Staszów, Poland
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[Page 93]
[Pages 93-96]
by Meir Shimon Geshuri
Translated from Hebrew by Yehuda Erlichman and Leonard Levin
Rabbi Mordechai'le, the Tzaddik from Staszów, was a major personality among the Hasidim, who served as a fine example of a superior type of tzaddik.
The Tzaddikim may be divided into two kinds:
Rabbi Mordechai'le belongs to this second group.
Rabbi Mordechai'le's affection for Hasidism started in his youth. Even before the rise to stardom of the Seer of Lublin, he joined the Hasidic followers of Rabbi Elimelech, the Tzaddik of Lizhensk (Leżajsk), and became his devoted student. A student of the Tzaddik of Lizhensk, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak “The Seer,” came to Lublin from Łańcut via Rozwadów and Czchów. In Lublin he organized his congregation, which became the capital of the Hasidim in Poland, and he attracted many rabbis and other learned Hasidim. A hundred and twenty tzaddikim in white clothes, who sat around the table of the Seer, left everything behind them, in order to study with him. His yeshiva became a melting pot for Hasidim seeking a higher spiritual state. It was he who laid the characteristic Lublinic stamp on the movement, developed the polished Hasidic style and established it in its pure essence. Rabbi Mordechai from Staszów was one of his best students and friend, and he was his guide in the early period, when he resided in Łańcut.[1]
Rabbi Mordechai from Stopnica-Staszów was a descendant of Rabbi Shabbetai Cohen (“HaShach”), profoundly learned and a virtuoso musician. When he led the prayers, he aroused his listeners to repentance. There was one common thread in all his activities: the desire to help others, the desire to spread the love of Hasidic music and make it loved by all.
It often seemed as if Rabbi Mordechai'leh, who was called the “Hazzan of Soslav (Dziedziłów),” was a reincarnation of the spirit that was believed to prevail among the tzaddikim of the early generations of Hasidism, and that his role in life was to spread the culture of the Hasidic “niggun” (melody) among the masses, while he himself stayed in the background. At any rate, Rabbi Mordechai'le attracted the attention of the Hasidic community both as a tzaddik and a musician. Among the musicians at the Seer's house, he was one of the choice singers who knew how to captivate his audience. At the same time he was blessed with a modesty that subdued passion, fostered creativity, and put his personality in the background. His strong and pleasant voice and his beautiful melodies were dedicated to his piety and faith. His music served as a living interpretation of Hasidism and helped to spread its teaching amongst the broad masses.
For a long time, no one attempted to shed light on this interesting personality. But shortly before the Holocaust, one of his descendants came forward and published a book that contains some of his practices and teachings.[2] But a handful does not sate the appetite. Forgetfulness has taken its toll, and the author admits that he is not sure if all the teachings cited in the book are indeed the fruit of Rabbi Mordechai'leh's thought.
Incidentally, the three cities of Staszów, Stopnica, and Opatów served hand-in-hand as the background of the two brothers, the great and famous tzaddik Rabbi Meir'le of Opatów and Rabbi Mordechai'le of Stopnica-Staszów,[3] and their net was spread over all three.
1. Rabbi Mordechai'e as Itinerant Cantor
Rabbi Mordechai'leh carved out his own path by combining melody, which burst forth from his great soul filled with yearning and attachment to the Creator of the Worlds, with the Hasidism of the Baal Shem Tov, which he felt intuitively with every limb of his body. He saw that the generations were in decline and the original pure Hasidism had become a matter of rote and customary habit. The teachings in the spirit of Hasidism no longer had the power to lift up and inspire their audience. Soon the small-minded would no longer be able to understand and penetrate the essence of Hasidism. Then Reb Mordechai'leh came and discovered that one could exert influence not only through Hasidic teaching, but also through Hasidic music, which could penetrate the innermost heart of the listener and move his soul, until it drew him near to Torah, to Hasidism, and to enthusiasm and attachment to his Maker, like a flame catching hold of a candle.
In his early years he served as a cantor in the city Stopnica near Staszów, but this did not suffice for his livelihood. Imbued with the awareness that through his singing he could arouse his listeners to repentance, he traveled among the towns of the area to expose his melodies to a wider audience. When he would lead the prayers, even on a weekday, reciting the Tachanun supplications, all would weep and be seized with repentance. At that time he was not the follower of any Hasidic “tzaddik.” Once during the Ten Days of Penitence he was in the vicinity of the town of Leżajsk and he heard that there dwelt there a rabbi, a tzaddik of the name of Rabbi Elimelech, and that many Hasidim were flocking to him. He decided to visit the tzaddik on Yom Kippur. On the morning before the festival he arrived in Leżajsk. He had not eaten for several days; he never asked for handouts. But it pained him greatly that he was not fulfilling the mitzvah of eating on the day before Yom Kippur, as well as the mortal danger to himself of fasting in that state. Perplexed, he asked himself if it was perhaps proper to depart from his custom and to tell someone what was on his mind. But he recoiled from this thought and vowed to keep silent. Only toward evening he chanced on a coin and went and bought himself a loaf of bread, thinking to eat half of it now and leave the other half until after Yom Kippur. When he went out into the street with the bread, he saw the Hasidim flocking to the besmedresh[4] to hear Kol Nidrei. They scolded him that at this hour he was going to eat. Although it was still daylight and he had time to eat, he set the bread aside and ran to the besmedresh. He greeted the rabbi, telling him his name and the name of his town, as was the custom. On the next day before the Musaf prayer, when the rabbi came to the besmedresh, he asked several times: Where is Reb Mordechai from Stopnica? The sextons and the Hasidim sought him everywhere but did not find him. The rabbi said that he would not go to pray Musaf as long as they did not bring that man to him. After a careful search they found him lying faint on the beams under the besmedresh. They aroused him with great effort from his faint and brought him to the rabbi. The rabbi honored him by asking to lead the Musaf prayer. He refused, saying it was not possible, for he had not eaten for several days and as a result was very weak. The rabbi took him to his room and ordered him to take off his clothes. He clothed him with other garments, including a shirt, slippers, and a robe, and ordered him again to go before the lectern and lead the Musaf prayer. This time he did not refuse. His prayer aroused the Hasidim and students to great enthusiasm; they had never heard anyone pray like this. From that time on, he became one of the leading students of Rabbi Elimelech.
2. In the Circle of the “Seer” of Lublin
The members of the Pardes family would always speak of the greatness and sanctity of R. Mordechai'leh, and of the fact that his teacher, the “Seer” of Lublin, esteemed him highly. While still residing in the town of Łańcut, R. Mordechai was regarded as one of his intimate admirers and foremost students. It was he who convinced him to leave Łańcut, close to the sphere of influence of Rabbi Elimelech, and transfer to Poland. He accompanied him on his journey to the suburb Czchów, from which he moved to settle in Lublin.
The son of Rabbi Mordecai, Rabbi Berish, the head of the court in Kamieńsk, would collect valuable letters of the tzaddikim in his manuscript files. Among them was a note to Rabbi Mordecai, written in the Seer's hand at a time he was ill, saying: “Please mention me in your pure prayer, for if you are persistent in your prayer, you are answered on the spot. {signed} Ya'akov Yitzhak, son of Motl.”
It was Rabbi Mordecai who copied out the books Zos Zikoron [“This is a memorial] and Zikron Zos [“The memorial of this”] by the Seer of Lublin with his own hand. Among the imprimaturs of the great tzaddikim of the generation that appear in the book, they attest that this book was based on the written manuscript of “the holy rabbi, Rabbi Mordecai of Stopnica and Staszów,” completed in the Seer's lifetime. At the beginning of this copy is written: “For the sake of the unification of the Holy Blessed One and His Shekhinah, etc.[5] I am ready and prepared to copy from manuscript the book called Zos Zikoron from the handwritten copy of the Master and Teacher Rabbi Ya'akov Yitzhak Halevi Horowic, may his light shine for ever and to eternity, who himself wrote it and called it Zos Zikoron.” At the end of the manuscript is written: “This book belongs to the Master and Teacher Rabbi Ya'akov Yitzhak, may he live, of Lublin. I who am writing am Mordecai Halevi of Staszów.” This copy is found in the custody of one of the Seer's grandsons.
The Seer called him mara dakhya (“the pure teacher”) and even permitted him to go stand and sit at will in any side or corner, while he was fastidious in that regard with respect to his other students. He once said to him, “I hereby entrust several hundred Hasidim to you to lead as a community.” Rabbi Mordecai responded: “I will take counsel with my wife.” He went home and told his wife that the Rabbi wanted to give him several hundred Hasidim to lead as a community. She responded, “Forget about it! We must first live our own lives as Jews.” He came to the Rabbi and reported her answer. The Seer told him not to come to him any more for holidays, but to remain at home, for there were souls waiting for him there that required his corrective attention.
In the Seer's court were also detractors of Rabbi Mordecai'leh (as also of the “holy Jew”), claiming that he was usurping rabbinic authority. He once traveled to Lublin to defend himself before his teacher, claiming they were spreading false rumors. His words, spoken emotionally and volubly, aroused the rebbitzen's ire, and she ordered the shammes (sexton) to take his walking-stick and set it outside, as a sign that he should leave. The shammes did as requested, and Rabbi Mordecai left the house. When the Seer heard this, he told his wife and the shammes to go immediately to appease him, else the consequences would not be good. The Rabbi said he himself was afraid of what would happen if he did not submit to him as a student, but that it was up to them to win him back, and hope it would end happily. And so it was.
