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by A. Lando
Translated by Rabbi Molly Karp
Lida was one of the small cities in Lithuania in which there lived well-known rabbis with great knowledge of Torah. Rabbi Eliyahu Shik (“Reb Alinke”), writes in the introduction to his composition “Ein Eliyahu”[1] (a commentary on the book “Ein Yaakov”): “And after that the matter turned out that I was accepted as rabbi in the holy community of Lida, which is the famous community and a city filled with rabbis, scribes, and God-fearers.” And apparently this was not only a flowery rabbinic phrase. As we shall see further on we find testimony for that from the seventeenth century and the idea seems to be true that also at the beginning of the sixteenth century there dwelled in Lida excellent Torah personalities.
Reb Moshe the Exile[2] (1449-1520)
The place of his birth is not clear: Shadov that is in Zhamot, or Tarov that is in the region of Kiev. A great in Torah, a commentator of the Tanakh, a linguist and a kabbalist. He engaged in mathematics and its quality. He wandered in his youth to a place of Torah – to Constantinople the capitol. Among his guides in the general sciences was also a Karaite scholar, Avraham Bashitzi. When he was in Kiev in 1482 the city was attacked by the Tatars and his sons were transported to captivity in Crimea. He went out to the towns of Lithuania to collect ransom for the captives - his children. He aroused sharp controversy with the Karaites. He returned to Kiev and in the year 1495, with the expulsion of the Lithuanian Jews by King Alexander, he went out with the exiles, and there are those who are of the opinion that from here is the source of his name “The Exile.”[3] After the exiled Lithuanian Jews were permitted to return, we find him in Lida in the year 5266 (1506), the place where he was taken captive (this time, he himself) by the Tatars that attacked the city and he was brought to Crimea. He was ransomed by the Jews of Crimea, served as head of the community in the city of Kafa (Theodosia), in which he earned great honor, and there he died. About his dwelling for a certain time in Lida, it is known from a note that the Karaite scholar Abraham Firkovitz revealed in a manuscript of his composition “Otzar Nechmad,”[4] and this is its language: (word for word):
“I am the man who saw trouble when I was fifty-seven years old in the days of our Lord the Duke Alexander in the year of your altars 5266 (1506) when the Tatars came to the city with the son of their king Mehmet at their head, with a heavy force to fight for the city of Lida, I was a native of the city of Shadov, I came there to do my work, the work of heaven, and I too was caught in their hand on Thursday the seventeenth of Tamuz in the house of God. Empty of all my precious things and my compositions that I composed, they exiled me along with the other exiles of the city to Crimea the Kingdom of the Tatars, and our brothers the rabbinical Jews and the Karaites (may God protect them and give them life) may God remember them for good amen, and I was privileged to do the holy work and I found what my soul loved here, books, and etc….”
Not one of the historians that mention this report suspect that Firkovitz composed it himself (as is known, this scholar was suspected in his time of a number of forgeries in the documents that he discovered and publicized – the Famous “Firkovitz Collection” is kept in the museum in Leningrad.) The doubt is only in connection to the writing of the city of his birth: is Firkovitz's reading: Shadov, to be believed, or to suppose that there was a mistake here and it should say Torov? What emerges from this: in the year 1506 Reb Moshe “The Exile” dwelt in Lida, in which there was, according to what seems clear, a Jewish community and also a synagogue (“House of God”). He came to this community “to do his work the work of Heaven.” This does not say that the meaning of “the work of God” is necessarily the rabbinate. It is possible that an educational role to teach the children of the community and the like is what is spoken of. In any case, the dwelling of such a prominent personality as Reb Moshe “The Exile” in a public religious position is worthy of being noted.[5]
Reb Dovid Lida
All the writers of the history of the great rabbis of the Jewish people dedicate a place for this original personality, of an important lineage of high quality, exalted in Torah, author of many books on the revealed and the hidden, but it seems that his main publicity came to him from the dispute that broke out between himself and some of the community leaders of the Ashkenazi community of the city of Amsterdam.[6] Reb Dovid served for only a few years in Lida but its name clung to him for all the days of his life and clung also to his son Reb Petachiah.
Reb Dovid was born, as was said, in the year 1640 to his father Reb Arieh Leib, the Av Beit Din of the holy community of Zvolin, which is in Vilna. His mother was the sister of the famous Reb Moshe Rivkas, the author of “Beer HaGolah”[7] from Vilna. In the year 5431 [1671] he published his book “Divrei David”[8] and in that same year he was accepted as the rabbi in Lida. After a few years he moved from here to Ostrog and in 5437 [1677] he was elevated to the honorable position in Magentza as the Av Beit Din. After three years in this city, in which he composed a few books, he was crowned as the Rabbi Av Beit Din and the Rosh Metivta[9] of the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam. Here he continued his literary-rabbinic activity, and one of the great rabbis, Reb Aaron Teomim, testified about one of his books “Beer Mayim Chaim”[10] on the Shulchan Aruch[11]: “Wonderful counsel, great wisdom, a very astute scholar” etc. Reb Dovid sought to live in tranquility,
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but the fury of a dispute between him and one of the very important leaders of the community, Reb Nissen, who was also a scion of rabbis, jumped on him. He falsely accused Reb Dovid that the words of Torah which he published in his book “Migdal David”[12] were stolen and taken from another author from Aleppo, Reb Chaim HaCohain, and Reb Dovid attributed it to himself (“he wrapped himself with a talis[13] that wasn't his own”). When the controversy spread, a number of the community attackers joined Reb Nissen and poured oil on the fire, in their suspecting Reb Dovid of Sabbateanism:[14] in a poem that Reb Dovid composed in honor of some event his opponents discovered the words “tishbi yigalenu”[15] and immediately they interpreted the word “Tishbi” as a hint to Shabtai (by changing the order of the letters). Reb Dovid defended himself that these two words did not come from him and they are nothing but a forgery, an addition by the printer. The controversy expanded and reached the head of the city and it reached shame and disgrace. After the quarrel ended for some time it erupted again with greater force in the year 5443 [1683] and this time matters reached ostracism and excommunication. The leaders of the Ashkenazi community, who at first stood on the side of Reb Dovid, crossed to the opposing side and pronounced excommunication upon him. Reb Dovid did not bury his hand in the plate[16] and turned to the Council of the Four Lands,[17] and the rabbis of the Council imposed excommunication on all who excommunicated Reb Dovid. All this in a period that the Jewry of Holland still remembered the taste of other excommunications, which did not add respect for the community. The Sephardic rabbis of the city of Amsterdam did their best to prevent the desecration of God's name and to quell the dispute. On the one hand they expressed a grievance at the rabbis of the Council of the Four Lands that used the means of excommunication just for libel and on the other hand they levelled criticism at “those who despise God's words and touch harmfully the dear young rabbinical scholar and those who put the blemish on the wholesome person who is distinguished in Torah and the God-fearing eminence of Reb Dovid of Lida…in all his suffering we suffer and the one who injures his honor injures our honor.” But the land was not quiet for long. With the renewal of the controversy in the year 5447 or 8 [1687], Reb Dovid decided to leave the country of Holland and returned to Poland. He settled in Lvov the city and there he was brought to his last rest. The year of his death is not entirely clear because of the effacement of the inscription on his tombstone: some read it as 5450 [1690] and some add to it five or even eight years.
This is the history of Reb Dovid who was famed all over the dispersion of Israel by the name “Lida.”
