Episode 222 - The Tzemach Tzedek's Acceptance by the Chassidim

00:02 Reb Yitzchak Aizik, one of the great chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, and the Tzemach Tzedek, tells an amazing story. There was a connection between something the Alter Rebbe had said when delivering Chassidus—he said of the Tzemach Tzedek, “A day will come when you will know that he understands”—and a maamar Reb Yitzchak Aizik was now hearing from the Tzemach Tzedek, which reminded him of that conversation with the Alter Rebbe. When Reb Yitzchak Aizik returned to his lodging, he felt ill with a high fever, so weak that he could not move his limbs. He remained that way throughout Wednesday. Toward evening his condition improved: the fever subsided, and he wrote a pidyon nefesh to the Tzemach Tzedek in his own hand. He felt better that night, though he was still weak. The next day, the eve of Shavuos, the Tzemach Tzedek was returning from the mikveh. As he passed Reb Yitzchak Aizik’s lodging, he went in to visit him and quoted the teaching of our Sages: “Give me your hand.” “He gave me his hand, and raised me up.” Ah, said the Tzemach Tzedek, in that teaching of our Sages—“Give me your hand”; “He gave me his hand, and raised me up”—are hidden holy names associated with healing. The Tzemach Tzedek began explaining this to Reb Yitzchak Aizik. When he finished explaining the teaching, he asked Reb Yitzchak Aizik to extend his hand. Reb Yitzchak Aizik sat up, and the fever was gone. “I saw then with my own eyes,” Reb Yitzchak Aizik related, “that he truly succeeds his fathers, our holy Rebbeim, and I became inwardly bound to the Tzemach Tzedek.” Some time later, Reb Yitzchak Aizik said to his friend Reb Hillel of Paritch, “We have no conception of the nature of the Rebbe, the grandson”—meaning the Tzemach

02:36 Tzedek. “His understanding begins with the revelation of the Chabad faculties in the soul. Just as a person must not underestimate the deficiency caused by the lack of a perceptible revelation of the Chabad faculties in his soul, so he must not underestimate their perceptible revelation in his soul.” In other words, just as a person should not ignore his weaknesses, he should not ignore his strengths either. In one of his early writings, the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, writes about the period when the Tzemach Tzedek accepted the nesius. He writes: “Today, Shabbos Parshas Behaalosecha 5691”—apparently after Shabbos—“marks one hundred years since Shabbos Parshas Behaalosecha 5591, known among chassidim as the Shabbos of the Inner and Essential Crown.” The Frierdiker Rebbe goes on to relate that the summer of 5655 was the first summer when his father, the Rebbe Rashab, went to the countryside. “He set aside time to take a personal interest in my education,” the Frierdiker Rebbe relates, “and every day, apart from Fridays, he would study maamarim of Chassidus with me for an hour and a half. There were also stories, and after most stories he would give a sort of summary—the lesson of that story for yiras Shamayim, for understanding and comprehension, or for good character traits and proper conduct. Regarding the course of the Tzemach Tzedek’s nesius, it is known that for a time he did not want to accept the nesius—from Kislev 5588, when the Mitteler Rebbe passed away, until Shavuos of that year. Many chassidim came for Shavuos 5591: rabbis, teachers, and householders. Most of the elder chassidim of the Alter Rebbe stayed in Lubavitch until after Shabbos Parshas Naso. On Sunday of Parshas Behaalosecha, some of them set out for home, traveling by way of the town of Dubrovna. The scholarly chossid Reb Nechemiah lived in Dubrovna. Reb Nechemiah was a close friend of the Tzemach Tzedek; they had studied together. But Reb Nechemiah did not travel to Lubavitch to see the Tzemach Tzedek. When the chassidim Reb Yitzchak Aizik of Homil, Reb Moshe and his brother

