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The Rebbe’s
Room, Holy Of Holies
By
Shlomo HaYitzchak
On
the threshold before the Rebbe’s room stood the Chassidim,
each like the Kohen Gadol before entering the Holy of Holies.
In connection with the sidra’s description of the Mishkan, Beis Moshiach presents a selection of stories describing
the experience of Chassidim in — and in preparation for —
yechidus.
Gan
Eden Ha’Tachton and Gan Eden Ha’Elyon
“I
heard from the elder Chassidim,” related the Rebbe Rayatz,
“that the room before the yechidus room was called Gan
Eden HaTachton [the lower Gan Eden] and that the
yechidus room was called Gan Eden HaElyon [the upper
Gan Eden]. If you would ask where someone was, they
would answer, ‘He is in Gan Eden HaTachton.’”
Before
a Chassid entered [the Rebbe’s room] for yechidus, he
would resolve that he would no longer want what he desired.
That is not to say that he would resolve to do away with forbidden
desires, because that which is forbidden is forbidden. Rather, he
would resolve to not want at all – whatever the heart
desires, even permissible things.
(Sichos
Chag HaPurim 5688)
The
Four Cubits of the Rebbe are the Four Cubits of Hashem
Once,
when the tzaddik and Chassid, R’ Hillel, had a yechidus
with the Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe entered a
profound state of dveikus (deep meditation of G-d). “R’
Hillel would say,” related R’ Gershon Dov, “that in order to
see, and thank G-d, to feel this dveikus, it was worth
walking to the Rebbe ten times on foot. We, the young men,” R’
Gershon Dov continued, “under the tutelage of R’ Hillel, lived
for many months with this statement. The wholeheartedness with
which it was said gave us chayus in serving Hashem.”
“The
Rebbe’s dveikus,” R’ Hillel told us, “elevated me
and put me in four completely different cubits. The four cubits of
the Rebbe are the four cubits of Hashem. From the day the Beis
HaMikdash was destroyed, Hashem has nothing in His world
except for the four cubits of halacha, and in these four
cubits are the same giluyim (revelations) that were in the Beis
HaMikdash.”
(Likkutei
Dibburim, Vol. 2, p. 210)
The
Home and Temple of the Alter Rebbe
Here
is a description from Shimon the Heretic who spent some time with
the Alter Rebbe and his talmidim. It describes the
Rebbe’s home, and how the Chassidim related to it, from
his perspective:
The
heichal (temple), which is how the Chassidim refer to the
Rebbe’s home, stands in a large and spacious courtyard. The
estate is comprised of several buildings, as well as rows of trees
and a vegetable garden. The heichal itself is a house about
25 cubits by 12 cubits. It has an attic twenty cubits long and the
width of the house. The house is divided into two apartments
separated by an anteroom.
The
apartment on the right is the private home of the nasi, and
on the left is a small shul the Chassidim call Gan Eden
HaTachton. That’s where people wait for a private audience
with the Rebbe. The attic has two rooms separated by a foyer. One
is a room for the Rebbe’s hisbodedus (private
meditations), and the other room is for receiving people for yechidus.
Chassidim call it Gan Eden HaElyon.
(Seifer
HaToldos of the Alter Rebbe, Vol. 2, p. 560)
The
Rebbe’s Hakafos
The
Alter Rebbe customarily did the Hakafos in Gan Eden
HaTachton. The Chassidim referred to the Hakafos as Hakafos
HaYechidus of the Rebbe. These Hakafos HaYechidus of
the Rebbe set a Chassid in a completely different standing. The
Chassid, R’ Pinchas Reizes, said, “I remember the first time I
merited to be present at these Hakafos, which wrought in me
a great revolution. I became a different man. That is when I had a
true picture, for the first time, of how a Jew felt in the Beis
HaMikdash when he was oleh regel and saw the
revelation of the Divine presence in the Beis HaMikdash.”
