Rav Yeshaya Weltfried of Pshedburzh zt"l
הרב ישעיה בן מאיר וולטפרייד זצ"ל
Elul 1 , 5591
Rav Yeshaya Weltfried of Pshedburzh zt"l
Rav Yeshaya was orphaned at a young age and grew up in Lask, in the kehilla of his father and grandfather. He made a name for himself as a genius early on, and mastered so much Torah that no suitable tutor could be found for him. Thereafter he was taught privately by the illustrious Rav of Lask, Rav Pinchos Zelig, author of Ateres Paz. As his renown grew, a wealthy merchant from Pshedburzh, Rav Dov Weinberg, chose the budding talmid chacham as a son-in-law, and promised to take care of all his physical needs so he would be free to pursue Torah study exclusively. Rav Yeshaya married at the young age of fourteen, cloistered himself from any contact with the outside world, and sat and studied for eighteen years straight.
The chief rabbi of Pshedburzh, Rav Nosson Neta Eibschitz, was a misnaged – opposed to the ways of the Chassidim. Gradually, however, he changed his mind, and was drawn to the Maggid of Mezritch and to one of his successors, Reb Elimelech of Lizensk. However, he refused the throngs of Chassidim who flocked to him in Pshedburzh, telling them, “I am no rebbe.” Young Yeshaya became his study partner, and together they plumbed the depths of Toras HaNistar, the mystical and esoteric aspects of Torah. When Rav Nosson Neta passed away, his successor, Rav Aryeh Leib Halperin, assumed the role of chief rabbi, and R.Yeshaya continued his role as study partner. It was in the home of Rav Halperin that Rav Yeshaya met the sharp young scholar by the name of Yaakov Yitzchok, who later became known as the Yid HaKadosh of Peshischa.
Rav Yeshaya’s desire to grow in Torah eventually led him to the yeshiva in Lisa, where he studied under Rav Dovid Tebel. There he met another young genius named Rav Akiva Eiger, and the two became study partners and fast friends. Their friendship lasted a lifetime, and later in life when the misnagdim would complain to Rav Akiva Eiger that Chassidim don’t learn, he would reply, “But Rav Yeshaya is a gaon and a Chassid!”
Eventually, Rav Yeshaya’s father-in-law passed away, and the money from his inheritance was depleted. Rav Yeshaya was left with no source of income. After completing all four volumes of the Tur, Shulchan Aruch and their commentaries, Rav Yeshaya had a dream. He dreamed that he saw the former Rav of Pshedburzh, Rav Nosson Neta, who told him, “Know that I hereby gift the position of chief rabbi to you!”
That very morning, the dignitaries and town leaders arrived with a letter of appointment, and declared that they had elected Rav Yeshaya as the Rav of Pshedburzh! He served as the Rav and Av Beis Din for 42 years. When the Chozeh of Lublin passed away, the Chassidim crowned Rav Yeshaya as one of his successors. He refused the title of rebbe for as long as possible. Among his foremost disciples include: Rav Kalonymous Kalman Epstein, author of Ma’or VaShemesh, and his sons; Rav Aharon of Krakow and his brother Rav Yosef Baruch of Neustadt (the “Gitter Yid”); Rav Moshe of Lelov; Rav Shlomo of Radomsk; Rav Yissacher Ber of Radoshitz; and Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel (the “Seraph of Mogolinitza”).
Stories of Rav Yeshaya Weltfried of Pshedburzh zt"l
Rav Dovid Lelover drew Rav Yeshaya and the Yid HaKadosh into the inner circle of the Chozeh of Lublin. The seforim describe the event as follows:
Rav Dovid Lelover approached Rav Yaakov Yitzchok, the Chozeh (“Seer”) of Lublin, to take his leave. “When you go,” the Chozeh told him, “make sure to travel through Pshedburzh. There are two candles burning there. Do your best to bring them here to me.”
When he arrived in Pshedburzh, Rav Dovid Lelover went straight to the beis midrash. He immediately discovered the two “candles” he was searching for: the Rav and Av Beis Din of Pshedburz, Rav Yeshaya, studying with his chavrusa, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok of Peshischa, later known as the Yid HaKadosh.
When the Yid HaKadosh approached the bookcase to look something up in a sefer, Rav Dovid told him, ‘You know, if you’ve never met the Chozeh of Lublin, you cannot even understand one page of Gemara properly.” When Rav Yeshaya came past, he told him the same thing.
At the time, Rav Yeshaya and the Yid HaKadosh disregarded the stranger’s curious pronouncement. Yet somehow, in the midst of their studies, his words kept coming back to them. They decided to look for him, but he was gone. They went out searching through the town – but in vain, for he had disappeared. Only the next day did the mysterious traveler reappear in the beis midrash as they sat and studied. When they approached him, they told him that they had decided to travel to Lublin to meet the Chozeh. They were surprised when Rav Dovid answered them, “First you must learn the secret of the tzaddik’s soul before you merit to travel to meet him and bask in his presence.”
After sitting in deep thought and contemplation, they realized that the Chozeh’s soul originated from the holy Tanna Rav Yosi HaKohen, one of the five disciples of Rav Yochanan Ben Zakkai, who is defined in Pirkei Avos as a “chassid.”
When they arrived in Lublin, the two geniuses met one of the Chozeh’s disciples, Rav Peretz, who had just returned from a visit to Eretz Yisroel. To their astonishment, they heard the Chozeh ask Rav Peretz:
“Did you daven at the gravesite of the Tanna Rabbi Yosi HaKohen in Tiveria? The soul that resides within my body shares the soul of that Tanna.”
They thus saw with their own eyes that the power of ruach hakodesh rested on the Chozeh’s beis midrash.
Rav Dovid Lelover used to say that one of the main reasons why he himself had to come to Lublin was to draw close those two lions to the pack of the holy chevraya. (Dibros Chaim)
The Chozeh of Lublin once travelled with his son Rav Tzvi to the town of Tshechiyov, not far from Lublin. Rav Tzvi requested that they take a trunk of seforim along with them on their travels. “No,” answered the Chozeh, “that will not be necessary.” He pointed to Rav Yeshaya of Pshedburzh, who was accompanying them, and remarked, “Here is our trunk of seforim. The light of his Torah shines from one end of the world to the other!” (Tiferes haYehudi 7b)
When the Yid HaKadosh passed away on Chol HaMoed Sukkos, Rav Yeshaya said he saw a great darkness descend on the world. He realized it must be as a result of his rebbe’s passing. However, Rav Yeshaya was convinced that the world would be destroyed upon the death of the Yid HaKadosh! When he went outside and saw that the world continued going on as before, he thought he must have been mistaken and that the Yid HaKadosh was still alive. Only when he saw that the Yid HaKadosh was in the upper worlds did he accept the fact of his passing.
(Ohr Zarua LaTzaddik, introduction to Aron Eidus)
In his own words: “When I went outside on the day the Yid HaKadosh passed away and I saw the sun still shining and the world still existing as it had before, I thought that he must still be alive. I believed that, if the Yid HaKadosh had passed away, surely the sun would stop shining and the world would revert back to the chaos of tohu va-vohu before Creation.”
(Yaakov Yitzchok of Peshischa, p. 126)