Crowds Gathered as He Taught Chassidus in the Marketplace

A chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe and a leader of the chassidim in Kremenchug, Reb Baruch Tamares was a flowing spring of Chassidus who would sit on a large rock or crate in the middle of the market and begin speaking Chassidus, as crowds of chassidim and ordinary people gathered around him.

R. Baruch Tamares was a chossid primarily of the Mitteler Rebbe, and together with his brother-in-law R. Shmuel Tamares, was the leader of the chassidim in Kremenchug. R. Baruch was renowned as a maskil in Chassidus who would ponder and explain topics in Chassidus for hours on end, in the style of the Mitteler Rebbe. R. Baruch was the teacher of the famous “Berelach” of Kremenchug, R. Berel Moshe’s, R. Berel Mosayev, and R. Chaim Ber Vilensky.

*

R. Boruch was a flowing spring of Chassidus. Wherever he was, be it in the street or market in the middle of the day when people were busy with business, he would sit on a large rock or crate and begin speaking Chassidus. Crowds of chassidim, and even ordinary people, would gather around him since he spoke eloquently. He would come prepared with a bottle of mashke and would pour for everyone to say lchaim.

*

R. Boruch was deeply preoccupied with thinking Chassidus. One Yom Kippur night, he paced back and forth in shul deep in thought, without realizing that the congregation had recited Kol Nidrei and davened Mairiv. After a few hours, he fell to the floor with a loud thump.

*

R. Boruch was the primary mashpia of the venerable chossid R. Chaim Ber Vilensky, who had the greatest respect for R. Boruch, and considered it a great merit to have been his student. His son, Michoel, shared these two anecdotes:

Firstly, even the people closest to him had no idea that he was even remotely interested in dikduk until after he passed away and they discovered an entire sefer that he had written on the subject.

Secondly, I heard that he had an ongoing debate with R. Hillel Paritcher (who would stay in Kremenchug on his way to the colonies), about the Halachic status of liquor for which the tax wasn’t paid. R. Hillel would say, “It’s permissible, yet I wouldn’t drink it,” while R. Boruch would sa,y “It’s forbidden. Still, if it were served to me, I would drink from it.”

For sources, visit TheWeeklyFarbrengen.com