Two Scholars Who Were in our Town and other Novellas

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1.

THREE OR FOUR GENERATIONS AGO, when Torah was beloved by Israel and the entire glory of a man was Torah, our town was privileged to be counted among the most notable towns in the land on account of its scholars, who endowed our town with a measure of grace through the Torah that they learned. It goes without saying that Torah had already found pleasant enough accommodations among the elders of our old study house, yet the other study houses that had been built one after another enhanced wisdom even more. And even in the marketplaces and the roads of our town study fulfilled the verse “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares.” And if people stood around in the marketplace, appearing to haggle with one another over questions of real estate and loan collection and dissolution of partnerships and financial compensation and so on, they weren’t really arguing over the monetary issues themselves, but rather about the laws pertaining to them in Hoshen Mishpat. And even those who filled their buckets at the well, used to fill their hearts with words of Torah. Particularly noteworthy was the new Kloyz, which from the fifteenth of the month of Av until the seventeenth of Tammuz never once shut its lights at night. This was the very same Kloyz for which one of the rich men of the town had dedicated space in his courtyard, to ensure that the residence would continue to belong to his lineage throughout coming generations, inasmuch as any dwelling that has a holy place dedicated to Torah and prayer remains in the hands of the family, from generation to generation, for eternity. But, let us now leave aside these matters that will not reappear until the arrival of the Redeemer and tell a little something of what our elders used to tell, about two great scholars who were in our town back in the days when everyone made Torah the essence of their being, because they understood that the saying “the joy of the Lord is our Fortress” refers to the Torah.

2.

One day, between the Passover and Shavuot holidays, a man arrived at our new Kloyz carrying with him a large loaf of bread, the kind that villagers bake for themselves which is large enough to last a man six days, and in his pockets a few fruits and a few vegetables. Since he walked in and saw the bookshelves that lined all four walls, he knew that this must be the place he had coveted and for which he had yearned. But he wondered how this Kloyz, which was reputed to carry on uninterrupted Torah learning both day and night, could be totally deserted. Except on that particular day one of the notables of the town had written a nuptial agreement for his daughter, who had become engaged to the son of an important man from another town, so the entire town had gone out to greet the bridegroom and his scholarly father and not a soul had remained in the Kloyz.

The man put down his belongings, took himself a Gemara, sat down and stayed put, not so much as lifting his head from the Gemara until the men of the Kloyz had returned. People approached him saying, “This is my seat” and “This is my Gemara.” He responded that Torah is not a birthright, to be treated as private property. They realized that he was a difficult sort and let him be. From that point on, he did not move from his place until mid-day on Friday. And on Sunday, with the rising of the sun he came back, toting a loaf of bread and a bit of fruit and vegetables, and he sat and learned until the following Friday at noontime, when once again he left off studying and departed for his village. Until Sunday, when with the first gleaming of the sun, he would return to his learning once more. He carried on in this fashion over the course of several weeks, which turned into several months. Every Friday afternoon he would set off for his village and every Sunday return to the Kloyz.

3.

Now we will call him by his name, and tell a little of what we know about him. This man was named Moshe Pinchas and he was a villager, a miller’s son. Throughout his childhood he had studied together with the sons of the head of the village, who had maintained good tutors for them. Since the sons grew up and became focused on their various affairs, their father discharged the tutors and Moshe Pinchas was left to study on his own. One time Rabbi Gabriel Reinush came from the nearby city to make the millstones kosher for Passover. This is the great sage Reb Gabriel Reinush, author of Horeh Gaver on Yoreh De’ah. One night, during the evening meal, the miller said to the rabbi, “Would the rabbi agree to test my Moshe Pinchas on Gemara?” The Rabbi called to him affectionately and asked him, “My son, what have you studied?” He told him. He tested him and saw that he knew his studies. He told the miller, “Your son learns well. Send him to me in the city and I’ll keep an eye on him.” So Moshe Pinchas went off to the city and studied under the Rabbi’s tutelage. And when there was a lot of work at the mill, he’d leave off from studying to help his father. After a while, a rabbinical post was arranged for the Rabbi in another town. The Rabbi would travel from his city to that other city and leave his student. Moshe Pinchas began to wonder, “Why am I sitting around here?” Just about then, his father died, the mill was sold and the new miller did not need the services of Moshe Pinchas. Meanwhile the Rabbi was totally preoccupied with going back and forth to deal with the demands of his rabbinical post. Moshe Pinchas picked up and came to our town, which is the Torah capital for all the surrounding area. And since a man needs a piece of meat and a spoonful of soup and a clean shirt on his back, and a woman needs to hear Kiddush and Havdalah, every Friday afternoon he would go to be with his mother in the village and she would provide all that he needed for the next six days.

And thus Moshe Pinchas would remain all week long in the Kloyz and on Friday afternoon would return to his mother in the village. When he happened by chance upon a carriage, he’d go by carriage; if not, he’d go on foot. It was a walk of about three parsas from the town to the village and it is nice for a man who is sedentary for six whole days to exercise his legs a bit. In summertime he took off his shoes and went barefoot, and when he got to the river he would take his clothes off and bathe; and in winter he’d rise early and immerse himself in a warm mikveh and enter the Sabbath while ritually pure and observe the Sabbath day with his mother in the village, and after the Sabbath return to the Kloyz. The beadle, who cherished scholars, used to bring him something hot to drink and a pillow to sleep on. If the beadle doesn’t exaggerate, we can believe him when he says that Moshe Pinchas didn’t drink the hot drinks he brought him until they were tepid and, that as far as the beadle knew, he would never even placed his head upon the pillow that had been furnished. So drawn was he to his studies that he would never take a break, neither for a hot drink nor for sleep.

4.

Our mothers, who had heard from people who knew him, used to say that he was of medium height, with broad shoulders, and a squarish face with small wisps of facial hair that didn’t quite mesh into a full beard sprouting on his chin. His earlocks were curled and tucked in tightly at his hairline, his eyes were grey, his forehead arched and he wore a green cloak in both winter and summer. And despite his bulky stature, he was light on his feet. He would pray standing to the right of the Torah podium and during the Shemoneh Esreh prayer he would wave his hand in front of his face because, due to his tremendous diligence in Torah study, conundrums and elucidations kept popping into his head and he would flail them away so that they would not distract him from his prayers. When studying, he would stay put like a stake driven into the ground, never rising except to get a drink of water from the basin, where he would place his mouth near the spigot with one hand on his hat lest it fall off his head, and drink half a sink’s worth. They also say that a smile had never crossed his face, and that when anyone so much as made a jocular remark in front of him, he would crinkle his brow, shake his head at him and declare, “Myriad are the needs of your people!” If a householder invited him to dinner, he would decline. And if the householder persisted, Moshe Pinchas would say, “I have what I need and require nothing more.” They called him, but not to his face, der vochndiker bukher, that is to say “the weekday boy,” because they never saw him in the Kloyz except during the days of the week.

5.

Now let’s leave aside Moshe Pinchas and go back to the son-in-law of that notable of our town. Not even a year had passed before he had married the youngest daughter of Reb Mordechai Scheiner, an iron and copper merchant, son of wealth, from the line of Rabbi Mordechai Yafeh, Ba’al HaLevushim. This is neither the time nor the place to tell the story of the wedding itself and all of the honor we garnered as a result of that marriage, because of all the rabbis and revered ones who came from near and far. The son-in-law himself, Reb Shlomo HaLevi, was a Horowitz, from the Horowitz family, a direct descendant of the Holy Shelah. It is said that for twenty-six generations back, and some even say thirty-six generations, they were never disconnected from Torah, and that there was not a town in our lands in which one of them had not held the rabbinical seat. And our town was privileged enough to count among its rabbis the sage Rabbi Pinchas Ba’al Mofet, a member of that family. They say that at the time of his death Rabbi Pinchas had said, “I promise you that someday someone very special from our family line will come to reside here.” And they also say that he ordered them not to bury anyone next to him until after a hundred years had passed, and that even then the deceased had to be someone from his lineage. Reb Shlomo, the groom, was a son worthy of his ancestors. At the age of sixteen he had already received rabbinic ordination from two of the greatest scholars of that generation. And when he had come before them he had not revealed who he was until they had finished testing him. Unlike most of the well-connected snobs in our land who have made it only on the merit of their fathers.

Already during the seven days of wedding feasts, every single study house in our town was vying for Reb Shlomo to affiliate himself with them. Our old study house, on account of its numerous books; the new study house on account of his father-in-law and his father-in-law’s father, both of whom prayed there; the men of the old Kloyz, because it is suitable for a man to pray in the place where his ancestors had worshipped and it was time-honored tradition that the great scholar Rabbi Pinchas Ba’al Mofet used to pray in the old Kloyz. But Reb Shlomo set himself up in the new Kloyz, because the new Kloyz was situated on a hill and the air was fresh, and he liked to study in a place with pleasant air. When Reb Shlomo entered the Kloyz, he would light up the whole place with the aura of his presence. The radiance of his face, his blue eyes and his chestnut hair endeared him to all who beheld him. His garments were just like those of all proper Jews of that period, short pants tucked into long stockings, soft shoes and a generously cut overcoat, and all of his clothes were of fine silk, as was the custom of sons of rabbis who had achieved a certain stature. His speech was calm and collected and his bearing was one of composure. The elders of the Kloyz prefaced his name with the title of Rabbi and the younger ones tried hard to study each and every one of his mannerisms, in order to emulate him. Except who can really come close to resembling such a son of great scholars, where twenty-six, some even say thirty-six generations or more, were all rabbis and sons of rabbis? Moshe Pinchas, who was so demanding of himself and didn’t converse with anyone, would put aside his studies to talk with Reb Shlomo and would accompany him to his house and go in and sit with him and engage him in debate. And he did not notice that Reb Shlomo’s wife did not suffer any man coming between her and her husband, like young wives who always like to keep their husbands to themselves.

All this and more. Reb Shlomo was somewhat familiar with German from a translation of the Psalms by Reb Moshe and also from the holiday prayer hymns translated by Rabbi Wolf. And these had not been printed in the German alphabet, but rather in Hebrew characters with Old Yiddish type. Reb Shlomo’s wife, being proficient in written and oral German as was the case with most daughters of rich men of our town who used to study with tutors up until the time of their marriages, wanted to teach her husband German writing and pronunciation. But when Moshe Pinchas began coming and going regularly from their house, it diverted them from their studies, and she resented Reb Moshe Pinchas for bothering her husband and disturbing the house with his voice. Because of the story of Michal and David (Samuel II 6:16) she didn’t say a word about it. Reb Shlomo would try to appease her (with the same words he himself failed to heed) saying to her, “Is it not an honor that this wise scholar who doesn’t enter anyone else’s home is comfortable calling so frequently at yours?” And she was thinking to herself, “If only he’d go more to everyone else and less to us!” And Moshe Pinchas was thinking, “If I, who am not in the habit of going to see anyone else, call upon this man then surely he must be happy to have me.”

6.

Days passed as usual and the town went about its business according to custom. Summer was summer and winter was winter, and as time went on some matches were arranged and some weddings took place. Moshe Pinchas still had not found his intended bride. There are those who say it was because he was so devoted to his studies that his heart wasn’t open to matters of matchmaking. Others say that it was on account of his mother, who hindered every match by consulting with sorceresses. Every time a potential mate was suggested to her son these women would insist that she was not his intended. Afterwards, it became apparent that all of this was simply nonsense and when the spirit moved him to take a wife he would take a wife. And so Moshe Pinchas remained unmarried and did not yet don a tallit.

And we have yet more to tell. That same year, when Reb Shlomo’s elderly father-in-law was called to the Torah as Hatan Bereishit, he offered a certain sum of money to the building fund of the synagogue, in addition to which he also donated the wood for heating, inasmuch as the custom in our town is for the Hatan Bereishit to contribute the wood to heat his study house. And here we must share that the donation was a timely one because the study house was truly in need of repair. And in the manner of God-fearing wealthy men, he did not put off his donation. And the gabbai didn’t even hold onto the dedicated money to use it for trade, but rather immediately hired a craftsman and purchased stones and girders. The craftsman however, dragged his feet, like those craftsmen who chase after work their whole lives and once work is available for them they don’t attend to it and instead go courting after other work. In the meantime the days of snow and extreme cold had arrived. And when the cold comes to our town all builders cease their labors. That winter was a particularly difficult one and many took ill from the cold. And the old man, who was elderly and delicate and whose set place in the study house was in the alcove by the window, was seized by a chill and caught cold and was beset by his illness from the Sabbath of Hanukah until Passover. The old man, knowing full well that he was sick only because they had been negligent in making the building improvements, increased the craftsman’s pay so that he would get going with his work and ordered him to seal off the alcove in front of the window where the drafts gust in, bringing with them the chill. They fixed up the building and closed up the alcove. When the story was told at the Kloyz, one scholar stood up and said, “I’m astonished that they were allowed to do that, because they obviously diminished the amount of holy space.” Reb Shlomo came in. That same scholar said, “Let us hear the opinion of Reb Shlomo.” Moshe Pinchas jumped up and declared, “It is forbidden to alter the interior space of a synagogue by reducing it even by one finger’s length, for this would violate a Biblical prohibition.” Reb Shlomo tried to quiet him gently and tell him, “I also said the same thing, but what’s done is already done.” But when he saw the aging bachelor leaping about and shouting, heaping proof upon proof in defense of his position, he dismissed him with a wave of his hand and said jokingly, “A bukher makht kidesh af a groyp.”

7.

I have no idea where that saying comes from, but in our town it was commonly used to dismissively tease young unmarried men who tried to insinuate themselves into the company of their married elders, as equals. Moshe Pinchas, who had already attained a third of a man’s normal lifespan but remained a bachelor only because he hadn’t yet found a suitable match, recoiled and returned to his place where he sat tugging at the clumps of his beard in distress. From that point on he did not speak to Reb Shlomo, and if Reb Shlomo asked how he was, he would respond reluctantly. At first, no one noticed anything. And when they did begin to notice, they were incredulous. Why would Reb Shlomo, who showed respect even to the lowliest ones, humiliate one of the most erudite scholars? And they were even more critical of Moshe Pinchas for being so vengeful and bearing a grudge. Reb Shlomo went to Moshe Pinchas and said, “I beg you, forgive me for the words that unintentionally escaped from my mouth.” But Moshe Pinchas just glared at him and did not respond.

