Chapter 75: Daily Life in Dubrovna; Chaim Shimon the Brave

00:02 Rabbi Gavriel also established a yeshiva in Dobromysl, though it did not last long. Meanwhile, the Jews of Dobromysl increasingly aspired to have yeshiva students as sons-in-law. Within twelve years, Dobromysl had changed completely, thanks to Rabbi Gavriel’s influence. He had a particular impact on the community through his sermons, in which he often spoke about the blessing of a peaceful home and other everyday matters that needed attention. Among the learned young men who came to Dobromysl then and married the daughters of local householders was a Jew named Yosef, who married the daughter of a man named Chaim Yitzchak. Chaim Yitzchak was an interesting figure in his own right. He was known either as Reb Chaim Yitzchak the badchan or as Reb Chaim Yitzchak of the poritz. He was called “of the poritz” because he was a familiar figure in the household of the nobleman of Topka, three versts from Dobromysl. That nobleman, that poritz, did nothing, great or small, without Reb Chaim Yitzchak. Reb Chaim Yitzchak earned his other title, “the badchan,” because he had undertaken the mitzvah of bringing joy to brides and grooms, rich or poor, without accepting any payment. He inherited this particular mitzvah from his grandfather, a great tzaddik who, on the one hand, would seclude himself and study Torah without speaking a single word to anyone. Even when he needed something, he communicated with hand gestures. The grandfather fasted frequently and practiced many forms of self-denial. On the other hand, he had a rare musical gift and an exceptionally pleasant voice. His prayers were accompanied by melodies so beautiful and pleasing to the ear that people who happened to be near him could hardly bring themselves to leave. This grandfather undertook to attend weddings and bring joy to the bride and groom. He would dance and sing before them, with his eyes covered by a handkerchief so that he would not have to look

02:35 at women. He continued this practice of bringing joy to brides and grooms into advanced old age, and then passed it on to his grandson Chaim Yitzchak. Let us return to Yosef, Chaim Yitzchak’s son-in-law. Yosef was born in Minsk. His father was a stove builder by trade, as well as a great Torah scholar and a G-d-fearing man. Yosef inherited his father’s scholarship, his fear of Heaven, and his stove-building trade. Yosef did not build ordinary stoves; he was a master craftsman. His work became renowned throughout the region. Yosef’s stoves retained their heat longer than ordinary ones, and their exteriors were as smooth as glass. No cracks ever appeared between the bricks, so they were especially sought after for baking matzos. Rabbi Gavriel himself was so impressed by Rabbi Yosef’s stoves that he encouraged the people of Dobromysl to build a communal oven for baking matzos for the town’s residents. Demand for Rabbi Yosef’s stoves grew very high as word of their quality spread. He tried to help every Jew who approached him about a stove, without taking any payment. Noblemen also asked him to build stoves for them, but Rabbi Yosef turned them away. He could have become wealthy from making stoves, but he preferred to sit and study Torah, devoting only a set time each day to building stoves—and doing so entirely for free. To meet all the community’s needs, Rabbi Yosef taught the trade to several learned young men, on condition that they work in the same way. In the living conditions of Dobromysl, stoves were essential and much in demand, and Rabbi Yosef and his young men had to work hard to keep up. Meanwhile, Rabbi Gavriel became known throughout the surrounding area as an accomplished speaker, and emissaries came from all the nearby towns to invite him to deliver sermons. His exceptional Torah scholarship also became widely known, and some said he was no less learned than his father, the gaon Zechariah Yerucham, with whom he maintained a constant correspondence on Torah matters. Gavriel’s brother,

05:18 Rabbi Yechezkel, remained in the city of Polotsk. A son was born to him there two years after his marriage. The child was given the name Zevulun Mordechai. The boy was physically frail but strong in spirit. When he was five, his father, Rabbi Yechezkel, passed away, and he was taken into the home of his grandfather Zechariah Yerucham. Over time, Zechariah Yerucham also became known as a great scholar of Kabbalah. In addition to studying for sixteen years under Nachum Tuvia, one of the hidden tzaddikim, he studied Kabbalah for another ten years under Rabbi Zundel Yosef, who succeeded Rabbi Nachum Tuvia as head of the circle of Kabbalists in Polotsk. The orphaned Zevulun Mordechai studied Torah with great diligence and persistence despite his physical weakness. Besides his teachers, his grandfather taught him personally—not only Torah, but also good character and fear of Heaven. By the age of twelve, Zevulun Mordechai was already an accomplished scholar. In his service of Hashem, however, he followed his own path of withdrawing from people. In 5657, a messenger came to Zechariah Yerucham from Minsk, sent by Rabbi Moshe son of Rabbi Mordechai of Pozna, the rabbi of Minsk, asking him to come and take charge of the yeshiva there. Zechariah Yerucham then sent his grandson Zevulun Mordechai to Dobromysl, to the home of his son Gavriel, the boy’s uncle. An air of sadness always hung over Zevulun Mordechai’s face. He had inherited this trait from his father, and sadly, his early loss of his father made it more pronounced. Even his uncle Rabbi Gavriel’s constant closeness and affection did not lift his spirits. His depression grew until he stopped coming to his uncle’s home altogether. Instead, he sat and studied in a secluded corner of the beis midrash, entirely alone, eating only bread and drinking water sent to him from his uncle’s home. He also practiced various forms of self-denial, and all his uncle Rabbi Gavriel’s attempts to persuade him to live differently came to nothing. During that period,

