There’s a sense of electricity filling the air at Chabad schools around the world. Posters line the hallways, counting down the days until Yud Alef Nissan, and army-wide reports reminds chayolim how close they are to accomplishing their goal.
This Tuesday over 1,500 local Tzivos Hashem soldiers will gather in front of 770 for a live rally in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday, with another 6,000 or so joining around the world via live broadcast. The program, sponsored by NCFJE, will feature a live performance by Benny Friedman and Chony Milecki and end off with the highly-anticipated annual mitzva tank parade.
But no doubt that the climax of the day’s event will be the presentation of the Rebbe’s birthday gift. For months now, Chayolim around the world have been working hard in every free moment to memorize lines of Mishnayos and Tanya Baal Peh for the Rebbe’s birthday.
“It all started nine years ago,” says Rabbi Shimmy Weinbaum, director of Chayolei Tzivos Hashem. Headquarters began a campaign to give the Rebbe a birthday gift from his soldiers. “Our aim was to learn 11,000 lines of Tanya Baal Peh. We got close, but missed our target by 1,975 lines.”
Since then, the goals—and accomplishments—have continued to increase, along with the addition of Mishnayos Baal Peh Lines. In 5771, the army memorized a total of 218,000 lines in honor of the 110th birthday; 259,549 in honor of the 111th, 255,602 in honor of the 112th, 488,232 in honor of the 113th, 634,906 in honor of the 114th, 705,475 lines in honor of the 115th, and 782,517 lines of Tanya and Mishnayos Baal Peh for the Rebbe’s birthday last year.
“We connected with new Tzivos Hashem bases in France, Russia, Brazil, and Eretz Yisroel…all have joined the global effort,” says Chaya Cadaner, campaign representative.
Today we are up to 103,437 lines of Mishnayos and 224,777 lines of Tanya, the result of a collective effort on behalf of 14,429 kids at 123 schools.
With only only five days left, Weinbaum reminds, “In the army, ‘almost’ doesn’t count for anything. We have a mission to complete, and nothing is going to stop us!”
Now we turn to you. Parents and teachers, please encourage your children to memorize the extra lines and enter it on their missions before Tuesday. That will make all the difference to the Rebbe.
Check out ourbirthdaygift.com for instant updates.
Join via live broadcast this Yud Aleph Nissan at chabad.org/rally.
Excellent thank you so much for letting us know and the updates I will be there 🙂