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By Rabbi Shneur Zalman Herzel. Beis Moshiach

“The highlight of the year was Yud-Tes Kislev. Throughout the town there were signs of the joy of the holiday. The first sign of the holiday was not saying tachanun at Mincha on erev Yud-Tes Kislev. In the evening, small gatherings were held in private homes. In cheder, they learned half a day. The Chassidishe melamdim would tell their students the story of the Alter Rebbe’s arrest and liberation. The main event of the day was the traditional Yud-Tes Kislev meal which was eaten the night of the twentieth of Kislev. This took place in the home of the Rav. The Rebbetzin, with the help of the ladies of the town, spent all day preparing the food, particularly the traditional kasha that was served at this meal.”

This Chassidic description of Yud-Tes Kislev in the Chassidic town of Dokshitz, well defines the place of kasha in Yud-Tes Kislev customs. Just like on Rosh Hashana, we eat apple in honey, and on Purim we eat hamantashen, and dairy foods on Shavuos, on Yud-Tes Kislev we eat kasha.

If you ask Chassidim the reason for this tradition, it’s likely that most will say with full confidence that it’s because the Alter Rebbe ate kasha while in prison. But if you read the story about the food the Alter Rebbe ate, you will find that it was radish with honey and there wasn’t even a crumb of buckwheat in it.

1-TO REMEMBER WHAT THE ALTER REBBE ATE IN PRISON

Here is the story in brief. When the Alter Rebbe arrived in prison, he ate nothing. The warden in charge of prisoners, who did not know that the reason for the “hunger strike” was kashrus, was sure that the Rebbe was apprehensive about the trial and preferred to die of starvation.

When he saw that persuasive means were not successful in getting the Rebbe to eat, he ordered the jailers to force feed him. They tried carrying out this order but the Rebbe closed his mouth so firmly that they couldn’t do it. Loud cries ensued and at that moment, Hashem sent one of the ministers who admired the Rebbe.

The minister heard what happened and yelled at them for trying to act that way towards this holy man. He himself went into the cell and asked, “Why aren’t you eating? From the trial it’s possible you will emerge innocent. If you don’t eat, you will surely die and doesn’t it say, ‘One who commits suicide has no share in the World to Come?’”

The Alter Rebbe said, “I cannot eat dry bread because I am not healthy and I won’t eat treif food even if I lose my portion in the World to Come.”

The minister was moved by this and he asked, “If I get kosher food for you, would you eat it?”

The Rebbe said that since his stomach was very weak after not eating for so long, he needed hardly any food but if he would get for him a mixture of radish in honey, he would eat it. The Alter Rebbe added in a humorous vein: The way this mixture is made is from bitter to sweet – that is what I need now.

The minister asked: If I bring it to you from a Jew, will you believe me and eat it?

Yes, said the Rebbe, on condition that you yourself receive it from the Jew and give it to me. If you commit to doing that, I will rely on you and eat it.

I promise you I will do this because you have found favor in my eyes, said the minister.

At the time, there lived in the city a Chassid of the Alter Rebbe by the name of R’ Mordechai Liepler who was very wealthy. He was famous even among the gentiles as an upstanding person. The minister, who knew him, asked him to prepare the dish.

R’ Mordechai was taken aback by the request and figured the dish must be meant for the Rebbe. Therefore, he placed a note on the plate, under the food, on which he wrote: I would like to know who is eating this and where he is. And he signed his name.

The Rebbe received the dish, ate some, left some, and put another note under the remaining food where he wrote his name and where he was. (He added a request, “Send a shliach to Vilna immediately.”)

Then he asked the minister to get more of the food for him, from the same place.

R’ Mordechai received the note from the Alter Rebbe with great joy and told the Chassidim of this discovery. Of course, he sent more food to the Rebbe (and sent a shliach to Vilna).

From this story we see that the Alter Rebbe ate cold food in prison, not cereal but some kind of vegetable dish.

