We are in the thirtieth lesson in the chain of succession, in the fourth part, on the story of the life of the Rebbe Rashab. The son of the Rebbe Rashab, his holiness the Admor Rav Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, meaning of course the Rebbe Rayatz, and about him we will speak, God willing, at great length when we finish with the Rebbe Rashab and tell about the life of the Rebbe Rayatz, who is the son.
The last section here is his books. The books of the Rebbe Rashab, virtually all of them, are detailed here—the collections of maamarim that the Rebbe Rashab said and wrote throughout all the years of his leadership. The passing of the Rebbe Rashab's father, that is, the Rebbe Maharash, was in the year 5643, and from then the Rebbe Rashab already began to write maamarei chassidus, and here the books appear in their order.
1. There is Sefer HaMaamarim 5643-5644, Sefer HaMaamarim 5646 through 5650, Sefer HaMaamarim 5651, Sefer HaMaamarim 5652 and 5653, Sefer HaMaamarim 5654, Sefer HaMaamarim 5655 and 5656, Sefer HaMaamarim 5657, Sefer HaMaamarim 5658, Sefer HaMaamarim 5659, Sefer HaMaamarim 5660 through and including 5662, Sefer HaMaamarim 5663, Sefer HaMaamarim 5664, Sefer HaMaamarim 5665.
And when we reach 5666 (תרס"ו), we already have a new term: Hemshech (Continuation). "Yom Tov shel Rosh Hashanah 5666." What is the concept of a Hemshech? A Hemshech is a series of chassidic ma'amarim that were said or written over a period of time, one after another, and they are built as a continuous sequence, where the subject of one ma'amar is connected to the previous ma'amar. This Hemshech is the first famous Hemshech, although there are also, before it, small groups of ma'amarim that are hemshechim, but this is the first famous Hemshech, called Hemshech 5666. It began to be delivered on Rosh Hashanah 5666, and opens with the discourse beginning "Yom Tov shel Rosh Hashanah." There are more than sixty ma'amarim in this Hemshech, and it explains very fundamental topics in Chassidut, in a manner of intellectual understanding and comprehension. It is known that the Rebbe Rashab is called "the Rambam of the teaching of Chassidut," for with him matters were written and explained in a very, very broad and detailed manner.
It is told in the memoirs of the previous Rebbe that when his father completed this entire hemshech of 5666 — this hemshech actually concluded at the beginning of 5668, meaning it spanned all of 5666, all of 5667, and the beginning of 5668, thus it is a hemshech that extended over two-plus years — when he finished, his father the Rebbe Rashab called for his son, the Rebbe Rayatz, and said to him, "Bring a bottle of aged spirits," and told him that when his own father, the Rebbe Maharash, completed a hemshech, he called for him, the Rebbe Rashab, brought the bottle of drink, and said, "Let us speak together in matters of chassidus, let us celebrate together between ourselves." And here it was the same thing, the Rebbe Rashab called for the Rebbe Rayatz, and celebrated together with him the conclusion of the well-known hemshech of 5666. This hemshech here is the Sefer HaMaamarim 5668.
Afterwards comes Sefer HaMaamarim 5669. Sefer HaMaamarim 5670, which is called "Atar." Sefer HaMaamarim 5671. After that we again have a Hemshech: the Hemshech "BeShaah SheHikdimu 5672," which is 5672. Three volumes. This Hemshech is much longer than the previous Hemshech of 5666. It is famous and well-known among the chassidim, the Hemshech 5672. It is a Hemshech that contains one hundred and twenty-four maamarim, which the Rebbe Rashab began to deliver on the festival of Shavuos of 5672. He said it while he was still in Lubavitch. It concluded in 5676, when he was already in Rostov.
It is known that for many years this entire series, the Ayin-Reish-Beis in particular, existed only in manuscripts or in typescript — what once was done on a typewriter — but as a printed edition, the Rebbe did not agree for many years to print it. This series contains very, very deep and fundamental matters. The first time the Rebbe agreed to print it was at a farbrengen in honor of Yud-Tes Kislev in the year 5737. The Rebbe spoke and related that when the Rebbe Rayatz traveled to the Land of Israel, and afterward to America, he entrusted into the Rebbe's hands all the manuscripts of his father's maamarim. The Rebbe spoke there at length, that it is known that when a book is entrusted into the hands of a talmid chacham, the one entrusting it takes into account from the outset that he is granting permission to the talmid chacham to study from it. So the Rebbe certainly knew that I would study from these books. The Rebbe made copies of all the books, during the years the Rebbe was in Russia. This was not like now, easily with a photocopying machine. He made copies of all the maamarim in 5689.
