Yosisu V'yismechu

These words were matched to the wellknown tune of “Zol Shoin Zein Di Geulah”.

This Yud Alef Nissan was a very unique one, since the Rebbe held a farbrengen for the first time since 5722 (which marked the Rebbe’s 60th birthday) and continued farbrenging every year on Yud Alef Nissan until 5747. The farbrengen was a surprise and took place between Minchah and Maariv after the Rebbe returned from the Ohel. The Rebbe said the famous maamer “B’yom Ashtei Asar” during this farbrengen.

It hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind to make a niggun for Yud Alef Nissan and it remained that way until Tishrei of 5732, when Reb Aharon Mordechai Zilberstrom of Yerushalayim brought his niggun to the Rebbe.

At that time the farbrengens in Yerushalayim were attended by many people from circles outside Lubavitch and this tune was well-known universally. Reb Aharon Mordechai chose this tune and matched the words from the Rebbe’s kapitel to it. The niggun caught on and was sung often at farbrengens in Yerushalayim.

Reb Aharon Mordechai relates:

“For the second half of Tishrei, I was zoche to come to the Rebbe. At the end of the Simchas Torah farbrengen, I approached the Ba'al Menagen Reb Hayshke Gansburg and told him that I have a niggun from Yerushalayim on the words from the Rebbe’s kapitel and asked him to sing it. He responded that it was too late in the farbrengen and there would not be time to sing it.

After Ma'ariv, during Kos Shel Brocha, I approached Reb Moshe Teleshevsky with the same request. He began to sing the niggun and slowly the people standing around began to catch on.

Suddenly, the Rebbe turned and looked at him (I was standing beside him) and then placed the becher down on the table and began to encourage the singing vigorously with both hands! This repeated itself several times during Kos Shel Brocha!

Naturally, the entire crowd joined with great enthusiasm and from then on the niggun was sung at every farbrengen until Yud Alef Nissan of the next year. At this point, the idea of composing a niggun for Yud Alef Nissan was obvious, and many people wanted to have the zechus to do it. This can clearly be seen from the fact that there were four niggunim composed for the next year.”