We spoke with the shliach to Ohr Yehuda, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Friedman, who was in 770 in 5745-5747 and had a front row seat to the events of those years. * He tells about the episode of the s’farim and shares the feelings of the yeshiva students during this difficult time. He then describes hearing the good news and the tremendous outburst of simcha. * “When T’mimim would talk about what the Geula will look like, they described it as ‘like the simcha the moment we heard didan natzach.’ That was the only possible description we could imagine.”
Rabbi MM Friedman receiving lekach from the Rebbe | Rabbi MM Friedman, second from the right on the bottom, in the famous picture of the dancing upon hearing the news.It all began on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5745/1985. Some of the senior Chassidim were called in for yechidus. This was in the period following the cessation of yechidus in the Rebbe’s room, and so news about this exception spread rapidly and made waves among the Chassidim and T’mimim in 770.
Bits of rumor rapidly spread, along with fuzzy speculations regarding some secret and unusual occurrence taking place. It was clearly a very serious matter that affected the Rebbe himself, but nobody knew precisely what it was. Rumor had it that at the 12 Tammuz farbrengen the Rebbe would address it.
A particularly large crowd showed up for the 12 Tammuz farbrengen, both in 770 as well as in places where there were broadcasts of the farbrengen. Everyone tensely stood and watched; you could feel the tension in the air.
The first and second sichos were said without a mention of the burning issue. These were followed by other sichos. It was only toward the end of the farbrengen that the Rebbe dropped the bomb that shocked the Chassidim. In the days that followed, the Rebbe devoted other sichos to it that were shocking in their sharpness.
A DECREE OVER OUR HEADS; AN ACCUSATION AGAINST THE VERY NESIUS
In order to get a feel for what the Chassidim experienced at that time, we spoke with the shliach to Ohr Yehuda, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Friedman, who was learning in Oholei Torah at the time:
The feeling was terrible. Suddenly, the holy “routine” which we had gotten used to was broken. The warm environment in which Chassidim live around the Rebbe with t’fillos-sichos-farbrengens-s’darim-mivtzaim was abruptly stopped.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, this painful episode landed on us, whose very occurrence and especially its publicity, was a serious and unforgivable attack on the Rebbe’s honor and the honor of Lubavitch.
Slowly, with each additional sicha that we heard from the Rebbe on the subject, matters became clearer as did their severity. We began to grasp the inner, most significant point in the whole episode that was completely unlike what it seemed ostensibly, i.e., a dispute over an inheritance (which is why Chassidim were apprehensive about publicity and the way it would be interpreted in the papers and the media). Rather, it was a terrible accusation on the very leadership of the Rebbe.
A tense, difficult time in the history of Chabad in the seventh generation ensued, and it came along with the feeling that a “decree” was hovering over our heads. The frightening sichos that the Rebbe delivered on the topic, his frequent going to the Ohel, and the rumors about the impending court case, all lent an atmosphere of an imprisonment as it were, which the Rebbe was going through.
SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES TO ATTAIN VICTORY
The court case began on 19 Kislev 5746. In the preceding days, signs were hung that urged people to attend a minyan for the recitation of T’hillim on the morning of the court case. Indeed, thousands of Chassidim did so. 770 was packed, far more than the numbers who attended on Shabbos Mevarchim. It could only be compared to the minyan for T’hillim the night of Hoshana Rabba in 770. Everyone said T’hillim with great feeling.
During the trial, there was tremendous tension among Anash and the T’mimim who felt that every additional spiritual action on their part, in the minyanim for T’hillim and personal good resolutions, were important for victory. During the days the trial was held, T’mimim were sent (in organized groups, alphabetically, according to name) to demonstrate the presence of “our side” in court. They sat there and said T’hillim.
I remember that one of my fellow T’mimim removed the mattress from his bed in the dormitory and would sleep only on the plywood board throughout the period of the court case, to identify with the Rebbe’s pain.
At the Zos Chanuka farbrengen 5746, when the Rebbe began speaking about a kitrug (accusation) against Chassidus during the time of the Mezritcher Maggid, which was followed, after it was annulled, by another kitrug in the time of the Alter Rebbe, the Chassidim’s feeling that the court case was a kitrug that needed to be annulled was strengthened.
On the Thursday before Shabbos Mevarchim Adar I 5746, the Rebbe arrived at 770 and we saw how he was walking very slowly. The same thing was seen when the Rebbe went to the Ohel later that day. Word spread around the community and when the Rebbe returned from the Ohel, a much larger crowd than usual was waiting at 770. Everyone pushed to see “what happened to the Rebbe.”
