Thousands at the “Global Siyum”

By COLlive reporter
Pictures by Shimon Roumani

The 30th “Worldwide Siyum of the Rambam,” as the Rebbe called the event, was held in Crown Heights last Thursday evening, Adar 7 (March 1) – the very first opportunity for holding the celebration.

The thousands of participants were a testimony to the fact that although this was the 30th annual conclusion of the learning cycle, the daily study initiated by the Rebbe continues to grow from year to year.

Rabbi Shmuel Butman, Executive Director of the central Lubavitch Youth Organization who chairs and organizes the celebration, invited “the Rebbe’s chazzan,” Reb Moshe Teleshevsky, to read Psalm 110, the Rebbe’s kapitel, followed verse by verse by everyone present.

Three large video screens then showed the Rebbe publicly concluding the Rambam years back.

Members of the Crown Heights Beis Din – Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba, Rabbi Yaacov Schwei and Rabbi Yosef Braun – each addressed the audience on themes of Halacha, Aggadata and Chassidus, and called for continued and increased Rambam study.

FROM MOSHE TO MOSHE

Rabbi Butman emphasized the significance of the Siyum being held, by Divine providence, on the 7th of Adar, the date of Moshe Rabbeinu’s birth and passing.

This is connected with the Rambam, on whose tomb are engraved the words, “From Moshe to Moshe, none arose like Moshe.”

This is not intended, of course, to measure the relative greatness of our great Torah leaders through the generations, but is meant to emphasize how only Moshe Rabbeinu and the Rambam taught the Jewish people the entire Torah.

The sponsor of the evening, Reb Sholom Ber Drizin was invited to speak and dedicated the celebration in memory of his illustrious father, the renowned chossid and mashpia, Rabbi Avrohom Drizin-Mayorer, of blessed memory.

Drizin referred to the Rambam’s outstanding stature not only as a halachic authority but also as a leader who took care of his impoverished relatives and of his community.

Perhaps this is one reason why he didn’t include an obligation to dwell in the Holy Land among the Torah commandments, Drizin pointed out, for the Rambam was concerned that, during the exile, there would be insufficient livelihood for the Jewish people if all were settled in a single place.

A REBBE CONCERNED FOR EVERYONE

Rabbi Eliezer Baum, director of the Gerer Yeshivas Yagdil Torah, related how his father, who lived in Borough Park, studied much Torah and gave a daily lesson in Daf Hayomi – the daily Gemora study schedule.

Once his father fell ill and a Lubavitcher who was among the lesson’s participants, Chazzan Moshe Hecht, wrote in to the Rebbe requesting a blessing for him, writing the patient’s name as Tzvi ben Soroh. It was after the Rebbe’s 1992 stroke, and when Rabbi Groner read the note aloud, the Rebbe indicated that something was inaccurate about the patient’s mother’s name.

Chazzan Hecht checked again and, since, as far he could ascertain, the name was correct, he sent in another note for the same name. Again the Rebbe indicated that it was inaccurate. Chazzan Hecht met Rabbi Baum, the patient’s son, and asked him for his father’s name. He said it was Tzvi ben Soroh Feiga.

When Chazzan Hecht wrote in a third time, using this name, the Rebbe smiled and nodded his head to indicate that he gave his blessing. Indeed, the patient got better.

Some time later, his father again experienced problems. A request was submitted for the Rebbe’s blessing, who replied that the mezuzos in the patient’s home should be checked. The situation, however, did not improve. When his sons investigated, they discovered that each had relied on the others to check the mezuzos, but they had not actually been checked. When they were checked, his situation improved.

CHABAD REBBES TAUGHT EVERYONE WHAT IS MESIRAS NEFESH

Rabbi Yitzchok Stein brought the blessing of the Vishnitzer Rebbe in Israel and spoke with great enthusiasm about the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the promulgator of the worldwide Rambam study.

