Rav Yehonoson Eibeshitz
A gaon in Gemara, halacha and Kabbalah, dayan of Prague and later Rav of the Three Communities of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek.
Biography
Early years
Rav Yehonoson Eibeshitz zt"l, the son of Rav Nosson Nota Eibeshitz, was born in Cracow, Poland, in 1690. He was a descendant of the family of Rav Nosson Nota Shapira, the Megaleh Amukos.
His genius showed itself in childhood. He mastered a great deal of Torah at a very young age, and he was also clever, with a razor-sharp mind. Stories told of his boyhood show how he used that mind to protect himself and his fellow Jews.
Torah and leadership
Rav Yehonoson was an exceptional talmid chacham, a master of halacha, and a Kabbalist. He held rabbinic posts in many cities, among them Posen and Prague, where he served as dayan (judge). He later rose to become Rav of the Three Communities of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek.
He had contact with the Christian leaders of his day, and he debated religious and philosophical questions with them.
His position was challenged several times, after accusations that he secretly followed Shabbetaianism, the banned movement built around the false messiah Shabsai Tzvi. This was so even though Rav Yehonoson himself supported the excommunication of every Shabbetaian follower. The controversy spread to all the major Jewish communities, and his opponents continued their attacks until the end of his life.
Teachings and seforim
Rav Yehonoson wrote many important seforim on Jewish law, Scripture and Jewish thought. Thirty of his works on halacha have been published, together with several on homiletics, teaching methodology and Kabbalah.
Only one of his works was printed in his lifetime. The many seforim published after his passing reflect how deeply his oral teachings and his personality influenced those around him.
Later years and passing
Rav Yehonoson passed away on 21 Elul 5524 (1764).
Stories
The Priest's Question About Purim
It is told that a priest once asked Rav Yehonoson, then Rav of Prague, about Purim. “You Jews begin all your holidays at night and continue into the day, because for you the day follows the night. Why do you keep Purim the other way around, with the night coming after the day?”
Rav Yehonoson replied, “I wonder the same thing about you. All your holidays are kept by day and then night, because for you the night follows the day. Yet for the birth of your savior, you begin the evening before. But we are both right. Our Purim came to us through a non-Jew, so we keep it according to your custom. Your holiday came to you through a Jew, so you follow the custom of Yisroel.”
The Boy and the Bully
It is told that as a child, Yehonoson was walking to cheder early one morning when a teenage non-Jewish boy saw an easy victim, jumped on him and began beating him. At first the little boy cried. Then his sharp mind took over. “This is Esav, the wicked robber,” he thought, “and I will outwit him.”
“Stop, stop,” he cried, “and I will give you the money I have.” The bully let him get up. Yehonoson took two small coins from his pocket and handed them over. “Here,” he said. “Today is a Jewish holiday, and on this day any Jew who is beaten by a non-Jew must give him everything in his pockets.” The bully stared at him. “What fools you Jews are,” he said. “Who but you would have such a crazy custom?”
Pocketing the coins, the bully walked off, thinking that he had wasted his blow on a boy with nothing to take. He would have to find a wealthy Jew to beat, since such a chance would not come again for a long time. Just then he spotted what looked like the perfect victim: the leader of the Jewish community of Finsthov, the richest man in town.
Without a second thought the bully ran over and began to beat him mercilessly. A crowd quickly gathered, among them a policeman, who seized the bully, struck him a quick blow and dragged him off to jail. The bully could not understand what was happening. Why was he in jail? He had only been helping the Jews celebrate their holiday.
“Tell me,” said the policeman, “why did you hit the head of the Jewish community?” “It was not my fault,” the bully answered. “There is a Jewish holiday today when every Jew gives money to anyone who hits him.” The policeman looked at him in astonishment. “Who told you that?” he demanded.
The Butcher's Coins
It is told that another time, the young Yehonoson's wisdom saved the Jews of Finsthov from their enemies. A Jewish spice merchant in town had a butcher for a neighbor, a man who had hated Jews for a long time. Only a thin wall of cheap boards separated their shops.
One day, after very good business, the merchant sat down to count the day's earnings. He did not know that a pair of eyes was watching him through the cracks in the partition. The butcher noted every coin and saw where the merchant put the money. The next morning he went to the police and told them that a large sum of money had been stolen from him. He described the coins and declared that his Jewish neighbor must have taken them.
The police searched the Jew's shop and found the money. Nothing the merchant said could help him. The butcher's description seemed to be clear and unmistakable proof. Not only did the merchant face a severe prison term, but the anti-Semites of the town used the incident to stir up hatred against all the Jews of the city.
The Jews gathered to discuss how to prove the man's innocence. Little Yehonoson sat in his father's home, where his father was the Rav of the city, and listened to the discussion. Then he asked permission to whisper something to his father.
“Father, I know how to prove that the Jew is innocent. If the money really belongs to the butcher, it must be covered in grease, because he received it from customers while selling them fatty meat. Let them put the coins in water. If fat floats to the surface, the Jew is guilty. If there is no fat, it is a sign that the money is his, and he is innocent.” They tried it, and the truth came out. Yehonoson had saved the merchant from prison and the Jews of his town from persecution.
Also on 21 Elul
All hilulos on 21 Elul ›Historical sources
- Ascent of Safed (rebbe biographies)
- Chayim Sheyesh Bohem