Rav Yaakov Yosef HaKohen Katz of Polnoy
A leading talmid of the Baal Shem Tov, the Baal HaToldos wrote Toldos Yaakov Yosef, the first Chassidic sefer ever printed, and served as Rav of Polnoy.
Biography
Early years
Rav Yaakov Yosef HaKohen Katz of Polnoy zy"a, known as the Baal HaToldos, was the son of Rav Tzvi Katz and was born around 1695. His family line was a distinguished one. He descended from the mekubal Rav Shimshon of Ostropoli, from Rav Yosef Katz, author of Yesod Yosef, and from Rav Yom Tov Lipman Heller, author of Tosefos Yom Tov on Mishnayos. His own path in Chassidus joined the fields of his ancestors, with deep learning in both Kabbalah and halachah.
While still young he was appointed Rav of Sharigrod in Podolia. At first he stood among the opponents of the new Chassidic movement. Then he met the Baal Shem Tov, the two spent several hours alone together, and he came out as an admirer who became one of the movement’s leading voices. Chassidic tradition tells that the Baal Shem Tov had worked hard to win him over, and when he succeeded he said, “Ribono Shel Olam, I do not ask for reward in the World to Come for my deeds. I ask only to be rewarded for giving You such a Yosseleh as this one.” Shivchei HaBaal Shem names Rav Leib of Polnoy as one of those who influenced Rav Yaakov Yosef to join the movement.
Torah and leadership
Rav Yaakov Yosef was one of the very first talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov to spread and teach Chassidus, and the Baal Shem’s beloved talmid muvhak, perhaps the closest of them all. As the Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov relates, once he became a follower of the Baal Shem Tov he gave away all his money as tzedakah, fearing that it was somehow tainted because he had earned it undeservedly, and he left himself destitute. He studied all day wrapped in a tallis and crowned with tefillin. Before his meals he learned seven pages of Gemara, and between the courses his mouth never stopped reviewing his learning by heart. After eating he took a short nap, and when he rose he put on tefillin again and learned until Minchah.
No night passed without his rising at chatzos, even on Shabbos and Yom Tov, and he learned much at night as well. He worked tirelessly to raise funds to redeem captives and to distribute tzedakah, though he himself lived in hardship. His tefillos and acts of kedushah were so intense that he trembled, his flesh crawling with awe of Hashem.
When it became known that he followed Chassidus and the Baal Shem Tov, the local misnagdim ran him out of town, and he had no choice but to spend Shabbos in a neighboring village. Around 5508 (1747) he was appointed Rav of Rashkov, and a few years later, around 5512 (1751), Rav of Nemirov, where he served longer and spread Chassidus openly. He kept consulting the Baal Shem Tov on all matters.
When the Baal Shem Tov passed away in 5520 (1760), the Maggid, Rav Dov Ber of Mezritch, was appointed as his successor, because Rav Yaakov Yosef, with his inward and scholarly nature, felt unable to lead the young movement. He accepted the Maggid’s authority and is reported to have said, “After the Baal Shem Tov passed away, the Shechinah packed her bags, left Mezhibuzh and settled in Mezritch.” The Maggid in turn had a fondness for him and said of him, “He merited the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi and other great spiritual achievements.” It is generally accepted that Rav Yaakov Yosef conducted himself as a rebbe, holding a tisch and accepting requests to daven for the sick and for other needs.
After the center of Chassidus moved to Volhynia, he too moved, wishing to stay near it, and in 5530 (1769) he became Rav of Polnoy. He was revered for his exceptional piety and his devotion to Torah study.
Teachings and seforim
Rav Yaakov Yosef was the very first author of the Chassidic movement, publishing the first Chassidic sefer in history. His Toldos Yaakov Yosef contains derushim on the Torah, arranged by the weekly parshiyos, and weaves together Kabbalah, deep ideas of Chassidic thought and halachic themes. It stands among the most important works of Chassidus and is found in every Chassidic beis medrash. He cites teachings that he received firsthand from the Baal Shem Tov over 280 times in this sefer alone.
