The story is told of the arrest of the Alter Rebbe by the Russian government.
Accused of high treason, he was taken to prison in the dreaded black coach, the vehicle reserved for the government’s most dangerous enemies.
The trip from his home in Liozna to the prison in Petersburg took a few days, and the ominous journey began on Friday. The Russian government was hardly interested in one’s observance of Jewish practice, so the officers accompanying the Alter Rebbe were certainly not concerned that the trip would continue into Shabbos.
Nevertheless, Jewish law mandates that one not travel on Friday after noontime, since obstacles and delays along the way could result in a person’s desecration of Shabbos. So the Alter Rebbe asked the driver to stop the wagon early Friday and wait on the side of the road until Shabbos was over.
The general in charge found the request outrageous. An officer of the Czar should take orders from a prisoner?! He rejected the Alter Rebbe’s request, of course, and ordered the driver to continue on as before.
Suddenly, one of the axles on the wagon broke for no apparent reason. Unruffled, the officer had the axle fixed and immediately ordered the driver to continue. As they were about to set out again, one of the horses suddenly collapsed and died, and the officer quickly sent someone to the nearby village to bring a new horse. After hooking up the new horse to the wagon, strangely, and for absolutely no apparent reason, both of the horses wouldn’t budge.
At this point, the general finally understood that all these events were the result of miracles performed by the Rabbi to keep them from traveling. He asked the Alter Rebbe to “at least let the horses move to the next village.” The Alter Rebbe refused. The general said, “Then at least let them move to the side of the road near the tree.” To this the Alter Rebbe acquiesced. The horses moved to the side of the road near the tree where they remained until the end of Shabbos the next day.
(In later years, chassidim who lived near the city of Nevel knew exactly where the tree was and exactly where the Alter Rebbe spent that Shabbos.)
There was a similar incident that occurred later on in the account of the Alter Rebbe’s arrest. Eventually incarcerated in the Peter-Paul Fortress in Petersburg, he, an officer, and some assistants had to cross a river by boat from the prison to the place of his interrogation.
This night happened to be one of the nights on which a Jew makes the monthly kiddush levanah — the blessing over the new moon — and the Alter Rebbe wished to do so. But in order to bless the moon, a person is supposed to remain in one place, so he asked the officer to stop the boat in order for him to make the blessings.
Like the other general and officers in the first story, the officer was certainly not going to respect his request. But the boat suddenly stopped and he could not figure out why it stopped or how to make it move.
Finally the Alter Rebbe asked, “Now will you stop the boat for me?” The officer realized he was not dealing with an ordinary person and promised to do so. When the rowing continued and the boat once again began to move, the officer kept his word and stopped the boat so the Alter Rebbe could perform the mitzvah of kiddush levanah without resorting to a miracle.
