17 of Nissan - תרמ"ג - Passing of the Rabbi Yisroel Noach

00:00 Speaker 1 So let's do quickly the Yemei Chabad today is-- we'll do for Yud Zayin Nisan. That's the seventeenth day of Nisan. This is in the year of Taf Reish Mem Gimel. That's six hundred and forty-three, five thousand six forty-three, which corresponds to... What is it? Five six four three.

00:17 Speaker 2 One hundred and thirty-three.

00:17 Speaker 1 April twenty-fourth, eighteen... Eighty-three. Eighty-three. Eighteen eighty-three. Okay. That was the day that the Admor. The word Admor is a Hebrew terminology for a Rebbe, an Admor. Admor stands for Adoneinu Moreinu ve Rabbenu, my master, my teacher, and, uh, another expression of my teacher, Adoneinu Moreinu ve Rabbenu. That's usually when we say an Admor. So an Admor denotes that somebody who, uh, leads a community like a Rebbe, and then he has Hasidim. So this is the Admor Yisroel Moyech, or he was called in brief, he's called the Maharim. He was the fourth son of the Tzemach Tzedek, and his yahrtzeit is on the seventeenth day of Nisan in Taf Reish Mem Gimel. Now, the, uh, Maharim, the Admor Maharim, uh, of course, to us as Chabad Hasidim, we basically follow the lineage as it goes down through the Lubavitcher Rebbes. It was the seventh son of the Tzemach Tzedek, the youngest brother of the Maharim, who followed the Chabad lineage, became the Rebbe in Chabad. However, he also became a Rebbe, as well as some of the other-- most of the other children of the Tzemach Tzedek, as we learned, besides the oldest one, Reb Boruch Shalom, but all the other ones became Rebbes. So the Maharim, uh, the fourth son, he was born in the year Taf Kuf Ayin He, that is five thousand five hundred and seventy-five from creation. And he-- Now, get a load of this one. This is getting complicated. He-- And we're not gonna... In his first, he had two marriages.

02:14 Speaker 1 Now, two marriages.

02:15 Speaker 2 This is the fourth son?

02:16 Speaker 1 The fourth-- This is the fourth son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Fourth son, okay. He had two marriages. In his first marriage, he married the daughter- Of? The daughter of Reb Yekusiel Zalman. Reb Yekusiel Zalman, a daughter of-- Sorry. Yekusiel Zalman was a son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe. He was a grandson of the Barditchover. You remember the big wedding, the Shloimer wedding between- The Alter Rebbe ... the, the Alter Rebbe and the Barditchover- Right ... when their grandchildren got married. So the Barditchover's grandson, Reb Yekusiel Zalman, married the Alter Rebbe's granddaughter, the daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. We had all these daughters married-- the Rebbe's daughters married. One to Tzemach Tzedek, and one married the, uh, Reb Yaakov Chaim Slonim. One married, uh, the Reb Yekusiel Zalman. Um, then, uh-- And the other ones, we've learned yesterday, the day before, all-all-all-all of the-- they married all great... Y-Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas was one. Cherkas. Or the Chernobyl family. And, um, again, there's another one more that I, I forget. It escapes my mind right now. But in any event, so he, he being a son of the Tzemach Tzedek, right? Married the-- his mother's, right-- His mother was a daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. He married his first cousin 'cause he married his mother's sister. His mother was a daughter of the-- His mother, Chaya Mushka. Mother's sister. Uh, uh, uh, not mother. What was that? Uh, his-- Shayna. His mother's sister's daughter, he married.

04:09 Speaker 2 His sister.

04:09 Speaker 1 His first cousin, he married. That was his first marriage. Which you can do, right? Which you can do. Yeah, not a problem. Yeah. Not a problem. Which was- No, I think it's- Who was the grandson of Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditchov, as we said before. That was the- Grandson ... grandson of Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditchov. In his second marriage, get a load of this. He married- He got, he got divorced?

04:31 Speaker 2 Wasn't the first wife, did she die?

