The Tzemach Tzedek: Difference between revisions

== Birth and Childhood ==

{{Chabad}}

When he was eight years old, the Alter Rebbe suggested to his son, [[the Mitteler Rebbe]], to take him as a chosson for his daughter Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, but the Mitteler Rebbe hesitated and showed his father through the window how he was playing with all the children in childish ways. The Alter Rebbe approached the window and motioned with his finger for his grandson to enter the room. When Menachem Mendel entered, he gave him a Gemara and instructed him to memorize a daf with [[Rashi]] and Tosafos within half an hour, to return to the room and repeat everything he had learned. The Mitteler Rebbe, who waited in the room, noticed after about fifteen minutes that the child was again playing outside with his friends, turned to his father and said 'He doesn't even listen to your voice!' The Alter Rebbe called the child and rebuked him but Menachem Mendel claimed that he had already learned and began to repeat the daf by heart.

Until age 13 his main learning was in nigleh and after bar mitzvah age the Alter Rebbe established special times to learn with him [[Kabbalah]] and Chassidus.

On 5th of Kislev 5564, when the Tzemach Tzedek was fourteen years old, he married in Liadi his cousin, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, daughter of the Mitteler Rebbe.

The Tzemach Tzedek was known for the many halachic responsa he would give to all who approached him. These she'eilos u'teshuvos were published in the seforim Shu"t Tzemach Tzedek.

The Tzemach Tzedek would deliver maamarei Chassidus on Shabbos, Yomim Tovim, and other special occasions. After the team of chozrim (those who would memorize and transcribe the maamarim) had thoroughly reviewed the maamar, the manichim would enter the Rebbe's room and repeat the maamar before him. He would correct their mistakes and explain what needed clarification.

* Rav Isser Ber Gilerson

The Tzemach Tzedek established a large yeshiva in Lubavitch, and in the early years of his nesius, he regularly gave shiurim to the special yungeleit in the yeshiva. His son, Rav Yisroel Noach, was the rosh magidei shiurim, and his son-in-law, Rav Levi Yitzchak Zalmanoff, was among the yeshiva's examiners.

The Tzemach Tzedek was known as a mattir agunos (one who found halachic solutions for agunos), and many agunos were sent to Lubavitch so he could find ways to free them from their status.

The Tzemach Tzedek coined the phrase "Tracht gut vet zain gut" - think good and it will be good - a saying that was frequently quoted by the Rebbe and became a fundamental principle in Chabad Chassidus.

In the month of Kislev 5620 (1860), the Tzemach Tzedek became very ill and remained so for more than six years. On Erev Shabbos Parshas Vayigash 5621, after his wife Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka's histalkus, he said to his son, the Maharash, that the holy words of the Alter Rebbe had been fulfilled - 54 years had passed since he had sighed and said to him "nad katzir b'yom nachala" (the harvest flees on a day of sickness). After the Rebbetzin's passing, the Tzemach Tzedek stopped receiving people for yechidus.

After his histalkus, Chabad Chassidus split, with three of his sons establishing different courts in the spirit of Chabad. His successor in Lubavitch was his youngest son, the Rebbe Maharash.

There was a non-Jewish artist who knew the Tzemach Tzedek and very much wanted to paint him, but the Tzemach Tzedek wouldn't agree. The artist cleverly came on Shabbos to the Tzemach Tzedek's house, studied him carefully to remember his likeness, ran home, and hurried to paint him. For this reason, the Tzemach Tzedek appears in the painting wearing his white Shabbos clothes, which he had inherited from the Alter Rebbe. Later, when the Tzemach Tzedek saw the picture, he was distressed that it was painted on Shabbos - but 'consoled' himself with the fact that the artist had made two mistakes: First, he painted the Tzemach Tzedek with the left side of his garment placed over the right, while Jewish custom is the opposite. Second, he painted the sefer that the Tzemach Tzedek was holding as a secular book, read from left to right. The Rebbe once noted an additional mistake - that in the painting, the Tzemach Tzedek places his glasses on the sefer's cover - something that would never be done as it shows disrespect for the sefer.

In 5647 (1887), the portrait was restored and the mistakes were corrected, and since then it has been circulated in its corrected version.

The Tzemach Tzedek had many sons and two daughters:

# [[Reb Boruch Sholom Schneerson|Rabbi Baruch Shalom]]

# [[The Rebbe Maharash]]

# Rebbetzin Rada Freida Schneerson, wife of Rav Schneor Schneerson

Among the distinguished chassidim of the Tzemach Tzedek were:

* Rabbi Shneur Zalman Fradkin of Lublin, author of "Toras Chesed"

* Rabbi Avraham Dovid Lavut, author of "Shaar HaKollel"

* Rabbi Peretz Chen

# Tzemach Tzedek - Halachic responsa, rulings, and Talmudic novellae. The sefer's name hints at the author's name (in Yiddish spelling) - "Menachem Mendel" in gematria equals "Tzemach Tzedek"

* "The Rebbe Following the Tzemach Tzedek", in the 'Nitzutzei Rebbe' section of Hiskashrus Weekly, Parshat Shemini 2021

* "As the Tzemach Tzedek Rules, So They Rule in Heaven", Kfar Chabad Issue 1954, pages 64-74

[[Category:Chabad Rebbes]]

[[Category:The Tzemach Tzedek]]

[[he:רבי מנחם מענדל שניאורסון (אדמו"ר הצמח צדק)]]