29 Menachem Av - Alter Rebbe leaves Liadi at they were running from Napolian - כ"ט מנחם אב יום שבו עזב אדה"ז את ליאדי בעת ברחו מפני נאפאליון

00:00 Speaker 1 The Yemei Chabad for the twenty-nineth day of Menachem Av, chof tes Menachem Av, uh, which is the day that the Alter Rebbe left the city of Liadi because of the war with Napoleon. Um, the Alter Rebbe, as we had, uh, read earlier, settled in the city of Liadi after he was arrested the second time, and they wanted to keep him in Petersburg. But then, uh, they allowed him under the, uh, governor Lubrimiski, who invited the Alter Rebbe, and he settled many of the Hasidim in Liadi, which was a place where the Alter Rebbe, uh, was very comfortable and he was able to expand the teaching of Hasidus, and he had many followers, uh, connected to Hasidus, uh, from Liadi. So he went over from Lyozno to Liadi. But then on the twenty-nineth day of Menachem Av, he needed, uh, to leave Liadi, and that was already the end of the history of Liadi. Eventually, the Hasidim, the son of the Alter Rebbe, as we will see, uh, he moved to the city of Lubavitch. That's why Chabad is synonymous with Lubavitch, because the Alter Rebbe's son, uh, Reb Dov Ber, the Mitler Rebbe, he was the second Rebbe. He moved to the city of Lubavitch, and for many generations, the Mitler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, and also many years of the Rebbe Rashab, they lived, uh, in the, uh, the Chabad headquarters, so to speak, was in the city of Lubavitch. That's why they got the name of Lubavitch. But what took

01:49 Speaker 1 place over here during the war with, uh, uh, Napoleon, uh, that he waged war against Russia. Now this is-- This we're talking about when the Alter Rebbe left. That's talking about... That's around in seventeen twelve, uh, seventeen twelve, seventeen thirteen. Talking almost two hundred years ago precisely. Now we're in twenty thirteen. So, um, this is talking about, um, in, um, in... I'm sorry, I meant eighteen thirteen, right? Uh, in eighteen thirteen. We're talking about two hundred years ago. Um, this is, uh, taf kuf he in bez. That was the year. And today is so taf kuf he in gimel. And then you have, uh, uh, taf bezaya in gimel and tav shina in gimel. That would make two hundred years. This year, tav shina in gimel. Um, the Alter Rebbe's view was that, um, if Napoleon will be victorious, so it might help the Jews physically because he promised a lot more freedom for the Jewish people. But yet, on a spiritual level, that would increase, uh, a lot of, uh, Jewish people leaving their faith. Uh, it would increase, uh, people that would live a life of promiscuity from a life of, of, of irresponsible lives, not a religious lives as they lived under the Tsar in Russia. And therefore, the Alter Rebbe did whatever he can to support and to help the Russian army. And after the Napoleon has, uh, broken into Russia, he came, uh, into Russia, and that started already on the fourteenth of Tammuz in taf kuf he in bez.

03:46 Speaker 1 That is in the, as I said, in eighteen twelve. The Alter Rebbe sent some of the Hasidim to actually serve as spies, as we read. It was Rabbi Moshe Maiselish who were actually spying for the Russian army, and they made their way to some of the top army, uh, people in the Napoleon's, um, forces. The Alter Rebbe turned with a letter to all the Jewish people in Russia, and he asked them to stand in support for the Russian government monetarily and the service and everything they had. He, um, concluded that letter, "Don't be worried or let your heart not be faint, and don't pay attention to the temporary victories of the enemies that they are going to make some advances, because the final victory will be on the Russian side." The Alter Rebbe refused during the war to le-leave his city of Liadi, which was on the path of the armies that were approaching of the French Napoleon's armies. And the Rebbe did not want to first the people to get scared. Uh, those are the people that lived in that area, which is called White Russia. But when the Napoleon army, uh, very quickly overran all the towns and cities and villages towards Liadi, the Alter Rebbe instructed that they should leave the city quickly. And that was on Friday, which was the eve of Elul, which is the chof tes, therefore Menachem Av. The twenty-ninth day of Av, which was Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul. Uh, the Alter Rebbe, together with his family and