04:32 Speaker 1 What happened over there, I'm not sure. Probably died. I don't think. I think she passed away. Oh, it was very clear. I, I know. I should know these answers to these questions. It's, uh, it's out there, but I- But no, but it was the- I'm not remembering ... it, it was two thousand. Yeah. So what happened-- Yeah, it was. So on the second marriage, he became the son-in-law of his uncle again. Oh, like yesterday. I don't know. This, this was his-- He was the son-in-law of his aunt. Now, wait a minute. You're gonna see this. He became a son-in-law. This time, he became the son-in-law also of his uncle because, uh, Reb Yekusiel Zalman was his uncle because Yekusiel Zalman's wife... No, no. Y-Yekusiel Zalman's wife was his-- Yekusiel Zalman's wife was a sister to his mother, to the wife of the Tzemach Tzedek. That was one of the sisters. So he, uh... But this time, he married his uncle, which is the only son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Tzemach Tzedek had one son. He had five daughters, but he had one son that we studied yesterday. Uh, his name was Menachem Nachum. He was Nachum. The daughter of Menachem Nachum, the son of the Mitteler Rebbe. Remember about this Menachem Nachum married... But that was also, we studied that, um, Menachem Nachum married in his second marriage. Now, I'm not sure whether this daughter was from the first or the second marriage because we learned yesterday on the sixteenth day of Nisan that this

06:00 Speaker 1 Menachem Nachum Married his niece, Freda, who was the daughter of Jacob Yisroel of Cherkas. That's what we went through yesterday. But in any event, let's not go, let's go to another... But I'm not sure, but it says here just that he married, he married the daughter of Reb Nachum, who was the son of the Mitteler Rebbe. So it's another first cousin of his, but it was instead of his mother's sister's daughter, this time it was his mother's brother's daughter. Mm. Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah. There was no problems. His mother's- Brother ... his mother's brothers- That'd be a problem. His mother, brothers, his mother, brother, these are all great, great people. Now, uh, he says it like this, and I think when you're saying that sometimes this marriage, there's the genes, they're no good, as we know today. No good, no. But it either works, it works sometimes for the positive and sometimes for the negative. Either the- But they don't tell us about the negative. They only tell us about the positive. So, but here you're saying that this- Yeah, you don't hear any- This ma- That ended up, you know-

07:05 Speaker 2 With Down syndrome.

07:07 Speaker 1 Or con... Yeah, 'cause this is consanguinity, right? Is what this is, meaning marrying within the genes. Continue. In Massachusetts, it's illegal. Well, there's more chance of a problem. In the, in the- It's illegal here. Is it, is it illegal? Even cousins illegal?

07:20 Speaker 2 First cousins.

07:20 Speaker 1 First cousins. First cousins illegal. Illegal. Okay. So the Maharim, that's known Reb Shmuel Nayach, he was a, a great genius, and his father appointed him to be the head of the yeshiva that he founded in Lubavitch. And any time there were, uh, questions in the revealed part of Torah that came to the, uh, Tzemach Tzedek, uh, and whether it was court cases, li- li- litigations, or people wanted to, uh, approvals for their books, or, uh, they wanted the, you know, to, the Rebbe to look over a thing, he would pass all to him. Any time somebody had a question, it was Reb Shmuel Nayach who would respond. Before he would give the response, he would show his father the response, and Tzemach Tzedek would approve basically his response. So it went through the eye of the Tzemach Tzedek, but his son would basically handle that part. And he was a tremendously humble person. He was very, very modest, and he was somebody who easily cried, and he would start his davening with the crying from, from the beginning of the davening through the end, he would cry all the ways through. And here you see how this joins both forces that notwithstanding having this great intellect, also they were very emotional people and they're very attached. So you have sort of, uh- Chabad ... both, both of, you know, have the having both, you know, both being very strong intellectually and very strong in Talmud, also being a servant of Hashem emotionally. After the passing