That very day a bookseller brought the book Ketzot HaHoshen to the Kloyz. The conversation got around to the book’s author, the Ba’al HaKetzot, who had labored in matters of Torah while living in deprivation and poverty. A plank over a barrel served as his table, and in winter he had no wood to light his stove and was forced to stay in bed and write his book there. And sometimes the ink would even freeze from the extreme cold and he would put it under his pillow to thaw out. When he had finished the first part of his book, he went to see the master sage, our Rabbi Meshulam Igra. And when the Ba’al HaKetzot began to present a Talmudic disputation to him, Reb Meshulam interjected, “Sir, you must be intending to say it this way.” And the other responded, “No, not really.” Reb Meshulam looked at him briefly and said, “Then undoubtedly the gentleman must be intending to say it this way or that way,” and this went on until the author had completely run out of innovative ideas, for Reb Meshulam had a knack of understanding each and every sage’s way of analyzing things and had honed in on the Ba’al HaKetzot’s precise thinking on every innovation the latter could present on any given issue. The Ba’al HaKetzot then said to Reb Meshulam, “Look, as we speak I’m already busy composing the second volume, and I am wondering if there is any point in my continuing to toil on it? Tell me, Sir, what could I possibly add now by way of commentary to the Shulhan Arukh’s finance code from chapter 200 on?” At that point Reb Meshulam realized that he had disheartened a very gifted man and was filled with remorse. It is said that when this story was relayed, Reb Shlomo added that from this point on Reb Meshulam had fasted every Monday and Thursday for the rest of his life because of having aggrieved that sage. And people say that when this story was told, Reb Shlomo groaned and said, “I don’t come close to Reb Meshulam’s level of righteousness.” Those around him had a sense of where things were going and said to him, “And Moshe Pinchas doesn’t come close to Ba’al HaKetzot’s level of Torah scholarship!” Reb Shlomo replied, “Reb Moshe Pinchas is a great scholar and learns Torah for its own sake.” When this was relayed to Moshe Pinchas, he just shrugged and said, “Leave me be. I don’t even want to hear that man’s name.” A short while later, Moshe Pinchas arose from his studies, collected his Gemara and left. When a day or two had passed and he still hadn’t come back, people assumed that he’d gone to his mother’s in the village, even though it wasn’t his custom to go there on weekdays. A few days later, a voice was heard emanating from the Tailors’ Synagogue and they recognized it as belonging to Moshe Pinchas.

The Tailors’ Synagogue was located above our old study house, opposite the bathhouse, and it was somewhat similar to the Great Synagogue, resplendent with paintings of the Chariot and of the musical instruments of the Temple and also with depictions of the animals and birds in the teaching of Yehudah ben Teimah in tractate Avot, with the words of the Mishnah underneath each of the illustrations. Under the leopard it said, “Be bold as a leopard,” under the eagle, “Light as an eagle,” under the deer, “swift as a deer” and under the lion, “strong as a lion.” And under all of them it was written, “To do the will of our Father in heaven.” And why do I mention all of this? To demonstrate to you that a wise man learns from everything around him and, by gazing at the drawings he devotes his heart to the Torah. They say that when the women used to go to the mikveh and would hear Reb Moshe Pinchas’s voice, they would bless themselves and say, “May we be worthy to have sons like him.”

8.

Here it should be told that at that time his mother’s income from leasing the mill had run out. And with the end of the mother’s income came the end of the son’s sustenance. However, relief and deliverance came from another place. Residents of the town began bringing him their sons and paying him tutoring fees. It’s been said that Reb Shlomo had dropped a hint that people ought to seek wisdom from such a scholar. Reb Moshe Pinchas selected three or four talented pupils and taught them Talmud and its commentaries, earning enough for his own needs and even enough to give to his mother. From this time on he no longer had to go to the village and didn’t have to waste time on traveling back and forth. And where did his mother hear Kiddush and Havdalah? Thank God, even in villages there are Jews, and a Jew’s door is always open to all who want to hear hallowed words.

Moshe Pinchas found lodging in a certain tailor’s house, and the tailor even made him a new suit, not of fine silk like that of Reb Shlomo, but nonetheless sufficiently respectable. The other artisans saw this and were envious of the tailor. The milliner went and made him a new hat and the cobbler made him shoes. One Sabbath eve, when Moshe Pinchas went to the bathhouse, they took his hat and shoes and replaced them with the new ones they’d made. Moshe Pinchas was dressed in new clothes, new shoes and a new hat so that his entire appearance was transformed. His pupils, who recognized his erudition in Torah, began to referring to him as Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, and it goes without saying that the tailors and the rest of the artisans were very proud of this great scholar who had ensconced himself in their house of prayer. And every artisan who had a daughter used to gaze upon him and say “May it be God’s will that he become my son-in-law.” Mercifully, one affluent man beat them to it. Reb Meirtche, the son of Shaindele the Righteous. Reb Meirtche had a fabric store and an only daughter. He lavished upon his daughter a dowry of one hundred and fifty coins of pure silver, thereby landing Moshe Pinchas. And from this we can learn that all the idle talk of the gossip mongers was unfounded, because when the time comes for a man to marry. his match will surely be found.

Once Reb Moshe Pinchas was married he was able to stand with the great ones and discourse with the Torah elders like all the other tallit wearers. And yet he didn’t leave his place or alter his customary behavior. Since his father-in-law took care of his every need, he dismissed his pupils and returned to solitary study, and didn’t budge from his studies except on Sabbath eve. And even on the eve of the Sabbath he didn’t stay home all night. Even before the sun rose, he would return to his place of study. In summertime he would study in the Tailors’ Synagogue and in the winter, when there was no lit stove there, he would move himself over to the old study house. The simple folk and even some of the students began to refer to him as Rabbi Moshe Pinchas even when not addressing him. Reb Moshe Pinchas didn’t pay attention to this honorific. His entire sense of worth derived from sating himself on Talmud and rabbinical Codes.

9.

About Reb Moshe Pinchas there isn’t much to tell for the moment. He was invested heart and soul in the Talmud, its commentators, and the commentaries on the commentators. He would complete one Tractate and immediately embark upon another.

But about Reb Shlomo there is what to tell. The Emperor’s troops arrived in the town’s environs for training exercises, with the Archduke in command. It occurred to the community elders that should the Archduke come to town he would surely visit the Great Synagogue to bestow honor on the Jews. And here there was no one who knew how to give a proper sermon, particularly not in the vernacular. For in those days our town languished without a rabbi, with an aged instructor serving in place of a rabbi. Moreover, that instructor was not accustomed to delivering sermons, even on Shabbat Shuva or Shabbat HaGadol, and it goes without saying not in the vernacular. They considered bringing in a preacher from Ternopil, from among the students of Yossel ben Todrus, known as Joseph Perl. Reb Shlomo offered, “I will deliver the sermon and I am confident that the merit of my sacred ancestors, whose righteousness endures, will sustain me.” All were delighted that there would be no need to engage a preacher devoid of Torah and mitzvot and they were astonished that Reb Shlomo was willing to undertake to sermonize in a language to which he was not accustomed, because if he erred or stumbled it could only be for the worse, not for the better. The entire town prayed that he wouldn’t trip over his own tongue, and that his words would be pleasing to the Archduke. The prayers did their share and Reb Shlomo’s talent took care of the rest, so that when Reb Shlomo stood by the Holy Ark and greeted the Archduke it was a truly holy moment, and everyone saw and recognized that if a man makes the Torah his lifeblood, all other forms of wisdom will come to him on their own. And yet it wasn’t a miracle at all, inasmuch as Reb Shlomo knew the entire Book of Psalms as translated by Reb Moshe by heart and also most of the hymns that Reb Wolf had translated, and some things he had after all learned from his wife who was fluent in German. This sermon brought him fame throughout the land. Reb Shlomo, however, tried to downplay it, so that it shouldn’t be said he gained acclaim by means of the German language and so as not to create an opening for the “new enlightened ones” to try and curry favor with him.

10.

At around that same time a certain town was bereft of its rabbi. The town sent for Reb Shlomo. They found him suitable and he accepted the rabbinical post. After taking his leave from all the elders of his town and his wife’s family, he visited the grave of his ancestor the sage Reb Pinchas and after leaving his ancestor he went to Reb Moshe Pinchas and said to him, “Now that I’m going to another town, I appeal to you that we make peace.” Reb Moshe Pinchas responded, “There will never be peace between us. Not in this world and not in the world to come.” Reb Shlomo heaved a heavy sigh and departed.

It is a widely accepted custom that when a new rabbi is hired by a congregation, all the townsfolk gather in the Great Synagogue to hear his sermon. And if the rabbi is among the famous ones, they even come from other towns. The topic of the sermon is announced a few days in advance, in order to give the scholars time to hone their studies in the event that they want to engage in back-and-forth with him. Originally, anyone wanting to debate would just interject himself into the sermon and start arguing. When everyone realized this led to confusion, it was resolved that all questions must be held until the conclusion of the sermon.

Now that the breadth of knowledge has waned, and sermonizers know nothing more than what they have specifically prepared, it has become customary instead to ask questions of the rabbi at his house. If he has an answer, he gives it. And if not, he becomes evasive and feigns fatigue. But, at that time, they were still allowing questions immediately after the sermon in front of the entire public. And so the date was set and the topic of Reb Shlomo’s sermon was promulgated, and the announcement was copied and distributed among several towns. This very announcement reached our town as well.

11.

One day Reb Moshe Pinchas said to his wife, “I’m leaving for a few days.” His wife, who was in the habit of accepting his pronouncements without complaint or argument, asked neither where he was going nor why. She gave him provisions for the road and said, “Go in peace.” He gathered his tallit and tefillin and set off for Reb Shlomo’s town.

The entire town was filled with guests. Those who had come for the sake of Reb Shlomo and those who had come to see who else had come. There were those who were eager to see the new rabbi and others eager simply to report what they had seen. The erudite Torah scholars walked around hunched over and debating with themselves. One would say to himself, “If Reb Shlomo says this, I will ask that and if he responds this way, I will inquire that way.” And the way one man strategized, so precisely did his colleague, and so the next and the next. Among those that came you would have also found Reb Moshe Pinchas, who was sitting in the study house, busily ruminating on the precise Talmudic discussion that Reb Shlomo had announced as the topic of his sermon.

The whole town assembled itself into the Great Synagogue, which was already packed with those who had remained after the morning prayers. And when Reb Shlomo entered with his father the sage to his right and his uncle the other great sage to his left, the eyes of most of the assembly welled with tears of joy at having been granted the privilege of beholding two such venerable sages who embodied Torah in human form. And so Reb Shlomo entered, and with him his father and his uncle, and with them several other rabbis and Torah learners, even the least of whom in our generation would have been considered a sage among sages. The entire congregation raised a mighty cheer in their honor and roared, “Welcome! May your arrival be blessed!” until the brass candelabras swayed from the clamor.

12.

Reb Shlomo ascended to the Holy Ark. He wrapped himself in a new prayer shawl and recited the Sheheheyanu blessing. He kissed the ark curtain and whispered several verses which are particularly suited for suppressing pride, and began to sermonize incisively and eruditely, argument and counter argument. Reb Shlomo was possessed of a gift of silver tongued eloquence, and even knew how to sermonize in the lingua franca and all the more so in the holy tongue which he had worked with his entire life. And once he had begun to speak all were filled with joy and they said, “What great fortune has been bestowed upon us to have this rabbi in our midst.” And even the simple folk recognized that great words were being uttered by him. Reb Shlomo endeared himself to them deeply. It’s been told that one butcher cried out in great wonder, “I am ready and willing to proffer my own neck for the slaughter on behalf of our new rabbi.” All the self-proclaimed debaters who had come intending to debate with the rabbi, set aside their arguments and stood trembling and quaking in trepidation lest they miss even one word of his oratory.

Reb Shlomo stood there wrapped in his new prayer shawl crowned with silver ornamentation, his face full of humility, his voice going from the Babylonian Talmud to the Jerusalem Talmud, from the Jerusalem Talmud to the commentary of Rav Alfasi, from Rav Alfasi to Maimonides, and from Maimonides to the Rosh, from the early scholars to the later ones and back again. Torah elders are in the habit of telling that they had heard from several old rabbis that those rabbis had frequently struggled to reconcile the very same Talmudic query posed by Reb Shlomo, and when they heard Reb Shlomo’s solution they realized that their thoughts compared to his were like vinegar compared to wine. They also tell that at the time of Reb Shlomo’s sermon, tears were seen in the eyes of that venerable sage Reb Shlomo’s father and they saw that at times Reb Shlomo would nod his head to his father and his father would then point towards the Holy Ark. The pundits commented that the son was nodding towards his father as if to say, “Father, all of this comes from you,” and the father, in turn, was pointing to the ark as if to say, “Your learning, my son, derives from there.”

13.

Reb Shlomo was standing and sermonizing and his voice was like that of the humble nightingale on a summer night. Suddenly a gruff voice was heard and a man was seen pushing and squeezing his way, squeezing and pushing until he arrived at the Holy Ark. And when he got to the ark, to the place where Reb Shlomo was standing, his voice began to grate and drone. Reb Shlomo stopped his sermon and cocked his head to listen. As the congregation noticed Reb Shlomo straining to listen, they all cocked their own heads and heard that this man was negating Reb Shlomo’s entire sermon by way of an explicit Talmudic statement. Their faces fell and they were embarrassed that they themselves hadn’t picked up on the discrepancy, and a few of them imagined that they had in fact discerned it but that Reb Shlomo’s sweet voice had mesmerized them. Only the simple folk remained as devoted to their rabbi as at the start, and when they saw that a man had the audacity to contradict him they were ready to rip him to shreds. But he took notice neither of them nor of their wrath; he saw but one thing: that he had been given an opening to totally destroy all of the theories of that incisive and erudite one, and to demonstrate that there was neither insight nor erudition here, but rather his analysis was utter folly. And the simple folk were already reaching towards the insolent one to cast him out.

