22 Cheshvan 5567 (November 3, 1806) – Birthday of Reb Baruch Shalom, Eldest Son of the Tzemach Tzedek

00:00 Do the Yemei Chabad for the twenty-second day of MarCheshvan in the year of Taf kuf samech zayin. And this is hundred and, uh, what, a hundred and seven years ago. Uh. You know. That was the day that Reb Boruch Shalom, that was the oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek was born. Uh, he is the grandfather of the grandfather of the Alter-- of the Rebbe. So as we've spoken, that the Rebbe himself, our Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman Mendel, our Rebbe, he was a direct descendant from the Tzemach Tzedek. Sure. 'Cause his grandfather's grandfather was the oldest son. Schneersohn, yeah, was the oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek. His name was Reb Boruch Shalom. Grandfather's grandfather. The Rebbe's grandfather's grandfather was the son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Now, the previous Rebbe related that the Alter Rebbe would very much love, hold dear, my, uh, uncle grandfather, which means my grandfather's great-grandfather, because the Mitteler, the previous Rebbe, he came from the seventh son of the Tzemach Tzedek, right? Because the Friediker Rebbe's, uh, grand-- Friediker Rebbe's father was the Rebbe Maharash, okay? Uh, was the Rebbe Rashab, who was the son of the Rebbe Maharash. So the Friediker Rebbe, the previous Rebbe, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak's grandfather was the Rebbe Maharash. Now, the Rebbe Maharash's brother was Reb Boruch Shalom, the oldest one. So he says that my grandfather's brother, Reb Boruch Shalom, was very special in the eyes of his grand-- of his grandfather, which was the Alter Rebbe. From the day that he began to go to

01:59 cheder, uh, he had to come every day to his grandfather. That is actually his great-grandfather. Uh, Reb Boruch Shalom's great-grandfather was the Alter Rebbe, was his grandfather's father. It was his grandfather from both sides, but it was his grandfather's, uh, it was his grandfather's- He was. It was his grandfather's father because his, um, uh, Reb Boruch Shalom's, uh, uh, father's, Reb Boruch Shalom's father's mother was a daughter of the Alter Rebbe. And, uh, his, Reb Boruch Shalom's mother's father was a son of the Alter Rebbe. Because they married cousins. They were cousins that married. So they were both-- They were grandparents from both sides. Uh, the Alter Rebbe was the grandparents. I'm lost. Okay. Okay. But anyways- Okay ... the Alter Rebbe was his grandparent's, uh, parents. The Alter Rebbe was the father of the, of the, of the Reb Boruch Shalom's grandparents. Okay. He, he was the father of his grandmother, who was also the father of his grandfather. If you marry cousins- Yeah, yeah ... first cousins, then it's the same. Then it's the grandfather. Same grandfather. Same grandfather- Right, right ... is the father of your fa-- of your grandfather, the father of your grandmother. So in any event, he was-- he had to come every day to the Alter Rebbe and to, uh, uh, discuss, discuss the, you know, I guess what he learned in cheder. He would, uh, talk it over with his grandfather. When he was six years old, the Alter Rebbe taught him diduch. That is grammar. And

03:44 when he was seven years old, he taught him the trop for the Tanakh, Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim. Very few people actually know the trop for the Ketuvim. You know, the Torah, we know how to do the trop. Even the Nevi'im, we know how to do the trop. We have an idea. But the Ketuvim, like the Tehillim, things like that, there is trop over there that the ordinary people don't know. But here it says he taught him the trop of everything, the Torah, the Nevi'im, as well as the Ketuvim. And then at the time that the Alter Rebbe had to leave the city of Liadi during the war with Napoleon, and we read that the Alter Rebbe left with the Hasidim, uh, from the city of Liadi, uh, till the day of passing of the Alter Rebbe, uh, leaving this world. So Reb Boruch Shalom was always next to his grandfather. He would, uh, sleep in the same room that he slept. He would always be with him. And, um, he actually related that, uh, for one hundred and forty-two days, that was the amount of days I was-- had the privilege, he said, to be in the holy room or the holy partition together with my grandfather's father, together with the Alter Rebbe. And he says from that, uh, Thursday, it was on a Thursday, it was-- he calls it a bi-bitter Thursday, which was the eve of the twenty-fifth day of Menachem Av when they had to leave, ran away from Liadi. Uh, that is

05:32 when they heard that Napoleon, uh, yemach shemo, is coming close to the city of Liadi, and they decided to run away. Till Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh, that sad one of the, uh, night before the twenty-fourth day of Teves in Taf kuf ayin gimel, which was the day of passing that the Alter Rebbe passed away. I had the great privilege to be in the holy presence, in the holy mechitza, in the holy partition, together with my father's grandfather. My, my grandfather's father. Father's grandfather, same thing. But- And those were one hundred and forty-two days comes out from the Cheshbon. It was one hundred and forty-two days. He was very-- He was devastated by the passing of the Alter Rebbe that, um, his heart was broken. And actually, he, he was all the rest of his life, he was always like with a, with a broken heart. And, um, and that was, um, um, that was the Rebbe of the Baruch Shalom. Now, you know, you try to find, um, certain similarities, you know, in the, um, in the Rebbe's, uh, um, you know, Rebbe coming from the Baruch Shalom. So a lot of-- Some people say that, you know, you'd see that the Rebbe would make, um, people, um, very joyful and very, uh, uh, happy. And it wasn't because the Rebbe-- The Rebbe was sameach with, with the Simchat Torah, but the Rebbe in essence and naturally, people said the Rebbe was with a broken heart. And every time that people would write to the Rebbe

07:15 a problem, and, you know, as the Rebbe said many times, that people would always make sure to tell the Rebbe, consult the Rebbe when they had a problem. But when the problem, uh, resolved, they didn't make sure to notify him, to, to notify. Like, you know, when people would go to, um, like a lot of people were drafted to the war in Israel 'cause, uh, Chabad does go to, uh, the army, you know. At least after, uh, they delay it for some years, but they eventually they do go to-- they go serve on the army. And before they would go to the army, a lot of people would write to the Rebbe, uh, a note that they should be safe, uh, from the war. And, you know, when they'd come back and everything was okay, they forgot to write to the Rebbe that we, we, we returned home safely, you know. I mean, they-- And the Rebbe's-- Because when the Rebbe would, uh, hear the people's tzoros, the people's troubles, the Rebbe would very much take it very, very personal and with very, very painful. So the Rebbe was a, a broken heart, but yet, um, the Rebbe would, uh, make sure to make everybody also rejoice with the joy of, of, of, of simcha. And, uh, uh, the Rebbe was also said that, uh, we know that with joy you can break through all limitations and things that are sometimes impossible to sort of manage. But through simcha, through joy, one is able to

08:47 overcome that