Episode 268 - Informing by the Maskilim Against Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim

00:01 The Frierdiker Rebbe continues in his diary: Wednesday, 7 Iyar 5662—that is, 1902—in Petersburg, ten o’clock at night. As I was walking along Sadovaya Street, I met Mr. Perlmutter, an upright man of Volozhin chassidic stock, one of those who studied and then turned away. Nevertheless, he respects those who fear G-d and treats those of distinguished lineage with great deference. He told me it was good that we had met, because he had something important to discuss with me concerning my father, the Rebbe Rashab, and, to some extent, concerning me as well. But he said that it was now twelve noon, he was busy and had to return to the office of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment. He would be there, as usual, until four or five, and at five he would come to my lodgings at the Serpinskaya Hotel, on Zablov za Bolkanskaya Street[?]. But he made it a condition that no one see him visiting me. Perlmutter kept his promise to the letter. When he came, he told me that Gittelson, the head teacher at the Society’s school in Lubavitch, had arrived at its head office and given a report on the school in Lubavitch. Perlmutter brought the report, signed by Gittelson, to our meeting and even allowed me to copy it. He told me that Gittelson had proposed informing on the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva to the educational authorities in Vilna and to the governor of Mogilev province, on the matter of military service. He intended to allege that the yeshiva students were evading military service through various schemes and forgeries, and to place the blame on the Rebbe’s son—that is, on me—as the director of the yeshiva. Mr. Zaslovsky, the bookkeeper and Levkovitch’s[?] deputy at the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment, agreed to this denunciation. Perlmutter told me, the Frierdiker Rebbe continues, that at a meeting of the Society’s committee on Monday, attended by Ginzburg, Gittelson spoke of the Rebbe Rashab’s great influence on the chassidim: not only are the Torah teachings the Rebbe delivers written down

03:17 and copied and sent to many places, but even the Rebbe’s words and sichos are written down and reproduced in hundreds of copies. As an example, Gittelson brought a sheet reproduced on a copying machine from a beautifully handwritten original by the chief copyist, whose name was Shmuel Rabinovitch. It was the sicha the Rebbe had delivered to the yeshiva students before a large gathering of guests who had come to celebrate Simchas Torah with him in 5661—that is, the previous year. Gittelson went on to say that the Rebbe’s sicha was like a match to ignite the fire of Torah study and fear of Heaven in young hearts. In the course of his account, Gittelson reported that the Rebbe had said: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the remedy before the blow. Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought forward the remedy—the founding of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva—before the blow of the teachers of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment.” The Rebbe Rashab continued: “I am confident that Tomchei Temimim will outlast the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment, and that the Temimim will put right the denial of Torah and mitzvos that the Society spreads.” The faces of those assembled flared up, and Baron Ginzburg became very agitated. He said they should summon Mr. Treinin, one of the leading chassidim of the Rebbe of Lubavitch, to hear what he had to say about a statement that disparaged the Society’s greatest work. They should ask Treinin to inform the Rebbe that he should not take lightly the matter of making such statements about the Society in public. But those assembled expressed the view that speaking with Treinin would not be enough: he was a man of firm convictions and a broad heart, and would certainly reinforce his Rebbe’s words, for he was utterly opposed to the Society. In their opinion, serious measures had to be taken against the Rebbe of Lubavitch and against the yeshiva he had founded, which he had established in opposition to the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment. They then learned that Mr. Treinin had traveled to Budapest and would return in two weeks. This is everything Perlmutter told the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Frierdiker Rebbe’s diary continues: Friday, 9 Iyar

06:10 5662, Lubavitch, four o’clock in the afternoon. At six in the morning I returned from my journey to Petersburg, and at twelve noon I told my father, the Rebbe Rashab, what I had done on this trip in communal matters, as I had been instructed. When I finished, I told him what Perlmutter had related to me. “Certainly,” my father, the Rebbe Rashab, told me, “Hashem will help bring it all to a good conclusion. On Sunday morning, go to the Ohel and recount everything in detail, just as you have told me.” The Frierdiker Rebbe continues: “Sunday, 11 Iyar, eleven in the morning. I have just returned from the Ohel and carried out the mission my father, the Rebbe Rashab, gave me: to read the pidyonos concerning communal matters. I recounted the entire affair of the teachers at the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment’s school and what Perlmutter had told me, and I read the pidyonos my father, the Rebbe Rashab, had given me to write concerning the yeshiva in particular. I cannot refrain from copying a passage from the pidyon. My father writes: ‘I, your son,’ and in the second pidyon it says: ‘I, your grandson, Sholom Dovber son of Rivkah, and your grandson Yosef Yitzchak son of Shterna Sarah, are prepared to literally give our lives so that the yeshiva will continue to be run only in this way, in its studies and in the ways of Chassidus. Please arouse abundant mercy for us, for the yeshiva and for its supporters. May Hashem strengthen the heart of my son, my son Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, so that he can withstand every test and succeed in the communal work I am entrusting to him.’” Let us continue. The Frierdiker Rebbe writes: “Monday, 12 Iyar, eleven o’clock at night. At seven o’clock I was sitting in my room at the yeshiva office, occupied with reading letters that had arrived, letters awaiting dispatch, and reports from the supervisors and mashpi’im. A police officer entered with two men in civilian clothes. They came straight into my room without stopping in the front room, where Yaakov Kopel Zelikson, the clerk, was working on the accounts. I greeted the officer and his companions warmly. One

