#6 Der Poltaver Rov

00:03 HaRav HaChasid, Reb Yaakov Mordechai Vospalov, the Rov of Poltava. He was one of the three Chassidim that the Rebbe MaHaRash gave them semichah for Rabbonus be'ksav yad kodshe. The other two were the Radatz Chaim and Reb Moshe Rosenblum. The Pidiker Rebbe once related by a farbrengen. In the chassidishe farbrengen, it was in honor of one of my sheva berachos. The Chosid, Reb Yaakov Mordechai, related that once he entered the yechidus by the Rebbe MaHaRash, and he asked him certain inyonim from a ma'amar chassidus that the Rebbe said that Shabbos about the madrega of Adam Kadmon. So the Rebbe told me to learn the ma'amar of Lamnatzeach al Hashminis, which is printed in Likkutei Torah, and you should ask my son, meaning the Rebbe Rashab, to give you a biur which wasn't yet printed on this ma'amar. And then later in the yechidus, the Rebbe MaHaRash told Reb Yaakov Mordechai to have a tziur muchi in the parts of, of Adam Kadmon that is like the Ba'al Shem Tov, that he was a person and a aliyas neshama at the same time. When Reb Yaakov Mordechai saw that this is a opportune time, a she'as haklosher by the Rebbe MaHaRash, so he asked, "What about the Alter Rebbe?" So the Rebbe, Rebbe MaHaRash answered, "The Alter Rebbe in his shoresh is the level of da'as ha'ne'elam, but this is only in his shoresh. But the way he was nisgaleh, he is mokos timah, sechel ha'ne'ela mikol rayah. And through his mesirus nefesh, he was negalah the

01:39 seder of avoda bederech mele'malel lemalah. And he was a Rebbe, and when there is a Rebbe, there are also Chassidim." Now again, this is Reb Yaakov Mordechai relating by a farbrengen by one of the sheva berachos of the Pidiker Rebbe, this yechidus that he had many years before by the Rebbe MaHaRash. So at this point of the story, when Reb Yaakov Mordechai was telling the story, he started to cry bitterly until all the people around by the sheva berachos were wondering, "Why is he crying so much?" And they started to ask him that he shouldn't cry, but that didn't help. Until the Chosid, Reb Leib Hoffman, told him, "Now is the zman of a triple simcha. It's the birthday of the Ba'al Shem Tov, chilul, and it's the day of the hisgalus of the Ba'al Shem Tov, and it's the simcha of the chasanah of the son of the Rebbe, of the Pidiker Rebbe. The Poltava Rov, why are you crying? Nadav tzu v'ton." And Reb Leib Hoffman started to sing. Reb Leib Hoffman was a ba'al menagen nifla, and everybody on the, around the table helped him singing. The Radatz and the Chosid, Reb Sholom Reb Hillos, started to dance, and everybody else joined them. While everybody were dancing, Reb Yaakov Mordechai was still sitting on the side with his head leaning on his hands and crying. They poured everyone cups of l'chaim, and sometime later, Reb Yaakov Mordechai stopped crying and he said, "The Rebbe told me then that when there is a

03:09 Rebbe, there are Chassidim." But he was referring to Chassidim which accomplish and oivdim, that when the Chosid is not a Chosid, then it causes that the Rebbe should also be ois Rebbe, should not be a Rebbe, chas v'shalom. The Alter Rebbe was a Rebbe, and he made Chassidim. And the Chassidim, when they were Chassidim v'anshei ma'aseh in avoda shebalev, they strengthened the Rebbe. They gave chizuk to the Rebbe. The Pidiker Rebbe once related in another farbrengen that in the year of taf reish ayin alef, when Reb Yaakov Mordechai Vospalov stayed for a few weeks in the ois desha, in the country with us, so he honored me a few times a week by visiting me to drink a cup of hot water by the porch under the shade of the trees. One of those visits, I reminded him what I have written in my reshimas from a farbrengen that happened years before in the house of the Razah, the Rebbe Rashab's brother, in the week of the celebration of my bar mitzvah, of the Pidiker Rebbe's bar mitzvah. And during that farbrengen, there was a big vikuach, a big debate between gedolei ha'chassidim about the definition of chassidus. The people by the farbrengen, most of them agreed that the opinion of the Chosid, Reb Gershon ben Pahara, of what's the definition of chassidus, that's the correct one. Everybody at, by the farbrengen agreed that chassidus is chakira eleikis. But the question was, what is the advantage and what's the chidush of chassidus over Kabbalah and

