It is the יארצייט, the anniversary of the passing of the רבי, the 26th יארצייט, so it's a special time. Now we know that the אלטער, the רבי I mean, that it was that the רבי was, this is 26 years from the רבי's passing, the רבי was the seventh from the אלטער רבי. The רבי was the seventh רבי in the dynasty of the חב״ד movement, in the חב״ד Chasidic movement. The first one was the אלטער רבי, that's why I mentioned אלטער רבי. The אלטער רבי was the first one of the חב״ד movement. It wasn't known at that time, at the time of the אלטער רבי as ליובאוויטש, because the אלטער רבי, who was רב שניאור זלמן of לאדי, did not live in the city of ליובאוויטש, only the next one, his son who was his successor, moved to ליובאוויטש and that's why we're known as חב״ד ליובאוויטש חסידים, but the philosophy of חב״ד, that started from the אלטער רבי. This is the Chasidic, the branch of the Chasidic movement which is the intellect intellectual branch, which חב״ד is an abbreviation of the three words חכמה, בינה, and דעת, which means knowledge, wisdom, understanding, so it's this branch of חסידות that חב״ד is. The חסידות started originally before the בעל התניא, before רב שניאור זלמן of לאדי. It started by the בעל שם טוב, רב ישראל בעל שם טוב, and then he had his successor who was known as the מגיד of מעזריטש, רב דוב בער, and his successor was רב שניאור זלמן, and he started this branch of חסידות which is called חב״ד. What I would like to do is draw a parallel between the רבי, whose יארצייט we're observing today, with the בעל שם טוב. As I said, the בעל שם טוב is the first, he's the first one of the whole Chasidic philosophy, the whole Chasidic movement, and the רבי, that's now, that's the last one to us, and hopefully this, I'm sure this is the last, משיח is coming soon. So I want to make draw a comparison, a parallel between the בעל שם טוב and the רבי. We know the בעל שם טוב came, it was a time when Judaism was in a very, very low level. It was not so long after the massacres, the pogroms of חמלניצקי, who wiped out hundreds and upon hundreds of Jewish settlements, Jewish communities, killed, at that time they say he killed about a half a million Jews, and the Jews were in a very, very low level. It was also not so long after the שבתי צבי, who was a false Messiah, and because of him the Jews fell to a very, very low spiritual level. So it was a bad time, a hard time physically and spiritually. The children, the orphans that were left from the people who died by the pogroms didn't get a chance to get educated. They were very simple people, very fine people, full of heart, but they were not able to be educated. They were very simple, so many, many Jews were very simple Jews, didn't know much. Besides that, the spiritual level was not so good because of of the שבתי צבי. So what happened was the בעל שם טוב came and he changed that. The בעל שם טוב had a whole group of followers and he sent out his followers to different Jewish settlements, Jewish communities to teach the people, and basically through his emissaries he elevated the level of the Jews. He elevated the spiritual level of the Jews and also the physical level of the Jews. And this happened a long time ago, the בעל שם טוב passed away over 250 years ago. But we know history repeats itself. We had lived through the same time, something similar. It was the Holocaust and killed 6 million Jews, which is similar to what happened then. Also the spiritual level of Judaism after that was pretty low, especially here in America, when the people who were here did not get a chance to get the proper Jewish education. And just like the בעל שם טוב came and the בעל שם טוב changed that, we have the רבי who did exact same thing. The רבי basically changed the whole face of Judaism in the world. The בעל שם טוב started the בעל תשובה movement. The רבי started the בעל תשובה the בעל תשובה movement like the בעל שם טוב. The רבי started sending out שלוחים, emissaries to different places, and the רבי changed the face of Judaism in the world. The רבי made people become more observant, and for sure he made many, many Jews identify with their יידישקייט, with their Judaism. He made many, many many Jews be proud of their אידישקייט, which otherwise they wouldn't. We can't imagine what would Judaism in the world look like if not for the רבי. Now it means there were observant Jews, but the Jewish nation as a whole changed because of what the רבי did, which is similar to what the בעל שם טוב did. And the רבי taught us also what to do, how we follow in his footsteps. Now, it's important to just go through to describe who the רבי was. We're talking about the רבי, what the רבי did. Just describe the personality of the רבי. Comes to a day of a יארצייט, of an anniversary of a passing, we have to understand who the person was. So I would like to give a little bit an understanding of the רבי's personality. If I want, I would like to compare the רבי to the רמב״ם, to Maimonides. Maimonides was known to be a genius in the תלמוד, a genius in all other studies, in all other sciences, and he had a great influence on the Jewish community of his time and many generations later. But the רבי, the same thing. The רבי was a big, in Hebrew we call it a גאון, a גאון means a genius in תלמוד, a genius in the kabbalistic teachings. Actually, when the רבי came to America, the previous רבי came to America in 1940, the רבי, his son-in-law, came to America in 1941. He managed to get away from the Nazis, ימח שמם. When the רבי came to America, the previous רבי called in a group of חסידים, of the elder חסידים, and he told them that, \"I really would want to go to the port myself to meet my son-in-law and his wife, my daughter, because it's very important, but I don't feel good.\" He was weak and sick. \"So I'm asking you to go.