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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,201 words · 5:20. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 The Rebbe has a rule: that anyone who came to the shiur or to the reception will always be let in, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many people. At one of the shiurim there were about three thousand people at the shiur, and they all went through for a blessing. The Rebbe finished the shiur at about twelve-thirty, the reception went on until four-thirty in the morning. When the Rebbe finished the reception, I had to lift him up, because he had no strength left. He sleeps about an hour and a half a day.
0:25 He learns until his strength is spent, and he cannot stand. I had to hold him up, he leaned on me, his legs were trembling. He steadied himself a little, slowly walked to the car, exhausted, pale. He got into the car - you won't believe this - he had only just gotten in when he opened a book, all the way to Rishon LeZion from Jerusalem, it was like a lion! All the way, burning with fire, entirely in the books, happy.
0:50 Suddenly - imagine - a moment before, I couldn't lift you up. A moment before you were pale, a moment before... We are talking about a shiur from nine until three hours, until twelve at night, and then until four in the morning (the reception). We are talking here about eight hours of continuous shiur, together with hours of a reception, with no eating, only drinking water. And he has a sense of love for every Jew that I have never seen in my life. Once I brought my students here; I teach in a Talmud Torah.
1:16 I brought my students to receive a blessing from the Rebbe. So while they were here, they saw a lesson in love for every Jew. And how they saw a lesson on love for every Jew: The Rebbe was very pressed for time, truly. He has his schedules, everything is precisely timed. But for another Jew he will close a thousand Gemaras. And I wanted to show them this, I didn't know it would happen. But they were watching, and suddenly a man came in - never mind, without describing him - but a man who needs preferential, personal attention.
1:43 And he started telling the Rebbe jokes. Jokes that, truly, were not funny, it's not pleasant, not funny at all. And the Rebbe laughs and signals everyone to laugh quietly from the side, laugh. And the Rebbe stayed with him twenty minutes. A minute before that the Rebbe says to me, I can't, I can't, don't let people hold me up, I must run, I must run. And when he came, the Rebbe gave him twenty minutes. The Rebbe knows, he knows him, that he needs this. The Rebbe canceled twenty minutes...
2:07 Suddenly he has time, suddenly he has the desire. For another Jew he will burn everything, for other Jews. This is a love for every Jew that almost... you should see him. He is... awe-inspiring, people wait here for hours. But at the moment when a person reaches him, there is no one after me and no one before me. You exist, and that's it. And if he needs him... and I sometimes burst. You know how many people are waiting, and I'm standing close to the Rebbe, and sometimes I can't, I say, look what pressure there is.
Read the whole shiur in English (7 more parts)
2:32 Enough, Rebbe, move it along - from the Rebbe's point of view... I live for those before and those after. The Rebbe has the present: here is a Jew who needs me. Right now only he exists, there is no one else in the world. In two weeks he is making a siyum on the whole Torah, which is, every year he makes a siyum, about twice on the Shas, because he has several sedarim. All of Shas, Bavli, Yerushalmi, Midrash, Sifra, Sifrei, Mechilta, Shulchan Aruch, Rambam, all the books there are in the Jewish world.
2:58 You will see once in your life someone who stores within himself not in terms of knowledge, but that the Torah changed him, as the Rebbe of Kotzk says, that not only did I learn Torah, but the Torah taught me. You will see a person who is Torah, a piece of Torah. All of the Torah is within him, but in a way that he applies it. You will see gentleness, beauty, humility, as Rebbi says at the end of Tractate Avos: that it teaches him Torah, fear of Heaven, humility, it clothes him with the spirit of wisdom, everything, everything together in one person.
3:27 And in my opinion, unique in his generation - I am nothing, but unique in his generation. - How old is the Rebbe? - He turned thirty-four two days ago. - He's married, yes? - He's married with children, family life, everything orderly and normal. This - the great ones of Israel who come here, you suddenly understand. It also looks at me, the great ones of Israel who come here. What humility they have.
3:51 When I see Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen, if you know who that is, (the Rav of) Shmuel HaNavi, coming at one at night to ask the Rebbe for a blessing, or Rabbi Bedani, who comes here twice, at the age of ninety, he came all the way here, down here, to ask the Rebbe for a blessing, to consult with the Rebbe. Rabbi Yitzchak Azrachi, Rabbi Batzri, truly great ones of Israel. If you look, that is also their humility. But suddenly you see that there is something here that is missing elsewhere, something special. I think he has all the angles you could want in the world.
4:16 So you grab onto one thing, I one, he another. He has all the angles. I grasped in him my own angles. I loved very much his love for every Jew, his humility. And of course the Torah, that everyone grasps. Everyone sees that right away. And I am speaking beyond that, I saw a special humility. I personally had with him completely heavenly stories. I won't tell them now. They are already... the matters are publicized. But I had with him things that were completely, completely... With all the pressure he is under, when you are with him, there is no clock, no time, and it can even be just a few seconds.
4:47 The person feels he received all the attention in the world, because during those seconds he was only with him. There were people here who waited four hours, and they were five seconds, ten seconds. And then I see him come out smiling. I say to him, forgive me that you were such a short time. He says to me, why, it was excellent for me that I was here? I told him, you were here only ten seconds. He says to me, but in those ten seconds the Rebbe was only with me. Those ten seconds are a disconnection, it's not just... it's everything, as if the whole world died, there is you and that's it.
5:12 And that really struck me. First, may you have success. Come, you can already go in.
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