We are at the twenty-fourth lesson in the chain of the generations, in the life of the Rebbe Maharash - part two.
"5626 - accepts the nesius" is written in just two words, and it is fitting to elaborate a bit on that period. The passing of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek was on 13 Nissan 5626, and immediately afterward his son, the Rebbe Maharash, accepted the nesius and took his place in Lubavitch.
There were many hints and expressions - and more than that - from the mouth of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek even before his passing, that specifically the youngest son, the Rebbe Maharash, would take his place. We will bring a few examples from what appears in the sichos and memoirs of the Previous Rebbe. Thus, for instance, it is told that the Tzemach Tzedek would say maamarim especially for the Rebbe Maharash alone; he would call him in and say personal things to him.
It is further told that the Tzemach Tzedek had a distinctive description for each of his sons:
About one son he said: "This is my baal habayis."
About another son he said: "This is my lamdan."
And about another: "This is my chassid."
Each son had his own designation, while about the young Rebbe Maharash he said, "Kulhu isnehu bei" - all the qualities together are found in him.
At the beginning of the year 5626, the year in which the Tzemach Tzedek passed away, his father instructed him to begin saying chassidus publicly - still during the lifetime of the Tzemach Tzedek; and the Tzemach Tzedek sent a note to the chassidim in which he wrote: "Listen to him as you have listened to me."
In one of the letters that the Tzemach Tzedek wrote to the Rebbe Maharash - a letter of a few lines - it says: "Be strong and courageous to write and to say, and I support you with great semichah" - that is, he is ordaining him - "and do not fear any man. And may Hashem grant you success materially and spiritually, to learn and to teach, to observe and to do."
These many expressions show clearly that the Tzemach Tzedek wanted him. And another expression, especially interesting and powerful: the Tzemach Tzedek said, "The flask of spiritual oil that the Baal Shem Tov gave over to the Maggid to anoint the Alter Rebbe for his generations, with that power they anointed my father-in-law" - meaning the Mitteler Rebbe - "and with that power he anointed you." All these indicate that the one to continue would be the Rebbe Maharash, and this is what is alluded to in the two words "accepts the nesius," in the year 5626.
"5628 - travels to France, to meet with communal activists" As we related earlier as well, the Rebbe Maharash occupied himself a great deal, with mesirus nefesh, in rescuing Klal Yisrael in many matters. Here it is noted that in the summer of 5628 he traveled to France - and not only to France, but to various places. In one of his letters, from the month of Menachem Av of that year, the Rebbe Maharash signs that he is in Marienbad, a place on the German border. That is, that summer he stayed in these places, and all of it in order to meet with communal activists and to act on behalf of the Jewish people.
On his return to Lubavitch he stopped along the way for a few days in Odessa; afterward, in Tishrei 5629, he was in Kishinev, and only after that did he return to Lubavitch.
"5629 - establishes a permanent committee in Petersburg concerned with communal affairs" It is known that during the period of the Rebbe Maharash's nesius there was very great antisemitism in Russia toward the Jews. Many ministers in the government were haters of Israel and planned various schemes to carry out pogroms against Jews. The Rebbe Maharash felt the great responsibility resting upon him, and gave himself over to stand at the head of the campaign, in the front line, to save Jews in every possible way, and he was the driving force in all matters touching upon the good of the Jewish people. In that year, 5629, he established in Petersburg a committee of Jewish activists who concerned themselves with all that was happening with Klal Yisrael, in order to do whatever possible to protect the rights of the Jews.
Over the course of ten years, from 5630 until 5641, he himself traveled many times throughout Russia and abroad, all for matters of communal work, and he strove with mesirus nefesh to halt the pogroms that they tried to carry out against the Jews of Russia. And about this he elaborates at the conclusion of those ten years.
"5640 - worked and succeeded in quieting the pogroms" In the year 5640 there were actual pogroms against Jews in Kiev and in Nezhin. The Rebbe Maharash then traveled specially to the capital city, Petersburg, to meet regarding this matter with the Minister of the Interior. On the one hand he found favor in their eyes and succeeded in obtaining various promises that would prevent the matter; and when the pogrom broke out he traveled to the Minister of the Interior and spoke with him very forcefully: how is it possible that he does not stand by his promise? And he said to him, in a sort of threat, that the Jews abroad would not remain silent about this, intending thereby to threaten the Russian government that the world would storm against it. The minister said to him: "Why are you threatening me with people abroad?" And the Rebbe answered him: "You do not know the Jewish psychology, you do not know the brotherly love they have from one end of the world to the other."