In the Seer's eyes, Rabbi Mordechai'leh had saving powers. Not infrequently he would send his followers and intimates who were in straits, and he took the trouble, at his teacher's behest, to work for their relief and healing. The rabbi once told his childless daughter to go to Rabbi Mordecai's lodging to ask him to pray for her to have children.
3. The Great Tzaddik
It was his habit, when someone came to him on behalf of a sick person or a difficult childbirth or other distressing events, that he would grow stern, and even utter the curse shvartz yohr (“a black year!”), as a sign that the sick person would get well, or the woman in labor would deliver easily. He once explained this by interpreting the phrase: shvartz means “black,” but yohr suggests the Hebrew ya'ir “will give light,” that is to say, out of the darkness should come light, and this case would turn out for good and blessing.
Rabbi Mordecai entered into a marital alliance with Rabbi Dovid “the Tzaddik of Lelów” by marrying his daughter to the other's son Rabbi Nehemia, and from this match was born the famous tzaddik Rabbi Yankele of Iwaniska and Opatów, whom everyone called “Rabbi Yankele Apter.” Rabbi Mordecai would drum his fingers while looking at his grandchild, saying that such a soul had not been found in the world for hundreds of years.
Seven days after Rabbi Mordecai departed this world–many years before the Seer of Lublin–the other eulogized him: “We have lost the iron pillar!” Rabbi Mordecai left behind him his son, Rabbi Berish Halevi, the head of the court in Kamieńsk, and Rabbi Shmuel Aharon of Staszów, who was considered a noted tzaddik in the town. In Rabbi Berish's custody was found a major work in the hand of his father, the Tzaddik, expounding on the Torah in the way of kabbalah and Hasidism using the method of PaRDeS,[6] called Mara Dakhya. But the book was lost, and only a small portion of its content found refuge with one of the children of the family and was published in the book Gedulas Mordechai (“The Greatness of Mordecai”).
Rabbi Mordecai died in Staszów and was honored in his passing. Over his grave was erected a large pavilion, and on the anniversary of his death they would come from near and far to pray and recite psalms. They came from Opatów, from the vicinity of Staszów, and from other communities; his anniversary was a noted event in the town due to the many visitors that came.
The major tzaddikim of Poland would mention Rabbi Mordecai's name in awe and would always tell of his greatness and sanctity. The “seraph” Rabbi Chaim Yechiel Meir, grandson of the Maggid of Kozhenitz (Kozienice), esteemed him highly; also Rabbi Yitzhok, the Tzaddik of Vorke (Warka), loved to tell about him and to show how far the greatness of the tzaddikim extended. One rabbi, of Rabbi Mordecai's grandsons, visited Rabbi Yitzhok of Vorke for the first time after his wedding, and when he greeted him, he told the tzaddik about his relation to his grandfather. The rabbi of Vorke replied: “Know that I once visited your grandfather over Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot!”
Rabbi Berish, the rabbi of Kamieńsk, once told, during one of his visits in żagory, in the company of his brother Rabbi Shmuel Aharon of Staszów, visiting their uncle Rabbi Meir'l the Tzaddik of Opatów. The latter gave them many pearls of ethical teaching, and said in the end, “Do you know what a father you had? The heavenly angels came down for his wedding.” In the second edition of the book Zos Zikoron of the Seer of Lublin, which Rabbi Mordecai had copied out by hand, are found many imprimaturs of the tzaddikim of the generation, in which they mention the copyist and write of him: “Copied out by the holy rabbi, Rabbi Mordecai (may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing) of Stopnica and Staszów, who was held in high esteem by his teacher the Seer of Lublin, and of whom he spoke praises more than all the rest of his holy students.”
His grandson Rabbi Gershon Emanuel Halevi Staszowski of Warsaw published the book Gedulas Mordecai Ugedulas Hatzaddikim (“the greatness of Mordecai and the greatness of the tzaddikim”), which contains tales and novel insights from “the Master, the Holy Eminence, shining light, holy, pious, abstinent, man of God, renowned in sanctity, divine mystic, Rabbi Mordecai Halevi of Stopnica and Staszów.” The book appeared in two volumes: (1) tales of the two brother tzaddikim, with a commentary on the twenty-four permutations of mikvah [ritual-bath], and at the end “The Order of the Genealogies” (Warsaw, 5694/1934); (2) Notebook of Those in Need of Fire, with Various Homilies (Warsaw, 5696/1936).[7] The first contains 110 pages, the second 72 pages.
The second son of Rabbi Mordecai was Rabbi Shmuel Aharon of Staszów. He was a scribe of Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzahs. His scribal productions sold for high prices during his life time, and all the more so after his death.
Footnotes
[Pages 96-101]
by Meir Shimon Geshuri
Translated from Hebrew by Leonard Levin
Staszów had a splendid tradition of rabbis, Torah masters, and famous tzaddikim [Hasidic rabbinic leaders]. The Hasidic rebbes of the Pardes dynasty lived in Staszów for several generations,[1] and that is how Hasidism became established in Poland. They were men of truth and faith, immersed in the generations–long tradition of Torah and wisdom, mitzvot and good deeds. The wellspring from which the Hasidim of the Pardes tzaddikim drew its way and its Torah was the well that the patriarchs of the clan, who were its first trailblazers, had dug–namely, the brothers Rabbi Mayer and Rabbi Mordecai, who were loyal to the teaching of the Seer of Lublin and Rabbi Elimelech from Lizhensk [Leżajsk], the founders of Polish Hasidism.[2]
From time to time, when we happened to be in the old Jewish cemetery of Staszów and came upon the tombstones of the great tzaddikim and were enveloped in their mysterious aura, the inscriptions on the tombstones attested to the continuity of the generations and the intermingling of the worlds of the living and the dead, the past and the present, a world whose roots were implanted in the soil of Staszów and whose shoots reached to other cities and lands, even across the seas. Yet the succeeding generations of the Pardes dynasty remained hidden, like a closed book, not counting a few exceptions. Indeed, lack of knowledge of Polish Hasidism is the rule. In other locales as well, Hasidism did not make a point of illuminating the images of its leaders. Staszów did not make the most of the history of its great men, much less of the Pardes family, the grand tree with its many branches and shoots. It is a pity that the great house of Pardes, which produced so many exemplary scholars and rabbis, did not produce a historian who could uncover the secrets and record in a book the whole saga of the Pardes family and its happenings, the lives and peregrinations of its tzaddikim, who exercised great influence on the thousands of Hasidim among the Jewish people. Such a descendant of the Chabad dynasty was indeed found, who collected all his sparks and published them in a genealogical volume.
Among the tzaddikim of the house of Pardes in Staszów, we recall in awe and love the names of the tzaddikim who left evidence behind, such as Rabbi Shmuel Aaron, the son of Rabbi Mordecai the First, who took the place of his brother Rabbi Berish after the latter left to serve in the rabbinate in Kamieńsk; Rabbi Mordecai the Second and his sons Rabbi David and Rabbi Shlomo, all of whom wore the crown of tzaddik in Staszów, together with their descendants who left the town and established their home in other cities, such as Sosnowiec and others, while continuing to be called by the name of their hometown, Staszów.
Besides the tzaddikim of the Pardes family, the scions of other famous tzaddikim also dwelt in Staszów, such as Rabbi Abraham Yitzchak Weissblum of the descendants of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, who was the father–in–law of Rabbi Eliezer David of Radoshitz [Radoszyce], the grandson of the “Holy Zayde” from Radoshitz. His son Rabbi Naphtali Weissblum served in the rabbinate in Koshitz [Koszyce] and from there moved on to the rabbinate of Sendeshov [Sędziszów], where he died around 5679 (1919). His son Rabbi Berl Weissblum filled his place in Sendeshov, and his son–in–law was the tzaddik Rabbi Moshe of Kinsk [Końskie].
In the religious area, Staszów saw the prevalence of the Jewish folk tradition mingled with Hasidism. There were very few Mitnagdim [Jewish opponents of Hasidism] in the city. The Hasidic prayer liturgy was used everywhere [in the two besmedreshim and in the shtibls] except in the main synagogue. Hasidism was expressed mainly in that the simple Jew would pour out his soul from time to time before his rebbe or that he would go to ask advice from him in family or business matters. The general attitude toward the rebbe was not toward a miracle worker but toward a good, smart man who knew how to give practical advice and especially to exercise good influence with words of persuasion and encouragement.
Rabbi Yisroel Pardes, the Chief Rabbi of Staszów
Rabbi Yisroel, the son of Rabbi Meir'l of Apt [Opatów], established his residence in Staszów a few years before the death of his great father. His image was engraved in the hearts of the members of the community. Much was told about his great learning and wisdom, his cleverness and sharpness. He appeared as a holy personality, learned in Torah and Hasidic tradition and mystical learning. But even if he was immersed in the supernal worlds and scholarly pursuits, he did not ignore the suffering of his fellow creatures and was sensitive even to the pain of animals. He conducted himself all his days in sanctity and ascetic withdrawal to the extreme. His disciples and intimates would stand spellbound in awe and reverence as they listened to his prayers, melodies, and teachings, and many Jews would flock to take refuge under the shade of his wings as they had for his great father.
