Rav Mordechai Bennet
Chief Rav of Moravia and Rav of Nikolsburg for forty years, a gaon beloved by the Chasam Sofer and author of Har HaMor and Parshas Mordechai.
Biography
Early years
Rav Mordechai Bennet zt"l, the son of Rav Avrohom Bennet, was born in 1753 in the Hungarian village of Csurgó, in Stuhlweissenburg county. His parents, who were very poor, could not afford a teacher for him, so at the age of five they sent him to live with his grandmother in Nikolsburg.
There Rav Gavriel Markbreiter arranged for the gifted child's tuition for six years. He then sent him to Ettingen in Alsace, where the Rav, who was Rav Markbreiter's brother-in-law, became his teacher and delighted in his talmid's remarkable growth. At the bar mitzvah celebration, his teacher astonished the guests by showing them three manuscripts the boy had written: a commentary on the Chumash, a commentary on the Pesach Haggadah, and chiddushim on the Gemara.
From the age of thirteen to fifteen he devoted himself entirely to Tanach, with the meforshim (commentators) and with the Haggadic parts of the Gemara and Midrash. He completed his halachic studies later, in the yeshiva of Rav Yosef Steinhardt in Fürth, where he stayed three years. He then went to Prague as a chover (advanced student), and Rav Meir Karpeles opened a private klaus (a small beis medrash) for him. Even though the Noda B'Yehuda, Rav Yechezkel Landau, headed a great yeshiva in Prague too, capable talmidei chachamim came daily to hear Rav Mordechai's shiurim.
Torah and leadership
After two years in Prague he married Rebbetzin Sora Finkel, the daughter of a prominent and well-to-do citizen of Nikolsburg. He settled there in 1773 and within a year was appointed Av Beis Din. Thirteen years later he took the rabbinate of Lundenburg in Moravia for six months, then stepped down to serve as Rav of Schossberg in Hungary. He did not remain long in the land of his birth; in 1789 he became Rav of Nikolsburg and Chief Rav of Moravia. He later received offers from Pressburg and Krakow as well, but he gave in to the pleas of his congregation and stayed in Nikolsburg. His matzeiva records that for forty years he was a faithful shepherd, Av Beis Din and Rosh Yeshiva of the kehillah and of the whole region.
He was a talmid of the Noda B'Yehuda and was regarded as the Gadol HaDor of his time. He gave semichah to the Chasam Sofer, who was also his close friend and colleague and held him in the highest esteem. It is told that the two once went away together for a short summer break of a few weeks. When they returned, Rav Mordechai told his son that in that time they had covered the entire Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi, Shulchan Aruch, Rambam, Ramban and the writings of the Arizal. Then he stopped himself and told his son that he had already said and revealed too much.
Even the chassidim respected him, and Rav Dov Ber, the Mitteler Rebbe of Chabad, spoke highly of him in a letter. Many friends, young and old, were drawn to his learning and fine character.
In his generation he stood in a position of his own. He kept his distance from the so-called spirit of enlightenment, yet his knowledge of modern thought gave him an independent approach to his strictly Orthodox friends and colleagues. In a memorandum to the government on the training of rabbanim, he remarked that if a rabbinical candidate had to complete the course of studies the gymnasium required for every other profession, he would be qualified for every field but the rabbinate. Contrary to how some understood him, he did not oppose secular education for rabbanim. He held that a Rav must first have a sufficient grounding in Torah, and he proposed that a rabbinical candidate give his time mainly to Jewish studies until the age of eighteen. He also wrote a catechism to teach children religion, and sent the manuscript to the government together with a letter showing his sensible views on educating the young.
At the same time he firmly opposed every reform in religious practice as wrong and harmful. In a letter to the government on introducing German into the services, he argued for keeping Hebrew. He foresaw that if tefillos were said in another language, davening in another language would leave few Jews interested in learning Hebrew, and knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures would gradually disappear. Many years later, at the rabbinical conference in Frankfurt in 1845, Rav Zacharias Frankel used the same arguments.
