94. The Mesiras Nefesh Of Rebbetzin Devorah Leah

00:17 Dear children, I wanna tell you a story, an awesome story with the Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, the daughter of The Alter Rebbe and the mother of the Tzemach Tzedek. As you know, The Alter Rebbe had a very special, unique way how he was teaching Hasidus. He wanted that every Jew, no matter who they are, even if they're not tzadikim, even if they're not so great, even if they're not so learned, should be able to serve Hashem with love and with excitement, with awe of Hashem. And how do you do that? When people can understand how great Hashem is, they can understand what the Torah is, how special the Torah is, and the-- and how special the Jewish people are. If a Jew understands it really in a deep way, then they get all excited to serve Hashem with, with love and with excitement, with simcha, and with awe of Hashem, fear of Hashem. And then the yetzer hara gets very weak and, um, people get more and more closer to Hashem. And The Alter Rebbe had a special way to explain the deep, deep ideas in, in Hasidus and Kabbalah to explain in such a way that even a simple person can also understand it. But many of The Alter Rebbe's friends, great tzadikim, talmidim of the Maggid as well, were opposed to The Alter Rebbe, they were against him. They said, "You cannot do this. You're taking something so holy, like the deepest teachings of Hasidus, which deals with questions about Hashem and the greatness

01:55 of Hashem, and now you wanna explain it to even simple people who have deep unclean thoughts. They have-- they say bad things, lashon hara, they do averus. It's like pouring pure, beautiful, pure gold into a dirty, filthy cup. Will anybody do that? It's disgusting. You take something so pure like gold and put it in a dirty cup. How can you pour something of the deepest and the purest, holiest ideas of Hasidus into the minds, explaining it so that even a person who is not so holy that, uh, in fact, he's actually doing a lot of things that are bad, he should also be able to understand such deep, holy ideas?" They were against it, and they said, "This is terrible. The Alter Rebbe must not do this. That's not what the Ba'al Shem Tov wanted." But The Alter Rebbe knew differently. His Rebbe, the Maggid, told him privately that he should continue to do what he does because he is gonna be very successful. He's gonna change the lives of millions and millions of people are gonna b- uh, start serving Hashem with a great exci-- a new great excitement that will bring Mashiach eventually. So Alter Rebbe's friends were against him. Not all of them, but some of them. And in Shamaim, there was also a big commotion against The Alter Rebbe. Also because the malachim and the serafim, they were all like wondering, "What is Alter Rebbe doing? He's taking something so holy, so special that only great tzadikim can understand, and he's

03:36 bringing it down to a level of understanding that everybody can understand? Even a simple person who does averus. Yuck. How can you do that? Something so holy to pour into something so unclean." And that's like a-- it's like a chillul Hashem. It's like you, you, you're making Hashem's holy Torah like so cheap. You can't do that. Especially the Satan. The Satan is a malach in Shamaim. His job is to be the yetzer hara. He's also the yetzer hara. He tells people to do averus. And then in Shamaim, he says, "See, Hashem, this person did an avera, and now you gotta punish him." Or he would say bad things about the Jews, right? He comes to Hashem and says, "Look at the Jews. Th- they do terrible things. They have to be punished." The Satan realized that if The Alter Rebbe will be able to teach all Jews how to learn and daven with great excitement by teaching them Hasidus the way he was able to teach, if that happens, then Mashiach would come and the Satan would-- Hashem would shechta the Satan. The malach hamavis, the Satan, there would be no malach hamavis, no Satan left, no evil left at all. So the Satan didn't want that to happen, so he fought very strongly against The Alter Rebbe, and he started spreading, you know, all over the Shamaim, in the heavens that, that, that The Alter Rebbe is doing something terrible. Until in Shamaim, there was really, really a very strong, uh, hisnagdus. Hisnagdus means

05:18 that many, many malachim were against The Alter Rebbe, and the Beth Din in Shamaim decided that Alter Rebbe must stop, and if not, he will have to leave the world, chas v'shalom. The Alter Rebbe, who was a b- great tzadik, and he knew what goes on in the heavens, he knew all that. He was aware. So on The Alter Rebbe's face, suddenly everybody saw that he became very sad and very anxious. Didn't talk to people, stayed in his room a lot. People could hear him cry, say Tehillim. Nobody knew what was going on. Alter Rebbe usually was be'simcha. He would have havrangens and say Divrei Torah and sing Nigunim. Now The Alter Rebbe is sitting in his room, doesn't- Come out. He doesn't talk to Chassidim. He's very, very, you know, sad, and he's not talking to people. Everybody was very worried. One day, the Alter Rebbe, before Rosh Hashanah, this was befo- a f- like a few weeks before Rosh Hashanah, the Alter Rebbe-- it was the year Taf Kuf Nun Gimel. Rosh Hashanah of Taf Kuf Nun Gimel. That means the end of the year Taf Kuf Nun Beis. Alter Rebbe called over his daughter, Devorah Leah, and he revealed to her what was going on in Shomayim. He said that it's decided that he, Chas ve'Shalom, has to be Nistalak, and he wasn't worried about himself. Although a person should want to live because living and doing mitzvahs is more important than going to Gan Eden. But he was more worried about

