Chabad. Manuscript (Bichel), Maamarim of the Alter Rebbe and more. Complete manuscript, nice and neat.

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Chabad. Manuscript (Bichel), Maamarim of the Alter Rebbe and more. Complete manuscript, nice and neat.

Manuscript – Complete Chabad Bichel in a nice, neat hand, with index of the maamarim. Includes the short maamarim of the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and maamarim and letters of the Tzemech Tzedek.

The “Maamarim Ketzarim” of the Alter Rebe were said before he moved to Liadi. These are short, profound maamarim. After his release from his second imprisonment in St. Petersburg and settling in Liadi, he said longer maamarim.

The large majority of this manuscript consists of maamarim known as “Ethalech Liozna, ” per the first maamar that opens with the word “Ethalech” and the place where it was said, in Liozna.

The last section includes maamarim and Igrot Kodesh from the Tzemach Tzedek.

There are some text variations that have not been adequately studied.

The manuscript opens with an index to 67 maamarim.

Leaf 43a: From the holy mouth of the Admor zy”a…and the manuscript has been copied from the bichel of ר"א מקרימענצוג [grandson of the Baal HaTanya, refer to Migdal Oz, p. 397].

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48 leaves with text on both sides (96 pages).

21x16 cm.

Complete manuscript in excellent condition. Old, cloth binding.

[From the collection of Daniel Kahn z”l, London]

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The Chabad “Bichel”

In previous generations, instead of printing their works, the Chabad chassidus created a system of copyists and writers (“schreiber, ” as they were known to Chabad chassidim). First in Liozna, the cradle of the Chabad chassidus, then in Liadi and then later in Lubavitch, where the Mitteler Rebbe settled, the copyists sat and copied the Torah said by the Rebbe.

System: The Rebbe said Torah to his chassidim and after Shabbat or the holiday, the Rebbe  gave a written form of this idea to his chief copyist. The copyist wrote it over, returned the original manuscript to the Rebbe and used his copy to make another few copies.

When a chassid returned to his village or city with a copy of the Rebbe’s words, he met other chassidim and gave them his copy so they could make their own copies of the Rebbe’s words.

When a chassid collected a number of these copies of the Rebbe’s Torah, he had them bound. These bound books are known as “Bichel.”

(Reb Chaim Lieberman, Ohel Rochel, section 3, p. 20-26.)