THE CHASSIDIC GAON OF LUBLIN AND YERUSHALAYIM

Reb Shneur Zalman Fradkin, the author of Toras Chesed, was one of the greatest Chabad rabbis of all generations. He served for twenty years as the rav of Lublin, and spent the last ten years of his illustrious life as the leading rabbinic authority of the Chabad community in Yerushalayim. He was a world renowned genius who merited receiving a bracha from the Tzemach Tzedek that he not have to search through s’farim to find any sources that he needed. The Rebbe Maharash testified about him that the concept of forgetting didn’t exist for him. The Rebbe Rashab said about him, “Even in earlier generations, he would be considered a gaon.”

Rabbi Shneur Zalman Fradkin was born in Adar 5590/1830 in Liadi to Shlomo and Aidel Fradkin. His birth came about through a bracha from the Alter Rebbe to his maternal grandfather, R’ Dovber, after a son of R’ Dovber died: “I will console you [by telling you] that a son will be born to your household who will illuminate the eyes of Israel.” On another occasion, when R’ Dovber’s entire family passed by the Alter Rebbe, his daughter Aidel was not present and the Alter Rebbe asked, “Where is she? A great light will go forth from her.”

Elsewhere it is related: The father of the Toras Chesed, R’ Shlomo Fradkin, was a builder, and he had occasion to build a home for the Tzemach Tzedek. As he built it, the Tzemach Tzedek came out of his room and R’ Shlomo recoiled in fright. When the Tzemach Tzedek saw this he asked, “Am I a bear?” and he blessed him that he have scholarly sons.

The problem was that R’ Shneur was born mute. His parents went to doctors but found no cure. Then, when he was three, he suddenly began to say Divrei Torah. It turned out that for the first three years he was only listening to Torah but could not speak, and it was only at age three that he could speak it too. The first thing he said was an explanation to Targum Unkelus on the verse “U’L’Nefesh Chaya” which the Targum translates as ruach memalela – a speaking creature. People came from all over to see the wonder child who at the age of three knew Chumash and Rashi and Unkelus.

By the age of five he knew entire tractates, and when the Tzemach Tzedek visited Liadi, he tested the boy for two hours and then gave him a quarter of a ruble. The boy took the money and said, “In the book of Shmuel, Shaul gave the man of G-d-Shmuel a silver quarter and now the man of G-d is giving me a silver quarter.”

The Tzemach Tzedek liked this line and blessed him to become great in Torah. By the age of eleven the Tzemach Tzedek presented him with questions about agunos in order to hear his opinion.

When R’ Shneur Zalman’s tzitzis tore, the Tzemach Tzedek gave them to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka for her to fix them and said, “Shneur Zalman is a wonder child.”

After his engagement, he went to learn by R’ Eliyahu Yosef of Dribin where he became a Gadol BaTorah. After his marriage he decided not to support himself through the rabbinate, but after losing his dowry money the Tzemach Tzedek told him to be appointed rav of Polotzk. In 5615/1855 he was appointed the rav of Polotzk.

The Tzemach Tzedek had Chassidim who were geniuses such as R’ Isaac of Homil and R’ Hillel of Paritch, and yet R’ Shneur Zalman was given a special place of honor in the Rebbe’s court, as per the Tzemach Tzedek’s explicit instructions. The Tzemach Tzedek called him a gaon and had him sit with him on Dinei Torah. When someone expressed surprise about this, the Rebbe commented, “He knows how many vavs there are in all of Shas.” Elder Chassidim said that the Tzemach Tzedek tied a gartel on him and said the bracha, “Ozer Yisroel B’G’vura,” [He who girds the Jewish people with strength]. The Tzemach Tzedek esteemed him so highly that he asked R’ Shneur Zalman to give his approbation to the second printing of Likkutei Torah along with R’ Peretz Chein and R’ Yosef Tumarkin, and they are described there as “Chachmei z’maneinu” [the wise men of our times].

When R’ Eliyahu Yosef Rivlin moved to Eretz Yisroel, he planned on going through Polotzk. The Tzemach Tzedek told him not to go that way so as not to distract R’ Shneur Zalman from his learning.

Despite his extraordinary memory, R’ Shneur Zalman spent three hours a day learning the teachings of the Tzemach Tzedek. He said that hiskashrus to a tzaddik is not possible without learning his teachings every day. When he left his final yechidus with the Tzemach Tzedek he cried and said that from the wording of the bracha he felt it was the last bracha.

He was also very mekushar to the Rebbe Maharash and was one of the three gaonim who crowned the Rebbe Maharash as Rebbe. He also gave smicha to the Rebbe Maharash in Hilchos Issur v’Heter along with R’ Isaac of Homil, R’ Hillel of Paritch and Yitzchok Isaac of Vitebsk. One time, when he was in a jovial frame of mind, he repeated verbatim from memory a page of Gemara, a page of Maharsha and a page of Kinos for the Rebbe Maharash. The Rebbe Rashab held him in high esteem and said that he would be considered a gaon in earlier generations too.