Following these words, when he finished speaking with him, they arrested the Rebbe Maharash in the very hotel in which he was staying, and held him there as a prisoner. For two days he was under arrest, and on the third day he was released; and again he met with the Minister of the Interior and continued speaking with him, and he was promised that an answer would be given within two weeks.
It is interesting that in that same year, 5640, in the summer, on 12 Tammuz, the Rebbe Rayatz was born. At the bris - in which the Rebbe Maharash, the grandfather, of course participated, after he had returned to Lubavitch - he related and spoke about the work he had been engaged in during that period.
He related that when he began to enter into the work of intercession by the instruction of his father, the Tzemach Tzedek - as we have already read in earlier passages - he asked his father: "Give me a blessing that I should succeed." His father told him that a blessing is like rain: if you plow and sow, the blessing will help, since it will have something upon which to rest. And then the Rebbe Maharash said: "I have done my part, I have plowed and sown, and now I need rain." And indeed, in practice the intercession succeeded, and in the language here - "worked and succeeded in quieting the pogroms." This is the year 5640.
With this we conclude the life of the Rebbe Maharash in this passage: "On the night of the third day, 13 Tishrei 5643, he passed away" - that is, on Monday evening - "and his resting place is in Lubavitch."
It is told that at the bris of the Rebbe Maharash his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, spoke - and we already mentioned earlier things he said at the bris in connection with the name - and then he said this sentence: "The verse says, 'The days of our years are seventy years.' There are several levels in days: there is seventy, and there is eighty. 'Bahem' - with the letters." He said cryptic words, and they did not understand what he meant.
Almost fifty years passed since then. In the month of Sivan 5642, some three and a half months before his passing, the Rebbe Maharash said: "Father said 'bahem' with the letters, meaning fifty - for the gematria of 'bahem' is forty-seven: mem is forty, hei is five, beis is two; and adding the three letters themselves - fifty." That is, his father said "bahem" with the letters, which is fifty - and he sighed. And indeed, his passing was after fifty years.
On erev Rosh Hashanah of that year, 5643, a few days before the passing which was on 13 Tishrei - about two weeks earlier - he came in to speak with his Rebbetzin, Rebbetzin Rivkah. He said a few words to her, and from his words she understood that his passing would be in that year. She spoke up and said to him: but small children are being left behind, how is it possible? He did not answer her about that, but said: "I will ascend thirty-two levels upward, and you will ascend thirty-two levels below."
And what did he mean? The Previous Rebbe explains that at that time thirty-two droshim of the maamarim of the Rebbe Maharash had been printed. That is: I am ascending thirty-two levels upward with the thirty-two maamarim, and you will lengthen your days in this world another thirty-two years. And indeed she passed away in 5671, thirty-two years later. These things he said to her on erev Rosh Hashanah, two weeks before his passing.
And now to the day of the passing itself. As mentioned, it was on Monday evening, the night of the third day. Twenty-five minutes before the passing - so relates the Previous Rebbe - he took his pocket watch, detached it from the chain, took a piece of paper and wedged it into the watch in such a way that at eleven fifty-one at night the hands would stop and would not be able to continue past that.
And then he told the attendant to bring in his sons one after another:
First the eldest son entered, Reb Zalman Aharon; he spoke with him a few words and he went out.
After him the second son entered, the Rebbe Rashab; he spoke with him, and when he came out he wept very, very much.
After him the third son entered, the youngest, Reb Menachem Mendel.
Afterward he called his daughter, Chaya Mushka, who was still a young girl before her marriage, and he said to her: "I should have led you to the chuppah together with Mother, but when the Holy One, blessed be He, does not want..."; and then he placed his hands on her head and blessed her.
And so, while still sitting on the chair, exactly at eleven fifty-one, he passed away - still sitting on his chair; and his resting place is in Lubavitch, as noted above.