136. The Alter Rebbe Shows A Miracle To Young Chossid

00:15 Shalom Aleichem, kinderlach. Wanted to share with you a story of the Alter Rebbe, since this Friday is the Alter Rebbe's yahrtzeit, 20 Adar II. The Alter Rebbe had many Hasidim all over Russia. And there were different cities, many groups of Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe that learned Chassidus, that learned Tanya, that learned Alter Rebbe's ma'amorim, and they followed the Alter Rebbe's way of, of serving Hashem, to daven with kavannah and to think about the words and learn Chassidus first before davening, and then think about Hashem's greatness before you daven, until your heart gets full with love for Hashem, ahava and yirah, and awe of Hashem, fear of Hashem, and that's how you serve Hashem. And this is what these, these, these, um, young people, young, um, young galait who lived in different cities, they would get together and learn Chassidus together, the Chassidus of the Alter Rebbe. And that Alter Rebbe realized there were many communities of, uh, young people that wanted to learn Chassidus and follow his way of serving Hashem. As you know, the Alter Rebbe had a very special way to serve Hashem, which was based on l- learning and understanding the greatness of Hashem, and then getting excited about Hashem's greatness. But first you have to understand the Chassidus, and when you learn Chassidus, you understand it, and then you think about it for a while, then it-- your heart becomes excited. So the Alter Rebbe used to teach that very much. Other tzaddikim had a very different way of teaching

01:57 how to serve Hashem, but this was the Alter Rebbe's special way. Many young, y- young people, young galait, were getting very excited about Alter Rebbe's ways. So there were many, many cities that had comm-- you know, groups of Hasidim, young Hasidim, that wanted to learn the Alter Rebbe's Chassidus. They wanted to understand how they can become closer to Hashem, serving Him with greater love, with greater excitement. And so the Alter Rebbe sent mashpiyim, older Hasidim. These were older Hasidim that learned a lot of Chassidus, that had davened a lot, that served Hashem with great, with great excitement for many, many years. And, and the Alter Rebbe would send to each city a mashpia, an older mashpia, a big Hasid, who would serve Hashem very, very, very strongly, very intensely, and he would make him the mashpia of the city. He was the one who would teach the Chassidus to all the young galait, to all the young people, and he would, uh, be their mashpia. When they had a question, they would come to him, and so on. One of those mashpiyim that the Alter Rebbe sent, he sent him in, in a city called Mogilev. Mogilev was a, was a big city, and there were many Hasidim of the Alter Rebbe, and they wanted a mashpia that can teach them Chassidus properly and teach them how to serve Hashem according to the teachings of the Alter Rebbe. So the Alter Rebbe sent them a Chassid, Rebbe Yehuda Leib. Rebbe Yehuda Leib, Rebbe Yehuda Leib

03:27 was a older Hasid who had learned a lot of Chassidus in his life and has davened a lot and served Hashem, but like a, like an older Hasid. And Alter Rebbe sent him to Mogilev, that he should be the mashpia there and teach all the young people Chassidus and guide them in how to serve Hashem. Um, one day after Rebbe Yehuda Leib was teaching Chassidus to the, um, you know, to the Hasidim, to the young Hasidim in, uh, in Mogilev, one of the... There was a younger man who was very smart and had learned a lot of Gemara and a lot of... He was a big talmid chacham, but he never learned Chassidus. And he got very excited when he heard the shiur of Alter-- Rebbe Yehuda Leib, Rebbe Leib, uh, was teaching a, a shiur in Chassidus, a maimar. So this younger man who has never learned Chassidus before got very excited. He says, "Wow, this is amazing stuff." He got very excited, and he decided to go learn with Rebbe Leib, the Chassid of the Alter Rebbe, the older Chassid, with the mashpia, and he became a Chassid of the Alter Rebbe. He started learning Chassidus every day. And he learned Chassidus, and he started serving Hashem, avodas Hashem, the way the Alter Rebbe was teaching. And he started davening long t- long hours the way the Alter Rebbe taught and became a real Chassid of the Alter Rebbe. This younger man, this young man who became now a Chassid of the Alter