He noted how the Alter Rebbe, already in the second chapter of Tanya, mentions the Rambam and emphasizes that “the sages of the Kabbala agreed with him.” He described Chabad Chassidim of the previous generation whom he knew in his youth in Yerushalayim. “They were ‘lions’ in Torah scholarship, Chassidus, yiras Shomayim, and mesiras nefesh!”

“The Chabad Rebbes have taught the whole world what is mesiras nefesh,” he declared. “In Russia, for example, what preserved Yiddishkeit was only the mesiras nefesh of Lubavitcher Chassidim.”

He quoted also the Chofetz Chayim regarding the struggle against the secularists, that “while we conceal ourselves, the Chabad Chassidim battle against them to the point of making the ultimate sacrifice.” Rabbi Stein also pointed to the wonderful activities of the Rebbe’s shluchim throughout the world, “Their mesiras nefesh, vitality and enthusiasm derive from the Rebbe’s inspiration.”

BLESSINGS OF PROMINENT REBBES

In the name of the Boyaner Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchok Rabinowitz brought his blessing for the daily study, and for preparing the world through the illumination of the Torah and Chassidus.

The speaker noted that a boy who grows up is called a “bar-mitzva,” while someone who commits a sin is called a “baal-aveira.” The reason for the latter is that, by sinning, the sinner becomes the owner (baal) of the sin, with the capability of erasing his sin. On the other hand, when one performs a mitzva, he always remains a bar-mitzva – one who has performed a mitzva – for the mitzva can never be erased but stands forever. The Rebbe’s worldwide activities derived from his concern that every Jew should become a bar-mitzva, which will stand forever.

He also mentioned how he had been present several times in Lubavitch on Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, and saw how the Rebbe was concerned to make everyone happy, which is why he wanted the whole world to experience the ultimate joy of Moshiach’s coming.

The Stoliner Rebbe’s brother-in-law, Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Ledereich, rav of the Stoliner Chassidim in Borough Park, related once, around Sukkos, the Rebbe distributed mashke to those involved in mivtzoim – the Rebbe’s mitzva-campaigns.

At the time, as a yeshiva student, Rabbi Ledereich used to make sure that a number of Jews in his neighborhood should fulfill the mitzva of Daled Minim, and he considered that this qualified him to receive mashkeh from the Rebbe as one involved in mivtzo’im. Indeed, the Rebbe did give him mashkeh.

The speaker also mentioned the connection between the Siyum of the Rambam and the approaching holiday of Purim. Both, he said, emphasized the value of every Jew – the Siyum reveals the value of Jews who study Torah and reach milestones of completion, while Purim shows that even one who has partaken of the feast of Achashverosh is still a Jew and can return to his Jewish source.

Other speakers were Rabbi Chaim Kriger representing the Modzitzer Rebbe; Rabbi Fischel Bernstein, son of the late Gaon, Rabbi Aharon Bernstein of Yerushalayim, and brother-in-law of the Munkatcher Rebbe, and Rabbi Aharon Weinberg, descendant of several Slonimer Rebbes.

EYES THAT SEE AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD

Rabbi Shlomo Leizer, rav of Klausenberger Chassidim in Borough Park, was given the honor of concluding the Rambam. He first related how the late Klausenberger Rebbe, many years ago, once had be in a city where kosher food wasn’t readily available. The local Chabad shaliach was very helpful to him in this regard.

The Klausenberger commented at the time that he didn’t have such a power to send his Chassidim to faraway places, and only the Lubavitcher Rebbe had that power. The speaker declared that “The Lubavitcher Rebbe can’t sleep if a single Jew anywhere in the world doesn’t know about Hashem.” People often think that when they have to travel faraway, that is mesiras nefesh. But it doesn’t compare to the mesiras nefesh of Chabad Chassidim who go to remote locations at the ends of the earth.

