Rav Refoel Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky
The Ridbaz, rav of Slutzk and later of Tzfas, who spent his life on the Talmud Yerushalmi and published it with his own commentaries.
Biography
Early years
Rav Refoel Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky zt"l, known as the Ridbaz, was born on 30 Shevat 5605 (7 February 1845) in the Russian town of Kobrin. His father, Rav Zev, was a tzaddik.
From his earliest years the boy stood out for his extraordinary diligence. He had a remarkable memory, learned Torah day and night, and worked so hard that his eyes became swollen. As he grew, his name spread, and he came to master both the Talmud Bavli and the Talmud Yerushalmi.
The Ridbaz often spoke of how his father had planted in him a love of Torah, through a winter in which his family gave up their own warmth for the learning of the children in Kobrin.
Torah and leadership
At the age of 23 he was appointed rav of Izballin, in 1868. He then served as rav of Bobruisk and, from 1881, of Vilna. He found that the Vilna post took him away from his learning, so he resigned and chose smaller communities, serving in Polotsk in 1883 and in Vilkomir in 1887. In 1890 he became rav of the large city of Slutzk, and so many knew him by that name that he was called Rav Yaakov Dovid Slutzker. In 1896 he established a noted yeshiva there, supervised it himself, and appointed Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer as its head.
By nature he was a man of truth, guided by the words, "You shall not tremble before any man" (Devarim 1:17). He was strict with himself and with others, upright, and as firm as iron. He never gave way on his views, even in his dealings with his own teachers. His restless soul did not find peace in any of the towns where he lived, and a great controversy in Slutzk brought him much pain and hardship. Through it all he stayed immersed in his learning.
He devoted the main part of his life to the Talmud Yerushalmi, which few scholars master. It appears that his love for Eretz Yisroel drew him to the Talmud of Eretz Yisroel. He used a copy of the Yerushalmi that the Vilna Gaon had annotated, and studied the Yerushalmi for thirty years and worked for seventeen years on his commentaries before he began printing an edition that included his own commentaries and all those from earlier editions.
In 1900 he traveled to the United States to raise funds, because the subscription money ran out before the fourth order, Nezikin, was finished. He secured subscriptions for many sets, and when he returned to Russia he dedicated Seder Nezikin to his American supporters. In 1903 he went to America again. In August of that year the United Orthodox Rabbis of America, meeting in Philadelphia, elected him zekan haRabbanim (elder rabbi), and on 8 September 1903 he was chosen chief rabbi of the Russian-American congregations in Chicago. During this time he stopped using the name Willowsky and took the name Ridbaz.
In Chicago he tried to bring order to the religious services of the congregations. He met opposition from a former rabbi and his followers, and after ten months he resigned. He realized that he could not introduce the changes he wanted in the areas of kashrus, Torah study and education. He then traveled across the United States, lecturing and teaching, and left a deep impression on his listeners. Back in New York, he tried to found a yeshiva on the European model but found little encouragement.
Teachings and seforim
The Ridbaz wrote many seforim. He is best known for his two commentaries on the Talmud Yerushalmi. Chiddushei Ridbaz follows the approach of Rashi's commentary on the Bavli and explains the plain meaning of the text, and the discussions of the difficult passages of the Gemara belong to it. Tosfos HaRid, printed in Piotrkow in 1899 to 1900, follows the style of the Baalei HaTosfos and compares each passage with other sections of Gemara and halachah.
Publishing the Yerushalmi cost 28,000 rubles, a fortune at the time, and he committed to paying the printer 40 percent of the costs. That is what led him to travel to America to sell his books.
His other works include Migdal Oz and Migdal David (1874), chiddushim on both Talmuds; Chanah David (1876), a commentary on Maseches Challah; Teshuvos HaRidbaz (1881), responsa; Nimukei Ridbaz, a commentary on the Torah that he printed in Chicago; and Beis Ridbaz, an explanation of Pe'as HaShulchan by Rav Yisroel of Shklov.
In the introduction to Nimukei Ridbaz he described the spiritual situation of the Jews in America in 1903, in terms meant to stay in the memory of American Jewry. He wrote that kashrus was absent, education was at its lowest level and Shabbos was desecrated openly, and he cried out for the hearts of his readers to break. Yet he also foresaw that America would one day become a home for Torah.
