Rav Sholom Rokeach of Belz zt"l
הרב שלום בן אלעזר רוקח זצ"ל
Elul 27 , 5615
Rav Sholom Rokeach of Belz zt"l
[The Sar Shalom’s father Rav Elazar Rokeach was a talmid muvhak of Rav Chaim Sanzer of the Kloiz of Chachmei Brody [and he was son of Rav Shmuel Shmelka the Rav of the Tailor’s shul in Brody who was son of Rav Moshe Rokeach Av Beis Din Zlotshuv, son of Rav Elazar Rokeach of Amsterdam author Maasei Rokeach a descendant of Rav Eliezer Rokeach of Worms.]
He married Rivka Henya the daughter of the Mekubal Rav Yehudah Zundel Ramraz (Ramraz is an acronym for Rav Moshe Rav Zeligs) who was one of the great chachamim of the Kloiz in Brody.
They had three sons and two daughters:
The eldest son was Rav Yaakov Biritshuv, the second son Rav Leibush of Berditchev, the third was Rav Sholom Rokeach the Sar Shalom of Belz founder of the Belzer dynasty.
His daughters were: Ella wife of Rav Zalman son of Rav Moshe Rokeach, Malka Devorah the wife of Rav Shmuel Hirsch of Drishkipol.
Rav Shalom was born in Brody 1779 תקלט (others say 1783 תקמג)
He was orphaned at a young age, and after his mother remarried he moved to live with his maternal uncle Rav Yissacher Dov Av Beis Din Skohl.
His mother Rivka Henya and uncle Rav Yissacher Dov were children of the great Rav and Mekubal Rav Yehudah Zundel Ramraz, whose yichus stretched back to Rav Tudras HaLevi Abulafia author of Otzar HaKavod and he was brother in law of Rav Yehudah Leib Bick the wealthy gvir of Brody.
At that time in Skohl lived Rav Shlomo Lutzker, one of the foremost disciples of the great Mezritcher Maggid, he was also his personal secretary and wrote many of the Maggid’s teachings. Rav Moshe Leib Sassover testified that Rav Shlomo Lutzker’s position in the Maggid’s household was lefnai velefnim – which translates roughly as personal one on one access.
Rav Sholom quickly attached himself to Rav Shlomo and when his father in law the misnaged opposed their relationship, he began to visit his rebbe by making clandestine trips at night while his father in law slept, lowering himself down and out the window via a rope with his wife Malka’s help. After dawn, he would return and find his trusted Rebitzen waiting for him by the window with the rope to help him back up.
Eventually he went off to Lublin to meet with the holy Chozeh who received the young seventeen year old genius with great enthusiastic hislahavus.
WITH THE CHOZEH OF LUBLIN
The Chozeh wished to honor his important guest and so he asked them to pour him a glass of wine. Rav Sholom had already begun his ascent and so among his ascetic practices he had self imposed upon himself was to refrain from drinking any intoxicating beverages. And so he lifted the cup up as the Chozeh had commanded but was in a quandary since he would not drink the wine. This resolved itself as soon as the wine glass shattered in his hands off its own accord. Seeing this, the Chozeh asked them to pour him a new cup of wine. When the performance repeated itself the Chozeh thundered in mock anger: “What are you trying to do? Do you mean to shatter all my glasses?” When Rav Sholom explained his geder and that he did not drink wine, the Chozeh let the matter alone.
The next day he honored Rav Sholom by calling him up to the Torah for the sixth aliyah, an honor accorded and reserved for VIPs and lofty leveled rabbonim. The assembled wondered aloud about such an honor and disctinction bestowed upon such a young guest. The Chozeh responded to the clamor and commotion with the retort: “Why are you all so surprised?, this yungerman will one day be a leader of thousands!” Off course his prediction came true.
The Chozeh once requested Rav Sholom to be the one to read the Megillah on Purim for all the assembled. Afterwards the Chozeh remarked upon the completion “I have heard the story of Purim many times before, but not the way this yungerman just told it! I have never heard the story told this way ever before!”
On another occasion Rav Sholom was squashed beneath the Chozeh’s tisch, the Chozeh whispered to him “One day they will all be squashing under your tisch!”
Another time the Chozeh remarked: “People travel to Rymanov (to the Rebbe Reb Menachem Mendel) seeking parnassah and livelihood, to Kozhnitz (to the Maggid Rav Yisroel Haupstein) they go seeking refuos and healing, to me they come for Chassidus, to you they shall come and by you they shall received all of these!”
Rav Sholom also visited Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel, the Apta Rav as well as Rav Yisroel the Kozhnitzer Maggid.
After the year תקעה when the Chozeh, the Kozhnitzer Maggid and the Rymanover passed away Rav Sholom continued to subjugate himself before others and travelled to Rav Uri of Strelisk along with his children and sons in law.
Once the Seraf of Strelisk passed away Rav Sholom began himself to take on the role of rebbe. After the year תקפו the yungerman Rav Sholom became known as the Sar Sholom and became one of if not the chief rebbe in Galicia. Among those who came to bask in the light of the Sar Sholom were such great tzadikim as Rav Shlom Kaminka, Rav Chaim of Sanz, Rav Shimon of Yaruslov, Rav Yehoshua of Ostrov-Lentshena, Rav Meshuelm Feivish of Berzhan, Rav Shlomo Zalman of Vilipoli, Rav Aryeh Leibush of Tomashuv and Rav Aryeh Leibush of Mashitzisk, Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel of Mogolnitza, Rav Duvid of Dynow, Rav Sholom Mordechai Schwadron of Brezhan and others.
