Episode 155: The Alter Rebbe Begins to Lead the Chassidic Movement

00:01 The continuation of the Alter Rebbe’s story. The Maggid had passed away, and the situation at that time, after the passing of the Maggid of Mezritch, called for a man of spirit to stand at the head of the leadership—someone who could speak plainly with the misnagdim and would not fear all the bans and proclamations they were issuing against the chassidim. It was therefore decided to appoint a leadership committee with a general organizer authorized by the holy Rabbi Avraham, the Maggid’s son, and by the entire holy fellowship, with the power and authority to act on his own—and by the entire holy fellowship, with the power and authority to act on his own—and to issue instructions to all the centers as he saw fit for the good of the cause. At a general meeting, the holy fellowship chose the Alter Rebbe as the general organizer and authorized representative. He was given the power and authority to organize the overall work of the centers and the outreach work throughout the lands, and also to visit, from time to time, the places where the students of our teacher the Maggid lived. For about three years, from 5533, that is, 1773, until 5536, 1776, the Alter Rebbe was occupied with journeys to various places to examine the situation of the Maggid’s students and whether the work of the centers conformed to what the leadership committee had arranged. Sometimes he traveled openly and sometimes secretly. On those journeys he secretly visited Shklov, Minsk, and Vilna. The Alter Rebbe spent about six weeks in Vilna, going from one beis midrash to another like a traveler passing through. He ate only bread and drank only water, even on Shabbos. Rabbi Yehudah Leib, the Alter Rebbe’s brother, related that the Alter Rebbe told him that during his stay in Vilna he had debated Torah with all the leading scholars. But he was afraid to debate the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu, lest he be recognized, so he asked him a number of questions through two of the Gaon’s close associates. “Then I understood what lay before me,” the Alter Rebbe said, “and came to know the extent of his greatness in his knowledge of

02:43 Torah.” On those journeys the Alter Rebbe gained many students. His practice was to seek out outstanding Torah scholars and discuss Torah with them until they asked him to give them a program of study. Several years later, some of them would come to him in Liozna. That is why we later find among his students people from very distant places whom he had drawn close during those journeys. The Alter Rebbe’s main interest, however, was in the young Torah scholars of Lithuania. During those three or five years of travel, he gained students who completed the course of study he had given them, each in his own home and town, and afterward came to him in Liozna. From among them he founded the first and second cheder. In 5536, 1776, a general meeting of the Maggid’s students was held, and they decided as follows. One: the holy Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok, one of the Maggid’s students, would travel to the Holy Land. Two: the Alter Rebbe was appointed leader of the chassidim in Lithuania. Three: the Alter Rebbe was appointed general organizer for all of them. That same year, the Alter Rebbe established the first center in his hometown of Liozna. He issued a proclamation that young married men supported by their fathers or fathers-in-law could come to Liozna for two or three months to receive a program of study, while the members of the community would provide them with lodging and basic food at the rabbi’s instruction. At that time, Liozna was one of the towns where it was possible to earn a living, since it traded with cities in the Russian interior. Liozna itself was still under Polish rule, but because it was close to the Russian border, it did business with cities in the Russian interior. Most of Liozna’s residents were ordinary people, busy with trade and commerce. The Alter Rebbe’s proclamation spread quickly, and within a short time about four minyanim of young married men gathered in Liozna from the nearby towns of

05:27 Vitebsk, Goshen [unclear], Kovitz [unclear], Horodok, Yanovitz, Rudnia, Kalisk, Lubavitch, Novil, and others. They all assumed that Liozna would follow the same arrangement as the earlier centers in Lubavitch and Horodok: each young man would study whatever he wished, and the main collective activity would be studying the Chassidus of our teacher the Baal Shem Tov and his student, the Maggid. How astonished they were by the new schedule the Alter Rebbe established. A. In-depth Gemara study was mandatory. They studied the same subject in groups, organized according to ability, for no less than four hours a day. B. During the week, they were required to study a set lesson and know it thoroughly. C. They had to study at least one page of Gemara a day at a straightforward pace. D. Twice a week, on days and at times designated for this, they would debate among themselves, each presenting his questions and answers. The Alter Rebbe appointed his brother, the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Mordechai—Rabbi Mordechai—to oversee this. In-depth study of halachah in groups, following the same arrangement, was mandatory for at least two hours a day, as was the study of one section of Shulchan Aruch a day. A long section could be divided over two days. They proceeded in order through the four parts of Shulchan Aruch. The Alter Rebbe appointed his brother, the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Yehudah Leib, to oversee this. The chossid Rabbi Chaim of Dribin told the following story. In Dribin, the most prominent Torah scholars were misnagdim, while the chassidim were a small minyan of young married men supported by their fathers-in-law. “I myself,” Rabbi Chaim of Dribin related, “was one of those young men. We all studied under the gaon Rabbi Zerach Meir, the groom Gribler [unclear]. Rabbi Meir Zerach or Zerach Meir? Wait. Zerach Meir was a sixty-year-old Jew who never stopped learning. Every subject he studied became a whole sugya for him, with many details. That is why the scholars of Brisk and Vilna called him the gaon Rabbi Zerach Meir, the groom. When Rabbi Zerach Meir delivered a lesson, the elder

