The thirty-sixth lesson in the chain of tradition, in the middle of the story of the life of the Rebbe Rayatz in the sixth part. We will read the events noted beginning from the year 5700. It is written thus: 5700, on the ninth of Adar Sheni he came to the city of New York and settles in the Brooklyn section of the city. Let us expand a little. We are speaking here of the time when World War II broke out, in the month of Elul 5699. Then the Rebbe was in Otwock, he traveled from Otwock to Warsaw, and the goal was to reach Riga. In practice, when the Rebbe arrived in Warsaw, they could no longer travel to Riga easily, and the Rebbe remained in Warsaw until Tevet, that is Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev. He stayed several months in Warsaw, and there were bombings there, and there are descriptions there. It was truly difficult.
In the midst of the war, thank God, in the month of Teves the Rebbe managed to leave Warsaw and arrived in Riga. In Riga he was delayed another two and a half months, until the 24th of Adar Rishon of that year, 5700, and from there, at the end of Adar Rishon, the Rebbe flew to Stockholm, from there to a place called Gladbrug, and from there a ship departed for the United States. On the ship he traveled about a week and a half. The ship arrived on the 8th of Adar in the United States, but in the afternoon. According to the law they had then, when a ship arrives after four in the afternoon, one cannot disembark from the deck, one must wait until the next morning, everything is closed. So the ship actually arrived on the 8th of Adar, but they could not disembark from the deck, therefore it is written that in practice he arrived in New York on the 9th of Adar, the following day.
At first the Rebbe stayed at the "Greystone" hotel in Manhattan. We will skip over all the periods. Here it is written that he settled and established himself in the Brooklyn section of the city, which is at "770." But before it reached this stage, the Rebbe entered "770" on the 19th of Elul in the year 5700. First they bought the building, then the Rebbe entered, and a few days later there was the housewarming (chanukas habayis), but throughout this whole period he was in several places in the meantime. Here they do not detail all the points; they speak briefly, that in 5700 he arrived in New York and settled in Brooklyn.
Let us continue further. Regarding that same year it is still written that he is engaged in rescuing his students and succeeds. The Rebbe Rayatz, even after he left there, did not cease being involved and doing everything to save his students—the students of Tomchei Temimim who remained in Poland, and the many chassidim who remained there in the midst of the war. The Rebbe made tremendous efforts to bring them out of Poland to Lithuania, and afterward to obtain permits, to bring them out to the United States and Canada. These matters entailed great financial expenses, because the roads were very disrupted, and it was truly a worldwide undertaking. And this continued from 5700 to 5701. It is detailed in the Igrot Kodesh of the previous Rebbe—it seems to me in volume A—one can see many letters concerning this, and here it is written in two words: "engaged and succeeds." The Rebbe succeeded in rescuing from the war many dozens of students and families who arrived, thank God, in their entirety in the United States and Canada.
The next thing written here in that same year: "Founder of the central yeshiva Tomchei Temimim." The Rebbe Rayatz founded a yeshiva in the United States. When did he found the yeshiva? We already said earlier that the Rebbe arrived in the United States on the 9th of Adar Sheni. The next day, or even on that same day, there was a reception for the Rebbe at a hotel in Manhattan. And then the Rebbe declared and said that tomorrow the yeshiva Tomchei Temimim would open at the Oneg Shabbat synagogue in America. The Rebbe Rayatz said that he wanted to involve the chassidim in the decisions that had been made in the standing committee, and the next day we will open the yeshiva. This is how the Rebbe acted, even though there were those who tried to tell the Rebbe that America is not as you think, not like Russia, not like Poland, it is different. The Rebbe followed the line that America is no different in any way, and in America too he succeeds in founding Tomchei Temimim yeshivos, and subsequently more branches of Tomchei Temimim were founded in a number of cities in America, as is detailed in the letters and in the book "Toldot Chabad in the United States," where there is a very interesting elaboration of all this.
