11 Cheshvan 5669 (November 5, 1908) – Yahrzeit of the Raza, Older Brother of the Rebbe Rashab

00:00 Speaker 1 We'll do today the eleventh day of MarCheshvan, the eleventh day of Cheshvan, and, um, this is in the year תרס"ט, which, uh, places it a hundred and five years ago. Today we're actually in, uh, תש"ד. This is the yahrtzeit of HaRav HaKadosh, Reb Schneur Zalman Aren, known as the Razah. In short, Reb Zalman Aren. He was the oldest son of the Rebbe Maharash, the Rebbe Maharash being the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his oldest son, the Razah, his yahrtzeit comes out on the eleventh day of the month of Cheshvan. And, uh, the Razah was a very special individual. He was very distinguished in the house, in the family, uh, family-- in the members of the Rebbe's family, and he had outstanding, uh, talents. He was, uh, very talented, and he had a very exceptionally, uh, beautiful character. And, uh, after his father, the Rebbe Maharash, passed away, being the oldest son, one would expect somebody of this great stature or such a, a intellect and emotional standing would, w-would be the older one, would be the one that would follow his father to succeed him. Uh, the Rebbe Maharash died as a young man. We learned he died at the age of forty-eight, and we would expect the older brother. However, he refused to accept the leadership. The leadership went over to his brother when he was younger. The one after him was the Reb Shalom Dov Ber, the Rebbe Rashab, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe. The fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe was all of just in his early

01:51 Speaker 1 twenties at the time. And, um, he, uh, he actually didn't fully start, as we've learned earlier, he didn't fully, uh, take his father's place till about ten years later, after a time. He didn't go move up right away because of respect for his older brother, for the Razah. But the Razah himself, he was a business person, and he was, uh, uh, able to do a lot of good with his, with his money. Uh, he was able to do a lot of good for the benefit of the Jewish people. And people at that time, you know, needed all this support, you know, that they can get. It was a very difficult time for the Jewish people in, in Russia at the time, and he needed a lot of influence, and he was able to help them in various different ways. Now, his father-in-law, he-- in his first marriage, he-- this was-- he had a second marriage, but his first was his uncle, uh, was Reb Yisroel Meyuch from Nezin. We learned that was the fourth son of the Rebbe Maharash. Uh, so again, he married his cousin. We learned that he married his first cousin, just like we, uh, learned that the, uh, Tsamach Tzedek married, um, that the, um, um, the, um, that they married, uh, the, uh, cousins, uh, the Mitler Rebbe's, uh, daughter, um, married the sister of the-- of his sister's son, the, the Tsamach Tzedek. One second. He married-- So just like they married cousins over there, first cousins, because as

03:40 Speaker 1 we said that the-- that Tsamach Tzedek's mother, Tzemach married his first cousin because Tsamach Tzedek's wife was his first cousin because his wife was a daughter of the Mitler Rebbe and his mother was the Mitler Rebbe's sister. So in this case, um, he also married his cousin, uh, uh, which was the daughter of Yisroel Meyuch, the fourth son of the Rebbe Maharash, who became an Admor. He became a Rebbe in Nezin, as we've already, uh, studied earlier. Um, the previous Rebbe, who was a nephew of the Razah, because the previous Rebbe, that was the sixth Lubavitch Rebbe, was the son of the Rebbe Rashab. So he describes who his uncle was. That's his father's brother, the Razah. He says that he was naturally a, a very good, a very good person, but yet at the same time, he was very strong. In other words, he wasn't a, he wasn't a softie, but a good, a good person. And he had a lot of, uh, ailments, and he was a lot of time in a great-- in a lot of pain, but he was always with a smile. Never-- you could never tell in what kind of, uh, uh, physical, uh, pain he was. Uh, it was a sort of a-- the smile was sort of a, uh, downplaying pain, you know, saying- Downplaying it, yeah. Just downplaying it, not paying attention. My father was just like that. Yeah. Yeah, of course. It's understood that, um, uh, he, he never shed a tear, you know. Never

05:17 Speaker 1 had self, self-pity. He wasn't-- he never... But yet, uh, it was only his own pains that he treated with that kind of a attitude. But, uh, somebody else's pain would really affect him, would touch him. And, um, at a point when he was, uh, listening to somebody else's, his, his smile would leave, and, uh, his, uh, his, his sad face and, uh, with teary eyes, uh, he would do whatever he can to help the other individual. There's a story told about-- that the Rebbe brings down in the Sigas that about at one time, uh, his brother, being the Rebbe, would accept people to, uh, visits, uh- We call yechidus, time that they spend with the Rebbe, and people would come, and they'd go in and out, and they'd speak to the Rebbe. Now one time, this individual comes in to the Rebbe, Rebbe Rashab, to his brother, and he comes out there, and he's crying bitterly. He is, like, so upset, and he is beyond himself. He's hysterical. Hysterical, hysterical. He's sobbing uncontrollably. There's nothing you can do to stop him. So the Razoh felt terribly. See, this guy is there in such, such uncontrollable, uh, pain, uh, crying like that. So he goes over to him. He says to him, "What's happening? What's the matter? Maybe there's something I can do to you. Why are you crying so terribly after coming out from the meeting with my, with my brother, with the Rebbe?" And the person said that, um, "I came to the Rebbe,