In the Jewish Encyclopedia in the Russian language (Yevreiska “Encyclopedia,” Peterburg) it is said in the “Lida” entry that Reb Dovid's son, Reb Petachiah, and also his grandson, Reb Dovid, served in the rabbinate in Lida. But there is no foundation for that. Reb Petachiah served in the rabbinate in Lvov, in Yasi, in the city of Lakatsh, and then afterwards in in Volodvi, and in Slavitch in the Chelm district. He died in Frankfurt Am Main. He was not even in Lida, apparently, since his father left it.
Reb Elimelech Kaminietsky (Reb Meilachke)
We did not succeed in finding details of his birth. This name of endearment, Reb Meilachke, became known to us only from conversation with elderly people in Lida, who would mention his name in unison as a Tzaddik.[18] From these conversations this too became known to us that his grave is located in the Lida cemetery. The name of his family, and also the detail that he sat on the seat of the Rabbinate in Lida for many years (apparently, up to 1845 or near that), became known to us incidentally from within an article from Lida in the periodical “HaLevanon” from the year 5635 [1875], in which it was told about the funeral of the rabbi appointed by government Reb Eliyahu Akiva Kaminetsky, the son of Reb Meilachke. This is the language of the article writer (the signature: Shmuel Tzvi Kaminetsky – apparently a member of the family) with only a few shortenings without changing its characteristic style or even the initials as they were written (explained below):
“The festival of Purim 5635 [1875] – the fourteenth day of second Adar[19] on which all the children will raise the memory of the past with joyful hearts…our light was dimmed and our joy was quenched, because the president of our community died, the rabbi, the great light, of glorious virtues and qualities, a basket filled with books, the crown of our family and the morning star of our glory, scion of an ancient race, descendant of a great lineage etc., our teacher the Rabbi, Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva, may he rest in Eden, the representative of his father the Gaon, the righteous foundation of the world, as our teacher the Rabbi Elimelech Kaminetsky, may the memory of the righteous and holy be for a blessing, who sat on the seat of the Rabbinate in our city for many years.
In his youth - a merchant. When the wheel turned upon him and he was impoverished the heads of our community placed upon him the position of the rabbinate to be a mouth and an advocate between them and the government and for about twenty years he led them on restful waters[20] in righteousness and justice. (However a few years ago he was removed from his position by the government because a rabbi who did not finish his studies in schools could not be appointed to the government.)
He was excellent in his teachings and his awe of God. About twenty-five years ago he taught a chapter of Mishnah in the Mishnayot Association… And also even the educated of our time gave honor to his name. A few years ago when on the occasion of his business he was in the capitol city of Peterburg and the government rabbi, by the name of Rabbi Neimach (Rabbi Neiman?) was in need, he left his rabbinate position in his hands for a number of months. The appearance of the image of his face entirely says respect.[21]
The abundance of affection that the people of Lida felt for their rabbi, Rabbi Elimelech, is possible to see from the fact that even his descendants after him won distinguished status in the religious leadership of the city.
His son Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva served in the city, as we see in the article above, over about twenty years in the role of as a rabbi by order of the government (maybe the accepted description in the community was judge or teacher of instruction), a position that required the knowledge of the language of the country, and earned honor and esteem.
Among the judges of the city in the period of the rabbinate of Rabbi Mordecai Meltzer (see farther on), we find the grandson of Rabbi Elimelech, the son of his daughter, Reb Yaakov Kopstein, who left behind him a book of Torah innovations by the name “Pri Yaakov.”[22] Reb Mordecai, who generally refrained from writing “Haskamot”[23] to books, this time dedicated to the author a warm Haskamah, and he called him the title “The Great Light.” Also others, who mention his name in an article from Lida in the periodical “Hamelitz” attach to him the title “Sharp and Proficient.” Reb Yaakov also worked in community affairs and he also himself sent articles to the Hebrew periodicals about what was being done in Lida. Among the rest, also in the matter of the beginning of the Zionist Movement Chibbat Tzion in Lida (which had not yet earned this official name).
Reb Eliyahu Shik (“Reb Alinke”) (1809-1876)
From within parts of stories that were preserved in Lida, person to person, and from fathers to children (let us not forget, Reb Alinke left Lida in about the year 1864), from a few lines in an introduction to a book which incidentally contain
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these personal details and the like, there is drawn for us an enthusiastic and admired personality of an emotional, virtuous rabbi, great in Torah and humility together, good and benevolent.
In the introduction to his explanation of the book “Ein Yaakov” (Vilna 5629 [1868]), printed by Reb Shmuel Yoseph Fine and Reb Tzvi Rosenkrantz), he explicates his chain of lineage:
By me, the young man Eliyahu Shik, Av Beit Din in New Zager at present, and previously I was Av Beit Din in Deretshin and in Lida, the son of my Master my Father, our teacher the Rabbi Binyamin Shik, may his memory be for a blessing, the son of the Rabbi the Gaon, the Tzaddik, our teacher the Rabbi Arieh Yehudah Leib, Av Beit Din in Vashilishok, the son of the Rabbi the Gaon the Tzaddik, our Teacher the Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Shik, may his memory be for a blessing, Av Beit Din of the above-mentioned, and in Prozen, the son of the famous Gaon, our Teacher the Rabbi Chanokh Henich Shik, may his memory be for a blessing, Av Beit Din from Shklov and the great-grandson of the Gaon and author of “Tosefet Yom Tov”[24] and “Ma'adenei Yom Tov,”[25] and on my mother's side grandson to the Rabbi, the Gaon, the Tzaddik, our Teacher and Rabbi, Moshe Aharon Gordon Av Beit Din of Vashilishok, the son-in-law of the Rabbi, the Gaon, the Tzaddik, our Teacher and Rabbi Elazar, the author of “Siach HaSadeh,”[26] great-grandson of our Rabbi the Gaon, the author of “HaMaharsha,”[27] etc.
He was born in the year 1809 and while he was still an infant he was orphaned of his father. Characteristic of the attitude to his stepfather: “May God remember for good my deceased stepfather, the exalted and God-fearing…who raised me until I was about twelve years old and considered me a son and was a father to me.”
A few of the characteristic stories about Reb Alinke:
The story of a Pole of the Jews from Lida, lacking a livelihood, for whom Reb Alinke worried about finding sustenance. He collected a sum of money and bought him a horse and wagon, so that his livelihood would be found as a wagoner. It is easy to suppose that this was not one of the strongest of horses. One time the man was transporting sand in his wagon near the house of the rabbi (in the yard of the synagogue). Reb Alinke, still enveloped in his talis and wrapped in his tefillin (it was the hour of Shacharit[28]), happened to peek through the window and saw that same Jew raising a whip on the wretched animal. Reb Alinke knocked on the window pane and berated the angry waggoner: “Why should you hit the horse?” The poor Jew apologized: “Rabbi, he is acting wild.” (From the father of the writer of these lines.)
The kidnappers came to the city! A few tens of children, and as usual from the poor of the people, were kidnapped from their mothers' bosoms and imprisoned in one of the buildings. From there, they were about to be sent to army barracks throughout Russia – and their fate is known. Reb Alinke got excited, grabbed an ax in his hand, gathered around him some of the working men equipped with their tools and all of them together went to the place of the children's imprisonment, and released them after they broke through the door. (From a tradition of the Jews of Lida. Also mentioned in the book “Sarei HaMeah”[29] written by Rabbi Y. L. Maimon. M. Ivanski, may his memory be for a blessing, who also mentions this story in the name of Rabbi Maimon, adds another story about “landlords” of Lida who fought the kidnappers of children, among them a member of the Rabbi's family, Reb Zalman Relis, who used to hide the children for years. “Lita,” Book 1, p. 640)
There is a story about the greats of Israel who met in Kovno in the house of the Rabbi Reb Yitzchak Elchanan, may his memory be for a blessing, to consult on issues of the public. In that echelon were the Rabbi Reb Yossel of Slutsk, the Rabbi Reb Mordechai Klatzkin, the Rabbi Reb Alexander Moshe Lapidus and the rest of the pillars of the Torah who were in Lithuania and Zhamot, and at the head of them all the elder of the group, the glorious and humble, Reb Alinke Lider. They placed on the table a samovar of tea and the Rebbetzin brought “pomerantzen”- orange peels cooked in sugar.