07:05 everything he had worked for. He had tried to create, write the Tanya, and, and explain the concept, the deep ideas of Chassidus on a level that everybody can understand, but he hadn't had a chance to finish his work. And he compared it to a tree. You know, a tree, when it's weak and small in the beginning, you know, the first few years of its life, it cannot really bear any good fruit because it's not strong enough. It takes about thirty years to, you know, oversee, look over this tree and help and, and take care of it and dig around the roots of the tree, make the s- the, the soil soft, and then pour water. It takes a long time till the tree becomes so strong and so big that it's able to carry, uh, to produce and to grow fruit that can then be used to create more trees. Because you take the seed of a fruit, you put it in the ground, and a new tree grows. And then again, from that tree, you make more fruit that can make more trees, and it's forever, ever, ever after. See, this one tree can create trees, endless trees with fruits forever after. But until then, until this tree is strong enough and big enough, it can't do that. It can't produce such fruit. He says, same thing is with Chassidus. Chassidus is like a tree. The fruit is the, the, the love of Hashem, the fear of Hashem, the, the service of Hashem that

08:38 people will have and gain when they learn Chassidus. But in order for Chassidus to be strong enough to be able to reach every Jew in the world, it takes time to write a Sefer, to explain ideas in Chassidus to-- on a level that everybody can understand. It takes a long time to do this. The Tanya only came out in the year Taf Kuf Nun Vav. Three, four years later because it took so long for Alter Rebbe to write. He wanted to write a book, a Sefer, that every Jew in the world who will learn that Sefer will become, for sure, excited about serving Hashem, and they will slowly start feeling, like, uncomfortable with the Yetzer Hara. And so the Alter Rebbe called over Devorah Leah and said to her, "Listen, I have to tell you the truth." This is what's going on in Shomayim against me, and I'm very worried about what's gonna happen to Chassidus. He said, "Well, I could probably from Shomayim, a neshama goes to Gan Eden, and I can also do things in Shomayim to help people down here." You know, tzadikim, rebbes, they can help us even when they are there in Shomayim, in Gan Eden. But he would rather do it here. He would rather do it when he's still alive. That's what he said to her. Now, a little bit earlier, the Alter Rebbe sent a shliach to Reb Nachum of Chernobyl. Nachum of Chernobyl, the great tzadik, was a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov. Alter Rebbe

10:19 sent him a note with his name and his mother's name, Schneur Zalman ben Rivkeh. Please daven for him so that he should stay alive and that he should be able to build and finish building the big tree of Chassidus. Finish the Tanya and explaining Chassidus to everyone so that everybody can, you know, by learning and by understanding and thinking about those very deep ideas that the Rebbe explains to everyone so well, will be able to daven and learn differently. And all the Jewish people will start serving Hashem with such excitement until Mashiach will come. Please daven that it shouldn't get cut off. My work shouldn't be destroyed for nothing. He told the shliach to get there by Erev Rosh Hashanah, when the Reb Nachum of Chernobyl takes special notes. It's called a pan. From all his Chassidim, they come Erev Hashanah and then with their names and their mother name, and they ask for some things they need. And Reb Nachum would give them a bracha. He would read the pan and then give them a bracha. That year on Erev Rosh Hashanah, Reb Nachum did not wanna see anybody. He says, "This year on Erev Rosh Hashanah, nobody should come to my door. I, I don't wanna be bothered." Nobody understood why, what was going on. This shliach of the Alter Rebbe was told by the Alter Rebbe to get to Chernobyl on Erev Rosh Hashanah and go straight to Reb Nachum's door. When this Chassid arrived, Reb Nachum suddenly opened the door and

