15 Cheshvan 5597 (October 26, 1836) – Yahrzeit of Reb Leib Baal HaYisurim

00:00 Speaker 1 Yemei Chabad for the fifteenth day of Mar Chesvan. Uh, in the year Tov Kuv Tzadik Zayin. Um, that's, uh, we're talking about a hundred and seventy, um, seven years ago, okay? Uh, Tov Kuv Tzadik Zayin, uh, which is the day of passing of a fellow. He was known as Reb Leib Baal HaYisurim. Reb Leib, the one who had lots of affliction, a lot of pain. Baal HaYisurim, he was known. He was one of the students of the Alter Rebbe, of the Schneur Zalman, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. Um, why did they call him Reb Leib Baal HaYisurim? It doesn't say it over here. Why was he called the one who had a lot of pains? Um, um, I read elsewhere that it says that he, um, he actually suffered a lot from the Misnagdim, from the opponents of Hasidim, so this wasn't so much Yisurim in the physical sense. It was more emotional s-- uh, that he was, uh, being, uh, you know, I guess, uh, grated or, um, otherwise verbally or emotionally, I mean, he suffered. So, but anyways, the name became Baal HaYisurim, and, uh, his yahrtzeit is on the sixteenth day, uh, on the, uh, fifteenth day of Chesvan. Sorry, I said sixteenth, but this is on the fifteenth day of Chesvan. Um, he was a, uh, great, uh, great Torah and also in fear of heaven, and he was the first Chabad Hasid who settled in the city of Hebron. And at the end of his life, he moved to the city

01:51 Speaker 1 of Tzfat. He died an older, an older man. So even though he had Yisurim, I guess they called him Baal HaYisurim, but he was still lived a long life. Yeah.

02:02 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:03 Speaker 1 He lived-- He first-- He settled in Hebron-

02:06 Speaker 2 Right

02:06 Speaker 1 ...and then towards the end of his life, he moved to the city of Tzfat. But it's very interesting with-- about him, it says something very interesting. He, before he died, he said that anybody who has a problem, God forbid, if you have a trouble, and you go and pray on his gravesite, he promises that he's going to help him. There are people that up till today, they have the, uh, his, um, his, uh, gravesite. Uh, people go and pray today at the gravesite of known of Reb Leib Baal HaYisurim. He's on the old, over there in the cemetery in Tzfat over there. And, um, it's also brought down that the people in the city where he was, they wanted to make him into a rabbi of the city, and, uh, they asked the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said no, that he doesn't want him to become a rabbi, 'cause he says a rabbi needs to understand the physical world as well. Uh, needs to have, uh, down to earth, needs to have, I guess, both feet on the ground. But this guy was so spiritual-

03:09 Speaker 2 He was above that

03:09 Speaker 1 ...that he was, he was above that. He couldn't actually serve as a rabbi, but at the end he appointed him to be a, uh, spiritual guide, and he used to lead the Hasidim in, in, in, in his city over there. And it's, uh, very interesting that for him to, uh, give such a promise that, you know, people will be, uh, helped, you know, if they go pray on his, on his, on his gravesite, which is something we do anyways on the ˈTzemach Tzadikim, but he specifically, uh, said that. This is for the