A BUSH IS BURNING IN KOTSK/ By Meir Orian
CHAPTER 6
RABBI MENDEL BECOMES THE LEADER
(The Tomashov Days )
The Rabbi chooses students
With the death of their Rabbi, orphanhood descended on
the Hassidim, leaving an empty vacuum in their hearts and
confusion in the Hassidic court. The Hassidim were at a loss to
know what to do. They looked for a replacement - and opinions
were divided. The oldest among them, who were the most
moderate and level-headed, led by Rabbi Yitzhak, "the Tzaddik
with the golden heart," were inclined to set upon the seat of
their Rabbi the son of the departed Rabbi, a Tzaddik and son
of a Tzaddik, Avraham Moshe. On the other hand, the sharpminded
young yeshiva students, looking for a supreme goal on
earth, fastened their gaze on the most sharp-witted of them all,
Reb Mendel. But he, Reb Mendel, turned his back on them,
rebuking them:
"Do you really believe that in the future things will remain
the same for you as they have until now? The Rabbi will work
for you and you will snatch the leftovers; the Rabbi will labor
alone, and you will hide in his shadow; he will serve the Creator
and you will find salvation through him; you want a Rabbi who
shall clasp in his hand the keys to the Heavenly treasures and
distribute to you sufficient income; you will continue cooking
porridge and eating together and your Rabbi will pray that your
grown-up daughters will obtain decent bridegrooms, or will
heal your wives. No! I am not a bagel baker, the Creator did not
give me a basket of bagels to distribute among the people; I am
not a shepherd searching for pasture for his flock. Man was born
to toil! With me you will have to look after yourselves both
materially and spiritually. Each for himself."
The Hassidim recoiled in alarm. They knew how severe was
Reb Mendel; they knew that he was "a red-hot fire"; they knew
how powerful and daring were the tests which he was capable
of setting his Hassidim - and they thought about Reb Yitzhak
Meir, who also possessed some of the sharp-mindedness of
Reb Mendel, but who was milder, good-humored and quiet
in his ways. But he was not in Pzshischa at that time. They
learned that Reb Yitzhak Meir was in Samot, a township near
to Tomashov, the town where Reb Mendel dwelt. The company,
and Reb Mendel among them, left for there.
The Hassidim went to a hostel, and the two candidates for the
leadership shut themselves away in the seclusion of their rooms.
At sunrise both of them came to the hostel where the Hassidim
had spent a sleepless night. Without uttering a word, Reb Yitzhak
Meir entered the second room and brought the laver for washing
the hands and a towel, approached Reb Mendel and poured
water from the vessel on his hands and handed him the towel. The Hassidim understood that Reb Yitzhak Meir intended by
this to show them that he was accepting the authority of Reb
Mendel, and that he had done so only in order to serve him.
After the Shacharit morning prayers and the morning meal,
the two of them returned and secluded themselves in a room
until sundown. From the room came the sounds of the voices of
the two Greats of the World arguing among themselves, for sure
on matters beyond the minds of lesser mortals.
Towards evening, several of the Hassidim applied their ears to
the door and heard Reb Mendel ask Reb Yitzhak Meir:
"So, either you to me, or I to your honor! (What exactness of
speech! not: or me to you!)
Reb Yitzhak Meir emerged alone from the room and said to
those present;
"Let us prepare ourselves for the afternoon prayer. Soon the
Rabbi will enter to pray. Our Rabbi is a real Jew." And he placed
the emphasis on real.
The Hassidim still hesitated. They thought that Rabbi Mendel's
way was too harsh for them, and they would have preferred Rabbi
Yitzhak Meir as their leader. The convoy, and the differences of
opinion, continued all the way to Warsaw.
On the Shabbat evening a large crowd of Hassidim gathered in
the Bet Hamidrash in Warsaw, preparing for the festive Sabbath
meal. At the head of the table, which was surrounded by the
great scholars and the Hassidim, there sat the two of them-
Reb Yitzhak Meir (the Chidushei Harim) and Reb Mendel.
Suddenly, the Chidushei Harim rose from his seat. He opened a
bottle of wine, poured the wine into a glass and placed it in the
palm of Reb Mendel's hand.
On that Sabbath evening the die was cast. Reb Mendel became
the leader of the community. On that occasion Reb Yitzhak Meir said to the Hassidim: "I
saw a living tongue of fire and I bent myself to it!"
Rabbi – "Revive the living"
Reb Mendel and his retinue entered Tomashov like a roaring
whirlwind. Near to the Rabbi's house the Hassidim erected a
large hut. A gray hut, not painted outside, nor decorated inside.
