Michael Shapiro's Niggun for Maoz Tzur - Video & MP3 - Shared by Rav Moshe Weinberger

This past Shabbos, which was Shabbos Chanukah, at shalosheudos, Rav Moshe Weinberger pointed out that everyone only knows only one niggun to Maoz Tzur. It is a beautiful tune, but why is there only one? He therefore said that he has been singing a different tune from Michael Shapiro with his family for about 30 years! He taught the shul (Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY) the tune for the first time right there at Shalosheudos.

In order to track down a recording of the song, a special Yid who was there, Rabbi Reuven Boshnack recorded himself singing as much of it as he could remember and sent it to Rabbi Gavriel Bellino, a connoisseur of Michael Shapiro's music who B"H found it! 

You can listen to it using the youtube video above or downloading the mp3 HERE. You can also click here to order Michael Shapiro's music CDs.

If you may be in Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY next Chanukah, make sure to listen a few times so you can be ready to sing it with us! 

P.S. Rav Weinberger held a beautiful mesiba for Zos Chanukah last night hosted by Reb Roni Goldberg. See below for a little video clip I took on my Blackberry (yes - they still exist, at least through my office) of the chevra dancing to one of my favorite songs, Reb Shlomo's Hazor'im B'Dima (music by Nochi Krohn). Enjoy!

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to "follow" me on Twitter.

Awesome Musical Davening for Chanukah This Morning in Woodmere - Eitan Katz - Video & Audio!

 

The video above is a compilation of a number of people's videos from a beautiful Halel from Chanukah davening this morning in Woodmere. As Chazal say (Avos 6:2), "The only free man ("Frei" yid) is one who is fully engaged in learning Torah." Reb Eliav Frei, who organized this Carlebach davening, shows us all that the way to be free of the shackles of the smallness of this ephemeral world is by being fully engaged with Yiddishkeit. In that spirit, he put together this morning's beautiful davening at his house for the chevra from Woodmere. Some very special Yiddin even came from various parts of Brooklyn, including Marine Park and Williamsburg to daven with us as well.

You can click here to hear an audio recording of almost the entire Halel and see above for a compilation of videos.

It was great seeing Reb Eitan Katz leading Halel, as well as other talented musicians who joined in like Pinny Farkas, Mutty Shur (both of One Trek fame), and Shloimy Reich.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to "follow" me on Twitter.

New Maccabeats Chanukah Song/Video: Burn - Classic Maccabeats Videos also Included

The video above is the newest Maccabeats Chanukah video to raise funds for the Miracle Match bone marrow donation organization. Love those "Greek" guys' cameos every year. They even give a hat tip to the fact that Thanksgiving falls on Chanukah this year (eye roll). ;-) And l'hashlamas hainyan, enjoy two other classic Maccabeats Chanukah videos below (wish I could show you our video of our son spontaneously singing Candlelight at his sister's bas mitzva when he was about 5 - sooo cute):

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to "follow" me on Twitter.

Maccabeats New Chanukah Video - Miracle

I'm sure most of you have seen this but here is the Maccabeats' new Chanukah video, which is a cover of Matisyahu's Chanukah song from last year. Ah freilichen Chanukah!

Incidentally, I wouldn't get exercized about Mayim Bialik wearing a yarmulka. She's Allison Jacbos' Partners in Torah chevrusa. I'm sure it's meant to be funny.



Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Great New Chanukah Videos

The Maccabeats: Candlelight

Yosef & Leah Urso: Eight Candles Burning - It tells the story of how he became religious through four chabadskers in a Menorah-mobile. The fiddle player here, Leah Urso, is from my hometown back in Dixie!


You can see another video of them playing Jewish country music in their song, Hashem is Gonna Do it Again here:

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Please donate to my son's cheder by going to minivanraffle.org to buy a raffle ticket. The drawing for a new minivan, car, or $20,000 cash will be IY"H Chanukah time. $100 for 1 ticket. $360 for 5. Where the form says "Referred by," please write "Dixie Yid." Tizku l'mitzvos!

Kavanah For Lighting the Menorah on Parshas Mikeitz - R' Itchie Mayer Morgenstern

Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Mikeitz and Chaunkah, with English excerpt and full text in both English and Hebrew in pdf form, just in time for the last day of Chanukah!

Even when a person seeks dveikus [Yosef] with all of his might, he still requires the level of Dovid-Yehudah [desire] to complete his Divine service. Although Yosef was kodesh kodashim, all the while that he was separate from Yehudah’s aspect he could not leave his imprisonment. Even when a person seeks the spiritual pleasures of the level of Chochmah, he still must be filled with yearning to access true closeness to Hashem. Avshalom is an example of a person who accessed the level of Chochmah without yearning for further improvement and closeness to Hashem. He had a “bad eye,” or a negative attitude that tainted his imagination. This made him unworthy of ascension to the throne of Dovid-Yehudah.[1] Clearly, we too must take care to always work on strengthening our yearning for holiness. Without its force, we run the risk of remaining fools who wander around spiritually without ever really achieving anything lasting.

Every desire for holiness is a form of prayer before Hashem. This is how Rav Pinchas of Koretz explains the folk adage of his day: “If a person’s house burns down, he’ll become wealthy.” This is because when people see how miserable he is, their hearts go out to him. They then feel a strong desire that he recover from his personal catastrophe. These desires act as petitions before Hashem, and sometimes they are so abundant that they transform the sufferer into a wealthy man.

