HACHAYOL - MyShliach

An
Exceptional
8
(1834), תקצ”ד Iyar, On Beis
the Tzemach Tzedek’s wife,
the Rebbetzin Chaya
Mushka, felt like she was soon going
to be giving birth. The Tzemach Tzedek
gave special instructions to his sons to
say certain Kapitlach Tehillim,
and gave a white linen
cloth for the midwife
to wrap the baby in. It
is told that the Alter
Rebbe had given a piece
of white linen to wrap the
Mitteler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek
when they were born too. That day, 100
years from when the Baal Shem Tov
revealed that he was a Tzaddik, on the
Sefira of Tiferes Shebtiferes, the Rebbe
Maharash was born.
Eight days later, on the morning of the
day of the Bris, the Rebbe’s entire family,
led by the Alter Rebbe’s son R’ Chaim
Avrohom, gathered for the celebration.
By 2:00 pm the Bris still hadn’t started
and some of the guests began to get
nervous, but R’ Chaim Avrohom calmed
The Bris hadn’t
yet started…
the Rebbeim had
come to visit
the Tzemach
Tzedek.
Child
them, saying, “He is busy hosting more
important guests then us.” He meant
that the other Rebbeim had
come to visit the Tzemach
Tzedek.
Finally at 4:00 pm the
Rebbe came out and told all
of those gathered not to
Daven Mincha, because the Bris would
begin immediately. The Rebbe went in
to the Rebbetzin’s room to discuss the
name and ordered that the baby be
prepared for the Bris.
The Tzemach Tzedek himself was the
Sandek, and when the Bris began, the
baby started screaming loudly. The
Tzemach Tzedek took his left hand out
from under the pillow and put it on the
baby’s head; at that moment the baby
stopped crying. The child was named
Shmuel.
At the Seudas Bris the Tzemach
Tzedek’s son R’ Yehuda Leib asked the
Rebbe, “Who is this child named after
We don’t have the name Shmuel in our
family.” The Tzemach Tzedek replied,
“He is named after a water carrier from
the town of Polotzk.”
This Shmuel was a hidden Tzaddik, but
when he passed away nobody in
Polotzk knew who he was so it took all
day until they buried him. That is
why the Rebbe
Maharash’s Bris
was so late
because you can’t
name a child
after someone who has passed away
until that person has been buried.
From his youth, the Rebbe Maharash
was treated specially by the Tzemach
Tzedek. He always played in the
Tzemach Tzedek’s room, and years
later his house was built right next
door to the Tzemach Tzedek’s.
While the Rebbe Maharash was
growing up, the Tzemach Tzedek would
test the entire Cheder every month.
Once, when the Rebbe Maharash was
only seven years old, he did so well
that his teacher couldn’t hold himself
back and said, “Ah, what do you say,
isn’t he doing well” To which the
Tzemach Tzedek replied, “What are you
so excited about What’s so unique
that Tiferes ShebTiferes does well!”
When the Rebbe Maharash was an adult,
the Tzemach Tzedek explained to him
that a Ruchniusdike jug of oil was
handed down from the Baal Shem Tov to
the Maggid to annoint him as the Nasi.
The Maggid used it to anoint the Alter
Rebbe, who in turn anointed the
Mitteler Rebbe.
“My father-in-law,
the Mitteler
Rebbe, anointed
me,” said the
Tzemach Tzedek
to the Rebbe
Maharash, “and
now with that
Ruchniusdike oil I
will anoint you.”