The Radatz (and R' Aharon Charitonov's first Niggun)

00:06 L'zchus Mayesh Aschayel in honor of her birthday, the 10 Ches Odar, may she have a shnas hatzlocha b'gashmiyus ub'ruchniyus. Reb Dovid Zvi Chen, known as the Radatz, was the son of the famous Chosid, Reb Perec Chen. He was the rebbe of Chernigov. The Fidik Rebbe related once by a farbrengen, that the Chosid, the Oivdê, the Radatz, had a minhag before he ever made a bracha on any food or drink to put his right hand by his forehead, just like when someone does when he needs to remember something deep. "When I was still young," says the Fidik Rebbe, "it was about Taf Rash Nun or Taf Rash Nun Alef, I once asked the Radatz, 'Why does he do that? Why does he put his hand by his forehead before every bracha?' So he told me, 'When I was 12 years old, my father, Reb Perec, brought me to Lubavitch, to the Tzemach Tzedek. When I went into the Rebbe, the Rebbe was very much mechabed me, and amongst the things that the Rebbe told me was, "Listen to me. Ver oysingle. Become not a kid anymore. And when you need to make a bracha on a food or on a drink, and you're going to say Baruch ato, you should remember who you're going to say to Baruch ato."'" Reb Shmuel Sosonkin once related that he was once in a place where somebody was making a bracha, and the Radatz happened to pass by him. So when that person started to say Baruch ato, the Radatz,

01:28 who heard him saying the bracha, started to shake, and he said with such a slavos, "Baruch Hu baruch shmo." A big fear fell upon all of us in the room, and the fruit that the person was benching on almost fell out of his hand. And in general, whenever the Radatz davened, made a bracha, made kiddush, he was completely muvshat from this world. In another farbrengen, the Fidik Rebbe once related, one time the Radatz screamed out randomly, "Oi Rebbe," and he fainted. When they woke him, he said that the reason why he screamed was because he remembered a yichidus that he had by the Tzemach Tzedek when he was bar mitzvah, and the Tzemach Tzedek put his holy hands on his head and gave him a bracha, and he also remembered some other yichidusin that he had by Tzemach Tzedek. So because of remembering those yichidusin, that's why he screamed and fainted. Taf Rash Mem Gimel, after the petiras of his father, Reb Perec, the Radatz became the Rav of Chernigov and the surroundings. His son, Reb Avrom, related the following story. "There were many refugees who came to the city of Chernigov from the east of Galitzia. A bunch of them were arrested, and they were in big danger. What did my father, the Radatz, do? He took with him 10 people who were loyal to him, and he secretly went to Kiev, to Trotsky, which was a Russian general. He went through different chambers and different challenges until they managed to actually appear before

02:53 Trotsky himself. When he stood in front of this general, which was known to be a meshugana, a storm broke out, meaning the general started to scream at them and greeted them not in a very nice way. The delegation asked the general if he could release the Yidden who were arrested from Galitzia in Chernigov and just put him in a house arrest. The general answered with a whole mabul of cursing and screaming, banging with his feet and banging on the table. At the end, my father signed a official document that if any of these prisoners will leave the city even for a moment, he's willing to be a arev instead of him, meaning that he will be arrested instead. And those people who were arrested, my father, the Radatz, didn't even know them at all. So he was willing to put his life in danger, trusting that they will not run out of the city, even though he didn't know them at all. And also they, the prisoners who were released, also did not know that the Radatz is the one who got them released." Our Rebbe once related that the kings in Russia were able to do whatever they wanted, since they didn't have any congress on top of them. At the last years of the empire, the czar was a shiker. And when the Yidden wanted to accomplish something, they used to go out and greet him with a Sefer Torah. At that time, the Radatz was a Rav in Chernigov. And when the

