Rav Aryeh Leib of Shpola

Early years

Rav Aryeh Leib of Shpola zy"a, the Shpola Zeide, was born in 5485 (1725). His father, Rav Baruch, lived in a small village near Uman and worked as a tax collector on behalf of the Graf Potocki. His mother's name was Rachel.

It is told that before the Baal Shem Tov revealed himself, he stayed in Rav Baruch's home. Rav Baruch welcomed the unknown guest warmly, and when he saw the guest's thin, worn-out horse he gave him a stronger one of his own. That night he noticed a strange light shining from the guest's room. He looked through the keyhole, and the brightness, together with the realisation that his visitor must be a great tzaddik, made him faint. The Baal Shem Tov hurried out to revive him, and Rav Baruch begged forgiveness for not having shown more honour. He explained that he had seen the guest bathed in light, with an old man in white and a long beard standing beside him.

The Baal Shem Tov told him that the old man was his ancestor, the Maharal of Prague, who knew that Rav Baruch and his wife Rachel, who gave so much tzedakah, were destined to have a holy son who would carry the Maharal's soul. The child was to be named Aryeh Leib after the Maharal. Rav Baruch later became an ardent chassid of the Baal Shem Tov and asked him for a brachah for a son, and about a year later the baby was born.

The Baal Shem Tov attended the bris milah (circumcision). When the guests were invited to bless the child, he placed his right hand on the infant and, appearing as a poor man, explained that his father had taught that the bris is entry into the covenant of Avraham Avinu. The Torah says that Avraham was old, zaken, and zaken also means grandfather. He blessed the child to live to an old age like Avraham HaZaken and to be a Sabba, or Zeide in Yiddish (grandfather), for all of Klal Yisrael. The blessing made everyone smile. People later asked the parents how the little Sabale was doing, and the name stayed with him for life. When he became a Rebbe he was known as the Shpola Zeide.

Torah and leadership

Rav Aryeh Leib received his tradition in Toras HaChassidus from Rav Pinchas of Koritz. At his Rebbe's instruction he married the daughter of the shochet (ritual slaughterer) of Midvodevka, and they settled there after the wedding. As his father-in-law grew older, he wished Rav Aryeh Leib to succeed him as the local shochet. Rav Pinchas disagreed, and he travelled together with the Zeide to consult the Baal Shem Tov.

After two weeks there, the Baal Shem Tov told Rav Aryeh Leib, who was then about thirty, to take up a wanderer's staff and go into exile for seven years. He dressed in a beggar's tattered clothes and went from town to town. Many tales are told of this galus (exile), of what he achieved spiritually, and above all of how he rescued poor Jewish lessees from the debtors' dungeons of wealthy Polish landlords and nobles, where Jews were imprisoned when they could not pay their debts. For a long time he remained a nistar, a hidden tzaddik, until he was forced to reveal himself.

During this exile, in 5521 (1761), he settled in Zlatipola and took the simple position of shamash of the shul. Soon the wonders he performed became known, and many came to him for blessings and salvation. He lived in Zlatipola for eight years and then moved to Shpola.

He visited the Baal Shem Tov only once, but he went to Rav Pinchas of Koritz many times. He also travelled often to Rav Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnoy, where he once stayed for three months, and he visited him every year while he lived in Shpola.

The Shpola Zeide was a folk Rebbe, joyful in his singing and dancing. He travelled to small towns and villages, where he raised the spirits of downtrodden Jews. He consoled and encouraged, gave counsel and remedies, made peace between husband and wife and between parents and children, and prepared medicinal salves and balms to heal the sick, free captives and redeem prisoners. He defended the weak and warned the powerful of spiritual punishment. The nobles who beat their Jewish lessees, set dogs on them and threw them with their families into dark cellars feared him. Like other tzaddikim of his generation, he gave away everything he had to the poor. Even non-Jews recognised his greatness and came to him for brachos.

When Rav Nachman of Breslov appeared and his influence spread within the Zeide's sphere, the Zeide disagreed with his derech (path), considering it suited to later generations rather than their own. It is said that he remarked, "Who asked him to appear this early in history? Who told him to come in this generation?" Rav Nachman is said to have answered, "Who told him to come so late? His approach is appropriate for earlier generations. That is why they call him Zeide." When some of the Zeide's own talmidim heckled Rav Nachman, the Zeide rebuked them, explaining that every movement needs opposition and that he had been providing that service.

Teachings and seforim

Although he was a great scholar, few divrei Torah survive in his name. He is remembered above all for his love of every Yid and for the way he pleaded for Klal Yisrael before Heaven. His biography and stories were printed in the collection Tiferes Maharal.

Later years and passing

Rav Aryeh Leib passed away on the 6th of Tishrei 5571 (1810). No matzeiva (gravestone) was erected over his grave in Shpola. There was only a simple wooden box inscribed with his name and yahrzeit date, where chassidim placed their kvitelach (notes of petition) when they came to daven at his kever.

His children, Rav Avraham, Rav Pesach and Rav Yaakov, were neither Rebbes nor rabbanim. They lived in Shpola and are all buried beside their father.