Chapter 190 - Events During the Alter Rebbe's Imprisonment

00:00 We continue with the story of the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment. It is told that the Alter Rebbe was held in the cells reserved for rebels against the monarchy. The Maggid of Mezritch and the Baal Shem Tov visited him there. They came to him from the World of Truth. The Alter Rebbe asked them, “Why is this happening to me? What do they want from me? What is my crime, and what is my sin?” The Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid told him, “The accusation against you in Heaven has grown stronger because you teach so much Chassidus, and do so openly.” “If so,” the Alter Rebbe asked them, “when I leave here, should I stop teaching Chassidus?” The Maggid and the Baal Shem Tov told him, “Since you have begun, do not stop. On the contrary, when you leave prison, you should teach even more.” And that is what happened. After his release, the Alter Rebbe devoted more time to teaching Chassidus. The maamarim were longer, and the explanations were much broader and understandable even to ordinary people. The Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, explains this further: Before the imprisonment, the Alter Rebbe’s teaching of Chassidus was especially powerful in terms of the G-dly light he revealed. But after the imprisonment, that immense G-dly light was clothed more fully in explanations—broad explanations and concepts that people could understand and use in their daily lives. In fact, the Alter Rebbe was imprisoned because of the accusation in Heaven. When that accusation was nullified, the Alter Rebbe was released. His release was on 19 Kislev, and since then, 19 Kislev has been a day of celebration for the entire Jewish people, and a day marking the victory of the approach of Chassidus over those who opposed it. At the end of their visit to the Alter Rebbe’s cell, the Baal Shem Tov asked him to deliver a discourse, a maamar of Chassidus. The Alter Rebbe recited before them a maamar beginning with the words “Their appearance and their deeds.” The Baal Shem Tov said to the Maggid, “Look, it is true: he says it letter for letter, just as you

03:08 received it from me.” Then they told the Alter Rebbe, “When they bring you to trial, answer all their questions, with Hashem’s help. You will see that your answers will be favorably received, and you will go free.” They blessed him and went on their way. Regarding this visit by the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid to the Alter Rebbe during his imprisonment, the Rebbe shlita said that my revered father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, once visited the Alter Rebbe’s prison cell, many years later, of course. When he returned, his father, the Rebbe Rashab, asked him, “Did you see whether there is room in that cell for three people?” The implication of that question is that although the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid came from the World of Truth, they appeared to him clothed in physical bodies. The revelation of a soul clothed in a physical body is greater than the revelation of a soul without a body. On that occasion, the Rebbe shlita also explained the reason for the imprisonment itself and for the accusation in Heaven. The Rebbe explains that, regarding the secrets of the Torah, there are two approaches in Judaism. One approach holds that such profound secrets belong only to a select few who are on a very high spiritual level. That is one approach. There is another, different approach—the Alter Rebbe’s approach—which holds that Chassidus and the profound secrets of the Torah belong to every Jewish man and woman in the world, and that everyone can study and understand Chassidus. That was the Alter Rebbe’s victory: his approach prevailed. This is the whole significance of 19 Kislev, the Alter Rebbe’s release. They did not merely prevail over the Russian government; the victory was in Heaven as well. The Alter Rebbe’s approach of revealing the secrets of the Torah to the entire Jewish people was accepted in Heaven too, and became the accepted approach and established ruling: the teachings of Chassidus belong to every Jewish man and woman. Since that is so, a person today cannot

