By R’ Nison Gordon, z’l
Translated By P. Samuels

Part 3

This article is one of a series in translation from a biography of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, written in 1962 by R’ Nison Gordon, which first appeared in Der Yiddishe Heim.

When the Alter Rebbe, Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was niftar 150 years ago, his seven-year-old great-grandson Boruch Sholom was heartbroken and disconsolate. The Alter Rebbe died on 24 Teves 5573 (1813) in the village of Pienta, near Haditsch, while fleeing Napoleon’s armies, which were capturing city after city in White Russia.

R’ Boruch Sholom decided to impose on himself a personal fast day on 18 Elul, the birthday of the Alter Rebbe. The loss of his great-grandfather, who had loved him dearly, affected him so deeply that he felt that he must fast on the day his great-grandfather was born. Twelve years in a row, he fasted every 18 Elul, and no one knew about it. For the young Boruch Sholom, this fast was like a secret bond between him and his great-grandfather.

On the thirteenth year of his secret fast, when he was already a young man of 20, he heard something on Shabbos Ki Seitzei 5585. His grandfather, the Miteler Rebbe, Reb Dov Ber, related what a great yom tov it is in heaven when the neshamah of a tzaddik, and especially such a soul that will influence fellow Jews and bring them closer to Hashem, must come down to this earth. The Miteler Rebbe then described the great joy in heaven, both in the upper Gan Eden and the lower Gan Eden, as Hashem Himself leads the celebration. Together with Him, the souls of all the tzaddikim, with Moshe Rabbeinu at the helm, prepare the soul for its exalted mission in the body of a human being.

When Reb Boruch Sholom heard this–and perhaps his grandfather intended for him to hear this–he absolved his vow of fasting on 18 Elul. However, he did continue to fast on the Monday or Thursday before 18 Elul.

Since then, 18 Elul became a joyous day for Reb Boruch Sholom, but he did not eliminate the fast completely. One summer, when he was ill, the doctors ordered him to eat breakfast every day. That summer, 18 Elul 5599 (1829) was on a Thursday. Reb Boruch Sholom fasted the previous Monday, and he fainted several times that day, yet no one knew that he was fasting.

The story of Reb Boruch Sholom’s hidden fasts, a behavior of his forefathers, became a way of life for his great-great-grandson, Reb Menachem Mendel, who was also a frequent faster. Only those closest to him knew anything about his frequent fasts.

Once, after Ma’ariv, while he was still a young man right after his wedding, in Riga, someone close came into the Rebbe’s house, and got into a long conversation with Ramash–Reb Mendel Schneerson, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe was known among the chassidim until he became Rebbe.

While they were talking, his mother-in-law, Rebbetzin Nechama Dina Schneerson, came into the room, and in a motherly tone exclaimed, “Is there no limit to your fasting?”

The other party to the conversation, one of the closest people in the Rebbe’s house, had no idea until then that the young son-in-law was so scrupulous about fasting, and the Rebbe felt a bit awkward that his mother-in-law had disclosed his secret.

His relationship to his father-in-law, the Frierdike Rebbe, Reb Yosef Yitzchok, the way he spoke about him as if he was currently alive, his constant mentioning of “The Rebbe the Leader,” and the fact that he often answered a request by saying “I’ll mention it at the Ohel” all show a resemblance to the relationship that Reb Boruch Sholom had with his great-grandfather, the Alter Rebbe.

Reb Boruch Sholom, the oldest son of the Tzemach Tzedek, was among the spiritual mechutanim as the Lubavitcher Rebbe stood under the chuppah with the middle daughter of the Rebbe Reb Yosef Yitzchok, z’l, Rebbetzin Musia Tlita (a’h), Tuesday, Vayishlach 14 Kislev 5689 (1928). The wedding took place in the courtyard of the Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim in Warsaw.

Before Reb Yosef Yitzchok began to say the ma’amar “lecha dodi likras kallah” (which is customarily said at Lubavitcher chuppas) he said the following: “It is known that during a wedding, the neshamos of forefathers come down from the World of Truth. And as an invitation to the neshamos of the tzaddikim, our holy forefathers, in order that they should come and bless the couple, I will say a chassidus that entails one part from the Alter Rebbe, a part from the Miteler Rebbe, a part from the great-grandfather (the Tzemach Tzedek), a part from his grandfather (the Maharash), part from the chassan’s great-great-grandfather (Reb Boruch Sholom) and a part from my own father (Reb Sholom Ber), the kallah’s grandfather.”