14.

Reb Shlomo rapped on the podium and said, “Calm down and let me hear what Rabbi Moshe Pinchas has to say.” And he immediately gazed upon him with great affection and added, “Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, please repeat what you said and I shall listen; perhaps I didn’t hear you well.” Reb Moshe Pinchas recounted what he had said, throwing in some words of derision. And still, Reb Shlomo was gazing upon him warmly and it appeared that he was reveling in his own distress. After Reb Moshe Pinchas had finished, Reb Shlomo said, “Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, do you have anything else to add?” Reb Moshe Pinchas was filled with wrath and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Is it not enough for you that I’ve demonstrated that you built mounds upon mounds of nonsensical arguments in contravention of an explicit Gemara? I already have shaken out the sand particles with which you attempted to blind the people’s eyes.”

The entire congregation was distressed about the insult to Reb Shlomo and a few of the scholars wanted to respond to the words of the challenger, but did not know what to say since they saw that he was in the right, in that Reb Shlomo had erred about an explicit Gemara and that in any case his entire sermon had been built on a shaky foundation.

Reb Shlomo’s uncle now rapped on the podium and offered, “I’ll respond.” His father then rapped and said, “I’ll respond.” Without a doubt, they would have succeeded in countering Reb Moshe Pinchas’s counter-arguments, but it is doubtful that they would have satisfied the Gemara’s own contradiction. They were blinded by their love for Reb Shlomo and did not pay mind to the Gemara, but instead chose to justify him by means of Talmudic argumentation. Reb Shlomo waved his hand once towards his father and once towards his uncle and said, “With your permission, I myself will respond.” Reb Moshe Pinchas jeered and said, “Is it not enough that a man refuses to concede the truth, but now he intends to heap lies on top of it?”

Reb Shlomo fixed his two luminous eyes upon him and said, “It appears you have saddled me with an enormously difficult question from the Gemara, and it would also appear that nothing can be said in response, except that if you had scrutinized the text carefully you would have seen that this version of the text is inaccurate, and already two illustrious pillars, the Maharshal and the Bach, have amended the text of the Talmud in this spot with the version postulated by the Rav Alfasi, and everything I have put forth I based on the true version of the text relied upon by most commentators to determine the law.” And here Reb Shlomo began to weave from commentator to commentator until he arrived at the legal ruling. At the same time Reb Moshe Pinchas’s countenance darkened like the edges of a cauldron and he did not respond at all; after all what would there have been to say given that the law was on Reb Shlomo’s side? Reb Moshe Pinchas stood like a stricken man, and Reb Shlomo returned to his sermon. Reb Moshe Pinchas stomped on the floor so forcefully that the stones underneath cried out. And he also cried out, “Panie Horowitz, how fortunate for you that all your silver and gold have enabled you to purchase proofread books. Even so, your new conclusions are nonsense and your homilies mere folly.” And immediately Reb Moshe Pinchas began to refute Reb Shlomo’s words one after the other, to the point where the great Torah scholars were astounded by the sheer power of the man’s intellect and the minds of these eminent ones were totally confounded. Reb Shlomo raised his right hand and said pleasantly, “Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, how vast is your erudition and how abundant your acuity, but tell me is it really fitting for a true scholar to use the Torah deceitfully? Surely, you and I both know full well that there is no substance to the refutations with which you are trying to undermine my position.” And here Reb Shlomo chipped away, argument after argument, and did not omit responding to any of Reb Moshe Pinchas’s refutations. Reb Moshe Pinchas turned apoplectic with rage and, leaping up and down, and bellowed, “In that case, I’ll confront you from another angle.” And right away he began attacking a different point in the lecture and to squawk about each of Reb Shlomo’s findings until there was not one conclusion that he had not shattered. Reb Shlomo’s face clouded over and he heaved a bitter sigh, like a warrior dealt a fatal blow, and stripped of his weapons.

By this point everyone was under the impression that Reb Shlomo was drained of all his strength and that he no longer had it in him to stand up to someone more forceful than himself. And once again Reb Shlomo sighed deeply and looked at Reb Moshe Pinchas with neither anger nor animosity. On the contrary, it was apparent that he pitied him, even though he was really the one in need of mercy, Reb Moshe Pinchas having humiliated him in front of the entire gathering on his very first day as rabbi. Reb Shlomo passed his hand over his forehead and said in a sad voice, “There is no limit to what a skillful man can accomplish by the force of his cunning, but what will you answer on Judgment Day?” Reb Moshe Pinchas sneered at him and said, “Can you believe how consumed this man is with his own piety, that I deliver him actual words of Torah and he responds with words about the fear of Heaven? If you are able to reply to me from Torah do so, and if not, confess in front of the whole congregation that your whole sermon is chaff and straw.” Most of the congregants began to holler at Reb Moshe Pinchas, but a certain elderly and assertive scholar rebuked them. He said to them, “If scholars battle over Jewish law, who are you to interfere?” Reb Shlomo turned back towards the Holy Ark and laid his head on the curtain. Everyone assumed he was withdrawing and about to step down. Suddenly he turned back towards the people and the whole crowd noted that he seemed to have gotten taller by a whole head. Reb Shlomo said, “With your permission, gentlemen, I will repeat the essence of my sermon and you will determine the veracity of my words.” Reb Shlomo succinctly recapped the crux of his presentation and reinforced it with new proofs, until the faces of the scholars lit up and they called out, “Hear, hear!” having been completely distracted from Reb Moshe Pinchas and all his argumentation. At the same time the simple folk glared at Reb Moshe Pinchas with daggers in their eyes and were just about ready to beat him up. Reb Moshe Pinchas dismissed them as the dust of the earth, even though he was consumed with a desire to show them that their rabbi was a poor scholar. And when he attempted to say something they started yelling and saying, “Enough already! We don’t want to hear what you have to say.” And when he raised his voice they silenced him and shouted, “Let’s get him out of here and may his face no longer be seen in this place.”

Already from the outset of the exchange, when Reb Moshe Pinchas had addressed Reb Shlomo “Panie Horowitz,” the whole assembly had been shocked, as they had never before heard a learned Jew address a Torah scholar using a secular title, especially not in a holy place. The elderly sage jumped up from his place and admonished him harshly, “Show some common decency!” And the rest shouted, “You audacious lout!” Reb Moshe Pinchas paid heed neither to them nor their shouting, instead fixing his eyes on Reb Shlomo in order to relish in his humiliation. And if not for Reb Shlomo, they would have thrown him out of the synagogue. Now even Reb Shlomo could not quiet the congregation down. And since Reb Moshe Pinchas realized that they weren’t going to let him speak, and all the more so since he was in a dangerous situation, he twisted his neck and started threading himself out of the congregation. And had it not been for Reb Shlomo’s kindly eyes he would have had his limbs crushed on his way out. Reb Shlomo resumed his sermon, and Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his hometown. And even greater than his regret over not being able to contradict Reb Shlomo’s presentation was his regret that Reb Shlomo had attained even greater stature for showing him boundless affection from beginning to end.

15.

Upon Reb Moshe Pinchas’s return to his town he entered the study house and gathered a pile of books and each and every book demonstrated to him that the law was in Reb Shlomo’s favor. And even when he chanced upon a treatise which seemed to lean towards his interpretations it failed to ease his mind, since he was not inclined towards the kind of semantic splitting of hairs engaged in by hairsplitters, who push elephants through the eyes of needles with their sophistry. Reb Moshe Pinchas was consumed with regret for having attempted to delude himself, all the while having known the truth. He was overcome by sadness and fell into a dark melancholy. And when he managed to rise above his gloominess enough to return to his studies, he had lost the joy of learning. He ruminated, “What does it matter if I study or if I don’t, if I derive no gratification from my studies?” He began to examine his deeds. He remembered his mother. He started rebuking himself and said, “Now that I don’t need her, I’ve forgotten her.” He sighed and said, “I shall go and see her.” He gathered his tallit and tefillin and went to fulfill the commandment of honoring one’s mother.

The old woman had aged considerably but was still going about her way as always. Each morning with the crow of the rooster she would arise from her bed and wash her hands and face in the water troughs at the old mill; then she would feed and water the fowl and check their roosts to see if any hens had laid eggs. After that she would feed the cat. After that she would fluff up the straw in her bed while saying, “Yesterday you were light, today you are dense; today you are sprawled on my bed and I’m sprawled upon you, but tomorrow you will be used to stoke the hellfire that torments my soul.” Once she had made her bed she would sit and pray. When done praying she would perform the ritual hand washing and soak her bread in water so as not to trouble the last two tooth stumps remaining in her mouth, which she would need to eat the obligatory bit of matzah on the nights of Passover. Once she had eaten and then said the blessing over her food, she would sit and contemplate what else needed to be done. If there were people in need of help in the village, she would go to help them. If there were none needing help, she would go to her neighbor to trade an egg for a cup of milk or a spoonful of grain for her evening meal, which she would eat while there was still daylight since from the time her husband had died and Moshe Pinchas had gone off to reside in town she would not light candles except on Sabbath eve and the festivals. After she had eaten and blessed, she would take out her burial shrouds, lay them next to her bed and recite the Shema.

16.

When the son arrived at his mother’s she was sitting on the ground in front of the house, cutting up apples and pears to dry them in the sun. Seeing her son approach she put down the knife, smoothed her apron, raised herself up from the ground and said, “I don’t know how I got myself so caught up with these fruits. Have I not already eaten too much in this world? Oy, Moshe Pinchas, how many days, how many weeks, how many months have I not seen you?” Moshe Pinchas shook his head and said, “And as if I’ve seen you?” His mother saw that he was sad and said, “Heaven forbid, has trouble befallen you?” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “To me, no.” She said, “If I had a mirror in the house, I would show you your face which is as dark as the plague in Egypt. Perhaps you have problems with your wife or your father-in-law or mother-in-law?” He responded, “I have neither sorrow nor travails, not from my wife, not from my in-laws.” His mother said, “This kind of face your father, may he intercede on our behalf, had when a certain good — for-nothing from the town wanted to build a steam powered mill. When you get to the river, take a look into the water and you will see your own face. Do you have an enemy, my son? Tell me his name and his mother’s name.” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “His name and his mother’s name, what do you need them for?” The old one said, “My son, do you remember Mikita, who stole a grindstone from the mill? That uncircumcised one went to prostrate himself on the graves of their saints and returned all fire and brimstone, and when he curses a man in his name and that of his mother he turns him into dust and ashes. So, tell me my son, the name of the one who hates you and his mother’s name and I will go to Mikita.” Reb Moshe Pinchas heard this and shuddered. As his mother began to pester him he told her, “This same man whom I hate seeks only my welfare.” His mother said, “He seeks your welfare? Why then do you hate him?” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “I hate him because he brings out in me this deplorable quality of hatred.” The old woman said, “I don’t understand a word you’re saying.” He told her, “Even I don’t understand, except that this is the way it is and I can’t explain it. Don’t fret, Mother, the Holy One blessed be He will help me.” The old one said, “The Holy One blessed be He will surely help you, for whom will He help if not for you? Don’t you study His Torah?” Moshe Pinchas’s face fell and he said, “Is it truly Torah that I learn? I’m worthless and I speak worthless words. Let me be, Mother, and I shall return to the study house. Perhaps the Merciful One will show mercy.”

After he ate, he returned to his town and to his studies. From this time forward, he did not budge from the study house and they would bring him his meals there. And if it was not for the beadle, who would remind him that it was time to say Kiddush and eat the festive meal, he would not have returned home even on Sabbath eves, so engrossed was he in his studies. The elders of the study house would say, “If you have not yet seen a man prepared to kill himself for his studies, just take a look at Rabbi Moshe Pinchas.”

17.

One day Reb Moshe Pinchas vanished from the town. People assumed he had gone to his mother, but finally it was discovered that he he had gone to see his first teacher, our renowned scholar Rabbi Gabriel Reinush, the author of Horeh Gaver, a commentary on Yoreh De’ah. For what reason did he go to his teacher? Let us listen and find out: he came to his teacher and found him lying on his bed reading a book. He said to him, “Is my teacher ill?” He responded, “Why?” And he said, “Because I see him laid out on his bed.” He responded, “I am an old man and it no longer pays for me to get new clothes made, so I lie in my bed in order not to wear out my clothes from sitting. Turn away and I’ll get dressed.” The old man donned his clothing and stood up straight. Before long he had begun to hold forth to his pupil awesome and wondrous new insights, from the mere tip of which the rabbis of today’s generation would compile voluminous books. Finally, he began to direct the conversation to the name of the town where he had attempted to obtain a rabbinical post and had raised, in his astute expertise, some doubts about whether it was permissible to arrange divorces there. In the midst of speaking, the teacher looked at his pupil and noticed that he was not happy, but how could that be when “God’s precepts are straight and good, making our hearts rejoice.” The teacher said to him, “You’re sitting there as if you’re listening to something insignificant. You know, Moshe Pinchas, we may need to send you back to primary school.” Reb Moshe Pinchas lowered his head and said, “It is for that reason that I came.” The teacher was moved by compassion for his pupil and said to him, “My son, what has brought you here?” Reb Moshe Pinchas whispered and said, “Woe is me, my teacher, for I have strayed from the path of righteousness.” The old one responded, “The Torah protects and the Torah rescues.” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “This refers to someone who learns Torah for the sake of Torah.” The old one said, “God Forbid that a man who learned Torah from me did not learn Torah for its own sake.”

