Editing The Split of Chabad Chassidus (section)

==== The Dispute and the Court's Decision ====
At the time of the Tzemach Tzedek's passing, the Maharil was in the town of Kremenchug, and he planned to spend Passover there. When news of the Tzemach Tzedek's passing reached Kremenchug, the Chassidim asked him to take his father's place. The Maharil answered that first he wanted to go to Lubavitch and sit with his brothers. Among the brothers, he also mentioned the Maharash, to which the Chassidim responded dismissively, "Is he also a tractate?!" The Maharil answered them: "With respect and esteem, certainly he is a tractate, and what a tractate!"

Later, the Maharil wrote about his going to Lubavitch in a letter sent to his brother-in-law Rabbi Zalman Viliz: "Everyone knows that in Kremenchug and in all the towns I passed through on my return, when they spoke to me about accepting [leadership], I answered everyone that I do not want any new title at all different from before, only to continue as it was during [my father's] lifetime, to review Chassidus, etc." In Beit Rebbi it is related that when the Maharil returned from Kremenchug to Lubavitch: "He found the town in turmoil with the conflict that had erupted, which they could not quiet in any way."

Already during the shiva, on the first day of Passover, and especially after the shiva ended, the Maharil's Chassidim demanded that their Rebbe be appointed as the successor to the Tzemach Tzedek in leadership, and a widespread controversy began regarding this. Additionally, notes were circulated at that time implying that the Tzemach Tzedek was opposed to the appointment of the Maharil as Rebbe. A rabbinical court consisting of Rabbi Menachem Tuvia Piratin, Rabbi Mordechai of Disna, and Rabbi Moshe Yisrael of Drisa determined that the notes were forged.

Due to the controversy that arose, the Maharil wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Rabbi Zalman stating that a Din Torah (religious court case) should be held among the brothers to resolve the dispute between them.

As a result, a special court was established to decide which of the sons would inherit the Tzemach Tzedek's position and serve in Lubavitch. The court consisted of three of the greatest Chassidim of the Tzemach Tzedek: Rabbi Peretz Chen, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Pardekin, and Rabbi Yosef Tumarkin. The judges ordered all the sons to deliver a Chassidic discourse, and after hearing the discourse delivered by the Maharash, they determined that the Maharash would continue the path of the Tzemach Tzedek in the Chabad dynasty.

The court's decision was based in part on the Maharash's expertise in the revealed aspects of Torah, despite his relatively young age, and on evidence demonstrating the Tzemach Tzedek's esteem for him, expressed in several notes written by the Tzemach Tzedek indicating his desire for the Maharash to take his place. It is told that after the Maharash demonstrated his great expertise in the revealed Torah, his brother, Rabbi Yisrael Noach Schneersohn, asked him how he had acquired such expertise at such a young age. The Maharash answered him: "You are elder in your years, while I am elder in our father's years."

In a later period, Judge Rabbi Shneur Zalman Pardekin wrote a memoir about the court ruling to his friend, the philanthropist Rabbi Yeshaya Berlin, in which he describes the suffering he endured as a result of ruling that the Maharash should take his father's place.