Chapter 73: Zecharia Yerucham in Vilna, Where Wondrous Things Are Revealed to Him

00:01 We continue the fascinating story of the life of the rabbi of Dobromysl. Right now, we are telling the story of his grandfather, Zechariah Yerucham, who was traveling with the hidden tzaddik Nachum Tuvia. They arrived in Vilna, where new things came to light for them. Despite everything, they learned a great deal during their stay there. They spent four months in Vilna, eagerly absorbing Torah insights from the city’s great scholars, as well as hearing secondhand the insights of scholars who were no longer there. For example, the two travelers obtained Rabbi Moshe Rivkes’s glosses on the tractates Zevachim and Menachos and studied them with great interest. Those glosses opened their eyes. In Vilna, they also heard two remarkable stories about the Shach. One was about how deeply the Shach immersed himself in Torah study: he was so completely detached from his surroundings that he neither knew nor sensed what was happening around him. Once, the Shach went up onto a roof to study in solitude. Deep in thought, he began walking across the roof. Having completely forgotten where he was, he started leaping from one roof to the next, miraculously clearing the gaps between the houses. People gathered below, amazed by the sight and terrified that, G-d forbid, something might happen to the great scholar. The Shach noticed none of it. The second story was that Reb Moshe, the Shach’s beloved son, once became gravely ill. The Shach prayed for his recovery, but his condition kept worsening until he was at death’s door. Seeing how great the danger was, the Shach declared that he was transferring to his son the merit of all the Torah insights he had developed that day. His son’s condition immediately began to improve. As we said, Zechariah Yerucham and Nachum Tuvia learned a great deal in Vilna. Among other things, they discovered

03:00 treasures of books and manuscripts in the city’s study halls that they had never seen before. They also met renowned figures whose reputations extended throughout Vilna—then called the Jerusalem of Lithuania—and the surrounding area. While they were in Vilna, the famous philanthropist Reb Shalom Shachna, known as “Shel Sarah,” passed away. He was the brother of Raphael Shlomo, who was known in Vilna as “the rich beggar.” The two brothers were sons of Reb Avraham the Beloved, as his acquaintances called him. Reb Avraham the Beloved was the son of Shimon Viktorovich [?] of Krakow, who, together with his partner Reb Yisroel, was among the builders of Vilna’s magnificent synagogue in 5323. So let’s turn to the story of Avraham the Beloved. Who was he? Avraham was the only son of a Jew named Shimon. Naturally, his parents treated their only son as the apple of their eye. But although they entrusted him to the best teachers, he did not make much progress in his studies. He simply had little aptitude for them. On the other hand, he had a heart of gold. He often visited Vilna’s alleys and poor neighborhoods, giving generously to those in need. When Avraham turned fifteen, his father put him in charge of his charitable funds and gave him authority over how they were distributed. When Avraham turned eighteen, his father arranged his marriage to Sarah, daughter of the great scholar Reb Yisroel, son of the great scholar Reb Shalom Shachna of Lublin, who had been a student of the famous scholar Rabbi Yaakov Pollak of Prague. Sarah was as G-d-fearing and kindhearted as her husband Avraham. She was constantly involved in charitable work, and her name became renowned throughout Vilna and in other cities as well. When King Sigismund Augustus made Vilna his capital, he issued an order to beautify the city with magnificent buildings. The two

05:43 partners, Reb Shimon and Reb Yisroel, moved to Vilna. Alongside their other businesses, they began building houses and shops there and renting them out. They won a government contract to build houses and palaces for ministers and members of the royal court. For this, they brought in engineers and builders from abroad. They were very successful in their building work and amassed considerable wealth. During that period, they also built the Vilna synagogue. Several years later, they divided their property under terms set by an independent three-member beis din, and each went into business on his own. After Reb Shimon passed the age of sixty, he handed his businesses over to his son and his two sons-in-law, while he devoted himself to Torah and the service of Hashem. Because he had access to senior members of the royal court and even to the king himself, the community placed the burden of interceding on its behalf upon him. Reb Shimon was elected president of the Council of Four Lands, the elected body that represented all Jewish interests. Reb Shimon was highly successful in communal affairs and did much good for Jews. Later, when the kingdom’s capital moved to Krakow, he moved there too, for the sake of communal affairs. Meanwhile, his son Reb Avraham managed extensive business interests. Yet however busy he was, Reb Avraham always found time for charitable work, which to him was the most important thing in life. He did not limit himself to giving money: he also encouraged the poor and lifted their spirits. People in Vilna said of Reb Avraham that he gave the poor and downtrodden not only money but also love and affection. That is why they called him Avraham the Beloved. But as kind and beloved as Avraham was, his wife Sarah was more so many times over. She poured her whole soul into charitable work, displaying remarkable humility and simplicity. She treated the poor and downtrodden like a mother and a sister. Sarah spent hours in the homes of the poor and the sick, often

