He says, “Rebbe, that’s a good commandment for all year. But Purim I have to get drunk. So I gotta drink.” The Rebbe looked at him for a long time. He says, “If you love your neighbor like yourself, you can get drunk by giving a glass of beer to somebody else.” L’Chaim! L’Chaim!”

photo is of Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, the first Rebbe of Bobov.

Shlomo Carlebach

So here Rebbe Levi Yitzhak Berditchever came, a few weeks before Chanukah, and so, the the daughter of the Kozhnitzer Maggid comes in, and she says to Reb Levi Yitzhak, “Can you please, please, please bless me with children? So Reb Levi Yitzhak Berditchever says to the Kozhnitzer Maggid, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll bless your daughter with children if you’ll give me your Chanukah menorah.”

Look, what can you do? For my daughter I’ll do anything in the world, right? So he says, “Sure, I’ll give it to you very gladly.” So he gave him the Chanukah menorah, and then Reb Levi Yitzhak took the menorah and gave it to the daughter of the Kozhnitzer Maggid and says, “Here is my present for your little baby.” Gevalt. Then he says to the Kozhnitzer Maggid, “But you know what? Until he’ll be Bar Mitzvah, you can kindle on his menorah.” I want you to know, this little boy later on was Reb Chaim Meir’l of Margolinska, was like — mamesh, a great light.

Everybody knows that Chanukah — Chanukah is the time to pray to find your soul-mate. You know what it takes to find your soul-mate? Good eyes. Good eyes. On Chanukah, when the light is shining — the inner light, the inside light — and you know what you need, in order to be blessed by G-d with children? Also Chanukah light. And you know, G-d forbid, sometimes, G-d doesn’t trust us with children ’cause we don’t know how to look at them.

You know, I don’t want to say anything bad — I’m sure this yeshival’l here is the best…but the rest of the day schools I’m not so sure. Or every one is good. Most of them are good. You know what it takes to be a good teacher? The world thinks a good teacher is someone who disciplines the kids — they’re afraid to move, nebich; he takes away their last ounce of joy. A good teacher is someone who has good eyes. Good eyes. Good eyes. And here I want to share something awesome, deep, with you.

You know, beautiful friends, on Yom Kippur we’re asking for forgiveness. But you know how many scars we have on our soul? So many scars. Imagine I love this girl very much, we had a big fight, and we ask each other for forgiveness. And so we forgive each other. But there’s so many scars left. So many scars left. And you know what it takes to take away the scars? Mamesh, you need one person to look at you with so much love that it would take away the scars. And you know, if we would x-ray each other — ourselves — we would see so many scars. So many scars.

You know, children, everyday when they come home from school — I could swear they are full of scars. And you know, if parents have Chanukah eyes, they take away all the scars. And they’re so glad to be home. And sometimes, nebich, parents don’t have it. And I’m not judging them — because *they* are full of scars.

Anyway, I want to bless you and me and all of us. You know, Chanukah — it’s our big chance to see each other again — not only our chance to see each other again, it’s our chance to heal each other again, to heal each other again.

And one more thing — forgive me for saying it; I’ll make it fast because a lot of people are saying that I tell them too many Torahs. You know why? I’ll tell you. I don’t want to say anything bad, but they don’t like it, so, mazel tov. Nothing I can do.

You know, the Kotzker Rebbe, someone told the Kotzker Rebbe, “This person doesn’t like you.” He said, “I’m so glad. I was so afraid he would.” You know, those people who don’t like my stories? I’m so glad they don’t, you know? ‘Cause it’s not for them.

You know, one of the biggest gaonim of the last generation — there [are] no more like him — a giant! — came out with a sefer — a book — an earth-shaking book. I mean, not from our generation. He walked down the street, and a man says to him, “You know, I wrote you three letters about your book, and you didn’t answer me.” So he says, “You know, I’ll tell you the truth. My book is not meant for everyone. And you are one of them for whom it’s not meant.”

