Episode 202 - Continuation - Rabbi Gamliel

00:01 Following the story of Rabbi Gamliel, we also tell stories of chassidim who suffered at the hands of the misnagdim. Here is another short story on that subject. In the town of Ula lived a young man named Avraham Dov, a relative of the chossid Tzvi Hirsch. From childhood, Avraham Dov had studied in the yeshivos of the misnagdim. He was a gifted young man and an eloquent speaker. By the time he arrived in Ula, there were already many chassidim there. Gradually he grew close to them and became an enthusiastic chossid. Several years later, he came to the town of Sventsian, where he met some friends from his yeshivah days. Avraham Dov praised the chassidim to them and explained several teachings of Chassidus. When his former friends heard that he had become a chossid, they flew into a rage. They attacked him and, with the help of other young misnagdim, beat and wounded him, breaking his nose. From then on, the chassidim of Ula called him Avraham Dov “the one with the nose.” Many years passed. As his time to pass away approached, he told his friends, “For nearly fifty years I have been a devoted servant of the Alter Rebbe and his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, and I have occupied myself with their teachings. Yet I feel no special merit in my service, apart from the privilege of having been beaten for Chassidus.” Avraham Dov asked his fellow chassidim to add the nickname “the one with the nose” whenever they mentioned his name, for that was the only merit he would take with him as provisions for such a long journey. When his friends promised to honor his request, he peacefully returned his soul to his Maker. And we continue the story of Rabbi Gamliel. The chossid Rabbi Gamliel, who had been raised among the Alter Rebbe’s first chassidim, knew the ways of the chassidim well. He observed and upheld them with self-sacrifice and would not profane what was sacred by complaining to the Alter Rebbe about his material circumstances—not even about the fact that he had no children. But

02:50 Hakadosh Boruch Hu arranged the circumstances through which Rabbi Gamliel received a threefold salvation: children, health, and livelihood. Once, a matter of redeeming captives came before the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe drew up a list of chassidim and how much each should contribute, assigning Rabbi Gamliel a large sum. When Rabbi Gamliel told his wife how much the Alter Rebbe had asked him to give, she saw that he was not as joyful as usual. Knowing how devoted her husband was to the Alter Rebbe and how delighted he always was to fulfill his wishes, she understood that something was wrong and asked him about it. Rabbi Gamliel told her that persecution by his family had impoverished him and ruined his finances, and that he did not have the sum the Alter Rebbe wanted him to contribute. His wife said, “Haven’t you told me many times that the Alter Rebbe always says in his teachings that we must have faith and trust in Hashem and be joyful? Why be distressed? Surely Hashem will help us pay what the Alter Rebbe asked of you.” Rabbi Gamliel’s wife, the chassidah Chana Rivkah—that was her name—went and sold her pearls and some of her other jewelry, and brought her husband the money for redeeming the captives. “Here is the full amount the Alter Rebbe assessed us for,” she said. She handed him a wrapped bundle and said that the entire sum was inside. She advised him to travel at once to Liozna and deliver the money into the Alter Rebbe’s holy hands. Rabbi Gamliel replied that ordinarily, when the Alter Rebbe assessed contributions from the chassidim, he would later send an emissary to collect the money. Surely that would happen this time as well, so he would wait for the emissary to come. But shortly afterward, his brothers informed on him and caused him

05:50 a great loss. Rabbi Gamliel feared that he would need money, fail to withstand the test, and use the money set aside for the contribution. So he took the bundle of money and traveled to Liozna—or perhaps he went on foot. When he came before the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Gamliel placed the bundle on the table. He said that his circumstances were no longer as comfortable as they once had been, and since he now had the sum the Alter Rebbe had assessed him for, he had brought it himself ahead of time. Perhaps, G-d forbid, some misfortune would occur and he would be unable to pay when the emissary arrived, as was customary. When Rabbi Gamliel placed the bundle before him, the Alter Rebbe instructed him to open it and count the money. As he opened it, he saw that the faces of the coins gleamed as though they had just come from the mint. Rabbi Gamliel was astonished and did not know what to make of it. The Alter Rebbe rested his head on his holy arms for some time. Then he raised his holy head and said, “The contributions for the Mishkan included gold, silver, and copper, but nothing gleamed except the mirrors of the women who assembled, from which the basin and its stand were made. The basin and its stand are listed last among the vessels of the Mishkan, yet they are used at the beginning of all the service in the Mishkan, for the beginning is rooted in the end. Tell me,” the Alter Rebbe said to Rabbi Gamliel, “where did you get this money?” Rabbi Gamliel told the Alter Rebbe that for more than ten years his father, brothers, and entire family had persecuted him, until they had ruined his finances. He had not taken it to heart, but when he received the Alter Rebbe’s assessment, he set out to pay it and told his wife that he had no means of settling the obligation. Without his knowledge, his wife, Chana Rivkah daughter of Bilhah, sold some of her jewelry and her pearls. She brought him this bundle and said that it contained the full amount of the Alter Rebbe’s

