Branches Of The Chassidic Menorah - Volume One: Epilogue

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41.

For a full week, my saintly father continued telling me - during our walks - what he heard from his own father, my saintly grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash]: namely, the long story of the chassid Reb Yitzchak Aizik.

What has been presented until this point is only the introduction to that story. The full story relates the details of the debate that took place in Minsk, when the Alter Rebbe instilled the spirit of Chassidus into dozens of the greatest geonim.[2] They then decided to choose the greatest among them, and to send them to the Gaon Rav Eliyahu (whose soul is in Gan Eden). They wished to persuade him to annul the cheirem that had been published against the chassidim and their leader, the Gaon of Liozna.

The most important accomplishment, however, was the great treasure that the Alter Rebbe acquired during that debate: about forty minyonim of young scholars (many of whom were outstanding and renowned throughout the regions of Vilna, Brysk, Slutzk, Minsk, and Shklov, and many of whom had been honored with the greatest titles of glory) attached themselves to the Alter Rebbe. Some of them followed him to Liozna immediately after that event, while others arrived later. Nearly all of them joined the chassidic community.

Continuing our conversations of that week, my saintly father repeated to me what he had heard from the famous chassid Reb Shmuel Dov of Borisov.[3] The story was long, but well organized; it dealt with the events of the Baal Shem Tov's visit to a few of the villages in White Russia at the time that he first revealed himself. After that, his colleagues (the hidden tzaddikim), his agents, and his disciples, traveled about in search of new converts to the Baal Shem Tov's teachings, and to shine the living light of the living Torah upon the Jewish people.

42.

In this essay, I hope to mention, either in whole or in part, all the entries that I have in my diary on this subject. In any case, I first wish to emphasize that the fragment of Reb Yitzchak Aizik's story quoted above comprises a living history. It paints for us a portrait of several generations of Jewish life in the counties of Minsk, Mohilev, and Vitebsk:

We are now in the month of Elul 5691 [1931], and I am telling you what I heard and wrote down during the years 5658-59 [1898-99] - an interval of thirty-three years.
My saintly father [the Rebbe Rashab] heard this story from his own father, my saintly grandfather [the Rebbe Maharash] during the year 5636 [1826] - an interval of twenty-two years.
My saintly grandfather heard if from the chassid Reb Yitzchak Aizik during the year 5603 [1843] - an interval of thirty-three years.
The gaon Reb Yitzchak Aizik related what he himself had seen and heard: the full story of the debate between the misnagdim and the Alter Rebbe in the year 5543 [1783] - an interval of sixty years.
He also related what he had heard from his uncle, the gaon Reb Zelmele Stutzker, describing the lifestyles of Torah scholars of fifty years earlier - around the year 5490 [1730] - an interval of fifty-three years.
The gaon Reb Zelmele Stutzker related what he had heard from his Rebbe, the gaon Reb Shalom Yehudah of Semilia - about forty years before that.
[Reb Zelmele also related] what [Reb Shalom Yehudah] had heard from his own Rebbe, the gaon Reb Ephraim Fishel Kadosh - a generation before that.

Thus, it turns out that the story told by Reb Yitzchak Aizik presents us with a living portrait of the lives of Torah scholars during a period approximately 205 [4] years ago. The history of that period makes a most fascinating story. But beyond that, it is exceedingly precious to us chassidim, for it gives us a general idea of the generation during which the first person to reveal Toras HaChassidus - the Baal Shem Tov - lived. It also describes the campaign that he conducted, with his intense vigor and outstanding wisdom.

Notes:

(Back to text) From the Previous Rebbe's essay, "Fathers of Chassidus," HaTamim, Vol. 5, pp. 460, 461.

(Back to text) [The story of "the Debate in Minsk" itself appears in the Supplements to this volume.]

(Back to text) [Also known as "Rashdam." For a brief biography, see The Making of Chassidim, Appendix C, and Links in the Chassidic Legacy, Sichos In English, Brooklyn, 1997, pp. 93-103.]

(Back to text) [Translator's note: this appears to be a typographical error; it should read "250 years ago."]