His other seforim are Ben Poras Yosef, with derushim and chiddushei Torah, including a copy of the famed letter of the Baal Shem Tov that describes his messianic vision of the redemption arriving when his teachings spread widely; Tzafnas Pa’aneach on Shemos; and Kesones Pasim on the Torah.
The publication of Toldos Yaakov Yosef caused an uproar. It was full of sharp criticism of the leaders and rabbanim of the generation and their way of learning. Rav Yaakov Yosef held them responsible for the shortcomings of the generation, and he criticized the whole establishment. In their place he described a new kind of leader, the tzaddik and Chassidic rebbe, “who would not ignore the ignorant masses, but be intimately involved in their lives and watch over their affairs, guiding, leading and loving them, and drawing them close to their Father in Heaven.” He wrote that the masses are the body and the tzaddik their heart, the soul of the generation, and that he must lower himself in order to lift them up. Avodas Hashem, he taught, can be done by anyone, not only in spiritual matters but with physical things too.
This criticism was one of the main causes of the misnagdim’s opposition and a contributing factor to the cherem (excommunication) they later pronounced against the chassidim. The sefer is alluded to in the Vilna cherem, and Rav Dovid of Makov attacked it in his polemical kuntresim, Zamir Aritzim and Shever Poshim, calling it a “mesis umediach,” one who misleads, against Klal Yisroel. The sefer was publicly burned in Brode and in other strongholds of the misnagdim. Tradition has it that Rav Yechezkel Landau of Prague, the Noda BiYehudah, sat with his feet resting on the sefer, and that Rav Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetovka then travelled to Prague and presented a scholarly argument that reconciled the work and its author to the Noda BiYehudah, who afterward lifted the sefer from the ground and kissed it. This meeting and debate was recorded and published in many editions as Divrei Noam and Darkei Noam.
The chassidim, by contrast, rejoiced over the sefer, and its appearance was cause for a celebration like Yom Tov. Rav Pinchos of Koretz is quoted as saying, “There is no other such sefer, which is Torah from Heaven.” The Kozhnitzer Maggid, Rav Yisroel, once refused to pass by a certain house in Brode, saying that tumah was pouring out of it. When they investigated, they discovered that the Toldos had once been burned there. Tradition has it that the very Heavens were disturbed by Rav Yaakov Yosef’s cries of anguish over the fate of his sefer.
Later years and passing
Rav Yaakov Yosef passed away on 21 Tishrei 5544 (1783); some give the date as 24 Tishrei. The writing on his matzeva has become worn and blurred over time, so the exact year of his passing is unclear. The stone is inscribed with the words “Ish Chai Rav Pa’alim Chassid Anav Ish Elokim Kadosh Yomar Lo,” roughly, “a busy man of much action, a chassid, a humble, G-dly man, a holy person.”
He rests beside Rav Leib of Polnoy, and a single joint ohel was built over both monuments.
Legacy
Rav Yaakov Yosef left behind a son and a daughter. His son, Rav Avraham Shimshon, succeeded him as Rav of Rashkov and emigrated to Eretz Yisroel during his father’s lifetime. His daughter was married to Rav Avraham Dov Auerbach, who succeeded his father-in-law as Rav of Polnoy, and Rav Avraham Dov’s sons also made aliyah to Eretz Yisroel.
Chassidim affectionately call him the Baal HaToldos, or simply the Toldos, after the sefer that opened the written literature of Chassidus.
Stories
The Uninvited Guests on Seder Night
A young couple had recently married in a small town in the district of Vilna, and the bride began to notice strange behavior in her husband. He rose at midnight to say Tikkun Chatzos, the midnight lament over the exile. Every morning at daybreak he immersed in the mikveh. And he kept reading a certain book that he hid under his pillow.
The young woman told her father, who took the sefer from beneath the pillow and opened it, and his world went dark. It was Toldos Yaakov Yosef, whose author, Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, was known as a leader of the “Sect.” His own son-in-law had been caught by the dreaded chassidim.
He raged at his son-in-law and poured oaths and warnings on him. When that had no effect, he tried gentle persuasion, and when that failed too, he demanded that the young man divorce his daughter. The young chosson refused. He was bound to Chassidus with all his soul, and he did not want to divorce his wife.
