Gedolei Yisrael - R. Tzadok HaKohen

R. Tzadok (1823-1900) was a prolific author and a profound thinker. A chassidic Rebbe who was a talmid of the Ishbitzer Rebbe, R. Tzadok grew up as a Litvak and was later convinced to "do teshuvah" and follow chasidut. (A good lesson for all of us, it is never too late to become a chasid!)

R. Tzadok authored many seforim on different subjects and he often discusses Kabbalah. His two works which are the most well known are, "Tzidkut HaTzadik" and "Pri Tzadik". Tzidkut HaTzadik is a discussion of improving your Avodat HaShem, but it is also a perush on Massechet Berachot. Pri Tzadik was actually written down by his students and is a discussion of the Parshah and the Moadim.

Gedolei Yisrael - Maharal of Prague

Gedolei Yisrael - Maharal

R. Yehudah ben Betzalel Loew (or possibly Lev, Love, or Levi - any 16th century Prussian language experts out there?) lived in Prague from 1520 - 1609 and is one of the pre-eminent Jewish philosophers and בעלי מחשבה. He wrote seforim explaining many of the key concepts of Judaism: the chagim, Pirkei Avot, Torah, Tefillah, Tzedakah and also peirushim on Rashi on the Chumash and on Aggadata in Shas. He was a kabbalist and his philosophy is heavily influenced by Kaballah.

The Maharal’s influence can be seen in the works of Rav Kook; Polish Chassidut (Sefas Emes, R. Tzaddok, Shem M’Shmuel and others); and the Pachad Yitzchak (R. Hutner’s machshavah on the Chagim). The Maharal is not so easy to learn because did not have a short writing style and his ideas are developed over many pages. However, there are modern editions of his seforim with many footnotes that make the Maharal more accessible. The Maharal in well known in pop-culture for a golem that he created, but there is no historical evidence to support this.

Gedolei Israel - The Piaseczno Rebbe

The Piaseczno Rebbe is R. Kalonymous Kalman Shapira (1889-1943) and he is the author of a number of seforim. His sefer, Esh Kodesh is a fundamental part of my life and religious growth.

The Esh Kodesh is a collection of clear and concise Shabbat derashot that were given in the Warsaw Ghetto from 1940-1942. It is a unique window into an Orthodox response to the Shoah. As each year passes the drashot reflect the situation in the Ghetto becoming more difficult. For example, in Parshat Ekev 1941 (page 113), the Esh Kodesh rebukes the community for being lax in their Torah study. People should at least be able to learn Chumash or to say Tehillim. However, there is a footnote in which he explains that by the year 1943 this rebuke no longer applies. The situation in the Ghetto has become so dire, that the Jews can only be expected to focus on survival. Some of the drashot are only focused on the Parshah, and some of them also reflect on life in the Ghetto.

In times of my life where I have been in extremely difficult circumstances, I have turned to the Esh Kodesh for chizzuk and support. His drashot validate the suffering and pain of the individual. He does not attempt to minimize suffering, and use the commonly heard expression, “HaShem only gives us what we can handle.” Rather he often states that because the situation appears to be so hopeless, the only possible salvation can come from HaShem. He is emunah in HaShem is strong and flexible enough to ask difficult questions that do not have good answers - because there are no answers to the horrors of the holocaust. Yet the Esh Kodesh shows us that it is possible to maintain your emunah during a difficult situation.

The Piaseczno Rebbe wrote another well known sefer called the Chovat HaTalmidim, which is a religious guide for teenagers. I will discuss this sefer in another post.

Gedolei Yisrael - The Ishbitzer Rebbe

My son actually has a once a week class at his school called Gedolei Yisrael (I believe that the class is actually pronounced in an Israeli accent and not in Ashkenazus) where they learn about a different great Rabbi every week. So I thought I should do a Kabbalah u’Madda version - no rationalist non-mystics allowed. (Don’t worry I will go back and discuss the great rabbinic mystics that were mentioned in earlier posts. For example, Ramban, R. Tzaddok and others.)

The Ishbitzer Rebbe is R. Mordechai Leiner (1801-1854) and his sefer that he wrote is called the Mei HaShiloach (The Running Waters). Actually, his sefer was written by his talmidim and is based on divrei Torah that he gave either on Shabbat morning or at Seudat Shlishit.

(It is common amongst seforim “written” by Chassidic Rebbes, that they were actually written by their talmidim. The best example of Chassidic ghost-writing is R. Nachman of Breslav. R. Nachman only wrote Likkutei Maharan, and the other billions and billions (said in a Carl Sagan accent) of Breslover seforim were actually written by his talmidim - most notably R. Nosson.)

The Ishbitzer Rebbe was one of the main talmidim of the Kotzker Rebbe - R. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. The Kotzker had a number of well known talmidim and he was known for his uncompromising approach to all aspects of life and his acerbic wit. The Kotzker is certainly worthy of his own post as a Gadol b’Yisrael (Israel?) and I will discuss him at a later date.

I would emphasize two aspects of the Ishbitzer Rebbe's divrei Torah:

• He often has very creative insights to the Parshah and Torah ideas.
  

• He will often justify the actions of the רשעים the wicked personalities in the Chumash. See his explanation of the stick gatherer (איש מקושש) in Bamidbar 15:32,
  

This second aspect often made his ideas controversial and not coincidentally R. Shlomo Carlebach z"l was a big fan of his sefer. The Mei HaShiloach is a two volume sefer, mainly on the Parsha but also contains some ideas on shas. His descendants would later create Radzhyner Chasidut.