Today, 18 Elul, the entire world marks the anniversary of the birth of two great righteous men – the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, also known as the Alter Rebbe.
Israel Ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) was born at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. According to Jewish tradition, the date of his birth is beyond doubt – it’s precisely known that he was born to the righteous Rabbi Eliezer and Rebbetzin Sarah on Monday, 18 Elul 5458 (August 25, 1698) in the village of Okup. Despite this undoubted fact, various encyclopedias and books still claim that historians don’t know the exact date and even write different years, though everyone agrees it was around 1700. At the beginning of his life’s journey he was one of the “hidden righteous,” and few knew about his great mission – to reveal to people the light of Chassidism, but later he proclaimed his teaching, which shook the entire Jewish world, giving it new momentum and energy.
Every year on 18 Elul, the Baal Shem Tov held a feast, celebrating his birthday, and once, in 1744, Rabbi Baruch approached him, a direct descendant of the famous Maharal of Prague, whose lineage traces back to the descendants of King David’s house. Ten months had passed since Rabbi Baruch’s wedding to Rebbetzin Rivka, but they didn’t have children yet. During the feast, the Baal Shem Tov told Rabbi Baruch: “By this very time next year you will be embracing a son.”
And exactly one year later, day for day, on 18 Elul 5505 (1745), a son was born to the family of Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivka, and they named him after his grandfather – Shneur Zalman. This happened in the town of Liozna, now Belarus. It’s said that on this day the Baal Shem Tov in Ukrainian Medzhybizh was very joyful and cheerful and told his students: “A new soul has descended into the world, which will illuminate this world with revealed Torah and the Torah of Chassidism, and will sacrifice itself for the ways of Chassidism, and will succeed until the coming of Moshiach.”
Shneur Zalman (later known as the Alter Rebbe) became the continuer of the Baal Shem Tov’s mission, he founded Chabad, uniting faith, intellect and wisdom to reveal the Divine Light.
The day of 18 Elul became a great celebration, and it’s customary to treat it specially, for on this day the blessings of the righteous are particularly powerful. On 18 Elul it’s customary to visit holy places in Medzhybizh and Hadiach, and it has also become a good tradition to open new Jewish houses on this day – precisely on 18 Elul in different years, synagogues were opened in Kamianske (formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk) and Kryvyi Rih.
