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Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini The Sdei Chemed Yarzheit 24th Kislev by D. Sofer This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission It was the mid-1800s and residents of the small Crimean village of Sevastopol were aghast. Eliyahu, the butcher, had sold them treif meat. Some people demanded that his kashrus certificate be revoked immediately, while others felt that he should be treated leniently, since this was the first time in his many years as a butcher that he had made such a mistake. Eventually, however, the affair led to a mini-war, which swept up the entire town. In an effort to subdue the controversy, the town's leaders solicited the aid of the rav of nearby Karasubazar, Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini. At their request, Rav Chaim Chizkiya traveled to Sevastopol, a half-hour trip from his home. After examining all aspects of the case, he ruled that although the butcher's license should indeed be revoked, he shouldn't be hounded or rejected by society. To guarantee that this wouldn't occur, Rav Chaim Chizkiya remained in Sevastopol until he had found the butcher another job and had placated the butcher's opponents. Before Rav Chaim Chizkiya left, the town's leaders offered him a fee for his services. He refused to accept it, suggesting instead that the money be used to repair the town's mikveh. After that incident, he delivered many shiurim and mediated in many dinei Torah in Sevastopol, always without remuneration. However, each time he came to Sevastopol, the town's trustees insisted on paying his wagon fare, which typically amounted to 25 rubles. One time, the trustees received an envelope from Rav Chaim Chizkiya that contained two rubles, along with a note that read, "The last time I was here, the wagon driver took twenty-three rubles. I owe you two rubles." In Karasubazar he behaved in a similar manner. When offered an increase in his salary, he replied, "The forty rubles [a meager sum] I receive as the town's rav is sufficient. Distribute the rest of the money to the needy." Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini is best known for his monumental, 18-volume work, Sdei Chemed, a halachic encyclopedia referred to by halachic authorities and talmidei chachamim throughout the world. He was also a legendary Torah leader, who dedicated his life to the dissemination of Torah study and chessed. BEGINNINGS Rav Chaim Chizkiya was born in Yerushalayim in 1832. His father, Rav Refael, was a "shadar," (Shilucha D'Rabbonon) a fundraiser on behalf of Eretz Yisroel's yishuv, a position undertaken at that time only by highly eminent talmidei chachamim. During his youth, Rav Chaim Chizkiya studied under Rav Yitzchok Kovo, who eventually became a Chacham Bashi, and under Rav Chaim Yaakov Burla, a prominent talmid chacham. When Rav Chaim Chizkiya was 18, he married the righteous Rivka. Rav Refael, realizing that his son was destined for Torah greatness, agreed to support the young couple. However, two years after Rav Chaim Chizkiya's marriage, he passed away. With Rav Refael's petira, Rav Chaim Chizkiya was left with the burden of supporting both his own family and his mother and sisters. Unfortunately, this situation placed Rav Chaim Chizkiya, who aspired to dedicate himself solely to Torah study, in a predicament. But the solution to his problem was soon found, when wealthy cousins in Constantinople agreed to support him and his entire family if he moved to Turkey. Leaving Yerushalayim was a painful experience for Rav Chaim Chizkiya, and many years later, while in Karasubazar, he wrote a series of odes called "Im Eshkacheich Yerushalayim," "If I Forget Thee Yerushalayim," in which he expresses his longings for the holy city. IN CONSTANTINOPLE Although Rav Chaim Chizkiya's cousins supported him generously, he did not want to overburden them, so he began to tutor children for a number of hours a day, still devoting the majority of his time to Torah study. In Constantinople, though, his efforts to conceal his greatness were futile, and in time Chazal's dictum that "when one occupies himself with Torah inwardly, Torah inevitably manifests itself outwardly," materialized. Eventually, his fame spread, and he was offered a position as a dayan in Constantinople. However, he rejected it, preferring to continue devoting his time to Torah study. TO THE DISTANT CRIMEAN PENINSULA After spending 13 years in Turkey, Rav Chaim Chizkiya was again beset by financial hardships. Thus, when he was offered a position as rav of the small Crimean town of Karasubazar, he gladly accepted it. He found the offer particularly attractive because it enabled him to achieve two important life-goals: to remain in Torah learning and to disseminate it to others. When Rav Chaim Chizkiya arrived in Crimea, he came to a land rich in Jewish life and history. Jewish settlement in the Crimean peninsula is believed to date back to the period of the Second Bais Hamikdash. During that time local Jews succeeded financially in commerce, yet they remained separate from the non-Jews. Thus, when Islam began to spread in the region, the Jews were