Reb Moshe Pinchas heaved a sigh. “What can I possibly say?” he said. “There are things I know to be true and yet I twist them around so as to remove them from their truth.” His teacher said to him, “You have to set your heart straight by delving into ethical literature, such as Kav HaYashar and Shevet Musar. Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “The Holy One blessed be He does not bother with the minor books.” The old one smiled and said, “In that case, we shall turn to the major books.” And he immediately began discoursing on the various halakhic midrashim, and Tosefta and the entire Talmud until the house expanded like the foyer of a grand hall and yet there remained not one item that Reb Moshe Pinchas could not complete from memory, nor one legal ruling from which Reb Moshe Pinchas had not drawn a genuinely true outcome. At the end of three days when Moshe Pinchas was about to take leave of his teacher, the latter said, “Here I am a man of seventy three years, and I have never before had the privilege of spending three days as joyful as these. Come sit down and I shall sign your rabbinic ordination, authorizing you to issue halakhic decisions. Though I am a small town rabbi, I am widely known and it is also known that my ordination is reliable since I was ordained by the Rav of Buczacz, the renowned sage Rabbi Hershele Kra, about whom our Rabbi Meshulam Igra said, “He is an ironclad rabbi!” The old man took a sheet of paper and wrote: “He shall teach! He may judge!” — the ancient formula for rabbinical ordination. He placed the paper in his pupil’s hand and said to him, “Here you have a talisman against melancholy.” The old one gazed upon Reb Moshe Pinchas and said to his household, “This pupil will not shame me when I appear before the authority of the heavenly court.” Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and to his studies.

18.

What more can we tell that we have not already told? Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and to his studies and tried diligently to put these matters out of his mind. And once again he was studying the way he had been taught. The renowned sage, author of Horeh Gaver, who was fond of his pupil and was proud of him, used to tell anyone and everyone that he had ordained Reb Moshe Pinchas as an authorized rabbi. And in that generation, the rabbis would not grant ordination to anyone other than an accomplished scholar. Word had reached Reb Moshe Pinchas’s father-in-law. His father-in-law said to him: “For the time being, you sit at my table and you share my food, but what will you do after my days on this earth are over? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider a rabbinic profession.” Reb Moshe Pinchas shrugged his shoulders by way of refusal. When his father-in-law tried to bring up the subject again, Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “If my father-in-law keeps me from my studies with idle conversation, I will end up being a complete ignoramus.” Reb Meirtche walked away from him, sighing and dejected.

19.

The Lord giveth and he taketh away, dethrones kings and installs others in their place. At that time, Reb Shlomo’s father departed to his final resting place. After they had returned the expired sage to the earth and eulogized him, the entire holy congregation stood and anointed Reb Shlomo in place of his father. After the seven days of mourning, Reb Shlomo went to his town to collect his wife and children. The town leaders asked him, “Rabbi, whom should we appoint to your chair?” He said to them, “Remember the day that I delivered my first sermon and that young scholar tried to trip me up with the law? I tell you that there is no one more worthy of being a rabbi than he.” The town leaders heard this and were astounded; here was a man who had publicly embarrassed him and had attempted to dishonor him and yet here he was advocating on his behalf. Reb Shlomo clutched his beard and said, “Know this, gentlemen, this Rabbi Moshe Pinchas is as great in Torah knowledge as the ancient sages, and even in a subject in which he attempted to trip me up his greatness was evident; I was saved only by the merit of my ancestors in that Moshe Pinchas was forced to study from a defective book and thus came to err, and when a man falls into error that error leads him to further error. And certainly by now he has recognized his mistakes. Go to his town and accept him as your Rabbi. And you, my beloved brethren, are bound to be happy with him, because the rabbinate suits him and he is suited to the rabbinate. And even the holy Torah is destined to be happy that one of her worthy sons is sitting at her throne.”

20.

Not too many days had passed before two men arrived at our town and in their hands the rabbinical appointment for “Our teacher, the erudite and astute rabbi, great scholar excelling in the entirety of Torah, etc., etc., and so on and so forth, may his name be of blessed glory, the sage, Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, a just and upright man of Israel.” They parked their carriage at the inn and entered, washed their hands, changed their clothes and went to see Reb Moshe Pinchas. At that same time, his wife Shaindel was sitting in the nursing chair, suckling her small son. Next to her stood her mother Elka, looking at the baby who was small for his years and yet melancholy for his age. Shaindel herself was also melancholy both on her own account and on account of her children, since as soon as one arose from his sick bed his brother was already laid up sick. And because she was immersed in gloom she flung it in the face of the entire world that it had been created only to oppress her in suffering. By her feet lay the cat, grooming itself. Elka observed this and remarked, “Your cat is washing itself.” Shaindel grumbled and said, “What have you come to tell me?” Said Elka, “If the cat is licking its fur, it’s a sign that guests are getting ready to arrive.” Shaindel said, “A house in which the head of the household is not found, is not likely to have guests found in it. God forbid that I should say anything against Moshe Pinchas, who doesn’t move from the study house. And where else would he sit? In this garbage heap? But this much I’ll tell you, Mother, my strength has ebbed and I don’t know why the Angel of Death tarries and doesn’t just come and take me from this world. It would better for him to kill me a thousand times a day. Why is it that all day long my eyelashes twitch and don’t stop twitching?” Elka asked, “Is it the right or the left eyelid?” Shaindel said. “You are a strange woman, Mother, what’s the difference whether it’s the right one or the left one?” Said Elka, “There is a big difference in it. If it’s the left, it’s a sign the guests are coming.” Shaindel said, “You see, Mother, it just so happens that it’s the lashes of the right one that are twitching. That being the case, there are no guests or anything else, only drivel. Now I’m going to fix the lunch meal. The fire is burning and the pot is boiling and I am sitting here babbling as if it’s Shabbat afternoon after the noodle pudding.”

21.

Meanwhile, the two dignitaries entered the town. They came across a little girl and asked her, “Whereabouts here is the house of Rabbi Moshe Pinchas?” The little one ran to her mother and in a loud excited voice exclaimed, “Two Jews are asking after Father. Mother, had you seen their garments, you would have thought they were going to a wedding!” Shaindel scolded her daughter and said, “Why are you hollering? What, am I deaf? If they’re asking, let them ask.” The little one said, “Mother, Mother, on my life, on my life, I’m not lying! Two important Jews dressed like fathers-of-the-bride came and asked me, Whereabouts here is Rabbi Moshe Pinchas’s house?” Shaindel said to her mother, “Go outside and see what this child is jabbering about, screaming non-stop like a crow.” Tears flowed from the child’s eyes and she said while crying, “I’m not screaming! I’m not screaming! I’m telling the truth! I’m telling the truth!” Said Shaindel, “Either you stop or get away from here. I will not tolerate yelling and crying. Oy, if only I had a place to escape to from here. How can one live in a house with incessant crying?”

Elka stepped outside and saw two important personages elegantly dressed. Guests like these, dressed in this manner, are not normally found in our town. She said to them, “Come in, honored guests, come in. This is the home of Rabbi Moshe Pinchas. Rabbi Moshe Pinchas is not at home right now. If you would be so kind as to wait a moment, I shall send the little one to bring him.” The dignitaries came inside and sat down. Said Shaindel to her mother, “Mother, watch the baby and I’ll go and get him, for if the little one goes to call him he will not heed her.” She wrapped herself and went to his study house. She was gone for as long as she was gone and returned with her husband. Reb Moshe Pinchas greeted the guests and sat down. He took the salt box that was on the table and fidgeted with it, while wondering why these people had come and what they wanted of him. One of them stood up from his chair and said, “Rabbi, we have come for the purpose of…” He did not finish his sentence before taking out the rabbinical appointment, handing it to Reb Moshe Pinchas. Reb Moshe Pinchas read it and accepted their proposal. His mother-in-law heard and sent for her husband. He heard and came over. They fetched fresh water from the spring and brought rose petal preserves so that the guests could refresh themselves.

The emissaries sat with their rabbi until the time for the afternoon prayers had arrived. In the meantime, a few of the town dignitaries gathered and came to greet the visitors and congratulate Reb Moshe Pinchas on having been elevated to the standing of rabbi. Elka prepared a meal for the guests, as well as for the next day’s luncheon and evening meal. And at every meal new faces came to pay homage to the Torah, and at every meal Reb Moshe Pinchas shared wondrous new insights, something he had not been in the habit of doing up to this point, as he was not one to converse with just anyone and if he did converse he did so only in truncated conversations. And when the dignitaries had left for the inn, his father-in-law Reb Meirtche summoned the tailor and the shoemaker to make clothing and shoes for Reb Moshe Pinchas, since the clothing and shoes that had been made for his wedding were worn out. The tailor labored at his craft as did the shoemaker, for they knew that so long as their work was not complete Reb Moshe Pinchas would be detained from leaving and an entire congregation would be left in limbo, like an abandoned wife without a divorce forever chained to her husband. And as such, they hastened to finish and did justice to their craft. And when Reb Moshe Pinchas donned his new clothes, his appearance truly was transformed into that of a rabbi. While all this was going on, his mother-in-law prepared everything that was needed for the journey. And when all was ready, Reb Moshe Pinchas boarded the coach and half the town came to escort him, all being jubilant that this talented scholar who had toiled in Torah was so esteemed by the Torah itself that people had come from another town to secure him for a great honor. And even his mother came to part from her only son, leaning on her cane, and in her hands a really large loaf like the ones she used to give him in the early days. She gazed upon her son and said, “My son, you look a rabbi. If only your father had been fortunate enough to see you this way, he would still be alive. The miller mills all his days, mills and mills endlessly, and in the end he mills his own bones until he dies. And I too shall die, and I don’t know where I will be taken. Remember, my son, and don’t forget that I carried you and gave birth to you and nursed you, and I implore you now to admonish the evil angels lest they vilify me.”

And thus Reb Moshe Pinchas boarded the coach, dressed in his new finery that had that very day left the hands of the tailor, with the two dignitaries, emissaries of their town, sitting one to his right and the other to his left. After he had completed the traveler’s prayer he lit upon two peculiar questions that all the rabbis had wrestled with: why does Maimonides never mention the traveler’s prayer and why would the Maharam of Rothenburg recite the prayer in his house upon departing on a journey? In the heat of the events which transpired later on his observations on that issue were forgotten, and it is a shame that such a fine pearl of wisdom was lost to us.

22.

And so the carriage left town and arrived at a crossroads, where Reb Moshe Pinchas looked down the road leading to the town that had hired him as Rabbi. He recalled the day on which he had gone there on foot and he remembered everything that had befallen him in that town. He mused to himself, “Here I am, traveling by carriage to the very place where the residents rose up to swallow me whole because I sought to undermine their shepherd.” He suppressed the anger in his heart with words of Torah and began to expound on the verse, “Do not come to anger on the road,” the text of which the Gemara interpreted to mean, “When on the road, do not engage in matters of law.” And, therefore, he began discussing other matters. The two emissaries were reminded of Reb Shlomo, their rabbi, who had left their town and encouraged them to take on Reb Moshe Pinchas as their next rabbi. And since they remembered their rabbi, they also remembered his righteousness. One of them said to Reb Moshe Pinchas, “I’m wondering, Rabbi, why you haven’t asked us how it came to be that we selected you as our new rabbi.” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “I was also wondering, but was preoccupied with matters of Torah law and forgot to ask you.” The dignitary said, “In that case, I will tell you. When our great rabbi the sage Rabbi Shlomo, may he live long, was elevated to the seat of his father the sage, of blessed memory, the town elders asked him, ‘Our rabbi, whom shall we put in your place and who is worthy to sit in your chair?’ He said to them, ‘If you want to bestow joy on our hallowed Torah, select Rabbi Moshe Pinchas as your rabbi, for he is a genuine scholar among the true scions of the Torah.’ And inasmuch as our great rabbi was much beloved by us, we hastened to do his bidding.” Reb Moshe Pinchas’s expression began to undergo a transformation. After a short while, he said to the coachman, “Stop!” They assumed that he had to attend to a call of nature and stopped the carriage. He stepped down and took his bags. They asked him, “What’s this?” He said to them, “Any kindness that comes to me from that man — I don’t want it!” They said to him, “Rabbi, please relent and don’t embarrass a leading Jewish town.” He waved them away and said to them, “Go safely and in peace.”

What more can we add and what more is there to tell? There is nothing more to add and nothing further to tell, except that once he had parted from them he did an about-face and began walking towards his hometown. The dignitaries chased him after him and called out, “Rabbi, Rabbi!” Since they saw that he was not listening to them they said, “Please come back into the carriage and we’ll bring you home.” He shooed them away with his hand and did not return. They stood there unable to decide whether to pursue him or to go on their way. And while they were standing there, he had covered so much distance that they could no longer see him. They lost their resolve and re-boarded the carriage. They returned to their town, and he to his.

Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and entered the study house. His wife and all her father’s household got word and rushed over, and with them his sons and daughters. They asked him, “Why did you come back?” He responded to them in the same words he had used with the two dignitaries. Shaindel wept and cried out, “Oy, what have you done to us?” He sat there in silence. And when his father-in-law reminded him of the expense he had gone to for the clothing, etc., he stood up, removed his top coat, and said to him, “Take it and leave me be.”

And what took place after that? There was no difference between before and after, none at all. Reb Moshe Pinchas would sit and study, his sons and daughters grew up, and his father-in-law fell ill and passed on. When he died, Reb Moshe Pinchas was deprived of his means of support and forced once again to take on students for a fee. And since he was burdened with sons and daughters he was not afforded the ability to be selective and say, “This pupil suits me and this one does not.” And from to time, he even had to take on an unworthy student.

23.

