18 of Adar 5650 -יום ההסתלקות של הרב אברהם דוד לאוואט תר"נ

00:00 Speaker 1 Today we're gonna talk about the eighteenth day of Adar, Yom Chabad, for the eighteenth day of Adar in the year Taf Reish Nun, that is six hundred and fifty, uh, five thousand six hundred and fifty, which translates into March tenth, eighteen ninety. That was the day of passing of the great rabbi, Hasid, and genius, Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut. That was his name. He was the great-grandfather of The Rebbe. Great-grandfather of The Rebbe. He was The Rebbe's mother's father, mother's father. You got that? We'll see. Yeah. He was... Okay, one over. It was The Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana's- Father ... father, who was named Reb Meir Shlomo. His name was Reb Meir Shlomo Yanovsky. Yanovsky. And his mother's father, that was Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut. Let, let's talk a little bit about him. He was, um, uh, The Rebbe writes in beginning of a book that he authored, a sefer, it's called Kav Nokhi. That actually deals with Halakhic matters in, in, in this reg- deals also with laws of divorce, and also there is a very important, in divorces it's very important that you have the right naming, and there's a whole big always a debate to have the correct name. You wanna make sure. But he was an expert in that and many other fields. Um, so this is what The Rebbe writes in the introduction to that book, something that he heard from his mother, the Rebbetzin Chana, uh, of blessed memory, alav ha-shalom. Peace onto her. He says that the Rabbi Avrohom

01:45 Speaker 1 David Lavut, the author of this book, Kav Nokhi, uh, and he also authored the book Shaarei Kohelet and other books. He was born in the year Tav kuf ayin hei, five thousand five seventy-five. But he was an exceptionally sharp mind, and his great, uh, qualities and his, uh, knowledge, sh- uh, unbelievable knowledge in the, they call it in the sea of the Talmud. They call it the Yam Talmud because there is just so much in the sea of Talmud. His, his knowledge, and he was also a very good-hearted person. He was a very righteous, good-hearted person. This got him a lot of admirers that had a tremendous love for him during his lifetime. His entire lifetime, he had people that adored him. Uh, he was first of the, uh, Hasidim. In the beginning, he was from the Hasidim of the Tzemach Tzedek. That's the third Lubavitch Rebbe, Reb Menachem Mendel. And he actually requested by the Tzemach Tzedek, he influenced the Tzemach Tzedek, that the great Hasid, he's a known Hasid, the name is Reb Hillel of the city of Pinsk. Uh, he was, like such a great tzadik that people also considered him to be like part of a Rebbe. He wasn't really a Rebbe, he was a Hasid of the Tzemach Tzedek. But he asked him, he con- convinced, or sort of, uh, the, the Tzemach Tzedek that he should have Reb Hillel travel to the, uh, cities in small Russia. I don't know what they call it. Belarus? I don't know what's

03:27 Speaker 1 the small Russia. What is- Small Russia? It's called Russia HaKatanah. I'm not sure what it means by small Russia. I'm not sure exactly which, which, uh, communities. Um, he told him they should go year by year. He should go out there to strengthen Torah, Yiddishkeit, to strengthen, and to publicize the teaching of the Hasidis of Chabad. Reb Hillel held this Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut very, very dear, and he was also very endeared by another great, uh, uh, Hasid and rabbi and author of V Today we're gonna talk about the eighteenth day of Adar, Yom Chabad, for the eighteenth day of Adar in the year Taf Reish Nun. That is six hundred and fifty, uh, five thousand six hundred and fifty, which translates into March tenth, eighteen ninety. That was the day of passing of the great rabbi, Hasid, and genius, Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut. That was his name. He was the great-grandfather of The Rebbe. Great-grandfather of The Rebbe. He was The Rebbe's mother's father, mother's father. You got that? We'll see. Yeah. He was-- Okay, one over. It was The Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana's- Father ... father, who was named Reb Meir Shlomo. His name was Reb Meir Shlomo Yanovsky. Yanovsky. And his mother's father, that was Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut. Let, let's talk a little bit about him. He was, um, uh, The Rebbe writes in beginning of a book that he authored, a sefer, it's called Kav Nokhi. That actually deals with Halakhic matters in, in, in this reg- deals also with