A debate took place among the greats of the Torah, what blessing do you bless on this confection: whether “creates the fruit of the tree,” since the golden apple grows on a tree, or “who creates the fruit of the earth,” because in fact this is not a fruit but only a peel, or maybe-“that everything comes to be by God's word,” since at the heart of the matter there is no fruit and no real vegetable. The debates were extensive and they could not come to a decision. Reb Yosel of Slutsk proves explicitly and Reb Mordechai Klatzkin refutes it, and what Reb Yitzchak Elchanan pinpoints, Reb Alexander Moshe comes and rejects. And the tea cools…
Meanwhile those gathered are looking at Reb Alinke, the humble one, the quiet one, the one who hides among the gear,[30] and lo and behold, he has already emptied the small plate of the confection that was served to him - and they had not yet finished the debate. They turned to him in wonder: “Rabbi, here you already finished your portion, and what blessing did you bless?” Reb Alinke replied to them quietly, as was his way: “Quietly, my rabbis!” (And with this he intended the law in the “Shulchan Aruch” on the question of “a doubtful blessing”). (This was transmitted to me by Mr. Nachum Chinitch, one of the students of the Reines Yeshiva in Lida, a veteran teacher in Israel, in Tel Aviv).
Reb Alinke wrote a number of books, but, apparently, only one of them was published in his lifetime “Ain Eliyahu”[31] (in the year 5629 [1869] printed by Reb Shmuel Yoseph Fine and Reb Avraham Tzvi Rosenkrantz, Vilna), and it is an interpretation of the legends that are in “Ain Yaakov.”[32] His special affinity for legend may also attest to his gentle and comfortable way with people. After his death his book “Derekh Avot”[33] was published, which is a new interpretation of Tractate “Avot.” The book was brought to print by his son and his student in the year 5642 [1872] in Vilna, in 5644 [1874] in Warsaw, reprinted in the year 1885 in Philadelphia in the United States, and in the year 5696 [1936] in Jerusalem, printed by “Chorev” (it was brought to press by the son of his daughter, Rabbi Shmuel Ze'ev Berniker).
Reb Alinke sat on the seat of the Rabbinate in Lida until the year 5614 [1854] and then moved to serve in the Rabbinate in the city of New Zager and from there to Kobrin. Regarding the reason for his leaving the community of Lida after serving there with great honor for about two decades, we heard tell that a controversy with the chassidim in the city caused it. Reb Alinke, with all of his gentle temperament, was resolute in his opposing opinions [to chasidism] and he preferred, apparently, to distance himself from the dispute. Even after his leaving Lida, the nickname “Lider” stuck to him.
Reb Mordechai Meltzer, may his memory be for a blessing
In the year 5624 [1864] Reb Mordechai Kaliatzka (or Klatzky) was crowned with the crown of the Rabbinate of the holy congregation of Lida. He was better known by his nickname Reb Mordechai Meltzer.
Reb Mordechai was born in Vilna in the year 5557 (1797), which was the last year of the life of the Gaon Reb Eliyahu of Vilna. Those who esteemed Reb Mordechai, when they mention this date, recited the verse from the Tanakh “and the sun rises and the sun sets.”[34]
In those days, the wealthy “landlords” used to visit the yeshivas, to search for grooms for their daughters who had reached (or were about to reach) marriageable age. The young Mordechai, whose rabbis had already set on eyes him for some time, “takes after honor”[35] as a groom for the daughter of the wealthy man Reb Leib Gordon from Vilna, who was called by the name “Meltzer” after the malt business (in Yiddish maltz) in which he engaged, a name that his son-in-law inherited from him.
In the house of his wealthy father-in-law, Reb Mordechai could devote himself entirely to the study of Torah in two ways - to learn and also to teach. In the yeshivas of Reb Dovid Strashun and afterwards as the head of the yeshivas of Reb Meila. Over the course of a certain period of time, Reb Mordechai departed from the yeshivas of Reb Meila because of a competition that occurred between him and the Rabbi Reb Yisrael Salanter, who was already then famous, who arrived in Vilna and also was invited by the managers of the same yeshivas. As the writer of the history of Reb Mordechai expresses: “It was impossible for two rabbis to use one crown, because both of them were great Geonim in Talmud.” He returned to his place after Rabbi Yisroel relinquished his honor and move to another Beit Midrash.
In the year 5606 [1846] Sir Moses Montefiore visited in Vilna accompanied by his secretary Halevi, and among the rest, he also visited the yeshivas of Reb Meila whose renown reached him. The guests were very impressed by Reb Mordechai who expounded before them.
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In the year 5612 [1852] Reb Mordechai was chosen as Av Beit Din in Calabria, the place where he sat on the seat of the Rabbinate until the year 5624 [1864].
Reb Mordechai arrived in Lida between old age and fullness of years[36] – about 67 years old when he was already in the fullness of his fame in the Lithuanian Torah world. He had a solid character, toed the line, did not show favoritism to the leaders of the community, not to the strong wealthy men, and not even to men of Torah when their ways did not seem right to him. This image rises before us from the stories that were transmitted to us about him. And when an impure event happened in the year 1884, after the death of the Rabbi Reb Mordechai and “the meat tax” – this was the main source of income for the community – was given to a wealthy leaseholder without a public announcement, as was customary, and apparently, in exchange for favors of private benefit to the leaders of the community, a sharp article was published in “HaMelitz.” The article begins with the words: “From the day that the great Gaon Reb Mordechai Meltzer, may his memory be for a blessing, was taken from our head, the administrators of the community started to control the money of the meat tax and do with it as if it were their own.”
Reb Mordechai did not extend chesed to the “composer” rabbis who routinely flooded the book market with new compositions, and refrained from writing “haskamot” that were intended for printing at the beginning of the book. Nevertheless, some of his haskamot were found in the compositions of the greats of Torah, in which he saw some real innovation and of some importance to the Jewish Torah world. Thus, for example, on the books of Reb Yisrael Meir from Radin (“Mishnah Berurah,” “Chofetz Chaim”), on the book of Reb Yaakov Kopshtein that we mentioned above, and more. In the last years of his life it happened that he would agree to sign on a haskamah for the sake of peace, especially after his eyes dimmed and he was unable to review the entire book that was brought to him.
Faithful to this way of his, Reb Mordechai did not himself leave writings behind him, even innovations in Torah of his own. However, his students and those who esteemed him would write down for themselves words of Torah that they heard from him. Only after his death, did Reb Asher his son take pains to compile these scattered notes and gave them to one of the Rabbi's veteran students, one of the distinctive Torah scholars from Vilna, a master of the writers' pen, Reb A.Y. Trivash, who edited all the material and brought it to print in a book which was called “Techelet Mordechai”*,[37] combined with the history of the composer and appreciation for his personality.
At the end of his days, Reb Mordechai was also engaged with Kabbalah, and the writer of his history added “because many with broken hearts or infected with illnesses, streamed to him and believed in the salvation that comes from his blessing.”
