13 Nissan: The Tzemach Tzedek

00:00 The to Yud Gimmel Nissan, the , the date of the of the Tzemach Tzedek in Tafshiv Chovov, 1866, about a hundred and fifty-three years ago. We discuss-- In Yanim that the Rebbe discussed the Tzemach Tzedek and his writings. In Tafshiv Chovov 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 Zohar, a Halacha Nigla, and all this was combined together, blended together. And the they were not used to this flavor of Ma'amarim. And the Rebbe continues that we can add also as a, uh, Ma'amar HaMusar 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 of the Tzemach Tzedek, it is also the beginning of the

01:51 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 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 you'll forgive, which this is a Midrash. One Hasidim the Ma'amar, one of the Hasidim went over to the Rebbe Maharash, which 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 Parashat Emez on this and this passuk, and the meaning is this and this. In Tafshiv Chovot, the same farbrengen when the Rebbe was commemorating the, uh, hundred years of the of the Tzemach Tzedek. So the Rebbe mentioned then that at the birth of the Tzemach Tzedek, Tzemach Tzedek

03:32 was born Rosh Hashanah. At the, uh, well, the first Rosh Hashanah in his lifetime was Taf kuf 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 kuf Nun to Yud Kislev Taf kuf Nun Daled. And the, the, the Rosh Hashanah alone, he said the first three of Tanya, which, uh, 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 that it was , it was blended together from all aspects and sections of , 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. Begen 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 Nigla. And in one 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 messius, the Rebbe asked Shmuel Lewitin to go over for the omud to the Ohel and daven. And after Ma'ariv we told him to farbrengen with the, uh,

05:37 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 Yemei Hilulah of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe Rashab. So Rab Shmuel, uh, mentioned in the name of his father Who was at the that the Mariel was then not in Lubavitch by the . When he came to Lubavitch, he said, "A Rebbe like this we did not have yet. From one line in his Ma'amarim, we could make a complete Ma'amar. And the Rebbe Maharash added not only a line, but even a word." So the Rebbe, the Rebbe responded that the Drush HaChassidus 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, what I did go through in, in a greater depth, I could add that every Hagah, every comment of the Tzemach Tzedek and Ma'amar of the Alter Rebbe is a is a big treasure." In 1966, commemorating then the hundred years since the of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe then came out with a new campaign to begin publishing the Tzemach Tzedek's Ma'amarim under the title There was a fund, a fund, a referring to the hundred years and already at the end of the Rebbe already began going into the hundredth year initiating this campaign, the gift for, uh, uh, printing his Sefarim in numerals of a hundred. The

07:40 Rebbe then spoke about the Gematria of the Tzemach Tzedek, which is the name of Mashiach, Menachem Sheme and Tzemach Sheme. It's interesting, over the years, the Rebbe mentioned sometimes hinting to a direct connection between the Tzemach Tzedek and himself. In 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 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 to his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok. Interesting i- fac- uh, stories that the Rebbe would mention by Farbrengen that the Tzemach Tzedek would make he would make his in Peterburg, in Petersburg, when was a time that he would decide which government minister remains in government, which one is, uh, leaves the government. And so it happened through the year that exactly his-- 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 Inyanim that happened, especially as they stood out in, uh, in the early mems, early eighties. Another interesting, uh, story that there was-- there were a few or, or,

10:04 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 to someone that at 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, uh, 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'amar Chassidus. 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 r- also is reflecting it, himself that he actually, although people are not aware, but he was actually doing much on the behalf of the Yidden in Russia. to the Hayyim Yayim in 1984 when the second volume of came out on the Hayyim Yayim. So the, the-- there were certain when it get to the Rebbe's second name, but without a Ayin. In, uh, in and other places, they many times they write it without an Ayin. And some Gematrias, numerical values of Remez really fit very appropriately with this without Ayin. So the

11:51 Rebbe wrote as follows, The Rebbe's second name needs to be with Ayin. since he is named after the Tzemach Tzedek. We conclude with a story that the Rebbe, um, in Yechidus once told Rab Yossel Goldstein, who was a Menahal in the Beis Yankiv in Brooklyn. And the 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, uh, and especially not Chabad, that he can mention in his speeches, in Meshuyarim, Inyanim from the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, the Rebbe Rashab, the previous Rebbe, and the Tzemach Tzedek. Rab Yossel Goldstein understood it very well that the second time the Rebbe mentioned Tzemach Tzedek was referring to himself. In conclusion, as we find ourselves in the days following Yud-Alef Nissan, I will share a short story which I recently heard from Rabbi Shmuelu, the Rab Shliach and an educator in England. This took place on the 13th of Nissan 1962, a few days after the Rebbe reached his 60th birthday. The Rebbe approached Rab Shmuel Witten, one of the elder and distinguished Chassidim, and handed him $61 to buy Mashke and so on for the Farbrengen with the Talmidim of the Yeshiva in 770. Sixty-one implied the 61st year in which the Rebbe has just began to enter on the 11th of Nissan of that year. The Rebbe then added that the the series of the three days coming from Yud-Alef Nissan through Yud-Gimmel Nissan should

13:55 be continued and have an impact on the entire year.