Yosseleh the Holy Miser

It is told that in Krakow in the days of Rav Yom Tov Lipman Heller there was a special chevra tzedakah, where all the money for the poor, the orphans, the widows and the hungry was gathered. The Tosafos Yom Tov himself was its president. He oversaw the collection and distribution of funds, often gave large sums from his own pocket, and when the coffers were empty he went out himself among the wealthy Jews of Krakow to collect. Rav Zelig Margoliyos testifies in the introduction to Chibburei Likkutim that although he was Av Beis Din of Krakow, he supported the poor so completely that when he passed away there was no money left to buy shrouds.

One man troubled the Rav. Reb Yosseleh was wealthy, kind and respectable, and carefully observed the Torah and mitzvos, but when it came to tzedakah he gave only small, paltry sums, far less than his means. All of Krakow knew Yosseleh the wealthy as Yosseleh the miser.

One day Rav Yom Tov was collecting and could not raise enough to cover the deficit. One generous donor was away, another had lost money in business, another had gone out of business, and the last claimed he was bankrupt. With no one else left, the Rav turned to Yosseleh, who gave his usual small sum. The Rav argued with him and pleaded that even his poor neighbor gave more, but Yosseleh would not change.

According to some accounts, the Tosafos Yom Tov took the miser to Beis Din over his stinginess. Others say that the matter was decided after Yosseleh passed away, when the chevra kaddisha refused to bury him. Either way, all accounts agree that the Rav ordered him buried near the fence and gate of the cemetery, a place reserved for criminals and sinners.

Some time later something strange happened. The number of poor people seemed to grow sharply, the demand on the chevra tzedakah's funds rose, and complaints poured in from the poor, the orphans and the widows. "What did you do all these years?" the shocked Rav asked. They told him that all those years Yosseleh had supported them in secret. He had paid shopkeepers to keep quiet while they gave food to the poor. Even the poor neighbor across from him revealed that his large donations, always more than his means, had also been Yosseleh's, given in secret like all his giving.

The miser was in truth a great baal tzedakah, giving in its highest form, matan b'seiser, which the Rambam in Hilchos Tzedakah lists among the greatest levels of giving. He wanted no honor, and was willing to be labeled a miser and to suffer shame so that his secret would not be revealed.

The Rav was deeply distressed. Yosseleh did not deserve to be buried among criminals and sinners. To atone for the mistake, the Tosafos Yom Tov arranged to be buried near him, and so they would be neighbors in the World to Come. Yosseleh became known as Kamtzan Kadosh, the holy miser. Today in the old cemetery in the courtyard of the Rema shul, the kever of the Tosafos Yom Tov is on the far side, near the old gate that is now blocked. Not far away is a small, weathered headstone with writing that is barely legible, covered with stones left by visitors, who come to pray for yeshuos and refuos. Tradition holds that this is the kever of Yosseleh Kamtzan Kadosh.

Rav Betzalel Rakov of Gateshead, a descendant of the Tosafos Yom Tov, is quoted as telling of a printed account that this story was once told at a convention. Afterward a priest approached the speaker privately and said that his mother had told him this story and that they were descendants of the holy miser of Krakow. That priest eventually returned to his roots, and is now a baal teshuvah learning Torah in Yerushalayim.