The 13th of Nissan: the Tzemach Tzedek

00:00 The to Yud Gimmel Nissan, the the date of the of the Tzemach Tzedek in Taf Sirchavov 1866, about a hundred and fifty-three years ago, we discuss in that the Rebbe discussed the Tzemach Tzedek and his writings. In Taf Sirchavov when it was a hundred years since the of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe mentioned a story that the Friediker Rebbe said that after the long Ma'amarim of the Mitteler Rebbe, Mitteler Rebbe would say Ma'amarim for hours, and Hasidim got used to it, got used to the language style, got used to the contents of the Ma'amarim. So when the Tzemach Tzedek began the messius and his Ma'amarim were in a different language style, a different signet, although they weren't so long, but for Hasidim it was difficult to absorb the Ma'amarim as the Friediker Rebbe explained, because they were not used to this signet. As the Tzemach Tzedek when he would say a Ma'amar, he was speaking in Hasidus, he would also refer and reflect on a Midrash, on a Gemara, on a Ze'jir, on a la nigla, and all this was combined together, blended together. And the maleh they were not used to this flavor of Ma'amarim. And the Rebbe continues that we can add also as a, uh, Ma'amar ha-Musar that the Friediker Rebbe then spoke also about the gadlus of the Rebbe Maharash. And as the Rebbe connects it that in the-- that in the same sense that Yud Gimmel Nissan is the Yemai Lula of the Tzemach Tzedek, it is also the beginning

01:51 of the messius of the Rebbe Maharash. That the Tzemach Tzedek told him that he should already say Hasidus, this was already in the lifetime of the Tzemach Tzedek. So it's told that when the Rebbe Maharash was a young child, and it was in the first years of the Tzemach Tzedek's messius, Rebbe Maharash was then about six or seven years old. So Hasidim asked the, the Rebbe Maharash in regard to a certain quote of a Ma'amar, a Midrash that is mentioned in the Ma'amar of the Tzemach Tzedek. That in one of the Ma'amarim of the Tzemach Tzedek mentioned that Tishrei is Tishrei It means that you will le-- you will, you will, uh, be lenient as Chaver, you'll forgive, which this is a Midrash. When Hasidim heard the Ma'amar, one of the Hasidim went over to the Rebbe Maharash, which despite his age, he was still playful, playing, and they asked him, "Where is this Ma'amar in the Midrash?" They were not used to it. As mentioned earlier, that the Ma'amarim of the Mitteler Rebbe were different than the Ma'amarim of the Tzemach Tzedek. Tzemach Tzedek would be quoting from many references, including the, the Midrash. The Tzem-- The Rebbe Maharash, in the middle of his play, answered that this is a Midrash in Parsha Emor on this and this pasuk, and the meaning is this and this. In Taf Sirchavov at the same farbrengen when the Rebbe was commemorating the, uh, hundred years of the of the Tzemach Tzedek. So the Rebbe mentioned then that

03:29 at the birth of the Tzemach Tzedek, Tzemach Tzedek was born Rosh Hashanah. At the, uh, the first Rosh Hashanah in his lifetime was Taf Kof Nun. The Alter Rebbe then began saying the of Tanya. Like Ma'amarim, he said it of the next few years up to the-- about four years, from Rosh Hashanah Taf Kof Nun to Yud Kislev Taf Kof Nun Daled. And the, the, the Rosh Hashanah alone, he said the first three of Tanya, which the, um, the three of Tanya, the Rebbe says, we see a blend from Nigla, Hasidus, Kabbalah, all the , Midrash . And this is exactly the style of the Tzemach Tzedek's Torah, that it was bolul, it was blended together from all aspects and sections of Torah. Nigla, Kabbalah, Drush, and Remez. The Rebbe once mentioned upstairs, uh, in the apartment of the previous Rebbe when the Rebbe would be eating the seudas Yom Tov there. On one occasion, the Rebbe said that the Tzemach Tzedek wrote twenty-four thousand begen Hasidus. Begens is eight pages. So it's eight times twenty-four thousand pages. Most of it were burnt in the fire. The same thing is also been regard to Nigla. And in one regard to the Tzemach Tzedek wrote five hundred begens, and that was all sadly burnt in the big fires that took place in Lubavitch in various years. Yud Gimmel Nissan, Taf Shin Yud Alef, nineteen fifty-one, right after the Rebbe accepted the Moshiach, the Rebbe asked Shmuel Lewitin to go over for the amud, to the omud