With Rabbi Yisroel, the estate of the tzaddikate in Staszów entered a period of renewal. After his father's death, many of his father's disciples flocked to him, and the city of Staszów became a major Hasidic center. His beit midrash was always crowded from the many Hasidim who attached themselves to him because he led his Hasidic community with energy and enthusiasm, with strength of spirit and sharpness. He restored the crown of Apt to its former glory by bearing the torch of Hasidism with holy fire.
Reb Yisroel was famous for his love of melody. His song was redolent of yearning and longing, enough to take one's breath away. His father the tzaddik composed many melodies that were sung by his disciples, and Reb Yisroel assisted in their dissemination and even added to them by encouraging the congregation to join in his prayer chants. They would take in his every word thirstily and passionately repeat after him. Through his influence, the wellsprings of the soul and sources of tears were opened. On Sabbaths and holidays the Hasidim would by his influence achieve the “stripping away of materiality” and would find release for their souls' longing in fervent prayer, heartfelt song, and passionate dancing.
As an alert and lively man he generally loved fresh ideas and novelty and detested routine and rote observance, but on the other hand he did not belittle the value of the ancestral heritage.
Reb Yisroel died on the 5th of Tammuz 5602 (13 June 1842), and he was laid to rest in the old Jewish cemetery in Staszów. A tent was erected over his grave. His name is remembered with reverence and admiration to this day.
Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen Pardes, Chief Rabbi of Staszów
Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen Pardes was born in Staszów to his father the tzaddik, the next in a long line descended from Rabbi Mordecai the Great from Staszów, a great–grandson of Rabbi Yosef–Baruch, the “good Jew” from Neustadt. Already in his youth he learned to be a stam sofer[3] and became expert in the writing of Torah scrolls and other articles of ritual sanctity with the special script required for them. This was an acceptable occupation within the family, and Reb Shlomo's brother in Klimontów practiced it as well.
It was not an easy craft. It was a holy labor that required extraordinary application on the part of its practitioners. This was expressed in the Talmudic passage: “This is my God and I will beautify Him–how so? Perform the sacred precepts in an elegant manner … make an elegant Torah scroll, written with fine ink with a fine pen by a skilled scribe, and wrap it in a fine silk mantle.”[4] The scribal craft was very important in the eyes of the leaders of the Jewish people, to the point that they prayed that the scribes not grow rich from their profession so that they not slacken in their devotion to it. Not everyone was permitted to become a scribe. They were admonished to apprentice themselves to a master scribe who feared God and was expert in the rules of the craft, including the minutiae of variant spellings in the text.
Indeed, Rabbi Shlomo wrote all his scrolls in holy purity and took great care with each letter that it should come out like a polished diamond. He had a good reputation everywhere as a stam scribe. He also fulfilled in his person the rabbinic blessing not to become wealthy from his craft, and so to remedy his economic condition he was forced to take on as well the crown of tzaddik, which he acquired by inheritance from previous generations.
He dwelt for many years in the house of Reb Benjamin Tochterman, in the alley by the bath house. This was a two–room apartment, which served also as a prayer chapel for Sabbaths and holidays. A group of Hasidim from Staszów provided him with support in various ways. He lived a life of extraordinary sanctity and purity, to the point that the verse “he shall be declared holy” (Isa. 4:3) was applied to him. He was always sitting and studying or praying, and he even undertook ascetic deprivations and fasts. He almost never left the door of his house but always sat poring over his books, entirely absorbed in the supernal worlds. To this day they tell of his wholeheartedness and righteousness and the love of fellow Jews that emanated from him.
Rabbi Shlomo was a man of delicate manners and pleasant speech. He was not strict or angry, and he never indulged in idle talk. He never drank his tea or coffee sweetened, so as not to take too much pleasure from this world. His meals were those of a poor man–bread, potatoes, and soup. His wife, Leah, was also a righteous woman. His economic condition was always on the down side. But he never complained, and he would bless God for the bad in life as well as for the good. Women and the poorest of the folk would come to him requesting that he pray for them, and they would leave him with gifts, so that he never knew the shape of a penny. Indeed, he did not know the value of the coins in the Polish currency.
He was an outstanding prayer leader, and he was a living exemplar of the prayer melodies of his family from previous generations. He had a sweet voice, and he would intone the prayers in a clear, strong voice accompanied with crying and sighs. On the High Holy Days he would lead all the prayers from beginning to end, and he practically did not move from his lectern until after the concluding Aleinu. After the prayers his body was soaking from all the effort and enthusiasm he had put forth.
Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen was beloved by all classes of the Jewish population in the town because of his exalted qualities, his integrity, and his love of his fellow human beings. Every man or woman in a troubled frame of mind could find in him an attentive ear, a loving countenance, and an open heart.
He conducted himself his whole life long in accordance with a fixed daily routine. He ate little, slept little, but knew no limit in the service of his Maker. Here, he knew no limits of time or hours. Every hour and every time were fitting for service to God–whether in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep and only he was awake, studying Torah, or during the daytime when everyone was occupied with business and earning a living. There was simply no place for an alien thought in his head that would take him out of his accustomed rubric, a rubric of serving God with wholehearted faith under all conditions and in all situations.
Melaveh Malkah parties Saturday night were very important in his eyes,[5] and he observed them through singing the melodies of Rabbi Majer'l of Apt [Opatów] and Rabbi Mordecai'le. The melodies swelled especially during the long winter nights and on the days of the Hilulas of the patriarchs of Staszów Hasidism.,[6] a time when the Hasidim were closely attached to their rebbe and assisted him in celebration and dancing.
Rabbi Shlomo enjoyed long years and died in 5698 (1938), over 70 years old. Before his death he expressed his last wish to be buried in the sepulcher of his ancestors under the tent. When he was told that there was too little room, he answered, “No matter. Papa will take care of making room for me too.” He was indeed interred in the family pavilion.
Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Pardes, Author of the Pardes
Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Pardes was a visionary even as a youth. He did not rest content with the “paradise” of his family in Staszów, despite its fame and distinguished dynastic connection, but rather sought to spread the teaching of the Pardes, in the sense of “let your wellsprings be spread abroad” (Prov. 5:16), and to this purpose he decided to study a great deal and to scale the heights of Torah knowledge. He was born to his father Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen, the chief rabbi of Staszów, in 5647 (1887), was taught by his father, and afterward studied in the beit midrash, the institution that raised many Geonim[7] and scholars in the world of Torah in Poland.
In Poland generally and in Staszów in particular, there were not as many yeshivot prior to World War I as there were in Lithuania, and religious youths studied and perfected their knowledge of Torah in the batei midrash that were filled with rabbis and knowledgeable householders, devoted to studying Torah day and night.[8] The prayer houses of the Hasidim were also filled end to end with Jews, young and old, engaged in continual studying. The rabbi in charge would give lectures to the youths and householders, who sat and studied Torah for its own sake. In Staszów, too, the situation was no different. The gaon Rabbi Yehuda Leib Graubart chose groups of students from among the youths who frequented the beit midrash, and among these was Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Pardes, the subject of our history.
His concentration and devotion to studying Torah were already famous in his youth. He engaged in epistolary correspondence with the great Hasidic tzaddikim and was regarded as a favorite son in the courts of the most famous tzaddikim in Poland. He drew strength and energy from the wellsprings of Torah to arrive at great achievements, among them the publication of a torahitic anthology titled Hapardes. Not only was he a great Torah scholar, a “Sinai” and an “uprooter of mountains,”[9] a legal decision maker and profound teacher. On this were agreed the supreme saintly rabbis who admitted him to the rabbinate by ordaining him–namely, Rabbi Yoav–Yehoshua (the author of Chelkat Yo'av), presiding rabbi of the religious court in Kinsk [Końskie] and associate of the chief rabbi, Gaon Rabbi Abraham, the tzaddik of Sochatshev [Sochaczew]; and the great gaon, Rabbi Meyer Yechiel Halevi, chief rabbi of Ostrowiec. But in addition, he was renowned for his deeds of kindness, which enhanced the reputation of Torah for the members of that generation. He did not remain secluded in the four cubits of study of halakha, but rather he furthered the penetration of halakha into God's world, with the objective of rescuing his contemporaries from the abyss of ignorance and the superficiality that masqueraded as Torah.
He was called “the ilui [prodigy] of Staszów” in his youth. Through his epistolary correspondence and many connections, he quickly became a well–known personality in the world of Torah and rabbis, as well as the pride and joy of his town. He was at first appointed rabbi in the town of Zhurik [Zgierz?] in the province of Piotrków Trybunalski, and from there he was accepted as rabbi and head of the yeshiva in the city of Zevirtcha [Zawiercie]. He was then made head of the yeshiva in Bendin [Będzin], and from there he went on to serve in the rabbinate in Sieciechów in western Galicia. From there he wandered far, crossing the sea and arriving in 5685 (1925) in America, where he was appointed rabbi in the Montgomery Street Synagogue in New York, and from there he was appointed as the rabbi of Congregation Bikur Cholim Anshei Polin in Chicago. Thus he left his city and his father's home, an atmosphere suffused with Torah and Hasidism in which he was raised and educated, and spread Torah to the masses, especially by founding his Torah–based monthly journal Hapardes.
