214. The Chossid Who Napoleon Wanted To Kill, Got Saved By The Alter Rebbes Teaching

00:16 Shalom Aleichem, kinderlach. You surely remember how I told you in the past the story with the famous war of Napoleon, the King of France, against the Russian Tsar, the Russian government, when Napoleon tried to conquer and take over Russia and make it part of his country, and how the Alter Rebbe davened that the Russian Tsar should win the war. Other tzadikim, uh, davened that Napoleon should win the war, and I'm sure you remember that story. But I wanna tell you now a story that happened during that time, something amazing that happened with the Alter Rebbe and one of his talmidim. Alter Rebbe had a talmid, a student, a Hasid. His name was Rabbi Moshe Maisels. Moshe Maisels was one of the talmidim of the Alter Rebbe's cheder, the Alter Rebbe's yeshiva. This Rabbi Moshe Maisels knew a lot of languages. He knew German, he knew Russian, he knew French. He knew a lot of languages, a-and he was also very learned. He was not only learned in Torah, he was a very big, big talmid chacham, but he also was learned in goyische science and the goyische things. He knew a lot of things about history and about the, the world. He, he was very learned in that-- in those things. And because of that, since he knew French very well, he was-- became very friendly with, uh, some very important French people, uh, some important government officials from France, uh, who, um, who he became friends with. Some of them lived in Russia, uh,

02:15 some of them he met when he visited France. He became so friendly with a lot of the very, very important Russian army officials, like generals, because they loved him, because he was very, very smart, very wise. They loved listening to his advice 'cause he always knew what to say, the right thing. So they were very impressed with him, so they liked him, and they always would tell him all kinds of things about the army and about Napoleon, the, the King of France. So when the war broke out between Napoleon and Russia, Rabbi Moshe, of course, at first was on the side of the Russians-- of the, of the-- of Napoleon, not the Russians, 'cause he liked the French, and he knew that the, the, the Russians were not nice to the Jews. The tsar made problems for the Jews. They didn't let them make money when they-- the way they wanted. He made it difficult for them to live in big cities. Jews, Jews were very-- had a hard time under the Russians. So he thought he was going to help Napoleon, uh, by spying against the Russians and tell-- reveal to Napoleon all the things that the Russian army is about to do so that Napoleon can then, uh, win the war. But when he heard that the Alter Rebbe said, "No, it's the opposite. We should try to help the Russians, not the French." 'Cause the French, yes, they-- Napoleon promised he's gonna be nice to the Jews, but he also wanted the

04:00 Jews to be like the Goyim. He wanted to be nice to the Jews and tell the Jews, "You know, be like us. You don't need the Torah, you don't need the mitzvahs. Be like us Goyim, we'll be nice to you." And that, the Alter Rebbe was very afraid of, and he said, "No, no, no, no, no. Napoleon is a dangerous person. He's spiritually dangerous. He wants us to make us like the Goyim. The Russians don't try to make us like the Goyim, but yes, the Russians are not nice to us physically. They, they make us problems. They don't let us, uh, make money the way we want. Don't let us do a lot of things. Don't let us live in, in, in different parts of the country." They, they, they was not nice to the Jews, but spiritually, we can always observe Torah and mitzvahs. They're not trying to make us like Goyim. So it's better to be on the side of the Russians, so we can be Jewish and not to side with the French, and we need to daven that the French should lose the war. As I remembered that there were tzadikim who would-- disagreed with the Alter Rebbe, and they davened for the French. The Alter Rebbe won in the end. In Shomayim, they listened to the Alter Rebbe, and the French Napoleon lost the war, and the Russians won. The Alter Rebbe, well, not only did he daven that the Russians should win, he also tried to help the Russian

05:28 army. He had a talmid. This is how he tried to help the Russian army. He had a talmid by the name Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Moshe Maisels. Rabbi Moshe Maisels was a very, very smart person. First, he was a big talmid chacham. He was a talmid of the Alter Rebbe. Very, very, very learned in Torah. He was also learned in other things. He knew a lot about science, about philosophy. He knew about a lot of things, goyische chachmah, goyische wisdom. He knew a lot about the goyische stuff. He also knew a lot of languages. He spoke so many languages. He spoke German, he spoke French, he spoke Russian. He spoke a lot of languages, and because he spoke so many languages, he became friends with a lot of non-Jewish important people because he was also very smart. A lot of people liked him. Especially he became friends with French important people, people in the French government. He, um, had a lot of friends in the French army, especially very important generals that were the head of the French army. They became his best friends. And because he was-- knew French so well, and he was also very smart, and they would always ask Reb Moshe for advice, and they saw that he's so smart. Every time he gives them advice, he's always right. Every time they follow his advice, they're successful. They do... It comes out good. So they really loved him the way-- he was-- they were, they were good friends with him. So when

