Episode 197 - The Story of Rabbi Moshe, Son of the Alter Rebbe

00:01 We will now tell the story of the Alter Rebbe’s youngest son, who was called Moshe—or, to us, Rabbi Moshe. When the royal order arrived on Monday, the second day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos, 8 Tishrei 5561—that is, 1801—it said that on Monday, the twenty-fourth of the month, 24 Tishrei, the Alter Rebbe was to travel to the capital in a mail coach at government expense. He could take two people of his choosing, and three officials in civilian clothes would accompany them. Rabbi Moshe, the Alter Rebbe’s youngest son, worked hard to persuade his father to take him along. The Alter Rebbe was very fond of his youngest son and used to say, “By the kindness of Hashem, my son Moshe has talents ten times greater than those of the person after whom he was named”—meaning his grandfather—“and his exceptionally fine memory will never leave him.” During the two months that the Alter Rebbe was under arrest—we are speaking of his second imprisonment, from 28 Tishrei to 27 Kislev 5561, that is, 1801—more than twenty sessions were held to question him. Various educated people took part, many of whom were interested in religious research, Kabbalah, and Jewish history in the days of the Sanhedrin. The sessions took place in one of the rooms in the courtyard of the Tayna Soviet, as we have already related. At each session, a designated scribe recorded the questions and answers in the minutes. The Alter Rebbe sometimes answered, as we said, in the spoken language—that is, Russian—and sometimes in the Holy Tongue. Rabbi Moshe would translate his words—sorry, by “the spoken language” we mean Yiddish—and Rabbi Moshe would translate them into Russian. With the Alter Rebbe’s permission, he would explain his father’s holy words in a fitting way. Rabbi Moshe found favor in the eyes of the ministers because of his handsome appearance, his manners, his measured and orderly speech, and his clear command of the country’s language. They were especially impressed by how well and elegantly he spoke French. Among the ministers conducting the investigation

02:40 and questioning were two priests. They were highly educated in Jewish history during the era of the Talmudic sages, and their questions were mostly about religion. They tried to steer the conversation toward Christian beliefs—as these Christians usually do, you know—in a way that would force the Alter Rebbe to answer negatively, so they could then accuse him of offending their faith. But the Alter Rebbe did not answer such questions. He said that he had not been invited to a religious debate. Rabbi Moshe, however, naturally enjoyed debates, especially about religion, a subject that had begun to interest him some three years earlier. A note here at the bottom says that about ten parsaos from the town of Liozna there was a Catholic monastery headed by an energetic Catholic priest. From time to time he would come to Liozna, and in the summer he would speak in the marketplace. Since then, Rabbi Moshe had been interested in learning about the various branches of Christianity, as well as other faiths, to understand their character. Through the chossid Reb Moshe Meisels, Moshe obtained several books in the Holy Tongue and, lehavdil, in French. He became familiar with the Christians’ arguments and with the refutations of those arguments. So in his private conversations with those priests, he drew on his knowledge and debated both of them. The priests saw that Rabbi Moshe knew their fundamental principles and explained them remarkably well. At the same time, he possessed extensive knowledge with which to refute even their strongest arguments. They then praised him to one of the elder priests, named Zohar Zakhar Kanstedsky[?], who was already ninety years old and devoted himself to study. This elderly priest invited Moshe through the two priests mentioned above. Rabbi Moshe visited him twice without his father, the Alter Rebbe, knowing, debated him, and emerged victorious. The Alter Rebbe liked Rabbi Moshe’s explanations and his reasoning in support of the Alter Rebbe’s arguments, for their logic and good sense. But the manner in which he spoke, displaying the arrogance that came from his awareness of his own abilities, very much displeased