And now we shall lament the fickleness of time. Three or four generations back nothing had been more beloved than Torah, but two to three generations ago Torah began a gradual decline. (God forbid that Torah should decline, rather despisers of Israel should decline!) The study houses remained full, but the students studied for their own gain, in order to be called “Rabbi” and be seated in places of honor. Albeit, the decline was not like that in our own generation, but the beginning of a decline is still a decline. Not many days had passed before Reb Moshe Pinchas had grown to detest his students and his students to detest him, for they sought wit without substance and he had studied for the sake of true Torah. They say that he did not find even one worthy student, and if he did find a worthy student he was one of the poor ones who were unable to pay tuition. The elders of that generation, who would act according to their custom and vie with one another in matters of law, might have mistakenly assumed that all was as it should be. And yet in truth the world was not the same and norms were not normal. And as the number of dedicated hearts dwindled, the number of books proliferated, and anyone who could rub his fingers together would write “innovative works” and bring them to the print house. However, in contrast to those basketfuls of hollow gourds there were found some truly sharp analyses, such as the book of the true scholar Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Horowitz, which clarified a number of laws in matters that had resurfaced in recent generations and had not been addressed by the books of the earlier scholars. About Reb Moshe Pinchas, we have nothing to relay. Reb Moshe Pinchas was involved with nothing but Torah. And when they would mention him in praise, they would add, “He’s like a mountain palm — perseveres in difficult conditions, but his fruit is so meager.” He had already despaired of the rabbinate and, needless to say, no town in need of a rabbi ever approached him. The story of what he had done to a leading Jewish town had spread throughout the land. And towns that needed an instructor found themselves a scholar more agreeable than he.

24.

When Reb Shlomo had advised the people of his town to appoint Reb Moshe Pinchas to succeed him, tears had streamed from their eyes. After all the ill will that this man had aimed at him, their rabbi was still striving to help him even though several members of the rabbi’s own family were seeking to take over his position. Could there be in this generation a person so righteous that he was able to overcome human nature, relinquish his honor and bestow kindness upon his affronter? As a result, the townspeople had not hesitated and had sent a letter of appointment to Reb Moshe Pinchas, as we have recounted. Now we shall relate a little something concerning what happened to Reb Shlomo after Reb Moshe Pinchas had sent the town away empty-handed.

When news reached Reb Shlomo that Reb Moshe Pinchas had withdrawn from the rabbinate because he had not wanted to receive any benefit from him, Reb Shlomo’s countenance darkened like the edges of a cauldron and the matter gnawed relentlessly at his heart. Reb Moshe Pinchas had so begrudged him that he had shamed a town of Jewish eminence and was willing to live impoverished. Reb Shlomo remembered the days when the two of them had been ensconced in the same town. One sitting at the height of honor and the other living a life of sorrow without joy, without good fortune and without a wife, exhausting himself over Torah study, and in the end when Reb Moshe Pinchas had cited the law accurately, he hadn’t told him, “Well said!” but rather had belittled him and thrown in his face that he still remained a bachelor. And it is said that from that time on mirth had never again graced Reb Shlomo’s face. One day discussion began to revolve around the sermon incident. Reb Shlomo said, “Perhaps I should have let him triumph over me, but then again did I prevail only for the sake of my own pride? Surely it was for the sake of the Torah that I beat him and saved him from stumbling.” Nonetheless, Reb Shlomo’s mind would not rest.

25.

We must once again mention that which we are inclined to forget, namely the grim one, who reaps without having sown. In those days the elderly teacher passed away, the one who was not a rabbi but had occupied the teaching post in our town as an instructor. When the previous rabbi had gone to meet his Maker, our town remained unable to find a suitable replacement. They had brought in a rabbi from one of the small towns and appointed him as an instructor until they could find a rabbi commensurate with their prestige, and one worthy of the exceptional sages who by tradition had served as rabbis in our town. A year passed, then two, and ten, and twenty, until forty years had gone by and in all those years they had not approved any rabbi. At first, because for every rabbi who had sought the rabbinate in our town the town elders had said, “The post is bigger than he.” After that, it was out of habit. And after that, it was out of respect for the old instructor. When he died, many rabbis had come to eulogize him, some of them intending from the outset to seek the rabbinate. However, the town leaders had already focused their attention on Reb Shlomo. And even though Reb Shlomo’s town was bigger than ours, and was the town of his father the great sage, yet our town was superior since it was one of the long-established communities, and even before the year 1648 had been famously praiseworthy, having been mentioned in a responsum of the Maharshal. There’s even been speculation that several great rabbis had begun their service in our town. And after all, if it was his wish to serve in a place of his ancestors the sage Rabbi Pinchas, Reb Shlomo’s great-grandfather, had served in our town and prior to his passing had predicted that one of his descendants would someday reside in our midst. And because of this, he had decreed that no one should be buried next to him before the passage of a hundred years, and that the deceased must be of his seed.

26.

Several of the prominent men of our town journeyed to Reb Shlomo and brought him a letter of appointment. Reb Shlomo received them with great honor and reminisced with them about the good years he had spent in our town and he spoke of the praiseworthiness of our town and its inhabitants, and the highest praise he heaped upon the mighty Torah sages, the most eminent in the land, who had led the town. And he added that it would be an honor for a rabbi to be ensconced in a holy and splendid assembly where great rabbis had served, and that it was a great privilege for him to be offered the rabbinate of our town. The emissaries heard this and were filled with joy and said, “And it will be a privilege for us that our Rabbi Shlomo will be residing in our midst. And even our sagacious rabbis, who rest in peace, will derive contentment that he sits in their place.” The noble wife of the rabbi rejoiced immensely, for since the day she had left the town of her birth she had longingly yearned to return, and now that she had heard he was being offered the rabbinate of our town she said, “This is the day I had been hoping for.” A deep sigh was wrought from the heart of Reb Shlomo, he pondered briefly, and finally he said, “For my own private reasons, I cannot accept this rabbinate.” His wife swooned and began to weep. And he, who forever had honored her more than life itself, was now unmoved by her tears, and it was evident that nothing in the world could move him to his change his mind. The emissaries said, “Rabbi, is there a town on this earth as fine as ours, are there people on this earth as pleasant as ours, are there on this earth lovers of Torah and peace as we have in our town — and not only that, but they all love you, our Rabbi, and you, our Rabbi, love our town and it goes without saying also your wife. We will give you time to reconsider, and we implore you not to turn us away.” Reb Shlomo gazed upon them with unfettered affection and took the hand of one of them, as one shakes hands with his friend in agreement. And he repeated, “I have already told you, for reasons that are sealed up within me, that I am unable to accept.” The emissaries understood on their own that the hidden reason was that Reb Moshe Pinchas had not been among the signatories on the letter of appointment. But they reasoned that if they appointed Reb Moshe Pinchas to a judgeship in town, Reb Shlomo would acquiesce to take the rabbinate. They said to Reb Shlomo, “Rabbi, we are going back to our town and will return another time. And we trust that meanwhile the Rabbi will relent and not reject our town.” And when the emissaries returned to our town it was agreed in the presence of the entire congregation to take on Reb Moshe Pinchas as a religious judge, on the condition that Reb Shlomo be installed as rabbi. Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “I already told him that I do not want to be anywhere near him, neither in this life nor in the world to come.” So Reb Shlomo did not accept the rabbinate in our town because of Reb Moshe Pinchas and our town did not obtain Reb Moshe Pinchas as a judge because of the grudge.

27.

Reb Moshe Pinchas remained without any source of livelihood. A little merchandise remained from his father-in-law’s inheritance. Once this had been sold off and the widow’s portion distributed, not even one meal’s worth was left for Reb Moshe Pinchas. Well-to-do Jewish householders support themselves and their children, so long as they are still alive; when they die their sustenance dies with them. Rabbi Moshe Pinchas was willing to make due with a slice of bread dipped in salt. Before long, even his bread and salt became scarce. And now his children went begging for bread and a piece of cloth to cover their nakedness. And at home there was neither bread nor garment.

The Holy One blessed be He did not leave him long to suffer. One day Reb Moshe Pinchas took ill. The second day word got around that he was seriously ill. The third day word spread in town that he was dangerously ill. When Reb Moshe Pinchas sensed that they were preparing for his demise, he raised himself upon his bed and said, “The time has not yet come for this man to die; there still remain some pages of Talmud that he has not studied sufficiently well.” Not many days passed before he had arisen from his sickbed. And naturally, upon leaving his bed he entered the study house and did not budge from there until he had learned those very pages and completed studying the entire Talmud. Had he postponed the conclusion of his studies he would have lived, but could a man whose entire life had been Torah survive even one day without Torah? As he completed the Talmud, his life also ended. The Kaddish prayer, customarily recited upon completing Talmud study was recited instead by his son at his gravesite.

28.

Reb Moshe Pinchas was raised on Torah, labored on Torah, acquired a good name and passed on from the world with a good name. At his burial, his eulogizer got excited while giving the tribute and proclaimed, “Happy is he who arrives in the next world with his learning in hand. At this funeral it is as if we have just buried all of the major works of Torah interpretation.” His mother who had aged greatly, stood at her son’s grave, leaning on her cane and rubbing her eyes dimmed with age saying, “Would you have ever imagined that my little Pinchas would do this to me, that he would go off to the Garden of Eden and leave his mother behind in a world that is worse than hell? And wouldn’t it have been more fitting that I should die and he should live? I implore you, good people, look and see, I haven’t even the eyes with which to cry.” And so, Reb Moshe Pinchas parted from this world. And after the snows had melted and the ground had firmed up, they placed a monument on his grave, like those of the great rabbis who had served in the rabbinate of our town.

29.

About Reb Moshe Pinchas we will presently add not a word more. However, about Reb Shlomo we will tell, for about him there is what to tell. Reb Shlomo was a man of high stature. He had married off his sons and daughters and with each passing year his prominence soared. His teachings were recognized throughout the land and all the most difficult questions were brought before him. And it goes without saying that our town, which had no rabbi, made no move either large or small without consulting him. And although besieged with burdensome inquiries, his responses were never tardy. The majority of them began thus: “To my beloved soul mates,” and other such words of endearment. And at times at the end of his response he would add new insights gained during the course of his studies. He would also respond to insights sent to him by students, in order to strengthen their devotion to Torah.

30.

In the meantime the rabbinical post in our town stood vacant, and every time a wealthy householder from our town was invited to Reb Shlomo’s town he would say to him, “Rabbi, when will you finally come to us? The rabbinical seat still awaits you.” A few of those in the community, who feared that the matter would drag on and that our town would remain without a rabbi as it had until now, entered into discussions with a sage from one of the nearby towns. This sage, seeing that most of the people were leaning towards Reb Shlomo, got out of it by way of a jest. He said, “After all, I am already a rabbi in your town, as most of the householders who are in my town reside in yours.” And here we must explain the words of the sage. “Reside” meant reside in the jails, in that some of the householders of his town would be caught conducting fraudulent business and would be incarcerated in the jails of our town, as the jails in our town serviced the entire region.

31.

Reb Shlomo occupied the seat of his father and led his congregation peacefully and equitably. He issued several rulings which were good for the rich as well as for the poor, for the mighty as well as for the meek, for the men as well as for the women. How so for the rich? Among the wealthy are those who avert their eyes from the poor and do not give charity. When the needy die, even if their debts are paid off, they are not permitted to be buried until their heirs pay a certain amount for plot fees. And at times this would delay the deceased from burial so long that the body emitted a stench. Reb Shlomo ruled that every rich person had to purchase a burial plot in the cemetery and donate annually to the poor fund an amount equal to the interest he would have earned had he loaned the same amount that the land had cost him. And the result was that the rich and poor benefited equally. And how so for the mighty and the meek? There were some people who could not afford to pay tuition for private tutors and were embarrassed to bring their children to the local schoolhouse, for that is where the children of the poor study and it would become known that they were poor. Reb Shlomo appointed good teachers at the school and personally tended to the pupils. Some of the wealthy householders envied them and began to bring their boys there as well, so that one could no longer distinguish between the poor and the rich. For men and women, how so? It was customary in town that when an important person died his remains would be purified in the ritual bath. As this caused some women to fear going to that mikveh, Reb Shlomo decreed that it was prohibited to bring the dead for immersion.

32.

And thus Reb Shlomo sat in peace and led his congregation equitably. He issued many rulings and received everyone graciously. But anywhere he detected even a hint of desecrating God and His Holy Torah he wouldn’t stand for it, even from the upstanding. In the town there was a certain wealthy Enlightenment scholar, one of those about whom scripture says, “Can an Enlightened one seek after God?” Once during the life of the old scholar of blessed memory, this man was seen riding in a steam-powered wagon, which today is called a train, on the second day of the festival, a holy day. And when he was chastised instead of saying, “I was forced to,” he rather attempted to prove that travel by this type of wagon is permitted even on the Sabbath. Back in those days, transgressors used to seek a lenient interpretation of the rules of law, the very same kind of interpretation that the later medieval rabbis had decreed to be without foundation. When Reb Shlomo had been appointed as rabbi of the town, that same Enlightenment scholar had tried to get close to him, mistakenly thinking that he had found someone of like mind, inasmuch as the rabbi was familiar with German. Reb Shlomo, who embraced everyone, detested those scholars who used their knowledge perversly, uncovering ways to interpret the Torah in contravention of religious law, all the more so with respect to Sabbath observance upon which the redemption of Israel depends. And the more this man tried to get close to him, the more he would keep him at a distance. He started griping about the rabbi, and once he started griping about the rabbi, he discovered other gripers like himself.

There was an elderly money-lender in the town, scholarly and observant of the commandments, named Reb Asher. Reb Asher had authored a book and named it “His Bread Shall be Fat” so named for the verse “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat.” The old man began pestering the rabbi, seeking an endorsement of his book. One time when the old man was harassing the rabbi, the rabbi said to him, “And who’s going to endorse your other book, your book of usurious loans?” The old man stormed out fuming and began griping about the rabbi. And once he started griping, he discovered other gripers like himself.

In the town there was a “Clothing of the Naked” welfare society. One time, the treasurer used money from the society’s funds to buy tefillin for a young pauper, relying on the verse, “It is the only covering for his skin,” which had been interpreted by an important mystical text to mean that tefillin are to be regarded as clothing. The rabbi heard about this and required the treasurer to pay for it out of own pocket. He started griping about the rabbi. And once he started griping about the rabbi, he found other gripers like himself.

The grandson of a Hassidic Rebbe had lived in the town. When he passed on, the Hassidim sought to immerse his body in the ritual bath. The Rabbi would not permit it. They began to bad-mouth the rabbi. And once they began to bad-mouth the rabbi, they discovered many other gripers like themselves.

