We continue with the chain of the lineage - lesson fifty-eight in the Rebbe's life story, part eighteen.
About the year 5719 only one point was written, and in it is distilled the entire content and essence of that year - the power of a niggun: "5719 - taught the niggun "Shamil"". As in previous years, on the night of Simchas Torah, after the hakafos and after the yom tov meal, the Rebbe came in toward morning and taught the niggun.
Before he taught the niggun, the Rebbe prefaced that he had heard the niggun from chassidim together with a story: when the Russian government expanded and sought to conquer the cities of the Caucasus, there was a non-Jewish ruler there named Shamil. It was extremely difficult to conquer them, since they were settled on the high mountains, and although they were not numerous in men, they had the advantage of being situated above. The Russian government therefore deceived them, promised them various benefits and asked them to come down; and in the end they seized Shamil, the ruler, and exiled him into the depths of Russia.
It is told about him that while he was there in the long exile, he was aroused with longing for the position he once held in the great mountains as compared to his situation now, and he expressed his longing and his pain from the depths of his heart in a niggun. This is that niggun: its first part tells how good things once were for him and how bad his situation is now, and it concludes with a movement of hope that he will ultimately return, and everything will be restored to its place in peace.
And what is the meaning of this niggun? The Rebbe related that chassidim who heard the niggun translated it and said that this is exactly what happens to the neshamah: the neshamah was above, on a lofty roof, and it descended below into a body. And how much longing it has for the good state it was in, and how much its present situation pains it - but it concludes with the hope that in the end it will overcome all the hindrances and obstacles and it will have only good. That is the inner content of the niggun "Shamil".
The year 5720 also opens with a niggun, as in the previous years: "5720 - taught the niggun "Rachamana d'onei"", and here too it was on the night of Simchas Torah toward morning. This niggun is from the piyutim recited in Selichos, and the one who composed it was the Rebbe's grandfather, Rav Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, the rav of Nikolayev and the father of Rebbetzin Chana. Rebbetzin Chana, who heard the niggun the Rebbe taught, said: "Well, this is Father's niggun".
As he taught the niggun, the Rebbe said that at first it is fitting to sing it slowly, and afterwards quickly and with great joy - for such is its content: at its beginning, supplications to the Holy One, blessed be He, and at its end, complete confidence that the Holy One, blessed be He, will certainly answer our prayers and grant the proper forgiveness, and therefore it concludes with joy.
"Begins to explain the sefer "Tzavaas HaRivash" of the Baal Shem Tov" "HaRivash" is an acronym for "Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem" - the Baal Shem Tov. And as the Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya, this is not his tzavaah (will) at all, since the Baal Shem Tov did not write any will before his passing; rather it is a sefer in which his sayings were recorded. And the Alter Rebbe adds that although not every word there is precise, since the one who wrote it did not always know how to phrase things exactly, nevertheless the content is the absolute truth.
In that year, 5720, two hundred years were completed since the passing of the Baal Shem Tov. That year, and mainly in the farbrengens of Tishrei and the first ones after them, the Rebbe addressed the opening passages of Tzavaas HaRivash and explained their meaning in avodas Hashem. In general, that year the Rebbe publicized greatly and emphasized the two hundredth year of the Baal Shem Tov, and this was expressed in this point as well.
"The Tanya classes on the "radio" began (the classes are edited by the Rebbe)", at the Rebbe's directive and with his strong encouragement, Rabbi Weinberg began teaching a weekly class in the sefer Tanya in Yiddish, on the radio.
The Rebbe spoke about this at the farbrengen of 12 Sivan and said that when one spreads chassidus on the radio, one must first know that the entire radio was created for that purpose alone - that chassidus be spread through it; for everything the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He created for His glory. He further said that the great advantage in spreading chassidus on the radio is twofold: first, that the words are not weakened, but rather reach far away with the same force with which they were said - if a person spoke with feeling or with joy, he is heard at the greatest distances with that very same intensity; and second, that it takes no time - the very second he says it, that very second it is heard. This is truly an enormous power in spreading chassidus.
Rabbi Weinberg would write out the classes in advance and submit them to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe edited them and corrected things in them. Out of all those edits the series known to us today was created - "Shiurim BeSefer HaTanya", which is in fact the rewriting of the classes that the Rebbe edited, those very classes that Rabbi Weinberg taught on the radio beginning that year.
The records of "Nichoach" (Nigunei Chassidei Chabad) begin to appear". This is an organization founded by the Rebbe Rayatz, headed by a well-known musician, the chassid R' Shmuel Zalman. The Rebbe Rayatz greatly encouraged that the chassidic niggunim be preserved and written down, and indeed at first it came out as a book - "Sefer HaNigunim" - in which the niggunim were written in musical notation in the most precise manner. After much labor they succeeded in gathering one hundred seventy-five niggunim, as precise as possible.
In the year 5720 the Rebbe encouraged beginning to put out records - in those days phonograph records - of Chabad niggunim, "Nichoach", and over the years some fourteen or fifteen records of niggunim came out. "Nichoach" began in this year, 5720.
"In connection with two hundred years since the passing of the Baal Shem Tov, he announces a tzedakah campaign in the number "two hundred" for spreading the wellsprings outward" As mentioned, in this year the Rebbe emphasized the two hundredth year, and he announced about giving tzedakah in the number two hundred: that to mark the matter of the two hundred years, everyone should give tzedakah in the number of two hundred - from two hundred cents up to large sums of two hundred - for the purpose of spreading the wellsprings outward.
"And in connection with this" the two hundredth year since the passing of the Baal Shem Tov, "travels to visit (on Sunday, 15 Tammuz) the "Gan Yisrael" camp - which is named after the Baal Shem Tov - and holds a farbrengen there". As we related, the Rebbe had already traveled to the camp twice, in 5717 and even before then, and this was the third time.
And so it was: when Rabbi Avraham Shemtov came in for a private yechidus, the Rebbe told him that he wished to visit the camp once again, since this was the two hundredth year of the Baal Shem Tov. This was one of the few trips on which the Rebbe left the city. This time too he stopped on the way to recite Tefillas HaDerech: the Rebbe got out of the car, washed his hands and said Tefillas HaDerech. Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, who was present, suggested to the Rebbe that he taste something and recite a blessing before Tefillas HaDerech, since there is such a matter, but the Rebbe replied that there was no need, and said Tefillas HaDerech without it.
During his visit at the camp, as on previous occasions, the Rebbe walked around the entire camp grounds and the rooms, and he was very pleased with the order and the cleanliness. Afterwards a farbrengen was held there, at which the Rebbe too spoke about the two hundredth year of the Baal Shem Tov - that the camp is called "Gan Yisrael" after him. Afterwards the Rebbe also visited the girls' camp, "Camp Emunah".
"Founds Shikun Chabad in Yerushalayim" Immediately after the festival of Shavuos, as the Rebbe mentions in the sichos of that year, the laying of the cornerstone for Shikun Chabad in Yerushalayim took place. Afterwards the buildings were erected there, and the first residents moved in only toward Rosh Hashanah of 5722; but the cornerstone was laid in this year, 5721, for the neighborhood which, thank G-d, exists to this very day.