05:10 Speaker 1 laws of divorce, and also there is a very important, in divorces it's very important that you have the right naming, and there's a whole big always a debate to have the correct name. You wanna make sure. But he was an expert in that and many other fields. Um, so this is what The Rebbe writes in the introduction to that book, something that he heard from his mother, the Rebbetzin Chana, uh, of blessed memory, alav ha-shalom. Peace onto her. He says that the Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut, the author of this book, Kav Nokhi, uh, and he also authored the book Shaarei Kohelet and other books. He was born in the year Tav kuf ayin hei, five thousand five seventy-five. But he was an exceptionally sharp mind, and his great, uh, qualities and his, uh, knowledge, sh- uh, unbelievable knowledge in the, they call it in the sea of the Talmud. They call it the Yam Talmud because there is just so much in the sea of Talmud. His, his knowledge, and he was also a very good-hearted person. He was a very righteous, good-hearted person. This got him a lot of admirers that had a tremendous love for him during his lifetime. His entire lifetime, he had people that adored him. Uh, he was first of the, uh, Hasidim. In the beginning, he was from the Hasidim of the Tzemach Tzedek. That's the third Lubavitch Rebbe, Reb Menachem Mendel. And he actually requested by the Tzemach Tzedek, he influenced the Tzemach Tzedek, that the great Hasid,

05:20 Speaker 1 he's a known Hasid, the name is Reb Hillel of the city of Pinsk. Uh, he was, like such a great tzadik that people also considered him to be like part of a Rebbe. He wasn't really a Rebbe, he was a Hasid of the Tzemach Tzedek. But he asked him, he con- convinced, or sort of, uh, the, the Tzemach Tzedek that he should have Reb Hillel travel to the, uh, cities in small Russia. I don't know what they call it. Belarus? I don't know what's the small Russia. What is- Small Russia? It's called Russia HaKatanah. I'm not sure what it means by small Russia. I'm not sure exactly which, which, uh, communities. Um, he told him they should go year by year. He should go out there to strengthen Torah, Yiddishkeit, to strengthen, and to publicize the teaching of the Hasidis of Chabad. Reb Hillel held this Rabbi Avrohom David Lavut very, very dear, and he was also, uh, very endeared by another great, uh, uh, Hasid and rabbi and author of V But it's next to the Black Sea, and there was a very important port in which boats, boats used to embark, disembark over there that carried the merchandise. And the Jewish people did not have permission to live. Jewish people were at that time only allowed to live in certain areas. There was Tum HaMoishav. There was only certain areas that the Jewish people were beli-- were allowed to live. They were not permitted to live in the city of Nikolaev. There was

06:28 Speaker 1 an exception made for this, uh, he was a, uh, arc-- uh, contractor. His name, uh, was Reb Sender Refa-lovich. And all the people that worked at the port, they got special permission. The Jewish people got special permission to live in the city of Nikolaev. But the Reb Sender, he invited Rabbi Avraham Dovid to become the rabbi and the, uh, leader for that community. Slowly but surely, the number of Jewish people living there has increased in the city because Reb Sender, he would get permission to settle there more Jews by signing them up as they're working in the port. He-- Maybe he was a, a, uh, contractor. He got these people to say they're working at the port. And based on the advice of the rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, he invited and settled there many Talmidi Chachamim, Shoychtim, Melamdim, teachers, you know, all them. Says that Rabbi Avraham Dovid, he worked and did a lot of good for the, uh, Jewish people in his own community and also in the entire region of the region of Kherson, it's called, because he made sure that their spiritual and their physical needs should be taken care of. And the government actually recognized, uh, Rabbi Avraham Dovid how-- his special qualities, his talents. And when he was only forty years old, they also appointed him to be a rabbi from the government, which was... There were people that the Jewish come in. He was appointed. The government recognized him as a rabbi in the city of Nikolaev and

08:20 Speaker 1 in forty colonies, uh, that surrounded the city of Nikolaev. As just for an example of some of his work, what he did was that there was a, a plague. In those days, these people used to, uh, uh, die from these plagues, the, the, the black plague. I don't know what the different names- That was the bubonic plague. That's happened. Uh, was it? That was in four thirteen.

