Chapter 41

I then began helping my wife cook for Shabbos, prepare everything, and prepare the candles, and so forth. I also went to the bathhouse and mikveh in honor of the holy Shabbos and prepared myself for the holy Shabbos. Afterward I went to the Western Wall to pray Minchah and welcome Shabbos, and so forth. I still possessed vitality and awakening from having been at the holy tziyun, and we ate the Shabbos meal in the customary manner, and so forth.

In the morning I prayed Shacharis at vasikin in the bais midrash. We also heard Shir HaShirim read from a kosher scroll with a blessing, in accordance with the custom among the Perushim. Afterward I went to our bais midrash, and from there we went to the Western Wall and prayed Musaf. I performed my service for several hours by reciting Tehillim and prayers, as was my custom. We returned home and ate the Shabbos meal in the customary manner. I also led Birkas HaZimun, for one man joined me by coming and tasting some pashtida [baked dish], and so forth.

Afterward I sat for several hours studying the books of Rabbainu, of blessed memory, with my son, and we made prayer out of what we had studied, engaged in hitbodedus, and recited Tehillim. When the time for Minchah arrived, we went to the bais midrash and prayed the Minchah prayer of the holy Shabbos there. Afterward each person went home to eat the third meal, for during Pesach we did not intermingle with one another in eating, as stated above.

After each had eaten in his own home, they came to the home of Rabbi Avraham. Several people from outside the city likewise came to Rabbi Avraham’s home, and Rabbi David from Tel Aviv was also present. They sat there crowded together and remained for several hours into the night. Rabbi Avraham delivered a Torah teaching concerning Pesach and Sefirah. Afterward they played melodies and danced, and then sang all the hymns of the Pesach night in the order of the Seder, as stated above. Rabbi David sang the hymn “Az Rov Nissim” to the heart-arousing melody of Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin. In this manner they spent several hours. (Many of the Perushim stood around the house, for this was the first time they had seen or heard such things, to which they were unaccustomed.) Afterward they recited Birkas HaMazon and prayed Maariv with awakening, particularly the Counting of the Omer. They then danced in the courtyard and went home.

Thus, blessed be Hashem, Shabbos passed in peace, joy, and the service of Hashem. It was already Erev Yom Tov, for Sunday was the eve of the Seventh Day of Pesach. I likewise went to the Western Wall and spent several hours there in prayer and divine service. At night we prayed Maariv in our bais midrash and counted the Omer with great intention, after which we sang and danced. During the night watch we recited “the Shirah,” as is customary. Early in the morning all of us prayed at vasikin in our bais midrash. We recited “the Shirah” with sweetness, recited the Yotzer, heard the Torah reading of “the Shirah,” and recited the Yizkor prayer, during which those who have a father and mother leave the bais midrash.

In the meantime we ascended to the roof to make the festival pilgrimage. There, with awakening and brokenheartedness, we recited “Umipnei Chata’einu” and “Melech Rachaman,” and prayed for the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of Yisrael to their land. We returned and entered the bais midrash; they had already begun “Av HaRachamim.” They also recited “Kel Malei Rachamim,” with bitterness and brokenheartedness, for one of the fervent members of our fellowship, R. Y.Y., who had died while imprisoned in Russia—where they had broken his leg, and so forth. Afterward they sang “Yah Eli,” the hymn recited before Musaf on the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, to a melody that arouses the heart.

We went to pray Musaf at the Western Wall. There too was crowding, as is customary on the festivals, until we merited to reach the Wall. We stood together and prayed with great awakening from the depths of the heart. In particular, when the chazan recited, “Umipnei Chata’einu, galinu me’artzeinu,” and so forth, there was actual weeping. Especially when “Vese’erav Lefanecha Asiraseinu” is said during “Vesechezenah,” before “Modim,” there is great awakening, and tears flow from the eyes out of longing and bitterness, and so forth. We thus completed the prayer, and remained there further to recite the Tikun Haklali, Tehillim, the prayers of Yom Tov and Pesach, and other heartfelt petitions and hitbodedus.

Afterward we entered several homes of members of our fellowship—Yaakov Zev’s home and mine as well—to taste something: only boiled eggs, and so forth, and kremzlach made from potatoes, and so forth. We studied the tale of the Sixth Day from “The Seven Beggars,” as well as the discussion in Likutay Halachos concerning it, which discusses the splitting of the Red Sea, and so forth. We sang “Yom Layabashah,” and so forth; these are the Yotzros of the Seventh Day of Pesach, and they are also sung at a bris milah meal. (For bris milah is connected with the splitting of the Red Sea: the entire splitting of the Red Sea took place in the merit of circumcision, and so forth, and in the merit of Yosef HaTzadik, who withstood the trial, as is expounded upon the verse, “The sea saw and fled”—it saw [the merit of the one concerning whom it is written], “and he fled and went outside,” and so forth.) We danced, and so forth, and afterward each person went home to eat the Yom Tov meal.

After the meal I studied at length with my son concerning the Seventh Day of Pesach and the interpretation of the tale of the Sixth Day from “The Seven Beggars,” as stated above. We recited Tehillim and prayers, and so forth, and engaged in hitbodedus. Afterward we went to our bais midrash and prayed Minchah. We then sat together studying the books of Rabbainu, of blessed memory, after which melodies were played, they danced, and they spent several hours in this manner.

They prayed Maariv and counted the Omer with awakening. Many went to the Western Wall for Maariv and the Counting because this marked the completion of a week of the Counting. Afterward they came to the bais midrash and joined in the dancing and music, and so forth. Following Maariv they remained further in music and dancing, in fellowship conversations, and in stories, and so forth. Afterward we went home, made Havdalah, and also ate.