Rav Isamar Rosenbaum of Nadvorna zt"l
הרב איתמר בן מאיר רוזנבאום זצ"ל
Sivan 22 , 5733
Rav Isamar Rosenbaum of Nadvorna zt"l
Reb Issamar Rosenbaum was born in 1886 in Kretchnif. He passed away in 1973 in Tel Aviv and was interred on Har Hazeisim in Yerushalaim. He was the son of Rabbi Meir (1852-June 29,1908) of Kretchnif, who in turn was a son of Rabbi Mordechai (1824–1894) of Nadvorna.
Reb Issamar became a rebbe at the age of fifteen and, at his father’s behest, moved to Czernowitz where he served as a chasidic rebbe. In the Nadvorna dynasty, all children of the rebbes opened their own chasidic courts, even during their fathers’ lifetime. His wife, Rebbitzen Malka, was the daughter of the Rebbe Usher Yeshaya Rubin of Kolbuszowa.
His family was the only chasidic family of grand rabbis known to have survived the Nazi camps with the whole family intact. His wife died in 1969 and was buried in Tveria. In 1970, three years before his death, he moved from the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan to Yad Eliyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel. At the time of his death, he was one of the longest living chassidic rebbes in history. He was known as the Admor Hazaken miNadvorna, or “Elder Rebbe of Nadvorna.”
The Violin
Rav Mordecha’le of Nadvorna used to play the violin. He taught his descendants that they too should attempt to learn and study its secrets, explaining that “when Moshiach comes, who then shall play in his honor and add music to his welcoming ceremony? Chaim’l Klezemer? Or a Tzaddik such as one of us – if we might have such a merit?!”
Rav Meir of Kretchnif said before his passing that his son, Rav Issamer, would be the best successor to inherit the violin. However, he would not change the family custom of drawing lots. And so, when Rav Meir passed on and there was a lottery drawn among his holy sons for his holy possessions, the violin did indeed fall to Rav Issamer. Rav Issamer used to play the violin only a few times a year at auspicious times such as Lag Ba’Omer, Chanuka, and family simchas. On these occasions he played the well-known Nadvorna niggunim of אחד יחיד ומיוחד as well as ידיד נפש and Bar Yochai on Lag BaOmer. He was once asked: If he only played a few times a year and never practiced, how did he learn and know how to play? He answered that his father, Rav Meir of Kretchnif, once played those niggunim to him and said, “See – that’s how you play the violin,” and he acquired the knowledge right then and there on the spot and never needed to practice again!
Once he moved to Czernowitz and later, when the accursed Nazis began their rampage, his home was miraculously spared their wrath from searching and pillaging. One day, the precious violin vanished. Family members were looking out of the window a few days later and miraculously spied the precious violin being hidden by an unknown thief beneath the haystack in his wagon. Immediately upon hearing this, Rav Issamar simply went outside, marched up to the amazed goy’s wagon, lifted the haystack, pointed at the instrument, and thundered, “That is my violin!” So saying, he took it and just marched back into his home. The thief was too stunned to utter a syllable!
A simple Jew who lived in Chernowitz once came to the Rebbe Reb Issamer of Nadvorna and asked him why he kept his children indoors and didn’t let them go out like everyone else. (Chernowitz Was a very spiritually void city, therefore he was extremely careful that his children not go out and learn the improper ways of its Inhabitants.) The question was asked in these words, “Why do you lock the doors to the street before your children and cause them to be less knowledgeable about the goings-on in the street and in the world?” The Rebbe took out his siddur and showed him the prayer that is said on motzei Shabbos called רבון העולם אב הרחמן והסליחות. It lists many gates (in fact it lists a total of 63 gates!) that are opened to those who keep the Torah. The Rebbe then said, “You see my friend, I lock before them one door, the door to my house, however this causes all these lofty doors to be opened to them. Now certainly you agree that this is better to close the one than to open up the door of the house which opens to the city which can cause that, Heaven forbid, all these lofty and good gates will be closed before them. Indeed the Rebbe Reb Issamer was blessed with sons who were great Torah scholars and Tzadikim inspite of them having grown up in Chernowitz.
https://www.kahalchasidim.com/rav-issamar-rosenbaum-of-nadvorna/
Stories of Rav Isamar Rosenbaum of Nadvorna zt"l
Rav Mordechai’leh of Nadvorna played the violin. He taught his descendants that they too should attempt to learn the instrument’s secrets, explaining, “When Moshiach comes, who then shall play in his honor and add music to his welcoming ceremony? Chaim’el Klezemer? Or a tzaddik from among one of us, if we might have such a merit?!”