Old and full of days, 86 years old, Reb Mordechai was gathered to his people in the year 5643 [1883]. An “ohel”[38] was put up on his grave that is in the Lida cemetery and on his gravestone the following text is engraved:
“From the first generations this precious star trod on our land
A Rabbi and mighty Gaon like him few are found in our generation
Holy words in the Talmud and Midrashim and all the interpretations around them
All of them incised on the ledger of his heart and his tongue are as if he received them from Sinai
He descended to the depth of the sea of Talmud and brought up pearls in his treasures
In many written sources his teachings remained there you can see his mighty power Everything that was hidden and difficult that was brought to him he was perfect to answer properly
He has a name also in Kabbalah to him were revealed hidden mysteries
The spirit of the Place[39] and the spirit of the people the two of them both rest in him
Calavera and Lida the righteousness of his holiness will testify.”
(The first letter of each word in the first line form the name “Mordechai”
And from the first letter in each line and the first letter of each word in the last line is formed the name Mordechai ben Asher Klatski.)
We are bringing with this a few of the stories that were transmitted about the Rabbi Reb Mordechai from the period of his service in the rabbinate of Lida.
From the time that Reb Mordechai entered his position in Lida, the managers sent him his salary at the completion of a first week. The rabbi checked the amount and found that in place of twenty-five gulden that were allotted to him (we are not responsible for the accuracy of the amount) they sent him only twenty. Reb Mordechai immediately sent to call for the managers. When they came, he said to them: it is surely known to you that my salary was set at twenty-five gulden a week. From now, since you sent me only twenty you will think that the salary is twenty gulden, and according to this next week you will send me fifteen. Therefore, let it be known to you that the salary is twenty-five gulden but you sent me twenty gulden….
On Reb Mordechai's attitude to the “composers” this story will testify: Reb Mordechai arrived for a visit in Vilna. The scholars of Vilna came to welcome the rabbi and about his well-being, as is customary: “Vos macht ear, Rebbe?” (What does the Rabbi do?), he answered them immediately “Kein seifer nit”[40] (not a book).
There were in Reb Mordechai's court in Lida judges great in Torah, such as Reb Yaakov Kopshtein, who we already mentioned (the grandson of Reb Elimelech), Reb Shlomo the Dayan who merited great honor, and more. But there were also some who did not merit the Rabbi's esteem, especially because of the inclination for the bitter drop, may the Compassionate One save us. When they came once to the Rabbi's house to ask about these judges the Rabbi put on a face of astonishment: “Why are you looking for them here? Is my house a tavern?”
A story about Rabbi Mordechai when two authors came to him, who together wrote one book, a composition on “Baba Kama.”[41] Reb Mordechai studied their composition – drivel. “And what name,” – asks Reb Mordechai “did you call your book?” “ Our Rabbi,” these say “we did not yet find a nice name for our book. We want a name that will be short and both of us should be attached to it.” “If so” the Reb Mordechai smiles and says “there is nothing more beautiful for your book then this name: The Ox and the Pit.”[42] M. Lipson, From Generation to Generation, Volume 2, p. 1533.
A story about Reb Mordechai that he had an argument with a rich man, and he was an ignoramus. The rich man answered him with insolence and rudeness, and offended the Rabbi. “You are rude, the Rabbi said to him, like a loaf (of bread).”*[43] “Our Rabbi,” the man wondered, “there is no comparison in this.” “That's what I meant,” the Rabbi smiles and says – “You are the rudest of the rude, that there is no comparison at all.”
Reb Binyamin of Lida, May His Memory Be For a Blessing
They were not official rabbis in Lida. Nevertheless, we find it proper to include them in this series, as they were, apparently, in their time spiritual leaders for a substantial community, although one cannot say most of the population, among the Jews of Lida, was the chassidic community.
The Chassidim had two synagogues (“chassidishe shtieblach”)[44] in Lida in our time: for the Lubavitch Chassidim (Chabad) and for the Chassidim of Koidanov. While the first remained in Lida for a long time without a spiritual shepherd: they were not
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traveling to the Rebbe, who was far from Lida, and as much as we remember, neither the Rebbe nor his emissary visited them to guide and inspire them. And we wonder if their chassidism was more a tradition that became a routine that was limited to reciting “and may redemption grow” in the Kaddish[45] and the custom of celebrating the nineteenth day of Kislev, the day of the release of the old Rebbe (HaRav) from his imprisonment with the ascendance of Tsar Alexander I to the throne.
More alive was the connection with the Rebbe of the Koidanov Chassidim (even though it must be admitted that in the last generations “tension eased” even with them.) Until the First World War, it seems to us there were still Chassidim in Lida (indeed, very few) that had the custom of travelling to the Rebbe of Koidanov, which was adjacent to Minsk.
After Koidanov was annexed to Soviet Russia a new descendant of the dynasty of Admorim of Koidanov settled in eastern Galicia, Reb Zalman Yoseph Zilberfarb (May God avenge his blood), who occasionally used to visit his Chassidim in Lida.
When did Chassidism penetrate into Lida? – We do not have exact knowledge of it. However in the chronicles of the Lithuanian Chassidism, we find that one of the significant students of the founder of the Koidanovi dynasty, Reb Shlomo Chaim Perlov (“the old Koidanovi”), who was chosen as Rebbe in the year 5593 (about 1833) and died in the year 5622. (1862), was Reb Binyamin from Lida.[46]
In the book “Nachalat Avot”[47] by Levi Auvtzinsky (which includes biographic material on the greats of Torah from the last generations in alphabetical order) we find, in the entry about Reb Binyamin of Lida:
“The Rabbi, the Tzaddik Reb Binyamin of Lida, a Chassidic and pure Rebbe, a doer of wonders. The dwelling place of His Honor was in Lida, he was a significant student of the Rebbe, the Tzaddik Reb Shlomo Chaim, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, the Rebbe from Koidanov.”
From here we learned that Reb Binyamin was a doer of wonders, which means, apparently, a miracle maker, in the way of a Chassidic Rebbe. No additional details on the period of his activities are in our hands. It is possible that the beginning of his activity is attached between the two dates that are mentioned above from the period of the activity of his Rabbi, 5593 – 5622 and continued on for years afterwards.
More is known to us about the Rebbe of the Chassidim in Lida from the years of the [18]80s. Reb Sholom Perlov (“Reb Shlomke”), and the grandson of the “old Koidanovi” Reb Shlomo Chaim. He settled in Lida in the year 5638 (about 1878) and taught Torah among the Chassidim. At the same time, apparently, the great Rabbis of the Mitnagdim tried to quench the fire of dispute between the Chassidim and the Mitnagdim which for the previous decades had caused more than a little grief and anger and even the desecration of God's name. Reb Mordechai Meltzer too, who a few decades previously when he served as head of the yeshivas of Reb Maile in Vilna, could not co-exist with Reb Yisroel Salanter in the same yeshiva, discovered now an attitude of great tolerance for his young “competitor.” (Reb Mordechai was then about 80 years old and Reb Sholom was about 30), and even went out of his way to not write Haskamot for authors, and came in a Haskamah for Reb Sholom's book, which was published in the year 5641 [1881] by the name “Divrei Shalom.”[48] And these are the words of Reb Mordechai about the young author:
“Here it is about three years since the rabbi who stands before me placed his residence here in our camp. He revealed his arm and a great light fell[49] for many are gathering to hear from his mouth the words of the living God and benefit from his light… He is the famous rabbi, the great light, who is young in years and a father in wisdom… a branch of the tree of our fathers.[50] Even though I did not completely study his composition… the part will testify to the whole, etc.”
(By the way, among those writers of Haskamot for the book is also the Gaon Reb Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, the famous rabbi of Kovno.