07:04 the war broke out between France and Russia, at first, Reb Moshe didn't know that Alter Rebbe was against the French, against Napoleon. He thought that the French are better for the Jews because the French wanna be nice to the Jews. They don't wanna hurt them. They don't wanna, you know, they, they don't wanna make things hard for them. But then he heard that Alter Rebbe said, "No, it's the opposite. The French are bad for the Jews because they wanna make us like Goyim." So then he changed. But what he did is something amazing and very dangerous. He started being a spy. That means he went to the Russian king, the Russian tsar, and he told them that he's friends with a lot of the big, important generals of Napoleon's French army, and that he can help the Russian army by revealing all the secrets of the French. You know, the French will try to secretly send their army and attack a certain city, and nobody would know that they're coming to attack that city, so they won't be prepared, and then they'll be able to conquer the city. So he would know in advance by being friends with the generals, and they will tell him what they plan to do. So he'll take that information. What they are telling him, he'll take that information. He'll go to the Russians and tell them, "You should know the French are planning to come and attack in the middle of the night. This and this city, and they're

08:38 gonna conquer the city. You better be ready to attack them back and protect the city." And that saved many times the Russians from losing, uh, the city to the, to the French. So he was a spy, but for the, for the French, he pretended that he's spying for them. He's going to the Russians, and he's gonna tell them what the Russians try to do. But the truth is he was a spy against the French. He revealed all the plans that he heard from the Russian ge-- the French generals. The French generals told him. He went and told the Russians. Once, he saved Russia from a terrible, terrible thing. The French were very, very smart. They knew how to trick the Russians and destroy some of the large, big buildings that had in it all the, the guns and the bombs. You know, in those days, people used to shoot with guns already, time of Napoleon, and they used a different kind of bombs, not like today. They had like a certain powder which they used to shoot to make, made a... It would kill people. That's how they, they made a war. But they kept a lot of that stuff. You need to have a lot of that stuff, that powder to be able to shoot the guns against your enemy. They had it in like big, big buildings, so they can use more whenever they need it. So the French did something very, very, very, very daring, something that took a lot of guts,

10:18 a lot of courage. What did they do? They blew up a very large building house that had so much of the Russian, um, guns and powder which they used to shoot with, and they blew it up. You know, they exploded it, and it went on fire, and the whole thing was destroyed. And the Russians lost a lot of their guns and ability to fight against the French. This was in the city of Svintsyany. Svintsyany had one of these very large storehouses, like a warehouse, like a big building where they, they keep all the stuff they need for the war. But now it's all blown up, and there's nothing left of it, so the Russians didn't have enough guns and enough powder to shoot. But how did they...? Nobody knew how it happened. The way it happened in such a, a secretive way that when the Russians saw that the warehouse in Svintsyany was so destroyed and exploded in fire, and there was nothing left of it, they thought it was an accident 'cause it didn't look like anybody was there when it exploded. But how did it happen? Nobody knew the answer. Only Reb Moshe knew the answer 'cause he was a spy, and he was friends with a French general, and they told him the secret. So what happened is the French really did it. The French took two French soldiers, and they told them to go and dress up like peasants. Peasants like simple Russian peasants. And they should go to Svintsyany, the

12:09 city where the big warehouse is, and they should pretend that they're drunk. That they're drunk. You know when drunken peasants, uh, get drunk, what do they do? They fight. And they fight with each other. They throw rocks at each other 'cause they're stupid because they're drunk. And they're pretending that they're fighting with each other, throwing rocks at each other, but they'll do it right next to the big building, the warehouse, which had all the very important guns and bombs which the, the, the Russian had. And then one will pretend that by mistake one rock will fly through the window of the warehouse. Now, there was a soldier, a Russian soldier that was the guard to watch over the warehouse, and he saw the rock fly through the window. He ran over to these two, uh, Frenchmen, but he didn't know they were Frenchmen. He thought they were just Russian peasants that were drunk. He says, "What did you do? You broke the window." He said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I, I, by mistake, I tried to throw it at my friend, but, but, but you know what? Uh, I'll get somebody to fix it." And he said, "Okay, go quickly and get somebody to fix it." He got somebody. But who did he get? Somebody who had a special glass which the guard didn't know. It was a special glass that when you put the glass in, and the sun shines the next day very strongly, the glass causes that the sunshine

13:38 that goes through the glass gets very hot. And when it goes through the glass on the other side inside the building, it's like very, very, very hot, and it can cause that, that special powder which they use to shoot to get on fire. So the whole thing was like a trick. They would pretend that they're drunk. They pretend that they by mistake broke the glass. Then they'll get a special glass man that they prepared earlier to have a special glass put in. The guard wouldn't know the difference. He'd think this is a normal glass, a regular glass, but it was a special glass that lets the heat go through very strongly. And when the heat is very intense, it causes this powder to go on fire. And that's how you explode it. And the, and the Russians didn't have any idea how it happened because all they saw is two drunk Russian peasants, which they thought was Russian peasants. But Rabbi Moshe is the only one who found out the truth, so he went straight to the Russians, and he says, "I'll tell you something. The French are so happy with what they did, destroying this big warehouse. There's another big, big warehouse in Vilna. They're gonna try to do it in Vilna, the same thing." When the Russian tsar heard this, he told his army to go there to Vilna and watch over the building and wait for these two pretending, uh, Russian peasants to show up there by that warehouse and do the

