Chof Ches Sivan: A NEW THRUST IN SPREADING TORAH IN THE LOWER HEMISPHERE

I don’t intend to say “pilpulim” but I will speak frankly and openly. The social custom is that when one is expecting a guest, you prepare before hand. Two weeks before, you prepare the house, and you clean every nook and cranny. The entire household are discussing the arrival, also the neighbors are told about this, …in a short while the much awaited guest is arriving. The time now is close at hand, that Moshiach is coming. So we have to begin preparing for the guest… (Sicha of the Previous Rebbe, 2nd day of Shavuos 5701 

 …On the 17th of Sivan 5701, the Rebbe and Rebbetzin boarded the ship Sorpa Pinta, for their journey from Europe to the USA. They arrived to the shores of America on the 28th of Sivan. The Alter Rebbe said that Mattan Torah did not take place in the lower hemisphere, there Torah and mitzvos must be brought by man, with total dedication and self sacrifice (Mesirus nefesh). When the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin arrived to the USA, on the 28th of Sivan, began a new thrust in the spreading of Torah, yiddishkeit and the fountains of Chassidus in the lower hemisphere, although, physically, Mattan Torah was not in this hemisphere. (Sefer HaSichos 5749 p. 545)

TOTAL DEDICATION

When The Rebbe and Rebbetzin were escaping the reach of the Gestapo in France, going from Paris to Vichy, from Vichy to Nice, they needed to obtain visas to travel to the USA. When the visas were finally obtained and they were successful in obtaining two tickets to the USA on one of the last ships to leave Europe. They were to embark from Portugal. As the Rebbe and Rebbetzin were about to board the ship to America, they suddenly received a telegram from the Previous Rebbe, with a very surprising message: “Do not board the ship!” Without the least bit of hesitation, the Rebbe refrained from taking that ship. It was later discovered that the Italian Navy had commandeered this ship, and the passengers were detained on an island until after the war. A Jew who was with the Rebbe at that time, said: “I think the most impressive aspect of this incident is not the clear prophecy of the Previous Rebbe, but the Rebbe’s total unquestioned acceptance of his directive. By natural means, there was no way he could have anticipated that there would be another ship to the USA, and whether he would be able to obtain tickets for passage on it. Nevertheless, he heeded his father-in-law’s instructions without a trace of doubt.” To obtain new tickets for another ship was very difficult. On top of the fact that the Nazi U-boats were attacking many transatlantic ships and numerous sailings had been cancelled. Spaces on a ship were thus very difficult to find. The German navy actually pursued and fired upon the Sorpa Pinta on which the Rebbe and Rebbetzin were sailing. Thank G-d it arrived safely in the USA on the 28th of Sivan. ì