05:53 Speaker 1 about three hundred Hasidic families, very hastily left the city of Liadi. And the Alter Rebbe instructed before he left that they should take all of his belongings, all the house belongings, even the beds, the tables, take them along. And all the old stuff and the things that have been ruined, he instructed they should burn. They should burn them. And somehow, as we'll see, there was some spiritual meaning. The Napoleon was trying to grab hold of something of the Alter Rebbe, as we will see. The Alter Rebbe went through the extent after they had already left Liadi and they were already on the road, the Alter Rebbe instructed for people to go back to Liadi and to check has any items of the Alter Rebbe remember-- remained, maybe as some sort of a utensil, some garment. And they actually found old slippers, and the Alter Rebbe instructed that they should burn down the entire house. A short while after the Alter Rebbe left Liadi, Napoleon himself came to the city of Liadi, uh, escorted by army people, and he quickly ran to the home of the Alter Rebbe. And when he saw the home of the Alter Rebbe going up in flames, he instructs for them to extinguish the fire. But because of the great fire, they could not come close to the house. And he realized that he will not be able to take anything from the house itself. So Napoleon turned to the, uh, people that lived in Liadi, and he asked them to

07:51 Speaker 1 bring him something from the Alter Rebbe, whether it's a coin, whether it's some utensils or similar. And he promised to pay an enormous amount of money for anyone who would bring an object that belongs to the Alter Rebbe. But they all searched, they didn't find. He believed that if he was able to grab hold something of the Alter Rebbe, on a spiritual level, somehow he would be able to be successful in what he was doing. The Alter Rebbe was hundred and forty days together with the three hundred families on the road, and they were escorted by Russian army people until they reached the village called Pienaar, in which they settled. They found a little bit of a rest, um, and there they were also finally, uh, notified that what the Alter Rebbe has said, that even though they're going to be temporarily successful, but eventually the Russian army is going to be victorious, that the Napoleon armies begin to suffer great losses. And, uh, the Mitteler Rebbe writes that on Yutais Kislev, that was on the nineteenth day of Kislev, which was this, a day celebration, the Alter Rebbe was released from prison. We heard that the enemy had a great defeat and close to the city of Krasna, and that they're chasing him like a dog from there. And he says, "We were all overjoyed because every word that the Alter Rebbe had said has been fulfilled to the T, exactly." And unfortunately, unfortunately, uh, that was Yutais Kislev, but very shortly thereafter, on

09:47 Speaker 1 the twenty-fourth day of Teves, all of a sudden the Alter Rebbe fell ill and he passed away. And he's actually buried over there in the city, in the village of Pienaar, in that village over there. Uh, and this was like right in the middle of this, all these things going on. And then eventually his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, um, he has already not gone back anymore to Liadi, and they settled in the city of Lubavitch and about a year later, so somewhere like Taf Kuf Ayin Daled, which would be, um, maybe, um, you know, just about two hundred years ago. So the Lubavitch went to the city of Lubavitch two hundred years ago. That's exactly when, that's when Lubavitch went to Lubavitch in the year of Taf Kuf, would be Taf Kuf Ayin Daled. What were you saying? Sorry.

10:40 Speaker 2 So did Napoleon get those slippers that were left? Is that what he would pay-

10:45 Speaker 1 No, but that's for... That he was running for that, but the Alter Rebbe had burnt it. They burned the slippers, and they burned down the whole house, so there was nothing left. He made sure they weren't gonna get anything from him.

10:55 Speaker 2 Uh, because I thought Napoleon at one point was good to the Jews.

10:59 Speaker 1 Well, that's we, we talked about that-

11:02 Speaker 2 Oh.

11:02 Speaker 1 That the Alter Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe was of the view that it might be, uh, you know, some freedoms by Napoleon, but that would cause a tremendous amount of assimilation and would cause a lot of, uh, promiscuity, would, would be, uh, unrestrained kind of a freedom, and the Alter Rebbe was against that. The Alter Rebbe was for the, for the victory of the Tsar, you know, at that time.

11:25 Speaker 2 Which is surprising because the Tsar had imprisoned, well, him.

11:28 Speaker 1 Yeah, but still notwithstanding that, he was under the, um... Yeah, notwithstanding the fact that he himself suffered under them, but he still believed that the, um, that the alternative was the, uh, better for them was the, um, uh, the Tsar, better the Russian government than the Napoleon