Weekly Chasidic Story #975 (s5776-47 / 26 Tammuz 5776)

The Land of the Living

The Tzemach Tzedek remarked, "I have two and a half chasidim,"-one of them being Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef of Drivin.

Connection: Weekly Reading - Preparing to live in the Holy Land.

The Land of the Living

[Half of this story was the essence of a previous mailing (#408), in 5765/2005]

Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef of Drivin was one of the elder disciples of Rabbi Dov Ber Shneuri of Lubavitch, the Mittler Rebbe of Chabad, and, after his passing in 1827, of his son-in-law and successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneersohn. On one occasion the latter, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, was heard to remark, "I have two and a half Chasidim," one of them being Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef.

He was also a prodigious scholar of Talmud and Jewish Law. After serving as the rabbi of Drivin, he became the chief rabbi of Polotzk, a Jewish metropolis at the time, and respected elder and teacher of the Chasidic community there.

After some years he became dangerously ill, and his doctors despaired of saving his life. It so happened that the disease from which he suffered is the subject of a conflict of opinion in the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, [written in Tsfat] by Rabbi Yosef Caro. If an animal were to contract this disease, Rabbi Caro writes that it is still suitable for kosher slaughtering because the disease is non-fatal, while Rabbi Moshe Isserles (the Ramah) rules that even after kosher slaughtering the animal is treif and must be discardedbecause the disease is fatal.

Said Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef: "I know what I should do. I will [leave Europe which is under the legal authority of the Ramah and] go settle in Eretz Yisrael, where Rabbi Yosef Caro -- from his time onward -- is the accepted ruling legal authority for that region. Therefore my case will be settled in accordance with his view!"

He went first to consult with his Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, who approved the plan and gave his blessing for the move.

Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef then set out at once for the Holy Land, in 1847, and settled in Jerusalem. He was entrusted by the Tzemach Tzedek to be the head of a group assigned to build a Chabad synagogue in the Old City.

The first step involved raising funds from wealthy Diaspora philanthropists, such as Sir Moses Montefiore in England and Elias David Sassoon in Bombay. Land was purchased in 1850 and the construction of what became the famous Tzemach Tzedek Shul of the Old City Jerusalem was completed in 1856.

After eighteen years of extended life in Jerusalem, Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef of Drivin passed away in 1865, exactly three months after his beloved Rebbe.

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Source: Compiled and adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition in A Treasury of Chassidic Tales (Artscroll), as translated by the esteemed Uri Kaploun from Sipurei Chasidim by Rabbi S. Y. Zevin; and from an article in Days of Chabad by Rabbi Yosef Y. Kaminetzky, as translated by Yosef Cohen. The paragraphs about the Tzemach Tzedek shul are based on //lubavitch.com/news/article/2026278.

Biographical notes:
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn [of blessed memory: 29 Elul 5549 - 13 Nissan 5626 (Sept. 1789 – April 1866)], the third Rebbe of Chabad, was known as the Tzemach Tzedek, after his books of Jewish Law responsa and Talmudic commentary called by that name. He was renowned not only as a Rebbe, but also as a leading scholar in his generation in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah.

Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef of Drivin [? – 12 Tammuz 5607 (1847 C.E.)] was one of the elder disciples of Rabbi Dov Ber, the second Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, and subsequently of his successor, the Tzemach Tzedek, both of whom used to send students to learn Chasidic philosophy from him. He was also a prodigious scholar of Talmud and Jewish Law. Before moving to Jerusalem in 1847, he served as chief rabbi of Polotzk, a major Jewish community.

Connection: Weekly Reading – Preparing to live in the Holy Land.

Editor's note:
FYI, and especially for my fellow Tsfatim (residents of Safed): Tzemach Tzedek Synagogue in Tzfat was commissioned by the Tzemach Tzedek around the same time the one in Jerusalem, but was completed a few years before. The Tzemach Tzedek himself provided the funds for purchase of the plot of land on the eastern side of the Jewish Quarter, and the Chabad chasidim that lived in Tsfat at the time finished its construction in 1853. In recent years, the shul underwent a large-scale renovation and modernization.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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