The nail on the head

Last night Rabbi Chaim Schapiro participated in a Smicha Farbrengen (happy 22nd birthday Michoel [the TRS chavrusa] Rose and Mendy Schapiro!). Here's an unedited transcript of his words. Enjoy."

A Lady came in, nudged the Rogatchover to give her a brocha, he said, "Nu, I'm not a rebbe!" A rov who was sitting there said, "It says that the brochos of a hedyot shouldn't be light in your eyes, kal v'chomer a great Rov like you!" The Rogatchover said, "You give her a brocha, it won't be a kal v'chomer!"

Now it's ktzas aveilus. But we're chassidim, we make farbrengens. It's parshas emor, the Rebbe would kuch in emor v'amarta, to warn the elders on the youngsters. You can't tell kids, you have to teach them. But that's not what it means. Everyone is a kid. You have to always learn from someone else.

L'zahar milashon Zohar, zehirus, shining. Not only do you have to warn, to scream, which you can't even do, but the gedolim have to shine on the ketanim. Even in a mikve (where normally you aren't allowed to say Torah, but if you see someone doing something wrong, you're allowed to say Torah), even before your teacher.

If the gedolim shine on the ktanim...
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L'hazher hagedolim al haktanim-it means simply. There's an old argument. What's the main thing? Pnimius or chitzoniyus? One thing no one disagrees with-if you want to teach someone else-most people can't see pnimius. Those that can only see good. Otherwise, by yourself, you have to look at pnimius. But for other people? You can't see their pnimius. In order to make others shine, you have to yourself do what's right and this will make others shine.

The year of smicha goes by very quick. Why? Because you're full, doing something every day. Other years, you're wasting time, you always wait for the next day, for tomorrow, because hopefully tomorrow will be better. 19 Kislev, 10 shevat, Purim, lag b'omer, camp, merkos shlichus. Truth is, if you live the whole year like that, the year is wasted. But if you sit and learn properly, in smicha, then it goes very quickly.

And at the end, did you do enough? The answer is always no-we're only human.

When we go to the next stage, it happens, we have to know that now we're constantly on l'hazher gedolim al haktanim, not only on Fridays.

Gorelick said only half a true story. You'll be shluchim, the elite of the elite, you have a tattoo on your head...the truth is, whatever you'll do, you have a tattoo on your head that you're a Lubavitcher. As is known the story of the rebbe maharash, that once he met a maskil in the street, and greeted him as a Jew. The maskil asked, how did you know I'm a Jew? The rebbe answered, every male Jew has a bris, and by you, the mohel stuck the orlah on your nose where I could see it.

I'm not a preacher; at the end of the day, everyone gets it. I don't mean the chassidishe shtuff, but at the end of the day, everyone gets it. Some people it takes the market to crash, others a major life problem, others they just get old. What do they get? Hashem is true, judaism is true, Torah is true. Eventually everyone davens properly.

Eventually everyone takes it seriously. Some people become talmidei chachamim. Some people don't. Listen, it's a chisaron, don't get me wrong, you should be a Talmid chacham. But even if not...

Someone wrote, what is good in a bochur? Yirei shamayim, Midos tovos, lamdan, no discussion of money.

If you're pust, you're kids are double. If you're double, you're kids are quadruple. Even if you're not, you still need Hashem's help. People who say, "when I have kids I'll throw my tv out." it doesn't work.

I heard, someone said, I can bring professionals to give marriage counseling to the older bochurim... I wiggled out of it. My zeide had it?

Schneur zalmen gorelik said, kfar chabad is already big, it needs a good rav, I quit. The Rebbe said, you are right, you become a good rav!

I have talmidim who have ten year old kids. I have bochurim who weren't so good... And now they're kids are good, they go to shiurim. Why? They married good wives, their kids went to good chadarim and came home... Point is, they got it!

If you will eventually get it, get it now! You will get it. Why wait? Everything else is nothing, it's all narrishkeit. It's shtussim and havalim. All that matters is Torah, mitzvos, and nachas from kids.

There comes a point when everyone matures... You wake up, no one is telling you what to do, and you become mature.

You have to take the bull by the horns and say-I am a chassidishe bochur!

And what's with actuality? You have to make a decision tomorrow-things which are now shvach, you have to make them strong... Coming to chasidus, davening with a minyan, not at 9:52, at 9:30, eating brekkis properly, learning nigleh...

There are people who at 50 look like yeshiva bochurim. They smell like yeshiva bochurim, their hats are like bochurim, their shirts are white like bochurim...

