בַּמַּאֲסָר הַשֵּׁנִי שֶׁל רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן — בִּשְׁנַת תקס"א — לֹא יָשַׁב בִּתְפִיסָא וּמַאֲסָר כָּבֵד כְּבָרִאשׁוֹנָה. אֲבָל הַמַּלְשִׁינוּת הָיְתָה כְבֵדָה יוֹתֵר, כִּי עִקָּר הַהַלְשָׁנָה הָיָה עַל תּוֹרַת הַחֲסִידוּת, וְהַהִתְנַגְדוּת הָיְתָה גְּדוֹלָה בִּמְאוֹד. הָיָה תָּפוּס בּ"טַיינעֶ סָאוועֶט". יוֹם שֶׁיָצָא לְחֵרוּת: נֵר ג' דְּחַנוּכָּה.

During the Alter Rebbe’s second incarceration, in 5561 (1800), the conditions of his confinement were not as harsh as they had been the first time. The slanderous charge, however, was far more severe, for it focused [not on himself personally but] on the teachings of Chassidus, and the opposition was intense. He was imprisoned in the Tainy Soviet prison, and was released on [the day of] the third Chanukah light.1

Probing Beneath the Surface

The Alter Rebbe’s second detention arose out of an ideological objection — that his teachings encouraged Jews to stand before G‑d with mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) and bittul (self-nullification).His accusers maintained that promoting mesirus nefesh eroded all respect for the czarist authorities, and that promoting bittul prevented people from pursuing productive lives within society. They had heard, moreover, that the Kabbalah and Chassidus relate to the Sefirah of Malchus (literally, “kingship”) as the lowest of the ten Divine emanations. These misconceptions were enough to prove to his monarchist accusers that the Alter Rebbe’s school of thought was tantamount to a treacherous philosophy.2

To exonerate himself, the Alter Rebbe had to refute these charges by elucidating the above-mentioned profound concepts to his Russian interrogators. He explained that the spirituality he taught is not otherworldly; rather, it guides a man along a path that enables him to reveal G‑dliness within the context of his everyday life. Everything in this world — including the ruling authorities — embodies a higher reality. Our task is to align material existence with the spiritual reality that is its source and counterpart.