Rav Shlomo of Karlin
A leading talmid of the Maggid of Mezritch and Rebbe of the Karlin chassidim, remembered as a martyr who gave his life for Klal Yisroel.
Biography
Early years
Rav Shlomo of Karlin zy"a, also called Rav Shlomo HaLevi and known as Shema Shlomo, was the son of Rav Meir HaLevi of Karlin. According to Chassidic tradition he was born in 5498 (1738). Nothing certain is known of his birthplace or childhood, and even the Chassidic records say very little about these years.
Torah and leadership
Rav Shlomo was a talmid of Rav Aharon the Great of Karlin, and like his teacher he was one of the chief talmidim of the Maggid of Mezritch. The Maggid mentions him in a letter to Rav Eliezer HaLevi, the Moreh Tzedek of Pinsk. When Rav Aharon established his beis medrash in Karlin, Rav Shlomo became one of his most devoted talmidim and traveled with him to Mezritch.
After Rav Aharon passed away, Rav Shlomo took over the leadership of the Karlin chassidim. He took on the responsibility of raising Rav Aharon's son, Rav Asher, who was to be the next tzaddik in the Karlin dynasty that his father had founded.
A letter of farewell from Rav Shlomo to the chassidim of Shklov in White Russia has been preserved. He writes as a tzaddik and leader to his followers, praying that Hashem should grant them favor through him and through no one else. The letter shows that the ties between the Jews of Lithuania and the region of White Russia were not cut by the political partition of Poland. Rav Mendel of Vitebsk and Rav Shneur Zalman traveled to the Vilna Gaon to debate the teachings of Chassidus with him, and in the same way the influence of Rav Shlomo of Karlin reached from Lithuania across the border into White Russia.
Later years and passing
It is told that on the Shabbos before Rav Shlomo left this world, he went outside before Kiddush and passed the stable where the horses were kept. When he came into his home he told those gathered, “I have just heard from the horses that dark tidings are coming upon us.”
The next morning the local general gave his soldiers two hours of free time in Ludmir to do as they pleased. They turned the town into a shooting gallery, firing at the Jews and robbing and destroying at will. Bullets flew in every direction, horses stampeded, Cossacks shouted, and terrified Jews ran for cover. Many fled into Rav Shlomo's beis medrash.
According to most accounts, the Rebbe was in the middle of davening and seemed unaware of the terror around him. He went to the aron kodesh, opened it, put his head inside and continued to daven at a long, unhurried pace. His Rebbetzin was very frightened, and when she saw him, she thought he had fainted, since he did not take his head out. She took hold of his coat and tugged gently to wake him. As he lifted his head from the aron kodesh, a bullet fired through the window struck him in the foot.
Many relate that at the very moment he was shot, the two-hour rampage came to an end. The doctors said they could operate, but he would not let them touch him. He lay in terrible pain for the whole week with the holy Zohar open before him, until on Thursday, 22 Tammuz 5552 (1792), his pure soul left this world.
Legacy
The tzaddikim said that Rav Shlomo of Karlin was the Moshiach ben Yosef of his generation, and that his martyrdom sanctified the Name of Hashem and atoned for the sins of Klal Yisroel, just as Moshiach ben Yosef is to be killed and die for the sins of Klal Yisroel.
Stories
The Intention Left in Prison
It is told that the story of how Rav Shlomo came to be a martyr began earlier. Rav Nachum of Czernobyl had been imprisoned on a false charge of murder, as part of a blood libel invented against him by wicked men. When Rav Shlomo and others tried to free him through the usual means, they met an extraordinary, almost unnatural opposition. They understood that it was supernatural, and that it was Rav Nachum himself who did not wish to be freed. Surely he was sitting in prison willingly, as a sacrifice to cancel some harsh decree against Klal Yisroel.
Rav Shlomo convinced him to agree to be released. When the Czernobler saw that the Karliner had discovered his secret, he said, “I had a hidden thought which even the malochim did not understand, and this holy Jew has seen it.” He agreed to be freed.
Rav Shlomo later remarked, “He dropped that intention, to be a martyr and sacrifice himself for Klal Yisroel, and I picked it up.”
Rav Nachum's Grief
After Rav Shlomo of Karlin passed away, no one wanted to tell Rav Nachum of Czernobyl, because the two had been so close. But when Rav Nachum shut himself away from the world for three days, they understood that he must have found out.
To comfort the grieving tzaddik, his chassidim told him that had the Karliner lived, thousands of Jews would have been killed in his place. Rav Nachum was not comforted. They said tens of thousands, and he cried that Rav Shlomo alone was equal to them. Finally they told him that a quarter of Klal Yisroel would have been lost if the Karliner had not taken their place, and only then was he consoled.
The Berditchever Fights the Decree
It is told that before the decree was sealed and the fate of Rav Shlomo of Karlin was decided, the matter was revealed from Heaven to Rav Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, the advocate and defender of the Jewish people. The Berditchever stood against the decision and tried to cancel the decree.
He was told that if the Karliner lived, a great calamity would fall on the people. He paid no attention and kept fighting the decree, so great was the Karliner in his eyes.
Then Heaven showed him a description of the destruction that would come, and compared it to the deaths of thousands upon thousands, like the terrible decrees of Tach VeTat (1648–1649), which began on the twentieth of Sivan, during the pogroms that swept across Eastern Europe. At that, the Berditchever stopped trying to cancel it. He was left with no choice but to accept the harsh decree.
Family & talmidim
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@{name=Rav Aharon the Great of Karlin}: The Maggid of Mezritch
Also on 22 Tammuz
All hilulos on 22 Tammuz ›Historical sources
- Kisvei Rav Yoshe
- Toldos Shema Shlomo
- Me'Oros Kedushas Levi (English, forthcoming)