We are in the eighth lesson in the chain of lineage, and we are currently on the life story of the Alter Rebbe. We have reached the point of describing his family. We have here his wife and his sons, as much as we manage. We will begin with his wife. The wife of the Alter Rebbe.
First of all, before we detail her name and so on, it is worthwhile to note the saying written in the Hayom Yom, on the 23rd of Shevat. There is a description there of the Alter Rebbe and his wife. It is told there that the Alter Rebbe once happened to hear his Rebbetzin saying to some women — she was speaking about her husband — she says: "'Mine' says such and such." When she said "mine" she meant the Alter Rebbe. It is told there that the Alter Rebbe entered into dveikus and said: "For one mitzvah I am yours, so for so many mitzvos, surely I am the Holy One, blessed be He's." And then he entered into a very very great dveikus from her statement; this aroused in him a great dveikus.
Who was his wife? She was called the Rebbetzin Sterna. It is told about her that she was a very distinguished woman, possessed of wisdom, with a very, very strong opinion. She had self-sacrifice for the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe held her in very, very great esteem.
One of the stories told about her is that when the Alter Rebbe arrived in Liozna, chassidim came and began traveling to him. Once he was standing by the window and saw the crowds coming. He then began to cry out: "What do they want from me? Why are they coming to me at all?" It was the Rebbetzin who influenced him to receive them, for she came and said to him: "They are not coming to you. You were, after all, by your Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch. They are coming to hear from you what you heard from your Rebbe." So the Alter Rebbe said to her: "If that is the case, if that is why they come, I will tell them and give them much," and then he received them. That is to say, she brought it about that the Alter Rebbe would indeed receive chassidim. Today she rests—may her resting place be honored—she is buried in Lubavitch.
Who were her parents? She was the daughter of the officer Rabbi Yehuda Leib Segal, a very respected Jew in the city of Vitebsk. This Rabbi Yehuda Leib was a very wealthy Jew. But because the ways of the Alter Rebbe and his conduct were very strange in his eyes, the Alter Rebbe suffered very, very great anguish there in the home of his father-in-law and mother-in-law. They very, very much pressured him and tormented him. There are all kinds of unpleasant descriptions, and he even wanted to force his daughter, the Rebbetzin Sterna, to divorce the Alter Rebbe. He seemed to them something completely strange.
And when the Alter Rebbe returned from his Rebbe, from the Maggid of Mezritch, then his father-in-law fell from his greatness. His father-in-law passed away. Who was his wife, that is, the mother-in-law of the Alter Rebbe and his wife? Mrs. Beila. It is told that after Mrs. Beila saw his greatness, the splendor of his greatness, saw how he became famous and had many chassidim, she very very much regretted all the anguish, all the sorrow that they had caused the Alter Rebbe beforehand, when he was at their home. She truly pleaded with him that he return to them home to Vitebsk, and then she became very wealthy. After she regretted, she became very wealthy, and she asked him to return to her. And she said to him: "You will return, I will honor you, and I will help you, and we will help the chassidim. Come, come."
But the Alter Rebbe did not want to go back. So he said to her, jokingly, like this: "It is written that a baby who is in its mother's womb, then it is good for it. There is an angel with a candle over its head who teaches it the entire Torah, it is truly good for it. And on the contrary, when it comes out, then an angel comes and strikes it on its mouth, and it becomes less good for it. But if one were to offer the baby, after it has come out, whether it wishes to go back inside, it would not want to, for two reasons: it would say, the place has become too small, and I have become too big." This he said to her jokingly regarding the fact that she was asking him to go back.
The first son, the firstborn son: His Honor, the Holiness of our Master, Rabbi Dov Ber. About him, God willing, after we finish the entire account of the Alter Rebbe, we will reach the Mitteler Rebbe. He is the Rebbe who succeeded him, and we will speak about him at greater length.
The second son. This was the honorable, holy Rabbi, the chassid Rabbi Chaim Avraham, the second son of the Alter Rebbe. He was born in the month of Elul. There are two versions as to whether he was born in 5537 or 5538. When he was born, at his brit, the father gave him one name: Avraham. And he announced at the time of the brit after whom he was calling him Avraham, and he said: after Rabbi Avraham HaMalach, that is, the son of the Maggid. And he added that also after his grandfather, the grandfather of the Alter Rebbe, the father of his mother, who was called Avraham. Thus we already mentioned earlier, at the beginning of the chain.
At the age of three, the child Avraham became very ill. The Alter Rebbe gathered ten students, and he revealed to them that the child's illness was due to a grievance held by his grandfather. His grandfather was Rabbi Avraham, and the grandfather was aggrieved that his memory had been absorbed under the memory of Rabbi Avraham the Angel, and that he had not truly been given the proper commemoration. Then the Alter Rebbe revealed another detail that had become known to him, that his grandfather's full name was Chaim Avraham and not Avraham alone. On that occasion, the Alter Rebbe added the name Chaim to his son, and from then on, from the age of three, he was called Chaim Avraham, and this would be a clear commemoration for the grandfather, since the grandfather's full name had been added, and the son was completely healed.
This was Rabbi Chaim Avraham. It is told about him that he was truly great in Torah, great in chassidus, great in good character traits. He was a wondrous sage, a man of truth, and had immense virtues. After the passing of his brother, the eldest, the Mitteler Rebbe—the Mitteler Rebbe passed away. The chassidim wanted the next Rebbe, the continuation of the generation. So it is told that they went to the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek, who in the end accepted the yoke of leadership, but at first the Tzemach Tzedek did not want it. He rejected them. And among the things with which he rejected them, he told them: You have here Rabbi Chaim Avraham, the second son of the Alter Rebbe, who should be the successor, the next Rebbe. But Rabbi Chaim Avraham, of course, also did not want it.
It is told that during the time when his brother, the Mitteler Rebbe, was the Rebbe in practice, then whenever miracle stories were needed to bring about salvations, especially in the birth of children, the Mitteler Rebbe would send to his brother, Reb Chaim Avraham, and he would perform miracles. That is to say, even though he was not one of the Rebbes, the Mitteler Rebbe certainly received him very, very much and gave to him. He was capable of performing miracles. And it is told about him that the features of his face were very, very similar to his father, to the Alter Rebbe. This son, Chaim Avraham, truly resembled the Alter Rebbe.