Rav Shlomo Kluger of Brod zt"l
הרב שלמה בן יהודה אהרן קלוגר זצ"ל
Sivan 30 , 5629
Rav Shlomo Kluger of Brod zt"l
R' Shlomo Kluger was one of the leading halachic authorities and among the most prolific writers of the 19th century. R' Kluger wrote of himself, "Praises to G-d, I have approximately 115 large works on Tanach and the entire Talmud, and commentaries on the early and later poskim / halachic authorities." It should be noted that R' Kluger lived 25 years after writing these words, so that his total literary output may have been much greater. Ha'eleph Lecha Shlomo, his best-known work of halachic responsa, has 1,008 chapters.
R' Kluger was born in 1786 to R' Yehuda Aharon, rabbi of Komarow. R' Yehuda Aharon was a sickly man who died before age 40, leaving his son a homeless orphan. One day, R' Yaakov Kranz (the "Dubno Maggid") met the young boy wandering the streets of Zamosc, Poland, and he took him in. The Dubno Maggid arranged teachers for his charge, including R' Mordechai Rabin, rabbi of Zamosc, and R' Yosef Hochgelernter. The Maggid himself taught R' Kluger the aggadic (i.e., non-legal) parts of the Torah, meeting with him in regular Friday night sessions.
At the young age of 22, R' Kluger was already sitting on batei din / rabbinical courts with more seasoned scholars. However, not until he was 36 did he receive his first appointment as a town rabbi, in Kelokow, Galicia. Later, a certain R' Yosef Yozpa suggested that R' Kluger apply for the then-vacant rabbinate of Brody, and R' Yosef wrote R' Kluger a letter of introduction to R' Ephraim Zalman Margaliot. (R' Margaliot was a businessman, and was Brody's leading scholar. His works include the popular Sha'arei Ephraim and Mateh Ephraim.) R' Margaliot interviewed R' Kluger and declared that R' Kluger was the first person who had ever bested him in a scholarly discussion. He later wrote of R' Kluger:
The rabbi, the great and sharp genius, Sinai [i.e. having far-ranging knowledge] and uprooter of mountains [i.e., having a sharp intellect], the famous one, our teacher R' Shlomo, may his light shine, who several years ago came to reside honorably in our city, and he was raised and elevated at the suggestion of the great and lofty ones of the city to be the head of the bet din and the teacher of righteousness and speaker of truth [i.e., lecturer on moral subjects] – his name is 'Shlomo' and his Torah is 'shleimah' (whole), fortunate is the man who gave birth to him . . .
R' Kluger remained in Brody until his death in 1869.
(Source: Gedolei Ha'dorot p. 665)
https://breslev.com/259015/
Stories of Rav Shlomo Kluger of Brod zt"l
An epidemic once broke out and the death toll in Brodie and the environs climbed so high that the demand for burial shrouds rose and rose, their price becoming so exorbitant that an emergency meeting was held between the parnesei hakehilla and the town’s lay leaders, where it was decided that there was no choice but to bury the poor in their clothes!
When Rav Shlomo Kluger heard this, he was incensed! He was so angry that he went himself to one of the town leaders, a wealthy man who had barred himself in and allowed no one entry so as to create a sterile self-quarantine and save him from any worry of infection. Rav Shlomo barged in unannounced and began to sharply rebuke the irate wealthy man about his dereliction of duty. “How can it be that the poor should be shamed in death?!”
Rav Kluger demanded that the wealthy man help defray the expenses for the tachrichin. The wealthy man was so angry with Rav Shlomo for arriving unannounced and breaking his self-imposed quarantine that he argued, yelled and summarily threw the Rav out! He housed a Talmid Chochom, who likewise defended his master, davening for his health and claiming that his generosity was what supported his Torah study. Rav Shlomo stood his ground and was shown the door.
That night the wealthy man fell ill. Seeing that the Rav’s rebuke and anger must be a heavenly message, he quickly sent the Talmid Chochom he supported to appease Rav Shlomo, and agreed to pay the expense for all the poor people’s tachrichin and burial expenses and sent along eighteen silver rubles as a down payment and kofer nefesh to redeem himself. Rav Shlomo accepted the wealthy man’s gift and blessed him with a refua sheleima. The next day he was already feeling better. He immediately sent over two thousand silver rubles and was healed. (Luach HaHillula)
Rav Shlomo always received a gift of one golden ducat as shlach monos from one of the town’s wealthy merchants. That year Purim, however, the shlach monos contained five golden ducats! Rav Shlomo kept the one customary coin and sent back the other four. When his family members asked him why he had returned the princely gift, he explained his reasoning thus:
“Every year, this man sends me the same gift of one golden ducat. He has kept up this minhag for many years. Now suddenly he sent me five? There must be a reason. He must have some upcoming din Torah he wants me to sit in judgment on or some other matter to decide. I refuse to be bribed!”
