18 of Kislev

00:00 Speaker 1 We'll do today, the Yemei Chabad, we're doing the eighteenth day of Kislev, which is the, uh, yahrtzeit, the day of passing of Reb Yosef Yitzchak of Urvuch, or how they pronounce it, Urvuch. He was the son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Right. The fifth son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Uh, Reb Yosef Yitzchak was the fifth son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Good year. And yeah, and his yahrtzeit is on the eighteenth day of Kislev. Now, this involves, uh, the Reb Yosef Yitzchak, and his family is very closely tied in to the-- all the Chabad families. As we're going to see, his connection, it's not only that he was a son of the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, he was the fifth son of the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, but there was also some, I guess, uh, disagreements between when he married because the Yosef Yitzchak, the son of the Tzemach Tzedek, ended up marrying the daughter, the, the, uh, the, the daughter of Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, who was a son of Reb Mordechai Chernobyl. He was born, Yosef Yitzchak, the fifth son of the Tzemach Tzedek, was born in the year Tet Kuf Peh Bet in the city of Lubavitch. And as we said, he was the fifth son. He married the Rebbetzin Chana, Yosef Yitzchak, the fifth son, married Chana, who was the daughter of Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas. And his wife, Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, was the Rebbetzin Dvora Leah, who was a daughter of the Mitler Rebbe of Dovber. So, uh, so

01:57 Speaker 1 now, after they got married, the son of the Tzemach Tzedek, who was born in, we're just saying it's yahrtzeit, we're talking about him today, who married Chana, who was the daughter of Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas and Dvora Leah, who was the daughter of the Mitler Rebbe. Uh, the father-in-law, who was Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, was Reb Yosef Yitzchak's father-in-law. He had offered him many years to take care of all of his needs. He would sit and study. Now, olden days, uh, they would have the father-in-law, if they can afford it or they wanted to, they would pay for all the expenses. And the, uh, Reb Yosef Yitzchak, uh, he would-- taken care of, and his family were taken care, care of for many years. He-- they took care of them. Now, here we come to a little bit of a disagreement. While the Tzemach Tzedek wanted the previous, the Yosef Yitzchak, his son, to stay in Lubavitch, the father-in-law, Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, wanted his son-in-law to move to where he lived. Okay? He didn't agree. He wanted him to go to live where he lived, to live, live together with him. And I guess, you know, even then, money talks. I don't know. So he-- they want out, and he moved from, from Lubavitch to his father-in-law's, uh, to his father-in-law's home. And, uh, in the year Taf Resh Yud Tes, he was all of thirty-six years old. He was forced by his father-in-law, that's what it says here, he was forced by

03:47 Speaker 1 him to accept a Rebbe's position because his father was a Polisher Rebbe. He was Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas. He was from the dynasty of Reb Mordechai Chernobyl from the Ruzhiner. He was in that dynasty. So even while his father was still alive, the Tzemach Tzedek was still in the city of Lubavitch, he began-- became an Admur for a group of Hasidim in the city of Urvuch. That's why he's known, if I pronounce it correctly, that's why he's known as Reb Yosef Yitzchak from Urvuch. And he wasn't like in the style of the Hasidism Chabad. One of the big differences... I mean, there's-- first of all, there's a style. There's just a different style. Doesn't mean that there is, you know, a fundamental difference, but it's mostly in a style. But one of the, uh... In, in, in the Chabad Hasidism, uh, a lot is expected from the individual, uh, Hasid. You know, you, you're expected to do a lot of the work yourself. The Rebbe guides you, uh, but the Rebbe doesn't do it for you. Each individual needs to work hard and, uh, the Rebbe is mostly as a support, as a guide who, who helps you out. There's a lot of studying that the Hasidim do, a lot of Hasidism that they study. They, they get involved. A lot is demanded to work with yourself on your own. Whereas the Polisher Hasidism, um, a lot of it is like the Rebbe does things for you, sort of. You know, he prays for you.

05:24 Speaker 1 He, he does... And there's not so much is expected of the individual. A lot of, you know, like in the Tish over there by the Polisher, they give out, you know, a lot of times they would give, like from their food, uh, that they eat, they would give the leftovers, like they call, they call it shirayim. That's supposed to be very special to eat the leftovers from a tzadik, from a holy person, their leftovers. And it built-- a lot was built about just benefiting and taking from the, from the tzadik. I'm not sure if I'm describing it one hundred percent the correct way, but it was a difference between, uh- Polish, uh, the, the Murim, they call the Polish Hasidim, and they're the Murim. And so he was sort of left the Chabad, this Reb Yosef Yitzchak sort of left the Chabad style and, and but the way it says is here, he was basically actually forced because during his father's lifetime, he shouldn't have probably, uh, become Rebbe, uh, out of respect that his father is still around. But his father-in-law, I guess being from the Polish Rebbes, they needed him to do what they needed to do. And again, he became that. Um, the-- they later on, uh, the Reb Yosef Yitzchak from Obruch, uh, which, um... And, and the Rebbe Tzilchatna, they had later on a daughter whose name was Ster Nerah. And this Ster Nerah became the wife of the Rebbe Rashab. Hence, he was the mother of the Rebbe Reb