Each
limb of a person enjoys a special pleasure according to the
quality of that limb. The head enjoys intelligence, the eyes –
sight, the ear – hearing, the heart – midos, the hand
– action, the foot – walking, and thus every limb according to
its quality. In truth, though, there is a type of pleasure that
all limbs may feel simultaneously, and all senses and all
qualities are nullified in it. This kind of pleasure was felt by a
Chassid during the Rebbe’s Hakafos HaYechidus.
(Likkutei
Dibburim, Vol. 2, p. 502)
Before
Entering For Yechidus
This
is what the old Chassidim would say, having heard it from the
earliest Chassidim: “At the threshold of the beis ha’midrash
of our Rebbe we left our natural character traits...and the mezuzos
of Gan Eden HaTachton gave us a yearning for love and
fear [of Hashem].”
“The
elder Chassidim,” said the Rebbe Rashab, “before entering for yechidus,
worked on themselves so that they would not do what their natural
inclinations yearned for.”
On
these birthing stones, the Chassidic congregation was born.
(HaTamim)
The
Rebbe’s Shtender
The
Rebbe Rayatz related what the Chassid R’ Yaakov Shimshon told
him:
His
father, R’ Zalman Yitzchok, prepared him to enter the Rebbe’s
room for yechidus for half a year before his wedding (this
was in 5585, in the time of the Mitteler Rebbe). R’ Yaakov’s
grandfather, the Chassid R’ Nachum Dov Ber, wasn’t satisfied
with the preparations his son made for his grandson, and for two
months he explained to R’ Yaakov the significance of going to yechidus.
R’
Nachum Dov Ber said to his grandson, R’ Yaakov Shimshon, “To
us Chassidim, the Rebbe’s house was the heichal ha’Mikdash,
and the Rebbe’s room lifnai u’lifnim [inner sanctum].
When we were young men we sat near the Rebbe of Liozna [the Alter
Rebbe]. We had a deep abiding respect towards the earth upon which
the Rebbe’s house was constructed, and all the more so for Gan
Eden HaTachton.”
“After
great preparation, deep introspection, and immersion in the mikva,
we allowed ourselves from time to time to kiss the lectern upon
which the Rebbe davened. If you only saw the awe and holy
love with which the gaon and ninety year old Chassid, R’
Yerucham Moshe of Shipetivka, would approach the Rebbe’s
lectern, to kiss the place where the Rebbe’s hands leaned during
davening, you would understand how holy is the place where
the Divine presence rests.”
3-Year
Preparations
My
grandfather, related R’ Yaakov Shimshon, told me, “We learned
from the elder Chassidim that one goes to yechidus only
after preparing well for it, and this preparation takes time.
There were those whose preparation for yechidus took three
years or more.”
7
Years Putting it into practice
In
another place it is told that the Chassid R’ Moshe Vilenker
prepared himself for three years before entering for yechidus
to the Alter Rebbe. Then he remained for another seven years in
Liozna in order to actualize his yechidus within his avoda.
(HaYom
Yom 18 Tammuz)
A
New Creation
R’
Nachum Dov Ber told his grandson, “After preparing well for
their first yechidus, there were those who, while
standing on the threshold of Gan Eden HaElyon before
entering the Rebbe’s room, gained an appreciation for the
special delight in a G-dly concept. Their natural consciousness
was refined, and seeing the Rebbe’s Holy of Holies opened a
channel from the neshama to the ruach and nefesh.
During yechidus, the Rebbe would identify where the nefesh
and ruach needed correction. The Rebbe would then
enliven them with the light of the neshama.”
“They
would leave their yechidus with the Rebbe as a new creation
with a healthy G-dly soul, a happy and fortified yetzer tov,
a natural soul that was broken apart, and a yetzer ha’ra that
was crushed.”
(Seifer
HaToldos of the Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. 2, p. 221)
The
Order of the Day
On
the night before going to yechidus, a Chassid would read Krias
Shma Al HaMita with a cheshbon nefesh (soul-searching),
and then he would rise for Tikkun Chatzos. He would feel
the destruction of the Mikdash and the exile of the Divine
presence personally. [He felt the exile of] his personal
sanctuary, about which it says, “And they shall make for Me a Mikdash
and I will dwell within them.” He felt how his personal Beis
HaMikdash is in ruins, how Hashem gave him a G-dly soul,
and that soul is in exile. He would say Tikkun Chatzos with
true bitterness with these thoughts in mind, crying with an inner
bitterness from the depths of his heart. Then he would study
Torah, immerse in a mikva, learn the regular Chassidus shiur
before davening, daven with his head and his
heart, and ask Hashem to help him repent. He would fast the next
day and learn Torah.