In 5673 (1913), a year before the outbreak of World War I, Hapardes began to appear under his editorship and publication, and from there the monthly journal became his life's ambition. He devoted the better part of his time to nurturing and developing it, making many sacrifices in order to help the garden of Torah bloom. With his meager powers he established a building that would endure. He plowed and pruned his vineyard, and he distributed its fruits to thousands of the people of Israel. Single–handedly he fulfilled the verse “I am a wall, and my breasts are like its towers” (Song of Songs 8:10). He was alone in the world then, practically without a helper or supporter, without a fixed home or family. He wandered from place to place–but he never neglected his sacred project.
These are his words in the Jubilee Volume of Hapardes (New York) 5711 (1951):
I was young when I approached the sacred task of publishing a new anthology of Torah, which even in Poland–a place that harbored a lively and productive milieu of Jewish learning–was a rare phenomenon. The first issue of Hapardes was received with joy by all the giants of that generation, and they encouraged me to continue despite the difficulties in its publication. A broad circle of great scholars and rabbinic leaders contributed to Hapardes over the decades. I managed to make the personal acquaintance of many of them. I was privileged to belong to their circle, one full of holy and pure genius, and I had the benefit of their brilliant learning. There was practically no great scholar known in the world of Jewish learning in Poland, Lithuania, or other countries who did not contribute an article to Hapardes. I have the pleasure to take this opportunity to recall one of the contributors to the first issue of Hapardes, my beloved acquaintance, the marvelous prince of Torah and wisdom, unique in his generation, Rabbi Chaim Heller, may he be granted many long years. [He died in America in 1960.] A long series of great scholars and famous rabbis, who shaped an entire generation, stand and live before me. I see the spirits of brilliant personalities, pure and holy, who lived and are no more. Who can recount their praises? And who can appraise their worth?When I came to the United States in 1925, my first thought was to continue the publication of Hapardes. I knew the obstacles and difficulties I would encounter. I saw before me a stone field, unprepared for absorbing the seeds of Hapardes that I wanted to plant. But as Hapardes had become my supreme goal in life, I did not rest or remain quiet until my plan had been achieved, and Hapardes saw the light in the same year that I first set foot on American soil. I endured bitter days and hard years before Hapardes succeeded in overcoming the obstacles standing in the way of the regular appearance of a journal of rabbinic learning, setting itself the goal of defending the true character of religious life with all its might. All the great rabbis of America, as well as rabbis and heads of yeshivas who came on a sacred mission for a short visit to America, were warmed by its light. In the fullness of time, Hapardes became an organ of expression of true Torah knowledge, which illuminated every problem in the light of true Judaism. Hapardes aided greatly in lifting the spirits of Torah scholars and strengthening them in the conviction that the Torah can be a living topic. Hapardes served as a public forum for discussion of halakha, debate on issues of Torah learning, and clarification of the practical application of Jewish law.
Rabbi Pardes led a rich and multi–faceted life. He visited many lands and countries; he stood in constant contact with the great scholars of the generation; and he brought the discourse of Torah from the private cloister to the public square. He stood at the head of the front for an entire era, conducting the war of Torah; he sifted and polished his arguments in order to derive correct Jewish teachings applicable to the times. He sat and studied constantly and assiduously, coming up with novel ideas that found a strong echo in the world of scholars. His life presented a model of a brilliant and learned scholar who at the same time was a committed and devoted activist. The honor of Torah was very dear to him, and he lived not for material enjoyment but only for spreading learning of the Torah. He saw the reward for his efforts in Hapardes, which was his life's project. Indeed, the regular appearance of this Jewish religious journal for nearly fifty years, including thirty years in the United States, was an uncommon event at a time when Jewish religious journals popped up here and quickly disappeared from view without enjoying longevity.
Through this journal, Rabbi Pardes made an important contribution to Orthodox Jewish life in America and to the Orthodox rabbinate in particular. From its inception in 1913, the volumes of Hapardes reflected Orthodox Judaism and the Orthodox rabbinate on all levels. They followed everything that was happening in the daily life of this branch of Judaism. With the renewal of its publication in Nisan 5687 (the spring of 1927) in America, after its interruption during World War I, the journal appeared regularly and was the only Jewish journal that enjoyed longevity and was accepted in the rabbinical world as the faithful trumpet standing over the battlements and proclaiming the word of God.
Rabbi Pardes did not succeed in bringing his household and family from Poland to America, and he lived a painful life, isolated from the Hasidic milieu in which he had been raised and educated and from which he drew the strength and fortitude to stand strong in his convictions and to hold fast to the principles of the Torah. During the war with the Nazis, a war of destruction against all of European Jewry, his whole family was sacrificed on the altar, including his wife, the rebbitzen, and his sons and daughters. He always bewailed his bitter fate thereafter: “For these my eyes shed rivers of tears day and night, and I have no comforter.” “If all the seas were ink, and all marshes were pens, and heaven and earth were scrolls, and all people were scribes, we could not suffice to describe the magnitude of our loss and the dreadful calamity that has no equal in scope and cruelty in our entire history.”
From the time of his family's calamity, he felt his fate as that of Job. Broken and beaten, filled with rage at his pain, he would express his heart's wounds to his friends, saying that he had nothing left in life but Hapardes, the orchard in which he would stroll enjoying its fruits and under whose trees he would take shelter from the scorching heat. In his last years he lived under the sign of frightful loneliness. He was forgotten while he yet lived.
On the 18th of Kislev, 5717 [22 November1956], Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Halevi Pardes passed away in a hospital in Brooklyn after being severely ill for seven years. He had a grand funeral attended by many. He was 70 years old when he died, and at the time of his funeral he no longer had a son or daughter to shed a tear and say the Mourner's Kaddish for him. In his will, which he entrusted to one of his most loyal friends, he chose Jerusalem as his final resting place. His will ended with these words: “Do not, I pray you, bury me in America. Let me lie with my fathers, and only three [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] are truly called ‘fathers.’…”
His coffin was brought to the airport and flown by El Al to Israel. Among the escorts who saw him off at the airport at midnight were some of the greatest rabbinic scholars in America, as well as the faithful and devoted friends of the departed. After public recitation of psalms, the Kaddish was recited by his successor to the editorship of Hapardes, Rabbi Simcha Elberg. His coffin arrived the next afternoon at the airport in Lod and was brought to its final resting place in Jerusalem. The burial was attended by the Gerer Rebbe and by many rabbis and yeshiva students, as well as by many residents of Jerusalem.
In his lifetime, Rabbi Pardes composed the books Invei Shemuel [The Grapes of Samuel] (Łódź, 5677 [1917]) and Hadrat Shemuel (Hadran: concluding remarks for completing the study of the Talmudic Tractate Nedarim). He also left behind many manuscripts, including an entire book containing novellae and responsa on practical halakhic questions. He also published articles in the monthly Hameasef. He was a member of the executive board of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada and a member of Agudath Israel.
Rabbi David Pardes, Chief Rabbi of Staszów and Sosnowiec
He was born in Staszów in 5604 (1844). His father was the chief rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Pardes the Second. He was raised by his father in Torah and Hasidism. He studied afterward in the beit midrash in Staszów and gave glory to the Torah in many ways. Already as a youth he showed unusual talent, and his name was on everyone's lips in the town. His sharp intellect and powerful memory shone already in his childhood, and he was truly a plastered cistern that does not lose a drop. He also amazed those who knew him by his great diligence. Already as a youth he turned his nights into days for studying Torah and the divine worship, and his mother was forced to remove him forcibly from his studies in order for him to eat his morning and evening meals because he did not want to stop his studying even for a short time.
His grandchildren who survived the Shoah and now live in Israel relate that even at a tender age he would start his study of Torah immediately after breakfast and continue studying until 11:00 at night, attending to his bodily needs only after then. When engaged in repartee with Torah scholars, he amazed them with his fine powers of explanation, interpreting the hardest Talmudic passages simply and logically. He dove into the sea of Talmud and drew precious pearls from there that impressed the connoisseurs.
After the death of Rabbi Mordecai, his two sons, Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen and Rabbi David, shared the office of chief rabbi. Since Rabbi Shlomo–Nossen was always engaged in his studies, Rabbi David would travel to the various tzaddikim of his generation and learn by observing them how to be a Hasidic leader. He would especially visit the courts of the tzaddikim Rabbi Shlomo Rabinowicz of Radomsk [Radomsko] (the author of the book Tiferet Shlomo), Rabbi Abraham the Maggid of Trisk [Turzysk], and Rabbi Chaim Shnuel Horowicz of Khentshin [Chęciny]. He took in their pronouncements on Torah and Hasidic teachings, absorbed their lightning flashes of thoughts and sparks of ideas, and became imbued with enthusiasm in serving God, in prayer and the practice of mitzvot. Everything that he appropriated and acquired, took in and absorbed, became a part of him. He digested all these influences until they became an inseparable part of his soul, burning with the flame of pure and elevated religious reverence.