Congregation Chevra Thilim, San Francisco, 18 Kislev, 5752/November 24, 1991
Recorded by Aryeh Trupin

Transcribed by Reuven Goldfarb, 3-4 Iyar, 5758/April 29, 1998

Shlomo Carlebach

Reb Shlomo saw that this man was a very special holy soul. A few minutes before landing Reb Shlomo felt that he wanted to share a holy Torah with this man. Reb Shlomo, who always had a sefer with him simply opened the sefer on his lap, and started teaching from the first Torah he saw on the page before him. (i believe the sefer was the Beis Yakov on Bereishis). And this is what he taught:

Everyone knows the famous question; why does the holy Torah start with the word ‘bereishis’, which is usually translated as ‘in the beginning’? Would we not otherwise have known when G-d created the universe? The Torah does not even have any superfluous letters, and certainly not any superfluous words! So then why does the Torah not start simply, “G-d created heaven and earth”? Should anyone ask you: ‘when did Hashem do this’?, you would certainly answer ‘it was in the beginning’.

There is an entire Kabbalah sefer, the Tikkunei Zohar, in which there are seventy different answers to this question alone. The Beis Yakov gives the following answer. This is a teaching from a rabbi who lived about one hundred and fifty years ago, the holy Beis Yakov.

The Beis Yakov says that the word ‘bereishis’, ‘in the beginning’, is not intended to tell us when G-d created the universe. Rather the Torah is teaching us; “Bereishis”, ‘with the power of renewal’, “bara Elokim es hashomayim v’es ha’aretz”, ‘G-d created heaven and earth’. Meaning that G-d put the power of renewal, into the creation.

Why is it that when you are feeling down, and you go for a walk in the forest, fifteen minutes later you find yourself feeling better? It is because of the power of renewal that Hashem put into the creation. Walking in the forest, connects you with the power of renewal, that is what is refreshing you.

At this point the plane landed, and Reb Shlomo and this young man parted in friendship and love.

A few years after hearing this story from Reb Shlomo, the story came up again in our conversation. Reb Shlomo zt”l, smilingly said to me, “you know the Beis Yakov probably knew that 150 years later, this teaching would save this man’s life.

Transcribed by Sholom Brodt

Purim: Shlomo and the Egged Bus Drivers
Background

The Shabbat before Purim is Parshat Zachor. According to many Halachic authorities there is a Biblical requirement for everyone to hear the Torah reading on this Shabbat.

“Zachor” means to remember. On this Shabbat we take a second Torah out of the Ark and we read from the Book of Deuteronomy (25:17-19) about Amalek, a nation which always harbored an intense hatred for the Jews.

When the Jews left Egypt, there wasn’t a nation who dared to pick a fight with the Jews. Who in their right mind would start up with a people whose G-d just smacked around Egypt, the sole super-power of the times, with ten awesome plagues, and drowned the surviving few in a sea which split to allow the Jews to cross?! “Peoples heard and were agitated; terror gripped the dwellers of Phillistia. Then the chieftains of Edom were confounded. Trembling gripped the powers of Moab, all the dwellers of Canaan dissolved” (Exodus 15:14-15).

Only Amalek, driven by profound hatred which defied logic, came to battle the Jews.

We are commanded to constantly remember the evil deeds of Amalek and destroy them. We read this on the Shabbat before Purim because Haman was a descendant of Amalek.

A little Amalek lurks within every person. Amalek is the voice within the person which encourages a person not to allow him or herself to be inspired. No matter what sort of Divine Providence a person encounters — and everyone does — Amalek is shrugging it off.