04:38 chakira? And Reb Gershon ben Pahara's opinion was that Torah ha'Kabbalah names each sefirah and partzuf. Torah ha'chakira brought to the table hasaga sa'shlila. Ilu yedaitiv hayisiv. And Torah ha'chassidus brought to the table the concept of hasaga mufshates, of being able to actually understand, yedaitiv and hayisiv, the way it's in the hasaga of the nefesh eleikis, and through yageas nefesh and yageas basar ba'avoda shebalev, it could come to a complete hasaga, and then a person could actually reach yedaitiv and hayisiv. Reb Yaakov Mordechai Vospalov explained at length the opinion and explanation of Reb Gershon ben Pahara, and then he said, "Such excellent ba'al kisrin with such amkus, which six hours of being misamek in a ma'amar haskala for him are like nothing. Tens of years he toiled be'yageas basar venefesh amitis, crowned with the berachos of the Rebbeim. So by him, by Reb Gershon ben Pahara, these two things of yedaitiv and hayisim were there by him in complete and in a way of gadlus ha'meichim." As we were talking, meaning the Pidiker Rebbe and Reb Yaakov Mordechai Vospalov by the porch under the shade of the trees, says the Pidiker Rebbe that the Rebbe Rashab came, and he sat down with us, and he asked us what are we talking about? So Reb Yaakov Mordechai told the Rebbe Rashab that we spoke today about the ma'ala of avoda shebalev to daven not only with the heart but-- and with tears, rather also with the heart and with chassidus. And I reminded him that conversation, meaning

06:24 Reb Yaakov Mordechai was saying to the Rebbe Rashab that the Pshiskere Rebbe reminded him of that conversation that they had by the farbrengen in the Razas' house in the week of the Pshiskere Rebbe's bar mitzvah about what's the definition of chassidus. And Reb Yaakov Mordechai related to the Rebbe Rashab the opinion of Reb Gershon Ber about the definition of what's chassidus. And he said that in my opinion, that explanation of Reb Gershon Ber Pahara are only for ba'ale middrega with a kishua and an haskala in avoda like-- of chassidim like Reb Gershon Ber Pahara. But for people like us, referring to himself, that's, that's something else. We can't reach that. So the Rebbe Rashab answered, "No, it's not so. Each one from Manashe which is oisek belimod chassidus and avoda shebalev could feel the hayisiv which comes for the yedaitiv of his neshamah." The father of Yaakov Mordechai Poltaver was a wealthy man, and even though he was a chassid, he wasn't very happy from the fact that his son, Reb Yaakov Mordechai, was, uh, completely devoted to Torah and avoda. One time he came to the Rebbe Maharash and he asked in a complaining tone of voice, "What's gonna end up being with me son? Was it decreed upon him to be a battlan?" So the Rebbe Maharash told him, "Don't worry. Es is Hashem, he will be a Rov in a big city, and he's going to get a weekly salary of twenty ruble, twenty-five ruble, and even more." And this is takke

07:52 what happened. When Reb Yaakov Mordechai was hired to be a Rov in Poltava, first they set for him a salary, a weekly salary of twenty ruble, which was a large amount of those days. Later, they raised his salary to twenty-five ruble, and the third time they raised it to thirty ruble. Reb Mendel Futerfas once said, "The Rebbe Maharash had a few chassidim that were on the level of a beini, and one of them was Reb Pinchas Ba'al Tshuva, and that was the chassid Reb Yaakov Mordechai Baspalov." The chassidim said about him and about the chassid Reb David Tzvi Hein, known as the Radatz, that both of them were Reb Pinchas Beinoni Hamispalel Kol Hayom Kulo. One of the Pshiskere Rebbe's farbrengens, one of the chassidim asked him, "What's the difference between Yaakov Mottel and David Hirsch?" Meaning, what's the difference between Reb Yaakov Mordechai Baspalov and the Radatz Hein? So the Pshiskere Rebbe answered, "By Reb David Hirsch, by the Radatz, the avoda is azoy." And the Pshiskere Rebbe took both of his thumbs and he made a tnuah of mele'mala le'mata. However, by Reb Yaakov Mordechai, the avoda is azoy. And the Pshiskere Rebbe wi-went with his thumbs in a tnuah of mele'mata le'mala. The oivdim who were present at the farbrengen, says Reb Mendel, understood right away what the Pshiskere Rebbe was referring to. Both of them, the Radatz and Reb Yaakov Mordechai, were equally high in their avodas hatfila, and both of them davened very long. However, the difference was the hachanah

