The Rebbe says:

1. The Rebbe begins talking about his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe, who’s day of passing we commemorate on Yud Shvat:

The Previous Rebbe writes in his diary that when he was a baby of eight days old and was receiving his Bris Mila (circumcision) he began to cry. His grandfather the Rebbe Maharash then said to him, “Why are you crying? When you grow up you will be a…(the Previous Rebbe left a blank spot here) and will say Chassidus in a clear fashion”.

Chassidim have told me that the missing word from the Previous Rebbe’s diary is “Rebbe”; the Rebbe Maharash said, “When you grow up you will be a Rebbe and will say Chassidus in a clear fashion”. This of course sheds light on why the Previous Rebbe left a blank spot (he did not feel it would be becoming to write that).

A Yud Shvat Sicha

The Rebbe says:

1. The Rebbe begins talking about his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe, who’s day of passing we commemorate on Yud Shvat:

The Previous Rebbe writes in his diary that when he was a baby of eight days old and was receiving his Bris Mila (circumcision) he began to cry. His grandfather the Rebbe Maharash then said to him, “Why are you crying? When you grow up you will be a…(the Previous Rebbe left a blank spot here) and will say Chassidus in a clear fashion”.

Chassidim have told me that the missing word from the Previous Rebbe’s diary is “Rebbe”; the Rebbe Maharash said, “When you grow up you will be a Rebbe and will say Chassidus in a clear fashion”. This of course sheds light on why the Previous Rebbe left a blank spot (he did not feel it would be becoming to write that).

2. The Rebbe continues discussing the Previous Rebbe:

When the Previous Rebbe was a young child (approximately four years old) he lived with his parents in a small home with only two rooms; one room was where his saintly parents slept and one room was his father’s study, in which the Previous Rebbe had a bed.
One night, when the Previous Rebbe was already sleeping, his father, the Rebbe Rashab, was learning Torah with his study partner in that same room. The Previous Rebbe had a very nice looking face and as he slept his face glowed. When the Rebbe Rashab’s study partner noticed this he began talking to the Rebbe Rashab about how the Previous Rebbe’s glowing face shows how pure his thoughts are.

This conversation aroused the Rebbe Rashab’s love for his son the Previous Rebbe and he got up to give his son a kiss. At that moment the Rebbe Rashab remembered that in the Beis Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) people would sometimes donate gold and silver for the Beis Hamikdash’s upkeep instead of animals as Karbonos (sacrifices). The Rebbe Rashab then decided that he would give Chassidus to his son the Previous Rebbe instead of giving him a kiss.

After this decision the Rebbe Rashab immediately wrote down a Chassidic discourse (a Mamar) entitled “Mah Rabu Masecha – How great are your works”. Eight years later, in 1892, when the Previous Rebbe was twelve years old, the Rebbe Rashab gave his son the Previous Rebbe this discourse as a gift, saying, “This is a Chassidishe (Chassidic) kiss, and I will explain everything in time”. Four years after that, in 1896, when the Previous Rebbe was sixteen years old, his father the Rebbe Rashab explained to him what had happened twelve years earlier when he had been sleeping in his study.

3. The Rebbe now relates an incident which expresses the high esteem in which the Rebbe Rashab held his son:

In the year 1897 the Rebbe Rashab was very ill and was informed by the doctors that he only had a few more months to live. Upon hearing this, the Rebbe Rashab decided that he would travel to Eretz Yisroel (Israel) to live his last days there. When he told his wife, Rebbetzin Shterna Sara, about this plan she retorted, “But what will you do about your Chassidim (followers) and Chassidus?” Thereupon the Rebbe Rashab answered, “I will leave it to him (meaning the Previous Rebbe)”. The Previous Rebbe was only seventeen at this time!

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume one, third Sicha on Yud Shvat.