One day when the Alter Rebbe was in Mezritch, Rabbi Dovber, the Mezritcher Magid, disclosed his extraordinary qualities and revealed him as a “light in Israel.” He commanded the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, who was then at most 25 years old, to rewrite the Code of Jewish Law to include the latest decisions.
Roughly 200 years had passed since Rabbi Joseph Caro had published his master work, the Shulchan Aruch, and throughout this period generations of Jewish codifiers and commentators called “Acharonim” had added to and elucidated what was to have been the final word in the discussion of Jewish law.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman gave full consideration to this further 200 years of commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, and with careful editing he presented his Code of Jewish Law in a precise and handy form. Reb Schneur Zalman stressed that he only undertook this task because his Rebbe, the Maggid of Mezritch, had told him to do so.
This was obviously a most difficult task. Yet the work was carried out in such a masterly fashion that Rabbi Schneur Zalman was at once acclaimed as one of the truly great scholars of his time, not only in the Chassidic world but by scholars of all ranks.
Founds Chabad-Lubavitch
After the passing of Rabbi Dovber on Kislev 19, 5533 (1772), Rabbi Schneur Zalman inherited the most difficult of all missions. He was to capture the stronghold of the misnagdim – the opponents of spreading chassidism in Lithuania – for the chassidic ideology and way of life. This he was to accomplish, first together with Reb Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, and after the departure of Reb Menachem Mendel for the Land of Israel, by himself.
A man of lesser stature as a Talmudist could not have undertaken such a mission, for the opposition included some of the most illustrious scholars of the time. But Rabbi Shneur Zalman was well equipped to meet them on their own ground.
His attempts to meet with the Vilna Gaon were rejected. HaGaon HaRav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik many times related the story, known for generations in his family, that the Alter Rebbe traveled to Vilna to meet personally with the Vilna Gaon. He went to the “kloyz,” the Beis Medrash of the Vilna Gaon. The Vilna Gaon personally lived in the attic of the kloyz. When the Alter Rebbe knocked on the door, the Vilna Gaon looked through the crack of the door and when he saw the extraordinary face of the Alter Rebbe, he realized that if he would open the door and they would meet face to face, he would not be able to counter the personality, scholarship and spirituality of the Alter Rebbe, which may lead to the end of his opposition. The Vilna Gaon, therefore, chose not to open the door. Later, the mother of the Vilna Gaon brought him a ladder by which he descended to the back of the house and left the town.
Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe carried on his work with undiminished zeal. With the help of Hashem, he succeeded to a degree hardly thought possible.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman was not a dreamer who lived in the clouds, but a true leader who was fully alive to the material needs of the Jewish community, no less than to their spiritual needs.
His extensive work for the economic welfare of his brethren is a chapter in itself. Space permits only a brief mention of some of his notable efforts in this field.
The Alter Rebbe’s interest in his brethren spurred him to action immediately after his wedding. He began a campaign to induce more Jews to settle on the land and engage in farming. Rabbi Schneur Zalman devoted to this cause not only a great deal of effort but his entire dowry of 5,000 rubles.
From about the year 5532 (1772), Rabbi Schneur Zalman was engaged in an extensive plan to induce large numbers of Jews living on the Russo-Polish border to move eastwards, into the interior of Russia, where the opportunities for economic existence were more promising.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman also devoted himself to raise great sums of money in order to support the newly established chassidic settlements in the Land of Israel. The Alter Rebbe writes about it in Tanya extensively.
(To be continued)
