Considering the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch to be part of the wellsprings of Chassidus, the Rebbe encouraged rabbonim to learn and publish in-depth explanations of this special work – even if it means locking the door.
Ever since being entrusted by the Maggid with writing the Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe’s monumental work has served as a guiding light for Chassidim in how to practice halacha according to its spiritual framework. The Rebbe saw its study and proliferation as part of hafotzas hamoyonos.
“Please do me a favor,” the Rebbe requested from a surprised Rabbi Yisroel Yitzchok Piekarsky, a Rosh Yeshiva at 770 who was from a Sochatchov background.
“In Sochatchov they held the Alter Rebbe in high esteem. I therefore ask you to please write explanations on the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch.”
In a Sivan 5735 yechidus, the Rebbe said to Reb Mordechai Ashkenazi, then a moreh hora’a in Kfar Chabad. “You must dedicate a specific time every week to engross yourself in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. If this means that you need to lock the door for some time, so be it…”
Similarly, in a 14 Sivan 5739 yechidus, the Rebbe told Reb Levi Bistritzky, Rov of Anash in Tzfas, to publish notes on halacha, either from the Alter Rebbe or the Tzemach Tzedek.
“Although you are also capable of writing in Chassidus,” the Rebbe told him, “You should write in halacha, and this will be your part in hafotzas hamayonos!”
(Kfar Chabad issue 520 and 685; Halev Shel Tzefas p. 142)
From The Weekly Farbrengen by Merkaz Anash
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