04:58 Rebbe, had friends from-- who were Hasidim of other tzaddikim. They were tzaddikim. They were, uh, tzadi-- they, they were, they were-- one was a Chassid of Reb Shlomo Carliner. The other one was a Chassid of another tzaddik, of Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk. They were, they were Hasidim from different tzaddikim. Now, the other Rebbes, the other tzaddikim, they had a very different way of teaching their Hasidim. You know, they didn't teach their Hasidim the way the Alter Rebbe taught, like he-- great in, in learning in depth, deep learning of Chassidus, understanding the greatness of Hashem. This was the Alter Rebbe. But other, uh, Rebbes, other tzaddikim would just, uh, sing a nigun and tell a story, and, and you make moefsim. They would make nissim, like these were great tzaddikim, uh, and they were able to make big nissim and, and ruach-- kishua ruach Hakodesh. And the Hasidim would get very excited when they saw these amazing nissim that the Rebbe was able to make, and that got them excited, and so they served Hashem. But it was a very different way than the Alter Rebbe taught. And generally, the Alter Rebbe's Hasidim, especially the older Hasidim, they didn't like to speak about Nissim and Moifim and Ruach Hakodesh. They felt, you know, people that get excited about these stories, that's not the way Chabad Hasidus is. Hasidus is like Chabad. Chabad is Chochma bin Hadass. You have to understand the greatness of Hashem. You learn Hasidus, and you daven with the Hasidus, and you become

06:24 a Hasid. To get excited from a story, from a, from a miracle, from a Moif, a Nes, a Moifus, the, the, the Hasidim Chabad, the old, especially the older Hasidim, they weren't into it. So Reb Leib never told his Talmidim, the younger Hasidim, any Nissim about the Alter Rebbe. So the, the younger Hasidim, they, they were more in- i- involved in, in learning the Hasidus and the Torah of the Alter Rebbe. They weren't interested in Nissim and, and amazing stories, miracle stories. They weren't into that. Once this new young Hasid who got very excited about the Hasidus of the Alter Rebbe and became a Hasid, he had friends who were Hasidim of other tzadikim. The other friends were very jealous of him because they saw that he was learning Hasidus Chabad and became a big Hasid and started davening the way a Hasid should daven. And he changed. He became really a, a special Hasid. So they were a little bit envious and a little bit jealous of him. So once they were sitting together with him, and each one of the Hasidim was telling a story of his Rebbe. These were young people. Everyone was a Hasid of a different tzadik. And everyone was telling, you know, "My Rebbe once did this and this and this and this, an amazing miracle, an amazing moifus." Another one said, "Well, my Rebbe once showed Ruach Hakodesh. He knew what was going on in the other side of the world and something that was gonna happen many

07:51 days later." I mean, everybody had a big, amazing story. This young Hasid who became recently a Hasid of the Alter Rebbe and got very excited about the learning and the Torah of the Alter Rebbe, he never heard stories of miracles of the Alter Rebbe because the older Hasidim like Reb Leib would never talk about moifusim. That wasn't something they wanted people to get excited about. They wanted you to get excited about the learning, about the Hasidus and, and, and, and, and the ideas that the Alter Rebbe was teaching and how to serve Hashem. So this young Hasid, he felt like a little bit bad because they asked him, "Who, who and how is... We know your Rebbe is a, is a big tzadik and a gaon and everything, but, but, but we don't know of any Nissim that he made." And this young Hasid really didn't know what to tell them. He's never heard a story with a miracle that the Alter Rebbe performed. So he got quiet. He stayed quiet and then said, "I don't know." So they, they... The other Hasidim felt bad. You know, "Look, we have stories of our Rebbes, but he doesn't have a story about his Rebbe." So the, the, the young Chabad Hasid, when he walked away from this farbrengen, he felt very bad. He felt very bad. And he thought, "Maybe I should tell my mashpia, Rebbe Reb Leib," but then he decided not to tell him. Eh, he was embarrassed to tell him, ah, that he's

09:10 feeling hurt that he couldn't tell a moifus of the Alter Rebbe. The older Hasidim would laugh at this moifusim. You're getting excited about a nes. Why don't you get excited about the learning of the Alter Rebbe's Hasidus and the avodas Hashem of the Alter Rebbe? So he was... He didn't tell him anything, but inside he felt a little bit bad that he couldn't tell his friends and show them how great the Alter Rebbe was, that he can also do Nis- Nissim and miracles like their Rebbes. Now, in those days, the mashpiyim who the Alter Rebbe sent to different cities, they would send Alter Rebbe letters like maybe once a month, once a week, and they would say to the Alter Rebbe like, okay, they would give a report. They would tell the Alter Rebbe how each one of their Talmidim was doing. This Talmud is, is getting more and more into Hasidus. He's davening better. This one is doing this. And also he would ask the Alter Rebbe questions. What should I tell this student of mine about this question that he had? How to overcome his Nefesh Habham, his Yetzer Hara, and he... And how should, what should I answer to this guy for this question? And the Alter Rebbe would write back and, and give him answers to all his questions. He says, "For this yungerman, you should answer this. This one should answer this." One day, Reb Leib gets a letter from Alter Rebbe, which was not surprising because he used to

