Episode 21: Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Marries Devorah Leah

00:01 Since one of the less positive phenomena—though one present throughout the emergence, development, and growth of the hidden tzaddikim, and later the Chassidic movement and then Chabad Chassidus—was the opposition to the hidden tzaddikim, to Chassidus, and especially to Chabad Chassidus. This opposition and its opponents played a very dramatic part in the history of the Jewish people at that time. I want to bring a passage from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s memoirs about the first appearance, more or less, of the man who later became known as the Gaon of Vilna, a central figure in the opposition to the teachings of Chassidus. This is, G-d forbid, not meant to detract from his honor; it is simply the story itself. At the time we are discussing—the establishment of the Council of Four Lands, and the time of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, who married Devorah Leah—there was a Jew named Rabbi Yechiel Halperin. He was a very great scholar, and twice a year, once in winter and once in summer, he would deliver a special scholarly discourse to a select few, people of truly exceptional intellect. Being permitted to attend was taken as an acknowledgment of one’s brilliance, at least in Rabbi Yechiel Halperin’s eyes. Once, the day before Rabbi Yechiel Halperin was due to deliver this semiannual discourse, a young boy of about fifteen appeared in the beis midrash. He had arrived in the city with a group of wandering beggars who traveled from town to town. Like the others in the group, the young man stayed at the town’s shelter for the poor—the sort of communal lodging we spoke about earlier. When he learned that Rabbi Yechiel Halperin would deliver his discourse the next day, he asked to be allowed in. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, his request was refused, with astonishment that he had even asked. The young man pleaded to be allowed

03:07 at least to stand in a distant corner. No, that too was refused. Nevertheless, he found a way to slip into the beis midrash and hide behind the stove, where he listened to Rabbi Yechiel’s words of Torah. In his discourse, Rabbi Yechiel raised two very great, profound contradictions in the Gemara. Through a lengthy and incisive discussion, he explored possible ways of resolving them, but rejected each answer in turn. In the end, the contradictions remained unresolved. The fifteen-year-old standing off to the side wrote brief answers to Rabbi Yechiel’s questions on a slip of paper and handed it to Rabbi Moshe, Rabbi Yechiel’s son, who was a great scholar in his own right. Then he disappeared from the beis midrash before Reb Moshe had a chance to read the note. A merchant from Vilna, passing through Minsk, entered the beis midrash and breathlessly reported that, as he came in, he had seen the famous prodigy from Seltz leaving—the young man later known as the Gaon of Vilna. He had tried to stop him, but the young man evaded him. Rabbi Moshe understood that this was the same young man who had given him the answers to his father’s questions. He immediately showed the note to his father, and both were amazed by the brilliance of its answers. It was clear to them that the prodigy from Seltz, who later became famous as the Gaon of Vilna, had been there. They immediately began searching for him throughout Minsk, in the batei midrash and the inns, but could not find him. Then they learned that he had left the city with a group of beggars headed toward Brisk. The Gaon, Rabbi Yechiel, ordered a horse-drawn carriage prepared, and he and his son Moshe set off on the road to Brisk to catch up with the young prodigy from Seltz. Toward noon, deep in the forest, they came upon a group of

06:00 beggars sitting on the grass and eating their meager meal. The young man was not among them. When they asked, the beggars told them that he was indeed traveling with their group, but whenever they sat down to rest or eat, he would leave them and return only when they were ready to continue. They did not know why, nor had they taken an interest in it. They said, though, that the young man was a great tzaddik, and that none of them had any real contact with him. Rabbi Yechiel and his son went deeper into the forest to look for him. From a distance, they saw a remarkable sight that impressed them deeply and filled them with awe. The prodigy they had seen in Minsk was sitting on an anthill. Ants crawled over his skin and bit him. His eyes were closed, and he was quietly murmuring words of Torah. Rabbi Yechiel wanted to attract the young prodigy’s attention, so he began stepping on broken branches to make a noise. The young man opened his eyes and, to his great astonishment, saw who stood before him. Well, he realized that his secret had been discovered. Rabbi Yechiel asked him to return with them to Minsk in the carriage waiting for them. With tears in his eyes, the young man pleaded with the elderly Gaon to leave him alone and let him continue on his own path. They argued, but in the end the young man had to give in and return to Minsk, where a splendid welcome awaited him. The young prodigy from Seltz was deeply distressed by this turn of events. He regretted having answered Rabbi Yechiel’s questions and thereby revealed his identity. They would no longer let him stay in the simple shelter for the poor; instead, they had prepared a fine room for him and brought him new clothes. But in the middle of the night, he locked his door and escaped through the window. The next morning, the community leaders went to invite him to join them

