Rav Yitzchok of Drohobitch zt"l
הרב יצחק בן יוסף מדראהביטש זצ"ל
Nissan 7 , 5504
Rav Yitzchok of Drohobitch zt"l
Rav Yitzchok was the son of Rav Yosef Sprawiedliwy (Polish for ישר – Righteous or Just) and Yenta Di Nevia (the Prophetess).
His mother was a great Tzadekes; she would immerse herself several times a day and davened wearing a tallis.
According to tradition, she would interrupt such mundane household activities as sweeping the house to answer Kodosh, Kodosh, Kodosh, to the heavenly hosts’ kedusha, which she could hear.
She earned the moniker “Prophetess” after her husband complained of her behavior to the Ba’al Shem Tov, only to receive the response that she has open eyes and can see and hear things that others do not, and so she became known as Di Nevia.
The Chassidim treated her like a Rebbe, asking for her berochos. In return, she asked for gifts of food, which she would distribute to the poor.
Rav Yitzchok was descended from Rav Yitzchok Chaijes, Av Bais Din of Prague, mechaber of Api Ravravi.
When he lived in Ostrog, he was one of the ten Jews who studied in Rav Yuzpa’s Bais Medrash, among the greatest lamdonim in town. He was also the Maggid and mochiach in Brod in the Bais Medrash of Rav Yitzchok of Hamburg during his tenure as Rav of Brode.
Although he knew of and approved of the Ba’al Shem Tov, according to some, he was a colleague rather than a talmid.
The Ba’al Shem testified before Rav Yitzchok’s son, Rav Michel of Zlotshuv, regarding his father, that Rav Yitzchok “was given such a lowly soul that almost none have ever been given one so low, yet he elevated it to the heights of the Tanna Rav Shimon Bar Yochai!” (Agra Depirka)
He passed away on 7 Nissan 5510/1750 (or 5504/1744)
Some of his Divrei Torah appeared alongside those of his sons in Mayim Rabim.
His son was the famed Rav Yechiel Michel of Zlotshuv.
His sons-in-law were Rav Avner Kasvan and Rav Yochonon Litvak of Radvil.
Stories of Rav Yitzchok of Drohobitch zt"l
Once, the holy Rebbe Reb Zisha of Anipoli heard a wedding procession passing outside his window. Immediately, he rushed plained his behavior to them with outside and began to dance in wild abandon in front of the new couple to fulfill the mitzvah of simchas chasan and kallah. When his family members later remarked that this public display did not befit his station as a chassidic rebbe, he explained his behavior to them with the following tale:
In my youth I was a disciple of the holy Reb Yechiel Michel, the Zlotchover Maggid. Once, he was angry at me and he rebuked me. Later, he appeased me and I offered him my forgiveness. “Zisha, please forgive my angry rebuke and please forgive that I embarrassed you,” he said. “Rebbe, I forgive you,” I answered. Before I retired for the night, he visited me once more and asked again for my forgiveness, “Zisha, please forgive me!” “Rebbe, I forgive you,” I answered.
As I lay down to go to sleep, my Rebbe’s holy father, Reb Yitzchak of Drohovitch revealed himself to me. I was still awake when his soul visited me, coming down from the supernal world above. He declared, “I left just one son in This World below, one precious son! And just because he embarrassed you, you wish to destroy him!” “But Rebbe,” I protested, “I have already forgiven him with all my heart and soul! What else should I do?”
“You call that forgiveness?” he demanded. “I will teach you the proper way to forgive. Follow me.”
I got up and followed Reb Yitzchak until we reached the mikveh. “Now, go immerse yourself,” he said, “and with each immersion declare that you have forgiven my son!” I did as he asked, and when I finished and came out of the mikveh, I saw his face shining with a great luminescence, a light so bright I was unable to gaze at his face. I asked him the cause of so brilliant a light, and he explained that he merited such shining rays of light because he was always careful to fulfill the three dictums of Rav Nechunya ben Hakanah who said his longevity was due to three things: “I never took honor in my fellow man’s disgrace, I never went to bed having cursed my fellow that day, and I was easygoing with my money and possessions” (Megillah 28b). “You should know,” he added, “that what I was able to achieve following these three dictums you can also achieve through joy and simchah.”
