"The first shearing of your flock you shall give him"

Report from the elevated gathering of the presentation of Reishis HaGez by the Satmar Rebbe shlit"a, on Chol HaMoed in the Great Beis Medrash in Kiryas Joel, in the presence of thousands of Jews.

At around 3:30, the chairman of the gathering, HaGaon R' Shlomo Shabsi Kestenbaum, one of the dayanim of our holy kehilla, opened the gathering with his pleasant words, clarifying the matters of Reishis HaGez. The beis medrash was full from end to end, with tall rows of benches, with elders together with youths who came to take part in the simcha of the mitzvah, "in the multitude of people is the glory of the King." At around 4:20 the Satmar Rebbe shlit"a was received, and there was an outburst of fiery dancing to "Asher bachar banu mikol ha'amim," and so that the mitzvos of Hashem could be fulfilled among a multitude of people. Afterwards, the great Gaon, one of the great poskim of our generation, the Av Beis Din of Kiryas Joel shlit"a, proclaimed the word of Hashem, "zu halacha." Then the singers sang words of prophetic vision, and the Rebbe delivered words of Torah, beginning with words of praise to Hashem that we are able to gather together in the beis medrash: "...Do not forget what the situation of Klal Yisroel was a year ago today, and Baruch Hashem that this year we can gather together and celebrate the Yom Tov... I want to give praise and thanks to the Holy Creator, 'Blessed is He who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time,' that we are able to gather together..." Then he delivered a longer discourse, explaining with pleasant taste and knowledge the halachos of Reishis HaGez, all the types of kinyanim and so on, according to all the opinions of the Gemara, Rishonim and Acharonim. After the longer discourse, the Rebbe rented the place of the bimah from the venerable R' Dovid Eckstein in order to be able to acquire it through kinyan chatzer, hired workers, and bought the sheep from the seller. He made a kinyan sudar, and then went down to the bimah and performed the kinyanim of meshicha, chatzer, hagbaha and mesira, with the help of the workers. Then he delivered a discourse about the mitzvah of Reishis HaGez and the greatness of the mitzvah. In the course of his words, he welcomed with the blessing "Baruch haba b'shem Hashem" the Kohen, HaGaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Binyon HaKohen Strasser shlit"a, Av Beis Din of Nitra in Boro Park, "who is among the most prominent rabbis in Boro Park." He mentioned that the Kohen had come on Yom Tov of Pesach: "...But there has already been a connection with this Kohen to Yom Tov of Pesach for many years. He was among the first rabbis who understood that wheat is a problem, and he came along to Arizona to cut wheat many years ago..." Then he bestowed many blessings on the Kohen, and continued the discourse on the halachos of giving matnos kehuna and on repeating the bracha of Shehecheyanu. After the second discourse, the Rebbe, for a longer time of over half an hour, sheared the wool of the sheep, "mitzvah bo yoser mibishlucho," himself without any agent, with fervor and passion for the mitzvah, while the singers sang melodies of arousal and joy in the fulfillment of the mitzvos. At the conclusion, the Rebbe broke into fiery dancing for a few minutes. Afterwards the Rebbe once again delivered holy words on the subject of the mitzvah, with words of derush and pilpul connecting the mitzvah of Reishis HaGez to the Yom Tov of Pesach and its great influence. He said that it is not only beneficial for whoever performs it, but "one who attaches himself to those who perform a mitzvah is as one who performs the mitzvah," and it benefits all who attach themselves to the mitzvah. He bestowed lengthy holy blessings. The Rebbe went out and returned wearing a new garment, and with fiery holy sparks said the "L'shem yichud," made the blessing on separating the gifts, and with a voice hewing flames of fire said the Shehecheyanu blessing with Shem and Malchus. He gave the Reishis HaGez to the Kohen and broke out in an elevated, fiery dance to "Ashrei ha'am shekacha lo, ashrei ha'am sheHashem Elokav," that we merited to fulfill a positive Torah commandment. Then the distinguished Kohen, HaGaon HaTzaddik, Av Beis Din of Nitra in Boro Park, spoke, and in the course of his words he brought out the merit of the chassidim in having such a Rebbe, "a Rosh Yeshiva of Torah, Torah, Torah," who has "the crown of Torah, the crown of royalty, and the crown of a good name." He then blessed the thousands of the assembled with Birkas Kohanim.
Then the chairman announced "the time for Mincha has arrived," and due to the shortage of time the gathering of the lottery drawing for the matnos kehuna did not take place. Instead, the Rebbe distributed the matnos kehuna: the zeroa to HaGaon R' Yosef Strasser, son of the Nitra Boro Park Rav; the lechayim to HaGaon R' Berel HaKohen Glantz shlit"a; and the keiva to his grandson Rabbi Nachman Kahana shlit"a. He then danced once more with the joy of the mitzvah, to the fiery "Hatz'a'ls, 'Hast gepoelt alles gutes.'"

"The awesome sight that thousands of chassidim witnessed, the joy of the mitzvah, the fervor and passion for a mitzvah, how a leader of Israel approaches a mitzvah, is impossible to describe for one who did not see it,

and through this may abundant blessing flow to us and to all Israel


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