Rebbe Nachman teaches a similar concept, but he explains that the desire is much more powerful when one expresses it in words, since it actually assumes the character of prayer. After a Jew reaches the aspect of mikeitz-kamatz, he arrives at the next level: “And Pharaoh dreamed.” This means that he accessed the positive aspect of the imaginative faculty which is the avodah of Yosef who was called, “master of dreams.”[2] At this level, one is able to make yichudim, holy unifications, in his thoughts.

The main avodah of Chanukah is to draw down the light of Hashem into our every limb, in the manner of the yichud of ner. This yichud is composed of combining each of the Divine Names EHYH, ELHIM, and ADNI with the Sheim HaVaYaH. The first combination with אהי"ה represents CHaBaD; the second with אלהי"ם alludes to CHaGaT; and the third with אדנ"י to NH”Y. These six Names have a total numerical value of 250, the same as that of נ"ר, or candle. [יהו"ה = 26; 3 x 26 = 72; אהי"ה = 21; אלהי"ם = 86; אדנ"י = 65; the total including another 6 for the kollel of each of the six sheimos = 250] This is the yichud that we make by lighting the Chanukah candles.[1]

Practically, this means that through the lights of Chanukah we purify ourselves from our desire for food which corresponds to CHaBaD, for money which corresponds to CHaGaT, and from our base urges which correspond to NH”Y. [On a simple level, this is because one eats with his mouth which is in his head which is the seat of the mentalities of CHaBaD, one does business transactions with his hands which is in the realm of the torso of CHaGaT, and the baser urges are sourced in the lower realm from the waist down.] Our task when we light the menorah is to beg Hashem to bless us with true purity in these areas. We must take pleasure in Hashem and also feel a powerful yearning to increase in holiness, just as we light another candle each night of Chanukah.

[1] Pri Eitz Chaim, Chanukah
[2] Likutei Moharan, loc cit.
[3] Ibid

CLICK HERE to download the pdf of Toras Chochom on Mikeitz
CLICK HERE to download the pdf of Toras Chochom on Mikeitz in English

Picture courtesy of Boris Dubrov. HT Crawling Axe. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Chanukah- Final Shiur of the "Al HaNisim" Series by Reb Yerachmiel

Below is a link to the audio presentation of the final part (3 of 3) of the Chanukah Mini-Series given by Reb Yerachmiel on Tefillos “Al HaNisim” and “Be’May Matisyahu”. Parts 1 and 2 can be enjoyed by clicking here.

CLICK HERE to get the audio shiur by either left clicking to listen to streaming audio or right clicking and then selecting "Save Target As" to download.

CHECK FOR THE VIDEO OF THE SHIUR which will be available through Reb Yerachmiel's torahanytime.com page imminently.

Picture courtesy of salon.com. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Upteitch of Tefillas “Al HaNisim”- Part 2 - Video/Audio Shiur

Below are links to the Video and Audio presentation of Part 2 of a new Chanukah Mini-Series by Reb Yerachmiel on Tefillos “Al HaNisim” and “Be’May Matisyahu”. Part 1 can be viewed/listened to by clicking here.

CLICK HERE to get the Part 2 audio shiur by either left clicking to listen to streaming audio or right clicking and then selecting "Save Target As" to download.

OR WATCH THE TORAH ANYTIME VIDEO OF THE SHIUR BY CLICKING HERE.

Picture courtesy of atlasshrugs. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

We're Getting the Best Chaunkah Present, Ever, Tonight...

I'm very excited about the "good present" we're all getting tonight: Shabbos.

The Gemara in Beitza 16a calls Shabbos Hashem's matana tova, "good gift," for the Jewish people. "אמר לו הקב"ה למשה משה מתנה טובה יש לי בבית גנזי ושבת שמה ואני מבקש ליתנה לישראל לך והודיע אותם".

Make sure to enjoy your awesome Chanukah present tonight!

Picture by Rabbi Dovid Sears courtesy of Rabbi Riddle.org. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern on Parshas Vayeshev

Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Vayeshev, with English excerpt and full text in both English and Hebrew in pdf form:

The main task of Chanukah is to rectify the aspects of Yaakov and Yosef. We can do this by contemplating the lights of Chanukah and recognizing that the entire expanse of creation is exclusively a reflection of the light of Hashem. We must also learn the thirty-six tractates of Shas, since each one opens the gates to a different spiritual illumination. [There are a total of thirty-six candles lit on Chanukah, exclusive of the eight shamashim.] We must also celebrate Chanukah with an abundance of joy and praise and thanksgiving to Hashem. But we must also rectify Netzach, since without Netzach we cannot completely rectify Hod. The avodah of Netzach on Chanukah is to learn an abundance of Torah, and give as much tzedakah as possible, in an aspect of Yissachar [Torah] and Gad [gomel dalim]. We must also strengthen our bitachon that the thirteen attributes of mercy are drawn down during Chanukah.

Our every action during these days must performed with joy and good heartedness, as we feel the pleasure of connection with Hashem in an aspect of Asher, [which also means fortunate, and whose portion flows with the olive oil of the menorah]. We must be very wary not to act out of depression or sadness, since this flips the letters of הוד to דוה, from splendor to suffering, as we find in the verse, "כָּל-הַיּוֹם דָּוָה"—“All the day is pain.”[2] Instead we must strengthen ourselves in the avodah of teshuvah and bitachon. We must draw down the light of the Chashmonaim, whose every victory was due to their inexhaustible bitachon in Hashem. It was their trust in Hashem that empowered them to act with courage and self-sacrifice. Regarding their victories, our sages teach that although they were not worthy of such miracles, they won in the merit of their bitachon that Hashem would save them from their enemies.