11:49 started taking people. Nobody understood what was wrong, why he was changing the... It's hard to understand what tzadikim are doing, but it seems like he was waiting for the shliach. He knew baruch haKodesh the Alter Rebbe sent someone. The shliach gave him the note of the Alter Rebbe, and Reb Nachum says, "How can I help him?" Why he's spreading Hasidism so openly, so clearly to so many, to everyone? That's getting him into trouble. Why is he doing that? I don't know if I can help him. The Gezeirah Shamyim is very serious. And so Reb Nachum said, "You know what? I'm gonna go to the mikvah, and when I'm in the mikvah, you give me that note again." Reb Nachum had a minhag when people came with a note with a very difficult question about a difficult problem they had, he would go to the mikvah and they would-- while he's in the water with his head up, he would take the note and read it, and then he would give back the note and go make a tefilah, go under the water. Apparently, he would daven while inside the mikvah for the person. He told the Shliach of the Alter Rebbe, "Come with me to the mikvah. I'm going to the mikvah, and you'll hand me the note when I'm inside the water." He took the note, read it, and then gave it back to the Shliach, and went under the water, and he stayed for a long time. I don't know how long, because

13:18 it's very hard to stay for a long time under the water without drowning. But they say that the Reb Nachum stayed for a long time. He must have davened for a while. Then he came up. His head came up from the water, and he s-- and, um, and he said, "The Gemara says that tefilah, prayer, accomplishes half." That means when you daven, at least half the problem will go away, but maybe not the entire one. Nobody understood what he meant. Then the night of Rosh Hashanah, people heard him say to himself, to Reb Nachum, say to himself quietly, "Somebody will substitute him. Somebody will take over his place." That's it. Nobody understood what he meant. What does it mean somebody will take over? Oh, take over what? The Alter Rebbe's place. In what way? Nobody understood. Meanwhile, Devorah Leah just heard from her father shortly before Rosh Hashanah the terrible thing that's going on in Shamyim. She was very, very, uh, shaken. She walked away from the Alter Rebbe after the Alter Rebbe told her this, and then came running back and said to him, "You cannot agree to this. You must not agree to this. You must tell the Malachim in Shamyim that you're not agreeing to this. You know, it says that tzadikim have the power to decide whether they should die or not. That you must say, insist that y- you're not agreeing with that, with that, with that psak halacha, with that decision." And then she walked away, and she was

15:00 very confused and very anxious till she decided to do something very, very scary. She decided that she's gonna take the place of the Alter Rebbe and all the years that was given to her to live, she will give over to the Alter Rebbe, and she will be nistalek right away. I mean, shortly after that. As you know, Erev Rosh Hashanah taf kuf lamed gimel, the Tzemach Tzedek turned three years old, and the Alter Rebbe made a upsherensh and put his hands on his head and gave him a bracha and said that you will become a talmid chacham, lamdan, and nigleh, chassidus, and you will bring us comfort. That night, that, um... Ah. The Rebbetzin Devorah Leah did something very daring. She decided to call together three of the most important Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe. The greatest gaonim and tzadikim, Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe. She would make a bezdin. Three people, three rabbonim become a bezdin, and the bezdin is a special power from Shamyim. When a bezdin says something, then they listen in Shamyim. She's gonna gather three of the most important talmidim of the Alter Rebbe, make a bezdin, and she's gonna make them decide, she's gonna make them decide that, that Devorah Leah bas Sterner must go instead of her father, Schneur Zalman ben Rivkah. She called together three Hasidim, Reb Moshe Vilenker, Reb Moshe Maisels, and Reb Pinchas Rasiz, and she made them into a bezdin, and she said to them like this: "I know what goes on with my

16:56 father, and I know you don't know. You wanna know, but you have to promise me. You have to make a shevua that whatever I tell you, you will do." They were very scared. They didn't wanna promise her. Who knows what she's gonna ask them. So she said, "We need to think about it. This is a very difficult question you're asking us. We should make you a shevua? You know, make a shevua from the Torah, this is like you can't... You have to follow it. It's a big avera not to do what you promised with a shevua. So we need to think about it." And they thought it over and they said, "Listen, apparently she knows s- what's going on with the Alter Rebbe. Why the Alter Rebbe is so, so, uh, bitter and so sad." And so they went back and they said, "We'll do whatever you tell us." And she told them like this: "I want you to open up the Aron Kodesh in front of Sifrei Torah, and I want you to be a bezdin and make a psak halacha in front of the Aron Kodesh, give a decision in halacha that Devorah Leah bas Sterner must take over her father and die instead of him, and I want you to-- you ha-- and you make this psak, you make this decision as a bezdin." When they heard this, they were so shocked. They couldn't believe their ears. And, uh, but sh- they had promised, so they had to do what they promised.

