Rebbe's Image

Rebbe's image has been a long debated topic within the revolution. There are some who thrive on Rebbe's image as the renegade YU Rosh Yeshivah. They percieve him as the great revolutionary the Besht of our time who will bring life to wisdom instead of bringing wisdom to life. They smile from ear to ear when they overhear their fellow MYPers mocking Rebbe's tardiness to davening and wait anxiously each year to throw rubber chickens at the purim shpiel. They look to Rebbe as the great fixer and finder of lost souls. There is a story they tell to illustrate how misunderstood they and their Rebbe truly are. You see one shabbos rebbe's leichter caught on fire and Rebbe attempted to pour water around the fire and do gram kibui rather than directly put out the fire. The Rebbetzin quickly grabbed a bucket of water preventing catastrophy. After that episode Rebbe vowed any time there was even a safek pikuach nefesh he wuld be the one to violate shabbos without hesitation as a true tzadik should. Years later Rebbe's cousin had an asthma attack on shabbos and rebbe grabbed him and jumped into the car to drive him to the hospital. The windows were down and the radio was blarig from before shabbos(rebbe is the only one in the heights with enough emunah to leave his car windows down overnight) and Rebbe quickly began driving to the hospital. Rebbe got caught at a red light only to see Rabbi Cohen staring right at hm while crossing the street. (who must have been assumed it was a pikuach nefesh situation) Some feel that Rebbe needs to be truly misunderstood by his collegues, yu administration, and students to truly make his mark. There is yet another camp who is on a crusade to improve Rebbe's image as much as possible. They are Rebbe's personal PR dept. and feel that Rebbe must truly infiltrate the ranks of the Yeshivah to change the Yeshivah from within. When confronted with Rebbe haters they quickly will remind their opposition that Rebbe was the longest talmud of the Rav(over 26 years) and used to even vacation with him in cape cod. They talk of the reshimos,Rebbe's pre davening visits to help the elderly, and publicize his efforts on behalf of the jews in Israel. Who is the real Rebbe you may ask? Does Rebbe need a public image campaign? Do we feel that if people will open themselves up to here the Rebbe's torah they will be hooked? Or by repackiging Rebbe do we run the risk of comprimising the Revolution? Will it still be recognisible in 5 years if we continue on this track or will it just be anoter branch of the CJF?

RRRR Summer Camp

Yidden-

Hello from France!

Sorry for the long lapse, but I'm way underground with amaylus in a profession filled with klipah...but can be great if harnessed correctly.

On to business...

It's that time of the year again: Applications to all sorts of summer camps are being sent out as we speak. There are a variety of trips in different locations for different reasons, but one is still lacking. That is the Rebbe Reichman Revolutionary (Boot) Camp.

Honestly. Where would you rather send your child than Rebbe Camp? There could be all sorts of classes and training for revolutionary hopefuls, like rubber chicken throwing 101, Arts and Crafts w/ our very own minister of Propaganda, and Jamborees with the Ruach Revival Band. There can also be an adult program, where RRRR members can hone their skills to serve better to the holy cause.

Obviously, there will be a long and difficult application process, since everyone is not Revolution material. Children of the Revolution are obviously welcome, and will be named Color War captains ASAP (Captain Izzy?) A location also needs to be decided (Do we go with Rebbe to Israel, or somewhere in Chutz LeAretz, like Indonesia?). Who knows? Maybe the next great RRRR member is just waiting for a chance like this to come in contact with the Revolution?

Hey, you need to get to them young, right?

P.S: Contrary to what Rebbe said at the Mela've Malke in Fair-Lawn, we all know Rebbe does have super magical powers.

Viva La Resistance!!!

Viva La Rebbe!!!

Quiet Desperation, Part 3 - Rebbe Nachman

A wealthy person in a distant city opened up his house to feed the poor. All were welcome. There were no time restraints for how long one can stay, nor were there any requirements to deserve such meals-such as work.

