Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel Shapira of Moglenitza zt"l
הרב חיים מאיר יחיאל בן אבי עזרא זעליג שפירא זצ"ל
Iyar 15 , 5609
Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel Shapira of Moglenitza zt"l
Son of Rav Avi Ezri Zelig Shapira av beis din Greinitz and Perel Margalis
Born around תקמ''ט
His father was son-in-law and his mother was the daughter of the Kozhnitzer Maggid.
He himself was the son-in-law of Rav Elazar, the son of the Rebbe Reb Meilech of Lizensk.
His birth was a miracle that came about through the berachah of the Berditchever Rav, the Kedushas Levi. (This is told in the stories below.) The Berditcher said the child would one day illuminate the entire world, and named him Meir, but as a segulah for a long life added Chaim before, and Yechiel after. Thus, he was named Chaim Meir Yechiel.
In his youth he became gravely ill and when they recited his name before the Chozeh, asking him to daven for the sick child, he said: “I see that he will be the future leader of the Kozhnizter dynasty.”
He was a disciple of the Chozeh, the Apta Rav, the Ohev Yisroel, and his uncle Rav Moshe of Kozhnitz.
He was also a colleague of the Chiddushei haRim of Ger.
He began leading a community in תקפ''ה and his beis medrash in Mogolintza quickly became a large chassidic center in Poland.
Due to his fiery kedusha he was nicknamed the fiery angel, or seraph.
Before his passing, he told Rav Yaakov Dovid of Amshinov, “I had a vision and saw my rebbe and other tzaddikim. My rebbe told me to prepare, for up in Gan Eden they are honoring me to say the derasha for parashas Emor.
He passed away on 15 Iyar תר''ט laid to rest in Warsaw.
Me’Oros Kedushas Levi pp. 450-451
Stories of Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel Shapira of Moglenitza zt"l
One Purim, the holy rav of Berditchev was visiting the Koznitzer Maggid. When the Maggid sent the customary gift of mishlo’ach manos to the Berditchever, he delivered it through his son-in-law, the rav of Grenitz, who acted as his agent. “The custom,” the Maggid explained, “is that we pay the emissary a fee called sechar shelichus. Perhaps the Berditchever will bless you with a son as your reward.” (The rav of Grenitz didn’t yet have any children.)
The Maggid’s son-in-law fulfilled his duty and delivered the mishlo’ach manos to the Berditchever, who upon receiving the gift began running back and forth across the room, unable to contain his excitement. When the Berditchever calmed down, he noticed that the rav of Grenitz was still waiting in the room. He walked over to him and said, “You wish to receive your fee of sechar shelichus, is that right? I promise to pay you when I take my leave of your father-in-law.”
Later, when Rav Levi Yitzchak came to bid farewell to the Koznitzer Maggid, he said, “Please grant me a parting gift — one of your silver vessels.”
“You may choose any of the silver vessels and take it for your own,” said the Maggid. The Berditchever pointed to an exquisite silver Chanukah menorah, which he knew the Maggid cherished and had required considerable means to acquire. Nonetheless, the Maggid readily agreed, and the Berditchever picked up the menorah as his own.
To everyone’s astonishment, he immediately handed over the menorah to the rav of Grenitz and said, “You will have a son, and the Maggid will light this menorah on Chanukah until your son reaches the age of bar mitzvah. When he turns thirteen, you will pass this menorah on to your son to light and it will belong to him.”
So it was. The rav of Grenitz had a son who grew up to become Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel, the fiery angel of Mogalintza.
Another version of this story passed down by tradition, was related by the Tzanz-Klausenberger Rebbe:
“I was once visiting my brother-in-law (Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Shapira, a son-in-law of the Rudniker and descendant of the holy Saraf of Mogalintza), and I noticed that he owned a red silk dress with silver buttons. I thought this was bizarre and asked him about it. He told me that the Koznitzer Maggid’s daughter was married to Rav Avi Ezra Zelig of Grenitz for many years and had not borne any children who survived long. Every time they had a child it would die soon after the birth.
“Once, the Berditchiver was in Koznitz and the Koznitzer Maggid mentioned that his daughter was visiting. He described how unfortunately she had no children because none of the babies had survived. The Kedushas Levi remarked, ‘Well, of course! They are drawing down such lofty souls from the supernal worlds that they simply cannot endure in this world.’
He turned to the Koznitzer’s daughter and said to her, ‘If you wish your children to survive, you should dress in a red dress with twelve silver buttons. Then perhaps the child you bear will live.’
“They made her such a dress, and lo and behold she had a child and he survived. This child was none other than the Seraph of Mogalintza, a holy rebbe and a tzaddik.”
“My mother was a great tzaddeikes,” the Mogalintza Rebbe used to say in his humility, “who brought down lofty souls into this world that were so special they could not survive here. When they sewed her a gaudy dress that was unbecoming her modesty and refined spirit, she gave birth to a child just as lowly and coarse!”
(Pe’er Yisrael 15, p. 11; Shefa Chaim, Pinchas, vol. 19, p. 198)