Students Visit Chassidic Library

Connecting to our history through books is a unique experience for today’s generation who are immersed in so many electronic gadgets. Teaching them the appreciation for the holiness of seforim and their value, begins when they are young and continues into adulthood. Every person has an ongoing responsibility to create sacred time for studying Torah in their everyday life.

As part of their hands-on learning experience, students at Chabad Girls Academy had the privilege of touring Agudas Chassidei Chabad Library on Hey Teves. The tour guide showed them many old seforim and priceless artifacts such as a sleeve from a garment belonging to the Tzemach Tzedek, and a shofar of the Tzemach Tzedek which was blown by the Rebbe until it developed two cracks making it possul.

The students were fascinated by the pages of the books that looked so aged as if coffee had been spilled all over them. They heard how the Rebbe emphasized that books should not stay on the shelf, but be worn and used. They learned about the three shtenders which belonged to the Rebbe and how he specifically instructed one of the carpenters to make a lower shelf on the shtender where the Rebbe could rest his siddur while he would sit for parts of davening.

Soaked with holiness and chassidus, the sleeve from the Tzemach Tzedek which he wore during the week while he was Rebbe, was passed down to his children after his histalkus. Many volumes of his books are also displayed and some have handwritten notes in the margins.

“I’m so amazed by how many seforim the Tzemach Tzedek wrote,” said student Rivka K.

“The lesson to me is to share chassidus with others!” student Luba V. shared. “it’s really neat how things got passed down from generations and we can see them today.”

The experience of seeing the seforim and being in the library where our Chabad history is rooted, gave the students a real feel for who we are as chassidim. Tova J. said “It was cool to see the old Seforim, and the sleeve plus I realized just how much time the Rebbeim must have spent studying!”

Another part of celebrating the victory of the Hey Teves is by learning and purchasing Sefarim. This is a practice that the Rebbe very much encouraged and took an active part of, by giving people dollars so they could use them towards buying or repairing books. The students finished off their trip by visiting the Kehos bookstore to purchase their very own seforim.

One student approached her teacher after the trip and said “I’m taking upon myself to daven shemoneh esrei with more kavanah.” This is truly the Rebbe’s nachas, seeing his chassidim becoming affected and changed in a good way by what they learn.