\" But he described to them who is it that he's asking them to go to greet. So he said, \"A person that knows the whole ש״ס בבלי and ירושלמי.\" ש״ס means the whole תלמוד, which you got to be a genius to know that by heart. He knows the whole Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, he knows it all by heart with all the commentaries. And he said he's a person that has in his mind, knows all the books of קבלה, all the kabbalistic teachings. And he added, \"By the way,\" he said, \"and he's a person that still goes like this.\" You know, some people are great rabbis, they dress differently, they dress like a rabbi, but like this, he's dressed like a regular, simple person. He didn't make a fuss over himself. But he was a great genius in תלמוד, in learning, but just like the רמב״ם, the רמב״ם was a great genius also in other, in secular studies, so was the רבי. Actually, the רבי went to university. First in Berlin, then he went to France, to Paris, and he studied. The truth is, those that were there at that time testified that as much as he sat in class and heard the lectures from the professors, he always had a Jewish ספר, משניות or others under the table learning while he's talking. But he absorbed everything he was talking, but didn't waste a moment from learning. And they tell the story, the people who were there tell the story that there was once a test, a very important test, and it should have taken a long time to finish, two hours or something, and the רבי finished the test very fast, gave it to the professor, and the professor didn't even want to take it. He said, \"How is that possible? It's not possible you finished it.\" He was going to throw it away. But then he said, \"No, let me give a look at it.\" He gave a look at it, and he saw he got a hundred, or whatever mark he got. He was surprised, he couldn't believe it. So he kept on learning the whole time. He was learning the תורה, but he was also absorbing the secular studies. I heard from somebody who told me, this was Rabbi לייבל ביסטריצקי told me he heard it from a person who was there that once in the class they said you were going to have a guest lecturer. And when he walked in, it happened to be Albert Einstein. And he gave a lecture. After he finished his lecture, when he left, the students were talking that they didn't understand a word he said. But there was one person who got up and repeated the whole lecture and explained what it is. And who was that? That was the student called Schneerson. So that's how the רבי was. But all this that the רבי did was all using all kinds of sciences to show the truth of תורה. He, the רבי was able to convince many professors and many scientists to become more observant. Because the רבי was so proficient in all the sciences, so he was able to tell them in this according to their science, using the terminology of the science, to convince them to keep אידישקייט. There is a letter that somebody wrote to the רבי, when the רבי wrote to him a whole letter in science to explain how evolution is not really true, etc., etc. So he writes back to the רבי, he says, \"You know what? You're a rabbi. I'm a scientist. You stick to the rabbinate, I'll stick to science. Don't get involved in science.\" So the רבי writes to him in the letter, \"First of all, I want to tell you, I'm also a scientist. I studied science and I keep up with all new scientific developments, so I'm up-to-date.\" And the רבי explained to him again, and the רבי convinced and had so many people who are great scientists, who they themselves have an influence on hundreds of people, influence them to realize the truth of תורה, the truth of אידישקייט, and they became פרום, and through them many, many other people became פרום. Now besides this, that the רבי was the great genius in learning, in intellect, intellect of תורה, intellect of science, he was is outstanding in all other areas, too. All types of people would come to the רבי to listen to the רבי's talks, and to come to the רבי privately to discuss matters and get advice. Big rabbis, all kinds of rabbis, even those that belong to the Reform, Conservative movements would come to the רבי. רבי'ס, what we call רבי'ס that from from rabbinical dynasties, רבי'ס would come, professors would come, scientists would come, presidents of countries would come, prime ministers would come, simple people would come. But it's all because he was so proficient in everything, based on his knowledge, and based on his holiness that he had an idea of everything in the world. When they came to the רבי, and they would leave, they couldn't understand. They would say, and I heard this myself from many of such people when I was in 770 learning as a a בחור, as a student in the ישיבה there where the רבי was, and people would come, so after the people would leave the private audience with the רבי, the בחורים, the students would stop them, ask them what did they say, what they think. They all came out excited, not understanding how is the רבי so knowledgeable in their field. Things that they studied who knows how long, and the רבי is not in that field at all, which showed his proficiency in all the fields. I remember when after the Six-Day War, when אריק שרון was one of the generals in the Israeli army, and he came to the רבי, and he came out of the רבי, he said the רבי was talking to me in security and in army matters as if he's involved today in it. I think what he said that the רבי took out a map of ירושלים, and went through each corner, and showed him certain things, a mistake they made. And the רבי knew every little detail of of ירושלים and all the places. He couldn't understand, how does the רבי know this? But the רבי knew everything. Therefore, he was able to help every person. So it's not only with him, but it was with people in business, he would give advice in business, in medicine, everything that you can imagine. And in תורה, that's for sure. That's the his field in giving advice, in learning, writing ספרים, holy books, in explaining the תלמוד, and all the the the intellectual intellectual things of the תלמוד of the Jewish religion. Now this is besides the fact, I'm just talking about the person the רבי, not even talking about what he accomplished in the world, what kind who the person was. His צדקות, the term צדיק, we know a צדיק, so sometimes we use the word צדיק, a person who is a observant person, \"Oh, he's a צדיק.