16 of Shvat - In 5629 2/9/1868 Yahrtzeit of Reb Baruch Shalom oldest son of Tzemach Tzedek

00:00 Speaker 1 So today we'll do Yemei Chabad for the sixteenth day of Shevat in the year Tet Resh Chet, that is six twenty-nine, which corresponds to the English date February ninth, eighteen- Sixty-eight. Eighteen sixty-eight. That's the-- th- that is the yurt site of the, uh, holy Rabbi, Reb Boruch Shalom, known as the Rabash. He was the son, the oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek. He was the Bachar, son of the Tzemach Tzedek. He was also the grandfather of the Rebbe's grandfather. So the Rebbe is a direct descendant. The Rebbe's grandfather's grandfather was the son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Now, um, the, uh, Reb Boruch Shalom, he was a very private and a very discreet person. His entire life were just a very, uh, hidden level of humility, uh, in, in the most astounding ways. Nobody knew, and he didn't behave in any way to show that he was special at all. Because as it's known, all the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek served as Admurim. They didn't-- All Chabad was the Rebbe Maharas, but all the brothers, the Maharil and the, the Maharin and the, um, um, and, and, and Reb Yosef Yitzchak Kovrovich, all the, all the sons, they all had communities. They had followers. They were all Rebbes. They were all Admurim. Each one was leading a group of Hasidim. The exception was Reb Boruch Shalom, the oldest son. He was the only one amongst the brothers that remained in Lubavitch and absolutely refused to take upon himself the leadership, the crown of leadership, and

02:13 Speaker 1 to lead a group of Hasidim. The previous Rebbe once said in one of his talks that the Reb Boruch Shalom took double as the Bachar. A Bachar takes double. He took double of his brothers, which means in the sense he took double, that he didn't wanna take upon himself that, uh, level of, uh, of priesthood or kehunah of, uh, leadership, and he didn't want to lead a group. That's considered that he took double. Leading is half, and not leading is, is double. Um, the-- he was a very closed person, and all of his, uh, matters that he served God were in a total discreet way. Nobody knew, and he would conduct himself as a very simple person. Matter of fact, you know, the Rebbe being a, uh, descendant of this Reb Boruch Shalom, when you looked at the Rebbe, like the way the Rebbe prayed during his prayer, uh, many Admurim, many, uh, Rebbes, they daven extra long. They make various different kinds of external motions, and they shake a lot, or they don't shake at all, or they take some fifteen minutes to daven, or there's some external visible, so you can tell that this is unique. When you looked at the Rebbe's davening, exactly as we described his grandfather, he didn't daven too long . He, he didn't make any, any motions, any external... There was-- The Rebbes walked-- went with simplicity. That's why some people didn't even know the Rebbe's greatness. He was able to hide it more than some people. Nobody

04:18 Speaker 1 really knew. It only came out through bits and pieces, but the Rebbe himself conducted a very modest and a very hidden, and a very discreet life. Nobody knew about him, exactly as his grandfather's grandfather, the Reb Boruch Shalom. And it was-- The Rebbe was surprised. Anybody who saw can not imagine such greatness in being able to disguise that all in simplicity. Uh, even his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, in certain matters, wasn't aware of Reb Boruch Shalom, how his level of his service. He even hid it from his father. Uh, the Rebbe Maharas, that's the brother of Reb Boruch Shalom, the youngest brother, said to his son, his, his, the Rebbe Rashab, during a meeting, and he says, he says, "I was never one who cried el-- easily." He says, "I didn't have what to cry for." You know what I mean? He says, "Baruch Hashem, he was, uh, very well taken care of. But my brother, Reb Boruch Shalom, was a person who cried a lot. He was a... And my father, the Tzemach Tzedek, that is our father, the father of my, my Reb Boruch Shalom, would wish for himself that he would have such a broken heart as Reb Boruch Shalom, as his son, Reb Boruch Shalom." That's how much he was a sensitive and, uh, person of, uh, of feelings in that way. And the reason that he had that was, uh, because of the great Uh, closeness and attention that was given to him by the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe

06:12 Speaker 1 held him very dear, and the passing of the Alter Rebbe affected him very, uh, very negatively in the sense that he became broken from it, as we read earlier, the special attention that was given to him by the Alter Rebbe. The Tzemach Tzedek would seek his counsel, his father. Even while he was very young, he would seek his son's counsel, the Baruch Shalom, in matters that pertained to the community. Also, his brother, the Rebbe Maharash, would seek his guidance, his advice in, uh, matters that affect the community. In addition to that, he did a lot of good for the Jewish people in general, uh, in addition for what he did for the Chassidich Chabad. The Rebbe Rashab said about his uncle, about his father's brother, Baruch Shalom, he says that, "My uncle was a great, great man. He was really great." In the year Taf Resch Chaf Ches, that was a, um, a year prior to his passing, because he passed in Taf Resch Chaf Tes. In the year Taf Resch Chaf Ches, in the end of Menachem Av, this was like several months before he passed away, there was a big fire in the city of Lubavitch. Unfortunately, in those days, the situation, if there was a fire, it burnt down, and it just destroyed-- could destroy a whole city.

07:45 Speaker 2 Yeah.

07:46 Speaker 1 Um, so also the home of Rebbe Baruch Shalom went up in flames. And he-- At that point, he went to-- moved into a small, uh, house, small place. And during the time, they began to build his new house, to rebuild the house. His family members, uh, they rented a large room. He went to s- in a small room, but the family member rented a big, uh, space in a, in a big r- a big house in, uh, a living quarters in Lubavitch. But he refused to enter into that big house. And when they asked him, "How come you're not moving into that big house?" He says, "What do you care that I'm alive?" Somehow he connected moving into the big house with his upcoming passing. It was during Hanukkah in the year Taf Resch Chaf Tes, which is several months later. On Hanukkah, he was forced to come to the big, uh, apartment which they rented because he needed to bench the Hanukkah lights together with the family members. So when he came to the big house, he got very sick, and he was, uh, so sick that they sent a special note calling a pidyon haben to be read on this-- on the grave sites, on the ohel of the Rebbes, but it looked like it wasn't meant to be. All the gates were closed, and the Rebbe Baruch Shalom returned his pure soul on the sixteenth of Shevat in Taf Resch Chaf Tes. He was all of sixty-two years old. After his passing,

09:29 Speaker 1 they fo- they found many of his writings in the revealed and the Hasidic esoteric part of the Torah. And when they opened his, uh, last, uh, will, this tsavva, they were all amazed at his great wisdom. He is interred in Lubavitch within the same Ohel of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, of his father the Tzemach Tzedek. So that, uh, that is for the sixteenth day of Shevat.