The father-in-law gave up and turned to his fellow townspeople for help, and the little town fell into turmoil. Some thought that every pressure should be used to force the young man to give a get. Others pointed out that a get given under duress is invalid, and that the poor bride would be caught in a maze of responsa over whether it was kosher. The only way, in their view, was to offer the husband a large sum so that he would agree to divorce of his own free will. The whole town boiled with argument, until the matter reached the poritz, the nobleman who ruled the region, an old colonel.
When the poritz heard that it had all begun with a book, he asked who its author was. He was told that it was a man who had led Jews away from the true path of Torah, Yaakov Yosef the Kohen of Polnoye. The poritz asked to see the book. He looked at the title page himself and saw the name of the sefer and of its author printed there in Russian. He summoned the young man, his wife and her father, with all their friends and relatives, and said, “The time has come to tell you something that happened to me in my youth.”
“Many years ago, when I was a colonel, my unit was camped one winter near Polonoye. We were ordered to move camp, and at daybreak the men lined up for their orders. Three soldiers were missing. I sent others to nearby Polonoye to find them, and they came back with a strange report. They had found all three in one house, lit by candles. At the head of the table sat an old man of impressive appearance, and the three soldiers stood before him, speechless and frozen, unable to move hand or foot. I did not believe it and sent another group, who came back with the same story.
“I went myself, with a few soldiers. When I entered and saw the old man, who looked like an angel, sitting in deep meditation, I felt fear and awe. The missing soldiers stood as if nailed to the floor, deaf and dumb. At last I found the courage to disturb his holy thoughts. ‘I see that you are a holy man,’ I said. ‘My soldiers must leave today with the whole battalion. Could you please do something so that they can move?’ The old man answered, ‘They must have stolen something. Remove the stolen objects from their pockets and they will be able to leave.’
“We searched their pockets and found them full of silver vessels. When the objects were removed, two of the men walked out normally, but the third stayed frozen. His friends said, ‘He must have something in his boot.’ And so it was. We found a small silver cup hidden there. When we took it, he too could move, and he left.”
What had happened? It was the first night of Pesach. After the seder the family had gone to sleep, leaving the head of the house, Rav Yaakov Yosef himself, sitting at the table all night in holy meditation. The door had been left open, because this is leil shimurim, a night guarded against every harm. The three soldiers passed by and saw through the windows that everyone was asleep and the door ajar. They walked in and began stuffing their pockets with leftovers and matzah from the table, and then with the silver utensils set out in honor of the seder. As soon as they had done so, they found that they could not move, until the colonel released them.
The poritz went on: “When I saw this wonder, I asked the holy Rav to bless me twice, first with children, since I was childless then, and second with a long life. He agreed and blessed me. Then I asked when my end would come. ‘The end of a man’s life is a secret that cannot be revealed,’ he said. ‘But know that just before your life ends, a situation will come to you in which you make my name known among Jews who do not know me.’ His blessings came true. Hashem gave me children, and as you see, I have lived to old age.
“Now tell me, is there anyone here who would still speak against such a holy man? Let no one see it as a sin that this young man studies the book of such a man of G-d. I order you to make peace among yourselves at once, and let no one lay a hand on this young man.”
Everyone present was moved by the old poritz’s story, and they promised to obey and to stop quarreling. “Now it is clear that my end is near,” the poritz added, “because the holy man’s last words have been fulfilled. But I am glad that I could bring peace among you in the name of the holy Rav, who is now in Gan Eden.” A few months later the old poritz passed away.
Buying the Toldos to Save Berditchev
Rav Chaim Elozor Shapira of Munkacz, author of Minchas Elozor, told this story. When Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye printed his holy sefer, Toldos Yaakov Yosef on the Torah, he travelled to Berditchev on the day of the trade fair, bringing two hundred copies to sell. He rented a storefront and set one or two copies open in the window for passersby. He was certain that anyone who read a few lines would run to buy a copy.
But when interested people asked the price and he answered that it was a rendil, a very valuable gold coin, they laughed and went on their way. “For a whole rendil we can buy a new wardrobe and matching shoes,” they said. Days passed without a single sale, and the fair was nearly over. The Toldos was despondent and deeply disappointed.
