In the forty-fifth lesson of the Chain of Lineage, we are in the account of the Rebbe's life, the fifth part. We began the year 5689, the first sentence. Today we will tell about everything connected with the Rebbe's wedding, which begins here in the Chain of Lineage from the third of Kislev.
In general, we know that the matchmaking connections between the Rebbe and the Rebbetzin were already discussed approximately four to five years before the wedding date, before Kislev 5689. But the actual engagement was not concluded until the beginning of Kislev, very close to the wedding, in 5689. Here it is written in the family lineage that this took place on the 3rd of Kislev, but in fact this needs to be corrected—it was on the 6th of Kislev.
The Rebbe's tenaim ceremony took place in a rather intimate setting, as the Rebbe once spoke about it, saying that there were even fewer than a minyan of participants. The witnesses at the tenaim were the chassid Reb Mordechai Cheifetz and the chassid Reb Chatshe Feigin. They were the two witnesses at the tenaim.
As we said, the Rebbe's shidduch began already a few years earlier, but a wedding date was not set for a long time. Why did it drag on for so long? First of all, they waited to leave Russia, and even after leaving Russia there were still financial difficulties—there simply was no money for a wedding. They waited until there would be possibilities, and after they were already truly ready, they still waited—perhaps there was a chance that the Russian government would grant the Rebbe's parents, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Chana, permission to leave Russia for the wedding. In practice, in the end they were not given permission, and the wedding took place and the Rebbe's parents were not at the wedding.
Let us read from within, what is written here? "On the 3rd of Kislev he entered into a marriage engagement (kishurei tenaim) with the righteous Rebbetzin Marat Chaya Mushka." When this was printed, it was already after the passing of the Rebbetzin, may she rest in peace, may her merit protect us.
The next detail, the 12th of Kislev, which was Sunday. It is written here: "Travels together with his father-in-law and family to Warsaw." On that day, the 12th of Kislev, the Rebbe Rayatz and his family, together with the chatan, that is, together with the Rebbe, traveled by train from Riga to Warsaw, because the wedding actually took place in Warsaw. And as is described, thousands of Jews came to the train station in Riga to bid farewell to the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe, the chatan, and the family, who were traveling to the wedding.
"On the 14th of Kislev he married the daughter of his honor, the holiness of our Rebbe [the] Rayatz, the righteous Rebbetzin Mrs. Chaya Mushka," peace be upon her, may her memory be a blessing. The wedding took place on Tuesday of the week, the 14th of Kislev.
There are very many fascinating and interesting details surrounding the wedding. There is a fascinating diary written by the chassid Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Althaus, who was also the constant guardian alongside the groom, alongside the Rebbe, all the days before the wedding. In his diary he describes in a vivid style everything that took place around the wedding and at the wedding. It is very fascinating to read his diary. We will not read all of it, but only truly small points.
First of all, we mentioned that the Rebbe's parents were not at the wedding; they were in Yekaterinoslav. And there is a whole description that Rebbetzin Chana gives of how they celebrated the wedding in Yekaterinoslav, at the time the Rebbe was getting married in Warsaw, and how all the people from the surrounding area came there. There is a fascinating description of this matter.
Just one interesting point: many people from around the world sent congratulatory telegrams to the Rebbe's parents on the day of the wedding. Basically, there are postal laws in Russia, especially back then, and the laws and procedures were very restrictive. There were, for example, restrictions on hours—when one could receive telegrams. There was a restriction that one could not receive telegrams in Lashon Hakodesh, only in a foreign language, all sorts of restrictions. But on that day, the fourteenth of Kislev, there was an interesting change: first of all, the postal clerks worked in a special capacity beyond the usual, and there was an exceptional authorization that on that day one could receive telegrams in Lashon Hakodesh, and an instruction was received that on this day the telegrams would not pass through censorship but would be delivered directly. This is something not according to nature, but on this day, in honor of the Rebbe's wedding day, all the telegrams to the Rebbe's parents in Leningrad were received.
I will also note some technical but interesting details surrounding the wedding. A month before the wedding, when it was already known that the Rebbe's parents would not arrive at the wedding—for at every wedding there are the shushvinin, the escorts, from the side of the groom and from the side of the bride, and from the side of the bride were the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbetzin. But who was the shushvinin from the side of the groom, from the side of the Rebbe, whose parents were not present? A month before, the Rebbe Rayatz asked his uncle and aunt, that is, the daughter of the Rebbe Maharash and the son-in-law of the daughter of the Rebbe Maharash, who was a sister of his father, a sister of Rav Rashab. They were called Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and Rav Moshe HaKohen Ornstein. He asked them to be the shushvinin of the Rebbe, from the side of the Rebbe.
