Episode 195 - 19 Kislev - The Festival of Liberation

00:00 After the great miracle of the Alter Rebbe’s release from his first imprisonment, chassidim began talking about writing a Megillah of 19 Kislev. The chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Aizik of Homel also related: In Tishrei 5562, the chassidim close to the Alter Rebbe had a feeling that there would be news on the coming 19 Kislev. They did not know what kind of news, but they felt there would be news. On Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, the Alter Rebbe was in exceptionally high spirits. In several brief conversations with his sons and a select group of elder chassidim, the Alter Rebbe said that, for certain spiritual reasons, he had not accepted the chassidim’s proposal to establish 19 Kislev, the day of his liberation, as a day of public feasting and rejoicing. He himself had not yet held a thanksgiving meal, although Torah law calls for such a meal, which is a seudas mitzvah. The mitzvah expressed at that meal is Ahavas Yisroel. And our grandfather the Baal Shem Tov said that one must be ready to give one’s life for the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel. The Alter Rebbe then discussed with his brother Rabbi Yehudah Leib the law concerning what someone obligated to give thanks—as one of the four who must give thanks—should do if he did not hold a thanksgiving meal at the proper time. From all these conversations, the chassidim close to him concluded that there would be news on the coming 19 Kislev. Surely, the Alter Rebbe would instruct them to hold a thanksgiving meal and would come to the meal himself. And so, Yitzchak Aizik related, at the beginning of Kislev we gathered the young married men from Homel, Bobruisk and the nearby towns. We collected a sum of money, bought a dozen pairs of felt boots called valenki, and set out on foot, resting from time to time on Azriel’s sled. Along the way, particularly in Rogatchov, Bykhov and Shklov, more people joined us, bringing another two wagons. Thus, eight minyanim of chassidim arrived in Liadi on Thursday of Parshas Vayishlach. The Shabbos of Parshas Vayishlach was one of the most joyous Shabbosim the chassidim had ever experienced. The Alter Rebbe said Chassidus three times over that Shabbos. He delivered the first maamar in the small beis midrash in the courtyard

02:52 on Friday after Minchah, before Kabbalas Shabbos. It is the maamar beginning “Vayishlach Yaakov,” which was also printed in Torah Or. The sections “Vayashuvu Hamalachim” and “Vayomer Yaakov” are one maamar. The Alter Rebbe delivered the second maamar in the small beis midrash in the courtyard early Shabbos morning, when it was still two hours before daybreak. He began with the verse “Vayomer Yehoshua: Be’eiver Hanahar,” and it appears in Torah Or in the maamar “Vayakom Balailah.” The Alter Rebbe delivered the third maamar in the small beis midrash in the courtyard on Shabbos after Minchah. He began it with the verse “Vayikach Min Haba Veyado Minchah Le’eisav Achiv.” The chozrim—the scholars who reviewed and prepared the maamarim—went over these three maamarim many times. Each of them took care to repeat the Alter Rebbe’s words exactly. On the following Sunday and Monday, people began streaming into Liadi from near and far: from Baybor [unclear], Tetrask [unclear], Khotimsk [unclear], Khaslavitch [unclear], Mstislav, Klimovitch, Par [unclear], Potsep [unclear], Dubrovna, Orsha, Kopki [unclear], Tolchin, Borisov, Babinovitch [unclear], Dobromysl [unclear], Lubavitch, Rudnya, Liozna, and many cities and towns in the Vitebsk and Polotsk regions. On Tuesday, 19 Kislev, the large crowd davened in the great shul in the courtyard. The small shul in the courtyard and all the batei midrash in town were also filled with people. The residents of Liadi then announced that, throughout the week until after the following Shabbos, all the guests would be provided for at no charge. And so it was. Liadi’s Jewish residents displayed the fine Jewish quality of hospitality, with great warmth and Ahavas Yisroel. It should be noted that Liadi’s non-Jewish residents also took some part in this hospitality. Many dozens of them made their homes available to guests for whom no sleeping space had been found elsewhere. Exceptional hospitality was shown by the manager of Prince Lubomirski’s estate, a friend of the Jewish people named Jan Chemerinsky [unclear], who informed the Jewish community