18:34 That Erev Rosh Hashanah, by Mincha, the Rebbetzin Devorah Leah came into the room where her family was sitting, and there were also some elder Hasidim, and she opened the Ohr HaChaim again, and she said, "You guys are witnesses that I, Devorah Leah Bas Turner, is going to take over the place of my father." And everybody understood what Reb Nachum Chernobyl was saying that somebody would take over. That night, it was the night of, uh, Rosh Hashanah. The Alter Rebbe wouldn't speak in generally. The night of Rosh-- The first night of Rosh Hashanah, the Rabbeim wouldn't speak much. But this Rosh Hashanah, that's the Alter Rebbe was looking for Devorah Leah, and when he saw her, he, he started saying, "L'shana." And he said, But she-- He said the word l'shana, and she said, "No, no, no, no, don't say anything. L'shana tova that you..." She said to the Alter Rebbe that, "You should live many, many years to build this beautiful tree that you started building. And please don't say anything." She didn't want the Alter Rebbe to say that she should have a long life, because then she couldn't take his place. The second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Alter Rebbe farbreng till Avdalla. She became sick on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and the day after she passed away, she was Nistalik. She literally took over his place. The Tzemach Tzedek was three years old at the time, and, um, they took him to the levaya of his own mother. A few

20:23 minutes before Devorah Leah passed away, was Nistalik, she asked Alter Rebbe, "Please raise my son, Menachem Mendel. I want you to raise him." The Alter Rebbe said, "I will raise him, and he will be Menachem," comes from the word comfort. "He will comfort us. He will bring comfort to my the, my problem, to the things that I'm going through, to the difficulties I'm going through now." And so this was the, um, the end of this gezera over the Alter Rebbe's head, which Devorah Leah took over. But there were still some gezeras against the Alter Rebbe even afterwards. And at one point, there were shvuas after Devorah Leah already was Nistalik, and Alter Rebbe was... Shvuas is the yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov. And Alter Rebbe was in a big tzekhas. His eyes were closed the whole time, and there was tears coming down of his eyes. And at that time, the Alter Rebbe already adapted, took the, the Tzemach Tzedek into his house and raised him. And Alter Rebbe, during that farbrengen, started-- was whispering to himself a lot of things nobody could hear. People understood Alter Rebbe was davening or something, or he was speaking to the Baal Shem Tov. And the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid were in the room at the farbrengen of shvuas that, that time. And he was speaking to them because he wasn't speaking to anybody else. He was speaking quietly. Suddenly, the Alter Rebbe stood up in the middle of the farbrengen, and he cried out,

22:01 and he said, "Zayde." The Baal Shem Tov, he called Zayde the Baal Shem Tov, because Baal Shem Tov was the Rebbe of his Rebbe, and a Rebbe is like a father, so the Baal Shem Tov was like his Zayde. He said, "Zayde, ah, please ask Hashem, daven to Hashem, Hashem sheyechb rachmim, rachmanus, right? Compassion over me so that I would be living a long life, and I should be able to build the tree of Hasidus that you started." And also the Maggid, he says, "My Rebbe, the Maggid, daven for me. Have rachmanus on me. Have rachmanus on the Hasidus that I'm teaching." And he was, like, crying and screaming, "Rebbe, help me." And then he fainted. Everybody was, like, shocked. Alter Rebbe was unconscious. He, he couldn't-- He was, was, was out. He was, he was-- He fainted. They called over the, the, the daughters of the Alter Rebbe, the whole family, and they called Yona the doctor. There was a doctor in Yosh, and his name was Yona. Yona, Yona the doctor, they called him over, trying to help. And then the Tzemach Tzedek was three years old. He saw his grandfather on the floor, unconscious, so he got very scared. He started screaming. He threw himself on top of the Alter Rebbe and screamed, "Zayde, Zayde." And then the Alter Rebbe opened his eyes and sees his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, lying on him, stretching out his hand. "Zayde, hold my hand and get up." The Alter Rebbe did exactly that. He took

23:32 his hand. He says, "Give me your hand, and I will get up." And so the, the little Tzemach Tzedek raised the Alter Rebbe. Alter Rebbe stood up and says, "You know, you are going to be the future that's going to bring comfort to Hasidim and to Hasidus." And as indeed, the Tzemach Tzedek taught so much Hasidus that, um, you know, he had so many Hasidim that, um, that he continued what the Alter Rebbe started doing. And that's the end of this part of the story. And next time, I will tell you something, an amazing story that happened to Alter Rebbe, to the Tzemach Tzedek, when he was still in the house and raised by the Alter Rebbe, and what happened to him forty years later when he became Rebbe.