Teachings and seforim
Rav Mordechai's works are neither numerous nor exhaustive, but they are among the classic seforim of the eighteenth century. They are Biur Mordechai (Vienna, 1813), a commentary on the compendium of Mordechai ben Hillel; Magen Avos (Zolkiev, 1835), on the thirty-nine melachos forbidden on Shabbos; Har HaMor, responsa, whose name alludes to the explanation of the name Mordechai as mora dakya, pure myrrh; Parshas Mordechai (Szigeth, 1889), responsa; and Techeiles Mordechai (Lemberg, 1892), halachic and aggadic discourses.
His seforim show his sharp mind, his wide knowledge of rabbinic literature, and above all his logical and systematic method. His friends Rav Moshe Sofer and Rav Akiva Eiger worked in the style of pilpul, but Rav Mordechai avoided it in complex halachic questions, reaching his conclusions through a clear analysis and a careful arrangement of the material. He wrote in a lucid, graceful style and in a pure Hebrew.
A striking example is his letter to Rav Tzvi Hirsch Levin, the Chief Rav of Berlin, in which he tries to convince him that the collection of responsa Besomim Rosh is not authentic. The collection was published by Rav Levin's son, Rav Shaul Berlin, as the work of the Rosh, Rav Osher ben Yechiel.
Later years and passing
In the last years of his life Rav Mordechai fell ill and went to Lichtenstadt near Carlsbad for treatment. He passed away in Carlsbad on 13 Av, and the people of Lichtenstadt buried him there quickly, because they wanted his merit to remain and protect their town. When the people of Nikolsburg heard, they raised an uproar, and the question of reinterring him came before the Chasam Sofer. In a long teshuvah the Chasam Sofer gave three reasons why it was permitted to bring him to Nikolsburg. The dispute between the two communities was fought with the weapons of Torah and is part of the responsa literature of the time.
On the 7th of Adar his body was raised, and on Sunday, the 12th of Adar, he was reinterred in Nikolsburg with great honor, amid weeping and eulogies, among the graves of his family. His matzeiva praises him as the gaon of the geonim, unique in his generation, who raised many talmidim and spread Torah. The Chasam Sofer eulogized him and called him Ben Yachid L'Kudsho Berich Hu (an only child to Hashem), meaning that no one was his equal.
Legacy
Rav Mordechai Bennet is remembered as a great posek and talmid chacham, the Chief Rav of Moravia who stood firm against reform. According to his own words, whoever needs salvation after his passing should come to his kever and his tefillos will be answered.
Stories
The Sign Language of Tzaddikim
The Chofetz Chaim related that Rav Mordechai Bennet's talmidim once noticed that he had a habit of tracing the shapes of letters in the air with his finger. They watched closely and understood that he was tracing a verse from the tefillos of the Yamim Nora'im: Ashrei ish she'lo yishkachecha u'ven adam yis'ametz bach, happy is the man who does not forget You, and the person who strengthens himself in You.
He was reminding himself never to take his mind off his Creator.
The Handwriting of the Chasam Sofer
The Chasam Sofer was known to write his teshuvos very quickly, with no second thoughts or regrets. Once an issue involving an agunah was brought to him, and as usual he wrote a quick reply and gave it to his son, Rav Shimon, to deliver to the Beis Din in Nikolsburg. Rav Shimon thought that since the matter was so serious, perhaps his father had rushed and might want to change something, so he held off on delivering it.
A few days later the Chasam Sofer asked whether he had delivered it, and his son answered that he had not and explained why. The Chasam Sofer told him, "In every generation Hashem puts a Gadol HaDor who has siyata dishmaya, and the psak will be according to Hashem's will. In this generation I was chosen for this task. Please deliver it immediately."
When the long teshuvah arrived at the Beis Din of Nikolsburg, Rav Mordechai Bennet opened it and read only the last few lines. The Beis Din asked why he had not read the whole psak. He answered, "In truth I only need to see the last line, whether the Chasam Sofer said muttar or assur, and that is enough. But I read a few of the last lines because reading the handwriting of the Chasam Sofer brings great yiras Shomayim."