[1] Sefer Halikutim, Parshas Vayeishev
[2] Eichah 1:13

Toras Chochom on Vayeshev
Toras Chochom on Vayeshev in English

Picture courtesy of justtzedakah.org. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Breslov Chassidus Shiurim on Channukah for Women

I am happy to present Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky's shiurim on Breslov Chassidus from women from this past week on Chodesh Kislev and Chaunkah.

To get one of the shiurim, right click on the link and select "Save Target As" to download, or left click to listen to streaming audio.

Shiur on Chanukah, based on Likutei Halachos #4, Hashkamas Haboker (length: 1:40). CLICK HERE.

Shiur on Chodesh Kislev, based on both the Sefer Yetzirah on Kislev and Likutei Moharan I:60. CLICK HERE.

Picture by Zalman Kleinman courtesy of Shirat Devorah. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

“Al HaNisim” - Audio/Video Shiur

Below are links to the Video and Audio presentation of Part 1 of a new Chanukah Mini-Series by Reb Yerachmiel on Tefillos “Al HaNisim” and “Be’May Matisyahu”.

CLICK HERE to get the audio shiur by either left clicking to listen to streaming audio or right clicking and then selecting "Save Target As" to download.

OR WATCH THE TORAH ANYTIME VIDEO OF THE SHIUR BY CLICKING HERE.

Picture courtesy of judaicaart.com. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Overcoming the "Post Chanukah Letdown" - Audio Shiur

My friend Rabbi Revuen Boshnack showed me the way to this shiur by Rabbi Judah Mischel, a rebbe at Reishit Yerushalayim, I believe, and an alleged Dixie Yid reader. I believe he was pointed to the shiur by the Rabbi Reichman Ruach Revival blog. In this shiur, R' Mischel teaches us how to keep the light of Chanukah with us during our "Post Chanukah Letdown."

Listen or download HERE!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of Reishit Yerushalayim)

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Whether to Derive Benefit From the Chanukah Candles (The Inside Story)

I think I found another Kedushas Levi (chelek alef, "Drushim L'Chanukah," 4th piece) that helps explain the nature of the machlokes (dispute) between Crawling Axe and myself in the comment section of this post about when we should teach potential baalei teshuva about the worldly versus spiritual benefits of Torah observance.

The Kedushas Levi gives an insight into the nature of the machlokes between the sages in the Gemara about whether or not one is allowed to receive any type of benefit from the Chanukah candles, which is found in Shabbos 21b.

He explains the dispute through a mashal, a parable. He said that when a King honors a poor man by visiting his home, the poor man will see the great wealth and luxury of the king. He says that it is natural for a poor person to feel happy for the king that he has such amazing and awesome wealth. However, he says that a wise pauper will not feel happy for the king because the king has such wealth, since he knows that to the king, the signs of wealth are like nothing, and are just par for the course. Rather, this pauper's joy is in the fact that the king has honored him by lowering himself to be a guest in the poor man's house. This gives him much more pleasure that merely seeing the king's wealth.

Similarly, it is natural to be impressed by the miracles that Hashem did on Chanukah. However, on a higher level, the greater joy of Chanukah is that Hashem "lowered" himself to get involved in worldly matters to do that miracle. The honor that we feel knowing that Hashem cares enough about us to "get his hands dirty" in our affairs and "go to the trouble" of making miracles for us is a much greater source of joy that the the actual miracle its self. Just like we know that the wealth of the king is just par for the course, and should not be a major source of joy, we know that Hashem can do whatever he wants and so miracles are "no big deal" to him. As Reb Elazar ben Aroch says in Ta'anis 25a, "מי שאמר לשמן וידלוק הוא יאמר לחומץ וידלוק," "the one who can tell oil to burn call also tell vinegar to burn." Therefore, our main joy in the miracles of Chanukah is Hashem's involvement in our lives.

It is the same thing in the dispute about whether one may benefit from the candles. The side that says that one may derive benefit from the candles is similar to the poor man who rejoices in the wealth of the king who comes to visit him. His main joy is in the wonder and amazement in the miracle of the Menorah of Chanukah. Since, according to this type of person, his main joy is in the miracle, he may derive benefit from the candles, since his main joy in Chanukah is with the miracle of the oil on Chanukah.

But the opinion that says that one may not derive benefit from the candles on Chanukah corresponds to the wise pauper whose main joy is in the fact that the king has honored him by visiting him. This person's main joy on Chanukah is the fact that Hashem got involved in history and with the Jewish people by doing the miracle. According to this perspective, it is forbidden to derive any benefit from the Chanukah candles, since one should not get their Chanukah joy from the miracle of the oil on Chanukah, but rather from Hashem's involvement with the Jewish people, as seen through the miracle of the oil.

Crawling Axe suggested that it is inappropriate to (almost) ever focus on what the Torah does for us in this world. But rather, we should only teach people about how the Torah connects us to Hashem. This is like the opinion (which we pasken like) that one should not focus on the wondrous miracles of Hashem, but rather, on Hashem's involvement in our lives.

And I had said, based on the Kedushas Levi, that in the beginning of our own avodas Hashem, and when teaching new and potential Baalei Teshuva, one should teach how keeping the Torah brings one all of the good things of this world (as a precursor to focusing on how the Torah gets one closer to G-d). This would be similar to the opinion that one is allowed to get benefit from the Chanukah candles, when one's main Chanukah joy is in the fact that Hashem did a miracle.

