Gimmel Tammuz
Gimmel Tammuz
Examines Rashi's midrash on Moshe's request that Korach's portion of the communal korban go unaccepted, and the Rebbe's question about why Moshe introduces it with 'I know.' The answer: even within the tzibbur, every Yid retains an individual identity that a true leader continues to see and relate to, a lesson applied to Gimmel Tammuz and the twofold hiskashrus a chossid has to the Rebbe, both as part of the klal and as an individual.
Farbrengen: Gimmel Tammuz & Siyum HaRambam (5781)
A Gimmel Tammuz farbrengen combined with a Siyum HaRambam: the Rambam's closing chapters on Mashiach and a world filled with knowledge of G-d, knowing versus believing, the Rebbe's care for every individual, and personal stories — Hurricane Andrew, underground shlichus in Soviet Russia, and the Rebbe's influence that sustained Yiddishkeit there.
The Rebbe: His Love, His Leadership, His Legacy
A Gimmel Tammuz 5780 program marking the Rebbe's 26th yahrzeit. Rabbi Schapiro speaks about the Rebbe's place in Chabad history, his response to the post-Holocaust era, Sunday dollars, the Rebbe's care for every individual, and building a worldwide network of shluchim; followed by Rabbi Yossi Denburg on the Rebbe's love, leadership, and legacy.
Parshas Korach - Gimmel Tammuz
Traces the Seder Olam's point that Korach's machlokes broke out only after the story of the meraglim, even though Aharon and Elitzafan ben Uziel had been appointed months earlier. Reads the meraglim's error — preferring to stay wrapped in ruchniyus in the midbar rather than bring Hashem into the gashmius of Eretz Yisroel — as the very idea Korach twisted into his own claim that if maaseh is what matters, every Yid is equal. Answers him with the mashal of a diamond that still needs to shine: maaseh is the ikar, but it still needs the light of proper kavanah, exactly what a Moshe Rabbeinu or a Rebbe brings out.
Parshas Korach - Gimmel Tammuz
Picks up the same question the Seder Olam raises: Korach had reason to complain the moment Aharon became Kohen Gadol, so why did he wait until after the meraglim to act? Shows how the meraglim's mistake — assuming ruchniyus in the midbar outranked the avodah of bringing Hashem into gashmius in Eretz Yisroel — handed Korach a twisted logic: if maaseh is truly the ikar, then no one, not even Moshe, is greater than anyone else. Answers with the mashal of an uncovered diamond, tying the need for kavanah alongside maaseh to the role of the Rebbe and to Gimmel Tammuz.
Parshas Korach - Gimmel Tammuz
Reads Korach's claim that all Yidden are holy — so why treat anyone as greater — through Chazal's example of a house so full of sefarim it supposedly has no need for a mezuzah. Shows that Korach wasn't arguing against having a leader or a teacher, which everyone agrees is necessary, but against the very idea of a Rebbe whose function is to instill ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem, not just teach Torah. Answers that even a talmid chacham full of Torah still needs that mezuzah, tying the lesson to Gimmel Tammuz and the Rebbe's role of instilling ein od milvado.
Parshas Korach - Gimmel Tammuz
Follows Korach's raaya that a bayis maleh sefarim requires no mezuzah as a stand-in for his real claim: that a Yid who learns plenty of Torah has no need for a Rebbe's guidance. Distinguishes that from arguing against leadership itself, which Korach never disputed, and instead locates his actual target as the Rebbe's function of instilling ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem into a Yid's Torah and mitzvos. Ties the answer — that even a house full of sefarim still needs its mezuzah — to Gimmel Tammuz and the Rebbe's ongoing work of instilling ein od milvado.
Parshas Korach - Gimmel Tammuz
Opens with Rashi's sharp question — were Korach's 250 men fools to bring the ketores when Moshe had warned them plainly that only one would survive — and answers that they sinned with their own nefesh, essentially choosing to risk death. Finds a limud zechus in that choice by comparing it to the roughly 300 Kohanim Gedolim of the second Beis Hamikdash who kept entering the Kodesh HaKodashim on Yom Kippur despite knowing the danger, driven by the sheer desire to be close to Hashem. Reads the same desire behind Korach's men's willingness to die, and frames it as a model, in the spirit of Gimmel Tammuz, for always finding the good in every Yid.