08:28 doing their housework with her own hands, especially for poor women who had given birth. Reb Avraham and Sarah had two sons: the elder, Shalom Shachna, and the younger, Raphael Shlomo. When Shalom Shachna turned fourteen, his mother began taking him along on her visits to the homes of the poor and the sick so that he could see firsthand the difficult lives of ordinary Jews. Often, while visiting a poor family, she would tell her son to exchange clothes with one of the children his age. She explained that this poor child might become a greater Torah scholar than he, for our Sages said, “Take care with the children of the poor, for from them Torah will emerge.” She raised her second son, Raphael Shlomo, in the same spirit. Their home in Vilna was a gathering place for scholars and a refuge for the poor. They set aside a separate house for the mitzvah of welcoming guests. Torah scholars always found lodging with them. At the same time, Reb Avraham never acted as though he were above anyone else; despite his great wealth, he dressed simply and modestly. With his father Reb Shimon’s help, Reb Avraham also made the acquaintance of members of the royal court and nobles, who often visited him on business. This enabled him to help others as well. Through him, many Jews gained access to noble households for business purposes, or to lease taverns, flour mills, fishing ponds, and the like. Many Jews managed to lease fields and orchards, and even entire estates. Through Reb Avraham’s efforts, hundreds and thousands of Jews moved from the large cities, where they had difficulty earning a living and establishing themselves, to villages and small settlements, where they settled in more easily. Yet this very movement from city to village created a new problem: how could the Jews in the villages and small towns be provided with what they needed spiritually? How could their children be given a proper education, and how could rural Jews be kept connected to Jewish communal life? And for that purpose

11:11 Rabbi Shimon donated a large sum of money to these efforts, because he saw them as a very important cause. Reb Avraham, for his part, continued to help Jews in his own way. Whenever a nobleman approached him for a loan, Reb Avraham made it a condition that the nobleman appoint a Jew to manage his affairs. Such a Jew would generally excel at his work and help the nobleman earn a great deal from his businesses. Naturally, the nobleman was grateful to Reb Avraham for bringing him that person. In this way, Jews gained good livelihoods and a good reputation throughout the nobility. This created opportunities for more Jews to settle in villages, and the Jewish population grew and large communities were established there. In this way, not only the Jews’ material circumstances improved, but their spiritual circumstances as well. When Reb Avraham’s sons were still small children, he gave them large sums of money to use for acts of kindness. They would lend small amounts to poor peddlers in the market, and Reb Avraham let his children manage these activities themselves, to educate them in tzedakah and kindness and bring them face-to-face with the realities of Jewish life. Their grandfather, Reb Shimon, the great advocate and benefactor, passed away at the age of eighty-five. In his will, he designated a quarter of his property for tzedakah and entrusted its distribution to the Council of Four Lands, instructing them to consult his son Avraham. He left the rest of his property to his son and daughters, giving his son a double share. At the request of the righteous Sarah, Reb Avraham’s wife, however, he devoted that extra share to tzedakah—primarily to building shuls, writing Torah scrolls, acquiring books for batei midrash, and supporting yeshivos and Torah schools for children. When Shalom Shachna and Rafael Shlomo, the sons of Reb Avraham and Sarah, grew up, he arranged marriages for them with

13:49 daughters of distinguished families. Like their parents, they devoted themselves to tzedakah and spreading Torah learning. Their homes were wide open to anyone who needed help, and also served as gathering places for Torah scholars. Over time, the two sons gradually took over their father’s businesses, while Reb Avraham himself devoted more and more of his time to Torah and tzedakah. The sons, too, though busy managing their extensive businesses, found time for tzedakah and helping others. Their wives also engaged in acts of tzedakah and helping others, with the encouragement and urging of Sarah, their mother-in-law. In this way, the entire family devoted itself to tzedakah. Their mother-in-law—I think she was their mother, as far as I remember the story. Each of the two brothers, Reb Shalom Shachna and Reb Rafael Shlomo, had his own approach to tzedakah. Reb Shalom Shachna could not bear to sit in his spacious, heated home on cold winter nights while poor people were freezing. So he would go out into the poorer alleyways of Vilna with a bundle of money in his hand and look at what needed fixing in the homes of the poor. Here he found cracked walls that let the cold in. Here there was no stove for heat, and there the roof leaked. Here clothing was lacking, there bread; here a sick person lay in bed, and there someone was out of work. Reb Shalom Shachna left money wherever it was needed to put things right. On nights when the bundle of money did not cover all the needs he discovered, he would later send assistance from his home to the families in need. His brother Rafael Shlomo acted differently. He did not limit himself to giving from his own pocket; he went from door to door with a tzedakah box, asking each person to put in whatever they wished and could afford. He told everyone, “Don’t look at the fact that it’s the wealthy Rafael Shlomo who has come to you. See before you Rafael Shlomo the beggar. Give me a few coins, according to your means, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will provide.”