Episode 15: Yaakov Karpel from the Town of Shrei

00:01 After telling the remarkable story of the match between Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, a chossid of the Baal Shem Tov, and Devorah Leah, the granddaughter of Rabbi Moishe and Rabbi Baruch Batlan, we will now hear about Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s own interesting life and how he came to Chassidus. Here is the story: The prodigy from Shari whom Devorah Leah married, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, was a secret chossid. After their wedding, Devorah Leah learned from whom he had received the teachings of Chassidus. This is how it happened. Shari, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s hometown, was a small town in the Volhynia region. Fifty-five Jewish families lived there, and nothing in particular distinguished it. As in many Jewish towns, Shari had several learned Jews. A number of householders had taken learned young men as sons-in-law, supporting them while they studied Torah. These young scholars brought a spirit of Torah into the town and helped increase the number of people who studied. In that respect, Shari was not a backward town. Still, most of its Jews were simple people. They could not read and could say little beyond the prayers and a chapter of Tehillim. Some could study a passage from Chumash. At the same time, every one of them, without exception, was careful to observe the mitzvos with faith and great earnestness. The town also had several dozen Jews who were completely unlearned, people who did not recognize the shape of a letter. They could not daven with the congregation because they simply could not follow the prayer leader. So they made do with saying Shema and a few prayers they had memorized, even those with many mistakes. At that time, the rabbi of Shari was Rabbi Shmuel Akiva. He was not an especially great Torah scholar, but he had tremendous fear of Heaven. For fifty consecutive years, he fasted from Shabbos

02:57 to Shabbos. In winter he would roll in the snow, and in summer he would roll among anthills, letting the ants sting him. In other words, he brought suffering upon himself. One of the most unlearned people in Shari was a man named Yaakov Karpil. Yaakov Karpil earned his living as a peddler, traveling among the non-Jewish villages. All week he would go from village to village offering his wares for sale, and on Friday he would return to town for Shabbos. Every Friday, as soon as he arrived, before even going home, Yaakov Karpil would bring the rabbi his regular weekly contribution for charitable needs, such as visiting the sick, helping brides marry, clothing the needy, supporting Torah study, and more. He did this at the rabbi’s home. He would then go to the beis midrash and put a few coins in the public charity boxes to fulfill the mitzvah of giving anonymously. Only after all that would he go home and give his wife all the money that remained for the coming week and for Shabbos. Then he would begin preparing in honor of the holy Shabbos, including cleaning and polishing his boots, and when he was done, he would hurry to the bathhouse. That same Yaakov Karpil could not recognize a single Hebrew letter. Over the years he had learned to say Shema and Shemoneh Esrei by heart, though he said them with mistakes. But he said them with deep feeling and devotion. That was how he davened on weekdays, alone on his travels, and how he davened with the congregation in the Shari beis midrash on Shabbos and Yom Tov. His wife’s name was Tzipa Bracha. She too was a very simple woman, but she was G-d-fearing and meticulous in her observance of mitzvos. She was the daughter of a Jew named Yosef Yitzchak, who was in charge of the mikveh in Shari. Tzipa Bracha’s father was also a Torah scholar, but he passed away when she was a small child, and the community later arranged her marriage to Yaakov Karpil. Yaakov Karpil and his wife Tzipa Bracha lived together in harmony. In truth, they could have

05:48 been very happy, but, may we be spared, they had sorrow over their children. At first, no children were born to them at all. After some time, Tzipa Bracha began to give birth, but the children, may we be spared, died immediately after birth. Once, during his travels, Yaakov Karpil met another Jewish peddler. The two began traveling together. Yaakov Karpil noticed that his companion was constantly moving his lips, as though speaking to himself. Curious about the murmuring, Yaakov Karpil asked him what it was. His companion told him that he was reviewing chapters of Mishnah by heart. He also explained that when he was in town, he went into the beis midrash and studied Gemara, but when he was on the road, he reviewed what he knew by heart: passages of Tanach and chapters of Mishnah. Once Yaakov Karpil knew his secret, the man no longer saw a reason to hide his studies by speaking quietly. He began studying aloud as they traveled from one village to the next, though only when no stranger was nearby. And he studied with such a beautiful melody that Yaakov Karpil would listen and feel his heart melt. One day Yaakov Karpil could hold back no longer and burst into tears. “Why are you crying?” his companion asked compassionately. His name was Hirsch Leib. “How can I not cry?” Yaakov Karpil explained. “I’m so unlearned that I can’t even read. I truly envy you for knowing how to study. I would give a large part of my life to be able to study like you.” Hirsch Leib began comforting him and told him that when they reached town, he would start teaching him the alef-beis. Yaakov Karpil was overjoyed. But Hirsch Leib told him that it had to remain a secret. He could tell only his wife, Tzipa

08:34 Bracha, and no one else. Yaakov Karpil did not understand why Hirsch Leib wanted to keep their lessons secret, but he agreed. When they returned to town, it became clear that the harsh weather would require them to stay there, and they immediately used the opportunity to study. Hirsch Leib began teaching Yaakov Karpil. Little by little, the lessons bore fruit, and within a few months Yaakov Karpil could read and knew the meaning of several words. Yaakov Karpil was full of joy. His wife, Tzipa Bracha, was in seventh heaven. Hirsch Leib stayed in the beis midrash. Judging by his appearance, people took him for a simple Jew, and no one paid him any attention. For his part, he asked nothing of anyone. The regulars at the beis midrash assumed he was just a traveler whom the weather had kept in town longer than usual. On his first Shabbos there, someone did invite him to be a guest, but Hirsch Leib declined, saying he preferred to stay in the beis midrash. So they left him alone and gave him no further special attention. From Yaakov Karpil, Reb Hirsch Leib learned about everyone in town. He was particularly interested in the circumstances of the simple Jews who did not know how to study. Hirsch Leib then began befriending them. He found a kind word for each of them, encouraged them, and filled them with new life, hope, and confidence. He would tell them: “A Jew must not lose heart. Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves every Jew. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu told Moshe Rabbeinu, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel,’ He made no distinction between one Jew and another. He meant the unlearned Jew just as much as the scholar. We are all children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” What is more, Hirsch Leib began taking steps to encourage the simple Jews

11:25 and explain that not having studied Torah in the past did not mean they could not begin now. Once they were convinced that this was true—which, incidentally, came as a startling revelation to them—they began asking questions: How? When? How, and why? Hirsch Leib said he would arrange an alef-beis lesson with them. The suggestion seemed astonishing to them. They had seen and heard Jews studying Gemara in groups, as well as Mishnah and the weekly parsha in Chumash, but they had never seen grown men learning to read. It was as though there were a fixed rule that someone who was unlearned had to remain so all his life. No one had taken an interest in changing the lot of these simple Jews. And now, suddenly, a learned Jew had come along, spoken words of encouragement and comfort to them, and offered to begin studying Torah with them. So they welcomed the idea with joy and enthusiasm and gladly came to learn Torah from Hirsch Leib.