30 Tishrei 5676 (October 8, 1915) – Passing of Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bespalov

00:00 Today we'll do Yemei Chabad for the thirtieth day of Tishrei, and this is in the year תרע"ו, which places this just under a hundred years ago. Um, that's ninety-eight years ago. And, uh, that was the day of passing of a great Hasid and a great Talmudic scholar, a genius. His name was Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bespalov, who was the rabbi of the city of Poltava in the city-- in the, in the Ukraine. Now, he was also a very, uh, special, uh, Hasid, as we'll see in a minute, that some of the Hasidim, um, earned sort of... That they stood out. There were many, many Hasidim and many great people, but some stood out more than others in the, uh, sense how they were close to the Rebbes and the contribution they made to-- for Hasids, that they are singled out and their yahrtzeit is remembered. But of course, there were hundreds of thousands of great rabbis and Hasidim, but that would probably be way too much, uh, for, uh, recording everybody's history. So over here, they bring down this, uh, the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bespalov from Poltava, which is on the thirtieth day of Tishrei, which is the first day of Rosh Chodesh, uh, Cheshvan. Um, he was a disciple and a Hasid, a follower of the Rebbe Maharash, of Rebbe Shmuel, the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe. And then after the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe passed on, his son, who became his, uh, replacement, who replaced his father, stepped in for his father, uh, the Rebbe

01:58 Rashab, Reb Shalom Dov Ber, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe. So this Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai was a Hasid of both the Rebbe Maharash and the Rebbe Rashab. And he was actually one of three people who received their semikhah, that's their ordination, that the, uh, authorized them to, uh, give, uh, rulings to become a rabbi by the Rebbe Maharash, by the Rebbe, Rebbe Shmuel, by the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe. He gave three people, and he was one of the three people that got semikhah. He served for thirty years as the rabbi of the city of Poltava in the Ukraine. Uh, before the Rebbe Rashab, the Shalom Dov Ber, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, before he became, uh, Rebbe, before he accepted his leadership, this, uh, Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai was actually a friend of his. He was a, uh, a, a partner in study. He used to study together with the Rebbe Rashab. And following is from a letter that the Rebbe Rashab wrote, wrote about this Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai. Uh, he says, "I love him a powerful love, the honorable my friend." And he uses very strong language, Mordechai, Yaakov Mordechai. And he says, "I cannot hold myself back. My eyes are, are crying for such a precious soul being taken from us who is pure and wholesome, and I refuse to accept, my soul refuses to be comforted for a such a close, connected, and, uh, soul friend, uh, that was taken from me. It's only that the death has separated between us." And of course, accepting Hashem's, uh,

04:01 uh, judgment, Hashem is righteous in all of His judgment. The previous Rebbe, in one of his letters, describes that which he has heard from his father, the Rebbe Rashab. That's the fifty-sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, is telling us what the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, what the Rebbe Rashab, Shalom Dov Ber, told him, how much he was comforted and how much support he got from Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai after his own father passed away. After the Rebbe Maharash, the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, passed away, uh, the Rebbe Yaakov Mordechai was there to, to give him tremendous support. And the way he writes over here is that it's only, it's only single-handedly such a, uh, a friend and such a dear person that, uh, his, his friendship was able to sort of put me back on my feet. He was so devastated by the death of his-- by the passing of his father, that he said only somebody, a friend like that, was able to sort of bring him back. And he basically saved me from totally disintegrating, he said, in the-- in, in, in, in, in, in being so broken and being so shattered, uh, as he was at the time. Uh, and, uh, he helped me, uh, the unimaginable. You know, you can never imagine that you can sort of be so-- how, how, how devastated you can be and to have a friend to somebody help you out in such a way. Uh, and the Rebbe, uh, Rashab spoke about many different people that were there to support him,

