We are in the fourth lesson of Shalsheles Hayachas, in the midst of describing the life of the Admor Hazaken. Today we will begin with a description of the year 5527.
In the year "5527", when the Admor Hazaken was twenty-two years old, "he accepts the position of Maggid of Liozna". At that time, there was a customary arrangement in many towns, which had a "Maggid" - the leader of the town, who speaks words of Torah and the like - and the Admor Hazaken accepted upon himself to be the leader in Liozna. This is the place where, according to various opinions, he was also born.
As it appears from Sefer HaToldos, and the life story of the Admor Hazaken, it seems that in that year he had not yet moved to live there permanently, but rather was living in Vitebsk, and after a few years he moved to live in Liozna on a permanent basis.
The people of Liozna agreed to accept him as the permanent Maggid even while he was not actually residing there, for they recognized his virtues and very much wanted him to be their Maggid. And so he became the Maggid in Liozna in the year 5527.
In the year "5530", when the Admor Hazaken was already twenty-five years old, "he began to arrange the Shulchan Aruch". It is known that the Maggid of Mezritch is the one who commanded the Admor Hazaken to write the Shulchan Aruch, and it is told that the first halachos with which he began were the halachos of tzitzis and the halachos of Pesach, and he finished them around 5530; he continued with the rest of the parts of Orach Chaim afterwards, and this continued for another two years. The wording "began to arrange" therefore teaches us that in that year, at least these two halachos were already prepared.
Two years later, in the year "5532 - he founded the system of Chabad chassidus". From a study of the history and the various records, it emerges that there are several stages that can be noted as the year of publication and promotion of the special system of the Admor Hazaken - a system that is expressed in the avodah of tefillah in a special way and in the study of works of philosophy and mussar in the Chabad way. Generally, there was a difference between the other disciples of the Maggid and the Admor Hazaken: their systems were called "from above to below", while the system of the Admor Hazaken was called "from below to above" - that the Jew by his own powers should study and elevate himself. This was the system of Chabad in its unique path.
There are those who attribute the beginning of the founding of the Chabad system to earlier years, already in 5525 or 5526; but the Rebbe notes here the year 5532, in which the matter was already at a more significant stage, as the year that is noted as the year of the founding of the system of Chabad chassidus.
"Directs a campaign that the Jews living in the Vitebsk district should relocate their residence across the border to the country of Russia" - regarding that period, the Rebbe added an interesting point. In the history of our Rabbeim, our Nesiim, we find - and we will see this further on with the Admor HaEmtza'i and with the Tzemach Tzedek, and we have already seen this in the previous lines regarding the Admor Hazaken - that they took many actions so that Jews would have an abundant livelihood, good housing, and good conditions, and they engaged in this a great deal. Thus we saw earlier, that with the "dowry" funds that the Admor Hazaken received, he campaigned for Jews to engage in agricultural work.
However, the Admor Hazaken did not suffice with solely encouraging agricultural work, and also took great interest in the general situation of Jews in commerce. He was not satisfied with the fact that Jews did not have an organized and established livelihood, but rather "managed somehow", and he wanted them to have an organized livelihood; he worked extensively in this regard and extended help. He also greatly encouraged Jews who engaged in manual labor and conducting business faithfully, earning a living from the toil of their hands, and invested much into this.
There was a custom in Russia to hold a "yarid": a market day in the large cities, to which merchants would come from Poland and Germany and exchange goods with the residents of Russia. This usually took place twice a year, and highly skilled artisans would participate in it. The noblemen in Russia, men of wealth and important people, would come there and buy various crafts - weaving, precious stones, gold vessels, silver vessels, and glassware. Many of these were made by Jews - not necessarily Jews, but many of them were Jews influenced by the Admor Hazaken - and the Admor Hazaken encouraged this greatly.
It reached a situation where the noblemen, out of their love for these crafts, would offer those skilled Jews to remain in Russia for a longer period and not travel back immediately after the yarid, and they would pay them for the merchandise they had brought. And so, year by year, more and more families moved across Russia, since they had a livelihood and there were buyers for their goods.
In addition to being a great gaon and a great tzaddik, the Admor Hazaken was a first-rate public activist in Russia on behalf of Klal Yisroel, so that Jews would have a livelihood. And this is the emphasis here, that he directed a campaign for them to relocate their residence to a place where they would truly have a livelihood, as they engaged in various crafts and would have the opportunity to sell their merchandise.
"5533-5538 - The founding of the yeshiva in Liozna" - The final point we will dwell upon today is the years 5533 to 5538. In this matter as well, there are different versions in the records regarding the years, and here it is written that this was between 5533 and 5538: the founding of the yeshiva in Liozna. At that time, the Admor Hazaken announced that he was establishing a center for avreichim in Liozna, and over time dozens of avreichim, about forty in number, came to be in his yeshiva.
Initially, they thought that this would be a yeshiva where everyone studies their daily study as they wish - with a chavrusa or each to himself - and only the general engagement would be in the study of chassidus. However, the Admor Hazaken established schedules in the study of nigleh, very strict schedules. And here are a few examples of the format of study he established:
Gemara b'iyun: at least four hours every day, in chavrusas according to aptitudes.
Gemara b'girsa: at least one daf a day.
Pilpul: his brother, the gaon Rabbi Mordechai, was appointed to ensure that at least twice a week, on set days and at set times, there would be a time when all the avreichim would engage in pilpul amongst themselves b'iyun regarding the things they studied.
Halacha: his brother, the gaon Maharil, was appointed over the field of halacha - two hours every day of halacha b'iyun, and in addition to this, a siman in the Shulchan Aruch every day according to the order of progression; and if the siman was very long, they divided it into two.
And from the most outstanding avreichim in the group, the Admor Hazaken founded what is stated in the final sentence: "And known by the names Cheder Aleph, Cheder Beis, Cheder Gimmel". That is, there were three levels among those most outstanding avreichim: "Cheder Aleph" - the highest level, "Cheder Beis" - below it, and "Cheder Gimmel" - below that. Even those in Cheder Gimmel were of course of a very high academic level, and all of this in nigleh - even before the special system of chassidus that the Admor Hazaken instilled in them - a very high level, in both halacha and Gemara, as we have noted thus far.