08:41 Speaker 2 Bubonic.

08:42 Speaker 1 Right. Yeah, what is his name? earlier. Oh, okay. That was much earlier. Okay. The plagues, yeah.

08:47 Speaker 2 It was like the flu.

08:48 Speaker 1 Okay. Unless there was bad snow. Okay. Yeah. So, so Rabbi Avraham Dovid, uh, worked by himself, but he traveled, uh, from one settlement to another settlement, and he put the effort, uh, all of his strength to bring help and to find, uh, something to help the sick people over there. Uh, he prepared hospitals, he brought doctors, and he saved many people. And because of his work in-- his dedicated work in Nikolaev and this entire region, the government gave him two, um, uh, medals of distinction, one of silver and one of gold. And they also, uh, called him, there was a Ezrak Nichbat, meaning he's a distinguished, uh- Citizen ...citizen, a distinguished citizen that he got. Could that plague could be the flu back then too?

09:45 Speaker 2 Could be. There's, there were epidemics of that, yeah.

09:47 Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay. And because he was involved with the government official, uh, he added with more strength, efforts to try to help the Jewish people, uh, materialistically because their financial situation was very, very difficult. And he also brought in a, a sort of a spirit of life in their physical and their spiritual standing, and he instituted many various different, uh, ways to, uh, conduct themselves, keeping the mitzvahs, to inspiring people by doing these things. And these were things that he instituted were kept for many times even after his passing. And thanks to his influence, this entire area of the-- called the region of Kherson, uh, became an area which Torah mitzvahs were observed. It became like a religious, a religious community. Also in the settlement, which was called Romanivka, which was in the region of Kherson, uh, that was led by his son-in-law, who was, uh, uh, Harav Agnon, Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky. Uh, Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky, uh, that became, uh, very, uh, public and, um, people-- famous, became famous, and many students would flo-flock to go to the city, to this, uh, settlement of Romanivka to be under the, um, uh, the leadership of his son-in-law, which was Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky. Now, besides the Seforim, he wrote Sefer Kamnoki, he wrote a Sefer Beis Aharon, and also, uh, a, with addition which comes with the approval of the Rebbe Maharash, which have been, uh, very much publicly known about them. They've been publicized. He also printed a siddur of the Alter Rebbe with

11:48 Speaker 1 exactly, uh, uh, very precise, all the wording, everything correctly. And he also authored a book called Shaar Hakoilo, which is on the siddur in general, which explains-- especially explaining the source of the Alter Rebbe's version, why he chose one version over the others and the different changes. And he also wrote the Sivchayim A book on the Derech Chayim. Um, together they published that which was, uh, endeared in the whole entire country. Now, so this rebbe we just mentioned, that he had th-this, uh, uh, son-in-law which made the, um, uh, Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky, um-

12:34 Speaker 2 Same last name as-

12:34 Speaker 1 He was his son-in-law. He was his son-in-law. Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky, that was his son-in-law. Now, this-

12:40 Speaker 2 Right, what was his, his last name was the same last name?

12:42 Speaker 1 No, his name was Lavut. Rabbi Avraham David Lavut.

12:45 Speaker 2 Okay.

12:45 Speaker 1 And Rabbi Yisroel Leib Yanovsky was his son-in-law.

12:48 Speaker 2 Okay.

