A very important shiur from the Rav, before he left to Uman.

Shiur on Shabbat Parshat Ki Tetzei, 5786

It’s sakanat nefashot (endangering life) to not pray in the Kloiz [in Uman] on Rosh Hashana!

It’s the Days of Judgment, and it’s forbidden to ‘stick out’.[1]

It’s written in the Zohar, that the Shunamite Woman said: Don’t remember me! That no-one should see me! I shouldn’t exist, at all!

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And it’s written here[2] that it’s forbidden to stick out.

[A person] should include themselves with the tzibbur (community), and nullify himself, mamash. And so, we don’t sing on Rosh Hashana ‘Odeh la E-l’, and not Adon Olam – just nullify ourselves to everyone else.

Because these are the Days of Judgment, there are such [harsh] judgments, and it’s impossible to know what the next day will bring.

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Now, many children have died.

The boy Moshe Galinsky, and another one, from Modi’in Ilit, his family, Karni[3], a boy aged 7[4]. He capsized with the kayak in the Jordan [River].

And another child, they forgot him in the car.[5] The car reached 200 degrees heat, he died.

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And in Chicago, two drowned, and brother and sister,[6] aged 19 and 21.

And another child drowned in the pool in Sdot Micah.[7] There are a lot of villas in Sdot Micah. Each time that they want to find me a secret place, they take me to Sdot Micah. Next time, when I’m leaving the house, wait for me at the Kiryat Malachi junction.

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So, it’s really sakanat nefashot to stand out, on Rosh Hashana.

We need to underline the words, here, these are the words that are written here:

“And he is in danger, chas v’shalom.”

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So, we’ve got to eight children who have died:

Moshe Galinski and Karni, and another two, brother and sister, in Michigan, in Chicago. You’re American, so you know [the area].[8] And also, the grandson of HaRav Arush drowned in Mexico.[9]

And also this week, on Monday, another child was run over, he was called Fisch.[10]

And another two brothers, aged four and 12[11] – also from Bet Shemesh. A neighbor came, with a grudge in his heart, and he stabbed them.[12] The child who was 4 was saved, and the child who was 12, he is already in the next world.

He said that he wanted to rectify Adam and Chava.

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It’s truly sakanat nefashot on Rosh Hashana. It’s sakanat nefashot.

And we don’t pray in any other place, only in the Kloiz.

Rabbenu is not to be found in any other place, only in the Kloiz. Also in Uman, Rabbenu is not to be found – except, in the Kloiz. Not even in the Tziyun.

We don’t go to the Tziyun [on Rosh Hashana itself], only on the eve of Rosh Hashana. On Rosh Hashana itself, Rabbenu is not to be found in the Tziyun. Rabbenu is only to be found in the Kloiz.

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And there is no such thing, as two kibbutzim [gatherings, on Rosh Hashana. The secular z-ists ‘borrowed’ the word from Uman and Breslov…]

There is only one kibbutz, only in the Kloiz.

And even if it’s easier to pray in other places – but, Rabbenu is only to be found in the Kloiz! We only pray in the Kloiz.

We start at 6am, until 4pm. And this year, we won’t have tashlik on the first day. Who arranged this, that there will not be tashlik? The Bagatz organised it, that there won’t be tashlik on the first day, only on the second day.

So, there will be tashlik on the second day, and after tashlik, there will be a shiur in the Kloiz.[13]

Shkeia is at 7pm, so until 7pm, there is a shiur in the Kloiz. And after this, after ma’ariv, we return.

There are trains to Bucharest, or Moldova.

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Excerpted and translated from Shivivei Or #471.

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What I took from this, is that even though Baruch Hashem it seems the Rav is now in Uman for Rosh Hashana (even though the ‘news’ is not telling anyone that…) – there is still a lot of work to do, and we aren’t out of the woods just yet.

The judgments are still huge, there is still so much din flying around.

And all of us have to continue to do our part, in whatever small way, to make the necessary teshuva, and to keep going with the prayers, TKs and hitbodedut, to give the tzaddikim the spiritual ‘fuel’ they need to keep fighting the battles on our behalf.

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That list of dead children is kinda shocking.

And it’s only gotten even longer, in the two weeks since the Rav made these remarks, the below are just from today’s headlines:

There is no room for complacency.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] I.e. to make yourself conspicuously not part of the crowd, apart from Am Yisrael.

[2] In the commentary on the Zohar ‘Halichot Olam’.

[3] https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/tjif2b – this was Elchanan Karni, 12, student at a Breslov yeshiva in Modi’in Illit.

[4] Referring to Moshe Galinsky, who was hit by a bus. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/429539

[5] https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/israeli-baby-dies-after-parent-leaves-her-in-car-u021ms23 – By the end of July, three kids in Israel had died in hot cars, just in that single month.

[6] HEARTBREAKING DOUBLE TRAGEDY: South Bend Brother and Sister Killed in Lake Michigan Boating Accident | Matzav.com

[7] TRAGEDY: Two-Year-Old Dies After Drowning In Vacation-Rental Pool – The Yeshiva World. – While I was tracking this down, another story came up of a toddler who almost drowned to death in the same Moshav in 2020, but that time, the story had a happy ending. I wonder why six years on, we are not getting the same miracles.

[8] They drowned in Lake Michigan.

[9] https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2583572/tragedy-in-mexico-4-year-old-grandson-of-harav-shalom-arush-drowns-during-family-vacation.html

[10] Four-year-old boy killed in traffic accident in Beit Shemesh | Israel National News

[11] He was actually 7 years old.

[12] 2 children stabbed in Beit Shemesh, 1 killed | Israel National News

[13] The Rav gave this hint he would be in Uman, the week before he left and actually got there.