Episode 144: The Alter Rebbe Is Born

00:01 We continue the story of the Alter Rebbe’s life. He was born to Reb Baruch—that same young Baruch—and his wife, Rebbetzin Rivkah, who had received a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov on 18 Elul 5504. And on 18 Elul 5505, a son was born to Reb Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah near the town of Liozna. Mazel tov! He was given the name Schneur Zalman. The Tzemach Tzedek, the Alter Rebbe’s grandson, later said that the Alter Rebbe’s soul had actually been meant to descend into the world a year earlier, but he needed to be born in a leap year. The Alter Rebbe—that is, Rabbi Schneur Zalman—was also born exactly forty-seven years to the day after the Baal Shem Tov’s birth. Why does that matter to us? Because there is an old custom to say each day the chapter of Tehillim corresponding to one’s age. So on 18 Elul 5504, the Baal Shem Tov began saying chapter 47 of Tehillim, and then the Alter Rebbe was born. Chapter 47 is special because it is said before the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. So that is about the Baal Shem Tov’s forty-seventh year. In fact, the Alter Rebbe was born on 18 Elul 5505, the very day the Baal Shem Tov began saying chapter 48, which says, “Great is Hashem and exceedingly praised in the city of our G-d.” In any case, the Alter Rebbe was born on the farm of his father, Reb Baruch—the farm Reb Baruch had received as a dowry from his father-in-law, Reb Avraham the gardener. Let’s follow what happened on that Wednesday, 18 Elul, when the Alter Rebbe was born. As we said, the Alter Rebbe was born near Liozna, on his father Reb Baruch’s farm. And some distance away—not terribly far, but some distance away—in the town of Mezhibuzh, on that same day

02:58 Wednesday, 18 Elul 5505, the Baal Shem Tov was in Mezhibuzh. When he returned from immersing in the mikveh, he was in an uplifted, joyful mood that astonished his students. Of course, no one dared ask the Baal Shem Tov what the joy was about. The Baal Shem Tov led the prayers, and everyone was amazed: he prayed to joyous Yom Tov melodies. Most remarkable of all, the Baal Shem Tov did not say Tachanun. Then everyone understood that this was an unusually joyous day. After the prayers that day, Wednesday, 18 Elul 5505, the Baal Shem Tov invited his students to a seudas mitzvah. But that was customary, since it was also the Baal Shem Tov’s birthday. The Baal Shem Tov was filled with joy. During the meal, he said this: “On the fourth day of Creation, the luminaries were set in place. And on this fourth day, today, in the week of the parsha whose haftorah begins with the words ‘Arise, shine,’ a new soul has descended into the world. This soul,” said the Baal Shem Tov, “will illuminate the world with the light of the revealed Torah and the light of Chassidus. It will show mesirus nefesh for the path of Chassidus, and it will succeed until the coming of Moshiach.” At that seudas mitzvah, the Baal Shem Tov gave his students a teaching on the verse “This one will comfort us”—the words said about Noach. He spoke about how, until Noach came, people had no plow. Noach invented the plow. Later, at the Shabbos meal on Parshas Ki Savo, the Baal Shem Tov taught about the verse, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of Hashem has shone upon you.” A few days later, on the day of the Alter

05:29 Rebbe’s bris—and let’s remember again that the Alter Rebbe was near Liozna, while the Baal Shem Tov was in Mezhibuzh—the Baal Shem Tov instructed that a meal be held and gave a teaching on the verse, “On the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” Then, on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim, during the meal, the Baal Shem Tov taught about the verse, “I will greatly rejoice in Hashem.” The Baal Shem Tov was filled with joy, and no one knew why. When the Alter Rebbe grew up and came to the Maggid of Mezritch for the first time—there is a whole story about how he came, because the Baal Shem Tov had told the Maggid of Mezritch, “He belongs to you, but he must come to you on his own, without any prompting from outside”—in any case, when the Alter Rebbe first arrived, the Maggid told his holy son, Rabbi Avraham the Malach, about the great joy the Baal Shem Tov had felt at the Alter Rebbe’s birth. The Baal Shem Tov had told him that he celebrated the day of the Alter Rebbe’s birth, the day he entered the covenant of Avraham Avinu, and the third day after his bris by giving teachings. Those teachings related to the Alter Rebbe’s work in the world. And the Baal Shem Tov told the Maggid of Mezritch, “Since he belongs to you, I am telling you these things.” For Yom Kippur of 5506—we are talking about a few months after the birth of the Alter Rebbe, the child Rabbi Schneur Zalman—Reb Baruch traveled to the Baal Shem Tov. When he entered, the Baal Shem Tov warned him not to tell anyone that a son had been born to him, or what name they had given him. As Reb Baruch was about to travel home, the Baal Shem Tov gave him instructions on how to care for the child: to watch over him and, during the summer, to be with him in the fields.

