Mussar emissary (teacher of ethics) to ba'alei battim, the lay community
by Chaim Shapiro
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Observer and is also available in book form in the ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications Judaiscope Series. It is reprinted here with permission
Rabbi Aaron Yoseif Baksht
5629/1869 - 5701/1941
When Rabbi Meyer Shapiro, the Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of Lublin, was asked why he changed his rabbinical positions with such frequency, he replied: "A rav can be compared to a nail. As long as he has a head, he can be pulled out from one place and set into another."
Rabbi Aaron Yoseif Baksht, who was lovingly referred to as "Reb Archik", served in no less than thirteen cities - from Stalingrad deep in Russia to Shavl in the heart of Lithuania. Yet he was known mainly as the "Lomzer Rav", the rav of my home town.
When a delegation came to the town of Suvalk to invite him to serve as rabbi in Lomza, Reb Archik refused. He explained that he had a kollel of young men whom he was teaching and training for the rabbinate. Since Lomza already supported a large yeshiva, he would not impose on the community the further responsibility of supporting a kollel.
When Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon, the Rosh Yeshiva of Lomza, heard this, he immediately made the trip to Reb Archik to personally plead with him to accept the rabbanus. Rather than compete with the Yeshiva, he insisted, the kollel would be an asset to the Yeshiva, as an inspiration and a direction for continuation. And knowing the people of Lomza, the Rosh Yeshiva assured the Rav that the community would certainly take care of both!
Arrival in Lomza
The city's entire population lined the road leading to Lomza, awaiting the arrival of the new Rav. With much pomp he was taken to the Central Synagogue where he delivered his maiden speech. With the voice of a roaring lion projecting his dynamic personality, expressing his mussar approach, he made a lasting impression on the entire community.
It was assumed that the Rav was fatigued from his trip and the welcoming parade, and he was taken immediately to the spacious apartment the kehillah had always reserved for the Rav. To everyone's surprise, the Rav insisted on visiting the Yeshiva first.
Entering the Yeshiva, he glanced into the sefer a student was immersed in. It was open at Yore De'ah 58, and he began his speech with this very paragraph. The subject was risuk eivarim (broken limbs), i.e. if an animal falls from a certain height, it is not kosher for ritual slaughter until it is examined for broken vital limbs. The animal is tested by allowing it to walk by itself. He widened the subject, quoting relevant sources from memory. The same rules apply to fowl; however, swimming is as valid a test as walking, provided the subject swims against the current, for a crippled or even a dead subject can be carried with the current.
"People who move with the current," continued the Rav, "following the trend, show no proof of life! 'Ve'atem hadveikim beHashem' by clinging to G-d, by studying His Torah, opposing the trends, resisting the current - this proves that 'chaim kulchem hayom' - that you are very much alive!"
"Know What to Answer"
By nature he was a man of bounding enthusiasm - a basic ingredient for imparting mussar (Torah ethics) ... Thus as a young lad in Volozhin, where he was recognized as a potential giant in Torah scholarship, he caught the eye of Rabbi Yitzchak Blazer (Reb Itzele Peterburger) - a disciple of Reb Yisrael Salanter, founder of the mussar movement - and Reb Itzele introduced him to mussar. He eventually moved to Kelm where he became attached to Reb Simcha Zissel Ziv, another disciple of Reb Yisrael Salanter. Reb Archik emerged as a giant in Torah and mussar, the two inseparable banners which he carried with enthusiasm all his life.
Reb Archik was a gifted orator. His rebbes therefore assigned him the task of spreading the mussar movement - not in the Yeshiva world, but in the streets, among ba'alei battim (laymen). He would debate maskillim and apikorsim with relish. His favorite argument that Torah is min hashamayim (of Divine source) was from Vayikra 11, where the two signs of kashrus are named - chewing a cud and possessing split hooves. The Torah lists the three animals that chew a cud but do not have split hooves - the camel, the rockbadger and the hare - and the one animal that does have split hooves but does not chew the cud - the swine. The Talmud in Chullin 59 comments: "The Ruler of the world knows that there are no animals but these that possess only one of the two signs of kashrus.
