The first impression of the inner circle of disciples gathered about Rabbi Dovber of Meseritch was not very encouraging to Rabbi Shneur Zalman. He had expected a large academy brimming with sparkling personalities, scholars and wise men. Instead, he found a group of unobtrusive people who, at first sight, seemed to possess little that made seeking worthwhile. Nor was he particularly inspired by the pious admonitions that the Maggid of Meseritch addressed to the crowd that gathered in his synagogue.
He was about to leave, when his eyes were opened to the true nature of the master and his inner circle. Rabbi Shneur Zalman had decided to pay his respects to the Maggid before returning to Liozna. He entered the master’s house and stood among the crowd, when the eyes of Rabbi Dovber singled him out. They bored deeply into the very abyss of Shneur Zalman’s soul, exploring and evaluating its every quality.
After a few minutes of pregnant silence, the master not only told him what had been in his mind, but without having been asked, gave Shneur Zalman astoundingly simple, yet convincing answers to some test questions the young scholar had prepared in order to assure himself of a worthy master. Deeply impressed, Rabbi Shneur Zalman begged to be admitted into the inner circle of Rabbi Dovber’s disciples.
A new world now unfolded itself before the eager eyes of the scholar from Liozna as he absorbed the Maggid’s daily lectures on the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. In the company of rabbis of great renown, he delved into the realm of the holy relations that unite G-d, Israel, the Torah and the world into one insoluble system of universal scope.
Rabbi Dovber’s young son, Rabbi Abraham, who by his saintly conduct earned the title of “the Angel” (Malach), was his guide to this higher sphere of wisdom and knowledge. In return, Rabbi Shneur Zalman instructed him in the realm of Halachah – the major part of the Talmudic and Rabbinic literature dealing with Jewish law.
Thus, the young Rav absorbed the fundamentals of Chassidism and satisfied the yearning in his soul which had driven him from his home and family. He never regretted having chosen Meseritch in preference to Vilna.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman enjoyed little prestige at first among the established followers of the Maggid, until one day Rabbi Dovber disclosed the Rav’s extraordinary qualities and revealed him as a “light in Israel.” He commanded Rabbi Shneur Zalman, then at most twenty-five years old, to rewrite the Code of Jewish Law so as to include the latest decisions.
Roughly two hundred years had passed since Rabbi Joseph Caro had published his master-work, the Shulchan Aruch, and throughout this period generations of Jewish codifiers and commentators called “Acharonim” had added to and elucidated what was to have been the final word in the discussion of Jewish law.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman gave full consideration to this further two hundred years of commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, and by careful editing, he presented the Code of Jewish Law in a precise and handy form.
This was obviously a most difficult task. Yet the work was carried it out in such a masterly fashion, that Shneur Zalman was at once acclaimed as one of the truly great scholars of his time, not only by the Chassidic world, but by scholars of all ranks.
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