(Igros
Kodesh Rebbe Rayatz, Vol. 3, p. 165)
Good
and Just
R’
Hillel of Paritch said: For the four months that I prepared myself
to enter the Mitteler Rebbe’s room for yechidus, I worked
on my body so that it would be on the level of tov [good]
and not merely on the level of tzedek [righteousness], so
that it would be good and not just correct.
...One
of the “sitters” (young men who stayed in Lubavitch to learn
Torah), Moshe Dovid of Abtzuha, was extremely moved by what R’
Hillel said. He cried copiously and said, “Now I know why the
two times I went to yechidus did not help me, for in order
to enter for yechidus one needs preparation in actual avoda.
Without that the yechidus doesn’t help.”
(Likkutei
Dibburim, Vol. 3, p. 1,040)
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Why We Dance After Coming Out
From Yechidus
The
Chassid, maskil and oveid, R’ Avrohom Dov Ber, the
son of R’ Yirmiya of Bobroisk, related (in HaTamim):
“When
I was six years old in 5592 (1832), before I was brought to cheider,
my father took me to Lubavitch for Shavuos. From Lag B’Omer and
on, [the Chassidim] began preparing for the trip. Knowing that my
father would take me to cheider at this time, and then take
me with him and all the Chassidim to Lubavitch, I was very excited
and happy. I will never forget that trip and the impression it
engraved in my heart.”
Indeed,
R’ Avrohom Dov Ber tells at length and in full emotional detail,
the wonderful trip the Chassidim at that time made to Lubavitch,
and, of course, going to the Rebbe for yechidus:
I
remember how I went to the Rebbe with my father...The room in
which the Rebbe sat was large. Near the walls stood piles of
books. The Rebbe sat near a large desk, which had some volumes of
books on it, as well as papers, boxes, and boxes of coins, and
two lit candles.
Upon
entering the Rebbe’s room, the Rebbe was reading a seifer opened
before him. When Father approached the Rebbe, the Rebbe looked up
and gazed at Father and at me. Father was shaking, and I also
began to shake and cry quietly. The Rebbe reached out to take the
note from Father, because in his great fear, Father had remained
in his place without knowing what to do.
Father
stood mute, his head bent, and tears flowed from his eyes to the
floor. He controlled himself for the first few moments, but after
a while he burst into loud crying and wailing. Seeing Father cry,
my heart was pained and I cried silently, while looking at the
Rebbe’s holy visage.
For
some time, the Rebbe read the note my father had given him. While
reading it twice and three times, the Rebbe looked at Father and
at me, and then he spoke to Father. When the Rebbe began speaking
to Father, he stopped crying, and his lips moved as he silently
repeated what the Rebbe told him.
The
Rebbe spoke at length to Father. Then Father asked the Rebbe some
questions, and the Rebbe answered him. When he finished speaking,
Father said, “I will be, G-d willing, taking my son to cheider,
and I request that the Rebbe bless him.” He moved me towards the
Rebbe.
For
a moment the Rebbe thought and closed his holy eyes, and after a
few moments he opened his eyes and looked at me and said, “Be
diligent and don’t be idle, and Hashem will help you become a lamdan
and a Chassid.”
“Amen,”
answered Father out loud, and I did the same.
After
the yechidus, Father took me in his arms and went out
dancing with the Chassidim, for all those who merited to see the
Rebbe for a yechidus left dancing… Two questions bothered
me and gave me no rest: 1) why was going to the Rebbe called yechidus?
and 2) why did Chassidim dance when they left the Rebbe’s room?