08:05 The Baal Shem Tov strongly warned Reb Baruch to keep the child out of sight of people in general, and of talkative women in particular. The Baal Shem Tov would mention the child Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s name three times each day, in every prayer. At one farbrengen, the Baal Shem Tov spoke of a new soul that had descended into the world. He meant the Alter Rebbe’s soul. Reb Baruch was there at the time, but no one—not even Reb Baruch—knew whom he meant. A year later, when Reb Baruch came to the Baal Shem Tov for Rosh Hashanah 5507, the Baal Shem Tov privately asked him in detail how he was caring for the child. Again he warned him not to tell anyone about this son. After Sukkos, when Reb Baruch was ready to travel home, the Baal Shem Tov gave him instructions for the child for the entire year. He strongly warned him to keep the child out of sight and not to tell people about his cleverness, as some parents do. When Reb Baruch came to the Baal Shem Tov a year later, for Rosh Hashanah 5508, the Baal Shem Tov again asked him privately about how he was caring for the child. Reb Baruch told the Baal Shem Tov that when he had returned home the previous year, his wife, Rebbetzin Rivkah, told him that on the child’s birthday, 18 Elul, he had begun speaking more clearly. Throughout 5507, the parents had noticed that the child had an extraordinary memory and an unusual ability to grasp things. Anything he heard once was as though it had been placed in a box in his mind. The Baal Shem Tov again sternly warned Reb Baruch to conceal from people that Hashem had blessed them with a son. If anyone asked, he should answer briefly that they hoped Hashem would grant them success. When Reb Baruch entered the Baal Shem Tov to ask

10:30 permission to travel home and receive a farewell blessing, he told the Baal Shem Tov that he and his wife Rivkah had decided to bring the child to him on 18 Elul of the coming year—or rather, that same year, 5508—when it would be time to cut his hair and leave him peyos. The Baal Shem Tov agreed, but on condition that a wagon be ready to take the child straight home afterward. The Baal Shem Tov did not want the child to get to know him, explaining that the child belonged to the Maggid of Mezritch. He again warned Reb Baruch to keep the child out of sight. The mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, and the aunt, Devorah Leah, were to bring the child to him in Mezhibuzh for the haircut. They were to come on 18 Elul after the prayers, and as soon as he had cut the child’s hair and left him peyos, they were to travel straight back, taking care that no one find out. When Reb Baruch returned home, he found that during the two months he had been away, the child had become proficient in many chapters of Tehillim. He saw that the child had an unusual grasp and a remarkable memory: whatever he heard once, he remembered. Then, on Wednesday, 18 Elul 5508, Rebbetzin Rivkah and her sister-in-law, Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, brought the child to the Baal Shem Tov in Mezhibuzh. Immediately after the Baal Shem Tov cut the child’s hair, left him peyos, and blessed him with the priestly blessing, he warned them to travel straight home and not to speak among themselves about where they had been. He blessed them with a good night’s sleep and a safe journey. All along the way, the child kept asking who the Jew was who had cut his hair, left him peyos, and blessed him with his hands on his head. His mother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, told him, “That was Grandfather.” Rebbetzin Rivkah, the Alter Rebbe’s mother, visited the Baal Shem Tov twice. A student of the Baal Shem Tov,

