The Rebbe Rashab - Hemshech 5672 (1912)

00:00 The hemsach in continuation to the earlier installments when we get to the Rebbe Rashab, and in particular the previous installment where we discussed the hemsach of Beshoshik Dimu, which is a very popular hemsach, a sequence, a continuance of many discourses that the Rebbe Rashab delivered over the course of three and a half years. He began this hemsach on Shuas, Tafresh Ayin Beis 1912, and continued till Chesfun, Tafresh Ayin Vov, late 1915, when he left Lubavitch and ultimately settled in Rostov. And he did not say the final part of the hemsach, but he did write it down. The previous Rebbe, as well as the Rebbe, relate a story that took place in Tafresh Samach Gimel when the Rebbe Rashab traveled with the previous Rebbe to Vienna. The Rebbe makes note of it also in his reshimas, in his diary, as he heard it from the previous Rebbe. This is how the previous Rebbe relates it. In the winter of Tafresh Samach Gimel 1903, I accompanied my father on a trip to Vienna. One day he asked me to copy a certain manuscript. I went to my room, which was adjacent to his, and began to write. At around five in the afternoon, I brought the finished copy to his room. When I entered, I noticed that he was reclining on the couch with one foot on the couch and the other foot on the floor. His eyes were open and he was holding a cigarette between his fingers, but he was completely motionless. I approached him

02:06 a few times and tried to catch his attention, but he didn't awaken from his deep concentration. He remained in that position until 3.45 a.m. the next morning, and then he awoke. He discarded the cigarette, went over to the window and remarked, it seems that the sun has already set and it is time to daven ma'ariv. I replied, the night is almost over. Shortly it will be dawn. He was surprised at my reply and he realized that he had been so deep in thought that he had completely forgotten about the time. Then he began questioning me where we were holding in our study of the Ramban on the weekly parasha. Rebbe Rashab and the previous Rebbe had a shir in learning the Ramban on the weekly parasha. The previous Rebbe continues, I realized that he was doing this to figure out which day of the week it was. Evidently, he had been so engrossed in thought that he wasn't even sure which day it was. He then informed me that the concepts he had clarified during that time would take years to expound. In a sicha of the Rebbe, delivered Shabbos Parshas Shmini and continued Shabbos Parshas Azria, Tov Shin Dalet Men, 1984, the Rebbe relates this story and the Rebbe continues that yes aimrim, there is an opinion that says that after a while the Rebbe Rashab revealed to the previous Rebbe that the chassidis topics in which he meditated on for many hours that evening was the foundation for the hemsach of Beshoshik Dimu,

04:21 Tafresh Ayin Beis, or as it is referred to, Te'erav, the famous sequence of Maimonim as we mentioned earlier. And the Rebbe continues, v'yesh leimar, that this mu'urah, this event was similar to kles ha'nefesh, which is the expiring of the soul. And the Rebbe explains that after the Rebbe Rashab came out, woke up from his dveikus, from his meditation, he did not know what time it is and the place where he finds himself in. Because at that point, while he was focusing and engrossed in the meditation, he removed himself completely from the world around him, which consists of space and time. To the extent that even after he awoke, he wasn't able, after he awoke, he wasn't able to remember the time and place where he found himself in. And bemeila, this is similar to the expiring of the soul, when the nefesh, the soul leaves the limitations of the body, which also consists of the metzias of world, time, and space. The previous Rebbe continues, the next day I saw him writing an extremely deep concept nachsidis. Apparently, it was what he had been contemplating on the previous day. Well, the mitzvot shall continue in the next installment.