04:13 czar once came for a visit in Chernigov, the Radatz came out to greet the czar wearing a kapota, carrying a Sefer Torah. And when he was right next to the czar, he stood, he put his hand on his forehead, just like he would do before he would say any bracha, and he benched the bracha that you say when you see a king, She-nasaan lech v'dolev basar v'dam. He benched it out loud so everybody could answer amen. The czar saw that a Yidden standing in front of him, wearing this strange clothing, holding a Sefer Torah in his hand, and he's screaming at him. He didn't understand it was a bracha. So, uh, until somebody explained to the czar what it was. When the Radatz came home, so the Radatz's nephew, which was a little more modern, oifgeklert, asked his uncle, "My uncle, you know that the czar is a shiker v'chulu," meaning, "You know that he's a lowlife and he doesn't deserve any respect, so how could you treat him in such a way? To say a bracha on him, to go greet him with a Sefer Torah, wh- what does he deserve this respect?" So the Radatz told him, "Petach, fool. He has a sar le'ma'ala. He has a minister in Shamayim." Reb Yisroel Jacobson related, "The year of Taf Rash Ayin Vav, I happened to be in Chernigov. Since my papers were not, uh, taken care of, so I was arrested for four days. When the Rav, the Radatz, heard about it, he did

05:29 everything he can to release me. When I finally got released, it was Sunday, 1:00 in the afternoon. I went straight to the Radatz's house. I arrived at 2:00 in the afternoon, and I saw through the keyhole to his room that he was wearing a tallis and tefillin, and he's just about finishing the Eizehu Mekayem On and Rabbi Yishmael Emor before Shacharis. He drank a cup of milk, and then he davened each word from Kaddish, from the siddur Tefillah L'Moshe, which is the siddur of the Ramak. And he was actually pointing with his finger to each word. Davening took him about an hour and 40 minutes until after Tachnun." Reb Shmuel Sosonkin once related, "Once the Radatz asked me that I should accompany him-" To go somewhere. So I walked with him in Pitinitski Street, which that is the street where he lived. That street had only Yidden living there. That day I came from Yekatrinoslav, where Reb Leivik, the Rebbe's father, was the Rav. The Radaz and Reb Leivik were mechutanim because the son-in-law of the Radaz, Reb Sholom Shloime, was Reb Leivik's brother. So when we're walking on the street, the Radaz asked me, "What's going on with Reb Leivik Yitzchak?" So I started to relate what's happening by Reb Leivik. We kept walking, and the Radaz was completely deep in thought. Suddenly, in the middle of the walk, he stopped, and out of his mouth burst like a scream, "Oi bazo, if so, vos is fart toyu un tikun?" What is it after

06:56 all toyu un tikun? Reb Shmerele Sosonkin also related that every Shabbos, the Radaz would chazer two ma'amarim, once before Kabbalas Shabbos and once by Shalosh Seudahs. More than once, he would burst out crying in the middle of the ma'amar. And it was a unique pleasure to hear from him Chassidus because he would explain everything in such a way that even somebody who never learned Chassidus would understand well everything that he said. Reb Shmuel Levitan related the Radaz was once in Kharkov together with the Chossid Reb Yitzchok Yoel Rafaelovich. Reb Yitzchok Yoel told him that Kharkov is a big city, and he started to show him different big buildings. So the Radaz told him, "No, ma enaf kaminah. It's all ein ve'efes. It's all nothing." They continued walking down the street. Then they saw a very big, fancy-looking building. So Reb Yitzchok Yoel Rafaelovich told him, "Nu, Reb Dovid Hirsch, what do you say about this building?" So the Radaz answered him, "Un dos is a greyser garnicht." And this is a bigger nothing. The Radaz's son, Reb Avraham, related, "In my father's house, the house was open, and the policy was that any stranger was able to just walk into the house and make himself at home and stay there for as long as he wants for free. Whoever walked into the house would just find whichever corner he wanted, whatever food he found in the kitchen. Nobody asked anybody who walked into our house who he was, where is he coming from, when is

08:11 he leaving. And I remember once when I was a little kid," says Reb Avraham, "when I was in Lubavitch, the Rebbetzin asked me, 'Is it true that in your house you have so many guests to an extent that even the family doesn't have a bed or a blanket or a pillow, and you're sleeping on benches and chairs because of the guests?' So I answered the Rebbetzin, 'Im mishum hu lo irya.'" Meaning, if it's because of that, that's not a proof. Meaning, the fact that we're sleeping on benches instead of on a bed, that's not a proof that we have many guests because to begin with, we don't have so many blankets and pillows. There were some guests that my father, the Radaz, would invite him to our house, and they were the most me'uzdika characters of the city, the people who are the most dirty and uncomfortable to be around. And even though my father was an easternist, somebody who liked cleanliness, he liked also to be alone. He wasn't a very social person. Despite that, whenever he will invite those people, he will make sure to eat with them, which was a big mesirus nefesh for him. Our Rebbe once related in a farbrengen when the Likutei Torah was printed in Vilna in the days of the Rebbe Rashab, the Chossid Reb Anshel Aronovich was magiya the whole Likutei Torah from mistakes, and he fixed 3,000 mistakes. When he finally came to Lubavitch with the newly printed Likutei Torah without the mistakes in his