A poor man heard about that benevolence and decided he “needed a break” from his poverty and traveled there. Arriving in the city, he asked where the wealthy man lived and was shown a large, luxurious house. He entered and asked for a meal. The owner said, “If you want to get your meal?” and put him to work chopping wood and other back-breaking labors which the poor man worked at the whole day. When night finally fell, the homeowner directed the poor man to a house across the street and told him that he can eat his meal there.

The poor man entered the home and was seated at the table. While waiting for the meal to be served, he didn’t mince his words and expressed his wrath at having to work so hard just for the meal. When asked what happened, he told how he came to the house across the street and was immediately put to work at hard labor for the day. The host smiled and told him, “If you had come straight here, you would not have had to work at all!”

As Rebbe Nachman said, “Arbeten, arbet men fahr di avonos. Essen! Est men im zist!” We [must] work. This is for our sins. We eat. This is free! [i.e., a gift from God].

Quiet Desperation, Part 2: Thank G-d for Rebbe, and Torah Too

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation..."

The life of man is filled with frustrations, on so many levels;

For the average man, there seems to be no escape...

Where would we be without Rebbe?

Dispatches from the field: A Rebbe Hallel

An intrepid footsoldier has captured these images of Rebbe leading Hallel at some point over the past few days of Chanukah. Sources say he led with a variety of Rebbe standards, including the Victory Niggun for Hodu, which was sang by all those gathered with much enthusiasm and spirit.
Happy Chanukah!

Rebbe Reichman on Chanukah: Dowload the PDF!

http://www.yutorah.org/_shiurim/reichman%20article%2Epdf

Rebbe and the Sand...

The Eiruv issue reminds me of the story of Rebbe and the sand of Gush Katif. What would Rebbe have done with the sand if he had been able to carry it on Shabbos?

Would he have done something with it after? Perhaps he would have acted like He-Man in the episode "Temple (lehavdil) of the Sun." You'll recall that He-Man digs his hands into a pile of sand and by rubbing the sand at super-speed, generates enough heat to make large pieces of glass.

I could see Rebbe making a nice window.









Or maybe some Waterford crystal Lekovid Shabbos.


Is Reb Judah the only one with me on this?

Rebbe's new mission

Rebbe is on a new mission.

Anyone who has ever been to YU on a Friday night knows that the best option for seudas shabbos is Rebbe Reichman's. The stories of tzadikim, the deep divrei torah, penetrating insights, hearty zmiros, and of course the gourmet shabbos food, keep the guests pining for a return visit-- in fact some of them actually move into the apartment for a while.

One problem -- We have to memorize a dvar torah, becuase we cant bring our favorite seforim to the apartment. For that matter you cant bring tissues either. We cant carry anything, because there is no eiruv!

Rebbe has to stop every week on the way home to remind people to stop carrying. Some people forget. Now the Rebbe has decided something must be done. The YU Eiruv must be extended. The Rabbanim have agreed. Google maps has been consulted. The papers have been drafted and the plan is ready. Only one last obstacle stands in the way.

Paula, who works in the Grounds and Maintenance office, needs to hear from the devoted followers. All she needs to do is send in the papers to the city. She wants to hear that people actually want the eiruv.

So please, fulfill rebbe's will, call her at 212-960-5400 and ask for grounds and maintenance. Then ask for Paula. Tell her that you want the eiruv extended and ask her when she will do her part. All she needs to do is send something to the city.

Keep watching here for updates. Please call her every day until you see on this blog that you have been successful.

Rebbe's family will thank you.

Where in the world is Rebbe, Part I

Eccentricity: Part II

Didn't you mean to put THIS photo with your piece below?

Or perhaps this one?

The Great Debate - To be Eccentric or not to be...

