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It says מראשית השנה עד אחרית שנה, Hashem looks out for us from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. He asks why there is no heh at the end of the year. He answers that every year we think this will be the special year of redemption but at the end we realize that it was like any other year. So let us pray and hope that the coming year will be that special year.
Yasher Koach, Reb Eliezer. In honor of the Yahrtzeit I’d like to share this:
Rav Avigdor Miller five days after the petirah of the Satmerer Rav, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum, zatzal, said:
“Actually I must divulge that I began this subject with the intention of saying something about the Satmerer Rav, zichrono l’vracha, because such an event is too big to pass over without some remark. We have to know that the Satmerer Rav represented an old tradition. He was ninety-three years old, which means that he had spent a great part of his life in the old world among the old talmidei chachomim. And therefore, when he came here he brought along with him not American ideas — he brought along the tradition of the Am Yisroel. He represented a continuity of our great past. And not only that, but he was a fighter, and his presence here had a very profound influence on everyone.
And it’s only ויהי אחרי מות משה, after Moshe the eved Hashem passed away, that the people realized who they once had. It’s only after the Satmerer Rav has now passed away that people will realize what they once had but didn’t appreciate.
And therefore this principle that we spoke about tonight, that the great men exert a powerful influence on their generation and that they represent the Shechina, has to be studied by us because we are still alive. We can’t give up and say, “Well, all of the old gedolim have passed away; Rav Aaron zichrono l’vracha, and the old Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav Yosef Yitzchok are gone.”
When Rav Yosef Yitzchok passed away, I remember the day. It was a dark day and the whole Jewish nation was in mourning — just like we are mourning for the Satmerer Rav zichrono l’vracha. When Rav Aaron Kotler passed away it was a dark day. Oh, the whole Jewish nation was in mourning.
But ויאמר השם אל יהושע משרת משה — And Hashem said to Yehoshua the servant of Moshe, קום — Arise, get up. Because now is the time to start accomplishing big things – because we have to make up for the loss of the Satmerer Rav. And that means first and foremost to utilize the great men that we possess today. Because we still have great men and we should live with them; we should live in their shade and grow as a result of their presence.”
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Q: Even the Litvishe Rabbonim recognize today that the Satmerer Rebbe is a tzadik ha’dor. So why aren’t they also shouting out against certain things the same way the Satmerer Rebbe does?A: And the answer is that to shout out requires not only conviction but it requires courage as well. And therefore, there are a lot of people who believe in certain principles but they don’t want to put themselves out. They don’t have the level of mesiras nefesh needed to fight for these principles. Look, sometimes it can be quite uncomfortable. Therefore it’s understandable that even people who agree with the Satmerer Rav are not in the mood to expose themselves to public opprobrium.
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Some of the Rav’s memories of the Satmarer Rebbe:I was once in Williamsburg; by accident I happened to be there. I saw chassidim running so I ran too. People were coming from the mikveh and they were running so I ran too. I knew they’re running to a good place so I followed them. They ran into a big room on Bedford Avenue. It was in a basement and the Satmar Rav was sitting there in the front seat. It was erev Yom Kippur. They were all sitting there and he was talking to them. A glorious opportunity! The Satmar Rav was saying a few words to his mekuravim on erev Yom Kippur. A glorious opportunity to hear from a tzadik hador!
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I was once present in front of the old Satmerer Rov zichrono livracha when he was saying hoshanos. It was four hours he was saying hoshanas! I was watching him. He didn’t make it one, two, three, a hurry up hoshanos. Four hours he was saying hoshanas; walking back and forth saying hoshanas. Four hours! It was pleasure to watch. Everybody was enjoying it.
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There was one time when I was in Williamsburg – the old Satmerer Rav was still alive then. So I went in to see him because I was going to do something, a job, for him. I was the one who composed the advertisement against the Zionists that was placed in the New York Times – I wrote it for the Satmerer Rav. So I went in to him and he gave me a bracha that I should succeed. And I was up all night writing that article. Over and over again, I worked on it. All night I was up because it was important!I quoted before someone who was invited to Satmar to be a doctor for yomtov, and shared with the Satmerer Rav that he is not just a stam doctor, but is also preparing to get a (kosher but modernishe, I presume) smicha. Rav responded – besser rofeh cholim mimatir asurim
Just some personal memories, the day of levaya in spite of the chasidim being shattered they went around for the hours before the levaya to make sure the people had to eat and drink on that hot day.