And on that very day of the wedding in Warsaw, there is a description in the diary of Rabbi Althaus, whom I mentioned earlier, that they seated the groom, the Rebbe, at the head of the table. The Rebbe did not want this, since the Rebbe Rayatz was present here, but despite his wishes, they seated the Rebbe at the head of the table. To his right sat the Rebbe Rayatz, and to his left sat the father-in-law of the Rebbe Rayatz, who was called Rabbi Avraham Schneerson, who is the grandfather of the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. He sat on the left side of the groom, and around the table were many guests, various Rebbes who were in Warsaw, Poland, in those years.
The diaries note an interesting point, and this is noted in several places, that the Rebbe Rayatz sat with a shtreimel at a wedding. What is unique about this note? Parenthetically, the Rebbe Rashab and the Rebbe Rayatz would wear a shtreimel only on Shabbatot and holidays, and only when they were actually in Lubavitch. Every time they traveled out of Lubavitch, even on Shabbatot and holidays they would not wear a shtreimel. And from the moment they left Lubavitch entirely—for the Rebbe Rashab left Lubavitch already in 5676 and moved to Rostov—from then on he did not wear a shtreimel at all, and the Rebbe Rayatz too, from when he accepted the leadership, did not wear a shtreimel.
On the day of the Rebbe's wedding, the Rebbe Rayatz returned to wearing the shtreimel. It was the shtreimel of the Rebbe Maharash; on the day of the Rebbe's wedding, the Rebbe Rayatz took up the shtreimel. From then on, the Rebbe Rayatz returned to wearing the shtreimel, until Yud-Beis Tammuz—every Shabbos and Yom Tov the Rebbe Rayatz would go with the shtreimel, and this began on the day of the wedding. There is an interesting account that the Rebbe Rayatz relates, that his father came to him after his passing to tell him that there is a special power and a special mazel tov upon the shtreimel that he began wearing from the time of the Rebbe's wedding.
The Rebbe Rayatz officiated at the wedding ceremony. The ketubah was read at the chuppah by the Admur of Radzin. Regarding the witnesses on the ketubah, there was a story with the ketubah: the witnesses on the original ketubah were the chassid Rabbi Eliyah Simpson and the chassid Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kupershtoch. But afterward there was a story with the ketubah that got lost. The ketubah from the Rebbe's wedding got lost, and therefore, after some time, a new ketubah had to be written, which is called a ketubah d'arkesa. When a person loses a ketubah, a special ketubah is made; there is a special text there regarding the replacement of the ketubah that was lost. And then, of course, there were new witnesses on the new ketubah. The new witnesses were Rabbi Chatshe Feigin, whom we mentioned earlier, who was also the witness for the tenaim agreement, and Rabbi Mordechai of Lyatta, whom we mentioned wrote the diary—he was the witness on the Rebbe's second ketubah.
Let us continue reading a few more lines here. "On the day of the wedding he met," this refers to the Rebbe, the Rebbe met "with the great Rav and Gaon, Rabbi Menachem Zemba, may Hashem avenge his blood." Rabbi Menachem Zemba was a Jew who was among the most prominent chassidim of Gur, one of the most famous Torah giants of that generation. He was the leader of Polish Jewry before the Holocaust. He was at the Rebbe's wedding, and the Rebbe met with him, "and with the great Rav and Gaon, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, of blessed memory." Rabbi Meir Shapiro was the rosh yeshiva and the founder of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, and is also known as the founder of the Daf Yomi enactment. He too was at the Rebbe's wedding, along with several other Torah giants of Israel.
Here is a rather abbreviated description of the Rebbe's wedding. As I said, one can read the journal and see many interesting details. We will read another two or three lines here. "On Thursday, the 16th of Kislev," which is in the middle of the sheva brachos, "they return to Riga." The sheva brachos was in Warsaw, on the 14th-15th, which was Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday they already returned to Riga, and the continuation of the sheva brachos was in Riga.
"After his wedding," after the Rebbe's wedding, "his father-in-law, the holy Admur, placed upon him the honor," the Rebbe Rayatz placed upon the Rebbe, "to farbreng from time to time" with chassidim, on the Shabbos Kodesh when we bless the new month, on the day of a hilula, on special days, when the Rebbe would farbreng with the chassidim, "and to convey before them his words, arousing them to fear of Heaven and the service of Hashem in the way of Chassidus."
Additional authorities that the Rebbe Rayatz gave to the Rebbe already immediately after the wedding: "his honorable holiness the Rebbe, his father-in-law, directs to him those who ask about matters of halacha, kabbalah, and chassidus." Those who would ask questions, the Rebbe Rayatz would direct to him so that he would answer. "He assigns to him special tasks in matters of leading the chassidim and the community." These are from the wedding. Gradually, the Rebbe Rayatz brought the Rebbe into the communal work connected with leading the chassidim.