Word reached the Berditchever, and the Kedushas Levi knew the whole story. He told his faithful Rebbetzin, “Our dear friend Rav Yaakov Yosef has come to Berditchev to sell his new sefer at the fair. His price is too high, and I am afraid that in his anger and disappointment the whole city will be punished.” On her husband’s advice, the Rebbetzin decided to give up one of her most prized possessions. She hurried off and pawned her shterntichel, a beautiful headpiece of silver or gold and diamonds, for two hundred rendils, and handed the whole sum to the Berditchever so that he could buy all the seforim and save the town.
The Berditchever sent a young man as his agent with the entire sum. He told him to bargain and ask for a discount on forty or fifty books, so that the sale would look genuine and the Toldos would suspect nothing. But the Toldos would not give up a single kopeck. “Even if you took all two hundred, I will not lower the price,” he said. In the end the young man bought all two hundred seforim for the full sum.
When he had finished his business, the Toldos went to take leave of the Rav of Berditchev. He apologized for not coming sooner, since he had been busy with the mitzvah of selling his seforim. He told how pained he had been that no one bought a single copy at first. “But in the end Hashem sent me a young man with a good head on his shoulders, who valued my sefer so much that he bought all two hundred copies for the price I asked.” The Berditchever listened and smiled. “Really? You don’t say,” was all he remarked.
The Floating Bed
It is told that Reb Yayvi, the Maggid of Ostra, once remarked to his son Getzel that each word and letter of Toldos Yaakov Yosef is precious, yet one passage defeated him. He went over it again at length and still could not grasp it. He told Getzel that they would travel to the author himself to ask.
The carriage ride took many hours. When they arrived at the home of Rav Yaakov Yosef, they found him in bed, only days before his passing. Reb Yayvi explained that he had bought the sefer and studied it closely from beginning to end, but that one passage was beyond him, and that he had come for an explanation. Rav Yaakov Yosef motioned toward the bookcase and told him to bring the sefer and point to the passage.
The visitor fetched it, and the moment he opened the sefer it fell open to the very paragraph. He passed it to the man in bed and read out the words, “My rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, told me.” As Rav Yaakov Yosef started to explain, his face took on an unearthly glow and his body looked like a blazing torch. The bed rose from the floor and floated in the air, encircled by a pillar of fire.
When the explanation was over, everything returned to normal. The fire vanished, and the bed came to rest on the floor, with a worn-out old man lying in it. In later years Reb Getzel told the story again and again. He would swear by his beard that it was true, and say that he would never forget the sight as long as he lived.
Teachings
Faith and Love Unite Every Mitzvah
Rav Yaakov Yosef taught that when a mitzvah is done with full faith, with dveikus (attachment to Hashem) and with delight, it contains within it all 248 positive and 365 negative commandments. Chazal say that Chavakuk came and established all the mitzvos on one principle, “A righteous person shall live by his faith.” Just as the heart gives life to every limb, the commandment of faith is the source and root of all 248 positive commandments. It is an aspect of the commandment “Anochi Hashem Elokecha,” the source of them all. Faith is also love, the root of all things, and when a mitzvah contains both faith and love, the one who fulfills it merits life in the next world, as the Rambam writes in his commentary to the Mishnah at the end of Makkos.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Parshas Chayei Sarah and Parshas Yisro (citing Makkos 24a, Chavakuk 2:4, Shemos 20:2)
Never Push Away With Two Hands
On the verse “Love your fellow as yourself,” Rav Yaakov Yosef taught that all Jews are rooted together in unity. Therefore a person should never push another Jew away with two hands. Rather, the left hand pushes away while the right hand draws near. If a person pushes away his fellow, he is in effect pushing away himself, since he is pushing away part of that unity, and it is as if he pushed away the whole.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Parshas Chayei Sarah (on Vayikra 19:18)
How Can We Be Commanded to Love?