When
I saw that Father was in a good mood, I asked him these two
questions. Father asked me if I knew what the Mishkan,
which Moshe made upon Hashem’s command, looked like. This Mishkan
had a special place for the aron, which held the luchos,
and once a year on Yom Kippur, Aharon the Kohen Gadol would enter
with incense and pray on behalf of the Jewish people.
I
wanted to display my knowledge to Father. I quickly told him
everything I knew about the Temple Shlomo HaMelech built, about
the Holy of Holies, the aron and luchos, and the
service of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur in general, and his
entering lifnai v’lifnim in particular.
“Who
entered with the High Priest to the Holy of Holies on Yom
Kippur?” asked Father. “The Kohen Gadol was alone,” I
answered. “What did the Kohen Gadol do when he finished the
service of the holy day of Yom Kippur?” asked Father. “Our
teacher, R’ Elimelech, told us that when the Kohen Gadol
finished his service in the Beis HaMikdash he went
home with all the Jewish people following behind him singing. They
all rejoiced, for their sins were forgiven.”
“And
now,” asked Father, “do we have a Beis HaMikdash
and a Holy of Holies?” “ Now,” I answered with a sigh, “we
have no Beis HaMikdash or Holy of Holies,” and my
eyes were raised towards Father, while I wondered what he would
tell me.
Before
I could even swallow, a group of men entered the shul
singing and dancing, and Father joined them. The things Father had
said to me about the Beis HaMikdash, the Holy of
Holies, and the aron, and his final question as to whether
we now have a Beis HaMikdash and Holy of Holies,
left me sad and dispirited. A new question began to race through
my mind: Why are they happy? After all, the Beis HaMikdash
is destroyed, and in the place of the Holy of Holies, the goats
prance?
After
the dancing and after davening Mincha, I turned to Father
and asked him, “Do we also have the Beis HaMikdash
and the Holy of Holies now? We do not have the Beis HaMikdash
and the Holy of Holies. So why are you rejoicing and dancing when
the Beis HaMikdash is destroyed?”
When
Father heard my question, he answered, “You are right my son,
you are right. The Beis HaMikdash in Yerushalayim
has been destroyed, and when the Jewish people repent, Hashem will
send us Moshiach Tzidkeinu, the righteous redeemer. He will gather
us from the four corners of the earth and take us, together with
our homes, to Eretz Yisroel, and he will build Yerushalayim and
the Beis HaMikdash. But now, we do not have a Beis
HaMikdash or the Holy of Holies.
“However,”
continued Father, “from the day the Beis HaMikdash
and the Holy of Holies was destroyed until Hashem has mercy and
sends us the righteous redeemer who will gather us from the four
corners of the earth and lead us to Eretz Yisroel
and build Yerushalayim and the Beis HaMikdash and
the Holy of Holies — Lubavitch is our Yerushalayim. And the shul
where the Rebbe davens is our Beis HaMikdash.
And the room where the Rebbe sits is our Holy of Holies. And the
Rebbe is the aron, which contains our luchos Toras Hashem.”
Father’s
expression and seriousness made an awesome impression on me, and I
thought: We were just in the Holy of Holies and now we are in the Beis
HaMikdash. How incredible! I was still thinking about the Beis
HaMikdash when I heard Father ask me, “Did you know my
son, that when Moshe brought the aron with the luchos to
the Kodesh HaKadashim, he heard the voice of Hashem
speaking from between the two kruvim?”
“Yes,”
I answered Father. “I heard Mother read it from a book and tell
Aunt.” “These are the things,” Father continued, “which
the Rebbe says to every one of his Chassidim. They are the words
of Hashem, and just as the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies
alone, so too whoever enters the Rebbe’s room, enters alone,
which is why it is called yechidus.”
“Just
as when the Kohen Gadol left the Holy of Holies, he and all the
Jewish people rejoiced, so too we Chassidim, when we leave our
Holy of Holies, we rejoice over the great kindness Hashem did for
us, in granting us the privilege of being in the Holy of Holies
and to hear the Rebbe’s blessing.”
Father
concluded by saying, “Remember well the words of the blessing
with which the Rebbe blessed you.”
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