We are at the fourteenth lesson in the chain of lineage, in the fourth part of the chapter on the life of the Mitteler Rebbe. We are in the middle of the list of his daughters, and we will continue from there.
"e) Rebbetzin Bracha, her husband the chassid Rav Yonah". We do not have many stories about him; it is known only that he was a kohen and lived in Zhitomir. The wedding was on 14 Shevat 5562.
"f) Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel" is far better known, "her husband the chassid Rav Yaakov Kuli", and his family name was "Slonim". Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel was born on 19 Kislev 5559, on the very day of the Alter Rebbe's liberation. When the Mitteler Rebbe heard that a daughter had been born to him, he said: "From now on we will have menucha (rest)", and therefore they named her Menucha. The second name, Rochel, was given to her after the Alter Rebbe's daughter - as we learned in the account of his life, that he had a daughter Rochel who passed away in her youth - and for that reason she was called Menucha Rochel.
Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel went up to Eretz Yisrael and lived in Chevron, and interesting stories are told about her. We will bring two examples.
Before her journey to Eretz Yisrael she took leave of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, who was her brother-in-law, her uncle and her Rebbe. Among other things she told him that she was somewhat apprehensive about the journey to Chevron. He asked her: what are you afraid of? She said that she was mainly afraid of the rains. He said to her: "You will travel between the raindrops". And it is told about her that to the end of her days no rain fell on her; wherever she went, even in the rain, she remained completely dry, since the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek had promised her that she would be between the raindrops.
Another story that shows her greatness: in the home of her grandson, R' Azriel Slonim, there was a silver candlestick that they had received as an inheritance, and it was accepted in the family that it came from the Alter Rebbe. After the passing of R' Azriel Slonim, his son, R' Moshe Slonim of blessed memory, brought the candlestick as a gift to the Rebbe. The Rebbe asked him whether it was certain that the candlestick was from the Alter Rebbe, and he replied that this was the family tradition. The Rebbe said to him: "For me it is precious enough even if it belonged only to Rebbetzin Menucha Rochel".
Her husband, R' Yaakov Kuli Slonim: the son of the famous chassid of the Alter Rebbe, R' Zalman Reizes of Shklov, and the father of the well-known Slonim family. He was born through a wonder of the Alter Rebbe: Reizel, his grandmother - his mother's mother - did not care for chassidim and did not accept the approach of the Alter Rebbe, and her two sons-in-law who had become chassidim of the Alter Rebbe suffered from her harassment. In time her daughter was about to give birth and was in mortal danger, and in that pressing hour she went to ask a blessing from the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said to her: if you stop harassing your sons-in-law, your daughter will give birth safely. She undertook to do so, and her daughter gave birth to R' Yaakov Kuli, the father of the Slonim family - through the blessing of the Alter Rebbe.
"g) Rebbetzin Sarah, her husband the chassid Rav Aharon of Shklov". We saw earlier that the Mitteler Rebbe's first daughter was also named Sarah, and we learned that she passed away in her youth; the Mitteler Rebbe named his seventh daughter with the same name, after his first daughter. From their union came their daughter, Rebbetzin Rivkah, the wife of the Rebbe Maharash, about whom we will tell in the account of the life of the Rebbe Maharash. So she was the daughter of Rebbetzin Sarah, the daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe - for many in the family married relatives.
Here the list of the Mitteler Rebbe's daughters actually ends, except that in the more recent editions an additional daughter appears in brackets, "h) Rebbetzin Esther Miriam". In Lubavitch there is the ohel of the rebbetzins, where the wife of the Alter Rebbe and others rest, and in the year 5750 a grave marker was found there whose headstone states that Mrs. Esther Miriam, daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe, is buried there, and that she passed away on 1 Tammuz 5579. Until 5750 it was not known at all that the Mitteler Rebbe had such a daughter, and once the matter came to light she was entered here, in square brackets, as his eighth daughter.
The "seforim" of the Mitteler Rebbe:
Here too one can see changes in the list of seforim in the various editions of the "Hayom Yom". As with all of our Rebbeim, in the case of the Mitteler Rebbe as well additional material that had been in manuscript was printed over the years; in the earlier editions the list was more limited, and afterwards it grew.
"a) Imrei Binah, 2 volumes", a work of deep intellectual study, divided into gates: the gate of Krias Shema, tzitzis and tefillin. It discusses the unity of Hashem and the most profound matters. The Rebbe Rashab said about himself that when he studied the sefer Imrei Binah the hair of his head fell out from the sheer exertion of the mind in intellectual contemplation, for hours on end, in order to understand the things written in it.
"b) Shaar HaEmunah. c) Shaar HaYichud - appended to Shaar HaEmunah" - two parts of one sefer, which today are called by the collective name "Ner Mitzvah V'Torah Ohr". Shaar HaEmunah - maamarim on the mitzvos of faith and the unity of Hashem, and also on the festival of Pesach; Shaar HaYichud - mainly on the order of the descent of the worlds and on the matter of contemplating that order.
"d) Shaar HaTeshuvah VeHaTefillah - three parts".
"e) Shaarei Ohr" - on the subjects of Chanukah and Purim. [It is worth noting: in the Hayom Yom teaching of 15 Adar II it is brought that at times the Mitteler Rebbe wrote seforim and maamarim for chassidim on a personal basis, and alongside them there are of course general seforim for everyone - such as Shaar HaYichud and Shaarei Ohr. And he distinguishes and says that Shaar HaYichud is the key to the teachings of chassidus, and Shaarei Ohr is the alef-beis of the teachings of chassidus].
"f) Ateres Rosh" - on Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur; and for that reason it is called "Ateres Rosh".
"g) Perush HaMilos" - maamarim according to the order of the prayers, the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe.
"h) Hosafos LeTorah Ohr".
"i) Toras Chaim" - on the books of "Bereishis-Shemos".
"j) Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai" - today the list is very long, and we have nineteen volumes of the maamarim of the Mitteler Rebbe. Here some of them are detailed:
"Bereishis Shemos - two volumes.
Vayikra - two volumes.
Bamidbar - five volumes.
Devarim - four volumes.
Nevi'im U'Kesuvim".
"k) Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai - Drushei Chasunah - two volumes".
"l) Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai - Kuntreisim" - a collection of all the kuntreisim.
"m) Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai - Hanachos" written down by chassidim, from "5577". Today there are nineteen volumes.
"n) Shnei HaMeoros", which was printed in 5642 in Lvov, and there it is written that they found the material in the handwriting of the Mitteler Rebbe and printed it; only that afterwards it became clear that these are the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, but in the handwriting of the Mitteler Rebbe. In any case, here they are still in the list of the seforim of the Mitteler Rebbe.
"o) Bad Kodesh", a thin booklet containing a letter of request that the Mitteler Rebbe wrote to the governor of Vitebsk at the time of his imprisonment, in which he explains to him matters connected with his imprisonment and his liberation. The Rebbe writes about this sefer that he did not find why it is called by the name "Bad Kodesh"; apparently whoever first printed it gave it that name and so it remained, but there is no real explanation for it. [Unique maamarim - in various places there appears a list of maamarim mentioned on their own: the maamar of 5 Kislev, the maamar Midor LeDor, and the maamar on the subject of the splitting of the Yam Suf. In other editions they are already included within the sefer together with other maamarim].
"p) Piskei Dinim Yoreh De'ah. q) Piskei Dinim Even HaEzer".
"r) Igros Kodesh" - two volumes of the Igros Kodesh of the Mitteler Rebbe.
With that, the list of the Mitteler Rebbe's daughters and the list of his seforim have been completed.