You see that both of these opinions exist in the Gemara and "אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים," both are the words of the Living G-d (Eruvin 13b). So that even we have to conduct ourselves according to only one side of the dispute about deriving benefit from the candles for practical reasons, there is a place in Torah for the truth of both opinions. And this could be related to the fact that the Kedushas Levi recommends that one fight his yetzer hara, at the beginning of his avodah, by focusing on the worldly benefits of Torah.

May we all merit to reach the level of being makir tov, appreciating, Hashem's love for us and involvement with us!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of flikr)

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Dreidels and Gelt (The Inside Story)

The Koznitzer Magid, in the sefer Avodas Yisroel, says that one of the purposes of the holy days is to bring the light of those days into the times afterward. The holy days are times of mochin d'gadlus, a time of epandeded consciousness. The holidays are mashpia that sense of mochin d'gadlus into the times of mochin d'katnus, small-mindedness, that follow them. The light of Chanukah is followed by the dark winter months of Teves and Shvat, so we want to be mashpia the light of chanukah onto Teves and Shvat's mochin d'katnus.

To mirror this process, the gedolim (adults, who parallel the mochin d'gadlus) are mashpia, give, to the ketanim (children, who parallel mochin d'katnus) dreidels to play with and gelt on Chanukah. By giving these things to the children to use on Chanukah, we parallel the process of how Chanukah is mashpia the mochin d'gadlus of Chanukah onto the cold dark winter months that follow it, which don't have any Yomim Tovim.

Spiffy, eh? And a big toda raba to my friend Rabbi Reuven Boshnack who showed me that piece at his house on the fourth day of Chanukah!

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of alexandergallery.biz)

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

YU Acapella - The Macabeats - Ma'oz Tzur - Nice Harmony! - Video

-Dixie Yid

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Spine Tingeling Story For the Fifth Day of Chanukah

I received the following story from my friend Yoni Henner:

This story is unbelievable. I sent it out last year I think and I get the chills reading it again this year. The 5th night of Chanukah is very special and here is a crazy story about a special tzadik who lived not so long ago and the 5th night of chanukah specifically. A Happy Chanukah to all!!!!Adapted from the Hebrew weekly, Shav'uon Kfar Chabad, a wondrous account sent in by Rabbi Moses Hayyim Greenvald from 14 years ago...

Since the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt"l, may his merit guard over us, Jews all around me -- of every stripe and persuasion -- can't seem to stop talking about the Rebbe. At the synagogue I pray at, at work. It amazes me to see how every Jew seems to have a story about a personal encounter or experience with the Rebbe.
I say it's a mitzvah to tell these stories so that our children and children's children will hear about the Sanctification of G-d's name by means of a tzaddik who walked amongst us and was a faithful shepherd for all the children of the generation. It's widely known that Hasidim place great importance on tales of the righteous, as it is written, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord O ye Servants of the Lord" (Psalms). In order to comply with this precept myself, I offer a wondrous account about the Rebbe and my father. Until now this was known only in our family circles. I now find it incumbent upon me, after the Rebbe's passing, to tell the story publicly.

My father, Rabbi Abraham Zvi Greenvald, was born in Lodz, Poland, and was orphaned from his father at the age of 8. His mother was left with seven little orphans, and she worried much about the education of her eldest boy, whom she sent to live with a cousin, the exalted scholar Rabbi Menachem Zemba, may G-d avenge his blood. It was he who raised my father with great self-sacrifice. Understandably, he was concerned about my father's studies and even tutored him personally.

My father was almost 17 years old when there took place in Warsaw "The Great Wedding" -- the nuptials of the daughter of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac (Schneersohn) with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who would later become the seventh Rebbe. My father used to tell about this wedding almost as a spiritual exercise -- both regarding the wedding itself, in which participated the cream of Polish Hasidic leaders, and also that my father was able to meet personally with the young bridegroom. This meeting, my father would later realize, would portend much in the future.

A youth of about 17, my father arrived at the wedding together with his relative and teacher, Rabbi Menachem Zemba. On the morning after, Rabbi Zemba told him he was going to visit the bridegroom in the hotel, and if my father wished, he could accompany him. Understandably, my father agreed.

My father could not remember and repeat all that the two spoke about, but he did remember well the end of the conversation, before these two personalities parted ways. The Rebbe turned to my father and said, "In another few days, it will be Hanukkah. Do you know why many small synagogues hold festivals on the fifth day of Chanukah?" My father did not know what to answer, and he recalled that Rabbi Zemba just looked at the Rebbe waiting for an answer. Then the Rebbe, turned to my father and said, "The fifth Hanukkah candle signifies great darkness because this day cannot fall on the Holy Sabbath. And through the Hanukkah candles, the greatest (spiritual) darkness of the world is illuminated. And for this reason, the potential of Hanukkah comes to fruition specifically through the fifth candle, which signifies the darkness. And this is the function of every Jew, in every place -- in Warsaw or London -- to illuminate the darkest place."

As mentioned earlier, my father did not remember what the Rebbe and Rabbi Zemba spoke about during their long conversation. But he said he would never forget that all the tractates of the Babylonian Talmud flew around the room. When they left the hotel, my father recalls, Rabbi Zemba was extremely excited and didn't stop speaking about the meeting to everyone with whom he conversed for several days.
After that meeting, nearly 10 years passed.

My father survived the Holocaust, first in the Ghetto, and afterwards in the Extermination Camps. His first wife and their five little children were slaughtered in front of his eyes. When the war ended, and he was left alive by the grace of G-d, he experienced a mental and physical breakdown. For two years, he moved from displaced persons camp to displaced persons camp, trying to learn if there were relatives -- close or distant -- who survived. In the end, it became clear that all his brothers and sisters -- each one of them -- was liquidated by the oppressor, may its name be blotted out.