08:23 Tanchum Shmuel, the rabbi of Dobromysl, passed away at the age of ninety-seven, and his son-in-law Rabbi Gavriel succeeded him. At Rabbi Zechariah Yerucham’s request and on his advice, Rabbi Gavriel took his nephew Zevulun Mordechai as a husband for his daughter. Zevulun Mordechai was fourteen at the time of his marriage, but even afterward he did not change his distinctive way of life. Five years after his marriage, at the age of nineteen, Zevulun Mordechai was widowed; he and his late wife had had no children. He continued to seclude himself and shut himself away as before. Around that time, his grandfather Zechariah Yerucham also passed away, at the age of sixty-five, after serving for five years as head of the yeshiva in Minsk. Zevulun Mordechai did not remain a widower for long. His father-in-law and uncle, Rabbi Gavriel, the rabbi of Dobromysl, married him to his second daughter. She bore him a son, who was named Zechariah Yerucham after his grandfather. Zevulun Mordechai entrusted the boy’s education to his father-in-law Rabbi Gavriel, while he himself continued to live in seclusion and depression. The boy was healthy and handsome, with wonderful intellectual gifts. He was the opposite of his father: always cheerful and happy. His grandfather loved him dearly and often played with him. His father, by contrast, all but ignored him. Rabbi Gavriel devoted himself to his grandson’s education. Not only did he regularly test him on what he had learned from his teachers, he also taught him additional subjects himself. By the time he reached bar mitzvah age, the younger Zechariah Yerucham was already a scholar of considerable standing, and he delivered a scholarly discourse he had composed himself. Rabbi Gavriel took great pleasure in him, though it pained him that the boy’s father, Zevulun Mordechai, kept his distance. The boy himself was deeply hurt by this, too. One Motzaei Shabbos, when Zechariah Yerucham was fourteen, he entered his father’s room and burst into bitter tears. “Why don’t you treat

10:59 “...with me the way other fathers treat their sons?” he sobbed. Reb Zevulun Mordechai, who was naturally tenderhearted and sensitive, was deeply moved and burst into tears as well. In truth, he loved his child very much. He took Zechariah Yerucham onto his lap and kissed him, to the boy’s great delight. Zevulun Mordechai opened his heart to his son, telling him about the pain that had accompanied him since early childhood and driven him away from other people. From that day on, Zevulun Mordechai was friendlier and more open. First and foremost, he devoted himself more to his son, but he also began speaking more with his father-in-law. When Zechariah Yerucham turned nineteen, he married the daughter of the gaon Rabbi Tuvia Asher of Babinovitch, and for a year he lived at his father-in-law’s table. Because his grandfather and father missed him so much, they brought him back to Dobromysl, where a daughter was born to him. Three years later, however, Zechariah Yerucham became seriously ill, and after six months he passed away. The young man’s passing dealt a terrible blow to his grandfather, Reb Gavriel. Until then, even at the age of sixty-eight, Reb Gavriel had been healthy and strong and looked no older than fifty. But after his grandson’s passing, he aged suddenly: he became stooped and rarely associated with people. Zevulun Mordechai, too, began withdrawing from the company of others. Both mourned Zechariah Yerucham. They also took turns leading the prayers and recited Kaddish. The entire community shared their grief. In Dobromysl, people remembered for many years the first yahrzeit of Zechariah Yerucham, which fell during the Nine Days of the month of Menachem Av. The mourning for the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash was already being observed at that time. The synagogues were full of Jews reciting Tikkun Chatzos, both at midnight and at midday. In the midst of those days of communal mourning, the people of Dobromysl observed the mourning

13:43 of Zechariah Yerucham’s yahrzeit in a most moving way. For the yahrzeit, the deceased’s father-in-law and many members of his community came from Babinovitch to Dobromysl. At the Maariv service, his grandfather Reb Gavriel led the prayers, while the deceased’s father and father-in-law recited Kaddish, and the whole congregation broke into bitter tears. The little orphan girl’s recitation of Kaddish left a deep impression on those present; she fainted while reciting it. Afterward, the mourners and a large gathering spent the entire night studying Torah to elevate the deceased’s soul. In the morning, after prayers, they all went to the cemetery with Reb Gavriel’s permission, recited prayers at his grave, and then erected a headstone there. As a result of all this, Reb Gavriel grew very weak and had to ask his son-in-law, Reb Zevulun Mordechai, to take on the burden of the rabbinate. Zevulun Mordechai refused, however, so Reb Gavriel appointed his student, Reb Dovid Moshe, as a dayan. Three years later, Reb Gavriel passed away, and in his will he instructed his son-in-law to succeed him. Zevulun Mordechai therefore had no choice but to accept the position. He stipulated only that Reb Dovid Moshe continue to serve as dayan. The dayan devoted himself to all the affairs of the town, while Zevulun Mordechai devoted himself to Torah study and divine service in seclusion, though from time to time he delivered sermons or intricate Torah discussions to the community. Around that time, an interesting figure arrived in Dobromysl who would later play an important role in the life of the community. He was Reb Chaim Shimon, whom Reb Yosef Avnai[?] had chosen as a husband for his orphaned granddaughter. Reb Yosef, who supplied ovens to everyone in town, actually earned his living from other work: farming and gardening. In his spare time, though, he sat and studied Torah. He had married off all his children, but his youngest son died young, leaving behind a little orphan girl. Reb Yosef took the orphan into his home and raised her, and when she came

16:18 of age, Reb Yosef made a special trip to Minsk to find her a husband. The groom he chose was Chaim Shimon, a young man from Liozna who had distinguished himself through his deeds in his hometown, where those deeds had earned him the nickname “the Brave.” How did Chaim Shimon earn the nickname “the Brave”?