From the Margins of Chabad History: In honor of the yartzeit of Harav Yitzchak Dov Ber (Maharid), the Chabad rebbe of Liadi, on 20 Nissan, we present a series of reports, accounts, and pictures of his life and passing.
By Shmuel Super
Introduction
Harav Yitzchak Dov Ber Scheersohn of Liadi was born in Lubavitch in 5593 (1833) to his father, Harav Chaim Shneur Zalman, the son of the Tzemach Tzedek. Harav Yitzchak Dov Ber, known as Maharid, was raised in the court of the Tzemach Tzedek, and after the Tzemach Tzedek’s passing he accompanied his father to Liadi, where Harav Chaim Shneur Zalman assumed the position of Rebbe. After his father’s passing in 5640 (1879) Maharid filled his place and served as Rebbe in Liadi until his passing in 5670 (1910). He is the author of Siddur Maharid, a commentary on the Siddur according to chasidus, and Likutei Maamarim.
A biography of Maharid appears in R. Amram Bloi’s Benei Hatzemach Tzedek, pp. 353-364. In this article we will add some further reports, accounts, and pictures about Maharid that have not yet been noted by researchers.
Visiting Chasidim
Like most chasidishe rebbes, Maharid would travel from time to time to visit his chasidim, allowing those who were unable to travel to the chatzer to hear chasidus and receive guidance and berachos.
The Hameilitz newspaper of 15 Sivan 5651 (June 21, 1891) contains a report about Maharid’s visit to Baranovich (now Baranavichy, Belarus). The writer, Moshe Zavlotsky, lived in the nearby town of Slonim, and he describes the excitement of the chasidim of Slonim and their journey to see their Rebbe.
Baranovich was an important railway junction at the time, so it is possible Maharid was on his way to a different destination and stopped briefly in Baranovich to allow his chasidim in the area the chance to meet him and hear chasidus.
Zavlotsky was evidently not a chasid, and his tone sounds a little incredulous about the whole situation, but he nevertheless expresses respect for the passion and commitment of the chasidim.
Slonim: The entire town is now astir with the arrival of an esteemed guest at the nearby Baranovich station—the Rebbe of Liadi, whose name and memory are the delight of all his Chassidim, and whose praise as a tzadik is ever upon their lips.
Multitudes are now traveling from here to Baranovich—one to receive a berachah, another to acquire a kameiah for success, one to seek the Rebbe’s advice, and another simply to behold the face of the tzadik. Even the poorest of the Chassidim scrapes together a small sum by whatever means possible, and all of them—along with their children—sit tightly packed together in a long, wide wagon hitched to a single horse, appearing from afar like a cage filled with birds.
Let the misnagdim see this and be ashamed! For they have no special joy; only sorrow and mourning are visible on their faces. The misnagdim cannot rejoice like the Chassidim, for their souls lack the same hisorerus.
There are so many things in our town that require hisorerus and financial support, yet, to our great distress, there is no source of funds and no one to inspire generosity—for the misnagdim are involved in it. But among the Chassidim, matters are different. In a single night, great sums can be gathered for a worthy cause—because yad hachasidim al ha’elyonah.
Moshe Zavlotsky
***
Interestingly, a separate newspaper report in Hameilitz from 30 Nisan, 5643 (May 7, 1883) reports about another journey of Maharid further east into Lithuania, to the town of Pilvishok (now Pilviskiai), in the Kovno region. This was early on during the leadership of Maharid, as his father had only passed away three years earlier, and it took time for Maharid’s leadership to establish itself. However, this report was written by a bitter opponent of chasidus, and the only valuable information we can extract from it is the factual matter of the journey itself.
An Outsider’s Impression
The overview of Maharid’s life in the classic work of Chabad history, Beis Rebbe, includes the following passage: (p. 388, 5774 edition) “He travelled through the country a number of times, and also visited Dubbeln for healing. Wherever he went, people were pleased with his chasidus and yechidus.”
Dubbeln (now Dubulti) is a resort town near Riga, Latvia, once famous for its health sanatorium. An account corroborating Beis Rebbe’s description of the positive impression Maharid made in the non-chasidishe atmosphere of Dubbeln can be found in the autobiography of Yechiel Yeshayah Trunk.