In the year 5708 (ca. 1948), he traveled to the United States, to Philadelphia. There lived his uncle, Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Greenvald of the Amshinov Hasidim, who he had never met because the uncle immigrated to America before he was born. But the uncle arranged my fathers travel to the U. S. and received him with great love, and did everything to make it easier for him and to comfort him after the portion of awesome suffering he underwent . . . Under pressure from his uncle, with the intervention of the Amshinov Rebbe, my father decided to put his life back together, married a second wife (my mother, of blessed memory).

She was a child of Karkov, daughter of Rabbi Zushya Sinkowitz, may G-d avenge his blood, of the elders of the Alexander Hasidim. Together with his sister, he succeeded in fleeing immediately at the beginning of the war, running from country to country until they set sail for Canada. There, they raised in the house another cousin, the great leader, Mr. Kuppel Shwartz, one of Toronto's leading Jews. Before my parents were wed, Mr. Shwartz took my father to New York for an audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac (Schneersohn) to obtain his blessing.
My father told me that he trembled to see the change that had overtaken the Previous Rebbe, how age had crept up on him since the Warsaw wedding. (It was very difficult to understand the Rebbe's speech; one of the Hasidic elders who stood in the room explained what the Rebbe was saying). Mr. Shwartz told the Previous Rebbe that my father had been saved, but lost his family in the Holocaust. Then, from the holy eyes of the Previous Rebbe there began to fall streams of pure tears. The Rebbe blessed my father and wished him a long and good life. Before he left, my father told the Rebbe that he had been fortunate to be at the wedding of his son-in-law, the Rebbe, in Warsaw. Then, my father tells, the Previous Rebbe's eyes brightened and he said that since his son-in-law lived here, and he was at the wedding, he should certainly visit him to pay his respects.

Mr. Shwartz and my father left the Rebbe's chambers, and after they were shown where to find the chambers of the Ramash, as he was known then, they knocked and entered, saying they came at the instructions of the Previous Rebbe. My father was elated that the Ramash remembered him immediately. His first question was that my father should tell about last days of Rabbi Zemba because he heard he was killed in the Warsaw Ghetto but did not know any details.

After my father told all he knew, the Ramash said, "since the Rebbe told you to visit me, I am obligated to say to you words of Torah. And since the month of Kislev is close to Hanukkah, it is known the custom of many Hasidim," followers of the Baal Shem Tov, to celebrate the fifth day of Hanukkah. What is the reason? Since the fifth day can never fall on the Sabbath, if so, then it implies strong (spiritual) darkness. This is the potential of the Hanukkah candle -- to illuminate the greatest darkness. This is the mission of every Jew in every place he may be -- New York or London -- to illuminate the darkest place.

Needless to say, my father was startled as he had all but forgotten the very same thing that the Ramash had told him nearly 20 years earlier. And now, his memory was jarred, and he realized that the Ramash had repeated, almost word-for-word, what he told him then, in the hotel in Warsaw.

After his wedding, my father served as a rabbi and teacher for Congregation Adath Israel in Washington Heights. There we were born, my sister and I. My father remained there some five years, and, with the help of Mr. Shwartz in Canada, moved to Toronto and worked there as a rabbi and teacher in the Haredi congregations there.
Over the course of years, in Toronto, my father became close to the Satmar Hasidim in the city, since he ministered in his rabbinical work to these Hasidim. Though he never sent us to the Satmar schools, he sent us to educational institutions that were spiritually similar. Me and my brother were sent to the well known Nytra Yeshivah. Though my father's outlook was philosophically close to Satmar, he never spoke against the Lubavitcher Rebbe. On the contrary, he always spoke of him in with praise and in especially respectful terms, as did his children.

In the winter of 5729 (ca. 1969), I was married. My father told me that even though I wasn't a Lubavitcher Hasid, he feels the need to go with me to visit the Lubavitcher Rebbe to receive his blessing for my wedding -- just as he had done, even though he had not seen the Rebbe for some 20 years. I agreed with a whole heart.
But then, I learned it's not so simple to visit the Rebbe.

Only after negotiations with the Rebbe's secretary -- and only after my father explained to him that we could not wait several months to reserve a place in the queue for audiences -- did he agreed to place us in line, but only after we promised we would only ask for a benediction and would not detain the Rebbe. My father promised and we left Toronto on the appointed day. I don't remember the exact hour we entered the Rebbe's chambers, but it was closer to morning than night, if not dawn itself.

I saw the Rebbe's face for the first time in person. His face, especially his eyes, made a great impression on me. My father gave the Rebbe the customary epistle on which were inscribed the names of myself, my bride-to-be and my father's request for a benediction. The Rebbe took the epistle from my father's hands. Before he opened it, he looked at my father with a broad smile and said, "Not more than 20 years ago the time had arrived, especially as the Previous Rebbe sent you to me." My father stood, scared and trembling, and couldn't find the energy to open his mouth.
Meanwhile, the sexton banged on the door, but the Rebbe waved his hand as to negate the knocking, like someone who was saying, don't pay attention.

In the midst of all this, the Rebbe opened the epistle, glanced at it, and immediately began to give us his blessing, blessed my father with a long life and good years, and said, roughly, "Just as you rejoiced at my nuptials, may the Lord give you nachas and strength to dance at your grandchild's wedding." Tears poured from my father's eyes, and I was also elated. My father had been physically broken from all he had endured in the camps, and this benediction of the Rebbe's was especially dear.

