Episode 148: The Marriage of the Alter Rebbe and the Story of the Sundial

00:02 The Frierdiker Rebbe relates that when the Alter Rebbe reached marriageable age, he agreed to marry the daughter of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Segal of Vitebsk, on condition that the five thousand gold coins promised as a dowry be placed at his disposal, to use as he wished, without any interference from Yehudah Leib Segal. In the first year after his wedding, with the consent of his wife, Rebbetzin Sterna, he gave the entire sum of five thousand gold coins to a group of families who wanted to establish themselves as farmers. The money enabled them to buy land, animals, tools, the necessities for their way of life, and spinning houses for wool and flax. In this way, large settlements were established near Vitebsk, along the Dvina River, with the Alter Rebbe’s money. From time to time, the Alter Rebbe would urge people publicly to leave their livelihoods of wheeling and dealing in the markets and streets and take up farming. He would visit the settlers from time to time and encourage them to establish regular study of Chumash, Midrash, and Aggadah for the benefit of ordinary people who did not understand Mishnah and Gemara. The Alter Rebbe’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Segal, was an eighth-generation descendant of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Segal, the partner of Reb Tevel. Tevel was a philanthropist and the founder of the Vitebsk community, whom we discussed in earlier stories. Reb Tevel held the lease on the production of vodka and similar goods in Poland, and he passed that business down through the generations to this Rabbi Yehudah Leib Segal, whose daughter married the Alter Rebbe. Through these business dealings, he had connections and influence in government circles in the capital and among officials and the powerful Polish landowners. When Yehudah Leib Segal made a match with Rabbi Baruch and took his gifted son from Liozna, the Alter Rebbe, as a husband for his daughter, word quickly spread that, besides being a genius in the revealed and hidden parts of Torah and in philosophy, the Alter Rebbe was also accomplished in the sciences, particularly astronomy and engineering, and that he composed captivating melodies. Two months after the Alter Rebbe’s wedding, there occurred

02:48 two incidents through which the Alter Rebbe became known among a select group of scholars of the sciences. This proved very helpful in laying the groundwork for the communal work the Alter Rebbe was planning. What were these incidents? At that time, there were not yet any institutions of higher learning in Poland. There were private centers of learning maintained at the personal expense of the country’s princes, called academies. In Lithuania, there were three such academies: on Prince Radziwill’s estate near Vilna, on Prince Shkesinski’s estate near Vitebsk, and on Prince Dekard’s[?] estate on the bank of the Dnieper River, between Dubrovna and Liadi. The sciences were at a low level in Poland at that time, for the proud Poles, who took such care in curling their mustaches, were not inclined to toil in scholarly and scientific study, and the teachers at the academies were French. On Prince Shkesinski’s estate near Vitebsk stood a magnificent palace, and a sundial had been installed in its courtyard. But for about two years, the sundial had not shown the hours between two and five in the afternoon. The prince summoned various scholars and renowned professors. None could solve the mystery. When the prince heard of the abilities of Yehudah Leib Segal’s son-in-law, he sent his deputy to Reb Segal with a request that he and his son-in-law come to the prince’s estate to examine the sundial. Perhaps he could solve the mystery of why it did not show the hours from two until five. But the Alter Rebbe did not want to go. He said that our Sages taught, “Do not become acquainted with the authorities.” Why? Because today they have one question, and tomorrow they will have another, and this would take him away from Torah study. After much urging, however, and assurances that they would not make any further demands that interrupted his learning, the Alter Rebbe agreed. When he arrived at the prince’s estate with his father-in-law, although the Alter Rebbe understood the language of the country and could speak it properly, he did not want to speak Polish and spoke in Yiddish instead. His father-in-law, Reb

05:32 Segal, translated. After the Alter Rebbe examined the sundial several times, both during the hours when it worked properly and during those when it did not, he said the following: The Talmud says that in the middle of the day, the sun is directly over every person’s head, and then nothing but clouds can block it. But after midday, when the sun begins to incline, other things may stand in the way of its rays. “In my opinion,” said the Alter Rebbe, “about twelve to fifteen parsaos south of the estate, there is a high mountain with trees at its summit. Surely, over the past two years, the trees have grown. Because of their growth, they block the sun’s rays between two and five, so the rays do not reach the sundial. Once the sun moves past that position, its rays reach the sundial again.” The prince was deeply impressed and wanted to send a special messenger to inspect the area twelve to fifteen parsaos to the south and see whether there was a high mountain with trees at its summit. But what happened? Professor Marseille, the head teacher at that academy and a renowned engineer, was there. He mocked the Alter Rebbe’s words and said, “What wonders these Jews are! They know everything from the Talmud. Zelig the doctor knows how to heal from the remedies in the Talmud. Baruch the gardener knows how to improve the soil from the Talmud, and Zanvil the broker knows how to cheat the landowners from the Talmud. And this young man also knows from the Talmud how the sun’s rays reach the sundial.” He was mocking him. The Alter Rebbe said to him calmly, “You should know that a demonstration is an axe that cuts down those who pretend to scientific knowledge.” “Is that also a saying from your Talmud?” the professor asked. “No,” the Alter Rebbe answered. “It is a saying of the Greek sage Galen, who said it about those who pretend to scientific knowledge without having attained its heights.” The French professor’s barbs hurt Rabbi

08:10 Yehudah Leib Segal deeply. So when he returned home, he told several of his non-Jewish acquaintances what had happened and asked their advice. They said they would go and inspect the area themselves. And indeed, at the distance the Alter Rebbe had indicated, they found a high mountain with very tall trees at its summit. They decided among themselves not to tell anyone about it, not even Rabbi Yehudah Leib Segal. But they hired men to cut down the tall trees on the mountaintop. Several days passed, and the estate manager informed his master, the prince, that the sundial in the palace courtyard had begun showing the hours correctly again, even from two until five. The prince was greatly surprised and told his officials, and word spread that the sundial in the palace courtyard was working again. When the news reached the acquaintances of Yehudah Leib Segal who had had the trees cut down, they brought the people from the village near that mountain before the prince. They told him that the tall trees at the summit had been cut down on their instructions. They also brought with them a document written at the time and certified by the village office, stating that the peasants had cut down a specified number of trees on that mountain. Then the Alter Rebbe’s name became known among scholars of the sciences.