09:04 Speaker 1 of the Tzemach Tzedek, he remained for two years in the city of Lubavitch, in which he conducted himself as the Rebbe. As it's known, the Rebbe Maharash, the youngest son, did not officially accept the leadership right after his father's passing, but it was a, it was actually more than that. I think it says by 11 years later, by 10 officially, he didn't sit on his father's place only after the, the head of the synagogue, only after, I think he says it, 10, 11 years. Although, as the Rebbe points out, that the first maamer that he said... Well, I'm just trying to think if I'm mixing it up with the Rebbe Rashab or the Rebbe Maharash. Well, I gotta check that up. I forgot. I think it was the... I, I, I think it was the Rebbe Maharash. I'm not sure about that, but I don't wanna go any further without checking it out first. One of the... I think it was the Rebbe Maharash. We learnt it, but unfortunately we forget what we learned. So- Rebbe Rashab took, took it in 1860. Yeah. Because the Rebbe Rashab has... No, no, uh, no, I, I, I believe- He was born in 1860 ... I believe that this happened with the Rebbe Maharash. That's what really what happened. Maharash. The Maharash was the youngest, and he- Died in 18- ... lived and he, uh, he also died very young. So in 1860. He was born in 1860. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So, um- Died- The thing is, the

10:27 Speaker 1 thing is that he stayed there for two years, and in the year Taf Resh Chaf Ches, that's two years after the passing of his father, he moved to the city of Nezin, and he led, and he l- was a Rebbe over there for 15 years until he passed away in the, uh, year Taf Res Mem Gimmel. Um, so that's actually... He, he passed away- Is that right? Yeah, he's ta-- he passed away on the same year that his brother passed away. And you know, his brother passed away actually before him. He was the fourth son, and the Rebbe Maharash was the, uh, was the seventh son. And still the Rebbe Maharash, the youngest, and still the Rebbe Maharash passed away, like earlier in the beginning of that year, in the year Taf Res Mem Gimmel. And, um, the, um, the, um... No, it's not correct. The story I was saying must be about, that must be about the Rebbe Rashab because he said the maamer, "Keser Yitnu Lcha," at, after the passing of the Rebbe Maharash. And because his older brother, the Razah, he didn't wanna take his, his, his place there, it took him some time. Yeah, he didn't want. But that was the Rebbe... Yeah, that was the Rebbe, that was the Rebbe Rashab. But the, um, the, um, the, uh, Tzemach-- the Rebbe Maharash, I'm not sure exactly. Uh, we have to, um, uh, see. Um, we learned it already, but I, I forget. Um, it's related about him. You know, this

12:04 Speaker 1 is a, uh, kind of a sad, uh, story, but, uh- That one time, one of the, uh, people, he was passing by and, uh, people coming in, Admor, a rabbi, they came to get his blessing. And there was a Jewish man who desired to make fun. You know, he, he mocked the rabbi and he, you know, mocked the rabbi's powers, mocked the rabbi's, uh... And, um, notwithstanding that he had some, some children, he had many children, but he decided that he's going to go into the Rabbi the Mariin, to, to the Admor Mariin, and, uh, he presented himself like he has no children. And he asked the rabbi to-- a blessing that he should have children. And the Mariin told him, "You know, it's actually terrible that you leave this world without having any children," he said to him. And he says that the unfortunate story you have that then that person died without-- all of his children died during his lifetime. And, you know, he... And he said that he was in pain all of his life that because he made fun of the rabbi, because he came to the rabbi, he said to him, "I don't have any children." So the rabbi says, "It's terrible." So making fun of the rabbi got him what he, uh, what he, what he's looking for. And he's-

13:26 Speaker 2 What did he wanna do with the children?

13:28 Speaker 1 He is, he is, uh, resting place in the city of Nezin, um, in the same place where the grandfather, the Mitla rabbi. Because as you remember, the Mitla rabbi, uh, on his way left, left Lubavitch to go seek, um-

13:48 Speaker 2 Excuse. Right?

13:49 Speaker 1 To go to, to go... No. No, no, no.

13:51 Speaker 2 No, no, no. That was, no.

13:52 Speaker 1 From the... Yeah, that was from the, from Lubavitch. He went to go ahead and pray. He wasn't-- His health and seeking, uh, he went to Aditch, and he went to pray to the, to the gravesite of his grandfa- of his father, of the, of the Alter Rebbe, and he got sick on the way back and, uh, and he passed away over there, and they bury in-- they, they, they, they buried him in, uh, they interred him in, in the city of Nezin. And then his, I guess this was the, uh, grandson, uh, or it was the, um, um, great-grand, the greatg- I mean, grandson actually, because his mother's father was the Mitla Rebbe.

14:34 Speaker 2 Even to the fifty, the sixty and those days, that was a life-- that was the average lifespan.