Now let us also look at a few things regarding the following year, 5701. What does he write about 5701? There are several stages. First, the beginning of the publication of "HaKriah VeHaKedushah." "HaKriah VeHaKedushah" was a Yiddish periodical that appeared between the years 5701 and 5705. There were dozens of pamphlets that were published over the course of these years. This was a platform whose purpose was to have a place where the clear and lucid voice of the Rebbe would be heard. In the wake of the war, people were under pressure, and there was much confusion in the world, so the Rebbe wanted there to be one place where his voice would be heard in a very clear manner. This was a platform that brought a great deal of calm to the Jewish people, and also expressed the conclusion that the only solution is redemption, Mashiach ben David. The Rebbe then issued a great call for immediate repentance, for immediate redemption, and there were several "HaKol Koreh" [proclamations] on this matter.
Everything was printed in this newspaper. It had several sections, and although it was not officially written that the Rebbe was its editor, everything passed through the Rebbe Rayatz and passed through his hand. In the very first newspaper it was written sharply that it passes through his editing. In the second newspaper it was already written in a more diluted manner, but everything passed through the Rebbe Rayatz. There are many interesting sections there, most of them in Yiddish. One of the heavenly pieces that appeared from time to time in those editions is a piece that to this day almost nothing is understood in it, under a title they called "Flying Letters." These were pieces of words that appear meaningless. They simply did not understand what was written there, but there were hidden heavenly prophecies of the previous Rebbe, and to this day nearly all of them have not been deciphered.
There is only one example, I believe, I don't remember in which issue, that after America and other countries invaded Europe during the war, it was written in one of the issues of "HaKriah VeHaKedushah" that "we knew this," and then they brought a passage that had been printed two or three years earlier, and they discovered upon decoding that it noted there what would happen and in which month, everything. But it was written in a concealed manner, and thus there are dozens of prophecies there that to this day have not been deciphered, written in an interesting way. You can see it, everything exists, just don't try to decipher it because it is not done in the usual manner.
Let us continue further. The next passage, in that same year 5701, [describes how the Rebbe Rayatz] founded the organization Machaneh Yisrael. Machaneh Yisrael is an organization that was established at the beginning of 5701. At the head of the organization, of course, stood the Rebbe Rayatz. When our Rebbe arrived in the United States, in the summer of 5701, in Sivan, the Rebbe was appointed as chairman of the executive committee of the organization. What was the purpose of the organization? To strengthen the observance of Torah and mitzvot among the Jewish people, to awaken Jews to return in teshuvah, and to publicize the call of the redemption: immediately to teshuvah, immediately to redemption.
There were various departments that were established immediately, and departments that were established over time, such as, for example, a department whose entire purpose was to spread the matter of Shabbos observance, which was very difficult among people who came to work and were forced to desecrate Shabbos, to awaken the matter of Shabbos observance. There was an organization called Mishnayos by heart for the purification of the air, to hold a lottery on the chapters of the Mishnayos, so that each person would have a few Mishnayos that he learns by heart, and together they all complete all six orders of the Mishnah. There was an organization there called Chevras Tehillim, distribution of the Shas, bikur cholim — to visit the wounded of the war. All kinds of departments that were established, some of them over time.
It's very interesting that at first this organization was secret. What does secret mean? The members of the organization were hidden; even friends and family members didn't know that you were a member of the organization. It was a covert organization. There's an interesting example: in the month of Sivan of 5701, the Previous Rebbe wrote a letter, and there he mentions the organization Machaneh Yisrael. One of the famous chassidim, Rabbi Avraham Axelrod, sends a letter to another famous chassid, Rabbi Yisrael Jacobson, and asks him what this organization "Machaneh Yisrael" is. We're talking about an organization that had already existed for several months, and he didn't know what it was about. He asks him what this organization is. How is it possible? What does it depend on? Is it according to the Rebbe's wish? Simply everything was in a very covert manner. Afterward, of course, it became an open organization, an organization that exists to this very day. This matter and things surrounding it are also detailed extensively in a book called "Toldot Chabad in the United States"; one can see there at length all these matters.