07:02 Speaker 1 and I, uh, asked him about a problem that I had, a spiritual problem," something. "And the Rebbe told me that he can't help me." "And Rebbe told me he can't help me, you know, and I was-- I'm devastated. I'm shattered. My life is... He can't help me here." So the Razoh says to him, "Just wait here a minute. Let me go, and I'll have a talk." He was the older brother. "Let me have a talk to my brother." He goes into the Rebbe Rashab, to his brother, to Ribshon Dolber, and he says to him, "Is that the way you treat another fellow Jew? He comes to you, he asks you for help, and you tell him that you can't, that you can't help him? How is that, how is that possible? How could you do something like that?" So he said-- so the Rebbe Rashab says, "Okay, you know what? Send him in another time. I'll talk to him again." And this time, he came out all happy. Rebbe told him what to do and how to fix it. So the Rebbe discusses this in a, uh, talk. He says the Rebbe Rashab didn't need his brother to tell him that you have to help another Jew, that you, you have to see to it. What, what, what's going on here? Why did he tell him that he can't help him, and then he sends him again, and he helps him? And the Rebbe explains very interesting that, you know, sometimes our remorse or our

08:36 Speaker 1 desire to fix or to repent isn't really wholeheartedly. It's only externally. It's only on the outside that we are sort of saying, "Okay, let me, let me say I'm sorry," but it hasn't touched you. And the Rebbe Rashab saw that this fellow had a very thick skin, and even though he came to ask him that he wants to make up, and he wants to fix what he has done in his life, made a mistake, but he wasn't really meaning it fully, fully, and it was sort of that skin was still blocking him. So he wanted to get him to a point in which he would really shake him up. And when he told him that he can't help him, that alone caused him such, uh, anxiety. He was so upset that that broke through that shell, that layer that didn't allow for him to come out and, uh, shine so that now he can actually help him. So the Rebbe Rashab had all intentions of helping him even to the beginning, but it just needed to go through the process. Sometimes, you know, it's like you have to take a bitter medicine to get well. Sometimes you gotta operate. Sometimes you gotta cut. Sometimes you gotta do things that are a little bit painful because you gotta heal in order to get the healing. And it's not really, uh, for the purpose of causing pain, God forbid, but rather it's actually as a very, uh, a very important, uh, task. Now-

10:10 Speaker 2 What about today? I mean, can you... Who you-- Who-- The Rebbe today is who? Or there is no Rebbe today.

10:18 Speaker 1 Well, we still have our Rebbe until Mashiach comes. Uh, we don't have him physically with us.

10:23 Speaker 2 Right, spiritually.

10:24 Speaker 1 But we have, uh, the Rebbe has left us, uh, enough material to keep us going, and he watches over us and looks us, and we-

10:33 Speaker 2 No one after Sh-

10:35 Speaker 1 There's nobody physically-

10:36 Speaker 2 No one physically

10:36 Speaker 1 ... over here, no. This is-

10:38 Speaker 2 Yeah

10:38 Speaker 1 ... uh, the Rebbe has said, uh, many times that the seventh generation, his generation, will be the last gen-generation that is gonna bring Mashiach, and Mashiach is gonna come, and we're still waiting for that, uh, for Mashiach to come. So there is no, there is no-

10:53 Speaker 2 You can't go talk to anybody or...

10:55 Speaker 1 Well, you can talk to many people who understand, and the Rebbe actually instructed people to appoint for themselves what they call a mashpia. That is a mis-- a spiritual guide to help explain to you, to, uh, uh, interpret, you know, uh, the different, uh, instructions from the Rebbe. Uh, but today you see everything within technology. It's hard to imagine, uh, in the previous generations it would be almost impossible to preserve the message in such a vivid way as we have today, because today we have all the different videos, all the different s- books and the different teachings, and, you know, we can-- we actually are still every moment being guided by all of the Rebbe's life inspiration and enthusiasm. Now, there's a difference, though. We have to choose to wanna live by it. You know, when the Rebbe was physically with us, we-- there was no denying. Now there is a test because-

12:00 Speaker 2 He's dead

12:01 Speaker 1 ... you could say, yeah, you could... One can argue, and some people choose that, and therefore they forget about what the message is, and they cause- Sort of a separation between themselves and their, and their leader and the rebbe. But those who choose to hold on continue to live by the rebbe's guidance, by the rebbe's message, rebbe's instructions, and they don't deviate. Now, of course, uh, we want, uh, and, uh, it's important to have a person physically that you can talk to, but that was Hashem's choice. Hashem did what he did. How many years ago did- That's known to him ... what, did he pass away? Well, it's, it's coming up on, on twenty years, you know. I mean, it's, uh, coming up, but yeah, no- That was, that was the last- Long time. Yeah. Um, okay. So the-- let's just finish. The Razah, uh, was someone who was able to also give over a story accurately, which means he had a lot of information. He would listen. They call it in Hebrew a, a bal shemuah. He was somebody who, who can, uh, listen and absorb all the back history and the details of the stories. And the previous rebbe listened tremendous amount of stories from him, and, uh, as the previous rebbe write, it's very easy to listen to a story than to read a story. It's, uh, it's easier to listen. And especially when you listen to a story from a talented and a, uh, a person like my uncle, like the

