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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Avraham Weinberg of Slonim (“Yesod HaAvodah”) z‘l (1804-1883) is commemorated on the 11th of Cheshvan. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

In Blending His Day

For the entire year, he was alluding to his death.

On the first night of Pesach of the final year of his life, at the time when he was sitting at the table of purity, presiding over the Seder before God, he opened his remarks and said some Torah innovations as was his particular way in holiness and, amidst his words, he said:

“‘השתא’ / ‘Hashata’ / ‘Now’

“Here in this very world, the neshama is in the body and there is an inclination for evil.

“‘עבדי’ / ‘avdei’ / ‘we are slaves’

“It’s necessary to toil in servitude [against the evil inclination].

“‘לשנה הבאה’ / ‘L-shanah Ha-baah’ / ‘next year’,

“There will be a neshama without a body.

“‘בני חורין’/ ‘b’nei chorin’ / ‘free people’,

“We will be free from the inclination for evil.”

(Light of the Upright Eishel Avraham)

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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yehudah Tzvi Eichenstein of Rozlo z‘l (1790-1847) is commemorated on the 7th of Cheshvan. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

Dialog With His Learned Wife

His particular way in holiness was to grant his goodness to people with whom he was in conflict, i.e., he distributed, he gave charity to his enemies.

Once, his spouse, the righteous and learned Rebetzin, Mrs. Sarah, a‘h, daughter of our Rabbi Tzvi of Zidichov, took him to task about this, saying to him:

“Indeed, I have known you to be the model man and a holy one of Hashem but, surely, it would have been very good to punish, rather than rewarding, these wicked ones.”

And he answered her with his wisdom:

“In the customary ways of the world, it happens that some hundreds and some thousands of Jews journey to a particular Tzaddik and give him donations. What’s going on here?

“The reason is: As every edifice needs a foundation and if there is no strong foundation, the edifice collapses, so it is when we extend this analogy into its general case, that the entire world is also as an edifice and the Tzaddik is as the foundation, which implies that, ‘The Tzaddik is the support of the world’. So, with respect to this Tzaddik, it is fitting that all the world should give him donations to bolster him, for he is their support, he is one who, in effect, keeps them in existence.

“Indeed, it’s a bit of a mystery to me as to why those who journey to me and give me donations do so. Behold it is only I, and wouldn’t I be able to say that I know I am not of the level of ‘Tzaddik foundation of the world’?

“But I have come to terms with what’s going on here: For there is still one other thing that is needed for the edifice of the world, namely, what the sages z’l wrote in Masechet Chulin (89a):

‘God suspends the earth upon nothingness… The world exists only on account of one who holds himself back from speaking at a time of provocation and refrains from reacting.’

“This implies that whoever is silent to his enemies and doesn’t open his mouth to speak against them, such a one keeps the world and its fullness in existence. And as is customary for those who firm up the foundation of the world, donations come to him from the world, and rightly so.

“But if we punish our enemies, behold donations will not come to us, for it is really on account of this gemara that our livelihood happens.

“Therefore my learned sweetheart, hear my voice, it is especially better to be silent and to tolerate our enemies but to remain in our livelihood.”

(Ten Holies)

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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn z‘l (1796-1850) is commemorated on the 3rd of Cheshvan. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

His Meeting with the Gaon Reb Y. Orenstein

At the time when the Holy Rav of Rishin, (may we be protected by his merits), was in Lemberg seeking medical care, he went to greet the holy Rav, our teacher, the Gaon, the Reb Yaakov Orenstein, author of “Yeshuot Yaakov“, for Reb Orenstein was then the religious leader of the town. For this role of leader, the aforementioned Rav, the Gaon, was preparing stringently and, since he was a Mitnaged / one opposed to the Hasidic movement, he had the opinion in his mind that the Rav, the Tzaddik [of Rishin], likely would speak about some new idea of Torah innovations, saying something of the basic meaning of a text and deviating [from the Gaon‘s tradition].

However when the Tzaddik came before the aforementioned Rav, the Gaon, he asked:

“Of which thing is the covering for the top of walls of the town of Lemberg made?”