After thirteen years in Polotzk he was appointed rav and av beis din in Lublin. This was a great honor since few were appointed as rabbanim there. His leaving Polotzk was surprising. Some said that the reason had to do with the fact that most of the Chabad Chassidim in Polotzk were mekushar to Chassidus Kapost and R’ Shneur Zalman continued to be mekushar to Lubavitch.

R’ Shneur Zalman was rav in Lublin for twenty years. Questions were sent to him from all over the world including New York and Melbourne. He was such a genius that even the Rogatchover gaon, R’ Yosef Rosen, went to learn by him in Lublin. While living in Lublin he became very close with the famous Rabbi Tzaddok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900) and they learned Chassidus together for hours.

In 5652/1892, R’ Shneur Zalman first expressed his desire to move to Yerushalayim, but his flock stopped him from going. However, he was determined to go, and he left ostensibly to visit health springs but from there “escaped” to Yerushalayim illegally. It was only upon his arrival in Yerushalayim that he sent his resignation to Lublin.

Everybody in Yerushalayim, led by Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elishar, went out to welcome him. R’ Shneur Zalman created a revolution in Yerushalayim. He set up a Chassidishe beis din and slaughterhouse according to the customs of Lubavitch, and he ran Kollel Chabad and led the Tzemach Tzedek shul. He soon became the rav of Chabad Chassidim in Eretz Yisroel.

When his first wife died, he married a woman named Yocheved. The wedding was attended by the likes of R’ Shmuel Salant and R’ Yehoshua Leib Diskin. R’ Diskin later wrote to his son that it was worth moving to Yerushalayim in order to bask in the Torah of the Toras Chesed, as R’ Shneur Zalman was known for the work he authored. In Yerushalayim they said the verse, “Toras chesed al lishono” about him.

Back in Polotzk, R’ Shneur Zalman was a big posek. No greater testimony is needed than that which was written by the Tzemach Tzedek, “I am busy and unable to respond … pose the question to Rabbi Zalman of Polotzk. You can rely on him.” R’ Shneur Zalman collected the thousands of his responsa into his monumental work, Toras Chesed. Only part of it was published. Another seven responsa along with other teachings in his name were printed afterward in the book HaGaon M’Lublin.

He passed away on 5 Nissan 5662/1902.

THE GAON AND HIS REBBE

When the Toras Chesed went to Lubavitch, he would enter the Rebbe’s room and say a chiddush or present a halachic question that he was struggling with. When he went in 5614, he prepared a long pilpul which he reviewed in his mind before entering for yechidus.

“I was very happy with this pilpul,” he said afterward, “because I wanted to give the Rebbe nachas and by doing so, to be mekushar to him. We know that one who is mekushar to the Rebbe in this world will be mekushar to him in the upper world.”

He said a chiddush and when he finished, the Rebbe said it was in contradiction to an explicit Mishna. The gaon was taken aback and he asked the Rebbe in which order of the Mishna it was. The Rebbe told him it was in Kodshim. The gaon asked him in which tractate it was and the Rebbe told him B’choros.

The gaon began reviewing the entire tractate B’choros in his head and did not find the Mishna. The Rebbe then showed him how, from the explanation of a certain Mishna, one could conclude the opposite of what the gaon had said. When the gaon repeated this to the Rebbe Rashab he added, “That is when I saw and felt what is meant by learning Torah lishma.”

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He was once sent a complicated shaila in Polotzk which two g’dolei ha’dor had been asked about already and had not resolved. The gaon was in Lubavitch at the time and his family sent the question to him there. Since it was a very complicated matter, he decided to ask the Tzemach Tzedek. When he went in that evening, the Rebbe asked him to return the following morning.

The next day, the Rebbe opened a Yerushalmi and showed him that the question could be resolved from an explicit Yerushalmi. The Toras Chesed was astounded and fainted. The Rebbe roused him and said, “Even a gaon can forget a Yerushalmi,” but in order to appease him, he promised him that from then on he would not have to search through s’farim but would find what he sought immediately. That is how he had the astonishing ability to find everything instantly.

The gaon, R’ Avrohom Eiger, author of Shevet Yehuda, would explain this phenomenon by saying that in Heaven they treated him midda k’neged midda (tit for tat). Since he learned lishma, they prevented him from wasting time.

In the latter part of his life, in Yerushalayim, he once heard them refer to someone as a gaon. The Toras Chesed said, “The Rebbe [i.e. the Tzemach Tzedek] was a gaon.”

