of it and we know that life is one where God wants our creativity we are partners with God in the work of repairing the world we don't get free lunch this is called avoider Hashem wants us to flex our muscles to maximize our potentials to work hard to discover who we are and to become the authors of our own biography and to make the choices that will define our destiny that's why there is free choice I have to fight for my truth from my light from my inner diamonds but the challenge here is that this person who has the power to changed the world does not know of his or her inner treasures they're not cognizant of it and it may remain dormant forever so what does God do God sometimes provides this person with a very serious challenge and this challenge challenges the person to excavate their deepest potentiality this challenge stimulates the person to go much deeper into themselves because there's no way they can overcome this challenge if they do not dig deeper and deeper and yet deeper there is no way they can afford to live a superficial life to operate on a level of consciousness which is external these challenges compel and stimulate and trigger the person to be able to go much much deeper into themselves and in that process they discover their true infinite light and they change the world that may be one of the reasons why God sometimes gives a person a challenge I am reading this letter and I think to myself friends Wow you know from my visit in many communities I deal with this issue quite often today it's a very hot issue gender identity alternative lifestyles last night we had a session with the Montreal community some of you probably watched it myself a famous journalist there every man has fever this was a huge question gender identity and is then generally two different approaches one approaches empathy compassion just feel and for what the person is going through another approach is embrace it celebrate it if this is what you feel this is who you are this is how you should live two approaches very different approaches so we know the approach that says just follow your instincts if these are your impulses do it that's not what the Torah says God says the struggle is not a sin but this type of relationship is immoral so there's the other approach the other approaches I could just feel bad I have compassion I have empathy there's a tragedy and let's face it this is a member this is a nebe situation on his hands in lebanon Spanish it's unfortunate English unfortunate and here comes the rebus approach a third approach there ever looks at this boy and not only does he not feel that this person is a neba case who was given this crazy and saint challenge that now he has to live with for the rest of his life the rebus sees the infinite light that is buried beneath the challenge the rabbit doesn't look at this person's challenge as some horrible situation that turns you into a victim and I feel bad for you know where other people may look at you as a victim there Epis says you were given an incredible mission in this world you have powers and resources that you yourself don't imagine and this is your path to greatness by confronting this challenge by subduing it by transcending it by transforming it by dealing with it you will discover your ultimate greatness Wow he took what is so dark and transformed it into light that approach pervaded all of his teachings and all of his encounters and all of his correspondence it's one that inspires me to this very day how to look at a person I will look at myself how to look at my loved ones we never ask for challenges but when we encounter them we must never see ourselves or others as unfortunate victims but rather these very challenges constitute our portal our Vista to our own infinity to our own depth we have to have the courage to be able to look at the clipper to look at the shell the husk in its eyes and say I will not get deterred from you I will not be afraid by you I know you make believe you're a bully and you're trying to destroy my lip but I know the truth if it came from God there is love that's hidden there and even if I didn't ask for it I am going to confront you and I will not let go of you until I do not come out more blessed from this encounter and with that to never try to teach a generation how to take darkness and transform it into light how to take moments of difficulty and pain and turned them into springboards and catalysts for unprecedented growth for rebirth for rejuvenation regeneration as in je w my dearest friends my dearest friends tired a hidden though I could have gone to conclude with this teaching then I heard from the read but once there was the night before schmooze in the 1980s I have to tell you the truth the rebus said this maybe in 10 or 15 seconds it was very easy to miss pepper would often in his addresses they were very intricate that he could make a reference to something very swiftly and he made a point very fast and if you missed it you missed it but there may you may have missed an incredible gem and this was one of those examples the rebus said Lewis is coming tomorrow night a lot of guests have arrived and we all have a mitzvah venosus aura to be hospitable to our guests as Shammai says in the ethics of the fathers chapter one have a macabre Lascaux ah the massive economy office shall my says come every person with a pleasant countenance with warmth with passion with love so we must make sure that every guest is welcomed and he or she has a place to stay and we offer them hospitality and take care of provide them with their physical needs and emotional needs and those who need help for the holidays financial help everybody should help them and then their ever said but here's a question Sam I said greet everybody with a positive and affectionate and a warm countenance but he behaved in an opposite way the Talmud says in Shabbos page 31 Lama Dolloff that a convert a potential convert a non Jew came to Shama and he said this sham I please teach me the whole Torah while I'm standing on one leg he wants to learn the whole tire is standing on one leg how long could you stand form one leg 30 seconds 50 seconds if you're very athletic and you have good balance two minutes teach me the whole Judaism standing on one leg teach me all of Judaism in 45 seconds it's embarrassing imagine I come to a physical and physicist and I say teach me all of physics in two minutes teach me all of mathematics teach me all of biology and cosmology in two minutes it's embarrassing Judaism literature spans over thousands of years you want to learn the whole terrorist standing on one leg whether some I do Daka for a bomb-ass opinion the Talmud says some I had a stick a contractor stick that was used for measuring properties estates measurements of the ground so Shama had that stake I'm a supping in a stick that was used for construction purposes for real estate sham I took the stick Dhaka for he pushed him away through came to Hillel teach me the halter is standing on one leg Hillel says no problem how long do you have 10 seconds that's a second what you dislike to be done to you don't do it anybody else my dog walks on the fabric lace up so call our Tara cooler that's the whole tire what you don't want to be done to you don't do to anybody else treat other people like you would like to be treated that's the whole tire the ethos Peru shoes ill Goomer the rest of the tire is a commentary on this now go study the commentary the whole tyre is a commentary on this statement go study in the commentary you could spend 90 years studying the commentary you could spend 900 years studying the commentary but you've got the whole tire in ten seconds