Chapter 232 - The Founding of Yeshivos by the Tzemach Tzedek.

00:01 The Tzemach Tzedek continued working on a plan to halt the spread of the Haskalah. When he returned home from the rabbinic assembly in Petersburg, he reported what had happened with the maskilim of Berlin, Volhynia, Poland, and Riga, and their efforts with the Russian government to establish schools for Jewish children, to cool their interest in Judaism and draw them toward assimilation with non-Jewish children. In the second week after the Tzemach Tzedek returned home, the distinguished rabbis Rabbi David Luria of Bykhov, Rabbi Shlomo Lipschitz of Minsk, and Rabbi Yechezkel Beinson [?] of Slutsk came to Lubavitch to visit the Rebbe. They wanted to learn what had taken place at the assembly and discuss what measures could be taken to stop the spread of the Haskalah that the heretics were bringing to Jewish children. The Tzemach Tzedek told them how matters stood and expressed his view that the leaders of the generation must be strengthened, more yeshivos must be established, and the Berliners’ intention to poison Jewish children with heresy must be publicized. The Jewish people, he said, had the power to overturn the decree concerning the schools—the “shkols”—because it was not a government decree but an initiative of the Berliners, carried out through their representative, Dr. Lilienthal. Moreover, all the costs of establishing and maintaining the schools would be borne by the Jews through a special tax imposed by the communities on their members. With the Jewish people’s livelihoods in such a poor state, and the communities still behind on their existing taxes, how could they take on the collection of a new tax? And if they failed to collect it, they would have to pay it from communal funds. Rabbis Luria, Lipschitz, and Beinson were pillars among the communal activists of the misnagdim in White Russia, and the activists in Lithuania, too, would take their views into account. After leaving Lubavitch, they went to meet the distinguished rabbis of Vilna, Kovno, and Brisk, and drew up a vigorous campaign against the decree concerning the schools. Rabbi David Luria himself visited Vilna and, at the request of the city’s leading rabbis, addressed a large gathering about what had happened at the rabbinic assembly

02:46 in Petersburg: the government was decreeing the establishment of shkols to assimilate Jewish children among non-Jewish children, all on the advice of the maskilim from Berlin. “May their names be erased!” Rabbi David Luria cried out in terrible anger. His words shook the entire audience and caused a great stir throughout the city, for everyone knew him as a courteous man who was careful with his words. If Rabbi David Luria could stand in a holy place and thunder, “May their names be erased,” then surely they deserved it. His speech became known throughout the cities of Lithuania. Let us return for a moment to the situation of the Jews at that time. When the decree to expel Jews from the villages was issued in 5584, 1824, many estate owners in the Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces, who had no one to lease their distilleries and similar businesses to, appealed to the interior minister during the first year. They asked that Jews be allowed to live in manor courtyards and in inns at crossroads. In many villages, peasants gathered and signed petitions asking for the Jews to be brought back, but no one listened. When the estate owners saw their estates collapsing, they used various means to keep Jews on their properties. But the number who remained was very small, and most estate owners were left in dire straits. For some twenty years they complained repeatedly to the provincial governors and the interior minister that their income had collapsed since the Jews’ expulsion, and asked that Jews be allowed to live on their estates. Their requests went unanswered. Then, in the winter of 5604—that is, 1844, twenty years later—in the month of Shvat, several estate owners in the Vitebsk, Mogilev, and Minsk provinces suddenly received a notice from the provincial governor. It read: “At his most recent meeting,” with no date given, “the interior minister decided to grant your request,” again with no date, “concerning the residence of the Jew so-and-so and his family, who formerly lived on your estate. The decision has been forwarded to the provincial governor’s office for your notification.” The estate owners and peasants welcomed the Jews moving to them from the towns and helped them

05:26 settle in comfortably. Over the summer of 5604, several hundred families settled in villages and rural communities. By moving from the towns to the villages, they were able to make a good living. The situation of the Jews who remained in the towns improved as well. Everyone knew that permission for Jews to live in the villages and rural communities was the result of the Tzemach Tzedek’s efforts during his visit to the interior minister, and the Tzemach Tzedek’s influence grew still further. In 5601–5602, 1841–1842, the Tzemach Tzedek founded his yeshiva in Lubavitch. He appointed his son Rabbi Yisroel Noach as rosh yeshiva and lecturer, and his son-in-law Rabbi Levi Yitzchak as the yeshiva’s administrator. The Tzemach Tzedek saw the founding of the yeshiva as a sound measure, a protective barrier against the rising, wanton floodwaters of the Haskalah, which were then surging with full force toward the gates of the country. Through this worthy undertaking—the establishment of a yeshiva founded on the pure Torah—a blessing from Heaven brought renewed life to the Jewish people. For twenty-six years, year after year, this holy yeshiva produced gifted students with extensive knowledge of the revealed Torah and profound understanding of Chassidus and prayer as service of the heart. They spread throughout the regions of the country to bring its light. People such as Mapu, Peretz, and Smolenskin also visited this yeshiva. Divine Providence had brought them specifically into the enemy’s stronghold. Yet there is no doubt that the days, or the brief time, they spent in the shelter of Torah left a lasting and enduring impression on them. As noted, the yeshiva’s administration was entrusted to the Tzemach Tzedek’s son Rabbi Yisroel Noach and his son-in-law Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. Each gave two classes a week, and the students were divided into two groups. The first had twenty-five students; the second had thirty-five, and sometimes as many as forty. The yeshiva students in the first group were fourteen to seventeen years old; those in the second were seventeen to twenty. All were gifted