There was an old judge in Reb Shlomo’s religious court, whose son-in-law, Reb Fischel Toen, was a certified instructor, and used to counsel litigants and issue legal rulings in his neighborhood. When the old judge passed on, Reb Fischel sought to be appointed in place of his father-in-law. The rabbi knew him to be a quarrel monger and schemer who, when he saw that the law was leaning in favor of the deserving party, would counsel the culpable party on how to prevail. The rabbi said to him, “Refrain from pursuing this matter; I will not consent to your appointment as a judge.” Reb Fischel left disappointed and began to gripe about the rabbi. And once he began to gripe about the rabbi, he discovered other gripers like himself.

All the gripers banded together as one, each one for a different reason, and composed a slanderous letter to the town’s officials accusing the rabbi of being a fanatic, an unenlightened zealot. The town officials and government bureaucrats, who knew the Rabbi, tore up the letter and rebuked the rabble-rousers. How did they react? The Hassidim amongst them said, “Because he studies the languages of the Gentiles, they side with him.” The Enlightenment followers among them said, “Because the Gentiles like him, he hastens to be strict even when there is room for leniency, in order to capture the hearts of the most religious.”

And yet the dispute had not progressed beyond being just an ordinary dispute, until Reb Fischel was widowed and remarried a woman from the Feivush family. This is the same Feivush family that was named after its leader Reb Uri Veibush the Provider, who used to rule the town with an iron fist, and the fruit of his loins had emulated his qualities and maintained a firm grip on the town. The head of the community, Reb Feivush the Great, was a member of the Feivush family. The congregational scribe, Feivush the Lesser, was his sister’s son. Reb Feivushel the Elder was the treasurer of the holy burial society. Feivush the Hoarse, the religious supervisor of the slaughterhouse, was from the family of Feivush. The Feivush who was nicknamed Fabius was in charge of the registry of births and deaths. Fabius, whom everyone called Feivki, and Feivki who called himself Febus, together controlled the tobacco market and its branches. The distillery was leased to the husband of Reb Feivush the Great’s sister. The fields belonging to the town’s Baron were leased to the father-in-law of the husband of Feivush the Great’s sister. And all of them together were partners in leasing the liquor authority. In short, there was not even one office of importance or monetary value that was not in the hands of the House of Feivush. Even the appraisers and tax assessors and the one in charge of the charitable consecrations were from this same family. Since Reb Fischel had married a woman from the family of the House of Feivush, the Feivushes said, “Why not nominate him for a judgeship? Surely he is entitled to it by rights of his first father-in-law and surely by his own right he is worthy to be a judge.” Those who were dependent on the Feivushes, tagged along behind them. Those who were not dependent on the Feivushes leaned at times in one direction and at times in the other. And so the peace was stripped away and the conflict had begun.

33.

From time to time wealthy people from our town from would visit Reb Shlomo’s town for trade and commerce or to conduct some other business. And when someone from our town would visit Reb Shlomo’s town, he would go to meet him and deliver tidings to the rabbi’s wife from her brothers and other relatives. On days that she received visitors from our town the rabbi’s wife would make it a holiday for them because she liked her hometown folk, the vast majority of whom were fine and well-mannered people, and needless to say she liked the town itself which was worthy of affection. As the conflict had intensified and Reb Moshe Pinchas had already passed on, the rabbi’s wife went back to her wishful thinking that her husband the rabbi would return to our town. And she used to prepare large feasts for the guests to avail them the opportunity to speak with the rabbi and hear about new developments in our town. While there were not terribly many new developments in our town, still there is no town without something new. One development, from which you can learn how much our town loves peace and distances itself from conflict, is worth mentioning. When a member of one the new Hassidic sects, Vovi Zeinvil Fleshkidrige, broke the rules and wore a festive fur hat on the Sabbath immediately preceding the mournful fast day of Tisha B’Av, the entire town ridiculed him but it did not deteriorate into a brawl.

And here it must be said, as we’ve already said before, that all our townsfolk were scholars. And whenever they used to sit around at a feast anywhere, it seemed as if the Divine table was actually standing in our town due to the plethora of Torah discussions that could be heard around it. From Torah discussions they would arrive at matters close to the Torah and it goes without saying to the matter of the rabbinate in our town. Reb Shlomo showed no indication that he was leaning towards accepting the rabbinate in our town. To the contrary, in those days he was urging the visiting dignitaries to seek another rabbi for themselves, as it is not right to leave an important Jewish town without a leader. One time Reb Shimon Eliyah, Reb Shlomo’s brother-in-law arrived with three of the best of our town, amongst them the distinguished Reb Yehudah, the father-in-law of my grandfather Reb Yehudah. After the evening prayers, during the meal, conversation got around to the conflict with the Feibushes and their entire clan. Reb Shimon Eliyah said to his brother-in-law, “Flee this town of quarrelsome people and come to our town.” The distinguished Reb Yehudah, father-in-law of my grandfather Reb Yehudah, added, “It is brought forth in Maimonides’s ‘Laws of Temperaments’ that if a man resides in a country whose leadership is malevolent and whose people fail to follow the just path, it behooves him to move to a place whose people are righteous and conduct themselves in the ways of virtue.” Reb Shlomo shut his eyes like a man who was contemplating his advisor’s advice. When some time had passed and he had said nothing, all the dignitaries said as one, “Rabbi, what will you reply to us?” The rabbi opened his eyes and said, “You know that I am not a man of conflict and I am neither obstinate nor fond of polemics, neither am I dependent on rabbinical compensation. But what shall those rabbis do whose wives did not bring them a dowry and whose fathers-in-law did not bequeath them wealth and assets? Heaven forbid that they should make the Torah a doormat to be trampled by all. If a rabbi is poor and dependent on people, he is not given enough to make a living and not only that but he is also insulted and derided. And if he is rich, they come to him with complaints because of his wealth. The edges of the robe of the sage Rabbi Gabriel Reinush were worn out from age and he had to shorten it and the entire town raised a hue and cry that he was wearing short clothing, German-style. The sage Rabbi Abraham Teomim who was very wealthy and would allocate all of his earnings towards the needs of the town, was forced from his hometown because the town’s bigwigs claimed that he was depriving them of their livelihood because they were lending money to the local nobility at an interest rate of twenty percent, while he was satisfied with only eight percent. And did they not gripe about me that I was lending my money with interest and cutting into their livelihood? And surely you know that I entrusted the funds left to me by my father-in-law, may he rest in peace, to reliable people so that they would give loans from the earned interest to marketplace merchants, from whom the lenders take twenty to twenty-five percent from the principal and deduct the interest up front, then charging them as if they had loaned them the full amount. And I tell you further, my dear friends, that I have spent the majority of my days tranquilly; now that they have sent some troubles my way should I be more demanding and issue a challenge? I am a decent man and deserve to live my life in peace. I am reminded that there was a great scholar in your town who practically killed himself for the sake of Torah study and when he died he didn’t leave his wife and children even enough for one meal. And I, Blessed be God — my livelihood is assured and my burial clothes are ready for me. Therefore, what do I need to worry about? They will not carry me out in a garbage wagon like the people of Belz did to their rabbi, the Bach of blessed memory, who was ushered out of the town on the eve of the Sabbath after noon. I beseech you, my brothers, please do not wound me; rather take for yourselves a rabbi.” The dignitaries said to him, “We already have a rabbi.” “Who is it?” asked Reb Shlomo. The dignitaries smiled and answered coyly, “Why, of course, it is you Reb Shlomo, may you live long!” Reb Shlomo rose from his chair and said to them, “Take note, gentlemen, I have already told you that I will not accept the rabbinate in your town, and I am not changing what I have said.” Reb Shimon, his brother-in-law, said, “We’ve already been assured by your grandfather, the great Rabbi Pinchas — may his merit protect us— that one of his descendants is destined to reside in our town.” Reb Shlomo responded, “Rabbi Pinchas, my grandfather, was a great and righteous man. And when a righteous man says something, it is bound to come true. But after all, my grandfather, of blessed memory, left many children who also have borne children devoted to Torah. Since they are my kinsfolk, it is not proper for me to recommend them. And you, if it is your desire to fulfill my grandfather’s words, chose for yourselves from among his progeny one who is worthy of that responsibility.” All the dignitaries responded in unison, “That righteous man clearly said, ‘a singularly special one from among my seed.’ And there is no one in this generation greater than our rabbi, Rabbi Shlomo, may he live long.” Reb Shlomo responded, “Even though you are mistaken to think of me as being unique in this generation, my grandfather never said that I would sit in his chair; he said only that one of his seed would come to dwell among you. And who knows what that righteous one meant to infer?”

The whole time that this had been going on, the rabbi’s wife had been gazing upon her husband the rabbi and praying in her heart that the words of the dignitaries would have an impact on him. But the rabbi took no notice of his wife and apparently even the Holy One blessed be He did not heed her prayers. And when they had finished the meal and chanted the grace after meals, the rabbi arose from the table and said, “Sit for a while with my wife while I briefly visit my study.” When he had gone, the rabbi’s wife said, “Did you see him? He’s only forty seven and already he’s gone grey. All of his troubles come from nowhere else but the mother of that lad from the village. I heard the old woman involves herself with practitioners of witchcraft.” In the middle of this she heard her husband’s footsteps and stopped talking. The rabbi returned with a book in his hand as was his custom whenever he had visitors over, so that in case they rose in his honor, they rather would be standing in honor of the book in his hand. He looked and observed their despondency and the unhappiness on their faces. He smiled and said, “I had expected that my wife would bring you something hot to drink.” The rabbi’s wife got up and brought over tea with Assyrian apples, which we call lemons. The dignitaries sat and drank, and never again mentioned anything from all of those discussions.

34.

Now let us leave aside Reb Shlomo’s town and return to our town and dissipate a bit of the anguish of the conflict by recounting the virtue of the charitable souls of our town.

Prior to his death one of our town’s wealthy people allocated a specific sum for charity to go towards a perpetual fund to purchase houses, yards and fields and distribute annually on the anniversary of his death the revenue from the houses, etc., to the poor Jews of the town under the supervision of the town’s rabbi, to be managed by three trustees appointed by him during his lifetime, as they saw fit. However, in his will he set a precondition that the poor within his family would take precedence to other poor folk in benefiting from his bequest. The brother of the honorable deceased came accompanied by other relatives who did not reside in our town, demanding a significant portion from the perpetual fund. And a doubt arose as to whether the brother of the deceased had a right, inasmuch as he had not been poor at the time of the endowment. And further, as to how far to extend the priority of kinship. And the appointed trustees of the bequest were concerned about the commentary of our sages of blessed memory as follows: “The apportionment of charity to the poor of a town cannot be overseen by that town’s own authorities.” Therefore, as they were wont to do, they turned to the sage Reb Shlomo for a legal ruling.

Several weeks passed without an answer. And here the anniversary of the death of the benefactor was fast approaching. The poor relatives were expecting to get their share, and even the rest of the poor were pounding on the doors of the trustees. And the trustees were at a total loss as to what to do. And the days were days of winter, and the mail was unreliable due to the snows and the cold. And even the wagon masters, who are in the habit of endangering themselves even for small wages, went out very infrequently during that time, inasmuch as due to the heavy snows the roads were covered and the horses would get mired in the snow, unable to free themselves. At the end of several such days, a letter arrived from Reb Shlomo that he was going to attend his sister’s daughter’s wedding in some other town and since it so happened that the town was close to our town, he intended to drop in at our town and provide an oral ruling for the trustees of the bequest. The town abounded with joy and prepared itself to greet him. And here we must recount a wondrous event. There was an old man in town, who must have been about a hundred years old, for he was born the same year that the great sage Reb Pinchas (Reb Shlomo’s grandfather) had passed and he had been named after him. For a long while he had been wishing to die, because he was very old and terribly weakened by the burden of the years. And yet in those days he began to pray rather that he would live in order to behold the grandson of that pious one.

Meanwhile, Reb Shlomo Eliyah cleared a special room for his brother-in-law, the rabbi, and he ordered that the furnace be fixed. And when the furnace had been repaired, they would fire it up twice daily, even though many were doubtful whether the rabbi would come since the roads were impassable and every journey life threatening. The distinguished rabbi Reb Yehudah, father-in-law of my grandfather Reb Yehudah, said “I have no doubt that he will come. As it is not Reb Shlomo’s way to go back on his word.”

35.

One day, close to the time for the afternoon prayers, a winter carriage arrived in our town and on it a man dressed like one of the high officials, in an enormous winter fur cloak. The carriage rolled in and stopped by the store of Reb Shimon Eliyah. The store’s clerks jumped up and ran out to greet the carriage, and all the trade agents of the town surrounded it assuming that a high official was coming to procure merchandise. They had not realized that it was Reb Shlomo, a high official in Torah, which surpasses any merchandise. Reb Shimon Eliyah came out accompanied by his two sons, and with them the charity fund treasurer, and helped the rabbi alight from the carriage. The lady of the house, Reb Shimon Eliyah’s wife, overheard the commotion and ordered the servants to add logs to the furnace. They brought Reb Shlomo to the house, removed his heavy cloak and leather boots and sat him down in a soft chair, his feet facing the furnace, and they covered his knees with a fur mantle and observed him closely to see what else would suit him and what more they could do for him. He was spent from the hardship of the journey. And when the snow in his beard melted they realized that the snow was not melting, in other words that his hair had gone white, and not due to the passage of time but rather due to grief and suffering. And even though he was completely worn out, he sent for the trustees so as not to not delay justice to the poor. And meanwhile he instructed that his bags be opened and he took out a variety of sweets that he had brought from the wedding feast of his sister’s daughter. He gave some to his relatives, and to the servants and maids he gave first choice, and he asked them to eat them in front of him and said Amen after the blessings. After they had tasted them, he asked if they were good. He probably had a particular motive, since the bride had been orphaned from her father and her uncle the great sage was concerned that perhaps they had not bothered to prepare fine delicacies for her.