15:05 kind-- same kind of show, pretending they're just fighting and, and it's... and so on. So and that's exactly what happened. When these two guys started fighting and throwing rocks at each other, the, they got arrested and taken to jail, and that saved Russia from a major loss of so much ammunition. If they lost that warehouse, they probably would have lost the war because they wouldn't have enough guns and enough powder and bombs to fight against the French. This is what Rabbi Moshe Meisel said. He helped Russia win the war, and it's all because the Alter Rebbe asked him to do it because he was friends with the French. He says, "Use that friendship with the French and help the Russians." Now something amazing happened. This is Rabbi Moshe Meisel's kept visiting his friends in the Russian army, and they were so trusting of him. They believed him. They trusted him that he was their friend. Why didn't he's against the Russians? They didn't know the truth. Till one day, they were in a certain place in a big room. All the most important generals are planning the next attack with the army against the Russians, going to attack the Russians and take over their whole country. One of the people that was in that room was Napoleon himself, the King of France. Napoleon knew Rabbi Moshe. He knew who he was, but he saw that Rabbi Moshe is watching how Napoleon and his generals are drawing plan. You know, usually these, these generals, how do

16:53 they, uh, uh, plan an attack? They have big papers, and they draw lines. Look, we're gonna go from here to here. Then we're gonna go behind, and we're gonna surprise them. They're not gonna know where we are, and then we're gonna attack them, and then we're gonna conquer the city. They make all kinds of plans by drawing maps and lines how the attack should happen. And Rabbi Moshe was watching from a distance, looking exactly what they were drawing, and he was trying to memorize in his head, so when he goes back to Russia, he can tell them, "This is what the French plan to do," and that will help the Russians stop the attack because they'll know exactly what the Russians-- what the French plan to do. But suddenly Napoleon watched Rabbi Moshe from the side. He saw that he was looking what they're drawing, and he became very suspicious. And he went over... ran over to Rabbi Moshe, looked him straight in the eyes and said, "You are a spy." And Moshe remained calm. But then Napoleon took his hand, took his own hand and put it on the heart Of Rabbi Moshe, to see if his heart is racing. You know, when you're nervous 'cause somebody is finding out who you really are, and you know that your life is in danger. Rabbi Moshe's life was in danger because if he got nervous, then Napoleon would know it's true, that he's a spy. He's been lying to them all along, and he would

18:32 kill him on the spot. So normally, people get very nervous. What's gonna happen? I'm gonna get killed. But Rabbi Moshe stayed completely calm. So when Napoleon put his hand on Rabbi Moshe's chest, on his-- by his heart, the heart was beating normal, like somebody who's not nervous at all. And that's when Napoleon thought, "Oh, okay, he's not a spy." And it saved Rabbi Moshe's life. Rabbi Moshe then said, "Do you know what saved my life? Something the Alter Rebbe taught us in Tanya, in Chassidus, and he taught it to us, his talmidim, many times. He told us that Hashem give every person a special gift, a special present, and that is your mind, your brain, your kepela. You can use your mind to control your heart. See, the heart is the place where your feelings are. It's also the place where your yetzer hara is. The yetzer hara gives you, like, feelings of bad things. Oh, God, this is so geshmak, this is so, so good. This is feels so good. Let's do an aveira. It gives you a feeling, a strong feeling that makes you wanna do it. But Hashem gave us a special gift. It's called the mind, the sechel, the kop. And this, that when you use your kop, thinking, yes, then the, the yetzer hara says you should do it because it's, it's good, and you feel like, wow, I wish I can do it. But the kop can say to the heart, "No, this is bad for you. If you

20:13 do it, yes, it's gonna feel good for a minute, but then after that, you're gonna be s- totally separated from Hashem, cut off from Hashem." That's such a terrible thing. No, no Jew wants that. No Jew wants that. But sometimes you forget because y- you so much want it now. I want it, I want it, I want it, I want, I wanna eat this treif food. And I can't, I can't resist it. I can't stop myself. You can. Use your mind. It's called in Tanya, moach shalit al halev. Every mind can control the heart and the yetzer hara that's in the heart. I learned this from the Alter Rebbe, says Rabbi Moshe, and I practiced it. I trained myself that I wouldn't let my heart go off and do its own thing. I will make sure that my mind controls the heart. When Napoleon put his hand on my chest, the first thing my heart wanted to do is go wild. Oh my God, Napoleon is feeling my heart. He's gonna kill me. And I said, "No, no, no, no. This is the time to use what the Alter Rebbe taught me. Use your mind. Stay calm." And I was able to control the feelings of my heart, and the heart was beating normally, and I stayed totally calm, and that saved my life. Now it's Chodesh Elul. In Chodesh Elul, we wanna be better. We wanna get rid of all the taivas of Olam Haze, all the taivas of the yetzer hara. And how

21:44 do we do this? We use what the Alter Rebbe said. Hashem gave every one of us a special present called moach shalit al halev. Moach shalit al halev. The mind can control the heart. You can use your sechel and realize that this is bad for you. Don't do it. You're gonna regret it later. No Jew wants to be disconnected from Hashem.