09:11 of them closed the door; the second addressed me in the spoken language, that is, Yiddish; and the third said ‘du’ or ‘da’ in Russian, with a slight smile on his lips. The police officer, the pristav, was as white as chalk. I understood that these men were from the secret police. Although I had encountered such men two or three times before, it still made a strong impression on me. Nothing showed on my face, however, and I said, ‘Thank you very much. Although I prefer to speak the language of the country, I hope you will understand what I say.’ The two secret-police men asked, ‘Is it true that you teach boys Jewish studies and provide them with food, clothing, shoes and a place to sleep, all free of charge?’ I said, ‘Absolutely true. The local and district police can attest to it, for everything is recorded in the books as required by law, and the teachers have the legally required certificates. As for their upkeep, some of the students receive everything free of charge in a special boarding house. Others have their own means, and only their instruction is free.’ The two asked, ‘And what about military service?’ I said, ‘When a student reaches the age for military service, each goes to his place of residence or his hometown, as the law requires.’ They asked, ‘Are any serving in the army?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ They asked, ‘Do those who complete their military service return to the yeshiva?’ I said, ‘In a few cases they have returned to the school, but for the most part, after completing their military service, they settle into family life, take the millstone upon their necks, and concern themselves with how to make a living.’ The secret-police men asked, ‘What do they do?’ I said, ‘Each according to his abilities: some enter the rabbinate, some become shochtim, some teach students, and others go into business for themselves or take positions in commercial firms.’ The secret-police men asked, ‘Does the school administration take an interest in placing its students in all these professions?’ I said, ‘One of the school’s founding principles is that the administration’

11:47 It sees to the students’ placement and provides each one with a livelihood suited to his abilities. “And those who are exempted from military service for various reasons, such as family circumstances, illness and the like—do they return to the school?” I said, “For a short time. By that age, they are already thinking about family life, and as I said, the administration looks after the students’ welfare. So until they are settled, they remain at the school.” They asked, “Are there currently any who have been exempted from military service? How many?” I said, “Four or five, I believe.” They asked, “May we see their certificates?” I said, “Certainly. We’ll have to call them.” The two secret-police officers said, “We don’t want this matter to become public. So don’t call them now; just show us their certificates, as well as the teachers’ certificates.” I left my room and sent my attendant to bring all the required certificates, telling him in my name that no one was to know about it. When he returned, he was to knock on the door, and I would come out and take them. When I went back into my room, I saw that the man who had begun speaking to me in Yiddish was reading one of the letters lying on the table. He asked whether I permitted him to read the letters. Of course I agreed, and a faint smile crossed his lips. The certificates arrived. They read them with particular care, made notes in their books, returned them to me and said, “You were right.” One of them said to the police official, “Everything is quite clear.” The official’s face brightened, and a few moments later they got up and left. Continuation of the account, Thursday, 6 Iyar, at ten o’clock at night: Last Tuesday, at eight o’clock in the evening, a police officer, an uradnik, came with a man in civilian clothes and summoned me to go with them to the police station. I told them, “I am a hereditary honorary citizen, with special privileges. Could my hearing not be postponed until tomorrow morning? I will come at nine or ten.” The man gave me a piercing look, took his watch from his pocket, looked at it and said, “Very well, come tomorrow morning at ten.” A moment later he added, “But who can guarantee you won’t run away during the night?” I said with a laugh, “A Schneersohn does not run away. The Schneersohns are not cowards who flee, and they have no reason or cause to flee.” The man repeated his order to come the next morning at ten and left. Toward evening that day, Shmuel Michoel Treinin arrived from Petersburg. Although we still did not know why I was being summoned to the police, it was clear in any case that it was connected with the secret police’s investigation, prompted by an informant—apparently the teacher Gitelson. It was decided that Treinin and my uncle, who was then living in Vitebsk, would travel to the provincial capital, Mogilev, to deal with the matter at its source. That night Mr. Treinin traveled to the provincial capital and informed my uncle, Rabbi M.M., that he too should come there. The next morning, at the appointed time of ten o’clock, I arrived at the police station. I saw that the pristav’s face was grim. I understood that there had been a new denunciation. He led me into a room where three men were sitting. One of them was the man who had come to me the previous evening. The chairman said, “How many people have you secured exemptions from military service for, and how much do you bribe the police officials to cover up your crime against the law?” I said, “Does the law permit you to speak in this manner to a man free of even the slightest taint of wrongdoing, whom the grace of His Imperial Majesty has honored with the distinction of hereditary honorary citizen, signed in the own hand of His Imperial Majesty the late Emperor Nicholas I? Is there no law and no judge, that I should be judged on a false accusation? I am a Jew, like all my Jewish brethren, and I demand a lawful hearing. The law makes no distinction between one people and another, and justice shelters everyone equally.” The man was stunned by my words. His colleague seated to his right also stared at me intently. Only the man seated to his left, who had seen me the previous evening when they summoned me, had the trace of a smile on his lips.