His tours of the courts of the tzaddikim influenced him to broaden his horizons, to take an interest in the Jewish people and events happening in the world, to show concern for the fate of his people, and to take notice of the developments of the age. Staszów was a small city, and the two brothers had difficulty making a living. Even though Rabbi David loved his home town, which had served as a residence for several generations for the tzaddikim of the Pardes clan, he decided to leave it and established his residence in the city of Sosnowiec. This took place in the year 5660 (1900), when he was already 56 years old.
A man of pleasant manners, courteous and friendly, Rabbi David would endear himself to everyone with whom he came in contact; he would help and support, encourage and strengthen them. With these traits and the charm of his personality, he won hearts and had great influence both among Hasidim and among Jews generally. Once he settled in Sosnowiec, it was not long before he was well known in the city and the surroundings as a man of importance, whose words would be heard in various circles. In addition, he never stopped serving God and studying.
While dwelling in Sosnowiec, which was near the border of Germany and Austria, he attracted many people who knew something of western culture, and he opened for them the door to appreciating Hasidism. The virtue of hospitality, love of Jews, and love of mankind were characteristic of his home. He worked constantly to impart his higher qualities to his acquaintances, his disciples, and his household members. Over the years, Rabbi David became a refuge for many Hasidim and other visitors, someone to whom they could bewail their troubles, or hear his words of Torah, or simply bask in his radiance. He did not discriminate among people. An oppressed common person or a great scholar and saint–he received them all with a refreshing chuckle.
Rabbi David died in Sosnowiec on the 8th of Iyar, 5682 (6 May 1922) at the age of 78. He left three sons: Rabbi Yisroel Jacob, Reb Joseph–Manasseh, and Reb Shmuel Aaron. The oldest, nicknamed Reb Yankele, succeeded him as tzaddik and was considered a follower of the Khentshin Rebbe, whereas the two younger brothers recognized the Radomsk Rebbe as their spiritual guide. Rabbi Yankele's son–in–law, Rabbi Ya'akov Shimon Shternshus, lives in Jerusalem and in 5718 (1958) published a book, Sha'agat Yerushalayim [“the Roaring of Jerusalem”]. Some of Rabbi David's grandchildren were saved from the Nazi holocaust in Poland, and some of these also live in Jerusalem.
Footnotes
[Page 102]
by Meir Shimon Geshuri
Translated from Hebrew by Leonard Levin
In the eighteenth century there existed an apostasizing movement among the Jewish population in Poland as a result of the pressure of the Catholic priesthood that dominated the religious life of the country. Staszów was also involved in this episode in connection with Reb Shmuel, the Parnas[1] and Leader of the Staszów Jewish community. One of his brothers was enticed to convert and was the cause of many troubles in the life of the Council of the Four Lands and the Polish rabbis. Here is a citation from the “Records of the Council of the Four Lands” (page 331) of Israel Halperin:
Record of a notice “against Mordecai the son of the Rabbi of Jaroslaw, who engages in all the above-mentioned actions of compulsion with the assistance of helpers and companions, etc. against the general Parnas and the general officers and against their primary leader and associate the Head of the Rabbinical Court of the Province[2], who presided over the Council of Four Lands in Jaroslaw. Similarly against the Parnas and officers of all Poland, and against all the general Jewish Councils”–such is the claim of the apostate Jan Jacob Zhitlowsky, who “spent extensive time in foreign lands and on his return already had the desire to take on himself the Christian Faith. But prior to this he wished to take counsel with his brethren, whose names were: R. David Shmuel Shmelke, Head of the Rabbinical Court of Cracow; R. Yitzhak Isaak, Head of the Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi of Tarnow and the Province; R. Yosef, Head of the Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi of Pinczów; R. Shmuel, Parnas and Leader of the Jewish Community of Staszów; R. Mordecai, Parnas and Leader of the Jewish Community of Apt (= Opatów).
According to the acts of the archive in Lwów, the above-mentioned Jan Jacob Zhidlowsky was R. Joshua, the prior Head of the Rabbinical Court in Szydłów, and the son of R. Yehuda Leib of Szydłów, Head of the Rabbinical Court of Kraków.
The name of R. Shmuel from Staszów is mentioned also in both sections of the book Kelilas Yofi (authored by Hayyim Nathan Dembitzer) as one of the sons of R. Yehuda Leib, referred to as “R. Yehuda Leib of Szydlow,” because in his youth he was received there as Head of the Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi, and remained in that position for a long time. Finally, in 5473 (1713) he was accepted as Head of the Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi in Kraków and the District, and was deceased in 5491 (1731) or 5492 (1732), leaving six grown sons, the glory of the generation, including R. Shmuel, Parnas and Leader of the Jewish Community of Staszów.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib, son of R. Yitzhak Isaak of Staszów
This rabbi was among the most famous in Poland, and of the most elite families (the son of the daughter of the Gaon R. Joshua, author of the Meginei Shelomo), and among the best-known personalities of the Council of the Four Lands, the famous council that had its first meeting in Kislev 5341 (1580). He served as ordinary or Chief Rabbi in several locales, and his name was connected with the City of Staszów (or “Shtashov,” according to his signature). It is hard to know what he accomplished in Staszów, how long he resided there, whether he was attracted to this city in the summer months on account of the forests surrounding it and its good air, or for other reasons. His signature in Staszów came in connection with his approval to publish a book, despite the decision of the Jaroslaw community not to publish books without the approval of the Council. We cite here his notice of imprimatur:
Inasmuch as my student, friend and relative-by-marriage, the great Rabbi Eliezer son of the late honored, revered and learned Rabbi Shelomo Zalman Lifshitz, Head of the Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi of Ostrovtse [ = Ostrowiec] approached me holding a holy manuscript, the fruit of his pure intellect, containing new halakhic insights covering several Talmudic tractates and new legal applications relating to [Caro's compendium] Beis Yosef in the sections Yoreh De'ah and Ḥoshen Mishpat[3] and the latter-day authorities–notwithstanding that agreement has been made in holy conclave of the Council in Jaroslaw, among the leading lights of the Four Lands, not to permit anyone to print any book, no matter what it may be, without the gathering of the shepherds, the authorities and princes of the Four Lands (may God guard them!), and any decision made in conclave needs another conclave to override it. Nevertheless, for the honor of my student and friend, the above-mentioned great rabbi, of whom I am expert in his essence and quality and his knowledge which is pleasing for the sake of heaven, I have made an exception of my own rule and the rule of the majority that they have ruled on our behalf, and I give him permission to publish his books.Written on Friday, the 2nd of Iyyar 5486 (1726) by Yehuda Leib the Lesser (son of Yitzhak Isaak, called R. Leib Szydłów), resident of Kraków and the Province (may God guard over them now and forever!), here in the Holy Community of Staszów.
The book spoken of is the Responsa of R. Eliezer, son of R. Shelomo Zalman Lifshitz, republished 5509 (1749).[4]
The signature of R. Yehuda Leib appears in various places in the rabbinic literature, in addition to his approvals of books. In one place he signs: “Rabbi Yehuda Leib the Lesser, son of my father the late Rabbi Yitzhak Isaak, resident of the Community of Szydłów and its outskirts, formerly of the Community of Kraków and the Province.[5]
It thus stands to reason that the two persons mentioned here are none other than father and son, that is to say, the father R. Yehuda Leib who from time to time visited and spent time in Staszów, and his son R. Shmuel, Parnas and Leader of the Jewish Community of Staszów, who apparently under the influence concentrated his business and spiritual activity in Staszów.
Footnotes
[Page 103]
by Meir Shimon Geshuri
Translated from Hebrew by Leonard Levin
A child of Staszów, grandson of the Tzaddikim Rabbi Mordechai'leh of Staszów and Rabbi Meirleh of Apt (= Opatów), and scion of the Tzaddikim of the Neshchiz (= Niesuchojeże), Lelów, and Kowel dynasties.[1]
In his youth he learned in Staszów from good teachers and in the Beis Midrash, and he established a reputation as an erudite scholar. After his marriage he was appointed Rabbi in Iwaniska (= Ivansk), and he was one of its last rabbis before the First World War.