05:30 the Alter Rebbe. He told his son so and rebuked him. Then Tsar Paul approved the government minister’s proposal to grant the Alter Rebbe complete freedom to conduct himself with all his former authority, vigor, and orderly leadership, provided that he initially remain in Petersburg until a decision was made about what would happen next. Indeed, as we have already related, the Alter Rebbe settled in a private residence, to the joy and delight of the chassidim. The months of Shvat, Adar, and Nissan passed, until Tsar Paul died. During this period, members of the communal committee of Chabad chassidim introduced Rabbi Moshe into the homes of counts, princes, and nobles. He won their favor and was able to visit their private libraries. He would spend long hours reading books that interested him, among them books on belief and heresy in various religions—a subject that greatly interested him. At the home of one of the counts of Petersburg, Arkady Zubrov, a very devout Christian, Rabbi Moshe met an envoy of the Austrian government. The envoy was also a committed Catholic, and one subject led to another until they began discussing the differences between the fundamental principles of their faiths. As was his way, Rabbi Moshe gave a speech on the subject, addressing the differences between the principles of their beliefs and, especially, the differences in the character of their adherents. Rabbi Moshe described in detail the deceptions and cruelty of the Jesuits, contrasting them with the wicked conduct of the Christian clergy. This left an unpleasant impression on Zubrov and a bad impression on the Catholic official. Some time later, Count Zubrov invited Rabbi Moshe to honor him with a visit and take part in a debate arranged for a certain date by the priest of his private chapel. Rabbi Moshe accepted the invitation. He delivered a forceful speech about the ancient religions in the days of Avraham Avinu. He spoke of the belief in one G-d that Avraham Avinu held and spread, then gave a well-organized and eloquent account of how beliefs developed and changed. He also demonstrated the emptiness of the founders of those religions: apart from what they had copied from the faith of Moshe and Israel, they had nothing at all. He spoke

08:19 about the greatness of the Torah as a Divine religion, far superior to the other teachings, which are human religions. This speech made a powerful impression on those present. Even the great scholars and experts in Christian teaching and religion could make neither head nor tail of it and could not answer a thing. But they harbored deep resentment toward Rabbi Moshe. Some of them expressed the view that he had been wrong to speak in a way that dismissed the fundamental principles of their faith, and that he had not refrained from speaking about the figure held holy by a large part of the world. Rabbi Moshe answered them, “Thousands who can see may benefit from one person who can see, but a thousand blind people add nothing to one blind person.” Count Zubrov then told his acquaintance, the chossid Reb Mordechai of Liepli, about the gathering held in his home. The priest of his chapel had arranged a religious debate and invited several leading scholars of their faith and religion. Each had expressed his opinion about the superiority of Protestant Christianity over Catholicism, and they explained several verses from the Jews’ holy writings that, they said, spoke about the origins of their honored figure, his teachings and conversations, and belief in him. There were about forty people present, all renowned for their knowledge and education. Each presented an opinion grounded in what they considered strong foundations in old books by the great sages of earlier times. Count Zubrov then told Reb Mordechai that the young rabbi, Rabbi Moshe, had presented his view in a long speech beginning with the days of Enosh, the son of Adam, the first man created by the G-d of Israel. People began worshipping the sun, the moon, the stars, and idols of every form. They had many kinds of deities, great and small. This continued for about two thousand years, until Avraham Avinu came and told everyone that there was only one G-d, and taught the people to believe in one G-d. Avraham Avinu spoke about the development of beliefs until two men came and established... And Rabbi Moshe spoke about the development of beliefs until

10:39 Two men came and established the Christian and Muslim religions. Rabbi Moshe explained the main principles of their laws, which they had, in fact, copied from the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu and the Jewish faith. He also demonstrated the error of the church scholars who interpret verses of Scripture as referring to the founder of Christianity. Zubrov went on to tell Reb Mordechai that the speech was clearly presented and delivered in eloquent language. It made a great impression on the listeners, most of whom were deeply moved by its content. Although they did nothing to him after the speech, the affront to their faith and religion had struck them to the core. They intended to prepare themselves to debate the young rabbi and would not let up until they defeated him. The chossid Reb Mordechai of Liepli saw how deeply the devout Count Zubrov was upset. He understood the seriousness of the matter and the terrible consequences that could follow. He told Rabbi Moshe what Zubrov had said, asked him to leave off these religious debates, and explained the harmful consequences they could bring. But Reb Mordechai saw that his words made no impression on Moshe, so he told the Alter Rebbe everything. The Alter Rebbe was deeply distressed and said to Reb Mordechai, “Everything Moshe said is indeed true. But I am troubled by the consequences that could follow. Salvation is in Hashem’s hands.” He continued, saying: After the ban against the chassidim was proclaimed in Vilna in 5543, ten elders of the Chevra Kadisha, students of our teacher the Maggid, gathered and decided to impose a “true ban.” Here he explains in a note what a true ban is. According to Kabbalah, for a true ban, a beis din of seventy-two men fasts for forty consecutive days, apart from Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh, including three extended fasts. They recite Tikkun Chatzos and a special prayer, with designated chapters of Tehillim each day, and take care to avoid mundane speech, even in the holy tongue. After