When Reb Boruch Sholom came down for that wedding of his grandson in Warsaw, his heart–which was broken his entire life–was revived with heaps of nachas. That Tuesday evening in Warsaw, not only did he see Reb Menachem Mendel go under the chuppah, but he also saw him approaching the leadership throne of Chabad. If when a soul of a tzaddik must come down to this earth it engenders much joy, how much greater was the joy that Tuesday evening–for Reb Boruch Sholom and the souls of all the mechutanim who accompanied him–when the chosen seventh leader of Chabad took another step that drew him closer to the leadership.

Reb Boruch Sholom had two sons, both of whom served as rabbis. Reb Levi Yitzchok served as rav in Padobranka and Reb Mordechai was rav in Vitebsk. In Sefer HaSichos of summer 5700, page 146, another son of Reb Boruch Sholom, Reb Leib, is also mentioned, unlike in Bais Rebbe volume 3, page 24, where only the first two aforementioned sons, Reb Levi Yitzchok and Reb Mordechai, are listed. (Unless one can conclude that instead of Reb Leib, Sefer HaSichos should have written Reb Levi).

  • – –

The White Russian town Padobranka, near Homlia, is where the Rebbe’s father was born. Reb Levi Yitzchok later became rav in Yekaterinaslav. He was named after his grandfather, Reb Levi Yitzchok, who served as rav in Padobranka.

Padobranka was a town steeped in Torah and chassidus. It is known as the hometown of the two renowned chassidim, the brothers Reb Zalman and Reb Yoel Chaikin, who had traveled to the Tzemach Tzedek and later to the Maharash. Reb Yoel’s name is mentioned several times in the sichos of the Rebbe Reb Yosef Yitzchok as one of the chassidic elders by the Rebbe Reb Sholom Ber in Lubavitch. They were students of Reb Pesach of Aleksander, and were considered the younger chassidim by the Alter Rebbe and then later as elders by the Miteler Rebbe and by the Tzemach Tzedek.

The two brothers, Reb Yoel and Reb Zalman, were considered the “crown” of Padobranka. Reb Zalman was the wealthiest man in town and Reb Yoel served as rosh yeshiva. When Reb Levi Yitzchok, the oldest son of Reb Boruch Sholom, left Padobranka and became rav in Bieshinkavitch, Reb Yoel also became rav of the town.

Just as there are wonderful tales of Reb Yoel’s chassidus, his learning, and his davening, so too are stories told of Reb Zalman’s chassidus with his charity and good deeds–besides which he spent more time in beis midrash than following his business pursuits.

Reb Levi Yitzchok, the rav of Padobranka and Reb Zalman Chaikin, the richest man in town, became mechutanim. It was a shidduch that combined Torah, prosperity and lineage, when Reb Boruch Schneur, the rav’s son, became betrothed to the daughter of Reb Zalman, who was a big chassid.

This couple had a child on 18 Nissan 5638 (1878) who was named after his grandfather Reb Levi Yitzchok, who had passed away at the young age of 44. This Levi Yitzchok grew up to be the rav of Yekaterinaslav, the father of the Rebbe.

The Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, remembers and reminisces how, soon after her wedding, at the beginning of the 1900s she came with her husband Reb Levi Yitzchok to visit Padobranka. She relates that her father-in-law, Reb Boruch Schneur, lived in a dwelling which his father-in-law Reb Zalman Chaikin had built for him. She is particularly proud to recount the berachah she received from her husband’s grandfather, Reb Zalman.

The Rebbe’s mother even remembers that while she was in Padobranka, someone was getting divorced, and because there was no body of water in Padobranka (which according to halachah is a requirement for a get) the rabbi, the scribe, the witnesses, and all parties involved traveled to nearby Dobronka, which had a stream.

The Rebbe’s father was born in that White Russian town. The Russian chassidim called him Reb Levik, even when he became renowned as a genius in both facets of Torah nigleh and nistar (revealed and hidden). He learned by Reb Yoel Chaikin, his great-uncle and “in his early youth he already showed signs of talents and genius.” (The previous quote is taken from Kovetz Lubavitch, Elul 5704 as part of the notice of the petirah of Reb Levi Yitzchok, 20 Av 5704 in Alma Atta, Kazakhstan. It seems like the entire text of the notice, with all the descriptions about the niftar, came from his mechutan, the Rebbe Reb Yosef Yitzchok.)

Reb Levi Yitzchok was niftar at the age of 66, far from his birthplace in White Russia, far from the Ukrainian town Yekaterinaslav where he served as rabbi for 32 years, and far from his oldest son Reb Menachem Mendel, who was already in New York at that time.

Only his rebbetzin, his loyal life companion who accompanied him in joyous times and through difficulties and strife, was there to take leave in the name of the whole family, as his kever (grave) was covered in faraway Alma Atta.

 

SHARE
Previous articleSpringtime With Steven Addona
Next articleA Bald Truth

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here