We are in the fifty-fourth lesson in the chain of lineage of our Rebbes, our leaders, in the fourteenth part, the account of the life of the Rebbe. Today we will study about the year 5712.
It is written thus: In 5712 he urged that the yeshiva students, and also the young married men, should deliver talks of Chassidus in synagogues. In the month of Teves, on the 6th of Teves, what was called the "Committee for Arranging the Repetition of Divrei Chassidus" entered into yechidus with the Rebbe — a committee that arranged for students to repeat Chassidus in synagogues. The Rebbe told them that he sees in the report of those who went that names of many students who do not appear in the report are missing. The Rebbe says that they should tell the negligent students that this is not right; rather, everyone is obligated to go to synagogues on Shabbos and repeat Chassidus. And this is not only for the benefit of the Jews who will listen and hear ideas of Chassidus, but also for the benefit of the students themselves.
The Rebbe says: And even if there aren't enough synagogues in the neighborhood for all the students, they should review by means of this very concept, that each student takes nine students and reviews something before them. But there is no possibility of forgoing this matter. This was spoken in a yechidus on the 6th of Teves; afterward, on the 24th of Teves at a public farbrengen, the Rebbe again aroused about this, and on Purim of that same year he again aroused about this. The Rebbe spoke that not only the tmimim bochurim in the yeshiva, but also the married avreichim need to take part in this. He greatly instilled that each one should see it as an obligation that he must go on Shabbos and spread Chassidus in the synagogues.
The following detail was written about that year: "He likewise arouses that the students and also the young married men should receive semichah, and that in addition to receiving semichah they should acquire knowledge in a multitude of topics in Shas and Poskim." In that year, at the farbrengen of the 24th of Teves, the Rebbe aroused that students need to study in order to receive ordination for issuing halachic rulings, ordination for the rabbinate. The Rebbe says that even the married householders should be proficient in halachah. The Rebbe said that the married young men, even if in practice they will not receive the certificate, but if they study at such a level that they are worthy of receiving a certificate, then they are fine. But the young men truly need to study until they receive a certificate of ordination for the rabbinate. The Rebbe spoke about this again in the summer, on the 3rd of Tammuz. Again he aroused about the matter very much, that one must invest in this matter, that each one should ultimately be like a rabbi in his own home—not necessarily that he should know how to rule, but that he should at least know what is considered a question.
The following detail illustrates in practice the establishment of the institution known as A.T.H. A.T.H is an acronym for: Agudas Talmidei HaYeshivos (the Association of Yeshiva Students). This took place at the farbrengen of Yud Shevat, and the Rebbe said that in 5701 (1941), when he was not yet here in the United States, but the previous Rebbe was already here—the previous Rebbe arrived in Adar 5701—he requested that they establish an organization uniting all the yeshiva students, so that they would have a special association together and with shared goals and so forth. Today he says that for several reasons the matter did not come to fruition. This was a declaration by the previous Rebbe that it should be, but in practice it did not get organized. So at the farbrengen of Yud Shevat of 5712 (1952), the Rebbe proposed that now the time had come to put this into action. The Rebbe went into the finest details: who the members of the association are, how it is organized, how there would be membership dues, and what they would be engaged in—truly a detailed plan to establish this thing, and today it already exists in all the yeshivos; there is an organization that organizes them all. This is the acronym A.T.H, Agudas Talmidei HaYeshivos.
The next detail mentioned here: he declares that the education of the young children of the Torah school is the sole remedy to nullify all the harsh decrees. This is something the Rebbe repeated many times over the years. The Rebbe brought the verse in Tehillim, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have established strength, because of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and the avenger." That is to say, even babes and sucklings, when one learns with them and accustoms them to words of Torah, this has the power to nullify and silence all the vengeful enemies. In the summer of 5733, before the Yom Kippur War, the Rebbe aroused people concerning this matter very, very strongly, and there was an interesting expression there: when the Yom Kippur War broke out, three days afterward, the Rebbe said at a farbrengen that everything he had spoken about in the summer and aroused people about so much—he had prophesied without knowing what he prophesied. This is what the Rebbe said about himself. That is to say, again, this point that the education of children has the power to silence all the matters and all the decrees.
The next matter that appears here: "and he begins to explain one mishnah in Pirkei Avot on the Shabbatot between Pesach and Shavuot." This was customary throughout all the years at the farbrengens that the Rebbe held during this period, and afterward it continued until close to the entire summer and Rosh Hashanah. Every time there was a farbrengen on Shabbat, the Rebbe spoke about the chapter of Pirkei Avot of that Shabbat, and explained some particular mishnah. This began in 5712. In that year, after Pesach there were altogether two Shabbatot. There was Shabbat Mevarchim of the month of Iyar, so the Rebbe spoke about the introduction to Pirkei Avot, about "Kol Yisrael," about the first mishnah. After that, the next time was Shabbat Mevarchim of the month of Sivan, and by then they were already learning the sixth chapter, so the Rebbe taught and instructed about the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avot. In that year it was altogether twice, but then began this practice of the Rebbe pausing to explain matters connected to Pirkei Avot.
The next detail is the founder of Tzeirei Agudat Chabad in the Holy Land, may it be built and established. This organization of Tzach, Tzeirei Agudat Chabad, was directed by the Rebbe. The next matter is the founder of Agudat Neshei uBnot Chabad in the Holy Land, may it be built and established. The idea to establish an organization of women and girls, the Rebbe had already written about a year earlier, in the summer of 5711, and aroused interest in the matter. But in practice, in the summer of 5712, the organization was established, and there already appears a letter that the Rebbe sends to the organization of Neshei Chabad, in which he gives them an actual detailed work plan of how they should work. This was in 5712.
The next matter is the founding of the Reshet Poalei Yosef Yitzchak network in the Holy Land and in Australia. This is an organization that encompasses schools, and it exists to this very day, both in the Land and in Australia. The Rebbe established it in 5712. Here too, the Rebbe wrote the idea a year before that, in the summer of 5711, but the actual approval from the Ministry of Education—that Chabad could establish a network as an independent stream—came in 5712. There was also an interesting story in this: officially, the one who dealt with its establishment, Rabbi Zusha Wilmowsky, met with the Minister of Education at the time, and the Minister of Education told him that it was impossible, that he could not grant it approval. And in the middle of the meeting with the Minister of Education, the Minister received an internal phone call that the Prime Minister at the time was urgently summoning him, and in the middle of the meeting he left. The Rebbe said yes—he didn't think about it. He said that the one who runs the world is the Rebbe. He went out to the secretary and said: "The Minister of Education said that you should give the approval and we are moving forward." And she simply handed over the approval, and that is how the whole enterprise got underway.
The last matter mentioned in this year, the founding of the "Tzedakah Keren" fundraising campaign, Ohalei Yosef Yitzchak. The Rebbe founded a fundraising fund whose purpose is to support institutions that are called by this name. All the institutions that are named after the Rebbe, Ohalei Yosef Yitzchak, such as the network of schools and the like, that there should be a special fund that will give them support and help to meet the great expenses of their office.