By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

This past 3^rd of Tammuz was the Yahrtzeit of the last Rebbe of Lubavitch, of blessed memory.  The day reminds us that Chabad Chassidim also celebrate the 19^th of Kislev as a holy day. The day came out on Wednesday, November 28^th, 1798 (Gregorian).   It was the day that Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the first Rebbe of Chabad, was released from prison.

But who was it that was responsible for jailing the Rebbe in the first place?  And why and how did he do it? Of course, there was immense negativity emanating from Vilna, particularly after the declaration that the greatest enemy of the Chassidim had passed away, but who was the person who wrote that first letter in Russian archives?  This author would like to present an original theory.

The Rebbe was incarcerated under Tsar Paul.  To better understand our own Jewish history, we give a brief introduction (with apologies) about the Tsars.  Often, we read about some nameless Tsar, but we have no idea about the context.  With context, we can better understand things and have greater accuracy.

There were a total of 7 Russian Tsars that ruled over the Jews of White Russia (and later greater Russia).  This author refers to them as “CPA NAAN.”  These seven Tsars ruled over the “Pale of Settlement” from which most of our great-grandparents originally lived before immigrating to America.

The seven Tsars, the dates they ruled, and their age when they became Tsar are:

1. Catherine the Great (1762-1796) 33 years old when she became Tsarina
2. Paul (1796-March of 1801) –               42 years old when he became Tsar
3. Alexander I (1801-1825) –               23 years old when he became Tsar
4. Nicholai I (1825-1855), –               29 years old when he became Tsar

(Alexander I and Nicholai I were brothers, despite their being nineteen years apart)

5. Alexander II (1855-1881) –                        36 years old when he became Tsar
6. Alexander III (1881-1894) –               36 years old when he became Tsar
7. Nicholai II (1894-1917) –                            26 years old when he became Tsar

The prison in which the Baal HaTanya was incarcerated was located in a fortress on a small island by the north bank of the Neva River in St. Petersburg.  The fortress was first established by Peter the Great on May 27 (Gregorian Calendar) of the year 1703.  The island is the last upstream island of the Neva delta.  No one had escaped from that prison until the year 1876.

The Rebbe was in this prison for 53 days.  His first ordeal in prson, it seems, had lasted from September 6^th, 1798. Eventually, he was imprisoned a second time.

THE LETTER

On May 8^th, 1798, two years into Paul’s reign, his Attorney General, Peter Lopukhin, received a letter from someone who signed his name, “Hirsch Ben David.”  The letter accused the Baal HaTanya of being a conspirator with the intent of helping the revolution in France.  The letter ends with a suggestion that the authorities should put him and his young rebel Jewish men that gather with him in Liozna in the Tsars army – either that or banish them to Siberia.  Lopukhin got in touch with the governor of Vilnius, Bulgakov, who researched the new sect and Bulgakov wrote a letter to Tsar Paul.  The Rebbe was arrested and taken to the aforementioned prison.

WHO WAS HE?

Much ink and conjecture has been spent theorizing who exactly “Hirsch Ben David” was.   Was he a Jew?  Was he an anti-Semitic gentile?  Why would he go so (pun forthcoming) beyond the pale of Jewish behavior that he would denounce a Jew to the authorities?

Mordechai Teitelbaum in Harav MiLiadi (Warsaw, 1910) theorized that it was a Jew from Vilna and was one of the important leaders of that community. The documents relating to the first Lubavitcher Rebbe’s first incarceration are in the archives of the prosecutor general in St. Petersburg (the aforementioned Lopukhin). They were first mentioned by Yehoshua Mundshein and published in Hebrew in Kerem Chabad #4 (1: 32-33).  He cites proof that “Hirsch Ben David” was not Jewish because it was dated during Shavuos and that the signature was someone who was not proficient in Hebrew letter-writing.  Wilensky in Chassidim uMisnagdim also quotes a number of researchers who believe it was a gentile.  All these sources are cited by professor Emanuel Etkes, in his Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi  (2012).

NEW THEORY

It is a little known fact, but a similar incident happened to an early Rebbe of Slonimer.  He too was temporarily imprisoned and was denounced to the Tsarist authorities, but it was not recorded because one of his Chassidim bribed the officer in charge.  Indeed, even the Slonimer Chassidim are unaware of the incident.  It is recorded in a diary from someone from Kamenetz.  The denouncer was investigated by the askanim and his motivation was determined.

Perhaps both the denouncer of the Slonimer Rebbe and our “Hirsch Ben David” shared some characteristics.  The Slonimer denouncer was motivated by the fact that his daughter was often left to fend for herself, while her husband would travel and visit the court of the Slonimer Rebbe.  It is possible that there was a strong personal motivation involved here, likely of a father whose own child was suffering greatly as a repercussion of someone not being at their side or his daughter’s side.

The theory needs to be fleshed out a bit better, but this was a preliminary thought.

The author can be reached at [email protected]