When the Alter Rebbe was taken to S. Petersburg, the precise location of his cell, in the fortress of Petropavlov, was known only to his jailers. He remained there more than seven weeks -- exactly fifty three days. For the first three weeks he was kept under close surveillance, in a cell reserved for suspected traitors. In effect, one of all the testimonies against him alleged that he was collecting funds for the use of the Sultan of Turkey. Somewhat later, the Rebbe was granted more comfortable quarters within the same fortress.
Special tribunals, set up to investigate the charges against him, were in session during the entire period of the Rebbe's incarceration in Petropavlov. Then began the inquest. This was held, not in the precincts of the fortress, but at the headquarters of the Secret Police, and the Rebbe was ferried there across the River Neva.
The Rebbe was cross-examined by ministers of the government attending in person, and answered all of their questions in a lucid manner. The cross-examination was transcribed in its entirety, and the documents sent to the Senate for perusal. In this way the senators were able to form and idea of the Alter Rebbe's extraordinary intelligence -- and came also to recognize his purity of heart.
On Teusday, 19 Kislev, the Alter Rebbe was declared to be totally innocent of all charges.
The Alter Rebbe himself wrote of this memorable occasion:
" It is noteworthy that the day on which G-d dealt wondrously with us, 19 Kislev, the hillulah of our holy master [the Maggid], is the day [Tuesday] on which "it was good" was repeated twice [in Creation]."
"At the very moment that I was reading in the Book of Psalms the verse, 'He has redeemed my soul in peace,' and before I could recite the next verse, I was liberated in peace-by G-d, Who is Peace."
The Rebbe, R. Shalom DovBer, who proclaimed 19 Kislev "the Rosh Hashanah of Chasidus," wrote:
"My children, gather together, on 19 Kislev...and rejoice with the joy of the festival through whose advent our sould were redeemed in peace, and the light and vitality of our souls were passed down to us. This day is the Rosh Hashanah of the teaching of Chasidus, which were bequeathed to us by our saintly ancestor..."
"'This day is the beginning of Your works,' the true and ultimate purpose of man's creation on eath, which is to draw down the revelation of the light of pnimiut (lit. inwardness) of our holy Torah, which on this day, in a general sense, casts its radiance upon the entire year. Our task on this day is to arouse our hearts to an absolutely true and sincere innermost will and desire for our souls to be illuminated by the light of the inwardness of His Torah..."