12:48 Speaker 1 So it's like this, the, the-- from his first marriage, uh, Avraham David Lavut from his first marriage, he had a daughter whose name was Rivka. Now, this Rivka was a very modest and a very, uh, special woman, but her husband was Rabbi Yisroel Leib, so that he was the son-in-law. Now, they had this-- he had only-- this was one daughter he had from his first marriage, but they had many children. Uh, the oldest one was Rabbi Meir Shloime. He was the oldest one. Then there was Menachem Mendel, Isser, Rabbi Isser, and Rabbi Moshe, then had daughters, Feige, Chava, Dina, Musia, Hodel, Mindl. Kanayinen horo, you know, a large family. And his wife in his second marriage was from the, um, from Poland, and she was-- her name was Pesia Hochstein, it was the, uh-- They had a son, Rabbi Menashe. So he had all these children, uh, this Rabbi Avraham David. But what Rabbi Avraham David did, he took the oldest son of his daughter Rivka from the-- and Rabbi Meir Shloime, and he raised him in his house. So Rabbi Avraham David technically, uh, raised this Rabbi Meir Shloime Yanovsky. This Rabbi Meir Shloime Yanovsky is the father of the Rebbetzin Chana, of the rebbe's mother. When he passed away, when Rabbi Avraham David Lavut passed away, he left over a letter to the head of the community of Nikolaev that they should appoint his daughter's son-

14:30 Speaker 2 His grandson

14:31 Speaker 1 ... Rabbi Meir, his grandson, Rabbi Meir Shloime, to be-

14:35 Speaker 2 The new rebbe, right

14:35 Speaker 1 ... taking his place, to be the new rebbe, take his place, because he says, "He's like my son."

14:40 Speaker 2 Yeah.

14:40 Speaker 1 Normally, he had a lot of other sons, as you can see, from his, uh, he had, um-

14:45 Speaker 2 Two marriages.

14:47 Speaker 1 Yeah. No, but yeah, so he had, uh, um-

14:51 Speaker 2 Kids

14:51 Speaker 1 ... uh, he had a lot of kids there. This was his oldest. He had other, other grandchildren, and there were, um-

14:56 Speaker 2 His own children

14:57 Speaker 1 ... the only one he had was from his second wife, he had a son named Rabbi Menashe, right?

15:03 Speaker 2 Menashe, yes.

15:04 Speaker 1 That's what he had. He had-- the second one he had-

15:06 Speaker 2 His own children

15:06 Speaker 1 ... Menashe. So instead of Rabbi Menashe, he, uh, appointed that Rabbi Meir Shloime should be the, uh, the rabbi. Now, the Rabbi Meir Shloime, he became the rabbi and he, he was known, uh, the Rabbi Meir Shloime, he was an exceptionally, with his wide knowledge in the Talmud, with his Hasidic conduct, and with his outstanding characteristic and character traits. Just like his grandfather, he loved peace, and he would run away from honor, and the community realized that, and they appointed him to become the next rabbi. Rabbi Avraham David Lavut, he passed away on the second, uh, on Monday, the eighteenth of Adar, as mentioned, tof reish nun, in the city of Nikolaev, and there is his resting place. Now, the rebbe relates that he used to go with his mother, uh, for some times, she used to go visit her parents in the city of Nikolaev. That was even after the rebbe didn't live regularly. They would go for summers, other times. They would go to the city of Nikolaev-

16:17 Speaker 2 This is not our rebbe

16:18 Speaker 1 ... and they would spend-- They, our rebbe.

16:20 Speaker 2 All right.

16:20 Speaker 1 Our rebbe.

16:20 Speaker 2 This was, he was born the turn of the century.

16:23 Speaker 1 Yeah.

16:23 Speaker 2 So we're probably talking before World War I.

16:25 Speaker 1 Yeah, before World War I.

16:25 Speaker 2 Because that area was engulfed in war because it bordered Turkey at the Bosporus Straits. It was right, it wasn't far from-- The Black Sea goes into the Mediterranean through the, um, Con- Constantinople. They, they have the-- The Russians had to get permission from the Turks for, for the ships to go through.