He related what he had heard from someone who once went to pray at the Kosel Maarovi. There, too, the Rebbe’s shluchim encourage Jews to put on tefilin, and also offer to send the Rebbe letters that anyone wants to write to him. That Jew decided to write the Rebbe a letter, in which he wrote that he had mentioned the Rebbe in his prayers there. He had never met the Rebbe, but when he made a trip to New York a few years later, he came to the Rebbe to receive Kos Shel Brochoh. Pouring wine into the man’s cup, the Rebbe said, “Thanks for mentioning me at the Kosel”!

He related another anecdote: A Chabad Chossid in Yerushalayim, Rabbi Shimoni, used to walk daily to the Kosel from his home. Once he went to the Rebbe, and while in yechidus, told the Rebbe about his daily custom. The Rebbe asked about his route, and when he was told, asked why he used a certain street, “which has a steep slope.” Why didn’t he use a different street, which the Rebbe named, that has no slope? This was despite the fact that the Rebbe never visited the Holy Land. Nevertheless, the Rebbe’s eyes are open to see around the entire world.

The speaker added that whenever he watches videos of the Rebbe, the Rebbe’s lively, shining eyes stay in his mind for several days, for those are the eyes that see around the world. “It’s a privilege to be connected with the Rebbe, and to publicize malchus Shomayim – Hashem’s sovereignty – as the Rebbe desires!”

ACCOMPLISHING THAT EVERY CHILD KNOW HE IS JEWISH

The honor of beginning of the 31st cycle of Rambam study was given to Rabbi Aharon Goldmintzer, the Skverer Dayan, who brought the blessing of the Skverer Rebbe. He declared that he had come to the Siyum to give encouragement, but found that it actually gave him encouragement as he witnessed the fact that, after so many years, the study and Siyum of the Rambam remained as strong as ever and is becoming ever stronger.

He told an anecdote he had heard from the Skverer Rebbe. Once, the Lubavitcher Rebbe asked one of his followers to travel to a certain place as his representative. The follower said he would think it over. When he later came and said he agreed, the Rebbe told him that “Now you are no longer my representative; you represent only yourself.” In other words, to be a chossid, one must obey immediately.

He continued by saying that Mordechai in his generation was like Moshe in his generation. “He sought the good of all his people” although some of his colleagues disagreed with him. Similarly, the Rebbe, the Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation, was concerned for every Jew that he be aware of his Jewish identity, that even a young child should know he’s a Jew and express the true Divine revelation by proclaiming “Shema Yisroel.”

PARTICIPATING IN SPIRIT

Rabbi Gavriel Tzinner, who was once directed by the Rebbe to speak at the Siyum, sent apologies for his absence this time, since he had been invited to speak at the Siyum of the Rambam held in Los Angeles, California.

Rabbi Butman expressed appreciation for the many women present at the Siyum, and for the many who participate in daily study of Sefer Hamitzvos (or even, in some cases, of Mishneh Torah), besides their encouragement for their husbands and children to study Rambam daily.

He also thanked his son, Rabbi Yossi Butman, for sparing no effort to ensure the success of the Siyum. He gave his wish that the merit of the Rebbe, the promulgator of the Rambam study, be expressed in all blessings for him.

The evening concluded with a musical recital by the “Sparks” boys choir, under the leadership of R’ Yossi Goldstein and R’ Daniel Finkelman.

But this was not an ending. It was the start of a new, redoubled momentum to study even more profoundly and to expand the study to ever more Jews, as we are inspired by the success expressed by the completion of the 30th cycle, pointing to an even brighter future for worldwide Rambam study – propelled by the continuous power and influence of the Rebbe.

The participants returned home joyous and encouraged to continue with ever more enthusiasm. It was a rare opportunity to hear how prominent non-Chabad Chassidim, Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva all unite in their appreciation and encouragement of this important study, and how they view the greatness of our Rebbe and his worldwide accomplishments, and recognize how he is bringing the world ever closer to the end of our exile.

Rabbi Butman announced that the next Siyum, G-d willing, will be held on the 24th of Shvat, 5773 (2/4/2013), in the holy city of Yerushalayim.