08:45 assessment, and insisted that he go immediately to deliver the sum to the Alter Rebbe. He had wanted to wait until the emissary came, but in the meantime disaster struck: he was informed on, and people familiar with the matter said that he faced a severe penalty and a large fine. Fearing that the money would be lost, he hurried to bring it to the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe rested his head on his holy arms in deep concentration for some time. Then he raised his holy head and said, “The judgment is annulled, the judgment is annulled.” This is a concept in the Gemara: when a judgment grows old, it is annulled. “May Hashem grant you and your wife sons and daughters, and long life to see generations of descendants. May Hashem give, and give again, success in all you undertake, wealth, and favor in the eyes of all who see you. Close your shop and begin trading in precious stones and pearls.” Rabbi Gamliel returned home joyful and glad of heart. He told his wife everything the Alter Rebbe had said and the blessing he had given them, and asked her about the coins that had gleamed so brightly. “I polished them,” his wife replied, “until they shone and sparkled like the stars in the sky, so that Hashem would have mercy and the Alter Rebbe would uplift us—that our fortune, too, would begin to sparkle and shine, and our enemies would be put to shame.” Indeed, Rabbi Gamliel closed his shop and began trading in precious stones. Hashem granted him success in this business, and he found favor with the nobles and estate owners around Vitebsk, who became regular customers. His name also became known among government officials, and his business grew and expanded from day to day. The accusation against him was forgotten, and a year later his wife gave birth to Chaim, their firstborn son. Three years passed. The chossid Rabbi Gamliel became very wealthy, for he succeeded in everything he did and found favor and kindness in the eyes of all who saw him. For that reason, they called him Rabbi Gamliel “the one who finds favor.” Rabbi Gamliel remained in business for about forty years and married off his sons and daughters to prominent families in the city of Shklov,

11:43 After that, he left his business in the hands of his sons and devoted himself to Torah study, serving Hashem, tzedakah, and acts of kindness. His home was wide open, and thanks to him, the community of chassidim in Vitebsk was blessed and grew. The story continues, and it connects to another story. When the chossid Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua was brought to Vitebsk in chains after rescuing Jewish children and being caught, the elderly Rabbi Gamliel was in Shklov for the wedding of a grandchild of his younger son. Rabbi Gamliel remained in Shklov for several months. By the time he returned home to Vitebsk, efforts were already underway to have the city governor hand Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua over for a civil trial. Since the elderly Rabbi Gamliel was held in very high regard by the governor, he went to speak with him and plead the case of the chossid Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua. He found favor in the governor’s eyes, and the governor granted his request to free Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua, but on condition that he leave the entire region and that no one know about it. In 5606, Rabbi Gamliel passed away, respected, old, and full of days, at the age of 110. The gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac eulogized him, reciting a lament and saying, “He was a chossid; he was humble.” Two years later, his devout wife, Chana Rivka, also passed away. May their souls be bound in the bond of life. And we will continue the story of the chassidic brothers Reb Moshe and Reb Zev Wolf Wilenks[?] of Vilna, who were also connected to Rabbi Gamliel. We will see that as the story continues. When the Alter Rebbe was in Vilna for the second or third time, in 5541—that is, 1781 by their reckoning—the chossid, scholar, and intellectual Reb Moshe was a young married man of exceptional ability. When the Alter Rebbe arrived in Vilna, Reb Moshe came to him and asked him questions that had arisen in his studies. The Alter Rebbe answered all his questions, explaining each matter precisely. The young Reb Moshe became attached to the Alter Rebbe.

