Chapter 175 - Yitzchok Eizik's Uncle Continues the Story of His Life

00:00 This is the story of the chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac, a chossid of the Alter Rebbe and later of the Chabad Rebbes who followed him. He is now recounting the life story of his uncle, Reb Zamil of Sutzk. We are in the middle of the story. Yitzchak Isaac’s uncle continues telling him: “When I was accepted,” my uncle, the gaon Rabbi Zamil, told me, “for a second time, in 5485—that is, 1725—when I was accepted into the third division of the yeshiva of the rabbi and head of the rabbinical court, under the gaon Rabbi Shalom Yehuda, the head of the yeshiva welcomed me warmly. He had found in me a particular talent for in-depth study, which he loved very much. I spent ten years in my father-in-law’s home, studying Torah with tremendous diligence. Yet throughout that time we had no children. From the time we married, my wife treated me with great respect and bore the burden so that I could devote myself to Torah study. Throughout those years, my father-in-law, a wealthy Torah scholar, generously provided for us. We had a separate home, with food, drink, clothing, household necessities, heating and lighting supplied in abundance and with an open hand. At the same time, the rebbetzin set up a clothing shop to provide us with an income, and over that period it earned a respectable sum. But Hashem had closed her womb, and neither medical treatments nor segulos helped at all. More than nine years passed this way. As the tenth year approached and my wife, the rebbetzin, had still not conceived, she became very afraid. She knew the halachah that if a woman has not borne a child after ten years, her husband must divorce her. She wept day and night, praying and pleading with Hashem. But He Who hears the prayer of every mouth saw her suffering and granted her a pregnancy, and when the year came around she held a daughter in her arms. I continued studying with ever greater vigor and strength. Two years later, the rebbetzin became very ill, and Hashem sent help from His holy abode and healed her. But

03:02 “our daughter fell gravely ill. No treatment helped, and we were left crushed and brokenhearted. At that time, special emissaries from the community of Kabilnik came to our teacher, the gaon Rabbi Shalom Yehuda, asking him to choose a rabbi for their community. The gaon, the head of the rabbinical court, called together ten men, among them the gaonim Rabbi Pesach Uri Chassida and Rabbi Shalom Yehuda. They unanimously chose me. I did not want a rabbinic position, but we were brokenhearted by the terrible tragedy of our daughter’s passing. On the advice of my teacher, the gaon Rabbi Shalom Yehuda, I decided to take on the sacred work in the Kabilnik community. At the beginning of 5498—that is, 1738—when I was thirty-three years old, I left the capital city of Minsk to take up the rabbinate in Kabilnik. The great Torah scholars of Minsk gathered there in my honor. They discussed Torah and paid me great honor. The rabbi and head of the rabbinical court, the head of the yeshiva, and the mighty Torah scholars who headed its divisions—Rabbi Shalom Yehuda, Rabbi Pesach Uri Chassida and Rabbi Betzalel Kahana—also came. In their presence, and before all the community leaders, I delivered an extensive pilpul on a Talmudic passage. They joined in the discussion of the mishnah concerning all the sacrifices, and I offered several new insights into the question raised by the Rivam, the answers of the Ri, and Rabbeinu Tam’s reasoning in Tosafos [unclear]. My father-in-law, the wealthy Torah scholar, made a seudas mitzvah for all the students in the division where I had studied. The senior students, my fellow students distinguished in Torah and fear of Heaven, and our teacher Rabbi Shalom Yehuda sat together discussing Torah. Then I set out with the friends accompanying me, traveling in several wagons to Kabilnik. I was received there with great honor. I found about fifty householders knowledgeable in Torah, some thirty young married men distinguished in their studies, most of whom had studied at the yeshiva in Smorgon, and about twelve highly talented young men studying in the Kabilnik yeshiva under its teacher, the Torah scholar and G-d-fearing Rabbi Pesachya Meir Shakdan. For about five years after that,

