Chapter 8A

This atypical chapter consists of extremely-abbreviated jottings in which the Rebbe noted certain customs in the conduct of his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, in the course of that Purim. Those jottings, which were made for his own reference and which are freely translated here, are assembled in Toras Menachem – Reshimas HaYoman, p. 123ff. Its numerous abbreviations and unspecified allusions are decoded on p. 395ff. of the same volume.

During most of the month of Adar Sheni and part of Nissan, the Rebbe Rayatz was in Paris for medical consultations, after which he returned to his home in Otvotzk, Poland.

This practice, which varies from the ruling in the Alter Rebbe’s Siddur, is discussed by the Tzemach Tzedek and also in the later halachic literature. See Siddur Rabeinu Hazaken Im Tziyunim Mekoros V’heoros, p. 603, footnote 4.

This is one of the above-listed practices that were later published in HaYom Yom and/or in Sefer HaMinhagim.

HaYom Yom and Sefer HaMinhagim write that at these two points, “the Megillah should be rustled.”

Standard practice follows the instruction in the Siddur, according to which this berachah is recited only in the presence of a minyan.

Which they do in many Megillos.

Presumably the Rebbe and his two brothers-in-law – R. Shmaryahu Gourary, known by his acronym as Rashag, and R. Menachem Mendel Hornstein, who were married (respectively) to the older sister and the younger sister of Rebbitzin Chayah Mushka.

At this point, the editors of the footnotes to the Heb. text write: “This is perhaps an allusion to p. 216a in the Zohar there, which says that ‘whoever enters the Covenant of circumcision […] and preserves its purity may enter and cleave to the King Himself and reach the level of tzaddik…’ Accordingly, a blemish in that purity can be rectified by following the counsel of the Midrash: ‘If you have torn your garment by sinning, take a thread and sew that tear together.’That counsel, from Bereishis Rabbah 19:6, is cited in maamarim of the Rebbe Maharash as a continuation of the above statement of the Zohar. This rectification can be achieved by cleaving to a tzaddik, who has not blemished that Covenant – as was the case with the author of Or HaChaim, whose miraculous story is now told above.”

R. Chaim ben Attar, Moroccan-born kabbalist, universally known as “the holy Or HaChaim,” from the title of his classic commentary on the Chumash. He was a contemporary of the Baal Shem Tov, with whom he had a strong spiritual bond. His resting place on the Mount of Olives is an oft-visited prayer site.