16:43 Speaker 1 Why do you say it was nineteen seventy?

16:45 Speaker 2 It has to be before nineteen fourteen because there, there was a huge war battles over there.

16:50 Speaker 1 Okay, but whatever the case is, um, the, the rebbe has very, looks like very fond memories-

16:58 Speaker 2 Yes, of his early years

16:59 Speaker 1 ... uh, of his, of his, um, in, of city of Nikolaev.

17:01 Speaker 2 We should research this.

17:02 Speaker 1 Now, the rebbe, in, to a certain extent, if one can say that, has followed in the path of, like, his great-grandfather. And occasionally, the rebbe would take issue with him, and the rebbe would sort of say, "Unlike my great-grandfather, he writes." And the rebbe takes issue with him. But the rebbe, in addition to the rebbe's, uh, endless knowledge in all parts of the Torah and the Kabbalah and everything else, the rebbe was also very meticulously, uh, trying to show the sources for which Chabad customs-- First of all, to accurately record and to accurately know what is precisely the Chabad traditions. And, uh, and the rebbe spent numerous, uh, you know, numerous letters and numerous times talking about and showing, A, the, uh, correctness of the Chabad tradition. And we read a lot of the Shaar HaKochom Minhag. We see the rebbe's, um, input in a lot of different, uh, ways with-- And the rebbe, uh, the Shaar HaKollel did that, and he tried to show what the Alter Rebbe's siddur, the changes and where it's different. We have the rebbe's Haggadah especially. The rebbe's Haggadah, which-- This was actually a direct commentary from the rebbe on the Haggadah, which is, uh, follows a similar way to try to figure out why the Alter Rebbe says exactly, why he said, what his sources are. And but notwithstanding that, the rebbe disagrees a lot of times with the-

18:34 Speaker 2 With-

18:34 Speaker 1 ... Shaar HaKollel, uh, with, with what his grandfather write. But yet, the rebbe very fondly, you know, always remembers-

18:40 Speaker 2 Sure

18:40 Speaker 1 ... you know, and speaks about the city of Nikolaev. And there were Hasidim from the city of Nikolaev. There was actually songs that comes from, uh, from Nikolaev. Um, uh, my, uh, my son's, um, my, my place is my son's, uh, wife's family, their, they drive-- Their ancestry, they come from Nikolaev. There was a-

19:01 Speaker 2 Oh

19:02 Speaker 1 ... and there was a-

19:02 Speaker 2 The were in trouble?

19:03 Speaker 1 Yeah. So there is, there is a-- Nikolaev was a very famous, you know, uh, from there, as we see here, was a Hasidic sort of a home. It was, uh, something that they, um, you know, uh, uh, became into a, like a real place, like he said. But he combined-- I think the, the beautiful thing is he was recognized by the government, he was recognized by the people. He did for everybody. He did physically, he did spiritually. He, he just all around was a sort of a, a perfect-

19:33 Speaker 2 Well, that was something-

19:33 Speaker 1 Like a rebbe. You, you see rebbe going in that, in that way. In all, in all, every aspect, you know, and-

19:40 Speaker 2 It was actually the Russian government that created these so-called chief rabbis. There was no such thing as a recognized chief rabbi before-

19:48 Speaker 1 Yeah

19:48 Speaker 2 ... before Alexander II.

19:49 Speaker 1 But unfortunately, a lot of times they would appoint rabbis which weren't fit.

19:55 Speaker 2 What?

19:55 Speaker 1 It so happens that he was the real rabbi, and then they also appointed him-

19:58 Speaker 2 Right, right

19:58 Speaker 1 ... from the government. But sometimes they would impose their rabbis, and they were trying to actually-

20:03 Speaker 2 Influence

20:03 Speaker 1 ... influence and get-

20:05 Speaker 2 Absolutely

20:05 Speaker 1 ... the way.

20:05 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

20:06 Speaker 1 Have their the-- So this was the exception. This was the positive