Episode 20: The Establishment of the Council of Four Lands

00:01 We have been following with interest the story of Yaakov Karpil and his son Yosef Yitzchak, who was by then living in Vitebsk with his young wife, Devorah Leah, Rachel’s daughter. As we already know, she descended on one side from the Maharal of Prague and on the other from Rabbi Baruch Batlan, whose family came from Portugal. Yosef Yitzchak’s father was the same Yaakov Karpil who had saved [unclear] Yitzchak and his son David. Yaakov Karpil had become an ardent chossid of the Baal Shem Tov, and we now hear the continuation of his story. At that time, Reb Yaakov Karpil maintained his ties with the hidden tzaddikim and with chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov. He supported them, and the Baal Shem Tov himself, generously. As we recall, he had moved to Minsk to be near his son. His home there became a gathering place for the hidden tzaddikim and chassidim. Yosef Yitzchak absorbed the new path of Chassidus and became acquainted with its teachings. Yaakov Karpil himself did not need to work for a living and had time at his disposal, so he decided to travel to the Baal Shem Tov, who was then in the town of Shari[?]. This time, unlike on his previous trip, Yaakov Karpil needed no one to take him to the Baal Shem Tov. He was already among those close to the great tzaddik. Yaakov Karpil had a particular purpose in visiting the Baal Shem Tov: he wanted to hear from him what to do with the wealth he had brought from Shari[?] to Minsk, where he now lived. The Baal Shem Tov instructed him to leave only a tenth of his wealth to his son Yosef Yitzchak and to distribute the remaining nine parts to tzedakah. Yaakov Karpil did not question the instruction and hurried to carry it out. He began giving generously to important causes, and devoted especially large sums to the needs of the hidden tzaddikim. His home

02:49 in Minsk became a gathering place for the hidden tzaddikim and the Baal Shem Tov’s emissaries, where all their needs were met. During that visit, the Baal Shem Tov also turned Yaakov Karpil’s attention to his son Yosef Yitzchak, the brilliant young scholar whose reputation had meanwhile spread throughout the Minsk area and beyond. The Baal Shem Tov set out a special course of study for him. He did so in a letter entrusted to Yaakov Karpil, addressed to the hidden tzaddik Rabbi Moshe Nissan in Minsk. In that letter, the Baal Shem Tov appointed Rabbi Moshe Nissan as the young Yosef Yitzchak’s guide. Moshe Nissan was then the leader of the hidden tzaddikim in Minsk, and the course of study the Baal Shem Tov prescribed for the young scholar through him extended over six years. The Baal Shem Tov also instructed that, after those six years, Yosef Yitzchak should study for two years at the yeshivah in Smorgon, which then served as a center of preparation for Chassidus. He designated Nachum Meir, the son of one of the hidden tzaddikim, as his companion there. These were detailed instructions from the Baal Shem Tov on how to guide the young scholar Yosef Yitzchak. Of course, all the Baal Shem Tov’s instructions were carried out fully and precisely. Together with his friend Nachum Meir, Yosef Yitzchak studied certain subjects in secret at Smorgon, bringing them into the innermost teachings of Chassidus. When Yosef Yitzchak returned to his parents in Minsk, he brought a certificate from the Smorgon yeshivah bestowing on him the title “Our Teacher, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the brilliant scholar from Shari.” Yaakov Karpil did not live much longer and passed away. After his passing, Tzipah Brachah entrusted one of the hidden tzaddikim with a sum of two thousand three hundred gold rubles. This was Yosef Yitzchak’s share of the inheritance and, under the will, was to serve as a fund whose income would

05:34 support her son, while Yosef Yitzchak himself, at her instruction, would devote himself solely to Torah and the service of Hashem and would not enter business at all. A short time later, Tzipah Brachah also passed away. Our Sages, of blessed memory, say that everything depends on mazal—even a Torah scroll in the ark. The same is true of the fortunes of Jewish cities and towns, and certainly of countries. Throughout the history of the Jewish people, the light of Torah has shone first in one country and then in another; the same is true of cities. At one time one city served as a Torah center, and at another time, a different city. Sometimes several cities did so at once, even competing for the crown of Torah center. Rivalry among scholars increases wisdom. The light of Minsk, a great Jewish city and center of Torah, shone even before Chassidus made its way into Jewish life. The spirit of Chassidus began to stir in Minsk long before the Baal Shem Tov’s new path in the service of the Creator became widely known. Note that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, Devorah Leah’s husband and the uncle of the founder of Chabad Chassidus, encountered Chassidus and absorbed its spirit specifically in Minsk. His parents had sent him there to study Torah, and later moved to the city themselves. Given the pace of developments in those years, it took a long time for Minsk to become known for its great Torah scholars and yeshivos. More broadly, the movement of Torah scholarship to Poland and Lithuania was a very long process. To get a clearer picture of that movement in this period, we need to look closely at developments following the expulsions from Spain and Portugal. Those expulsions left a terrible impression on Jews in other lands, especially in Poland and Lithuania. Knowing that the expulsions were the result of the Catholic Church’s influence, Jews in other Catholic countries became deeply anxious about their fate and future. Yet the situation of the Jews in Poland at that time was not bad. Materially,

