R' Zalmen Kurenitzer (and a Niggun from Kurenitz)

00:06 Speaker 1 The Chassid of Zaman Kornitzer was a big goy in Igla, and he was a big businessman in the city of Vilna, and he was in the times of the Alter Rebbe. In the beginning, he was not mekushar to the Alter Rebbe, and on the contrary, he was against. However, eventually, he was neskar of the Chassidis, and he became one of the big Chassidim. After the Alter Rebbe's histalkus, he became mekushar to the Mitteler Rebbe. And during the Tzemach Tzedek's times, the Reb Zaman visited by the Tzemach Tzedek one time, and he brought to, to, to the Tzemach Tzedek his sons, and he asked the Tzemach Tzedek to take care of them. Afterwards, when he came home from that one trip to the Tzemach Tzedek, Reb Zaman became very sick, and he went through a lot of suffering, and he became blind. And for-- That went on for about seven years, so he couldn't travel to the Tzemach Tzedek anymore. However, when the Tzemach Tzedek made some trips around the country, so the Tzemach Tzedek came to Korenitz and, and they spent some time together. Reb Zaman was the mechutan of the Tzemach Tzedek because the Tzemach Tzedek's son, HaRav Hakodesh, boruch shalom, was a mechutan of Reb Zaman. So too, Reb Zaman was also a mechutan of Reb Mordechai Lepleer, one of the famous Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe. One time, the famous goy in Reb Shaul Ketselbogen passed through the city of Korenitz for some communal matter. So he stayed by the house of

01:30 Speaker 1 Reb Zaman Kornitzer's shver, father-in-law, Itcher Rochas. Zaman Kornitzer's shver, who was the host, prided himself be- in front of this, uh, guest, Reb Shaul, about his, uh, son-in-law, who was a big ilui, who was a big talmid chacham. So Reb Shaul, the guest, asked to see him. So Reb Zaman was brought into the goy in Reb Shaul's room. So Reb Shaul asked him, "Which massecht are you learning?" So Reb Zaman said, "I'm in the middle of Eruvin." However, Reb Shaul the goy asked him a question in Yevamos instead of in the, instead of Eruvin. And the answer that Reb Zaman gave in the question in Yevamos was that, "The way I understood the pshat in the Gemara a few blats before that blat that you're asking me about, the whole question doesn't even start." And that was the end of that conversation. So before the goy in Reb Shaul left the city, he asked the host, Reb Itcher Rochas, if he could see his son-in-law again. He wants to say goodbye. And when he saw Reb Zaman Kornitzer, he says, "Are you gonna say about me now that I'm a complete am ha'aretz?" So Reb Zaman answered him, "I will say about you whatever you are." Afterwards, the goy in Reb Shaul traveled to the nearby city, Viazhin. And over there, there was a very famous goy in Reb Yosele Viazhiner. And Reb Shaul told Reb Yosele Viazhiner about this sixteen-year-old son-in-law of his host, who was a tremendous goy. So Reb Yosele, who knew

02:58 Speaker 1 Reb Zaman already, told him, "Vos, Zamanke? Oh, are you talking about Zamanke? He's such a chacham that even somebody who learned in Paris for fifteen years science let him have a debate with Zaman Kornitzer, Zaman will win him." Eventually, Reb Zaman Kornitzer heard about the Alter Rebbe, and together with his brother-in-law, the son of his shver, and another one who joined them, they decided to travel to the Alter Rebbe. The one in charge of getting the money for the trip was Reb Zaman's brother-in-law. Once they got the money for the trip, they hired a wagon from the city of Samargan, which was the nearby city, and they started their trip. They understood that when the people in the city will find out that they disappeared, a whole tumulte will break out in the ci- in the city. And for sure, their mother-in-law will, uh, send people to get them back. And therefore, they told the wagon driver that he should not travel in the regular way. Rather, he should go off the road and go into the forest in order to go and, uh, feed the horses. And they all stayed in the forest for a while until they saw... They, they had a vision. From the forest, they were able to see the road. So they waited until they saw the wagon of their mother-in-law passing by, chasing them. And then they waited for the shviger's, uh, wagon to go back to the city when she gave up on finding them. And only then

04:25 Speaker 1 they came out of the forest and continued traveling. Eventually, they came to the Alter Rebbe, and Reb Zaman told the wagon driver, "When you come back home and you'll... When you travel back home and you pass through my city, Korenitz, knock on the window of my wife's room and give her a message that we came peacefully, that we came b'shalom to our destination. If you will do that, my wife will reward you with a lot of mashke to drink." So the wagon driver s- um, fulfilled the promise, uh, either because he liked to keep his promise or because he liked to drink mashke, and he did what Reb Zaman asked. When he came in the middle of the night to Korenitz, he knocked on the window, and he told, um, Reb Zaman Kornitzer's wife that her husband came to his destination peacefully, and she gave him a whole bottle of mashke. So he drank and drank, and he became a little drunk. So he started to drive around with his wagon and four horses around the stores in the city square. And the following thing happened. One of the older balabatim came outside, and he saw somebody looks like a baal hagalah with four horses driving around his horses around the stores. So that person thought to himself, "For some reason, I have a feeling that this wagon driver is the one who took away the best of our city," meaning Reb Zaman Kornitzer and his friends, "to the cult, to the Hasidim." So in