Love is drawn only through faith, a form of attachment and dveikus to Hashem. When a person does even one mitzvah with both love and faith, he is attached to the root of all faith, and it is as if he had fulfilled all 613 commandments. The Torah and its commandments all emanate from Hashem’s very essence, which is true unity, so by fulfilling one mitzvah completely and with love, a person takes hold of all the others through that unity. He has then fulfilled the whole of His unity, one complete partzuf, so to speak. (A partzuf is a kabbalistic construct of the Arizal in which the sefiros form complete sets of ten.) The hardest part of the commandment to love Hashem is that we are commanded to feel something that seems beyond our control. How can we be commanded to feel love? Rav Yaakov Yosef answers that through attachment and connection to the Torah and the path of Hashem, a person’s heart fills with love for Hashem on its own. The same is true of joy, for he then rejoices in loving Hashem.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Parshas Yisro and Parshas Shelach
The Rope of the Tzaddik
A parable: a king’s son was lost and strayed from his father. He could not be brought back until one of the ministers took off his royal clothing and put on a peasant’s simple clothes. Then he could befriend the king’s wayward son, who had also become a lowlife. So too, a person has ups and downs in life. Before he falls, he must attach himself to Hashem with rapture and dveikus, so that if he falls he can lift himself again, and at the same time lift the sparks of others who have fallen. Every generation has its leader, who puts on the lowly clothing of his generation and attaches himself to them. This takes place through sin, by which he gains some connection with them, and when he repents he can bring them all back with him to his earlier level. Just as one who descends into a pit first ties himself to a rope, the tzaddik first attaches himself to the Creator before descending to the level of his generation. This is why we say, “Yaakov chevel nachalaso,” Yaakov’s inheritance is a rope, from Devarim 32:9. Hold on to this rope, which is tied to the Holy One Himself. The Zohar (I:83a, 140b) gives a similar parable of a man who wished to descend into a deep pit but feared he could not climb out. He tied a knot in a rope outside the pit and said, “Now that I tied this knot, I can climb out.” In the same way, before Avrohom went down into Egypt, he first bound himself to his faith, so that he could come out again.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Parshas Bechukosai and Parshas Naso (citing Devarim 32:9; Zohar I:83a, 140b)
The Voice That Needs No Words
The Mishnah in Avos (6:2) speaks of a bas kol, a heavenly voice, that calls out every day for people to repent and return to Hashem. Rav Yaakov Yosef writes that his master, the Baal Shem Tov, asked, “What good is a daily heavenly voice that no one hears?” The Baal Shem Tov answered that in the place where the voice comes from there are no words and no speech, only the realm of pure thought, Olam HaMachshavah. So every thought of repentance a person has, every urge to return to Hashem and His path, is not his own. It is the sound of the bas kol. Through our thoughts of teshuvah, we truly do hear it.
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov (Kesser Shem Tov); Pirkei Avos 6:2
Against Excessive Fasting
Rav Yaakov Yosef quoted a letter that the Baal Shem Tov had written to him, advising him not to engage too much in fasting and self-affliction, because such practices lead to depression or anger. The main reason to avoid them, the Baal Shem Tov wrote, is that instead of improving a person’s service of Hashem, they keep him from learning Torah and serving Hashem properly.
Ben Poras Yosef (quoting a letter of the Baal Shem Tov)
Seforim
- Toldos Yaakov Yosef: Derushim on the Torah arranged by the weekly parshiyos, the first Chassidic sefer ever published; it cites the Baal Shem Tov more than 280 times.
- Ben Poras Yosef: Derushim and chiddushei Torah, including a copy of the famed letter of the Baal Shem Tov describing his messianic vision of the redemption.
- Tzafnas Pa’aneach: A commentary on Shemos.
- Kesones Pasim: Derushim on the Torah.
Family & talmidim
Teachers: The Baal Shem Tov
Children: Rav Avraham Shimshon, who succeeded him as Rav of Rashkov, A daughter, wife of Rav Avraham Dov Auerbach, who succeeded him as Rav of Polnoy
Also on 21 Tishrei
All hilulos on 21 Tishrei ›Historical sources
- Shivchei HaBaal Shem Tov
- Sippurei Chassidim Al HaMoadim
- Otzar HaSippurim
- Chodesh BeChodsho (Munkacz)
- Sifrei Kodesh
- Toldos Yaakov Yosef
- Ben Poras Yosef
- Divrei Noam and Darkei Noam