05:32 and daven. And after ma'ariv he told him to farbreng with the, uh, um, kol of Hasidim. In general, Rab Shmuel Lewitin, since he was from the Zichroner Hasidim, so he would daven for the omud at the Yemai Hilula of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe Rashab. So Rab Shmuel mentioned in the name of his father Who was at the hishtalchus of Tzemach Tzedek, that the Mariel was then not in Lubavitch by the hishtalchus. When he came to Lubavitch, he said, a Rebbe like this, we did not have yet. From one line in his ma'amurim, we could make a complete ma'amar. And the Rebbe Maharash added, not only a line, but even a word. So the Rebbe responded that the drushiyah chassidus of the Tzemach Tzedek is a big treasure. The Rebbe says, I didn't have a chance yet to go through them in the appropriate way, but just on the surface. But from what I learned, be'iu ne'aroye, what I did go through in a greater depth, I could add that every hagoah, every comment of the Tzemach Tzedek and a ma'amar of the Alter Rebbe is a heyn rav, is a big treasure. In Tafshachavav 1966, commemorating then the hundred years since the hishtalchus of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe then came out with a new campaign to begin publishing the Tzemach Tzedek's ma'amurim under the title Eida Teida. There was a fund, a tznoka fund, a keren hameah, referring to the hundred years. And already at the end of Tafshachavav,

07:28 the Rebbe already began going into the hundredth year, initiating this campaign to give tznoka for printing hisfarim in numerals of a hundred. The Rebbe then spoke about the gematria of the Tzemach Tzedek, which is the name of Mashiach, Menachem Shmei, the Tzemach Shmei. It's interesting, over the years, the Rebbe mentioned sometimes hinting to a direct connection between the Tzemach Tzedek and himself. In Ayem Yem, for example, in the biography of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe mentions the sons of the Tzemach Tzedek and their descendants up to a certain generation. When it comes to Rabbaruch Shalom, the oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe makes a point of mentioning the genealogy, the generations up till his father. Which stands out very obviously that the Rebbe is actually connecting from the Tzemach Tzedek till his father, Rab Levi Yitzchak. Interesting story is that the Rebbe would mention by Fabregen that the Tzemach Tzedek would make paratkes, he would make his dorim in Peterburg, in Petersburg, when Rosh Hashanah was a time that he would decide which government minister remains in government, which one leaves the government. And so it happened through the year that exactly what he wished, what he wanted was fulfilled. Whenever the Rebbe wanted to accomplish it in the world, certain countries, certain governments, the Rebbe would always make the introduction what the Tzemach Tzedek did. And after that, not much after that, Chassidim saw that something dramatic happened in a certain government. Someone quit, someone was put down, demotioned. Different ingyanim that

09:46 happened, especially as they stood out in the early mems, early 80s. Another interesting story that there were a few or one or two that felt that the Rebbe is not doing enough for the people in Russia. They see the Rebbe is doing everything, but they're not aware of what the Rebbe was doing for people in Russia. So it seemed to them the Rebbe is not doing. So the Rebbe once said in Yechidus to someone that at that time in the Tzemach Tzedek, there were young children that were drafted to the army, cantonists. Some of them were freed. There was a suspicion that the Tzemach Tzedek's hand was involved. In other words, the Tzemach Tzedek actually was involved in it behind the scene. So the government sent spies to check what goes on by the Tzemach Tzedek on a daily basis. After that time, they saw that Tzemach Tzedek is involved in a ma'amach sidus. Here he's involved in learning. Another occasion he's involved in answering questions in Halacha. And all this saved the children. As Chassidim understood from this sipur that the Rebbe is also is reflecting it b'negiat himself that he actually, although people are not aware, but he was actually doing much on the behalf of the Yidden in Russia. B'negiat to the Hayim Yem, Mesas in Tov Shim Dalet Mem. In 1984, when the second volume of Kamens came out on the Hayim Yem. So there were certain papyrois, gematriyois b'negiat to the Rebbe's second name, but without a Ayin. In Eretz

11:37 Yisrael and other places, many times they write it without an Ayin. And some gematrias, numerical values of Ramazim really fit very appropriately with this cheshmun after without Ayin. So the Rebbe wrote as follows, Mem Rut HaRuchli is the Ayin. The Rebbe's second name needs to be with an Ayin. Sha'arei Hu Al Shem HaTzemach Tzedek since he is named after the Tzemach Tzedek. We conclude with a story that the Rebbe in Yechidus once told Rab Yassel Goldstein, who was a menail in the Beis Yankev in Brooklyn. And the techinat dorim was that the Rebbe mentioned to him that he has the occasion in a yeshiva, a school, a girls' school, which is not exactly Chassidish and especially not Chabad, that he can mention in his speeches, in the shiurim, in yoniim from the Alter Rebbe, the Mital Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Marash, the Rebbe Rashab, the previous Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek. Rab Yassel Goldstein understood it very well that the second time the Rebbe mentioned Tzemach Tzedek was referring to himself.