08:16 and diligent in their study of the revealed Torah—Gemara and halachic authorities. From time to time they would study a chapter of Tanya, and on rare occasions a maamar in Torah Or. They were generally not allowed to attend the delivery of Chassidus, either; only on the High Holidays and festivals were they permitted to come in. There were also those known as “yoshvim,” whose entire occupation was with Chassidus. They included two groups: young married men, or bridegrooms before their weddings, some of them exceptionally gifted. That was one group. The second consisted of those supported privately by their fathers, or those who excelled in their studies and spent time among the chassidim. During the Tzemach Tzedek’s leadership, prominent elder chassidim were always present in Lubavitch, and there was always an opportunity to learn from the great ones: to see how one prayed, how one ate, how one learned, and how one conducted himself. Sometimes that alone affected the young men more than the studies themselves. During the years 5604–[unclear], the Tzemach Tzedek expanded the yeshiva in Lubavitch and established branches in Dubrovna, Rassasna, Dobromysl, Rudnia, Liozna, Kalishk, and Yanovitch, where some six hundred students studied. At that time, the Tzemach Tzedek strengthened two kollelim for young married men: one in Homel, headed by the distinguished chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Epstein, and the other in Bobruisk, headed by the distinguished chossid Rabbi Hillel of Paritch. More than sixty young men studied in the two kollelim, and the Tzemach Tzedek added another thirty or so. Half the expenses were paid from the charity fund under his care. The Tzemach Tzedek established further kollelim in Polotsk, Drimin, Dinburg, Kornitz, Ozeritch, Keidan, Kopust, Priaty, Disna, Kremenchuk, Borisov, Nikolayev, Iasi, Veynezh, Beshankovichy, Horodok, Smolyan, Minsk, and Smilovitch. In all these towns there were organized kollelim for young married men who gathered from the surrounding towns and studied the revealed Torah and Chassidus under a person chosen by the Tzemach Tzedek. The course of study was

10:58 This was done on the Tzemach Tzedek’s instructions, after he received his representative’s report on who the young married men were and how they were doing. The representatives chosen by the Tzemach Tzedek included some who were outstanding in their study of the revealed Torah and Chassidus and devoted to the service of the heart, and others who were outstanding in their study of Chassidus and devoted to the service of the heart. The Tzemach Tzedek would also choose one more person to assist. All the kollels mentioned, apart from those in Homil and Bobruisk, had no fewer than ten young married men, but no more than fifteen. Three-quarters of the expenses were covered by the Tzemach Tzedek’s central fund, and the remaining quarter by the town or by the young men themselves. In addition to the permanent kollels, the Tzemach Tzedek instructed all the mashpi’im to go to their respective places in most chassidic communities. There were also rabbis, shochtim, and teachers whose duties included arranging public classes in Mishnah, Gemara, halachah, aggadah, and Chassidus. In a general letter, the Tzemach Tzedek issued a forceful directive to all the rabbis of chassidic communities: wherever there were enough boys who needed classes, they were to establish a yeshivah with a rosh yeshivah; where there were not enough boys, they were to entrust them to a suitable, capable teacher. He instructed the teachers in chassidic towns to make every effort to bring all the children and boys into their chadarim, leaving not a single child or boy without an education. They were to expand the teachers’ chadarim and, as far as possible, minimize the number of children sent to the communal Talmud Torah schools. Why? Because the deputy minister of education had proposed sending children and boys who were not studying at all to the new schools first, followed by those studying in the communal Talmud Torah schools, and then those studying in chadarim with teachers. The Tzemach Tzedek’s extensive, organized campaign stirred an extraordinary awakening among all segments of the people. Within a few months, there was great activity in all the chassidic towns and communities, and even beyond them, in communities of the misnagdim. Without regard for the danger involved, the Tzemach Tzedek conducted

13:48 an energetic campaign to rouse the communities to seek sources of funding needed to establish the schools—“shkolas,” as they were called. About four years passed before sources of funding for the schools were found. During those four years, the obligation to attend them was greatly eased, and it was easy to obtain an exemption. Over a period of five years, the Tzemach Tzedek was denounced to the authorities three times. Following the first denunciation, police officials from the city of Mogilev inspected and searched the homes of all the Tzemach Tzedek’s sons, sons-in-law, and other family members, but not the Tzemach Tzedek’s own residence. As an honored citizen, his home could not be searched without a special order or permit from the minister of the interior. They therefore refrained from searching it and only questioned him with due courtesy. After the next two denunciations, once the Tzemach Tzedek had been granted the hereditary title of honored citizen, his sons’ homes were not searched either; they were only questioned by officials of the secret police and the regular police. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5604, the Tzemach Tzedek was deeply troubled, knowing how strongly the government, under the influence of the maskilim, opposed Kabbalah and Chassidus in particular, and the Torah of Israel in general. As is known, the Russian government had then prohibited the printing of sacred books generally, and books of Chassidus especially. That eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Tzemach Tzedek related that while he was in Petersburg, he had traveled to nearby Kronstadt to meet the Jewish soldiers stationed there, at their request. They received him with great ceremony and told him, “Rebbe, we worked long and hard polishing the buttons on our uniforms. We ask the Rebbe to polish our pure souls.” They burst into tears. The Tzemach Tzedek then delivered a maamar of Chassidus before them on the verse, “I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud.” Some of the soldiers who knew Tehillim by heart recited it. The Tzemach Tzedek said, “Buttons are polished and cleaned with sand and water. The sand is the letters of Tehillim; the water is tears. Today is the eve of Rosh Hashanah, and everyone must clean and polish himself by reciting Tehillim with tears from the depths of

16:28 the heart—and, at the same time, with joy in the soul.” The soldiers said, “You don’t capture a city with tears, but with song. L’chaim!” Afterward, the mood became more joyful. And so the Tzemach Tzedek wanted to continue until the year 5608. The year 5607 was a joyful year, and the Tzemach Tzedek concluded, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.”