Apparently, the Chassidim of Lida at that time felt themselves to be strong and influential in the city to the degree that after the death of Reb Mordechai they were able to recommend the candidacy of their Rebbe, Reb Shlomkeh, to be the rabbi of the city. It is possible that Reb Mordechai's Haskamah for Reb Shlomke's book (mainly for the sake of peace, it seems), and the compliments in it (exaggerations, which are customarily given, generally in rabbinic style as idiomatic phrases, routine language) they, too, encouraged them. In any case, Lida remained a city of Mitnagdim in the great majority, and the candidate that was accepted was Reb Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, may his memory be for a blessing. The matter did not pass without controversy and without the throwing of stones at the windows of the disputants.[51]
Reb Shlomke left Lida in the year 5644 [1884] the time when he was chosen as Rabbi in the city of Brezneh that is in Vohlin and from there he moved to serve in the Rabbinate in the town of Brahin (and since then he was known by the name “Reb Sholom of Brahin”). He died in the year 5687 [1927].
Footnotes:
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by Aba Lando
Translated by Rabbi Molly Karp
After the death of Rabbi Mordechai Meltzer, may his memory be for a blessing, Lida was fortunate in that one of the great, outstanding rabbis who developed for Russian Jewry at the end of the 19th century settled in it. He was not only one of the great Torah scholars, but also a personality with great spiritual imagination, rectifying and renewing, a dreamer and a courageous fighter for his ideas, a paver of the way for many in traditional Jewish education, in his national movement.
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Drawing by Herman Struck |
Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines was born in the city of Karlin, Minsk district, which is in Russia, on the 9th day of the month of Marcheshvan, in the year 5600 (1840), to his father Reb Shlomo Naftali (a wealthy and honest merchant), who was distinguished in Torah, but he did not make his Torah his craft),[1] [2], and his second wife Bella. Reb Shlomo Naftali went up to the land in his youth, with his whole family, his wife, his children, his father and his sister, and established a Hebrew printing house in Safed. All of them perished in an earthquake that struck the city in the year 5597 [1837], at a time when he himself was in Russia, as an emissary for the members of his community. The shocked Reb Shlomo Naftali requested to return to the land, but his friends prevented him from doing that, and he remained in the city of his birth, Karlin, in which he began, after his year of mourning, to build a new house for himself. The son Yitzchak Yaakov was his comfort after the tragedy that visited him, and in his house in Karlin he attended diligently to his upbringing and education with great love, under his watchful eye, until he became sixteen.
Apparently, the father had a great spiritual influence on the young son. He was also the one who planted within him love for the holy land, and talked to him about the chapter of his aliyah to the land, and the matter of the destruction that uprooted him from there. This memory remained engraved on his son's soul, and excited him even in his old age. The children of Lida who prayed in his presence were witnesses to the tears that he would shed when he arrived at the additional prayers of Yom Kippur, to the verse “and for the men of the Sharon he would say: may it be your will…. that their houses not become their graves,” which would remind him of the destruction of his father's family, whose house became their grave.
The superior abilities of the boy Yitzchak Yaakov were revealed while he was still a tender age. Eight years old, he was expert in a number of tractates of Talmud, and amazed his Rabbi, who was famous as a sharp genius, with his deep questions. At a very young age, he began to set down on paper innovations in Torah, and when he was sixteen years old, he already had in hand upwards of two hundred written pages of innovations, explanations, and “disputes,” many of which were things that were worthy of seeing the light of publication.
In that same period he began to learn from a teacher who had acquired the Russian and German languages for himself, but after a number of months he cancelled these lessons, under the influence of his father, who saw it as a waste of time. Another teacher, Yehuda bar Urion, who was expert in mathematics and happened to be in the Beit Midrash where he learned, began to teach him this subject from the Hebrew book “Complete Arithmetic.” The same educated Jew also brought him into an introduction to the wisdom of logic, which captured the heart of the young lad, and which, on its solid foundation, he requested from here on to base the study of the Oral Torah.[3]
When he became sixteen, his father sent him to the Volozhin Yeshiva, and afterwards to Eisishok. When he was eighteen, he was ordained for instruction by well-known rabbis in the year 5719 [1959].[4] In the year 5719 he took to wife the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Rozin, one of the well-known Geonim in the world of Torah. He was supported by his father-in-law for a few years, in Horodok and afterwards in Telz, where he was diligent in the Torah night and day, and in the writing of his essays.
In the year 5627 [1867][5] he was chosen as the Rabbi of the town of Sukian, and immediately won the hearts of the congregation with his sermons. After two years he ascended to the Rabbinic Chair in the mother city of Israel,[6] Svencionys, which is next to Vilna. In Sukian he began to write a long essay on the laws of testimony, part of which was published after years, (Testimony in Yaakov) and in Svencionys he came up with the idea of writing a book in six parts, which would pave a new path in Talmud study according to the rules of logic. Two parts of this book “Seal of Perfection”[7] were published in the years 5640-5641 (1880-1881], in Mainz and in Pressburg. While his head was mostly immersed in the tent of Torah, the young rabbi had an alert practical sense, eyes that were wide open and that penetrated into the practical world. In the year 5642 [1882], he participated in a rabbinic assembly that convened in Peterburg, and there put forth his idea about changes in the program of studies in the yeshivot, in order to adapt them to the spirit of the times: to bring a certain amount of secular studies into them, in order to equip
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their students with the necessary knowledge for practical life. However, this suggestion encountered lack of understanding on the part of the rabbis who were the great Torah scholars in Russia, who were greater than him in years and also in influence. And then, the young (42 years old) rabbi tried to put his plan into effect by his own efforts in the city of Svencionys. The yeshiva that he founded in that city according to his own ideas existed for four years, but it could not withstand the sabotage on the part of the grumbling zealots, who did not desist in their war against innovation, even by slander. In the year 5643 [1883], while he was in Moscow, Rabbi Reines was arrested due to denunciation, and was held over two days in the prison for political criminals! The yeshiva was finally closed, while its founder was loaded with heavy debts.
Various large congregations in Russia and outside of the country (among others – from America and from the city of Manchester in England) offered Rabbi Reines the Rabbinic seat, but out of them all he accepted the offer that came to him from the city of Lida, after the death of its Rabbi, Mordechai Meltzer. Incidentally, help was promised to him with the repayment of the debts that weighed on him. In the winter of 5644 [1884], Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines was crowned as the Rabbi Av Beit Din of the holy congregation of Lida.
Rabbi Reines dwelt in Lida for 31 years. His active and innovative spirit did not allow him to contract himself into the small circle of local rabbinic functions alone. All the days that he dwelled in Lida passed over him with great spiritual effort; his sharp intellect and his awake and sensitive heart worked together in him as one, partners.
There were three areas of activity to which he dedicated his life, in addition to his official functions as the Mara D'Atra.[8] They were: A: His literary and public religious activities; B: His educational activity (the yeshiva in Lida); C: His Zionist activity.