\" Yeah, sometimes we look at it that way. But the real meaning of a צדיק means a very holy person who's completely involved in spiritual matters. And that's how the רבי was. His whole life and being really was involved in studying the תורה, teaching the תורה, giving advice in תורה, and also anybody else who came, but this was the רבי, so his צדקות, צדקות means his righteousness was so great. And because of that, there are so many miracles that he performed, which means not in the form of a miracle like, God forbid, magic or anything. But his blessings, people who had a blessing and it worked. And there are hundreds, not hundreds, thousands of stories that we could tell. So someone asked me, \"Do you really believe all the stories that you hear?\" My answer is, \"I don't. But if a quarter of the stories are true, it's good enough. It shows his greatness, how he was.\" בכלל, the רבי would look at a person. He would look He would care about the individual as much as he would care about the כלל. He would care about the universe, the יידן, and the world as a whole and do things to change the world, and he would just as much care each individual. He looked at each individual, first of all, at his potential, the good that's in every Jew, and he would bring out that potential. And he looked in each Jew what each Jew is able to accomplish. I remember once the Chief Rabbi of Romania came to see the רבי. This was still when there was still communism in Romania, before the Iron Curtain fell, but he would come sometimes to America, they would allow him to come. He was the Chief Rabbi of Romania, and he would come to the רבי. So he once came, he had an appointment to come for about 12:00 at night or something like that, but he came a little early. He came, I don't know, 10:00, whatever he came. And he was standing not far from when the רבי would open the door of his private office would be able to see. But he stood there for no reason. He happened to be talking to somebody and he stood there. The person went out of the רבי, and the רבי, from far, saw him standing there. So the רבי right away buzzed the secretary, \"Rabbi Rosen from Romania is standing here. Let him come in.\" So he ran over to him, said, \"The רבי wants to see you.\" So he said, \"I have my appointment for 12:00. I don't mind waiting. I didn't come to come in earlier.\" \"No,\" the רבי said, \"let him come in now.\" So when he came in to the רבי, he asked the רבי, \"Why did the רבי call him in when really he could have waited? There's no big problem.\" So the רבי said to him, \"When I look at you, and you are the rabbi, the Chief Rabbi of Romania, which has—I don't remember how many Jews he had, 20,000, 30, whatever amount of Jews—I look at you, I see 20,000 Jews. You represent them. So you think I would make 20,000 Jews wait when they're here already?\" Cuz the רבי looked at him, what's inside him. And the same thing, the רבי would look at every person, what's inside in the person. The רבי would look in a person and see his potential, and bring out his potential. And that happened even when the רבי did not really have a long discussion with a person. There was such a feeling, a person who would go by the רבי for dollars. Everyone knows one of the famous things that the רבי would do is for many years, seven, eight years, he would stand Sunday, and people could go by and he would give each one a dollar to be a messenger to give it to charity on behalf of the רבי. And if a person had a question, like, for a blessing or something, take a half a minute, and he would talk. So the רבי would stand there and give out dollars. People said when the רבי would look at you, just look at you, it made them feel different, it elevated them, and it brought them to a higher spiritual level. They say that once a lady, an older lady who was standing in line—the line was very long. Sometimes it lasted 5 hours, 6 hours because there were, every Sunday, probably 5,000, 6,000 people would wait in line. So a lady waited in line for a long time. She came to the רבי, so she said, \"I want to ask you something. How do you do this? I'm just standing in line for 2 hours and I can't take it anymore, I'm so tired. How do you do it?\" So the רבי answered to her, \"When a person is counting diamonds, you don't get tired.\" The רבי looked at every Jew and he saw that every Jew is a diamond. And he would bring out that light that the diamonds have, he would bring out within the person himself. They tell this story, there's a Rabbi Weinreb from from OU, from the YU or people some people know him. So I heard a story from him himself. It's a famous story that people know, but I heard it from him. He said he, when he was younger, he moved to a certain city and he had all kinds of problems and didn't know if he should stay or not, and he couldn't come to a decision, and he's thinking, who should he ask? He's a rabbi there, it's not worth to leave, but it's not good. He didn't know what to do. So someone said, \"Ask the ליובאוויטשער רבי.\" So he called up Rabbi Chadakov, who was the main secretary of the רבי, and he tells tells him that, \"I have a problem and I have to talk to the ליובאוויטשער רבי.