WITH THE REBBE MAHARASH

The gaon once went to Lubavitch on Chanuka and went to the home of the Rebbe Maharash. When the Rebbe’s son, Raza, saw that the gaon did not have a menorah, he gave him his own. In exchange, the gaon took him along for yechidus. When they entered, the Rebbe offered him fruit, and a question in Halacha arose as a result of which a lively debate ensued. The gaon proved his point from a Yerushalmi and the Rebbe rejoined by saying that the Yerushalmi proved the opposite point. It turned out that in the Yerushalmi the Tzemach Tzedek used, a certain word had a Vav, while in the edition that the Toras Chesed had, the word did not have a Vav.

The Rebbe Maharash once said about him, “What I learned fifteen years ago seems to me as though I learned yesterday, boruch Hashem. But for R’ Zalman, there is no such thing as forgetting.”

THE REBBE LISTENED AT THE WINDOW

Once, a number of Torah greats met at the spa in Carlsbad. They discussed a certain question that was the talk of the day among the g’dolim of the time. Since the question was not resolved, it was decided that the Toras Chesed, who was also there at the time, would be asked about it. How surprised they were when, a short while later, the emissary returned with a lengthy booklet full of quotes from the Rishonim and Acharonim. When they returned to their respective towns, they were amazed to discover that each quote was wondrously accurate.

R’ Yehoshua of Belz, who was in Carlsbad at the time, would stand next to the window of the gaon of Lublin, “in order to hear the sound of Torah study lishma.”

EXPERT IN THE ACHARONIM

R’ Shneur Zalman Fradkin once traveled from Polotzk to another town and a Torah scholar who was also on the train saw that his lips were moving. When he went over to him, he realized he was reviewing Torah. The gaon told him that every month he reviewed a work of the Acharonim by heart and now he was reviewing Chavos Yair.

The S’dei Chemed once visited him and said: Surely you do not look into my book since it is from the last of the Acharonim. The gaon of Lublin responded: I look at it and here’s the proof – and he began reciting it by heart.

DIFFICULT CUSTOMER

The famous Chassid R’ Shmuel Betzalel, known as Rashbatz, made a living from selling s’farim. He refused to show s’farim to R’ Shneur Zalman, because he knew that by looking at it once he would not need to buy it. However, he agreed to rent him the s’farim at five kopeks per book.

A bookseller once offered a precious book to him. R’ Fradkin looked at it and said: The book is not worth such a high price because it doesn’t have more than two chiddushim. To prove his point, he told him the entire contents of the book.

When he lived in Lublin, he took a book home for a night and then returned it to the bookseller. “I will pay you for the book now being in my brain, but I won’t take it since I don’t like it.”

They once brought him an old edition of the Rambam. He flipped through it for a few seconds and declared: One chapter of Hilchos Pesulei HaMukdashin is missing.

On the other hand, his love for s’farim was so great that when he heard that a Torah scholar would be arriving in Yaffo with a first edition of Rambam, he traveled to Yaffo to look at it. The trip took nearly a full day.

LIKE AN OPEN BOOK

R’ Avrohom Eiger once asked him a question that his father R’ Yehuda Leib, author of Toras Emes, had sent him. The gaon climbed a ladder and brought down an old book covered with dust and showed him that exact question written in it. The same thing happened when he was consulted by members of his beis din in Yerushalayim to ask his opinion about a complicated matter. He asked for a certain book and showed them that the question had been asked already to a certain Sephardic gaon.

The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchok Shaul Elishar, author of Yisa Bracha, once visited him. The gaon asked him which topic he was currently learning, and when R’ Elishar said he was looking into a name that is not mentioned in the books that deal with the proper spelling of names in gittin [Jewish divorce documents], the gaon took out a book on the subject and showed him that name to the great surprise of the chief rabbi. R’ Elishar was so excited by this that he kissed him and exclaimed, “It is a Sephardic name!”

Once, his son R’ Chaim Elishar, author of Chaim Sho’al, came to clarify some matter. The gaon showed him that this question was discussed in a book authored by R’ Elisha’s grandfather.

R’ Meir Dov Tenenbaum, a distinguished Torah scholar in Yerushalayim, went to talk with the gaon and began with a contradiction of two statements of R’ Eliezer in the Gemara. The gaon stopped him and said: Look in Noda B’Shearim siman beis and the hagahos of Reb Yosef Shaul Nathanson on the Yerushalmi and you will find the explanation.

WONDER WORKER

The rav from Lublin would accept kvitlech. It was known that if, after reading it, he immediately looked at the face of the person, then that was a good sign. If he put the note on the desk, it was not a good sign. If he was asked regarding a sick person and he would say, “He will be well,” that was a good sign. If he said, “He should be well,” that was a bad sign.