Yechiel Yeshayah Trunk (5647-5721) was born in Poland, to a family of prominent rabbonim and chasidim, the most famous of whom was his great-grandfather Harav Yehoshua Kutner. His ancestors were chasidim of the rebbes of Vorka and Aleksander born and raised in Poland, but his father was more modern and had come to dislike Poilishe chasidus. Yechiel Yeshayah became a famous Yiddish writer and wrote a seven-volume memoir of his life, titled Poylin: Zichronos un Bilder.
In a passage in the third volume of his memoir (p. 129-130), Yechiel Yeshayah Trunk describes his father’s positive impression of a Chabad rebbe he met in Dubbeln, clearly Maharid of Liadi. In the course of his description, Trunk repeatedly presents a simplistic caricature of Polishe rebbes and chasidus. Our intention here is only to show the positive impression Maharid made, but we had to leave some of his negative comments in the quoted piece for the sake of coherence.
In the Litvishe chasidim—especially the Chabad chasidim—my father saw a different kind of chasidim. . . .
There was once a Chabad Rebbe in Dubbeln, if I recall correctly, the Rebbe of Liadi. My father saw European-dressed Jews coming to him, Jews with trimmed beards and stiff hats. These Jews were immersed in the chasidishe rationalism of Chabad and knew entire maamarim from their Rebbe by heart.
The Rebbe delivered his maamar without the sighs and groans characteristic of Polishe rebbes, and without the whole antiquated and idle tish that was the customary among the Polishe rebbes.
On Friday night, the Chabad Rebbe stood at the door surrounded by the assembled people and delivered a sophisticated Chabad maamar, with all the sharp intellectualism of Litvishe chasidus. This made an extraordinary impression on my father—to see such a form of chasidus and such worldly and intellectually trained chasidim.
Those days in Dubbeln passed over my father like a dream.
***
Histalkus
In Benei Hatzemach Tzedek R. Bloi provides the day of Maharid’s passing as 20 Nissan, 5670 during Chol Hamoed Pesach, information he gleaned from the Frierdiker Rebbe’s writings in Hakriah Vehakedushah. However, no details about the histalkus are given.
The following contemporary report on the front page of the 24 Nisan (May 3) edition of the Warsaw Yiddish-language newspaper Unzer Leben fills us in on the details.
In this article, Liadier correspondent Tzvi Chanun reports that Maharid’s passing was sudden. At 1:00 AM Friday morning on the fourth day of Chol Hamoed, he wasn’t feeling well. The local doctor was called, but he didn’t arrive. At 3:00 AM, the Rebbe passed away, and by the time the doctor arrived, it was too late. The levayah was held late Friday afternoon at 7:00 PM, as they were waiting for the arrival of Maharid’s son, Harav Yehudah Leib, a rov in Vitebsk. Many stores were closed for the entire day, and a large crowd attended the levayah.
One inaccuracy in the report is Maharid’s age, which the correspondent gives as 82, but should in fact be 76-77.
The Jewish cemetery of Liadi was destroyed by the Nazis and Soviets, including the kevarim of Maharid and his father Harav Chaim Shneur Zalman. But luckily, we have pictures of the original kevarim.
In 5690 (1930) Yehoshuah (Isaiah) Pulner, the director of the Jewish Section of the State Museum of Ethnography in Leningrad, conducted an ethnographic expedition to the Liadi area to document scenes of old shtetl life that were already rapidly vanishing under Soviet rule. These pictures were not known to R. Bloi and are not included in Benei Hatzemach Tzedek.
The dozens of photos Pulner took in Liadi are a fascinating window to a lost world. Of direct relevance to us now are the pictures he took of the Ohel and matzeivah of Maharid.
The newspaper clippings in the article are courtesy of the Historical Jewish Press website—www.Jpress.org.il—founded by the National Library and Tel Aviv University.
To view all installments of From the Margins of Chabad History, click here.
The recent explosion of available information has created new opportunities for historians to fill gaps that were unknown until now. It is gratifying to see these avenues being utilized for Chabad history. Obviously, the writer is interested in presenting new details, but the English speaking crowd has not read R’ Amrom Blau’s excellent work. It seems they are learning the beis before the alef. I guess I should focus on the mainstream history before exploring the margins. Nonetheless, the series is fascinating and elicits an appetite for reading more Chabad history.