Everyone undoubtedly is familiar with the story of Yudtes Kislev. However, since הימים האלו נזכרים ונעשים, I will retell one of the stories of the beginning of the arrest of the Alter Rebbe. The basic story is found in the Reshimas hayoman of the Rebbe, and (with some variations) in other places:
On Chol HaMoed Succos, an officer, along with a group of soldiers, came to Liozna, with a black military vehicle (which was used to transport political offenders), in order to arrest the Alter Rebbe. When the officer entered the Rebbe’s home, he found the Rebbe wrapped in tallis and tefillin, davening. The officer did not want to disturb him, so he waited in the outer room for the Alter Rebbe to finish. As soon as the officer left the room, the Alter Rebbe removed his tallis and tefillin and left through a side door. From there he fled, temporarily, to the cemetery. When quite a bit of time had gone by and the Rebbe hadn’t left his room, the officer entered the room. He was shocked to see that the room was empty. He realized that while he waited outside, the Rebbe had fled through a side door. The officer was furious and he began yelling at the Rebbetzin, ordering her to tell him where the Rebbe was hiding. When the Rebbetzin said that she did not know where he was, the officer struck her in the face, knocking out a tooth. He and his soldiers searched throughout the town for the Alter Rebbe, to no avail. When the Rebbe heard that they had finally left town, he returned home. The chassidim were instructed not to come to the Alter Rebbe at all, for the time being, so as not to call attention to him.
Late at night, R’ Shmuel Munkes arrived at the Alter Rebbe’s home and knocked on the door. The Rebbe himself went to the door and asked, “Who’s there?” R’ Shmuel replied, “A Jew!” Upon recognizing his voice, the Alter Rebbe opened the door. When R’ Shmuel entered the house, he said, “This is the home of a Jew and one is allowed to warm oneself!” The two went over to the oven. Standing there together, the Rebbe said in surprise, “You chose this night to come to me?” Said R’ Shmuel, “Ich hob nisht gevust az beim Rebbe niz faran nacht!” [I didn’t know the Rebbe had a nighttime, too]. The Alter Rebbe said, “You know, Shmuel, they came to arrest me!” R’ Shmuel acted unperturbed: “I know. Nu, so what?” Said the Rebbe, “It’s a great danger!” Said R’ Shmuel: “Rebbe, what should I say? It seems to me you have to travel to Petersburg.” The Alter Rebbe repeated, “It’s dangerous.” Said R’ Shmuel, “Allow me to share a story.”
The tzaddik R’ Menachem Mendel Horodoker’s custom was to travel each year to his Rebbe, the Mezritcher Maggid, for Pesach. The trip took two weeks, and he had a certain wagon driver who took him, annually, free of charge. One year, the wagon driver was in a tight situation, financially. He told R’ Mendel that he could not take him as he always had, since he hadn’t earned enough money that year. He was hoping that Hashem would send work his way before Pesach so that he would have the necessary money to prepare for Yom Tov. Said R’ Mendel, “Sell one horse and give the money you earn to your wife so that she can make the necessary purchases for Yom Tov. Then let us travel to Mezritch with the other horse.” The wagon driver listened to R’ Mendel and duly sold one of his two horses and gave the money to his wife, then he and R’ Mendel took to the road. As they traveled, the wagon veered from side to side, because the wagon had been made to be harnessed to two horses, and they were only using one. At a certain point they had to descend a high mountain. The wagon driver held tightly to the reins to slow the wagon down, so that he wouldn’t lose control (which was challenging already, with only one horse). But R’ Mendel, who was eager to see his Rebbe, asked the wagon driver, “Why are we going so slowly? Hurry up!” The wagon driver, who was a genuine chosid of R’ Mendel, stopped pulling on the reins and the wagon flew on its way. The wagon had so greatly accelerated and lost control that it crashed into the mansion of a squire who lived at the bottom of the mountain, breaking a few windows. The squire came out of his house with a pistol and threatened to shoot the wagon driver. Terrified, the wagon driver pointed to R’ Mendel as the guilty party. The squire prepared to shoot R’ Mendel, but his hand became paralyzed and he could do nothing at all. Then he realized that R’ Mendel was a holy man, so he began shouting, “I don’t want to hurt you! Just pray that I recover!” [according to another version, the gun jammed, and he realized that the Jew was a holy man]. R’ Mendel was deep in thought, unaware of what was occurring. Suddenly, he raised his head and asked the wagon driver why the man was shouting. The wagon driver told him what had happened, and R’ Mendel indicated to the squire that he could go. The squire’s hand immediately returned to normal and the squire backed away with great awe and respect. As they continued on their way, R’ Mendel asked the wagon driver, “Why did you point me out as the guilty party? He could have shot me?” The wagon driver explained, “Rebbe, you told me to sell one horse, and I did so, and I left my wife alone at home. Then, instead of traveling slowly, you said to travel quickly, and I listened to you, because I believed in your righteousness. So, I said to myself: If you are a Rebbe, a bullet won’t harm you. And if you are not, then you deserve it, for putting me at such risk!”
R’ Shmuel concluded, “So too, in this situation. If you are a Rebbe, a bullet won’t harm you. And if not, you deserve it. Because otherwise, how could you have the nerve to take away the chayus and taanug gashmi (physical enthusiasm and pleasure) from thousands of Jews [demanding that they suppress and sublimate their nature desires]?” When R’ Shmuel finished, the Rebbe leaned on his hands for a while and then said, “I do not know if you are right, but go in peace.” At that point, the Alter Rebbe decided that if they would come again to arrest him, he would not resist.
[In Reshimos Hayoman, where the general story is twice brought, the story with Reb Mendel Horodoker is not mentioned. However, in a farbrengen, when the Rebbe recounted the story, the Rebbe alluded to that story as well].