He passed away 27 Elul 1855 תרט''ו
His children:
His sons: Rav Elazar, Rav Shmuel Shmelka who passed away at a young age with no children, Rav Elazar performed chalitza, Rav Moshe of Karov, Rav Yehuda Zundel of Ochan, Rav Yehoshua of Belz, his youngest son and his successor.
His daughters: Freyda the wife of Rav Chaonch Henich Dov Meir of Olsek author Lev Sameach, Aideleh the wife of Rav Yitzchok Rubin of Brody a descendant of the Ropshitzer, Aideleh was a Rebizten more famed than her husband and the Chassidim gave her kvitelach.
Originally Belzer Torahs remained an oral tradition until others had mercy on us, such as Rav Yisroel Klapholtz who gathered them together and dared to publish the first volumes of Belzer Chassidus in Stensil. Today several seforim such as Midbar Kadesh have been printed collecting the Torah of the Sar Sholom and other Belzer Rebbes.
Stories of Rav Sholom Rokeach of Belz zt"l
The first Belzer Rav, the Sar Sholom, had a Chassid who always traveled to Eretz Yisrael to procure an esrog for the Rebbe for Sukkos. One summer, when this Chassid was preparing for the journey, the Rebbe gave him an additional mission: to procure the sefer Nahar Sholom and the various volumes of the siddur of the holy Rashash, which was rare back then, and only available as a hand-written manuscript – and only in Yeshiva Beis E”l in the old city of Yerushalayim.
The Chassid accepted the mission and when he traveled to Eretz Yisrael he succeeded in procuring the manuscripts of the Rashash’s writings, as well as the siddur for the Sar Sholom.
When word reached the Rebbe, his joy knew no bounds, and when he heard of his Chassid’s arrival, the Tzaddik dressed in Shabbos clothes and went out to the city limits to meet the approaching caravan and horses. When the Chassid saw the Rebbe approach, bedecked in his Shabbos finery, he alighted and approached the Rebbe.
“Where are the seforim of the holy Rashash?” inquired the Rebbe.
The Chassid pointed to one of the trunks and, to his amazement, the Rebbe lifted the heavy trunk off the horse and carried it by hand himself all the way back to town!
Afterward, the Rebbe closeted himself in his room for some three days straight to study the seforim. When he emerged on the fourth day, a holy light shone from his countenance and he declared, “For some years now I greatly desired to study the sefer Nahar Sholom and the siddur of the Rashash. Now that I have achieved my heart’s desire and have studied them, I see that we are both of the same mind on certain matters; many things I thought, the Rashash also teaches!” The Rebbe then handed out cake and bronfen and they drank lechaim! (Moron HaRashash, p. 232–235)
The Chozeh wished to honor his important guest, Rav Sholom Rokeach, and so he asked them to pour him a glass of wine. Rav Sholom had already begun his ascent and so among his ascetic practices he had self imposed upon himself was to refrain from drinking any intoxicating beverages. And so he lifted the cup up as the Chozeh had commanded but was in a quandary since he would not drink the wine. This resolved itself as soon as the wine glass shattered in his hands off its own accord. Seeing this, the Chozeh asked them to pour him a new cup of wine. When the performance repeated itself the Chozeh thundered in mock anger: “What are you trying to do? Do you mean to shatter all my glasses?” When Rav Sholom explained his geder and that he did not drink wine, the Chozeh let the matter alone.
The next day he honored Rav Sholom by calling him up to the Torah for the sixth aliyah, an honor accorded and reserved for VIPs and lofty leveled rabbonim. The assembled wondered aloud about such an honor and disctinction bestowed upon such a young guest. The Chozeh responded to the clamor and commotion with the retort: “Why are you all so surprised?, this yungerman will one day be a leader of thousands!” Off course his prediction came true.
The Chozeh once requested Rav Sholom to be the one to read the Megillah on Purim for all the assembled. Afterwards the Chozeh remarked upon the completion “I have heard the story of Purim many times before, but not the way this yungerman just told it! I have never heard the story told this way ever before!”
On another occasion Rav Sholom was squashed beneath the Chozeh’s tisch, the Chozeh whispered to him “One day they will all be squashing under your tisch!”
Another time the Chozeh remarked: “People travel to Rymanov (to the Rebbe Reb Menachem Mendel) seeking parnassah and livelihood, to Kozhnitz (to the Maggid Rav Yisroel Haupstein) they go seeking refuos and healing, to me they come for Chassidus, to you they shall come and by you they shall received all of these!”
Segulos of Rav Sholom Rokeach of Belz zt"l
The Sar Sholom of Belz said that “Der velt zugt – the oilem says that to relate tales of the Ba’al Shem Tov on Motzo’ei Shabbos is a segula for parnossa, and to relate tales of the Rebbe Reb Melech of Lizhensk is a segula for Yiras Shomayim. And I say that this is wrong on three counts: not just on Motzo’ei Shabbos, but anytime; not just a segula for parnossa, but for all good things; and not just stories about the Ba’al Shem or the Rebbe Reb Melech, but about all the Tzaddikim – even about me! (Besoros Tovos p. 8a)
In Otzar Yisrael the story is told how the Belzer Rebbe’s gabbai laughed at hearing the above segula, and the Sar Sholom explained why and how this segula works: When we speak about these Tzaddikim they have great satisfaction and pleasure in the World of Truth. Yet they do not wish to accept this joy for free, for such is known as the “bread of shame”. They therefore pay us back by sending down an influx of shefa and blessings such as parnossa and Yiras Shomayim – sustenance and fear of heaven – and all manners of yeshuos.”