07:03 Speaker 1 Yosef Yitzchak. Uh, so you see that, uh, notwithstanding the families continued to intermarry, uh, meaning to marry one another. So the Rebbe, uh, Maharas took for his son, which the Rebbe Rashab's... So his daughter-in-law was the, um, was, uh, Ma- was, uh, was Ster Nerah, was the daughter of Yosef Yitzchak and Chana from Obruch, and she became the wife of the Rebbe Rashab and the mother of Reb Yosef Yitzchak. Uh, in one of the Re-previous Rebbe's talk, uh, the, uh, previous Rebbe related that my father, which is the Reb Shalom Ber, he spoke very highly and the great, uh, values of his father-in-law because he married Ster Nerah. So his father-in-law was the Admor Yosef Yitzchak. So he spoke very highly of him and how-- what the diligence and the, um, uh, in the study, in the study of Torah and refined character, beautiful, beautiful character. And the most outstanding was his trait of humility. Um, he also, uh, related to me, says the previous Rebbe, all the stories that his father, which is the Rebbe Maharash, uh, told him about his brother, Yosef Yitzchak, that was the Rebbe Maharash's brother, about what a great person he was, um. And he would tell his son, the Rebbe Rashab, that your father-in-law, this Yosef Yitzchak, he would tell him, uh, is a person who of strong-- labors a lot in the service of Hashem. While he was at his father-in-law, uh, at Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, his father-in-law once asked him, "How do you daven?"

09:10 Speaker 1 I guess, you know, he was trying to figure out, "How do, how do you daven?" He says, "Well, most of the time I daven with a minyan." You know, he says, "Mispalel betzibur." One of the things that the Hasidim were known, they used to take long to daven. Sometimes the davening was so long that they couldn't daven with a minyan. So his father-in-law asked him, "How do you daven? Do you daven?" He says, "Well, most of the time I daven with a minyan." So he says... Now, the minyan is called a tzibur. A tzibur means a community. So what happens, one time when Reb Yaakov Yisroel was already after the davening, he called his son-in-law to come to him. And the person he sent came back, and he said that he's, uh, still davening. And then, uh, long, that was the style of Chabad, the Hasidim, that's what he saw in, in, in, by his father. And after a, a while, he sent him again, and again, it took a while, he sent him again, he said, "He's still davening." And then a third time, "He's still davening." You know, whatever. So when he finally finishes davening, he comes to his father-in-law. He says, "But you told me that you daven with a minyan, you told me. You say you daven in the tzibur, and here you're sitting and davening like that." So the, uh, Reb Yosef Yitzchak, the Obruch, he told him, "My father, the Tzemach Tzedek, told me in the name of his

10:27 Speaker 1 grandfather, of the Alter Rebbe, that what does it mean tfilah betzibur? Tzibur means to gather, gather the community together." But he says the inner meaning of gathering together means that you have to gather all things that you gotta sort out and that you gotta elevate in your davening. And he says, "To the extent I'm able to, I daven betzibur." Betzibur meaning I daven, I collect all the different items that are necessary to daven properly. Um, during the, uh, Tishrei in Taf Resh Lamed Zayin, he got sick, and he, um, sort of from ti- from time to time, he got even more sick. And then it was on Monday, the eighteenth of Kislev, he passed away. We're talking about this Reb Yosef Yitzchak of Obruch, the fifth son of the Tzemach Tzedek, and his-- He was interned in the city of Obruch. Yeah. What-- I, I don't know if you're gonna get to this but- Yeah. -the connection between these two dynasties. No. So the, the Baal Shem Tov- Was- No. The Baal Shem Tov started the Hasidic dynasty. Hasidic, right. So the Baal Shem Tov should be like above over here, over both. Right. And his follower was the Maggid of Mezritch. The main Hasidim, our Schneur Zalman, as well, the Alter Rebbe as well as all the other- All came from- -lines that came from the Maggid, they're not blood, uh, relationships to the Baal Shem Tov. But this is, but this is blood to here. But this is blood relationship. The- Yeah. The

12:02 Speaker 1 Alter Rebbe, yeah

12:03 Speaker 2 Yeah, from, uh... But he's not blood lineage to here. Didn't-

12:07 Speaker 1 He considered, he called him his grandfather-

12:08 Speaker 2 On their-- But-

12:09 Speaker 1 ... on a spiritual level, not on a-

12:10 Speaker 2 On a spiritual level

12:11 Speaker 1 ... not on a physical level.

12:11 Speaker 2 They're not, they're not blood related.

12:13 Speaker 1 They're not brothers.

12:13 Speaker 2 Not until down here.

12:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. No, but then later on, they all become blood, within the Rebbes-

12:19 Speaker 2 Then they become

12:19 Speaker 1 ... it's all blood, blood, blood related. It's all, they, they passed down.

12:22 Speaker 2 But did, did Chabad start the same time the Baal Shem Tov started or-

12:26 Speaker 1 No. The Chabad is-

12:28 Speaker 2 Further down

12:28 Speaker 1 ... the third generation.

12:29 Speaker 2 Right.

12:29 Speaker 1 It's the third generation after the Baal Shem Tov.

12:32 Speaker 2 Right.

12:32 Speaker 1 You had the Baal Shem Tov, and you had the Maggid of Mezritch.

12:35 Speaker 2 Right.

12:36 Speaker 1 And then you have the Schneur Zalman. Now, the Maggid of Mezritch, who was the follower of the Baal Shem Tov, he had gathered around him, um, a large number of very highly qualified, outstanding scholars and holy people.

12:54 Speaker 2 Sure.

12:55 Speaker 1 And they weren't necessarily... They weren't blood related.

12:59 Speaker 2 Right.

12:59 Speaker 1 They were just great, outstanding scholars of those days. These great, outstanding scholars who went to the Maggid of Mezritch, uh, they all eventually, or mostly, they all became heads of dynasties which separated from them. While there was the two of them, uh, Reb Mendel, Horodok from Vitebsk, and, uh, Reb Avraham Kalisk, those were two great of the students. Uh, and again, there were a lot of differences in, in views with the, um, with the conduct and behaviors, and there was just a lot of stories. We can't cover everything-

13:37 Speaker 2 Right

13:38 Speaker 1 ... in one time, and we're learning those as we're going on. But they moved to Israel, and they founded the Israeli Hasidic community over there. Um, but the rest of them all started, each one-

13:54 Speaker 2 Their own

13:54 Speaker 1 ... became, uh, own, uh, the, the leader and their children. And then the dynasties, they, they broke up, and they split up more and more. And there was a lot of, you know, there was some internal strife and conflicts, you know, that, that, that go on like you see today. There's-- I mean, I'm not saying that. There is different Rebbes, and there's different, uh-

14:16 Speaker 2 And they fight over the posts

14:17 Speaker 1 ... views, and, uh, yeah.

14:18 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

14:18 Speaker 1 And, and mostly it's actually people that are closely related that have, uh, the biggest fights because each one-

14:24 Speaker 2 What's going on

14:24 Speaker 1 ... claims to be the one. I, I, I'm not gonna say it in a-

14:29 Speaker 2 No, no, no, no

14:30 Speaker 1 ... in a simple way, but each one-

14:31 Speaker 2 The Maggid of Mezritch.

14:33 Speaker 1 The Maggid of Mezritch, yeah.

14:34 Speaker 2 The second generation, right?

14:35 Speaker 1 Yes.

14:35 Speaker 2 And then what-

14:36 Speaker 1 Schneur Zalman came after that.

14:38 Speaker 2 He was related to Maggid of Mezritch?

14:39 Speaker 1 No, no.

14:39 Speaker 2 No.

14:40 Speaker 1 He was a student.

14:40 Speaker 2 Disciples.

14:41 Speaker 1 But the re-

14:41 Speaker 2 I read some place that even the ones that weren't Hasidic, like the, um, the Soloveitchik movement. There's also a descendant-

14:51 Speaker 1 The, the Litvaks.

14:51 Speaker 2 There's also some blood lineage going back into here, but they didn't go in the same way. I don't know-

14:57 Speaker 1 Okay, I'm not an expert on this history.

14:59 Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah.

14:59 Speaker 1 I barely, barely know the Chabad.

15:01 Speaker 2 You know the basics. Yeah.

15:02 Speaker 1 Uh, but you know what? But maybe we'll get there someday.

15:04 Speaker 2 Yeah.

15:04 Speaker 1 You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of-

15:06 Speaker 2 There's a lot

15:06 Speaker 1 ... lot of interesting, a lot of interesting history. I remember we used to have a, an elderly fellow who used to live ne-near our house, and, uh, especially Sukkos time, he would come. They didn't have a Sukkah, so he'd come to our Sukkah. And that guy was a, a memory, a phenomenal, a photographic memory. He never forgot an item of detail. He knew every Polish Rebbe and all the dynasties and all the stories and everything else. He would sit there. We would sit with open mouths and listen to his-

15:35 Speaker 2 He was because-

15:36 Speaker 1 But he knows, you know-

15:38 Speaker 2 Right

15:38 Speaker 1 ... the, all the different, you know, there is so many different names, so many different... You need to be able to picture this and have it in your head. So I'll stick meantime to Chabad.

15:47 Speaker 2 Yeah.

15:47 Speaker 1 And when -

15:48 Speaker 2 What it is that, that-

15:49 Speaker 1 We're done with that, we'll, we'll go further, yeah.