102. The Alter Rebbes Nevuah About The Tzemach Tzedek

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, kinderlech. You remember the story I told you about the Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, the mother of the Tzemach Tzedek who was Nistalik at a very young age 'cause she gave her life, uh, for the Alter Rebbe, right? She knew that Alter Rebbe was in danger. There was a big zeh in Shamayim against him because he was spreading so much Hasidus, and the time didn't seem right yet, and she decided to take his place. I also mentioned to you that the Alter Rebbe, when his, uh, daughter passed away, was Nistalik. She dis-- she promised her... She promised her-- He promised her that he will take his son, the Tzemach Tzedek, who was three years old, and he will raise him, and that's what happened. Alter Rebbe took the Tzemach Tzedek as a three-year-old child, uh, after he lost his mother, and brought him into his house and made sure that he slept in his room. The Tzemach slept in the same room as the Alter Rebbe. The story is that Frieda Rebbe tells at one time the Tzemach Tzedek was then maybe three or four years old. He woke up in the middle of the night inside the Alter Rebbe's room where he slept and started screaming, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, take me where you are. Take me with you." And when he said that, his mother came, obviously from Gan Eden, and she told him, "No, no, no. Sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. The Zeide is here. You stay with the Zeide." And

01:52 he went back to sleep. The Alter Rebbe became very close to the Tzemach Tzedek, even though he was a young kid, you know, a young child. Alter Rebbe took care of him with, with great love. And the Frieda Rebbe tells that the Tzemach Tzedek became also very close to the Alter Rebbe. And when every day when Alter Rebbe used to daven in his room and put on his tefillin, his tallit and tefillin, the Tzemach Tzedek, uh, took some potatoes and carved it out, made it into looking like a tefillin, and then he took string and put it through, make a hole in the potatoes, and made it like the s- the, the, the tzitzit of the tefillin, like the straps of the tefillin. And when Alter Rebbe put on his tefillin, he put on the potatoes on his arm and on his head. When Alter Rebbe used to daven, then he also used to shackle and sing nigunim, all kinds of nigunim, and shackle back and forth until the Alter Rebbe finished davening. Then he would, um... Alter Rebbe took off his tefillin, he also would take off his potatoes. And this happened every day. And, um, the Alter Rebbe used to daven in a room, and there used to be a curtain that covered the window on the door so that people couldn't see inside. Every once in a while, the Gabbai of the Alter Rebbe would forget to close the curtain, so people could see. They would see how, uh, the Tzemach Tzedek

03:15 as a four-year-old child is, is, is wearing potatoes and he's shackling next to the Alter Rebbe and singing all kinds of nigunim, and Alter Rebbe is davening. Now, the following story, the Rebbe, Rebbe Isaac of Homil told that story. It's an amazing story that happened with the Tzemach Tzedek when he was a child. Rebbe Isaac of Homil was one of the Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe, but he was from the younger Hasidim. So one time the Alter Rebbe said a maamar on the words on a Mishnah, Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, which some of you may know. "Al shlosha devarim ha'olam omed." The world exists because of three things: because of learning Torah, because of avoda, or because of davening, people daven with kavana, and because of gemillut hasad, and people do kindness with other people. Tzedakah and other ways of doing kindness with other, other people. So Alter Rebbe said a whole maamar, a very deep maamar, which most people did not understand. So the Hasidim asked the Mitteler Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe's son, to ask his father that he should say the maamar again. Alter Rebbe agreed, but that it should only be 30 people. He didn't want to say it in front of everyone, hundreds of people. He says he'll agree to say it again, but they should come into his room only 30 people. So, so the Mitteler Rebbe invited, of course, the, the children of the Alter Rebbe, they were first, and also some older Hasidim. And he, Rebbe Isaac of

