Chapter 162: Rabbi Baruch Mordechai Tells the Gaon of Vilna About the Alter Rebbe's Responses

00:01 Rabbi Baruch Mordechai continues his account of his first visit to the Alter Rebbe. They are now on their way home. “Although we traveled in a large group of about six minyanim, including many young men who were great scholars and older chassidim who had been taught by the righteous Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok and the righteous Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk, and who had also been with the Maggid of Mezitch, each of us walked with a broken heart. They reviewed the teachings and told stories, and in every village and town we passed through, people welcomed us with joy and affection. Yet we were grieving over our parting from the fountain of Torah, both its revealed and hidden dimensions, that we had found with the Alter Rebbe. From place to place our group dwindled, and by the time we reached Shvintzian, five of us remained: three from Shvintzian and two from Vilna. A few kilometers before Shvintzian, the two of us from Vilna had to part from our companions from Shvintzian. There was already an openly established community of chassidim there, and the three men, though they were merchants, were also well known as chassidim. We had to separate from them so that no suspicion would fall on us Vilna residents, who were not known as chassidim. When I returned home,” Rabbi Baruch Mordechai relates, “I felt a powerful longing for the Alter Rebbe, for the three great scholars, and for the holy fellowship around the Rebbe. I poured that longing into diligent study of the revealed Torah and of the maamarim of Chassidus I had brought with me. I was so devoted to studying the revealed Torah and delving into the maamarim that I often missed teaching my classes at the yeshiva, which provided me with a generous and honorable livelihood. My brother-in-law Rabbi Avigdor, who was also one of the yeshiva heads, though in a lower division of the same yeshiva, rebuked me severely for neglecting Torah study with the public and for the concern that I was ‘doing Hashem’s work deceitfully.’ But for some time I could find no peace, and only diligent, sustained study gave me satisfaction. My brother-in-law Shlomo knew about the two questions and what the Gaon of Vilna had said about them. We often discussed them and searched for approaches and arguments, hoping that perhaps

03:08 we might find answers to the questions. After I visited the Alter Rebbe and received the true, correct answers, I felt that, in fairness, I should tell my brother-in-law. To my regret, I could not do so, because when I returned from the Alter Rebbe, my brother-in-law was not at home. He had gone off into self-imposed exile. Several months passed before he returned home. I told him the answers to my questions, and he was tremendously impressed. He insisted that the two of us go to the Gaon of Vilna and hear his opinion. I agreed, and we went together. As soon as we began speaking about one of the two matters, the Gaon remembered them both. He briefly recounted both questions and what he had thought to say in answer. He also said that he had considered them several times since then but had still not found a satisfactory answer. When I related the answers to both questions, the Gaon became deeply moved. Though he was seated wearing his tallis and tefillin, he rose to his full height and said these words: ‘Only the head of the heavenly academy could give answers like these. If a great scholar or tzaddik said them, he knows them through ruach hakodesh. Had I heard these words from the great tzaddik himself, I would have said as Rabbi Yochanan said: I would carry his things after him to the bathhouse.’ My brother-in-law Rabbi Shlomo said, ‘Rabbi Mordechai does not want to say who the great tzaddik is who gave him these answers.’ Rabbi Eliyahu, the Gaon of Vilna, looked at me intently and said nothing. Later,” Rabbi Baruch Mordechai relates, “I deeply regretted not telling the Gaon then that the Alter Rebbe, ‘the leader of the chassidim,’ as he was called at the time, had answered my two questions. Perhaps it would have brought us closer in understanding, and we would not have reached such errors on the part of the great Torah scholars who opposed Chassidus. Later, when