His tremendous diligence in the Torah in all its ramifications did not stop in Lida. He slept very little. In order to be able to engage in Torah unimpeded, he would rise early in the morning, long before sunrise, before people would come to disturb him in his studies. And during study (according to the saying “it is impossible to go to the study house without innovation”), he did not stop raising his ideas and innovations on the book. Only three of his books were printed in the period of his rabbinate in Svencionys: “Testimony in Yaakov,” on matters of testimony (Vilna, 5632 [1872]), and two parts of the book “Seal of Perfection,” (Mainz, 5640 [1880], and Pressburg, 5641 [1881]). From the time of his appointment as the Rabbi in Lida, all the rest of his books and many articles continued to be published, in halakha, in homily, in matters of nationalism and education, some of which saw light[9] in his lifetime, and some of which reached the printing press after his death (by the efforts of his son, Reb Duber Reines, may his memory be for a blessing,*[10] who all his days engaged with devotion in the publication of his father's writings): Great Lights (Vilna, 5647 [1887]), Light and Joy (Vilna, 5658 [1898]), Light Of the Seven Days (Vilna, 5656 [1896]), The Gates of Light (Vilna, 5656 [1896]), A Wineskin of Tears (Vilna, 5648 [1888]), A New Light on Zion (Vilna, 5663 [1903]), Light for Fourteen (Piotrkow, 5673 [1913], The Two Lights, about the Lida Yeshiva (Piotrkow, 5673 [1913]), The Book of Values, Part 1 (New York, 5686 [1926]), Dew of Lights, arranged by Rabbi Z.A. Rabiner (Tel Aviv, 5715 [1955]), and more. A few of his books merited additional editions. And, even more than that, thousands of sheets of writing, which were compiled into tens of volumes. Words of halakha and words of homily, which according to the testimony of Rabbi Y.L. Maimon, may his memory be for a blessing,**[11] were made to enrich religious literature, and remain to this day in manuscript form.
He did not give up on the idea of the yeshiva even after he effectively failed to implement it in Svencionys. The chapter of “The Great Yeshiva in Lida” is told in another place in this book. It was a chapter which also caused him, apart from financial considerations, under conditions of lack of an assured budget, and dependent on the help of donors, entanglements with dark groups (or we will call them, in euphemism, innocent), who opposed every innovation.
The love of Zion was engraved on his soul even before it became a movement that carried that official name. From the time that Rabbi Tzvi Kalisher began his activity for the settlement in the land of Israel, there began an exchange of letters between the old rabbi and the young Rabbi Reines. When Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever appeared on the public stage, he met with him and proposed an extensive plan of settlement that was bound up with the establishment of religious educational institutions for elementary, high school and higher learning, a plan that appeared too fanciful in Rabbi Mohilever's eyes.*[12] Yet the activities of “Chovevei Tzion” at that time seemed to him to be too paltry, and he had not yet gained real entry to the camp of the activists. Likewise, when Dr. Herzl appeared in the name of Zionism, Rabbi Reines was still standing at a distance, testing and checking the nature of the movements and its plans. But, from the time that his heart was conquered by the personal charm of the great leader, by his ideas and the momentum of his plans, he joined his camp with heart and soul, and from then on he held a central place in the Zionist camp. And he himself explained his path:*[13]
“It's my way to do nothing while I am still exploring and observing for myself all the details of the matter; and what else there is in a matter like this, which stands at the heart of the world of the Jews and of Judaism. It is an important principle for me, all those whose way it is to devote themselves to some new matter or some new movement after a short time without consideration, from these there is not much to hope for. But those who do not quickly and hastily devote themselves to some movement, but only after consideration and restrained deliberation – from these one may hope that they will always be among the standard-bearers.”
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This is not the place to unroll the chapter of Rabbi Reines' Zionist activity, for isn't it written in the chronicles of Zionism, and especially in the chronicles of the “Mizrachi” movement, which was founded at the Vilna conference in the year 5662 [1902], and at the conference that assembled in Lida in the year 5663 [1903] he set its doors in place.[14]
Rabbi Reines was esteemed by the people of Lida, both by the Charedi groups, who appreciated his great knowledge of Torah, in both the progressive younger generation, who saw the innovator in him, harrowing the traditional education system in Israel, and as one of the standard bearers in the national movement. All of them as one were excited by his vision in matters of the practical world. In the halakha of prohibition and permission, he was known for his power of leniency. Every woman who came to his house with a question of kashrut wanted to have her question heard specifically by him, for it was well known that there was none as reliable as he in finding the permissive side, considering as well the situation of the woman who was asking.
On the Sabbaths on which he would preach before the congregation, the Beit Midrash would fill to capacity. The content of the sermons, afterwards, would pass from mouth to mouth. There was in them something for the scholar, and something for the masses, and a new note was incorporated in them – the topic of the national-Zionist movement.
When the activity to distribute shares of stocks in “The Treasury for Settlement of the Jews” (the Colonial Bank) began in Lida, the rabbi began his sermon with the verse “If you lend money to my people” (Exodus, Parashat Mishpatim),[15] and continued “Where have we heard that a person lends money to the nation?” And he immediately responded: “here, in the purchase of shares of the national bank, the opportunity is given to a Jewish man to lend money to the people as a whole,” and he went on to explain the great importance of the matter.*[16]
Rabbi Reines was a wonderful preacher and a prolific orator, with solid logic and, together with this, fiery emotion. And here was also his weak spot, since from his great emotion, he would sometimes reach the point of tears and on occasion, he would be unable to continue speaking. That's what happened at the time of his preaching a sermon on the occasion of “The Day of the Yemenites,” which was held then at the order of the Central Committee of the Zionist Federation. When he reached the point where he was speaking about the situation of world Jewry, and especially, about the suffering of our Yemenite brothers, he burst into weeping that he was unable to control.
His boundless appreciation of Dr. Herzl (who brought him to say “aye” to the Uganda plan in the Sixth Zionist Congress)[17] was well known. And when the shocking news about the death of the esteemed leader reached Rabbi Reines, he fell ill and was unable to participate in a mourning assembly that was held in the Great Synagogue. The Writer Ch. D. Horovitz, who was in Lida at that time, offered the eulogy in his place.
His public activity, in the area of education and the field of Zionist movement, brought Rabbi Reines into disputes with the great Rabbis of his generation, but since he was sure of his path and firm in his opinion, he was not deterred by them and did not hold it against them. The Rabbi Yisrael Meir from Radin (the writer of the “Chafetz Chaim”),[18] may his memory be for a blessing, came to him especially for an intimate personal conversation, but he did not succeed in diverting him from his path, even though Rabbi Reines appreciated Rabbi Yisrael Meir's greatness in the Torah, and especially, his moral character, but not his understanding of the ways of the world, and his grasp of the situation of Judaism and its needs.**[19]
The Rabbi conducted a battle of a different kind on another front – prevention of the influence of the revolutionary movements on the Jewish street. In his sermons on this topic from the bima of the Beit Midrash, in the years of the revolutionary awakening in Russia in 1905, he stood up against the men of the Bund.***[20]
Rabbi Reines was full of activity, but also was full of bitterness. Fate embittered him, and in the year 5651 [1891] his young son, on whom he had hung his hopes, died before him. While he still young in days, he stood out for his brilliant talents, for his wisdom in Judaism and general culture, and even acquired a name for himself in Hebrew journalism. His death caused a deep wound in his father, one from which he never was healed until his last day. His constant polemic with his opponents, the financial difficulties in leading the yeshiva, in addition to the antagonism in the house, all these undermined the precarious health of the old rabbi.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the rabbi was in a healing spa in Germany. After many hardships, he succeeded in returning, by twisting paths, to his house in Lida, and he was depressed and discouraged from all that his eyes saw in Germany, where he had a chance to see the animal in the human. He had it in mind to set down his opinions in a book, as a memorial. But his malignant illness had already struck him, and on the 10th day of Elul in the year 5675 [1915] he was gathered to his people.
One of the rabbis who eulogized him next to the open grave, said of him in his eulogy: “Maker of innovations, Master of Wars” – and in this short verse, expressed the path of his life well.
A “tent”[21] was put up in the Lida cemetery over Rabbi Reines' grave, next to the tent of Rabbi Mordechai Meltzer. Do the two of them still exist???
