We are at the sixteenth lesson in the chain of the generations, on the order of the life of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, part 2.
"From the time the era of army service for Jews began, the "chappers" and the Cantonists, 5587 - 5615, he occupied himself with mesirus nefesh, and saved thousands and myriads from forced conversion and from death".
What is the background of this matter? The Russian king enacted a law according to which all Jews were obligated to enlist in the army, and its hidden purpose - and even its open one - was that the Jews should convert from their religion. They would take boys from the age of twelve until the age of eighteen and send them to preparatory camps called "cantons", and from this comes their name "Cantonists". There, during the years from age twelve until eighteen, they all underwent a Christian education, and at the age of eighteen they were sent to the Russian army for twenty five years. That is to say, in the natural course of things, for anyone who was sent there, every connection to Judaism was erased and obliterated.
The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek waged a fierce battle over this matter. He arranged that in all the gathering places in the cantons there should be special people, chassidic Jews, who would take an interest in the situation of those serving in the army, would encourage them and strengthen them in keeping the mitzvos, so that they should not fall, G-d forbid, into the trap of conversion that had been prepared for them. This continued until the year 5615, when Czar Alexander II rose to power, eased the pressure on the Jews, and some of the laws were annulled - and then this problem ceased.
Throughout all the years from when the decree began, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek occupied himself with this a great deal, and there are many stories about it. On one occasion a group of soldiers was permitted to come to the Rebbe, and he spoke an entire sichah to them. Much involvement and many stories are bound up with this matter, and this is the abbreviated description of it.
Indeed, these words are said about the period between 5587 and 5615, which is a general description of the whole era, but there were particular details also in the intervening period.
The next detail is in the year "5597 - he prints the "Torah Or"", the sefer familiar to us. There is a letter that the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek wrote, printed at the end of the "Torah Or", from 3 Shevat 5597, in which he briefly describes the sefer.
He writes that the sefer contains maamarim of the Alter Rebbe from the years 5556 until the end of 5572, literally just before the passing of the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe went over many of the maamarim, edited and reviewed them and gave approval to print them; the Mitteler Rebbe too agreed to their printing, except that he wanted that they should not be printed in bits and pieces each time, but rather be gathered together in an orderly fashion and printed as one unit.
The Tzemach Tzedek writes there that over the course of several years he collected and gathered everything that there was, edited it as much as possible, arranged the material according to the parshiyos of the Torah and divided it into two parts. The first part is the "Torah Or" that is being spoken of here, which includes Bereishis, Shemos, Chanukah and Purim, and interwoven in it are also a few maamarim on the festival of Shavuos and a few maamarim on the festival of Pesach - but in general these are the subjects.
The one who helped greatly and occupied himself with the printing of the sefer was the brother-in-law of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, the young son-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe, Rav Aharon of Shklov, whom we mentioned earlier. The sefer was printed in Kopust. The second part is no longer called by this name but rather "Likkutei Torah", and there is a story about this in connection with the decree regarding printing (a decree of the authorities), on account of which the name was changed, even though it is the continuation of that same idea.
The next detail is in the year "5598", ten years after the passing of the Mitteler Rebbe, that is, ten years in which the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek was already in the nesius: "he made his journey through the provinces of Mohilev and Minsk as far as Vilna and returned by way of the province of Vitebsk".
What was this journey? This was the first time that the Tzemach Tzedek set out, after the passing of the Mitteler Rebbe, on a very organized journey - to Minsk and to Vilna. Its purpose was to connect and to create a relationship with all the great ones among the misnagdim. The Rebbe notes in his sichos, mainly on Sukkos on the ushpizin nights that correspond to the Tzemach Tzedek, that in his days peace was made between the chassidim and the great ones among the misnagdim.
On this journey the Tzemach Tzedek traveled to Minsk, and there all the great ones among the misnagdim from the entire region arrived, gathered together, including a large delegation that came from Vilna; they all came to greet him. At this reception they arranged for him a sort of examination, to test his knowledge in Torah - and not by means of questions in halachah and the like, but rather they set up a table full of fruits and choice foods, and wanted to see and to test in halachah over which he would recite a blessing first. They placed there many foods - there are laws of precedence, whole and beloved and the seven species - and they set up all the possibilities, in order to see how he would conduct himself.
And then the Tzemach Tzedek presented them with a novel ruling in halachah: if there are on the table foods that a person has no interest at all in eating, then even though from the standpoint of their importance it may be that they have the law of precedence, since he has no interest in eating them - they lose the law of precedence. It is related there that the geonim among the misnagdim were in very great amazement at his genius on the one hand and at his simple conduct on the other hand, and they were impressed by his expertise, and particularly in the laws of berachos, and by his genius. This meeting brought about a great drawing close - and this was the purpose of the journey.
Let us look at another passage, from the year "5599 - he bought from the Prince Shchedrinov the estate of Shchedrin in the province of Minsk, together with an area of forest and sowing land. And he founds the colony of the town of Shchedrin, and gives plots of land and work implements to Jews who work the land".
It is known that the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek took a great interest in the economic situation of the Jews - as we related also about the Mitteler Rebbe - and he advised the chassidim to establish themselves in working the land, and he even assisted them with funding. The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek bought an enormous tract of land with a very large forest on it, and founded upon it an entire town by the name of Shchedrin. More than three hundred families settled in this area, and they had great abundance in livelihood.
Three hundred families on a tract whose size will be described shortly, so that each one had a truly enormous area. Each family received a plot of land that was sufficient for building a large dwelling house, structures for running an agricultural farm, a vegetable garden, areas of land for sowing and areas for grazing, and they also received financial assistance for purchasing work implements.
And what was the size of the tract that the Rebbe bought? About thirty five thousand dunam. To give a sense of it, for one who is familiar with the cities in Eretz Yisrael, this is roughly like half the size of the city of Haifa - a truly enormous area. He bought it from the Prince Shchedrinov, and after his name the place was called Shchedrin. This was the Tzemach Tzedek's activity to help the chassidim with livelihood and with establishing themselves in Russia.