6 of Shvat - In 5571 1/31/1811 wedding of Devorah Leah, daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe

00:00 We'll do the Mehabad for the, um, this is the sixth day of Shevat in the year Taf-Kuf-Ayin-Alef. That's, uh, five-- 5571 on the sixth day of Shevat, which corresponds to... So this is January, January 31st, 1811. That was the wedding date. The Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, who was the daughter of the Mitler Rebbe, she married Reb Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, who was the son of Reb Mordechai of Chernobyl. Now, we know the Chernobyl dynasty. Uh, Reb Yaakov Yisroel's father was Reb Mottel Chernobyler, Reb Mordechai from Chernobyl, and Reb Mordechai's father was Reb Nachum of Chernobyl. Now, Reb Nachum of Chernobyl was of the students-- was the oldest students of the Maggid of Mizrich. And the Alter Rebbe was also, uh, a student of the Maggid of Mizrich. And here there's an interesting story that relates between the, uh, how this Shidduch took place, how this, uh, Shidduch came about. Uh, so it says like this, that the Alter Rebbe once came to a visit to Reb Nachum of Chernobyl. Again, they were students of the Maggid of Mizrich, and the Alter Rebbe was once at the home of Reb Nachum of Chernobyl. And the Alter Rebbe reminded Reb Nachum of Chernobyl a saying that the Maggid of Mizrich used to say, their teacher and rabbi used to say. He said to them that the Melech HaMashiach is gonna be a descendant either from his oldest student or of the youngest of his students. He gave that choice. Mashiach is gonna come from them. So who was

01:51 the oldest of the Talmidim of the Maggid of Mizrich was? Was the Chernobyl. Who was the youngest? Was the Alter Rebbe. So he says, he says, "Why do we have to make any doubts where it's coming from? Why don't we make a Shidduch together?" Ah. And then he says, "Then Mashiach will come." From both sides. From both sides, for sure. Hundred percent. So he says like this. So the Alter Rebbe went over. There was a whole-- He was in the house of the Chernobylers, so there were grandchildren of the Chernobyler were sleeping in their cradles over there. So he went, and he felt the heads of the children. And when he came to the Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, he says that this is a grandson that he would like for his granddaughter, Devorah Leah, who was the daughter of the Mitler Rebbe. Now, remember, the Alter Rebbe also had a daugh-- a daughter, Devorah Leah, who died pretty young when- When- Because she gave up her life for the Rebbe, and she was the mother of the Tzemach Tzedek. She was the mother of Tzemach Tzedek. The Mitler Rebbe's named his daughter, uh, Devorah Leah, on the name of his sister who passed away, uh, young. So she-- So he designated that this Devorah Leah should be for Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas. Mm-hmm. By the way, that didn't go with the Chabad dynasty. That went away. Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, that went away to the Chernobyl dynasty. That's right. He didn't, didn't... You know, the,

03:24 the, um, the, uh, Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, which was-- he married this Devorah Leah, the daughter of the Mitler Rebbe. Sis-- Her sister was Chaya Mushka, who ended up marrying the Tzemach Tzedek, 'cause the Tzemach Tzedek married his first cousin. Right. Remember, the Tzemach Tzedek married his mother's brother's daughter. His mother's brother daughter, which is the Mitler Rebbe's mother, Devorah Leah, which this Devorah Leah married the Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas. She was named after his mother. So his mother's- It's confusing. It's confusing. Now it's easy. But it's his first cousin. Now it's easy already. We did this already. Yeah. Okay. It's short now. So he, he, he married his cousin because the Tzemach Tzedek's mother's brother was the Mitler Rebbe, and the Mitler Rebbe's daughter, Chaya Mushka, married later on the Tzemach Tzedek. But the Tzemach Tzedek and Yaakov Yisroel were brother-in-laws because one, they married both daughters of the Mitler Rebbe. One married Devorah Leah, which married Yaakov Yisroel of Cherkas, the Chernobyl, Reb, Reb Mordechai Chernobyler's son, and the Tzemach Tzedek married Chaya Mushka, uh, the other daughter. And, uh, what happened was that the mar-- that wedding, actually, the Alter Rebbe was there at the wedding of Yaakov Yisroel and the-- his granddaughter, Devorah Leah. And after... And the Alter Rebbe actually said a Ma'amar over there. He gave a discourse, Hasidic discourse. This Reb Yaakov Yisroel remained. The Alter Rebbe lived in Liadi at that time. That was already after, after the second, uh, imprisonment, after Tov Kuf Savach Alef, as

