The fifty-ninth lesson in the chain of the Rebbe's lineage and life story - part 19. Today we will learn about the years 5721 and 5722.
"5721 - Taught the niggun "Atah Bechartanu"" In this year only one point was recorded: the Rebbe taught the niggun "Atah Bechartanu", as was the custom in previous years - on the night of Simchas Torah toward morning, when the Rebbe would come down and teach a niggun. The words "Atah Bechartanu" are familiar to us from the text of the festival prayers.
The niggun contains two stanzas. The first stanza is sung without repetition, and every word is said once; in the second stanza, however, each phrase is repeated twice. The Rebbe explained that the first stanza corresponds to the avodah of tzaddikim, whose avodah is a straightforward one, done once; whereas the avodah of baalei teshuvah is called "kiflayim l'toshiyah", as it is written in Tanya that a baal teshuvah must do double in order to rectify. Therefore, in the second stanza every word is repeated twice, to allude to the avodah of a baal teshuvah.
The Rebbe also mentioned that each section of the niggun ascends to a higher level, and its loftiest section is "uv'shimcha hagadol v'hakadosh aleinu karata". The Rebbe spoke at great length and explained the concept of choice contained in "Atah Bechartanu", in a lengthy explanation connected to this niggun.
"5722 - Taught the niggun "An'im Zemiros"" This year too opens with a niggun: the Rebbe taught the niggun "An'im Zemiros", and this too on the night of Simchas Torah toward morning, which was the usual time when the Rebbe would come down and teach a new niggun. Before teaching the niggun he prefaced it with an introduction, and even told a story.
The introduction: this niggun is found in the text of the piyut called "Shir HaKavod", which the Ashkenazic communities have the custom of reciting at the opening of the Ark. The Alter Rebbe did not include Shir HaKavod in his siddur, but even though it is not in the text of the siddur, this piyut contains very lofty matters that are mentioned in Kabbalah, and therefore it is fitting in any case to sing this niggun that is set to these words.
Afterwards the Rebbe said that there is also a story: he heard the niggun from chassidim, together with a story. The day after Yom Kippur, in one of the towns, the Jews came to daven Shacharis in the shul, and they found one chassid dancing around the bimah to the niggun of "An'im Zemiros" from "Shir HaKavod". He was so immersed in the niggun that he sang all night and forgot that he had to go and break his fast; he was entirely absorbed in the niggun.
Another story is well known, whose source is what the Rebbe related in yechidus to Rav Reuven Dunin: a Jew who saved a man from prison, and afterwards that man passed away and came to him in a dream and told him to ask of him whatever he wished. He asked to feel the taste of Yom Kippur in Gan Eden, and the man said to him: you have asked a great request, but I will grant it to you. And in the end this found expression in the niggun "An'im Zemiros", for the entire Yom Kippur passed over him in such a way that he did not feel it at all, until the conclusion of the fast. This is another version that is related in the name of the Rebbe, but not in public, rather in a private yechidus.
"Arouses the establishment of minyanim davening in the Alter Rebbe's nusach of prayer" The words were said at a farbrengen on the eve of Chanukah. The Rebbe spoke about what is known from the Rebbe Rayatz, that the Alter Rebbe has ten merits by virtue of which he merited the festival of redemption; and two of them are that he arranged the Shulchan Aruch and that he arranged a nusach of prayer. The Rebbe elaborated that the distinction of the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch is, in addition to the fact that its halachos are refined halachos that the Alter Rebbe clarified etc., that it also contains the reasons for the halachos, which are not found in the Shulchan Aruch.
The second point is the nusach of prayer: the Alter Rebbe clarified from sixty versions the nusach that he established, which is the nusach of the Alter Rebbe. These two matters are connected to the redemption of 19 Kislev: the chassidim, as is known, would gather to study the teachings that came from the Alter Rebbe, and in the same measure they also arranged minyanim in order to daven in the nusach of the Alter Rebbe, and by virtue of their self-sacrifice the Alter Rebbe merited the redemption. Therefore the Rebbe said that one must act in these two matters: in spreading the wellsprings, the wellsprings of the Alter Rebbe's teachings; and to endeavor to open more minyanim that daven in the nusach of the Alter Rebbe.
"Arouses to utilize the vacation days for an increase in Torah study" The Rebbe spoke about this at the farbrengen of 13 Tammuz of that year. The Rebbe said that now, according to the practice of the country, the vacation period begins - a vacation from secular studies; but there is nothing in the country's custom and laws about a vacation from sacred studies. Therefore, at the time when students are not learning in school, the vacation should be from secular studies, whereas in sacred studies - on the contrary, one must intensify and utilize the vacation for the study of sacred subjects.
"Establishes a kollel for avreichim" The Rebbe spoke about this at the farbrengen of 14 Nissan of that year: that one should rely on the Alter Rebbe, that even after the wedding one can continue learning for another two or three years without worrying that this will harm one's livelihood, and one can rely on the Alter Rebbe that it will be as it should. In that period the Rebbe established the kollel that exists to this day in Crown Heights - a kollel for avreichim to learn in for two or three years after the wedding.
"Announces that the coming year (24 Teves 5723) is the year of 150" one hundred and fifty years "since the passing of the Alter Rebbe", the Rebbe aroused that the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe be divided up and that their study be completed by the day of 24 Teves 5723, and that men, women and children increase in giving tzedakah. The words were said at the farbrengen of Chai Elul of that year, 5722, which, as is known, is the birthday of the Alter Rebbe.
"And in connection with this establishes "Keren Shneur" and arouses to divide up the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe and that their study be completed by the day of 24 Teves (5723), and that men, women and children increase in giving tzedakah" The Rebbe spoke about the fact that the birthday is also connected to the day of passing, and therefore already now one must prepare for the day of passing; on Chai Elul he said that the coming day of the Alter Rebbe's passing, 24 Teves, would be a special year - one hundred and fifty years since his passing. The Rebbe spoke at length about the preparation for the one hundred and fiftieth yahrtzeit, and asked that a division of the Alter Rebbe's teachings be arranged and that they be studied from Chai Elul 5722 until 24 Teves 5723.
The Rebbe further said that he was establishing a fund that would be called by the name "Keren Shneur", after the Alter Rebbe, and its purpose - printing the chassidus seforim of the Alter Rebbe and supporting institutions in which his teachings are studied. And the directive was that everyone should give tzedakah to the fund, and that children too and women too should increase in giving tzedakah for it. There was a special arousal in this, which was called "the year of 150" - the one hundred and fiftieth year since the passing of the Alter Rebbe - and it began on Chai Elul 5722.