By COLlive reporter
Photos by Shimi Kutner
A sicha said by the Rebbe exactly 40 years ago this Shabbos was received with reverence and excitement by the 60 rabbis attending the Global Yarchei Kallah in Upstate New York.
The Rebbe’s reference to the annual gathering of Torah learning made during a Farbrengen on Shabbos Parshas Ekev, 22 Menachem Av 5737, was largely unknown.
A copy of the sicha was found by a Shliach on Friday morning and sent to Rabbi Avraham Shemtov, Chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad International who began organizing the Yarchei Kallah in 5734.
The Yarchei Kallah was founded and is annually held in honor of Chof Av, yartzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson OBM, the father of the Rebbe who passed away following Soviet exile.
The Rebbe viewed the Yarchei Kallah gathering, hosted by Camp Gan Israel in Parksville, NY, as his personal fulfillment of the positive Mitzvah of the Torah of Kibud Av, honoring one’s parents.
When Mexico’s Chief Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Hirschberg mentioned the Yarchei Kallah, the Rebbe said the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents continues even after their passing and that the ultimate honor that can be paid is the study of the Torah.
In the sicha recently found (read it here), the Rebbe lauded the fact that the Yarchei Kallah is held “near small children whose breath has no sin.”
The Rebbe said that it was hashgacha protis that the chassidim weren’t told that the Rebbe would be holding a farbrengen that Shabbos so that they wouldn’t be held back from participating in the Yarchei Kallah.
Yarchei Kallah is sponsored by Mr. Ronald Perelman, a person whose efforts to preserve, perpetuate, and enhance our Jewish heritage led to the Lubavitcher Rebbe recognizing to him as “my partner.”
“Like a true partner, he has dedicated himself to advancing the Rebbe’s purposes, including the sponsorship of these Yarchei Kallah conventions,” Rabbi Shemtov notes.
The summit is hosted by Camp Gan Israel directed by Rabbi Yossi Futerfas and catered by Rabbi Shlomo Futerfas and Bentzi Futerfas. Yarchei Kallah is coordinated by Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin, a Chabad Shliach and Associate Rabbi of Cong. Young Israel of Tucson, AZ.
The public is invited to participate in the Melave Malka of the Yarchei Kallah this Motzoei Shabbos, 20th of Av 5777 (August 12, 2017), 10:30 PM at Camp Gan Israel – 487 Parksville Rd, Parksville, NY 12768.
Speakers will include Rabbi Shemtov, the Rebbe’s choizer Rabbi Yoel Kahn, Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Segal of Jerusalem and Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov of Uruguay.
As the Rebbe said in the sicha in 5737, “May you travel safely and may it be with much success.”
B”H
It’s a shame that this unique Torah experience is something that can only be enjoyed by a select few, and not disseminated to the wider public via the audio/video technology that we have in today’s age.