Chapter 238 - The Passing of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Ascension of His Son, the Rebbe Maharash.

00:01 The maskilim were pursuing a very strange goal: to cut Jews off from their Judaism. What drove them to it? Nobody understands. In any case, they did not stop for a moment, even after they had lost their entire struggle, as we said yesterday. Mandelstam, who had served as the Jewish scholar advising the Minister of the Interior, lost favor with both the Minister of Education and the Minister of the Interior, and his name became infamous among all the Jews of Russia. But they continued. In 5614, that is, 1854, the Russian government issued a decree. First, it ordered the establishment of schools—ordinary schools for Jewish children. If we look at the parallels, we see that even today there are the same struggles by those same maskilim, who go by different names now, against Judaism and against Jews. The Russian government also decreed that the Tzemach Tzedek would serve as honorary president of all the schools for Jews in White Russia. They decreed that such a school be founded in Lubavitch itself, the capital of Chassidus. They also decreed that the Tzemach Tzedek be forced to send two of his grandsons as pupils to the school. That lot fell to two grandsons: Rabbi Leib, son of Rabbi Boruch Sholom, and Rabbi Boruch, son of Rabbi Shneur. In the year of the decree, the Tzemach Tzedek’s son Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok traveled with his family to his father-in-law, the tzaddik Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkasy, to save his young sons from the decree requiring them to study at the school. For several years before that, from 5604 to 5614, there had been a dispute between the two fathers-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek and the tzaddik Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkasy. The dispute concerned where Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok would live. The Tzemach Tzedek wanted him to live in Lubavitch. His father-in-law, Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel, wanted him to settle in one of the cities of Poland and become a Rebbe. The maskilim worked for several years to prepare the textbooks that had been

03:00 agreed upon in 5603. The Tzemach Tzedek held up that process in various ways for about ten years, until 5613. That year, the committee of maskilim began preparing the books. Again, the Tzemach Tzedek delayed it in various ways, and at the beginning of 5616—that is, 1856—the Tzemach Tzedek was forced by police threats to sign off on the translations of the books as a member of the committee of maskilim. The Tzemach Tzedek then circulated a public letter through special messengers, saying that he had signed under duress, that he opposed teaching from the abridged books, and that he feared the translations had been falsified. One of the maskilim, named Aharon Yonah, then informed on the Tzemach Tzedek for circulating that letter. In the summer of 5617, 1857, in the month of Tammuz, he was placed under house arrest for a month. The terms of the house arrest were such that no one except those living in his home—at the time, his son the Rebbe Maharash and his family lived there—was allowed to enter, not even his other sons and their families. It was also forbidden to hold a prayer minyan in the house. On 9 Kislev 5616, an order arrived from [unclear] in Vitebsk through the police in Babinovitch, informing the Tzemach Tzedek that in six weeks a council would convene under the Minister of the Interior to discuss printing those Hebrew books translated into German, which Jewish children would also be required to study. As one of the members of the rabbinical assembly of 5603, he was summoned to Petersburg to take part in the council. The Tzemach Tzedek refused to travel to Petersburg. His health was also poor. At that time, Dr. Lilienthal was visiting one of the estate owners near Lubavitch, and he was called to see the Tzemach Tzedek as well. When the invitation to Petersburg was brought to Dr. Lilienthal’s attention, he wrote a medical certificate stating that, because of

05:34 the Tzemach Tzedek’s poor health, he needed to avoid going out until spring. The certificate was accompanied by a letter in the language of the country saying that, because of his poor health, he could not participate in the planned council, and that if his opinion was needed, he would send two delegates as his representatives, as the law permitted. The letter was sent by special messenger to Petersburg, to the chassidim Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Vorobshov[?] and Rabbi Yisroel Chaikin, with a request that they deliver the letter and certificate to the office of the Minister of the Interior. The request was accepted, and the Tzemach Tzedek sent his son, the Rebbe Maharash, as his representative. As we said, 5616 was a time of trouble for the Jews of Russia materially, and especially spiritually, because the maskilim had gained the upper hand and were forcing Jews to study the books they had printed. At that time, the Tzemach Tzedek asked his son the Rebbe Maharash whether he knew the text of Tanya thoroughly, word for word. The Rebbe Maharash answered his father, “Yes, I know its text thoroughly.” The Tzemach Tzedek asked whether he knew Tanya as thoroughly as he knew the Five Books of the Torah, since the Rebbe Maharash was exceptionally well versed in Tanach. “Yes,” said the Rebbe Maharash, “I know Tanya as thoroughly as I know the Five Books of the Torah.” At the beginning of 5617, the Tzemach Tzedek sent his son the Rebbe Maharash to Petersburg and instructed him that wherever he found himself—among government institutions or with government ministers—he should recite a passage from Chumash, a chapter of Tehillim and a chapter of Tanya. It was, the Rebbe Maharash said, an excellent remedy. The Rebbe Maharash related this to his son, the Rebbe Rashab. With three passages from Chumash, three chapters of Tehillim and three chapters of Tanya, all the plans of the maskilim fell apart, and the Jewish people and the holy Torah emerged triumphant. The leader of the maskilim, Dr. Lilienthal, fled abroad out of shame and fear, because he had caused the government considerable losses by printing the books proposed by the maskilim. The Tzemach Tzedek caused Dr. Lilienthal to flee on Rosh Hashanah. As