14:52 About two months after the Alter Rebbe left Vilna, Reb Moshe slipped away from home and traveled on foot until he reached the Alter Rebbe in Liozna. When he arrived, the Alter Rebbe placed him among the students of the first study group, in keeping with his great abilities. But when the Alter Rebbe learned that Reb Moshe had slipped away from home without his wife’s permission, he would not allow him to study in Liozna until he went home and obtained her permission properly. Reb Moshe pleaded with the Alter Rebbe to let him stay for about half a year, and the Alter Rebbe granted his request. His brother Zev Wolf was ten years old when his older brother Moshe went to Liozna and, for all practical purposes, disappeared from Vilna. Although his brother returned about half a year later, he stayed only about two weeks. He took his wife and two sons, left Vilna, and said that Hakadosh Boruch Hu had provided him with a means of earning a living near Vitebsk. Zev Wolf, the younger brother, told his granddaughter’s husband, the chossid Reb Avraham Abba Person: “For fifteen years I did not know what had become of my brother Reb Moshe. One day I learned that my brother Reb Moshe was among the select students of the Maggid of Liozna. Since I myself,” Zev said, “had always been among the misnagdim, this distressed me greatly. Another two or three years passed. When the Alter Rebbe was taken to Petersburg under harsh arrest,” as we already know, “my fellow misnagdim celebrated. But my heart ached,” Rabbi Zev recounted, “because I knew my brother Reb Moshe’s greatness; all the great scholars of Vilna had praised him for it. ‘If he chose the Maggid of Liozna, the Alter Rebbe, as his Rebbe,’ I told myself, ‘he must certainly be a great man.’ When the Alter Rebbe was freed, the group of chassidim in Vilna grew stronger, and from time to time,” Reb Zev recounted, “I would visit them. When the Alter Rebbe settled in Liadi, I came to

17:55 the Alter Rebbe for the first time and stayed there about nine months. There I saw my brother Reb Moshe for the first time in twenty years.” The chossid Reb Moshe Wilenker was dear and precious to the Alter Rebbe and also to his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, because he repeated the maamarim of Torah to him... Let’s briefly go over that part again. The chossid Reb Moshe was very dear to the Tzemach Tzedek because he repeated to him the maamarim of Torah he had heard from the Alter Rebbe ever since he had arrived in Liozna. For that reason, the Tzemach Tzedek granted his request to study twice a week with his brother Zev Wolf, and also to review with him and explain the maamarim of Chassidus that the Alter Rebbe delivered every Shabbos. According to the account of the chossid Avraham Abba Person in the summer of 5652—that is, many years later; we are already talking about 1892, at least a hundred years later—at that time... When Rabbi Zev, Zev studied with the Tzemach Tzedek, the Tzemach Tzedek was sixteen or seventeen years old, and the chossid Zev Wolf, the younger brother, was thirty. Then came the decree concerning the cantonists, when the Russian government decreed that every Jewish community had to provide young children for the Russian army, and there were Jews who would abduct children and sell them to the Russian army. In 5602—that is, 1842—the governor of Vitebsk learned from a denunciation by Yisroel Yehuda, a child-snatcher from Birkhov[?]—meaning a Jew who abducted children. He denounced the Tzemach Tzedek to the governor of Vitebsk, saying that the Tzemach Tzedek had sent the outstanding young scholar Aharon of Bilinitch[?] to all the communities in the Mogilev and Vitebsk provinces, where most of the communal leaders were chassidim. The Tzemach Tzedek had instructed them to remove the child-snatchers from their communities and place them under a ban,

21:03 because they had begun abducting children again after a two-year pause. The governor of Vitebsk reported Yisroel Yehuda the child-snatcher’s denunciation to the interior minister. Then, in the summer of 5603—that is, 1843—the interior minister summoned the Tzemach Tzedek to Petersburg to accuse him of rebelling against the government. But to keep the Jews from raising an outcry, the government ministers devised a plan: they summoned three other people as well—the gaon Rabbi Yitzchak of Volozhin, R. Y. A.[?] Halperin, and the intellectual Betzalel Stern. They called it an assembly of rabbis... We will tell what happened at that assembly another time. All the government’s accusations and pressure on the Tzemach Tzedek achieved nothing. The Tzemach Tzedek paid no attention to any of it. He did what he had to do. He sent people to strengthen the young Jewish soldiers so that they would keep Torah and mitzvos. He sent shluchim to redeem the cantonists—that is, to effectively buy their freedom from the army—and he also sent letters to the communities instructing them to remove the child-snatchers. But in 5605, 1845, a calamity occurred: the chossid Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua of Kalisk was caught in the village of Kast-Kastrava[?] near Kazan. Chaim Yehoshua had been redeeming many of the cantonists there, paying the full price for them.