We are at the forty-third lesson in Shalsheles HaYachas, in the life story of the Rebbe, in the third part. We have reached the year 5685.
"5685" in the wording of Shalsheles HaYachas: "For the month of Tishrei he travels to the Rebbe Rayatz". As related, the Rebbe spent at least part of the Tishrei holidays with the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe was in Leningrad during part of the days of Tishrei, and as described, he had a small room, not far from the previous Rebbe's apartment, and there he stayed during Tishrei, at least part of it.
And the continuation: "During that period he met with the gaon Rabbi Yosef Rosen of Rogatchov, of blessed memory, (and receives semichah from him) and they also correspond frequently by letter". There is testimony that during that year, and mainly during the summer, the Rebbe met face to face with the Rogatchover Gaon, and there is also testimony of letters on matters of halachah that he exchanged with him. The Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana, told the chassid Reb Berel Yunik that the Rogatchover Gaon granted the Rebbe semichah. We do not have a copy of the semichah and there is no documented evidence of it, but that is what Rebbetzin Chana related.
"5686" - here one line appears: "Travels on his father-in-law's mission" - the Rebbe traveled on the mission of the Rebbe Rayatz. The term "his father-in-law" already appears here, since it was known that the Rebbe was destined to be the son-in-law of the Rebbe Rayatz. The Rebbe Rayatz sent him "to visit the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in Kremenchug".
In the memoirs of one of the chassidim, Rabbi Dovid Okunov, who was then a temim in the yeshivah, it is related that the Rebbe visited there and spoke with the bochurim about matters of study. He even remembers which topic they were dealing with: in tractate Bava Metzia, daf 30b, where the Gemara explains the verse "and you shall make known to them the way", and specifies what each word of the verse refers to. The bochurim asked the Rebbe what Rashi's intent there was, and he remembers that the Rebbe began and said: "As it appears to me, the explanation in Rashi is...", and he began to explain Rashi's words to them. Afterwards they noticed that all the difficulties which various commentators raise on Rashi are resolved on their own according to the manner of explanation that the Rebbe had given from the outset - according to which there were no questions at all.
The year "5687" appears in two parts. The first part: "In the month of Marcheshvan he participated in the rabbinical conference in the city of Korostin (Volhynia)". It is related that there was a desire to establish a conference of Jewish leaders from all over Russia, and the Rebbe Rayatz strongly opposed it, and said that nothing would come of it. Afterwards there was an update: they understood that a conference of everyone who goes by the name "Jewish leader" would not lead in a good direction, and therefore they held a conference of rabbanim only, G-d-fearing and observant, and to this the Rebbe Rayatz gave his consent and his encouragement.
The gathering took place in the month of Cheshvan, over three days - 18, 19 and 20 Cheshvan - in the city of Korostin in Ukraine. The Rebbe Rayatz was chosen as honorary president of the conference, but in practice he did not attend it physically; rather he sent a letter of support, and apparently the one who participated there as his actual representative was the Rebbe.
"Afterwards he stayed in Leningrad". It is related that even at the famous farbrengen of the previous Rebbe on Purim Katan 5687, following which came the arrest, the Rebbe also participated. And this is the second part that appears here briefly: "And at the time of the imprisonment of the Rebbe Rayatz he works much for his release". In a few words it is related here that when the Rebbe Rayatz was imprisoned, the Rebbe worked much for his release. There are many details in the matter, and we will bring a few points briefly.
The night of the Rebbe Rayatz's arrest was the night of 15 Sivan. In the diary of the Rebbe Rayatz, brought in "Likkutei Dibburim" in the account of the imprisonment, everything that happened that night at his arrest is noted in detail. There is also a diary written by the chassid Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Althaus, which describes, from his side, the events of that night. He describes that while the police representatives were in the home of the Rebbe Rayatz, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the middle daughter of the Rebbe Rayatz, was alone in one of the rooms. She went over to the window, and no one was present, and from the window she saw her husband - the Rebbe - standing in the street below. She called out to him from the window one sentence: "Schneerson, guests have come to visit you" - and this was already a clear code.
In that second the Rebbe understood the intent, and ran quickly to inform those close to him about what was happening. First he ran to the home of the chassid Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Althaus, that same chassid who documents the matter, and afterwards to the home of the secretary, Rav Chaim Lieberman. Chaim Lieberman lived in a building that one could not enter in the middle of the night, since a watchman stood outside. The Rebbe came together with Althaus and they tried to enter, and the watchman would not let them. So they called to him from the window and hinted to him that he needed to be careful in the matter. Chaim Lieberman grasped the matter, lit a fire and burned all the suspect documents, so that if they were seized no trace of them would remain.
And when the police arrived at the house and saw the remnants of the fire, they understood that the business was already finished. They asked him who the two people were who had been there, since the watchman had told them about two men; but Chaim Lieberman did not give them away, and said: "Those were two drunks who got confused on their way" - and with that the matter ended.
Another thing the Rebbe did that night: he ran to take the manuscripts, the holy handwritten maamarim of the Rebbe Rayatz, which are maamarim of Rabboseinu Nesi'einu that the Rebbe Rayatz had preserved, and he distributed them among the homes of chassidim - among others in the home of Rav Zalman Duchman, and in additional homes. And when one examines the account of the Rebbe Rayatz, one sees that he writes the thoughts he had that night in prison, during the interrogations: worry over what was happening with his son-in-law, the Rebbe, and what had become of the manuscripts - whether he had managed to get his hands on them. At that very hour the Rebbe was taking care of these two matters.
It is worth noting that in one of the years, much later, in 5715 or 5716, on the tenth of Tammuz there was a farbrengen of the elder chassidim together with the Rebbe, in the upstairs apartment of the previous Rebbe. This was a small farbrengen, before the farbrengen with the public. At that farbrengen the chassid Rabbi Zalman Duchman rose, that same chassid who had received the manuscripts from the Rebbe on that night, pointed at the Rebbe and declared before all the chassidim: "If not for the Rebbe, we would not be celebrating the festival of redemption in Tammuz today" - and he related how much the Rebbe had worked there through his efforts. And then the Rebbe motioned to him to be silent and not to speak. Afterwards the chassidim asked him to tell, and he replied: the Rebbe does not want me to tell, and therefore I am not telling.
Here everything appears briefly, in a few words - that the Rebbe "works much for his release". It does not relate what was done, but a large part of the matter was thanks to the Rebbe's action in it.