R. Yitzhok David wrote Torah essays in various religious periodicals. Thus we read his articles in the religious monthly Ha-Pardes, which started appearing in 5673 (1913) under the editorship of Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Pardes, who was also from Staszów. In the second issue[2] of the first year we find from him an answer to the local butcher, “the esteemed R. Chayim, ritual slaughterer of our community,” a page-and-a-half explanation of the words of the Oraḥ Ḥayyim on the Portion Naso. In the fifth issue[3] he explains a wonderful and difficult midrash in which it is said, “When Moses saw the words, ‘Let the earth bring forth herbs and grass procreating grass,’ he wept and foresaw the Destruction,” in which he speaks of the sanctity of the land and the sanctity of the people.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Graubart of Staszów mentions him twice in his book, Ḥavalim bine'imim (Yoreh De'ah § 46). In one place he writes “on the commerce in crabs which has become very prevalent in our provinces,” and from the words of his respondent it is possible to judge concerning the complaint of the questioner that Jews are dealing in the commerce of crabs which are forbidden to eat. Rabbi Graubart refers to him by the title, “His Excellency, the Great Rabbi of distinguished lineage, our Teacher and Rabbi Yitzhak David, may his years be long, Head of the Court of Iwaniska.” In the second responsum he refers to him as “His Excellency, the Great Rabbi, etc. our Teacher and Rabbi Yitzhak David Szpiro, may his years be long, Head of the Court of Iwaniska.” (Ibid., § 133)
Rabbi Yitzhak David Szpira departed this world on Thursday, Shevat 2, 5674 (January 29, 1914). Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Halevi Pardes eulogized him in the pages of Pardes under the title “A Pitcher of Tears”[4] as follows:
“On Thursday of the Portion Bo, Shevat 2, 5674 (January 29, 1914) the sun set at noon. The diadem was removed and the crown was put on. There departed from us a great, wise, and splendid master, the great sage, a dear friend and relative, luminary of the age, a wall and fortress in insights of Torah, whose face was illuminated by his wisdom, pious and humble. His soul is joined with the saintly ones–our Teacher and Rabbi Yitzhak David Szpiro–may the memory of this righteous man be for eternal life–the Head of the Court of Iwaniska. He was a descendant of the holy Tzaddikim of Kowel and Neshchiz (Niesuchojeże), of Opatów and Lelów, and grandson to the holy brothers, the great holy and wise elders Rabbi Mordecai Halevi (may the memory of the righteous be for eternal life) of Staszów, and his brother, his Excellency the holy Rabbi Meir Halevi (may the memory of the righteous be for eternal life) of Opatów.”
“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field”. David was strong in his pure fear of the Lord. It is hard to find one like him, a paragon of accomplishment. In him were joined together all exalted qualities–a great master of Torah and in all manner of wisdom and learning. Ah–his end came in mid-journey, before the full measure of his days. These enlightened eyes were dimmed before their time. He was 42 years old. Woe, woe. That this splendor should rot in the ground is indeed reason for us to weep.
He was of the helpers who strolled in Pardes.[5] Two precious articles of his were already published here. He left behind him much homiletical writing under the name Tenuvot Sadai.[6] When his homilies that are in writing are spread over the face of the earth, they will be beacons, in demand by all desirous of them. May the Blessed God give comfort to all who mourn him, especially all the members of his dear family, and at their head his honored son, my dear friend who is wise and learned in secrets of Torah, the flourishing olive-tree, may he be a glorious growth greatly exalted, my Teacher the Rabbi Abraham Mordecai Szpiro, may he live a long life, and may there be fulfilled in him the scripture, ‘As a man whose mother comforts him, so will I [God] comfort you.’ (Isaiah 66:13) And may you be comforted in Jerusalem. Amen.”
Rabbi Yitzhak David was pleasant in his bearing and possessed of a sweet voice, and on the High Holy Days he would chant the prayers in front of the congregation. The Jews of Staszów and Iwaniska spoke profusely in praise of him and of his sweet prayer-leading. His son Rabbi Abraham Mordecai served in the rabbinate in Kovno, Lithuania.
Footnotes
[Pages 104-108]
by Meir Shimon Geshuri
Translated from Hebrew by Leonard Levin
“Rabbi Abraham'ele of Porisov (= Parysów[1])” – by this name was called the head-of-household of great lineage, the grandson of the “holy Jew of Pshischa [= Przysucha], who for about 50 years sat at the feet of the continuers of the way of Pshischa, in Kotzk (= Kock), in Ger (= Góra), in Aleksander (= Aleksandrów), and once again in Ger. His father, Rabbi Joshua Asher Rabinowic, the son of the “Yehudi” (nickname of the abovementioned “holy Jew of Pshischa”), led a community in Zhelechov (=Żelechów) and Porisov (= Parysów), the place of his service in the rabbinate. And moreover three of his brothers: the first-born Rabbi Ya'akov Tzvi (author of Atara le-rosh tzaddik); Rabbi Aryeh Mordecai, who was laid to honorable rest in Jerusalem; and his younger brother Rabbi Meir Shalom from Kałuszyn, were crowned with the title of “Tzaddik,” and were known with great affection by the Hasidim as the grandsons of the “holy Jew of Pshischa.” However, our Rabbi Abraham was different from his brothers and his extended family, for he was not willing on any terms to respond to the urgings that he take on himself the crown of a Tzaddik. Only in the waning days of his life did he concede to accept the eminence of Chief Rabbi of Porisov, the city by whose name he was called.
More than once, the question was asked: Why was he called by the name of the city of Porisov? Was it because of honor to his father, for his father had sat there as Rabbi and Tzaddik? Or because this was the only place where he served as a Tzaddik to Hasidim? To the best of our knowledge, he served as Tzaddik in Porisov only seven years, the last years of his life, from 5665 (1905) until the year of his death, 5672 (1912), while for more than twenty years, in the prime of his life, he sat in Staszów as rabbi of the city! Indeed, in accord with the truth, it would have been right for him to be called the Staszówer Rebbe. But because of the sins of that generation, the members of our city did not have the privilege of his being called after this city.
It was also that righteous' man's bad luck that a description of his personality was not written down, nor did his sayings and new insights of Torah, which circulated for decades among the Hasidim of Poland, did not find their way into print. Only in our generation did there arise for him a redeemer, one of his relatives and a member of his family, namely Rabbi Aryeh Mordecai Rabinowic, who inscribed his image with great love in a special book, The Merit of Abraham. Aside from this, the same author devoted to him a special chapter in his second book, Sha'ar Aryeh, in which there is a cameo description of that righteous man who merited two crowns: the crown of Torah and the crown of a good name, and he was counted among the “lions” in the circle of Kotsk. But there, too, we are standing in front of a wondrous riddle: What was the cause on account of which the city in which he served as rabbi, namely Staszów, suffered a decree of “it shall not be seen, nor listed”? And as it were, not accidentally but intentionally….Here, too, the Hasidic scribes engaged in a practice of ignorance, as in many other cases.
We have here an interesting fact. Our Rabbi Abraham, the exemplar of humility and modesty, happened to come to Staszów, where he served for over 20 years, and it was left, as by a hidden hand, “outside the courtyard” of his biography. A hidden Hasid in a hidden place. And nevertheless he was considered one of the greatest of the Rabbis and personalities who ever dwelt in Staszów. He lived in one of the most illustrious periods in the life of Polish Jewry, replete with events and activity, a period in which the pure labor of the heart came to its summit of achievement–the period of Kotsk. Rabbi Abraham was one of the strong survivors who were born and raised on the knees of that generation, who with his mother's milk drank in the fragrant nectar that wells forth life, and labored to perpetuate it in his quiet corner. Rabbi Abraham drew the line of connection between his era and that of Kotsk, the mighty and flourishing channel that came down to us from the fountain-spring of Kotsk.
In order to appreciate the Kotzk-like character of our Rabbi Abraham, it was enough to visit his house on a Sabbath eve, late in the evening, at an hour when all creation was sleeping the sweet Sabbath rest, and the whole space of the world was shrouded in silence with a holy aura. Rabbi Abraham was sitting at his table for the Sabbath feast, and his soul was expansive with the enthusiasm of heavenly joy, until he was totally liberated from thralldom to his body and bathing in the effluence of holy remembrances, words of fire and epigrams of flame. His mouth was spontaneously spouting fragments of expressions and sayings–expressions that put at naught all the vanities of this world and its imagined pleasures; expressions of pain and true suffering over his own exile and the exile of the Divine Presence. At that hour was opened an unfailing stream of supernal yearnings, and there were revealed streams of hidden desires within the innermost recesses of the soul. The house was suffused with light, and the table was filled with holiness….Unbeknownst, every person was being drawn to the streets of Pshischa and the alleys of Tomashov (Tomaszów) of a hundred years ago….
In Staszów dwelt one of the last of the Mohicans of the “Kotsker Era” that foreshortened the distance between the present age and that of the Zohar, bridging past and present, while adding of itself an important page in the history-book of that era. For this reason, too, it is important to engrave his image and perpetuate it for coming generations, not least for the descendants of Staszów in Israel and in the lands of Diaspora.
Rabbi Abraham was born in 5603 (1843) in the city of Zhelechov (=Żelechów). His father was Rabbi Joshua Asher, the Head of the Court and Tzaddik in Zhelechov and Porisov, a city which in the history of Hasidism was known as a city of virulent Misnagdim[2], from which Rabbi Levi Yitzhak (author of Kedushas Levi) had been expelled. In the letter of Rabbi Elazar of Lizhensk (= Leżajsk), which was printed in the book No'am Elimelekh, it is told of the “quarrels and controversies that were stirred up on account of Rabbi Hai Gaon, the godly and holy man, Head of the Court of Zhelechov.” Only seventy years later conditions changed, and the city became a Hasidic community, and the second son of the “holy Jew,” the father of our Rabbi Abraham, was accepted there as Rabbi and Head of the Court. His father gave him four names: Abraham David Naphtali Jerachmiel, but everyone called him Abrahameleh Porisover.
