היכל ה'היכל ה'היכל ה'המה

The "Tish Heichal" is no hall built of silent stone. It is a hall of overflowing hearts, whispering lips, and hidden, or not so hidden, tears.

Our holy Rebbe, the Pnei Menachem, used to say quoting his grandfather the "Sfat Emet" of blessed memory, in his commentary on Masechet Yoma (39): he explained the words of the Gemara by Pshat "40 years before the destruction of the temple, the doors of the Heichal opened on their own...until Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai rebuked them". The meaning is not as implied because there's no point at rebuking the doors of the Heichal. But he rebuked the hearts of Klal Yisrael, and as much as their hearts opened, so did the Heichal open. (See Pnei Menachem Vayikra p. 8). One can add a Remez to that as is brought in Eiruvin (53) "the hearts of Acharonim is at the doors of (the) Heichal".

This wonderous phenomenon of 'גער בליבותיהן של ישראל' Rebbi continues in his father's footsteps, awakening the hearts of Am Yisrael.

קול ה' חוצב להבות אש וגו' ובהיכלו כולו אומר כבוד. Our Rebbi shlit"a sits at the head, solemnly gives his Musar, aiming at the hearts, knowing that one hit in the heart is better than a hundred lashes (Mishlei 17, Midrash Mikra).

Beyond the wonderful Chiddushim, the blooms and wreaths made for the Tora every single Shabbos and Yom Tov, sweeter than honey, stronger than iron, the biggest innovation is the hearts. The Jewish hearts overturning like the flaming sword when they heard the name of Hashem coming clear of the mouth of the Cohen Gadol. Like it says in the Midrash in Parshas Vayetzeh:

(ב"ר פר' ע) 'וירא והנה באר בשדה - זה בית הכנסת וכו', כי מן הבאר – שמשם היו שומעין את התורה, והאבן גדולה - זה יצר הרע, ונאספו שמה כל העדרים - זה הצבור, וגללו את האבן - שמשם היו שומעין את התורה. ורבינו יחד לב אבן מפי באר מים, גולל אור מפני חושך וחושך מפני אור להאיר מתוך חשיכה, להאיר לארץ ולדרים ברשפי אש שלהבת קה.

In Kotzk they used to say that the biggest miracle is turning a Jewish heart to the good. In our Tish Hall these miracles occur regularly, under the table - 'זה השולחן לפני ה'', while our Rebbi Shlit"a performs the saying of Chaza"l:

(יומא פו:) 'תשובה גדולה שבשביל יחיד שעשה תשובה מוחלין לכל העולם כולו ומאן יחידים רבנן' (תענית י.)

Thus, regularly, our Rebbi mentions matters of Teshuva, faces are uplifted, eyes moisten, the Rebbi's voice resonates above the silent tears, the stifled weeping. The Rebbi's breaking voice continues in tears. The entire crowd cries together, in complete unity, each aching heart finding its comfort.

האי מאן דבעי לקיים מילי דאבות (ב"ק ל.) ואי' באבות (פ"ד מי"ז) 'יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ובמעשים טובים בעוה"ז מכל חיי העוה"ב'. רבותינו שמרמז על השעה של רעוא דרעוין. ועל זה רמזו 'אין לך אדם שאין לו שעה' (שם שם מ"ג). והשעה הזאת שעת רחמים ועת רצון היא.

'בני היכלא דכסיפין למיחזי זיו דזעיר אנפין.'

In the Shul, in the "Ziv", all "Bnei Heichala" in the Tish Hall awaken their yearning, their "Kisufim". They are witnesses to "Ze'eir Anpin" – the greatest among men humiliates himself as a weed at the roadside. He who feels tiny is in fact great. All unite to bind their hearts to our father in Heaven. Their cry comes as one from all:

'הדור נאה זיו העולם, נפשי חולת אהבתך. אנא קל נא רפא לה, בהראות לה נועם זיוך'

Thus, our Rebbi ignites the spark in the hearts, with fiery coals from the altar, until the flame rises on its own in blazing fire, and the entire diaspora becomes like a burning bonfire.

From the Beit Midrash 'Ziv' – the whole earth is filled with the radiance of its glory, for "their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world." When its teachings spread throughout the study halls to the four corners of the earth, and everyone yearns to revere Your Name, to graze in green pastures and to be inspired by the radiance of our Rebbi Shlit"a's Torah, spoken within the walls of the Beit Midrash, in the Tish Hall. They are filled with radiance and emit a beautiful glow, their brilliance throughout the world.

And it was, when all the men of war were gone, after years in which we witnessed suffering, when tens of thousands of Jews, including the majority of the Ger Hasidic community, were bound and slaughtered for the sanctification of God's Name, that the Imrei Emes, of blessed memory, expressed with pain:

"אין גער האט א מאל גיקאכט א קעסיל איובען און אונטען ווי זיי היינט?"

But the Imrei Emes also said:

מ'וועט נאך אלעס צוריק באקומען.

And so, today, in the Beit Midrash "Ziv"—above, in the Tish Hall, and below, in the Beit Midrash Hall—a cauldron burns. The pot boils and bubbles with a fiery blaze. Our Sages relate (Yoma 69b, Sanhedrin 64a) that when the Men of the Great Assembly abolished the inclination for idolatry, "they cast it into a lead pot." In this pot, in this cauldron that burns today in "Ziv" in the Tish Hall with holy fire, the inclination for idolatry, the inclination for transgression, and all the vanities of this world are cast in, sinking like lead. In mighty waters, and "there is no water except Torah" (Bava Kamma 17a). Living waters spring forth from the ever-strengthening well of one of the great Torah giants and cedars of Lebanon in our generation.

The purification of hearts and the rectification of souls takes place every Shabbat, Yom Tov, and auspicious time. All of this is credited to the memory of their pure souls.

הרב ראובן בן ר' שמואל יום טוב שיינר ז"ל
וזוג' מרת דבורה רייזל בת ר' חיים שרגא ע"ה.

We have chosen to commemorate this with a picture that encapsulates all that was written above—a picture embodying the “blazing flame bursting forth,” from which fragments of light and sparks of fire emerge and ascend. These are words that come from the heart—the heart of a lion—and enter the heart, transforming the crooked into straight, tongues of fire from the pillar of fire that leads the camp to illuminate their way day and night, from the pillar of cloud that uproots mountains (the evil inclination is likened to a mountain—Sukkah 52b), lowers the high (humbles the arrogant and instills humility), and raises the low (strengthening the knees of rabbis who are faltering, encouraging the humble and elevating the downtrodden, raising the poor from the ashes and sanctifying earthly existence), and brings the hearts of Israel (Jewish hearts) closer to our Father in Heaven.

May these words honor their memory, forever marking the Tish Hall with their names. May they be remembered in בית המדרש – בית חיינו by sons and daughters as a lasting tribute.

בנם הרבני הנכבד הרב אליעזר שליט"א

ממשיך דרכם בצדקה וחסד, המכבדם במותם בהנצחה קדושה זו, ומעלה נשמתם לעילא במתיבתא דרקיעא תחת כנפי השכינה, במעלות קדושים וטהורים כזוהר הרקיע מזהירים.