Egged Bus Cooperative is the largest bus company in Israel, and the second largest in the world (after London Buses). A cooperative owned by its members, Egged employs 6,117 workers and has 3,303 buses for more than 1,038 service routes and 3,984 alternative routes all over Israel. Egged makes 44,957 trips every day, transporting about a million passengers over 810,519 km of roads. Egged’s bus routes reach most settlements, kibbutzim, moshavim and cities in Israel. Egged also runs local bus networks in most Israeli cities and towns.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak wrote some popular Hasidic religious folk songs, including Dude’le and “The Kaddish of Rebbe Levi Yitzchok.” Reb Levi Yitzchak also composed a prayer in Yiddish, “God of Abraham”, that many Jewish people recite at the close of the Sabbath. He is buried in the old cemetery in Berdychiv, Ukraine.)) gave notice to the whole city of Berditchev that he wants everyone to come and receive his blessings — but that it would cost one Ruble. Everybody came. One way or another, they either had a ruble, they borrowed a ruble, and everybody came. It was getting later and later, and Rebbe Yitzhak was not going to Shul yet. People were saying, it’s late, it’s late, but obviously he was waiting for somebody. Very late, very late — and all of us are so late. The secret of life is to know it’s never too late. But gevalt are we late. Finally, a very poor woman came. And she said to him, Heileger Reba, here is my Ruble, please bless me. And Rebbe Yitzhak blessed her and she went on to say, “Rebbe, believe me it was so hard for me to get this ruble. But here is my little girl with me. I don’t have a ruble for her. Could you please bless her for free? So Reb Levi Yitzhak says, “I’m sorry, the price is one ruble. What can I do? If you don’t have a ruble, I can’t bless your daughter.” The woman burst out crying and said, “Rebbe, I have only one ruble. Take away the blessing you gave me. I don’t care what happens to me ever. But please bless my child, heilege Reba, bless my child”. Rebbe Levi Yitzhak couldn’t control himself any more. He got up and he went to shul. He opened up the Holy Ark and said, “Ribono shel Olam, Master of the Universe. Did you here what this woman said? ‘I don’t care what happens to me, but please bless my child.’ Ribono shel Olam, how can You not do the same? I don’t care what happens to me, but please bless Your children.”

Brooklyn, 5749
Transcribed by Miriam Rubinoff for Connections Magazine
Copyright (C) 1989, Inner Foundation
Reprinted with permission.

Avraham Avinu?” I say: “No, why do you ask?” So he says, “I’ll tell you later in private. ” After the concert he told me he wanted me to know his story. During the war, he and his friend were in the middle of battle, and they had to retreat a little. He suddenly saw that his friend was shot. His friend couldn’t move, but he was still alive. So this boy went back and picked him up, put him on his shoulders and ran with him

While he was running with his friend, he was shot himself. Both his arms were shot off. Do you know what he did? He said that even though he didn’t have strength. He kept his friend on his shoulders. Baruch Hashem. He saved his friend’s life. But now, he himself has no arms. He said to me: “I want you to know, Avraham Avinu sits on my bed every night, all night long.” Avraham Avinu!

How did this simple boy get so much holiness? Imagine if I would learn Torah day and night. For two thousand years, I could not reach that level of holiness. I could not. That is Avraham Avinu’s holiness.

Everybody asks, when G-d spoke to Avraham for the first time, why didn’t He tell him to keep Shabbos, to keep kashrut? Why did He immediately tell him, “Lech lecha -Go thou from thy land, and from thy father’s house?” G-d gave over to Avraham Avinu what this soldier knew – to leave everything behind you for G-d, for Israel, for somebody else. This awesome holiness comes from the deepest depths, from inside. This is what Avraham Avinu is all about.

Avraham Avinu saw everything until Mashiach. He saw this soldier also. He asked G-d, “How do I know that I shall inherit it…?” How can I inherit the holiness of this soldier?

When Mashiach comes it will be revealed to us how holy our children are. You never know, sometimes you see somebody and you don’t have the faintest idea of how holy they are inside. This is why our generation is so much in touch with the mystical part of the Torah, with the deepest secrets. This generation contains people who, from outside, look like nothing and yet, inside, they are completely holy.

