From the Reshimos of the Frierdiker Rebbe.
Excerpts from Reshimos.
Continued from previous issue...
6.
During the first forty-seven years of Chabad Chassidus under the leadership and guidance of its founder and first leader, it experienced great success.
The teachings of Chassidus evolved over time. During the first twenty years, the teachings spread in written form, and in the year 5557 (1797), the book "Tanya" was printed. From then on, the teachings of Chabad Chassidus spread throughout the land. The Alter Rebbe was a remarkable leader, and in addition to the Torah teachings in Chabad Chassidus that he presented to tens of thousands of his students, he innovated several matters: a new Nussach (prayer version) and the requirement of a heated mikvah, polished knives, and more.
The Alter Rebbe instituted the practice of singing in the Chabad Chassidic community and composed ten melodies, which Chabad Chassidim sing to this day as a tradition from their ancestors.
Many factors contributed to the spread of Chabad Chassidus, but the most significant was the concern for the welfare of the general public, including their economic situation.
He did not limit his concern to the spiritual welfare of the Jewish people, strengthening Judaism, and spreading Torah, but he was also deeply concerned with the economic state of the Jewish people, advocating for the well-being of the poor and easing the communal tax burdens.
At the first gathering of the Chevra Kadisha (“holy brotherhood”), which took place in the month of Kislev in the year 5534 (1774) in the city of Hanipol from the 17th to the 21st, where the students of the Maggid gathered for their teacher’s first yahrzeit, among other matters, the Alter Rebbe expressed his opinion that the Chevra Kadisha should involve themselves in the economic welfare of the Jewish people and proposed promoting agriculture among the Jewish people, encouraging them to settle in villages and communities, and engage in farming, livestock, poultry, fishing, milling, and produce farming.
From that point on, the Alter Rebbe made it a “rule” to speak publicly and promote this approach, and a few years later, he established a special fund to help those engaged in agriculture.
7.
In the first fifteen years—5540 (1780)—the community of Chabad Chassidim in White Russia numbered around thirty thousand people. Twelve individuals were chosen by the honorable Rebbe, to whom the holy work of traveling was assigned, to visit the Chassidim in towns, villages, inns along crossroads, and the estates of landowners.
These emissaries, aside from publicly teaching the works of Chabad Chassidus, farbrenging (“gathering”) with the Chassidim to foster closeness of heart, inspecting the conduct of Chassidim in their towns, appointing spiritual guides and mentors in order to strengthen their spiritual standings, they also widely promoted the method of agricultural work and engagement in the produce of the land.
In the year 5555 (1795), the emissaries estimated the Chabad Chassidim community in White Russia and Ukraine to number seventy thousand people. From the year 5559 (1799) onwards, entire towns in Little Russia and Lithuania joined the community of Chabad Chassidim year after year.
30.
When the Alter Rebbe, was eleven years old, his father, the righteous Reb Baruch, took him to the city of Lubavitch to the famous scholar Reb Yosef, where he was handed over to his son-in-law, the scholar Reb Yissachar Dov, to study with him.
The Alter Rebbe stayed in Lubavitch for two years, lodging at the home of Reb Naftali Batlan and Shatzare Dvosha, the shopkeeper, while his place of study was in the second room of the Beis Medrash, “Po’alei Tzedek Mashkimei Kom” (righteous doers, earlyrisers).
The great diligence and devotion of the young prodigy from Liozna—this is what they called him—became the talk of the town. Parents blessed their children through him, and many Torah scholars held him in high regard because some of his writings on Torah innovations were found.
31.
His Ahavas Yisrael (love of a fellow Jew) and especially the effort to honour them, said the Alter Rebbe, to his son, the Mitteler Rebbe—I learned while I was in Lubavitch, and I saw the respect that the scholar Reb Yosef the “Reprover” showed to Reb Yitzchak the Shoemaker, Reb Shlomo the Tailor, and Reb Avraham the Blacksmith. They were common folk who didn’t even understand the meanings of the words in Torah and prayer, yet they were God-fearing with pure hearts.
These three, Reb Yitzchak, Reb Shlomo, and Reb Avraham, were among the elders of the Early Risers society. Every day, weekdays, Shabbosim, and Yomim Tovim, in summer and winter, they would come at the second hour after midnight to the Beis Medrash to recite Tehillim.
One of the elders of the group would stand before the lectern, reciting aloud and in a weeping voice, while all would stand in their places, saying word by word in a pleading tone, with tears in their eyes. Every day, they would complete the entire book of Tehillim from beginning to end.
How splendid was the sight, as the elderly scholar, Reb Yosef the Reprover, would hurry to finish his Talmud lesson after the midnight prayers to join the simple folk in reciting Tehillim.
Many times, I heard Reb Yosef the Reprover say to his son-in-law, my teacher Reb Yissachar Dov, that the Tehillim recited by Reb Avraham the Blacksmith and Reb Yitzchak the Shoemaker, while they hammer the anvil or work on a shoe, are more beloved to G-d than their own Torah insights.
To be continued...