05:27 Reb Zev Vilanker, Reb Zalman Zesmer, Reb Pesach of Olistok, and Reb Yekusiel of Lipna all happened to arrive in Dubrovna together, they visited Reb Nechemiah. He told them that he had seen the Alter Rebbe in a dream. The Alter Rebbe had said to him, ‘Why don’t you have a Rebbe? Make yourself a Rebbe.’ Reb Nechemiah asked the Alter Rebbe, ‘Whom should I take as my Rebbe?’ The Alter Rebbe answered, ‘Avraham is the beginning of tikkun. Noach was righteous, but he belonged to the level before tikkun. He was called Noach because of the words “he will comfort us.” In tikkun, the name is Menachem: Noach with a mem before it, which begins the Mishnah, and a mem after it, which ends the Mishnah.’ In other words, Noach with a mem before and after it forms the name Menachem, the Tzemach Tzedek’s name. ‘He will comfort us’ is in the future tense; Menachem is in the present. ‘Well, I understood,’ Reb Nechemiah concluded, ‘that I must go to Lubavitch for the coming Shabbos, Parshas Behaalosecha. I am going to Lubavitch, to the Tzemach Tzedek.’” Reb Nechemiah’s story made a deep impression on his listeners. They consulted among themselves, decided to return to Lubavitch, and told Reb Nechemiah. On Wednesday of Parshas Behaalosecha, they all traveled to Lubavitch. That Shabbos the Tzemach Tzedek delivered maamarim of Chassidus on three occasions. The first was on Friday, as was his custom on Fridays, after Shacharis and sometimes after Minchah. The second time, the Tzemach Tzedek delivered Chassidus before the guests, the scholarly chossid Reb Nechemiah of Dubrovna, and several others. The maamar began, “Why is the passage about the menorah placed next to the passage about the nesi’im?” The Tzemach Tzedek explained that although the flame rises on its own, the mitzvah is to kindle it, and Aharon is the one who kindles it. The third maamar was during the third Shabbos meal, on the verse “And behold, a menorah of gold.” It was later printed in Likkutei Torah. The chassidim called that Shabbos, Parshas Behaalosecha, the Shabbos of the Inner Crown, because then the elder chassidim, too, formally recognized the Rebbe

08:10 Tzemach Tzedek and accepted him as their Rebbe. Even before that, they had treated him with the respect due a Rebbe. Still, it is known that they had not yet reached that inward bond between chossid and Rebbe. There were two groups of chassidim: those of the Alter Rebbe and those of the Mitteler Rebbe. Among the Mitteler Rebbe’s chassidim, there were again two groups: the elders and those of middle age. The middle-aged and younger chassidim drew close to the Tzemach Tzedek immediately, including during the first six months, from Kislev through Adar of 5588, and many of them lived in Lubavitch. It is known that when the Tzemach Tzedek refused to accept the mantle of nesius, he said he would earn his living as a teacher of young children. Of course, that never happened, because at the time more than ten minyanim of chassidim were living in Lubavitch, engaged in study and davening. The Tzemach Tzedek would teach them in the Mitteler Rebbe’s large study hall, known as the Great Zal. For Shavuos 5588, many elder chassidim gathered, and shluchim came from the settlements the Mitteler Rebbe had established in the Kherson region. After discussions, the Tzemach Tzedek accepted the mantle of nesius, as we have already related. It was the eve of Shavuos 5588, and the town of Lubavitch rejoiced. The elder chassidim of the Mitteler Rebbe and the Alter Rebbe instructed the many chassidim to bind themselves to the Tzemach Tzedek with all their strength, in an inward bond. They divided the country into regions, and each of those chosen undertook to travel throughout his region during the year to inspire the chassidim. The chossid Reb Yitzchak Aizik took responsibility for the entire Shklov region, as well as Mogilev and Zhlobin, in addition to the places near his hometown of Homil. The chossid Reb Hillel of Paritch undertook to travel to the settlements, to the settlements and the city of Kherson and the surrounding places. The chossid Reb Zalman Zaz[?] Meir undertook to visit the city of Minsk and its surroundings, and Borisov and its surroundings. The chossid Reb Pesach of Listok[?] took responsibility for Chaslavitch and its surroundings, and Pochep and Chernigov. The chossid Reb Yitzchak