On Shabbos, a minyan for T’hillim and Shacharis took place upstairs in the small zal, and when the Rebbe went down (on Friday night, and for the farbrengen on Shabbos day), they placed tables all along the path so the Rebbe could lean on them as he walked. In the coming weeks, all the t’fillos and even the reading of the Megilla on Purim, took place upstairs in the small zal.
(Things went on in this way until Pesach when the Rebbe entered the big zal downstairs for davening. The Chassidim were thrilled. Every year, on Pesach, I recall that event of the Rebbe coming down after two and a half months of t’fillos upstairs. The joy is unforgettable.)
As mentioned, all this was due to the foot problem that the Rebbe was experiencing at that time, with the feeling among the Chassidim that this too was connected with the s’farim court case. Also, at that time, several Chassidim suddenly died.
SHABBOS CLOTHES ON TUESDAY
What characterized those days was the suspense of the Chassidim over every word they heard from the Rebbe. Aside from the sichos and the occasions that the Rebbe referred explicitly to the s’farim and the court case, the T’mimim were analyzing and mining every sicha to find hints to the subject, even if they didn’t appear to be directly and clearly connected.
One of the interesting things during that period before the actual Didan Natzach was that the Rebbe spoke several times in sichos about the special quality of the third day of the week. In some of the sichos, he mentioned this also in connection with the idea of “pada b’shalom” in the T’hillim for this day (according to the weekly schedule). As a result, the T’mimim felt strongly that the victory would take place on a Tuesday.
It went so far that some of the T’mimim would put on white shirts and their Shabbos suit and hat every Tuesday, in honor of the Didan Natzach that might occur that day.
(In those days, it wasn’t yet the norm for bachurim in yeshivos to wear only white shirts on weekdays. They wore colored shirts on weekdays and white shirts on Shabbos and other special days.)
Many of the bachurim also prepared bottles of mashke which they kept in their lockers so they would be readily available when the Didan Natzach news came. This suspense was also felt at every farbrengen, encounter between friends, phone conversation and the ordinary talk of the bachurim. Some concluded their discussions with the hope and prayer, “may we merit Didan Natzach already” (sort of like the “Yechi HaMelech HaMoshiach” of today).
TO PROVE THAT “LUBAVITCH IS ACTIVE”
The key issue that the Rebbe emphasized during that period was about making a big commotion and new upsurge in Chabad activities around the world, in response to claims from the “other side” that Lubavitch is not active.
It was seemingly, at first glance, not understandable. For decades, Lubavitch was the most active Jewish movement, with shluchim around the world, spreading Judaism and Chassidus to all types of people and ages. The world was seething with Chabad Houses, tanks, mivtzaim, stands on the streets, and dynamic “shluchim.” Then, someone comes along and to further his nefarious goal and because of his greed he invented an outlandish claim about Lubavitch not being active.
Surprisingly, the Rebbe did not ignore it or dismiss it. He demanded that the Chassidim demonstrate the power of the activities of Lubavitch and intensify them ten-fold. The Rebbe announced mivtzaim and special instructions, asking every shliach to have his picture taken near the central menorah in his city with the name of Lubavitch on it, and to send the picture for an album of public menorah lighting ceremonies around the world, in order to prove that Lubavitch is active.
In this way, the Rebbe taught us that when there are accusations and claims made about Lubavitch being inactive, even though this is obviously false, to us, it is a sign that we need to increase the light.
DIDAN NATZACH NEWS IN THE MIDDLE OF A TEST
I will never forget it. On the morning of Hei Teves, after Shacharis and breakfast in yeshivas Oholei Torah where I was learning at the time, there was a test on the material we had learned over the previous few weeks. In the middle of the test, a bachur entered the zal with the news that had us all jumping out of our chairs: DIDAN NATZACH!
The mashgiach suspected that this was a prank that the bachurim did so as to get out of taking the test and said everyone should remain seated until he verified what happened. But as soon as he left the zal, all the bachurim ran to 770.
We arrived within minutes and on the way we saw Chassidim coming on the run. Many others came in their cars, parking on Eastern Parkway and blocking off an entire lane. In the doorway of 770, the Piamenta brothers were playing music, accompanying the mighty Didan Natzach singing of the growing crowd. In an instant, the joy of victory burst forth like lava gushing out of a volcano and needless to say, mashke was poured like water.
In the hours of dancing that followed, Chassidim sang the words Didan Natzach to all the Chabad tunes (similar to what was done in 5753 and in recent years, to put “Yechi” to various Chabad tunes).
