Episode 151: The Alter Rebbe's Connection to the Maggid of Mezritch

00:01 Today we’ll tell several stories about the Alter Rebbe’s connection with the Maggid of Mezritch. We’ll tell them from different angles so we can understand the matter better. When the Alter Rebbe reached his twentieth year, after Pesach of 5525, which is 1765 by the secular calendar, he decided, with the agreement of his wife, Rebbetzin Shterna, to travel to a place of Torah study and avodah. The Alter Rebbe said, “I considered where to go, but I couldn’t decide. My brother Rabbi Yehuda Leib, who has sound judgment, told me, ‘Go to Mezritch.’ I knew that in Vilna one could learn how to study. In Mezritch, one learns how to daven. I knew a little about studying, but I knew almost nothing about davening, so I went to Mezritch. Hakadosh Boruch Hu helped me in my decision to go to Mezritch, and, at an auspicious time, I became a chossid of the Maggid. When I returned home to Vitebsk, I arranged for those I was guiding to study Chassidus, and, boruch Hashem, they received it well.” When the Alter Rebbe came to Vitebsk—we’re speaking, of course, of the time of his marriage—he was already considered a gaon. It is known that by the age of fifteen he was already a gaon. When his father, Rabbi Boruch, came with him to Vitebsk to arrange his match with the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Segal, the Torah scholars of Vitebsk already knew of his genius. Still, until the age of seventeen, the Alter Rebbe did not reveal himself, except to his friends with whom he discussed Torah. In his eighteenth year, he already had friends with whom he studied, so his genius was known. Then his brother Rabbi Yehuda Leib told him, “You know how to study, but you don’t know Chassidus at all.” As we’ve said several times, his father, Rabbi Boruch, and his uncle, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, had kept the whole subject of Chassidus from him because the Baal Shem Tov had instructed them to do so. As mentioned, his wife, Rebbetzin Shterna, agreed to his trip to Mezritch, but she made him promise with a handshake not

02:38 to stay there longer than a year and a half. Rebbetzin Shterna then obtained thirty silver rubles for him. Let’s remember that she was the daughter of an extraordinarily wealthy man. But because the Alter Rebbe seemed strange to the family, they did not support him. In any event, with those thirty silver rubles the Alter Rebbe bought a horse and wagon and set out with his brother Rabbi Yehuda Leib. When they reached the town of Orsha on the way to Mezritch, the horse fell and died. The Alter Rebbe concluded that this had happened because his brother had not received his wife’s permission for the trip. So the Alter Rebbe told his brother, “Apparently you are not meant to travel. You should go home, and I will go there alone. But whatever I receive, I will share with you.” And the Alter Rebbe walked to Mezritch. The Alter Rebbe told his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, “I had a tremendous longing to enter into Torah, to understand and grasp it. Everything I already knew seemed like nothing compared with the depth of my desire to know the Torah. When I was thirteen, I began studying on my own most of the time, eighteen hours every day. For three consecutive years, on weekdays I spent two-thirds of my time studying Gemara, poskim, and Rishonim, and one-third studying Scripture, Aggadah, Zohar, Midrash, Kabbalah, and Jewish philosophy. On Shabbos, I spent one-third on Gemara and poskim, one-third on Scripture, Aggadah, and Jewish philosophy, and one-third on Midrash, Zohar, and Kabbalah. But one day I was overcome by a sense of despondency. I thought: Is it possible that I will remain without a teacher? What will become of me? I decided it was time to go to a place of Torah, a place with someone to guide me. I considered where to go. I had heard that there were two great luminaries in the Jewish world. One was in Mezritch—the disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. The other was in Vilna. A group of great Torah scholars in Vilna teaches how to study; in Mezritch, they teach how to daven. On the one hand, my great desire to know the Torah