14:13 He gave me a piercing look, took his watch from his pocket, looked at it and said, “Very well. Come tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.” A moment later he added, “But who can guarantee that you won’t run away during the night?” I said jokingly, “A Schneersohn does not run away. The Schneersohns are not cowards who flee, and they have no reason or cause to do so.” The man repeated his order to come the next morning at ten o’clock and left. Toward evening that day, Shmuel Michoel Treinin arrived from Petersburg. Although we still did not know why I was being summoned to the police, it was clear that it had to do with an investigation by the secret police following a denunciation by the teacher, apparently Gitelson. It was decided that Treinin and my uncle, who was then living in Vitebsk, would travel to the provincial capital, Mogilev, to deal with the matter at its source. That night Mr. Treinin traveled to the provincial capital and informed my uncle, Rabbi M.M., that he too should come there. The next morning, at the appointed time—ten o’clock—I came to the police station. I saw that the police chief’s face was grim. I understood that there had been a new denunciation. He led me into a room where three men were sitting. One of them was the man who had come to me the previous evening. The chairman said, “How many people have you exempted from military service, and how much do you bribe the police officials to cover up your crime against the law?” I said, “Does the law permit you to speak in such a manner to a man free of even a shadow of wrongdoing, upon whom the grace of His Imperial Majesty bestowed the honor of hereditary honorary citizenship, signed in the very hand of the late Emperor Nicholas I? And is this a court [unclear]? I am a Jew like all my fellow Jews, and I demand a lawful trial. The law makes no distinction between one people and another, and justice extends its protection equally to all.” The man was stunned by my words. His colleague seated to his right also looked at me intently. Only the man seated to his left, who had seen in my possession

16:34 The chairman said, “Keep him under arrest until we conduct the investigation.” He rang the bell on his desk. A policeman arrived; he ordered him to bring another, and when they came, he ordered them to take me to a cell and have one of them stand guard at the closed door, as required by law. I sat there in the dark for some time—I do not know whether it was an hour, more or less. I knocked on the door. The policeman came over and asked what I wanted. I answered that he should call one of the investigators. After a short while, I heard the door being opened. One of the investigators arrived, and I asked him to order that I be given a candle, a small table, paper and a pencil, so that I would have something with me and the time would not be wasted—or else to move me to a room with a window. The official stood in the doorway with a sheet of paper in his hand, wrote down my request and promised to pass it on to the head of the investigative committee. “But,” he told me, “I doubt they will grant your request before today’s work is finished. By law and custom, we do not interrupt the day’s work, so as to keep things in order and not confuse one matter with another. All the committee’s work is recorded in a book as it proceeds, and one matter cannot be mixed with another.” He turned to the policeman and ordered him to close the door, and I remained sitting in the dark. It was unpleasant, but I felt no fear. Toward evening I was called into the room of the secret-police officials, and the senior officer said to me, “The investigation is not yet over. But since today’s inquiries have uncovered no evidence against you, you are free to go home. If necessary, you will be summoned.” I said, “I am certain that tomorrow’s investigation, and the day after tomorrow’s as well, will produce no evidence against me, because I am innocent of any wrongdoing. This is nothing but a false accusation.”

18:40 When I came home, my father, the Rebbe Rashab, came out to greet me, his holy face lit up with his pleasant smile, and said, “Shalom aleichem. How did you feel in prison? What did you do?” I said, “I felt fine. I was only worried that they would worry about me, and I was distressed at the time going to waste.”