\" He thought he could call him on the phone. You couldn't talk to the רבי on the phone. So he picked up the phone, he says to him, so Rabbi Chadakov says that the רבי doesn't speak on the phone, and by the way, to see the רבי you have to make an appointment. For months, whatever it is. But he says, \"No, I have a problem.\" The bottom line was that the רבי picked up the phone, the רבי overheard the conversation. So, the רבי says to Rabbi חדקוב to tell him, tell him that he could speak to people over there, he doesn't have to ask me. So, he said, \"Whom should I speak to?\" So, the רבי says, \"You know, in that town there is a rabbi called Rabbi Weinreb. Speak to him.\" He got the message. The רבי was telling him, \"It's within you.\" The רבי brought out within him the ability that he is able to to understand, to bring out the good and to do the right thing that he has it within him, and the רבי brought it out. The רבי would look at everything with turn it to the good. Everything that seems negative, by the רבי was able to utilize it for the good. There was a person who wanted to do something which was against what the תורה wants us to do, and people tried to persuade him not to do it, and he wouldn't listen, till finally they told him, \"Go to the רבי.\" So, he said, \"Okay, I'll go to the רבי.\" He imagined the רבי would do like every other rabbi, tell him how bad it is and explain to him how it's wrong, etc. etc. So, he was ready for it, but he said, \"You know what? I'll do you a favor, I'll go.\" Came to the רבי, and when the secretary told the רבי what his problem is, that he's willing to do something which is something that by us is not possible to do, so the רבי looks at him, and the רבי says to him, \"I'm jealous of you, that you want to do this.\" He couldn't understand. The רבי is jealous of me wanting to do something that is completely against anything that Judaism stands for? So, the רבי says to him, \"I'll tell you. When God gives a person a נסיון, gives him makes gives him a test, He also gives him extra strength to overcome that test. You have such a test that's so strong that I don't have, which to me means that you have great, great strength. God gave you so much strength that you're able to overcome even this test, and that's why I'm jealous. I don't have that, the best proof is I don't have that test. If I had the test, that means I have that power also.\" So, he looked at him and he said, \"So I'm jealous of you that you have the power.\" So, what he wanted to do, the רבי turned around and made him feel that he has extra strength given by God. And that's what made him change, and that's what he and he changed from then on. There was once a person who came to the רבי, and had a whole conversation. At the end, he asked the רבי, \"What's a רבי?\" So, he says, \"Every Jew has a fire in his heart, and the רבי is supposed to ignite it.\" So, he says to the רבי, \"Did you did you ignite mine?\" So, the רבי says, \"Well, for sure, I gave you the matches to light your fire.\" And it did, it it changed the person's life. So, it shows how the רבי would be able to talk to everybody, look into the person's potential, and bring out the potential. And there are many, many stories that we see that the way the רבי did. And what the רבי did, he taught the חסידים to do the same thing, that we as חסידים should follow in the same path and do the same do the same thing. And as I said, the רבי cared about the כלל, the world, Jews as a whole, and about every individual, which is similar to what we find when השם, when God gave us the the Ten Commandments, the עשרת הדברות, the first one started with the words, \"אנכי השם אלוקיך, I am God, your God,\" singular. He was talking to according to the calculations when by הר סיני, by the giving of the תורה, you had about close to three million people, because the the חומש says, the Bible says that there were 600,000 males between 20 and 60, same amount of women, people before 20, people over 60, it comes out to between two and a half and three million people. He spoke to three and a half to three million people, why did he say it singular? He should have said plural, because there's so many people. So, the rabbis, the sages tell us two opposite two opposite explanations. One explanation is that when you speak to a group as one unit, you speak singular. So, he spoke to everybody as one unit. And the other one is that he was speaking to every single individual separately. Seems like two opposite interpretations. One says he spoke to everybody as a group, and the other one he spoke to every individual. The answer is it's both. When God gave us the תורה, He didn't give us the תורה to the Jews, and being that I'm a Jew, I have to keep the תורה. He gave it to everyone individually. Besides, He gave it to the Jewish people as a whole, He gave it to every individual, and they're both true. The רבי also the רבי would care and give it talk to everyone individually. The רבי, when people spoke to the רבי, they felt that at that moment there's nothing else in the world of the רבי but you. People went by dollars as I mentioned, and they would stop there maybe for a minute or a half a minute. Usually, it was less than a minute, half a minute, and the רבי would look at you. They felt at that moment, the רבי is looking into me and He cares about me. And when someone asked the רבי something, the רבי was completely involved. At the same time, the רבי had the whole world in his mind. And the רבי had so many things it's impossible to understand how it's even possible that He did so much, that that He was on top of hundreds of institutions, hundreds of institutions, thousands of שלוחים, his learning, his helping, writing. It's impossible for a