Excerpted from: THE HOLINESS OF ERETZ YISRAEL 5746
By Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Brooklyn, NY 5746. (Transcribed by Rivka Haut)

Without getting too personal, I would like to share a story with you that actually happened to me. Maybe some of you know about it. A few years ago, the Humanity Foundation had a big conference in Toronto, to save the planet. Obviously, it was organized by a lot of Jews. It was during Easter and they had special Easter prayers. Nothing for Pesach. The leader of the group was named Yossi Cohn. Gevalt. As it so happens, Yossi is a good friend of mine. I said, “Yossi, you respect every religion except your own. We have two Seder nights, there will be thousands of people, many Jews. Can’t you do something for them?” He said, “Okay, you do something.”

I played there the night of bedikat chametz. There were hundreds of kids. I told them about bedikat chametz, how holy it is. I Invited them all to a Seder. Since I didn’t know who was coming, we put up signs all over, saying that anyone who wants to come to the Seder should buy a box of matza and should bring hardboiled eggs, enough wine for four cups, gefilte fish and one candle. I had to be home. This was in Toronto, and I had to be home to make a Seder first with my kids. From there to the Seder at the University of Toronto was about an hour and twenty minutes walk. I told them I’ll begin the Seder at 11:30. I got there a few minutes before twelve and there was not one sound in the whole building. I walked up the steps and thought, obviously not even one person came. I want you to know, to my most unbelievable surprise, 1500 people were sitting at the tables in complete silence. 1500 peoplel People of every race, every religion were there. As far as I was concerned, that was the highest Seder on the planet. The fire and the holiness, their readiness were unbelievable.

I explained the Haggadah as much as I could. Then we ate matzo, the egg, a little fish. We benched, (said grace). About 3:30, we went out to greet Eliyahu HaNavi. I want you to know, there were 1500 candles standing by the door until a quarter to five. I was telling Eliyahu HaNavi stories and all kinds of other things. Until this very day, I travel all over the world, I meet people who tell me they were at that unforgetable Seder.

Eliyahu HaNavi does not knock on doors. A lot of us are waiting to hear a knock at the door. Sometimes, one should wait to hear a knock on the door. But, at great moments, you have to open the door first.

One hippie asked me, “Seder night, Eliyahu HaNavi comes in and then we say, “Shfoch chamatcha al hagoyim” (spill out your wrath upon the nations who do not recognize You). Wouldn’t it be even more beautiful if, since Eliyahu is coming, we would say words of love and peace? This is a Torah of Shalom Bayis. Eliyahu HaNavi comes in and the truth is, the world needs a lot of cleaning. There is a lot of evil that has to be wiped out from the world. You know what I say to G-d? Please, can You do the cleaning by Yourself? Shafoch chamatcha al hagoyim – can You do it? Right now, I am so high, I don’t want anything to do with cleaning. I just want to tell the world there is one G-d. I personally don’t want to be cleaning. During the year, we can’t get enough of cleaning. We have to say bad things, that this person needs to be cleaned out, that person needs to be cleaned out. Like Rav Kook said, everybody wants to clean out someone else’s apartment. But, when Eliyahu HaNavi ccnies in, it’s clear to me, Ribbono Shel Olam, I don’t want to be Your cleaning man anymore. The only thing I want to say now is Hallel. “Not for us, 0 Lord, not for us, but for Your Name do we sing praises.”

I want to tell you one more story. It’s a “today” story. A few years ago, on the day after Pesach, I had the privilege of playing for Hadassah of New England. The concert was very beautiful, but the women were more interested in going to beauty parlors than they were in spiritual things. Sometimes, you say something and you don’t even know why you said it. I said to them, “My dearest, beautiful ladies. I don’t know if you saw Elijah the Prophet. To tell you the sad truth, I didn’t see him either. But, I swear to you, the children saw him. What a privilege to be mothers of children who saw Eiljah the Prophet.”

