Chapter 168 - How the Niggun Opens the Channels of Thought, the Alter Rebbe in Shklov

00:01 The continuation of the Alter Rebbe’s work in spreading the teachings of Chassidus. In the early years of his travels, the Alter Rebbe would say short maamarim. Once he said a maamar on a Mishnah in Tractate Shabbos that discusses which animals may go out into the public domain and what they may wear. It says, “All animals that wear a shir”—a shir is a kind of rope tied around an animal’s neck—“may go out with the shir and be led by the shir.” In other words, they may go out into the public domain with that rope around their necks, and they may also be led by it. The Alter Rebbe said that this refers to souls and angels, who are “those that wear a shir.” They go out with a shir and are drawn along by a shir. For shir also means a melody. Angels and souls leave their present state and ascend to higher levels through melody, through song. Their ascent and the drawing down that follows are through melody and song. Now, in those days there were only a small number of the Rebbe’s chassidim in Shklov. A chossid traveling from Liozna passed through Shklov and repeated the Alter Rebbe’s teaching on that Mishnah, “All animals that wear a shir,” which the Alter Rebbe had said with great dveikus. But the chassidim in Shklov were deeply distressed, because they knew the opponents of Chassidus would have something to talk about. They would come and argue that the Mishnah was speaking about animals. Why bring souls and angels into it? And that is exactly what happened. There was a great uproar among the Torah scholars of Shklov, and word spread throughout the region. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu willed it that, some time later, the Alter Rebbe himself passed through Shklov. By then, the people of Shklov knew that the Alter Rebbe was an extraordinary Torah scholar, so all the scholars gathered to put their questions to him. But

02:26 the Rebbe did not answer any of them, and it was decided to hold a large gathering in the main beis midrash, invite the Alter Rebbe to say Torah, and have him resolve their questions. The Alter Rebbe accepted their invitation. He came to the beis midrash and went up to the bimah. Before anyone even had a chance to ask a question, he said, “Should I say Torah to resolve the questions you have? I will sing a melody. The Mishnah says, ‘All those that wear a shir’—souls and angels—‘go out with a shir and are drawn along by a shir.’ That is, their ascent is through song and melody.” And the Alter Rebbe began to sing with great dveikus. Silence fell over the beis midrash. Everyone was immersed in thought, so deeply that for an hour they were unaware of where they were. As the Alter Rebbe sang, every question and difficulty the scholars of Shklov had was resolved for them. Through that melody of dveikus, the Alter Rebbe opened the channels of the wellsprings of wisdom and opened the minds and intellects of the scholars of Shklov. He raised them to a higher level, and so, without their asking, all their questions were answered. At the time, the brilliant scholar Rabbi Yosef Kolbo was already close to the Rebbe, but he had not yet become a chossid. He was at a crossroads and had not made up his mind. This melody of dveikus, which the chassidim of Shklov called “the melody of Matan Torah,” did much to help Rabbi Yosef Kolbo decide to become a chossid. And listen to what happened. Rabbi Yosef Kolbo had four extremely difficult questions. He had labored for many months to resolve them and had put them to the scholars of Vilna and Slutsk, but no one had been able to answer them for him. Yet while the Alter Rebbe sang his melody of dveikus, all four questions were resolved for Rabbi Yosef Kolbo. Many years later, Rabbi Yosef Kolbo told the chossid Rabbi

05:14 Avraham Sheines what had happened. He said, “At that moment, when the Alter Rebbe sang the melody and all my difficult questions were resolved, I felt like a little child. That melody of Matan Torah,” Rabbi Yosef Kolbo told Rabbi Avraham Sheines, “helped me greatly in becoming a chossid. I said to myself then: If the Maggid of Liozna can do so much good from the bimah by opening the mind to Torah, how much more good must he do at the prayer lectern by opening the heart to serving the Creator.” Rabbi Avraham Sheines told this story to the Tzemach Tzedek [unclear] in 5564. The Tzemach Tzedek [unclear] wrote a maamar on it, “To Understand the Matter of Cantillation Marks, Vowel Points, Crowns, and Letters.” The Tzemach Tzedek [unclear] explained at length the nature of the letters: the crowns bring the letters to completion, and the vowel points give the letters clarity, conveying the content and subject of what they express. The cantillation marks, however, reveal and draw the intellect’s source—its sublime, primal potential—into conscious understanding. And now another story, one of the central stories in the history of the Alter Rebbe and of Chassidus. It was on a day in Sivan 5545, that is, 1785. A simple wagon stopped near the Alter Rebbe’s home, and two men stepped out. One was somewhat short and elderly; the other was taller and younger. Both spoke with a Polish, Volhynian, Podolian accent, and they asked where to find the home of Reb Zalmena Lipk [unclear], or Zalmenyu Lipk [unclear]. The chossid Rabbi Pinchas Reizes relates that at first they did not understand what the men were saying or whom they were asking for. But the chassidim Reb Simcha Zissel of Horodok, Reb Shmuel of Kalisk, and Reb Shmuel Munkes immediately understood whom they meant and pointed out the Alter Rebbe’s residence. “Reb Zalman Chinens [unclear] and I,” Rabbi Pinchas Reizes relates, “accompanied them and showed them the way. When we brought the guests into the small beis midrash used for yechidus,