human being to to do this. This is that what the רבי was. But the main thing of the רבי is what the רבי did to change אידישקייט in the world. That every איד feels closer to אידישקייט. Some became completely observant, some not, but there became more proud of being a איד. They identified more with אידן, with אידישקייט. And that's what the רבי did, and he taught his חסידים. He changed the face of אידישקייט in many ways, and we can't go into it, there's not enough time to go into the details of how He did and what He did, but this is what the רבי did. The רבי started this institution called שליחות, sending שלוחים all over the world. Places I never even heard of, I don't even know how to pronounce the names, and there are שלוחים there. And they represent the רבי, following in the רבי's footsteps. And the main thing by the רבי was that we saying that now we are at the time that we are close to the coming of משיח, and we have to do whatever we can to bring משיח. So we have to get all the Jews together, we have to get the Jews to be more excited and feel more good about אידישקייט, and the רבי is accomplishing this, and soon it's going to happen. So we all have to try to do whatever we can along these lines with ourselves and with other people that we are connected to, friends, family, business partners, or business people who we deal with. Try whenever we have a chance to bring some אידישקייט into our connection, so when we communicate with another איד, there should be a little bit of אידישקייט involved. To make every conversation we have, every communication we have, to be a spiritual a spiritual act, and all that will bring משיח. So now that we're celebrating celebrating, we're we're here in honor of the 26th יארצייט of the רבי, it's a time, besides thinking of reminding ourselves, understanding what the רבי was, what his philosophy was, besides that, it's on our part we have to commit ourselves to do more of what the רבי wants. So, that השם help, we should accomplish this, we should do it, we should take it all seriously, and we will give the רבי a lot of a lot of נחת. He'll be very happy with us, and the רבי in שמים, being in heaven, will definitely give all the ברכות, all the blessings that we all need, in everything that we need, whether it's in children or פרנסה and livelihood, health, whatever we need, we will get, because the רבי is going to דאווען to השם, he's closer there, and it'll come down. So השם should help we should all take it serious and we should all be successful, and we should all greet משיח very, very soon. לחיים, לחיים. Thank you very, very much, Rabbi Schapiro, and hope your words are are internalized by all our listeners here on Zoom, and also on Facebook Live, so that they can truly be inspired by today. We have a lot of competition today, but it's good competition. There are so many programs that are offering insights into the רבי, glimpses into the רבי's life, teachings, classes of his teachings, and פארברענגענס, so this is just one of many, and hopefully the אחדות, the unity of all of us learning more about the רבי and being inspired by him will allow us each to increase in our daily study of תורה, especially specifically of the רבי's teachings, because we all know that the רבי's wisdom on the תורה is unparallel, and hopefully also we are all inspired to increase in doing מצוות, as you know the רבי always told us, increasing מצוה because one מצוה, that's all it could take to bring משיח, and hopefully each and every one of us listening To this session or to any other session will be inspired by the רבי's leadership and legacy to take upon themselves a new מצוה and bring משיח. Thank you so much Rabbi Schapiro. Just to just to tell you, I talked about there's other programs, following this program is a special global program called Transcend and Tran- and Trans- Transform and Transcend or Transcend and Transform. I highly encourage everyone to log on after this, I believe it's starting at 8:30. Go to חבדswb.com/transform or even חבד.org/transform. Tonight's special guests on that program is Rabbi YY Jacobson and Senator Joe Lieberman. There's also a website going on I believe for 24 hours, but certainly tomorrow all day, and it's called dayfortherebbe.com. So if I can encourage and hope that each one will take advantage of so many resources that are going to share with you so many beautiful stories and gleanings and and many different inspiring teachings of the רבי that hopefully you can take with with yourself from here. Before I call on our next guest, I wanted to share with you, and Rabbi Schapiro spoke so eloquently, so beautifully about the רבי who saw the potential in every person. When you walked up to the רבי, you saw yourself for what you were. The רבי looked into your eyes and he saw what you can become. This is exactly the story that Rabbi Schapiro shared with us about one of the generals of the and advisors to the Israeli prime ministers. But I'll tell you just in very short, that was actually my story. I was in business selling janitorial supplies, and I wrote in to the רבי to buy a house. But the רבי saw that Rabbi Pinny, who I was known then as only as Pinny, selling janitorial supplies, how much good is he going to do in the world? Maybe I'll become a successful businessman in New York, but there are so many people whose lives can be touched if he went out to be a חבד רבי. And I wrote to the רבי very clearly, should I buy house number A on Brooklyn Avenue or house B on New York Avenue? And the רבי's answer to me, I was 25 years old at the time in business in New York, and the רבי's answer to me was discuss it over with your wife, and if she wants to go and be part of the רבי's army, if she wants to become part of the שלוחים somewhere in the world, that's what