Introduction
The Previous Rebbe related and published the following story concerning his father, the Rebbe Rashab:
When the Rebbe Rashab was a young boy of four or five, he entered the study of his grandfather, the Tzemach Tzedek, in order to receive his blessings on the occasion of his birthday. However, upon entering the study he began to cry. When questioned, he explained that he had just been taught the first passage in Parshas Vayera, Bereishis 18:1: “And G-d appeared to him [Avraham]” – he is crying because G-d only appeared to Avraham, but does not appear to us…
Replied the Tzemach Tzedek: When a Jew – a tzaddik – who, at the advanced age of ninety-nine, nevertheless resolves to [further improve and] circumcise himself, he is then worthy of having G-d revealed to him. Being a Rebbe, the very question of the Rebbe Rashab – even a query posed as a child – is considered part of Torah and constitutes a directive for all Jewry. After all, it was specifically this episode from the numerous occurrences of his lifetime that was publicized and personally recounted by the Previous Rebbe, who then instructed that the account be published. The Rebbe customarily repeated this account each year.
Just a Boy?
This story took place while the Rebbe Rashab was yet a young boy. Yet the occurrences of his youth constitute a harbinger of his later years [as the leader of Jewry]. There are numerous well-known accounts of saintly men and leaders of Jewry, who, in their youth, displayed exalted characteristics that were indicative of their future greatness. All the more so in the case of the Rebbe Rashab, as per the statement of the Tzemach Tzedek regarding his birth: The Rebbe Rashab was born on the twentieth of Marcheshvan in the Hebrew year kisra (“crown” – the Hebrew letters of 5620 spell this word). Further, the day of his birth was on the twentieth – chof – of the month; chof is also the abbreviation of keser. The Tzemach Tzedek declared that this was an allusion to keser ila’ah (“Supernal Crown”), a most sublime level of Divinity, transcending all other sefirot, which in turn reflected on his coronation with the crown of [Chabad] leadership – as was revealed in due course. Thus the account of the Rebbe Rashab – even as a child – is certainly a source of instruction for every Jew.
