Descendants of the Shpoler Zeide, gathered for the annual seudas hoda’ah commemorating his miraculous rescue on the 19th of Shevat 230 years ago.
Photos: Yoel Roitman/Anash.org
Descendants of the Shpoler Zeide, gathered Thursday night in Crown Heights for the annual seudas hoda’ah commemorating his miraculous rescue on the 19th of Shevat 230 years ago.
The evening began with a kids program and meal led by master storyteller Shmuli Zalmanov.
Rabbi Sholom Dovid Geisinsky shared the story of 19 Shevat followed by guest speaker Rabbi Efraim Mintz who gave a pasionnate address. The evening was interspersed with niggunim and music led by musician Yossi Cohen.
In the year 1793, the Shpoler Zeide was on his way back from participating in a Bris in Bohuslav (in what is now Ukraine), when while crossing over the frozen Ros River the ice suddenly broke beneath his feet. Miraculously he was saved.
The following year, the Zeide instructed that all his children, grandchildren and future descendants should make an annual Seuda on the nineteenth day of Shevat, thanking Hashem for the miracle that saved his life.
The Shpoler Zeide was a student of the Baal Shem Tov and Mezritcher Maggid and known widly as a miracle worker. He was a close assoiate and friend of the Alter Rebbe.
“The Shpoler Zeide was a man of ardent feeling, more intensely so than his colleagues, the other disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch. When he visited the Alter Rebbe in Liadi, in the year 5569 (1809) or 5570 (1810), he related that when he was three years old and saw the Baal Shem Tov, “he placed his holy hand on my heart, and from that time onward, I have felt warm.” Hayom Yom – 14 Teves.
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