you should do. And immediately we left Crown Heights and moved to Cooper City. And for those who know, just a couple of weeks ago, even during this pandemic where all odds were against us, we just bought an incredible six and a half acre former drug rehab that's going to be a true center in the community. And one last story is when in 1987, when we had an opening to light the מנורה at Joe Robbie Stadium with the Miami Dolphins, so this was a big breakthrough. Nobody sports and religion really never mixed. So I went up, I was chosen to go up in front of the רבי to get a לחיים and a blessing for that event, and the רבי smiled. The רבי smiled that 80,000 people at Joe Robbie Stadium were going to witness the lighting of a מנורה. This is who and this is just one of the many things about the רבי. He knew how to inspire, and he was so proud of the sparks of Judaism reaching and illuminating even the most darkest places. And as we know, this is what when the בעל שם טוב saw משיח and asked, when will משיח comes? When will משיח come? And משיח replied, when the wellsprings of Judaism spread forth and flow to the farthest reaches of the world. And nobody did that greater than the רבי. He's truly showed in Bombay, India, in the farthest to every content continent, Africa, Asia, wherever it is, there's no place today, thanks to the רבי, that doesn't know about Judaism because of A, his global vision of reaching out to every Jew no matter where they could be, but it was also his unconditional love for every single person. So with us, we were supposed to have now Rabbi Yossi Lew from Peachtree City, Georgia, and I welcome his community who's who tuned in hoping to hear him, but his Delta airline He's actually been texting me on flight. He's really he's crying in in the sky that his plane was delayed today. There's a some new טומל going on with the flights. So he is delayed. We'll have to bring him back next time. But I asked one of my colleagues, a very dear friend, Rabbi Yossi Denburg, who's the dean of the Hebrew Academy in Coral Springs, and he is the חב\"ד rabbi of a spiritual leader of Coral Springs, to please share with us We're going to the bullpen, as we say in baseball language, we're going to the bullpen. Rabbi Lew couldn't make it today. So we have with us Rabbi Yossi Denburg. Rabbi Yossi Denburg, tonight's title, as you've been listening, is the רבי, his love, his leadership, his legacy. The floor is yours. First of all, thank you very much Rabbi Pinny for inviting me. A big יישר כח to Rabbi Shapiro, who was my teacher and is my teacher for about 45 years. I'm only 46. So, he's been a teacher my entire life. It's an honor to share tonight's podium with him. And I'll start off with a לחיים. ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. אמן. First of all, it's great to see so many faces and names that I recognize. No one in particular. Hello to the Weisbergs, hello to Ava Phillips, hello to all the beautiful Jews that I do know and I don't know. Rabbi Shapiro and Rabbi Pinny spent the last hour, half hour or so telling you about the רבי's global reach, how the entire universe was the רבי's vision, and how he touched all Jews, all non-Jews, and how the רבי touched presidents and kings and prime ministers. If you don't mind, and taking a step inward, I just want to share with you on a very personal level how it affected my life, how it continues to affect my life through the three words of your title tonight: the רבי's love, the רבי's leadership, and the רבי's legacy. And they're all one and the same. I was born in 1960. And in 1973 was my בר מצוה year. And I had the occasion throughout the course of my life, I grew up in Montreal. My grandmother, my father's mother, lived in Crown Heights. We would go in very, very often, especially after my father's baby sister passed away, also lived in Crown Heights. We would go in very often, and throughout the course of my life, there were many occasions that my father had to go into the רבי. And we children were schlepped along. But I never went in for myself. I was always part of my family. And the year that I was becoming a בר מצוה, my father made an appointment that I should have a private audience with the רבי. Just me and my dad. I was really nervous. I was nervous that the רבי was going to ask me questions that I certainly would not know the answer to, and that I would be embarrassed, and that I would fumble over words. But I was very proud at the same time that I was growing up and I was going to have my own private audience. And I shared that with my friends back in school in Montreal, with my teacher Rabbi Eisenbach, who was my teacher that year, seventh grade. And my teacher, whose family is from Israel, said to me, \"That's great. You're going in for a private audience. Could you do me a personal favor?\" And I said, \"Of course.\" \"Would you be my emissary, my שליח, and ask the רבי for a ברכה, a blessing, for my brother who is very sick and needs to have an operation, and on and on?\" So, I wrote down the name of his brother and the mom's name, and that was one of the things that I literally said over like a mantra a thousand and one times until it was etched in my memory. I didn't tell my father. I thought I was going to like surprise my father. Here I am, this קנאקער, you know, my father thinks I'm going in for X, only for ברכות for myself. No, I want ברכה blessings for someone else. We came into the יחידות, we came into the private audience, and from the get-go, it was a disaster. That's the honest truth. The רבי asked me when was my birthday. What day? And I told the רבי the date. And the רבי said, \"No, I meant the day of the week, not the date of the month.