While still in Lublin, a woman came to him whose daughter was sick with typhus. The lady knew that he did not receive women unless it was a halachic question, so she told the assistant that she had a woman’s halachic question. When she entered his room she burst into tears and told him why she had come. The gaon blessed her and when she went home she saw that the girl had begun to sweat. Within a short time she had completely recovered.

Many legends concerning him circulated in Yerushalayim. There was a story with R’ Moshe Shapiro, a Ruzhiner Chassid, who went to him concerning his sister who was dangerously ill. The gaon said to him: I am learning a Tos’fos now. May the merit of this learning be a source of healing for your sister. And so it was.

Another incident concerned a critically ill person whose name was mentioned to him. To the astonishment of all, he asked that his personal lectern in the beis midrash be moved. The sick person recovered.

After Musaf on Yom Kippur, the chazan in his beis midrash felt extremely weak. The gaon said he should daven N’ila. When he was told that the chazan was weak, he repeated his instruction and within a few minutes the chazan felt like a new man.

R’ Chaim Hamburger, who was a ben-bayis by him, said that when he was drafted, he asked the gaon for a bracha. The gaon smiled and said that when he returned, he should bring a bottle of old wine with him. Of course, he was given an exemption and he brought a bottle of wine. When his ten-year-old daughter became sick with pneumonia and the doctors despaired, he went to the gaon who promised him: Shabbos afternoon there will be a change in her condition. And so it was.

DO NOT DISTURB

The gaon would learn eighteen chapters of Mishnayos every day. The gabbai would hold the Mishnayos and the gaon would review them. This did not take longer than eighteen minutes, except on occasion when he would spend a while on one Mishna.

One time, as the gaon sat on the roof of his house, deep in thought, the thunderous sound of the muezzin could be heard from the nearby mosque. The gaon became disconcerted and lost his train of thought, and he said in annoyance: He should not disturb me. As he said this, the muezzin’s voice fell silent as his throat became hoarse.

NO GUESTS FOR PESACH

Although, like all Jews, he began the Hagada by saying “all who are hungry, come and eat,” he did not allow any guests for the Seder. He once explained this to his wife by saying that every tzaddik is visited by Eliyahu HaNavi on Pesach night. He also told his wife that every Yom Kippur night the Tzemach Tzedek came to him while he was awake and they learned together.

A GREAT MAN PASSES ON

The daughter of the gaon R’ Moshe Nachum Wallenstein once went to the gaon of Lublin to ask him to pray for her son who was extremely sick. The gaon counseled her to add the name “Chaim,” and blessed her that the child would recover. The woman wasn’t satisfied and asked him to promise her that she would bring wine and cake from her son’s bar mitzva. The gaon thought for a moment and then promised her, sighing deeply.

Although he was sick in his final years, what he said in Adar 5662 surprised those close to him, when he began expressing opinions about his doctors as to who was an expert and who wasn’t. He concluded with, “I can no longer tolerate this world of lies!” At this time, he explained the Tzemach Tzedek’s instruction to him to learn eighteen chapters of Mishnayos, because if one passes away on Shabbos and is forced to lie around in this world awaiting burial for an entire Shabbos, there would be what to think about.

On Erev Shabbos, Parshas Shmini, he wrote a long t’shuva to R’ Avrohom of Sochotchov. The next day, he had an aliya in the beis midrash in his home and after davening he came down with a fever. The doctor said it would pass, but on Monday there were indications that he had pneumonia. The doctor was frightened and he ran to consult with other doctors. The news spread. T’fillos were said on his behalf day and night in all the shuls of Yerushalayim. In some of them, they even blew shofars.

On Friday night, 5 Nissan, 5662/1912, on the day that the mother brought refreshments from her son, Chaim Yehuda’s bar mitzva, R’ Shneur Zalman Fradkin passed away. At that moment, a fearful thunder and lightening storm began. When R’ Shmuel Salant heard the thunder he stood up in fright and said, “We can discern from this that the soul of Rebbi has gone to its rest. Just as it was given at Sinai with thunder and lightening, so too it was taken with thunder and lightening.”

As is known, after the War of Independence, Har HaZeisim remained in the hands of the Jordanians who wreaked havoc in the ancient cemetery. Many graves were destroyed or disappeared. For twenty years, no Jews visited the grave of the Toras Chesed.

Right after the Six Day War, R’ Moshe Tzvi Naeh got involved and asked the Chevra Kadisha to help him locate his ancestors’ graves. Together with the Chevra Kadisha, he was able to locate the grave of the Toras Chesed and next to it were the graves of his own father R’ Mendel Naeh (who learned b’chavrusa with the gaon even though he was younger than he was by forty years), his wife, his grandson Zalman, and other graves of great Chabad Chassidim.

Sources: HaGaon M’Lublin, Chassidim HaRishonim, Bitaon Chabad, Noda B’Shearim