The Rav, the Gaon replied:

“Of iron sheets.”

He asked further:

“Why actually of iron sheets?”

The aforementioned Gaon replied, that they would provide protection in the event of a fire.

He asked further:

“If that’s the case, could they be made of:

לבנים / tiles?”

(more…)

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The Yahrzeit of Reb Mendele of Vizhnitz z‘l (1830-1884) is commemorated on the 29th of Tishrei. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

The Charity Commandment

Every Sunday (lit., day one of the days of the week), while it was still before the [morning] prayer [service], he was compelled to get two hundred silver roubles ready under his hand for charity. To distribute the charity, he used to keep a particular Shammos who went at times on an errand and distributed it within the city.

And everything was [decided] through permutations of the holy names so that the tzedakah would repair the brokenness at the level of its roots in the supernal source.

(more…)

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The Yahrzeit of Reb Avraham Dovid of Butchach (“Aishel Avraham“) z‘l (1771-1840) is commemorated on the 29th of Tishrei. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

The Ten Year Old

When he was ten, his [future] father-in-law sent for him and had him brought to his house during Sukkot, to woo him with tenderness.

While they were en route, the skies darkened with clouds and, it poured powerful rain-showers to the earth. And every person took his coat and, they covered their heads to make a shield and protection for themselves from torrential rain and hail stones that were streaming down to the ground. After the rain stopped, the man who was sent to bring the boy back removed his coat from his face.

Later, when they arrived at Tismanitz, the boy still had his coat over his head. The man saw this and was perplexed by it for behold, the boy’s eyes are closed! His lips are moving as in prayer!

And lo, the man is astonished and curious to know what word the boy is saying. So he inclines a listening ear to hear his words.

And behold: He is reciting by heart the book Chovot HaLevavot / “Duties of the Heart” as it had been etched onto the tablet of  his memory.

(Generations of the Rabbi Avraham Dovid)

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The Yahrzeit of Reb Aharon of Zhitomir z‘l (d. 1816) is commemorated on the 26th of Tishrei. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

When Rabbi Aaron of Zhitomir was dying, his students were sobbing bitterly.

He said to them:

“What are you crying about? The end of  every person is dying.”

They answered:

“How could we not cry and hit our heads since, he is leaving us and, we will be left as a lamb without a shepherd.

“The inner experience of the other Tzaddikim of our time is quite hidden; no trace is revealed of their ways of being close to God. In contrast to this, with you, the inner experience was given to us on a silver platter.”

And he addressed their concerns and said with these words:

“You should know that the Tzaddikim who will be at the end of days, the age which heralds the messianic redemption, will be significantly greater than I and, with each action they perform, they will bring together the letters of the divine name with their kavanot / intentions to unify upper and lower worlds with greater awe than you ever experienced with the unifications of God’s name as we gave it in our teachings and in our prayers.”

(Book of passings page 27).

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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev z‘l (1740-1809) is commemorated on the 25th of Tishrei. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

Once, when Rabbi Levi Yitzchak came to the point of the service on Rosh Hashanah when one blows the Shofar, he went up on the Bimah / platform and, as a son who had done shameful things in his father’s presence, he said:

“Master of the World: You believe that I should blow [the Shofar] before You [right now]? [But I ask You:] Should the evil kingdom, [i.e., the Polish people] who have distressed Israel with its edicts blow [the Shofar now]? Should Ivan blow, [i.e., the Russians, who likewise have made Israel suffer]?”

[NOTE: In his heart, he was feeling himself as evil as these nations had been, in his view, with respect to their treatment of the Jews.]

He waited a brief time, then he resumed and he said:

“But what shall I do regarding You [i.e, Your desire that I blow now], Master of the World, after [You have said]: ‘I loved you, [Israel], with an everlasting love’?

[NOTE: He had just been reminded that God loves Israel irregardless of Israel’s sins, (the text is from Jeremiah 31:2 which is recited immediately preceding the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah).]

“So then, [despite my will to not blow,] I will nullify my will before Your will, [because if You say You will love me despite my wickedness and, You also want me to blow Shofar, so I will blow despite my sense of unworthiness; I am grateful to You].”