Therefore, concluded Reb Zisha, when I saw an opportunity to rejoice together with the chasan and kallah in their simchah, right here on my own street, I hastened to join them in the simchah of a mitzvah!
A wedding procession once passed by the home of the Rebbe Reb Zusha. Upon hearing the music and seeing the procession, the Rebbe Reb Zusha went outside and began to dance and make merry before the groom and bride. When he had finished and come home, the members of his household berated the Tzaddik that it was dishonorable for an elderly Rebbe such as himself to go out and dance in the streets.
“Let me tell you a story,” answered the Rebbe Reb Zusha, (and he spoke of himself humbly, in the third person as was his custom): “In Zusha’s youth, Zusha was a talmid of the Zlotschover Maggid. Once, during our studies together, the Maggid grew impatient with Zusha and he yelled at Zusha. Afterward, he regretted this and asked Zusha to forgive him. ‘Of course Rebbe, I forgive you,’ was Zusha’s reply. Then again before Zusha lay down to sleep, again the Maggid showed up and asked forgiveness. ‘Yes, yes, Rebbe – I forgive you!’ was Zusha’s reply again.
“Then, as I lay down in bed before sleep had overcome me, his saintly father, Rav Yitzchok of Drovitch, may his memory be a blessing, appeared to me. Rav Yitzchok turned to me and said, ‘I left one son, just one precious son in this world before I died, and you wish to destroy him all because he insulted and yelled at you?!’ he accused.
“‘Rebbe,’ I entreated him, ‘Zusha has already forgiven him twice with all my heart and soul!’
“‘Humph, you call that forgiveness?’ Rav Yitzchok challenged me back. ‘Come with me and I will teach how to truly forgive someone completely.’
“And so I got out of bed, dressed and followed Rav Yitzchok as he led me toward the bathhouse. When we got there, Rav Yitzchok commanded Zusha to disrobe and enter the waters of the mikve and submerge and immerse myself completely three times under the waters, and with each submersion to recite wholeheartedly that I forgave his son, the Zlotschover Maggid. Zusha did so.
“When I finished, I saw that Rav Yitzchok’s faced glowed and shone brightly with a blinding other-worldly light. I asked him what the source of such a shining countenance was, and he taught Zusha that he merited such a shining light because he was careful and diligent in fulfilling the three rules of Rav Nechunia ben HaKaneh (mentioned in Megilla 28a):
1. I never honored myself through my fellow’s shame.
2. I never went to bed before having forgiven anyone who had caused me any pain.
3. I was easy-going with my money for charitable causes.
“‘Furthermore,’ added Rav Yitzchok, ‘you should know that whatever I achieved through diligence in fulfilling these three rules, can also be achieved through Simcha – joy.’
“Therefore,” concluded the Rebbe Reb Zusha, “when I saw the wedding procession and the opportunity to rejoice, I ran outside to dance and grasp the opportunity to rejoice in Simcha shel mitzva!” (Sippurei Chassidim).
Rav Yechiel Michel of Zlotschov related that when he first came before the holy Ba’al Shem Tov, the Ba’al Shem asked that he be honored and then told those present, “You should know that he is the son of Yitzchok of Drovitch. Now, let me tell you that his father was given by Heaven such a small soul of such lowly stature, that there is almost no one in this generation who has such a small and lowly, insignificant soul. However, he uplifted this soul to staggering, dizzying heights – to the level of the holy Tanna Rav Shimon bar Yochai!” (Agra Depirka by Rav Tzvi Elimelech of Dynow, Mechaber of Bnei Yissoschor #29)