Rav Yeshaya Weltfried of Pshedburzh
A gaon and Chassid who served as Rav of Pshedburzh for 42 years, close friend of Rav Akiva Eiger and a leading talmid of the Chozeh of Lublin.
Biography
Early years
Rav Yeshaya of Pshedburzh zy"a was orphaned at a young age and grew up in Lask, the kehillah of his father and grandfather. He made a name for himself early on as a genius, and he mastered so much Torah that no suitable tutor could be found for him. He was then taught privately by the illustrious Rav of Lask, Rav Pinchos Zelig, author of Ateres Paz.
As his reputation grew, a wealthy merchant from Pshedburzh, Rav Dov Weinberg, chose the young talmid chacham as a son-in-law. He promised to provide for all his material needs so that he could devote himself entirely to Torah. Rav Yeshaya married at the age of fourteen, shut himself off from the outside world, and learned for eighteen years straight.
Torah and leadership
The Rav of Pshedburzh, Rav Nosson Neta Eibschitz, had been a misnaged, an opponent of the ways of the Chassidim. Gradually he changed his mind and was drawn to the Maggid of Mezritch and to one of his successors, Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk. Still, he turned away the crowds of Chassidim who flocked to him in Pshedburzh, telling them, "I am no Rebbe." Young Yeshaya became his chavrusa (study partner), and together they plumbed the depths of Toras HaNistar, the hidden, mystical side of the Torah.
When Rav Nosson Neta passed away, his successor as Rav, Rav Aryeh Leib Halperin, also became Rav Yeshaya's chavrusa. It was in Rav Halperin's home that Rav Yeshaya met a sharp young scholar named Yaakov Yitzchok, who later became known as the Yid HaKadosh of Peshischa.
His desire to grow in Torah eventually brought him to the yeshiva in Lisa, where he learned under Rav Dovid Tebel. There he met another young genius, Rav Akiva Eiger, and the two became chavrusos and close friends. Their friendship lasted a lifetime. Years later, when misnagdim complained to Rav Akiva Eiger that Chassidim do not learn, he would answer, "But Rav Yeshaya is a gaon and a Chassid."
In time, Rav Yeshaya's father-in-law passed away, the inheritance ran out, and he was left with no income. It is told that after he completed all four sections of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch with their commentaries, he dreamed that the former Rav of Pshedburzh, Rav Nosson Neta, appeared to him and said, "Know that I hereby give the position of Rav to you." That very morning the leaders of the town arrived with a letter of appointment, announcing that they had elected Rav Yeshaya as Rav of Pshedburzh.
He served as Rav and Av Beis Din of Pshedburzh for 42 years. When the Chozeh of Lublin passed away, the Chassidim crowned Rav Yeshaya as one of his successors, though he put off accepting the title of Rebbe for as long as he could.
Among his foremost talmidim were Rav Kalonymus Kalman Epstein, author of Maor VaShemesh, and his sons; Rav Aharon of Krakow and his brother, Rav Yosef Baruch of Neustadt, the Gitter Yid; Rav Moshe of Lelov; Rav Shlomo of Radomsk; Rav Yissacher Ber of Radoshitz; and Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel, the Seraph of Mogelnitza.
Stories
Two Candles
The seforim relate how Rav Dovid of Lelov drew Rav Yeshaya and the Yid HaKadosh into the inner circle of the Chozeh of Lublin.
When Rav Dovid of Lelov came to take leave of the Chozeh, the Chozeh told him, "When you go, be sure to travel through Pshedburzh. Two candles are burning there. Do your best to bring them to me."
Arriving in Pshedburzh, Rav Dovid went straight to the beis medrash. There he found the two "candles" he was looking for: the Rav and Av Beis Din of Pshedburzh, Rav Yeshaya, learning with his chavrusa, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok of Peshischa, later known as the Yid HaKadosh.
When the Yid HaKadosh went to the bookcase to look something up, Rav Dovid said to him, "You know, if you have never met the Chozeh of Lublin, you cannot properly understand even one page of Gemara." When Rav Yeshaya passed by, he told him the same thing.
At first the two paid no attention to the stranger's odd remark, yet his words kept coming back to them as they learned. They decided to look for him, but he was gone; they searched the town in vain. Only the next day did the mysterious traveller reappear in the beis medrash. They told him they had decided to travel to Lublin to meet the Chozeh. To their surprise he replied, "First you must learn the secret of the tzaddik's soul. Only then will you merit to travel to him and bask in his presence."
After sitting in deep thought, they understood that the Chozeh's soul came from the holy Tanna Rav Yosi HaKohen, one of the five talmidim of Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai, whom Pirkei Avos calls a "chassid".
When they reached Lublin they met one of the Chozeh's talmidim, Rav Peretz, who had just returned from a visit to Eretz Yisroel. To their astonishment, they heard the Chozeh ask him, "Did you daven at the kever of the Tanna Rav Yosi HaKohen in Teveria? The soul within my body shares the soul of that Tanna." They saw with their own eyes that ruach hakodesh rested on the Chozeh's beis medrash.
Rav Dovid of Lelov used to say that one of the main reasons he himself had to come to Lublin was to draw those two lions close to the holy chevraya.
The Trunk of Seforim
The Chozeh of Lublin once travelled with his son, Rav Tzvi, to the town of Tshechiyov, not far from Lublin. Rav Tzvi asked to bring along a trunk of seforim. "No," the Chozeh answered, "that will not be necessary."
He pointed to Rav Yeshaya of Pshedburzh, who was travelling with them, and said, "Here is our trunk of seforim. The light of his Torah shines from one end of the world to the other."
When the Yid HaKadosh Passed Away
The Yid HaKadosh passed away on Chol HaMoed Sukkos. Rav Yeshaya said that he saw a great darkness descend on the world and understood that it came from his Rebbe's passing.
Yet Rav Yeshaya was certain that the world could not go on after the death of the Yid HaKadosh. When he went outside and saw that everything continued as before, he thought he must have been mistaken and that the Yid HaKadosh was still alive. Only when he saw the Yid HaKadosh in the upper worlds did he accept that he had passed away.
In his own words: "When I went outside on the day the Yid HaKadosh passed away and saw the sun still shining and the world still existing as before, I thought he must still be alive. I believed that if the Yid HaKadosh had passed away, surely the sun would stop shining and the world would return to the chaos of tohu va-vohu that came before Creation."
Family & talmidim
Teachers: Rav Pinchos Zelig of Lask (Ateres Paz), Rav Dovid Tebel of Lisa, The Chozeh of Lublin, The Yid HaKadosh of Peshischa
Talmidim: Rav Kalonymus Kalman Epstein (Maor VaShemesh) and his sons, Rav Aharon of Krakow, Rav Yosef Baruch of Neustadt (the Gitter Yid), Rav Moshe of Lelov, Rav Shlomo of Radomsk, Rav Yissacher Ber of Radoshitz, Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel (the Seraph of Mogelnitza)
Also on 1 Elul
All hilulos on 1 Elul ›Historical sources
- Dibros Chaim
- Tiferes HaYehudi
- Ohr Zarua LaTzaddik
- Yaakov Yitzchok of Peshischa