First in Lichtenstadt, Then in Nikolsburg
It is told that when Rav Mordechai passed away, the people of Lichtenstadt buried him quickly because they wanted him to stay in their town. When the people of Nikolsburg found out, they made an uproar, and the question of reinterring him came before the Chasam Sofer. In his teshuvah he gave three reasons why it was permitted, even though it was a very unpopular ruling, because it gave non-Jews an excuse to move bodies at their own discretion.
The Chasam Sofer also wrote in his long teshuvah that the people of Nikolsburg could not be believed when they said that Rav Mordechai had wanted to be returned, since Rav Mordechai had said in his lifetime that whoever needs salvation after his petirah should come to his kever and his tefillos would be answered, and that gave Nikolsburg a reason to want him near them. But while he was writing, the Chasam Sofer fell asleep, and in a dream Rav Mordechai appeared to him. He told him that he did want to return to Nikolsburg, but Hashem wanted him buried in Lichtenstadt for a reason.
When he was a young man, a shidduch had been broken off with the girl he was meant to marry. She suffered embarrassment because of it, and later married the Rav of Lichtenstadt. Rav Mordechai explained that, with the help and tefillos of the Rav of Lichtenstadt, it had been determined that the only kapparah available to him was to be buried next to her in the cemetery for six months. And so it was. After six months his holy body was raised and reinterred in Nikolsburg.
The Dog as Posek
Rav Ovadia Yosef used to tell a story about Rav Mordechai Bennet when he taught the mishnah in Pirkei Avos, Make a rav for yourself and distance yourself from doubt.
It is told that Rav Mordechai was once at the spa in Carlsbad, where he met a Reform rabbi who boasted that all matters of Jewish law were in his hands and that his rulings were final. When Rav Mordechai began to discuss Torah with him, he found the man knew nothing at all. He asked what the man did when a question on kashrus came to him, for example a chicken with a needle in its gizzard or a broken wing joint. The man, flustered, said that he simply declared it treif every time, so as to leave no room for doubt.
Rav Mordechai smiled and told him a story. A simple Jew lived in a village far from the city and raised geese, chickens and ducks, which he sold. When a bird raised a question of kashrus, he would ride to the Rav in Frankfurt to ask. One day a joker passed through the village and told him it was a waste of time to travel in winter on bad roads. The Torah says to throw treif to the dog, he said, so let the dog decide. If the dog ate the meat, it was treif, and if he left it, it was kosher.
The simple Jew was delighted, and the dog became the posek. Since the dog ate every piece of meat put in front of him, a month passed, and then the man finally rode to Frankfurt. The Rav asked why he had not seen him for weeks and whether he had no questions. The man answered that he had many, but the dog had settled them. When the Rav asked why he had come now, he explained that the dog was too machmir, since he ruled every bird treif.
Rav Mordechai then turned to the Reform rabbi and told him that his approach seemed to be the same as the dog's.
Seforim
- Biur Mordechai: A commentary on the compendium of Mordechai ben Hillel (Vienna, 1813).
- Magen Avos: A treatise on the thirty-nine melachos forbidden on Shabbos (Zolkiev, 1835).
- Har HaMor: Responsa, its name alluding to the explanation of Mordechai as mora dakya, pure myrrh.
- Parshas Mordechai: Responsa (Szigeth, 1889).
- Techeiles Mordechai: Halachic and aggadic discourses (Lemberg, 1892).
Family & talmidim
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@{name=Rav Gavriel Markbreiter}: The Rav of Ettingen, Alsace, brother-in-law of Rav Markbreiter
Also on 13 Av
All hilulos on 13 Av ›Historical sources
- Anaf Etz Avos (pp. 61-62)
- Parshas Mordechai, no. 5; Toldos Mordechai, pp. 35-42; Literaturblatt des Orients; Weiss, Zikronotai, pp. 77-81