Some say that therefore, it is customary to eat cereal on Yud-Tes Kislev (even though it’s not what the Rebbe ate in prison) since it’s a light food but a somewhat more dignified dish.

[Parenthetically, from a description given by R’ Y. Chitrik in his book, the Alter Rebbe also asked for mashke called wishniak (cherry liquor) which helps the stomach, and the minister provided this too.]

Chassidim explained that the vegetable mixture represents the avoda of iskafia from bitter to sweet, as the Alter Rebbe wrote in Tanya, chapter 27, on the verse, “and make delicacies for me” – “one type of food is sweet and another type is sharp and sour and it’s only when they are well spiced that they become delicacies to restore the soul.” This was the manner of avoda that the Alter Rebbe innovated after his imprisonment inf Petersburg.

2-TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED IN HIS FATHER-IN-LAW’S HOME

Some say we eat kasha to remember what happened with the Alter Rebbe when he was in his father-in-law’s home. The Alter Rebbe’s newfound path was like daggers in the eyes of his in-laws. He seemed like a crazy man to them with all his practices and they made life difficult for him.

Much is told about this time, however as pertains to our topic it is told that the Alter Rebbe would daven at great length which is why he finished long after his father-in-law already finished eating the Friday night Shabbos meal.

One time, his father-in-law decided he would teach him a lesson. He locked all the food in the kitchen cabinets and even hid the wine for kiddush and the cups.

The Alter Rebbe finished davening and he and his wife began searching for wine for kiddush. After much searching, his wife’s sister brought mashke (that’s what she found) called ‘kavit’ which contains 96% alcohol, in a big container (which contained many reviiyos).

The Alter Rebbe made kiddush and drank “rov kos” and was therefore in great danger. What saved his life was the remains of cereal that was stuck on a pot in the kitchen.

To recall this story, we eat a cereal of this type on Yud-Tes Kislev.

3-A FAVORITE FOOD IN LITHUANIA

In a sicha of Yud-Tes Kislev 5698, the Rebbe Rayatz says:

“As the accepted custom is on Yud Tes Kislev, we make Greek kasha. Every country has its favorite food that people like more than others. In Lithuania, that food is Greek kasha [called ‘grikai’ in that language, as buckwheat was brought to Eastern Europe from Greece in the 7th century – Ed.].”

That being the case, we are speaking of a preferred dish (among those eaten at that time) which they cooked especially in honor of Yud-Tes Kislev, since the Alter Rebbe’s origins were from Lithuania.

PLEASURE IN EATING CEREAL

In that same sicha, the Rebbe Rayatz tells about someone who attended a Yud-Tes Kislev seuda at the Rebbe Rashab, and that they ate kasha. This man, who heard the Rebbe Rashab talk about “love for a mitzva out of taanug-pleasure,” ate the kasha with delight. The Rebbe Rashab sensed that the pleasure in the words of Torah had been exchanged for the pleasure in eating kasha (not in a way that Chassid ought to eat). The Rebbe pointed out, “You forgot you were eating kasha.”

The Rebbe Rayatz explained: The pleasure of intellect in the explanation of fondness for a mitzva – which is what he was involved in – triggered the delight of the natural soul in the eating of the kasha, and the man eating it did not sense this at all because he wasn’t involved in eating, only in what he heard. And despite that, the natural soul did its thing. The man eating did not sense that the natural soul had transferred the delight to the kasha too. This is why he [the Rebbe Rashab] said to him, “You forgot you were eating kasha.”

EXTRA CAUTION

In a sicha of Yud-Tes Kislev 5718, the Rebbe elaborated on the subject:

When my father-in-law, the Rebbe, spoke on Yud-Tes Kislev 5698 about his father’s farbrengen fifty years earlier, in which he spoke about expiry of the soul out of pleasure in matters of G-dliness, he added the following story. At that farbrengen there were Chassidim present who were men of stature in haskala and avoda. On the table was kasha as per the custom from the early years that on Yud-Tes Kislev they would eat kasha, and one of the people (or several of them) ate the kasha with geshmak and the Rebbe [Rashab] said to him, “Your forgot that you are eating kasha.”

