I rarely read messages before Davening.

I don’t know why today was different.

Perhaps because I was supposed to see this very message before I Davened.

It came with a video that was said to have been “forwarded multiple times”, the message reading:

The Frierdike Rebbe saying a Sicha!

Realizing what it was, and that I hadn’t yet been to Mikva, I jumped up, ran to Mikva, and came right back to the message.

With awe and trepidation, I listened to the Sicha over and over again.

Etching into my mind (and with Hashem’s help one day etching into my heart), those two minutes and forty-five seconds

It is hard to sort through my emotions, and it will take time for this excitement to abate, but as I put away the recording to go Daven it hit me; that whilst this clip is ‘A First’,

I have thousands upon thousands of hours of the very same Giluy Elokus – full Sichos and Maamorim – available to me at all times.

Sometimes we need a small clip, to remind us, in the words of R Eizik Homlier when the Mitteler Rebbe was about to begin a third Maamor in a row: קום הער און זע וויא עס גיסט זיך אלקות אין די גאסן.

***

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out one more thing.

Of the thousands of hours, the Frierdike Rebbe spoke Sichos in his 30 years of the נשיאות and before,

This one remained to be revealed to us in these times of darkness:

וואס געדענקסט דו, וואס געדענקסט דו, וואס געדענקסט דו

The point often addressed by the Frierdike Rebbe: to keep top of mind the memories of having seen the Rebbe’s holy צורה.

***

And of course, as always, soon this feeling will dissipate, but the outcome will remain if we follow the rest of the Sicha: Avoida. Avoida. Avoida.

Act as a Chossid. Learn as a Chossid. And live in a way that we can Feel as a Chossid.

And now, with all that said, I’m off to start my day making a דירה בתחתונים