04:47 Homil, even though he was from the younger Hasidim, the Mitteler Rebbe had rachmanus on him and told him he can join too. Now, in order to get into the room of the Alter Rebbe, they had to wait for Alter Rebbe to finish davening. So they waited in the room outside, and they-- there were some cracks in the door of the Alter Rebbe's room where they could see, uh, tiny things. A little bit they could see something through. So they saw that Tzemach Tzedek was still in his-- with his potatoes and shackling, that they knew that Alter Rebbe is still davening. When the Tzemach Tzedek took off his potatoes, th- even if they couldn't see the Alter Rebbe, but they knew that Alter Rebbe must have been taking off his tefillin, it's the end of the-- of his davening. So they waited till Alter Rebbe was done, and then they went in. Alter Rebbe opened the door, and they came in. Rebbe Isaac of Homil said that he didn't go inside. He waited for the older Hasidim to go first, and he was the last. He remained outside. And Alter Rebbe asked, "Who is outside?" And they told him, "A younger man." So the Alter Rebbe said, "For my younger man will become an older man. Let him come in." He says he came in and, and he stood there by the maamar. And right in the beginning of the maamar, he feels that someone is, uh, running between his feet. There's a little kid, and

06:02 it's the Tzemach Tzedek. Tzemach Tzedek was four years old. He was trying to push his way to the front. So he, he like, you know, ran between the feet of the adults. And, uh, Rabbi said that he was very afraid that he's gonna lose-- he's gonna not be able to, to listen to the Alter Rebbe because he wanted to hear the ma'amar well. So he, um, t-tried to-- wanted to tell something to the Tzemach Tzedek, that he shouldn't bother him, he shouldn't disturb him because he's afraid he's not gonna be able to listen carefully. He wanted to concentrate because it was a very difficult ma'amar. As he's thinking of doing this, of s- of, of saying something to the Tzemach Tzedek that he shouldn't bother him, shouldn't crawl between his feet, the Alter Rebbe stopped the ma'amar and he says, "Leave him, leave him. He wants to listen, and he's listening, and one day you'll know that he listened." Alter Rebbe said that nobody know who he's speaking, had nothing to do with the ma'amar. Rabbi Isaac is the only one who it had any meaning to. He, he said, "Wait a second. Alter Rebbe understood what I was thinking, Baruch HaKodesh, and he was responding to me that I shouldn't bother the Tzemach Tzedek. I should let him run, you know, on the floor because he's listening. You think he's not listening. You think he's just causing trouble and running around and disturbing the adults, but it's not true. He is listening. He wants

07:30 to listen. He is listening, and you'll find out one day that he's listening." These are the words that came out of the Alter Rebbe's mouth. Nobody understood who it was for. Even Rabbi Isaac wasn't sure what the Alter Rebbe meant, but, but he understood it at least because he was thinking exactly now that maybe this kid is just causing, uh, you know, disturbance. So this, it was forgotten. People forgot about the Alter Rebbe. In the middle of the ma'amar says strange words, and, uh, people forgot about it. Forty years later, after the Mitteler Rebbe was Rebbe and then he was nistar lek, and Hasidim were begging the Tzemach Tzedek to, to become Rebbe, but he refused. He refused to be Rebbe. So they, they s-kept sending a delegation of, of great old Hasidim, Rabbi Isaac Hummler Rebbe and the Rebbe of Pchatch, and, and all these great Hasidim came and begged the Tzemach Tzedek, and he refused, refused for a long time. From, you know, the Mitteler Rebbe passed away on Tes Kislev, and until Pesach there was nothing. The Tzemach kept saying, "No, no, no. Go to the son of the Alter Rebbe. Alter Rebbe had one son, Rabbi Chaim Avrom. Let him be the Rebbe. Uh, the Mitteler Rebbe has a son, Rabbi Nachum. Let him be the Rebbe. Why, why I? I'm, I'm a younger guy. I'm, I, I shouldn't be the Rebbe." Anyways, they finally, finally convinced him because of a whole story which is not for now. They convinced the