The explanation was that since at this farbrengen, matters of G-dliness were spoken about in a way of understanding and explanation, so that the Chassid was inspired by a feeling of palpable delight in the intellect of the G-dly soul, this also extended to the middos of the natural soul and from this came an expansiveness and investiture in eating the kasha.

This provides a lesson, that even when one has achieved perfection in his avoda and in an elevated state in his avoda, still, there needs to be caution etc. Think about that:

Even when sitting at a Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen with the Rebbe Rashab, a nasi b’Yisrael, about which it says “everyone who takes enjoyment from a meal at which a Torah scholar is present it’s as if he took enjoyment from the ray of the Shechina,” and at this farbrengen they speak about the subject of delight connected with expiry of the soul to G-dliness… nevertheless, there could be the reality with a Chassid who is a man of stature in avoda or haskala or both, that his delight expands and extends to eating kasha … and all the more so when the quality aspects are lacking while matters associated with this world are in force – then, certainly, there needs to be extra care and caution.”

4-TO REMEMBER WHAT THE ALTER REBBE ATE ON WEEKDAYS

It is said in the name of the mashpia, Rabbi Nissan Nemenov, that it’s because of the following reason: The Alter Rebbe would wash his hands for a meal only on Shabbos. The rest of the week, he ate kasha.

It turns out then, that eating kasha on Yud-Tes Kislev, is not because of a one-time occurrence that he ate kasha (in prison or his father-in-law’s house) but because kasha was his daily food on weekdays and therefore, it was established to eat kasha on his day of rejoicing.

5-IT’S FOOD THAT THE ALTER REBBE SERVED THE GUESTS

It is said in the name of the mashpia, Rabbi Avrohom (Maiyor) Drizin that the first year that Yud-Tes Kislev was celebrated (5560), which was celebrated with a large crowd and great excitement together with the Alter Rebbe himself, the Alter Rebbe took the pot of kasha and walked among the guests and said, “Eat, kinderlach, drink, kinderlach, a great miracle occurred!”

This is another, earlier, source, for the custom of eating kasha on Yud-Tes Kislev.

6-REMOVING THE ‘KASHAS’ [KUSHIYOS]

Chassidim say, in a humorous vein: The teachings of Chassidus remove the kushiyos (lit. questions; a play on words with kasha), all the cover-ups and concealment, and illuminates with the light of truth. Without learning Chassidus, all sorts of question about belief in Hashem, Torah and mitzvos, reward and punishment etc. arise. Chassidus provides an answer with Chochma, Bina and Daas, as the Alter Rebbe himself wrote in the introduction to Tanya, “And all of them are answers to many questions posed continually by Anash of our country seeking advice, each according to his stature in the service of G‑d, so as to receive guidance for themselves in the service of G‑d … I have therefore recorded all the replies to all the questions to be preserved as a sign and to serve as a reminder in everyone’s mind. No longer will one need to press for a private audience, for in these Likkutei Amarim, one will find tranquility for his soul and true counsel on everything that he finds difficult in the service of G‑d.”

Therefore, we eat kasha. By eating it, we give expression to the fact that the kushiyos are ‘eaten,’ they disappear.

We can add another point, that since it’s called “shvartze kasha” (black buckwheat) it refers to removing the darkness, all the concealment, and revealing the true light, for Chassidus comes to illuminate and enliven, as the Rebbe Rashab said about Yud-Tes Kislev, “The light and life of our soul was given to us.”

Perhaps it can be said as an allusion: [The Medrash states that:] “Darkness refers to Yavan (Greece).” That means that the kelipa of Yavan represents the epitome of darkness. Therefore, when eating grikene kasha (Greek kasha), it represents ‘consuming’ and doing away with all the darkness (see also the sicha of Shabbos parshas Mikeitz 5752, seif 7).

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