Before we left, my father got together the strength to ask the Rebbe that since he had promised the secretary we would enter solely to request a blessing, and he has a pressing question, would the Rebbe permit him to ask it. The Rebbe smiled and laughed, and said (roughly): "Since the Rebbe the father-in-law sent you to me, I am obligated to answer all questions. And as before, we heard loud banging on the door, and the Rebbe signaled we should ignore it.

My father turned to the Rebbe and said that for different reasons, we had lived among the Satmar Hasidim and their fellow travellers for many years. There, we frequently hear complaints about the views of Lubavitch. "Even though I do not accept all the gossip that I hear, they have nonetheless succeeded in raising within me a great doubt about the Lubavitch view in connection with working together with the "wicked people." The verses are well known, such as "And those that thou hatest the Lord shall hate." "How is it that Lubavitch can openly work together with those who battle against G-d and his Torah?"

My father told the Rebbe that he requests forgiveness for the question, and did not mean to offend. Quite to the contrary, he really wants to understand the Rebbe's view so he can answer others as well as himself. The Rebbe then turned to my father with a question. "What would your neighbors do if a neighbor's daughter began to keep bad company? Would they attempt to return her to the way of Torah and the Commandments, or would they say, 'And those that thou hatest the Lord shall hate and it is forbidden to involve oneself with the wicked; therefore, we should distance ourselves from her and not bring her closer?'"

The Rebbe did not even wait for an answer, and promptly added: "This zealous one would answer that with a daughter, the injunction of 'From thy flesh do not conceal thyself would apply.'" And then the Rebbe's eyes became serious, and he knocked on the table, and said: "By the Al-mighty, every Jew is as precious as an only child. With the Rebbe, the father-in-law, every Jew was 'From thy flesh, do not conceal thyself.'"

Then the Rebbe looked at me, and at my father with a constant gaze, and said: "One concludes with a blessing. As it is known, it is customary among Hasidim to celebrate the fifth day of Hanukkah with festivities. What is the reason? Since the fifth day cannot ever fall on the Sabbath, this signifies that it is the height of darkness. With the light of the Hanukkah candle, it is possible to illuminate the darkest thing. This is the mission of each Jew, to illuminate even the darkest places. It does not matter where he lives -- Toronto or London. Every Jew is veritably a part of G-d above, the only child of the Holy One, Blessed be He. And when one lights his soul with the candle of holiness, even the distant Jew is stirred in the darkest place."

My father was startled in the most shocking way. He didn't even hear the last words of the Rebbe's blessing, nor how we left the Rebbes chambers. All the way back to Toronto he was silent. Only two words: "wonder of wonders. Wonder of wonders."
Since then, about 10 years passed.

In the year 5739 (ca. 1979), my youngest brother was married in the city of London. The whole family, my father, my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I flew to the wedding in an airplane. On the way to London, I saw my father was preoccupied. Something was bothering him. I asked him what was wrong and he didn't want to say. Only after I asked several times, he told me. "A few minutes after I left the house in Toronto, the neighbor -- one of the dignitaries of our congregation -- came to see me, rivers of tears pouring from his eyes. He said he would tell me a story that he would not otherwise tell to anybody willingly, but that maybe I could help.
It turned out that the daughter of this community leader wavered very much in her ritual observance. In the beginning, the parents didn't really know about it, because she hid it from them. But two weeks earlier, the great catastrophe became known to them: she eloped with a Gentile to London. Since then, the atmosphere at home was one of crying and mourning, the 9th of Av.

All the efforts of relatives in London came to naught. Therefore, he asked my father, since he was travelling to London, maybe he would look into the matter, and G-d would be merciful. Maybe he could find the daughter and prevent her from descending into the depths of iniquity? My father was a close friend of this neighbor, and was affected greatly by the story. I also took it to heart and thought about what I could do in London.

The nuptials were held at a good and auspicious hour. On the first night of the Seven Benedictions, my father turned to the bride's father and told him the story about the neighbor's daughter. Perhaps he had some advice, who, where? Maybe he could look into the matter and do something? The bride's father, as soon as he heard the story, said to my father that he had no understanding of such matters, but did have a friend who was a Lubavitcher Hasid, who the Lubavitcher Rebbe had always charged with all types of errands. The man's name was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Glick, and if there's somebody who can help, it is this man, who had already managed to save from the streets of Europe many confused souls.

That night, the bride's father telephoned Rabbi Glick, told him the story and explained how pressing the matter was. Rabbi Glick asked for the telephone number of the girl's parents in Toronto -- perhaps they knew some details that would help, like addresses, telephone numbers. Perhaps they would give him some clue where to start searching. Rabbi Glick promised to do what he could.
I don't know where Rabbi Glick searched, where he went, nor with whom he consulted. But one night, about 10 days later -- my father and my mother decided to stay in London until after Hanukkah -- Rabbi Glick called the bride's father and told him to come immediately. "I have a very good surprise," he said.

The bride's father and my father hurried to Rabbi Glick's house. As they entered, they saw a girl sitting, crying. At the entrance of the salon, a Hanukkah candelabrum was lit. Suddenly, as my father looked at the menorah, he saw five candles lit, and he almost fainted and fell to the ground. He remembered the strange sentence the Rebbe had told him some 50 years earlier, then 30 years earlier and then 10.

"The fifth Hanukkah candle signifies the power of the Hanukkah menorah, and the mission of every Jew is to illuminate even" the darkest place -- Warsaw or London, New York or London, or Toronto or London . . ."