impervious to its influence. The exemplary life led by Crimea's Jews during that period had a profound effect on the neighboring kingdom of Kuzar, whose residents, along with their ruler, converted to Judaism. The region, however, endured many upheavals and the peninsula was eventually captured by the Turks. Even when it was under Turkish rule, its Jews prospered. When Rav Chaim Chizkiya arrived in the Crimea, most of its Jewish residents lived in the city of Karasubazar, where they worked either as tradesman or laborers. Although Crimea's Jews excelled in their hospitality and chessed, they were largely unlearned and they desperately needed a rav to guide them. To elevate them spiritually, Rav Chaim Chizkiya enacted many local amendments, founded yeshivos and restored many misconstrued customs to their proper observance. THE KARAITE THREAT One grave danger, though, threatened to crush the peaceful Crimean Jewish community - that of the Karaites, who had lived there for hundreds of years. Ibn Reshef, the Karaite leader during Rav Chaim Chizkiya's tenure in Karasubazar, was obsessed by two goals: to undermine the mitzva observance of Crimea's Jews and to indoctrinate them with his views. To achieve these aims, he spread false rumors to the effect that Crimea's Jews were not Jews at all, but rather of Karaite origin. He based his claims on three "proofs," which he used to corroborate his thesis. The first proof was that Crimea's Jews sat on the floors of their synagogues, a non-Jewish custom that corresponds to a Karaite one. The second was that Crimea's Jews, unlike Jews of other backgrounds, had no exclusive dialect, such as Yiddish or Ladino, but rather conversed in the language of the local Tartars. The third was that Karaite books could be found in many Jewish synagogues on the peninsula. Refuting these claims was imperative, because if they were believed, an entire Jewish community could have been unjustifiably expunged from Klal Yisroel. With characteristic energy, Rav Chaim Chizkiya became determined to disprove Ibn Reshef's ridiculous claims. His conclusions appear in Sdei Chemed and are cited by Mr. Ephraim Dianard, a Jewish researcher of the Crimean Jewry, in a book entitled "The Crimean Excursion." Rav Chaim Chizkiya refutes Ibn Reshef's first claim by stating that the fact that Crimea's Jews sit on the floor in shul is not indicative of a Karaite origin because other Jews sit on the floor as well. "In Yerushalayim, many Sephardic Jews sit on the floor when they pray," he wrote. Noting the Rambam's comment in Hilchos Tefilla that many Jews of Sephardic and Western origin sit on the floors of their synagogues, Rav Chaim Chizkiya asked, "Why did the Rambam cite such a custom in a halachic work? Apparently, he had a flash of Ruach Hakodesh at that moment, and included this remark in Yad Hachazaka to prevent the future disparagement of Jews who maintain such a custom." He then proved Ibn Reshef's second claim as false by stating that the Jews of many communities in the Diaspora converse in the local vernacular, and that such a practice in no way points to a lack of Jewish origin. The third claim, he wrote, is also absurd because Damascus' main synagogue contains a closet filled with Karaite writings, and it is certainly not a Karaite synagogue. If indeed it were, the works of the Rambam, the Smag, the Smak and the Turim, which also grace its bookshelves, would certainly not be found there. With that, Ibn Reshef's so-called proofs were disproved, and his ploy failed. THIRTY-THREE YEARS OF DEDICATION Rav Chaim Chizkiya served Karasubazar's Jewish community with dedication and dignity for 33 years. During that period, he wrote the major part of his Sdei Chemed. One of the most monumental halachic works ever written, it contains rules of Talmudic and halachic methodology, as well as an alphabetical list of the various laws and related responsa. Volume 14 contains his will, which reflects his lofty spiritual stature and outstanding middos, especially his humility. Despite his productive life in Karasubazar, Rav Chaim Chizkiya still yearned to return to Yerushalayim, and in 5659/1899, he began to prepare for his journey home. Before leaving the Crimean peninsula, he delivered a parting speech at a gala event held in his honor. In that drasha, he urged his beloved flock to maintain peaceful and harmonious relationships with one another and to observe the mitzvos scrupulously. At the end of the drasha, he wept uncontrollably. A large entourage accompanied him to the nearby port, from where he set sail for Eretz Yisroel. IN YERUSHALAYIM Rav Chaim Chizkiya was greeted at Jaffa's port by a large number of Jews who were overjoyed to see him again. From Jaffa, he headed to Yerushalayim where he remained for two years. At that point, he got wind of plans to appoint him Rishon Le'Tzion, a position that he felt would interfere with his Torah study. After consulting his close friend Chacham Nissim Karian, he moved to Chevron. However, Rav Chaim Chizkiya's hopes of leading a quiet life in Chevron never materialized. Shortly before he arrived in Chevron, its main Torah figures, Rav Eliyahu Mani and Rav Yosef Franco, were niftar, and a search