The memory of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, may his memory be for a blessing, was immortalized in two places of settlement, one of which exists and flowers:
A. The moshav[22] “Kfar Ivri,”[23] which was established in the year 5684 [1924] by youth of the “Mizrachi” in the hills of Jerusalem, on the road to Ramallah, and afterwards its name was changed to “Neve Yaakov.”[24] Dwellers in this village were surrounded at the time of the War of Independence, and they were forced to retreat from there. The place was reconquered by Tzahal[25] in 5728 [1968], but the moshav has not yet been restored. In the meantime, its members joined the Nachalim moshav.
B. The moshav “Sde Yaakov,”[26] founded by “Poalei HaMizrachi,”[27] which was established in the western valley, next to Nahalal, in the year 5687 [1927], a pleasant living monument to the memory of Rabbi Reines, may his memory be for a blessing, created by the world “Mizrachi” movement.
From the Mouth of Rabbi Reines, and About Him
He used to explain, in his way, the folk legend about the “36 hidden righteous ones” that exist in each and every generation, thus:
“Sometimes the crowd mistakenly thinks that a true and honest opinion is invalid and excessive, and it is accustomed to gossip about the holder of this opinion, and to doubt his honesty and his righteousness. However the man whose righteousness is so great and the truth so beloved by him, that he openly supports this opinion, without paying attention to whether this will cause desecration to his honor in people's eyes – a person like this is one of the hidden righteous, for isn't it true that he is openly not considered
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righteous. And the world stands precisely on these hidden righteous.”*[28]
On the saying “honor flees from each one who pursues honor, and each one who flees from honor, honor pursues him” Rabbi Reines would ask: “why, actually? For indeed, generally, anyone who aspires to something with all his heart, is his end to obtain it?” – and he would respond “a thing that makes sense is said here: when a person pursues honor, he knows that honor will flee from him, for if it is not so – why should he pursue it? And it is the opposite for one who flees from honor.”**[29]
Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, the Rabbi of Lida, had his own way in halakha and aggadah.[30] His books on aggadah were accepted by the generation, while his books on halakha were not accepted. Even he would say:
“I wanted to teach two things to those who come to the world: scholarship and homiletics. Homiletics exists in their hands – scholarship does not.***[31]
Once an unusual legal case came before the Rabbi:
One young Jew, in his desire to show his “modernity,” expressed in a conversation among friends, that he was prepared to sell his place in the world to come for ten rubles. Another Jew, of the same position, immediately took the required amount from his pocket and offered it to the seller of the unique merchandise. He agreed and the matter was approved and settled with a handshake. However, after the event, the seller regretted it, and his heart began to trouble him. He came to the purchaser and offered to cancel the purchase, but he refused. He dragged him to Rabbi Reines. The matter was not to Rabbi Reines' liking, and he found a way out in his usual way. He said to them: if a Jews sells his share in the world to come, we learn from this that his share is not so great, and therefore he has nothing to sell. And so, this is an erroneous purchase…
Who did not know Rabbi Reines' old Shamash,[32] Reb Yisrael? A tall Jew, frail, his pants tucked into short boots, dragging his long legs with difficulty. Rabbi Reines, who was known for his sense of humor, used to say to him:
“Israel resembles a plant. And did he see someone who was a growing plant? Rather, since he grew, he is known to have grown. (In Yiddish: he has grown up, a sign that he has grown). And if someone sees Yisrael going? Only after he has come, knowing he has gone….”
The Rabbi knew how much his devoted shamash struggled with new names that were too long.
Once, the Rabbi, who was sitting in the company of his close friends, sent Reb Yisrael to the inn to ask if Rabbi Rubinzon from Rotnitza (the Rotnitzer Rabbi Rubinzon) had arrived. “Will you remember, Reb Yisrael?” “Yes, Rabbi” the shamash replies, and turns to go. But when he is standing by the door, the rabbi calls to him again, with a playful laugh and benevolent kindness on his mustache: “And so, Reb Yisrael, what will you ask?” “I will ask if Rabbi Rotnitzer from Rubinzon has arrived.”**[33]
At the end of his years, Rabbi Reines lived on the main street (Vilna Street), in Leizer Poltzek's house. Across from his window “The Club” could be seen, in which the men of the local intelligentsia would gather, Christians and also Jews, and especially those looking to pass the time, mostly in card games, and in the way of those immersed in the games – without having to watch the clock. Sometimes, when the old rabbi awoke from his sleep after midnight, as was his way, in order to peruse a book, he would see that there was a light in that house, and the men would be sitting and doing their own things. The rabbi would set aside his bewilderment with a smile, “Have you ever seen people get up so early to play cards?”
In his search for sources of funding for the yeshiva's budget, Rabbi Reines attempted to turn to the small cooperative bank in Lida for a loan. On the day that was designated for taking care of all the incoming requests, he found it necessary to come himself to the Board of Directors meeting. As soon as he entered the room (by surprise, apparently), the members of the Board, all of whom sat with bare heads, did not put their hats on (except for one, the story is told, who, out of respect for the rabbi, covered his head). The matter angered the old rabbi, but he kept quiet and did not react.
After discussion about the rabbi's request, it became clear that the bank did not have the means for a loan of this kind. The rabbi accepted the decision, but now he found a place to collect his debt, and said:
“When I came to you found you sitting with bare heads, I said to myself: here are members of the aristocrats, certainly they also have money and will give me a loan for the needs of the yeshiva. Now that you have no money, and you are apparently not aristocrats, why are you sitting with bare heads?”**[34]
All his days Rabbi Reines would immerse himself completely in his studies and the needs of the community. With this, his lot was not with those who had gloomy melancholy. In festival and family parties, he knew to brighten his face and those who were honoring him. Among those who were gathered that were seated near him was always “Ba'al HaMusaf,”[35] who was in the rabbi's minyan,[36] Reb Eizik, (who was also his “secret advisor” in the matters of the yeshiva and other public activities, and likewise in matters of the “Rabbi's house”).
Once at a party, when he was feeling good, the rabbi turned to his “Ba'al Musaf:” Reb Eizik, sing us a niggun.”[37] He replied: “what niggun can I sing for you that you haven't heard, and really you already know all of my niggunim by heart.” But maybe you desire, rabbi, for me to sing one of your niggunim before all of you?” The rabbi wondered: “Of mine? What do you mean?”
Reb Eizik sang before him the verse “Return, return from your evil ways” from the prayer leader's repetition in the Neilah[38] prayer of Yom Kippur, which was reserved for the rabbi to lead in his minyan, and he would also mimic the pleading voice of the rabbi in prayer, when it would become thin, with high tones, and inclined to tears.
The rabbi listened with pleasure and a good-hearted and forgiving laugh: “Is that really my niggun? When I am by myself, I don't remember. Next to the lectern, things are said of their own accord (Yiddish: it goes without saying), but if they ask me to repeat it after the prayer, I wouldn't be able.”**[39]
Footnotes:
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by Rabbi Avigdor Tzipershtine his son-in-law
Translated by Rabbi David Haymovitz
His image is still standing before my eyes with all its beauty, its holiness and its glorious glow. The image of a rabbi that who stood guard for many years of holiness and served his community with his learning - generosity, with his wisdom and his pleasant ways. From the day he ascended to the seat of the rabbinate in Lida, after the death of his father-in-law the Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Reines who made the city of Lida famous in all the Jewish communities in the world, [he] led his congregation in pleasant ways and was ready to sacrifice himself for it.
