Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum zt"l
הרב יהושע בן יוסף בוקסבוים זצ"ל
Sivan 26 , 5704
Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum zt"l
Author of Ohr Pnei Yehoshua
Son of Rav Yosef the Shochet of Pupa
Born in Pupa, Hungary in תרל''ז
His father, descended from Rav Nasan Adler of Frankfurt and grandson of Rav Aryeh Leib Parnas of Santuv, raised him and his brothers to Torah and yiras shomayim.
At age thirteen he apprenticed himself to a shoemaker. After his daily routine, instead of going home, he studied under Rav Moshe Yosef Hoffman, the Dayan of Pupa who foretold that he would reach greatness. At age sixteen Rav Moshe Yosef sent him to further his studies first in Tzelem for two years where he quickly surpassed all the talmidim there. He studied so continuously, that his colleagues could not recall that he ever slept Shabbos Friday night in a bed!
He later came to learn in the Unsdorfer Yeshivah. At first, he was so overawed by the Rosh Yeshivah that he could not even express his thirst and desire to learn and he stuttered so much that the rosh yeshiva could not understand him and Yehoshua burst into tears. When the rebbetzin heard him out--how he desperately wished to study Torah--she convinced her husband, the rosh yeshiva, to take him on. He was so poor that he lacked the means to rent a room. He had to convince a kind householder to lend him a room with a bench to sleep on. Three years passed in this manner and he became the most outstanding student in the yeshivah.
Later, his own rebbe, Rav Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf (a disciple of the Kesav Sofer), testified: “He is among the best of my talmidim, and I am sure he will be a gadol beYisroel!”
The Belzer Rav, Rav Yissocher Dov praised him, saying, “he raised himself to great heights using his own powers!”
He began to travel to Rav Yechezkel of Shinova, son of the Divrei Chaim, where he learned the derech of chassidus Sanz that he would one day pass on to his future talmidim.
THE ROSH YESHIVA AND REBBE
His yeshivah in Galanta, Slovakia, which flourished between the two world wars, was a place that meshed together two worlds: the Hungarian yeshivas--a product of the Pressburg spirit; and the chassidishe world which included the tischen, tefillos, and rikkudim (spirited dancing which was a form of tefilla) that characterized the chassidic courts of Eastern Europe. At the helm, stood Rav Yehoshua, himself a figure that merged the dual characteristics of Rosh Yeshiva during the week--teaching, guiding and honing his talmidim in the manner of his spiritual forebears, the Chasam Sofer and his son the Kesav Sofer, and then on Shabbos, energizing the chassidim as a chassidic rebbe.
It was said that the Daas Sofer of Pressburg once remarked jokingly to him: “Galanta Rav, how will you survive? The roshei yeshivos work hard all week and rest on Shabbos; whereas, the chassidishe rebbes chief exertion is Shabbos and Yom Tov, and at least during the week he has some respite. But you have taken on both roles. When will you rest and recover your strength if all week long you pour your energies into the yeshiva in your role as rosh yeshiva, and then as a chassidishe rebbe on Shabbos and Yom Tov?!”
Rav Yehoshua was martyred on 26 Sivan תש''ד in Auschwitz along with his family and the entire kehillah of Galanta HY”D.
Stories of Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum zt"l
When Rav Shmuel of Unsdorf was ill with his final illness, someone wondered about why his talmid Rav Yehoshua Buxbaum, the Galanta Rav, had not yet come to visit.
“It is best that way,” remarked Rav Shmuel, “if he would come it is bitul Torah d’rabbim; I am sure I am in his thoughts as he is always in mine.”
And when Rav Buxbaum did hear of his rebbe’s sickness, he hurried to see him. He traveled together with twenty-five of his own talmidim to be mevaker choleh his rebbe. When they arrived, Rav Shmuel strengthened himself and sat up in his bed. Rav Buxbaum, the Galanta Rav approached his rebbe and pointed to his twenty-five talmidim who had arrived along with him and declared “Behold, bnei banav – these are my talmidim, and they are your spiritual heirs!” This strengthened the Be’er Shmuel and he got up in honor of his beloved talmid.
