We are in Shalsheles HaYachas - lesson sixty in Toldos, and the twentieth lesson on the Rebbe. Today we begin with the year 5723.
The first line reads: "5723 - taught the niggun 'Stav Ya Pitu'". We have seen in previous years that every year on the night of Simchas Torah, toward morning after the meal, the Rebbe would come down and teach a niggun. In 5723 it was the niggun "Stav Ya Pitu", a niggun in Ukrainian. The Rebbe related that chassidim heard this niggun in Ukraine from simple folk, and afterwards they translated it into avodas Hashem, and they would sing it at times of joy - on Simchas Torah and the like.
And what is the content of the niggun? The niggun expresses a cheshbon nefesh: even after Elul has passed, the Selichos, Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah - the Rebbe listed all of these days - there still remain essential things that need to be set right. And in order to succeed in that, the niggun says in Yiddish, one drinks wine like water. The Rebbe explained that this refers to "intoxicating wine": the animal soul, which interferes, needs to become intoxicated, and then a person can step out of his external limitations. Further on, the niggun says that one must also know how to spend one's time and how to converse - how to use all of one's daily reflections, conversations and actions for avodas Hashem.
The next day, at the Simchas Torah farbrengen, the Rebbe continued to explain the content of the niggun at much greater length, and this can be seen in the Toras Menachem of 5723.
The next item that appears here is that "in connection with 150 years since the passing of the Alter Rebbe" - which fell on 24 Teves 5724 - "he announced a campaign to give tzedakah in the amount of 150", that is, one hundred and fifty, "and to add 150 hours of Torah study".
At the Simchas Torah farbrengen of 5723 the Rebbe aroused everyone that one must prepare for 24 Teves, and that whoever is connected to the Alter Rebbe rises together with the Alter Rebbe. And how does one prepare? That every chassid should have a daily shiur in Tanya and in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, and in addition - to add in tzedakah, and to connect it to the number 150.
"Completed the 'Sefer HaChassidim'" What is the "Sefer HaChassidim"? This is a book that the Rebbe Rayatz began working to organize, in which all the chassidim, all the anash and all the families descended from anash would be recorded, so that all the names would be by the Rebbe, and the chassidim would be remembered at set times, on the days when the Rebbe would think of each and every one. The Rebbe Rayatz spoke about this, but in practice it did not come to fruition at that stage. Over time an initial draft was made, with pencil entries and names added. In 5723 there was a renewed arousal to publish the book, and on 24 Teves 5723 the "Sefer HaChassidim" was presented to the Rebbe, containing some three thousand names of anash. The Rebbe thanked all those involved very much. To this day one can see in the Rebbe's library the old index cards from this - chassidim recorded themselves and their family members, and all the cards were bound together into a book called "Sefer HaChassidim".
The last point in this year: "He conducted campaigns to redeem the sons and daughters of Israel, as well as the writings of our Rebbeim, the leaders of Chabad, that were located behind the Iron Curtain (in the Soviet Union)". I did not find the documentation describing exactly what took place, but this is what appears as having happened in that year.
The first item that appears: "5724 - taught the niggunim: 'Ki Anu Amecha', 'Hu Elokeinu'". In this year too, as in previous years, the Rebbe came in toward morning after the meal of the night of Simchas Torah and distributed mashke, emphasizing that it was intended only for one who takes upon himself to add in the study of chassidus. That year the Rebbe expressed dissatisfaction that the matter had become a "mitzvas anashim melumadah", a matter of rote, since people who have no connection to it also come up to receive mashke, and even small children; and he announced again that only one who had actually fulfilled the resolutions and commitments he had accepted the previous year should approach.
Afterwards the Rebbe taught the niggun "Ki Anu Amecha". The Rebbe had already taught a niggun of "Ki Anu Amecha" years earlier, and we know that in "Ki Anu Amecha" there are two versions; the niggun he taught here is the more serious one. The Rebbe explained that just as in "Atah Bechartanu" there are two movements - as we have already discussed, that one is the way of tzaddikim and one is the way of baalei teshuvah - so too in "Ki Anu Amecha" there are two niggunim: the first niggun is a movement of victory, which belongs to tzaddikim; and the additional movement, which the Rebbe taught that year and said that he had heard it from one of the elder chassidim who sang it at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, is a movement of stubbornness, which suits baalei teshuvah.
After the Rebbe taught the niggun, he continued distributing mashke, and again small children came up. The Rebbe said that he does not know what will be next year with the niggun, and therefore he would now sing an additional niggun. This was the only year in which the Rebbe taught two niggunim. He taught a niggun of the chazzan R' Yechiel, who sang it in Lubavitch by the Rebbe Rashab - namely the niggun "V'Hu Elokeinu".
This was in fact the last year in which the Rebbe taught niggunim. The Rebbe said that he does not know what will be next year with the niggun - and the following year, on 6 Tishrei 5725, the Rebbe's mother passed away, and on Simchas Torah of that year he no longer taught niggunim. In 5724, then, the ten niggunim that the Rebbe taught on the nights of Simchas Torah were completed, and these are they in order:
"Darkecha Elokeinu"
"Ki Anu Amecha" (the first)
"Tzomah Lecha Nafshi" (Ech Ti Dorin)
"Shamil"
"Rachmana D'ani"
"Atah Bechartanu"
"An'im Zemiros"
"Stav Ya Pitu"
"Ki Anu Amecha" (the second)
"Hu Elokeinu"
The next item that appears here is in the year 5724: "He founded 'Keren Levi Yitzchak' named for his father, the holy Rav, the gaon and chassid, the mekubal Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, of blessed memory". What is this fund? On 20 Menachem Av 5724 it was twenty years since the hilula of the Rebbe's father, who passed away in 5704, and the Rebbe wished to do something in his memory. The Rebbe spoke at length about how in the schools there is an obligation under state law to study secular subjects, and although sacred subjects are studied as well, there are not enough funds for the sacred studies, since the state pays the salaries of the teachers of the secular subjects. As a result, the teachers of the sacred subjects do not receive their salaries properly, and if they do receive them - they receive a check post-dated to a later period. This causes the teachers to feel less good, and it also affects the education of the students, who feel as though they are on a lower level and as though these studies are less important.
Therefore the Rebbe founded a special gemach fund, one of whose purposes is that any teacher who received a post-dated check could come to the gemach, hand over the check and receive cash immediately, so that he would have peace of mind; and likewise a teacher who needs a loan because of financial pressure would receive a gemach loan, of course without any interest and on very easy terms. This is the "Keren Levi Yitzchak" that the Rebbe founded for this purpose in 5724. The fund continued to operate over the years, and the Rebbe always asked that people continue to add and take part in it.