Rav Aharon Roth

The Man Outside the Circle

At a simcha, the Rebbe was dancing fervently in the middle of a circle. In the midst of his ecstasy he opened his eyes and noticed a man with a disturbed face, perhaps a Misnagged (opponent of Chassidus), looking on with contempt. Rav Ahrele broke the circle, took the man by the hand and began to dance with him. The circle formed again around them, and Rav Ahrele looked into the man's eyes.

The man was shaken by this look and almost lost his balance. But then he began to feel the niggun resonate within him. As the dancing grew more intense, this seemingly unhappy fellow was visibly transformed. He lost all self-consciousness, and, still dancing hand in hand with Rav Ahrele, he felt as if he were soaring. Never before had he imagined such ecstasy.

Rav Ahrele knew well that the view from inside the circle is very different from the view outside. The man never looked back, and he became a devoted chassid of the Rebbe. Such was Rav Ahrele's intensity and influence.

A Shapeless Mass to Fashion

Rav Avrohom Meir Ziswein was a chassid of Rav Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Bluzhov. When the Bluzhover moved to Pest, Rav Avrohom Meir heard of a special bochur who outshone all his peers in the yeshiva in Weitzin. This young man's true Yiras Shomayim (fear of Heaven), fine character and fiery avodah drew Rav Avrohom Meir to bring him under the guidance of the Bluzhover, who was to become his Rebbe. The young man was Rav Aharon Roth.

Rav Avrohom Meir once recalled his first impression of the budding tzaddik. "Believe me, when I first met Rav Ahrele in Weitzin, I was sure that he would soon lead a thousand chassidim, and that one day I would have to wait in line at his door to speak with him. But it was not to be. He had no wish to become a famous Rebbe. He hated the Rabbonus and the limelight, shied away from renown and pushed away the crowds. Instead he wanted to kindle a flame in the hearts of Yidden, to ignite the spark of the pintele yid and fill them with fear of Heaven, true and pure emunah, and a passion to serve Hashem.

"His main work was to gather coarse, simple Yidden with broken hearts and to lift them until they became precious vessels serving Hashem with no ulterior motives. He did not want sheine yidden (accomplished Jews), scholars and men of fine character who had already reached a level of devotion and did not need him to raise them. For such chassidim he had no desire at all.

"Once one of the fine Yidden of Yerushalayim came to Rav Ahrele in my presence and said, 'Rav Ahrele, begin your tefillos on Shabbos just one hour earlier, at seven thirty in the morning, and I will bring you two hundred accomplished yungeleit to daven with you.'

"'I cannot possibly do that,' Rav Ahrele explained. 'We finish our tisch late, after chatzos, and on Shabbos we must wake later than during the week so that we are rested for our avodah. Then there are the hachanos (spiritual preparations) and the mikveh. It all takes time, and I cannot begin an hour earlier.'

"When the man had gone, Rav Ahrele turned to us and said, 'I did not tell him the whole truth. All my reasons are true, but the real emes is that I do not want to begin an hour earlier precisely because it would attract them. I start an hour later so that those two hundred yungeleit will not come. I do not look for finished, accomplished sheine yidden, especially those who find it hard to listen to what I say. They cannot humble themselves, and I have nothing to do with such Yidden. I search for a golem, a shapeless mass that I can fashion with my own hands into a vessel for serving Hashem. These I can turn into shining yungeleit who accept my words with truth and humility.' That was the way of the Shomer Emunim."

A Kanno'i's Convictions

Rav Ahrele was an uncompromising anti-Zionist and a kanno'i (zealot) who fought against the influence of Zionism, which he felt was false and foreign. His talmid Rav Eliyohu HaKohen Shteinberger described several examples of his kano'us.

Rav Ahrele would have nothing to do with the Zionist rabbonim, especially the chief Rav. A shul in Tel Aviv once commissioned one of his talmidim to write a Sefer Torah for the illuei neshomah (elevation of the soul) of the first chief Rav. When Rav Ahrele heard of it, he forbade his talmid to finish it. The sofer had already completed Sefer Bereishis, and the gabbaim of the Tel Aviv shul were so upset that they refused to pay for any of the work. Rav Ahrele paid the sofer the entire sum from his own pocket.