04:59 we read. The Alter Rebbe moved to Liadi and stayed in Liadi. So-- And that was a time, it was a very flourishing time. So the Alter Rebbe, you'd give a class for both of his son-in-laws. Uh, uh, not son-in-laws, both of his grandchildren, basically. Uh, the two... I mean, the Tzemach Tzedek was his grandchild from both sides because his mother and his, also his wife was, uh, daughter of the, of the Mitler Rebbe. So he was, uh, a grandchild of the Alter Rebbe through marriage, and he was also a grandchild through his mother 'cause the Alter Rebbe was his mother's father. And the-- But together with his brother-in-law, which is Yaakov Yisroel, together with the Tzemach Tzedek, they had a special shiur, uh, that they would learn in the attic. And, uh, they, uh, I mean, they were both outstanding scholars. Um, now here, there's an interesting-- he relates an interesting story. You know, many times the great righteous people, uh, would do, uh, certain things that they should merit to have the vision- Of the prophet Elijah. That's considered to be a very top-level, uh, merit. One who reaches a spiritual height can get Elijah to per-- to reveal himself. In the Talmud, we find many stories in which the prophet Elijah came and had a message and sent over. So that was a special thing. But it's understood, of course, that you can't-- there's no real system. You do A, B, C, D, there's no prescribed, uh, exact way to do things and

06:31 say, "Oh, if you're gonna do A, B, C, D, then you're gonna see Elijah the prophet." Yes, there is A, B, C, D, what you gotta do. But you gotta be-- first of all, you gotta be-- have the personality. You have to be on a spiritual level even before you can do the A, B, C, D. If you're gonna just do, and you're gonna just follow steps, that's not gonna work. But here he tells us the story that the two brother-in-laws, the Yaakov Yisroel with the Tzemach Tzedek, they once decided that they're going to start to... Doing a lot of fasting and going through a lot of physical pains, uh, to subdue sort of-- That was sort of the style, to subdue their, their ego, their physical needs and desires. They'll cause it, which is not usually the Chabad, uh, philosophy, and it's not the... But there was-- there is something to that, but at that point they decided to do so, and they had caused themselves so much pain that they weren't even able to go up to the attic. They couldn't make it up to the attic. They used to learn in the attic over there at the top floor, and they couldn't make it up there. So they learned on the bottom floor. So it says one day, there was some individual who saw these great men, that they were doing these things. So he says that he also wants to have Elijah to reveal himself. But apparently he wasn't, uh- The

07:55 same level. He wasn't on a level of that. So he began to fast, though. He's begun to do these... Began to fast. And he would do at nighttime, they do called Tikkun Chatzot. That's a special prayer at midnight in which you pray to Hashem, to mourn for the destruction of the temple and to ask Hashem to build the Beis Hamikdash. And, uh, certain amount of time passed by, and still that fellow never merited to see Eli- Elijah. It doesn't say about the Tzemach Tzedek and about the, whether they did or didn't, it doesn't say here. But it says that fellow did not really, uh, merit to see Elijah, so he started to complain towards the brother-in-laws. It's almost understood that they did. But he says, "But it's written in all the books. It's written that if you fast so many days and so much time, you get Eliyahu to reveal himself to you." And how come he did everything that it says in the books to the letter of the law? How come he doesn't have Elijah the prophet reveal himself to him? So the, the brother-in-law saw who they're dealing with, that he wasn't really up to par, but so they decided they're gonna go up to the attic. Now, I don't know how this comes to the continuation, that they couldn't make it up to the attic at that point, but they decided to go up to the attic. And when that person came to the shul, uh, to do his Tikkun Chatzot,

09:19 so from the top, they poured some water from the top on him, and they said, "Torai, torai, torai." Clean, clean, clean, they said. They poured on him. And from that time and on, that person became totally relaxed. He says, "Everything that it says in the books is true. Moshe is true, and the Torah is true." And he brings a proof. From the heavens, they poured water on him, and it says, like the verse says, "And pour on me clear waters." And they announced, "Torai, torai, torai," on me, so he took it as Torah, Torah. So it just goes to say, I think the message over here is, this is from a talk that the rabbi gave that related this story, but this, this tells us that there's something more inner. It's not just a very technical thing to- To become pure. To become pure, to become holy. It's not just... And sometimes people are so self-absorbed that they actually begin believing in themselves versus believing in, in Hashem. And, uh, it was always a, a very important part of the Hasidic teaching to make sure that what you're doing is with sincerity, and you're doing it LeShem Shamayim, not for the other-- not for any other, other purposes. I mean, just to... I mean, for somebody who is in a great level and he wants to have a special privilege, it's okay for them to go ahead and try experience and do certain things. But for a person who is not at that level, uh,

10:51 at all, he shouldn't even be going there.