Aside from his illustrious lineage from his fathers side, his mother was the pious woman Leah-che daughter of the Hasid Rabbi Naphtali Herzl Halberstat from Lwów, of the descendents of the holy and eminent Rabbi Tzvi Hirshele Halberstat, the author of the Responsa Tif'eret Tzvi and Kos Yeshuot. He was also a descendant of the eminent Rabbi Jehiel Margolios, Head of the Court of Gorodno, of the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, as well as of Rabbi Naphtali Katz, not to mention the author of the Turei Zahav, Rabbi Heschel, and the Ḥakham Tzvi.
Hasidim tell that the Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Mendele, set his eyes on Rabbi Abraham Porisover as a bridegroom for his oldest daughter, except that he could not meet the Porisover's demands. “I am not a village tax-collector, that I should be rich enough to satisfy his demands,” said the Kotzker Rebbe to his wife, who begged him to come up with the requested amount, in order not to lose this precious pearl. “But I will give you another Abrahameleh (namely Rabbi Abraham of Sochatshev [= Sochaczew], the author of Avnei Nezer).” Years later, when Rabbi Abraham Porisover joined the Kotzk circle, the Kotzker Rebbe said to his wife, “See, you wanted him as a son-in-law, but I have managed to acquire him as a student and a son, for a student is like a son.”
During the time that he ate at the table of his father-in-law, Rabbi Shlomo Halperin, in the city of Pińczów, he traveled as was his custom to Rabbi Ber, the Tzaddik of Radoshitz (= Radoszyce). Once during his visits there he was not able to enter and obtain welcome, and he waited several days. Suddenly there came also his father Rabbi Joshua Asher, who entered immediately. They asked on behalf of the son to be mentioned to the Rabbi so that he should give him also permission to enter. As soon as his father went out from the room of the Rabbi, Rabbi Abraham, “the man from Pińczów” (as he was called then) was invited to enter. The Rabbi went to greet him and showed him with his finger, “Come, come,” as one shows a child. He fainted from fear. The Rabbi poured wine on him to arouse him, and said, “Why are you afraid of this ‘bear’[3] who has never harmed anyone?” When he had recovered, his father said to him, “He has now tied the bell on you, to become a Rabbi in Israel!”
In 5617 (1857), two years before the death of Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk[4], when Rabbi Abraham was a youth (14 years old), he had a desire to go out in the company of one of the student-circle to Kotsk. Hundreds were crowded outside the room of the Rabbi, from which he emerged very infrequently. But just a little while before Rabbi Abraham arrived in Kotzk, one heard the voice of Reb Feivel the attendant: “Let enter the youth from Rosash (= Rossosz), the grandson of the ‘holy Jew’!” In fear and trembling Rabbi Abraham entered the room of the Rebbe, who turned to him, “You have again one of great lineage!” and dismissed him with a belittling gesture. When he returned to the inn, he was hurried again to the room of the Rebbe:
“From where are you?” asked the Rebbe.“From Rosash,” replied Abrahameleh.
“What are you learning?” the Rebbe asked further.
“Gemara and Tosafos,” answered R. Abrahameleh.
“What are you learning?” the Rebbe asked again.
“Gemara and Tosafos,”[5] R. Abraham answered. The cycle of question and answer was repeated eight times. When the Rebbe of Kotsk saw that our youth was not agitated at all but stood his ground, he drew him near. “It is your kind that I want,” said the Rebbe, and from then on he became one of the student circle. When Rabbi Abraham told this, he added that “with each question he breathed into me additional soul-energy, to understand and intuit the secrets of the holy Torah, and my heart began to burn with the love of God.” One should mention that in Kotsk they would not have trust in any Hasid at first sight, even if they saw good qualities and virtues in him, until they had examined him ten times. But they regarded Rabbi Abraham as being on a high level immediately on the first time, even though he was young. At that point in his life there opened up the Kotsk chapter that continued for the next fifty years, and from to then to his last day he sat at the feet of his teachers, the Kotzker Rebbe and those who continued his path.
He did not experience good fortune in the first towns of his rabbinate. Yet despite the persecutions that he withstood, joy was always visible on his face, and he developed his own complete outlook concerning the sufferings that come on a person in order to purify him and render him clean from every impurity and defect, so that at the time of judgment all the person's sufferings combine to tip the scale to the side of merit.
Rabbi Abraham was appointed Rabbi in Staszów in 5641 (1881). He established his dwelling in Lower Rytwiańska Street, in the house of David Chayim Szwarc. This was a one-story house, which contained five rooms together with a prayer-room. His dwelling in the city turned into a center of Torah, Hasidism, and Musar[6], and whoever was thirsty for the Word of the Lord turned to him and came out fortified. As the Rabbi of Staszów, he succeeded immeasurably in his task. The citizens of Staszów took pride in their rabbi, whose influence was above and beyond the accepted norm, and encompassed all the Jews of the city and its surroundings, of all branches and groupings, for his personality was admired without cavil. The rabbi and the members of his family were exemplary models for all, head and shoulders above everyone else, physically attractive and possessed of exalted ethical characters; refined and well-mannered, exceptional people in every respect. The rabbi was strict on himself but lenient to others; all his words and deeds expressed love and affection to all. He exuded love of fellow-Jews and love of the common person, and whoever came in contact with the rabbi felt this. He never wasted his time. He sat day and night studying, continually growing in learning and sanctity. He was pious and modest in the full sense of these concepts. Rabbi Abraham was not only a great intellect, but also a good and God-serving person as few can compare. He performed his service almost in stealth. His prayers were recited amid deep sighs, with genuine outpouring of the heart, but quietly, with an unceasing effort that no one should notice or pay attention to his service. All the paths of Torah-study were clear to him, and he was marvelously expert in all its treasures.
As for his love of fellow-Jews, they tell that when the author of the Sefas Emes[7] started to lead his congregation, Rabbi Abraham was in Ger. This was during the long nights of Shevat (February). When he finished the evening prayer-service, Rabbi Abraham sat down to study. After several hours there came a poor old man, who stretched out on the bench. He rested his head on a part of Rabbi Abraham's clothing and fell asleep. When day broke, they came as usual to the House of Study and found Rabbi Abraham sitting and studying. They asked him mockingly: How suddenly had he turned into an assiduous student who studies all night long? He answered innocently: “What could I do? This old man rested his head on part of my clothing, and I didn't want to awaken him from his sleep, so I was forced to play the part of the assiduous student all night!”
After the author of the Sefas Emes left Ger, some of the talented students journeyed to Rabbi Abraham with a petition to accept the leadership and chair of the Tzaddik. But he put them off by saying, “For what purpose should I accept this leadership role? For the sake of honor? If I travel to Ger, the honor that the Rabbi gives to me there will be enough. For the sake of emoluments from the Hasidim? The Hasidim of Ger are not in the habit of giving emoluments, and I haven't the power to teach them a new way. Is it, then, so that my sons will be rabbis? If you don't want the Sefas Emes's sons as rabbis, you surely won't want mine, and in any case, all this business is not worth it to me.”
From time to time, he would travel from Staszów, where he lived, to the famous Hasidic Tzaddikim of Poland, though he himself was practically born to be a Tzaddik. He also fled from the rabbinical office, and for a long time he did not want to accept for himself an official rabbinical position. But the great Torah-scholars of Poland all knew of his expertise in Torah, and the great Tzaddikim from Kotzk, Ger and Aleksander always accepted him with great honor.
In Staszów he would be visited by his faithful friends, eminent rabbis and Hasidim renowned in their Torah-learning and piety, and they would pass the time pleasantly with him in words of Torah and Hasidism. He did not receive his rabbinical office in Staszów easily either, and despite his desire he was forced to accept this office and to busy himself in the affairs of the city. His house in Staszów was a gathering-place of the sages. Many came to his door, either with a hard question or a request, either to intellectualize about Torah matters or to have the benefit of advice and assistance. He turned no one away, nor did he humiliate anyone, but he treated everyone with courtesy.
Many of his new insights and sayings in matters of Torah were spoken during the period of his active rabbinate in Staszów. Although he was expert in the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim and its commentators, able to recite every paragraph and sub-paragraph from oral memory, he did not stand pat, but continued assiduously to study it, without any sense of self-importance. He did not seclude himself in his home, but his regular place of study was the public Beis Midrash. When he visited his rabbinical colleagues in Kotsk, Ger, and Aleksander, he would study there, too, in the local Beis Midrash, and if there was no available seat, he would sit down on the steps of the podium and continue his studying there.
He was never self-satisfied with his work, but was always striving to achieve more, and even sought out criticism from simple people, whose word he could trust. He made a special effort to conquer his own self-satisfaction and personal pleasure. He would quote the Torah, “Take heed lest you have much silver and gold [and your heart be haughty, and you forget the Lord your God] (Deuteronomy 8:11–14)”–this means, if your Jewish pride turns into self-aggrandizement, and you feel yourself and your worth, then it is a sure thing that “your heart will be haughty, and you will forget the Lord your God.” He waged a heavy battle against jealousy; desire and honor could drive a person out of the world.[8]
As a faithful student of the Kotzker Rebbe, he fought against the quality of sadness that prevents one from fulfilling God's commandment in joy, and was liable to oppress a person and bring him down to the “pit of destruction” [i.e., spiritual hell].[9] If one saw that his base desire was getting the better of him, and he saw no other way to rid himself of it, he should think about the day of his death. But immediately on conquering it, he should return to serve God in joy. “If you do not do good”–that is, to perform your service in joy–“then sin crouches at the door” (Genesis 4:7)–sadness is liable to open an opening to the sin that crouches at a person's door, threatening to bring him down in its net. He would add, in the name of the Tzaddik of Ruzhin (Rużyn), that although indeed the sin of sadness is not written in the Torah, there is no sin or crime that sadness is not liable to bring in its wake.