does anyone here have a person encounters? stories are nice, real life is better
My rebbe rav belsky didn’t quote many chassidishe rebbes, with the exception of three that I can remember. One was the Satmar rov, who he lived near to when he grew up in williamsburg. When Rav Belsky was a child, he sold some food or drink; lemonade stand type of thing. A discussion among some people broke out if the food was kosher, for some reason. The satmar rov knew rav belsky’s family (his father learned by the chofetz chaim) and trusted them. He personally bought from the stand to show everyone that it was kosher!
my rosh yeshiva says often that the sign of a true kannoi vs. a hot-head, is how they treat individual people and how they conduct themselves in their personal lives. He gave the example of rav amram blau, who he met personally. He said that rav blau was the sweetest, kindest person when you spoke with him. He would bring in homeless, mentally disturbed individuals into his home; feed them, wash them, and give them fresh clothing. He had a ton of ahavas yisroel, which shows that his kana’us was leshem shomayim. The same thing applies to the satmar rov; he was known to dispense huge amounts of tzedaka, even to people who were his enemies. Once a secular journalist who wrote scathing articles about the rebbe fell on hard times. Of course, his fellow secularists didn’t want to help him, and he heard that the rebbe helps every kind of Jew. He came, sheepishly, and was grateful for the rebbe’s help, but asked him; do you know who I am? The rebbe said he knows, but you’re a child of avrohom yitzchok and yaakov!
RebE, I presume he is typing on the phone and it is a tircha to press buttons to get to caps. It is not a mitzva meduoraita as Hebrew rarely uses capitals …
If you do it once though, you can try the phone according to your derech. Phone will know who deserves the z’l and who not.
The story I heard was of a guy walking into the Satmar Rebbe’s office while the secretary was out for lunch. He told Rebbe about his sick wife and children, lost parnosa, Rebbe gae him money. The secretary saw him on the street coming out and ran to the Rebbe – hope you didn’t give him anything, he is a known swindler. Or, so his wife is not sick his kids are OK? He did not lose parnosah?! Boruch Hashem …
Reb e; you convinced me on capitalizing Hashem, because divine things are capitalized in the English language. Every other capitalization isn’t due to respect, but rather grammar, to which i say…nu nu, it’s a tircha, as AAQ said.
“it’s a tircha, as AAQ said.”
Avirah’s response to why it’s hard for him to capitolize the names of gedolim and talmidei chochomim. Did anyone else catch the irony in that response 🙂
As someone who often doesn’t even bother using capitol lettters to start my sentences (depending on my phone), I have to say that someone who has made it their personal goal to speak out against people who are lax in their respect of/adherence to gedolim and talmidei chochomim it doesn’t shtim that overextending yourself to capitolize their name is a tircha.
Syag, if i thought it was an issue of respect, i would capitalize; i made that clear in my post. I think it’s a grammar issue, much like capitalizing new york, America, etc .. In English, one would capitalize hitler too. So to keep English grammar in my posts is indeed a tircha. Reb e convinced me to capitalize Hashem, because the English language capitalizes anything divine out of respect… Not that every capitalization is because of respect
fascinating discussion surely honoring Satmar Rav and his sense of humour. Need more Yiddish puns though.
A practical solution for phone users to look more menchlich: does your keyboard has auto-complete? when you typed “Rebbe” once and it lists that and 3 more words, click on the word and it should be added to the dictionary. So, next time, you’d quickly get to the right word and form. At least, I made sure that my phone “knows ‘Hashem’ “. This should also tie into speech-to-text. I think I am using gboard, not sure about other keyboards. Alternatively, don’t drive-and-post, come home and use your computers after kids finish their homework.
Syag > Did anyone else catch the irony in that response
Thanks, I did now. Maybe people are more careful about kavod those they interact with. Even anonymous beats someone from a different generation. We do call Hillel Hillel; Rav is Rav, combining a title and a nickname closer to our times we get longer titles. R Natan Kamenetsky simply uses R and suggest the reader to choose themselves which R is Reb, Rav, Raban, Rebbe, or Morah Moreinu Horav Reb.
> “it’s a tircha, as AAQ said.”
here is a good illustration. Give someone a kulah to hang on, and it is gladly accepted 🙂
Capitalization started somewhere in late Rome, before that everything was UPPERCASE like Hebrew. Then, almost every noun was (Germans still do that), first words, Divine names, etc. Overall, there seem to be two rules:
1) capitalization correlates w/ kavod. So, the weightier your Subject is, the more Capitals… Maybe you should be saying Hashem as The G-d, as, l’havdil, you are supposed to say The Queen (two Capitals)
2) Still, There are no exact Rules, They do change over time.RebE > However, for Rebbi Akiva, who hated originally talmidei chachamim, it was not so obvious.
Thanks for this explanation, I never heard it. So, from now, MRRE (Moreini Rabeini Reb E)
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