05:56 and each one, uh, with their own special talent and with their own special words, that they comforted them. And the One he said that brought me the most comfort, the Rebbe said, the Rebbe, this is Rebbe Rashab saying. And remember also, the Rebbe Rashab was merely twenty years old, twenty-something years old when his father, the Rebbe Maharash, passed away. So he was a very young age. Um, and, um, he says, "Only one who was a friend from my youth was able to provide, uh, that comfort, Reb Yaakov Mordechai. And he was like the first one that stretched out a hand of comfort, a hand of support, a hand of friendship, and a dear, a dear friend. Uh, his words were very warm and, uh, pure and, uh, comforting and without, you know, without the extra, uh, ways, uh, that people usually try to, um, use honorable and praise words. But he was like directly, he spoke openly with clear, open eyes, with pure trust in Hashem, and he didn't try to do things, you know, outlandish, didn't climb no mountains, but he just touched me to the point in which he provided comfort for me." Rabbi, how old was he when he died? The, the- The Rebbe Rashab? The dear friend who comforted him. Um, well, it doesn't say here, but it doesn't say when he was born. But, um, it doesn't look like anything outstanding, probably at a- Reasonable ... you know, a reasonable age, you know. Um, um, there is other, um, description

07:45 over here. Uh, he has an interesting piece that, um, that this was one time, uh, during the Sheva Brachos of the, um, previous Rebbe. So, uh, the Rebbe Rashab's son, the sixth Lubavitch Rebbe, during Reb Yosef Yitzchok, during his Sheva Brachos, uh, he relates that Reb Yaakov Mordechai began to cry uncontrollably. It was the middle of a Sheva Brachos, he began to cry. And people asked him to stop crying, but nothing. He continued crying. Everybody went to dance besides Yaakov Mordechai. He didn't dance. He was leaning on his, uh, on the-- with his head on his hands, and he was crying. And when people filled the cups to say l'chaim, and he had stopped crying, so he said with a voice, he says, "The Rebbe," referring to the Rebbe Maharash, "told me." He says, "When," and quoting the Rebbe Maharash, he says, "When there is a Rebbe, then there is Chassidim." Uh, but the Chassidim, um, are the ones, you know, are the ones that do the work. You know, they have to accomplish, you know, the mission, and, uh, uh, and they do the, they do the work, I guess, that the Rebbe instructs, the Rebbe says. But he says, "If the Chassid isn't a good Chassid, if the Chassid isn't, uh, proper, so then the Rebbe is not a Rebbe." Because if the Rebbe's work is being done through the Chassidim, so the Chassid better be a Chassid, because if he's not a Chassid, then the Rebbe is not a Rebbe. And he

09:31 says that the Alter Rebbe was a Rebbe. He made Chassidim, and the Chassidim, uh, being Chassidim and people of good deeds, they daven, they did. So they strengthen the Rebbe. But, um, that is a necessary, uh, uh, success for the Rebbe. And the Rebbe's, uh, the Rebbetzin, the Rebbe's wife, uh, I-- she once said, I heard that she once said, it's written down that she once said that, "My father-in-law," she said, "I mean, my father," that's her father, the previous Rebbe, "he had one Chassid, and that was the Rebbe." He says, "But my husband is, is a different story." Um, to be a Chassid, one can also learn from the Rebbe, because, uh, everything we can learn from the Rebbe, uh, the way we saw that the Rebbe's conduct, uh, whether it's giving honor to his mother, whether it's being a Chassid to his father-in-law, to the previous Rebbe, or whether it's being, uh, a servant of Hashem, and in every aspect into the highest of level. But, um, one, you know, would like to think that the Rebbe, uh, raised a generation of Chassidim who are willing to sacrifice a lot to do what the Rebbe wants. And many young people, uh, give up the comfort of their homes, give up the convenience of a good life, and they go out to faraway places. They go away to dangerous places sometimes. And their entire desire is to do what the Rebbe wants. In other words, to be able to do the shlichas, to do

