Lesson eighteen in the chain of the generations - the life of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, part four.
Regarding 5608 it is written briefly: "5608 - prints the Likkutei Torah". But behind these four words stands an entire history. We already read earlier that in 5597 the Tzemach Tzedek printed the sefer "Torah Or", which is the first part; and it took more than ten years, until 5608, until the second part, "Likkutei Torah", was printed. What happened in the meantime?
Following the informing of the maskilim, in the month of Teves 5597 all the Jewish printing houses in Russia were closed - including the press in Kapost, where the "Torah Or" had been printed. They managed to print the "Torah Or", and immediately afterward the press was closed. The Russians approved only two printing houses: an active press in Vilna, and an approval in principle for a press in Zhitomir. The press in Vilna barely withstood the pressure of the demands of all the Jewish communities - to print siddurim, chumashim, Mishnayos and basic seforim - and it had work over its head, to the point that nothing more could be brought in.
The second press, in Zhitomir, although it was approved in principle, took time until the actual approval came out and until it opened - until 5608. In that year, when they received actual approval to operate the press, they printed the second part of the "Torah Or", which then received a new name: "Likkutei Torah".
Something else happened between the printing of the "Torah Or" and the printing of the "Likkutei Torah": during those ten years it became known to the chassidim that the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek had notes, hagahos and explanations on the maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, and they pleaded with him greatly that when he would print the second part, he should include in it all his explanations and hagahos as well. At first he did not agree, and in the end he agreed and the material was included.
What brought this about? As detailed in "Migdal Oz", in brief: the Tzemach Tzedek dreamed that the Alter Rebbe revealed himself to him and asked him to print, but he decided not to tell the dream to anyone. Afterward three of his sons dreamed exactly the same dream, and each one on his own came to his father and said to him: "Father, I dreamed such and such". Then the Tzemach Tzedek agreed, and all his hagahos were included in the second part, in the "Likkutei Torah" - as one sees very many parentheses in "Likkutei Torah", which are the hagahos of the Tzemach Tzedek.
The next detail: "5614 - protests against the demand of the ministry, based on the proposal of Lilienthal, to shorten the siddur for Jewish boys and to institute an abridged Chumash for Jewish children". We have already spoken several times about the maskilim, who caused many problems and fought in all sorts of ways to uproot everything G-dly and spiritual from Jewish children; they pushed for assemblies and informing, and sought to introduce changes in education. That Lilienthal, mentioned here by name, was one of the great maskilim; he was born in Munich, Germany, and was educated in an environment of people who had abandoned religion and of assimilationists, and when he came to Russia he caused a great deal of trouble.
Whoever is interested in seeing the details of the story at length will find them in the kuntres "The Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskalah Movement". There a long and detailed response of the Tzemach Tzedek is brought regarding their demand to shorten the Chumash. They argued: why include all the stories? There are stories that children are not supposed to hear and know - and they tried in all sorts of ways to shorten and cut. The Tzemach Tzedek writes a lengthy answer to each and every claim, with detailed reasoning as to why the matter is out of the question. For example, regarding the demand to remove certain verses that ostensibly are not relevant, he explains at length that the Torah is the Torah of Hashem, and everything in it is G-dly, and it is inconceivable that the human intellect should interfere and determine what is in and what is not; everything must remain exactly as it is, for everything is from Hashem. A full-length treatment of each and every matter. This was in that year, 5614.
The next item: "5616 - his courtyard burned down", the Rebbe's courtyard in Lubavitch, "and five crates [full of] manuscripts". Here the matters are written very briefly, and in detail much more is told about it. At that time a very great fire broke out in Lubavitch, which not only burned the courtyard of the Tzemach Tzedek, but spread, and many houses were burned.
The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek did not keep many manuscripts with him, but rather dispersed them - some in the house of the shamash and some in the house of the rav, for various reasons. With the rav alone there were twenty enormous volumes: twelve volumes in nigleh and eight in chassidus. In nigleh, for example, there were two thousand pages, in which the Tzemach Tzedek completed all the simanim in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe that had been burned - he completed everything. An immense treasure did the Tzemach Tzedek entrust into the hands of the rav.
It is told that when the fire broke out, the Rebbe himself ran to the house of the shamash. The shamash was a simple man, who did not know how to value the treasure that was in his possession, and at a time of fire people become frightened and save what they can; therefore the Tzemach Tzedek ran to his house in order to save the manuscripts. And when he arrived there, he saw the shamash himself coming out with the crate and shouting: "Rebbe, I saved this!" - the shamash understood what was placed with him.
To the rav the Rebbe did not run, but sent a Jew whom they called "Tzvi the Yellow" (apparently he was a redhead), and said to him: "Run to the house of the rav and help him take out the writings". It turns out that the rav saved for himself a sack of feathers and a beehive of honey, and did not remember at all the precious crate that was in his hands. Tzvi the Yellow tried, and they did not succeed - they got stuck in the doorway, and there are descriptions there - and the writings were not saved and were burned. The Rebbe was very, very displeased with him, and a long time afterward the rav understood that the Rebbe was displeased with him for having gathered his private belongings and forgotten the main thing that had been entrusted to him in his house.
Further: "5621 - 8 Teves he is widowed". In Teves the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the wife of the Tzemach Tzedek, passed away. After her passing the Tzemach Tzedek said "my world has darkened for me", and this was five years before his own passing. Although many times he was a strong and mighty man - and there are extraordinary descriptions of how little he slept and how he almost did not need to eat and the like - in the last five years he was, by contrast, ill and suffering very severe pain. After the Rebbetzin's passing he stopped receiving chassidim for yechidus, and said that counsel had been taken from him, and all sorts of such expressions; from the moment the Rebbetzin passed away there was a decline in the whole matter. This was in Teves 5621. The Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka rests in Lubavitch - there is an ohel of the Rebbetzins there, and that is where she is.
The last item in this passage is the passing of the Rebbe himself: "On Wednesday", at twelve thirty-seven at night, "the night preceding Thursday, the thirteenth of Nissan 5626, he passed away and his resting place is in the city of Lubavitch". [It is told that the day before, they added to the Tzemach Tzedek the name "Meir"]. This was the passing of the Tzemach Tzedek, and that same day, 13 Nissan, is also the day of the passing of Rabbi Yosef Karo. In the sefer "Migdal Oz" a hint is brought from a verse in Megillas Esther: "And the scribes of the king were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day thereof" - "the scribes of the king" hints at the Beis Yosef, who wrote the Shulchan Aruch, and at the Tzemach Tzedek, who wrote a very great deal; and both of them, the scribes of the king, were called to the King on 13 Nissan, which is the day of their passing.