אַמאָל אַרוֹיסְגֵייעֶנְדִיק פוּן זַיין חֵדֶר, האָט דעֶר אַלְטעֶר רֶבִּי אָנְגעֶטְראָפען וִוי דִי רֶבִּיצִין זאָגט צוּ עֶטְלִיכעֶ פְרוֹיעֶן: "מַיינעֶר זאָגט".

האָט דעֶר רֶבִּי געֶזאָגט: מִיט אֵיין מִצְוָה בִּין אִיך דַיינעֶ, מִיט מִצְוֹת ווִיפִיל אִיז מעֶן דעֶם אוֹיבּעֶרשְׁטעֶן'ס. אוּן אִיז געֶפאַלען אוֹיף דעֶר פְריטעֶלקעֶ אוּן האָט זִיך פאַרדְבֵק'עֶט. אוֹיפְכאַפּעֶנְדִיג זִיך פוּן דְּבֵקוּת, האָט עֶר געֶזאָגט: צְאֶינָה וּרְאֶינָה — אוֹיף אַרוֹיסְגֵיין פוּן זִיך אוּן זעֶהן אֱלֹקוּת, וועֶרט דאָס פוּן — בְּנוֹת צִיּוֹן, מַלְכוּת מְעוֹרֶרֶת זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין, לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא וועֶט זַיין אֵשֶׁת חַיִל עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ.

Once, as the Alter Rebbe was leaving his room, he heard his rebbitzin telling several women: “Mainer (literally, ‘My one’ - i.e., ‘my husband’) says….”

The [Alter] Rebbe told [her]: “I am yours by virtue of one mitzvah. With how many mitzvos are we G‑d’s!” He then fell to the doorstep, absorbed in a state of dveikus.1 After emerging from that state, he [gave a mystical interpretation of the verse,2 “Go out and see, O daughters of Zion!”]: “ ‘Go out and see…’ — self-transcendence3 and seeing G‑dliness comes about by virtue of the ‘daughters of Zion.’4 [In the Kabbalistic metaphor of spiritual marriages,] Malchus5 arouses Z’eir Anpin.6 [And indeed,] in the Ultimate Future, ‘A woman of valor [will be] the crown of her husband.’ “7

Living as a Chassid

Relating this episode,8 the Rebbe once remarked: “Chassidus teaches us to focus on the inner dimension of every event, even the simplest one, and to derive from it a directive in the service of G‑d. One word the Alter Rebbe heard from his rebbitzin led to the revelation of an entire concept in Chassidus.”