13:21 Maariv on the fortieth day, while still fasting, they study Torah all night. While it is still dark, about two hours before dawn, they open the Aron Kodesh. The senior member of the beis din reads the wording of the ban three times, and they blow the shofar: teruah, tekiah, shevarim, and teruah-tekiah. They remove their shoes and sit on the ground like mourners. They immerse themselves, daven Minchah Gedolah with concentration, and eat bread with salt and water. The ten elders of the Chevra Kadisha decided to impose such a ban on the Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu, the Vilna Gaon. They asked a question of Heaven and were answered that at least one of the ten would have to be his equal—that is, on the Vilna Gaon’s level. So two members of that Chevra Kadisha came to me, the Alter Rebbe relates. We remember the story of the two students of the Maggid who came to the Alter Rebbe, everything that happened there, and the curse they pronounced at the end. “They came to ask me to join them,” the Alter Rebbe relates, “but I did not want to.” In a note here, the Alter Rebbe explains why he did not want such a ban. Heaven forbid, it severs the person placed under the ban from the root of his soul as it exists Above. It was done three times: first to Yeravam ben Nevat, second to Elisha ben Avuyah, known as Acher, and third to a student of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachyah. When the soul’s radiance within the body is severed, Heaven forbid, from the soul’s root and essence, the person placed under the ban will inevitably, Heaven forbid, convert to another religion. The Alter Rebbe could not agree to such a desecration of Hashem’s name, G-d forbid. This caused resentment toward the Alter Rebbe among the tzaddikim of Poland—that is, the students of the Maggid of Mezritch—because he had prevented them from imposing a true ban. The Alter Rebbe counted his having prevented that ban among his merits. So the Alter Rebbe says:

15:54 “I did not want to impose that ban. My son Moshe,” the Alter Rebbe tells Reb Mordechai, “was then about three years old and stood here beside me.” In a note, he writes, “See part three of our story”—and we told that story at length, how young Moshe stood beside the Alter Rebbe and one of the emissaries pronounced a curse, apparently saying something about Rabbi Moshe himself. So here the Alter Rebbe returns to it and says: “One of the two said to me resentfully, ‘The accusation you fear will come to you from him,’ meaning young Moshe. I said,” the Alter Rebbe relates, “‘May Hashem not hear it; salvation is Hashem’s.’” The rest of the story is told by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the Frierdiker Rebbe, who heard it from his grandmother, the righteous Rebbetzin Rivkah. She had heard it from her father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek, father of the Rebbe Maharash. It concerns the spirit of indignation that came over Rabbi Moshe when the governor of the Mogilev province presented his brother, the Mitteler Rebbe, and Rabbi Moshe himself to Tsar Alexander I during his visit. Tsar Alexander I visited the town of Babinovitch, near Lubavitch. Apparently, the governor did not present them with the honor due them: he presented them only after first presenting a group of nobles. In the presence of the chief priest of Smolensk, Moshe rebuked the governor; as we know, Moshe spoke several languages. The chief priest then insulted Rabbi Moshe and, along with him, the Torah of Moshe. Rabbi Moshe replied with a sharp retort. This led to a religious debate held in Cheshvan 5576, that is, in 1816. The debate took place in a monastery, their house of prayer, in the town of Yartsevo[?] in the Smolensk province, in the presence of the chief priests of the Smolensk, Tula, and Nezhin[?] regions. The debate lasted about a month. When Rabbi Moshe defeated

18:43 the priests, they arrested him and decided to transfer him to a town in the Kiev province or to Vladimir, in the Russian interior. When the order came to transfer him to Vladimir, on the fourth day of the journey, while he was under heavy guard by two priests and soldiers, they spent the night in a village called Andreyevka, near Moscow. A deep sleep fell upon everyone, and Rabbi Moshe escaped. Hashem gave him the strength and courage to run for almost twenty-four hours without feeling the cold or the deep snow on the road. He himself later marveled at how he had run, and what route he had taken, before reaching the city of Oryol[?]. There he met Rabbi Moshe Leib Jacobson, who was from the town of Par[?]. Rabbi Moshe Leib hid him in his home for several days, and from there Rabbi Moshe went to the region of Volhynia. Rabbi Moshe’s escape took place on the night leading into Thursday, 19 Kislev 5576. All his family then traveled to the Holy Land, while Rabbi Moshe went into exile from 5576 until Sivan 5638—that is, fifty-two years. He was born in Liozna in 5540 and passed away in Radomyshl, in the Kiev province, in 5638. That is his resting place.