A Biography of The Mitteler Rebbe
The Mitteler Rebbe was born on the 9th of Kislev, in the year 5534 (1773) , in Liozna, where his father, the Alter Rebbe was the Rebbe of the many Chassidim in White Russia and Lithuania, and other parts of Russia.
His father named him after his own teacher, the Mezritcher Maggid , at the Maggid's Request. [ the Alter Rebbe said that since his son was a Gilgul of Rav Hamnuna (One of the greatest of the Amoraim in the Gemarah), he would have Named him after him The Maggid hadnt told him to name him DovBer)
As a boy, DovBer was a very eager student, with a brilliant mind and photographic memory. Soon after he started to attend Cheder, his teacher complained that the little boy asked him with so many questions and needed so much attention, that it was difficult for the teacher to teach the classes.
Little Dov Ber was far advanced for his age, and had to be put together with older boys. He started learning Mishnayous and Gemara before he was seven years old.
The Bar Mitzvah of DovBer was an occasion of great simcha in Liozna. Many hundreds of Chassidim from all parts of Russia came to participate in the rejoicing, and to listen to both father and son as they spoke the gathering.
DovBer continued to learn with great hasmadah. In addition to his Talmudic studies, his father taught him the Zohar, and transmitted to him the teachings of Chassidus. At the age of sixteen, DovBer had attained such scholarship and maturity, that his father appointed him to instruct the young Chassidim who were students in his Yeshivah. These were no ordinary students, for they had all been selected for their .Yiras Shomayim and Lomdus, and had been receiving instruction from Alter Rebbe himself. At the same time, his father continued to give special lessons to his sons and the best of his Talmidim. He gave special attention to his older son, who was to inherit his position.
After The Alter Rebbes Histalkus. Rabbi DovBer, who was 39 years old, was now recognized as his successor. The question arose as to where to make his residence. The war was over, with the defeat of Napoleon by Tzar Alexander 1. (It was Alexander, who upon ascending the throne in 1800, gave Rabbi Schneur Zalman his freedom after his second arrest.) However, Liadi lay in ruins. Prince Lubomirsky, to whom Liadi belonged, and who had been a great friend and admirer of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, offered to rebuild it for his successor.
As a second choice, the prince offered the nearby town of Lubavitch, which belonged to his nephew. The prince was not unmindful of the great economic benefits for the town and its surroundings, if it be the residence of so famous a Rabbi, with hundreds of followers coming periodically to spend Shabbosim and festivals in that town. He was therefore delighted when Rabbi Dov Ber agreed to settle in Lubavitch, and the prince lost no time in erecting the necessary buildings for the Chabad headquarters, and other structures, such as a synagogue, classrooms, etc. Thus Lubavitch became the "capital" of the Chabad Chassidim, and remained so for 102 years, until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Incidentally, it was in Lubavitch that Rabbi Schneur Zalman received his earliest schooling, his teacher being Rabbi Issachar Ber.
Rabbi Dov Ber was a true and worthy successor to his great father. He continued to teach the Chabad way of life. He established a Yeshivah in Lubavitch, which attracted exceptionally gifted young scholars. His son-in-law, who later became also his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch, headed the Yeshivah.
Like his father, The Rebbe considered it his sacred task to help the Jews of Russia, whether Chassidim or not, not only spiritually but also economically. The position of the Jews under the Czars was never easy, but it became much worse when Czar Alexander I was succeeded by Czar Nicholas I " the year 1825. The restrictions against the Jews increased in number and severity. The Jews were confined to a small area, called the Pale of Settlement. They had no right to live, work or do business outside this crowded Pale, where conditions had become very difficult in the wake of the French-Russian war.
The Mitteler Rebbe began a campaign (in 1822, or 1823) to urge Jews to learn trades and skilled factory work. He urged Jewish communities to organize trade schools where Jewish boys would be able to learn a trade. He also called on his fellow-Jews to learn agricultural work, farming, and the like, reminding them that once upon a time, when the Jewish people lived in their own land, they were a people of farmers and sheperds. He urged that boys who did not show promise of becoming Torah scholars, should, after the age of thirteen, devote part of their time to the learning of a trade, or work in the fields, to help support the family.
Not content with words alone, The Mitteler Rebbe himself began to organize colonies of Jewish farmers. The first colony was organized in the district of Cherson, with some fifty Jewish families. Others followed. Rabbi Dov Ber took to the road to raise funds for this purpose, and he personally visited the Jewish farmers and encouraged them in their pioneer work, also seeing that their spiritual needs and the education of the farmers' children should not be neglected.
The reign of Nicholas I was one of continued harassment of the Jewish population of Russia, with a view to force them into assimilation and conversion. One of the worst and most cruel decrees of Nicholas was the enforcement of child conscription into the Russian army. This decree, issued in 1827, made it compulsory upon every Jewish community to deliver a certain number of recruits, between the ages of twelve and twenty-five, for 25 year's service. Jewish children showed wonderful courage in resisting conversion, but the tragedy of their broken lives and the suffering of their families, broke Rabbi Dov Ber's heart and affected his health.
Like his father, he too was denounced by his enemies as a danger to the Russian government. He was arrested, but later released, and the day of his release, the 10th of Kislev, is remembered gratefully by Chabad Chassidim.
Rabbi Dov Ber wrote many works on Chassidus and Kabbalah, including a commentary on the Zohar. He was a brilliant thinker and a fast writer. It was told that when he finished writing the bottom line on a sheet of paper, the ink of the top line has not yet dried. About twenty of his works have been published, many of them during his lifetime.
The Mitteler Rebbe .passed away on the 9th of Kislev, on the day he was born 54 years earlier.