06:11 come and say, “I don’t want to study Chassidus.” Since it has already become part of Torah study for everyone, each person is obligated to study the teachings of Chassidus as well. Let us continue with what was happening around the time of the imprisonment. The Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment took a heavy toll on the health of his family: the Rebbetzin, his sons, his daughters, and his grandson Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzedek, who was nine years old at the time. Without regard for their physical condition, they fasted every day and recited Tehillim together, and they visited the cemetery, going to the grave of the Alter Rebbe’s daughter Devorah Leah. Here I am reading a note that says the Tzemach Tzedek related that every day, ten of them would go to his mother’s grave to recite all of Tehillim. They would also read a text written by the Mitteler Rebbe, recounting the story of the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment. It ended: “And we, the beis din, decree upon you that you make our distress known to our teacher and Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, and to our teacher and Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, so that they will pray that the imprisonment leave no effect on the Alter Rebbe’s health, and that he emerge successfully and succeed in everything.” The grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivkah—we remember that she was the daughter of Rabbi Avraham the gardener and the Alter Rebbe’s mother—was herself extremely weak. Nevertheless, she strengthened everyone’s spirits with her firm resolve, her calm demeanor, and her clear mind. On Shabbos Parshas Vayishlach, the Alter Rebbe’s son, the Mitteler Rebbe, fainted twice from weakness and distress. His grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivkah, told him: “I swear on my life that it is just as my father told me...” My father—that is, her father, as we have already related, Rabbi Avraham the gardener, right? He was Rabbi Baruch’s father-in-law. Remember all those stories? In any case, she swore that his father would be released from prison that week. But the most distressed of all was

09:15 Reb Moishe, the Alter Rebbe’s youngest son. He insisted that they let him travel to Petersburg, because he was certain that with his just arguments, he would succeed in getting his father out of prison. Here, in a note, the Rebbe writes that when Moishe was about sixteen, around the year 5557—1797—Reb Moishe Meisels, a chossid from Vilna, came to Liozna as usual. The Alter Rebbe kept him there for several months to teach his son Reb Moishe Russian and French. Because Reb Moishe was exceptionally gifted, he learned well and quickly. He also diligently read the books needed to improve his command of the languages. He was therefore sure that with his eloquence and force of conviction, he would win his case and free his father. He would say, “I would find my way even to the emperor himself, and I would defeat all the accusers.” But the Alter Rebbe had given a firm instruction that no member of his household was to come to Petersburg apart from his brother-in-law, Reb Yisroel Kazik[?], whom we have already heard about. The chassidim were not to travel there either, except for those whom the members of the special committee had permitted to go to Petersburg to help establish the truth. Here, in a note below, the Rebbe writes the following: “When the Alter Rebbe was released from prison, he said: ‘There are ten of my students whom I was afraid might all find themselves in Petersburg together.’ Among the ten, he named Reb Mich’le Optzker[?], saying that through their holy service they would have burned the cannons of the Soviet, whereas Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s intention is not destruction, but correction and refinement.” [unclear] Let us continue. Following the Alter Rebbe’s instructions, they sent a special emissary to Vilna. Remember the story with the watermelon? When he arrived in Vilna, he disguised himself as one of the opponents of Chassidus. He would sit in the beis midrash and study, listening to everything they said, until he learned that a letter from the Alter Rebbe had been sent to the translator in Vilna to be translated. Then the emissary understood why he

12:09 was sent. He went to the translator and pleaded with him for his own life, for the life of the Alter Rebbe, and for the lives of the chassidim. He asked him to translate the letter exactly as it was, in keeping with the Alter Rebbe’s intent, without adding or omitting anything. The translator said to him, “Why do you need to ask me? I am obligated to do that, and I have sworn to do so. Besides, it was also sent to another translator, so we must translate it truthfully for the two translations to match. And third, even if I wanted to change it, I couldn’t. The Alter Rebbe wrote every word with such precision that there is no way to alter its true meaning.” The emissary told him, “The Rebbe is a man of G-d, and since he sent me here, there must be a reason. So whatever happens to me, I will not move from here until I hear your solemn promise that you will translate only the truth, as the Alter Rebbe intended. Then I will be sure that is what will happen.” The translator solemnly promised to do just that and to translate according to the intended meaning. He also told him that the opponents had already come to him and asked him to translate it differently, to serve their purposes. But he had firmly refused, because he loved the truth, and had told them to return the next day at twelve noon. He said to the emissary, “Come here tomorrow, and I’ll hide you in a side room so you can hear what I say to the opponents.” The next day, the emissary came to the translator at eleven. For a full hour he told the translator about the Alter Rebbe’s greatness, his refinement, and his piety. Then the translator looked out the window and said, “Quick, go into the other room. Here come the informers—that is, the opponents.” The emissary went into the other room, and the translator closed the door. Standing there, he heard some of the informers come in and tell the translator that they had brought

