Chapter 159: The Alter Rebbe Wants to Travel to the Holy Land but Returns to Liozna

00:02 The story of the chassidim’s journey and their ascent to the Holy Land. The Alter Rebbe was very pleased with the visitors’ accounts of the state of Chassidus and the chassidim in the towns we mentioned earlier. But when the time came for the righteous Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok to prepare for his journey to our Holy Land, the Alter Rebbe wanted to join him. For various reasons, the Alter Rebbe’s departure was postponed until after Pesach. When they reached Mohilev in Podolia, Rabbi Menachem Mendel asked the Alter Rebbe to reconsider his wish to travel to the Holy Land, and reminded him of what the Maggid of Mezritch had said about him. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk spoke with the young men who had studied in the study groups and had come with the Alter Rebbe, they saw their greatness and were deeply impressed by what the Alter Rebbe had accomplished with them. Rabbi Menachem Mendel told the Alter Rebbe that he must not leave the region of Lithuania. It was his duty—his duty—to fulfill the charge left by his teacher, the Maggid: to spread the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov throughout Lithuania. Everything we have related so far was told by his uncle, Rabbi Yehudah Leib, the Alter Rebbe’s brother, to the Tzemach Tzedek during his illness—that is, in the days after the well-known incident when the Tzemach Tzedek entered the oven to hear his grandfather’s words. To continue: In 5537, after Pesach, the Alter Rebbe’s routine was disrupted because he wanted to accompany the holy group, headed by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, who were then preparing to travel to our Holy Land. For about three months, the Alter Rebbe was deeply troubled and did not know what to decide about his journey. His brother Rabbi Yehudah Leib related that the Alter Rebbe often saw his teacher, the Maggid, while awake and not in a dream, speaking to him and telling him not to leave the country. Even so, he decided to make the journey, and during Chol Hamoed Pesach he announced that

02:52 immediately after the festival he would set out. At the beginning of Iyar, the Alter Rebbe left Liozna with his entire household, together with his brothers Rabbi Yehudah Leib, Rabbi Mordechai and Rabbi Moshe and their families. A number of students from the two study groups went with them. They traveled on until they reached the city of Mohilev on the Dniester River. During this journey, several of the students, who had already studied in Liozna for about a year, stopped in towns they passed through and settled wherever each found a livelihood. When the students heard that the Alter Rebbe was traveling to our Holy Land, they were deeply saddened and pleaded with him, weeping bitterly, not to leave them. But the Alter Rebbe told them that our Sages say, “Your own life takes precedence.” When they saw that the Alter Rebbe was traveling with his entire household, the students decided to accompany him. Wherever they went, the Alter Rebbe would deliver a public discourse on a complex Torah question and conclude with words of moral instruction and guidance in serving Hashem. In some places, he delivered the Torah discourse and the moral instruction separately. All this made an enormous impression on the Torah scholars, and led several of the students to remain in those places. The chossid Reb Zalman Zazmer[?] told the chossid Reb Hillel of Paritch the details of an incident well known among the chassidim, concerning the question that arose in Mohilev, as he had heard them from students who were present. Here is the story. There was a question concerning a woman that had become known throughout the region. Many letters on the matter had passed between the rabbis, and they were all perplexed. When the question was brought before the Alter Rebbe, he said: “Although, according to halachah, we are not sufficiently expert in identifying types of blood, in this case brought before me it is clear that this is a dove’s blood, not human blood.” The Alter Rebbe then advised

05:34 the father of the woman, who had been unable to become ritually pure for more than two years, that when her time of purification came, she should move to another home, far from her own home and her family’s. She should remain secluded in her room, with no one except her father or mother coming to see her, and no one should know where she was living. She should go to immerse in the mikveh with her mother at a time when no other women were there. The woman’s father did everything the Alter Rebbe instructed, and the woman and her mother were greatly astonished. When the days of her purification arrived, everything was normal, and she immersed at the proper time. Because her husband was outstanding in Torah learning and fear of Heaven, and still had misgivings, they decided to wait until the second month. That summer, cholera began to spread around Mohilev. The rabbis issued instructions on how to guard against the epidemic and, in the course of doing so, urged people to repent and feel remorse for sins between man and Hashem and between one person and another. Great fear gripped many of the city’s residents. Then a woman came to the rabbi in Mohilev and, weeping bitterly, confessed the sin she had committed against the woman in question: for two years she had caused her distress so that she could not become ritually pure. This was her confession. When she was a young woman, a match had been proposed between her and that woman’s husband. For various reasons it had not come about, and the man had married the other woman. She decided to take revenge. To that end, she pretended to be her friend, and whenever the woman’s days of purification arrived, she would slaughter a chicken or a dove and stain the woman’s clothes with its blood. To continue: The Alter Rebbe remained in the region of Podolia and Volhynia throughout the summer of 5537. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk were deeply distressed that the Alter Rebbe had come to Mohilev with his entire family, and urged him to remain in the country. The Alter Rebbe spent about three weeks in Mohilev with Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk. During that time, several young men who studied under the Alter Rebbe came there,

