8 of Sivan - Marriage of Devorah Leah, daughter of Maharash - בשנת תרל"ב נשואין של דבורה לאה, בתו של אדמו"ר מהר"ש לר' משה ליב גינזבורג

00:00 Speaker 1 We're doing the eighth day of Sivan, Yemei Chabad. This is in the year Taf Reish Lamed Beis, that's six hundred and thirty-two. Uh, that was the day that the Rebbetzin Dvorah Leah, who was the daughter of the Rebbe Maharash, got married, uh, to, uh, Reb Moshe Leib Ginsburg. Um, she was-- What day was that come out to in the English date? The eighth day of Sivan in the year six hundred and thirty-two.

00:31 Speaker 2 It was, uh, June the fourteenth, eighteen seventy-two.

00:34 Speaker 1 June fourteenth, eighteen seventy-two. Uh, the Rebbetzin Dvorah Leah was the older daughter of the Rebbe Maharash. Rebbe Maharash was the fourth Rebbe in the lineage, Reb Shmuel. And, uh, her husband was, uh, the Chasid, Rav Chasid Moshe Leib of Ginsburg. Last name was Ginsburg of Vitebsk. In the, uh, invitations, uh, to his daughter's wedding, the previous-- the Rebbe Maharash writes in his letters, "As God has granted me the great privilege to see my daughter getting married with her, um, chosen, uh, distinguished husband, this Moshe Leib, ben-- and his son of-- he was a-- also a, uh, from a wealthy family. This, this, this, this son-in-law came from a wealthy family. Uh, his father's name was Avzom Zalman. And he says the wedding has been set for Friday. They made weddings on Friday, Friday. Um, this was, uh, the day after Shavuot. It's exact schedule like this year. We have Shavuot is on Wednesday and Thursday, and they made the wedding on Friday. That's, uh, eighth day of Sivan, the Erev Shavuot. Um, and he's, he's asking, uh, his invitation, he's asking those people that are dear to him, they should come to join in the, uh, festivities and the wedding, and Hashem should grant us to be able to rejoice with the Choson Kallah and to give us all the blessings. This is the invitation that he sent. So it says about this Rebbetzin, about the Dvorah Leah, the daughter of Rebbe Maharash, the previous Rebbe writes in his sichas. See, the Rebbe Maharash was,

02:30 Speaker 1 uh, was his grandfather, the previous Rebbe's grandfather. So this was his grandfather's, um, um... This was his father's sister. That was his aunt. This was the, uh, aunt of the previous Rebbe. Dvorah Leah was the aunt. This Dvorah was the aunt of the previous Rebbe. So he writes that, uh, during her, uh, youth, he says, "My father related to me specifically how they would be sitting next to the table of their father, which is the Rebbe Maharash, for the meal on the last day of Pesach, and the father said to them that today is the last day of Pesach." So I asked my father, Rebbe Rashab says, I asked my father, "Why is the last day of Pesach a festival?" So the Rebbe Maharash said to his, uh, other brother, the Rebbe Rashab has another brother, the Zalman Arum, the Razor, "Maybe you can answer him his question. Uh, why is the last day of Pesach a festival?" "I don't know," Zalman Arum says. He doesn't know why is the last day, Acharon shel Pesach, why is it a festival. So Dvorah Leah, who was sitting next to, next to our mother, this is the Rebbe Rashab telling his son, the previous Rebbe, she got up, and she says she knows why Acharon shel Pesach is a festival. And the father said, "If you know, go ahead, say why." So Dvorah Leah said, "When the Jewish people keep seven days of Pesach as the law requires, and they are careful not to even touch a

