The World Is Ready  

R

av Mordechai Gifter ztz”l once invited a younger student into his office. The bochur was worried about what he may have done wrong and figured that the Rosh Yeshivah might have learned of his interest in Chabad chassidus and disapproved. Rav Gifter invited him to sit down, placed two shot glasses on his desk, and poured them both l’chayims.

“Today is the 19th of Kislev, a significant day for chassidim,” said the Rosh Yeshivah. “I mark this day in appreciation of my first rebbi, Rav Eliyahu Axelrod, a Chabad chassid, and my next rebbi, Rav Forshlager, also a chassid. Let’s make a l’chayim together.”

Unlike Rav Gifter, I have never celebrated Yat Kislev, but this year, I accepted an invitation to speak at a celebration of what chassidim refer to as the “Rosh Hashanah of chassidus,” commemorating the day in 1798 that the Alter Rebbe, Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, was released from a Russian prison. Being unfamiliar with the nuances of this holiday, I pulled out two seforim, one that chronicled the events surrounding the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment and release through original letters and documents, and the other a compendium of the Yat Kislev addresses of the last Rebbe ztz”l. Astoundingly, the two sources hardly overlapped.

The historic chronicle told the story of a tragic anniversary, one that emerged from the enormously bitter dispute between chassidim and misnagdim that led to the accusations made to the czarist government against the Alter Rebbe and that ultimately resulted in his arrest and imprisonment. The dispute was rooted in sincerely held principles of halachah, hashkafah, and appropriate behavior, and it deeply divided the Jewish community, creating rifts even within families.