08:51 for the first minyan. The door was locked. The delegation reassured themselves that the prodigy was asleep, and they waited by the door for him to wake up. After a considerable time had passed and he had not come out, the community leaders knocked on the door once, twice, and three times, but there was no answer. One of them went to look through the window, and it became clear that the prodigy was no longer there. Meanwhile, all the city’s dignitaries and Torah scholars, led by Rabbi Yechiel, had been waiting in the beis midrash to accord the prodigy from Seltz the honor he deserved. Then the delegation returned and reported that the young prodigy had disappeared. This made a deep impression on those present and on all the Jews of Minsk and the surrounding area. From then on, a rule was established to look carefully among visiting travelers for Torah scholars worthy of honor. Minsk’s rabbi, the Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Halperin, called a special meeting of the city’s leading Torah scholars. They decided to send a delegation of the city’s foremost scholars to Vilna to visit the prodigy from Seltz and honor him properly. The delegation consisted of three men, including that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the prodigy from Shari[?], son of Rabbi Yaakov Karpi[?], whom we have already met—a chossid of the Baal Shem Tov. The delegation reached Vilna, but the prodigy from Seltz had not yet returned from his travels. They remained in Vilna a while longer, hoping that the man later known as the Gaon of Vilna would arrive in the meantime, but he was nowhere in sight. No one knew when he would return, either. There was no point in waiting any longer. Disappointed, the members of the delegation returned to Minsk. For Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the disappointment was even greater. It was as though his heart told him that the prodigy from Seltz would later become a fierce opponent of his teacher the Baal Shem Tov’s path—something that might perhaps have been avoided had they met. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the uncle of the future founder of Chabad Chassidus, was already, as we recall, deeply imbued with the Baal Shem Tov’s Chassidus, although

11:34 Secretly. Rabbi Yechiel Halperin and all the great Torah scholars of Minsk held the prodigy from Shiri[?], Yosef Yitzchak, in high esteem. His reputation preceded him. His ties to Chassidus through his secret mentor, Rabbi Moshe Nissan, were kept hidden. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak was so highly regarded that he was chosen as one of two representatives of the Smorgon yeshiva, where he had studied for several years, to an assembly of the Council of the Four Lands due to take place in Lublin during the fair there. He made the trip with the open consent and blessing of Rabbi Yechiel Halperin, and with the secret consent of Rabbi Moshe Nissan, one of the hidden chassidim. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak then began carrying out important assignments under the secret direction of the movement of hidden chassidim. When the prodigy from Shiri[?], Yosef Yitzchak, returned to Minsk from the Lublin fair, he became known not only as a great Torah scholar and a man of fine character, but also as a public figure with vision and good judgment. Everyone in Minsk praised Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the prodigy from Shiri[?], who had stood out at the assembly of the Council of the Four Lands for his Torah greatness, his talents, and his wisdom. Rabbi Yechiel’s regard for him grew considerably, and his influence in Minsk and the surrounding area increased. For the next assembly of the Council of the Four Lands, held this time at the Vitebsk fair, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the prodigy from Shiri[?], was chosen as none other than the representative of the distinguished Minsk community itself. The assemblies held during the fairs brought together great Torah scholars from all the communities to enact measures needed at the time, clarify matters of halachah, and exchange views on Torah subjects. Each community sent its finest scholars to represent it with honor. Ties with the Vitebsk community were especially important to Minsk; the two were something like sister communities, although Minsk was under the influence of the Slutsk yeshiva, while Vitebsk was under the influence of the Smorgon yeshiva. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, who was still unmarried, initially refused to travel

14:18 to Vitebsk because he was concerned it would take time away from his Torah study. But his secret mentor, Rabbi Moshe Nissan, told him in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that he should indeed go, chiefly because he would find his match in Vitebsk. As we already know, this was Devorah Leah, the orphaned daughter of Rabbi Schneur Zalman and the righteous Rachel. When it was time to leave, Rabbi Moshe Nissan sent Rabbi Malkiel, another of the hidden chassidim, along with him. Rabbi Malkiel was introduced as Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s personal attendant, though his real task was to study Kabbalah with him according to a schedule set by the Baal Shem Tov. A warm, heartfelt welcome awaited Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak in Vitebsk, both because of his reputation for brilliance and because he represented the distinguished community of Minsk, an important Jewish center. Since people knew he was unmarried, they began showering him with offers of matches from prominent families. But the prodigy, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, turned them all down. Then Rabbi Kaddish, Devorah Leah’s uncle—in whose home, as we recall, she was staying, though she earned her living as a seamstress—heard Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak deliver a brilliant, penetrating Torah discussion one day in Vitebsk’s main beis midrash. It flashed through his mind that this might be a worthy husband for his orphaned niece. Still, he was afraid even to voice the idea. Dvorele came from a family of distinguished lineage, but how could he propose a poor orphan as a match for a renowned Torah scholar like Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak? After more time passed and Rabbi Kaddish learned that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak had turned down every match proposed to him, he gathered the courage to discuss it with his wife, Freida. At the same time, he voiced his doubts about the chances of gaining the prodigy’s agreement: “He has been offered matches with the families of the wealthiest people, scholars, and great Torah

16:53 scholars, and he has rejected every one outright. How could he possibly agree to marry Dvorele?” But Freida disagreed. She said that perhaps this was precisely the match ordained in Heaven, and advised her husband to send a matchmaker to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak. Rabbi Kaddish hesitated, fearing that Dvorele might be hurt if she learned they had sent a matchmaker to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and he had rejected the proposal. To address that concern, Freida suggested sending someone close to them who could keep a secret, so that even if the proposal was rejected, no one would know. Rabbi Kaddish found a relative who knew how to speak persuasively. He went to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and told him about Dvorele, her lineage and her life story. The prodigy from Shiri[?] immediately sensed that what his secret mentor had told him in the name of the Baal Shem Tov—about the match awaiting him in Vitebsk—referred to Dvorele, and he agreed. The tena’im were written during Chanukah, and the wedding took place in Nissan.