08:09 known to the chassidim as Gan Eden Hatachton, Ark’e Esler, Rabbi Aharon of Strashelye, and the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, were sitting there learning. The guests asked again where Reb Zalman Litvak lived. The Alter Rebbe’s son smiled, and just then the Alter Rebbe opened the door of his room. The guests were overjoyed. The Alter Rebbe greeted them, and they entered his room. Rabbi Pinchas Reizes relates: When we returned to the courtyard of the beis midrash, the chassidim Rabbi Shimon Chossid of Horodok and Reb Shmuel of Kalisk told us what they had heard from Rabbi Mendele of Horodok and Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk: when they and the Alter Rebbe were in Mezritch with the Maggid of Mezritch, they called the Alter Rebbe Reb Zalman Yehuda Litvak. The guests remained in the Alter Rebbe’s room for several hours. Moishele, the Alter Rebbe’s young son, came running and told us—little Moishele still could not speak properly—that the Jewish guests were arguing with his father, and his father was saying it was forbidden. Who were the guests? What were they discussing with the Alter Rebbe? No one knew. The young married men, the students in the chederim, and the chassidim who were near the house wanted to know who the guests were and what they wanted. Some of the older young men from Cheder Alef were very agitated. Just then Ark’e Esler came out shouting that Berel, the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, had fainted. Chaim Eliyahu of Druiya, Avraham Zalman of Bishinkovitz, and Reb Nachman Volv of Babinovitz were the first to enter the beis midrash. They found the Alter Rebbe’s son lying on the floor near the door to the Alter Rebbe’s room. Chaim Eliyahu and Avraham Zalman were deeply moved and began shouting, ‘Oy, Rebbe! Oy, Rebbe!’ When we entered the small beis midrash, we found the Alter Rebbe holding his son’s head. His son lay on the couch, pale and with his eyes closed. Outside, a great commotion arose. Everyone sensed that something very important was happening, but

10:52 No one knew what it was about. During Minchah, the guests came out of the Alter Rebbe’s room and remained standing by the door that led into the small beis midrash. When the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, came to, he developed a high fever. Zalman Baruch of Rotshov and I carried him from the small beis midrash to the other half of the Alter Rebbe’s home, where the Rebbetzin and the family were. They laid him on a bed, and he fell asleep. Zalman Baruch stayed to sit beside him. I myself, Rabbi Pinchas Reizes relates, returned to the small beis midrash where yechidus was held. I went over to Arke Asler and asked him whether he had heard anything of the guests’ conversation with the Alter Rebbe, and whether he knew who the guests were. At first, Arke would not tell me anything. I could tell he knew something but did not want to say it. I kept asking, but it did no good. When I pressed him, he began to cry. His tears distressed me greatly. I did not know what to think, and I began pleading with him to tell me what he had heard. But neither my pleas nor my tears helped. I understood then that something momentous had happened. When I saw that nothing was helping, I promised him that I would tell him two or three teachings in Chassidus that I had heard from the Alter Rebbe in yechidus. I could make that promise because I was one of the senior members of Cheder Beis and was very close to the Alter Rebbe. That worked. Arke Asler told me that as soon as the guests entered the Alter Rebbe’s room, he and the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, heard raised voices. They continued studying, though, and did not want to stop. But after several hours, when they could still hear the Alter Rebbe and the guests speaking loudly, they consulted each other and went over to the door to hear what was being said. For a long time, the conversation sounded like a discussion of Torah. Afterward, they began to speak about the matter

13:09 that had brought them there. The guests, Arke related, stated their request very clearly: what a minyan of the Maggid of Mezritch’s senior students, the chevra kadisha, had decided upon. But the Alter Rebbe told them that what they wanted to do was forbidden by the Torah. Apparently, they wanted to place someone under a cherem. The Alter Rebbe said that when someone is placed under a cherem, he is severed from the root of his soul. Once severed from the root of his soul, he could fall into heresy, and that would cause a great chillul Hashem. This was an important Jewish figure; if he fell into heresy and everyone saw it, it would be a chillul Hashem. The eldest of the guests said they had already considered what that could bring about, but the chevra kadisha, the Maggid of Mezritch’s students, had decided not to take it into account. Why? Because the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid themselves were in danger. But the Alter Rebbe told them that Torah law forbade causing such a chillul Hashem. Not only would he not join them, he was utterly and firmly opposed to it. At that, the eldest guest responded with a curse. The Alter Rebbe’s son heard the curse and fainted. When I heard everything Arke had told me, the chossid Pinchas Reizes relates, I was deeply shaken. I went over to the door to hear what they were saying. I could clearly hear them discussing the detailed laws of shamta, nidui and cherem. Just then, Moishele, the Alter Rebbe’s young son, came in. He was very happy and ran around the table in the middle of the small beis midrash where yechidus was held. A moment later, the door to the Alter Rebbe’s room opened. The guests came out, and the Alter Rebbe accompanied them. They stood near the door and continued discussing the details of the laws they had been speaking about earlier. When Moishele saw his father, he went up to him and hugged him, and the Alter Rebbe affectionately placed his holy right hand

15:31 on Moishele’s head. Then the eldest of the guests said to the Alter Rebbe, “Well, Reb Zalmenyu, you don’t want to join us? Think it over carefully once more.” The Alter Rebbe answered them again that the Torah forbade causing such a chillul Hashem. The eldest guest repeated the curse, and they walked quickly toward the door. The Alter Rebbe accompanied the guests to their carriage. All the young married men, the students of the chadarim and the chassidim were greatly astonished by this. Everyone understood that the guests were very important people. Following this, the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, lay ill with a fever for several weeks. Afterward, he remained deeply shaken by the curse he had heard while standing behind the door. Only when the Alter Rebbe told him everything in detail did he calm down.