08:35 they were very well off, and they faced no interference in Torah study or observance of the mitzvos. Both the authorities and the population treated them well. But the ill winds blowing from Rome, which had brought upheaval to Spain and Portugal, eventually reached Poland and Lithuania too. The priests grew bolder. The rabbis and Jewish leaders began to consider, while there was still time, how to meet the anticipated danger. They decided to establish a central body uniting all the communities, charged with protecting the Jews both spiritually and materially. Until then, each community had relied on the services of various advocates, some officially appointed and some not. These advocates did not always succeed. At the same time, the number of informers increased, bringing all kinds of trouble upon the communities. Every concession obtained from the informers involved large bribes. Sigismund I was then king of Poland. When he came to the throne, the government’s finances were in a dire state: expenses were enormous, while revenues were scarcely coming in. The Jews were the only ones who paid their taxes properly; everyone else reached arrangements with the tax collectors through bribes. The Jews’ orderly payment of taxes earned the king’s respect. He invited their leaders to meet with him and promised that no harm would come to them. But this only intensified the wild agitation by priests and various politicians. They began demanding that the Jews be expelled from Poland, just as they had been expelled from Spain and Portugal. They spread various false accusations against the Jews, arguing that expulsion would lead to the confiscation of their property and thus fill the government’s empty treasury. Against this backdrop, a struggle broke out between the king and the advisers and priests who continually pressed him to issue decrees against the Jews and impose heavy taxes on them. After consulting one another, the leaders of the communities called a large assembly of representatives from all the communities in order to

11:11 to prepare the Jews for the approaching danger. At this meeting, it was decided to establish a joint council of the Jews of Poland and Lithuania to protect the rights of the Jews in these two countries, which were under one government. A small team was formed and immediately began working to obtain a license and government recognition for the joint representative body. In 5280, King Sigismund permitted the Jews to establish a representative body elected by all the Jewish communities throughout the kingdom. This body was given full authority over all matters concerning Judaism and Jews, and the Jews thus gained autonomy in practice in Poland and Lithuania. A special large assembly created the means to put that autonomy into effect. The new representative body was called the Council of the Lands, and it was given oversight of all the spiritual and economic affairs of the Jews of the lands. The Council of the Lands was based in Krakow. Its general assemblies were held at the places and times of the major fairs, where community leaders and rabbis gathered. This continued for 103 years. In 5393, leading Torah scholars from Brisk, Vilna, Grodno, Slutsk, and Pinsk convened and concluded that, since the Council of the Lands could not address the problems and needs of every community, a separate council should also be established for the communities of Lithuania. This council was very successful in its work and lasted for about another hundred years. Through this council, large yeshivos were founded in a number of Lithuanian cities, including Vitebsk, Shklov, Polotsk, and Minsk. Minsk was already a center of Torah learning, and the founding of the new yeshivos increased its influence, as the scholars of Minsk taught Torah in them. Because the number of visitors to Vitebsk grew as a result, a hospitality center was established there, with lodging and a dining hall. Special rooms were set aside for guests who were Torah scholars. In Minsk, too, it was decided to establish a hospitality center, with particular attention to welcoming learned guests as they deserved. One reason for this decision was an interesting incident involving a young man who, as

14:21 was later discovered, was the person who would become known as the Gaon of Vilna. More about that later. Here we emphasize that the establishment of the Lithuanian council helped turn Lithuania into a center of Torah learning, primarily by founding yeshivos in its cities and towns. The council recognized that the yeshiva was a firm foundation for the development of Judaism throughout the generations, and the only way to educate young people in Torah. Every community of fifty families or more made an effort to support a yeshiva. It was stipulated that a portion of all community income be set aside to support the yeshiva students. At every suitable occasion, such as a bris, a bar mitzvah celebration, a wedding, or, lehavdil, a funeral, money was collected for the yeshiva. The fifty families also undertook to feed at least three students from nearby communities, who ate their meals in the homes of their host families. From this developed the well-known custom of “eating days”: each student was assigned particular days to eat in one home or another, on a rotating basis. The wives of the householders were charged with making sure that the food served to the yeshiva students was good and filling. For their part, the women sometimes went hungry so the students could have good food.