His son, Rav Meir of Kretchnif, said before his passing, that his son, Rav Isamar, would be the best successor to inherit the violin. However, he would not change the family custom of drawing lots. When Rav Meir passed on and there was in fact a lottery drawn among Rav Meir’s holy sons for their grandfather’s holy possessions and the violin did indeed fall to Rav Isamar. Rav Isamar played the violin only a few times a year at auspicious times such as Lag BaOmer, Chanukah, and at family simchas. On these occasions he played the well-known Nadvorna Niggunim for Echad Yachid u’Meyuchad as well as Yedid Nefesh and Bar Yochai on Lag BaOmer. He was once asked, if he only played a few times a year and never practiced, how did he learn and know how to play? He answered that when his father, Rav Meir of Kretchnif once played those niggunim to him and said, “See – that’s how you play the violin,” he acquired the knowledge right then and there on the spot and never needed to practice again!
Once he had moved to Czernowitz and later, when the accursed Nazis began their rampage, his home was miraculously spared their wrath from searching and pillaging. One day, the precious violin vanished. My Rebbe, the Clevelander of Ra’anana shlit”a was looking out the window a few days later and miraculously he spied the precious violin being hidden by an unknown thief beneath the haystack in his wagon. Immediately upon hearing this, Rav Isamar simply went outside, marched up to the amazed goy’s wagon, lifted the haystack, pointed at the instrument, and thundered, “That is my violin!”. He retrieved his instrument and just marched back to the house. The thief was too stunned to utter a word.
There was a young Jewish woman who was married to a merchant just outside Czernowitz. Her custom was to hire a non-Jewish wagon driver who would drive her wagon to and from town, where she would purchase goods and wares that her husband would sell. One such day, the wagon driver she hired was too inexperienced to handle the horses properly and they began to tear down the main road in Czernowitz bearing down upon all passersby. The horses’ hooves thundered as people ran screaming for their lives. One luckless young non-Jewish boy failed to escape and was killed.
The father of the boy realized he was now in a position to frighten the Jews and to squeeze them for their money. He demanded compensation from them, day after day and week after week, for the loss of his child. His demands grew and his threats were always the same: If they didn’t pay up, he would go to the authorities and press charges for manslaughter. It was the fault of the merchant’s wife’s, the father reasoned, as she had hired the wagon driver and was therefore responsible for the boy’s death. The extortion attempts and ransom tactics never let up. Still the Jewish couple refused to pay the man, lest they become destitute.
The father was true to his threats and went to the authorities, who drew up a case and set the court date for several weeks later. The merchant and his wife went from lawyer to lawyer; however, each one said there was no point and that the case would surely be decided in favor of the father. They predicted that the merchant’s wife would be imprisoned for a long time. The merchant went to his rebbe, and he too could not offer help.
Finally, the wife’s sister mentioned that a young man, a rebbe, had just moved into her apartment building and that he appeared to be a tzaddik; perhaps they should go to him? Rav Isamar was then only seventeen and had only recently become a rebbe. He had just moved to Czernowitz and had not yet built a beis medrash or home, and was meanwhile renting an apartment in the same building as this sister. The merchant’s wife heeded her sister’s advice. To her amazement, the young rebbe asked her to retell the entire story in far more detail than any lawyer had!
He then nodded his head and declared, “You have absolutely nothing to fear; this man will be dead and buried before you go to trial! Go home with a light heart.” She could not believe the good news. The following week, she came back to Czernowitz to search for one more lawyer, just in case the young Rebbe’s berochoh was too good to be true, but her sister told her the news, “Why are you here looking for a lawyer? Didn’t you hear that the goy died and was buried yesterday? He suddenly got a high fever, and before the doctor even arrived he was dead – the doctor had no choice but to simply establish his death!”