06:12 “I lived in Kabilnik in comfort, immersed in Torah and enjoying a position of standing. All day, and much of the night, I was busy studying diligently with the householders, giving classes to the young married men who excelled in Torah, and examining the yeshiva students. By Hashem’s kindness, I developed a number of original Torah insights. In our third year in Kabilnik, the rebbetzin bore me a son, but he lived only about five months, and once again we were in great sorrow. In the fifth year after our arrival, the rebbetzin became gravely ill. She suffered for about a month and passed away with a good name. My father-in-law, the wealthy Torah scholar, wanted me to marry one of his relatives. I declined, because I had decided to leave the rabbinate and go into exile to a place of Torah, or simply to wander for a time. I insisted that my father-in-law take all the household goods, clothing and jewelry belonging to his daughter, the rebbetzin, may her soul rest in Eden. Three months later, I left Kabilnik. I took what I needed for the road and wandered until I reached Brisk, of which I had heard good reports while studying at the yeshiva of the rabbi and head of the rabbinical court in Minsk. I stayed in Brisk for about a year. I spent most days in the beis midrash, lived comfortably on the hospitality fund, and studied diligently day and night. On my way to Brisk, I passed through towns large and small, villages and settlements. Everywhere I found Torah scholars engaged in study. Some refrained from all work and had Torah as their sole occupation. Others engaged in trade or a craft, or worked in fields and gardens, yet set aside time for in-depth Torah study. Some knew all six orders of the Mishnah, or several hundred pages of Gemara, by heart. Standing in the market at their shops, or while doing their work, they would recite Mishnayos or review Gemara. Wherever Jews lived, I found young married men supported by their fathers-in-law and young men supported by their fathers. They were foremost among those who devoted themselves to Torah and the service of their Creator with tremendous diligence, and many were exceptionally gifted. I spent a year and four months on the road to Brisk,

09:16 “a city I had longed to reach ever since my teacher, the righteous gaon Rabbi Pesach Uri Chassid, told me about his friend, the righteous, sincere gaon and Kabbalist Rabbi Zevulun Shimon Frisha. While still a young man, he had merited a revelation of Eliyahu, and he had settled in Brisk several decades earlier. I yearned to see him and become his student. On my journey, I met a number of outstanding Torah scholars who were also wandering in exile, among them great gaonim and remarkable tzaddikim, humble men of fine character. Some would recite Gemara with Rashi’s commentary and Tosafos from memory as they walked. I reached the village of Kritchinka, about a day’s walk from Brisk. Some seventy Jewish families lived there, raising livestock and working the land. Among them were four elderly Torah scholars. Two headed a yeshiva where they studied with eight young married Torah scholars and thirteen young men, five of whom were highly gifted. When I arrived, they were delighted to see me, treated me with honor, and begged me to stay awhile. I saw the sincerity of the people there, their great fear of Heaven and righteousness in observing mitzvos, and how carefully they honored the Torah and Torah scholars. They worked backbreaking hours—men, women and children alike. From the youngest children old enough to be educated to the oldest, all were engaged in Torah study. They also welcomed guests cheerfully and honored Torah scholars generously. I could not turn them down, and stayed from Shavuos until the beginning of Menachem Av. While I was there, I heard that about ten parasangs away was a large village where Jews also lived. More importantly, about a parasang from that village stood the estate of a powerful, very wealthy nobleman. The nobleman himself lived far away in France and had leased his estate, together with all its villages, rivers, forests and inns, to a Jew. That Jew cherished and loved Torah scholars. Several Torah scholars and gaonim lived on his estate at his expense, and he gave generously to tzedakah. For

11:51 That day. “It is now almost forty years since I was in the village of Kritzchinka,” the uncle continued telling Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac, “and so much has happened to me in those forty years. I went into exile, lived in seclusion, married, and was left a widower, Heaven forbid. I married for a third time, may we live long, yet the memory of those days still stands before my eyes. I traveled with a group of poor people, about ten of us, including myself and five other Torah scholars. They did not tell me their names, and I did not tell them mine. But just as they recognized that I was a Torah scholar, I recognized the same in them, and so we discussed Torah. Among those five scholars was one with an extraordinary ability to grasp things: he could hear something once, or read it once in a book, and repeat it exactly from memory. Along with that ability, he had an excellent memory. By the grace of the blessed Creator, he never forgot anything he heard or saw. Whenever I offered a new Torah insight, as soon as I finished, he would repeat it in my very words, every detail in its place, as though it had been printed in a book and engraved with an iron pen. For about ten days, all six of us Torah scholars walked together and discussed Torah. Each of us behaved with humility, but the humility of that man with his remarkable grasp and memory surpassed us all. It was clear to us that he was thoroughly versed in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the Sifra, Sifrei, and Tosefta, and certainly in the Rambam, the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch, and more. With his ability to grasp and remember things, how could it be otherwise? Yet when quoting the Gemara, Rashi, or Tosafos, he would say, ‘I think the wording goes like this,’ solely because of his great humility. On Lag BaOmer, as we were walking through a field in the great heat, we sat in the shade of a tree to rest and began discussing Torah. I was studying

