Episode 251 - The Rebbe Maharash's Concern for the Jewish People.

00:00 Let us tell two more stories about the Rebbe Maharash. We have told the first story before; now we will tell it from a slightly different angle. It was in 5639, that is, 1879, when the incitement and pogroms began in Russia. The Rebbe Maharash traveled to Petersburg several times, and figures in various royal circles promised him that the pogroms would stop. But after pogroms broke out in Kiev and Nezhin in 5641, the Rebbe Maharash returned from a short visit abroad and immediately traveled to Petersburg. Through Professor Yosef Bertenson[?], he obtained an audience with the minister of the interior. The Rebbe Maharash was deeply distressed by the pogrom atmosphere then prevailing. He reminded the minister of his promise that the government would put an end to the incitement, and warned him that such treatment of the Jews would cause a great outcry abroad. The minister replied that he knew very well how much power the Jewish capitalists abroad wielded, but he also knew how distant Jews abroad felt from the Jews of Russia, particularly from the rabbis. The Rebbe Maharash protested the minister’s words vigorously. From what the minister had said, he told him, it seemed that the minister did not understand the Jewish spirit or the brotherly love Jews felt for one another. “I receive many letters,” the Rebbe Maharash said, “from those influential Jewish capitalists abroad. They ask me how they should respond to the distressing reports coming from Russia about the situation of the Jews there, and what they should do to protect the lives and property of Russia’s Jews.” In a very angry voice, the minister asked, “And what did you answer them?” The Rebbe told him, “I am holding off on answering them until I hear the government’s response to my efforts in this matter.” The minister said, “Rebbe of Lubavitch, are you threatening the Russian government with the Jewish capitalists abroad?” The Rebbe Maharash replied, “The minister need not take my words as a threat. He should, however, take seriously the fact that many non-Jewish capitalists, too, will support

02:47 them, for humanity as a whole is bound to react strongly to such barbaric acts.” The minister said, “Will the Rebbe of Lubavitch, together with the capitalists abroad, stir up a revolution in Russia?” The Rebbe Maharash told him, “In time, it will be the Russian monarchy, with its neglected bureaucracy, that brings about a revolution in Russia.” That evening, the Rebbe Maharash was confined as a prisoner to the Serapinsky Hotel on Zabalkansky Street for two days. When he was released on the third day, he visited the minister again to obtain an answer to his appeal. He was told that he would receive an answer within two weeks. When the Rebbe Maharash returned from Petersburg, the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, was born, on 12 Tammuz 5641. At the bris meal, the Rebbe Maharash was in exceptionally high spirits. He delivered Chassidus, told stories, and sang many niggunim. Toward the end of the meal, the Rebbe Maharash became absorbed in thought and sang the Alter Rebbe’s four-part niggun. Everyone present was shaken by the bitter longing with which the Rebbe Maharash sang it. When he finished, he remained seated, deep in thought, his face very serious. After a while, the Rebbe Maharash began to speak. “When I began to take up the communal affairs that my father, the Tzemach Tzedek, had dealt with, I asked him for a blessing that my work should succeed. My father, the Tzemach Tzedek, told me: ‘A blessing is like rain. When rain falls on a plowed and planted field, things begin to grow. But for the rain to have its beneficial effect, one must first plow and plant. When a person does what he must for the good of the community, the blessing helps his work succeed.’ The Jewish people in our country,” said the Rebbe Maharash, “are going through a time of trouble. We need mercy—that Hashem have mercy on us and send us His salvation. With Hashem’s help, I have done everything possible for the good of the community. I have plowed and planted, and now we need rain: Hashem’s blessing, which brings salvation forth.” In fact, boruch Hashem, the Rebbe Maharash’s efforts succeeded and brought great benefit:

06:09 for a time, the unrest subsided completely. And here is another story about the Rebbe Maharash, this time about the greatness of the Jewish people. The Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, told this story. This is how it happened. It was in the summer of 5626. The Frierdiker Rebbe relates: My father, the Rebbe Rashab, and his brother, my uncle the Raza, came home from cheder. They were children then, sons of the Rebbe Maharash. It was one of the hottest days of Tammuz, and they were playing in the garden beside their father’s house. In my grandfather the Rebbe Maharash’s garden was a vine-covered arbor, enclosed by various kinds of greenery that sheltered it from the sun. It was like a room, with a special place for books and other necessities, and the Rebbe Maharash would often sit there on hot days. The children—my father, the Rebbe Rashab, and my uncle, Rabbi Zalman Aharon—were discussing the superiority of Jews over non-Jews, lehavdil. My uncle Rabbi Zalman Aharon, who was a year and four months older than my father, was doing the talking. He emphasized that Jews are a wise and understanding people: they know and study much Torah, both its revealed teachings and Kabbalah, and they daven with dveikus. “That is true,” his brother, my father, told him, “but only of Jews who know how to learn and daven with dveikus. What about Jews who do not know how to learn and do not daven with dveikus? In what way are they superior to non-Jews?” These words left my uncle Rabbi Zalman Aharon at a loss; he did not know what to answer. The Rebbe Maharash had a simple Jew working for him, a servant named Ben Zion. He barely knew the meaning of the simple words in the prayers and made mistakes when he said them. Every day he recited the entire book of Tehillim, davened with a minyan, and tried to attend the Ein Yaakov class. Then Devorah Leah, the children’s sister, came and told her father, the Rebbe Maharash, about their argument. She told him how Rabbi Zalman Aharon had been at a loss for an answer. The Rebbe

09:08 Maharash called his sons over to the vine-covered arbor and then sent for the servant Ben Zion. When Ben Zion arrived, the Rebbe Maharash asked him, “Ben Zion, have you eaten today?” “Yes,” Ben Zion answered, “I have.” “Did you eat well?” “What does ‘well’ mean?” said Ben Zion. “I had enough to eat, boruch Hashem.” “And why did you eat, Ben Zion?” “So that I can be a Jew and fulfill Hashem’s will,” Ben Zion said with a sigh. The Rebbe Maharash let him go and asked him to send in Ivan the coachman. Ivan was a Christian who had grown up among Jews from childhood and spoke Yiddish well. When Ivan arrived, the Rebbe Maharash asked him, “Have you eaten today?” “Yes,” Ivan answered. “And why did you eat?” “So that I can live,” said Ivan. “And why do you need to live?” “So that…” Ivan said, “so that I can have a little drink and eat a piece of cake afterward.” “You may go,” the Rebbe Maharash told him. Then the Rebbe Maharash turned to his sons and to Devorah Leah and said, “You see, a simple Jew eats in order to live. And why does he need to live? So that he can be a Jew and fulfill the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He even sighs over himself because he feels that he is not yet serving Hashem with true purity. The non-Jew, by contrast, lives so that he can have a little drink and a piece of cake afterward. He even smiles with pleasure as he imagines the food and drink that, in his eyes, are the purpose of life.”