09:21 latfila of Reb Yaakov Mordechai took five hours, and the actual davening took five hours. He would wake up every night by midnight and prepare himself for five hours until five in the morning. Five in the morning, he will start davening until ten o'clock in the morning, meaning he managed to finish Shacharis bizmano. The Radatz, however, would get up and start preparing for davening five in the morning, prepare till ten in the morning, and only then start davening, so he did not finish tfila bizmano. Chassidim also say that at a certain point, the Rebbe Maharash told the Radatz, "Dav shen trachtin vegen avodas hatzadikim. You have to start thinking already about the avoda of tzadikim." The Pshiskere Rebbe once related by a farbrengen that Reb Yaakov Mordechai Poltaver, when he used to explain the einin chassidus, he used to explain it, and when he didn't have any more oisios to explain, he used to say, "Azoy, azoy is der inyan." The Rebbe Rashab once related, "Once I entered my father, the Rebbe Maharash, for yechidus. My father, the Rebbe Maharash, spoke about the three levels of sfas emes, emes, and emes le'amito. The first two levels of sfas emes and emes I managed to understand after toiling a lot. However, the third level of emes le'amito, I worked really hard, but that didn't help. That bothered me very much, and I decided to enter to yechidus again by my father, the Rebbe Maharash, and ask him about it. In the evening hours..." It seems from the

10:47 story that in the evening hours means before he managed to go into yechidus. So, "In the evening hours, the chassid Reb Yaakov Mordechai entered my room, and I saw that he's very emotional. And he told me that he was today at yechidus, and he told the Rebbe that he doesn't wanna learn and be oisek in avoda because he doesn't understand. And he said that the Rebbe Maharash told him, 'Why are you demanding from me? Demand from yourself, and when you will demand from yourself, you will start understanding.' " Says the Rebbe Rashab, "When I heard that from Reb Yaakov Mordechai, what he heard from my father, that when y- if you demand from yourself, you start understanding, that encouraged me to work even harder to understand the einin of emes le'amito. And after ygeia raba, the Ibeshtar granted me with a matana toiva, and I understood the inyan." This last story that we just said, the Rebbe Rashab related in the Purim farbrengen of tof reish samech gimel in the presence of Reb Yaakov Mordechai. Nine years later, in the farbrengen of Purim tof reish ayin beis, Reb Yaakov Mordechai Poltaver was also there. The Rebbe Rashab mentioned again the story, and he added, "This answer of my father that you shared with me helped me throughout all the tkufos of my life in the deepest inyonim. Until today, thank the Ibeshtar, there wasn't any inyan in Torah chassidus that I wasn't able to understand fully, even though for sure there were times that I

12:09 needed tremendous ygeia." And then the Rebbe Rashab started to tell about the tekufa when him and the Chossid Reb Yaakov Mordechai used to learn Chassidus Vachavruso. Chazar the Maamarim of the Rebbe Maharash, write Hanochos, and speak for hours about Inyoni HaAvoda and Hascala. And as the Rebbe Rashab is relating all of these memories, Reb Yaakov Mordechai burst out crying. It was a Chassidishe crying, which in his crying you were able to feel the Chassidishe expression of Yismar Mir VeYivke VeMar Nafshi. A cry of Merirus Nafshis. A cry, says the Fidike Rebbe, that stays engraved in a heart for eternity. It was very hard to calm him down, and when he calmed down a little bit, that's when a real Chassidishe farbrengen started, where the Rebbe Rashab explained that the Sechel of Torah Chassidus is a Sechel Eleki, and it's a Sechel that could be Mis Kabul. And the Ikar Avoda is turning the person into a Klila Kabbalah for the Sechel Eleki of Chassidus. And that same farbrengen Purim, Tov Reish Ayin Beis. Later on, they started to sing. So when they started to sing, Reb Yaakov Mordechai, which was a kop dan by nature, made a motion with his hand of saying like, "No, don't sing that Nigun. It's a Chazonishe Nigun. Sing a Chassidishe Nigun." So the Rebbe Rashab turned to Reb Yaakov Mordechai and he said, "Do you remember what my father, the Rebbe Maharash, said about this?" So Reb Yaakov Mordechai said, "No, I don't remember." So the Rebbe Rashab related

13:41 that once by a farbrengen my father said that there are three types of Nigunim. There is a Chazonishe Nigun, there is a Davening Nigun, and a Chassidishe Nigun. We're not talking now about the Chassidishe Nigun, says the Rebbe Rashab. It's known that in the Beis Medrash of the Maharal MiPrague, the pillars that were supporting the ceiling were filled with the Tefillos of the Chazonim that didn't manage to go up Lemalah to Shamayim. And they need Rachamim Gedolim in order for a Nigun, a Chazonishe Nigun, to go up Lemalah. Here, the Rebbe Rashab paused for a little bit. He was deep in thought, and then he said, "Here we need to skip the story a little bit." And then he said, "The difference between a Davening Nigun and a Chassidishe Nigun is that a Davening Nigun is a Nigun that comes from the Kavanah, but a Chassidishe Nigun creates the Kavanah." When Reb Yaakov Mordechai heard everything that the Rebbe Rashab related, he started to tear up again, and he said, "How could I forget the words of the Rebbe, the Rebbe Maharash? At that time, years before, when the Rebbe Maharash said this, the difference between the three types of Nigunim, it caused me to go into Yechidus." The Rebbe once related that the Fidike Rebbe once told him that once when Reb Yaakov Mordechai Poltava was sitting with the Rebbe Rashab after they were friends already for thirty years, Reb Yaakov Mordechai burst out crying, and he said to the Rebbe Rashab, "For the