What happened afterward can be seen in videos of that time: the dancing, Mincha with the Rebbe, the sicha that followed and the continuation of the dancing. Around midnight, the shliach, Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, arrived from California. He went directly to the aron kodesh and began the “Ata Horeisa” of Simchas Torah. The following days were days of joy and Hallel, dancing and farbrenging, days that cannot be described in words.
THE DIDAN NATZACH OF THE S’FARIM MUST BE EXPRESSED IN LEARNING
I recall a vort that R’ Yoel Kahn said at one of the farbrengens about the decrees and trials that the Jews overcame throughout the generations, which would rear their heads from time to time: from the miracle of Purim which was a decree against their lives and the miracle of Chanuka where the decree was against their souls.
In the miracle of 19 Kislev, the accusation was against the “light,” the very teachings of Chassidus, and the Alter Rebbe sat in jail for 53 days to correspond to the 53 chapters of Tanya. But the greatest miracle was that of Hei Teves, when the decree and accusations were against the source of light himself, i.e., the leadership of the Rebbe, and in this too, Didan Natzach. As such, the simcha of the Geula from this decree is double and redoubled and Hei Teves is the greatest holiday of all!
At the end of the “seven days of feasting,” the Rebbe said the famous sicha of 12 Teves about the necessary preparations for Yud Shevat and the diligent learning demanded of the T’mimim. The Rebbe also announced that there would be tests whose results would be given to him. He emphasized that Didan Natzach of the s’farim must be expressed in actually learning them.
After this sicha, we went around 770 with mixed feelings. On the one hand, we felt the Rebbe’s closeness and caring for us; on the other hand, there was also the feeling of confusion and discomfort, like that of a child whose father has rebuked him.
The maintenance men came and put the chairs and tables back and restored 770 to the way it usually looked.
The bachurim were tremendously inspired in their learning. I remember how at morning Chassidus, the zal was full, the way it had never looked before. There were bachurim who, for the first time in their lives (after mesivta and beis midrash) opened up s’farim and began learning and this is what got them into becoming serious learners for life.
BEING ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT THE REBBE WOULD BE VICTORIOUS
One of the things that I remember from the period of the court case over the s’farim is the inner battle we experienced. During the arguments phase at the court house, there were groups of Chassidim who discussed the daily proceedings. Naturally, there were various opinions.
There were days that it looked like we were winning and the arguments of our side were successful and there were days when it looked as though the other side was able to present its claims successfully.
Sometimes we believed and were confident that the truth, the Rebbe, would win the case. But other times we were doubtful and thought the other side might … Or the Rebbe’s victory would be partial, not 100%.
This was an inner battle, to trust and believe with a certainty that the Rebbe would win outright. To a great extent, one can say that the decisive blow of that inner battle was toward the end of the 19 Kislev 5747 farbrengen, when the Rebbe said that soon Didan Natzach. It was an electrifying moment that infused everyone with the certainty of an imminent win. At the end of that sicha they sang Didan Natzach enthusiastically and I think it was with the Rebbe’s encouragement.
That same point is important today, as we wage the final battle over carrying out the sole shlichus, that of preparing the world to greet Moshiach. Sometimes, fears and doubts can creep into our hearts. But we need to remember the Rebbe’s promise of victory and his vigorous encouragement of the singing of Yechi and believe with absolute confidence that the Rebbe will be victorious and conquer the world with his malchus.
As the Rebbe said in one of his sichos at the time, may we merit the true and complete Didan Natzach with the Geula and the third Beis HaMikdash.
A PARADIGM FOR THE GEULA
From Hei Teves 5747 and on, the Rebbe launched a whole new thrust on the subject of Moshiach and Geula, in a style and with expressions that were powerful and unique, which continued to increase as the years passed, especially later during “the year that Melech HaMoshiach is revealed” – 5751 and on.
We will suffice with what the Rebbe said on Shabbos Parshas VaYigash, “One should proclaim and publicize that in our days we are in a special time (and place) in which nothing but one thing remains, and a person is required to say in the words used by his Rebbe, the words of the Rebbe, my father-in-law, ‘Stand all of you at the ready for the building of the future Beis HaMikdash, with the coming of Dovid Malka Meshicha.’”
In the years that followed, when the bachurim would discuss how the Geula would look and what would happen when the Rebbe would be revealed, they would always describe it “like the simcha the moment we were informed about Didan Natzach on Hei Teves.” That was the only possible description that we could imagine, but there is no doubt that the complete hisgalus will be far greater than that and surely we will merit it long before this Hei Teves.
L’chaim Chassidim, l’chaim v’livracha! Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach L’olam Va’ed. Didan Natzach!