We are in the nineteenth lesson in the chain of lineage, on the life of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, in the fifth part. Today we will study about the sons and daughters of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek. As is known, he had seven sons and two daughters. We will study the details of his sons and daughters.
Let us begin with the first son of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek. A. His Holiness the holy Rav, the Rav the Chassid Rabbi Baruch Shalom. The first son of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek is the great-grandfather of the Rebbe, as we shall see with God's help further on the chain of generations that came from him, and the order of descent through which the Rebbe was born from his descendants.
His name is Baruch Shalom, after the father of the Alter Rebbe and the father of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek. The father of the Alter Rebbe was called by the name Baruch, and the father of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek was called by the name Shalom Shachna, and he is named after both of them.
He was born approximately in the year 5595. It is told that his sandak was the Alter Rebbe, who cherished him very much. He taught him the cantillation of the Torah reading, the te'amim of the Scriptures. It is known that the Alter Rebbe had very, very unique melodies for each of the sections of Tanach, and he taught this grandson the te'amim personally. It is written that the father, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, would study Etz Chaim and Pri Etz Chaim with his eldest son.
It is told about him that in his character he was extremely humble and modest. When his father, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, was present, he would not open his mouth at all, except for occasions when the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek would explicitly say to him: "Tell what you remember from the grandfather." Then, out of honoring one's father, when his father requested it, he would dare to open his mouth and tell something, but generally he behaved with modesty. Therefore, after the passing of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, he did not take upon himself any leadership or Rebbe-ship in any place, which his brothers did take upon themselves, as we shall see. He did not want at all to accept the leadership in any area, in any form.
His passing was on the 16th of Shevat, 5629, and his resting place is in the Ohel of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash. He is buried next to his father. This is the eldest son, Rabbi Baruch Shalom.
The second son—one can already tell from his title that he was called Kevod Kedushat Admor, Rabbi Yehuda Leib. He was born in the year 5572 (תקע"ב), that is, before the passing of the Alter Rebbe. In his case too, the Alter Rebbe was the sandak, as is known that the mara d'atra may serve as sandak for several sons of the same family. He was the sandak both for the first son and for the second son.
He was very attached to his grandfather, the Mitteler Rebbe. He would go to hear maamarim, and the Mitteler Rebbe was very fond of him, and would wait for him to arrive in order to deliver the maamarim in his presence. He was so connected to the Mitteler Rebbe that after the Mitteler Rebbe passed away, there were many years during which he was not connected to his father as a chassid. His father, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, was a father to him, but as a chassid it took him a long time. And the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek made great efforts, because he wanted his son to be his chassid.
It is told that his father, the Tzemach Tzedek, prevailed in 5603, when there was the famous conference in Petersburg about which we have already told. He took him along with him to Petersburg, and then managed to influence him to become his chassid. The Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, gave him instructions to recite Chassidus publicly, and to give people advice both in material matters and in spiritual matters. He truly received power from the Rebbe for this. After his father passed away, he moved his residence to Kopust, and many chassidim came to him to be connected to him, but he did not live long. He passed away half a year after the Tzemach Tzedek, on the 3rd of Cheshvan 5627, at the age of fifty-six the Maharil passed away, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, the second son of the Tzemach Tzedek.
The third son was also called by the same title as the second, "the honorable holy Admu"r Rav Chaim Shneur Zalman." Already from his name one can understand that he was born after the passing of the grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, and therefore he was named after him. He was born approximately one year after the passing of the Alter Rebbe, in 5574. It is told about him in Beis Rebbi that he was a very, very special Jew in avodas Hashem. He too received an instruction from his father to repeat Chassidus and to answer people's questions in material and spiritual matters.
