Episode 103 - Hey Teves - Not Who Won, but Who Flourishes?
The Rebbe said it clearly on Hey Teves: the books are talking to you — and they’re waiting to be expanded. Didan Natzach means learning. Not celebrating Torah. Not cheering for it. Opening it and drawing it outward.
The sfarim aren’t finished objects. They are waiting for a learner who will struggle with them, break them open, and let Torah shebaal peh emerge through his own mind. If they stay closed, they’re still in captivity.
The Rebbe’s cry wasn’t about ownership or victory; it was about function. A book that isn’t learned is still in exile — even if it’s sitting safely in 770.
Redemption begins only when the book speaks, and that happens when a person opens it, struggles with it, expands it, and turns Torah shebaal peh into expression. Until then, the book hasn’t been freed — it’s just been returned.
That’s why celebration alone wasn’t enough.
Return is a change of location.
Redemption is a change of relationship.
And this is where the parallel to post-Gimmel Tammuz becomes unavoidable.
This week’s Street Farbrengen asks the uncomfortable question: Is the real question of Hey Teves “Who won?”