"Now," Reb Archik would exclaim, "in all these years no one has ever found an additional animal to disprove those sentences in the Torah! Isn't that proof that Torah is min hashamayim!"
To demonstrate the veracity of the Talmud he would quote his Rebbe, Reb Simcha Zissel: "In Chulin 127 the Talmud says: 'All animals found on earth have a counterpart in the sea, except the chuldah (weasel).' Now listen carefully," he would exclaim, "how the Chazal opened themselves to disproof. If they would say 'including the weasel' and we never found a weasel in the sea, that would never prove them wrong. Did anyone ever check all the oceans of the world for a sea-weasel? However when the Chazal dared state 'except the weasel' - if one would ever find a weasel in the sea, even a thousand years later, he would have proven the Chazal false!"
(This last statement became especially clear to me while visiting the aquarium in Eilat. There one can see a variety of ocean-animals which are found in the Red Sea. I was impressed by the sea-lion and others - but no weasel!)
"Ahavas Yisrael - Kavod Yisrael"
In his speeches he would make great demands on his community, raising the Jew to higher levels, criticizing constantly. However, should an outsider - a non-Jew or an irreligious Jew - criticize the klal, he would rise militantly to the defense. Once an American diplomat criticized his kehillah in his presence. Reb Archik, like a faithful shepherd, rose in defense of his flock.
While non-Jewish orphans would run the streets without supervision, often turning to a life of crime, the Jewish orphans in Lomza were cared for by the "Cheurah Hashgachas Yesomim." Two separate homes were maintained - one for boys and one for girls - where they would be kept until they reached 18, when they set out on their own, prepared with an education and a trade. Many of the boys would continue to study in the Yeshiva.
After the First World War, applications to the orphans' homes tripled. There was no room, nor was it within the capacity of the Chevrah to take care of so many children. A call went out to America, and as always, American Jewry responded quickly and generously. The Joint Distribution Committee sent sufficient funds and a new building with all facilities went up. The children from poor families with parents would quip, "We are not lucky enough to be orphans."
A delegation from the Joint, accompanied by a representative of the American Embassy in Warsaw, came to Lomza to dedicate the new building. In the presence of Polish Government delegates and the City Hall officials, the American diplomat delivered a speech criticizing the Jewish Community for constantly extending its open palms to America. Wrapped in diplomatic fine-talk he demanded that the community try harder to muster together its own resources without begging from America!
My uncle, Reb Yechiel Kamchi, who was one of the trustees of the Chevrah used to tell how shocked everyone was - but who could dare talk up against an American diplomat? And how could one reply to him without insulting the Joint delegation? They were charitable Jews who had furnished the necessary funds, and were certainly not responsible for the tactless speech of their embassy official. All eyes turned to the Rav. One could see from his face that a storm was brewing within him. The Rav began his speech calmly, telling of the various charity activities in the Jewish community of Lomza. "When it comes to charity, the Jews are second to none. And when the Chevrah finally did turn to America for help, it was because of the war, and the poverty it had brought to the people." He then quoted a Midrash, which tells of a woman who came before King Solomon to sue G-d Himself! She complained that she was a poor widow and that she had been collecting grain in the field - as she was entitled by law - when a fierce storm-wind blew away all the grain she had collected, and she and her little children were forced to hunger the entire night. The King summoned the wealthiest merchant in Jerusalem, asking him how his business was faring.
"Excellent," replied the merchant. His ships were at sea, and a strong wind brought them to port three days ahead of schedule. So he hit the high market and made a killing. "Pay the poor widow," ordered the King, "for the same storm that made you rich made her hungry."
"Gentlemen," concluded the Rav, his eyes piercing the diplomat, "the very same war that orphaned these children made America rich! And it is no more than right that you pay the bill!"
