 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. All right, you knew this already, Community Matters. It's not just Community Matters, it's Community Does Matter. I'm Jay Fidel, and today's Tuesday at one o'clock clock. And with me, Rabbi Itzhel Krasnijansky from Habbat of Hawaii. And I'd like to ask him to introduce our two special guests from Australia. We are here to show the pleasure as always. And our guests here are Hasidic Jews, a father and son, who are visiting here from down under from Sydney, Australia. They come here every year around this time. Good friends. And we're going to be talking about the Habbat and the Rebbe and the worldwide reach of Habbat. And I thought, what better opportunity is there than to ask David and Shmueli, David and Shmueli to come join us and to share with us what is it like to be a living, breathing Hasidic Jew down under? In Sydney, no, in Australia. So you want to deliver this in English or Yiddish? So David, tell us about yourself. What would you like to know? What do you do? What's it like to be a Hasidic Jew in Sydney? So I work in finance. And to be a Hasidic Jew, that's a challenge every day, especially in Sydney, Australia. Why is it a challenge? Why is it a challenge? Because if you're not of, let's say, the so-called norm, like everybody else, you're kind of swimming against the tide. There's always some obstacles in the ways that's difficult. I thought Australia had focused on inclusivity and diversity in the last few years, no? It does, it does. But still, nevertheless, it doesn't mean people don't change overnight. So Shmueli, how much of what your father said you agree with? All of it, all of it, I guess. Smart answer. Yeah. You're a student, where are you a student? In Cassitura College. Okay, and where is that? That's in Sydney also? Yeah. What are you majoring in? I don't know. Oh, going into your 10, grade 10. Yeah. You want to be in finance too, or you want to be in engineering? I don't know yet. Okay, will you give me a call and let me know when you decide? Yeah. Okay. We'll have a three-way call, a four-way call. So, Rabbi, tell us about Chabad, its origins. Tell us about, I'm going to do this right, Rabbi Menachem Mendel-Schnersen and what he did in the year 1951. Yes, for sure. It's a topic that's very near and dear to me as the Chabad representative here in Hawaii. And today, actually marks the anniversary. Actually, tonight, tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Rebbe. And that is how the Rebbe, that's how he is known worldwide as like the grand rabbi. In Hebrew it's called the Rebbe. There are many, many rabbis, but there's only one Rebbe. And Rabbi Schnersen assumed the leadership of a Hasidic movement called the Chabad movement. In a moment, I'll explain what Chabad means, what it stands for. In 1951, after the passing of his father-in-law, his predecessor, who was the sixth Chabad Rebbe who came to America from, originally from Russia, he was actually expelled from Russia. Firstly, he was arrested for his work, his tireless work on behalf of Judaism in the former Soviet Union where it was illegal to practice any sort of religion. Where in Russia? Well, he lived in a little town called Lubavitch. This is important for our discussion. Lubavitch is a little town in central Russia. And it's interesting in Russian, the word Lubo means love. So Lubavitch means city of love. And that's very, very important to note because the whole idea of Hasidism, and specifically Chabad, is the emphasis on love. Loving your fellow man, love of God, love of life. And what's interesting is, the Rebbe came onto the world scene pretty much right when the Jewish world was still reeling from the effects of the Holocaust. As we all know, six million Jews were killed, decimated, and those who survived were broken and displaced. And for many they were sole survivors of family. So it was a very, very difficult time. And the Rebbe was able to ignite a fire of positivity and love into tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands, and ultimately to the reach of Chabad is pretty much all over the world. And it's been explained that the mission, one of the, a rabbi, former chief rabbi of England, his name is Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, he once explained, he once said in an article that to him the rabbi was doing the very, very opposite of what Hitler, may his name be erased, did during the Holocaust. While Hitler and the Nazis hunted down Jews in hate to kill them and exterminate them, the rabbi reached out to all Jews in love. And this was perhaps the one thing possible to rebuild. And that's what Chabad became known. It's a movement of outreach for Jews and not just Jews, also for the whole community, steeped in love, non-judgmental, and just embracing. So in 1951 when the rabbi took over, there were a few, few followers. Today there are Chabad captors, Chabad houses as they're called, all throughout the world literally. They're, they're communities of Jews. They're like synagogues, like temples. Synagogues, temples, but Chabad house has a unique touch to it. It's not like, it's not a membership organization where you have to pay dues. Everyone is welcome, everyone is invited, and everyone is brought in and to share in the beauty of what Judaism has to offer. Can you explain to me the meaning and importance to Chabad of the term, come to my garden? Wow! I see your, your, your early years in Yushiva is still with you. Yes, and Chabad is a, is a, is a Hasidic group. Hasidic groups are steeped in Jewish mysticism. The mystical teachings of the Torah are considered the heart and soul of the Torah. And the rabbi's ascension to the leadership was by giving over a