And the Rebbe said, since he knew that a day would come when I would not be able to restrain myself and so on, and then the Rebbe said that he wants to print this hemshech, but since this is a very very great responsibility, because these are very fundamental and deep matters, the Rebbe said that he wants this hemshech to be printed by all the chassidim, that there should not be one person who takes it upon himself, meaning that every chassid should give a participation of one dollar in the book, and also no name of who printed it should be printed in the book. It is very interesting, that in all the books of chassidus maamarim the opening is always that according to the Rebbe's instruction they are printing the hemshech. In this one book, until today it is not written that it was printed according to a request by the instruction of the Rebbe, it was printed and there is no signature, all the chassidim are responsible for the matter. This was the famous hemshech of Taras"b.
Afterwards we have the Sefer HaMa'amarim 5672-5676, additional completions of further ma'amarim that are not connected to the well-known Hemshech, but were said in those years and were printed on their own. Sefer HaMa'amarim 5677. Sefer HaMa'amarim 5678. Sefer HaMa'amarim 5679, here it is called by the acronym of the year, they call it "Ateret," those same letters. Sefer HaMa'amarim 5680, which is essentially already the final year and the year of the passing of the Rebbe Rashab.
Afterward, there appear here additional teachings that the Rebbe Rashab wrote. There is a Sefer HaMaamarim that is a compilation, from all the years from 5644 (תרמ"ד) until 5681 (תרפ"א), a compilation of additional maamarim that for some reason were not included in the years in their proper place, so they were included as a compilation on their own—this is volume one. Afterward there is a Sefer HaMaamarim Likut volume two, from 5645 (תרמ"ה) until 5678 (תרע"ח), another group of maamarim.
The next thing is the book of talks, "Torat Shalom." The Rebbe Rashab held farbrengens—not as we know later that the Rebbe held farbrengens many times, an enormous multitude of times. The Rebbe Rashab had only three fixed dates on which he would hold farbrengens, and occasionally there were additional exceptional days. The fixed dates on which the Rebbe Rashab would hold farbrengens were his Yud-Tet Kislev, Purim, and Simchat Torah. And all the farbrengens that we have from the Rebbe Rashab from these dates, and a few other individual dates that occurred in the summer, once in Iyar or in Sivan, all the farbrengens of the Rebbe Rashab are gathered in a book called "Sefer HaSichot Torat Shalom."
Afterwards we have the "Kuntres HaTefillah." After the Rebbe Rashab founded the "Tomchei Temimim" yeshivos, in the year 5665 he wrote, and also spoke on Simchas Torah 5665, that the temimim must engage in the avodah of tefillah and so on. He wrote an entire kuntres called "Kuntres HaTefillah," which arouses the chassidim, the temimim, to daven — what to think about and how to daven. There are quite a number of personal letters that the Rebbe wrote to individuals, and in the sichos that the Rebbe spoke to the public, the Rebbe very, very much aroused and encouraged the study of this kuntres.
Afterward we have "Kuntres uMaayan." This is a series of maamarim on the verse "uMaayan miBeis Hashem" — what the order is and how, in the method by which one studies Gemara, how to learn this in a very correct manner. There is also guidance there in several areas that relate to the temimim, very very detailed guidance.
The next thing, the Kuntres Etz HaChaim, which I just mentioned. The Rebbe distributed it on the 28th of Shevat 5751 to all the chassidim, this kuntres, Kuntres Etz HaChaim.
The following item is a kuntres on matters concerning the Chabad community, in which the Rebbe wrote several topics on this subject. The next item is a kuntres, also a composition of the Rebbe Rashab, which deals with matters of avodas Hashem, called "Avodah, which is the service of the heart? That is prayer," which also addresses this matter.
Afterward there is "Chanoch LaNaar," which is the first testament that the Rebbe Rashab wrote in the year 5648. And there are various glosses that the Rebbe Rashab wrote on all kinds of books.