We are at the fifty-third lesson in the Shalsheles HaYachas, on the life of the Rebbe, in part 13. Today we will learn about the year 5711.
In the Shalsheles HaYachas one sentence is written about this year: "5711 - 10 Shevat he accepts the nesius" - the Rebbe took upon himself the nesius of the seventh generation on 10 Shevat, and "says the first maamar, the dibbur hamaschil "Basi LeGani".
As we learned regarding the previous year, 5710, the Rebbe firmly refused to take the nesius upon himself throughout that entire year. There were several points at which the chassidim tried to act on the matter, and we will bring an example from the period closest to 10 Shevat.
23-24 Teves 5711:
On 23 Teves the chassidim in the United States signed a kesav hiskashrus to the Rebbe, and on the night of 24 Teves a delegation of thirty of the elder chassidim entered in order to present the kesav hiskashrus to the Rebbe. The Rebbe took the document in his hand, read the first line, immediately closed it, burst into intense weeping and said to them: "Please, leave here. This has nothing to do with me."
Two days later, on 26 Teves, large notices were published in the Jewish press in New York, that the Chabad chassidim had accepted the Rebbe as nasi of Chabad, and that on 10 Shevat the Rebbe would accept the nesius officially. When the newspapers reached the Rebbe and he learned what had been written, he called his secretary Rabbi Chodakov and said to him: "Turn to the newspaper editorial offices in my name and insert a notice of denial on my behalf. The matter is not correct."
Rabbi Chodakov, who heard that the Rebbe wanted to insert a denial, was very alarmed, and he called three chassidim: Reb Shmuel Levitin, Reb Yisroel Jacobson and Rabbi Shlomo Kazarnovsky. He told them the Rebbe's request and said: "This is what the Rebbe asked of me, and I must do as I was instructed, but I am holding myself back; in the meantime, you do what you have to do."
The three chassidim went in to the Rebbe, pleaded and begged, and said: "It is true that the chassidim want this; we did not say what the Rebbe wants, only that the chassidim want it." They wept and implored that the Rebbe not issue a denial, and after much pleading the Rebbe acceded to them and said that he would not insert a denial.
That year 10 Shevat fell on a Wednesday. A delegation of the elder chassidim entered and once again presented the Rebbe with a kesav hiskashrus in the name of all the chassidim in the world. The document itself was handed to the Rebbe by the chassid Reb Meir Ashkenazi, who said to him that if the Rebbe would accept the nesius - this would bring the Redemption; for it is known what Moshiach answered the Baal Shem Tov regarding the question of when he would come: "When your wellsprings spread outward," and if the Rebbe would accept the nesius he would certainly say maamarim of chassidus, and the matter would become publicized and bring the Redemption. The Rebbe listened and answered him: "Yes, but you have to help me" - a more agreeable statement.
That day the Rebbe traveled to the Ohel of the previous Rebbe. It is described that the chassidim also traveled to the Ohel and read out there a pidyon nefesh to the Rebbe Rayatz, to ask him to influence the Rebbe to accept the nesius, and there are very interesting descriptions of this. The Rebbe returned from the Ohel a short while before sunset.
In the evening an official farbrengen was held in honor of the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Rayatz, and on the other hand it had been written in the press that on this day the Rebbe was to accept the nesius. The Rebbe came in to the farbrengen at a quarter to ten at night and immediately began the first sicha.
In the first sicha the Rebbe spoke about strengthening the hiskashrus to the Rebbe Rayatz, and said that the Rebbe Rayatz is with us, even now. In the second sicha the Rebbe said that it is customary in America that when something new begins, the president issues a declaration - a new "statement" - and he said that he wished to give his statement: love of Hashem, love of the Torah and love of Yisroel - they are one thing.
The two sichos lasted from a quarter to ten until about ten thirty-five. Then one of the elder chassidim rose, Rabbi Avraham Nemtzov of Med, and announced: "The crowd wants the Rebbe to say a maamar of chassidus. The sichos are excellent, but the crowd wants chassidus." Five minutes later, at ten fifty, the Rebbe began and said the dibbur hamaschil "Basi LeGani".
The excitement was enormous, the crowd made a great commotion, and immediately everyone fell silent. The Rebbe did not say the maamar straight through: he said one section, stopped, and asked that they say lechaim. Then Rabbi Nemtzov jumped up on the table and proclaimed with Hashem's name: "Shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigianu lazman hazeh," and the crowd responded. The Rebbe motioned to him to come down from the table, and asked that they sing the niggun "Avinu Malkeinu" of the previous Rebbe and a niggun of the Rebbe Rashab.
After the conclusion of the Rebbe Rashab's niggun the Rebbe continued with the next section of the maamar, and again stopped, asked that they say lechaim, and they sang a niggun of the Rebbe Maharash and two niggunim of the Tzemach Tzedek. Afterwards the Rebbe said the third and final part of the maamar, and at its conclusion he asked that they sing a niggun of the Mitteler Rebbe, made a conclusion on the six orders of Mishnah, and they sang the Daled Bavos niggun of the Alter Rebbe. They sang the niggunim of all the Rebbeim, from bottom to top, and the farbrengen concluded at around twelve thirty at night.
This was the farbrengen of the acceptance of the nesius of 10 Shevat 5711, which in the Shalsheles HaYachas is summed up in one line: "he accepts the nesius." And these were the preparations for that day with which the Rebbe began.