05:30 pushed me to go to Vilna. I walked for several days along the road leading there. As I walked, I reflected: I know a little about studying, but I don’t know how to serve Hashem through davening. So I’ll go specifically to Mezritch, see their way, and from there go to Vilna.” Ten years passed, and the Alter Rebbe became one of the pillars on which the holy House of Israel rests. In 5534, that is, 1774 by the secular calendar, the Alter Rebbe became one of the leaders of the council overseeing the financial affairs of the Chassidus movement, although it was not yet officially called by that name. When the Alter Rebbe returned from Mezritch to Vitebsk for the first time, Rabbi Isaac and Rabbi Naftali asked him why he had gone to so much trouble and traveled all the way to Volhynia, losing time from Torah study and undertaking such an arduous journey. Vilna was much closer, and he could have clarified all his Torah questions with Rabbi Elyinka the Gaon. The Alter Rebbe answered them, “In Vilna, they teach how one should study Torah—that is, how a Jew should study Torah. But in Mezritch, they teach how the Torah teaches a person. In other words, the Torah teaches the Jew to become Torah himself. That is what they teach in Mezritch.” And here is another account of the Alter Rebbe’s journey to Mezritch. The Alter Rebbe related: “At that time, I was studying the holy Shelah with my students for an hour or more every day of the week. It occurred to me to go into exile, as was customary then among Torah scholars and those engaged in the ways of serving Hashem. At that time, two towns had become renowned among Torah scholars. One was Vilna, famous for the greatness of its Torah scholars, headed by the renowned Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu. The other was Mezritch, in the province of Volhynia. I made arrangements for the young men with whom I studied the Shelah, gave them a schedule of study and conduct, and decided to go to Mezritch. I said to myself: I know more about studying

08:35 than I do about davening. During my first days in Mezritch, I saw that our teacher, the Maggid, and his students spent most of the day and night engaged in the service of the heart: preparing for the day’s three prayers, davening, and reflecting afterward. They also prepared for the Shema before bed and for Tikkun Chatzos, all at great length. I had different habits. I had my avodah with the Arizal’s siddur and the commentaries of the Shelah. My time was carefully allotted, both during the week and on Shabbos and Yom Tov, and most of it was devoted, with all my strength, to acquiring knowledge of Torah in halachah, Aggadah, Kabbalah, and Jewish philosophy. Although the holy avodah of our teacher the Maggid and the extraordinary avodah of his senior students amazed me, I nevertheless decided to retrace my steps and devote myself to diligent Torah study, in both the revealed and inner dimensions, with even greater vigor and strength. In other words, I decided to leave Mezritch and return to Vitebsk. I set out, but then remembered that I had left one of my belongings in the Maggid’s study hall. I went back to get it. When I arrived at the study hall, I saw that the Maggid was dealing with a question about a slaughtered cow and whether it was kosher. When I heard the Torah teachings the Maggid offered in his halachic ruling, and the depth of his reasoning and genius in the revealed dimension of Torah, I decided not to leave. I would stay in Mezritch a while longer.” When the Alter Rebbe first arrived in Mezritch, he was unsure whether he would stay there, as we’ve related. After deciding to stay, he also decided to serve as an attendant to the Maggid. “The point of being an attendant,” the Alter Rebbe said, “is to be wherever the Rebbe is.” Then, on Hoshana Rabbah of 5527, when the Maggid of Mezritch entered the sukkah, the Alter Rebbe followed him in. The Maggid told him, “Lock the door so that no one comes in. Do not become overwhelmed; remain composed. Know that the Baal Shem Tov is entering here.” Then, a hundred years later, in 5627—1867 by the secular calendar—the Rebbe said

11:46 The Rebbe Maharash, the Alter Rebbe’s great-grandson, said to his sons and daughters—or, rather, the grandson’s son said to his sons and daughters—as they entered his sukkah: “Today marks one hundred years since the day the Alter Rebbe first saw the Baal Shem Tov while awake.” During the years the Alter Rebbe spent in Mezritch, he was there for all the festivals of the year: Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach and Shavuos. The Maggid told the Alter Rebbe, “You need a double blessing. They will try to break you. You will have many opponents.” The Maggid blessed the Alter Rebbe with the priestly blessing, with all its intentions, and told him, “You will have many opponents, but you have the girdle of Eliyahu Hanavi and strong loins to withstand all the difficult matters.” The Maggid revealed to the Alter Rebbe what the Baal Shem Tov had revealed to him: in time, the son of the hidden tzaddik Reb Baruch would come to him, and he would have a new soul. His name was Reb Schneur Zalman. After coming, he would leave; then he would return and settle with him. The Baal Shem Tov then told the Maggid, “Reveal to him who he is and what mission has been entrusted to him. Although the path is very dangerous at the beginning, in the end it will be very successful.” The Baal Shem Tov continued and told the Maggid of Mezritch, “My teacher, the master of the yechidah, and I will arouse Heavenly mercy for him and for those bound to him throughout the generations, until Moshiach Tzidkeinu comes.” The Maggid then revealed to the Alter Rebbe who he was: a new soul from the world of Atzilus, openly clothed in his body. His task was to reveal and explain the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov through love of Hashem and Ahavas Yisroel, and to reveal the path of Chabad Chassidus. First and foremost, his teacher the Maggid conveyed to him, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, the approach of drawing close even simple people, because one must love a Jew for being

