He Waited 60 Years for the Alter Rebbe’s Third Shailah

R. Yitzchak Aizik Beharad (Bograd) was born in 5528 (1768), in the town of Smilovitch, in the Minsk district. In 5543 (1783) he attended the Minsk debate between the Alter Rebbe and some of the leading non-Chassidishe Rabbonim, following which he became a chossid of the Alter Rebbe.

R. Yitzchak Aizik received semicha from the Alter Rebbe and served as the Rov of Vitebsk for 60 years. He was also a chossid of the Mitteler Rebbe and Tzemach Tzedek, and had a close relationship with the Rebbe Maharash in his youth.

He merited a very long life, passing away in 5627 (1867), at the approximate age of 100. His teshuvos were published in Shu”t Pnei Yitzchak, and some additional chidushim of his remain in manuscript.

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One erev Shabbos after chatzos, a man entered the Vitebsker Rov’s home and requested a din Torah. Asked why he couldn’t choose a better time, the man explained that he was a melamed and he couldn’t leave his students anytime during the week. R. Yitzchak Aizik acquiesced. When he asked where the other party was, the melamed replied that he came to hold a din Torah with Hashem.

R. Yitzchak Aizik sat down and the melamed presented his arguments: “There are three partners in creating a child – the two parents and Hashem. Now, I have a daughter to marry off and no money, but the third partner is well off and isn’t helping out.” R. Yitzchak Aizik became very serious, and he paskened that the melamed is right.

On Sunday, a fancy carriage parked in front of the melamed’s home. The wife of the local poritz was suffering from a toothache, and they heard that the melamed’s wife could practice magical healing. Reluctantly, the woman went, and miraculously, the pain disappeared. The poritz’s wife was grateful, and hearing about their dire state, she gifted them with more than enough money to marry their daughter.

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During all his 85 years as a rov, R. Yitzchak Aizik abstained from eating lekach, and when questioned about this, he would not answer. A short time before his passing he told the following story:

Once, as a young rov, I participated in a simcha, and took a piece of regular cake from the table. One of the guests asked me why I did not take the lekach, since it was more special. I had forgotten about the lekach but was embarrassed to say so, so I answered, “I don’t eat lekach!”

From that day on, I never tasted a piece of lekach again, in order to stay true to my words.

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Before R. Yitzchak Aizik accepted the rabbonus in Vitebsk, the Alter Rebbe posed three shailos to him and then told him how to pasken. R. Yitzchak Aizik understood that he would need to rule on these cases, and indeed, two of the shailos came up soon after. Sixty years passed, and the third shailah hadn’t come up, but R. Yitzchak Aizik was certain that he wouldn’t leave this world until he was presented with that case.

One day, the elderly R. Yitzchak Aizik was sitting in the Beis Din when a butcher entered the next room and asked another rov about an animal lung, and he ruled it to be treif as Halacha states. Hearing the exact question that the Alter Rebbe had told him 60 years prior, R. Yitzchak Aizik knew that it had to be kosher. The rabbonim probed the butcher until he admitted having intentionally damaged the lung to settle a score.

Having addressed the third shailah, R. Yitzchak Aizik called for the Chevra Kadisha. Everyone was surprised since he looked healthy, but he was adamant. He entered his home and lay in his bed, and he returned his neshamah to his maker.