asks the lubavitcher rebbe Shammai says in PA our vote greet everybody with a pleasant countenance why didn't he do this said he could have told the Gentile come back another day you're not ready for it you can't learn the whole tire on one leg why does he take a stick and fit all them out pushes him away doctor by Marcel being in and even if it doesn't mean that he physically through a mouth but verbally said get out of here leave that's not called Evan McCampbell escola autumn greet every person drew anon drew pleasantly to suppose the rebus question interesting question seems so hypocritical you know to what do they say do as I say and not as I do the sages didn't believe in that do as I say and do as I do a ramp I can't be a bit critical when you're a spiritual leader you got to live up to what you teach your students and your children I once called somebody in the house and I said can I please speak to your father so the child comes back a few minutes two seconds late and he says he was a little boy my father told me to tell you that he's not home yeah I said tell your father I love him you don't do that you have to teach your children to speak truth how do you teach your children to speak truth when you speak truth how could some I teach one thing and do the opposite great question and the rebus said now is not the time to elaborate on this but then literally for a few seconds he threw out a nugget an idea and he moved on now when I heard that nugget I'm like wow I'll tell you what their ever said I'm going to elaborate the way I understood it because I want you should appreciate what he said their ever said no Shama I was not flowing a person away some I was not rejecting a person Shami was not telling him get out of my yeshiva get out of my synagogue no we don't do that in Habad right now my group God we don't do that a kabocha I am I didn't do that the Rebbe said Judaism has two foundations on noisy and myrrh year little Talmud says that the first two Commandments the Jews heard directly from God a noisy will a healer from a pea egg wash a mama directly from God they heard the first two Commandments on nicely I shall Mukesh I am your God who take took you out of Egypt and the gila fella come ahead of you shouldn't have any other gods why those two so that Tonya says in chapter 20 the first commandment is the source for all of the positive mitzvahs and the second commandment is the source for the negative mitzvahs the first commandment I am your God who is taking you out of Egypt is the source for the positive commandments which are all based on the fact that there's God and he created the world with a purpose and he gave us a blueprint of how to live in order to maximize our potentials and bring the world to its real I did divine purpose and then God says in this certain things I don't want you to do I don't want you to violate Shabbos I don't want you to eat non-kosher food and I want you to lend money to a joint interest I don't want you to eat I hip bet I want you to lie I don't want you to steal it I want you to have adultery etc that's all rooted in the fact don't substitute me for another God no Yili hell the kid my favorite him all the negative Commandments are raised back are all rooted and that commanded the Gila colic imitate him there's no other God don't turn alcohol into your God don't turn money into your God don't turn your ego into your God don't turn insecurity or God don't turn arrogance into your God don't turn anything and don't replace the real God for fake gods that is the source of all of the mitzvahs that we have to stay away from those things that tells us to abstain and the rabbit said Judaism has both pillars they're both the pillars of Judaism because you can't have one without the other there is no yes without a No imagine somebody gets married to his wife and he says yes but the husband of the wife says but it's not exclusive you know she says sometimes I want to have somebody else so he says sometimes I want to have somebody else it's not going to work every yes must include and no a person says you know I want to lose weight so I'm gonna start going to the gym an hour a day and work out and then I'm gonna come home or go to the bat mitzvah and I lead all the pits and all the cheesecake it's not gonna work you have to decide what type of lifestyle you want to live every yes includes a no hurry at makuu - Ashley says tasteless Austral Akula Alma character Sh you can't be betrothed to somebody I can't belonged to you in an a unique exclusive layaway if I don't have the courage to be able to create bow injuries there's red lines that I don't cross Judaism that is yes without know is not real it doesn't last you need the yes and you need to know the hasson and the Gor the positive what I do and what I don't do that's the only type of relationship that is real so the rebus said Shaam I was teaching him the first foundation of Judaism and the Hillel was teaching him the second foundation of Judaism when Shammai was daca FIBA mas opinion when he pushed them out with us think summer was not being negative and disrespectful and cruel god forbid no Sam I said you want to know the whole Torah when you're standing on one leg I'll gonna do you let me tell you the first foundation of Torah the first foundation of Torah they have to have the courage to push away certain things from your life you have to have the courage and the commitment to say this is not for me sometimes thoughts come into your head instincts come into your heart cravings and addictions come into your soul and you have to take a stick and you have to say sorry this is not for me I cannot wear allow you to control the steering wheel of my life it's a thought it's a feeling it's a craving but I have to take my stick of morality the stick that builds the world I'm a stopping in and say no now you're ready for Hillel teaching and Hillel will teach you the positive treat every person with love and with respect here the rabbit took a teaching of the Talmud in many ways it seems like some I was this harsh negative person and he revealed a deeper layer and a deeper dimension and it's true in each of our lives our homes must have both forces love is critical love and connection and the relationship but for love to be real and viable it must be based on discipline and structures and boundaries not because we don't like the person but because we really love the person boundaries and discipline must always be an extension of love the moment discipline is not connected with love it's not good but when this aplenty comes from love then it becomes sacred become as holy it becomes important because discipline means there's consequences it means you're valuable it means you make choices it means I really care about you it means I expect from you great because you have so much potential discipline must always come from love Shama and Hillel work together on noise evil allele AHA mitzvos I say mitzvah slice' my IRA's nearest friends on this great night I bless you and I bless all of us and all of the Jewish people and the whole community the beautiful community of Argentina that we should be able to internalize this perspective this passion this love this commitment this enthusiasm and to be able to continue to saturate our homes our lives our communities with this conviction that we are all ambassadors of infinity into the world in the world and we all have the power to be able to bring in so much positivity to know our mission there's nothing in life like knowing your mission and knowing that you can succeed in your mission individually and collectively to bring our world closer to redemption thank you very very much