The Hassidim had become a united and cohesive community.
Those were the spring days of Reb Mendel and his retinue, the
days of the dawning of the new Hassidism.
About those who remained in Pzshischa they jested that "in
Pzshischa there remained the son of a Tzaddik, income and a
drop of brandy." By that they meant that there it resembled
every other Hassidic court, without any innovation, whereas
here they would begin everything anew.
When a Hassid of Reb Mendel met another Hassid who
boasted of the wonders that his Rebbe could work, the former
said jestingly:
-"True, your Rebbe can revive the dead, but we are content with
a Rebbe who is able to revive the living. We leave reviving the
dead to the Holy One Blessed be He."
At the same time Rabbi Yitzhak Meir wrote to Rabbi Hanoch
of Alexander:
"Know this, just as there was thunder and lightning at
Mount Sinai at the time of the Receiving of the Torah, so now
in Tomashov there is receiving of the Torah with thunder and
lightning.."
When the two of them met afterwards, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir
explained his reasons for making the comparison between
Tomashov and the Revelation at Sinai. …"As it is known, at the time of the receiving of the Torah the
Creator fashioned the Mount into the shape of a tub. What
for? Had not the People earlier shouted for joy of their own
free will and said 'we shall obey and we shall listen'? But, at the
time when the People stood next to Mount Sinai and heard the
Commandments: Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, -
the good Jews shrugged their shoulders and gazed at one another.
The learned ones asked themselves: 'For this has Moses brought
us here? We thought we would hear profound new things. To us
they say "Thou shalt not steal," " thou shalt not covet"- to us?'
And they were already about to depart from Mount Sinai. Then
Moses covered them with a mount like a tub and cried: Don't
move! These words are meant for you as well, learned ones. For,
if you examine yourselves deep down, you will find that deep
within each one of you there is buried a bit of the inclination
to steal, and also a bit of the inclination to murder, and for sure
the inclination to covet. On the surface it seems to you that you
possess none of these. The Commandments that you hear will
eradicate any faint thought of stealing buried in the depths of
the heart."
And Rabbi Yitzhak Meir continued: "Our Rebbe in Tomashov
also inverts upon us a mount like a tub and doesn't allow
us to lie to ourselves. "Thou shalt not steal"- this means the
thief deep inside a person. The thief that is entrenched in the
secret chambers of the heart. Your "haiz ganav (your domestic
thief )." Three hundred spiritually elevated men
In Pzshischka, Rabbi Avraham Moshe was not destined to sit
for long on his father's seat. He died a short time after being
crowned Rabbi.
Ever since the death of Rabbi Bunim, Rabbi Yitzhak had not
ceased longing to see his friend Rabbi Mendel. He yearned
for him with all his soul. For there was a true and lifelong
friendship between him and Rabbi Mendel. After the death of
Rabbi Avraham Moshe, Rabbi Yitzhak traveled to Tomashov at
the head of a large company of Hassidim. He went in to Reb
Mendel and said to him that they all looked upon him as their
prospective leader, but they asked of him one thing: that he,
Reb Mendel, would be involved with them, would heed their
requests and advise them on worldly affairs. But it was precisely
this condition that Reb Mendel objected to ;
"Yitzhak, what is the point of bringing all this rabble to me?
People who don't have opinions of their own - just like beasts
seeking fodder, and anyone who joins them - in the end becomes
a beast like them."
The idea of being a leader of masses revolted Rabbi Mendel..
This spiritual aristocrat saw danger to himself in contact with
the masses. While it was true that by being close to them the
leader was likely to influence and elevate them, there was also
the danger of influence in the opposite direction. The masses
were liable to remove the leader from his eminent status.
"Yitzhak, a cart owner is also a leader.. But woe betide the carter
if the horses run wild and take control of him."
They, the mediocre Hassidim, sought a rabbi who would inspire
them with love, whereas Rabbi Mendel wished to impose his mastery on them.
"Yitzhak, I do not wish to have many Hassidim. What I
wish for is three hundred yeshiva students, each of whom will
wear a cabbage leaf on his head, will wear a belt of straw, will
climb the roofs of the world, will raise his finger upwards and
proclaim; 'The world and all that is in it is the Lord's"
Reb Yitzhak, the good-hearted Tzaddik, sensing that their
paths were separating, plucked up courage and said:
"You won't find three hundred like that, and even if you do
and all will be like Mendel- three hundred Mendels are not yet
Klal Israel, the whole People of Israel."
And this is how Reb Yitzhak Meir described Reb Mendel's
attitude to his students in those days:
"He associates only with young men with a clearly defined
goal and absolute faith, but the rest are futility."
