Chabad "Bichel" – Presumably Partly Handwritten by the Tzemach Tzedek – Hitherto Unpublished Chassidic Essays

Chabad "Bichel" – Presumably Partly Handwritten by the Tzemach Tzedek – Hitherto Unpublished Chassidic Essays

Early Chabad Manuscript ("bichel") – Chassidic discourses by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch, written during his lifetime. [Lubavitch, ca. 1810s-1850s].
The present "bichel" appears to have been in the possession of R. Yissachar Dov Ber son of R. Tzvi Hirsch HaLevi Horowitz, rabbi and posek in Lubavitch for ten years, an associate and frequent visitor in the home of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. R. Yissachar Ber was known as a collector of important manuscripts, which he used to bind into "bichels" together with responsa and novellae that he wrote or copied himself (see below). Inscription on the verso of one leaf: "My friend the exalted and wondrous leader, R. Yissachar Dov Ber".
The volume is comprised of several booklets, and contains about forty Chassidic discourses – mostly by the Tzemach Tzedek, including some by his grandfather the Baal HaTanya, and by his father-in-law and uncle, the Mittleler Rebbe of Lubavitch.
This volume contains booklets in various hands, some of which are similar to the handwriting of the Tzemach Tzedek. In several places, the script is highly reminiscent of the handwriting of the Tzemach Tzedek (see for example the discourse beginning "Hinach Yafa Raayati" and the discourse beginning "Zohar VaYeshev…").
There are also booklets containing many marginal glosses and additions, some in a hand extremely similar to that of the Tzemach Tzedek.
The Tzemach Tzedek's practice was to emend and clarify the Chassidic discourses written by his copyists and to add many glosses and additions in the margins, as stated in Beit Rebbi: "His writings in manuscript are truly innumerable… both his own writings and those of others, which he clarified, refined, added additional glosses and discussed in depth" (Beit Rebbi, part 3, chapter 5). The director of the Chabad library, R. Shalom Dov Ber Levine, writes: "Nearly eighty volumes of his autograph manuscripts are extant in the library… or in his scribe's handwriting, to whom the Tzemach Tzedek would give his writings to copy, after which the Tzemach Tzedek would go over these volumes and emend them with many additions" (Lubavitch Library, pp. 28-29).
The present volume may also include manuscripts by other prominent writers who have not been identified.
Headings and dates at the beginning of some discourses: "Tuesday of Parashat Tazria 1810"; "Shabbat Teshuvah 1836"; "Shabbat Parashat Yitro" (1836); "Parashat Mishpatim of the same year"; "Written on 3rd Tammuz"; "Parashat Ki Tetze"; and more.
Most of the discourses copied in the present "bichel" were printed in the books of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Mitteler Rebbe and the Baal HaTanya, with textual variations, omissions and additions. To the best of our research, two of the discourses have never been printed (the discourse beginning "Lehavin Inyan HaMabul…" and the discourse beginning "Nishmat Kol Chai…").

Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch (1789-1866) – third rebbe in the Chabad Chassidic dynasty. Grandson and close disciple of Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Baal HaTanya, and son-in-law of his uncle, R. Dov Ber, the Mitteler Rebbe. He was orphaned of his mother at the age of three, and was raised and educated in the home of his grandfather the Baal HaTanya, remaining faithfully at his side for many years. After the passing of his father-in-law the Mitteler Rebbe in 1827, he began leading the Chabad Chassidism, a position he held for over 36 years.
During the Tzemach Tzedek's leadership, the Chabad Chassidic court expanded greatly, until it became the largest faction of Russian Jewry. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from throughout Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine followed the Tzemach Tzedek, cleaving to him with absolute devotion. The Tzemach Tzedek was the authoritative figure in all personal and communal matters of the Jewish community – "Every marital match, divorce and business deal was concluded only with his blessing. Every dispute was brought to be judged before him. Without his approbation, no community appointed a rabbi nor shochet… all the needs of the Jewish people were known to him, their business dealings, their family and social lives, and he was the spirit in all their actions. He was the bond to which myriads of followers attached themselves, and he planted love, brotherhood and peace in their hearts" (Alexander Ziskind Rabinowitz – Azar, History of the Schneersohn Family, HaAsif, 1889, p. 166).
The Tzemach Tzedek participated in conferences convened by the Tsarist government to determine many crucial communal matters relating to Russian Jewry, and he fiercely opposed the plans of the Maskilim to make changes to the Jewish study programs and education.
The Tzemach Tzedek was a leading halachic authority of his generation. He issued thousands of halachic responsa (many of which perished in a fire in 1859; the remaining responsa were printed in the Tzemach Tzedek series of responsa, containing over a thousand responsa to rabbis and dayanim). The Tzemach Tzedek also disseminated the teachings of his grandfather the Baal HaTanya, both through his thousands of oral discourses, and his prolific writing in Halacha, Chassidism and Kabbalah.
The books that the Tzemach Tzedek edited and published, Torah Or and Likutei Torah, were heavily censored by the Russian authorities; dozens of sections of the original text were omitted and censored. These sections were copied by his disciples in their "bichels" and in the margins of their copies of the books. Some were later printed as supplements to new editions of Torah Or and Likutei Torah. R. Eliyahu Yosef Rivlin, author of Ohalei Yosef, a foremost disciple of the Tzemach Tzedek, owned a copy of Likutei Torah, filled with marginalia copied from the autograph manuscript of his teacher the Tzemach Tzedek, including sections omitted by the censorship and not yet printed (see: R. Yehoshua Mondshine, HaMasa HaAcharon, pp. 140-143, and in the notes).

R. Yissachar Ber Horowitz, a disciple of R. Yehuda Leib (the Maharil) of Yanovitch (Janavičy; brother of the Baal HaTanya) and of the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch. After his marriage, he settled in Yanovitch, where he worked as a teacher and studied under his relative the Maharil of Yanovitch. He later served as teacher and posek in Rahachow, and was in frequent halachic correspondence with his teacher the Maharil, the Tzemach Tzedek and other leading rabbis of the generation. In 1827, he was appointed posek in Bichov-Chodosh (Novyy Pikov), and in 1833, in Lubavitch, a position he held for 10 years. He later served as posek in Konotop, where he remained until his passing. He dealt primarily in halachic rulings and arrangement of divorces. Since he frequently conferred with his teachers, he remained in possession of many manuscripts of the Maharil of Yanovitch and of the Tzemach Tzedek, which he bound into "bichels, " together with his own halachich novellae and notations. These volumes are the source of many responsa in the responsa books of the Tzemach Tzedek, in the supplements to the Maharil's book She'erit Yehudah, and in the Yagdil Torah series of anthologies. The present item may be one of those "bichels" which R. Yissachar Ber bound together with the writings of his teacher the Tzemach Tzedek (see R. Shalom Dov Ber Levine, MiBeis HaGenozim, pp. 127-130).

[269] leaves (including approx. 8 blank leaves), written on both sides. Originally contained additional leaves (leaves numbered: 2-154, 171-242, 254-287, 289-298). Size of leaves varies. Approx. 23 cm. Condition varies – most leaves in good-fair condition; several gatherings in fair condition. Stains and wear. Worming and tears, including open tears, affecting text. Original binding, damaged and worn, with extensive worming.