13:42 Speaker 1 Razah, Zaman Aram, that every word was, like, shining. It was, uh, beautiful the way he would relate it. And every sentence had a living-- gave you a living description. You can actually vividly see when he would tell the story. Um, during a gathering, the Rebbe Maharash, the father of the Razah, once was praising his sons, and as far as his son, the Razah, he says he has a real powerful head, and he can think two thoughts at the same time. They call it today multitasking. He, he can actually think two things at the same time. Um, they once said that there was once a fire and, uh, uh, happened, and some of his, uh... It was a big loss over there, and, uh, they were trying to tell him. He was just napping at the time. So he told them when the fire gets a little closer, he can, uh, they wake him up, you know. Yes. And he says-- And they asked him how come he doesn't worry. He says... Look, he says, "Do you worry about something that happened, like, ten years ago? No, long forgotten, you know, that, you know." He says, "I-- My thoughts go so fast, you know, the worry that I had today-" It's gone. "And I go on. I don't, I don't worry about anything. Already there's new stuff." Sometimes there's told that one of the, uh, children of the Hasidim, uh, became sick, and the Razah served as his sandek. He held the baby at his wrist.

15:14 Speaker 1 So one of those children got sick, so the father of the child came to the Razah, to the sandek, to ask a blessing. And the Razah stood up, and he was facing the window, and he sang the song of the Alter Rebbe, a special song known at the four-- the, the, the song of the four stanzas that has the, the Arba Bavas. That's the song they sing by the weddings. By all Chabad weddings, they sing that song, and at special occasions, they sing the Alter Rebbe song. And when he finished singing, he turned to the Hasid, and he told them, "Go in peace. The child will live," he said. Um, on the, um, on Fabregen, on Yud Aleph Ches van Tov Shen Yud Beis, that was the, uh, Yort site of the, uh, uh, Rebbe, the, the Razah. At a gathering at that time, the Rebbe said that the... quoted the Rebbe Maharash quoted Rebbe Maharash that he also cannot really appreciate, fully recognize the great humility of his older brother, the Razah. Um, there are many, uh, my Morim, uh, discourses authored by the Razah, and several of them are found by my father-in-law that were written with his handwriting. Uh- Your father-in-law? No, no. The Rebbe's father-in-law. Your father-in-law. I said, quoting the Rebbe. No. The, uh, Razah passed away only at the age of fifty-one years old. I mean, his father passed away at, I said, uh, forty-eight. He was fifty-one years old. Fifty-one years old. A day before he passed, uh,

17:00 Speaker 1 one of his close, uh, f- uh, people, um, uh, came in. He was sitting on his, uh, chair, and he began to laugh very, uh, very strongly. And, um, he says, "You're going to see what's gonna happen tomorrow." He says, "The Chevra Kadisha," that's the, uh, burial society who, uh, take care of the, of the corpse to, of the, to bury the person, says, "They're gonna have to make a new coffin," he says, because he was sick, and he, he became very, very heavy because of his sickness. And what happened is the next day he passed away, so he knew. He says, "Tomorrow is going to happen." But, uh, before he passed, he actually burnt himself all of his writings that he wrote for tens and tens of years. Um, he put it-- The ashes, he put into a small sack, and he, uh, instructed those people that are close to him to put it in with him in his, in his grave. And he's interned in Vitebsk, notwithstanding the fact that we said before that there were some my Morim, I guess, that were salvaged that were by the previous Rebbe, we said. But his own writings, he's did. And, um- Why, why did he do that? Well, it's kinda hard to know exactly. But one, one thought that perhaps comes to mind, uh, the Rebbe talks about the humility, um, that, uh, he possessed this great sense of immense humility, uh, you know. Maybe he didn't want any of his writing to interfere

18:42 Speaker 1 with his brother who actually became the Rebbe, who actually was the rabbi. He wanted him to be-- get the full credit and felt that maybe if there was other writings, somebody else might choose and say, "Well, I like these writings better," or something like that. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know if you can say something like that. Or he didn't maybe feel that whatever he wrote was worthy enough to, uh, to, uh, the... I mean, certainly he asked to be, uh, buried with them, so he did consider that important. He considered that an investment of his, of his lifetimes. There was such a conduct in other great tzadikim as well. There was such a conduct. But, uh, it's unusual. That's to say the least. It's unusual to say that. Had other people read his writings in his lifetime? Had he shared his writings? So like I'm saying, there were some of the writings that did, did, did survive, um, did survive. But, um, again, there was a lot of... The, the previous Rebbe, uh, wrote a lot and related a lot and therefore the-- his uncle, the Razah, and again, it's closer to our generation. It's just two generations ago. So we know and we hear a lot about the, uh, the, the Razah, Rav Schneur Zalman Aram, the eldest son of the, uh, Rebbe, uh, Maharash.