Wisdom, Comparison, and Zeal
Two women once came to Reb Archik with a din Torah. They were neighbors who shared a clothesline and now each claimed an entire wash as her own. Reb Archik told them to leave the laundry with him and he would announce his psak (verdict) the following morning. After the women left, he took some of his own clothing and mixed it with the bundle they had left. The next day he called in one of the women and she immediately picked out her laundry, separating Reb Archik's from it, stating "These are not mine."
When the other woman's turn came, she looked over the laundry and stated with a conviction that betrayed her dishonesty: "The entire laundry is mine!"
The city of Lomza was astir over the practical wisdom of their Rav.
Among the many charity "chevros" in Lomza was a Chevrah Gemilas Chasadim Al Mashkonos - a free loan society on collateral. Thus many poor people would borrow before the market day and then repay the date after, when they had made their profit - living from hand to mouth. Some would repay in a month or six months or a year. The society's building had a shul in front with a storage area in the rear - always full of jewelry and other valuable items that had been deposited for collateral. One night thieves broke in and stole most of the valuables. People knew all the thieves in town, so the suspects were recognized. No charges could be made, however, for there were no clues. The Rav announced three warnings, promising no prosecution: he asked for a return of the items or he would proclaim a cherem (banishing the guilty parties from the Jewish community), because many poor people and widows had lost their last small treasures and the Chevrah was ruined, unable to pay for the damages and unable to continue in its charitable activities. With no results, the date of the cherem was set. The community gathered in the largest shul, black candles were lit, and the Rav opened the aron hakodesh, proclaiming in the name "of the Holy One, in the name of the Torah." Then a list of curses followed that made everyone shudder with fear ...
Before the year was over, two known thieves became ill. Not only did the physicians fail to prescribe a cure, they could not even diagnose the ailment, so strange were the symptoms; and the two died in a matter of days! That must have been the last cherem in all of Poland.
Reb Archik eventually left Lomza. At first it seemed that he would go to Lodz, the second largest city in Poland, and without a Rav for years. A former Rav of Lomza, Reb Ely Chaim Maizel, had once been Rav in Lodz and had brought order to the city. Again Lodz looked to Lomza, and invited Reb Archik. There were two stumbling blocks to overcome, however. First, how could a Chassidic city like Lodz accept a mussar exponent like Reb Archik? In addition, would they support his kollel?
Two members of the kollel, my uncle Rabbi Hirsh Y. Margolis and, yibadel lechaim, Rabbi J.H. Feldman (formerly of Baltimore, presently in Jerusalem) went to Lodz to surmount these difficulties. Both were Chassidim and had spent many years in the Yeshiva of Lomza and in Reb Archik's kollel. They negotiated with Ger (Gerer Chassidim were the most powerful faction in Lodz) and they almost succeeded in bringing their beloved Rebbe to Lodz. Then the Polish authorities vetoed the move. This was at the height of Polish-Lithuanian animosity and the Poles would not permit a Lithuanian Rabbi to become head of the second largest city in Poland. (Although there were many Lithuanian rabbis in Poland, they had won their positions before Poland became independent.) And so Reb Archik moved back to his native Lithuania and became Rav in Shavl.
Surprises: Flight ... and Return
After World War II, I had thought that Reb Archik, his activity, and his entire world were totally wiped out. Then I had several surprises. While waiting for a train in the Paris Metro, a lady approached me, calling me by name. She was Reb Archik's daughter, who miraculously came out alive from the Shavl Ghetto. She recognized me, for my father would often take me along as a small boy on his frequent visits to the Rav. She told me about her brothers - rabbis in London, one of whom eventually settled in Jerusalem.
Then came the surprise of Ely Galupkin. In Winsheim-Nurenberg, the Vaad Hatzalah (the rescue arm of American Orthodoxy) opened a yeshiva for the survivors of all European yeshivos. There I met a Telshe talmid, Ely Galupkin. Discovering that he is a native of Shavl, I asked him about Reb Archik, and indeed he had a story to tell.
