Yud Tes Kislev is celebrated as the Chag HaGeulah of The Alter Rebbe, also known as the Baal HaTanya. It was on this date, in the year 5559 (1798), that Reb Shneur Zalman of Liadi was freed from his imprisonment. Reb Shneur Zalman was the founder of Chabad Chassidus.
26 years earlier, on Yud Tes Kislev 5533 (1772), the Alter Rebbe’s Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, passed away. Before his passing, he said to Reb Shneur Zalman, “This day is our yom tov.”
On the day after Simchas Torah 5559, the Alter Rebbe was arrested from his home on charges of treason and brought to the Fortress of Petropavlovsk. During his 53 days in prison, he was interrogated multiple times and asked to explain various teachings of chassidus. On Yud Tes Kislev, while reciting the words from Tehillim pada beshalom nafshi– my soul was redeemed in peace- the Alter Rebbe received the news that he had been exonerated of all charges and would immediately be freed.
UFARATZTA
We therefore find in Tanna Dvei Eliyahu: “A man commits a sin and is liable to death before the Almighty, what shall he do and live? If he was accustomed to studying one page, let him study two; if he was accustomed to studying one perek, let him study two perokim....
This resembles a rope that is severed and then reknotted. The place of the knot is twofold and fourfold thicker than the rest of the rope. So it is, with the “rope of His heritage,” [with the soul’s bond with its source.] And this is what the pasuk says, “Through kindness and truth is sin forgiven...,” and “there is no truth but Torah...” [Thus, it is through the study of the Torah that sin is forgiven.]
Similarly, on the Pasuk [Shmuel I, 3,14] that “the sin of the House of Eli will not be atoned by sacrifices and offerings,” the Talmud [Rosh Hashanah 18,1] comments: The sin of the House of Eli will NOT be atoned by sacrifices and offerings, but it WILL be atoned through the study of Torah and through good deeds...”
==== Tanya – Igeres Hateshuvah, Perek 9.
Yud Tes and Chof Kislev 5559 / 1798: The Baal HaTanya was freed from Prison in St Petersburg, Russia. Yud Tes Kislev: Rosh Hashanah LeChassidus. Gut Yom Tov! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and the ways of Chassidus.
TESHUVA THROUGH LEARNING TORAH