Later years and passing
In 1905 the Ridbaz left America and settled in Eretz Yisroel, choosing a quiet area in Tzfas, where he founded the Toras Eretz Yisroel yeshiva. In 1909 he entered a dispute with Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Kook over how to keep the Shemittah year, and especially over the use of the heter mechirah (sale permit).
He lived in Eretz Yisroel for less than ten years. He passed away on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, 1 Tishrei 5674 (1913), in Tzfas.
Legacy
The name Ridbaz, which he put on the title pages of his seforim, is an acronym for Rinas Yaakov Dovid ben Zev, taken from the verse "Sing, Yaakov, with gladness" (Yirmiyahu 31:6). His commentaries opened the Talmud Yerushalmi to later generations, and his soul remains bound to everyone who studies it.
Stories
The Bricks from the Family Furnace
The Ridbaz used to tell how his father taught him to love Torah. In Kobrin, parents hired a private teacher for their sons and paid him from money that would otherwise have bought food. A time came when the Ridbaz's father could not pay for several months. The teacher, who dearly loved the gifted boy, said nothing to him and sent no reminder to his father. But the boy himself felt uncomfortable about learning when his teacher went unpaid.
That winter was bitterly cold, and the oven in the beis medrash where the children learned had broken. It needed fireproof bricks, which could not be found in the middle of winter, and the children sat there in their coats, shivering. His father heard about it and went home. He gathered the family and told his wife that they wanted their son to learn Torah, and that although they could not pay the teacher, the cold was a small thing if their Yankel could keep learning. He proposed to give the beis medrash the bricks from their own oven.
His wife answered with tears of joy, "Of course." The father took apart their own oven and brought the bricks to the beis medrash, and no one knew where they had come from. The Ridbaz said that during the cold nights, as his family trembled, he learned to value Torah above everything in the world. He would say, "This lesson stayed with me my whole life: Torah is more precious than anything else, and it is worth suffering for."
The Seven Rooms of Gehinnom
It is told that prominent members of the Slutzk community once asked the Ridbaz, "Rebbe, if Slutzk does not please you, why do you stay? Why not go elsewhere?"
He answered that he had received a tradition that Gehinnom has seven rooms. If the first room already holds terrible suffering, he asked, why are there seven? The answer, he said, is that a wicked person who gets used to his room no longer feels its pain as sharply, so he is moved from room to room, and each one brings new suffering. "I am the same," he said. "For me Slutzk is like Gehinnom, but I have become used to it and to its pain. In another city I would meet a new Gehinnom and new suffering."
Teachings
Torah Is Worth Suffering For
The Ridbaz said that the lesson he learned in childhood stayed with him all his life: Torah study is more precious than anything else, and it is worth suffering for.
Recounted saying of the Ridbaz
Torah Will One Day Settle in America
In the introduction to Nimukei Ridbaz, the Ridbaz recalled an old responsum from a rav in Germany to a rav in Poland. The German rav said that a lenient ruling should not be taught in Poland, since the Poles were not yet bnei Torah. That responsum remained in Jewish history, while Torah itself moved from Germany to Poland. He wrote that perhaps one day Torah would make its home in America, by the will of the One who knows all that is hidden.
Nimukei Ridbaz, introduction (Chicago, 1903)
Seforim
- Talmud Yerushalmi with the Ridbaz's commentaries: An edition of the Yerushalmi with his own commentaries and the earlier commentaries; its printing cost 28,000 rubles.
- Chiddushei Ridbaz: A commentary on the Yerushalmi following the model of Rashi on the Bavli, explaining the plain meaning.
- Tosfos HaRid: A commentary on the Yerushalmi in the style of the Baalei HaTosfos, printed in Piotrkow in 1899 to 1900.
- Migdal Oz: Chiddushim, 1874.
- Migdal David: Chiddushim on both Talmuds, 1874.
- Chanah David: A commentary on Maseches Challah, 1876.
- Teshuvos HaRidbaz: Responsa, 1881.
- Nimukei Ridbaz: A commentary on the Torah, printed in Chicago.
- Beis Ridbaz: An explanation of Pe'as HaShulchan by Rav Yisroel of Shklov.