14:47 him three thousand rubles for this mitzvah he would perform—that is, the mitzvah of “you shall remove the evil from your midst.” They told him that the money was only the fruits of the mitzvah, while its principal would remain for the World to Come. “So,” they said, “acquire a great share in the World to Come by helping to get rid of enemies of the Jewish people like the Alter Rebbe. You must therefore change the wording according to what we tell you.” “How can I do that?” the translator asked. “It was sent to another translator as well. When it becomes clear that I changed the intended meaning, I’ll be put to shame.” “That doesn’t matter,” the informers told him. “The Holy Tongue has many possible meanings, and since you are the chief translator, they will believe you more than the other translator. So we beg you: accept the three thousand rubles and do the translation at once. We’ll wait until you finish so we can see it with our own eyes.” “I won’t take a penny from you,” he told them, “but I will translate it as you ask. I hope to finish the work tomorrow. You can send a representative to me then, and I’ll show him the translation. You’ll be pleased to see that I translated it as you wished, and in even stronger terms.” The informers left his house happy and in good spirits. The translator opened the door to the other room. The emissary came out, distraught, and began to cry. In his anguish, he begged the translator to have mercy on the Alter Rebbe, his wife, his sons, his friends, his students, and his chassidim—especially since all they were asking of him was to make a correct and truthful translation. The translator comforted him and said, “Don’t be afraid. Nothing will come of my promise to them; I made my promise to you. Think about it,” the translator said. “If I intended to do the opposite of what I promised you, I would not have told you to come here today. And as for the World to Come they promised me—well, well, I believe that the merit of saving the lives of the Rebbe and those with him will earn me

16:50 a greater share in the World to Come than what they promised me. But I had to make them a promise so they would leave me alone. This is what I will do: I’ll make two copies. One will follow their interpretation, for me to show them, but I won’t send it. The other will be a faithful translation of the rabbi’s intent, and I’ll send that one to Petersburg. So you can be sure of it, you will see the true translation with your own eyes, and I’ll mail it in your presence. You can even go with the messenger yourself and watch him send it.” The next day, the translator did indeed show the Alter Rebbe’s emissary the true translation, along with the opinion he had added: that in his view, the Alter Rebbe was guilty of no wrongdoing. On the contrary, he was a patriot deserving of the government’s respect, for he taught his chassidim to be loyal to the czar and the government. He placed the true translation in a sealed envelope. The emissary went into the translator’s office as he was setting out for the post office to send the letter, and afterward returned to thank him. The emissary remained in Vilna and reported everything he heard and saw among the opponents. Then one day he heard people saying that, from what they had heard, the opponents’ hopes had been dashed, for the Alter Rebbe would soon be freed. He left Vilna and traveled home with joy and gladness that Hashem had made his mission successful. The ministers of the government questioned the Alter Rebbe, and he answered all their questions, as we have recounted. The questions and answers were recorded and sent to the Senate for review. The proceedings there also went well, for everyone saw in the Alter Rebbe’s answers his extraordinary wisdom and the purity of his heart, loyal to Hashem, to his monarch, and to his country. The chassidim learned of this through the wealthy Rabbi Mordechai Melpeli[?], who was being held among the prisoners; they told him everything that was happening. On Friday, Erev Shabbos Kodesh, 15 Kislev, the chassidim learned for certain that all the deliberations in the Senate had concluded and that the final judgment had been set for

19:08 four days later. They were certain he would be found innocent and released from prison. Their joy grew greatly, and they waited eagerly for the day of deliverance. On Tuesday, 19 Kislev 5559, 1799, the verdict in the Alter Rebbe’s case was issued: he was innocent of any crime, and the ruling ordered his release.