A very beautiful lady came up to me. The way she looked, you wouldn’t think she had any depth inside. But, you never know. She came to me and said, “Do you know what you said? I can testify to it. My husband is a psychiatrist. Seder night, we have a little Seder. This year my husband calls me up on the phone to tell me, ‘All this hocus- pocus is getting on my nerves.’ Now we have a little girl, Maxine. He said, ‘Maxine will ask me four stupid questions and I’ll have to answer. It’s stupid, the whole thing makes no sense. Let’s just eat dinner and that’s it.’ So, I said, ‘You’re right. I don’t care so much either.’

About three o’clock in the afternoon, my little girl Maxine comes home. Her eyes are glowing with joy. She says, ‘I can’t wait for my friend Elijah the Prophet to come visit me. Do you know Elijah the Prophet is coming tonight to see me.’ I realize that I cannot do this to her. I call my husband in his office and say, ‘Listen, we have to have a little Seder because Maxine is so excited about it.” He says, ‘Okay, we’ll have a little Sederle, she can ask the four questions, I’ll mumble a few words. But, that’s all.’

My husband came home annoyed, and said, ‘Maxine, let’s go. Ask the four questions.’ She asked them, he mumbled a few words and then we ate dinner. Then, my husband said to Maxine, ‘Now, go to sleep, so you’ll get to school tomorrow on time.’ She said, ‘Daddy, Elijah the Prophet is coming to see me.’ This was too much for my husband. He said, ‘We are not old fashioned Jews who believe in fairy tales. We are modern Jews. We don’t believe in fairy tales. Go to sleep right now.’

My little Maxine ran to the window. In her whole life, she never cried so much. I walked up to the window and said, ‘Maxine, why are you crying so much?’ She said, ‘Mommy, can’t you see Elijah the Prophet standing by our door, crying?’” I just hope that wherever this little Maxine is now, that she still waits for Eliyahu HaNavi.

You know, friends, so many of our children are so holy. They are all “matza children”. Sadly enough, we put chametz into them. Our excuse is, we want them to rise. We want them to be higher more civilized. That is not what we need. We need to be matza Yidden, someone who knows the way it really is.

This is a story of Rav Tzvi Elimelech. He told this story about his father. In those days, people were so poor, but a way of making money was to become a tutor in a rich man’s house. They taught children from Succoth to Pesach, they made a few hundred rubles, and lived on that the whole year. So, his father became a tutor for a rich man. The first shabbos that his father was there, there were no guests. His father said to the rich man, “How can you have a shabbos without guests?” The man said, “I don’t waste my precious money on guests.” Rav Tzvi Elimelech’s father was so innocent. He said, “Do me a favor. Take it off my salary. I cannot eat without poor people at the table.”

He stayed there from Succoth until Pesach. A few days before Pesach, he walked in and said, Now, give me my 500 rubles.” The rich man said, “What do you mean? You owe ME 500 rubles! Because of you I had to spend twice your salary on the poor.” Anyway, Tzvi Elimelech’s father realized that this rich man would not let him go without getting his 500 rubles back, so  he ran to his room, took his things and left. In the meantime, his wife didn’t have a single penny. The grocer and the butcher were asking her when she would pay them and she would tell them that her husband was bringing money on Pesach. So, he thought, how can I come home without any money? What am I supposed to do? He arrived home in the middle of the night. He was afraid to go home so he went to the Beis Midrash (study house).

Rav Tzvi Elimelech said, “I was seven years old. then. I went in the morning to daven and there was my father in the Beis Midrash! I said to my father, ‘Why didn’t you come home? We miss you so much!’ He said, ‘I didn’t want to wake you up.’ I ran home to tell my mother that my father came home. She was so happy. I ran back to my father and told him, ‘For four weeks we had nothing to eat because the butcher the grocer didn’t trust us any more. Now, we went and told them that thank G-d, you are here. Now my mother is preparing the best breakfast for you. We are so happy you came home.’