(From the Great Ones of Hasidus, Issue 1)

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The Yahrzeit of Reb Binyamin of Zalozitz z‘l (d. 1793) is commemorated on the 25th of Tishrei. The following praise of his works appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

From the Endorsements by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev on his Essays

1)

“Through the Jewish activities in the holy congregation Lvov, the son of the tzaddik Reb Binyamin, who himself is our teacher, a holy Rav, wonderful, distinguished, erudite and an elder, came to me. His father was that tzaddik, holy source of light, godly man, the Rav, who is at rest, our teacher, the Rav Reb Binyamin his memory a blessing for life of world to come. Reb Binyamin was upright preacher of the holy congregation of Zalozitz.

“In the son’s hand, a bundle filled with the holy writings which attest to the glory of his father who is at rest, his soul in Eden and, he tells me he wants to bring them up onto the altar of publishing to establish words of his father so that they should remain for many days to be a reminder and preserver of him.

“The content makes a nice connection with Song of Song and it’s called ‘Love of Lovers’. Inside, I saw some words that are sweet for the palate and explanations for all their longings, verily, in revealed teachings and verily in esoteric teachings all in equal amounts, for good,  also laid out in a nice way for good understanding and certainly, it is a tree of life to those who grasp it…”

(At the beginning of the Sefer “Ahavat Dodim”)

(more…)

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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Moshe Shoham of Dolina (“Doliner”) z‘l (1730-1800) is commemorated on the 24th of Tishrei. The following praise of his works appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

From the Approbations for his Books

1)

“I know ‘this man Moshe’, [cf., Numbers 12:3],  that he is great, verily, in revealed teachings and verily, in esoteric teachings. And from ever, he would not depart from the tent of Torah.

“Of him, I know that he served the great ones of his generation.

“Also, he is a sage and, from his knowledge, an expert. And, I recognized it from the first instance of encountering Moshe’s spoken eloquence.

“It’s a pleasure to mention it.”

(Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel in the approbation for sefer Divrei Moshe)

2)

“I saw the precious comments about the holy book Pri Etz Chayim from the great holy one of the generation, an offspring of holiness, a man of God, an awesome one, our teacher, the Rav Moshe z’l, who is called in the mouths of all, ‘Reb Moshe son of Reb Dan.’ Already his greatness has become well-known in the book Divrei Moshe.

“And behold, I saw that the precious words came out of the mouth of a person who is great among giants. And these words are fit to be set on the printing press.”

(Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz in the approbations for Sefer “Seraph Pri Etz Chayyim“)

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The Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonoye (“Toldot”) z‘l (1695-1782) is commemorated on the 24th of Tishrei. The following meise / hasidic tale appeared in Sefer HaHasidut, Meah Tzadikim, Raphael, Yitzchak, 1961, Tel Aviv. (Freely translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman.)

His book, “Toldot Yaakov Yosef“

When the book “Toldot Yaakov Yosef” came to light, its author took care of its sales by himself and, he journeyed in the lands of Israel’s diaspora to distribute the book.The price he set was dear: Red gold in exchange for each book. He came to Berditchev, he set up in an inn, he is waiting for purchasers and, no one asks and no one is shopping.

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef was a severe personality:

“A great complaint should be stirred up on high over the city and at least, there should be a decree for its destruction!”

Rabbi Zev of Zhitomir, author of “Or HaMair” could sense the situation and, he came to Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, to Berditchev, through kefitzat haderech / instantaneous transport: And he asked:

“What is all the rage and the severity? – What’s the reason? !”

 The author of Toldot complained:

“I came to sell my books within which is included the torah of my master and, when all is said and done, there is no selling!”

Rabbi Zev answered:

“What is his commotion? And is it because of his being greatly raised in esteem by the Kadosh Baruch hu for his having returned [the treasures] with his torah [to the world spreading it] over all the nations and, [is the fuss simply that] they didn’t want to receive?”

Immediately he calmed down and withdrew the decree.

(Chassidic Tales)