We are at the third lesson in the order of the Shalsheles HaYachas, and in it we begin the first period in the account of the life of the Alter Rebbe. We will study the opening lines.
The first thing the Rebbe brings about the Alter Rebbe: "Born on 18 Elul 5505". The Alter Rebbe was born on 18 Elul, which as is known is also the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov - the birthday of the two great luminaries.
The place of birth is not entirely clear, and the doubt is whether he was born in Liozna or in Poznan - and as we have already seen, his grandfather was called Reb Moshe of Poznan.
The year of birth, 5505, was immortalized by the Rebbe Rayatz: the Chabad publishing house, which publishes all the seforim of Chassidus in the world, was named by him "Kehot", and one of the reasons for this is that "Kehot" has the same letters as 5505 (תק"ה) - the year of the Alter Rebbe's birth. In other words, every Chabad sefer recalls where it all began: from the year 5505, from the moment the soul of the Alter Rebbe descended into the world and the teachings of Chassidus began to spread through the world.
"And his mother's name was Rivkah, daughter of Reb Avraham". The story is well known that when the Alter Rebbe was imprisoned and people came to ask Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev to pray for him as he had requested, they did not know his mother's name in order to give it to him; Reb Levi Yitzchak opened the Chumash and found: "And Yaakov saw that there was shever (grain) in Egypt", and he explained - "shever" is an acronym for Sh'neur B'en R'ivkah.
From the wording "Rivkah daughter of Reb Avraham" we learn that the name of the Alter Rebbe's grandfather on his mother's side was Avraham. Later on, when we reach the names of the Alter Rebbe's sons, we will see that his second son was called Chaim Avraham, and there we will explain that it later became clear to the Alter Rebbe himself that his grandfather's full name was Chaim Avraham and not Avraham alone. But at this stage we say that the grandfather's name is Reb Avraham.
The account continues: "At the bar mitzvah celebration" after the Alter Rebbe reached the age of thirteen, "the geonim of the generation described him with the title 'Rav is a Tanna and may differ'". The Rebbe Rayatz describes in his sichos that the geonim of the generation were present at the bar mitzvah, having come to take part in it, and it was a gathering unique in its kind. The Alter Rebbe, as a lad of thirteen, said such wondrous chiddushei Torah that all the geonim present were astounded, and on the spot they ordained him for the rabbinate and gave him the title "Rav".
This title comes to express his greatness, and its source is in the Gemara: in the Talmud there is a group of Amoraim who were at the beginning of the era of the Amoraim and whose standing is that of a Tanna. Generally the standing of a Tanna is higher than that of an Amora, and therefore an Amora cannot disagree with the words of a Tanna, and when the words of an Amora are brought and there is a Mishnah that contradicts him - the words of the Amora are rejected. But there are a few Amoraim whose standing is that of a Tanna and who can disagree with a Mishnah, and one of them is Rav. Several times in Shas, when a question is raised on Rav that there is seemingly a Mishnah contradicting his words, the Gemara says: "Rav is a Tanna and may differ" - Rav is a Tanna, and can disagree with another Tanna.
It emerges that even though he was in the era of the Amoraim, this is a very great designation. And in our case, they applied it to a young lad of thirteen, to say that although he is young - he has within him the power of the era of the Tannaim. The Rebbe Rayatz notes that this special designation of the Alter Rebbe was recorded in the ledger of the chevra kadisha.
Let us add a few words: when the Alter Rebbe was a child of five, his father Reb Baruch registered him in the ledger of the chevra kadisha, meaning that he would be listed as one who would serve in the chevra kadisha. The Alter Rebbe himself said over the years that he was grateful to his father for having entered him there already from the age of five. Thus, for example, it is told that when the Maggid of Mezritch passed away, the Alter Rebbe merited to be among those who attended to his holy body, and he even won in the lottery to attend to the Maggid's head. And why did he merit to enter the lottery at all? Because it was decided that only one who has membership in the chevra kadisha could take part in this, and the Alter Rebbe was registered there as a future attendant already from the age of five; and when he reached the age of bar mitzvah, they added to his name in the ledger of the chevra kadisha the title "Rav", for he had received a special ordination up to the level of "a Tanna and may differ".
"In the year 5520 - his wedding". The Alter Rebbe married at the age of fifteen, in the year 5520, and the time of the wedding was on the eve of Shabbos Parshas Nachamu, 12 Menachem Av.
And what happened immediately after the wedding? "He conducted a great campaign, with his efforts and with his money, among the Jews to engage in working the land". The dowry money he received after the wedding the Alter Rebbe invested, together with his efforts, in order to encourage Jews to have a livelihood - that they should buy land and have the ability to work; and with this he was greatly occupied.
In later years he engaged in this even more. It is told in the Sefer HaToldos that when he returned for the first time from Mezritch, after he had heard the approach of the Baal Shem Tov in cherishing simple Jews and the concept of a dwelling place in the lower realms, he added and invested in this - to find Jews a livelihood in the plain sense, with effort and with money.
In the year "5524", when the Alter Rebbe was nineteen years old, "he goes to Mezritch for the first time" - as related in the "Hayom Yom" of 11 Menachem Av. There it is described that the Alter Rebbe went together with his brother the Mahari"l, except that his brother went without his wife's permission and therefore returned immediately, whereas the Alter Rebbe, who went with permission, remained by the Maggid until after Pesach of the year 5525.
Many other things occurred in his life, but we relate to and read only what the Rebbe included in brief - the main points in the Shalsheles HaYachas of the Alter Rebbe.