teaching based on the, the mystical teachings of the Torah. And what the rabbi said that evening in 1951, he based his remarks on a verse in the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs is a, is one of the writings of King Solomon. It's one of the, it's part of the Old Testament. King Solomon wrote three books. One is called Song of Songs, which is like a love, it's a love poem, you know, a man and a woman, but it's really a metaphor for the love of God to the Jewish people and the Jewish people back to God. Then he wrote a book called Proverbs. Then he wrote a book called Ecclesiastes. So in the Song of Songs there's a verse there where the king says, and this is a metaphor to God, that I've come to my garden, my sister, my bride. And based on the oral tradition, the oral teachings, this is referred to when God came to this world, Mount Sinai and gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people over 3,000 years ago. And the gist of the rabbi's talk was that God refers to this world as my garden, my orchard, my place of pleasure. The whole world. The whole world. So while on the surface the world looks like a jungle and not like a garden, not like a place, an oasis of peace on the contrary, that's only if we look at the world from our physical, finite, limited view. But if we take a look at the world from the Torah's perspective, the Torah is telling us that beneath the surface it's all good. It's like a garden. And it's a place of nourishment and peace of mind. And that was almost like the mission statement of what was to follow over the course of close to 50 years the rabbi's leadership throughout the many, many initiatives that the rabbi undertook. It was all steeped on these teachings. It's an invitation. And a promise. So now there's another term I want to ask you about. It's called, I am responsible for you. What does that mean? Okay, that's a very, very, oh wow. I'm impressed. First of all, by the way, David, if you want to jump in please don't let me just talk on and on. But basically, we live in a society, our society, the secular society, Western society, is that's pretty much every man for himself. You know, you don't get into my way and I won't get into your way. Mind your own business. It's my business. And in Judaism, and especially as is explained through the Hasidic teachings, the mystical teachings is very different. And that is we're all collectively intertwined with one another. Our destinies are intertwined. And we each have a responsibility, not only to look out for ourselves and our families, but we have a responsibility to look out for other people. And those who are less fortunate than us in a myriad different kind of ways. And basically what the teachings teach us is that in the world you have those who give and those who receive, right? The truth is we're each givers and receivers. We may be giving in one area of life, but at the same time we are receiving a need to receive in other areas of life. And no one can escape that responsibility, both to be a receiver and to be a giver. And in this context, we need to look out and reach out and help out each other. One of the most basic tenets of Judaism that the founder of the Hasidic movement emphasized was the love of Ahavasi Surah, love of a fellow Jew, love of a fellow man, the principle in the Torah we love your neighbor, love your friend as yourself. And that has been really one of the greatest points of emphasis in the Hasidic teachings in what the Rabbi taught us. Okay. We're going to see how that plays out in Australia. You know, in the Chabad in Sydney, as opposed to maybe other synagogues in Australia, right after this break, that's Rabbi Itchel Krasnijansky, and so David Plyer and Shmuel Plyer right here in our studio will be right back. Hi, I'm Lisa Kimura. I'm the host of Family Affairs on Think Tech Hawaii. Join us every Tuesday at 11 a.m. to talk about the issues that really matter. Everything from policies that need to be changed in Hawaii to the fact that we need better gender equality so that we can all have a better shot. Again, join us every Tuesday at 11 on Think Tech Hawaii for Family Affairs. Aloha. Hey, Stan the Energy Man here on Think Tech Hawaii, and they won't let me do political commentary, so I'm stuck doing energy stuff, but I really like energy stuff, so I'm going to keep on doing it. So join me every Friday on Stan the Energy Man at lunchtime, at noon, on my lunch hour. We're going to talk about everything energy, especially if it begins with the word hydrogen. We're going to definitely be talking about it. We'll talk about how we can make Hawaii cleaner, how we can make the world a better place, just basically save the planet. Even Miss America can't even talk about stuff like that anymore. We got it nailed down here. So we'll see you on Friday at noon with Stan the Energy Man. Aloha. Okay, we're back. We're back with Rabbi Itchel Krasnijansky and David Byer. Blyar. Blyar, sorry, and Shmuel Blyar, which is actually Samuel. So talk to us about the Chabad in Sydney. What's it like? What's it like to be a member of that Chabad? And are you involved in the international network of Chabads too? And how does it differ from the synagogue down the block? The difference is, like the Rabbi said, I've been here a few times, one of the things I like when we come here is we get to see a different angle of Chabad. I like that for my son and my family to see how that actually operates because in different countries Chabad works differently. It depends on where you are. For example, the Rabbi, he puts on, he has a million every day, he has a ride and he has on Chabas, he has whoever wants to come and eat. We can come to a communal meal, eat Friday