Well, my father davened so long. He didn’t know what to do. He took an hour to pack his tfllin up and I was pulling him the whole time, saying, ‘Let’s go home already.’ We walked in the street. He walked so slowly. Finally, we came to the last corner before the house. Suddenly, a Cossack came charging along and stopped right in front of my father. He said, “I am looking for Reb Feivel.’ My father said, “That’s me.” The Cossack took a little bag and threw it at my father and then took off. There was pure gold in it. Pure gold. So, Rav Tzvi Elimelech said, “That Seder night, when my father opened the door for Eliyahu HaNavi, I started yelling and I said, “Father, look — The Cossack is here again!”

Every Pesach is so good, so holy. Whatever we can give over to our children all year long does not compare to what we can give them one minute by the Seder.

I remember that from the age of three on, every Seder, my father would say to us, to my sister and my twin brother and me, children, tonight you are sitting at G-d’s table. It is not my table, it’s G-d’s table. At G-d’s table, you must behave in a different way.

What I remember the most about my father is Seder night. And, my father made his Seder like my zaide, who made it like his father. Seder night is seriousness, holiness, awareness.

Some of us are so worried that our children should be religious. First, make Yidden out of them. Shavuot, the giving of the Torah, comes later. First, comes Pesach. Pesach is “vehigadta lebinkha,” And you shall tell your children. The way to give Yiddishkeit to children has to be with so much simcha, so much love. Eliyahu HaNavi is the master at bringing parents and children together. So, at the end of the Seder, any parents who got close to their children, Eliyahu HaNavi knocks at their door and tells them – before Mashiach is coming, and I’m running all over the world to fix the relationship between parents and children, I won’t have to come here because here it’s already fixed.

I want to bless you that when Eliyahu walks into your house, he should tell you the good news that before Mashiach is coming, I’m not coming to your house, because I see that, baruch HaShem, you did it.

“Veheishiv lev avos al banim — and the hearts of the fathers shall return to the children.” Seder Night is the time to pray that your children have whatever they need.

The deepest holiness of us Jews is not only in the way we keep Shabbos and eat matza. The deepest holiness is how we pray for our children.

 Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

Let me tell you one more story right now. The heilege (holy) Zeditchover had so many grandchildren. But, one particular year, he said, “My grandson Bereshel should ask Mah Nishtana.” Bereshel was then five years old; later on he became Rav Bereshel of Donina, a very great Rabbi. Comes time for Mah Nishtana and Bereshel isn’t there. They started looking for him high and low. He’s not there. Here, I interrupt myself with another story about Bereshel.

Bereshel was the favorite of his grandfather, because in that year one of the other grandchildren got very sick. Very, very sick. The mother of the child was begging the Zeditshuver to please pray for him. Nothing happened. One night, the boy’s condition worsened. It seemed he was going to leave the world. The Zeditshuver, from 12:30 A.M. until three in the morning, did not want to be disturbed. He was writing his commentaries on the Zohar and did not want to be disturbed. But, someone had to tell him. They decided to wake up Bereshel and he will tell the zaide. Bereshel was five years old. They tell him, tell zaide that if he doesn’t pray now, it will be too late.

Bereshel walks up to the higher floor, to his grandfather. He knocks on the door. His grandfather asks, “Who’s there?” “Bereshel.” “Why aren’t you asleep?” Bereshel said, “Zaide, I came to bring you the most unbelievable good news. I want you to know that Moishele is getting better every second. But, zaide, please pray for him. Please, zaide, pray for him.”

The holy Zeditshuver prayed for him. He got well. The Zeditshuver called in all his children and grandchildren. He said, “Do you know why I couldn’t pray for Moishele the whole time? Because the way you asked me to pray for him was with so much sadness, so much brokenness. I felt so broken. I douldn’t pray. But, you know who is a Rebbe? Bereshel. Did you hear how he asked me to pray? He said, ‘I bring you good news, Moishele is getting better, but I want you to pray.’ Didn’t I understand what was going on? When Bereshel is sent up in the middle of the night to tell me. But, the way he said it, with so much hope. I want you to know, Bereshel is a Rebbe.” And, the truth is, Bereshel really became the successor of his grandfather later on.