\" And I told the רבי, \"שבת\", and I already was sweating because I got the first question wrong, and that was a pretty easy question. And the רבי asked me if I gave צדקה every single day. And then the רבי said, \"Even on your birthday?\" And I said, \"Of course.\" The רבי said, \"Well, it's going to be שבת. You just told me it's going to be שבת.\" So the רבי advised me that that Friday before my בר מצוה, the רבי said, \"You should give whatever you normally give for Friday, what you would normally give for the next day because you can't שבת, and a third time because it's your birthday.\" And at the time, it truly did not dawn upon me the magnitude of what the רבי's attention to detail was. I just remember thinking here is the greatest rabbi in the world and I'm this 12-year-old pipsqueak, or as we say in Yiddish, א פישער, and here the רבי is giving me personal advice on how I should prepare myself in light of my בר מצוה, and I was just blown away. And then, so I said, \"Okay, that I answer. I know, I did learn it.\" And the רבי said, \"Great, let me ask you a question.\" And it got from bad to worse, because the רבי asked me the question of the מאמר, not a question on the מאמר, the question that the מאמר itself, the Chassidic discourse itself raises: Why is putting on תפילין in the morning the equivalent of learning an entire day? And my mind went blank. And I started to פאנפע. Is there anybody who speaks Yiddish over here? Do you know what to פאנפע means? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I see Leon Weisberg says he knows what it means. Jerry Abraham, you know what to פאנפע means? Good. And I started to say some answer. It wasn't the correct answer. Started to just say over words from the מאמר. My father was getting nervous that I wasn't performing. And finally, the רבי gave me a ברכה. My father asked the רבי several questions that had to do with my father, his work, and his life. And the יחידות was over, and we started to back out. And at that moment, all of a sudden I remembered that I had to ask the רבי for a blessing for my teacher's sick brother in ארץ ישראל. And I said to the רבי that my teacher asked me to ask for a ברכה. And the רבי said, \"And what is his name? His full Hebrew name?\" And my mind just shut down. And I was just so overwhelmed. Honestly, I started to cry. I don't mean sobbing. I don't mean I lost it. I mean I was just like like sniffling, I guess. And I looked at my father like, \"Please help me. You're my dad.\" And my father like looked at me like, \"What do you want? You've never even told me that you were asked.\" And so I said the first stupid thing that came to my mind. I said to the רבי, \"Rabbi Eisenbach, the one from Israel.\" Now, it happens to be the Eisenbach family from Israel is huge, literally with many different cousins in different parts of the family. So saying Rabbi Eisenbach from Israel really narrowed it down to only about like 400 people. But that's what I said to the רבי, \"the one from ארץ ישראל.\" Here I is, 12 and a half, almost 13 years old. Abba Philips, you know what the רבי said to me? He said to me in Yiddish, \"זאג אים אז איך קען אים\". \"זאג אים\", tell him that I know him. Most of our lives go by in a blur. Very rarely do we remember conversations. Most people can't even remember the promises that they made in a conversation. But then there are moments that you remember. This is neither of them. This is a moment that defined and continues to define my life. I still hear in my mind very often those words. זאג אים אז איך קען אים. And it's the רבי's call to me, tell yourself, יוסי Denburg, that I know who you are, I know where you are, I know what you are needed for today. The רבי drilled a hole in our conscience, simply not because, as Rabbi Shapiro said, of his גאונות, because of his genius in Torah study. I could not appreciate Torah study, I was not even 13 years old. Not because of his global reach. I was 13 years old, I wasn't worried about the רבי's global reach. And not because he spoke to presidents, because the רבי spoke to me. I wasn't shafted or shifted to some underling who handles 13-year-old boys, 13-year-old pipsqueaks. The רבי took out time from his day to speak to me. And so, 40, 50 years later, when I get a phone call from a mom who says to me, \"Could you speak to my rebellious teenager?\" no matter how tired I am, no matter how busy I am, I see the רבי sitting and talking to me, taking time to enter, to help, to lead, to direct, to guide, to inspire, and I say the answer is yes. In fact, one of the lessons I've taken from that moment in time is that there are no accidents, and that if two Jews meet, and the רבי said this quite often, it was by divine providence. And the greatest result of that chance meeting, which is not by chance, is that a Jew somewhere else, a third Jew should be helped. Call up any חב״ד rabbi and say, \"I need help,\" and the חב״ד rabbi is not going to ask you what you need. First he's going to say yes, and then he's going to ask you what you need. The reason why we love the רבי is simply because the רבי loved us. The reason why we love Jews because we are trying to emulate after all these years the רבי. Which goes from the first part of this talk, the רבי's love, to the רבי's leadership. By historical reality, the רבי's יארצייט, the רבי's passing, is always commemorated this time of year when we read the story of קרח. In this portion of the rebellion of קרח, there are two other characters called in Hebrew דתן and אבירם. They're brothers. We've come across them before. In fact, when משה רבינו, Moses, was still a prince in Egypt, they were the ones who, trying to curry favor with the Egyptian Pharaoh, would mount an attack against Moses at the court saying, \"He deserves to be killed, because he killed an Egyptian taskmaster.