As the saying of Chazal goes: Chochom adif minovi – “a scholar is preferred to a prophet”. Rav Kluger was indeed correct; just a few days later the merchant arrived with a sample bottle of English rum that he had purchased. He hoped that Rav Shlomo Kluger would permit it for Pesach and came to ask the Rav to issue it kosher certification. Instead, Rav Shlomo forbade the rum and in his glosses to Shulchon Aruch Chochmas Shlomo, we find his stance forbidding its consumption on Pesach. (Toldos Shlomo)
“Be cautious in judgement” (Avos 1:1)
Rav Ovadia Yosef used to illustrate this Mishna with the following story:
There was once a Jew who owned a wine store. In the cellar were stored many barrels of wine worth a hefty sum of money. The wine merchant had a helper who worked in his store. One day the helper decided to hide his money pouch among the barrels in the cellar. The pouch contained all his savings, some two hundred gold rubles that he had scrimped and saved and when Shabbos approached, he decided that the perfect place to hide the money would be in the locked cellar among the barrels.
On Motzo’ei Shabbos, he was distressed to discover that his money was gone. When he approached the wine merchant, his employer denied any knowledge of the pouch or its contents. He came before Rav Shlomo Kluger, and cried and begged the Rav to help him recover the lost money.
“Unfortunately, I suspect my employer, for the cellar was locked and no one else has the keys,” cried the helper.
Rav Shlomo Kluger summoned the wine merchant and asked him about the missing money, but the wine merchant denied any knowledge of the money or its whereabouts.
“You know I also trust you and I know that no Jew would have done such a dastardly, nefarious deed to steal this poor man’s money.”
The wine merchant smiled and nodded his head, agreeing with the Rav.
“I must therefore conclude that a goy broke into your cellar and stole the money, and I am sure you understand the ramifications of this.”
At this point the wine merchant’s smile vanished and was replaced by a look of growing concern and unease.
“Yes, the only resolution now is for me to rule that all your wine is forbidden for consumption. I will summon the shamash of the Bais Din and issue a decree and proclamation to publicize that your wine has been exposed and is no longer kosher, since you surely know that the Halocha forbids wine that has come in contact with goyim!”
When the wine merchant heard this he grew pale, realizing that he was liable to lose out a fortune of money many times what the money in the pouch had been worth.
“Well, actually, now that the Rav mentions it,” he hemmed and hawed, “I do seem to remember finding a pouch with some money.”
The Rav refused to accept this testimony until he ran home and came back with the money, returning it to his helper and everything was settled. (Anaf Etz Avos page 4)
When Rav Shlomo was an unknown young man and utterly destitute, a non-frum neighbor saw his misery and decided to cut some wood so that the family could heat their home especially since they had a newborn baby in the house.
When Rav Shlomo heard of his deed, he later on told his gabbai to tell him whenever that neighbor will pass away. Years later, when the neighbor returned his soul to his Maker, the gabbai came to Rav Shlomo and told him the news. Rav Shlomo told the gabbai that he wants to attend his funeral. The gabbai was amazed, because what was Rav Shlomo doing by a non-frum person's funeral.
At the burial site, Rav Kluger waited until the body was buried and then proceeded to break off a twig from a nearby tree and planted the twig on top of the fresh kever.
That Shabbos, Rav Shlomo came into shul and his face was fiery red. He paced back and forth for several hours – repeating these words numerous times: אוֹר זָרֻעַ לַצַדִיק וּלְיִשְׁרֵי לֵב שִֹמְחָה
The whole shul noticed that something extraordinary was happening. Rav Shlomo davened in his own private room the entire Shabbos. After Shabbos was over, several elders approached Rav Shlomo and respectfully asked him what happened that Shabbos.
Rav Shlomo related as follows: After he affixed the twig to his former neighbor's grave, his actions had momentous repercussions. The Satan was going through his list of people that died that week and were slated for punishments, when the Satan noticed one person was missing from his list.
After determining that Rav Shlomo's actions were hampering his path in getting his clutches on the neighbor's soul, he approached Rav Shlomo to release his hold on the neighbor's neshama. Rav Shlomo refused, stating that this person helped him in his lifetime and in fact saved his children's lives with the heartwarming heat that he provided.
So the Satan took Rav Shlomo to bais din shel maalo and Rav Shlomo increased his tefillos. After negotiating with Rav Shlomo that he shouldn't do this again, the bais din released the neighbor's soul to Rav Shlomo – who in turn placed it in Gan Eden.
(Heard from Rav Rottenberg Shlit "a, Forshay, N.Y. – during a Pirkei Avos shiur)