Episode 248 - About the Count from Botshayekov.

00:01 I’m continuing with a story about chassidim of the Rebbe Maharash before we move on to the Rebbe Rashab, his son. For now, we’re still with the Rebbe Maharash. The town of Batsheykov, in the Vitebsk region, belonged to a count. The town, along with many nearby villages and forests, had been in his family for generations. The count had his own palace, with many buildings to house the staff and overseers who managed his extensive property. Among the buildings was a Catholic monastery, with a priest and a group of assistants attached to it. The count was a good man, and throughout his life he allowed the Jews to earn a respectable living. He waived the land tax for the poor Jews of Batsheykov and ordered that free pasture be provided for the animals and goats of the rabbi, the shochet and bodek, and the cantors. The teachers, too, and almost every Jew in town derived their livelihood, to one degree or another, from the count’s estate. The count had always been frail and was frequently ill. He was treated by the eminent physician Heibenthal[?] in Vitebsk. As the count grew old, his weakness increased, and he was treated by the renowned physician Bertenson. When his weakness grew worse, the count handed over all the management of his estates to the chief administrator, who hated Jews. At just that time, a priest who hated Jews arrived there as well. Under the new priest’s influence, the chief administrator pushed the Jews away from the count’s estate. They began collecting land tax from the poor Jews and charging the communal functionaries for pasture. The Jews’ livelihoods were completely undermined, and this went on for about two years. Most of the Jews of Batsheykov were close to the grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash. They were quiet people. They would come to Lubavitch for a Yom Tov or a Shabbos, hear a maamar of Chassidus, go in for yechidus, ask the Rebbe for a blessing for children, life and livelihood, and then return home confident that Hashem would have mercy. But none of them dared speak to the Rebbe Maharash about their difficulty earning a living, or about the priest who persecuted the Jews and the chief administrator who hated them. Among

02:57 the Jewish families whose parents and grandparents had also conducted business with the count’s estate for many years was a Jew named Shmuel son of Reb Isaac Munya, or, as he was called, Mulya Isaacs. Shmuel was one of the Rebbe Maharash’s devoted chassidim, a respected chassidic Jew. He earned a plentiful living and was known throughout the area as an honest merchant. He welcomed guests, gave tzedakah, knew how to learn, and understood a saying from Chassidus. Shmuel himself was among the Jews who had business ties with the count’s estate. On Shavuos 5640, Shmuel was in Lubavitch. During his yechidus with the grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash asked Reb Shmuel about the state of people’s livelihoods in town. Reb Shmuel told the Rebbe that for several years now, the Jews had been deprived of their livelihood, and he explained why. He told him that the old count was ill, that it was becoming harder for the Jews to make a living by the day, and that the Jews of the town and the surrounding area were very worried. “I know,” the grandfather told him. “Professor Bertenson told me that the count is in very serious condition.” But the Rebbe Maharash was deeply upset with Shmuel that no one had told him all this time about the change in how the count’s estate was treating the Jews. “The Rebbe,” Reb Shmuel of Batsheykov told me—that was what they called him in Lubavitch—“fell into thought. After some time, he said: ‘You will travel home. The first time you see the count, tell him that I instructed you to convey the following: I know that he is in grave danger and that the doctors have given up hope for his life. But I tell him that if he helps the Jews of Batsheykov and the surrounding settlements earn a living from the inns on his estate, Hashem will grant him one month of life and health for every Jewish family.’” When Shmuel returned home, he went to the count’s estate a few days later, hoping to see him. But it was impossible. No one was allowed in to see the count. Reb Shmuel waited

06:00 several days. Then, on a clear summer day, the weather was good, and the doctor ordered the horses harnessed so that the count could be taken for a ride through the forest while lying in his bed. As they brought the count out of his house to place him in the carriage, Shmuel stood to one side and watched them carry the old, broken man. The sight caused him deep sorrow. But the count noticed Reb Shmuel and instructed him to accompany him into the forest. The count knew that Reb Shmuel was connected to the grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash. As soon as Reb Shmuel sat down in the carriage, he conveyed the Rebbe Maharash’s words to the count. The count said to him, “Draw up a list of all the Jewish families living in Batsheykov who can earn a living from my estates. Also, either yourself or through an agent, make a list of all the settlements, inns and rivers that belong to me and from which Jews can earn a living. Deliver the list to me alone, so that no one else knows about it.” Reb Shmuel did draw up the list. The list he gave the count included more than 160 families in Batsheykov and several dozen more in the surrounding settlements. The Jews once again had ample livelihoods, and the old count recovered and became healthy. Reb Shmuel was held in very high regard on the count’s estate. Among the plants in the count’s garden grew beautiful lulavim and hadassim. Beginning in 5671, Reb Shmuel would send the grandfather—that is, the Rebbe Maharash—a lulav and hadassim from the count’s garden every year. The Frierdiker Rebbe continues: I heard this story from Reb Shmuel himself when he came to Lubavitch at the end of Menachem Av 5654. My father, the Rebbe Rashab, was then in the settlements in Kherson. When Reb Shmuel told the story to my teacher, Reb Shmuel Betzalel, to the chossid Reb Chanoch Hendel, and to me, he concluded as follows: “The count is now extremely old. Since the summer of 5640 until today—a period of fourteen years—

09:14 he has been healthy and has not fallen ill even once. A week ago, the count felt weak. He sent for me,” Reb Shmuel related, “and instructed me to travel to Lubavitch, to the resting place of the Rebbe Maharash, and report that he was feeling weak. By his reckoning, based on the number of months compared with the number of Jewish families, he is owed another year and seven months of life, and the Rebbe should keep his promise.”