On Lag BaOmer, they returned home to Galanta. After their visit the Galanta Rav instructed the talmidim to daven for his rebbe’s refuah. They did so daily until on 11 Sivan, the Galanta Rav asked them to stop. They did not know why. Only later did the news arrive that Rav Shmuel of Unsdorf passed away on 11 Sivan. But his talmid somehow knew.
The orders came from above that the Galanta Rav and his family were to be spared while the entire populace of Galanta was to be sent to Auschwitz. The authorities gave the rav a last chance to say goodbye to his talmidim and congregants. He stood up and delivered a derasha on the topic of mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice). One of those who witnessed the event and who later miraculously escaped, said that the very air was suffused with holiness. As the rav stood orating, the talmid beheld the figure of a Malach Hashem Tzevakos!
The Nazi beasts allowed the rav and his family to depart. But he would not desert his beloved talmidim and followers. He boarded the train alongside them. As the train made its way onward, he began to sing “Ani Maamin BeEmunah Sheleima!” and the talmidim sang along with him. Soon the entire train was singing and he urged them while his face emanated an other worldly light and serenity. He burst into cries of ecstasy: “We are on a journey to Gan Eden! Do you hear? We are traveling to Gan Eden-- so sing higher with more joy and more simchah! We need to say Hallel that we merited this—that we are zocheh to Kiddush Hashem –that merited to sanctify Hashem’s Name!” The death train rumbled onward to the chanting of “Ani Maamin” – the Ani Maamin of the Galanta Rav and his talmidim.
I have spoken to many talmidim of the Galanta Rav, and all of them without fail, would have misty eyes and cry openly while discussing their rebbe, his words of Torah, and his unbelievable derech. Rav Yehoshua was offered a passport to freedom by numerous people (amongst them, Baron Herzog from Kedem wines), but he refused to leave his talmidim (who considered him their father and whom, in turn, he considered his children). Instead, he chose to go together with his talmidim into the fires of Auschwitz. Following, are some vignettes of this tzaddik.
The Pesach before his petirah, his children asked him, “Why do we cover our eyes during the Shema prayer?”
Replied the Galanta Rav, “Because sometimes when it’s dark and we don’t see anything, and we think all is lost – we cover our eyes and blindly go into the darkness and are mekabel that Hashem is One and He is doing everything for the best.”
Once, a person came to the Galanta Rav to request a yeshuoh, since his wife was expecting a child, but the labor was very hazardous. At that moment, the rav was finishing a meal with his children, and they heard the man’s distressed appeal. The children got up and washed their hands to eat more bread so that they would be able to bentch again and say the prayer of rachem noh with heartfelt conviction. Soon after, news arrived that a healthy child was born – and the mother, too, was out of danger.
The Galanta Rav stated that it was the sincere prayers of the children that saved the mother and child.
Baron Herzog from Kedem wines was also a talmid of the rav. His entire family (twenty-six people) were enslaved by the Nazis in a small concentration camp that was actually a transit stop for Auschwitz. Every day, thousands of people were sent from the transit camp onto the trains that brought them to their eventual deaths. Since he wasn’t interned in the camp, he used all available connections, including massive bribes, to extract his family from that camp. However, nothing seemed to work and all his efforts proved futile.
Finally, he heard that on motzo’ei Yom Kippur – his family was on the list to be shipped out on the transport. Before Yom Kippur, he sent his chavrusa, Reb Refual Cohen, to Galant to make sure that before every tefillah he would mention his plight to the Galanta Rav. The Galanta Rav told Reb Refual after every prayer that the gezeirah was too great and he did not know if he could accomplish anything.
After Ne’ilah, he told Reb Refual that he felt he broke through and good news would be heard soon. The next day, the Nazis unexpectedly released the entire family without anyone taking credit for it. Baron Herzog, for the rest of his life, always reiterated that his Rav saved his entire family.
Once, before Tisha B’Av, the Galanta Rav was sitting with his talmidim on the porch waiting to daven ma’ariv. After a while, a young talmid approached the Rebbe to say that three stars were already visible, so they could start davening.
The Rebbe replied with solemnness, “Let’s wait a few more moments. Maybe Moshiach will arrive and we won’t have to say the kinos this year.” Zy”a!!!
(Heard from my grandfather – who was a talmid muvhok and was present that Tisha B’Av.)