night, the Rabbi works really hard and our family puts on a meal Friday night, puts it on Chabas day. And we're at home, we eat at home. We don't see that aspect of Chabad shining. We don't see that. We eat at home. Maybe you should go down there with the rabbits and cook for them. Yeah, we don't mind. It's open invitation. So that's an eye opener for us to see how Chabad is open so that if anyone wants to come anywhere around here, they can come. It's open, the table's open, come and have a meal, do whatever you want. Whereas we have that, well, because I don't work as a Rabbi so I don't do that. We have our Chabas meal at home and we don't go to meals like that every week. Although there are some rabbis in Sydney as well who have that as well. We don't go there. You have more than a minion though. You have plenty of Jewish people in the Chabad. A minion is 10 people. You've got to have 10 people to have a service. So how big is Chabad in Sydney? Chabad in Sydney is pretty big. There's a number but there's a lot of Chabad rabbis in different areas so that you can spread it out and reach more people. Where do you have the services? Do you have a house? Rabbi called it a Chabad house. Do you have a place where everybody caters? The person where I go is, the synagogue that I go to is actually a very interesting structure because the synagogue is in Bandai which is near Bandai beach. I've been there and it's beautiful. That makes Waikiki. It's not Waikiki but it's not bad. In the building that we are at, there's in fact three synagogues. There's one Chabad minion and then there's a, what's called an Adas. There's another traditional one and then there's an Israeli Chabad Sfadi minion. There's actually three synagogues operating in the one premises which is really cute and they operate really well. If we run out of whiskey, we go downstairs. And they give us whiskey. Which means a pound cake, wasn't it? A child to know. So it works out if we're missing a minion we go down or if they're missing a minion we go down. So it works really nicely. You get to see the members of the Chabad on a social basis as well. You have social experiences outside of Chabad. Outside of the meetings in the Chabad house or in the synagogue. You have social contacts, social experiences with other members of Chabad. Yeah, but you don't get to see, we all live our lives that you don't get to really see other people so much. And how about you have a Gader there? That's a school. So you go to the Gader, right? It's a school. So you do secular studies and you also do Jewish studies. Okay, and are you ramping up for appointments here sometimes? Or have you had that already? I had that already last season. Okay, how recently was that? I don't want to ask your age, but we're focusing around the age 13 here. Yeah, it was past. Okay, was it challenging for you? No. Easy. Yeah. Because you already spoke Hebrew and you were able to read some of the books. Yeah. No problem reading from the Torah. No. And the Haft Torah, no problem. No. Okay, you didn't need the, what do you call it, the marks? Trump. Trump. Trump. Trump. Not Trump. Trump. Yes. You don't even need that, do you? No. The marks on top of Hebrew that help you pronounce it. And some people are good enough so that they don't need the marks to pronounce it. They already know how to pronounce it. So, I mean, where does the Australian, where does the Sydney Chabad fit in the largest game? Well, like I said, Chabad is pretty much in every major and small city in the world, like Sydney, Melbourne, I think there's even a larger Chabad presence. And then in all the outlying communities in Australia, like we have here in the states and practically in every state, as well as in many major cities or smaller cities, we have Chabad. Here in Hawaii, we have Chabad on all the four islands. And basically, it's outreach, basically reaching out to many Jews who are scattered throughout the world and to enable the Jewish people to connect to their... Connect. Being the operative word. Yeah, to connect. So, I have to tell you my story. Yes. Okay. I really had no connection with Chabad until this incident, I'm going to tell you about it. And it was in college. And I went to school in New York. And I went to Manhattan a lot. And it may have been law school. And I went to law school in Manhattan. So, I'm walking up on 6th Avenue, otherwise known as Avenue of the Americas. And I'm walking down the street. And there's this man who is dressed in Hasidic clothing, you know, the payas and the beard looked like you. And with a coat on, long coat and all that. And he approaches me in this very intimate kind of way. Are you Jewish? Okay. Yes. He says, come with me. Oh, what's going on here? And my wife is like wondering what's going on? Where is my husband disappearing to? But she waits. And he takes me into a truck which is parked on 6th Avenue. Okay. And there's a stairway at the back of the truck. And he takes me inside the truck. There's wooden benches, tables. And they're filling on the tables. And he says, how long has it been since you laid to fill in? And I said, oh, gee, since I've missed a long time. And he says, you need to remember how. Would you like to remember how? Would you like us to show you yet again how to do that? I said, sure. And so they showed me. And it was loving. It really was. And it was such a great connection. It left an impression from then until now. That was a long time ago. From then until now about, you know, Chabad and Lubabachis and what they did to connect with people. And I really appreciate it. I thought it was a charitable gesture. And I won't forget it. And so I think it clicks with what you were talking about before. Yeah. So