We are beginning, in a good and auspicious hour, the section called "Shalshelet Hayachas - Brief Biographical Outlines of the Rabbinic Household". In the Hayom Yom calendar, in the first edition printed by the Rebbe in the year 5703, "Shalshelet Hayachas" was printed for the first time - a list containing very concise outlines of the activities of the Chabad Nesiim in every generation, the seforim they wrote, and their family members, all arranged according to chronological order and years.
Editions of Shalshelet Hayachas:
There are clear sources that the first edition of Shalshelet Hayachas, printed in 5703, was written by the Rebbe Rayatz - or at the very least taken from his diaries - and the one who edited it for printing was the Rebbe. In the first publication of Hayom Yom in the year 5703, Shalshelet Hayachas included our Rebbeim, the Nesiim, up to the Rebbe Rayatz and up to the year 5703, and ended there.
Over the years, additional editions of Hayom Yom were published. The next edition in which an addition was made to Shalshelet Hayachas was the edition of the year 5717, already during the Rebbe's nesius. There, for the first time, Shalshelet Hayachas was printed with the completion of the life story of the Frierdiker Rebbe, as well as the beginning of the outlines of the Rebbe's life up to that year, until 5717. And so it continued for years, without any further additions beyond that.
The first time the chronological sequence of years and events related to the Rebbe from 5717 onwards was completed was in the year 5742. The Jew who began to re-edit Hayom Yom, Rabbi Zeligson, wrote the continuation of the events from 5717, submitted it to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe edited it, adding and omitting things. The list was then printed by the Rebbe up to the year 5742, and thus things were added in every subsequent edition, with the Rebbe continuing to add more.
On 28 Sivan 5751 - a very special date, fifty years since the arrival of the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin to the United States - a booklet was published named "Kovetz 28 Sivan Yovel Shanim", and in it was printed specifically only the life story of the Rebbe until 5751. The Rebbe himself distributed this booklet to each and every individual. From all of this introduction, it is clear that the entire list we will study, with G-d's help, step by step, is very accurate and very important.
And perhaps it can be said, that this is an introduction before entering the palace of Hayom Yom, in which one must know what and how a chossid lives. The language of the Mishnah is "Know from where you came," and afterwards - where you are going. It can be said that beginning with Shalshelet Hayachas is in the aspect of "Know from where you came": first we will know the root, the sources, and the order of the chain of descent of our Rebbeim, the Nesiim, and after we know from where we came, we will also know where we are going, and we will be able to enter the Hayom Yom calendar and learn the entire process. This is merely an opening.
Let us now read the first passage of Shalshelet Hayachas, which appears before the details about the Alter Rebbe. These are a few isolated lines about the great-grandfather of the Alter Rebbe - the Maharal of Prague - and the order of the generations from the Maharal of Prague to the Alter Rebbe.
And it opens by saying: "The Gaon, Marana Verabbana Yehuda Livai, may the memory of the tzaddik be a blessing" - "Marana Verabbana" means our master and teacher, and "Yehuda Livai" is the name of the "Maharal of Prague". "Maharal" is an acronym for: Moreinu HaRav Livai, and Livai is his family name. The histalkus of the Maharal of Prague was on 18 Elul of the year 5369, when he was ninety-seven years old.
The Torah of the Maharal of Prague is, one could say, the root of the teachings of chassidus. For example, when the Alter Rebbe writes on the title page of the Tanya that the sefer is "compiled from seforim," there is a tradition among chassidim that the reference to "seforim" includes, among others, the Maharal of Prague. It is known that the Maharal of Prague was a very great mekubal, as well as a mekubal in practical Kabbalah; and the most famous story about him is that he created a Golem - a creation which is based on practical Kabbalah.
It continues and says who the Maharal of Prague was: "From the lineage of the Geonim tracing their ancestry to Dovid ben Yishai" - that the Maharal of Prague is from the descendants of King Dovid, and there is a lineage from King Dovid to the Maharal of Prague. This sentence was taken from the tombstone of the Maharal of Prague, upon which these words are engraved. And for the Maharal of Prague, this was taken from the tombstone of his great-great-grandfather, who was called by the same name - Rabbi Yehuda Livai, known as Rabbi Yehuda Livai the Elder - on whose tombstone it is also already written that he is from the lineage of the Geonim tracing their ancestry to Dovid ben Yishai. This is, therefore, the first one appearing here in Shalshelet Hayachas, the Maharal of Prague, who is the root for all the continuing generations of our Rebbeim, the Nesiim.
Seven generations from the Maharal to the Alter Rebbe:
Let us look briefly at the chronological chain of seven generations, from the Maharal of Prague to the Alter Rebbe, about whom we will begin to elaborate, with G-d's help, later on. What is known to us about the son, the grandson, the great-grandson, and so on, is from the Sefer Hazichronos of the Rebbe Rayatz, in which details about each of them are specified. We will briefly present a point on each one:
a) His son, Rabbi Betzalel: In Sefer Hazichronos it is told that he was known as "Rabbi Betzalel Charif". He was very talented, and his special talent was in delivering a shiur to students. He passed away in Germany at the age of sixty-four.
b) His son, Rabbi Shmuel: The grandson of the Maharal of Prague. It is told about him that he was very gifted with beautiful handwriting, in a unique manual craftsmanship. One of the special things told about him is that when he was sixteen years old, he wrote a Torah scroll on an extremely tiny parchment - there is a description there of its miniature size - and brought it as a gift to his grandfather, the Maharal of Prague, and his grandfather enjoyed and greatly delighted in the special gift he received from his grandson: a Torah scroll written in miniature script. It is also told about him, that when he passed away in Prague, they wanted to bury him next to his grandfather, but there was no room, since the cemetery in Prague is very crowded. It is told in Sefer Hazichronos that a miracle occurred above the natural order, and the ground expanded, and space was created to dig a grave for Rabbi Shmuel right next to his grandfather, the Maharal of Prague.
c) His son, Rabbi Yehuda Leib: It is told about him that he was very talented and a great lamdan, and authored a sefer named "Kol Yehuda" on the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim.
d) His son, Rabbi Moshe: Known in Sefer Hazichronos as "Rabbi Moshe of Posen". He participated in the bar mitzvah of the Alter Rebbe, and at the age of ninety-one merited to be at the bar mitzvah of his great-grandson, the Alter Rebbe.
e) His son, Rabbi Shneur Zalman: He is the first in the lineage called by this name, named after his mother's father, who was called Shneur Zalman. It is told that he engaged in the diamond trade.
f) His son, Rabbi Baruch: The father of the Alter Rebbe. There is a hypothesis, and a whole discussion about it, that his full name was "Yisrael Baruch", and there is a tombstone that some say is his tombstone, and on it is engraved "Yisrael Baruch". However, in practice, he is known to us only by the name Baruch. And why is he not known to us by his first name, Yisrael? This is how it is told: from the time he drew close to the Baal Shem Tov, he did not want to call himself by the name of his Rebbe - since the name of the Baal Shem Tov was Yisrael - and therefore he ceased to use the name Yisrael, and because of this he is known to us only by the name Baruch.
g) His son, Hod Kevod Kedushas Admur HaRav Shneur Zalman: He is the Alter Rebbe.
The Alter Rebbe is therefore the seventh generation from the son of the Maharal of Prague, and here begins the lineage of the Chabad Rebbeim. We will continue regarding this, with G-d's help, in the coming classes, and relate more and more details about each of our Rebbeim, the Nesiim.