08:23 and they found favor in the eyes of our teachers Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi—when Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk heard the young men’s pleas and entreaties that the Alter Rebbe not leave them, they told the Alter Rebbe that he was not permitted to leave the country. They reminded him of what the Maggid of Mezritch had said about him and assured him that he would succeed. The elder chassidim related that for an entire week before Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk departed from Mohilev for our Holy Land, the Alter Rebbe spoke privately with Rabbi Menachem Mendel for many hours each day. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel, Rabbi Avraham and those accompanying them left for our Holy Land, the Alter Rebbe spent about two weeks in seclusion. Afterward, it became known that the Alter Rebbe was returning to Lithuania. His learned and righteous brothers, hearing that he had decided to return to Lithuania, went back to Liozna with their families. It was not clear, however, where the Alter Rebbe himself would live. There were several possibilities and conjectures. First, he might return to Liozna, since he had often praised the town: from the day he came to live there, its people had complied with his wishes in all matters of tzedakah and upright conduct. A second possibility was that Rabbi Menachem Mendel had asked the Alter Rebbe to settle in his place in Horodok. A third was that Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk had asked him to settle in his place in Kalisk. And a fourth possibility was that, for the sake of spreading the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid, the Alter Rebbe would establish his home in one of the larger cities, such as Minsk or Shklov, or somewhere nearby. The people of Liozna were simple people, but they feared Hashem and cherished Torah scholars. They had seen the good influence that the young men studying with the Alter Rebbe had on their community, and they were very worried that the Alter Rebbe would not

11:10 return. When they heard that the Alter Rebbe, his three brothers and their families, and many of the young married men and students of the chadarim were leaving the town, the seven community leaders called a large meeting in Liozna to consider how to keep the town’s Torah institutions going. They decided, first, that the homes of the Alter Rebbe, his three brothers and their families would be entrusted to the community until it became clear whether they would return. Second, the community would provide food, drink and lodging for all the young married men and students of the chadarim who remained in Liozna for a full year. Third, the townspeople would undertake to support about fifty new students who would come to Liozna to study under the guidance of the young married men and students of the chadarim. When the Alter Rebbe saw how much effort the people of Liozna were making to support Torah scholars, and their strong, heartfelt desire to take G-d-fearing young men who were chassidim and scholars as husbands for their daughters, he instructed the students of the chadarim and the young married men who remained in Liozna to fulfill the community’s request and study with the newcomers. He also set a study schedule for them. The chossid Rabbi Mendel Yitzchak, a shochet and bodek from Vitebsk, related what he had heard from his grandfather, who was connected to the Alter Rebbe. At the time when the Alter Rebbe, his three brothers and their families left Liozna, accompanied by about thirty students of the chadarim, all the townspeople, he said, gathered in the courtyard of the large beis midrash. They set up the bimah in the courtyard and waited for the Alter Rebbe, who had said that he wished to receive a farewell blessing from all the townspeople and bless them before leaving. The Alter Rebbe then went up to the bimah, spoke briefly, and blessed the entire community of Liozna. He instructed them to support Torah scholars and hold them dear, and told them they would merit sons and sons-in-law who were rabbis. The Liozna community’s decision to provide food and lodging for about fifty Torah students soon became known, and before long a considerable number of young men came to Liozna from the surrounding area. The students of the chadarim who remained in Liozna

14:04 carried out the Alter Rebbe’s instruction with great dedication, looking after the welfare of the young men who had come to study and keeping a watchful eye on them. The residents of Liozna found at least some comfort after the Alter Rebbe and his family left the town. Now, when the Alter Rebbe decided not to travel to the Holy Land and his brothers returned to Liozna, they found the group of young married men and students of the chadarim diligently pursuing their studies and avodah according to the schedule the Alter Rebbe had set for them. The brothers were deeply impressed by the students’ diligence and their devotion to their teachers and mentors. When the residents of Liozna heard that the Alter Rebbe was returning to the land of Lithuania, and word spread that Rabbi Menachem Mendel had asked him to settle in Horodok while Rabbi Avraham had suggested Kalisk, all the people of Liozna called a large meeting. The seven community leaders announced that the entire community would take part. The Alter Rebbe’s three brothers attended as well and reported that, when they left Mogilev, their brother the Alter Rebbe had decided to return to the land of Lithuania. He had not yet decided which town to settle in, but since he would be returning in the winter, he would first come to Liozna, where he had a home, and afterward decide where to settle. The meeting erupted in joy at the good news that the Alter Rebbe would come to Liozna. At the same time, they were very concerned that he might choose somewhere else to live. They therefore decided, first, to send a delegation to greet the Alter Rebbe and ask him to make his home in Liozna once again. Second, they would commit themselves to providing another hundred young married men with lodging and essential food throughout the year. Third, they would support thirty visitors coming for Shabbos for three days each week—on Erev Shabbos, Shabbos itself and Sunday; fifty visitors on Shabbos Mevarchim; fifty visitors on each of the festivals; and five hundred people

16:35 throughout the month of Tishrei.