\" Moses runs for his life because of these two rebellious troublemaker Jews. Later on, those are the Jews that make trouble for Moses throughout his life. After the story of, \"Let's go back to Egypt, we don't want to stay here anymore. Let's appoint a new leader. Let's eat the מן. Let's go defy, you know, the rules of שבת,\" and in this week's Torah portion again, throughout the entire leadership of Moses, they are the biggest troublemakers in the world. And the most fascinating thing is that even after they've rejected Moses, accused him of being a killer, an authoritarian despot, ויקם משה, Moses rises to try to appeal to them once more. And I am certain that people said to משה רבינו, \"Don't be naive. Don't be a fool. Don't waste your time. Respect your own dignity. They have literally done everything to undermine your power. Why do you give them the time of day?\" And the truth is, I always think to myself, had דתן and אבירם understood that the love that the רבי had for them, they never would have been a problem to משה. There was once a rabbi who led a verbal attack against the רבי, the רבי's, what he thought, delusional and dangerous schemes to try to change the world. He attacked ליובאוויטש, and later when he got to recognize what ליובאוויטש was doing in his hometown, what the רבי was doing, he wrote a letter of apology to the רבי, \"I am sorry...\" that I said all of the things I said against the רבי. I hope you don't carry a grudge.\" And the רבי wrote him back, \"Believe you me, I don't have time for grudges.\" Do you know a person in this world who doesn't have time for a grudge? What do you say, Ralph? Do you know a Jew who doesn't know how to hold on to a grudge? The reason why the רבי was a leader that we trust, because he wanted nothing for himself and all for others. There was not one thing the רבי asked for that we give him. It's very fascinating that these days, as we prepare for ג׳ תמוז, tonight is ג׳ תמוז, there is a מאמר, a Chassidic discourse that we learn. And it talks about what the רבי does for us, and in return what we do for our רבי. Most of you are parents, and I know you're all muted, but I'm going to share with you the conversation I had with many, many parents. What is the greatest ברכה, Hilda? What is the greatest ברכה, Lenny, that we as parents want? And I know what you're going to answer. You're going to say, \"אידישע נחת.\" And that's the wrong answer. It sounds like it would be the right answer, but it's the wrong answer. The greatest ברכה we could ask for, the greatest ברכה we should ask for if we had half a brain is that we should be better parents, more effective parents, more inspiring parents, that all of our kids all the time should say, \"טאטי, you're amazing! Mommy, you're fantastic! You are the best role models in the world.\" You know what we could give the רבי? That ברכה. We can say to the רבי, in terms of our own lives, you should be a more effective רבי when it comes to my life. Not I should think about you once a year on ג׳ תמוז, I should think about you every day. And as Rabbi Shapiro says, we should take time out of our day to emulate the רבי's love, the רבי's concern, the רבי's compassion for a 12-year-old, for a 10-year-old, for a 90-year-old. You don't got to change the world to be a חבדניק. You only got to change yourself. Huh, not so easy, I know. I've been trying for many years to change myself. And you know what I discovered? I can't. And then I discovered something even more profound, that you actually don't change anyone either because you gave a lecture, and I don't think anyone's life is going to be changed by my words tonight. But you know how you change someone's life? You invite them for a שבת meal. You know how you change someone's life? You help them get a pair of תפילין and teach them how to put it on. You know how to change someone's life, not by telling them to change, by giving them opportunities so that they could grow and change. We talk about the רבי's love and the רבי's leadership, they're one and the same. How did the רבי lead? He led by love. It's very interesting. Post-World War II, many Chassidic רבי's, many paragons of virtue, they said, \"We must protect our young,\" and they built these walls, these ghettos, to keep out the riff-raff, so to speak. The רבי tore down the walls. And the רבי invited every single Jew inside his camp. Every single Jew was a constituent of the רבי. You already are part of the party. You already belong. If you have a soul, you are in the רבי's camp. The רבי didn't take a stick and browbeat anybody. The רבי led with love. Just like Moses led with love, our רבי leads with love. Which brings me to the third part of tonight's title: the רבי's love, the רבי's leadership, and the רבי's legacy. Would you like to see the רבי's legacy? You see that top corner picture of Rabbi Pini? That is the רבי's legacy. See Sharon Rosenthal? Hello, Sharon. Who, on some level, at some point, did something more Jewish because of her connection to ליובאוויטש, because of the רבי, she is the רבי's legacy. When we live our lives lives with a little more love, a drop, and we do it in a leadership position, selflessly, simply serving the other, we are the רבי's legacy, not the books he left over, not the institutions he built, not the thousands of שלוחים and the worldwide global campaign that he has, each and every single one of us is the רבי's legacy. That's my story. I don't know what your story is, but I have met I was at the אוהל this Monday, two days ago, and I met Jews from all over, and every single one of them is the walking legacy, the breathing legacy of the רבי. Fulfill your destiny, love a little more, lead a little more, and you'll leave your own legacy. Rabbi Pinny, thank you so much for inviting me, everyone, a great גימל תמוז.