We are in the thirty-ninth lesson in the chain of lineage in the life story of the Rebbe Rayatz, in the ninth part. We have reached the year 5708 (1948), and what is written about 5708: he founded the Chabad village near Tel Aviv in the Holy Land, may it be built and established, for the refugees of Russia. This refers of course to Kfar Chabad. Kfar Chabad was established by an instruction of the Rebbe Rayatz. Its purpose was to absorb the chassidim who left the Soviet Union, Russia, after the World War, so that they would have a place to live and a means of livelihood.
The land on which the village was founded was the territory of an abandoned Arab village. The village was called Kfar Safaria, and therefore he mentions that this is the founder of Kfar Chabad. In the early years, the residents' livelihood was based entirely on agriculture, and over time it developed.
The proposal to establish the village was brought, as it were, from below to above. There was a chassid, named Rabbi Eliezer Karasik, and he proposed to the Rebbe Rayatz that it would be worthwhile to establish such a settlement in the Land. In Tishrei 5708, Rabbi Karasik together with another one of the chassidim traveled to the Rebbe Rayatz and presented their idea and their plan. After this, Shazar entered the Rebbe Rayatz for yechidus, and the Rebbe clarified with him all the possibilities regarding what could be done here in the Land, from the standpoint of the state, what could bring this about. After the Rebbe heard everything, he announced that he had decided that they would indeed establish the village.
At first there was a delay, because just then the War of Independence broke out, but in practice the plan was already carried out in 5709. In 5709 it was established, and there is the date of the official inauguration of the village, which was on the 12th of Tammuz 5709. There is an interesting letter from the Rebbe Rayatz that he sent to them in advance of the establishment of the village and the inauguration of the place. The Rebbe sent them a special Torah scroll. This is the matter that is marked here for the year 5708.
5709 (1949): He inspires the founding of an organized committee to save the education of the children immigrating to the Holy Land, may it be built and established, in the transit camps, and he succeeds. Thousands of Jews immigrated to the Land then, after the war, and they settled them in transit camps. At first there were some twenty camps here in the Land, and in them thousands of Jews. It began with more than thirty thousand, and over time it rose to many more, over seventy thousand people. They lived there, but there was no meaningful educational system.
Afterwards this also created problems in terms of employment, because they did nothing. Gradually this turned into ma'abarot (transit camps), but the education system was not as serious as it should have been. So here the Rebbe Rayatz established a committee that dealt with the education of the children. There was talk of thousands of children wandering about without proper educational investment. And this is what the Rebbe Rayatz did in the year 5709.
We arrive at the final year, 5710. In the weeks before his passing, he lays the foundation and framework for the work of education and strengthening Torah in the country of North Africa, that is, Morocco. In the winter of 5710—the passing was in Shevat—shortly before that, the Rebbe Rayatz founded and initiated the shlichus in Morocco, North Africa.
Immediately after the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz, which we will mention again in a moment, our Rebbe wrote a letter to Rabbi Chaim Lipsker, who was then in Paris. He had just left Russia, and an intermediate stop was with his family in Paris. The Rebbe writes him a letter, and one can see its content. The Rebbe says that one of the things the Rebbe Rayatz discussed with him before his passing was about the education of Jewish children in the countries of Africa. The Rebbe Rayatz wanted them to establish a branch there that would help the Jews living there. The Rebbe Rayatz designated Rabbi Lipsker to be the one who would deal with this—to travel there, examine what was needed, organize and manage the work there. So the Rebbe sends him the letter. This was the last instruction of the Rebbe Rayatz before his passing.
Which as a direct consequence of this, meaning as a result of the fact that the Rebbe Rayatz's will was indeed fulfilled, there were established there for the time being - this is when the "day-yom" was published by the Rebbe, already during the Rebbe's leadership it is written that for the time being - what will be there in Morocco? A teachers' seminary, a yeshiva, a yeshiva ketana, a Talmud Torah for boys, a Talmud Torah for girls, all under the general name Ohalei Yosef Yitzchak Lubavitch. There is all the elaboration and detail of all the extensive activity in Morocco, which he brings here in brief. There is a book called "Toldos Chabad B'Morocco," and one can see there the entire program, exactly what was done and who worked on it, most wondrous things.
This was actually the final shlichus of the Rebbe Rayatz, and the first shliach of the Rebbe, which connects together. It was in Morocco.
The last thing, with which we will conclude, is about the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz. On the holy Shabbat, parashat Bo, the tenth of Shevat, in the year 5710, at eight o'clock in the morning, he passes away and his resting place is of honor in New York. The Rebbe Rayatz had not been in good health for a long time already, but no one thought at that time that this was what was going to happen. From the perspective of the chassidim it was truly a shock and a very, very great blow.
The interesting thing is that everyone knows, but it is worth mentioning, that this very day, the tenth of Shevat, the day of the passing of the previous Rebbe, is also the day of the passing of his grandmother, the Rebbetzin of the Rebbe Maharash, who was called Rebbetzin Rivkah. She passed away, of course, many years earlier, but on that same date. And in honor of this date the Rebbe would issue a maamar of Chassidus for the tenth of Shevat, the famous maamar "Bati LeGani." And even though it was officially issued for the memorial day of the grandmother, the Rebbe spoke about this during the first year after the passing of the previous Rebbe, that in this maamar the Rebbe Rayatz left all the advice and all the guidance. Everything one needs to know in this period is all found in this maamar. It is like the "will" maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz, the twenty chapters of the "Bati LeGani" that he issued on the yom tov.
There are even very interesting stories from that period, that there was a certain chatan who had a doubt after the passing [of the Rebbe Rayatz], as he was supposed to have a wedding, whether to hold it now, or to postpone it, whether it was appropriate. And the Rebbe told him: The answers, everything is found in the maamar. He opened for him the first maamar and showed him that at the end of the first maamar it speaks there about a wedding, about the pages that were gathered in honor of the kallah. Behold, the answer is found here, certainly one must do everything. The Rebbe related to this—that all matters are found within the "Basi LeGani" of the Rebbe.