14:32 a Jew. The soul of every Jew descends into a physical body in order to make the world a vessel for G-dliness. When the Alter Rebbe returned to Vitebsk from Mezritch for the first time, he said, “In Mezritch they revealed to me who I am and why my soul descended into the marketplace of this world. They revealed to me that my soul is Chochmah of the world of Atzilus, and the purpose of my mission here in this world is to illuminate the world with the light of Chassidus and the revealed teachings of Torah. Once I knew all this, I overcame my natural shyness and began to conduct myself openly.” When the Alter Rebbe first arrived in Vitebsk, as we related, to get married, the whole city was abuzz. Vitebsk had many brilliant Torah scholars, as we mentioned, but they were all amazed by the genius of the Alter Rebbe, who was then only fourteen years old. The Alter Rebbe related that he himself did not understand why all this did not arouse any feeling of pride in him. But after he had been in Mezritch, where the Maggid told him that his soul was Chochmah of the world of Atzilus, he understood: Chochmah of the world of Atzilus knows what it is, and knows and feels that all the life-force of the worlds is merely a glimmer from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Rebbe Rashab related that on the first Rosh Hashanah after the Alter Rebbe returned from Mezritch, he prayed at length on the first night of Rosh Hashanah, and that year was a year of blessing. The abundant spiritual blessing in the chassidim’s avodah that year aroused an accusation by the Satan against the Alter Rebbe’s personal, inward avodah. But because the Alter Rebbe was a new soul who devoted himself completely to instilling the Baal Shem Tov’s path of Ahavas Yisroel, devoted himself to serving Hashem through prayer, drew simple people close and publicly explained the virtue of their sincerity, the accusation was nullified. From the day the Alter Rebbe came to Mezritch, he found

17:28 favor in the eyes of his teacher, the Maggid, who drew him close in every way. The Maggid showed him special affection by having him study with his beloved son, Reb Avraham, known in Poland as “the Angel” and in Russia as “the Holy One.” Reb Avraham had been holy from the womb and was great in Torah and Chassidus. They studied both the revealed teachings of Torah and Chassidus together. For three hours a day, the Alter Rebbe studied the revealed teachings with Reb Avraham, and for three hours a day Reb Avraham studied Chassidus with the Alter Rebbe. But the Alter Rebbe would steal time from Reb Avraham: when their three hours of studying Chassidus were up, the Alter Rebbe would secretly turn the clock back, and Reb Avraham would continue studying with him. The Alter Rebbe said that this study was especially good, because “stolen waters are sweet.” And the holy Reb Avraham never ceased to cherish him. At times, when the Maggid studied with his son Reb Avraham, he would also study with the Alter Rebbe, until he had revealed to him all the secrets of his wisdom. There, the Alter Rebbe reached an extraordinarily high level in Torah and avodah. Once, the Alter Rebbe and Reb Avraham the Angel decided to seclude themselves in order to reach a state in which the soul longs to leave the body. They followed the known procedure: they made a circle and stepped inside it. When they reached that state, the Alter Rebbe sensed what was happening and stepped out of the circle. He looked at Reb Avraham and saw that his soul was almost departing, so he called out to him loudly, “Against your will, you live!” Reb Avraham then came to himself and stepped out of the circle. The Alter Rebbe said of himself at the time, “My wisdom, too, stood by me.” Elsewhere it is related that he roused Reb Avraham from that state by sitting opposite him and eating a piece of cake or a bagel with butter, as far as I remember. Of that eating, the Rebbe Maharash said: one can understand what kind of eating it was after such mesirus

19:49 nefesh in making the circle and entering it. It was an expression of what we call ratzo and shov, in that state where the soul longs to leave the body. He ate the power of limitation of the world of Atzilus. He ate it; he drank it. That was true of everything he did. The Alter Rebbe himself was the world of Atzilus. Everything he did was G-dliness of Atzilus. And so it was with all the Rebbeim after him. For them, it came as an inheritance from our forebears. The Rebbe Maharash said further that when the Alter Rebbe ate the cake or bagel after his ratzo, it was an expression of how everything is G-dliness.