Back to Seder night. Everyone is looking for Bereshel and, suddenly, he comes in. Water is running down from his payos (sidecurls). He just came from the mikva. Before asking his grandfather Mah Nishtana, he wanted to go to the mikva. His mother yelled at him, “What chutzpahl” But his grandfather said, “Let him alone. Bereshel is a Rebbe.”

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. Sometimes our children ask us, and we can take our time in answering. Sometimes if we take our time, we will lose them. Rav Nachman says, if our children ask us, is there one G-d and we say, let’s talk it over – we’ve lost them. If they ask for advice, what should they do, what career they should have, we can say, let’s talk about it. If they ask, are you a Jew, if you have to think about it, that’s not good. He said, Seder night is when our children ask, is there one G-d? And, our answer has to be right away. Don’t take any time.

I remember once reading a book written by one of the outstanding Jewish leaders of the other religions. This outstanding leader writes in the forward to his book that when he was a little boy he once asked a rabbi if there is one G-d. The rabbi said, let’s discuss it. Come to my house and we’ll discuss it. He quoted from here, he quoted from there. The boy said, I’m just asking one question, is there one G-d or not? He couldn’t get an answer out of him. The next week, he met a swami and asked him, is there one G-d? The swami said, yes, there is.

Seder night is when I tell my children, there is one G-d. There is one Torah. There is Eretz Yisroel. I have no time. It has to be fast.

When somebody is drowning, imagine if I would say, let me call a Rabbi and ask if I should save this person, because I heard that last year this person ate ham on Yom Kippur. I call one rabbi, the line is busy, so I call somebody else. All these things are cute. In the meantime, the person is drowning.

You know the problem with us Yidden, you know why Mashiach didn’t come yet? Because we waited, wegaited so long. How did Moshe Rabbenu get us out of Egypt? Right now is the time – “Bachatzot halayla” in the middle of the night – right now, don’t think. This is “mochin megadlus” a high mind. It is not, not, thinking. It is clearer than thinking. It is clear to me. It is on such a high consciousness level, a deep level.

When I see somebody drowning, where do they grasp me? Do they reach for my head? They reach for somewhere else; they have to touch the deepest depths of my understanding, that triggers something so holy.

So, Seder night, everything is fast, but it’s so clear, and it’s so good. “This I do not say other than when matza and maror are placed in front of me.” Everything is clear. I can tell my child this ismatza, this is maror, I am a Jew, there is one G-d.

You know friends, we are living in a world where the devil would like so much to take advantage of the great moments which we have. Seder night, every Jew wants to have a Seder. So, what does the devil do – brings chicken soup, and kneidlach. Sometimes I ask people, how was the Seder? They say, Oh, the food was unbelievable. When you ask about the Seder, they are not thinking about the Hgggadah, they are thinking about the food.

I was in India three years ago. I asked one boy, he was a yogi who didn’t want to come back. I asked him what he knew about Yiddishkeit. He said, “Once a year my family got together for a Seder. The spokesman of the Seder was my uncle who told over all the dirty jokes he heard all year. One night, I got up and said, I don’t think this is what the Seder is all about. My uncle said to me, ‘Look who’s talking. You haven’t even finished Hebrew school yet. What do you know?’ So, I thought that if all Yiddishkeit can offer me is a night with dirty jokes and chicken soup, who needs it, who wants it?”

When my daughters’ teeth hurt, I send for the best dentist. When my children are sick, I call for the best doctor. When it comes to Yiddishkeit, the soul of the soul, the eternity of all eternities of my children, would I subject them to the lowest people in the world, who don’t know anything?

This is a Torah from Rav Nachman. He says that, basically, the downfall and the ultimate slavery in Egypt were brought about because we ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Eating from the Tree of Knowledge causes you to eat your bread with sadness. The beginning of the Seder is that we eat karpas, we eat a little vegetable and, a few moments later, we are on the level of eating bread with simcha, with joy. Matza is on the level of eating bread with joy. From the beginning of the Seder, to the matza, we are fixing everything from the Tree of Knowledge. And, it goes so fast, so fast.