14:33 tractate Yevamos at the time, the chapter Arba’ah Achim, and I recited the Gemara with Rashi’s commentary from memory. I did not know the wording of Tosafos by heart, but that man with his remarkable grasp and memory came to my aid and supplied it. That day, I heard for the first time about the yeshiva in the town of Mezhibuzh. Its rosh yeshiva, I was told, was a great Torah scholar and Kabbalist who worked wonders, and he had many students who were outstanding Torah scholars, of fine character and deeply G-d-fearing. As we neared the village of Kritzchinka, only five of us remained, for the others had taken a different route at a crossroads. Near the village, we saw several Jews spread across the fields, wearing tzitzis and gathering the grain. When they saw us, they hurried over to greet us, and the first to welcome us claimed that they had earned the mitzvah of hosting guests through us. On the day before Rosh Chodesh—Erev Rosh Chodesh—an announcement was made to remind everyone going to work in the fields to come back early the next day, because it was Yom Kippur Katan. On Yom Kippur Katan, at the time of the early morning prayer, men, women, and children gathered in the men’s and women’s sections of the shul and wept aloud. On the Shabbos before Shavuos, they announced that work would cease during the three days of hagbalah in preparation for Yom Tov. And Yom Tov itself astonished me greatly.” Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac now continued telling the Rebbe Maharash about the difference between his father, of blessed memory, and his uncle. This is what he said: “My father, the great Torah scholar, was very, very cold by nature,” the chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac told the Rebbe Maharash. “Besides being old when I knew him, his nature was cold as frost. I never saw a smile on his face. Even on Simchas Torah, when he made an effort to rejoice, the ice did not melt from his face. But all that was nothing compared with the coldness of my uncle, the great Rabbi Zamil[unclear]. Still, there were moments when, as he told me his story, he showed a certain excitement. One of those moments was when he spoke of his visit to the village of Drotza and the courtyard of Yonte[unclear].”

17:33 This is what the uncle related: “At the beginning of Menachem Av,” my uncle told me, “I left the village of Krinitsky. The Jews of Krinitsky wanted to send me by wagon to Drotza, but I did not want to ride. I wanted to go on foot, with my staff and pack, together with three or four other travelers who happened to be taking the road to Drotza. Despite the mourning of the Three Weeks, the Jews of Krinitsky gathered after the early morning prayer to honor me and receive a parting blessing. They said, ‘Bless us, our teacher and Rebbe.’ I blessed them and set out. Some distance before Drotza, we met Jews working in the fields. The sight was just like what I had seen near Krinitsky. A little farther on, we reached a broad, level stretch of land and saw, without the evil eye, many Jewish men and women working in the fields. When they saw us, they greeted us with ‘Shalom aleichem.’ The journey was not far, and we had sat down to rest two or three times along the way. One of our fellow travelers was also a learned man, and we had discussed Torah. Nevertheless, I was tired from the great heat, so I sat with him in the shade of a tree and we discussed Torah together. We sat there for about two hours, until the sun had sunk a little and the heat eased. As we were getting ready to continue, we saw a guest and some elderly men walking toward us. When they came close, they greeted us with ‘Shalom aleichem,’ then turned to me and said, ‘Shalom aleichem, our teacher and Rebbe.’ I looked this way and that and found an entire community surrounding us. After a few moments, they began arguing among themselves. One said, ‘I was the first to see the visitors and greet them with “Shalom aleichem,” so I have earned the guest.’ Another said, ‘I was the first to spot the visitors, so I am the one who has earned the guest.’ One of

20:21 the elders, whom I later learned was the elder of the community, considered the matter and said, ‘Listen. We all want to earn the mitzvah of hosting guests, especially guests who are great Torah scholars and tzaddikim. We heard of the good name of our teacher and Rebbe’—by which he meant me—‘when he stayed in Krinitsky, and we prayed to Hashem that we, too, would merit this. When the workers in the fields told us that our teacher and Rebbe had arrived, we came out to welcome him. We all want the privilege of having our teacher and Rebbe stay in our home. Therefore, let us draw lots.’ Drotza, too, had about seventy or eighty Jewish families. Most worked the land and raised livestock. There were also young married men supported by their fathers-in-law, and young men supported by their fathers, who devoted themselves to Torah study. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had blessed the Jewish community of Drotza with venerable elders in their eighties, nineties, and beyond. Though they were simple people who understood only Aggadah and verses of Chumash, their fear of Heaven and their righteousness were very great. The care with which the residents of Drotza fulfilled the mitzvah of honoring Torah scholars and honoring the Torah was something I had not seen anywhere else, even among great Torah scholars.