We are in the thirty-fifth lesson in the chain of the tradition. Today we are in the fifth part of the biography of the Rebbe Rayatz. We have reached 5688-5689, which is essentially the first year, the first two years after the Rebbe left Russia, after the imprisonment, and succeeded in getting out of there. He traveled, first of all, to Europe, to Riga.
And what is told about these years? It is written: arousing and succeeding in sending matzah to Russia. This short line contains within it much activity. The Rebbe Rayatz never ceased to worry about the Jews of Russia, and when the days of Pesach drew near, the Rebbe wanted the Jews in Russia to have matzot. He issued a public call to help the Jews with kimcha d'Pischa. As is recounted in the letters and in the accounts of his life, he turned to the Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem at that time, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, and a joint public appeal was issued together with the Chofetz Chaim, with Rabbi Chaim Ozer of Vilna, all in order to arouse the Jews and to bring pressure upon the Russian government that it should agree to allow matzot and kimcha d'Pischa to be brought in to the Jews of Russia.
On Rosh Chodesh Adar II, permission was received from Russia to accept matzos for the citizens, and the Rebbe writes in letters with pleasure that over the course of twenty-six days, that is, until before the beginning of Nissan, twenty-eight wagons loaded with baked matzah were sent, along with five thousand six hundred eighty-nine packages of flour for Pesach, and also assistance in cash.
This number, five thousand six hundred eighty-nine, which the Rebbe writes was the number that they sent, some time later he writes that a wonderful thing became clear, that this number is the number of the year, 5689 (5000 and 689), the very year in which this took place. Through divine providence, this was exactly the quantity of packages of flour that they managed to send to Russia.
Let us continue. In 5689 [1929], he undertook a journey to the Holy Land, may it be built and established, and to the United States. The Previous Rebbe, after he left Russia and was in Europe, was searching—as the Rebbe once said in one of the sichos—for a suitable place where to settle permanently. For this purpose he made a journey to the United States. In the end he decided, as is known, to settle in the United States, and this also took another ten years, but that was the journey. There were additional purposes to the journey: to collect and raise funds on behalf of the Jews of Russia.
The journey of the Rebbe Rayatz began in Tammuz of 5689, on the 22nd of Tammuz to be more precise. And it was a journey that included travel by land, by sea, by trains. In those years this was not simple. He boarded a ship that took him to Egypt on the 25th of Tammuz. On the 2nd of Menachem Av he arrived toward morning at the train station in Rechovot, and along the way there were all the stages until he reached the Land. He was there from the 2nd of Menachem Av until Thursday the 16th of Menachem Av—that is the amount of time he was in the Land.
During this time he visited numerous cities in the Land, of course in Chevron, in Yerushalayim, in Tel Aviv, Petach Tikvah, in Rosh Pina, in Tzfat, in Meron. He visited many places. There is a precise description and diary of each and every place. And afterwards he returned to Riga.
In the month of Elul, on the 22nd of Elul, he set out on a journey to the United States. The journey to the United States took a bit more time; it was not like in the Land [of Israel], which was altogether about two weeks. Abroad it was close to a year, until the 21st of Tammuz of 5690. That is to say, from Elul 5689 until Tammuz, almost a full year, he was in the United States, and there too he visited many cities and states within the United States itself, and afterward he returned to Europe, to Riga. Here it is written in one line: he makes his journey to the Holy Land and to the United States.
In 5694 (1934), he relocated his residence to the city of Warsaw. He moved from Riga to Warsaw. What else happened that year? He founded Agudas HaTmimim. What is Agudas HaTmimim? The full name is Agudas Talmidei HaTmimim. Today it is known by the acronym A.T.T., "Atat," Talmidei HaTmimim. It was established in the month of Sivan 5694, and the founding convention took place on the 3rd of Tishrei 5695.
What is the purpose of this organization? That all the content which the temimim receive in the yeshiva, in Tomchei Temimim, they should bring it into actuality — all the resolutions — to give them strength to realize all the good treasures they received in the yeshiva. The founding convention took place in Warsaw, at the beginning of 5695, in the beis midrash of the Rebbe Rayatz. The chosen chairman was the son-in-law of the Rebbe Rayatz, Rabbi Shmuel Gourary, known as the Rashag, and there were eleven committee members, and the director of the organization was Rabbi Shneur Zalman Gourary.
Let us continue further. We are still speaking about that same year, [when the Rebbe] founded branches of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in several of the provincial towns in Poland. Branches of the yeshiva were established in Poland in all sorts of places, the temimim united, and there was a yeshiva of temimim.
5695 (1935), the beginning of the publication of the compilation "HaTamim." What was this? A Torah compilation called "HaTamim." The compilation dealt with the revealed Torah, with the teachings of Chassidus, and also with recounting the history of the chassidim. The official publishers of the compilation were the Association of Tomchei Temimim Students, which we mentioned was established in that same year, 5694 (1934). The one who officially published it was the Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in Warsaw.
This collection was published, eight booklets in all, between the years 5695 and 5698. Over the course of these three years, eight booklets, each booklet averaging one hundred pages. It contained a section on Chassidus, whose editor was named Rabbi Yechezkel Chasa, known as Feigin, the secretary of the Rebbe Rayatz. There was a section there called Torah Lessons in the Revealed [Torah], whose editor was Rabbi Yehuda Haber, the director of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, and the general editor was named Rabbi Shmuel Zalmanov.
Today it is possible to obtain all eight of these booklets; they are found bound together in two books, which are called "HaTamim," which includes within it all eight booklets that were published over the years. The one who was actually the physical editor of all this was the Rebbe, even though his name does not officially appear in the booklet.
In 5696, he relocated the Yeshiva "Tomchei Temimim" and his residence from Warsaw to the city of Otwock. The Rebbe Rayatz moved his dwelling, and along with him the Yeshiva moved as well, and then the center of the Chassidim moved to the city of Otwock. What was the reason they moved? If we look at those booklets of "HaTamim" that we mentioned earlier, on the last page of the second booklet of "HaTamim," which was published in Kislev of 5696, there appears at the end a notice like a news item, about what is happening with all the Chassidim. There appears the notice that the Yeshiva "Tomchei Temimim" moved from Warsaw to Otwock.
There it is explained why it relocated, because the physical location in Warsaw was too small, cramped, and the yeshiva was large, with many students, and it did not suit. On the other hand, they found a spacious, good, and comfortable place in Otwock, with dozens of roomy rooms containing departments, with a dormitory and so on. Everything moved to Otwock, and there is a description that there was an enormous courtyard there with a nearby forest, truly a news-like description of all the good conditions of the "Tomchei Temimim" yeshiva that moved to Otwock.
And the last matter here, with which we will conclude, 5699, founder of the worldwide Chabad Association. Here we have essentially concluded the years during which the Rebbe Rayatz lived in Poland, in Europe. Afterward, the continuation will be that the Rebbe Rayatz moved to the United States, the last ten years, and this, God willing, we will see in the next lesson.