maybe I'll just quickly mention a couple of the teachings, the principles, like the bullet points, to give our audience just a little taste, a little understanding of, you know, the movement is pretty much fueled by the philosophy behind the movement, right? And the philosophy of the movement was, first and foremost, personified by the Rebbe himself. And you can't just talk to talk. You have to walk the walk as well. Otherwise you're disqualified of being an example or a leader, right? It's not enough just to know. You have to live it. And the Rebbe lived it on the greatest levels. He personified everything that he taught. So basically the teachings of Hasidus, the mystical teachings of the Torah, one is that throughout the Rebbe's writings, we find something very, very, very apparent and very forceful. That is, the Rebbe was an extreme. You know, that's not a word that we like to use so much. But there was extremely positive about everything. That made him a leader. That made him a leader. Somebody you wanted to follow. Exactly. Because he exude positivity. And it was only, all of his teachings are about what the Torah teaches us. They just have to dig beyond the surface and you will see the positive potential. So that was a message of being positive and doing positive things. I see that in you too. And that leads me to a question I want to ask you. So Rabbi Schneerson died several years ago. Right. 20 years ago. 20 years ago, yeah. And the movement. Right. Lubavitch's movement keeps going. But doesn't it need another leader like that? I mean, who is leading it now? Who is making it a worldwide organization? Who is the iconic person who speaks for it? Okay. You're touching upon a very, very important question. And the answer in short, even though you probably won't be able to understand it immediately, is the Rebbe himself. Through his teachings, he continues to inspire and lead. Because throughout the Rebbe's lifetime, the Rebbe was very, very prolific in his writings and teachings. There's hundreds and hundreds of volumes of the Rebbe's writings. And he would talk every Shabbat for hours and hours and hours and talk words of Torah. So these teachings continue to guide and inspire the Jewish people in the Chabad movement in particular. And it's also based on teaching in the Zohar, which is the mystical teaching of the Torah. And that is that the difference between righteous people and those who are not righteous people, the Talmud says that righteous people live on even after they pass away. And the wicked people are considered dead even while they're alive. That's out of Shakespeare. And that's really the answer in a nutshell. The Rebbe's teachings continue to inspire us. As a matter of fact, the growth of Chabad after the Rebbe passed away has been exponential, even when the Rebbe was alive. Today we have, I believe, close to 5,000 or maybe more than 5,000 Chabad centers around the world. And I would say at least 2,000 or 3,000 of them came about after the Rebbe passed away. Interesting. So it has plenty of vitality. That's really quite amazing. Now you said before that this was derived from, involved with the mystical teachings of the Torah. And I want to explore with you, with all you guys, what is that mystical teachings of the Torah? Is it a secret? What is mysticism anyway? And how does it play in Chabad in this aspect of the Jewish religion? So just like a human being, just like you and me and all of us, we have a body and a soul, right? The body is the functional part of the person. We function through the organs of the body. But the body is animated and comes to life through the soul. When a person passes away, the body still exists, but there's no life to it. So Jewish mysticism is the soul of the Torah, so to speak. The Torah is the deeper and inner understanding of God's Word. The Torah is God's Word. And because God is infinite, the Torah is infinite in its depth and there's layers and layers of meaning and understanding. So the Old Testament, so to speak, that is like the code is a code. You can read it as story, but if you are able to decipher the codes, then a whole other story emerges. And so the code is understandable through study. Correct. So you study the Torah to find this. Correct. It's not a secret. It's available to anyone who wants to study the Torah. That's a very good point and that is actually what Chabad is all about, to bring the deepest teachings of the Torah to any and every person, to any and every Jew. Wow. So things are the same like this in Australia, too. What the rabbi is saying goes the same way in Chabad and Sydney, no? Yeah, exactly. One of the other things I may say that the rabbi taught in his teachings is so prominent is the essential goodness that in every single person, in every Jew, that while Freud, for example, and this is my words, not the rabbi's words, while Freud or secular psychology or philosophy teaches that man, if you dig deep enough, you'll find his inherently like an animal, the Hasidic mystical teachings of Torah teaches just the opposite, that if you dig deep enough, you'll find godliness and goodness and that's the very essence. We're beyond animals, beyond mammals. This is really an important concept. It is. It's the perfect ability of humankind. So are you studying this, Rachel? Yeah. Okay. And you're going to be a good person, right? Yeah. You're already a good person. Yeah. Of course. Well, you're all good people. Well, thank you. I love you all. Yeah. And I love this discussion. Thank you so much for educating us, rabbi, as always. Thank you. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for coming down. What a lovely show. Thank you. Aloha and Shalom. Thank you. Shalom. Thank you.