11:33 the, uh, strengthening Yiddishkeit, to strengthening Chassidus, uh, to, uh, helping other, other Jews, to helping other people. And, um, the level of dedication and the level of self-sacrifice is, you know, is incredible. You know, it's just, uh, uh, we don't know or hear all the time of all the, uh, the magnitude and, you know, out of, uh, sight out of mind. But, you know, sometimes you, you read and you hear and you see and, you know, you're, you're just amazed by the extent Of the devotion and the dedication of these Hasidim, of the Hasidim to, to the Rebbe, to, and they basically give up, you know, everything in order to, uh, be, have the privilege of giving the Rebbe pleasure. That's something which they yearn. That's their whole life. And yet, all this does not come close to the dedication that we saw from the Rebbe to the Friediker Rebbe to the previous Rebbe. And, you know, we are very simple people. We don't always get, you know, the, the, the, the greatness or what something is really great. I mean, we measure sometimes our yardstick, our measuring tools that we have to measure aren't always the most accurate measurements. Uh, like we, we measure, oh, how many, uh, books did the person write or how much money does he have or how much followers does he have? In other words, we have very, in essence, very simplistic basis to what we attribute success or what we attribute, uh, greatness. But true greatness is essence

13:39 of greatness of a person rising to the highest of levels in his connection to Hashem and greatness of courage or greatness of spirit and greatness of, of, of, of true isn't necessarily matched by these, uh, accomplishments. And you can see, you know, like the Rebbe's total subjugation and totally devotion to the extreme, which is beyond even expression to his father-in-law, to the previous Rebbe. And, you know, the Rebbe was a genius of, you know, was a scholar of, of the greatest magnitude. And when the previous Rebbes would get sometimes complicated questions in Halakha or in, or in, uh, uh, other matters, the previous Rebbe would refer to the Rebbe to give the response. So you might think, oh, the previous Rebbe is asking the Rebbe to respond because he needs the, the Rebbe's help, right? That's what you would think. And you may think, well, if the Rebbe is able to provide such help, it would give him a sense of some self-recognition, fulfillment. Like, oh, listen, never in all the years and never in anything, the Rebbe taught us what it means to be devoted, what it means to be a Hasid, what it means to be, uh, connected and really, uh, to a Tzadik and to his, to his father-in-law. And that's why when the Rebbe's wife said that my father-in-law had one Hasid, she was talking about the Rebbe because the Rebbe was on that level of a Hasid. But the Rebbe has some very special Hasidim. We can't knock it. I

15:34 mean, if you measure it relative to people's devotion, as I mentioned earlier, it's mentioned to none. But the, um, Rebbe would always say that we have to do more. You know, they have like videos now. They showed like the special segments with the Rebbe. Would never be satisfied, never say, okay, pat yourself on the back. Wow, you've accomplished, you've done. So the Rebbe demanded from himself an endless amount. And then the Rebbe demanded from his Hasidim. That's not to say that the Rebbe did not appreciate and the Rebbe did not command and did not, uh, gain a lot of nachas. Especially we can see the, when the Rebbe built this shluchim all over the world and the fact that, you know, Chabad was able to sort of capture the conscience of the Jewish people all over the world on such a level. You, you can sense almost that the Rebbe had, Rebbe says, you know, guys, you know, you're doing well. But I'm saying all this with regards to what the, uh, Hasid said many years ago. He says that the Hasidim are the workers. They are the people that have to implement basically the vision and the direction and the guidance that the Rebbe gives them. And if the Hasidim aren't doing what they're supposed to, then the Rebbe is affected by that. And basically, I guess he was crying over there because he didn't feel that they were living up to what they are supposed to be doing, you know, to the highest

17:19 of the levels. And, you know, but on the other hand, we have to have both, you know, a balance of both. On one hand, never to really be satisfied and pat ourselves on the back, uh, for doing a good job, uh, which is something which after 120 years, once we go to heaven, we'll be rewarded for all the good things that we've done. But we shouldn't stop and never say, okay, well, we've done so good. Now we can take a break. And on the other hand, though, one needs to recognize that you're doing important work. Don't knock yourself either. And know that we're doing important work. Know that you are on a mission from a Tzadik, from a Rebbe, from a leader of a generation, and you have the responsibility. And with his blessings and powers and the, uh, Hashem giving you the ability and the talent, you can do beyond even things that you ever expected that you can accomplish and do.