Rav Yaakov Horowitz of Melitz zt"l
הרב יעקב בן נפתלי צבי הורוביץ זצ"ל
Teves 19 , 5597
Rav Yaakov Horowitz of Melitz zt"l
Born in the year תקע"ב (others say תקמ"ד). He was the son of Rav Naphtali Tzvi of Ropshitz, author of Zera Kodesh. His yichus was renowned as he was the son of Rav Menachem Mendel of Linsk; son of Rav Yaakov Yokel of Linsk; grandson of Rav Meir haLevi, author of Maharam Tiktin; son of Rav Shmuel Shmelka of Turna; son of Rav Yehoshua HaAruch; son of Rav Pinchos HaLevi Ish Horowitz, the brother-in-law of the Rema, Rav Moshe Isserles. His mother was the daughter of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Goldhammer of Dukla.
The Melizter was the son-in-law of Rav Avrohom Mordechai of Pintshuv, son of Rav Yaakov Binyaim Zev of Valbrum, son of Rav Moshe of Bendin, son of Rav Aharon Margolis.
He studied under his father basking in the glow of both his Torah and tziddkus.
The Melizter was known as being very humble and was known as a holy person who performed miracles. As a result of the wonders and salvations he performed, he was nicknamed Der Kleine Baal Shem --the mini Baal Shem Tov. (13 Oros Peshervorsk II p. 167)
When someone once asked the Satmar Rav to explain why the Ropshitzer’s other sons are well-known but the Melizter-- who was such a wonder worker-- did not achieve such recognition, the Satmar Rav remarked that the Melizter was very hidden and very, very, deep. “He was Ropshitz within Ropshitz!” (Bais haYayin p. 9)
Rav Yaakov Horowitz served as Rav of Kolbasof and later, in תק"ע, he served as Rav of Melitz and passed away in תקצ"ז. He was buried in Melitz.
He left behind three sons: Rav Chanina of Olinuv, Rav Avrohom Abba of Shendishuv, and Rav Yehuda of Melitz who took over his post.
Stories of Rav Yaakov Horowitz of Melitz zt"l
The Melizter had the custom to spin his large snuffbox seven times around in a circle before taking a pinch of snuff. His father, the Ropshizter used to say: “When my son spins his snuffbox around seven times, he is controlling the orbits of the seven planets.” (Ohel Naphtali)
On Pesach he had the custom to take the afikoman wrapped in a white napkin over his shoulder and recite the pesukim related to the way that Bnei Yisroel carried their matzos wrapped on their backs. He walked this way for dalet amos (four cubits) and those seated asked him: “From where do you come? And he answered: I come from Mitzrayim (Egypt). And then they asked him, “And where are you headed?” He answered: “Yerushalayim”-- to which they would all answer: “Next year in Jerusalem!” (Nitei Gavriel)
The Melizter Rebbe had a unique stringency. He would not wear any article of clothing before it had been toiveled (immersed in the mikvah). Only after it was toiveled, did the rebbe wear it. Not only did the tzaddik adhere strictly to this custom, , the rebbe could detect when any clothing offered to him had not yet been toiveled. If he was handed a new beketshe or challatel (the satin house robe worn at meals-- as opposed to the silk robe called a “kaftan” or “beketshe” worn for prayers) which was not purified in this manner, he was simply unable to put them on. How could he tell?
It once happened that the Melizter traveled to Zavna for Shabbos. The family was hurrying to leave and somehow in the rush, the gabbai forgot to take the rebbe’s new challatel to the mikvah to be toiveled! The gabbai reasoned that there was no time now and he simply tossed the robe in with the rest of the clothes onto the wagon as they headed off to spend Shabbos in Zavna.
Friday night, when the Leil Shabbos tisch commenced, the rebbe finished reciting Kiddush and removed the beketshe. As was his custom, he prepared to don his challatel, wash to say haMotzi, and begin the meal. As the gabbai handed the rebbe the new challatel to wear, a strange thing happened. Try as he might, the rebbe failed again and again to get his arm into the robe. After this occurred several times and the rebbe saw that he simply could not put the challatel on, he turned to his gabbai and asked, “Was this challatel toiveled in the mikvah?”
The embarrassed gabbai admitted that it had, in fact, not been immersed. “So sorry rebbe, but there just wasn’t any time to toivel it,” he said. The rebbe just chuckled and put his kaftan back on. That meal, the Melizter sat in a kaftan instead of the challatel that had never been in the mikvah waters.
The incident should have ended there, but there in attendance, were the sons of Rav Mordechai Dovid of Dombrova. “Do you mean to tell us that the rebbe doesn’t wear clothing that hasn’t been toiveled in the mikvah?” they challenged. “Do you expect us to believe he can actually tell this somehow? What does he have-- ruach hakodesh?”.
The gabbai had explained to them that not only did the rebbe somehow know that the clothes were not immersed in the mikvah, he couldn’t wear them. It was as if he was repelled or repulsed by them.
“We for ourselves have to see this work!” they concluded. The contrived of a test to see if it was true. They secretly took the new challatel and hid it beneath the pillow of the rebbe’s chair back at his hotel room. When the rebbe concluded his tisch, they asked to accompany him and he gladly agreed. When the tzaddik entered his hotel room he attempted to sit on the chair and conduct the second peiros tisch where he distributed fruits for dessert, but he couldn’t do so. He kept getting up as if somehow the chair rejected him.
“Why can’t I sit in this chair?” wondered the rebbe out loud. He began to move the chair around the whole while searching among the cushions and pillows until his hand touched a length of material folded among them. He grabbed hold of his find and said, “Aha I have you now!” the rebbe snapped his fingers in a winning gesture, “Here is the culprit! This challatel was not yet in the mikvah. So strange; how did it get mixed among the cushions and pillows of the chair?” He removed the offending garment and sat down with a sigh and proceeded to conduct the tisch to the astonishment of the Dombrover’s sons.
Still, somehow not entirely convinced, the brothers thought up another trial to verify what came across to them as unbelievable. “Let’s see one more time if he discovers it,” they reasoned. This time they hid the untoiveled challatel among the straw of the Melizter’s bed. When the tzaddik attempted to lie down to rest, at the behest of the Dombraver’s sons, he could not do so. Again, the bed seemed to repel him. Repeatedly, the Melizter Rebbe tried to lie down and rest-- and with each attempt, he sprung up as if rebuffed.
The rebbe began to search the straw beneath the mattress to see what was going on when he found the challatel buried in the straw, “Aha here is the problem!” the rebbe snapped his fingers victoriously. “Out with you! This explains why I couldn’t rest; the challatel that didn’t make it into the mikvah is here. Removing the offensive item, the rebbe said, “Now I can rest.”
The tzaddik now comfortably positioned himself on his bed while the Dombrova’s sons finally admitted that they had witnessed the impossible.
“The Melizter Rebbe really could not wear or bear any garment that had not been immersed in the mikvah,” admitted one.
“He must be a holy tzaddik,” agreed the others. “Hashem watches over His chassidim!” they fervently concluded. (Beis HaYayin Melitz p. 12)
It was on Shabbos Kodesh parshas VaYechi as the Melizter sat with the chassidim at the shalosh seudos tisch when he said on the pasuk: Bereishis 49:1 “And Yaakov called his sons and said, ‘Gather ‘round and I shall reveal to you what will happen at the end of time.’” He then said, “Yaakov (referring to himself) called out to Hashem and asked him to serve as The Father for his young children.” With these final words of Torah, he passed away on 19th Teves during the auspicious time of shalosh seudos. (HaChochma M'ayin)