Rav Eliyahu Luantz of Vermeiz

Early years

Rav Eliyahu Luantz of Vermeiz (Worms) zt"l, the Baal Shem of Worms, was the son of Rav Moshe Ashkenazi. He was born in Frankfurt on the twenty-third of Iyar.

He came from a distinguished family. He descended from Rav Yosseleh of Rosheim, who according to some was his grandfather, and from Rashi. Through Rav Yosselman, he was also connected to the famed Luria family. The family name Luantz, or Loanz, stands for Luria Ashkenazi, which is how Rav Yosselman often signed his name.

Chassidic tradition tells of his birth as follows. A Spanish Jew named Rav Yosef Yozpa settled in Cracow in 1501, when he was about fifty years old. He was unmarried, lived in solitude, and was greatly respected for his righteousness. He spent his days entirely in learning and davening. Thirty years later, a young merchant was murdered and left a childless widow. At that time, Rav Yosef Yozpa was learning Torah with Eliyahu Hanavi, who told him that he was to marry the widow, in order to bring down to earth a pure soul whose task would be to help all Jews.

Six months later, Rav Yosef Yozpa appeared before the beis din (rabbinical court) and announced his wish to marry her. She was sent for, and when she heard, she burst into tears of relief. She explained that she had dreamed several times of her late father, in his Shabbos clothes, who blessed her and told her to marry Rav Yosef Yozpa. The whole community rejoiced and came to the wedding. A year later they had a son, whom they named Eliyahu after Eliyahu Hanavi.

By the age of two the boy was already learning Torah with his father, who taught him, in holiness and seclusion, until his bar mitzvah. Two weeks before the bar mitzvah, Rav Yosef Yozpa told his wife that he had to return his soul to the Creator. He asked her not to cry too much, and to let their son follow whatever path he chose, without interference. Then he passed away. A few weeks after his bar mitzvah, young Eliyahu told his mother that he wished to leave home and wander, and she agreed.

Torah and leadership

He studied under Rav Akiva of Frankfurt, under Rav Yaakov Ginzberg of Friedberg (the teacher and rebbe of the Tosfos Yom Tov), and under the Maharal of Prague. Unrest and expulsions troubled the Jews of the German lands, and his wanderings across Europe led him to the Maharal. He writes that he saw Divine providence throughout his travels, when he was saved from bandits and armed robbers and from other dangers.

When he arrived in Poland, he studied under the chassid Rav Mendel, the Rosh Yeshivah of Rav Avigdor and Av Beis Din of Cracow, who is said to have been his teacher in Kabbalah.

He was a master at preparing manuscripts for publication. In Cracow he met Rav Eliezer, the brother of the Rema. The Chida writes in Shem Hagedolim that he prepared the manuscript of the Darkei Moshe from the glosses that Rav Moshe Isserles had written in the margins of his seforim, and the Darkei Moshe that we use to this day is the one he published. In his own introduction to Aderes Eliyahu, he writes that Rav Eliezer gave him as a gift the Rema's manuscript commentary on the Zohar, which he later included in his sefer Aderes Eliyahu.

He also prepared for print the Maharshal's commentary Amudei Shlomo on the Semag and on Shaarei Dura, along with the liturgical poems of Rav Akiva of Frankfurt. He eventually reached Basel, where he printed several seforim, among them his Rinas Dodim on Shir Hashirim, the poems and prayers of Rav Akiva of Frankfurt, and the Maharshal's Amudei Shlomo.

He was a master of Kabbalah, and his use of Divine Names, amulets and kameos earned him the title Baal Shem. He served as Rav of several cities and kehillos, among them Frankfurt, Fulda, Hanau and Worms, and also as a chazzan, a darshan and a Rosh Yeshivah. His talmid Rav Yuzpa Shamash writes that Rav Eliyahu loved collecting legends, stories and accounts from the ancient kehillah of Worms, going back to the time of the first Beis Hamikdash, and that he wove these tales and their moral lessons into his derashos.

Chassidic tradition adds that when he settled in Worms, after forty years in which no one knew where he was, he already had a great reputation as a Baal Shem, a worker of wonders, and people streamed to him for relief from their troubles. He and his wife had already married off their son and two daughters. It is told that his mind could take in all the mystical wisdom of the holy Zohar, the Arizal and Rav Moshe Cordovero, and that at thirteen he was already a master of Kabbalah. He began to spread the study of Kabbalah among Torah scholars, and it became an accepted subject in the yeshivos of the time, in Worms, Prague, Lublin and Chelm. Some rabbis opposed him.

To spread Kabbalah further, he formed a group of Nistarim, hidden tzaddikim who kept their identity secret. They traveled from place to place, encouraging simple people to serve Hashem through good deeds and introducing Kabbalah to the learned. The circle grew under his leadership. He later passed the leadership to the Baal Shem of Zamoshtesh, who passed it to Rav Adam Baal Shem of Ropshitz, from whom it came to the Baal Shem Tov, who spread Chassidus. Chassidim also relate that he led a yeshivah of brilliant scholars in Worms for thirty years, and that in 1624 he moved to Prague and took his yeshivah with him. The Tosfos Yom Tov was one of his talmidim.

Teachings and seforim

Rav Eliyahu wrote Aderes Eliyahu on the Zohar, Rinas Dodim on Shir Hashirim, and Michlal Yofi on Koheles, all of which were published. He also wrote Maaglei Tzedek, a commentary on Midrash Rabbeinu Bachaya, and Vikuach Yayin im Mayim, a poem with a commentary, which was published. His other works remain in manuscript: a commentary on Chovos Halevavos, Tzafnas Paneach on Tikkunei Zohar, and a commentary on Midrash Rabbah.

Family

Rav Eliyahu married twice. His first wife was Blumelin, the daughter of Rav Raphael, and after she passed away in 5390 he married Yettel'eh, who passed away five years later, in 5395.

His children include Yehuda Yoselin Yosef, named after Rav Yosselman of Rosheim, who was a shatz (prayer leader) in Magentza. His yahrzeit is recorded in the Magentza memorbuch as the fifth day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos, and he was buried on 17 Tishrei, in the year Tof-Lamed-Alef. Rav Eliyahu also had sons named Dovid and Menachem, and a daughter, Hindelin, who was the wife of Rav Uri Vibush.

Later years and passing

Rav Eliyahu passed away on Thursday, the twenty-first of Tammuz 5396 (1636). His matzeivah in Worms is known.

Legacy

Rav Eliyahu Luantz should not be confused with the earlier Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelm, who lived around 1500 to 1583 and was the famed creator of a golem, who was an ancestor of the Chacham Tzvi and Rav Yaakov Emden.