for a new chief rabbi of Chevron had begun. At first, Rav Chaim Chizkiya rejected all offers to that effect. But when the pressure on him to accept the position of chief rabbi of Chevron mounted, he agreed to accept it. Rav Chaim Chizkiya's first project as chief rabbi was to improve Chevron's educational facilities, which were in a state of decline. While children from wealthy families were taught by private melamdim in Chevron, or studied in Yerushalayim, the city's poorer children attended local chadarim. These chadarim, however, were not conducive to learning because their physical conditions were appalling, and the melamdim who taught there were totally unsuited for their jobs. To rectify the situation, Rav Chaim Chizkiya hired experienced and talented melamdim from Yerushalayim, offering them good salaries. The chadarim were renovated and painted, and stipends were forwarded to students whose families couldn't afford the tuition. Under these improved conditions, many children who had formerly disliked attending cheder regained their cheshek to learn, and as the years passed, a new generation of budding talmidei chachamim sprang up in Chevron. GEMILUS CHASSADIM IN CHEVRON Another of Rav Chaim Chizkiya's important projects was Chevron's Free Loan Fund, which extended credit to all those in need, including people who had been rejected by other gemachs in the city. Rav Chaim Chizkiya also established a tzedaka fund, through which he dispensed not only much-needed funds, but also, just as importantly, encouraging words. Once, a destitute widow approached Rav Chaim Chizkiya for assistance for Shabbos. "How much money will it cost to purchase all of your Shabbos needs?" he asked. "Two bishliks would be enough," she replied. Rav Chaim Chizkiya opened the box where he kept his tzedaka funds and removed two coins, each worth two bishliks, and handed them to the woman. When she left, a student remarked, "I think Rabbeinu made a mistake. She said she only needed two bishliks, why did you give her four?" Winking knowingly, Rav Chaim Chizkiya replied, "You probably think that I don't know arithmetic. But that's not so. Doesn't the Mishna say, [in reference to the techum Shabbos], 'Shetayim sheheim arba,' 'Two that are really four'?" A FAMILY AFFAIR Many of Rav Chaim Chizkiya's chessed projects also became family affairs. Once, a widow who was poverty-stricken came to inform the Medinis that her daughter had become a kalla. "Where will the tenayim take place?" Rav Chaim Chizkiya asked. "In my home, of course," she replied, referring to her squalid, one-room dwelling. "But there's no room there for all the guests," he said in wonder. "I don't expect more than one or two people. After all, I'm just a poor widow," she replied. "I think that many people will want to come, especially since your daughter Bracha is a fine girl, and the chassan is a lamdan. And so it will take place in my house, tonight." "But..." "No buts. My wife will be more than glad to prepare the refreshments," Rav Chaim Chizkiya asserted. "We're looking forward to the privilege," added his wife, who had been standing in the doorway. That night, nearly the whole town streamed to Rav Chaim Chizkiya's home for the tenayim of Bracha, the widow's daughter. It was one of the happiest events Chevron had ever seen. BIKUR CHOLIM Rav Chaim Chizkiya also founded a Bikur Cholim society, which likewise benefited from his special brand of chessed. Once, all of the members of the society flatly refused to visit a certain invalid on their list. The man was a rasha, suspected of the worst sins imaginable. But this didn't faze the society's head, Rav Chaim Chizkiya. If no one else would go, he would do so himself. Not only were Chevron's residents stunned by Rav Chaim Chizkiya's sick call, so was the invalid. "I guess you don't know that I am a rasha, otherwise you wouldn't have visited me," the invalid feebly said, as soon as he saw Rav Chaim Chizkiya. "It's not too late, my friend, " Rav Chaim Chizkiya encouraged him. "You can still do teshuva. May you have a speedy recovery." Rav Chaim Chizkiya's heartfelt blessing had a profound affect on the man, who soon recovered. Eventually he became a genuine baal teshuva. Rav Chaim Chizkiya's brief visit had accomplished more than all the rebukes and chastisements in the world. HIS PETIRA Rav Chaim Chizkiya served as Chevron's rav until his petira on 24 Kislev 5665/1904. Due to his integrity and outstanding character traits, he was esteemed not only by Chevron's Jews, but also by its Arab populace and by Eretz Yisroel's Turkish rulers. As a result of his influence, many attacks on Chevron's Jews were averted, and a number of heavy fines and taxes were revoked. Before his petira, he asked that the obituary written about him be as brief and simple as possible. As a result, the obituary that appeared in local journals stated, "On Shabbos Veye'maein le'hinachem, 24 Kislev, 5665, the author of the Sdei Chemed, Rav Chaim Chizkiya Medini, was niftar. He was buried in Ir Hakodesh, Chevron." But all Torah Jewry knew that they had lost one of the most illustrious and dedicated sages of the generation.
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