He was a child from a village. In the forests of Lida of Lithuania he grew and became a mighty Cedar tree. His father Reb Elimelech Rabinovitz, was a merchant of wood and lived in the forest. He built for himself a house, and also a house of study where the Jews of the neighboring villages, working with tar and resin, studied and prayed. He grew up in the lap of nature. From there he went to the Yeshiva of Volozhin, there he became famous as one of the choice young men of the yeshiva of whom it was proud and claimed glory.
It is he who discovered the prodigy from Maychet, Reb Shlomo Poliachik, in a forlorn little village and brought him to the Yeshiva of Volozhin.
The Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Reines of blessed memory chose him as a son-in-law for his only daughter, Gele of blessed memory, who was his devoted mate all the days of his life, and in their death they were not separated, they died together for the sanction of God.
In the home of his father-in-law he found a wide area for action, any person in bitterness and with broken heart found in him a listening ear, an awakened heart and readiness to help. He distributed his money and even gave away the furniture and the items of his home to everyone who stretched out a hand for help. He never sent any person away empty handed. He knew the heavy responsibility that was on him as the leader of the congregation and joined in its struggle. Always he in his own person went out in bad times, in days of violence, wars and pogroms to defend the city and its residents. He risked his life, did not pay attention to the pleading of his family not to go and with immense courage and generous spirit was the first and only one in the city who gave his life for the rescue of Jews.
A man of truth, this was his way of life and this was the root of his soul. He could not tolerate any lie in life. Wherever he found the slightest deviation from truth and righteousness, he fought like a lion to bring out the truth and rescue the victims of injustice, he did not cater to anybody, whoever it might be.
During WWI, when the city was conquered by the Germans, he sent his family to wander in foreign places but he remained on his duty and did not leave town.
Legends go around about his activities during the occupation in the First World War. Thanks to his influence on the governor of the city, who learned the great value of his pure heart and soul, he succeeded in averting hunger from the city that was the fate of all other towns in the neighborhood.
He was not only “rabbi” as the word is regularly understood. He was a father, a shepherd and an artist. His great worry was how to help his fellow man, because his soul was a noble one, it was from the treasure of holy souls, shining in the light of Torah that is complete and eternal kindness.
Who can evaluate properly his love for Torah? When he saw a student from the Yeshiva he embraced and kissed him. He gave the student honor as one of the great giants of Israel. There was no end to his happiness when he heard some new idea or reconciling a contradiction in Torah. His greatness and his genius as he was, with deep understanding and straight logic in addition to complete knowledge in every phase of Torah, he became so enthusiastic when he heard a new idea from a passing yeshiva student or from a rabbi. Like a fish who is thirsty for a fresh drop of water, so was his soul for Torah discussion.
An innovation in interpreting Torah, a new idea that reconciles texts of Torah - these were, “the bribe” that he took during his lifetime. There was nothing too difficult for him to do for that. He founded a study group in the city for the choice students of the yeshiva. Mr. Gatz, of blessed memory from Moscow, supported by himself this group that sustained itself on his money. Wherever you can find one still alive of those who were lucky to be among those who enjoyed his influence, his soul rejoices when he talks about him and his memory. And there are so many who look back with nostalgia to those happy years when they received teaching and inspiration in the circle of their great rabbi, who was extraordinary, an unusual and unforgetful appearance of love of Torah, the love of students of Torah that was limitless and with a strong and direct stand for truth, honesty, and charity in all his doings and all his ways as it was also in the leadership in the city and his relationship to the public.
He was loyal to Zion. He was among the first rabbis who signed an appeal for support of the Jewish National Fund, and all the time he was a supporter of the Mizrachi ideals, that aimed to awaken the people to rebuild the Jewish homeland and to be rebuilt as a nation. He did not pay attention to any “opposition” that came from certain circles. He saw the rebuilding of the land of Israel, the awakening of the mystical powers of the lower spheres in order to bring closer the redemption - with the self-sacrificing giving of the builders and those who wallow in its dust of the land.
And here it may be the right place to stress one line of his glorious image. How much he loved the truth and the respect of Torah, that was more precious to him than all the treasures of the world. In the last years before the beginning of the Second World War, “a war” erupted in Vilna. The Jewish community of Vilna selected, or were about to select, Rabbi Yitzkak Rubenstein to be the rabbi of the community and the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, of Blessed Memory, to be his deputy. The rabbis of Poland and the heads of the yeshivot saw in it a wrong step taken by the heads of the Vilna community. A sharp controversy erupted by speech and by writing and it reached all the way to America. Rabbi Aaron Rabinowitz was a longtime friend since the early years of his youth of Rabbi Rubinstein, because Lida was close to Vilna. As friends and brothers they regarded each all the days of their lives. But in these days when the great controversy flared up in Vilna, Rabbi Rabinowitz made special efforts to influence his friend and his comrade to resign or not to accept this position, because this would be according to his opinion a great desecration of Torah. He told Rabbi Rubenstein that it should be a great honor for him to resign. He will be rewarded more by stepping away than by accepting. But when Rabbi Rabinowitz realized that his words were not accepted he stopped talking to him.
Many in the community respected and highly valued Rabbi Rabinowitz for his honest stand, especially who were siding with the Gaon Reb Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky. Rabbi Rabinowitz was the most visible personality who was highly venerated and considered of extraordinary importance by the most popular rabbi at the time, the Chofetz Chaim, of Blessed Memory, and Reb Chaim Ozer, of Blessed Memory. “Der Lider Rov” was always the leading spokesman in the assemblies, in committees, from him they took advice and encouragement. Everyone felt that he was far higher than all those around him. There was no stain on his beautiful garment of many colors. Whatever he committed others to do he was strict with himself, he did not have double standards, whatever he did not permit others to do, he did not permit his sons and his son-in-law. He had one standard in life, there was no difference between him and others.
And therefore his name was always mentioned with a thrill of excitement and with great awe and deep feelings of love by all these rabbis and leaders of Israel that came in touch with him and realized his pure personality, filled with love of Torah and love and respect to those who studied Torah.
The Chofetz Chaim, of Blessed Memory, used to stay over in his home. Reb Aaron Lider he called him. And when his future son-in-law visited the city of Radin and they told the Chofetz Chaim of Blessed Memory, that this young man that came to visit is the “ Dem Lider Rov's chosen.” (The rabbi of Lida's future son-in-law.) - he got out of his chair and exclaimed: “Oh! Reb Aaron's a kind.” (“Oh! Its Reb Aaron's child.)
And at the same place that you can find his goodness, his loving kindness and his humility - there you find also his strong hand and his courage. Like a lion he fought for the observance of Sabbath, kashrut, and education of youth.
When Lida was captured at the beginning of World War II by the Russians and the community organization and all the charity organizations were abolished by the authorities, he did not stop his activity by accepting, treating and finding a place for the refugees that streamed into Lida. And when the door of rescue was opened to leave Lida and go to Vilna that became part of Lithuania, he did not run, he did not leave the members of his community, wherever they were there was he! All the begging, pleading and crying of the members of the family did not help. He decided to stay with his flock. The captain does not run away from his ship when it is in danger.
And so he stayed and did not want to leave at a time when through Lida were passing all the heads of all the heads of yeshivas, rabbis, thousands of refugees. He was staying on guard, he was staying in his place, until the last minute among the members of his community with his family, the rebbitizin and his three daughters. He was the first in the march of death to the trenches where they assembled the residents of the city to die. And he died first a martyrs death.
In the forest dedicated for the martyrs in the mountains of Jerusalem his sister Mrs. Henya Rabinowitz from New York planted grove of trees to his memory, and to the memory of the members of his family that died together with him among the community of martyrs of Lida on the 21st of Iyar, 1942.
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