04:16 Speaker 1 drop of chametz, so then they make a festival of the last Pesach because all Jewish people are happy that they were able to go through the entire Yom Tov Pesach without stumbling on eating chametz of Pesach. So they're making a festival for being successful Yom Tov." After my father heard her response of Dvorah Leah, so our father says to Dvorah Leah, uh, "You have a good head." I mean, this was, this was a very young k- I mean, they were a young kid. Doesn't say the age, but we're talking about a very young age. So after the meal, we went in together with our father to our grandfather, which was the father of the Rebbe Maharash, the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitch Rebbe. So they went in to the Rebbe, and my father related to the Tzemach Tzedek, to the grandfather, the idea that Dvorah Leah suggested that the reason we have last day of Pesach is to celebrate, um, um, to celebrate the Yom Tov, the success of the Yom Tov. And my-- the grandfather, Tzemach Tzedek, says that's a good, good explanation for that holiday. In another place, the previous Rebbe writes that, um, on the sixteenth day of Menachem Av in the year Taf Reish Nun Vav, he says, "I traveled to Vitebsk, and I was there for ten days as a guest of my, uh, uncle, uh, Razor." That was this, her husband, uh, no, the Razor. No, that was his, his, um- His uncle, um, Razel, that's the Rebbe Rashab,

06:10 Speaker 1 and also his aunt, Dvore Leah. Uh, and the Dvore Leah, the aunt, she remembered very well the grandmother, Chaya Musia, who was the wife of the Tzemach Tzedek. And she heard a lot of stories from her, from what she had seen and what she heard from the, uh, the Rebetzin Sternav, the, you know, the still the, um, the wife of the Alter Rebbe. So they had-- So the lineage sort of was there. They still had sort of people that remembered the other people and that they could, uh, the lineage from the first Rebbe. And the previous Rebbe writes that the visit in Vitebsk gave me a tremendous amount. The, the, the previous Rebbe used to write down a lot. He was a prolific writer. He would write down all the stories of the families. You know, today everybody is doing their family trees and doing, uh, all the different things. But the previous Rebbe, long before that, I mean, these were holy tzadikim, but he, he recorded a lot of the stories, a lot of the history, and he would-- he was, uh, an avid listener and an avid-- He would love to write, to, to hear. His father instructed him to write down. He kept a very-

07:17 Speaker 2 Careful, Moss.

07:17 Speaker 1 He had, he had a very, uh, a detailed diary of everything that took place throughout, uh, the, uh, tumultuous times, you know, and that they lived, starting off with his youth, from the old memories from the old home and through all what transpired with him. Um, the Rebbe said this was a new source of stories that he, that he was able to hear. Uh, the Rebbe once related by the Fabregin that they say about the strength of the Dvore Leah, the daughter of the Rebbe Maharash, that when she found out that her father passed away, she turned around, she faced the wall, and she stood there for three days like that.

08:00 Speaker 2 Wow.

08:01 Speaker 1 She's in a shock. Three days. She didn't know anything what went on, nothing what went on around her. So, you know what I mean? These are, again, these are different kind of people. These are Rebbe's children, and these are-

08:14 Speaker 2 Different times

08:15 Speaker 1 ... uh, different times and different people. And be careful.

08:18 Speaker 2 Have a good day.

08:18 Speaker 1 They'll see you. And, um- Esteen ... um, but you do see that, um, each one of them, you know, has a whole story with a whole history, and there's, uh, the- their, their life was actually an exemplary life. And you can see that they displayed, you know, royalty and dignity and, uh, uh, perseverance, you know, than just-

08:44 Speaker 2 They were treated more royal. They were treated more as royalty in Europe than they were in because actually, a lot of them, the village, they were the king. They didn't have any competition.

08:56 Speaker 1 Yeah. That's, um... No, I-- Again, the world was a, a much smaller-- The world was a much smaller world at that time than it is today. Um, but, you know, some of these outstanding people, I guess even in, uh, in other times. You know, it's, it is with regards-- It says with regards to Noah, it says sometimes it says that if he would be in another generation where everybody would be tzadikim, he wouldn't be such a big-

09:29 Speaker 2 Yeah

09:29 Speaker 1 ... because it was only because everybody in his generation, uh, was, was bad so that he was, uh, sort of good.

09:39 Speaker 2 That's him.

09:39 Speaker 1 Um, and but if he would've been with other great tzadikim, then he wouldn't be special. Other word says that even amongst his people, he can be, so of course, he would be others. He would be even on a greater level. And the same is true of these people, you know, that, um, these were distinguished people. I mean, if in any time that they would live-

09:57 Speaker 2 And in some cases-

09:57 Speaker 1 They would have been-

09:58 Speaker 2 ... they were miseducated and, you know, like