Other people are 50 and they don't look like bochurim. And the truth is that every person has to have the mindset of a yeshiva bochur, which is a chossid of the Rebbe, to do what the Rebbe wants.

Like R. Melech said, there was a guy who when he wasn't working had the Seder of tomchei tmimim! We have to have this. This has to go forever.

I'm speaking as if I'm perfect. I'm not. But... There's nothing to be ashamed of to be a chassidishe bochur. Berel junik cut diamonds. But no one looked at him like a guy who cut diamonds. He was a chassidishe yid. The rebbe gave him permission to knock on his door whenever.

Right now, in yeshiva, we have what we are supposed to do. This is the etzem. And this has to shine, lhazher gedolim al haktanim. It has to shine forever. And the kiddush Hashem you'll make will shine forever.
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Every day of sefira is a separate day. That's why make brocha every day. But if forget one? You have to make a brocha that it's the 28th day. And if you're missing one, you're missing one! So you can't make it.
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Nita kein farfallen.

If a kid is sick, and you can't make a bris, then if he has one late, it's poyel l'mafrea.

This is one of the beauties of Judaism, at least between you and Hashem, not between you and your fellow, even though it Should.

Every day of sefiras haomer includes all the previous days. And we can say that nita kein farfallen, pesach sheni, is also included. Even if you didn't do what you have to, you didn't show up on time...

Yisrael Gordon tells a story, his father took him out of class because the teacher said that avraham had a daughter, why didn't he marry her to yitzchak? Because to a medrash you don't make a marriage. His father took him right out of class. You don't make fun of medrashim.

A baaleboss said, "You know. If you don't learn, nothing happens. So too, don't tell me a guy did nothing and he has money. Watch-in three years, he'll have nothing." you can't be a baki b'shas without learning.

It takes only one nekudah, one moment, nita kein farfallen. It doesn't work with rabbi spalter.

One time they were trying to be mater an agunah-it says that if a real beis din does this, and even if it's not real, the husband is going to die. R' Chaim said, when they were trying to do this in his yeshiva, a guy made problems from a tosafos, R' chaim said, "no one ever died from a tosafos."

Lama nigarah-they were doing a mitzvah, they wanted another. They had mesiras nefesh, they had to take out dassan and aviram, and they still demanded, let us do the mitzvah! Certain inyanim are farfallen. We have to be realistic.
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I was thinking... if you can't explain something to someone, you can't understand it. We learned an interesting din today. Ramah-only muttar if mixed keilim. Taz-don't need to, because eventually will mix it. It's a catch-22.

In chassidus we find this, that when a person is a tzaddik, he is like he never sinned and he never will sin.

Truth is, Taz only speaks of where it's owned by one person.

Every person will eventually get it. What does the Taz say? It's like it's already mixed! It's like it's already mixed. We will become one. We will do the right thing. We shouldn't need a problem to become closer. Why ask for avodah through simcha? Because there's also a way of avodah through pain! But that's not we need. That's not what we want.

People fall sometimes. Happens to everyone. Who do you are, you think you're so hot, you can't have a yeridah? But at the same time, everyone has an aliyah! You have to consider it like you had the aliyah now!

The rebbe maharash said, you have to be scared of pilpulim in tanya, but if it helps in avodas Hashem, it's not so terrible.

R' Yoel prepared a sample of Sefer ha'archin for the rebbe, tzimtzum, The Rebbe was very happy, said there was one mistake though. Wouldn't say what it was.

A person thinks he has an addiction, he's learning disabled, he thinks that if he stops he'll be losing out.

A guy started becoming frum, "chabad" is bt, lubavitch is chassidus. Only thing is, he said, I'm not becoming like the rabbis. His picture though, he looks like a rabbi! What happened? He became frum, and he wanted! And he doesn't understand, how is it that he didn't want?

Look, a person in one situation can't possibly understand what he will want in another situation. It's two different worlds.

The minutes you break away, you're in a new world. A guy tells me, my phone broke, don't get a blackberry! Your life is not yours anymore!

Don't look back! Everyone had to make changes. Everyone makes changes. You don't want to go back to 15 in mesifta. Since you will change, you will see the truth, I'm not a navi (maybe a ben navi), but when you leave! You won't have these shtussim. New ones maybe...
Like they say, an old horse you don't want.

Efraim piekarski said, what do you mean you didn't come to your brother's birthday?
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Mincha by the Rebbe was an hour (only in winter) after shkia, with kriah, and right away was maariv. This was only until 22 shvat 1988. After that they ended early.
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In 1990, rosh hashanah, the Rebbe said, higher than pashtus, higher than mamash!
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