Rav Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mad zt"l
הרב מרדכי לייב בן נפתלי הרץ וינקלר זצ"ל
Tammuz 17 , 5692
Rav Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mad zt"l
AUTHOR OF LEVUSHEI MORDECHAI
Rav Mordechai Leib Winkler, the son of Rav Naftali Hertz and Leah Winkler, was born in 5604 (1844) in Lepantavitsh, near Nitra. His youth was characterized by an intense, burning cheshek for Torah. He was always found in the beis medrash and his hasmadah knew no bounds.
His vast breadth and scope of Torah knowledge, which he acquired as a result of both his natural abilities and his intense efforts in study, was deemed exceptional for his day.
Although his parents were poor, they stretched themselves to augment the salary of his melamdim in order to optimize his education. Rav Mordechai Leib testified: “I remember that when I was a child in Lepanavitsh, although we were poor, when it came to my education my parents paid the melamed his wage as if they were among the wealthiest people in town. Not a single Rosh Chodesh passed without my parents presenting the full monthly payment. The custom to give rebbi gelt was to them as if a mitzvah d’Oraisa, and they paid that fully as well. Added to their monetary efforts, was their physical investment in my education as well. Because I was a weak and sickly lad, in the cold winter they carried me on their shoulders to cheder and prepared the best foods to nourish me properly,” (Introduction to Levushei Mordechai).
Their efforts paid off. By the age of twelve he knew the two “gates” of Nezikin, Bava Kama and Bava Metziya, by heart and had already authored many insights and chiddushim.
At this same age, his mother sent him off to meet and study under exceptional gedolim. His first stop was the yeshiva of Tapaltshan, where he studied under his first rebbi, Rav Binyamin Ze’ev Wolf Tirtzas, the Tapaltshaner Rav, a disciple of the Chasam Sofer and author of Tiferes Shabbos.
His second stop was the Yahane Yeshiva near Shtampen, where he studied under Rav Mordechai Yehudah Glick (who was also a disciple of the Chasam Sofer) for fifteen years. He also learned in Grossvarden at the yeshivah of Rav Yisrael Yitzchak Aharon Landesberg, a talmid muvhak of the Chasam Sofer.
Regarding these years of material deprivation, studying Torah far from home, Rav Mordechai reminisced, while delivering a hesped for his former bench-mate and fellow student, the gaon Rav Elazar Loewe, Av Beis Din of Ungvar, how they “shared a dry crust of bread and studied Torah together amidst poverty and deprivation – Torah mitoch ha’dchak mamash!”
Rav Mordechai considered Rav Landesberg his rav muvhak from whom he gained most of his wisdom and received semichah as well. The image of this rebbe would follow and guide him for the rest of his life. (According to some sources, he studied under the K’sav Sofer as well.)
As all three of his rebbes were disciples of the Chasam Sofer, Rav Mordechai received his customs and modes of conduct from this line as well. As he wrote in the introduction to his magnum opus, Levushei Mordechai: “I merited to serve great gedolim, all of whom were disciples of the Chasam Sofer, and learned under them (their rebbi’s approach) to reach straightforward logical conclusions, insights and detailed investigations into the straightforward meaning of the Gemara and Rashi’s commentary, Tosefos and their super commentaries, all of which made a great impression upon me (and lead me) to teach my students from the very well from which I drank.”
In 5629 (1869), he married Rivka, the daughter of Rav Menachem Mendel Kroiz of Honiyad, who stood by his side as wife and helpmate for sixty-three years.
In 5640 (1880), Rav Mordechai was appointed Rav of Brezava to succeed Rav Uri Miller, author of Ben Uri, where he served the community and taught talmidim for twenty-one years.
In 5661 (1901), an important delegation headed by Reb Chaim Teitelbaum arrived from Mad to ask him to serve as their rav. Besides providing his salary, they promised to support Rav Mordechai’s yeshivah, and after considering their offer, he accepted. He arrived in Mad during Chanukah of that year and served there as spiritual leader, rav and rosh yeshivah for 32 years until he passed away on the same day the luchos were broken, the 17th of Tammuz 5692 (1932).
Stories of Rav Mordechai Leib Winkler of Mad zt"l
Rav Mordechai’s first rabbinical position was in Meza-Telegd near Grossvarden, with the help of his rebbe, who gifted him the position in 5632 (1872) at the young age of twenty-eight. Rav Yitzchak Aharon entered the gates of Meza-Telegd together with Rav Mordechai, telling the townspeople (who were under his jurisdiction as Rav of Grossvarden): “I come to you twice a year to deliver a derashah; this time my derashah to you is: ‘A young rabbi stands before you, who is fit to serve as the head of your community. I ask that you hire him, placing the crown of the rabbinate on his head!’” The community wholeheartedly accepted the Rav’s words and appointed Rav Mordechai. His rebbe eventually bestowed several other small towns from within his jurisdiction to this favored young talmid chacham.
[This is a tribute not only to Rav Mordechai’s abilities, but to Rav Yitzchak Aharon’s sterling middos. The custom in those times was for a rav to reserve such coveted appointments for his sons and sons-in-law, yet Rav Yitzchak Aharon gifted them to his talmid! He didn’t merely grant Rav Mordechai a letter of recommendation to be used as he set out on his own search for a position; he gave away to him a portion of his own salary-paying constituents! (Temunas HeGedolim - Rav Katzburg)
Before he assumed his first position, Rav Mordechai, in his humility, turned to his rebbe and protested, “They want me to move there and assume the rabbinate in two weeks, but how can I be worthy of doing so when I have not yet even received semicha ordination for hora’ah?!” Rav Yitzchak Aharon replied to his student that his having learned all of Chullin, Niddah and Mikvaos together with all their commentaries by heart was enough, and that he would write up the semicha and have his fellow dayanim sign it without delay!
Rav Meir Perels, Av Beis Din of Kruli, once visited Rav Yitzchak Aharon, who boasted how he’d given Rav Mordechai the position as Rav of Meza-Telegd. Rav Perels tested Rav Mordechai, and the two spoke about many shailos and intricate sugyos of Shas. The Rav was so impressed that he granted Rav Mordechai semicha on the spot. Similarly, Rav Avraham Yissaschar Leichtag also granted him semicha when Rav Mordechai studied in his father-in-law’s town of Honiyad.
As was customary with other disciples of the Chasam Sofer, Rav Mordechai established a yeshivah, raising talmidim in Torah study and spiritual growth. He also gave well-received derashos on Yamim Tovim and special occasions.
Rav Mordechai began to study with other gedolim. He travelled to study with Rav Avraham Shaag of Kobelsdorf when he learned that the latter was leaving for Eretz Yisrael. He exchanged letters and responsa with Rav Yehoshua Aharon Weinberger of Margareten. He even wrote to Rav Simcha Bunim Sofer, the Shevet Sofer of Pressburg, regarding the practice he found among the shochtim in his province of Telegd, who claimed that it was perfectly acceptable to kasher the meat above the thirteenth rib. This did not sit well with the young Rav, and when he wrote to the Shevet Sofer, despite how busy he was with his own communal affairs, promptly responded, backing him up and encouraging and supporting him to veto this flawed practice. He asked shailos in STA”M to Rav Shmuel Ehrenfeld of Mattersdorf, who responded with respect and admiration, as did others who admired, supported and respected the new Rav and budding talmid chacham