9 of Iyar - ברית של אדמו"ר מהר"ש

00:00 Speaker 1 Yemei Chabad for the ninth day of Iyar, tes Iyar, taf kuf tzadik daled, that's five hundred and ninety-four. Uh, this is the, uh, day that the Rebbe Maharash, Rebbe Shmuel, uh, he was, uh, brought into, um, the Bris of Avraham Avinu. He had his Bris mila on the ninth day of Iyar. And my son actually is named after the Rebbe Maharash, Rebbe Shmuel. And we'll see... That's his name after the Rebbe Maharash. Now, the, the thing is, it's not so clear, as we'll see here, why he was named Shmuel. Where did the name Shmuel come from? So we'll see in a minute where the name-- because Shmuel wasn't such a popular name amongst the Rebbes, you know. Um, so, uh, where does Shmuel come from? We'll see. But generally, his, um, his, um, whole birth and whole the Bris and everything else about him was in a very miraculous and, I mean, I guess in a spectacular, you know, spiritual, um, infused with a lot of spirituality. Various different things were taking place. Because we see that the, um, Tzemach Tzedek, that was his father, and the Rebbe Maharash was the youngest of the seven sons of the Rebbe Maharash. So, um, he instructed that, uh, they should daven ma, Shacharis early, um, and that would mean that, you know, the Bris should take place shortly after that. That was the, the thought. Uh, and it says at ten o'clock, the family all gathered ready for the Bris. Now, over there, they also had, uh,

01:40 Speaker 1 the, um, son of the Alter Rebbe. His name was Reb Chaim Avraham. So he was from the, uh, older generation left over. I mean, he was the Tzemach Tzedek's uncle because, uh, the Tzemach Tzedek, um, Tzemach Tzedek's, um, mother was a sister. Thank you. Um, so it was a, um, um, um, you know, he was a special guest over there at the, um, at the Bris of the Rebbe Maharash. He must have been, you know, uh, quite, you know, an older man already at that time, I'm assuming.

02:23 Speaker 2 Eighteen ninety-four.

02:24 Speaker 1 1894. But he wa-- He must have been already an elderly person already at that time, Reb Chaim Avraham. Now, and this was ten o'clock that they were gathering up, but it was already two o'clock, uh, and the Tzemach Tzedek never came out of his room. He was sort of closed in, and the people started wondering what's going on. I mean, the Rebbe, you know, he was the Rebbe, he's not coming out. So people started to getting, you know, uh, eh, finding out what's going on. So Reb Chaim Avraham, uh, that was the, again, the son of the Alter Rebbe, he said that, um, it appears that, uh, he probably is busy with more important guests. You know, on his level, he's with more important guests, and he gave a sigh. Uh, and then there was another half an hour, and the Tzemach Tzedek left his room. His face was shining and-- but his eyes were red of tears, of crying, and he had a red kerchief in, uh, red in his hand. And he said, "The Bris will take place today." He said, "It will take place today." Uh, and he was there for a short while, but he went back to his room. So this is already two thirty. Uh, Reb Chaim Avraham, uh, got up from his place. He went over to the window, and he was leaning with his hands on his head, and he was deeply in thought. And also the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek, the other sons of Tzemach

03:49 Speaker 1 Tzedek, they were engaged in, in, in Torah, chasidut, words of Torah, chasidus, and people were all getting excited about, uh, because it's all these things. So the Rebbetzin, that's the Chaya Mushka, the wife of the Tzemach Tzedek, she sent, uh, to find out why is the Bris being delayed. And she instructed they should ask the Tzemach Tzedek what's going on. But Reb Chaim Avraham, he again, he didn't allow for the shliach. He left the Tzemach Tzedek alone in his room. He didn't know. That was the unc-- Yeah. That was the, um... It was great uncle. Um, uh, no, that was the uncle. Yeah. So now, this was already after three o'clock. He went out again of his room, and now he was very, uh, very happy face, and he says that everybody should be happy because the Bris will take place today, and he went back to his room. Uh, and then at four o'clock, he came out a third time, and he says not to daven Mincha because it's gonna be the Bris. And then he went to the, uh, to his wife, uh, to discuss the name of the baby, and he instructed to prepare the baby. And he went, uh, and they started the, the, uh, the, the Bris. Uh, uh, he says here that the baby was crying a lot, and the Tzemach Tzedek took out, uh, his left hand from underneath the pillow. Now, I'm, I'm assuming that he was the sandek over there, and his hand was probably under

05:29 Speaker 1 the pillow, so he took it out, and he put it on the head of the child, and the child didn't cry anymore. During the meal, the Maharil, who was the, the late, he was the son of, um, the older son of the Tzemach Tzedek, he asked his father, "Who is he named after?" And he says, "I don't think we have in our family, there was anybody with the name Shmuel. Why was he named Shmuel?" And he add, "Maybe it's the name of Shmuel HaNavi. Maybe it's Shmuel the Prophet." So Tzemach Tzedek says that there was a water carrier in the city of Polotsk who's called Shmuel. And he, he sort of said, quoting the Gemara, "Chacham adef min navi," that a wise person is even greater than a prophet. You know, you ask the Shmuel the Prophet, "Chacham adef min navi." A wise is even greater than a prophet. My father, lav shelom, used to say, well, chacham is a sage, somebody who's smart.

06:20 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

06:21 Speaker 1 And a navi is a prophet. Why is a chacham greater than a navi? So my father, lav shelom, used to say, because a prophet can only tell you what he's told.

06:32 Speaker 2 Yeah.

06:32 Speaker 1 A prophet, what he's told, he tells you. But a chacham can figure out even things that he wasn't told, so he can figure them out. So that's why a chacham is greater. Elsewhere, it, it relates that the Tzemach Tzedek says to the Rebbetzin... This is elsewhere. This is one version, but there's elsewhere it says that, uh, Shmuel HaNavi, the Prophet Shmuel, came and asked that they should name the child because, as we know, Chana gave the name Shmuel because she, uh, borrowed him from Hashem, "Hashem Shealtiv." Uh, just like Shmuel, he says sort of, the Tzemach Tzedek says that I've asked Hashem for this particular child. As you can see that from all the seven sons of the Tzemach Tzedek, even though they all became great leaders and they became Rebbes, but it was the Rebbe, Rebbe Shmuel, who actually followed later on and became the, um, the, uh, the follower of the, of the Rebbe. All right