13:02 The gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, whom we mentioned earlier in the story about the black dog, and who also wrote the book Toldos Yaakov Yosef, related that at the festive meal on the Baal Shem Tov’s birthday, 18 Elul 5508—three years after the Alter Rebbe’s birth—the Baal Shem Tov taught a Torah teaching on the statement, “At the age of three, Avraham recognized his Creator.” The Baal Shem Tov said that Avraham Avinu devoted himself with self-sacrifice to Hashem’s path, helping each and every person understand the oneness of the Creator and Divine Providence. During the meal, the Baal Shem Tov said, “The one with the soul in Poland [unclear] turns three today: ‘At the age of three, he recognized his Creator.’ He, too, will have to undergo the same self-sacrifice as Avraham Avinu, in order to reveal the path of serving Hashem through awareness of His oneness and Divine Providence.” The elder chassidim would relate that they had heard from the elders of their generation who had been with the Baal Shem Tov that when the Alter Rebbe turned three, the Baal Shem Tov told his students, “A great soul has descended into our world. His name is Shneur—two lights. He will illuminate the revealed Torah and the hidden Torah.” The tzaddik Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl said, “His name is Shneur.” This alludes to two kinds of light: direct light and reflected light; the Written Torah and the Oral Torah; the revealed and the concealed. During the first three years after the Alter Rebbe’s birth, the Baal Shem Tov wept a great deal at farbrengens. This was not his usual way, for he was always filled with great joy. The Baal Shem Tov explained to his students that a new soul had descended into the world, and he feared for it, because the opposing side knew what this meant and was given powers with which to oppose it. And another thing: when the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Yitzchak Dov

15:38 Kapilniker of Shminovitz [unclear] was with the Baal Shem Tov in Mezhibuzh on Shavuos, the Baal Shem Tov gave him a course of study to follow with the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe was about eleven at the time, and the Baal Shem Tov strongly warned Rabbi Yitzchak Dov not to tell him about the Baal Shem Tov. Imagine: a chossid of the Baal Shem Tov teaching Torah to the young Shneur Zalman, the Alter Rebbe, yet forbidden to mention the Baal Shem Tov to him, because the Baal Shem Tov did not want the Alter Rebbe to know about him. Let us return to Reb Baruch, the Alter Rebbe’s father. Reb Baruch was a hidden tzaddik. He was an exceptional Torah scholar and was active in charitable matters, but he conducted himself simply, like one of the local householders. The chossid Rabbi Chaim Eliyahu of Vitebsk related: “When I came to the Baal Shem Tov, I met Reb Baruch there, as well as his brother-in-law, the gaon Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, head of the yeshiva in Vitebsk. From time to time I would stay at Reb Baruch’s farm for several weeks, and I would marvel at the young boy’s extraordinary abilities.” Reb Baruch was held in great esteem by the Baal Shem Tov’s students and by the students of the Maggid of Mezritch. From time to time, many rabbis and chassidim would come to Reb Baruch’s farm to farbreng about Torah and the service of Hashem according to Chassidus. There was a chossid named Reb Meir Eizik of Horki. He was one of the older students of both the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid. A renowned Torah scholar deeply engaged in the ways of Chassidus, he would visit Reb Baruch’s farm from time to time to farbreng over words of Torah. He would then discuss the most profound passages of Gemara with the young Shneur Zalman, and Reb Meir Eizik would be astonished by the depth and orderliness of the Alter Rebbe’s understanding. Reb Baruch was very

18:14 careful to follow the Baal Shem Tov’s instruction that his son, the Alter Rebbe, should not know about the Baal Shem Tov. Once, when Reb Meir Eizik spoke to the boy about the Baal Shem Tov, Reb Baruch was very displeased and asked him not to speak to the boy about the Baal Shem Tov again. The Rebbe Rashab related what his father, the Rebbe Maharash, had told him his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, had heard. The Tzemach Tzedek had heard it from the elder chassidim of the first generation, including some who had seen the Baal Shem Tov at the beginning of his public revelation. They spoke of the detailed instructions the Baal Shem Tov gave for an orderly approach to how his holy students—the great scholars and tzaddikim—and his holy student the Maggid of Mezritch should conduct themselves with the Alter Rebbe. The elder chassidim heard a great deal from the Baal Shem Tov, and later from the Maggid of Mezritch, about the exalted, noble nature of the Alter Rebbe’s soul and the mission entrusted to it from Above: to enliven the souls of the Jewish people with an inner vitality in Torah and the service of Hashem. They also heard of the great responsibility involved in carrying out this guidance, and of the extraordinary success that would come when he overcame the obstacles with self-sacrifice to fulfill his mission: the light of his holiness would shine inwardly for the entire Jewish people throughout the generations, giving them an inner vitality with which to enliven others and live by themselves, and to enliven others with heartfelt feeling, until the coming of the righteous Redeemer.