05:57 Speaker 1 the morning, that person came to the Beis Midrash, that balabos came to the Beis Midrash, and he saw that in the middle of the night, I saw this wagon driver, and I'm sure that he's the one who drove them to, to the Hasidim. And the whole, uh, the whole city- Was very sad from this, uh, bitter news that the Zammer Kornitzer and his, uh, brother-in-law and, and another friend became a Hasidim. When Zammer Kornitzer came back to Korenitz, he brought with him the Alter Rebbe's new siddur, and he started a new shul for the Hasidim, for the local Hasidim. That was the first Hasidische shul in Korenitz. And since then, the Nusach of the Alter Rebbe spread in Korenitz, and eventually, years and years later, the only shul that did not daven the Nusach of the Alter Rebbe was actually just one shul of Nusach Ashkenaz. But the, the four other shuls were all Nusach Ari, the Nusach of the Alter Rebbe. Zammer Kornitzer was from the cheder rishon of the Alter Rebbe, and from the greatest ones in the cheder rishon. Cheder rishon was the, the highest level. And after the Alter Rebbe was hustled, Reb Zamman was very devoted to the Mitteler Rebbe. And once the Mitteler Rebbe said about him, "Zammenke is asking me that I should say chassidus on Etz Chaim. But really, we're speaking about much higher levels than Etz Chaim." One time, one of the Hasidim in Korenitz came back from a trip to the Tzna Tzedek, and when

07:18 Speaker 1 he came back to town, he hazard the maamar that he heard from the Tzna Tzedek to the Hasidim. The maamar was about basar, gidim v'etsamos, fl-- uh, meat, flesh, uh, veins and bones. And Reb Zamman also heard the hazara. When that Hasid, uh, finished hazaring the maamar, Reb Zamman started to hazar another maamar about the same exact topic, but this time not for the Tzna Tzedek. Reb Zamman hazard a maamar about it from the Mitteler Rebbe. And in the middle of him hazaring the maamar, he remembered the Mitteler Rebbe, so he burst out crying and he couldn't finish saying the maamar. He was, he was crying so bitterly he co-couldn't speak. Zammer Kornitzer was a very loyal friend of Rab Binyamin Kletzker. One time, Reb Zamman had to take a trip to a certain place, and before his trip, Rab Binyamin Kletzker asked him for a loan. So Reb Zamman told him, "When I come back from my trip, I will lend you the money." However, when, when Reb Zamman was away on a trip, he lost all of his fortune. But despite the fact that he lost all of his fortune, when he came back, he went ahead and sold his wife's jewelry, and he got four hundred silver ruble for it, and he lent the money to Rab Binyamin Kletzker. Reb Shmuel Greenman related that after this taalas of the Alter Rebbe, Reb Zamman continued to travel to the Mitteler Rebbe. And once the Mitteler Rebbe was in Korenitz, Reb Zamman's city, and

08:43 Speaker 1 he said a maamar there. And the maamar was, "Vibara maschil hechotzu." When he finished saying the maamar, the Rebbe asked Reb Zamman, "Do you remember how the Rebbe," meaning the Alter Rebbe, "said this maamar? And did you notice which parts of it did I add from my own this time?" So Reb Zamman hazard to the Mitteler Rebbe the maamar, and then he also pointed out what are the words that the Mitteler Rebbe added. This was a maamar that Reb Zamman heard from the Alter Rebbe 30 years before that. And after 30 years, he remembered it so well that he knew exactly which words the Mitteler Rebbe added. Reb Zamman passed away on the night of 20 Kislev. The day before that, 19 Kislev, Chag HaGeulah, Reb Zamman said a maamar on a passage, "Kanafso be tov tolin." Tov is by gematria 19, and he spoke about the fact that the his taalas of the Mezitcher Maggid was davka on this day, and also the, the fact that the Alter Rebbe's geulah was on this day. And later on that night, he passed away.

09:40 Speaker 2 A nigun from Korenitz. Oy, ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, mo. Ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, oy. Ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, mo. Ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, oy, nai. Ah, ma, ma, ma, ma, mo. Oy, na, na, nai, na, nai, nai, na, na, nai. Oy, na, na, na, nai. Oy, na, na, na, nai. Oy, na, na, nai, na, na, nai, na, na, nai. Oy, ma, ma, ma, mo, ya, da, da, dam. Oy, ma, ma, ma, ma, mo. Hey, ya, ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma. Ya, na, na, na, na, dam. Ya, ya, da, da, ya, da, da, ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, yo. Ya, da, da, da, da, dam. Ya, da, da, da, da, dam. Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, yo. Da, da, dai. Da, da, dai. Da, da, dai. Da, da, dam. Hey, da, da, da, da, dam. Oy, da, da, da, da, dam. Oy, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, mo, bom, bo. Oy, ya, ti, ti, ti, ti, dam. Ah, oy, ti, ti, ti, ti, dam. Ah, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, yo. Na, ra, roi. Na, ra, ram. Da, ra, ram. Da, ra, roi. Ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ya, ma, mo, ram. Ya, na, na, na, na, na, na, nai, na, ri, ra, ra, yo, ram. Ya, ma, ma. Ya, ma, mo. Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma. Hoy, ya, ma, ma, ma, yo. Ya, na, na, na, na, na, na, ya, ri, ra,

12:02 Speaker 2 ra, yo, ram. Ya, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ya, ri, ra, ra

12:56 Speaker 3 Nocha Nusach.