10:45 Moshe Miassi took responsibility for the entire Bessarabian district of Calarasi, Tzefnashef [?], Kishinev, and Bender. The chossid Reb Peretz Chen took responsibility for his hometown of Nevel and the surrounding area, Polotsk and the surrounding area. Many others, too, took part in building Chassidus. “My father, the Rebbe Rashab,” the Frierdiker Rebbe related, “told me all this and added: In earlier times, chassidim had an inner feeling for Chassidus. They sensed what inner avodah was. Everything was clear to them, and they knew the value of truth. They had a reliable measure for it. For three years, these great Jews—chassidim who studied deeply and served Hashem with love and awe—worked on this inner matter with genuine mesirus nefesh. They spoke words that came from the heart, yet all the while they knew that they still lacked true hiskashrus to the Tzemach Tzedek, as a devoted chossid ought to have. Only after three years did they attain it. That is a chossid, and that is Chassidus: with Hashem’s help, one reaches the loftiest levels. Complete understanding, through deep contemplation and a breadth of knowledge, is the highest level of intellectual comprehension. When an idea is still within the faculty that conceives it, it exists there in its full breadth. As it emerges from that faculty to be revealed, its first revelation is like a flash of Chochmah, and that flash contracts into a single point. Within the faculty that conceives it, however, it is far broader. That is how the great chassidim engaged with the intellectual dimension. Yet all of this is intellect alone. Through avodah in prayer and contemplation, they merited to feel the G-dliness within the idea—the vitality that gives rise to love and awe. That vitality moved these chassidim to carry out their avodah with mesirus nefesh. This is an exceedingly high level, yet even then they had a precise measure and knew full well that all this avodah, in the order described, was still not as it should be. Only after three years of avodah and toil did they come to an inner recognition of true hiskashrus to the Tzemach Tzedek.” The Tzemach Tzedek’s first journey as Rebbe and leader of the Chabad chassidim

13:19 was to Minsk, and from there he traveled to Vilna. Many leading Torah scholars gathered in Minsk, including prominent members of the surrounding Misnagdic communities and a delegation from Vilna. At the reception for the Tzemach Tzedek, the great scholars set out a table with various fruits and delicacies, intending to test him in halachah and see which blessing he would make first. When the Tzemach Tzedek saw the table, he said, “In a case of doubt concerning blessings, we are lenient—but it is harder to find a stringency than a leniency.” In that conversation, the Tzemach Tzedek offered a new insight into the laws governing which blessing takes precedence: Although many kinds of food may be set out on the table, including some that take precedence over other foods there, if a person does not wish to eat them at that time, they no longer take precedence. The Misnagdic scholars were greatly impressed by the depth of the Tzemach Tzedek’s scholarship and the simplicity of his conduct. The conversation turned to the laws of blessings, and the Vilna scholars marveled at his profound insight and vast knowledge. As the conversation continued, they asked the Tzemach Tzedek: “The Misnagdic scholars also produce major Torah insights, and the world knows of their innovations. The leading chassidim surely produce new insights as well, yet the world does not know of them.” The Tzemach Tzedek answered, “The difference is that the Misnagdim develop Torah insights according to their own measure, while the chassidim adapt themselves to the Torah.” On that journey to Minsk and Vilna, the leading scholars of the region received him with holy reverence. At one of the special farbrengens held then, an elderly scholar of Minsk asked, “What has Chassidus added to the teachings of mussar?” The Tzemach Tzedek asked whether he had studied Tanya. When the scholar said no, the Tzemach Tzedek told him, “Indeed, you are right: Chassidus has added nothing and accomplished nothing. And I doubt,” said the Tzemach Tzedek, “whether the teachings of mussar have accomplished anything in you, either. After living for fifty years in a city where a large portion of the residents are chassidim, meeting them face to face

16:01 on weekdays, on Shabbos, and on festivals, you still repeat the old question: ‘What has Chassidus accomplished in relation to mussar?’ There is serious doubt whether the teachings of mussar have accomplished anything, either.” The Tzemach Tzedek continued: “The innovation of the path of Chassidus, compared with the path of mussar, is this: The path of mussar is to break, humble, subdue, and rummage through the refuse. The path of Chassidus is to illuminate, elevate, uplift, and find the hidden strengths through which people’s shortcomings can be healed and an aspiration for what is higher and more refined can be awakened.” In the time of the Mitteler Rebbe, chassidim appointed mentors who served as good friends. During the Tzemach Tzedek’s leadership, he added that the spiritual mashpi’im in chassidic towns should serve as mentors. In the Mitteler Rebbe’s time, having a good friend had sufficed for the chassidim. But in the Tzemach Tzedek’s time, as the number of those carrying the banner of Chabad Chassidus grew, he instructed the mashpi’im in chassidic towns to take part in guiding the young men as well. The Tzemach Tzedek would often arrange a program of study and conduct for young men who came to him, and would send them for a time to the elder mashpi’im for guidance. These chassidic friends and mentors were the intermediaries who placed the chassidim in a place of light and Torah.