Rav Avraham Danzig zt"l
הרב אברהם בן יחיאל מיכל דנציג זצ"ל
Tishrei 4 , 5582
Rav Avraham Danzig zt"l
Born תקח. Grandson of Rav Shmuel author Nechamos Tzion. A disciple of the Noda BeYehudah and Rav Yosef Liberman of Prague. At age eighteen he was already a master of Shas and poskim, as Rav Rav Yosef Liberman testified.
After his marriage he moved and settled in Vilna and worked for a living though his Torah was his chief and primary occupation and his business concerns remained only secondary. He refused the rabbinate as a profession as he himself writes in his introduction to his sefer Chochmas Adam that whenever he spoke or said a derasha in Vilna he refused any monetary compensation. He was a very well honored baal habus, and for some twenty years no action was taken in Vilna without his consultation, consent and approval. He answered halachic queries, paskened sheilos and refused any monetary gifts which he considered as bribes.
His seforim in halacha became accepted across all of Klal Yisroel they are: Chayei Adam, Nishmas Adam, Chochmas Adam, Binas Adam, Shaarei Tzedek on mitzvos teluyos ba’aretz, Toldos Adam on Haggadah Shel Pesach, Beis Avrohom his tzavaah, and a eulogy for his son the sefer Matzeivas Moshe on laws of mourning, a sefer Zichru Toras Moshe and others. Besides all these he authored many liturgical poems and piyutim especially well known is the Tefillah Zakah recited before Kol Nidrei on Erev Yom Kippur.
His own son was son in law of the Vilna Gaon’s son. All the gedolim held his seforim and himself in high esteem such as Rav Chaim Volozhiner, the author of Chavas Da’as and the Rav author of Toemei Tzviya. Despite all this he was exceedingly humble and he commanded his children in his last will and testament not to honor him with any title and not to engrave on his matzeiva any title or praise except that his business dealings were conducted honestly. He passed away on 4 Tishrei תקפא
Divrei Torah of Rav Avraham Danzig zt"l
EVEN DURING MY BUSINESS MY MIND WAS ON TORAH
(Iyov 28:14) “The depths say it is not in me and the seas say it is not with me,” Rashi explains this pasuk as follows: Do not ask the seafaring sailors who search for pearls and miners who amass treasures of gold and silver from the depths of the earth they will answer you that they do not have it in them to rule on matters as they are no experts in law. However the sailors who are merchants say wisdom is not with me because they cannot acquire it like other goods that can be purchased for money.
Rav Avrohom Danzig explained this pasuk in his introduction to Chochmas Adam based on Rashi and the Midrash as follows:
Know my brother that the study of Torah is a function of the soul and its offspring similar to a woman who the sages say (Yevamos) if she decides never to remarry after ten years have passed even if she does remarry she can no longer give birth for she loses that ability because she gave up on it, however if she was not married for many years but she desired to remarry and have a child the ability to conceive and give birth does remain with her and when she does remarry she can still have a child. Similarly a Jew who gives up on Torah and never expects to be able to study she distances herself from him as well and the power to give birth to novel insights and chiddushim leaves him, however if a person is forced under duress to give up Torah study because he is unable to learn for some valid reason yet he desires to do so, the Torah waits like a widow for him expecting and waiting and pining away for when she can remarry again and the power of chiddushim and novel insights remains with him in his soul in such a scenario.
I too say this regarding myself, although I travelled far and wide to conduct business my wisdom stood by me, because even during my travels my mind remained with her [the Torah] and when I sat in my store my mind was focused on her [the Torah] and even when I conducted business transactions my mind was on her, considering some question or answer especially the six constant mitzvos that I wrote about in Chayei Adam Klal Alef, and I fulfilled the mitzvah do not abandon her.
In my commentary to Iyov I explained that Chazal said that the Torah is not found not among the seafaring sailors and merchants. This explains the different wording of the pasuk (why do depths say not in me whereas the sea says not with me) and is best explained based on the parable: if you ask a loan from a wealthy man if his money is tied up in some other business deal or other loan so that he has no cash on hand he will respond “see here I don’t have money with me now but I can loan you later on at a different time,” however if you ask for a loan from a pauper he will respond “you are mistaken I don’t have it in me to be able to afford to lend you money.”
Similarly the seafaring sailors are those merchants who toil day and night as Rashi said they are like the depths, those who travel on the high seas in the ocean gathering pearls and precious stones, whereas the merchants are small businessmen. Those that are compared to the depths which swallow up all the waters of the world have no other thought but to amass great fortunes and are never satisfied with the wealth they acquire and if you ask them about Torah they claim “I don’t have it in me at all,” and they never will, they won’t respond that not now but later because they do not have it in them at all. However the sea refers to smaller merchants who are not chasing after amassing a fortune they only work enough to sustain themselves, obviously they may forget some of what they learned and studied however if you ask him he answers “I don’t have it with me, I don’t know now but perhaps later when I remember and reconsider the matter I will know it.”
I consider myself the sea who says I do not have it with me just now at the moment even though surely during my travels there are many things I forgot, however it was only temporary and when I have the right state of mind to recover it and remember Baruch Hashem I will recover what I lost. The merchants can all testify that even when I travelled to the great trade fair in Leipzig I never forgot to take seforim with me and I always carried a Gemara and a Chumash and Mishnayos and even during the fair itself I studied at least a daf and a half of Gemara daily besides Mishnayos and I swear that I do not write this to boast and brag but only to teach others and my descendants that they too can accomplish this as well if they try.” (Introduction to Chochmas Adam)
“When you walk she (the Torah) will guide you; when you lie down she watches over you, and when you awake she shall converse with you. ” (Mishlei 6:22) The Chayei Adam explains this pasuk using the following mashal and parable: A person must act like a blind man, needing a guide to help him walk and find his way, so long as he has no guide and walks alone he is liable to fall and endanger himself. Similarly we too need the Torah as our guide, we should be as blind men who need a guide to assist us and cannot walk and go on our way without the guide. So too we should be unable to carry out our desires without the Torah there by our side to guide us on our ways.
This then is how the pasuk in Mishlei is to be understood: “When you walk she shall guide you,” the Torah shall guide you and your ways, and even at those time when you are unable to toil and engage in Torah study such as “when you lie down,” know that “she shall wait for you,” since the word for watches over – tishmor can be understood to mean ‘awaiting and anticipating for’ as in Bereishis (37:11). Then as soon as “you awake she shall converse with you,” and speak and converse with the Torah as the chassid said in Chovos HaLevavos “Do not retire to sleep except on the bed of your love [for Torah and Hashem] and awake only to the sweetness of their memory.” (Chayei Adam Kelal 1:1)