On the point of a needle
Reb Mendel consumed small people and pettiness with words
of fire. But he had even less patience for mediocre people or
mediocrity. At that time he nursed in his heart a great idea and
a great faith - the spiritual repair of the world, which could only
come about through man's spiritual redemption and the belief
in his powers to repair and redeem. But this idea could not
be realized by mediocre people who had not freed themselves
entirely from all worldly concerns. More importantly: Reb
Mendel sought yeshiva students who would be ready to sacrifice
for the truth not only wife and children, but even their portion
in the world to come.
Reb Mendel was consistent at every stage of his life. He set everything on the point of a needle, He didn't advocate a life
of Hol Hamoed (the intermediate days of festivals), nor did he
favor the twilight. Either weekday or holyday; either light or
darkness; either all or nothing; either a redeemed world or a
desert wilderness. Reb Mendel did not like the half-asleep. The
redemption of the world would not be achieved by mediocre
people, nor by people half awake and half dozing. A weak-willed
person had no business being in the presence of Reb Mendel;
a person whose will wandered between the inclinations of the
heart was unfit to take part in the battle to change the face of the
world and repair it. Reb Mendel was ready to impart wisdom
to the wise, to help "the three hundred young men" to free
themselves from their cares and to elevate them to the highest
spiritual spheres.
A yeshiva student who was renowned in his town and among
his friends as a prodigy and scholar came to see him for the first
time. The moment his feet stepped on the threshold of the room
the Rabbi said to him:
"In Torah you are a prodigy, but in Hassidism there is no such
thing. In Hassidism one must toil like the blacksmith toils with
the hammer..."
In those days he summoned to his room one of his favorite
yeshiva students and said to him; " If you will consent to be
without even a cent to buy a loaf of bread, I am prepared to raise
you above the heavens, and from there you will see that such a
thing does not warrant lamenting at all.."
And another time, standing in a field surrounded by his
Hassidim, he said: "I can take from among you a yeshiva student
immersed in the desires of this world, and make him loathe
these desires, until he cannot bear to hear about them, and
when he hears of them he will throw up his food." Reb Mendel scorned the petty desires of the average man.
Like one of the ancient Sages, the world in his eyes was like a
fleeting dream- and a man's life- like a wilting blossom, like an
ephemeral cloud, like lightning that flashes momentarily and
then fades into perpetual dark.
In those days Reb Mendel believed in his power to create a
nucleus of select individuals, like a bud from which a new world
would spring.
Material and spiritual equality- in this world and the next
Reb Mendel was then like a perennial spring. He would go
for walks with the yeshiva students along the paths of the fields,
talking with them on the loftiest subjects. Once "he spoke Torah
to them for ten consecutive hours," and speaking Torah for
Rabbi Mendel was of a special kind. His talks were fragmentary
and by hints alone.
At that time he would participate in the communal meals in
the Bet Hamidrash, in the big hut, every evening. At these meals
the souls of the students were forged into a group of individuals
who knew what lay before them.
In Tomashov a pure communal existence was created, with a
common purse for all the members of the company. They had
a joint fund, and they dined together. They earned their living
by manual labor, by simple and hard work, carrying bricks and
kneading clay. Every day several score yeshiva students went to
work, and towards evening they brought their pay back with
them. The proceeds were handed over to those in charge of
the fund, and every evening they ate a frugal meal of coarse
wholemeal bread and spirits. But due to the Rebbe's presence the
meals were filled with an abundance of spiritual nourishment.
There was absolute equality among the company members, both materially and spiritually. Not only did they share their
possessions equally among themselves, but they also made a
regulation that the good deeds and transgressions of the group
would also be shared equally. Likewise, the portion in the world
to come was to be shared equally among them all.
A fire is burning in Tomashov
Reb Mendel and his Hassidim spent about two years in
Tomashov. They were years of exaltation and spiritual elevation.
In the cities and small towns of Poland rumors spread of a
wonderful yeshiva student who lived in a small town in the
province of Lublin, who was turning the spark kindled in
Pzeshischa into a flame. Voices rang out:
"A fire is burning in the city of Tomashov
A new light will radiate from there"
(In Tomashov brent e feier
As geit dart oif en or a neir)
Reb Mendel captured the hearts of the young Hassidim who
were drawn to him like moths to the flame. Young yeshiva
students were drawn to Tomashov as if with magic ropes; swept
on waves of yearning for something hidden and unknown; their
imagination fired by the stories that hovered in the air, about
that court in Tomashov, about that black-haired figure, before
whom stood, humble and belittled, people who wore the crown
of genius and Torah greatness.