After the Tzemach Tzedek passed away, he remained living in Lubavitch for two or three years. Afterward, in 5629, he moved to the city of Liadi, the city where the Alter Rebbe had lived, and there were chassidim who traveled to be connected to him. He lived in Liadi for eleven years, and on the 4th of Tevet 5640 he passed away. And in Beit Rebbi they note interesting parallels between him and the Alter Rebbe, in a wondrous manner. First of all, he was named after him. Second, he lived in Liadi for eleven years, exactly the same number of years that the Alter Rebbe lived in Liadi. He passed away in the month of Tevet, like the Alter Rebbe who passed away in the month of Tevet, and he passed away at the age of sixty-six, just as the Alter Rebbe was sixty-six at his passing. Interesting parallels between the third son, Chaim Shneur Zalman, and the Alter Rebbe.
The fourth son was also called Admur, "the honorable holy Admur Rabbi Yisrael Noach." He was born in Lubavitch in the year 5575 or 5576. It is told of him that he was an immense genius, primarily in the revealed [Torah], and afterward also an immense genius in Chassidus. He would recite maamarim before the chassidim even during his father's lifetime. His father, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, appointed him head of the yeshiva. And after his father's passing he remained in Lubavitch for several years, and then moved to Nizhin. He lived about fifteen years in Nizhin, and at the age of sixty-six, on the first day of the festival of Pesach 5643, he passed away. Nizhin is the place where the Mitteler Rebbe passed away and where his resting place was, and he is buried in the ohel of the Mitteler Rebbe in Nizhin. This is the fourth son.
The fifth son was also called Admur, the fifth, "the honorable holy Admur, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak." There are various opinions about exactly when he was born. In one place it is written 5582, and in Beis Rebbi it is written earlier, 5579. After his marriage he moved to live in the place where his father-in-law lived, the Rebbe Yaakov Yisrael of Cherkassy. Still during the lifetime of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, he left his father-in-law's place and moved to live in the city of Ovruch, near Zhitomir. Sometimes he would also come to Lubavitch. And they told very many wondrous stories about him. He passed away young, at the age of fifty-seven, in the month of Kislev 5636.
The sixth son, the rabbi and chassid Rabbi Yaakov. He is not referred to as Admur. He passed away very, very early, at a very young age, still during the lifetime of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek. He lived in Orsha. It is written that he was born between the fifth son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, and the Rebbe Maharash. That is to say, he was born—depending on the versions—in 5570, or 5580, or 5583, and already passed away in 5597. That is to say, at about fourteen years of age, something like that. But he managed to marry, and one son was born to him, whom they called Rabbi Yaakov, named after the father-in-law of the Mitteler Rebbe, who was a teacher in Zhlobin, and they called him Rabbi Yaakov. He is buried in the city of Tulchin. He was very young, and therefore he too was not an Admur, because he passed away still during his father's lifetime, truly young.
The seventh son is the Rebbe Maharash, the honorable holy name of his glory, Rabbi Shmuel. This is the Rebbe Maharash, about whom, of course, later, when we reach the Rebbe Maharash, we will tell more extensively.
Now we will conclude with the daughters of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek. As we said earlier, he had two daughters. The first — the Rebbetzin Rada Freida, whose husband was the chassid Rav Shneur, who was her first cousin. Her husband was the son of Rabbi Nachum, the son of the Mitteler Rebbe. That is to say, the mother of the Rebbetzin Rada Freida was the daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe, and as for him, his father was the son of the Mitteler Rebbe. They were first cousins.
It is told in the Rebbe's journal notes that at the wedding of Rada Freida to her husband, Rav Shneur, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek announced in the middle of the wedding that the Alter Rebbe was arriving. Of course, this was long after the passing of the Alter Rebbe. He announced that the Alter Rebbe was arriving, and that everyone should be quiet and guard themselves from sinful thoughts. And at a certain point he said to the groom: "Lower your head. The Rebbe wants to bless you. Grandfather wants to bless you," something wondrous during their wedding.
The second daughter, the second one - Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, whose husband was the great rabbi, the chassidic rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak. They called him Rav Levi Yitzchak Zalmanson, whose family was from the city of Vitebsk. Not much is told about him, but as we explained earlier, that the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek established a yeshivah in Lubavitch, the son-in-law of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, Rav Levi Yitzchak, was appointed to be the director of the yeshivah. These are the sons and daughters of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek.