Chapter 189 - The Alter Rebbe's Interrogation in Petersburg

00:01 The continuation of the story of the Alter Rebbe’s arrest. When the Alter Rebbe was arrested, he was brought into a hall. Many male and female officials were sitting there. The Alter Rebbe entered wearing a long coat, with his tallis and tefillin under his arm. When the officials heard that a rebel against the monarchy had been brought in, they were astonished. Was a man like this a rebel against the monarchy? The Alter Rebbe paid no attention to anything. He faced east, placed his tallis on his shoulder, checked its tzitzis, and then put on his tallis and tefillin. When he put on the head tefillin, the Alter Rebbe adjusted it with his hands so that it would rest in the right place on his head. Of all those present in the hall, whoever was sitting could not stand up, and whoever was standing could not sit down. Of this it is said, “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of Hashem is called upon you, and they shall fear you.” Our Sages say that this refers to the tefillin of the head. Even the writing implements in their hands trembled. This account was told by one of the grandchildren of the non-Jewish investigator to the chossid Reb Dovid Kovakov [?]. Reb Dovid Kovakov [?] told it to the Tzemach Tzedek [?]. The Tzemach Tzedek [?] said of it, “Take note of what a Jew has the power to accomplish.” When the Alter Rebbe was brought before the judges, their first question was whether he was one of the Baal Shem Tov’s followers. The Alter Rebbe related that if he had told them he was not, they would have released him from custody immediately. But the Alter Rebbe did not want to separate himself from the Baal Shem Tov, even for the briefest moment and even merely in speech, so he told them that he was indeed one of the Baal Shem Tov’s followers. They then asked him twenty-two questions. The questions concerned the text of the prayers that he had changed, the polished knives he had introduced, and the fact that he led the chassidim to pray at length, supposedly taking them away from Torah study. They also asked about his practice of delivering

02:51 teachings of Chassidus openly and revealing the Torah’s secrets to everyone. They asked, too, about his discourses, which explain that the attribute of malchus is the last attribute and is called “earth,” claiming that this demeaned the monarchy. They also asked about the Alter Rebbe’s custom of saying “hop, hop, hop” in the middle of prayer, as the Baal Shem Tov had done. The informers interpreted this to mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu should pour out His wrath upon the government. Another question was whether he was sending bribes to the Turkish sultan because he wished to rebel against the monarchy, G-d forbid. There were other questions as well. Their final question concerned what is written at the end of chapter 1 of Tanya: that the vital soul of a Jew comes from kelipas nogah, which also contains good, whereas the souls of the nations and the animals of the world come from the other impure kelipos, which contain no good at all. The Alter Rebbe answered the judges’ questions one by one. He spoke throughout with humility. He did not set out to revile or disparage those who opposed him; he simply showed the basis for both sides. Asked why chassidim pray at length and thereby take time away from Torah study, the Alter Rebbe told them: “Some souls are more suited to Torah study, and some souls are more suited to the service of prayer. We see this in the Gemara as well. There were many whose Torah study was their occupation and who would not interrupt it to pray. They would pray once every thirty days, and even then they would pray very briefly. They were also very brief in the Shema they recited each day, as it says, ‘He passed his hand over his two eyes, and that was the Shema of Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi.’ They devoted more time to Torah study. By contrast, we find many who prayed at length, as it says that the early chassidim would spend nine hours a day on their prayers. The question then arises: When was their Torah study accomplished? Rather, because they were chassidim, their Torah was preserved. Of Rabbi Akiva we see that a person would

05:48 leave him in one corner of the house and find him in another. Our Sages also said, ‘If only a person would pray all day.’ In our own time, too,” the Alter Rebbe told them, “those drawn to the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu have souls more suited to Torah study, while those drawn to the Baal Shem Tov and his students have souls more suited to prayer.” The question about “hop, hop, hop” caused the Alter Rebbe great pain, because he had to reveal the Baal Shem Tov’s intention and explain his ways before the non-Jewish officials. The Alter Rebbe could have put them off with various answers, but he did not want to separate himself from even a single gesture of the Baal Shem Tov—not for a moment, and not even in appearance. It is known that the last twelve days of the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment were the hardest for him, because during those days they asked him many questions about what a Jew is, what Hakadosh Boruch Hu is, what the connection is between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jews, and so on. These questions pained the Alter Rebbe very, very much, but he answered them well, in a way that even the non-Jewish officials could understand. One question concerned the verse in the Book of Shmuel, “Hashem, who made Moshe and Aharon.” The Midrash says, “Moshe and Aharon made Hashem.” It was difficult to explain this idea to the non-Jewish officials. The Alter Rebbe explained to them that the Midrash was interpreting the verse to mean that Hashem endowed Moshe and Aharon with holy powers—with Divine power that ruled over every aspect of the world’s natural order. For example, by raising a hand, water could be turned to blood, along with the other plagues of Egypt as they occurred. With that power, Moshe and Aharon made G-dliness known in the world, showing the world tangibly how Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates and governs it. And that

08:20 is what the Midrash means when it comments on the verse, “Hashem, who made Moshe and Aharon”: the very power that Hashem gave them enabled Moshe and Aharon to reveal G-dliness in the world. When they came to the question of why the Alter Rebbe said in his discourses that malchus is last, supposedly demeaning the monarchy, the Alter Rebbe told them that the matter required a lengthy explanation and that he would therefore put it in writing. The investigators gave him time, and the Alter Rebbe wrote his answer clearly and thoughtfully in the Holy Tongue. The investigators sent his answer to two translators in Vilna, or at least one of them was in Vilna. When they reached the final question, about Tanya’s statement that the souls of the nations of the world come from the three utterly impure kelipos, the Alter Rebbe did not answer them at all. He remained silent, his face radiant. The investigating officials accepted that silence and radiant face as an answer and asked no more. After the Alter Rebbe was released, he told the chassidim that he had meant to say: “Look, I answered all twenty-one of your other questions properly. You saw that my words were true and correct. If I answer your final question, you will surely find that my words concerning the souls of the nations of the world are also correct. Why do you need to establish that? It is better for this question to remain unanswered.” The Alter Rebbe said that the investigating officials understood his intention perfectly and agreed. When the Alter Rebbe returned home, he delivered a maamar of Chassidus on the words, “Because you did not serve Hashem your G-d with joy and gladness of heart.” He said that joy sweetens harsh judgments, and that he had seen this tangibly in the prison where he had been held, in the Tayni Soviet. Thus the Alter Rebbe answered all the questions with remarkable wisdom, and the investigators took his answers to heart. We will set out some of the questions and answers here. The first question was: What is your name? What is your title?

11:03 Where do you live? The answer was: His name is Shneur Zalman son of Baruch. The title given to him by other Jews is “Rabbi.” Some of them do not recognize him as such. He rules on matters of Jewish law for those who come to him of their own free will. His permanent residence is in the town of Liozna, in the Belarusian province belonging to the landowner Khrapovitsky [?], Oginsky’s son-in-law. Question: According to information received, you are regarded as the head of a Jewish sect that originated in the town of Karlin and is also called “Chassidim.” Give a truthful answer: How does it differ from ordinary Jewish law? The Alter Rebbe’s answer was that he would need to explain this with the help of an interpreter. Question: What is the origin of the chassidim? Who leads them? Who follows him, and from whom did control of them pass to him? The Alter Rebbe’s answer was: No new sect has ever existed or been created. There are different interpretations of the sacred writings; each rabbi, according to his understanding of Jewish law, seeks to arouse devotion and fervor for the holy laws. Just as sages interpreted the word of G-d hundreds of years ago, he himself acquired his learning through holy books.