09:30 hand, the Rebbe Rashab was very happy. When Reb Anshel saw that the Rebbe is happy and everybody is happy, so he went to tell the Radaz about it. And the Rebbe says the Rav from Chernigov, he was a big lamdan, a big Chossid, and a big oved with all the ma'alos. And he saw that the Radaz wasn't very happy, but he's afraid to say something sharp because he heard that the Rebbe was happy about it. So Reb Anshel asked him, "Why are you not happy? Isn't that a good thing that we fixed up the Likutei Torah from the mistakes?" So the Radaz answered him, "Du farshteyst nisht dem gantzen inyan." You don't understand the whole thing. The whole inyan of Chassidus is not that our brain should understand, rather that our brain should be soaked the whole day in Chassidus. So therefore, when you learn something, when you learn a ma'amar that has a mistake, and therefore you have trouble understanding what it says, so you haravah, you toil for a few hours to try to understand until you figure out that it's probably a printing mistake. You can't, chas v'shalom, right away after two minutes say there must be a printing mistake because who are you to say there is a mistake? Only after a few hours of learning and bringing up all possibilities, you could have, quote-unquote, the chutzpah to say that there is a printing mistake. But now, when you're magiya the Likutei Torah from all the mistakes, so instead of haravahing

10:47 over the ma'amar for a few hours, a person will not have any challenges, and he will finish the ma'amar fast, and then what he will do? The Chossid Reb Chaim Moshe Alperovitch related that during the first years of the nasius of the Rebbe Rashab, there was a debate between the Chassidim, Reb Gershon Ber Pahara and the Radaz. As it is known, at the hishtalsvus of the Rebbe Maharash, the Rebbe Rashab was less than 22 years old. Nonetheless, a lot of Chassidim were meskashert to him, including from the Ziknei HaChassidim of the Tzemach Tzedek. So at that time, Reb Gershon Ber said, "If the Rashab," which is the new Rebbe, "would have been amongst the Chassidim in Galit in the times of the Alter Rebbe, he would be considered unique amongst them. And even if he would be in the times of the Mezitcher Maggid, he would be considered to be unique. And even by the Baal Shem Tov." That's what Reb Gershon Ber Pahara said. But the Radaz said, "I'm also hold very highly of the Rebbe Rashab, but ad kedei koch." And when the Radaz, in the end of his life, moved to Eretz Yisrael, he said, "Now I actually see that Reb Gershon Ber was right." And he was sorry about the fact that only now, after Reb Gershon Ber passed away, he came to that realization. At the end of his life, in 5698, the Radaz moved to Eretz Yisrael, and he settled in Yerushalayim. A few of the chashuve gedolim of

12:03 the city went out to greet him, and the rest of the citizens of Yerushalayim made a whole big kabbalas panim in the entrance of the city The Radatz had a daughter that moved to Eretz Israel a few years before him, but she did not come to the Kabbalas Panim to the Radatz, because at that time she was very heartbroken because of different tragedies that happened in her family, and therefore she did not want to go and see her father to see his pain. When the Radatz came and he saw that his daughter is not there, he asks that he wants to see his daughter. So when she came, she told him, "How can I handle such suffering?" So the Radatz reacted, "Oi, bist shoyn keyn chosid nit? Der Rebbe hot gezogt az der Aibishter shickt yissurim gitter frier a keyli tzedem." Oh, you're not a chosid anymore? The Rebbe said that if the Aibishter sends suffering to a person, he prepares him in advance that he should be a keyli to handle them. We'll finish off with a nigun from Reb Aaron haRetov, which the tradition is that this is the first nigun that he composed. He composed it either at the age of sixteen or eighteen. And the story goes that when he composed this nigun and his father, Reb Avraham haRetov, heard it for the first time, he said that the first fa is too long. But after hearing it over and thinking it over, he told him that actually I regret it,

13:22 and there isn't even one extra t'nua in the first fa.