08:57 Tzemach Tzedek that he needs to become the Rebbe, and he agreed. And he said, uh, "I will come soon." Uh, and, and, and basically he accepted, became Rebbe, and shortly after that he came out for to say his first ma'amar, right? A Rebbe says a ma'amar. Everybody got excited the Rebbe is gonna say a ma'amar, and they gathered in the shul. Rabbi Isaac Hummler was also there, very excited. The first ma'amar of the Tzemach Tzedek as, as a Rebbe. And the Tzemach Tzedek began with that ma'amar, "Ashloi sh'dvarimei el ha'moimed." Now, this is forty years after Rabbi Isaac heard the Alter Rebbe say that ma'amar. But Rabbi Isaac had a good memory, and he remembered, "Wait a second, I heard that ma'amar from the Alter Rebbe forty years ago when the Tzemach Tzedek was a little boy crawling between the feet." Wow, he was amazed in his head. "Wait a second, the Tzemach Tzedek..." First of all, he remembered what Alter Rebbe said at the time, mamash nevuah. Alter Rebbe said, you know, "He hears, he hears, and you'll find out one day that he hears." Now is the day. This was the day. He, he realized the Tzemach Tzedek was mamash repeating the ma'amar of the Alter Rebbe which he heard forty years ago as a little child. And, uh, Rabbi Isaac was thinking, "Yeah, but you know, the, the, the, the Tzemach Tzedek, uh, the Tzemach Tzedek is showing off. He's like showing his, his, his, his great, uh, talent, right? His great

10:22 g- his great, um, mind and his great... Because look, as a little child, he was there with me listening to the ma'amar, and now he's able to say the ma'amar forty years later. It shows what a great child he was and what a great person he is now." As he's thinking this, the Tzemach Tzedek stops the ma'amar and says to him, "No, no, no. Don't suspect me of, chas v'shalom, showing my great strengths, my, my, my great talents. No. No, no, no, no. The Alter Rebbe, my grandfather, has told me to say this ma'amar now. Believe me, the Alter Rebbe told me to say this ma'amar." And Rabbi Isaac said, "Wow." So Tzemach Tzedek tuned into his thoughts and underst- and stopped the ma'amar to tell him that he shouldn't suspect him, chas v'shalom, of showing his talents. He was just doing what Alter Rebbe told him to do. After the ma'amar was over, everybody went home, and Rabbi Isaac went to his room, and he got very sick. Not sure whether the sickness is connected to because he suspected the, uh, the Tzemach Tzedek, so it was sort of like a kind of a punishment or something. But, uh, he got very, very ill. He had a very high fever. He couldn't move for a few days. Then he got better, and then the Tzemach Tzedek came to visit him. Tzemach Tzedek told him that there's a Gemara that says Rabbi Yochanan came to visit another Amora, Rabbi Elazar, who was very, very sick,

11:44 and Rabbi Yochanan told him, "Give me your hand, and I will pick you up from your bed, and, and I'll cure you." Great tzadikim can do this with their hand. You give them your hand, and they pick you up. Rabbi Yochanan did it, and Rabbi Elazar suddenly became well. So the Tzemach Tzedek explained to him that in those words of the Gemara, where the Gemara says, "Yoev lo yod va'oich me," that, uh, Rabbi, Rabbi Yochanan gave him the hand to Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Elazar was very sick, and he lifted him up, and immediately he got cured, has in it some very deep secrets of Kabbalah, right, names of Hashem that has the power to heal the sick. And he gave him a whole explanation of what the words mean, and then he told him, "Here, give me your hand, and I'll pick you up." And Rab-Rab-Rab Isaac Hummler became immediately cured. So then Rabbi Isaac said, "I saw that we have a real Rebbe here." Tzemach Tzedek is like, like, like his forefathers, right? He has the, the, the, the power of tzadikim of, of a nasi. And that's the story.