07:55 is known, Lilienthal was close to the government. On that Rosh Hashanah, he was supposed to travel to carry out the decree of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment: to force Jewish children to study from that society’s books and in its schools. The ministers accused him—that is, they accused Lilienthal—of stealing money he had been given to print the books. Someone else had actually stolen it, but he was accused and had to flee across the border. He escaped to Cincinnati in the United States. And in 5619, 1859, the Tzemach Tzedek was informed on again. The Tzemach Tzedek told his son the Rebbe Maharash the following: “When I was a child growing up in the home of my grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, he would take me under his tallis every year for the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah and for the Priestly Blessing. In 5559, 1799, during the shofar blowing, I saw that the Alter Rebbe would face great trouble that year, but I did not see the deliverance. Apparently, that was because the redemption was not complete.” On 24 Teves 5601, which fell on Thursday night—no, the 24th of... the 8th of Teves—the Tzemach Tzedek’s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe, passed away. The Tzemach Tzedek said then, “My world has grown dark around me.” About two weeks later, the Rebbe Maharash moved with his family into the Tzemach Tzedek’s home. Rabbi Nochum, the Tzemach Tzedek’s son, was there, and he said of the Tzemach Tzedek: “Who could have believed that such a strong man, the Tzemach Tzedek, who would fast day after day”—that is, for many weeks, subsisting on a piece of bread and chicory, a drink similar to coffee—“who could have believed it?” He slept three hours a day. “That such a strong man would become ill and a man of

11:08 He suffered greatly during his last five years. Half a year before the Tzemach Tzedek’s passing, it was very difficult for him to speak, but people saw extraordinary spiritual revelations in him. The Tzemach Tzedek stopped receiving chassidim for yechidus, at least regarding material concerns. He said that he could no longer see the physical body of a chossid, or the physical aspect of anything. He saw only the soul of each thing, and therefore could not give answers about material matters. The Tzemach Tzedek passed away on 13 Nissan 5626, 1866. Reb Yekusiel Liepler was not told. For half a year, no one told him that the Rebbe had passed away. When he finally learned of the Tzemach Tzedek’s passing, he cried out, “Fools! Why did you let the Rebbe pass away? You extinguished the Torah scrolls—you extinguished yourselves!” Reb Yekusiel Liepler smashed all the windowpanes and set out for Lubavitch on foot. When he arrived, he said, “I won’t do anything. I won’t daven, and I won’t learn. First, I must hear what the Rebbe has to say to me.” He went to the Tzemach Tzedek’s Ohel and remained there all day. Eventually, they carried him out after he fainted. When Reb Yekusiel Liepler regained consciousness, he said, “We need to dance.” Afterward, he told the Tzemach Tzedek’s sons, “Come and hear a maamar of Chassidus that your father said.” Reb Yekusiel then stayed in Lubavitch to choose a Rebbe from among the Tzemach Tzedek’s sons. Finally, he said to the Rebbe Maharash, “Until now, I’ve spoken to you informally. Now you are my Rebbe. Put on a hat and say Chassidus.” Let’s tell one story about the Tzemach Tzedek. The people of Vitebsk were known to be stingy when it came to tzedakah, though they did give food to the poor. They gave money to tzedakah only if pressed. Once,

14:16 a chossid from Vitebsk came to the Tzemach Tzedek and told the Rebbe that his only son was due to be drafted into the army. That year, even only sons were being taken into the army. The chossid asked the Tzemach Tzedek for his blessing. The Tzemach Tzedek told him, “I can’t help you at all.” The chossid pleaded several times and received the same answer. He went to the Rebbe Maharash, the Tzemach Tzedek’s son, with whom he was close, and told him what had happened. The Rebbe Maharash went to his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, and asked for a blessing that the chossid’s son not be taken into the army. The Tzemach Tzedek gave him the same answer: he could not help him at all. Two days before the only son was due to report for military service, the chossid sent a special messenger to the Rebbe Maharash, asking him to try once more to appeal to his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, on his behalf. The Tzemach Tzedek said to him, “What do you want? I can’t help him.” The Tzemach Tzedek then asked his son, the Rebbe Maharash, to bring him a Midrash Tanchuma. He opened it to Parshas Mishpatim, on the verse “When you lend money.” The Midrash says, “Hashem is gracious to the poor.” Rabbi Pinchas HaKohen said, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu said: A poor person’s soul was struggling to leave his body from hunger, and you gave him sustenance and revived him. By your life, I will repay you, a life for a life. Tomorrow, when your son or daughter faces illness or death, I will remember the mitzvah you did and repay you, a life for a life.” The Rebbe Maharash did not quite understand his father’s intention in showing him this Midrash. A few days later, word came that the chossid’s son had been released for no apparent reason. The Tzemach Tzedek was very pleased, and the Rebbe Maharash wanted to understand what had happened. Around that time, he needed to travel to Vitebsk

16:52 to see Dr. Lilienthal, so he instructed the wagon driver to take him to that chossid. When they met, the Rebbe Maharash asked the chossid to tell him what had happened on the day his son was supposed to report for military service. The chossid said, “I don’t know.” The Rebbe Maharash asked him to ask his wife. She, too, said she did not remember, but then she recalled that on that day a poor Jew had come into their home and asked for something to eat. They told him they were very preoccupied: they were going to the cemetery to invoke the merit of their ancestors on behalf of their only son, and they had no time to attend to him. The poor man kept pleading, saying that he had not eaten in a long time and was very hungry. How could they refuse to feed a poor Jew? They had prepared plenty of food, and because of their distress they could not eat, so the wife gave the poor man all the food they had prepared for Shabbos, every good thing. When the Rebbe Maharash heard this, he stopped them and said, “That’s it. I’ve heard enough.”