10:26 get letters every, like, uh, once a month. And in the letter, the Alter Rebbe responds to all his questions that he wrote in a previous letter that Reb Leib wrote to the Alter Rebbe asking questions, and the Alter Rebbe responds and answers all his questions. At the bottom of the letter, the Alter Rebbe writes a little note that surprised Reb Leib. He couldn't understand what's the Alter Rebbe talking about. What does he write there? What did the Alter Rebbe write at the bottom of the letter? He says, "You know that yungerman that you have?" Which he, Reb Leib, didn't write about him at all. The Alter Rebbe is saying to Reb Leib, "You see that yungerman?" The yungerman who was in this farbrengen with other Hasidim and felt bad. "That yungerman, I know he's feeling bad, and you should talk to him and be mechabed him and make him feel better. And tell him my message that I told you to speak to him and make him feel better about something that he's feeling bad about", which Reb Leib had no idea about. He didn't know anything about. He couldn't understand what the Alter Rebbe's writing about. This yungerman is feeling bad about something? He never told him anything. The yungerman never told Reb, Reb Leib anything about it that he felt bad. The Alter Rebbe is telling Reb Leib, "Go make him feel better. And when you make him feel better, tell him that I said that the fact that I sent Reb Leib

11:54 to make him feel better, that should be a sign for him, for this yungerman, that Alter Rebbe can also, uh, show Ruach Hakodesh." And now he has a story that he can tell his friends, the Hasidim of other tzadikim, showing that the Alter Rebbe also has Ruach Hakodesh. And the Alter Rebbe used the words, "Let it be a sign for him, for the Yungerman, that the Alter Rebbe is, is-- can also make moifim. And for others, it would be a great miracle story, a moifes, a miracle story that, that they can hear and see that Alter Rebbe is as great as their Rebbe also. When Rebbe Leib got this letter, he couldn't understand it. So what is this line in the bottom of the letter where the Alter Rebbe says, "You should talk to him, he's feeling bad"? Didn't know anything about it. So he went over to the Yungerman and he said to him, "Tell me, uh, you were feeling bad about something?" When the Yungerman heard this, he says, says, "Why are you asking?" He said, "Because Alter Rebbe wrote a note that apparently you're not feeling well, you're feeling bad about something, and I should talk to you and make you feel better." When the Yungerman heard this, he started crying. He said, "Oh, the Alter Rebbe knows everything. Alter Rebbe knew that I was feeling inside my heart. Nobody knew. He never told anybody." And then Rebbe, Rebbe Leib told him, "The Rebbe said that the fact that he sent me

13:15 to you should be a sign for you that Alter Rebbe knows everything that you're going through, and now you have a story, a miracle story you can tell your friends." The Friediger Rebbe told that story in a letter where the Friediger Rebbe wrote a letter to the Or Rebbe, the Last Rebbe. The Last Rebbe was his son-in-law. Because the son-in-law, the Last Rebbe, asked his father-in-law that he thinks that we should have miracle stories in Chabad also, even though Hasidim used to put it down and say, "Oh, miracle stories is not so important. The main thing is the learning Chassidus and the davening with Chassidus until it changes you. You become a, a more Hasidish Yid, and you become more refined, idol." But, uh, s- miracle stories, they didn't, uh, talk about. And the Rebbe said to his father-in-law, "No, today we need miracle stories because when people hear amazing miracle stories of a Rebbe, of a tzadik, it makes them feel more love of Hashem, and they're more excited about serving Hashem, doing mitzvahs, because they see that there is-- Hashem is in the world, that Hashem can make through tzadikim, through tzadikim, He can make miracles in the world. So it, it proves that Hashem is right here, right, in, with us the whole time. Anyways, this is the story, and I hope you enjoyed it.