14:40 Speaker 1 Not only that, his Tzemach Tzedek's-

14:42 Speaker 2 Compared to today, you'd say a person was very young.

14:45 Speaker 1 Yeah.

14:45 Speaker 2 But in those times it was... I mean, what medicine did they have? Nothing.

14:50 Speaker 1 And, um-

14:50 Speaker 2 What medicine did they have?

14:51 Speaker 1 But that's, that's something very, um-

14:53 Speaker 2 No antibiotics

14:53 Speaker 1 ... very important never to, you know, to mock, you know, or, uh-

14:58 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm

14:58 Speaker 1 ... or to make fun because you, you, you never know. You might be starting up with something that is with fire, and you can-

15:05 Speaker 2 Yeah

15:05 Speaker 1 ... you better stay clear of.

15:07 Speaker 2 Right.

15:07 Speaker 1 Uh, it says, like in the Pirkei Avos it says, "Ve'evezor b'ga chalos oon shulei t'chovet." You must be careful with the, with the calls of the great people that you shouldn't be burnt by it because, you know, you never know what you're going to end up. Um-

15:22 Speaker 2 That's true

15:23 Speaker 1 ... but, uh, you know, sometimes when, uh, you mock somebody, so you get what you mocked. It's like midah k'neged midah. Measure.

15:33 Speaker 2 What goes around, comes around.

15:33 Speaker 1 It's called measure for measure. Measure for measure. There's no-

15:35 Speaker 2 The famous term is, what goes around, comes around.

15:37 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm. But sometimes-- I just wanna finish on a positive note because this is sort of a negative note. I will finish positive note. Uh, that, um, sometimes, you know, you mock someone, and it's for the positive. What does it mean? What am I saying? Um, there's a story also that one of the complaints of the, uh, opponents of the Hasidim, the Misnagdim, were that, you know, that the Hasidim are fakers. You know, they pretend, you know, they daven and they make shake and they close their eyes. They do various different e-external motions, and they're not really... They're just show-offs, you know. They're just, uh, playing the role. They're not really into it. They're not-- They're pretending. They're not really what they are. So they complained to the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said, "Yeah, is that so? In that case, they're gonna be punished with the punishment that says in the Talmud." Now, everybody was a-astounded. What does the Alter Rebbe mean? You know, what does it mean with the punishment that's in the, in the, in the, in the Talmud? Why is the Alter Rebbe saying that? And later on, it was clarified what the Alter Rebbe meant. It says in the Talmud, it says, "Somebody who mocks somebody else before he dies from the world will end up with the same blemish. If he mocks somebody who stutters-

17:04 Speaker 2 He'll end up-

17:04 Speaker 1 ... then he'll end the stutters. If he mocks somebody who's, uh, limping, he'll end up limping. So don't mock anybody. That's what the Talmud says. So the Alter Rebbe meant, he says, "These people are mocking the real Hasidim. So they're trying to imitate them, but they're not really." He says, "So that means that at some point before they die, they'll reach that level, and they really become Hasidim." So, so even though... So they're mocking somebody, sometimes mocking somebody, somebody making fun is used in the positive. So hopefully that, you know, we can pretend sometimes, you know. It's not... People say, you know, "Be truthful." You know, a lot of times you say to people, say, "I don't wanna be a hypocrite. I don't wanna be a hypocrite." You know, you told them, you know, "Do something. Do a mitzvah." He says, "No, I don't wanna be a hypocrite because I do all these bad things. I'm not gonna be a hypocrite." Hey, listen, you're a hypocrite anyways. You know, I mean, all, all, all of our life is one big hypocrisy. I mean, you know, we... But you adjust to everything. So do, do a mitzvah. You know, first do it not for the right purpose. Do it sh'lo lishmah. Do it not. Eventually, it says, "V'taksh sh'lo lishmah ba-lishmah." First, you do it not for the right purposes. Eventually, you'll come to do it for the right purposes. So don't stop doing it and excusing yourself that, "I don't wanna be a hypocrite." You

18:30 Speaker 1 know, if you don't wanna be a hypocrite, don't do other things. Mitzvah and Torah is okay. And then, you know, then you'll, you'll, you'll, you'll strive for perfection.