Special Farbrengen At The Jewish Federation

A Chassidishe farbrengen and the Jewish Federation don’t usually go together. In fact, most people think they are two separate worlds. It’s only because of the koach of the Rebbe that the two worlds merged and that a farbrengen was held in the exclusive main hall of the Jewish Federation and the United Jewish Appeal of New York. The farbrengen was held in honor of Chaf-Ches Sivan, which marks the beginning of the sixtieth year since the Rebbe and Rebbetzin came to the United States.

When the Rebbe began urging mivtzaim and outreach, groups of talmidim spread out over the city every Friday after yeshiva in order to reach out to fellow Jews. The Lubavitch Youth Organization covered their transportation costs to Manhattan and other areas of New York.

When the L’Chaim publication became available in 5748, going on mivtzaim became increasingly popular. The weekly publication provides excellent material eminently suitable for distributing to a broad audience in offices, stores and homes everywhere. Today, Tmimim visit over 8,000 people every week.

The most recent farbrengen, organized by the Lubavitch Youth Organization, the Iggud Talmidei HaYeshivos and the Tmimim, was an opportunity to have further contact with some of the mekuravim with whom the bachurim have developed a relationship. The nearly 300 participants felt the koach of the Rebbe and his concern for every Jew, no matter his background or circumstances. “What we see and feel this evening is the sense of being one nation, as well as devotion and mutual responsibility of one for another. This is what the Rebbe has accomplished around the world,” said emcee Rabbi Shmuel Butman, director of Lubavitch Youth Organization. “The Rebbe is concerned about every Jew and every detail of every Jew, and he has prepared the world for Redemption.”

The emcee thanked Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Butman for initiating and running the farbrengen, and all the Tmimim, the “lamplighters” who ignite the G-dly spark within every Jew, for their work and incredible dedication. He also mentioned the Iggud Talmidei HaYeshivos, Rabbi Shalom Shapiro, Rabbi Shmarya Weinbaum, Tamim Yisroel Cohen and Tamim Michoel Rosenblum for their joint efforts and devotion to the Rebbe’s work.

Chairman of LYO, Rabbi Dovid Raskin, was present, as well as board member Rabbi Moshe Goldman. Rabbi Raskin noted, “The Rebbe’s approach is that every Jew must be reached. Throughout the years of outreach work, we always knew that if you really wanted to reach someone and exert the effort to do so, it would be successful beyond one’s expectations. This is because we do not go with our own kochos, but with the kochos of the one who sent us. This evening proves it.”

Guest speaker Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Jacobson spoke about the Rebbe’s work which has succeeded in penetrating the depths of everyone’s soul, and demonstrated that the true “I” of every Jew is the pintele Yid, which descends to the depths and penetrates every aspect of one’s soul in all situations and under all circumstances.

The director of the Jewish Federation, Dr. Jonathan Rosky, thanked the LYO for their ongoing work with the Federation and expressed his hope that these activities would be strengthened further. One of the participants expressed everybody’s opinion when he said, “You should know that the weekly L’Chaim is like a multi-vitamin pill, which contains everything in it: the weekly Torah portion, a thought from the Rebbe, a Chassidic story, and a timely message. Bless you and tell your friends they should come more often.”

During the course of the evening, an emphasis was placed on the Rebbe’s relationship with the work of the Jewish Federation. Throughout the years, every new president would come with a delegation for a private audience with the Rebbe, who would give them hours of his precious time.

At one such meeting, the Rebbe told Mrs. Peggy Tischman of the giant Tischman company, “You will be the president of the Federation.” Over ten years later the Rebbe’s prophecy came true.

The evening ended with song and Chassidic dance with the feeling that the revolution the Rebbe wrought these sixty years would indeed bring the long-awaited Redemption.