While this had been taking place, half the town had arrived to greet the rabbi and with them came the distinguished trustees. Due to the great number of guests, they were unable to get around to discussing the matter of the bequest. But the next day, immediately after the morning prayers before he even ate or drank, the rabbi sat down with the trustees until he had arrived at a true and just ruling. That is, to give half to the poor relatives and half to the poor townsfolk. As to the half for the poor of the town, equal shares would be distributed to all. But the half portion for the relatives would be divided giving priority to the closest kin, and the brother of the deceased, who was the closest of all, would be given a third of that half, the remaining two thirds to be divided without differentiating between those who resided here and those who resided elsewhere. In the presence of the distinguished trustees the rabbi wrote these things down in clear language and substantiated his reasoning on the basis of the Gemara and the great commentators. Since he wrote the response without books in front of him, he left blank spaces, which he circled until he would be able to check further and add citations. The ones who had the book published filled in some of the blanks.

After he had handed over the response to the trustees, he rested his head on the pillow. Later he got up from his bed and ate a little something and received every visitor, until the day and most of the night had passed. In the morning he wanted to go and pray in the Kloyz, but his legs would not oblige him and he was forced to pray in his room. A prayer quorum of ten men was found to pray with him, for many had come with the intent to pray with the rabbi wherever he prayed. After prayers his sister-in-law, the lady of the house, brought him coffee and something sweet. He drank the coffee and left the sweets. The matron saw this and said, “Rabbi, you shame my handiwork.” He tore off a small bit and ate. Some say that from the time he had learned of the matter of Reb Moshe Pinchas rejecting the rabbinate he hadn’t allowed himself so much as a taste of anything indulgent. While still sitting there, he raised his skullcap and wiped his forehead. This he did several times. The distinguished Reb Yehudah, father-in-law of my grandfather Reb Yehudah, observed him and hinted that they needed to let the rabbi rest. They began to leave. And Reb Yehudah also tried to leave, but the rabbi gestured to him with his hand to detain him.

The rabbi sat and said the grace after meals, while his brother-in-law and the rabbi Reb Yehudah and two other gentlemen who had arrived after everyone else had left were standing there and gazing upon him affectionately. He took out his handkerchief, wiped his forehead, and rose from his chair as if intending to leave. Where was he intending to go and who was worthy of the rabbi coming to see him? Out of an abundance of courtesy, no one dared ask. Finally, he came back, sat down and said, “I have been meaning to ask you. What is the state of affairs with Reb Moshe Pinchas’s widow?” Reb Shimon Eliyah responded, “Like the situation with every poor widow, so it is with this widow. She receives a little sustenance from heavenly mercy and a little from the mercy of people.” Reb Shlomo glanced over at the distinguished Reb Yehudah, father-in-law of my grandfather Reb Yehudah. Reb Yehudah said, “I give so that she and her children should not die of starvation.” Reb Shlomo said, “And who gives to them so that they should live?” The great sage looked over at his brother-in-law, who was very wealthy, perhaps worth ten thousand pieces of pure silver.

Rabbi Shimon said cleverly, “It is told that Sir Rabbi Moses Montefiore always used to say ‘It’s better to be a poor man among Israel than to be a rich man among Israel.’” The great sage grasped his beard, obviously suppressing his anger with difficulty, and said, “It is one thing to talk about a time when there were such generously charitable souls as Rabbi Moses Montefiore. But at a time…” He hadn’t finished what he was saying before he stood up from his chair and asked, “Where does she live?” They realized that he intended to call on her. They said to him, “Better you shouldn’t go, as she lives in a squalid, cold hovel.” The rabbi sighed and said, “She lives in squalor, the furnace is not kindled and people know this and yet are indifferent!” When they saw that he was going, they wanted to accompany him. He waved them off with his hand and said, “You have no interest in kindling her furnace, so why trouble yourselves? I also shall not kindle her furnace since you can see I am dressed nicely, and wouldn’t it be a pity for one’s clothes to get soiled.”

36.

It was exceedingly cold that day, and as cold as it was outside, inside the house it was colder still. The furnace was lit, but not enough to warm the house. The woman and her children sat wrapped in tattered clothing, vapor rising from the ground, and from the corner of the house there arose the sweet, pleasing voice of the eldest son of Reb Moshe Pinchas, sitting and studying at home because he had no shoes to wear to the study house. Because he was so engrossed in his studies, he had not noticed the rabbi enter. But the rabbi noticed him: that he was studying very nicely. And he immediately began to discuss Torah with him and was aware neither of the chill in the house nor of the heat of the fever within his body. The people in our town are in the habit of telling that upon his return from there he had said, “Had I not already married off my sons and daughters, I would marry them off to the sons and daughters of Reb Moshe Pinchas.” And he also had said, “For what reason has the significance of Torah waned in this generation? It is because the rabbis marry off their sons to daughters of the wealthy. The grooms are dependent on the riches of their fathers-in-law who buy them rabbinic posts, and they fail to toil wholeheartedly in Torah. Having secured for themselves rabbinic posts and exhausted their dowries, they naturally look to the wealthy householders for hand-outs in order to satisfy the needs of their wives, because the daughters of the rich cannot tolerate the pain of poverty, and as a result of that these rabbis are prone to obsequiousness and other unsavory traits. This is in stark contrast to one who marries the daughter of a poor scholar who all of her days had been accustomed to scarcity and deprivation, and her husband does not need to demean himself before boorish ignoramuses, and does not diminish the power of Torah.” Regarding the sage Reb Shlomo, it cannot be said that he was harmed on account of his wealthy wife, in that the merit of her ancestor our rabbi Ba’al HaLevushim enabled him to serve the Torah from a place of wealth and to perform good deeds of charity and kindness. But it has been said in his name that he used to say, “I doubt that it is appropriate for a rabbi to deal in money lending, even to do a good deed.”

He went to visit the widow once again. They say that he went to ask if there remained any writings of her husband and to bring her a dowry for her daughters. This time he did not linger at her home and did not discuss Torah with her son, because speaking had become difficult as a result of the severity of his cough, so he invited the boy to come to him. And when the boy did come, he dispensed with the town leaders and spoke with him.

37.

That day happened to be the twentieth day of the Jewish month of Tevet, and it was the sage Reb Shlomo’s practice to devote that whole day to the works of Maimonides inasmuch as it was the anniversary of the death of Maimonides, of blessed memory, and in the evening he would share any new insights that he had gleaned from his studies. Due to the onslaught of visitors, he had not had a chance that day to study and at any rate had not gleaned any new insights. And when the town leaders arrived and with them the great scholars, he told them, “Today is the anniversary of the death of Maimonides, of blessed memory, and it would be fitting for us to speak about him, but because of the infirmity of my body I have not studied today. Yet I will tell you a fine elucidation about Maimonides which I heard attributed to the sage and pious Reb Elazar of Amsterdam, of blessed memory, which he told before the great ones of his time when he came to our country to bless his family prior to going up to the Holy Land.”

“In the book Fundamentals of Torah, chapter 7, Maimonides, of blessed memory, says the following: ‘Prophetic insight does not alight upon anyone other than a great Torah scholar who is also a man of great principle.’ The commentary Kessef Mishneh raised the following quandary: ‘Why did Maimonides not write that he should be powerful, wealthy and humble, as in the opinion of Rabbi Yonatan in Tractate Nedarim, page 87’? In addition to Kessef Mishneh, the Lehem Mishneh raised the question, ‘Why didn’t Maimonides think of what was indicated in the tenth chapter of Tractate Sabbath, page 84, that the Divine Presence does not come to rest upon anyone other than one who is wise, wealthy, humble and tall?’ Except that our rabbis do give us a way to reconcile Maimonides. For after all, we have found in the Gemara that the Divine Presence rests even upon a total pauper, and even upon someone who is not tall. And if so, Rabbi Yonatan’s principle must be rejected, as it is told in Tractate Sanhedrin, page 11, “One time, the great rabbis were assembled in an attic in Yavneh and a heavenly voice came to them and said, There is one present here who is worthy of the Divine Presence resting upon him, except that his generation does not merit it.” The scholars cast their eyes upon Samuel the Small. Yet another time they were assembled in an attic in Yavneh and a heavenly voice called out and said, “There is one present here who is worthy of the Divine Presence resting upon him, except that his generation does not merit it.” The scholars cast their eyes upon Hillel the Elder.’ We conclude from this that the Divine Presence can rest upon a pauper, for after all it is said in Tractate Yoma, page 37, that Hillel the Elder was the greatest of paupers and that he was a woodchopper. And we conclude also that the Divine Presence can rest upon one who is not tall, for after all the scholars had gazed upon Samuel the Small. Indeed, Tosfot Yom Tov says in his Mishnah commentary, chapter four of the tractate Ethics of the Fathers, ‘Why was he called Samuel the Small? Because he used to belittle himself, except that according to the literal interpretation it appears that he really was quite short.’”

38.

Our story is approaching its end and what is more the end of our rabbi is fast approaching. On the Sabbath he had it announced that he would be giving a eulogy for Reb Moshe Pinchas on the anniversary of his death. And when the beadle announced that the sage would be delivering a eulogy for Reb Moshe Pinchas, the entire town prepared itself to hear it, both on account of the one being eulogized and the one giving the eulogy. Back in those days, two or three generations ago, people were not yet awash in sermons. If a scholar came and offered to sermonize, everyone wanted to hear. Due to the cold weather, the sage agreed to give the eulogy in the old study house because in the large synagogue there was no furnace. And all who came to pray there were in the habit of donning their tefillin in the old study house for they could not expose their arms because of the cold. And because the study house could not accommodate all of the people, it was announced those who had warm clothes would stand in the courtyard, and those who didn’t have warm clothes would stand inside. And the whole matter was a bit peculiar — could it be that the rich and the mighty would end up standing outside at a distance, while the paupers and beggars would be close up?

Meanwhile the sage had taken ill and his cough was ripping up the walls of his chest. His blue eyes had reddened and his beautiful face had puffed up. But he consoled them and said, “It’s merely an illness and I will get over it.” The anniversary of the death Reb Moshe Pinchas arrived. However, when the sage arose from his sickbed his strength abandoned him, his head spun and his throat was hoarse. Also, he had no strength in his legs. When he had completed his prayers, some while sitting and some while in bed, he looked at the timepiece and said, “The day is still young and the mercy of God, may He be blessed, has still not waned.” He began to gargle and to imbibe honey and sweet tea, and allowed himself to utilize some of the curatives mentioned in the Gemara, although one does not use the curatives in the Gemara any longer because the nature of the body has since changed. He poured himself a concoction consisting of one-third wine, one-third vinegar and one-third oil and drank it. And when he drank it, it seemed that he was returning to health. And as the time for the afternoon prayers drew near, he rose from his bed, pulled on a fur cloak over his clothing and on top of that the same overcoat he had worn on his journey. Reb Shimon Eliyah and his wife, the lady of the house, tried to prevail upon him not to go, for the doctor had said that if he went outside he would be endangering himself. The sage nodded his head as if to agree with them, but he went anyway. He had not arrived at the study house before having to return. And he did not return on his own two feet; rather they carried him in their arms.

That whole night long he mumbled feverishly. It is told that many times they heard his lips whispering, “A bukher makht kidesh af a groyp.” The town’s nobleman, who was very fond of the Scheiner family, sent his own personal physician. The doctor examined him and said, “There is nothing to worry about here. After three or four days the patient will recover, but he needs to be watched as this illness tends to recur. And if the patient isn’t careful enough, he is liable to endanger himself.”

In addition to all of the physiological treatment, they also undertook spiritual healing. In all of the synagogues and study houses they recited Psalms, in addition to eighteen psalms selected by the sage Noda BeYehudah, which are tried and true healing remedies. Even the tranquil women neither rested nor were calm and they drifted from one holy place to another and opened the Holy Ark to pray for the ill one. And on Thursday when the Torah was being read, they added to his name the name Moses, for the act of adding the name Moses to that of a true scholar who is ill was capable of healing him, as we had seen when the glorious sage Reb Meshulam Igra had fallen ill and they had added the name Moses to his, and a few days later he had returned to health. After that they gave charity in the ritual for the redemption of the soul, and said what they had to say. And there’s no need here to list every single word, because it is all spelled out in the book Tikkun HaNefesh.

39.

And now let us recount the end of the righteous one. When he realized that the hour of his passing from the world was drawing near he said to those responsible for seeing to his burial, “Bury me next to Reb Moshe Pinchas.” And then he instructed them to hand him the second volume of the Shulhan Arukh Law Code and he studied the rules relating to the process of dying. After that he blessed those close to him, including the male and female servants who attended him. Afterwards he blessed the townsfolk. And then he performed the ritual hand washing and recited the final confession prayers. After which he uttered the “Hear O Israel” prayer. Once he had arrived at the verse “And you shall love…” his pure soul departed.

I have already related how in those days the snow was falling nonstop. In our town, when the snow starts to fall it doesn’t stop falling until the beginning of Passover. And so the snow falls and falls, and all of the roads are covered with snow, especially those roads where no one comes and no one goes. Like heaps upon heaps the snows remain piled there, snow on top of snow. But the two head gravediggers, may they be remembered for good, tall Chaim who was nicknamed Long Life, and short Kaddish Leib, who was called Half Kaddish, went up to the cemetery and trudged through the deep snows to dig a grave for our rabbi the sage, may his memory be blessed.

We had hoped that he would guide us in the ways of life, but instead God took him suddenly to the bright light in the prime of his life. All that remained to us from the righteous one were his holy remains, which were laid out on the ground. Until it was time to give him over to the earth, they stood over him and recited verses, hymns and entreaties. Suddenly a frail, bird-like voice was heard and Reb Pinchas the Elder was seen leaning over the deceased reciting the Song of Songs. Immediately everyone present began to chant the Song of Songs, verse by verse, the same way they had when the sage Reb Pinchas Ba’al Mofet had been laid out on the ground before being brought over to his resting place. It has been the legend in our town from the time of our ancestors, who rest in Eden, that when our rabbi’s forefather, the sage Reb Pinchas Ba’al Mofet, had been laid to rest, the whole town had stood before the deceased and recited the Song of Songs. All that night not a soul went to bed and from the edges of town came the sound of old men and women lamenting for the righteous one. The snow came down and a pure light illuminated the night. The snow by its very nature is pure, and that night it was purer than pure. We heard from reliable sources that snow like that had not been seen before, or since. And yet, every heart was filled with darkness and gloom.

