On Beis Tammuz, the chassidic brotherhood held a farbrengen to welcome the Rebbe. At the beginning, the Rebbe asked the elder chassidim to speak, but they demurred, requesting that the Rebbe deliver a talk. The Rebbe asked if any of those assembled had questions in Chassidus. Several volunteered their queries. The Rebbe asked the names and the names of the mothers of those assembled. He then proceeded to discuss the teaching: "Four are required to offer thankful acknowledgment,"[11] explaining it in the light of Nigleh, Kabbalah, and Chassidus. In the course of doing so, he answered the questions the chassidim had raised and explained the significance of their names.

In the midst of his remarks, he turned to a group of American yeshivah students whom he had met briefly on their way to Otvotzk to study at Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim, saying: "We can connect the above to the subjects we discussed when we met in France." The farbrengen lasted approximately six hours, creating a powerful impression on all the assembled.

This established a pattern for the years that followed. Our Rabbis explain that the Torah was not given in "the lower hemisphere."[12] The upper hemisphere was sanctified from above. The sanctification of the lower hemisphere, by contrast, was left to man. It is his responsibility to take the Torah and communicate it to these parts of the world, transforming them into a dwelling for G-d. The arrival of the Rebbe on 28 Sivan serves as one of the landmarks in this endeavor, heralding the age when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d," with the coming of Mashiach.

   

Notes:

11. (Back to text) Berachos 57b. The intent is that the four categories of people mentioned are obligated to recite the Thanksgiving Blessing, known as Bircas HaGomel.

12. (Back to text) See the Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. II, p. 331. I.e., Eretz Yisrael is in the eastern hemisphere and America, the western hemisphere, the bottom of the world, as it were.