"What will that zealous one do when his daughter wavers ...with the Holy One, Blessed be He, every Jew is an only child ... With the Previous Rebbe, every Jew is 'From thy flesh, do not conceal thyself.'" There's no need to mention that the girl completely repented and became on observant Jew. There's also no need to mention that the zealous one shut his mouth and ceased speaking against Lubavitch.
When my father returned to Canada, he made every effort to obtain an audience with the Rebbe. He felt a need, a spiritual duty after what had happened, to see the Rebbe. But in those years, it had become very difficult to obtain a private audience. But the following month of Tishrei, the year 5740 (ca. 1980), my father succeeded seeing the Rebbe on the night that a group of holiday visitors had a group audience. My father said that from all the emotions that were coursing through him, he could not utter anything during the audience. When he tried to tell the story, he would break into tears. The Rebbe heard just a few sentences, turned to my father and said, "The father-in-law has a very distant vision."

Every time my father would tell this story, he would say that the real wonder was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Even more than his vision of events to come from 50 years beforehand, was his heavenly humility of, that he said, "The father-in-law has a very distant vision."

The chain of wonders has not stopped. On 14 Kislev 5748 (ca. 1989), exactly when the Seven Benedictions for my firstborn child ended, on the day which represented the passage of 60 years from the Rebbe's wedding in Warsaw, my father passed away -- all just as the Rebbe had blessed my father, that he should rejoice at the wedding of his grandchild.

We should be happy that this man, Holy to G-d dwelt amongst us. Since it is known that "The righteous are greater in their death than in their lives," certainly the Rebbe will cause a flow of blessings, salvation and comfort from On High, to each and all, until we merit to the promise of the verse, "And a Redeemer shall come unto Zion," in accord with the holy will of the Rebbe, soon and in our time. Amen.

-- Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Greenvald

The copy that I received 13 years ago was originally provided by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kazen, a"h (who has passed away), the original founder of Chabad Online (www.chabad.org) <http://chabad.org>, one of the best Jewish web sites. At the time I received this, an online web site was a new thing (for those who know 'net history, it originally came with a Gopher address), and a religious web site was a wondrous thing. It came with the stipulation that the site be advertised, which I have done here, and donation info provided. To donate to Chabad Online, click here <http://www.chabad.org/generic.asp?AID=32813>.

It also came with the stipulation that this acknowledgment be included, though I don't know if the contact information is outdated or still accurate:
Translation provided courtesy of:
FRIENDS OF LUBAVITCH OF FLORIDA, (Est. 1960)
Rabbi Abraham KorfLubavitch Regional Director-Floridae-mail: rabbi@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.usvoice: (305) 673-5664; fax: (305) 673-0269

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of kabbalahcast.org)

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Our Friends From Des Moines at the White House Chanukah Party!

Our friends, Ari and Chana ZC Sytner, who we know from our time in the Community Kollel of Des Moines, are the rabbi and Rebbetzin of the main Shul in Charleston, South Carolina, the city of my birth! They were invited to the White House Chanukah Party with President Bush. Here's a video Ari made of the experience. Enjoy!

By the way, below is another video from that event. This one is of the Kol Zimra group singing several Chanukah songs accapella with the President sitting in the front row.

-Dixie Yid

(Picture courtesy of XYZ)

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

"Vezakeini Legadail": The Shabbos Candles, the Chanukah Candles and the Strength of the Chashmonaim - Audio Shiur

Reb Yerachmiel has come through with this week's Baltimore Community Kollel Tefillah Chaburah.

Have you ever imagined, years before the miracle of the neiros Chanukah, what Matisyahu's wife/Yehudah Ha'Maccabee's mother davened for as she lit her neiros Shabbos?

Below is the latest shiur which covers such topics as shalom bayis, Shabbos kodesh, chinuch yeladim and Chanukah, and which revolves around the entrancing tefillah said by Jewish women as they light Shabbos candles each Friday night, and popularized by the renown singer Baruch Levine: "Vekaneini Legadail".
This unique presentation of song & shiur, still reverberating throughout Baltimore, is a must listen!

CLICK HERE to listen right away by left clicking or right clicking and selecting "Save Target As" to download.

-Dixie Yid

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

Who Will Be the Next Mattisyahu HaKohen?

I received the following e-mail from a friend, asking for ideas on how we can answer the call of "Mi LaShem Alai!" "Whoever is for Hashem, Join me!" in this generation. Any thoughts/feelings would be appreciated.

Chanukah is upon us, B"H. I think for most of us, maybe for the first time in our lives for those of us in this generation, we can feel a tangible darkness in the world - maybe a touch of the darkness that must have been felt in the days of Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol and the Chashmonaim. The world has changed dramatically in such a short time - with Kevitzas HaDerech, a shortening of the way. The world that we grew up in seems remarkably different - overnight. In a way that's Lo B'Derech HaTevah - unnatural. H" seems to be shaking the rope, to see who can hold on in these days before the coming of Moshiach. Who would have thought even 2 years ago that people would lose sleep over whether or not the bank in which they have their money would be in existence the next day. Who would have thought that retirement savings, and the monetary futures of so many, could possibly vanish in an instant. Who would have thought that what happened to the Kedoshim in India could happen, let alone pass with the world just moving on business as usual. Who would have thought that pieces of our heart and soul, pieces of Eretz HaKodesh, and Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, could be put up for grabs, for nothing - Lo Lishmah. A close chaver of mine recently visited a well known Rosh Yeshivah who told him that our current matzav is maybe a shadow of the times that the trains were headed for Rachmanah Litzlan - at that time, who wouldn't have given their very lives to stop those trains. So what do we do now?