05:47 the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu decreed that the Tanya should be burned, I was already publicly known as someone belonging to the chassidim, yet I still visited the Gaon often. I told him then that I had heard the answers to my difficult questions from the Alter Rebbe, and I reminded him of what he had said, quoting Rabbi Yochanan. But the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu did not accept it. He said that under Torah law my testimony was not credible, because I had a personal stake in the matter.” Later, in 5562 or at the end of 5561, the leaders of the Bobruisk community decided that they wanted the great chassidic scholar Rabbi Baruch Mordechai to serve as their rabbi. Rabbi Baruch Mordechai moved from Vilna to Bobruisk, and within a short time he earned an excellent reputation among rabbis, including the great scholars of Shklov, Slutsk, and Minsk. When Rabbi Baruch Mordechai left Vilna, dozens of chassidic families left with him and settled in Bobruisk. Among the chassidim in Vilna at the time was a man named Chaim Zelig. He was a scholar who studied Chassidus. He earned his living by hiring out wagons and drivers to people, much like taxis today. One of his drivers was a simple young man named Zalman Leib. Zalman Leib’s father had been a learned Jew, but he died when Zalman Leib was young. Zalman Leib wandered without education or guidance until a chassidic teacher named Yaakov Shlomo took him on to escort the chassidim’s children to and from cheder. Though he was a very simple Jew, Zalman Leib had great fear of Heaven and a sincere heart, and he struggled to learn whatever he could. Since he could not understand Hebrew, he studied whatever he could from holy books in Yiddish. Zalman Leib once heard that one of the halachic authorities writes that a person must review the weekly parsha, saying each verse twice and its

08:41 Targum once. But someone who fears Heaven and is meticulous in observing mitzvos should also study Rashi’s commentary; if he does not understand Hebrew, he should study the Tze’enah Ure’enah. From then on, Zalman Leib would review the parsha, reading the text twice and the Targum once, and would also study the Tze’enah Ure’enah in Yiddish. After Zalman Leib married, he became a driver for Chaim Zelig, and in Vilna people called him “Zalman Leib the Whipper.” Over several years, Zalman Leib became accustomed to the life of the chassidic community in Vilna. He davened in the chassidic nusach and followed the ways of Chassidus. Despite the hardships of earning a living, he kept to a chassidic routine. Simple as Zalman Leib was, he poured out his soul in davening in a special way. By nature he cried easily and had a broken heart, and he was especially distressed by his lack of learning. With all his soul, he longed to know Torah. He had a pleasant voice, and anyone who heard him daven was shaken to the depths of his soul. The opponents of Chassidus, however, would say dismissively, “Ah, the chossid Zalman Leib the Whipper.” When the great chassidic scholar Rabbi Baruch Mordechai, accompanied by dozens of families, left Vilna and settled in Bobruisk, Zalman Leib and his family went with them. At Rabbi Baruch Mordechai’s suggestion, he gave up driving wagons and began growing vegetables, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu blessed his work abundantly. Zalman Leib was content and happy with his new livelihood. Although he was no longer a young man, he hired a teacher to study with him at a fixed time every day. On days when he was free from work in the garden, he would also spend longer davening. After a long time—presumably several years—it happened that the yeshiva head Rabbi Avigdor, son of the great scholar Rabbi Shmuel and brother-in-law of Rabbi Baruch Mordechai, visited Minsk. Since it had become known that Rabbi Baruch Mordechai belonged to the chassidim, the two brothers, his brothers-in-law, had cut off contact with him. But while Avigdor was

11:26 in Minsk, he heard how highly the great scholars of Minsk regarded his brother-in-law Rabbi Baruch Mordechai. Rabbi Avigdor sent word to him that he would like to come to Bobruisk and meet him. Rabbi Baruch Mordechai, who was by nature easygoing and peace-loving, was very pleased to hear this. He immediately convened a meeting of the seven community leaders, the city’s great scholars, and its dignitaries. They decided to send a special delegation of Torah scholars to greet Rabbi Avigdor in a town along the road and to arrange a grand welcome for him in one of Bobruisk’s large shuls, where the distinguished guest would deliver a Torah teaching.