Early Chabad Manuscript ("Bichel") – Discourses of the Baal HaTanya – 1815 – Unprinted Essay – Copying of the Baal ...

Early Chabad Manuscript ("Bichel") – Discourses of the Baal HaTanya – 1815 – Unprinted Essay – Copying of the Baal HaTanya's Signature – Hand-Illustrated Title Page

"Torat shel adoneinu…", Chabad manuscript ("Bichel"). [1815]. Hand-Illustrated title page.

Early copying of some 30 letters, essays and Chasidic discourses, by Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi – the Baal HaTanya and Shulchan Aruch. This copying was made approximately two years after the Baal HaTanya passed away, in 26th December, 1812. When compared with printed versions of the writings of the Baal HaTanya, the essays in the present manuscript contain many additions, omissions and textual variations.

Mahdurah Kama of Igeret HaTeshuva was copied at the head of the volume, followed by two letters written by the Baal HaTanya after his release from prison in Petersburg. At the end of these letters appears a copying of the Baal HaTanya's Signature, reading: "Shneur Zalman son of R. Baruch, his soul rest in Eden" (Hebrew).

The present manuscript contains homilies given by the Baal HaTanya during the 1790's and the 1810's, both in Liadi and in Liozna. To the best of our research, the copied essay "Lehovin Inyan Nefesh and Ruach", appearing in the present manuscript in leaves 59/1 – 61/1, was never printed.

Some forty blank leaves of a later period are bound at the end of the manuscript, after leaf 64 (on the first page, a copy of an essay by the Mitteler Rebbe; the last two pages contain an index; ownership inscriptions and birth record from the 1820's-1830's are inscribed to the last page).

[1], 2-64 ff. (text in approximately half of the pages is arranged in two columns) + [40] blank pp. Leaf 55 torn and mostly missing. 18.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Creases and minor wear. Large open marginal tears to title page, restored with paper, affecting border. Tears from ink erosion, affecting title page border and text in some places. Stamps. New binding, slightly worn.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, Ms. EE.011.007.

                                                                                                              The Chabad "Bichel"

From ca. 1790 onwards, for close to one hundred and fifty years, the Chabad "Bichel" was an integral part of Chabad life in Belarus (Reisin). Researcher and bibliographer R. Chaim Lieberman describes in one of his essays the development of the "Bichel" and its distribution:

"…Chabad set up a system of copyists or writers ("schreiber" in Chabad terminology). First in Liozna, birthplace of Chabad Chassidut, then in Liadi… and later in Lubavitch… there the copyists sat and transcribed the teachings of the rebbe, which he had given over earlier to his Chassidim… On Shabbatot and festivals, and occasionally on weekdays as well, the rebbe would deliver discourses to the Chassidim. After Shabbat and Yom Tov, the rebbe would give his own handwritten notes of the discourse to the main copyist. The latter would copy it, return the manuscript to the rebbe and keep the copy, of which he would then make further copies, and sell them to the Chassidim. If he did not manage to supply all the required copies, and the Chassidim were rushing to return to their towns, he would give a copy to the secondary copyist, who would also produce copies and sell them. A Chassid who could not afford to buy a copy would copy it himself. Upon returning home with a new discourse, a Chassid was met by the awaiting townspeople, and was compelled to allow them each to copy the discourse… A Chassid who over the course of time accumulated a significant number of discourses, would have them bound, and thus the "bichel" was born, and in this way, over the years, Chassidim would amass a library of Chassidic discourses…" (Ohel Rachel, III, p. 26).

Zalman Shazar, third president of the State of Israel, who came from a Chabad home, dedicated a special chapter in his memoirs to his father's library, and writes: "High up on the bookcase was a special bundle, containing unbound booklets of Dach (Divrei Elohim Chaim). These were booklets of Chassidic teachings, written by copyists, which my grandfather would bring back from the court of the Rebbe in Liadi, or the 'choizer' every year on his traditional visit, and my grandfather would study them with my father, while I sat and listened. How engraved in my heart were those glowing, gem-like letters..." (Kochvei Boker, pp. 9-16).