Rav Chaim ben Betzalel zt"l
הרב חיים בן בצלאל זצ"ל
Sivan 6 , 5348
Rav Chaim ben Betzalel zt"l
Author of Sefer Hachaim and Igeres Hatiyul.
Elder brother of the Maharal of Prague.
Rav Chaim’s Yichus And Family
Rav Chaim was born in 1730 ר''ץ in Posen, into a family of tzaddikim and rabbanim who traced their illustrious lineage back to Rashi, who traced back to Rav Yochanan haSandlar, fourth generation descendants of Raban Gamliel HaZaken, descendants of Dovid HaMelech.
The Berachah of His Grandfather, Rav Chaim Av Beis Din Worms
Rav Chaim of Worms sent his two sons Rav Yaakov and Rav Hilman to study under the Maharshal while their brother Betzalel remained at home serving their father. When the two brothers came home all aglow from their experience, sharing their spiritual growth and words of Torah, Betzalel grew jealous and complained to his father; he too wanted to go study in the yeshiva of the Maharshal.
Then Rav Chaim of Worms blessed his son Rav Betzalel that in the zechus of the shimush and mitzvas kibud av he had performed by remaining behind, he would merit four illustrious sons whose light would illuminate the entire world.
Rav Chaim was the bechor (the eldest), and the other brothers were: Rav Sinai, Rosh Yeshiva in Prague who was later Av Beis Din Nikolsberg and Meheren (Moravia); Rav Shimshon of Kremenitz, who was an ancestor of the famous Rav Shimshon Ostropoler; and the youngest brother, Rav Yehuda, known as the Maharal of Prague.
Rav Chaim and the Rema
Rav Chaim studied under Rav Shlomo Luria the famed Maharshal, under Rav Sholom Shachna of Lublin, and with Rav Moshe Isserles, the Rema.
Rav Chaim also mentions Rav Yitzchok Sefardi, in his introduction to Igeres Tiyul, as his rebbe and mentor who taught him mikrah, dikduk, and Rashi. He further mentions that Rav Sefardi was buried in Jerusalem after his passing.
In the year ש''ט, Rav Chaim established a yeshivah in Worms where his uncle Rav Yaakov ben Rav Chaim Ashkenazi served as Rav. After Rav Yaakov passed away in שכ''ג, Rav Chaim succeeded him. Afterwards, he moved to Friedberg and served as the Av Beis Din until his passing on Shavous שמ''ח 1588.
His published works include: Sefer HeChaim, Igeres Tiyul and Vikuach Mayim Chaim. There is a sefer called HaTzachos attributed to him as well.
His unpublished manuscripts include: Issur v’Heter, a likkut from the poskim; Beer Mayim Chaim on Rashi’s commentary on Chumash, cited by the author of Devek Tov; Biurim and Chiddushim on Tur Orach Chaim; Eitz Chaim on the laws of dikduk (grammar) of Lashon Kodesh. The introductions from Beer Mayim Chaim and Eitz Chaim were published in HaMaggid year 13, gilyon 37, 1869.
Stories of Rav Chaim ben Betzalel zt"l
In Adas Tzaddikim it relates that when the Rema became Av Beis Din Cracow, he took Rav Chaim as his segan (assistant rav)and that when the Rema traveled, Rav Chaim acted as chief rabbi in the Rema’s place as Av Beis Din.
It happened, that Rav Chaim’s wife passed away. The Rema was so dependent on Rav Chaim and the communal responsibilities so great that all shidduch suggestions for Rav Chaim were discounted. Everyone anticipated the Rema’s approval of some match. Rav Chaim, seeing how things were going, took matters into his own hands. Tradition has it that he made a secret match through a shadchan with a local baker. The simple, but pious, baker supplied his illustrious son-in-law to be, with all the seforim he would need along with a hidden room to study undisturbed. The Rema returned one day to find Rav Chaim melancholy. He surmised that it was for lack of a suitable match and proposed that he would indeed find Rav Chaim a new wife. Rav Chaim staged that he wished to visit his family and left with intentional fanfare. He was escorted by the Rema and the townspeople out of the city limits where he dressed in simple clothes, gathered a minyan at the baker’s residence and married his daughter in a clandestine chuppah. After the wedding, he set himself up in the room provided by his father-in-law and studied happily and undisturbed for some two years until he was discovered.
There was a plague in Cracow and someone assumed that the secretive baker’s son-in-law whom no one knew must be the culprit behind some crime that made Cracow guilty. Such was the desperate calculation of people trying to find some reason why the plague had struck their city. Rav Chaim was summoned before the Rema, and was found to have been hiding all this time! Consequently, Rav Chaim was released and cleared of all charges.
“Why did you hide; what was your sin? And why are you laughing?” asked the Rema when he saw Rav Chaim laugh.
“I hid because the communal responsibilities were too much for me and it disturbed my Torah study,” Rav Chaim explained. “I laughed because these simple people were so quick to judge me and I can see they were just all too happy to whip me soon as you gave them the word. Apparently, my sin was that my Torah study was so good that I almost grew arrogant. But then, Hashem put me in a situation where I would be shamed!”
When the Rema went to visit him to see what he meant, he overheard Rav Chaim studying with someone else. But when he came inside, Rav Chaim was alone.
“I command you to reveal who was here!” said the Rema.
Rav Chaim admitted he had been studying with Eliyahu HaNavi.
“And he is still here with us,” said Rav Chaim.
Eliyahu then told the Rema that he studied with Rav Chaim, not because Rav Chaim was greater than the Rema, but because the Rema’s greatness and strength in Torah was too much for him [Eliyahu Hanavi]!