Yeshiva students abandoned their young wives and the table of
their wealthy fathers-in-law; others left their shops; famous and
dignified rabbis traveled to Tomashov; outstanding scholars, mighty in Torah, who themselves were leaders of Hassidim.
"Most of those who came were themselves worthy of leading a
community."
In those years the spiritual fervor of the Hassidim reached a
zenith. The students who surrounded their Rebbe forgot about
the entire world. They abandoned everything, cast behind them
their material concerns and charged themselves with burdens
of another kind. They immersed themselves in a world that was
all spirit. The Rabbi realized that he was nearing the goal. With
such yeshiva students he was now ready to do battle.
The wives' tears…
Reb Mendel' most devoted disciple, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir,
told about that period: "His work was successful. Each of the
Tomashov Hassidim was worthy of attaining the level of the
Baal Shem Tov, but..."
But..the Satan, too, did not sit idly. The obstacle came from
outside.
Hosts of angry wives came to Tomashov. They looked for
their husbands in the inns and hostels. The husbands hid from
their wives and didn't want to see them. Furious and weeping,
the women laid siege to the big hut; they burst into the Bet
Hamidrash; they also reached the door of the Rabbi's room;
they brandished sticks at his window, and demanded that the
Rabbi restore their husbands to them. Their homes were being
destroyed, the children were growing up without education, and also dying from starvation…
Parents and fathers-in-law, who saw in the behavior of their
sons and sons-in-law acts of lawlessness and the adoption of
wicked ways, joined the ranks of the wives. But the sounds of
weeping remained suspended in the air. "Tears were created for
women," is what the Hassidim learned in Tomashov where they
ridiculed weeping over insignificant matters. "They had already
learnt not to give a fig for the world".. Reb Mendel knew in
advance that his system turned its back on the world, and that
whoever desired to be his student could not be a haberdashery
salesman and tied to his wife's apron strings. Reb Mendel didn't
give in to other people's wishes, however tearful, even if they
were those of the whole world. Both the Rabbi and the students
were deaf to the cries of the wives.
But just then something happened that compelled Reb Mendel
to consider leaving the town. One of the students of 'the Seer
of Lublin,' Rabbi Yosef of Yartshov, had taken up residence in
Tomashov. Already in the court of the Seer, Rabbi Yosef had
opposed the new way of "the Jew." He was among those who,
at the great wedding in Ostila, had demanded that old Rabbi
Abraham Yehoshua Heshil from Apta pronounce a ban against
Rabbi Bunim and his students. His opposition to the young
Rabbi Mendel, whose way was more extreme than that of his
masters, grew. Rabbi Yosef lent his support to the rebellious
wives and incited the townspeople to expel Rabbi Mendel and
his Hassidim from their midst.
It was to this opposition that Rabbi Yitzhak Meir was referring
when he said:
"The Hassidim' of Tomashov were each worthy of attaining
the level of the Besht, but….the opposition grew." Reb Mendel assembled his students and said to them: "Do you
remember what is written in Sota 49:'Two scholars reside in the
same city and do not support each other in the study of the law;
one dies and the other goes into exile." "I," – the Rabbi hinted
to them- "prefer to be the exiled one." The students took the
hint. Within a few days the company left Tomashov and moved
to Kotsk. That was in the year 1829 and Rabbi Mendel was 42
years old.
From Tomashov to Kotsk
Why, of all places, did they choose Kotsk to establish their
seat?
One version calmly asserts that one of Reb Mendel's students,
Rabbi Matityahu Kovner from Kossov, ascended to the seat of
the rabbinate in Kotsk, and he it was who asked his Rabbi to
take up residence there. But among the Hassidim a different
story circulated. A Kotsk story par excellence, which said exactly
the opposite:
..The Hassidim of Tomashov and their Rebbe wandered from
town to town in search of a new study center. In each town
where the people suggested to them to come and settle, the
Rebbe answered: "No!" One day the convoy arrived at the small
town of Kotsk. The townspeople, on hearing about the strange
behavior of Reb Mendel's Hassidim, sought to drive them from
the town. They pelted them with stones and set the town's dogs
on them. Reb Mendel raised his eyebrows. He smiled a little
and said to his intimates: "I like the look of these townspeople.
They show extreme devotion for what they believe to be the
truth. A town in which they throw stones - is a town! Here we shall remain!"
From the time when Reb Mendel established his residence in
Kotsk, this sleepy and gray little town became a lofty spiritual
byword throughout the Jewish world. Pronouncing its five letters
-Kotsk!- still sets the heart racing, inflames the imagination and
thrills the soul - even though about 130 years have elapsed since
then. |