John Stuart Mill – “It does seem, however, that when the opinions of masses of merely average men are everywhere become or becoming the dominant power, the counterpoise and corrective to that tendency would be the more and more pronounced individuality of those who stand on the higher eminences of thought. It is in these circumstances most especially, that exceptional individuals, instead of being deterred, should be encouraged in acting differently from the mass. In other times, there was no advantage in doing so, unless they acted not only differently but better. In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.”

James Fitzjames Stephen – “Eccentricity is far more often a sign of weakness than a mark of strength. Weakness wishes, as a rule, to attract attention by trifling distinctions, and strength wishes to avoid it. Originality consists in thinking for yourself, not in thinking differently from other people.”

Rebbe's Victory Niggun :one eyewitnesses account

In times of darkness I do not despair. When faced with adversity and all else has failed I have my Rebbe's niggun. Every true believer in the revolution knows the battle cry known merely as the Rebbe's vicotry niggun. It has become a sort of theme song to the revolution. If Rebbe had a sitcom it would play during the introduction. It can be sung at the height of our happiness, it has been proven to hasten Rebbe's arrival at weddings, and it is the ultimate weapon to achieve victory over the yetzer harah. It has also been known to shatter tables in half at weddings in the midwest. But where did the niggun originate you ask? Some say it was the theme to a sixties tv show, others claim it is the intro to an mbd song, but I know the truth because I was there! We all were there! It happened a few years back on chanukah. We were at Rebbe's house on the second night of chanukah enjoying a festive meal complete with sufganiyot and bananas. and we all began singing. (let it be known that there were many foreign nationals present at rebbe's crib that night) I began to play and it was apparent to me very early on that I was merely the kli and rebbe was actually strumming the strings to the guitar and orchestrating the melody. I know this because we began to sing a melody that I have never heard before yet I was strumming the guitar with my fingers! We began ay yay ay dei di day dai ay yay ay yay yahy yahwjvgy and rebbe began slowly revealing the ohr haganuz (hidden light stored up for the rightous people in the world to come. It shown for 36 hours before the sun was put into pplace and g-d didn't want the evil forces to tamper with it so he stashed it away. bnei yissoscher says these 36 hours are revealed during chanukah when we light 36 candles, rebbe has also told be that if you squint and watch the neros chanukah "you will see something you have never seen before". Back to the rebbe's house the klipot began to tamper with the niggun as they realized it was an existential threat to all the darkness and tried to snatch the ohr haganuz which had fabricated itself in the niggun. Hence the title victory niggun. With the nigguns birth rebbe helped klal yisrael achieve yet another victory over the satan and keep the hidden light concealed. Let it be noted that the niggun exists in a damaged state. There where three parts to the niggun. Tradition has it that the three parts corresponde to the three temples. Only two parts to the niggun were retained while the third part has been stored away until the building of the third temple.Amen! After the mesibah we produced the first raw version of the niggun at danimals pad and I will try to post that if I can dig it up in the archives, perhaps our historians can get to work on finding that and various other versions of the niggun(I think yogo has a copy of the punk rock version) and I even think shwecky may have covered the niggun in his miami beach pesach tour.

ON THE FRONT LINE!

"



we were taught to be hard to survive in this world
if you dont like my ways then whatever you all
this is a call to the rebels of today
to unite be counted and really be heard

V'elu chayav lehachriz

Hashavas Aveidah

We must give life and limb for the revolution

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/bal-mideastconference,0,716617.storygallery?coll=bal_tab01_layout

news from the front lines

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=189328

Some pics from the vault...

Rebbe in Fairlawn - Dec 1, SAVE THE DATE!!!!

(click flyer for larger version!!!)

Rebbe's Cavalry and Honor Guard

Due to recent threats directed towards the Revolution, the Ministry of Defense is currently organizing a cavalry regiment to escort Rebbe.

The Machine Gun Fodder, however, will continue to walk.

Rebbe Colored Glasses

I'm wondering why we didn't pool our resources in time to buy these incredibly stylish and holy glasses.... Where is the Minister of Finance when you need him?