08:18 scholars of Dribin [unclear] would come to listen, because he produced remarkable insights and explained them with great sharpness. When Rabbi Zerach Meir delivered a lesson, he would begin by saying, ‘Concentrate and listen to Torah insights that make the Tannaim and Amoraim in Gan Eden rejoice.’ Once, as Rabbi Zerach Meir was about to deliver a lesson, a traveler entered the beis midrash, set his bag down to one side, and washed his hands. They said, ‘Rabbi Chaim!’ The people of Dribin [unclear] greeted him. Meanwhile, Rabbi Shalom Shlomo, one of the chassidim [unclear], came in. Seeing the traveler, he greeted him, asked whether he had eaten yet, and invited him home for a meal. The traveler replied that he had already eaten and sat down by the table to hear the lesson. The elders and Rabbi Zerach Meir told the traveler to stand to the side rather than sit beside the elder scholars. ‘Everyone must know his place,’ they told him. The traveler said nothing. He got up and stood to the side. Rabbi Zerach Meir began with his familiar introduction, praising his own learning, and then began to teach the Mishnah that says, ‘One who surrounds his fellow on three sides.’ When Rabbi Zerach Meir finished explaining the Mishnah, which took a long time, the elder scholars exclaimed in admiration that insights like these surely made the Tannaim and Amoraim in Gan Eden rejoice. The traveler, who had been standing to the side listening to the lesson, began to speak and refuted every point Rabbi Zerach Meir had introduced. First he listed all of Rabbi Zerach Meir’s insights, then he demolished each one from its foundations. Everyone present, Rabbi Zerach Meir foremost among them, was bewildered and fell silent. The traveler said he had been in a small town and heard a young rosh yeshivah teaching this sugya. He then spent several hours teaching them the Mishnah. The elders and Rabbi Zerach Meir were stunned. They rose from their places, greeted the traveler, and asked him to sit at the table. The traveler said to them, ‘But everyone must know his place.’ Who was the traveler? He

10:52 There was a chossid, Reb Menachem Zechariah[?], who remained in Darwin[?], and over several years all the Torah scholars of Darwin[?] became chassidim of the Alter Rebbe. The head of the young yeshiva was the Alter Rebbe himself. The Alter Rebbe first saw the holy Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin at a gathering of the Maggid’s disciples and the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov’s disciples. At that gathering, they appointed the Alter Rebbe director of the society. We are talking about the same gathering we just mentioned. Until then, the Alter Rebbe had visited the students to strengthen them; at that gathering, they appointed him to represent the society publicly. This was before he was chosen as leader of the chassidim. At that meeting, the Alter Rebbe said of Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin, “Say of the righteous one that he is good,” for the Ruzhiner was then seventeen years old, and seventeen is the numerical value of “good.” The Tzemach Tzedek, the Alter Rebbe’s grandson, told his son, the Rebbe Maharash, about the talents and virtues of the Alter Rebbe’s brothers: Rabbi Yehuda Leib, whom we mentioned, Rabbi Mordechai, whom we mentioned, and Rabbi Moshe. All three brothers had remarkable talents, and their diligence in study was astonishing. Each had a particular gift. The great Torah scholar Rabbi Yehuda Leib was exceptionally skilled in practical halachic rulings. In every sugya he studied, even the deepest, he would find a practical halachic ruling in each line of reasoning. Besides his extraordinary knowledge of all four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, with the details of the laws and their sources in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and the Rishonim, he also developed novel rulings through brilliantly reasoned arguments. The second brother, Rabbi Mordechai, had extraordinary acuity and a sound grasp of the deepest reasoning. When he studied a sugya, he would proceed from the easier points to the harder ones. He would study each sugya five or six times, and each time develop new insights of tremendous acuity, as though climbing from one level to the next. His analytical discussions were engaging and pleasant. The great Torah scholar Rabbi Moshe, the Alter Rebbe’s third brother,

13:40 was a remarkable explainer, and words of wisdom flowed from his mouth when he delivered a Torah teaching on nigleh or Chassidus. He would explain the subjects with wonderful clarity and simplicity. For about five years, from 5529—that is, 1769, or six—yes, sixty-nine—until 5534, 1774, all the brothers studied together at a fixed time three times a week: on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, for five or six hours straight. Let’s talk about the founding of the cheders that the Alter Rebbe established—cheders unlike any others. Each week at the appointed time, the Alter Rebbe’s brothers would report to him on the young men’s studies and conduct, following the individual program they had received from the Alter Rebbe himself. From among the most outstanding young men, the Alter Rebbe formed two special groups, which he called Cheder A and Cheder B. Cheder A was at a higher level than Cheder B. Each of the young men in those two cheders studied on his own according to the program he had received from the Alter Rebbe, and the Alter Rebbe would deliver Chassidus to these two cheders in a special way. The teachings he delivered to them were known among the chassidim as “Torah in private.” At that time, the Alter Rebbe had three ways of delivering Chassidus. The first was to a large gathering on Shabbos Mevarchim and Yom Tov. The second was “Torah in public,” once a month, sometimes twice a month, for those who did not study in these cheders, as well as for the young men who sat and studied. The third was “Torah in private,” as we said, twice a month for the two cheders—that is, for the young men who studied in Cheder A and Cheder B.