14 of Iyar - One of the many Imprisonments of the pervious Rebbe - יד אייר פסח שני

00:00 Uh, we're gonna talk about Yemei Chabad for the fourteenth day of Iyar. Um, now, you know, fourteenth day of Iyar, besides being Yemei Chabad, besides being Chabad date, it's also Pesach Sheni. That's the, um, second Pesach, which is made for people who missed out on the first sacrifice, the first Yom Tov on Pesach. It's exactly a month later after the fourteenth of Nisan is when they bring the first, uh, Pesach, and this is on the fourteenth of the, uh, second, uh, of the second of, uh, a month later in Iyar. That's the-- uh, that day. So, um, this is talking about in the year Taf Reish Samach Beis. That's, uh, six hundred and sixty-two. Um, that's just about, uh- A hundred and twelve ... hundred and twelve years, okay, on the fourteenth day of Iyar in six sixty-two, which translate to which date? May 21st, 1902. And here we read a little bit about what the people had to go through, um, with theee, um, with the different situations. Now, I remember we studied a little bit about this, but I'm not sure exactly, um... I don't think we got up to this place here, but let's just say this is a, um, this is talking about an imprisonment that the previous Rebbe was imprisoned. This is called his second imprisonment, and, uh, the previous Rebbe was imprisoned, um, because of some sort of slandering. Somebody came and said things to the police about the previous Rebbe. He was the head of the yeshiva of

01:44 the Tomchei Temimim. He was the, uh, head administrator or the, uh, what they call today, um, what do they call them today? Headmaster. The headmaster or something like that. Um, and, um, the complaint was that the yeshiva houses students that are, uh, dodge drafters. They're, they're drafting, uh, they're, they're dodging their draft obligations, and he is sort of harboring them in the, in the yeshiva. Uh, and they pay, they pay him off, you know. They take bribes and, uh, and that's how they get over there. And, um, and this is what the previous Rebbe wrote. Um, uh, um, this is right from the previous Rebbe's own writing. He says, "On Tuesday, it was eight o'clock at night. A policeman, uh, um, and together with him was a dressed person, dressed in regular clothe- clothing. Um, and they came to the house, and they invited me to go with them to the police headquarters." And, um, the Rebbe responded that they had the family Schneerson back from the Alter Rebbe's time. They had a special stat- status that they were, uh, sort of honorable citizens for the generations to come. They had a, uh, special state. They got this, uh, uh, medal, so that's sort of that they were treated specially. "So we have special privileges. Uh, is it possible that you should not trouble me coming in the middle of the night or at nighttime? And tomorrow in the morning, nine or ten, I'm gonna come on my own to, uh, to the police station."

03:37 Uh, the person looked at me, uh, very with a sharp look, and he says, "Okay." He says, "Come tomorrow at eight, ten o'clock. We'll wait for you. But how am I gonna know that you're not gonna run away tonight?" He says, "How maybe you're gonna escape? How do I know that-- Who's guaranteeing that?" Um, I said in a joking way, the Rebbe says, "Schneersons don't run." He says, "I don't run. The Schneersons aren't, uh, faint of heart that run away, and we have no reason to be running away, so you don't have to worry." So the next day, on the set time, I came to the police and, um, I saw the anger in the face of the captain, and I understood that now there's something new, uh, a new, uh, complaint brought. So they brought me to a room, and there were three people there. And the one who was sitting, uh, there, the head says, "How many people did you exempt from army? How much bribe do you give to the, uh, uh, people in the police to get away? What do you bribe them with so that they should cover up for your sins that you do against the, against the law?" So he says-- The Rebbe answered, uh, "Does the, uh, law allow to speak in such a kind of a way to a person who is completely free, clean from any shade of even a sin? The Kaiser himself, may his glory be raised, he gave us the sign of

05:31 honor as a distinguished, uh, um, distinguished citizens for generations to come, signed with his own handwriting. Uh, is there no, uh, judgment? Everybody, what's going on?" The guy was shocked, and he says, "You are a prisoner until we can investigate this matter. We have to imprison him." He calls-- He rings his bell. A policeman, uh, comes in, and he tells me to go to, uh, the cell. And one of the, uh, policemens is standing guard by the door. Uh, it was totally unpleasant sitting there, but I didn't feel any fear. This is the Rebbe writing. Uh, towards the evening, I was called to come to the room where the officers of the secret police were there, and they said to me, "The investigation has not yet been completed. However, because during, uh, the investigation so far during the daytime, we have not found any substantial, uh, evidence or material against you, so therefore you are free. You can go home, and if we'll need you, we'll call you again." I said, uh, "I am certain that the work of your investigation and your, uh, inspections tomorrow and the next day will not produce any material against me, because I am totally innocent of any kind of sin. Haven't done anything wrong. It is just a plain old libel that people are just trying to get me into trouble." When I came home, my father went out towards me, and he was-- face was shining with his, uh, sweet, uh, smile. And he says, "Peace unto

07:39 you. How did you feel in being incarcerated, and, uh, what did you do?" "I felt pretty good," I answered, "but I was only worried that people, other people are worrying about me. Uh, and I was also in pain because of the waste of time that this takes." Uh, on the twenty-third day of the year, that's just nine days later, um, a policeman, uh, came, and he brought a, uh, a notice from the police that the previous Rebbe, he's totally innocent. He has nothing against him, and there was no evidence that can point that he did anything wrong. Um, and but this, this, this was part of the intimidation, and this was part of the, uh, troubles that the people have to, had to go through just for, uh, you know, uh, running and trying to run their, their business. Which city is this? This was in the city of Lubavitch, uh, in the Ukraine. This is in the city of Lubavitch, city of Ukraine. So this is not under the Tsar. And, you know, and, uh, uh, this was before Stalin, I mean, uh- It was under the Tsar. No, no, no. This, this isn't the Tsar. Under the Tsar. But the problem they had that time, there was revolution with Stalin. Yeah, I know. Yeah. And what it was, most of the revolutionists were Jews. Yeah. And what they wanted was they finally got parliament at that time. They voted. Most of the revolutionists were Jews? Which was- Karl Marx was . They were

09:08 socialists