Chametz is that everything takes a long time. This is the downfall of mankind. The world says, we have to wait for peace. It takes time until it comes. Always waiting, waiting. Matza is the first admission in the service of G-d; today is a great moment – don’t wait.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2

The next day, after davening, the chassidim went up to Moshele the water carrier and said, “The Rebbe wants to see you.” Moishele came before the Rebbe, and he began to cry bitterly. He said, if ‘Rebbe, I’ll never do it again. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He was crying. The Rebbe said, “Listen, Moishele, just tell us what you did.”

Now, I always tell my friends that basically we Jews are not so much into drinking. But, in every city there is one Jew who drinks for all in that city. Then, there is some kind of higher drunkard, who drinks for the Jews of that country. And then, there are some lamed vov drunkards who drink for all the Jews of that generation. And then, there are some drunkards who drink for all the Jews from Avraham Aveinu until Mashiach. Anyway, this Moishe, the drunkard, was a lamed vovnick. His greatest joy in life was drinking. The saddest thing is, on Pesach you can’t drink whiskey. So, he had a tremendous idea. He’ll stay up the whole night, erev Pesach, and he’ll be drunk for the rest of Pesach, he’ll be drunk right thru. Anyway, he drank, and even a drunkard who is a religious Jew knows that ten minutes after nine, on Pesach, you stop. He stopped exactly, and he was out.

Seder night, his wife came to wake him up and said, “Moshele, it’s really not fair. Every Jew has a Seder. Every house has a Seder. We have little children, and we don’t have a Seder. So what’s going on here?” And, he said, “By then, did I regret that I drank so much at night. Did I regret it! I would have done anything not to be drunk. But I couldn’t help it. I said, ‘Please wake me up in an hour. I just can’t get it together yet.’ Anyway, my wife kept waking me up every hour, every half hour. Then, suddenly, she came to me and said, ‘Moishele, in five minutes, five minutes, it’s gone. You didn’t have anything and the children are waiting.’ “Gevalt”. he said, “was I broken. Here, my children are so holy and I am such a lousy father, I didn’t even give them a Seder. So, I said to my wife, ‘Please, call my children.’ She called the children in and I said to them, ‘Please, sit very close to me on my bed. I have to talk to you. I want you to know, children, that I am so sorry that I drank. I am so sorry that I am a drunkard. But, I want you to know that if my drinking can make me not have a Seder with you, then it’s not worth it.’ So, I said to my children, ‘I swear to you, Seder night, tonight, that I’ll never drink again. But, right now, it’s Seder night, I am so sorry, we didn’t eat matza, we didn’t eat maror. But, let me just tell you the Pesach story, in a nutshell.’”

Moishele said to the Rebbe, “You know, I was still drunk. But, I tried my best. I said, ‘Children, I want you to know that G-d created heaven and earth in seven days. And, I want you to know that Adam was thrown out of Paradise the first day. Then everything went downhill. There was a flood, there was a tower of Babylon; that was as much as I knew. Then came Avraham. He began fixing the world again. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaacov and his twelve holy sons. Then Pharaoh made slaves out of us, and tonight, G-d took us out from Egypt. And, I said, children, I want you to swear to me right now, that you’ll always know that the same G-d who took us out from Egypt is still alive. It’s the same G-d. Whenever a Jew cries to G-d, G-d always hears our prayers and takes us out from all our troubles.’”

“Rebbe, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t say anything more because I was still drunk. I turned over and I fell asleep again.”

So the heilege (holy) Reb Tzvi Elimelech was crying bitter tears. He said to his chassidim, “Did you hear that? Did you hear that? I wish that one time in my life, I should be privileged to give over Yiddishkeit to my children, the way Moishele the water carrier gave it over to his children Seder night.” Gevalt.

Brooklyn, 5745

Edited from Connections Magazine Vol 1 No 2