Bais Iyar: The Rebbe Maharash - Part I

00:01 As we find ourselves in Beis Iyar, which is the yom ha'yeledes, the birthdate of the Rebbe Marash, in the year Taf kuf tzadik daled, 1834, we will relate some stories that the Rebbe related at a farbrengen on this date in the year Taf shin gimel, 1943. This was seven years before the passing of the previous Rebbe, and this farbrengen was written up by the Chasid Rabbeil Baumgarten, who later became the hetzliach in Argentina. The Rebbe relates that till the generation of the Rebbe Marash, till the Rebbe Marash himself, all the rabbeim prior to the Rebbe Marash conducted their life ba'anius, which means not in a rich way. Not in a rich manner. It was with poverty. Likewise, the Tzemach Tzedek, his father, the father of the Rebbe Marash, also conducted his life ba'anius, and not in a broad manner and not in a lavish format. But the Rebbe Marash, already during the lifetime of his father, began conducting himself with his pastus in a very broad way. When they built his house, he asked, instructed that they should build wide and large windows to a great extent. The Tzemach Tzedek asked him, what do you need such big windows? The Rebbe Marash answered, Nori, it should be lichtik, it should be light, it should be illuminated. The house should be illuminated. So the Tzemach Tzedek asked, by the mezaden, by my grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, there were very thin and small windows, and he managed. So the Rebbe Marash said, probably it wasn't lit up.

02:12 Tzemach Tzedek said, no, no, it was light, light. A second story that the Rebbe related is when the Rebbe Marash was about eight years old, he learned in the cheder, in yeshiva, with the Mogen Avis, and also other children of his brothers. His brothers were much older than him, and he was learning together with his nephews, who were his age. The melamed once asked a question from all the students, and he requested that they should give him an answer to this question. The Rebbe Marash said that first let the other students, the other talmidim, say what they can offer as a response, and then he will answer. But the other talmidim did not know how to answer this question. The Marash gave a very good response that the melamed, the teacher, was very impressed. The other students were envious, were jealous of the Rebbe Marash because they are older than him, and nevertheless he knew better than them, and they began crying. And they said, the Emes, the Rebbe Marash, is not such a big landon, not such a big scholar. But since the melamed, the teacher, knew that he is the youngest child of the Tzemach Tzedek, and they are already the next generation, they are grandchildren of the Tzemach Tzedek, so therefore the melamed shows him favoritism. And they ran to the Mariel, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, who was the father of one of these children who were learning in the cheder. While the children of the Mariel, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, who were learning

04:14 together with the Rebbe Marash, turned to their father to complain that the melamed respects more the Rebbe Marash, shows him more favoritism, the Rebbe Marash said he can't learn anymore together with them because he grasps it the first time that the melamed teaches them, and to them the melamed, the teacher, has to explain it two, three times, and their minds are not so open. The Mariel then went in to the yeshiva, to the cheder, and he presented for the melamed his children's complaint. The melamed said to the Mariel, it is not because I honor the Rebbe Marash more, but because he answered very well. And the melamed told the Mariel, I'll tell you what the question is, and I'll tell you what the Rebbe Marash answered. The Mariel himself was impressed, but he told the Rebbe Marash, why do you have to say such a negative statement that my children are not really open-minded? So the Rebbe Marash said, what should I do if that's the fact? The Mariel then said, I am your older brother. How could you embarrass me, my children? The Rebbe Marash answered, you are older from me with your years, and I am older from you with our father's years, which means that the Rebbe Marash was born when the Tzemach Tzedek, his father, was in his 40s. And the melech, he received the maturity of his father at an early age. And that's what he means, I am older than you with my father's years.