The Previous Rebbe once recounted a story that occurred when the Tzemach Tzedek attended a rabbinical conference in Peterburg, the capital of Czarist Russia.
At that time, an army unit of a few hundred cantonists was camped in Kranshtat, close to the capital. Cantonists were six and seven-year-old Jewish boys who were drafted into the Russian army for 25 years. The evil Czar, Nickolai I, developed this policy to try to make Jewish boys abandon their heritage.
When the young Jewish soldiers in Kranshtat heard that the Tzemach Tzedek was nearby, they asked him to come and speak to them. Miraculously, permission was given for the Rebbe to visit the boys.
On his arrival, the young soldiers said, “Rebbe, we polished our buttons in honor of your visit. Now we want you to polish and refine our souls which have become coarsened!” The Tzemach Tzedek responded by delivering a maamar in a simple way that they could understand.
After saying the maamar, he instructed the boys that even though they had no Jewish books, those who remembered some Psalms of David should teach the others so that they would know them by heart. Their heartfelt Psalms would be like the way a soldier polishes his buttons.
The Rebbe explained that just as soldiers polish their buttons with earth and water, so too, polishing the soul is done with earth and water. Earth represents words of prayer and water represents the tears which accompany those ancient prayers.
One young soldier responded, “When a soldier goes to war, he goes happily with a victory march, not with tears.” The Tzemach Tzedek agreed, saying that happiness in serving Hashem is the way to defeat the evil impulse.
From that time on, all Chabad Rebbeim emphasized that our service should be infused with happiness. In that way, our fight will take place with extra strength and our victory will occur in a faster and easier way.
[Simchas Torah 5727]
