We are in the twenty-third lesson in the chain of transmission. Today we begin the biography of the Rebbe Maharash. The letter dalet, the light of the honor of the holiness of our master and teacher, Admur Shmuel. What is the reason that the Rebbe Maharash was called by this name? It is told that at the brit feast of the Rebbe Maharash, one of the older brothers of the Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Elazar the son of the Maharil, asked the father, the Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek, after whom did he name the infant Shmuel? He asked, perhaps it is after Shmuel the prophet? The Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek answered the Maharil: no, it is after a water-drawer who lived in the city of Polotzk. They called him Shmuel, and after him the Rebbe Maharash was named. And regarding the remark, "perhaps it is after Shmuel the prophet?" the Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek said: "a wise man is preferable to a prophet." Who was that water-drawer? There is no description there, but this was the name of the Rebbe Maharash.
He was born in Lubavitch. When was the birth of the Rebbe Maharash? On the 2nd of Iyar, which, as is known, is in the middle of the counting of the Omer, in the sefirah of tiferet within tiferet, as is related in "Hayom Yom," in the saying of the 2nd of Iyar, concerning the statement that the Tzemach Tzedek Rebbe made to the teacher, when the teacher was very impressed by the knowledge of the Rebbe Maharash when he was a child. The Tzemach Tzedek Rebbe responded and said to him: "What is the wonder that tiferet within tiferet performs so well?" This was on the 2nd of Iyar.
This year is 5594, the accepted year that we know for the birth of the Rebbe Maharash. But there are places, and interestingly in the "Hayom Yom" itself, on the 2nd of Iyar, where it is written that the birth was in 5593. In one of the places the Rebbe notes the two versions, that once it is written 5593 and once it is written 5594. There is a note by the Rebbe that perhaps this is a difference between the conception and the birth, meaning that the conception was in 5593 and the birth was in 5594. In any case, it is interesting that in the "Hayom Yom" itself there is a difference between how it appears here and how it appears on the date of the 2nd of Iyar.
The next thing he relates here: "He married in his first marriage." Whom did the Rebbe Maharash marry? The daughter of his brother, the Admur Moreinu HaRav Chaim Shneur Zalman. That is, he married his niece, in the year 5608 (תר"ח). Here too there are places where it is written that this was 5607 (תר"ז). His first marriage was to the Rebbetzin Sarna. It was a very large and magnificent wedding, and thousands of chassidim came to participate in it. But during the seven days of the wedding feast the bride fell ill, and three months later she passed away. In order to ease his sorrow over her passing, the father, the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, ordered that a room be designated for the Rebbe Maharash adjacent to his own room, so that he could enter it at any time, and he would show him all sorts of manuscripts and the like, things he would not show to any of the other sons, in order to draw him close and to ease his sorrow over the tragedy.
Afterward, a year later, in 5609, he married in his second marriage the Rebbetzin Rivkah. The Rebbetzin Rivkah was the granddaughter of the Mitteler Rebbe, that is, her mother, the Rebbetzin Sarah, was a daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe. About her there is the famous story, when she was eighteen years old, already after her wedding, for they had married at the age of fourteen or fifteen. When she was eighteen years old, she once became ill, and the doctor commanded her to eat in the morning immediately upon waking early, but she did not want to eat before prayer, so she got up even earlier. When this became known to her father-in-law, the Tzemach Tzedek, he told her — this appears in "Hayom Yom" in the saying for the 16th of Shevat — that it is better to eat in order to pray than to pray in order to eat, and he blessed her with length of days. She passed away on the 10th of Shevat 5674, around the age of eighty, and her place of burial is in Lubavitch.
The next matter he tells about here concerns the year 5615. There are places where additional events that occurred in the intervening years are recounted, but here the Rebbe chose to note only certain matters. He immediately moves on to 5615. What happened then? He notes here one sentence: "He began communal work." His father, the Tzemach Tzedek, instructed him to begin occupying himself with matters connected to the Jewish people as a whole. He assigned to him a secretary, Rabbi Shmuel Berish. For example, it is told that in the month of Kislev of that year, 5615, an order came from the governor of Vitebsk, by way of a certain assembly connected to the printing of books, that the Tzemach Tzedek should participate in this assembly. The Tzemach Tzedek did not wish to, and sent in his stead, as his representative, the Rebbe Maharash, in 5615.
The next thing he notes here is [the year] 5617. Also a brief phrase: "traveling to Petersburg on communal matters." There was a town called Bilinitz, a very well-known Jewish town. The rav there was called Rav Aharon, and this Rav Aharon too would travel many times as an emissary of the Tzemach Tzedek to Petersburg on public matters. The Rebbe Maharash was in constant contact with him, and he too traveled to Petersburg to act on communal matters.
The next matter, he skips here to 5619. He travels to Ashkenaz, he traveled to Germany. The purpose was to meet with communal activists. There were communal activists who lived in Europe in various places outside of Russia. The Rebbe Maharash traveled in order to act on behalf of the Jewish people in various matters.
The next matter recounted here concerns the year 5623. He traveled to Kiev and saved hundreds of families who were about to be expelled from the villages in Volhynia. Regarding this journey, it is not spelled out exactly what happened in that particular year. Here it is written that it was 5623, and there are places where it is written about an earlier year, about 5618, that he traveled in order to act on this matter, to save families from expulsion. But perhaps it is the same story. It is told in one of the talks of the previous Rebbe that he met there with the great general who was in charge of the matter of the decree to expel the Jews, and he found great favor in the eyes of the general. The general asked him: Are you the leader of the Jews? He said to him: "No, the leader of the Jews is someone else" — meaning his father — "but I am his servant." And he began to explain to him the virtue of a servant. He gave him an example from Yehoshua bin Nun, of whom it is written in the Torah that he was the servant of Moshe, and he explained to him the virtue of the servant. He greatly won the heart of the general, and the general said to him: "Listen, I do not have the authority to annul the decree, but I will give a recommendation," and he sent a letter to Petersburg that they should postpone the decree by at least ten or fifteen years. So this comes to say, at the very least, that this is the same story — that he traveled and saved hundreds of families whom they wanted to expel.
The next matter is [the year] 5625. It is known that there were many decrees by which the Russians restricted Jews in all sorts of areas. They restricted them in where they could live, in what occupations they could engage, in which institutions they could participate, educational institutions. They simply restricted the freedom of the Jews. The Russians created the concept called the Pale of Settlement, and caused many problems. When Russia expanded, it reached places that had not been Russia and where Jews lived, so they found themselves with many Jews who managed all sorts of places on their own, and the Russians made their lives difficult.
Here one of these situations is recounted: in the year 5625 (תרכ"ה), the Rebbe Maharash traveled to Petersburg, and he overturned the decree that had been introduced into the Senate. There was a decree, and he succeeded in nullifying it, whose subject was restrictive laws against the Jews of Lita and Zhamot. Lita and Zhamot are regions that Russia had suddenly taken control of, and they enacted many laws to constrict the steps of the Jews. And the Rebbe Maharash, baruch Hashem, merited and succeeded in nullifying the decree, and he was engaged in world-encompassing communal work in order to act for the salvation of Jews, and part of this is recounted here in brief.