Episode 205 - Rabbi Yosef Baal Agalah, Part 2

00:01 This is the story of a chossid of the Alter Rebbe, Reb Yosef, a wagon driver. The Alter Rebbe had told him, with prophetic insight, that for the good of his soul it would be better to be a wagon driver than a rabbi. He had been offered a rabbinic position. He understood that he now had to become a wagon driver, but within him a fierce struggle was raging. For about two days, Reb Yosef went about at a loss. His wife had already given him the bundle of money she had received for her jewelry, and meanwhile Shabbos, the day of rest, arrived. Though he tried to take his mind off what lay ahead, he could not. He knew that after Shabbos he would enter a different world of work; this was the last Shabbos of Reb Yosef the teacher, and by next Shabbos he would be Yosef the wagon driver. He pictured what that would look like, and his soul grieved. And the Torah he studied—what would become of it? he asked himself, weeping bitterly. Then a new thought began to trouble him: Was he truly worried about his Torah study and what would become of it, or had his self-importance and pride produced that argument? As he reflected on this, he remembered his friend Reb Chaim Yehoshua, a chossid of the Alter Rebbe and a wagon driver from Vileysh, and a glimmer of relief entered his mind. Reb Chaim Yehoshua had been a wagon driver since his youth, yet he knew Tanach, all six orders of the Mishnah, and Tanya by heart, and had an extraordinary knowledge of the laws of Orach Chayim. His sons were outstanding Torah scholars. His son Binyamin was a halachic authority in Vitebsk; his son Yaakov Aryeh was a halachic authority in Kalisk; and his son-in-law, Reb Raphael Yitzchak, headed a yeshiva in Nevel. This thought breathed new life into Reb Yosef. He wondered why he had not thought of Reb Chaim Yehoshua of Vileysh sooner; he could have spared himself so much distress and so much lost time from Torah study and avodas Hashem. One can, Reb Yosef thought, be a wagon driver and at the same time a scholar who serves

02:35 Hashem. After all, Reb Chaim Yehoshua would review Tanach, Mishnah, and Tanya by heart as he traveled. He would do the same: on journeys from town to town, he would review Mishnah and Tanya by heart, and when he stopped at an inn or lodging house in town, he would study in depth. On Motzaei Shabbos, Reb Yosef told his wife that he had a friend in Vileysh, a Torah scholar whose sons were halachic authorities and who himself earned his living as a wagon driver. He was going to learn the trade from him. Early Sunday morning, he took the bundle of money and set out for Vileysh. When Reb Yosef arrived, Reb Chaim Yehoshua was not at home: he had gone to the great fair in Nevel and would remain there for about two weeks. Reb Yosef decided to follow him to Nevel. When he arrived there for Shabbos, he was treated as an honored guest. He had many good friends and acquaintances among the Chabad chassidim there, and even those who did not know him had heard his name. The town’s scholars were delighted, for Reb Yosef had an excellent reputation. That Shabbos was Shabbos Hagadol, and for the three Shabbos meals he ate with groups of ten in different places. They discussed Torah and told stories of earlier days, and the chassidim were in very high spirits. Reb Yosef alone was deeply dejected, remembering that in another two days he would be wearing a wagon driver’s belt, whip in hand. Throughout Shabbos, Reb Yosef watched Reb Chaim Yehoshua’s face and movements and listened to his words and conversations. He found him altogether admirable. He saw for himself that despite his horse trading and his work as a wagon driver, all the chassidim and Torah scholars treated him warmly; some were even fond of him. He never heard anyone call him “Chaim Yehoshua the wagon driver,” only “Reb Chaim Yehoshua of Vileysh.” But it would not be so for him, he thought. Once he became a wagon driver, people would call him “Yosef the wagon driver.” And as he thought

05:02 of this, his bitterness poured out. On Sunday, after Shacharis, Reb Yosef told Reb Chaim Yehoshua that he had come to Nevel to see him and speak with him about an important matter. They went into a room and closed the door behind them. Reb Yosef told Reb Chaim Yehoshua that he had married the daughter of Nesanel the scribe of Bishenkovitz, whom Reb Chaim Yehoshua knew, since they had met in Liozna and Liadi. She was a good wife, and Hashem had blessed them with a son—may he live a long life—whom they had named Abba Zelig after Reb Yosef’s father and first father-in-law. They had a livelihood from the food shop his wife ran, while he himself taught students without pay. “But,” he told Reb Chaim Yehoshua, “for a reason I cannot disclose, I must become a wagon driver. So I have come to ask you to teach me the trade. I have also brought a bundle of money to buy a horse, a wagon, and the other necessary equipment.” Reb Chaim Yehoshua was alarmed by his friend’s last words. He stared at Reb Yosef, wondering whether he had lost his mind. So shaken was Reb Chaim Yehoshua that he could not get out a clear word. He merely shook his head, as though sharing the sorrow of someone who had lost his senses, Heaven forbid. After some time, Reb Chaim Yehoshua calmed down and said with feeling, “Reb Yosef, what spirit of folly has come over you? After devoting more than forty years to Torah, you would choose this kind of work?” Reb Yosef wept from the depths of his heart and was too overcome to speak. Reb Chaim Yehoshua wept with him and asked, “Why are you crying? Who is forcing you to become a wagon driver and weep over it? Put this foolish notion out of your mind. Go home to your Torah study and your avodas Hashem.” Reb Yosef now rose to his feet, as was the custom of the early chassidim when repeating the Alter Rebbe’s holy words. Standing, he recounted to Reb Chaim Yehoshua the holy words of

07:40 the Alter Rebbe, spoken to him in yechidus in 5564. The Alter Rebbe’s words about the marriage match and the birth of a son had already come true. And not long ago, prominent householders from the town of Lepel[?] had come to offer him the position of rabbi in their community. Following the order of the Alter Rebbe’s holy words, the time had now come for him to become a wagon driver. When Reb Chaim Yehoshua heard this, he said, “If so, why are you crying? You should rejoice greatly at the opportunity to fulfill the Alter Rebbe’s instruction. Come with me; I’ll choose a good horse and wagon for you, with all the equipment. Today, my driver Koppel will teach you how to harness the horse, and in another two or three days you’ll learn the whole trade.” Reb Chaim Yehoshua’s words struck Reb Yosef hard. He said, “But the Alter Rebbe’s holy words could be fulfilled another way: I’ll go into partnership with you. I’ll give you the sum I set aside to buy a horse and wagon. You can have Koppel the driver, or someone else, handle the work, and I’ll occasionally travel with him as a wagon driver. We’ll split the profits between us.” “No,” Reb Chaim Yehoshua replied. “That would not fulfill the Alter Rebbe’s holy words. He said explicitly that for the good of your soul, it would be better to be a wagon driver than a rabbi. For the good of your soul, you yourself must be a wagon driver.” When Reb Chaim Yehoshua stressed this point two or three times, Reb Yosef acknowledged that the bribe of self-love and imagined honor had blinded his judgment. He went with Reb Chaim Yehoshua to make the arrangements. Reb Chaim Yehoshua told the story publicly, and after a while word spread that Reb Yosef the Explainer, as the chassidim called him—or Reb Yosef the Provider, as the Torah scholars throughout the region called him—had become a wagon driver. Several weeks passed. Reb Yosef had already grown accustomed to his new work

09:56 He traveled from Beshenkovitch to the neighboring towns, making it a rule not to hurry on his journeys. At night he would stay at an inn and study Torah. When he reached a town, he would remain there for a full day and study Torah all day. He conducted himself this way for an entire year, until he grew accustomed to his situation. Then, on 24 Teves 5573, the Alter Rebbe passed away. His son, the Mitteler Rebbe, remained for a time in Kremenchuk, in Little Russia. His son-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek, and his family settled temporarily in Haditch, where the Alter Rebbe was buried. The rest of the Alter Rebbe’s family settled in the nearby town of Romny. For three months there was great excitement among Chabad chassidim throughout Russia. The chassidim of Little Russia, Belarus and Ukraine gathered in several major towns and chose a delegation to ask the Mitteler Rebbe to make his home in one of the towns of Little Russia. But the chassidim of White Russia gathered in several major towns and chose a delegation to ask the Mitteler Rebbe to return to their homeland, White Russia, and settle in whichever town he saw fit. The delegation from White Russia prevailed over the delegation from Little Russia, and after Shavuos 5573 the Mitteler Rebbe left Kremenchuk and made his way to White Russia. The Mitteler Rebbe traveled for about three months, from town to town and place to place, until he reached Vitebsk. Wherever he went, he delivered Chassidus and was received with great honor, not only by the Jews but also by government officials and police officers. They had received orders from the office of the minister of the interior to show honor to Rabbi Dovber, the son of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, who had done much for his homeland. The government was deeply grateful to him and wished to honor his son and successor. The Mitteler Rebbe then chose Lubavitch as his place of residence. On Shabbos, Parshas Ki Savo, the Mitteler Rebbe was in Liozna, and on Monday of Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech,

12:51 18 Elul 5573—that is, 1823 by their calendar—the Mitteler Rebbe arrived in Lubavitch and settled there. The day the Mitteler Rebbe established his home in Lubavitch is remembered fondly by the Rebbe’s family and by all Chabad chassidim, because of the brightness and holiness of that day, on which our teacher the Baal Shem Tov was born. Chai Elul, when the Mitteler Rebbe came to Lubavitch, made a tremendous impression throughout White Russia and Lithuania, and great crowds came to him from all the towns and forests. The landowner Chekhovsky, who owned Lubavitch and the surrounding villages, instructed his estate managers to bring logs from his forests and build homes for the Rebbe and his family. The chassidim of White Russia strengthened the support provided to the residents of our Holy Land and to the Rebbe’s household, and imposed a monthly levy on all chassidic shuls to support the visitors coming to the Rebbe. Month by month throughout the winter, the Mitteler Rebbe’s fame[?] spread through the hills of Lithuania and White Russia. The number of people coming to Lubavitch kept growing, and the joy of the chassidim of White Russia and Lithuania knew no bounds. A year after the Mitteler Rebbe settled in Lubavitch, many elderly chassidim who had been among the Alter Rebbe’s earliest followers had already come to him. They were all very pleased, and this made a tremendous impression on the chassidim in White Russia and Lithuania. The chossid Reb Yosef of Beshenkovitch very much wanted to go to Lubavitch too, but for various reasons he was unable to. Some time passed. In the winter of 5576—that is, 1826 by their calendar—he prepared to go to Lubavitch... 1816, sorry. He prepared to go to Lubavitch, but the winter passed and it did not work out. One day between Pesach and Shavuos 5576, Reb Yosef set out for the town of Senno[?]. As evening approached, he reached an inn at a crossroads. That evening the count arrived at the same inn, the count

15:41 of the Sheikov family. When word reached the nearby village that the count of the Sheikov family was at the Jewish inn, the village priest and the leading members of the community came to ask the count to visit their village and spend the night there. The count, of course, could not refuse them and went with them. But one of his attendants stayed at the inn, because he had to go to town on an errand for the count. Reb Yosef sat beneath one of the bushes near the threshing floor and studied Torah. When he finished studying, he went inside. The innkeeper introduced him to the guest, the count’s assistant, who needed to travel to Senno. “Excellent,” said Reb Yosef. “Tomorrow morning, G-d willing, we’ll continue on our way.” “At what time?” the guest asked. “After davening,” Reb Yosef answered. “At what time?” the guest repeated in a commanding voice, looking at Reb Yosef with contempt. “It makes no difference to me whether you daven or not,” the guest said. “I need to know what time we’re leaving, so I’ll know what time to get up, wash, have a drink and eat.” “And daven,” said Reb Yosef, finishing the other man’s sentence. “I’ll leave the davening to you,” the guest told him. “I don’t need to daven.” “How can that be?” Reb Yosef said, looking at the guest with [unclear] eyes. “A Jew doesn’t need to daven? Besides davening itself, during Shacharis we also put on tefillin, and according to one opinion, the tefillin of the arm and the head are two separate mitzvos. How can a Jew not put on tefillin and not daven?” The guest said nothing in reply. He told the innkeeper to wake him about an hour before the wagon was due to leave. The innkeeper told him he could sleep as long as he liked and would still have time to wash, eat and drink, since, as far as he knew, they would not set out before ten o’clock. The guest became very angry and said to the

18:16 innkeeper, “Get me a wagon from the nearby village. I’ll pay whatever they ask, provided I leave no later than five in the morning.” And the guest went to his room to sleep.