05:36 in Liadi that Prince Lubomirski’s estate would send them seventy-five poods of rye flour each day for baking bread—a pood, he explains here, is about sixteen kilograms—as well as three head of cattle, several calves for kosher slaughter, and several sleds of hay and oats for the wagon horses. It was also announced that after Minchah, the entire crowd would gather in the great beis midrash in the courtyard, where the Rebbe would come to deliver a maamar of Chassidus. The great beis midrash and the summer pavilion were packed with people. In the middle of the beis midrash stood a large platform with a table on it. The chossid Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, known as “the Hoarse One” and well known for his powerful, lionlike voice, announced that the Rebbe would arrive at any moment and everyone should be quiet. Shmuel Eliyahu’s voice made our knees tremble. Immediately, a group of broad-shouldered young men came out and, using their arms and legs, cleared a wide path within moments for the Rebbe, his sons and his brothers. When the Alter Rebbe appeared in the doorway, we were overcome with awe and a profound sense of reverence. Then we heard the Alter Rebbe’s voice singing the familiar melody to the words “Tze’enah Ure’enah.” The Rebbe entered, accompanied by his esteemed brother Maharil on his right and his esteemed brother Rabbi Mordechai on his left. In the second row walked his esteemed brother Rabbi Moshe with two of the well-known elders. In the third row walked his esteemed sons: the Mitteler Rebbe, with Rabbi Chaim Avraham on his right and Rabbi Moshe on his left. The Tzemach Tzedek walked last. When they reached the steps of the platform, the Alter Rebbe sang the familiar melody to the words “Keili Atah Ve’odeka, Elokai Aromemeka.” The Alter Rebbe sat down beside the table on the platform, and all those accompanying him sat around it. The Rebbe sang the familiar niggun, and the inner fervor grew from moment to moment, while the silence inspired a deep sense of awe. The Alter Rebbe delivered a maamar of Chassidus beginning with the verse “Padah Veshalom Nafshi.” It is the maamar “Vayei’avek Ish Imo,” found in Torah Or.

08:40 When the Alter Rebbe finished delivering the maamar, the chossid Naftali Sander began singing a familiar, joyous chassidic niggun. The chossid Reb Shmuel Eliyahu, known as “the Hoarse One” [unclear], announced that the entire crowd should join in the singing, but in an orderly fashion. A table had been set for a thanksgiving meal in the Rebbe’s room for yechidus. The Rebbe, his brothers and sons, and a select group of elder chassidim who had merited to be there attended. Now, what was said during the meal? After many requests and assurances, Rabbi Moshe, the Alter Rebbe’s youngest son, told a small group of us what the Alter Rebbe had said at the thanksgiving meal. We kept what we heard from Rabbi Moshe in strict confidence, as agreed. I will tell you just one saying concerning the conduct of chassidim, said the chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Aizik of Homel. The Alter Rebbe said: “I received from our grandfather and teacher, the Baal Shem Tov, that folly—not only a spirit of folly, but what people call being foolish—as well as sadness and a sense of one’s own importance, are considered by chassidim to be Torah transgressions. Wisdom—what people call being wise—joy, achieved by finding the good in everything that brings joy, and alacrity tempered with deliberation are considered by chassidim to be Torah mitzvos.” Concerning participation in the celebration of 19 Kislev, in the Alter Rebbe’s joy, the Frierdiker Rebbe related in 5699 that the Alter Rebbe said he would bring anyone who participated in his joy “from constraint to expansiveness, from the material to the spiritual, or out of Gehinnom.” He explained the three versions. “From constraint to expansiveness” means from the world of Beriah to the world of Atzilus. “No evil will dwell with You” is said of the world of Atzilus, which is above the order of hishtalshelus, whereas the world of Beriah is the beginning of hishtalshelus. “From the material to the spiritual” means from the world of Yetzirah to the world of Beriah. The world of Beriah is only the possibility of existence, not actual existence, and is therefore called spiritual. The world of Yetzirah is actual existence and is therefore called material. And the third version that the Alter Rebbe

11:45 “He will take him out of Gehinnom.” The Frierdiker Rebbe says this, apparently in the name of his father, the Rebbe Rashab. This world, the world of Asiyah, is Gehinnom. Why? Because a poor man is so preoccupied with today that he does not know how things will turn out in the end. “And anyone who takes part in the Alter Rebbe’s joy, the Alter Rebbe will take him out of Gehinnom”—out of the physical and out of confinement, into expansiveness... The Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, adds that even someone on the lowest level of the world of Asiyah, like a poor man preoccupied with today, without knowing or thinking about what tomorrow will bring—even such a Jew has the power to leave Gehinnom and reach the expansiveness of the world of Atzilus. Atzilus means being near and close to Him, where “He and His life-force and His vessels are one,” and a person unites the innermost dimension of his soul with the innermost dimension of the Infinite. Likewise, when drawing down from above to below, the intrinsic expansiveness of Atzilus can be drawn into this world too. As explained in Likkutei Torah, the world of Atzilus is present here in this world as well. It brings proof from Moshe Rabbeinu: on the one hand, he was in this world, standing beside Pharaoh; at the same time, he was actually in the world of Atzilus. The ultimate purpose is for the expansiveness of Atzilus to be drawn down into this world, specifically into physical matters. As the Baal Shem Tov says about the verse, “You shall surely help him,” the ultimate intent is for the loftiest matters to be drawn down into this physical world. Even if, given a person’s standing and situation, he is at the lowest point, in Gehinnom, and leaving it and rising from level to level until he reaches expansiveness should take many years—that is only the usual order. But the expansiveness of Atzilus is beyond time, since time begins in Malchus of Atzilus. Beyond the limitations of time, one can go in a single hour, in a single moment, from the lowest depths to intrinsic expansiveness. How is this done? By taking part in the Alter Rebbe’s joy. When a person makes the study of Chassidus a deep-rooted commitment and follows its customs and guidance,

14:36 the Alter Rebbe promises him that in a single hour, in a single moment, he will take him into intrinsic expansiveness.