Tonight is the Tenth of Shvat, the most important date in the Hasidic calendar. It is a special day for all followers of Lubavitcher Hasidism. It is the 10th of Shvat that is celebrated as the birthday of our generation, as it is believed that a generation changes when its Head changes.
On this day 75 years ago, the previous Head of the Lubavitcher Movement, Rebbe Yosef-Yitzhak Schneerson, passed away, and exactly one year later, 74 years ago, his son-in-law, Menachem-Mendel Schneerson, assumed the leadership of the Jewish people and the title of Lubavitcher Rebbe. A good description of those historic days is in the book “I Will Live Among Them” by Yaakov Hanin and Eliyahu Elkin.
“…Upon arriving in America, Rebbe Yosef-Yitzhak Schneerson recited maamar once a week for two years, but then he began to do so less and less frequently. The last time he said maamar was on his birthday, 12 Tamuz 5705 (1945).
For the next five years, the Rebbe prepared for printing the maamarim that he had spoken or written while in Europe. The maamarim booklets were published on special dates, so that the Hasidim could feel and strengthen their connection to the Rebbe by studying them on those days.
The Rebbe prepared the first part of the tractate “Bati Legani” for study on Shvat 10, 5710 (1950), for the yortzeit of his grandmother, Reb Rivka. The second part was to be released on Shvat 13, the yortzeit of the Rebbe’s mother, Rebetzn Sterna-Sara, the third part on Purim, and the fourth part on 2 Nisan, the yortzeit of his father, Rebbe Rashab. The tractate discussed the idea of the purpose of Creation and how a Jew can and should fulfill it.
On Saturday, Shvat 10, the Hasidim began studying the first part of this tractate. Suddenly someone noticed that in the word shlita (an abbreviation for “may the days of his life be long and good”) that accompanied the Rebbe’s name on the title page, the letter yud was missing.
In the morning, at 7:50, Dr. Zeligson was summoned by telephone with a report that the Rebbe had become ill. When the doctor arrived on the scene, he found that the Rebbe had suffered a massive heart attack. Zeligson administered two injections, but it did not help. The police officers who carried the oxygen cushion were also late. At 8:07, the Rebbe’s soul left his body. At that moment, Dr. Zeligson himself, the Rebbe’s secretary Sholom Levitin and the Rebbe’s assistant Sholom-Ber Einhorn were in the room. All three represented three parts of the Jewish people: Dr. Zeligson was an Yisraelite, Rabbi Levitin was a Levite, and Rabbi Einhorn was a Kohen. Since, according to Torah law, it is forbidden for a kohen to be in the same room with a deceased person, Rabbi Einhorn immediately went outside, and soon the entire community learned of what had happened.
As the days of mourning passed, the Hasidim asked the Rebbe’s son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem-Mendel, to take over the leadership of Chabad, but he refused. “Der Rebbe lebt” (“The Rebbe is alive”), he invariably replied when someone brought up the subject. When the requests became insistent, Rabbi Menachem-Mendel threatened to leave for a place where he would not be found. The Hasidim did not know what to do.
Once Rav Eliyahu Simpson, who had been acting as Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s secretary for the past ten years, the Rebbe himself appeared in a dream and asked:
– Why are the Hasidim so sad?
– Because we have no one to turn to,” Rabbi Simpson replied.
– Isn’t my son-in-law Mendel with you?
– But he refuses to accept leadership.
– He had already been ordered to do so.
At the first opportunity, Rabbi Simpson recounted his dream to Rabbi Menachem-Mendel.
– I didn’t receive any instructions,” he replied.
Then Rabbi Simpson and a few other elderly Hasidim went to the grave of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and read the letter there, in which they asked the Rebbe to give the appropriate order. From then on, when it came to taking over the leadership of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem-Mendel no longer refused, but remained silent, and it was obvious that he did not know what to answer.
On 26 Tevet 5711 (1951), Rabbi Aharon Kazarnovsky placed an announcement in Yiddish newspapers that on Shvat 10 of that year, Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Schneerson would assume the leadership of Chabad at the request of the Hasidim. The next day, the future Rebbe summoned Rabbi Kazarnovsky and ordered him to give an immediate retraction.
– Can I say something about it? – Rabbi Kazarnovsky asked and, after receiving permission, continued, “Last night I saw the Rebbe in a dream. “Tell my son-in-law,” he said to me and mentioned your name, “that the Torah says, ‘And G-d answered Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the children of Israel to move forward!” Ask him, why does he claim that I am still the Rebbe? Tell him my words: “Tell the children of Israel to go forward and rise with you until the coming of our righteous Moshiach!”
Rabbi Menachem-Mendel listened to Rav Kazarnovsky and replied:
– Thank you for the good news. But I also have something to please you.
And the future head of Chabad showed a telegram he had just received, in which the chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Israel, Yitzhak Herzog, congratulated the addressee on assuming leadership of the movement and blessed him for success.
On 10 Shvat 5711 (1951), Rabbi Menachem-Mendel went to his father-in-law’s grave and read there the letters of all those who had asked for a blessing. Last, weeping bitterly, he read the michtav aitkashrut (the letter in which the Hasidim accept the Rebbe as their undisputed leader and declare their connection to him), at the end of which were thousands of signatures.
When he returned, the Hasidim, after reciting the afternoon and evening prayers, filled the Seven Seventy in anticipation of the farbrengen. Rabbi Menachem-Mendl had held farbrengen throughout the year, but this time everyone hoped that he would finally take over the leadership of Chabad.
At a quarter to nine, the farbrengen began. Rabbi Menachem-Mendl began by saying that it is necessary to strengthen one’s bond with his father-in-law, the Rebbe, through service to G-d, and then said:
– It is said in the Talmud, “When one arrives in a city, one follows its customs.” The tradition here in the United States is that before embarking on any new project, an official statement is made. This is the official statement I want to make: “Take action. And the result of these actions should be three kinds of love, which should be revealed in ourselves and in others – love for G-d, love for Torah and love for our neighbor. If one of these components is deficient, it should be brought to perfection, and through this we will finally emerge from this bitter exile.”
The Rebbe beckoned, and the congregation sang a nigun. At that moment, one of the elderly Hasidim, Rabbi Avraham-Sender Nemtsov, stood up and said loudly:
“Sichot (conversations) are very good, but we want to hear maamar from the Rebbe!”. Silence ensued. Everyone waited for the Rebbe’s reaction. The Hasidim knew that by saying the maamar, he would take over the leadership of the movement. And the Rebbe pronounced his first maamar, “Bati Legani,” which was based on the previous Rebbe’s maamar. In it, the Rebbe said that the goal of the seventh generation of Chabad is to complete the spiritual work of all previous generations and bring Moshiach to our material world.
– And now I want to say this,” the Rebbe announced after finishing the maamar. – The Rebbeim of Chabad have always demanded of Hasidim that they serve G-d with their own resources, without relying on the righteous. Do not deceive yourselves, do not hope that I will do all the work for you and you will be idle in the meantime. I will help as much as I can, but each of us must devote all of ourselves – all of our bodies and souls – to the task my father-in-law has entrusted to us.
– And now we will say lechayim,” said the Rebbe, finishing his speech.
At that very second, the octogenarian Rabbi Nemtsov climbed up on the table and shouted:
– Hasidim! Listen to me! Today is a great day! We now have a Rebbe! And on this occasion we must recite the blessing “Sheheyanu”!
* * * *
For almost half a century Rabbi Menachem-Mendel – from the very day he became the leader of the Chabad movement – has worked tirelessly to fulfill his mission: to make our world a dwelling place for G-d and to bring Moshiach and Liberation.”