Reb Archik would study with him and his brothers, for he had a deep love for b'nei Torah and a craving for harbotzas-HaTorah - promoting Torah study. When the Soviets occupied Lithuania and began to arrest leading personalities, shipping them off to Siberia, the Rav was afraid of being arrested at any moment. He therefore handed over to Ely a valise full of manuscripts, his seals, all kinds of documents, plus thirteen ksav Rabbanus from the thirteen cities he had served as Rav. He asked him to hide the valise so the Soviets would not take these papers.
Then came the dreadful day of June 22,1941 - the German attack on Russia. On the very first day, all cities along the border were bombed, including Shavl. Galupkin understood that the Russians had their hands full with the war and they would not bother the Rav anymore, so he returned the valise to the Rav. Reb Archik took out some of the papers, returned the rest to Ely and told him to take them and leave town immediately with his family, adding, "I am batuach (I have faith) that you will take good care of this and that you will return leshalom." When Ely pointed out that his father was out of town and there was no way of communicating with him, the Rav stamped his feet on the floor and ordered: "Get out! Get out of the city at once!" repeating his blessing: "I am batuach you will return leshalom."
With the valise under his arm, Ely went home to inform his mother of the Rav's order. On the way, a gnawing question dawned on him: What if the Germans push the Russians out of Lithuania and march into Russia? Does the Rav's order mean even to run into Russia? He turned around, under a hail of German bombs, in hope of clarifying the matter with the Rav. He found the Rav's house totally empty. He decided that this was exactly what the Rav had meant, and he rushed to his mother to tell her the Rav's command. She unhesitatingly gathered her sons and began the long march to safety.
On foot for many miles, then by truck and train, under a constant shower of bombs, with people falling to the left and to the right, they made it deep into Russia - all the while guarding the Rav's treasure, the manuscripts, with great mesirus nefesh and personal risk. In those dark days, with the absence of sefarim the boys would take out those pages and study them. There were sh'eilos u'teshuvos (responsa), commentaries and mussur shmuessen (ethical discourses).
When the war ended, the Galupkins returned to Shavl with the manuscripts, just as the Rav had promised. But the country was empty of Jews - the Germans, with the active, enthusiastic help of the Lithuanians, had wiped out Lithuanian Jewry. Ely realized that Soviet Lithuania was no place for a ben Torah and he decided to escape illegally from the U.S.S.R. While he was ready to risk his own life - for he would have to cross one border into Communist Poland, another border into Soviet occupied Germany, and then on into the American Zone - he did not dare risk the manuscripts. Thus he left them with his mother. Ely made it across all those borders to the Yeshiva in Windsheim, then on to the other Vaad Hatzalah Yeshiva in Bailly, France, and finally to the Telsher Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is now a Rosh Yeshiva.
Throughout these years he tirelessly tried to get the manuscripts out of Vilna, but to no avail. First his mother, an elderly woman, had received permission to emigrate to Israel years before the mass emigration started, and she took the manuscripts along. The Soviet inspectors spotted them and confiscated them. A shock wave passed through her old bones as she watched the Russian's hands rifle the holy papers. Risking everything, she managed to slip them out from under his hands and hand them over to her son who was waiting outside the plane. Later, the son tried to mail it page by page, first to Israel and then to the U.S., but they would always be returned with a note from the Soviet inspectors, stating that sending out these materials was unlawful. Finally the son got his exit visa to Israel. Again the inspector discovered the manuscripts, but this time there was no one to leave them with. For three days Galupkin refused to board the plane without the manuscripts. One can imagine his frustration, after having waited for five years for an exit permit; and now at the gates of freedom he refused to leave without these papers! Finally on the fourth day, he managed to hand over all his cash-savings to an inspector, and with the manuscripts in his possession, he finally arrived in Israel!
How old was Reb Archik when he was tortured and finally murdered by the Lithuanians and Germans? Rabbi Galupkin has a most characteristic reply. Reb Archik used to tell him that he adopted a minhag (custom) from his late mother. Every day she would recite the Chapter of Tehillim (Psalms) that corresponded to her age. The year Reb Archik was murdered he would say with deep emotion every day Chapter 72: "On behalf of Solomon: 0 G-d grant Your powers of judgment to a King, Your righteousness to a King's son."
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