He once said that “if he prayed in order to pursue mitzvoth, he would pray at the prescribed time.” (The Kotzker Hasidim were not pedantic about praying at the proper time, because they could never finish the necessary preparations.) “But my prayer is not at a set time, but it is spontaneous supplications, for I pray for the sake of my soul and seek mercy for me and for my soul, and therefore every hour is a fit time for prayer.” On the other hand, he did not consider himself as worth anything. He said in the name of a certain Hasid, that when he arrived on the Sabbath to the prayer, “By the mouth of the upright You shall be exalted, and by the lips of the righteous You shall be blessed,” he found no place for himself among the “upright, righteous, pious and saintly,” and only when he arrived at “the multitudes of Your people the House of Israel” he was reassured, for he was also counted among the House of Israel. He thereupon began to dance ecstatically, “All shall thank You, and all shall praise You.” He also said in the name of Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasów, “Nine Moshe Leibs do not combine to a minyan (quorum) for Kedushah (the recitation of God's sanctity), but ten sinners of Israel combine for a minyan, and for all matters of sanctity.”
Rabbi Abraham was a symbol of pure Polish Hasidism as it was refined in the furnace of sharp, critical thinking in Pshischa and Kotzk. Many were his deeds in the Staszów community, in which he served as a faithful shepherd of the community. Staszów was a city filled with Hasidim and pious Jews, and the residents of the city recognized his qualities and exalted virtues in Torah and Hasidism. Even the “enlighteners”[10] were pleased with him.
The closest to Rabbi Abraham during his rabbinical service in Staszów were the Hasidim of Ger, who would come in to visit him from time to time, during Sabbath and festivals, to the ritual of his “table” and to hear his words of Torah. The “shalosh-seudos”[11] feasts that Rabbi Abraham arranged were always filled with participants. The Gerer Hasidim flocked to him, especially because he was considered as a Gerer Hasid from the time of his investment until his death. For two years Rabbi Abraham sat in the shadow of Rabbi Mendel of Kotsk, but when the Kotzker died, Rabbi Abraham moved to Ger and made connection with Rabbi Yitzhak Meir, the author of Hiddushei ha-RIM, which he greatly appreciated, so that he showed him special closeness. But Rabbi Abraham was placed at the table of his master as just another of the Hasidim, and he tried not to benefit from the special familial relationship. In every visit of Rabbi Abraham in Warsaw to Rabbi Yitzhak Meir of Ger, his master would receive him with new insights of Torah or a story from his elder, the “holy Jew,” and Rabbi Abraham would find seventy shades of interpretation of his master's Torah and find in them allusions and signs to the same way in which he wanted to direct his steps. With the death of Rabbi Yitzhak Meir, he passed together with most of the students of Kotzk to Aleksandar, and attached himself under the shadow of the Rabbi Henikh ha-Kohen Levin, and even encouraged his friends to receive the Rabbi's full authority. Rabbi Abraham was given full honors when he came to Aleksander, and even when the Rabbi's door was closed to the Hasidim, it was open to Rabbi Abraham. When Rabbi Henikh returned his pure soul to his Creator, Rabbi Abraham was standing next to his bed. He was counted among the serious candidates for assuming the crown of leadership after the decease of the rabbi from Aleksander. But when the mantle was passed on, in accordance with Rabbi Henikh's hints, before his parting, to the shoulder of Rabbi Yehuda Leib (the author of the Sefas Emes), Rabbi Abraham accepted his authority in full, and even persuaded his colleagues from Kotsk and Aleksander not to separate, but to continue together under the guidance of the young rabbi who had been made their general. He also influenced Rabbi Pinchas Menachem, the Rabbi of Piltz (= Pilica), the close associate and relative of Rabbi Yehuda Leib from Ger, to combine with the Hasidim of the Gerer Rebbe.
The Gerer Hasidim in Staszów related to him as if he were the representative of the Gerer Rebbe in their city. The councilors of the city did not interfere with his frequent journeys to visit the Tzaddikim, especially to the court of Ger. Rabbi Abraham stood in close connection with the Sefas Emes, who rejoiced greatly the first time that Rabbi Abraham came to him, and said, “I will learn from you, and you will learn from me.” Indeed, all the thirty-four years that he served, Rabbi Abraham recognized the Gerer Rebbe as his master. Even though he was treated royally by them, and the Hasidim related to him with admiration, still he distanced himself from all the attention that was showered on him, and he had to receive the blessing of departure together with all the Hasidim who stood in line, on the way to the Rebbe's room, sometimes retracing his steps in fear and trembling, because “the fear of your Rabbi should be as the fear of Heaven.”
It is likely that were it not for the hand of chance that came to spoil the peace that prevailed in the city between Rabbi Abraham and some of the householders, he would have remained in office as rabbi of the city until the day of his death. Even though the words that his father, the Chief Rabbi of Porisov, had spoken to him after his youthful interview with the Tzaddik of Radoshitz still rang in his ears as a reminder–“He has now tied the bell on you, to become a Rabbi in Israel!”–still he continued to draw back from the crown of the Tzaddik. But after what happened in Staszów, he was forced to accept the judgment, and to take on himself the mantle of Tzaddik in his father's town.
An irresponsible youth by the name of Mordecai, husband of Shprintze Hannah, or Mordecai Kolirn, made up disgraceful stories about the goodly Rabbi, and as a result a portion of the most important householders in the city were found in an unpleasant situation, unable to come to a decision on the matter. While the matter was still in an uncertain status, someone dared to post defamatory manifestos against the rabbi on the doors of the synagogue and the Beis Midrash one Sabbath eve at a late hour, which on account of the sanctity of the Sabbath could not be taken down. As a result of this, the false allegations were publicized throughout the city, and people started to take sides for and against them. In order to refrain from controversy, the important householders in the city decided to invite to Staszów the rabbi from Ostrowiec, Rabbi Meir Jehiel Halevi, who arranged the matter for the satisfaction of all parties. Rabbi Abraham moved from Staszów to Porisov, where he received appointment as rabbi of the town and was at the same time crowned as Tzaddik. In 5664 (1904), in his waning years, after he had already achieved the age of “elder” status,[12] he agreed after much pleading to continue the holy dynasty of Tzaddikim of his father and grandfather and to lead the thousands who flocked to him from near and far, even though from time to time he chose to dramatize his pain for taking on this heavy yoke against his will.
Among the first Hasidim who accepted his authority was to be counted Rabbi Meir Yechiel of Ostrowiec, who handed him a note on which were written his name and his mother's name. In order to diffuse the tension in that situation, and in order to prove to the public that he was not at ease with leadership, Rabbi Abraham took the note from him, looked at it and asked, “And where is the grandmother's name?” In response to Rabbi Meir Jehiel's look of amazement, Rabbi Abraham asked further, “And why do I need his mother's name??”
In general, Rabbi Abraham did not sound forth with words of Torah over his table, but his lips moved and his voice was not heard, and his face turned various colors, and the aspect of his face exerted a holy influence on the people around him. The occasional sayings that he sounded over his table were directed to awaken thoughts of repentance in the hearts of his listeners, that they return to God in sincere repentance and take the necessary measures in the war against the schemes of temptation, which stand over a person to deflect him from the true way. He would compare speaking words of Torah at the table to a peddler who spreads out his wares in the market place, and all the customers would examine the merchandise spread out before them and choose what they needed out of the heap. Thus, too, the rabbi must sound out his words, in a way that everyone should perceive himself and know how to find in them what he needs for the improvement of his soul. In the name of Rabbi Henikh of Aleksander he would say, “For only when the Messiah comes will it be visibly known what the Tzaddikim have achieved in conducting themselves at table.”
Rabbi Abraham did not hold forth for a large audience of followers. The choice of the people, individual talents and men of action sat in his shadow, and with them he served. For seven years he sat on his chair in Porisov. But his wisdom gained him a reputation throughout the land. Many flocked to him to be blessed by his blessing and to benefit from what he had to offer. In addition, thousands admired him from afar, as they saw in him the embodiment of Kotsk in its full development. His personality and casual comments were the talk of all, and he became a legend in his own time.
On the 19th of Adar 5672 (March 8, 1912) Rabbi Abraham was called to the heavenly house of study, on the very day he was about to marry off his daughter Menucha. When he felt that he had only a few moments remaining, he blessed her prior to the wedding and went out to dance with his daughter for one moment, while saying, “Shoyn opgetantzt!” [“The dance is done!”] To this day, his memory is held dear as one of the great disciples of Kotzk, who kept the coal burning until his dying day.
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