When daylight dawned the entire town came out, the young and the elderly, children and women, to escort our rabbi to his eternal resting place. No man kindled his furnace, no woman cooked her meals, not an infant remained in its crib, no sick person stayed in his bed. Rather, all came out to follow the coffin with eyes overflowing with tears, the tears freezing then melting then freezing once again. And not a person complained, “I’m cold,” and not a sound was uttered, except by the beadle who was walking and reciting, “Righteousness shall walk before him.” And so they walked on behind the bier of the righteous one until they arrived at the great synagogue. And when they got there, they set the bier on the ground and circled it seven times according to custom, and all those who had been involved in the purification of the body and in the circling of the coffin immersed themselves in a pure ritual bath. Afterwards, they proceeded to the cemetery and buried him in the grave that they had dug for him. When the snows had melted and the esteemed wife of the great sage, may his memory be blessed, came to weep over his grave and a few prayer quorums of ten men accompanied her, they observed that he had been laid next to his ancestor Reb Pinchas. Perhaps you are thinking that the gravediggers had erred, but in reality the elder sage had claimed the younger for himself. How great righteous ones are even in their death, inasmuch as on the our rabbi was buried a hundred years and one day had passed since the death of his righteous ancestor, who had stipulated with the town that no one be buried next to him until after the passage of one hundred years and that the deceased be of his own seed. And verily Reb Moshe Pinchas had also had a hand in this, because he had never made peace with Reb Shlomo and had not wanted him as a neighbor. And just as our Reb Shlomo had been a lover of peace and had always given in during his lifetime, so too did he acquiesce in death.

In recounting all of this, I did not intend to give an example of an exemplary man or to tell about the zeal of Reb Moshe Pinchas. Rather, I have merely told the tales of two scholars who were in our town two or three generations ago, at a time when Torah was the glory of Israel and all of Israel walked in the paths of Torah, which is the delight of the Lord our Fortress until the coming of the Redeemer at the end of days. At which time we will be privileged to hear God’s Torah directly from the lips of our righteous Messiah, who will sit and study Torah with all those of Israel who have studied Torah with love.

Translated by Paul Pinchas Bashan & Rhonna Weber Rogol

Annotated by the Translators with Jeffrey Saks

Annotations to “Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town”

Title: Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town / Cf. Sota 49a: “Two scholars who reside in one town, yet cannot abide each other in matters of Torah law — one will die and the other will go out to exile.”

Enhanced wisdom / Cf. Isaiah 28:29.

Wisdom calls aloud… / Proverbs 1:20.

Hoshen Mishpat / The essential work of Jewish financial law, codified in R. Yosef Karo’s 16th century Shulhan Arukh code of law.

Kloyz / A small house of study and prayer.

Fifteenth of the month of Av… / The Kloyz, in other words, was open for study and prayer around the clock, with the exception only of the month-long period of mourning (in mid-summer) for the Temple, from the fast day of the 17th of the month Tammuz until the 15th day of the following month of Av, when study did not take place in the evenings.

Joy of the Lord… / Cf. Nehemiah 8:10.

Gemara / Rabbinical analysis and commentary on the Mishnah, together the two comprise the Talmud.

Not a birthright… / Cf. Mishnah Avot 2:12.

Kosher for Passover / Since there can be no trace of leavened bread on Passover, the rabbi would have to ensure that the millstones were properly cleaned before the Passover flour for baking matzah could be ground.

Horeh Gaver on Yoreh De’ah / Reinush and his Horeh Gaver are fictitious, but cf. Job 3:3 from which Agnon takes the name of this rabbinic work, purported to be a commentary on a section of the Shulhan Arukh.

Kiddush and Havdalah / Kiddush is the benediction over the wine at the onset of the Sabbath; Havdalah is the ceremony at the end of the Sabbath separating it from the secular week.

Three parsas / A Talmudic measure of itinerant distance: one parsa is about four kilometers, approximately the distance a man can walk in 72 minutes.

Mikveh / A bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion to obtain purification.

Shemoneh Esreh / “The Eighteen” blessings, so called in reference to the original number of constituent blessings (there are now nineteen), is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy, recited three times a day. It is also known as the Amidah (or, “Standing” prayer).

“Myriad are the needs of your people”/ Opening line of a short prayer recited during times of imminent danger or extreme stress; see Berakhot 29b.

Reb Mordechai Yafeh / Called “Ba’al (author of) HaLevushim” after the series of halakhic (religious law) works he authored, an important scholar and posek (legal arbiter) (1530–1612, Poland).

Horowitz the Holy Shelah / A Hebrew acronym for Shnei Luhot HaBrit (“The Two Tablets of the Covenant”), a book written by the revered rabbi and kabbalist R. Yesha’ayahu Horowitz (1560–1630), usually referred to as the “Shelah HaKadosh (the Holy).”

Ba’al Mofet / A saintly man or man of wonders.

Reb Moshe / Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), German Jewish philosopher, considered the father of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment), had translated the Hebrew Bible into German.

Rabbi Wolf / R. Binyamin Zev Wolf Hindenheim (1757–1832), a grammarian and translator of the siddur to German.

Samuel II 6:16 / “And [as] the ark of the Lord came [into] the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul peered through the window, and she saw the king David hopping and dancing before the Lord; and she loathed him in her heart.” — for her criticism of her husband King David, it is implied that Michal died childless (compare v. 23)

Tallit / Prayer shawl traditionally worn only by married men.

Hatan Bereishit / The “groom” of the Book of Bereishit (Genesis), is the term used for the person called up for the first reading from the Book of Genesis on the holiday of Simhat Torah. This high honor is reserved for a respected member of the community.

Gabbai / Treasurer.

Forbidden to alter the interior space… / See Deuteronomy 12:4: “You will not do likewise to the Lord Your God,” which prescribes the destruction of idolatrous spaces, but proscribes doing the same to Holy space such as the Temple, and by extension synagogues (cf. Megilla 29a). The specific case, boarding up a space in the synagogue to block a draft, which does then reduce the “volume” of “holy” synagogue space, is discussed in the rabbinic commentaries, and is left as a difference of opinions between various authorities. The sources under question are outlined in E.E. Urbach’s important Hebrew essay on this story, “Shnei Talmidei Hakhamim Shehayu Be‘Irenu — Mekorot uFerush” in LeAgnon Shai, Urbach and D. Sadan, eds. (Jerusalem: Jewish Agency Press, 1959), pp. 9-25.

A bukher makht kidesh af a groyp / Yiddish: “An unmarried boy makes kiddush on barley grain.”

Ketzot HaHoshen / Important commentary on Jewish financial law authored by Rabbi Aryeh Leib HaCohen (1745–1812).

Rabbi Meshulam Igra / A master sage who became the Chief Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of Pressburg, Hungary (1742–1801). R. Igra was a native of Buczacz, Agnon’s Galician hometown, which is never named explicitly as the “our town” of this story, although this seems apparent.

Chapter 200 / Volume 1 of the Ketzot HaHoshen is a commentary on the first two hundred chapters (simanim) the Shuhan Arukh’s 427-chapter section on financial law, the Hoshen Mishpat.

Chariot / As depicted in the vision related in Ezekiel, chapter 1.

Yehudah ben Teimah in tractate Avot / Mishnah Avot 5:23: “Yehudah son of Teimah said, Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in heaven.”

Deliverance came from another place / Esther 4:14.

Shabbat Shuva or Shabbat HaGadol / The Sabbaths before Yom Kippur and Passover, respectively, on which rabbis traditionally deliver the major sermons of the year.

Ternopil / Major city of Eastern Galicia (today, Western Ukraine), about 70 km. north of Buczacz.

Perl / (1773–1839), major figure of the Galician Haskalah.

Sheheheyanu (“Who has given us life and sustained us”) / A blessing said to celebrate special occasions, especially in thankfulness for new and unusual experiences.

Rav Alfasi, Maimonides, Rosh / The major medieval commentaries on the Talmud and halakhah.

Reveling in his own distress / Cf. Prov. 17:5.

Maharshal, Bach, Rav Alfasi / R. Shlomo Luria (1510–1573); Bach — R. Joel ben Samuel Sirkis (1561–1640); Rav Alfasi — Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (1013–1103) of Fes — all three engaged in determining the accuracy of the Talmudic text. Unable to access these rarer editions of these volumes (on which Reb Shlomo based his lecture), Reb Moshe Pinchas launched his attack on the incorrect text from the commonly available volumes.

Panie / Polish meaning “Mister”; i.e. Reb Moshe Pinchas is calling him “Mister” instead of “Rabbi” Horowitz.

If scholars battle / Cf. Bava Metzia 59b.

Shema / Recitation of the Shema (“Hear O Israel”) prayer, traditionally recited twice daily, as well as upon going to sleep.

Permissible to arrange divorces there / In Gittin (Jewish divorce documents) the name of the town has to be spelled out in Hebrew characters, a cause of dispute about the proper spelling of certain town names in Europe, and subsequently the ability of divorces to be executed in those towns.

God’s precepts are straight / Psalms 19:8

Torah protects and the Torah rescues / Cf. Sotah 21a.

Kav HaYashar / “The Just Measure”) authored by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kaidanover, first published in 1705. Shevet Mussar — “The Rod of Admonition”, authored in Ladino by Rabbi Elijah HaCohen, in 1863.

Tosefta / A compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah.

Kra / R. Zvi Hirsch Kra (1740–1814), served as rabbi in Buczacz from the departure of R. Igra in 1794 until his death.

Maharam of Rothenburg / Meir of Rothenburg (c. 1215–1293) was a noted German rabbi, poet, and author of Tosafot commentary on the Talmud.

When on the road / Gen. 45:24 as interpreted in Taanit 10b.

1648 / The year of the calamitous Khmelnytsky pogroms, wherein Cossacks decimated eastern European Jewry.

Maharshal / Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehiel Luria (1510–1573) of Lublin. The citation is to Responsa (Shut) Maharshal #101, dealing with a 1572 case of evidence in a case of marital engagement.

Bread dipped in salt / Cf. Mishnah Avot 6:4 (“bread in salt” is a rabbinic metaphor for minimum sustenance; akin to “living on bread and water” in English).

As he completed the Talmud, his life also ended / The theme of the Angel of Death waiting for his victim’s completion of a portion of study, or performance of some mitzvah, is found in Mo’ed Katan 28a, Ketubot 77b, and elsewhere.

Happy is he who arrives… / Moed Katan 28a.

Can an Enlightened one… / Cf. Psalms 14:2 (translated here out of context and ironically according to the narrator’s intention, the word “maskil” in the Biblical verse means “wise one” but here is applied to a follower of the secularizing Jewish Enlightenment movement).

Out of Asher / Genesis 49:20.

It is the only covering… / Exodus 22:25–26.

The Divine table /Cf. Mishnah Avot 3:3, “Rabbi Shimon says: Three who ate at one table, without saying words of Torah while upon it, are considered to have eaten from sacrifices to the dead [i.e., idols] as it is written (Isaiah 28:8): ‘All their tables are full of vomit and excrement, without a clean place’. But three who ate at one table and said upon it words of Torah are considered to have eaten from the table of God, as it is written (Ezek. 41:22): ‘And he said to me: This is the table which is in the presence of God’.”

Maimonides’s ‘Laws of Temperaments’ / Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot De’ot 6:2.

Teomim / (1814–1868) served as rabbi in Buczacz from 1853 until his death.

Bach / R. Joel ben Samuel Sirkis (1561–1640); a prominent halakhist who was known for various clashes with lay leaders.

The apportionment of charity… / Bava Batra 43a.

Sir Moses Montefiore / (1784–1885) English Baronet, financier and banker, advocate of social reform and great philanthropist.

Rabbi Elazar Rokeach / (1685–1741) Galician rabbi who was appointed to the Amsterdam rabbinate late in life, prior to emigrating to the Holy Land. This particular insight is found in his Arba’ah Turei Even commentary to Maimonides.

Fundamentals of Torah, chapter 7 / Maimonides, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 7:1.

Kessef Mishneh / A commentary on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, written by R. Joseph Karo (1488–1575).

Lehem Mishneh / A commentary on Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah by Abraham Hiyya de Boton (c. 1560 — c. 1605).

Yavneh / The seat of the High Court after the destruction of the Second Temple in 7 °CE.

Tractate Yoma, page 37 / Three of the Talmudic citations in this passage are incorrect. The correct page numbers are: Nedarim 38a, Shabbat 92a, and Yoma 35b. Urbach, op. cit., p. 22, n. 16, insists that these were intentional errors inserted by Agnon, mimicking the common phenomenon of a sage mis-citing a specific page number when referencing from memory, as would have been this case in the learned discourse presented by Reb Shlomo. Urbach further points out that the thrust of Reb Shlomo’s presentation of the sources, and resolution of the question on Maimonides’s teaching, is that even Reb Moshe Pinchas, with all of his flaws, would have been worthy of receiving prophecy.

Tosfot Yom Tov / An important commentary on the Mishnah by Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller (1578–1654, Cracow).

Noda BeYehudah / Yehezkel ben Yehudah Landau (1713–1793), rabbi of Prague. His work, Tikkun HaNefesh (Healing of the Soul) prescribes 18 specific chapters of Psalms to be recited as merit for the healing of the sick.

Even the tranquil women / Cf. Isaiah 32:9.

And you shall love… / Deuteronomy 6:5.

Half Kaddish / Used to punctuate divisions within the prayer service. The nicknames of the gravediggers are plays on the meanings of their names — Chaim means life, since he was tall he was called “Long Life”; Kaddish was a name sometimes given to a child born to a couple in old age, as he would be the one to recite the mourner’s Kaddish when they die. Agnon is being playful in assigning these names to gravediggers.

Righteousness shall walk / Psalms 85:14.