15:03 last thirty years, you went, you kept going up, Lemalah, malah. And I went down, Lamata, mata." And the Mashmos of the story was that the Rebbe Rashab accepted it, meaning he agreed with it, to take it that he went Lemalah, malah, and he went Lamata, mata. Think about it, says the Rebbe. Reb Yaakov Mordechai was a Baal Darga, a Baal Tzurah, a Oved, and his Avoda was the Kav HaMerirus. And after all of that, compared to the Aliyah of the Rebbe Rashab, not only that the Avoda of Reb Yaakov Mordechai wasn't even Begeder Aliyah, compared to the Avoda of the Rebbe Rashab was the Inyan of going down Lamata. Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson once related that once when he went into Yechidus to the Fidike Rebbe, the Fidike Rebbe told him that, "Once my father, the Rebbe Rashab, said to Reb Yaakov Mordechai Poltava, 'Herdu, listen you.'" And at that time, he called him Du as opposed to the title that he would usually call him, which is Ir, which is the more respectful title. But at that time, the Rebbe Rashab told him, "Du, Herdu. You say that I am like a bird that flies up to the top of the tree, and you are like the calf that stays standing under the tree. However, we're brothers. You should know that just like a Chossid is not allowed to forget his own Chesroinos, at the same measurement, a person is not allowed to forget his own Malos, and he has to guard them, and he

16:24 should not want that they should go away." The Fidike Rebbe once related, in the year of Tov Reish Mem Daled, when I was a little kid, four years old, my father lived then at a house that had two rooms. One room was the bedroom, and the second room my father sat and learned with the Chossid Reb Yaakov Mordechai Poltava. That room was also the little bed where I slept. They say that I was a Yefeh Toyar, and my face shined. During the Limud, in a late night hour, Reb Yaakov Mordechai looked at me while I was sleeping, and he said to my father that the look and the shine of my face show Antaharas HaMachshava. My father had a Yezorirus and a desire to give me a kiss. And then he thought in his head that in the Beis Hamikdash, besides for Korbanos, they also brought silver or gold for Beit HaKabais. So my father decided to exchange the kiss with a Maamar Chassidus, and he wrote the Maamar Devar Hamaschil Mor Rabo Maasecha. And years later, in the year of Tov Reish Nun Beis, he gave me the Kasav of the Maamar as a present, and he said, "This is a Chassidishe Kush, and eventually I will tell you the story." In the year of Tov Reish Nun Vav, he told me the whole story. Reb Yaakov Mordechai passed away at Lamed Tishrei Tov Reish Ayin Vav. Chassidim say that before he passed away, he said, "I did not sleep on a bed for

17:47 thirty years, but I regret it, because if I would sleep on a bed for thirty years, for the last thirty years, I would be able to live maybe one more day, and I would be able to put on Tefillin one more day. One more day of putting on Tefillin is more precious than thirty years not sleeping on a bed." Chassidim will conclude by saying that to come to such a Deher and feeling about the mitzvah of Tefillin, for that you actually have to not sleep on a bed for thirty years. Reb Yaakov Mordechai had a Nigun that he used to daven with in the Immo Dveikus, filled with Regesh Rab Moshe Yehuda Reichman, which was a mashpia for many years in the Yeshivat Toras Emes in Eretz Yisrael, related that he heard from his father-in-law, Reb Shlomo Zalman Havlin, a mashpia and rosh yeshiva of Toras Emes, the following story. The Rebbe Maharash had a Hasid which was referred to as the Illui from Poltava. He was known as a great maskil, and eventually, unfortunately, he went off the derech, and he started to read seforim chitzoniyim, and until he became a comedian, and he had comedy shows in Petersburg. One time, his managers in Petersburg asked him to present, to act how a Yid says Kerishma Shalamita, and they gave him a few days to practice. During those few days, he was practicing saying Kerishma Shalamita, and he was getting so into it until, uh, he had a big hisoreros. And when it came

19:11 the moment for him to go up onto the stage to present, to act, he was in a tremendous hisoreros, and he read Kerishma Shalamita, azoy vi a emes a Hasid, which obviously is something that, uh, the managers of the show didn't really like so much, and they kicked him off the stage, and he traveled back to Lubavitch, and he became a ba'al teshuva. When he came back to Lubavitch, he composed this nigun. We'll play this nigun the way it is in the Nechoyach record, sung by a Harav a Hasid, Reb Zalman Bronstein from Far Chabad.