The extraordinary discovery of a manuscript from 1807 provides comfort and hope as the 20th anniversary of Gimmel Tammuz is marked this week.

By COLlive reporter

A manuscript of chassidic teachings written over 200 years ago, found in the recently uncovered Schneerson Library temporarily placed by Russian authorities at the Jewish History Museum in Moscow, has come to light.

Penned by the second Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Dovber Schneerson, the Mitteler Rebbe, it provides a conclusion to a discourse delivered by his father, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman on Shabbos Parshas Vaeirah 5568 (1807), which until now has never been published or seen by the public.

The discovery of this extraordinary manuscript, which discusses the ongoing impact of the Moshe in each generation even after his passing, could not be more timely – days before the 20th anniversary of the Rebbe’s yartzeit on Gimmel Tammuz.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Dean of The Meaningful Life Center in New York and author of the bestseller “Towards a Meaningful Life,” announced and publicized this new discovery in his popular weekly email column, titled “The Silent Sun.”

He said that this manuscript, with the fascinating example of the sun always shining day and night, “can perhaps shed some ‘light’ on the stoppage of the sun on Gimmel Tammuz: The sun may be silent and its movement may have paused, but it continues to shine one way or another – either directly or through its reflection in the moon and the stars.”

Rabbi Jacobson thanks Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Keller for making him aware of the manuscript, and transcribing it. The translation was done by Rabbi Yisroel Glick, an editor at the Meaningful Life Center, and edited by Rabbi Jacobson.

The beginning of this Vaeirah discourse is printed in Ohr HaTorah of the Tzemech Tzedek Parshat Va’eirah p.165-166.

What was found was a facsimile of the actual Mitteler Rebbe’s transcript, which includes the continuation and conclusion of the discourse, together with the actual Hebrew text, followed by a loose translation in English – all published here for the very first time – in honor of and apropos to Gimmel Tammuz.

Read Rabbi Jacobson’s elucidation of the topic and lessons to be learned in relation with Gimmel Tammuz at www.meaningfullife.com. Read the original text here