Another time, after the terrible news of the Holocaust reached Eretz Yisroel, an assembly was called in the Churva shul of Rav Yehudah HeChassid to declare the coming Wednesday a public fast. The invitation came in the name of the second chief Rav, and Rav Ahrele refused to let any of his talmidim or chassidim take part. When Rav Dushinsky forbade it as well, the two of them designated Monday as a fast instead. The organizers tried to change Rav Ahrele's mind, even sending the Gerrer Rebbe's son to plead with him, but he flatly refused to have anything to do with an assembly in which the Zionist chief Rav would take part.

He also abhorred Ivrit (Modern Hebrew), the language the Zionists had established, and he forbade his followers to speak it, saying it would defile them. A talmid once wrote out the teno'im (engagement conditions) between a chosson and kallah and used the modern word rehitim for furniture. When Rav Ahrele reached that word, he tore up the contract and said that he would not allow any Modern Hebrew words to be used.

The Protests Against Chillul Shabbos

Unlike other extremists, Rav Ahrele was a tzaddik and an ohev Yisroel (lover of every Yid). His kano'us rose from emes, from his unceasing search for truth and his unyielding Ahavas Hashem, Ahavas HaTorah and Ahavas Yisroel. Rav Eliyohu Shteinberger, the same witness and author, told several stories that show this.

Rav Amram Bloi, whom Rav Ahrele greatly admired for his staunch opposition to the Zionist ways, organized protests on Shabbos against the chillul Shabbos caused by soccer games in Yerushalayim, which were drawing thousands of Yidden. Rav Ahrele and his chassidim joined the protests, and for two Shabbosos in a row he sent all his chassidim, adults and bochurim, to take part. Afterward Rav Ahrele saw that the bochurim might be harmed by seeing inappropriate things, and he forbade them to join any further protests.

Rav Amram was upset and sent Rav Shteinberger to persuade Rav Ahrele to send the bochurim again. Rav Ahrele was adamant. He sent Rav Shteinberger back with this message: "Tell Rav Amram in my name that if he takes upon himself complete responsibility for the sin, should the bochurim see unsightly, forbidden things and blemish their holy eyes, then I will send them on that condition." Rav Shteinberger delivered the message. Rav Amram was afraid to accept such a responsibility, and the bochurim did not take part.

A Seat for the Guest

Rav Ahrele also knew when kano'us was out of place. One Shabbos the former secretary to the chief Rav, by then retired, came to his shul. He was a scion of holy families, yet his past as secretary to the Zionist chief Rav did not endear him to Rav Ahrele's chassidim. They would not even let him sit down.

When Rav Ahrele saw this, he called the man over and gave him a seat. Several chassidim whispered in his ear who the man was and what his former position had been, but Rav Ahrele shrugged them off. When Krias HaTorah began, he told them to give the guest an aliyah like any other guest, and after davening he asked him to sit down for Kiddush. Again the chassidim approached and whispered their protests, and again he ignored them. Finally he answered them angrily, "Do you want to be the one to teach me to be a kanno'i?"

After davening the guest asked the gabbai for permission to speak privately with Rav Ahrele, and he was in there for an hour. When he came out, Rav Ahrele told the gabbai, "You have to know when to be a kanno'i and when it is better not to be. He was crying and begging me to help him do teshuvah, crying over how low he had sunk from his former stature after coming from such a good family. I had to give him chizuk (encouragement). I am sure his illustrious forebears will all thank me very much for helping him."

Simple Faith and Fervent Prayer

Rav Ahrele criticized the quarrels and scandals within many Chassidic dynasties, which he felt had drifted from the early tzaddikim's emphasis on simple tefillah and piety. Rejecting all compromise with modern ways of life, he called for teshuvah, complete adherence to simple faith and ecstatic davening, and he expected his chassidim to support themselves by their own labor.

Teachings of Rav Aharon Roth

Guarding the Bris

Rav Ahrele understood the destruction of European Jewry as a consequence of abandoning simple faith and ancient traditions. He pointed to secularism and Zionism, and taught that the evil of the Nazis would not have come to fruition had proper standards of dress and conduct been kept. He cited the Zohar (Noach 66b), which teaches that when Yidden guard the Bris Kodesh (sanctity of the covenant) properly, no other nation can have power over them.

Teachings of Rav Aharon Roth; Zohar, Noach 66b