I heard a shiur from Rav Shmuel Brazil, shlita, b'shem Gedolim (Darchei Noam et. al.), who said that there is a Kasha (question) as to why we light the menorah on the first night of Chanukah. After all, the Yidden found the Pach Shemen (jug of oil) at the time, and had the oil for the first day of Chanukah. The Nes then occurred and the oil stayed lit for another seven nights so that they could make new oil - and so we light the Menorah on those successive nights to commemorate that miracle of the oil, but why on the first night? He explained al pi the Sefarim HaKedoshim that we light the menorah on the first night to commemorate the military victory of the few yidden, the Chashmonaim, who fought and defeated the Greek army. This is clear from Al Hanisim which makes no mention of the Menorah really, rather it talks about the victory of the few over the many. So why then do we light the menorah the first night, if we're commemorating the military victory? The answer he gives, to me, is life changing. When Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol saw our enemies bringing the head of a chazer, a pig, on the mizbayach, the alter, it was the straw that broke the camels back for him. He felt that tzarus of the Ribbono Shel Olam. That such a thing could be. A pig on the altar in the Beis HaMikdash. He couldn't take it anymore. He decided that was it. "I'm going to destroy the Greek army." And so he gathered "his boys" and together they destoyed an army. He had an Aish Kodesh, a holy fire, in his heart, and with complete and total Emunah and Bitachon in H", used that Aish Kodesh to destroy an army. It was Lo B'Derech HaTevah - completely unnatural.

There is a concept that we find in chassidus - That when there is an "arousal from below" - someone who gives themselves over, with body and soul, with "mesirus nefesh", for the kavod of the Ribbono Shel Oilam, this mesirus nefesh brings about an "arousal from above", a corresponding outpouring of Divine compassion, which brings about salvation. And so, when Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol became the zealot for H", initiating an "arousal from below", his Aish Kodesh brought about a tidal wave of divine compassion, which he used to wipe out the Greek army. And so, we light the menorah on the first day of Chanukah, because it was that Aish Kodesh from Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol that led to the victory against the Greek army, against all odds, and so we light the Menorah which burns with that very Aish Kodesh.

We see the same pattern during the times of Purim, with Mordechai and Esther. It took one man - Mordechai, to change the world. Mordechai, with complete and total Emunah and Bitachon in H", knew that the Yidden needed salvation. He had an Aish Kodesh inside of him, and used that Aish Kodesh to ultimately bring about the salvation of our people. He placed that Aish Kodesh into the heart of Esther HaMalkah, and in turn she risked her life, to approach Achashverosh, against all odds, to save the Jewish Nation. Earlier in history, after the Yidden left Egypt and encountered the Yam Suf in front of them, and the enemy behind them, they also felt there was no way out. It wasn't until Nachshon ben Aminadav began to walk into the ocean, up to his neck, that the sea split and the nation passed through on dry land.

The lesson is so pure. So simple. We need to have Emunah and Bitachon that H" is going to bring about our salvation. We need to have the Mesirus Nefesh of Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol, and Mordechai HaTzadik. We need to know that it doesn't matter if all the odds are stacked up against us. It doesn't matter if there is an army, or an ocean, in front of us. It doesn't matter if, B'Derech HaTevah, in a natural way, there doesn't seem to be a way out of our current situation. We need to trust, with all of our hearts and souls, that when it comes to H" - as the Heilige Nesivos Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe Z'TL, points out - "V'Harbe Imo Fedus" (Tehillim 130) - H" has an infinite number of ways in which to rescue His children. And when it comes to His children, it doesn't matter where we are, or what we are doing - just as He took us out of Egypt, and dusted us off from 49th gate of impurity, so to He will bring us out and redeem us from our current matzav, or situation.

It seems as if the same winds that were blowing in the world during the days of of Yetzias Mitzrayim, during the times of Mordechai HaTzadik, and during the times of Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol are blowing once again. So what's our Avodah? What do we do - when the darkness in the world seems so thick. When the cultures around us seem to be Greek once again. When Persia seems to be rising once again in power. When the flood waters seem to be rising all over the world. The answer seems clear - H" wants us to be like Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol. He wants us to be like Mordechai. He wants us to be like Esther. He wants us to be like Nachshon ben Aminadav. He wants us to fight against all odds, just like they did - against the "armies of the world", in their various forms. He wants us to walk into the ocean, the mayim rabim, up to our necks, while trusting in Him with all of hearts and souls. He wants us fear nothing, and nobody, except Him! He wants us to know that He can and will save his children, once again, because He loves us. But we have to have faith - We need to have Emunah. We have to have Bitachon. It doesn't matter how dark the world seems. It doesn't matter if the banks are collapsing, if the markets are tumbling, or if the dollar is down and out. Nor does it matter who sits in the Oval Office. It just doesn't matter, for as we say in Shemoneh Esrei, "Ki Vecha Batachnu, V'Al Chasdecha HaGadol B'Emes Nishanenu"" - For in YOU we trust, and upon Your kindness that is great in sincerity and in perfection do we rely. There's only H", and He wants us to light the Aish Kodesh once again. He wants US to BE like Mattisyahu.

Chaunkah is here. Lets all dig deep inside of ourselves, and beg H" Yisbarach to help us to bring out the Mattisyahu that is there within each of us, and with that Koach, or power, bring about an "arousal from below" to light up the world with our Aish Kodesh, and beg H" Yisbarach to grant us, in his infinite compassion, an "arousal from above", to bring a complete salvation for our people, in our days, with the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu.

-Dixie Yid

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.